The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-10-18

| underwent no change toward better
! ment. Two rival candidates for the
presidency there were, one Gen. Lee
gitime, the other Gen. Hyppolite, and
between them they made things warm
for Solomon. The latter fancied, If
one may accept certain pronuncia-
mentos, that he was president of Hay
/ II for life. To further that ambition
he swept the mailed fist this way and
that. Meanwhile, Legitime and Hyp-
polite were as active as hornets. From
this country went several expeditions
to their aid, and they gave Washing
ton so much annoyance that Secretary
Bayard was at one time almost on the
point OF intervening and putting an
end to Haytian disorders.
Gen. Legitime eventually got to-
Sether enough recruits to make a
brave show in front of Port au Prince.
Solomon held out as long as his army
would remain with him, and then, like
Dominique and the others, he fed the
country. Whereupon Legitime crowned
himself president, hopeful of remain
ing in position for life.
Meanwhile in the north of the coun-
try, Gen. Hyppolite, disappointed be-
cause he had not accomplished as
much as Legitime. held on to his per-
sonal following and set about to keep
up the disturbances. Legitime sur
rounded himself, but there were defec-
tons from his ranks and in spite of
the iron heel, Hyppolite gained favor
When the rebel army was almost with
in shouting distance of Port au Prince,
Legitime decided that he had better
be thinking of what his predecessors
had done. 1t all ended on his depar-
ture and Hyppolite's assumption of
chief authority on the island.
A stern rule was Hyppolite's then
for period of seven years. He had
all sorts of intrigue to deal with, but
with an experience of half century
OF similar intrigue to aid him, he
managed somewhat better than the
usual Haytian executive. Moreover
he had the troops with him.
characterized by his following as
mild-mannered old man Hyppolite was
a tirst-rate successor of Christophe.
Dominique, Soulouque, Salnave. He
was at the time of the Corpus Christi
massacre man of about 60 years,
coal black in color.
Withal he managed to make a pref.
ty able president of the island. For
eign governments found him consider
ably more tractable than his prede-
cessors or for that matter his imme-
date successor Mir Simon Sam. He
was particularly pleasant to Ameri-
cans, professed a strong faith in
American institutions, and often re-
marked that he wished it were posi-
BILE to give Hayti the same sort of
freedom. The news Of his death in
1896 was received in governmental
circles at Washington with consider
able regret
I. Simon Sam, who had been minis
ter of war in Hyppolites cabinet. then
went into Office. He, too, began to
have troubles. He attempted to give
his country a peaceful reign. and got
along pretty well until his finances
became tangled. There was a loss of
over a million dollars, and the scan
DIAL grew and grew until in 1902.
thanks to the energy of Nord Alexis
the government was forced to aa-
knowledge the deficit. Sam fled the
country.
Nord Alexis brought into vogue
again the strong arm method of dis.
pensing punishment. The fact that he
was an old man gave his enemies
more hope than otherwise they would
have had. Indeed, ever since he has
been sitting in the administration
building they have been Matching plo.g
to get rid of him. Gen. Simon's suc.
cessful coup was never prepared on
the instant. It's foundation was laid
before Nord Alexis had been govern.
ing the island half-dozen months
Rather more cautious than some o,
the other Haytians Of ambition. Gen.
Simon kept his ambitions under coyor
until he could be assured of suflcient
disaffection and restlessness on the
part OF the army to enable him Il
strike.
And that is the way things have
always gone in the island between
Porto Rico and Cuba. The usual ne.
riod which schemer for the presi.
dency can count upon is IS moptba
A peaceable rule OF greater length is
not to be dreamed of. There arc min.
listers of state and ministers of war
especially the latter-to say notbinp
of eXiled presidents and ministers q
war, who must be given consideration
Something would be radically wrore
in things Haytian If revolution wor,
not in process OF fertilization at leas.
once a month or thorsaborts. Her,
is old Nord Alexis even rresumin,
the moment he gets out of danger
going back to the heart of disturbance.