Republic of Haiti

“ From 1800 to 1900 France was under the administration of about eighteen different rulers, just the number of rulers that Haiti has had from 1804 to 1900. Forced to fly from France, four sovereigns, Napoleon I, Charles X, Louis-Philippe, and Napoleon III died in exile; and of the seven Presidents who from 1870 to 1900 ruled the Republic, one, Carnot, was assassinated, and four others, Thiers, McMahon, Grévy, and Casimir-Perrier, resigned before the expiration of their term of office. ”

“ All foreigners may be naturalized Haitians by observing the following formalities (Art. 14, Civil Code) : "All those who, by virtue of the Constitution, are qualified to become Haitian citizens, must, within a month of their arrival in the country, declare before a justice of the peace of their place of residence and in the presence of two well-known citizens, their intention of settling in the Republic. They will at the same time swear before the justice of the peace to give up all other countries in favor of Haiti. ”

“ You will learn the full details from the report which the Secretary of Finance and Commerce will submit to you, in which it will be shown that the responsibility for it does not fall on the Executive Power....
In the life of every people there come moments when it must know how to be resigned and to suffer. Are we facing one of those moments? The attitude of the Haitian people, calm and dignified, persuades me that, marching closely with the Government of the Republic, there is no suffering which it is not disposed to undergo to safeguard and secure the triumph of its rights. ”

“ As soon as Larose and Rouanez had made known the views of their Government, the French agent raised a grave question. He contended that the King of France having in 1814 reconveyed the Spanish portion of the island to Spain was empowered to negotiate only for the French portion of Saint-Domingue. Since 1822 there existed neither a French nor a Spanish portion: the Republic of Haiti was in peaceful possession of the whole island. ”

“ President Boyer had even sent an agent to New York to encourage the men of the black race to emigrate to Haiti. No wonder then was it that the United States recognized the independence of Colombia, etc., and ignored that of Haiti.
Thus the young Republic, at the very beginning of its existence, found itself isolated and compelled to face the power of France without the sympathy of a single nation. But Haiti, with a sense of her responsibility, remained undaunted and spared nothing in order to preserve her autonomy. ”

“ And the conflict between Pétion and Christophe was more the outcome of a difference of opinion as to principle than a matter of personal rivalry: it was a struggle of republican against monarchical ideas. And the Haitians, as fond of equality as they are of liberty, will give their firm support against all odds to that system of government which does not establish privileges and renders public offices accessible to all citizens according to merit.
The first civil war which took place in Haiti resulted in the triumph of the Republic ”

“ An American financial adviser, who is far more than that in practice, an American receiver of customs, and heads of the engineering and sanitation departments, are required by the terms thereof, and the final decision in most matters of importance lies with the American minister. Unlike the Republic of Santo Domingo in the eastern end of the island, Haiti still retains her native government, but its acts are subject to a relatively close supervision by the officers above named, despite the pretense that our share is only “advisory.” ”

“ This steamer eventually left Port-au-Prince in January, 1872, her sailing putting an end to the controversy between Haiti and Spain.
Whilst this incident was causing much trouble to the Haitian Government, the United States were making strong representations concerning the Dominican Republic. President Grant had seen fit to sign a treaty for the annexation of that Republic with President Baez. As was to be expected, the Dominicans became highly incensed at those who were making a traffic of their independence, and rose up in arms against the government which had betrayed their trust. ”

“ Stuart had visited the southern part of Haiti with his father, especially the towns of Port-au- [Pg 35] Prince and Jacamel, and he was struck with the difference in the people. Cap Haitien is a working town and its people are higher grade than the dwellers in the southern part of the republic. The south, however, is more populous. Haiti is thickly inhabited, with 2,500,000 people, of whom only 5,000 are foreigners, and of these, not more than 1,000 are whites. The island is incredibly fertile. A century and a quarter ago it was rich, and could be rich again. ”

“ Haiti is a purely Negro Republic, and offers a good illustration of what the Negro accomplishes if left to himself, even though given all the advantages of easy access to European civilization. The republic of Santo Domingo occupies the other part of the same island; its hybrid population has more Spanish and less Negro blood but it is not by any means civilized. ”

“ The victorious insurgents then set about conquering the eastern portion of the island, and for a time held possession of it. After a time, however, it was divided into two portions: the western end which the natives had secured from the French was called Haiti, and the eastern eventually became the Republic of San Domingo.
The inhabitants of Haiti are negroes, or, to be more exact, nine-tenths are negroes and the rest mulattoes; the whites are not very numerous, and are principally foreign merchants and traders. ”

“ Limits of Haiti—Area—Mountains and rivers—Adjacent islands—Population—Government Divisions of the territory into Departments, arrondissements, communes, and rural section—Financial organization; the national debt—Academic organization; public instruction—Judiciary organization—Religious organization.
Haiti is bounded on the east by the Dominican Republic, on the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south by the Caribbean Sea. ”

“ There are both natives and foreigners who contend that Haiti is fully capable of governing itself if the white man will go away and let the Black Republic alone. The following incident is not without its bearing on the subject:
121The Rotary Club of Port au Prince decided in the fifth year of American occupation to assess every member five dollars for the purpose of providing a community Christmas for the poor children of the city. Never had a Christmas-tree been seen in Haiti outside the homes of American or other foreign residents. ”

“ By recalling the tribulations, the painful episodes of the history of Germany, Great Britain, and France before they arrived at their present political stability and at the high place they occupy in the world, it is not my intention to infer that for centuries to come Haiti must remain a prey to civil strife and discord. ”

“ It is the extreme of irony that this clause which the Haitians had a right to interpret as a guarantee to them against foreign invasion should first of all be invoked against the Haitian people themselves, and offer the only peg on which any pretense to a right of military domination can be hung.
There are several distinct forces—financial, military, bureaucratic—at work in Haiti which, tending to aggravate the conditions they themselves have created, are largely self-perpetuating. ”

“ Before passing judgment on them by peremptorily declaring that they are incapable of governing themselves, one must remember the condition of their coming into existence as a nation and their extraction, and compare this with the length of time which France, Great Britain, and Germany have taken to arrive at their present state of civilization. The fact that after a century of free government the United States of America have been able to equal and even exceed the progress accomplished by some of the European States cannot be used as an argument against Haiti. ”

“ Those members of the Haitian Assembly who, while acting under coercion were nevertheless hopeful of American promises, incurred unpopularity by voting for the Convention, are today bitterly disappointed and utterly disillusioned.
If the United States should leave Haiti today, it would leave more than a thousand widows and orphans of its own making, more banditry than has existed for a century, resentment, hatred and despair in the heart of a whole people, to say nothing of the irreparable injury to its own tradition as the defender of the rights of man. ”

“ This nation, which was and still is one of the greatest exponents of civilization, should have long ago been struck off the maps of the world if intestine dissensions and civil wars were to prove the incapacity of a people to govern itself. With France, as with Germany and Great Britain, almost every step on the thorny road of progress has been paid for with the blood of her children. Her history, to go no farther back than 1789, is at least as agitated and surely more bloody than that of Haiti. ”

“ In this matter of change of government by revolution, Haiti must not be compared with the United States or with England; it must be compared with other Latin American republics. When it is compared with our next door neighbor, Mexico, it will be found that the Government of Haiti has been more stable and that the country has experienced less bloodshed and anarchy. And it must never be forgotten that throughout not an American or other foreigner has been killed, injured or, as far as can be ascertained, even molested. ”

“ Haiti is a country of rapidly changing conditions. Like others, emerging from revolution and disorder to peace and the pursuits of peace, it finds its possibilities unlimited. Furthermore, under the Haitian-American treaty, part of the government is being run by the Haitians themselves in the three departments: executive, legislative and judicial; and a portion is controlled by the United States, including the military. ”

“ At its head is a president assisted by two chambers, the members of which are elected and hold office under a constitution of 1889. This constitution, thoroughly republican in form, is French in origin, as are also the laws, language, traditions and customs of Haiti. In practice, however, the government resolves itself into a military despotism, the power being concentrated in the hands of the president. The Haitians seem to possess everything that a progressive and civilized nation can desire, but corruption is spread through every portion and branch of the government. ”

“ A nation which has been through so many crises and has voluntarily endured so many hardships in order to improve its political regime cannot be considered degenerate and retrogressive. Like the countries of the Old World, Haiti will achieve the conquest of its ideal by the steadfastness of its faith in personal effort and the consciousness of its dignity and its duty toward the race whose rehabilitation it has willingly undertaken to secure. ”

“ TO know the reasons for the present political situation in Haiti, to understand why the United States landed and has for five years maintained military forces in that country, why some three thousand Haitian men, women, and children have been shot down by American rifles and machine guns, it is necessary, among other things, to know that the National City Bank of New York is very much interested in Haiti. ”

“ But each and every one of them believes it's important enough for them to come here to participate, to stand united with us in insisting that the dictators who terrorize Haiti must be removed and that the democratically elected government must be returned to power now.
As Prime Minister Owen Arthur of Barbados stated so eloquently yesterday, "The Haitian people have wished for democracy. They have suffered for it. ”

“ When all is considered, especially the fact that the existence of Haiti as a nation dates back only one century, one is brought to the conclusion that this country has been no more disturbed nor agitated than France for instance ”

“ It is surely pardonable in so young a nation as Haiti not to have succeeded from the very first in establishing and maintaining the best form of government, when older nations, like Russia for example, are still seeking after a proper political organization. ”

“ There is only one sane social attitude to take in the dealings of Haitian and American. The American must remember, as he should when he travels anywhere, that he is dealing with foreigners. He must value them according to their own standards and live his own life according to the standards of America. Let the American in Haiti, if he does not care to mix with the Haitians, not do so, but when he meets them treat them as their education and culture entitles them to be treated. ”

“ Haiti has never been so distracted in its councils as Mexico. And even in its moments of greatest distraction it never slaughtered an American citizen, it never molested an American woman, it never injured a dollar's worth of American property. And yet, the Administration whose lofty purpose was proclaimed as above—with less justification than Austria's invasion of Serbia, or Germany's rape [12] of Belgium, without warrant other than the doctrine that "might makes right," has conquered Haiti. ”

“ Everything had to be created and organized. It was literally a new people who had come into life. Was it to be expected that in a century this nation could attain its complete and full development? As with other nations, progress must of necessity be slow with this new people. Spenser St. John "e tutti quanti" has overwhelmed Haiti with abuse in that her civilization is not as advanced as that of the Old World. But do these persons recollect how many centuries Great Britain, France, and Germany spent in all kinds of struggles before arriving at the state in which they are to-day? ”