THE REPUBLIC OF HAITI 265 



tation of anything in this line for commercial purpof 

 appears ever to have been undertaken. 



The government, though republican in form, has been 

 described as a military despotism in which all the power 

 is concentrated in the hands of the president, who en- 

 forces or ignores the laws according to his pleasure. It is 

 true that the government is more or Less despotic, and is 

 too often marked by revolutions. Of the eleven rulers of 

 the island sine.- its freedom, uearly all have been ass 

 sinated or exiled. Only one has escaped being either shot 

 or deported, and only two ever completed their terms of 

 olhYe. Nevertheless, there is a semblance of civilized 

 government, more advanced than has been represented, 

 which appears especially liberal in comparison with the 

 low degree of culture of the inhabitants and their past 

 treatment. 



The republic has a constitution in which, notwith- 

 standing frequent amendment, the essential principles of 

 free republican government have been preserved since the 

 time of Dessalines, and in general the changes made in it 

 from time to time have shown a steady tendency toward 

 liberalism. For example, in addition to the provisions as 

 to the inviolability of the territory, the absolute freedom 

 of religious worship, and the equality of citizens before 

 the law, it provides for the independence of the judi- 

 ciary, trial by jury, individual freedom, exemption from 

 unlawful domiciliary visits and arbitrary arrests, encour- 

 agement of education (primary-school attendance being 

 made obligatory), the freedom of the press and <>f speech, 

 the sacredness of epistolary correspondence, the inhibi- 

 tion of ex post facto laws, the security of property rights, 

 and individual responsibility for public acts. 



Furthermore, although until within a recent period 

 citizenship was restricted to persons of African origin, 

 and the righl to possess property wenl with citizenship, 

 just as ii did in Great Britain and her colonies up to 1S7<>. 

 and jusl as it do<-< now to sonic extent in some of the 



