THE REPUBLIC OF HAITI 289 



ated the movement which, ending in Brazil in 1889, resulted 

 in driving; the institution of slavery from the western 

 hemisphere. 



The independence of Haiti, accomplished during the 

 time when slavery was still upheld with all of its horrors 

 in the other \Wsi Indies, appeared to the old-school plant- 

 ers in the light of an unnatural event. It inspired among 

 the slave-owners of all nationalities a feeling of horror. 

 The name .>!' Haiti was proscribed on the plantations as be- 

 longing to an accursed land, and even to this day the effects 

 of this are so far-reaching that in our own country the name 

 wrongly signifies all that is evil. Yet this black commu- 

 nity, now enjoying political freedom and self-government, 

 is alive and growing, and may be counted a potent factor 

 in the ultimate destiny of the West Indies. 



Haiti's history did not begin until nearly a century and 

 a half after San Domingo had been established by Spain. 

 In the early years of the seventeenth century many Span- 

 iards, who had made the first skimming of the natural 

 resources of the island, left it for the more tempting fields 

 of Mexico and South America. The bucaueers French 

 and English took advantage of their departure and began 

 to prey upon the island. The French particularly assailed 

 the weaker western end, which was then Largely a wilder- 

 ness; they first established stations, then plantations, and 

 finally, in 1040, organized these irregular settlements into 

 a colony under a governor sent from France. Forty-seven 

 years later Spain was forced to acknowledge French sov- 

 ereignty over the portion of the island where this parasitic 

 hold had been obtained. It is unnecessary to dwell upon 

 tl olonial history of Haiti previous to the French Revo- 

 lution, further than to say that it became whal was at thai 

 time the finest colony in the world. " 1 1 istorians," it has 

 been said, "are never weary of enumerating the amount 

 of its products, the great trade, the warehouses filled with 

 sugar, cotton, coffee, indigo, and coma: its plains covered 



with splendid estates; its hillsides dotted with QOble 



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