356 



HAYTI. 



itous, and there are 400 state schools. The re- 

 ligion of the people is Roman Catholicism ; all 

 other religions are tolerated. Jn remote districts 

 the people have relapsed into some of the pagan 

 customs of Africa. Jn Port-au-Prince and other 

 seaboard towns are a few white traders. 



Finance. The revenue for the fiscal year 

 1885-'86 was stated to be $0,412,957, of which 

 $3,178,410 were derived from import duties, $1,- 

 917,002 from export duties, and $1,317,545 from 

 other sources. The expenditures were equal in 

 amount, the chief items being $1,096,134 for war 

 and marine, $981,479 for the interior and police, 

 and $698,138 for education. The expenditures 

 for 1887-'88 were estimated at $4,066,236. The 

 receipts from import and export duties in 1889 

 were in the neighborhood of $6,000,000. The 

 public debt consists of the foreign loan of 1875, 

 of which the sum outstanding in 1887 was re- 

 ported to be $4,320,000, and $4,450,000 of do- 

 mestic liabilities, not counting the depreciated 

 paper currency of unknown amount, the nominal 

 issue of $3,000,000 made after the insurrection 

 of 1883 having been fraudulently exceeded. 

 Other notes issued during Legitime's presidency 

 are not recognized by the Government, which 

 was refused an advance of $500,000 by the foreign 

 merchants in July, 1891, unless it would accept 

 a part in these notes at a discount. 



The Army and Nary. The nominal strength 

 of the army under the law to reorganize the mili- 

 tary forces passed in 1878 is 6,828 men of all 

 arms, including 1,978 gendarmes. The Presi- 

 dent's body guard of 650 men has for its officers 

 the 10 generals who act as his aides-de-camp. 

 The naval force consists of an ironclad gun 

 vessel of 900 tons, a corvette, and two sloops, 

 each armed with a single gun. 



Commerce and Production. The imports 

 of merchandise in 1888 were valued at $7,543,- 

 294, and the exports at $13,250,307. Coffee is 

 exported to the United States and Europe. The 

 cotton culture, introduced by negro emigrants 

 from the United States, was a flourishing indus- 

 try during the American civil war, afterward 

 was allowed to decay, recently has been taken 

 up again, and for the past two or three years the 

 cotton exports to France have been large. Cacao 

 is also cultivated, the export in 1889 amounting 

 to 3,927,089 pounds. Mahogany, logwood, cedar, 

 lignum vitas, and other woods are exported, as 

 well as tropical fruits to some extent, orange 

 peel and pickled limes, cotton seed, goat skins, 

 honey and wax, and tortoise-shell. In spite of 

 the civil war of 1887-'88, the export of coffee in- 

 creased from 112,000,000 pounds in 1886 to 125,- 

 000,000 pounds 'in 1890, and other products have 

 increased in like proportion. The export duties 

 on coffee, cacao, and mahogany have recently 

 been raised. The chief imports have been textile 

 goods from England, flour and provisions from 

 the United States, and fine manufactures from 

 France. The chief articles of export are coffee, 

 cotton, mahogany, cacao, and logwood, taken in 

 the order of their importance. The imports 

 from Hayti into the United States, according to 

 the returns of the Treasury Department at Wash- 

 ington, decreased from $3,757.443 in 1889 to $2,- . 

 421,221 in 1890, while the exports to Hayti from 

 the United States increased from $3,975,461 to 

 $5,101,464. The articles of chief importance 



imported from the United States in 1890 were 

 salt pork, flour, cotton goods, and dried and 

 smoked fish, constituting 56 per cent, of the 

 total, followed by soap, lumber, lard, iron manu- 

 factures, refined sugar, butter, leaf tobacco, and 

 furniture. There were 726 vessels, of 691,150 

 tons, entered, and 724, of 679,902 tons, cleared 

 at the ports of Hayti in 1887. The post-office 

 forwarded in that year 295,013 letters and cards. 

 Attempted Revolution. On the overthrow 

 of Gen. Salomon in 1888 Gen. Manigat and Sen- 

 ator Legitime returned from exile as candidates 

 for the succession. Legitime, having been chosen 

 Provisional Executive Chief, banished Manigat 

 again, but had to contend with a third candi- 

 date, Gen. Thelemaque, who came down from 

 ("ape Haytien with an army to Port-au-Prince 

 and attempted to overthrow Legitime. In a 

 fight in front of the Palais National Thelemaque 

 was killed, and his soldiers, returning to the 

 north and proclaiming that their general was 

 assassinated, chose Hippolyte for their leader. 

 A National Assembly, nastily convoked, consist- 

 ing only of Representatives from the Department 

 of the West, in which Port-au-Prince is situated, 

 and from the Department of the South, mean- 

 while elected Legitime President. The northern 

 provinces of Artibonite and of the north and 

 the northwest were dissatisfied with the election, 

 and the people joined the standard of Hippolyte. 

 After a war lasting ten months, strengthened by 

 resources supplied by American merchants and 

 aided by the decision of the Government at 

 Washington, which refused, unlike the French 

 and English governments, to recognize the paper 

 blockade proclaimed by Legitime, Hippolyte capt- 

 ured Port-au-Prince in August, 1889, and was 

 elected President by the National Assembly. 

 Legitime went into exile, and has since been 

 conducting a plantation near Kingston, Jamaica. 

 Gen Manigat has also lived as a refugee on 

 that island, and many more of Hippolyte's polit- 

 ical enemies have fled to Kingston or to New 

 York or New Orleans, and have kept themselves 

 in correspondence with the discontented in Hayti, 

 who have grown continually more numerous ow- 

 ing to his iron-handed rule and the corruption of 

 his ministers. Hippolyte represented the north 

 of Hayti, as distinguished from the south, and 

 the Liberal party, as opposed to the National 

 party. One of the principles of the Liberal party 

 has been to give a share in the Government to the 

 mulattoes, who in the course of a democratic 

 evolution have not only lost their former domi- 

 nant position, but have been excluded from the 

 field of politics. The two parties are not divided 

 by differences of policy. The desire for office 

 lies at the bottom of their organization and ri- 

 valry. President Hippolyte, when he came into 

 power, endeavored to obliterate party lines and 

 disarm sectional jealousy as far as he could in 

 the selection of his Cabinet. The experiment 

 failed, and with every change he was reduced to 

 a narrower range, thus diminishing his party and 

 strengthening the Opposition. At Port-au-Prince 

 he was in the midst of a hostile community, 

 He kept several of his battalions there, and 

 took measures to guard against revolution that 

 trenched on the liberties of the people of the 

 capital, who did not conceal their dislike. The 

 discontent grew stronger and spread even in the 



