358 



HAYTI. 



HONDURAS. 



accrued during the first eight years that the 

 treaty was in force was referred to a commission, 

 with no result. Gen. Hippolyte, in violation of 

 the treaty, levied prohibitive duties on Domini- 

 can products and on foreign merchandise import- 

 ed from Santo Domingo before the treaty was for- 

 mally abrogated. His acts added to the coolness 

 that has existed owing to the boundary dispute. 

 In connection with the commercial convention, 

 Santo Domingo made a treaty in 1874 binding 

 herself not to sell, cede, or lease any part of her 

 territory to a foreign power, thus precluding the 

 resumption of negotiations for the acquisition by 

 the United States of Samana Bay as a coaling 

 station. 



Relations with the United States. While 

 Gen. Hippolyte was at the head of the rebellion 

 against President Legitime and was surrounded 

 in the north by the troops of Legitime, he sent 

 Charles Frederick Elie as his agent to the United 

 States with a written promise that he would cede 

 the mole of San Nicolas to the United States for 

 a naval and coaling station provided the Gov- 

 ernment at Washington refused to recognize the 

 blockade of the northern ports proclaimed by 

 Legitime, which had been recognized by France, 

 Germany, and Great Britain. Mr. Whitney, then 

 Secretary of the Navy, sent Admiral Gherardi to 

 Hayti, and, on the strength of his telegram to the 

 effect that there was no blockade, the American 

 Government refused to recognize Legi time's proc- 

 lamation as establishing an effective blockade, 

 such as is required by international law. This 

 refusal and the action of American war ships on 

 the Haytian coast in protecting American ships 

 from seizure, enabled Hippolyte to land supplies 

 and munitions purchased with money advanced 

 by American and other foreign merchants and 

 brought from New York in American trading 

 vessels. A private pledge made when he was 

 neither dejure nor de facto President, however 

 binding on him, did not bind the Haytian Gov- 

 ernment. Frederick Douglass, who was appoint- 

 ed minister to Hayti by President Harrison, 

 opened no negotiations for the cession of the 

 mole, as they could only be conducted through 

 the intermediation of his secretary, Ebenezer 

 Bassett, the minister being unable to speak 

 French. Bassett had been minister at Port-au- 

 Prince under a former Administration, and had 

 failed in the same matter. The firm of William 

 P. Clyde & Co., of New York, having rendered 

 valuable assistance to Hippolyte, was rewarded 

 with a subsidy of $40,000 for five years for the 

 purpose of establishing a line of steamers be- 

 tween New York and Haytian ports and a ninety- 

 nine years' lease of the mole of San Nicolas, with 

 the understanding that the war ships of the Unit- 

 ed States, but not those of any other power, 

 might enter the port to be established there. 

 The jealousy of the Haytian people, quickened 

 by French and other foreign / nfluences, was 

 aroused to such a degree thai;' ai lippolyte and 

 Firmin repudiated the engagements that they 

 had entered into as representative^ of the Pro- 

 visional Government, the written 1 *' --tructions to 

 Elie having been destroyed, aml^ tes >sident Hip- 

 polyte did not dare to submit to\2j Assembly 

 the contract with Clyde & Co., signed in June, 

 1890, by which American diplomacy had sought 

 to obtain in the guise of a commercial conces- 



sion the coveted coaling station in the West 

 Indies. These negotiations, conducted between 

 the Haytian diplomatists and the private parties 

 interested and in a correspondence between Mr. 

 Blaine and J. Haustedt, Haytian consul-general 

 at New York, having led to no result, Rear- Ad- 

 miral Gherardi, with three war vessels, went to 

 Port-au-Prince in the beginning of 1891, carry- 

 ing verbal instructions from Mr. Blaine to make 

 a formal request, in conjunction with Minister 

 Douglass, for the use of San Nicolas mole as a na- 

 val station. Hippolyte denied ever having made 

 a promise of the mole in return for the material 

 and moral support he had received from the 

 United States. Foreign-Minister Firmin tem- 

 porized and dragged out the negotiations for 

 some weeks, and on Feb. 20 asked Admiral Ghe- 

 rardi for written credentials, which were not forth- 

 coming till April 18, when Admiral Walker ar- 

 rived with the white squadron from Key West, 

 bringing from President Harrison a letter of cre- 

 dence, dated March 9, granting. Frederick DougT 

 lass and Bancroft Gherardi full power to con- 

 clude a convention for the cession of the mole of 

 San Nicolas. As soon as it was presented Minis- 

 ter Firmin replied in a note absolutely refusing 

 to enter into any negotiations for the lease of the 

 mole, and objecting to the continued presence in 

 Port-au-Prince of the American men-of-war. In 

 addition to Admiral Gherardi's ships, Admiral 

 Walker had the squadron of evolution in Hay- 

 tian waters while negotiations were pending. He 

 sailed away after they were broken off, and soon 

 afterward Admiral Gherardi took the Squadron 

 of the North Atlantic to Samana Bay. Minister 

 Douglass made overtures for a treaty of commer- 

 cial reciprocity, but returned to the United States 

 on leave in July, and on the 30th of that month 

 sent in his resignation to President Harrison. 

 He was succeeded by Mr. Durham, another col- 

 ored man. 



HOLLAND. See NETHERLANDS. 



HONDURAS, a republic in Central America. 

 The Constitution, revised on Nov. 1, 1880, vests 

 the legislative powers in a Congress containing 

 one member for every 10,000 of population, elect- 

 ed for four years by direct manhood stiff rage, and 

 the executive power in a President, elected like- 

 wise for four years. Gen. Luis Bogran became 

 President on Nov. 9, 1888. and was re-elected to 

 serve from September, 1887. Congress meets bi- 

 ennially in a session lasting forty (Lays. 



Area and Population. Honduras is next to 

 Nicaragua the largest of the Central American 

 republics, containing 47,090 square miles, with 

 a population of 431,917. The largest city is Tegu- 

 cigalpa, the capital, with 12,600 inhabitants. The 

 Government gives much attention to education, 

 providing instruction in 573 schools to 20,51 8 pu- 

 pils in average attendance, and superior educa- 

 tion in two universities and a number of col- 

 leges. 



Finance. The revenues of the Government 

 are derived mainly from customs duties and 

 monopolies. They amounted for the year 1889 

 to $2,094,660, and the expenditures to $2,077,- 

 552. The national debt, which was contracted 

 in Europe for the purpose of building an inter- 

 eceanic railroad running through Tegucigalpa, 

 amounts to $30,218,304. -with accumulated inter- 

 est, which has been in default since 1872. For 



