326 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



freedom. (') When the independence of San Domingo was declared 

 on 27th February, 1844, the leaders of that republic had already 

 applied to the United States for countenance and recognition. 

 Neither of these was in the mind of Abel P. Upshur, then Secretary 

 of State.^'^ But when the explosion of the gun "Peacemaker" on 

 the " Princeton " forced a change in Tyler's cabinet, the new Secre- 

 tary, Calhoun, both a southerner and a secessionist, was favorably 

 disposed towards the new government. 



But the reports of the agent, Hogan, whom Calhoun sent to in- 

 vestigate the condition of the island brought no action by the Tyler 

 administration. Perhaps the question of Texas was too absorbing to 

 admit of attention being given to Hayti. At any rate the black re- 

 public and its white rival were left to work out their own revolutions 

 for six years until Soulouque and Santana emerged as their respective 

 leaders. 



The Emperor Faustin, who had been Solouque until the eleva- 

 tion of his title in 1849, rose from slavery to the dictatorship of 

 Hayti. Without political knowledge or experience he proved to 

 have a will and considerable of administrative capacity, even if the 

 words of his admirer must be discounted, that "his strength is at 

 home; it is not too much to say, that there is not a town, village or 

 hamlet in Hayti, however distant from the capital, that does not spon- 

 taneously and joyfully claim to honor him as chief, and to love him 

 as a man."(^^ Once settled in the government of Hayti, it became 

 his ambition to unite the island once more under a single administra- 

 tion. 



It is in connection with the designs of Faustin upon the inde- 

 pendence of San Domingo that England, France and the United 

 States became involved in the politics of the island. The excellent 

 harbor of Samana Bay in the territory of San Domingo became an 

 objective point in their diplomacy, which for several years around 

 1850 was interested in the control of the Caribbean and the Isthmus. 



(1) Hazard, 247: Britannicus, 31, 63; B. C. Clark, Remarks upon United States Intervention in 



Hayti, Boston, 1853, P, 18-23. 



(2) Clark, Plea., 36. 



(3) Clark, Plea., 46. 



