Haiti: A Degenerating Island 



205 



developing into open mutiny, there was 

 inaugurated a rebellion against the pow- 

 ers that be which, repeated from time to 

 time, has made up the principal history of 

 the island to this day. 



THE OLD SPLENDOR OE SANTO DOMINGO 



In a short time the city of Santo Do- 

 mingo became one of great importance, 

 and is described as not inferior to any in 

 Spain. When at last Don Diego Colum- 

 bus, to whom the great discoverer, now 

 dead, bequeathed his rights as .well as his 

 perplexities, became the ruler of the 

 province, he set up a court which vied in 

 splendor and magnificence with that of 

 the king himself. Diego's ambition was 

 to build such a capital here as would cor- 

 respond in greatness to the New World 

 his father had discovered and to the fame 

 and dignity of his family. The court of his 

 young and beautiful queen was thronged 

 by a circle of attendants from her own 

 class in Spain which professed to be the 

 best blood of Castile. Magnificent public 

 buildings were erected, the cathedral was 

 highly endowed and built with artistic 

 taste, while the monasteries were made 

 monuments to the Christian sentiment of 

 the foreigners. 



The richness and abundance of gold 

 found in the rivers of the island at first 

 brought great wealth to the Spaniards ; 

 but it was soon recognized that cultiva- 

 tion of the soil was of more value than 

 the mines, which could only be profitably 

 worked with the means then extant as 

 long as the gold was found on the sur- 

 face, and hence agriculture became the 

 principal industry of the islanders. But 

 the gentlemen from Spain were too proud 

 to labor themselves, and being anxious to 

 gain fortunes in a short time, they drove 

 the Indians beyond their strength, and 

 they died in rapidly increasing numbers. 

 Thus was killed the goose which laid the 

 golden &gg, for without the laborers the 

 masters became land poor. The old feel- 

 ing of sedition and discontent still exist- 

 ing in the hearts of the colonists, together 

 with the loss of labor, soon produced a 

 condition of things that was most un- 



promising for the future welfare of the 

 colony. 



King Ferdinand, at first jealous of the 

 Columbian dynasty and the rising im- 

 portance of Hispaniola, now began to 

 realize but little on his investment, and he 

 soon lost interest in the administration of 

 the colony and devoted his attention to 

 the discoveries in other parts of the New 

 World. 



The most redeeming feature in the 

 Spanish control of Hispaniola was the 

 struggle of Las Casas, the celebrated 

 bishop of Chiapa, to save the natives, to 

 whom the island rightfully belonged, 

 from the utter annihilation to which the 

 brutal system of slavery inaugurated by 

 his countrymen was fast driving them. 

 In his vain endeavor to alleviate the suf- 

 ferings of the aborigines he went even so 

 far as to be credited with introducing into 

 the island the inhabitants of Africa, who 

 had become objects of barter between the 

 Portuguese and other European states, 

 and thus was established the slave trade 

 in America — a curse that was quite as 

 injurious to the well being of the island 

 as the one he endeavored to overcome. 



RIVALRY OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE EOR 

 HAITI 



The history of Santo Domingo during 

 the 1 6th century can hardly be given 

 here, even if it were sufficiently important 

 to warrant its repetition. Suffice it to 

 say that the destruction of the aborigines 

 was now complete and the colony rapidly 

 degenerated in wealth, but the power rep- 

 resented in the control of all the colonies 

 belonging to Spain became the envy of 

 her European sisters. 



In the early part of the 17th century 

 the English and French combined to se- 

 cure a portion of the growing wealth of 

 the New World, and this resulted in es- 

 tablishing in 1630, on the neighboring 

 Island of Tortuga, a band of robbers 

 which carried on piratical operations in 

 its worst form. Then, becoming more 

 powerful, they began depredations on 

 Hispaniola, finding that hunting its vast 

 and verdant fields, which abounded in 



