Haiti: A Degenerating Island 



209 



own struggle for freedom, which 

 strengthened the desire of the Haitiens to 

 secure their own independence. Follow- 

 ing the example thus set by both France 

 and America, there broke out that fierce 

 strife known as "The Horrors of the 

 Negro Insurrection in Santo Domingo," 

 which has so darkened the pages of his- 

 tory. 



It should not be forgotten, however, 

 that the fearful cruelties practiced during 

 this insurrection were equally shared by 

 both black and white, all parties seeming 

 to vie with each other in the excess of 

 atrocities. Unlike their continental 

 friends, who were generally actuated by 

 a common impulse, the interests of the 

 islanders were hopelessly divided. The 

 population consisted at this time of about 

 30,000 whites, mostly planters, who had 

 been made wealthy by the labor of the 

 slaves ; but they were separated into irrec- 

 oncilable factions. Second, there were, 

 about the same number of mulattoes, 

 many of them property-owners, whose 

 social, industrial, and legal rights had 

 been restricted to a humiliating degree 

 by the Royalists. Third, there were 

 nearly 500,000 black slaves, who were 

 groaning silently under a cruel form of 

 bondage which they sought to shake off. 



TOUSSAINT i/OTJVERTURE 



Soon after war broke out there ap- 

 peared upon the scene of activities that 

 wonderful character, Toussaint L'Ouver- 

 ture, who wrested the command of the 

 army from his superiors, Francois and 

 Baisson, and as a French general finally 

 led the troops to victory. 



At first Toussaint was appointed a 

 surgeon to the army, as he had some 

 knowledge of simple medicines, which 

 had given him great influence on his mas- 

 ter's estate, and he used this knowledge 

 for the benefit of the insurgent forces to 

 good advantage. 



This genius, as he may properly be 

 styled, was a slave, at first known as 

 Toussaint Bieda, from the name of his 

 master's estate, and later as Toussaint 

 L/Ouverture, by which he is known in 



history, owing to the fact that he had 

 overturned the government. 



He was born about 1746, of negro 

 parents, his father being an imported 

 African and, as stated by tradition, the 

 son of a chief. Delicate as a child, the 

 nickname of Fatras-Baton, or "Little 

 Lath," as it has been translated, was 

 given him. Although small and insig- 

 nificant in person when young, he later 

 became possessed of great strength and 

 endurance. He had received in youth 

 some education from a brother slave, and 

 knew how to read and write and speak 

 the French language as well as the Creole 

 patois, and it is said had some knowledge 

 of drawing. He was fifty years old at 

 the time of the insurrection. 



This really remarkable man, who, con- 

 sidering his education and environments, 

 has not been inaptly compared to Wash- 

 ington and Napoleon, was now to find 

 himself the master of the island. Be- 

 loved to the point of enthusiasm by the 

 negroes, who had raised him to the dig- 

 nity he enjoyed, he was honored and re- 

 spected by public representatives of other 

 nations with whom he had dealings. 



When there was a lull in the strife 

 which gave him relief from military cares, 

 he devoted his whole time to the arts of 

 peace, and the policy of his whole admin- 

 istration was characterized by the same 

 sagacity and prudence which had distin- 

 guished his exploits in the field. He re- 

 stored the planters to their estates and 

 pushed forward the cultivation of the 

 soil, realizing, as does Booker Washing- 

 ton, the negro chieftan in the United 

 States, that the salvation of his people 

 was occupation for mind and body, and 

 that the land was given them as a talent 

 from which they must earn a living. 



As the ancient colonial government 

 was now at an end and all official inter- 

 course with France cut off, Toussaint 

 promulgated a new constitution, which 

 recognized the equality of the races and 

 as much freedom of trade as possible. A 

 governor was to be named for five years, 

 but on account of the eminent services of 

 Toussaint, he was to occupy the post for 



