Hayti or, The black republic

Hayti; or, The black republic.

Whilst in Port-au-Prince, a Spanish colleague once remarked to me, Mon ami, if we could return to Hayti fifty years hence, we should find the negresses cooking their bananas on the site of these warehouses. Although this judgment is severe, yet from what we have seen passing under the present Administration, it is more than probableunless in the meantime influenced by some higher civilisationthat this prophecy will come true. The negresses are in fact already cooking their bananas amid the ruins of the best houses of the capital. My own impression, after personally knowing the country above twenty years, is, that it is a country in a state of rapid decadence. The revolution of 1843 that upset President Boyer commenced the era of troubles which have continued to the present day. The country has since been steadily falling to the rear in the race of civilisation. The long civil war (1868-1869) under President Salnave destroyed a vast amount of property, and rendered living in the country districts less secure, so that there has been ever since a tendency for the more[Pg vi] civilised inhabitants to agglomerate in the towns, and leave the rural districts to fetish worship and cannibalism. Fires, most of them incendiary, have swept over the cities; in the commercial quarters of Port-au-Prince, it would be difficult to find any houses which existed in 1863, and the fortunes of all have naturally greatly suffered. When I reached Hayti in January 1863, the capital possessed several respectable public buildings. The palace, without any architectural beauty, was large and commodious, and well suited to the climate; the Senate, the House of Representatives, the dwellings occupied by several of the Ministers, the pretty little theatre, were all features which have now entirely disappeared. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 68592
Author: St. John, Spenser
Release Date: Jul 23, 2022
Format: eBook
Language: English
Publisher: Smith, Elder, & Co.
Publication Date: 1884
Publisher Country: United Kingdom