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History See other History Articles Title: Chapter 11: Justice and the Status of the White Where he is Ruled by the Negro Justice and the Status of the White Where he is Ruled by the Negro In most countries where they put forward race distinctions a man is called Englishman, American, German — by the name of whatever nation may claim him. But in Hayti the point of complexion carries the day, and establishes your designation. If you do not happen to be of the regnant colour, you are a white, a blanc — the Haytian recognises no minor distinction among the lighter-hued foreigners. As you walk about the streets you catch, at the tags and tails of sentences, the labial " blane" as the curious or antagonist negro delivers his criticism upon you, your probable station in life, your present business and your personal charms. For, above all things, the negro is extraordinarily inquisitive. Jealousy of the foreigner is a very pronounced trait, from the Government down to the wharf-side loafer. His immigration is discouraged in every way. He may be said to have practically no rights ; he can own no property in land, and if he gets a concession from the Government he is likely to find himself, sooner or later, left in the lurch. Yet it is not too much to say that the presence of the white element, small as it is, makes for good. Remove it, and the Republic would go sliding back into the depths of barbarism. This applies more especially to the representatives of foreign Powers accredited to the island. Time and again has Hayti, in the course of her hundred years of independence, owed the continuance of that independence to the kind offices of these gentlemen. Occasionally she flounders diplomatically, and then it is that the white man's aid must be called in to adjust a difficulty beyond the powers of the black. A schedule of the cases where the diplomatic representatives of foreign nations have saved Hayti from the wrath and reprisals of some insulted Power would make an interesting document, and, to those who are not behind the scenes, a surprisingly lengthy one. For all this, Haytian gratitude is not. Unless the quid pro quo be down in black and white, and, moreover, insisted upon, it quietly drops into oblivion and no more is heard of it. Here is an instance when the diplomatic corps formed the buffer between Haytian maladroitness and foreign resentment. The 6th of December, 1897, was a day to be long remembered in Port-au-Prince, for on that morning the German Government sent in an ultimatum. It is unnecessary to enter at length into the origin of the dispute, suffice it to say that a German subject had been imprisoned, and his release, on the intervention of his Minister, refused. In the end the man was set at liberty through the good offices of the American representative. But Germany considered herself insulted. The Kaiser sent a telegram, followed up by two gun-boats, with orders to receive the indemnity demanded, and, in the event of a refusal to pay, they were instructed to shell the capital. Port-au-Prince was in an uproar. The inhabitants fled to the hills, the families of many leading citizens were sent on board the ships that happened to be lying in the harbour. The rougher part of the populace boasted that on the first shot fired they would begin a massacre of every white man, woman, and child in the town. The Cabinet met at the palace of the President to discuss the situation. Meantime the minutes were flying, but the foreign representatives procured an extension of the time-limit given in the German ultimatum. The final hour fixed upon was one o'clock, on the stroke of which, as the German commander was careful to assure them, the first shell would be dropped upon the roof of the palace unless a white flag, the signal of compliance, should be hoisted there. The Cabinet were on the horns of a dilemma ; they did not know how the populace would take surrender. For the Haytians at large have no idea of their position in the catalogue of the nations, being fully convinced that they could engage on equal terms with any one of them. Without the advice and mediation of the foreign delegates, there can be little doubt that the time-limit would have expired and that Hayti must in consequence have felt the weight of Germany's hand, even if the wild anarchy that would inevitably have broken out had not marked the end of her century of independence. And the German affair is only one of many. Thanks, then, to events such as these, while he is, with rare exceptions, disliked and distrusted, the average foreigner has earned at least the toleration which is invariably accorded to usefulness. In this connection the visit of the German warships had one good effect. It brought home to the Haytian in the street, the knowledge that white is a colour worthy of respect. For a foreign gun-boat in Port-au-Prince bay is worth more as a deterrent than a navy at Port Royal. The black man must see to understand. As to the personal safety of the foreigner, he has under the present regime little cause for complaint. Of course it is fatally easy, if you are not known, to get into trouble, and once in you will find it an uncommonly hard matter to get out again. On many occasions during my stay in Port-au-Prince I crossed the Champ-de-Mars late at night. A better place to rob a man you could not find in the two hemispheres. It is lonely, it is dark, its lamps are broken, it is honeycombed with treacherous holes and ditches, whence the bull-frogs croak ceaselessly. It would not be wise to cross it in the small hours, were it situated in Venezuela, where the early pedestrian is apt to find such objects as unidentified fingers on the public paths— three were found in Carracas not a month ago — but here beyond the ubiquitous, cent-desiring soldier, you are never molested. At least, that was my experience. This is a surprising condition of affairs when you consider the state of Hayti. It is another of those violent contrasts in which this country is so rich. Her people, whatever may be their other faults, have not that knife-inyour-back instinct which permeates so many of the SpanishAmerican Republics. And now, having dealt with the safety of the white man from the attacks of the lawless, let us see how he is likely to fare if he chances to be attacked by the law. The blanc is not infrequently thrown into prison on frivolous charges, and when one takes into account the chances of maltreatment on arrest, and the horribly insanitary condition of the prisons, this in itself constitutes a grave danger. Further, his evidence in the courts does not, under any circumstances, hold good against counter-evidence offered by a Haytian. Whatever the rights of the case may be, it is a foregone conclusion that the Juge de Paix will decide in favour of his own countryman. Outside the Legations, the Consulates, and the chief mercantile houses, the white man in Hayti cannot be called a particularly fine example of the aristocracy of colour. Five men out of six have had chameleon careers, and have been fired at last by the rigour of stark necessity into their present berths. The greater number of them are, of course, Germans. At the close of the last century it was estimated that the white population of Hayti reckoned 46,000 souls; to-day you might knock off the last two ciphers. And with the disappearance of the white colonists prosperity fled from the land. Government policy, as has been said, is directed towards keeping out the foreigner. The result is that the immense natural resources of the country remain entirely undeveloped. The white man has of necessity to be very circumspect in his dealings with the Haytian. He lives and trades in the Republic under protest, as it were, against a regime that is always antagonistic, and ready to hamper his efforts whehever opportunity offers. As far as the towns are concerned, then, the white man, if he can keep clear of the entanglements of the law, will not, save in unusual cases, be molested. A revolution, of course, alters the aspect of things, promiscuous shooting goes on, and underlying dislike of the outlander comes to the surface. But even when things are taking their normal course, if he happens to be unfortunate enough to come within the grasp of the law, the White, under the present Government, has no rights the Black need respect save those which can be enforced by his diplomatic representative, which means by the brute power of his. nation. In all the principal coast towns there exists a little nucleus of white men, who form the core of the virile part of the community, and who, if they make their money out of the country, bring much into it. Their daily life is monotonous enough. Take, by way of example, the routine at the Cape. A man is up with the sun or before it, and arrives at his office early. Breakfast is taken at noon, after which he returns to work. About four he adjourns as one man to the local club, and there he stays till seven, playing billiards or dominoes, or sitting on the wooden piazza that overlooks the ragged weed-grown marsh. After that he goes home to dinner and bed. And to-morrow he travels the same old round. So runs life for the foreigner in Hayti. If you are a white man, then don't go to law in Hayti. Bribery is not unknown, but it is nearly always far cheaper to submit to injustice than to try conclusions in a law court. For you cannot bribe away, even if you wished to, the self-evident fact of race, and your opponent usually happens to be of the ruling colour. The basis of the law is the Code Napoleon, modified to Haytian necessities, and altered in lesser particulars from time to time. The judicial machinery of the courts, from the Court of Cassation downwards, is modelled upon the French system. The judges are black, for any admixture of blood is regarded with strong disfavour, and even mulattoes are rigorously excluded from positions and authority. The better class do not seek the office, and judges, oddly enough, are rarely drawn from the grades of the legal profession. The President has the right of nomination, and he and his party put forward any person they please, for a judge's most prominent recommendation is his usefulness as a partisan or supporter. The actual salary is small, but the appointment can be and is so handled as to prove highly remunerative. It is a fact of common knowledge that cases are systematically prejudged ; now and then a politician intervenes quietly for purposes of his own; he gives a hint to the bench, and the verdict is arranged before the litigants set foot in court. Curious impediments are thrown in the way of justice, and grotesque excuses have been given for the non-fulfilment of ordinary legal forms. In this connection a story may be told which has a moral, but no end. In a certain town there is a firm whom we will call Da Costa and Co. Some years ago they made an arrangement with a Haytian to buy for them certain materials required in their business. To carry out his side of the contract, and for the express purpose of procuring the various articles in demand, the Haytian went to Europe, taking with him a large advance of some thousands from the company. He visited most of the Continental cities, spending a long interval at the Mecca of Haytians — Paris, and by the end of a year or so returned home empty-handed. He had no money left, nor had he any supplies to show. Da Costa and Co naturally objected to the complete disappearance of their money, and took the matter into court, and there it still remains. The evidence was so clear that a record was broken and judgment given for the plaintiffs. But, having done this, the judges manifestly thought they had done enough. They had given a verdict in favour of a firm of foreigners, and it was now necessary to remove the stain of so doing from their characters. The course they adopted was of a simplicity akin to genius — they refused to execute the judgment. On the occasion of Messrs. Da Costa's last appeal, the excuse was beautifully consistent with Haytian traditions. The court (and it was not an inferior court, quite the opposite) replied that they had at the moment no money to buy the necessary stamped paper to execute the judgment, and Messrs. Da Costa must wait until they had! To show the converse side of the shield of Republican justice — at this moment there is more than one foreigner in gaol for the crime of owing a dollar or some similar small sum to a Haytian. Those who gain their cases may safely be divided into three classes. First, the black, whose opponent is white, wholly or partially; secondly, as among themselves, the man with the biggest purse and pull; and, lastly, in the lower classes, the man who has the luck. Occasionally extraneous influences are brought to bear. As in the old Roman days, the sword thrown into the balance brings down the scales of justice with a run. Recently a Haytian merchant sued the active Chief of Police for debt. On the day the case was called the Chief of Police made up a snug little escort of his men, and, to give due weight to the proceedings, served out a few rounds of ammunition, and marched them in a body up to the court. Three black judges were on the bench ready to try the case— two of them forestalled trouble by recollecting pressing engagements elsewhere, and the third sought cover. The case was adjourned for a fortnight. On the day fixed for the second hearing the Chief of Police played trumps again, the judges departed at the double and there was no quorum. Upon this the Chief Justice wrote to the defendant. He begged him to bear in mind his duties as a citizen, and to present himself before the Civil Tribune in a costume and manner conforming to the laws of his country. For answer, upon the appointed day the Chief doubled his escort, dressed himself in full uniform, served out some extra boxes of ammunition for his men to carry, and rode his horse into the court. The case was postponed, and postponed it remains at the hour of writing. It is reported that political animus was here the wheel within the wheel. In criminal cases the courts move slowly about their business. The law of habeas corpus is a dead letter. A man may lie in prison awaiting trial for no small period of time. There is to-day a prisoner in the jail at Port-auPrince. He has been there for many years, and no record of his offence remains; the why and the wherefore have been long forgotten. Only the man himself is extant, still undergoing the punishment of his lost crime. There is in the constitution a law abolishing the penalty of death for political misdemeanours, but it was consistently ignored by every President, without exception, who has held power in the island, until General Sam, who is now at the head of the Government, came into office. To his credit be it said that he usually sends his political enemies to prison instead of shooting them out of hand against the crumbling arsenal wall, after the immortal principles of his predecessors Salomon and Hippolyte. But I could name one gentleman at least who, if he succeeds to the Presidential chair, which is quite on the cards, will revive the good old customs of the past. In spite, however, of the very general corruption and deliberate miscarriage of justice, the Court of Cassation has of late taken up an attitude which approximates more nearly to the universal idea of equity, and has decided some cases upon their own merits and not upon those of the litigants. Judicial procedure is in certain instances not untouched by humour. A Haytian owed a trader twenty-eight dollars. A judgment requiring the Haytian to pay four dollars a week into court was given, and the trader agreed to send a messenger every week to the magistrate for the money. In due time he sent for the first instalment, and was informed that the Haytian had not paid up, but that he should be thrown into prison for his failure. Three weeks passed with the same result. One morning the Haytian came to the trader's store. He was, he said, a poor man, much married, a man to whom therefore expense came. What good, he asked, would accrue to the trader if he, the poor man, was thrown into prison ? Let the trader forgive him his debt, and earn thereby untold rewards in a future state. After some talk the trader gave him a letter of remission, which he went off to present to the magistrate. The affair was settled, but the Haytian was struck by the bad grace with which the magistrate dismissed him, and he forthwith returned to the trader and asked him if he had received the eight dollars already paid into court. The trader looked surprised, and said he had received nothing. " Then, since you have remitted the debt, that eight dollars is mine," said the Haytian. Accordingly he went off to the court to present his claim. The magistrate at once committed him to prison. A consul who had heard the story asked the magistrate what the Haytian was sent to prison for. "For contempt of court," was the reply. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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