distinction which it seems to have owed as much to the freedom
enjoyed by the inhabitants, and the liberality of the
government of the Low Countries, as to the conveniency of its
situation. In consequence of this preference, Bruges speedily
rose to the very highest rank among commercial cities, and
became a place of vast wealth. … From the middle of the
fifteenth century the power of the confederacy, though still
very formidable, began to decline. This was not owing to any
misconduct on the part of its leaders, but to the progress of
that improvement it had done so much to promote. … Lubeck,
Hamburgh, Bremen, and the towns in their vicinity, were
latterly the only ones that had any interest in its
maintenance. The cities in Zealand and Holland joined it,
chiefly because they would otherwise have been excluded from
the commerce of the Baltic; and those of Prussia, Poland and
Russia did the same, because, had they not belonged to it,
they would have been shut out from all intercourse with
strangers. When, however, the Zealanders and Hollanders became
sufficiently powerful at sea to be able to vindicate their
right to the free navigation of the Baltic by force of arms,
they immediately seceded from the League; and no sooner had
the ships of the Dutch, the English, etc., begun to trade
directly with the Polish and Prussian Hanse Towns, than these
nations also embraced the first opportunity of withdrawing
from it. … At the middle of the seventeenth century the
cities of Lubeck, Hamburgh, and Bremen were all that continued
to acknowledge the authority of the League."
History of the Hanseatic League
(Foreign Quarterly Review, January, 1831).
ALSO IN:
S. A. Dunham,
History of the Germanic Empire,
book 1, chapter 4 (volume 2).
C. Walford,
Outline History of the Hanseatic League
(Royal Historical Society Transactions, volume 9).
H. Zimmern,
The Hansa Towns
(Stories of the Nations).
J. Yeats,
The Growth and Vicissitudes of Commerce.
See, also,
CITIES, IMPERIAL AND FREE, OF GERMANY;
and SCANDINAVIAN STATES: A. D. 1018-1397.
HANSE OF LONDON, The Flemish.
See FLANDERS: 13TH CENTURY.
HANSEATIC LEAGUE.
See HANSA TOWNS.
HAOMA.
See SOMA.
HAPSBURG, OR HABSBURG,
Origin and rise of the House of.
See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1246-1282.
{1627}
HAPSBURG-LORRAINE, The House of.
See AUSTRIA; A. D. 1745 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER).
HARALD IV.,
King of Norway, A. D. 1134-1136.
Harald Blaatand, King of Denmark, 941-991.
Harald Graafield, King of Norway, 963-977.
Harald Hardrade, King of Norway, 1047-1066.
Harald Harfager, King of Norway, 863-934.
Harald Sweynson, King of Denmark, 1076-1080.
HARAN.
"From Ur, Abraham's father had migrated to Haran, in the
northern part of Mesopotamia, on the high road which led from
Babylonia and Assyria into Syria and Palestine. Why he should
have migrated to so distant a city has been a great puzzle,
and has tempted scholars to place both Ur and Haran in wrong
localities; but here, again, the cuneiform inscriptions have
at last furnished us with the key. As far back as the Accadian
epoch, the district in which Haran was built belonged to the
rulers of Babylonia; Haran was, in fact, the frontier town of
the empire, commanding at once the highway into the west and
the fords of the Euphrates; the name itself was an Accadian
one, signifying 'the road.'"
A. H. Sayce,
Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments,
chapter 2.
The site of Haran is generally identified with that of the
later city of Carrhæ.
HARD-SHELL DEMOCRATS.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1845-1846.
HARDENBURG'S REFORM MEASURES IN PRUSSIA.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1807-1808.
HARDICANUTE, OR HARTHACNUT,
King of Denmark, A. D. 1035-1042;
King of England, A. D. 1040-1042.
HARDINGE, Lord, The Indian administration of.
See INDIA: A. D. 1845-1849.
HARFLEUR.
Capture by Henry V.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1415.
HARGREAVE'S SPINNING-JENNY, Invention of.
See COTTON MANUFACTURE.
HARII, OR ARII, The.
See LYGIANS.
HARLAW, Battle of (1411).
A very memorable battle in Scottish history, fought July 24,
1411, between the Highlanders and Lowlanders of the country.
Donald, Lord of the Isles, was then practically an independent
sovereign of the western Highlands of Scotland, as well as the
islands opposite their shore. He claimed still larger domains
and invaded the lowland districts to make his claim good. The
defeat inflicted upon him, at heavy cost to the victors, was
felt, says Mr. Benton in his "History of Scotland," as a more
memorable deliverance even than that of Bannockburn. The
independence of the Lord of the Isle was not extinguished
until sixty years later. "The battle of Harlaw and its
consequences were of the highest importance, since they might
be said to decide the superiority of the more civilized
regions of Scotland over those inhabited by the Celtic tribes,
who remained almost as savage as their forefathers the
Dalriads."
Sir W. Scott,
History of Scotland,
chapter 17.
HARLEM.
See HAARLEM.
HARMAR'S EXPEDITION AGAINST THE INDIANS.
See NORTHWEST TERRITORY: A. D. 1790-1795.
HARMOSTS.
See SPARTA: B. C. 404-403.
HAROLD (the Dane),
King of England, A. D. 1037-1040.
Harold (the Saxon), King of England, 1066.
HAROUN AL RASCHID, Caliph, A. D. 786-809.
----------HARPER'S FERRY: Start--------
HARPER'S FERRY: A. D. 1859.
John Brown's invasion.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1859.
HARPER'S FERRY: A. D. 1861 (April).
Arsenal destroyed and abandoned by the Federal garrison.
Occupied by the Rebels.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (APRIL).
HARPER'S FERRY: A. D. 1862.
Capture by the Confederates.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862
(SEPTEMBER: MARYLAND).
----------HARPER'S FERRY: End--------
HARRISON, General Benjamin,
Presidential election and administration.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1888, to 1892.
HARRISON, General William Henry:
Indian campaign and battle of Tippecanoe.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1811.
In the War of 1812.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1812-1813.
Presidency for one month.
Death.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1840.
HARRISON'S LANDING,
The Army of the Potomac at.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (JUNE-JULY: VIRGINIA),
and (JULY-AUGUST: VIRGINIA).
HARROW SCHOOL.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.-ENGLAND.
----------HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT: Start--------
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1634-1637.
The beginnings of the city.
See CONNECTICUT; A. D. 1631; and 1634-1637.
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1650.
The Treaty with the Dutch of New Netherland.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1650.
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1687.
The hiding of the Charter.
See CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1685-1687.
----------HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT: End--------
HARTFORD CONVENTION, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1814 (DECEMBER).
HARTHACNUT.
See HARDICANUTE.
HARUSPICES, The.
"The haruspices, nearly related to the augures, were of
Etruscan origin. Under the [Roman] Republic they were
consulted only in a few individual cases: under the emperors
they gained more importance, remaining, however, inferior to
the other priestly colleges. They also expounded and procured
lightnings and 'prodigies,' and moreover examined the
intestines of sacrificed animals. … Heart, liver and lungs
were carefully examined, every anomaly being explained in a
favourable or unfavourable sense."
E. Guhl and W. Koner,
Life of the Greeks and Romans,
section 103.
HARVARD ANNEX.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: REFORMS, &c.: A. D. 1804-1891.
HARVARD COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: AMERICA: A. D. 1635, and 1636.
HASHEM, Caliph: A. D. 724-743.
HASMONEANS, OR ASMONEANS.
See JEWS: B. C. 166-40.
HASSAN, Caliph: A. D. 661.
HASSIDIN, The.
A sect of Jewish mystics which rose during the 17th century in
Podolia, Wallachia, Moldavia, Hungary and neighboring regions.
H. H. Milman,
History of the Jews,
volume 3, book 28.
HASTATI.
See LEGION, ROMAN.
HASTENBACK, Battle of.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1757 (JULY-DECEMBER).
{1628}
HASTING, The Northman.
See Normans: A. D. 849-860.
HASTINGS, Marquis of (Lord Moira).
The Indian administration of.
See INDIA: A. D. 1805-1816.
HASTINGS, Warren:
His administration in India.
His impeachment and Trial.
See INDIA: A. D. 1773-1785; and 1785-1795.
HASTINGS, OR SENLAC, Battle of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1066 (OCTOBER).
HATFIELD CHASE.
A vast swamp in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 180,000
acres in extent, which was sold by the crown in the reign of
Charles I. to a Hollander who drained and reclaimed it. It had
been a forest in early times and was the scene of a great
battle between Penda, King of Mercia, and Edwin of
Northumberland.
J. C. Brown,
Forests of England,
part 1, chapter. 2, section 2.
HATRA.
"Hatra [in central Mesopotamia] became known as a place of
importance in the early part of the second century after
Christ. It successfully resisted Trajan in A. D. 116, and
Severus in A. D. 198. It is then described as a large and
populous city, defended by strong and extensive walls, and
containing within it a temple of the Sun, celebrated for the
great value of its offerings. It enjoyed its own kings at this
time, who were regarded as of Arabian stock, and were among
the more important of the Parthian tributary monarchs. By the
year A. D. 363 Hatra had gone to ruin, and is then described
as 'long since deserted.' Its flourishing period thus belongs
to the space between A. D. 100 and A. D. 300." The ruins of
Hatra, now called El-Hadhr, were "visited by Mr. Layard in
1846, and described at length by Mr. Ross in the ninth volume
of the 'Journal of the Royal Geographical Society,' as well as
by Mr. Fergusson, in his 'History of Architecture.'"
G. Rawlinson,
Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy,
chapter 22.
HATS AND CAPS, Parties of the.
See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1720-1792.
HATTERAS EXPEDITION, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1861 (AUGUST: NORTH CAROLINA).
HATUNTAQUI, Battle of.
See ECUADOR: THE ABORIGINAL KINGDOM.
HAVANA.
See CUBA: A. D.1514-1851.
HAVELOCK'S CAMPAIGN IN INDIA.
See INDIA: A. D. 1857-1858.
HAVRE: A. D. 1563-1564.
Occupation by the English.
Siege and recovery by the French.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1563-1564.
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, The.
The Hawaiian or Sandwich Archipelago, in the North Pacific
ocean, "consists of the seven large and inhabited volcanic
islands of Oahu, Kauai, Niihau, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, and
Hawaii, and the four bare and rocky islets of Kaula, Lehua,
Kahoolawe, and Molokini, with a total area of 8,000 square
miles, and a population of scarcely more than 50,000 souls.
… The Kanakas, as the natives are called, are amongst the
finest and most intelligent races of the Pacific, and have
become thoroughly 'Europeanised,' or, perhaps rather,
'Americanised.' … The Hawaiians, like all other Polynesians,
are visibly decreasing in a constantly increasing ratio."
Stanford's Compendium of Geography: Australasia,
chapter 24.
"Gaetano discovered one of the Sandwich [Hawaiian] Islands in
1542; and, following him, Quiros found Tahiti and the New
Hebrides. Sea voyages in the Pacific multiplied, but that sea
long continued the exclusive theatre of the enterprises of the
Spaniards and Portuguese. … Native traditions refer to the
arrival of strangers a long time before Cook's appearance. In
the seventeenth century Spanish merchantmen were crossing the
Pacific, and might have refreshed at these islands. The
buccaneers, too, may have found the small harbour a convenient
place of concealment."
M. Hopkins,
Hawaii: The Past, Present and Future of the Island Kingdom,
pages 83, 87.
"It is about a century since His Majesty's ships 'Resolution'
and 'Adventure,' Captains Cook and Clerke, turned back from
Behring Strait after an unsuccessful attempt to discover the
North-West Passage. But the adventurers were destined to light
upon fairer lands than those which they had failed to find. On
the 18th of January, 1778, whilst sailing through the Pacific,
the look-out man reported land ahead, and in the evening they
anchored on the shores of that lovely group of twelve islands,
which they named in honour of the then First Lord of the
Admiralty—Lord Sandwich—better known to the satirists of his
day as 'Jemmy Tickler,' one of the greatest of statesmen and
most abandoned of men. The natives received the strangers
gladly; but on the 14th of February, 1779, in an altercation
consequent on the theft of a boat, Captain Cook was killed in
Kealakcakua or Karakakoa Bay, in the Island of Hawaii, or
Owhyhee, from which the official name of the country—the
kingdom of Hawaii—takes its name."
R. Brown,
The Countries of the World,
volume 4, page 22.
The several islands of the Hawaiian group were politically
independent of each other and ruled by different chiefs at the
time of Captain Cook's visit; but a few years later a chief
named Kaméhaméha, of remarkable qualities and capabilities,
succeeded to the sovereignty in the Island of Hawaii, and made
himself master in time of the whole group. Dying in 1819, he
left a consolidated kingdom to his son Liholiho, or Kaméhaméha
II., in whose reign "tabu" and idolatry were abolished and
Christian missionaries began their labors. The dynasty founded
by Kaméhaméha held the throne until 1872. In 1840 a
constitution was proclaimed, which created a legislative body,
composed of hereditary nobles and seven representatives
informally elected by the people. In 1842 the United States,
by an official letter from Daniel Webster, then Secretary of
State, "recognized the independence of the Hawaiian Kingdom,
and declared, 'as the sense of the government of the United
States, that the government of the Sandwich Islands ought to
be respected; that no power ought to take possession of the
islands, either as a conquest or for the purpose of
colonization; and that no power ought to seek for any undue
control over the existing government, or any exclusive
privileges or preferences in matters of commerce.'" The
following year, France and England formally recognized "the
existence in the Sandwich Islands of a government capable of
providing for the regularity of its relations with foreign
nations," and agreed "never to take possession, either
directly or under the title of a protectorate, or under any
other form, of any part of the territory of which they are
composed." In 1852 the constitution was revised. The
legislature, formerly sitting in one body, was now divided
into two houses and both enlarged.
{1629}
In 1864, however, King Kaméhaméha V. forced the adoption of a
new constitution which reversed this bicameral arrangement and
restored the single chamber. A double qualification of the
suffrage, by property and by education, was also introduced.
With the death of Kaméhaméha V., in 1872, his line ended. His
successor, Lunalilo, was elected by the legislature, and the
choice ratified by a popular vote. The reign of Lunalilo
lasted but two years. His successor, David Kalakaua, was
raised to the throne by election. In the year after his
accession, Kalakaua visited the United States, and soon
afterwards, in 1875, a treaty of reciprocity between the two
countries was negotiated. This was renewed and enlarged in
1887. In 1881 the King made a tour of the world. In the fall
of 1890 he came to California for his health; in January,
1891, he died at San Francisco. His sister, Liliuokulani,
widow of an American resident, succeeded him.
W. D. Alexander,
Brief History of the Hawaiian People.
In 1887 a new constitution had been adopted. "This new
constitution was not framed by the king but by the people
through their own appointed citizens and members of the
courts. The legislative powers of the crown which had been
abridged by the constitution of 1864 were now entirely removed
and vested in the representatives of the people. By this the
crown became an executive. In addition to this provision there
was one making the ministry a responsible body and depriving
the king of the right to nominate members of the house of
nobles. … The legislature consists of a House of Nobles
composed of twenty-four members, who are elected for a term of
six years, and a House of Representatives consisting of from
twenty-four to forty-two members elected for two years. The
Houses sit in joint session. In addition to these public
officers there is a cabinet composed of four ministers
appointed by the sovereign holding executive power and who may
be removed upon sufficient cause by the legislature. Such was
the form of government in vogue up to the time of the recent
revolution which has excited the interest of the American
government. On the 15th of January (1893) … Queen
Liliuokalani made the attempt to promulgate a new
constitution, obviously for the purpose of increasing her
power in the government. It has been hinted that the queen
desired to benefit in a pecuniary way by granting concessions
for the establishment of a lottery, and the importation of
opium into the kingdom, both of which had until a year ago
been prohibited. It is best, however, to adhere to fact. The
queen desired more power. This new constitution, as framed by
her, deprived foreigners of the right of franchise, abrogated
the House of Nobles, and gave to the queen herself the power
to appoint a new House. This blow aimed directly at the
foreigners, who are the largest property holders in the
kingdom, stirred them to prompt action. The queen's own
ministry were unsuccessful in their efforts to dissuade her
from the attempt to put the new constitution into effect. The
resolve was not to be shaken, however, and her determination
to carry out her plan incited the people, chiefly the
foreigners, to oppose the measure. The outcome was a
revolution in which not a single life was sacrificed."
A. A. Black,
The Hawaiian Islands
(Chautauquan, April, 1893, pages 54-57).
A provisional government set up by the revolutionists was
immediately recognized by the United States Minister, Mr.
Stevens, and commissioners were sent to Washington to apply
for the annexation of the islands to the United States. On the
16th of February, 1893, the President of the United States,
Mr. Harrison, sent a message to the Senate, submitting an
annexation treaty and recommending its ratification. Meantime,
at Honolulu, on the 9th of February, the United States
Minister, acting without instructions, had established a
protectorate over the Hawaiian Islands, in the name of the
United States. On the 4th of March, a change in the Presidency
of the United States occurred, Mr. Cleveland succeeding Mr.
Harrison. One of the earliest acts of President Cleveland was
to send a message to the Senate, withdrawing the annexation
treaty of his predecessor. A commissioner, Mr. Blount, was
then sent to the Hawaiian Islands to examine and report upon
the circumstances attending the change of government. On the
18th of the following December the report of Commissioner
Blount was sent to Congress, with an accompanying message from
the President, in which latter paper the facts set forth by
the Commissioner, and the conclusions reached and action taken
by the United States Government, were summarized partly as
follows: "On Saturday, January 14, 1893, the Queen of Hawaii,
who had been contemplating the proclamation of a new
constitution, had, in deference to the wishes and
remonstrances of her Cabinet, renounced it for the present at
least. Taking this relinquished purpose as a basis of action,
citizens of Honolulu, numbering from fifty to one hundred,
mostly resident aliens, met in a private room and selected a
so-culled committee of safety composed of thirteen persons,
nine of whom were foreign subjects, and composed of seven
Americans, one Englishman, and one German. This committee,
though its designs were not revealed, had in view nothing less
than annexation to the United States, and between Saturday,
the 14th, and the following Sunday, the 18th of
January—though exactly what action was taken may never be
revealed—they were certainly in communication with the United
States Minister. On Monday morning the Queen and her Cabinet
made public proclamation, with a notice which was specially
served upon the representatives of all foreign governments,
that any changes in the constitution would be sought only in
the methods provided by that instrument. Nevertheless, at the
call and under the auspices of the committee of safety, a mass
meeting of citizens was held on that day to protest against
the Queen's alleged illegal and unlawful proceedings and
purpose. Even at this meeting the committee of safety
continued to disguise their real purpose and contented
themselves with procuring the passage of a resolution
denouncing the Queen and empowering the committee to devise
ways and means 'to secure the permanent maintenance of law and
order and the protection of life, liberty, and property in
Hawaii.' This meeting adjourned between 3 and 4 o'clock in the
afternoon. On the same day, and immediately after such
adjournment, the committee, unwilling to take further steps
without the co-operation of the United States Minister,
addressed him a note representing that the public safety was
menaced and that lives and property were in danger, and
concluded as follows: 'We are unable to protect ourselves
without aid, and therefore pray for the protection of the
United States forces.'
{1630}
Whatever may be thought of the other contents of this note,
the absolute truth of this latter statement is incontestable.
When the note was written and delivered, the committee, so far
as it appears, had neither a man nor a gun at their command,
and after its delivery they became so panic-stricken at their
position that they sent some of their number to interview the
Minister and request him not to land the United States forces
till the next morning, but he replied the troops had been
ordered and whether the committee were ready or not the
landing should take place. And so it happened that on the 16th
day of January, 1893, between 4 and 5 o'clock in the
afternoon, a detachment of marines from the United States
steamship Boston, with two pieces of artillery, landed at
Honolulu. The men, upwards of one hundred and sixty in all,
were supplied with double cartridge belts, filled with
ammunition, and with haversacks and canteens, and were
accompanied by a hospital corps with stretchers and medical
supplies. This military demonstration upon the soil of
Honolulu was of itself an act of war, unless made either with
the consent of the Government of Hawaii or for the bona fide
purpose of protecting the imperilled lives and property of the
citizens of the United States. But there is no pretense of any
such consent on the part of the Government of Hawaii, which at
that time was undisputed, and was both the de facto and the de
jure Government. In point of fact the Government, instead of
requesting the presence of an armed force, protested against
it. There is little basis for the pretense that such forces
landed for the security of American life and property. …
When these armed men were landed the city of Honolulu was in
its customary orderly and peaceful condition. There was no
symptom of riot or disturbance in any quarter. … Thus it
appears that Hawaii was taken possession of by the United
States forces without the consent or wish of the Government of
the Islands, or anybody else so far as known, except the
United States Minister. Therefore, the military occupation of
Honolulu by the United States on the day mentioned was wholly
without satisfaction, either as an occupation by consent or as
an occupation necessitated by dangers threatening American
life and property. It must be accounted for in some other way
and on some other ground, and its real motive and purpose are
neither obscure nor far to seek. The United States forces
being now on the scene and favorably stationed, the committee
proceeded to carry out their original scheme. They met the
next morning, Tuesday, the 17th, perfected the plan of
temporary government and fixed upon its principal officers,
who were drawn from 13 members of the committee of safety.
Between 1 and 2 o'clock, by squads and by different routes to
avoid notice, and having first taken the precaution of
ascertaining whether there was anyone there to oppose them,
they proceeded to the Government building to proclaim the new
Government. No sign of opposition was manifest, and thereupon
an American citizen began to read the proclamation from the
steps of the Government Building almost entirely without
auditors. It is said that before the reading was finished
quite a concourse of persons, variously estimated at from 50
to 100, some armed and some unarmed, gathered about the
committee to give them aid and confidence. This statement is
not important, since the one controlling factor in the whole
affair was unquestionably the United States marines, who,
drawn up under arms with artillery in readiness only 76 yards
distant, dominated the situation. The Provisional Government
thus proclaimed was by the terms of the proclamation 'to exist
until terms of the Union with the United States had been
negotiated and agreed upon.' The United States Minister,
pursuant to prior agreement, recognized this Government within
an hour after the reading of the proclamation, and before 5
o'clock, in answer to an inquiry on behalf of the Queen and
her Cabinet, announced that he had done so. … Some hours
after the recognition of the Provisional Government by the
United States Minister, the barracks and the police station,
with all the military resources of the country, were delivered
up by the Queen upon the representation made to her that her
cause would thereafter be reviewed at Washington, and while
protesting that she surrendered to the superior force of the
United States, whose Minister had caused United States troops
to be landed at Honolulu and declared that he would support
the Provisional Government, and that she yielded her authority
to prevent collision of armed forces and loss of life, and
only until such time as the United States, upon the facts
being presented to it, should undo the action of its
representative and reinstate her in the authority she claimed
as the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands. This
protest was delivered to the chief of the Provisional
Government, who indorsed it in his acknowledgment of its
receipt. … As I apprehend the situation, we are brought face
to face with the fact that the lawful government of Hawaii was
overthrown without the drawing of a sword or the firing of a
shot, by a process every step of which, it may safely be
asserted, is directly traceable to and dependent for its
success upon the agency of the United States acting through
its diplomatic and naval representatives. … Believing,
therefore, that the United States could not, under the
circumstances disclosed, annex the islands without justly
incurring the imputation of acquiring them by unjustifiable
methods, I shall not again submit the treaty of annexation to
the Senate for its consideration, and in the instructions to
Minister Willis, a copy of which accompanies this message, I
have directed him to so inform the Provisional Government. But
in the present instance our duty does not, in my opinion, end
with refusing to consummate this questionable transaction. …
I mistake the American people if they favor the odious
doctrine that there is no such thing as international
morality; that there is one law for a strong nation and
another for a weak one; and that even by indirection a strong
power may, with impunity, despoil a weak one of its territory.
… The Queen surrendered, not to the Provisional Government,
but to the United States. She surrendered not absolutely and
permanently, but temporarily and conditionally until such
facts could be considered by the United States. …
{1631}
In view of the fact that both the Queen and the Provisional
Government had at one time apparently acquiesced in a
reference of the entire case to the United States Government,
and considering the further fact that, in any event, the
Provisional Government, by its own declared limitation, was
only 'to exist until terms of union with the United States of
America have been negotiated and agreed upon,' I hoped that
after the assurance to the members of that Government that
such union could not be consummated, I might compass a
peaceful adjustment of the difficulty. Actuated by these
desires and purposes, and not unmindful of the inherent
perplexities of the situation nor limitations upon my part, I
instructed Mr. Willis to advise the Queen and her supporters
of my desire to aid in the restoration of the status existing
before the lawless landing of the United States forces at
Honolulu on the 17th of January last, if such restoration
could be effected upon terms providing for clemency as well as
justice to all parties concerned. The conditions suggested
contemplated a general amnesty to those concerned in setting
up the Provisional Government and a recognition of all the
bona fide acts and obligations. In short, they require that
the past should be buried, and that the restored Government
should reassume its authority as if its continuity had not
been interrupted. These conditions have not proved acceptable
to the Queen, and though she has been informed that they will
be insisted upon, and that unless acceded to the effort of the
President to aid in the restoration of her Government will
cease, I have not thus far learned that she is willing to
yield them her acquiescence." The refusal of the Queen to
consent to a general amnesty forbade further thought of her
restoration; while the project of annexation to the United
States was extinguished for the time by the just action of
President Cleveland, sustained by the Senate. The unauthorized
protectorate assumed by Minister Stevens having been
withdrawn, the Provisional government remains (March, 1894) in
control of the Government of the Hawaiian Islands, and a
republican constitution is said to be in preparation.
HAWKINS' FIRST THREE VOYAGES.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1562-1567.
HAWKWOOD, Sir John, The Free Company of.
See ITALY: A. D. 1343-1393.
HAWLEY, Jesse, and the origin of the Erie Canal.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1817-1825.
HAYES, General Rutherford B.,
Presidential election and administration.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1876-1877, to 1881.
HAYNE AND WEBSTER DEBATE, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1828-1833.
----------HAYTI: Start--------
HAYTI, HAITI, OR SAN DOMINGO (Originally called Hispaniola):
Its names.
Its beauty.
"Columbus called the island Hispaniola, and it has also been
called St. Domingo from the city of that name on its
southeastern coast; but Hayti or Haiti (the mountainous
country) was its original Carrib name. The French bestowed
upon it the deserved name of 'la Reine des Antilles.' All
descriptions of its magnificence and beauty, even those of
'Washington Irving in his history of Columbus, fall far short
of the reality. It seems beyond the power of language to
exaggerate its beauties, its productiveness, the loveliness of
its climate, and its desirableness as an abode for man.
Columbus labored hard to prove to Isabella that he had found
here the original garden of Eden."
W. H. Pearson,
Hayti and the Haitians
(Putnam's Monthly Magazine, January, 1854).
HAYTI: A. D. 1492-1505.
Discovery and occupation by Columbus.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1492; 1493-1496; and 1498-1505.
HAYTI: A. D. 1499-1542.
The enslavement of the natives.
System of Repartimentos and Encomiendas.
Introduction of negro slavery.
Humane and reforming labors of Las Casas.
See SLAVERY, MODERN: OF THE INDIANS,
and SLAVERY, NEGRO: ITS BEGINNINGS.
HAYTI: A. D. 1632-1803.
Partly possessed France and partly by Spain.
Revolt of the Slaves and rise of Toussaint L'Ouverture to power.
Extinction of Slavery.
Treachery of the French.
Independence of the island acquired.
"About 1632 the French took possession of the western shore,
and increased so rapidly that the Spaniards found it
impossible to drive them out; and the footing they had gained
was recognized by the Treaty of Ryswick, in 1697, when the
western portion of Haiti was confirmed to France. The latter
nation was fully conscious of the importance of the new
acquirement, and under French rule it became of great value,
supplying almost all Europe with cotton and sugar. But the
larger eastern portion of the island, which still belonged to
Spain, had no share in this progress, remaining much in the
same condition as formerly; and thus matters stood—a sluggish
community side by side with a thriving one—when the French
Revolution broke out, and plunged the island into a state of
ferment. In 1790 the population of the western colony
consisted of half a million, of which number 38,360 were of
European origin, 28,370 free people of colour, and the whole
of the remainder negro slaves. The government of the island
excluded the free people of colour—mostly mulattoes—from
all political privileges, although they were in many cases
well-educated men, and themselves the owners of large estates.
… On the 15th May, 1790, the French National Assembly passed
a decree declaring that people of colour, born of free
parents, were entitled to all the privileges of French
citizens. When this news reached the colony, it set the
inhabitants in a perfect frenzy, the mulattoes manifesting an
unbounded joy, whilst the whites boiled at the indignity their
class had sustained. The representations of the latter caused
the governor to delay the operation of the decree until the
home government could be communicated with—a measure that
aroused the greatest indignation amongst the mulattoes, and
civil war appeared inevitable, when a third and wholly
unexpected party stepped into the arena. The slaves rose in
insurrection on August 23rd, 1791, marching with the body of a
white infant on a spear-head as a standard, and murdering all
Europeans indiscriminately. In the utmost consternation the
whites conceded the required terms to the mulattoes, and,
together with the help of the military, the rising was
suppressed, and there seemed a prospect of peace, when the
Assembly at Paris repealed the decree of the 15th May. The
mulattoes now flew to arms, and for several years a terrible
struggle was sustained, the horrors of which were augmented by
vindictive ferocity on both sides. Commissioners sent from
France could effect no settlement, for the camp of the whites
was divided into two hostile sections, royalist and
republican.
{1632}
The English and Spaniards both descended on the island, and
the blacks, under able chiefs, held impregnable positions in
the mountains. Apprehensive of a British invasion in force,
the Commissioners, finding they could not conquer the blacks,
resolved on conciliating them; and in August, 1793, universal
freedom was proclaimed—a measure ratified by the National
Convention early in the following year. Meanwhile the English
had taken Port-au-Prince, and were besieging the French
governor in Port de la Paix, when the blacks, relying on the
recent proclamation, came to his assistance, under the command
of Toussaint L'Ouverture, and effected his release. …
François Dominique Toussaint, a negro of pure blood, a slave
and the offspring of slaves, was born in 1743, and on
attaining manhood was first employed as a coachman, and
afterwards held a post of trust in connexion with the sugar
manufactory of the estate to which he belonged. The overseer
having taken a fancy to him, he was taught to read and write,
and even picked up some slight knowledge of Latin and
mathematics." He was slow to join the rising of the blacks;
"but at length, after having secured the escape of his master
and family, he joined the negro army in a medical capacity,"
but quickly rose to leadership. "At first the blacks fought
with the Spaniards against the French;" but Toussaint came to
the conclusion that they had more to hope from the French, and
persuaded his followers to march to the relief of the French
governor, Levaux. When the latter heard that Toussaint had won
the blacks to this alliance, he exclaimed, "'Mais cet homme
fait ouverture partout,' and from that day the black
commander-in-chief received the surname of L'Ouverture, by
which he is best known in history. Acting with wonderful
energy, Toussaint effected a junction with Levaux, drove the
English from their positions, took 28 Spanish batteries in
four days, and finally the British abandoned the island,
whilst the Spaniards [1797] gave up all claim to its western
end. Toussaint L'Ouverture—now holding the position of
commander-in-chief, but virtually dictator—succeeded with
great skill in combining all the hostile elements of the
colony. Peace was restored, commerce and agriculture revived,
the whites were encouraged to reclaim their estates, and by a
variety of prudent and temperate measures Toussaint showed the
remarkable administrative abilities that he possessed. At this
stage he assumed great state in public, being always guarded
by a chosen body of 1,500 men in brilliant uniform, but in
private life he was frugal and moderate. In the administration
of affairs he was assisted by a council of nine, of whom eight
were white planters. This body drew up a Constitution by which
L'Ouverture was named president for life, and free trade
established. The draft of this constitution, together with an
autograph letter, he forwarded to Bonaparte; but the First
Consul had no toleration for fellow-upstarts, and replied, 'He
is a revolted slave whom we must punish; the honour of France
is outraged.' At this time the whole island of Haiti was under
Toussaint's sway. As some excuse for Bonaparte it must be
acknowledged that Toussaint undoubtedly contemplated
independence. … Anxious to divest his new presidency of even
nominal subjection to France, he declared the independence of
the island, with himself as supreme chief, in July 1801. Most
unfortunately for the Haitian general, hostilities had for the
moment ceased between Great Britain and France, and the First
Consul was enabled to bestow his close attention on the former
French colony. Determined to repossess it, Bonaparte sent out
an army of 30,000 men, with 66 ships of war, under the command
of his brother-in-law General Leclerc. … During Toussaint's
presidency he had abolished slavery, the negroes still working
the plantations, but as free men, and under the name of
'cultivators.' … Leclerc now endeavoured by proclamations to
turn the cultivators against their chief, and also laboured to
sow dissension in the ranks of the black army, by making the
officers tempting offers, which they too often believed in and
accepted. For months a bloody war raged, in which great
cruelties were inflicted; but the discipline of the French was
slowly telling in their favour, when Leclerc made a political
blunder that destroyed the advantages he had gained. Thinking
that all obstacles were overcome, he threw off the mask, and
boldly declared the real object of the expedition—the
re-enslavement of the negro population. This news fell like a
thunderbolt amongst the blacks, who rallied round Toussaint in
thousands." Alarmed at the effect, Leclerc recalled his
proclamation, acknowledged it to be an error, and promised the
summoning of an assembly representative of all races alike.
"This specious programme won over Cristophe, Dessalines, and
other negro generals; and finally, on receiving solemn
assurances from Leclerc, Toussaint accepted his offers, and
peace was concluded." Soon afterwards, by an act of the
blackest treachery, the negro statesman and soldier was lured
into the hands of his mean enemy, and sent, a prisoner, to
France. Confined, without trial, or any hearing, in the
dungeons of the Château Joux, in the department of Doubs, he
was there allowed to pine away, without warm clothing and
with insufficient food. … Finally the governor of the prison
went away for four days, leaving his captive without food or
drink. On his return Toussaint was dead, and the rats had
gnawed his feet. It was given out that apoplexy was the cause
of death. … This breach of faith on the part of the French
aroused the fury and indignation of the blacks. … Under
Dessalines, Cristophe, Clerveaux, and others, the fires of
insurrection blazed out afresh." At the same time yellow fever
raged and Leclerc was among the victims. General Rochambeau,
who succeeded him, continued the war with unmeasured
barbarity, but also with continued defeat and discouragement,
until he was driven, in 1803, to surrender, and "the power of
the French was lost on the island."
C. H. Eden,
The West Indies,
chapter 13.
Toussaint L'Ouverture: A Biography.
(by J. R. Beard) and an Autobiography.
ALSO IN:
H. Martineau,
The Hour and the Man.
J. Brown,
History of St. Domingo.
H. Adams,
Historical Essays,
chapter 4.
HAYTI: A. D. 1639-1700.
The Buccaneers.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1639-1700.
{1633}
HAYTI: A. D. 1804-1880.
Massacre of whites.
The Empire of Dessalines.
The kingdom of Christophe.
The Republic of Pétion and Boyer.
Separation of the independent Republic of San Domingo.
The Empire of Soulouque.
The restored Republic of Hayti.
"In the beginning of 1804 the independence of the negroes
under Dessalines was sufficiently assured: but they were not
satisfied until they had completed a general massacre of
nearly the whole of the whites, including aged men, women and
children, who remained in the island, numbering, according to
the lowest estimate, 2,500 souls. Thus did Dessalines, in his
own savage words, render war for war, crime for crime, and
outrage for outrage, to the European cannibals who had so long
preyed upon his unhappy race. The negroes declared Dessalines
Emperor: and in October 1804 he was crowned at Port-au-Prince
by the title of James I. Dessalines was at once a brave man
and a cruel and avaricious tyrant. He acquired great influence
over the negroes, who long remembered him with affectionate
regret: but he was not warmly supported by the mulattoes, who
were by far the most intelligent of the Haytians. He abolished
the militia, and set up a standing army of 40,000 men, whom he
found himself unable to pay, from the universal ruin which had
overtaken the island. The plantation labourers refused to
work. … Dessalines authorised the landowners to flog them.
Dessalines was himself a large planter: he had 32 large
plantations of his own at work, and he forced his labourers to
work on them at the point of the bayonet. Both he and his
successor, Christophe, like Mahomed Ali in Egypt, grew rich by
being the chief merchants in their own dominions. … He
failed in an expedition against St. Domingo, the Spanish part
of the island, whence the French general Ferrand still
threatened him: and at length some sanguinary acts of tyranny
roused against him an insurrection headed by his old comrade
Christophe. The insurgents marched on Port-au-Prince, and the
first black Emperor was shot by an ambuscade at the Pont Rouge
outside the town. The death of Dessalines delivered up Hayti
once more to the horrors of civil war. The negroes and
mulattoes, who had joined cordially enough to exterminate
their common enemies, would no longer hold together; and ever
since the death of Dessalines their jealousies and differences
have been a source of weakness in the black republic. In the
old times, Hayti, as the French part of the island of Española
was henceforth called, had been divided into three provinces:
South, East, and North. After the death of Dessalines each of
these provinces became for a time a separate state. Christophe
wished to maintain the unlimited imperialism which Dessalines
had set up: but the Constituent Assembly, which he summoned at
Port-au-Prince in 1806, had other views. They resolved upon a
Republican constitution." Christophe, not contented with the
offered presidency, "collected an army with the view of
dispersing the Constituent Assembly: but they collected one of
their own, under Pétion, and forced him to retire from the
capital. Christophe maintained himself in Cap François, or, as
it is now called, Cap Haytien; and here he ruled for 14 years.
In 1811, despising the imperial title which Dessalines had
desecrated, he took the royal style by the name of Henry I.
Christophe, as a man, was nearly as great a monster as
Dessalines. … Yet Christophe at his best was a man capable
of great aims, and a sagacious and energetic ruler." In 1820,
finding himself deserted in the face of a mulatto
insurrection, he committed suicide. "In a month or two after
Christophe's suicide the whole island was united under the
rule of President Boyer." Boyer was the successor of Pétion,
who had been elected in the North, under the republican
constitution which Christophe refused submission to. Pétion,
"a mulatto of the best type," educated at the military academy
of Paris, and full of European ideas, had ruled the province
which he controlled ably and well for eleven years. In
discouragement he then took his own life, and was succeeded,
in 1818, by his lieutenant, Jean Pierre Boyer, a mulatto. "On
the suicide of Christophe, the army of the Northern Province,
weary of the tyranny of one of their own race, declared for
Boyer. The French part of the island was now once more under a
single government: and Boyer turned his attention to the much
larger Spanish territory, with the old capital of St. Domingo,
where a Spaniard named Muñez de Caceres, with the aid of the
negroes, had now followed the example in the West, and
proclaimed an independent government. The Dominicans, however,
were still afraid of Spain, and were glad to put themselves
under the wing of Hayti: Boyer was not unwilling to take
possession of the Spanish colony, and thus it happened that in
1822 he united the whole island under his Presidency. In the
same year he was elected President for life under the
constitution of Pétion, whose general policy he maintained:
but his government, especially in his later years, was almost
as despotic as that of Christophe. Boyer was the first Haytian
who united the blacks and mulattoes under his rule. It was
mainly through confidence in him that the government of Hayti
won the recognition of the European powers. … In 1825 its
independence was formally recognised by France, on a
compensation of 150,000,000 of francs being guaranteed to the
exiled planters and to the home government. This vast sum was
afterwards reduced: but it still weighed heavily on the
impoverished state, and the discontents which the necessary
taxation produced led to Boyer's downfall," in 1843, when he
withdrew to Jamaica, and afterwards to Paris, where he died in
1850. A singular state of affairs ensued. The eastern, or
Spanish, part of the island resumed its independence (1844),
under a republican constitution resembling that of Venezuela,
and with Pedro Santana for its President, and has been known
since that time as the Republic of San Domingo, or the
Dominican Republic. In the Western, or Haytian Republic, large
numbers of the negroes, "under the names of Piquets and
Zinglins, now formed themselves into armed bands, and sought
to obtain a general division of property under some
communistic monarch of their own race. The mulatto officials
now cajoled the poor negroes by bribing some old negro, whose
name was well known to the mass of the people as one of the
heroes of the war of liberty, to allow himself to be set up as
President. The Boyerists, as the mulatto oligarchy were
called, thus succeeded in re-establishing their power," and
their system (for describing which the word "gerontocracy" has
been invented) was carried on for some years, until it
resulted, in 1847, in the election to the Presidency of
General Faustin Soulouque. "Soulouque was an illiterate negro
whose recommendations to power were that he was old enough to
have taken part in the War of Independence, having been a
lieutenant under Pétion, and that he was popular with the
negroes, being devotedly attached to the strange mixture of
freemasonry and fetish worship by which the Haytian blacks
maintain their political organisation."
{1634}
The new President took his elevation more seriously than was
expected, and proved to be more than a match for the mulattoes
who thought to make him their puppet. He gathered the reins
into his own hands, and crushed the mulattoes at
Port-au-Prince by a general massacre. He then "caused himself
to be proclaimed Emperor, by the title of Faustinus the First
(1849)," and established a grotesque imperial court, with a
fantastic nobility, in which a Duke de Lemonade figured by the
side of a Prince Tape-à-l'œil. This lasted until December
1858, when Soulouque was dethroned and sent out of the
country, to take refuge in Jamaica, and the republic was
restored, with Fabre Nicholas Geffrard, a mulatto general, at
its head. Geffrard held the Presidency for eight years, when
he followed his predecessor into exile in Jamaica, and was
succeeded by General Salnave, a negro, who tried to
re-establish the Empire and was shot, 1869. Since that time
revolutions have been frequent and nothing has been constant
except the disorder and decline of the country. Meantime, the
Dominican Republic has suffered scarcely less, from its own
disorders and the attacks of its Haytian neighbors. In 1861 it
was surrendered by a provisional government to Spain, but
recovered independence three years later. Soon afterwards one
of its parties sought annexation to the United States, and in
1869 the President of the latter republic, General Grant,
concluded a treaty with the Dominican government for the
cession of the peninsula of Samana, and for the placing of San
Domingo under American protection. But the Senate of the
United States refused to ratify the treaty.
E. J. Payne,
History of European Colonies,
chapter 15.
ALSO IN:
Sir S. St. John,
Hayti, or the Black Republic,
chapter 3.
----------HAYTI: End--------