Haiti and the horrible Henri Christophe

Haiti has been much in the news lately, another thorn in the side, for the United States to endure, and this problem is right in our own back yard. U.S. Marines were called in to keep order after the Haitian President/Dictator was de-posed in February 2004.

This has not been the first time that the U.S. has become involved in Haitian affairs. In 1935 a contingent of Marines was called upon to quell uprisings in the country. One of my boyhood heroes had been a Marine in 1935 and used to hold court at the grocery store where he worked, as he delighted my friends and me with stories about his adventures with the Marines in Haiti and China in the days before World War II.

As a matter of record, Haiti has always been close to disaster. Haiti and the United States became sovereign nations about the same time. The United States overthrew the English, as Haiti overthrew the French.

But while the United States flourished under a democratic rule, Haiti has suffered under a series of dictators.

Some say it is a "failed state." Even Haiti's try at democracy has not been successful. Francois Aristide was the first elected ruler of Haiti when he took office in 1990.

He was deposed, then restored to government by the United Nations, then deposed again in 2004. His elections were tainted, and his government was perceived as being corrupt.

So, it must be said, in the last 230 years Haiti has not progressed very far. At present it is one of the poorest countries in the world. The life expectancy in Haiti is 50 years, one of the lowest in the world. There have been some noble efforts of Humanitarianism on Haiti's behalf, no-tably some spearheaded by Neb-raskans, but these programs have been discontinued. The danger to personnel is just too great.

The island of Hispaņola, located between Cuba and Puerto Rico, in the Caribbean Sea was one of the first landing spots (some say the very first) for Columbus, on his first trip to America in 1492. The island is divided between two countries, The Domini-can Republic on the east side, with its beautiful beaches, and Haiti, on the west side. The name, Haiti, means "high hills." It is an apt name. Those hills are really mountains.

When Columbus and his men landed in Haiti they were met by the Arawak Indians, who greeted the Spanish adventurers warmly.

Before long, however, that cordial relationship changed. When Columbus and his crew discovered gold on the eastern side of the island, they pressed the Arawaks into mining their gold. The promise of fortunes of gold soon brought Spanish settlers to the island who mined the gold and began plantations, all on the backs of the Arawak Indians. Within 30 years they had all but abandoned the western side of the island, and virtually eliminated the Arawaks. Pirates took over what is now Haiti and preyed on the gold laden Spanish ships going back to Europe.

To replace the Indian workers, the Spanish began to import slaves from Africa to work their mines and fields. When the gold and silver mines began to fail most of the Spanish settlers moved on to more prosperous lands, in Peru and Mexico. Though the Spanish tried to drive the pirates out of Haiti, they had little success, and by 1630 they ceded their rights to the French.

Under the French, Haiti bloomed as a French colony. By 1785 Haiti was one of the richest countries in the world, with thousands of sugar and coffee plantations. Cape Haitien, the principal city on the northwest coast, rarely saw less than 100 ships in the harbor, compared to New York, which at the same time, was of secondary importance.

Merchants, doing business in Haiti, were astonished at the richness of the social life of the French planters. Imports from Paris -- the finest money could buy, were on display in the chateaus. All of this was made possible by a half million African slaves.

In 1802, the Haitian slaves, headed by an illiterate dishwasher turned general, Henri Christophe, rose up against the French, who represented the might of Napoleon, with his navy and army. After three years of vicious fighting, 50,000 French soldiers lay dead from fighting and disease. Napoleon had had enough. He pulled his troops out of Haiti, leaving scarcely a white man alive on the island.

With the withdrawal of the French, Christophe's ambitions soared. He declared himself King Henry I. He knew nothing of politics, or science, but instinctively saw that his followers must be ruled with an iron hand in order to maintain their victory.

He forced his subjects to obey, with lash and bayonet, in ways that would make the despots of a later time, Stalin and Hitler, appear weak. Laggards were shot. No one escaped his wrath and iron rule.

But he also set about to instill pride in his people, by building palaces and fortresses for himself, as a representative Haitian, that would rival Versailles in France. His residence, Sans Souci, contained 50 opulent rooms, approached with a double staircase, where sentries stood guard. The gardens shown with royal splendor.

He emulated the French monarchy by creating a royal court, with princes, barons, and ladies in waiting for his Queen, Marie-Louise. Eu-rope never saw such fancy, and colorful uniforms. Christophe's health was guarded by a doctor from Scotland.

Two American ladies came from Philadelphia to teach his daughters, the Princesses, Amethyste and Athenaire the social graces.

Next, he set about to make an impregnable fortress on the summit of a mountain, 3000 feet above San Souci, which he envisioned as invulnerable to attack, something that whites, the French and Americans, would admire and respect, and fear.

Christophe attacked this project as warfare. 30,000 people, men and women, were driven to work on the walls of the citadel.

The ascending and descending slaves made two continuous line, each six miles long, as they dragged bricks, cannon balls, barrels of lime, cannons and gunpowder to the summit. Christophe was obsessed with the fort. Eight years of continuous work on the fortress passed, 20,000 workers perished.

He even pressed his ministers and generals to work on the walls like ordinary slaves.

In spite of his tyranny, Christophe considered himself a devout Christian, and attended Church daily. Early one morning, in 1820, while at Mass, he thought he saw the ghost of a priest that he had executed, standing before him. Horrified, he fell gasping to the floor, half of his body paralyzed with a stroke.

The news of Christophe's fall spread like wildfire throughout the land. Mobs of cheering, vengeful subjects descended on the gates of San Souci. Christophe knew from experience that these mobs could, and would, tear their victims apart. Rather than have that happen Christophe took out his favorite weapon, a silver-mounted pistol, given to him by an English Admiral. He fired one bullet straight into his heart. His wife, daughters, and one loyal servant escaped, one step ahead of the angry mob, with Christophe's body, to the Citadel, where they buried him in a huge vat of liquid lime.

Today, San Souci lies in ruins, the Citadel is unused, overgrown with vines, just a memory of the first, and perhaps the most unusual, of a long line of Haitian dictators.

Source: Seven League Boots, by Richard Hallibur-ton