Basic HTML Version
world- to help, to serve, to heal
and to rule.
Now it is your turn. " Have
thou authority over ten cities,"
He had said (Luke 19: 17). That
could be quite a large piece of
territory- a small nation even–
maybe severa! million people.
And they will be looking to you
for help, guidance and leadership.
The years of wrong living have
taken their toll. Your people are
illiterate, sick and ignorant of
sorne of the most basic knowledge
of health, diet and san itation.
Their land is worn out, the econo–
my is a shambles. Frightened,
beaten and discouraged- all they
know is that there
has
to be a
better way- and that
you
repre–
sent it.
How will you start? What
decisions must be made?
Now lct's stop pretending, be–
cause we are dealing with real–
ity.
Christ has promised a utopía,
but not an instant one. A new
world will be built from the rub–
ble of the old. God, in His Work,
does not do for man what man
can do for himself. T he millennial
utopía will be built by human
beings, working under the guid–
ance and direction of the ruling
Kingdom of God.
So let's take a look at what may
be needed to heal a nation. We
will look at the problems of just
one nation today-the Caribbean
nation of Haiti. We will be realis–
tic, but at the same time con–
s tructive and compassionate.
Anyone can be critical, but not
every problem a country has is
always its own fault. Often people
are victims of circumstances not
of their own making. This is par–
ticularly true in the case of Hai–
tí.
The people of Haiti have bat–
tled almost as long as the people
of the United States to build a
nation. In 1804 they declared
their independence · from their
colonial masters, and became the
second free nation of the Western
hemisphere. But after nearly 200
years, they remain one of the
poorest countries in the world.
Why?
To understand, we must first
24
review briefly Haiti 's histo–
ry.
Fro m Riches T o Rags
Christopher Columbus discov–
ered Haiti in 1492. When he fi rst
saw the forest-clad mountains,
the fertile lowlands, the abun–
dance of fruit and minerals, he
wrote, "1 have found paradise."
The Spanish returned the next
year to colonize. The native Ara–
wak l ndians welcomed the con–
quistadors. They saw them as
all ies against their .enemies, the
Caribs, a can nibaJ tribe from
whom the Caribbean sea takes its
name.
But the Spanish had other
ideas. T hey enslaved both Ara–
wak and Carib to work the mines
and plantations that they soon
established. Within 40 years, the
Indian population had almost dis–
appeared- victims of sic kness
and forced labor.
So began the slave trade. In the
next 300 years, countless thou–
sands of slaves from West Africa
were brought to work in Haití.
The Spanish gave up the colo–
ny to the French in 1697. "Saint
Domi ngue," as the French called
it , soon became the richest and
most profitable colony in the
18th-century world.
It
was re–
spons ib le for two thirds of
France's foreign trade. In the late
1700s, Saint Domingue was more
profitable to the French treasury
than were the entire 13 American
colonies to Britain. But it was at a
terrible cost.
While the merchants and plan–
tation owners became rich, the
slaves were condemned to life–
long forced labor. Thcy lived
without hope. The slightest hint
of res istance and rebellion was
met with savage and barbarie
punishment. Slavery, never pleas–
ant, was seen at its worst in Haití.
Then at the end of the 18th
century two events changed the
course of Haitian history.
In 1776, Britain's American
colonies declared independence.
Sixteen years later, in France, the
peasants overthrew tbeir monar–
chy and ruling classes, and de–
clared the French R epublic.
France's overseas colonies felt the
effect of the revolution. In Haití
the slaves moved against thc Hai–
tian aristocracy. A brilliant ex–
slave named Toussai nt L'Ouver–
ture, led an army to victory,
restored sorne order and set up a
government modeled on revolu–
tionary France. This remarkable
man is rightly remembered as the
"George Washington of Hait i."
Toussaint had the vision of a free
Haití, working in harmony and
cooperation with the mother–
land.
But it was not to be.
Enter Nap o leon
Napoleo n Bonaparte carne to
power, and began to reestablish
the French Empire. He sent an
army of 40,000 to regain control
over the colonies. Toussaint was
arrested , and died later in jail.
Napoleon's forces had orders to
reimpose slavery. But the Hai–
tians had tasted freedom under
Toussaint and were determined
never again to become slaves.
After one of the most b,rutal
military campaigns in history,
with each side outdoing the other
in ferocity and atrocity, Napo–
leon's forces were defeated, and
in 1804, the Republic of Haití
was proclaimed.
Napoleon had originally in–
tended his army to subdue Haiti
and then sail on to New Orleans.
By having a force in the Missis–
sippi Delta he hoped to dissuade
the Americans from siding with
the British in the then current
wars. With the garrison force
occupied in Haiti instead, Napo–
leon had to resort to other tactics
to win Amer ican neutrality. His
officials offered to sell
a/l
French
possessions south of the Canadian
border to the United States. The
desperate fight for freedom by
the ex-slaves of Haití was directly
instrumental in the United States
becoming the beneficiary of the
greatest real estate bargain in
hi story-the "Louisiana Pur–
chase."
The new rulers of H a ití
vowed that never again would
they become a subject people.
They organized the building of
massive fortresses. One, "la Ci–
tadelle L a Ferriere" in the
The PLAIN TRUTH