lutionary leader from demanding half a million
dollars as a financial sedative for his political nerves and from
creating more trouble when the President failed to dispense it, the
heavy hand of an American naval force administered another kind
of specific, until commissioners from Porto Rico could arrive to
superintend the selection of a new chief magistrate. Notwithstanding the
protest of the Dominican Government, the "fairest and freest" elections
ever known in the country were held under the direction of those
officials--as a "body of friendly observers"!

However amicable this arrangement seemed, it did not smother the flames
of discord. In 1916, when an American naval commander suggested that a
rebellious Minister of War leave the capital, he agreed to do so if the
"fairest and freest" of chosen Presidents would resign. Even after both
of them had complied with the suggestions, the individuals who assumed
their respective offices were soon at loggerheads. Accordingly the
United States placed the republic under military rule, until a President
could be elected who might be able to retain his post without too much
"friendly observation" from Washington, and a Minister of War could be
appointed who would refrain from making war on the President! Then the
organization of a new party to combat the previous inordinate display
of personalities in politics created some hope that the republic would
accomplish its own redemption.

Only because of its relation to the wars of emancipation and to the
Dominican Republic, need the negro state of Haiti, occupying the western
part of the Caribbean island, be mentioned in connection with the story
of the Hispanic nations. Suffice it to say that the fact that their
color was different and that they spoke a variant of French instead of
Spanish did not prevent the inhabitants of this state from offering a
far worse spectacle of political and financial demoralization than
did their neighbors to the eastward. Perpetual commotions and repeated
interventions by American and European naval forces on behalf of the
foreign residents, eventually made it imperative for the United States
to take direct charge of the republic. In 1916, by a convention
which placed the finances under American control, created a native
constabulary under American officers, and imposed a number of other
restraints, the United States converted Haiti into what is practically a
protectorate.

CHAPTER XII. PAN-A