It will probably be some years before the United States,
having pacified and absorbed Cuba, proceed to pacify and absorb St. Domingo. They are pretty sure to do it in the en& for the island is full at once of riches and disorder, while its people are slowly slipping back to an African civilisation. Till then the passing incidents of the two Republics, or, rather, elective Monarchies, into which the island is divided, do not matter much. We may, however, record the assassina- tion of General Heureaux, President of Dominica, the Spanish half of the island. He was a negro of considerable ability, who formed a small army through which he maintained good order and his own ascendency, and hoped by and by to be declared President for life. He killed or tortured opponents without scruple, but he was personally an abstemious and economical man possessed, as he acknowledged, with a passion for power.
Previous page
