Douglass did not know French well enough to catch the slight sarcasm in the Haitian’s words.
As they rode down the trail they spoke only of the scenery.
In November the United States warship Yantic steamed into the Môle, and Douglass reported that frequent references in the American press to alleged desires on the part of his country to obtain bases there were arousing fears among the Haitian people. Strangely enough, Douglass now found himself the point of attack by the press. They said he was not the man for the post.
“The fault of my character,” Douglass wrote later, “was that upon it there could be predicated no well-grounded hope that I would allow myself to be used, or allow my office to be used, to further selfish schemes of any sort for the benefit of individuals, either at the expense of Haiti or at the expense of the character of the United States.”[33]
Events moved rapidly. Certain facts became apparent to Douglass, and in March, 1890, he wrote to Secretary Blaine that certain American business interests were bringing pressure upon Haiti. Douglass had not at this time seen a report recorded by the Bureau of Navigation, received January 22, 1890, which read:
The strategical value of this Island from a naval point of view is invaluable, and this increases in direct proportion to the millions which American citizens are investing in the Nicaragua Canal. The United States cannot afford to allow any doubt to rest in the minds of any Haitian as to our fixed determination to allow no one to gain a foothold on, or establish a protectorate over this Island.
Home on leave for a few weeks in August, Douglass spoke on Haiti to a large audience in Baltimore. He noted he had recently been under attack by the press of the country.
“I believe the press has become reconciled to my presence in the office except those that have a candidate for it,” he said, “and they give out that I am going to resign. At them I fling the old adage ‘Few die, and none resign.’ I am going back to Haiti.”
Let us take Douglass’ own account of what happened the following winter. It appeared in the North American Review, September, 1891.