Wanted—Leaders!

by Theodore DeBose Bratton

All wood is wood, but mapou (a worthless wood) is not cedar, meaning that all people are good for something, but none good for everything.

There are certain qualities of mind and character which appear plainly in these popular sayings, and the latter are re-enforced by an old southern proverb of doubtful origin which applies to the Haitien, as to our Southern Negro, however lowly. “If you burn him for a fool, you will lose your ashes.” Certainly it is a huge mistake to discount the Negroes’ wisdom, no matter how homely and often rude the expression of it.

We may now return to a consideration of the history of the Island, pausing only to call attention to the fact that we are chiefly concerned with the western third composing the Republic of Haiti. For here, in contrast to the Dominican Republic, with its largely mulatto population under the political domination of whites, we find a population, ninety per cent of which is pure Negro and with a negro government. We shall here see the Negro developing out of slavery in an insular, French colonial environment.

In 1630, a mixed company of English and French occupied the Island of Tortuga and became formidable buccaneers. Obtaining a foothold on the mainland of Haiti, their descendants became French subjects when, by the Treaty of Ryswick, in 1697, the part of the Island which they occupied was ceded to France. A period of strife followed, involving the whites, the mixed, and the Negroes. As a result, the whole Island became subject to France. In 1801, Toussaint L’Ouverture, a Negro of remarkable military genius, successfully renounced the authority of France and set up the Republic of Haiti with himself as Governor. Captured by treachery, he was taken to France where he died in prison in 1803. The next year, Dessalines became Governor, massacred the remaining whites, proclaimed himself Emperor, and was assassinated in 1806. The Spaniards again reappeared about this time, and gained a footing in the eastern part of the Island, but, after years of cruel warfare, they failed to maintain their hold, and the Negro Republic of Santo Domingo was established in 1844. More recent events are newspaper history, read and fairly known by all.

The Island is shared by the two Republics, the western third being Haitien, the eastern two-thirds Dominican. The former is French in language, the latter Spanish. Repudiation of obligations and a continuous state of disorder finally compelled the American Government to intervene. In 1915, a concordat was established with the Government of Haiti whereby American resident officials were given certain advisory powers, and in 1916, the Dominican Republic was taken in charge by an American Army of Occupation. Thus the United States became a virtual protector and guardian of the peace, serving the whole Island in an educational and developmental capacity, very much as in the Philippine Islands.

The political history of the Island of Haiti, whether in its French or its Spanish aspect, naturally led to the early establishment there of the Roman Catholic Church, and in 1869, it became the representative of the established religion of the Haitien Republic. In this Faith the people were brought up (in so far as they came under any Christian teaching at all). Thus, from the beginning, the history of the Church in Haiti differs widely from that in Liberia.

In 1861, an American negro priest—the Rev. James Theodore Holly—went to Haiti with a company of 110 persons, and there formed the nucleus of a Mission of the American Episcopal Church.

The early history of this leader of his people is full of interest as is shown by the following, taken from Men of Maryland by the Rev. Dr. Bragg of Baltimore, the historiographer of his race in the Church.

Born in Maryland, in 1829, young Holly was baptized by a Roman Catholic priest from Haiti who had fled to this country before the fury of the Negroes, at that time intent upon ridding their country of the last vestige of the white people. Twelve years later, he was confirmed by the Archbishop of Baltimore, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Eccleston, but his connection with the Roman Church was not destined to be permanent. He learned the trade of shoemaking, working in Washington, and later in Detroit. Influenced probably by the peculiar circumstances of his Baptism, and by the romance of the negro Republic battling for self-government, he seems early to have been possessed with the desire to offer himself as a helper. This he disclosed in a letter written, after his desire had been gratified, from his Haitien home: “I was ordained deacon in 1855 (by Bishop McCoskry of Michigan) with the express understanding that I should be sent to work in this field. As a matter of fact, two weeks after my ordination, I set out from Michigan to New York, from which I was sent ten days later, by the Foreign Committee of the Church, to collect information as to the possibility of establishing such a Mission, and returned from thence with a favorable report. Six years were then spent in gaining pastoral experience for the work in view; and to this end I was advanced to the priesthood by the Bishop of Connecticut on the 2nd of January, 1856, when I accepted the pastoral charge of St. Luke’s Church, New Haven, in that Diocese. Aside from the active pastoral work of that congregation, every fitting occasion was seized during those six years to stir up an interest by tongue, pen, and the press, in the contemplated Mission. In 1861, my face was again set towards Haiti, accompanied by 110 persons (of whom I was the pastor) for the practical establishment of the Mission in this land.”

Among the most forward in promoting this enterprise, were the Bishops of Ohio and Connecticut. It was through the latter’s influence, that his Diocese generously aided the Mission of Mr. Holly for sixteen months. At the close of 1862, the Mission in Haiti was adopted by the American Church Missionary Society, with Bishop Lee, of Delaware, as Provisional Bishop. The next year, the Bishop made his first visitation to the new Mission. From this time forward, the Church at home kept a kindly oversight over the Mission in Haiti. So faithfully and successfully did Mr. Holly and his band of Churchmen work, that, in 1871, the Haitien Church, by vote of its Convocation, petitioned General Convention to elect and consecrate a Bishop for Haiti. The response was sympathetic, and the petition was referred to the Board of Missions to ascertain the best means of securing adequate episcopal supervision. Three years passed, and the Convention of 1874 entered into a covenant between the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States and “The Orthodox Apostolic Church” of Haiti. The following are the more important terms of this covenant: (1) That the Church in America recognizes the Church in Haiti as of right and of fact a foreign Church under the definition of our Constitution; and that, with this recognition, the assurance is given that the Church in Haiti will enjoy the nursing care of the Church at home until such care shall no longer be needed. (2) That the Church will designate and consecrate one of the Haitien clergy to be Bishop of Haiti. (3) That a Commission of four American Bishops will be named to act with the Bishop of Haiti as a Board of Administration, to extend the Episcopate when needed, and to administer discipline pertaining to the episcopal order. (4) That the Church in Haiti agrees to guard, in all their essentials, a conformity to the doctrines, worship and discipline of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, departing from them only as local circumstances require. (5) That the Haitien Church agrees to concede to the Church at home the designation and consecration of the Bishops of the Church in Haiti until three Bishops shall have been established therein.