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LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS 441

pletely.... But with the negotiations in the hands of Rear Admiral Gherardi a
decision must be reached shortly. Admiral Gherardi is sent to resuscitate the
negotiations. Admiral Gherardi will succeed eventually." "It is recognized
that were the United States to possess a coaling station in Haïti... it would
intervene to end the petty revolutions that distract the country."

Thus we had Admiral Gherardi at every turn of Haïtien affairs. It was at
his suggestion that a new Minister was appointed. It was he who made
American influence paramount in Haïti. It was he who was to conduct the
negotiations for the naval station. It was he who counseled the State
Department at Washington. It was he who decided the question of the fitness
of the American Minister at Haïti. In all this I am not disclosing Cabinet or
State secrets. This and much more was published in the New York papers.
The comment that I have to make upon it is, that no better way could have
heen devised to arouse the suspicion of Haïtien statesmen and lead them to
reject our application for a naval station, than to make such representations
as these coming from the decks of the flag-ship of Rear Admiral Gherardi.

CIIAPTER XII.
MINISTER TO HAÏTI.

The Môle St. Nicolas. Social Relations. Sympathy for Haïti. The facts about the Môle St.
Nicolas. Conference with the Haïtian Government. Negotiations for the Môle St.
Nicolas. Close of the interview.

The part I bore in the matter of obtaining at the Môle St. Nicolas, a naval
station for the United States, and the real cause for the failure of the enter-
prise, are made evident in the following articles from me, published in the
North American Review for September and October, 1891.

"I propose to make a plain statement regarding my connection with the
late negotiations with the government of Haïti for a United States naval sta-
tion at the Môle St. Nicolas. Such a statement seems required. not only as a
personal vindication from underserved censure, but as due to the truth of his-
tory. Recognizing my duty to be silent while the question of the Môle was
pending. I refrained from making any formal reply to the many misstate-
ments and misrepresentations which have burdened the public press unchal-
lenged during the last six months. I have, however, long intended to correct
some of the grosser errors contained in these misrepresentations, should the
time ever come when I could do so without exposing myself to the charge of