399

HISTORICAL ANNOTATION 1027

only occasionally dedicated column space to the negotiations. In a 14 August article,
the New York Tribune, like the Times, painted President Hyppolite as a scoundrel
determined to preserve his powerful position. The Tribune inferred that the ceding of
the Mole to the United States would essentially render Hyppolite's government pow-
erless and put Haiti under U.S. control. New York Times, 25 February, 25 March, 9
April 1891; New York Daily Tribune, 14 April, 26 August 1891.

453.27 William P. Clyde & Co., of New York] Douglass alludes to the New York-
based shipping company headed by magnate William P. Clyde. Founded in 1844 by
Clyde's father, Thomas Clyde, the enterprise became the largest coastal steamship
company in the United States. Expansion into rail lines in the United States and
Panama increased the company's hold on transportation, and in the late 1880s Clyde
viewed Haiti as the next logical extension of operations. Clyde sought the support of
Douglass to promote the company's business interests in Haiti, most specifically
through the Clyde Concession. The Clyde agent who contacted Douglass to help the
company procure a concession from Haitian president Hyppolite was Captain E. C.
Reed of South Carolina. Pitre, "Frederick Douglass and American Diplomacy," 469;
EAAH1:307-08.

454.2 the Clyde concession] The Clyde Contract, or Clyde Concession, was a
shipping concession proposed by the Clyde Steamship Line to Haitian president Louis
Mondestin Florvil Hyppolite. Douglass supported this grant, which was to be a
reward for the Clyde Line's services to Hyppolite's forces during his struggle to main-
tain power over rival Frarncois D. Legitime in 1888-89. The Clyde Line, with the
backing of the U.S. Navy, ran in ten shiploads of supplies to Hyppolite's forces at the
risk of shelling from Legitime's gunboats. Clyde claimed that because the supplies
had heen delivered under fire, and shipped at prewar freight rates that were signifi-
cantly lower than they should have been. Hyppolite's government owed the Clyde
Line a subsidy. The concession called for a subsidy of half a million dollars to estab-
lish a steamship line between New York and seven Haitian ports. It would also include
a lease on Haiti's deepwater harbor at Mole St. Nicholas for ninety-nine years, allow-
ing a U.S. naval base to he established there. Joan Dayan, "A Few Stories about Haiti,
or, Stigma Revisited," Research in African Literatures, 35:169-72 (Summer 2004);
Pitre, "Frederick Douglass and American Diplomacy," 469; EAAH, 1:307-08.

455.14 jocosely] Jokingly.

456.27-28 France, England and ... give it recognition] European countries were
not eager to officially recognize the postrevolutionary government of Haiti. As the
historically dominant foreign power in Haitian affairs, France was not easily con-
vinced to accept the presidency of Florvil Hyppolite. When a struggle for power in
1888 ended in the ousting of existing president Lysius Salomon, France gave aid to
Hyppolite's challenger, the military leader Francois Legitime. Great Britain also pro-
vided silent support for Legitime. Fearing the port at Mole St. Nicholas would fall into
French hands under a Legitime presidency, the United States cooperated with
Hyppolite, in hopes that a U.S. naval station could he established in this strategic