Appendix D. REPLY OF LOUIS MONDESTIN FLORVIL HYPPOLITE TO
DOUGLASS AT AN INTERVIEW ON 11 DECEMBER 1889 IN
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

Enclosed document in Douglass to James G. Blaine, 14 December 1889, U.S.
Legation, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Dispatches to the State Department, RG 84,
Records of Foreign Service Posts, State Department, DNA.

Mr. Minister:

I am happy to receive from you in person the original of the letter which the
President of the United States has addressed to me in response to the one which I
wrote to him to announce to him my election to the Presidency of this Republic.

This letter remitted to me through you, has for me a double value. I am easily
persuaded that it is not a merely formal recognition, but a testimony of a sincere
friendship and an ardent hope for the success of my Government and the prosperity
of the Haitien people. When the Republic of the United States gives such an
assurance through the medium of one so worthy, so authorized as yourself, my
Government has the right to rely thereon.

It is a glory for you to have personally labored for the result which you realize
to day, a result unlooked for a quarter of a century ago. You were one of the great
workers for the progress of liberal ideas in your great and noble country.

When you are welcomed here with so much honor and when every one
uncovers with so much veneration in your presence, be sure, Mr. Minister, that all
are grateful to you for having contributed to the end that the great starry Republic
no longer limits the rights of humanity to a special variety of the human family, but
hails with satisfaction the progress of liberty without regard to race, color or
antecedents.