Another Diplomatic Blunderer

A diplomat of the United States refuses to meet with the President of the new nation of Haiti.

It is reported that Hon. Henry M. Smythe, of graham, Va., who was sent by President Cleveland as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary Minister to Hayti had rendered himself unacceptable to that government by his meddling with the methods in vogue there, and making recommendation before he was asked to do so.

The possibility that Mr. Smythe will be recalled and allowed to again enjoy himself in the backwoods of the mountainous lands of Virginia.

It will be remembered that Afro-American representatives to this black republic were said to have been lacking in the essential qualities necessary to complete diplomatic success, and that white men should be sent there, as they could command more respect and secure concessions to this government which could not be obtained by an Afro-American representative.

The opinion was not doubt due to the feeling of awe which exists in some portions of the South among the colored people when they come in contact with members of the white race.

But the Haitians are educated in France, along with white men. From an educational or a diplomatic standpoint, Minister Smythe is their inferior.

If the reports given out of his actions are true, he has been guilty of the most flagrant abuse of diplomatic etiquette and is even now no doubt the laughing stock of the representatives in the foreign legations.

He no doubt regards the representatives of the government of the government to which he is accredited as negroes on a level with those he had been accustomed to meet in the United States.

As a matter of fact, they have made him appear ridiculous, and may wind up his career of pomposity by giving him passports and this sending him home.

Unless he is certain of being sent somewhere else he won’t want to come since dollars bearing the government stamp are scarce in the neighborhood of Graham, Va., and business at its lowest ebb.

We see it announced that he declines to accepts an invitation to dine with the black President, and talk the matter over.

This was a serious breach of diplomatic etiquette. Possibly President Hippolyte did not know that a southerner would consider it an insult to be invited to dine with a Negro, and would resent with a shotgun, the attempt of a Negro to dine with him.

Possibly Mr. Smythe carried these notions with him to Haiti. But what has become of his scheme to secure the mole St. Nicholas as a coaling station for United States vessel? It was declared that a white man could secure this coveted spot for the purpose set forth.

Another theory has been exploded and it is now announced that President Cleveland has not hesitated to declare that his appointment of Mr.Smythe was a mistake. And so his last charge against Negro representatives has been exploded...

“Another Diplomatic Blunderer,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed April 24, 2025, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1606.