Henty (1832-1902) was a prolific English writer of
derring-do novels, some 122 in total. (Wikipedia)
A Roving Commission is a fictionalised account, published in
1900, of the successful black slave revolt against the French in Haiti a
century earlier.
It is something of an understatement to say that the fervent imperialism of this and
other Henty novels does not sit well today.
In the final sentence he gives his assessment of the current
state of the country:
“Fetish worship and
human sacrifices are carried out in secret, and the fairest island in the
western seas lies sunk in the lowest degradation – a proof of the utter incapacity
of the negro race to evolve, or even maintain, civilisation, without the
example and the curb of a white population among them.”
Sacre Bleu!!
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