George Washington Flowers Memorial Collection DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ESTABLISHED BY THE FAMILY OF COLONEL FLOWERS \ji'' SOULOUaUE AKO HIS EMPIEE. FROM ITHK PEENCH OF GUSTAVE D^ALAUX, TRANSLATED AND EDITED JOHN H. PAEKHILL, A. M., OF BALTIMORE. J. W. RANDOLPH, 121 MAIN STREET, RICHMOND, VA. 1861. Entered acconlinj^ to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by JOHN H. PARKHILL, A. M., in the Clerk's Office of the District .Court of the United States for the District of Maryland. / TABLE OF CONTENTS. Tage. Author's Prcface 17 I. Historical Review — Origin of Haytlen Parties.. 21 IT. Black Politics and Yellow Politics 54 J II. The ye]\o\v B(m?'<:;eoisie — A negro 24th of Feb- ruary — Guerrier, Pierrot, Puche — Soulouqiie — A conjured fanlenil 67 IV. Negro illuminism — Devotions of Madame Sou- loiique — The hunt ahev fetiches 82 V. Similien 99 VI. A Flaytien trial of the press. 110 VJ. A Negro Solution 126 VIII. Massacres — M. Maxime Raybaud — Negro Com- munism 134 IX. The scruples of Soulouque — A Negro Impromfii^ 167 X. The Conspiracy of capital in Hayti 185 XI. A sun-set — The misfortunes of the piquets — A Voltairian papa-lot 200 XII. Victories and conquests of Soulouque — A sorcery trial — The Empire and the Imperial Court. . 220 XIII. The IJaylien Clergy — Ceremony of the Corona- tion 251 XIV. The principal of authority in Hayti — The Secret of Soulouque 270 XV. The Dominican Republic, 296 4C)4(]G;ii INTRODUCTION. Soulouque and His Empire was publislied at Paris, in 1856. At that time, Soulouque was firmly seated on his throne — his name a terror to his own wretched people, and a by-word of ridicule to all the world besides. He spent nearly ten years — de- corating himself — creating a black aristocracy with the most preposterous titles — ruthlessly slaying all, his suspicions, hatred, or caprice singled out — and, in making a ludicrous war on the Dominicans. The social condition of Haj^ti was constantly retro- grading ; . the material interest of the country neglected ; commerce driven away by ruinous ex- actions ; and all sinking, rapidly, to a lower level of civilization. Certainly then ten years of this tragic buffoonery was sufficient ; the gew-gaw concern was falling to pieces of itself; a breath of opposition was only necessary to complete the work ; and GefPrard gave it. With a few resolute follov>^ers, on the 25th day of December, 1858, he made a descent upon Port- au-Prince, in a roiv-hoat ; and the Empire of Faus- tin 1st became a matter of history. The Ex-Em- peror, with his family, escaped to Jamaica, where 1 VI INTRODUCTION. he now passes his time, playing billiards and swinging in a hammock. The success of Geffrard, who is himself a mulatto, is the triumph of the men of color. This class is few in number, but it possesses what there is in Hayti, of education, energy, and hope for the future. It is only, by and though it, that the ancient prosperity of the Island can be restored. In this Avork, President GeftVard has a high mis- sion before him ; and we have every reason to be- lieve that he will endeavor to fulfill it. This leads to the inquiry — how can he do it? Hayti has been, now, under negro domination for seventy years. Previous to this, the agricul- tural and commercial prosperity of the Island had reached a high degree of development. The popu- lation of French Hayti exceeded a half million in 1791 ; and its annual exports to France alone were more than five millions sterling. It could not have been otherwise, when we consider its favored material resources. Situated under the tropics ; possessing a climate and soil eminently fitted to grow sugar, cotton, and indigo ; its mountains rich in gold, copper and coal ; its rivers, bordered with forests of mahogany, cedar, and dye-woods ; and its position on the track of the Great West Indian trade, making it the entrepot for the ships of all nations ; are elements of wealth possessed by few countries. These were all fostered, and industriously de- INTRODUCTION. VU veloped, by the French colonists, and repaid them with fabulous wealtli. All these natural capa])ili- ties still belong to Ilayti ; but, for the want of the life-giving energy of labor, and intelligent interest, have fallen back into their aboriginal condition. The social and individual characteristics of the population are changed. In fact, it is not the same })eople ; it was French — it is now African. Tbis explains all. To show, in its details, how tliis change has destroyed the social and material pros- perity of Hayti, would take a volume ; involving consideration.s of history, political economy, and ethnology. The space of a few pages does not war- rant our entering on such an investigation. The fict is, however, patent to the world, that the present social, political, and economical condi- tion of the Haytiens, is depraved to that degree, as to predict barbarism, in a few more generations. Indeed, M. d'Alaux says '^ Hayti will be prosper- ous in ten years, or cannibal in twenty." This Is- land lies so'near the coast of the United States, its capabilities are so manifest, and its staple products are so necessary, that we cannot remain indiflerent to its fate. The })ractical spirit of the age, will not allow, such a countiy, to lie waste. How can it be made^useful ? The answer rises to my mind, at once ; colonize it, loith the feee blacks of the Uni- ted States. In this direction, lies the true policy of Gefirard, in putting his country upon a new career of im- VIU INTRODUCTION. provemcnt. He seems, already to have recognized this ; and, in a measure, to have adopted it. For, it is a fact, that he has invited the immigration of free hhxcks from the United States into Hayti ; indeed, has offered them bounties to come. Several com- panies of them have gone already, and settled them- selves doAvn comfortably on tlie rich plains of tlie Artibonite. These pioneers should be followed ra- pidly by others ; and will be, if tlie advantages of the country become known. President Geffrard has manifested, in this mea- sure, a correct view of the necessities of Hayti, and a knowledge of the proper means of supplying them. This liberality argues well for the future of the Is- land under his rule. He knows that the United States' immigrants of color will increase the influ- ence of his class, and thus strengthen his hands to carry forward any plan of reform. This is his poli- tical reason. In an agricultural aspect, these im- migrants will occupy the waste lands, and introduce upon them improved implements of husbandry and labor-saving machinery. The consequence of this would be an increase of population and production ; and, upon- these foundations, mercantile and com- mercial interests would be established. These new economical agencies would then only have to be stimulated to their utmost, to bring back the ancient prosperity. The Island of Hayti is then open to tlie immigra- tion of our free blacks. The next, and only ques- INTRODUCTION. IX tion now is : Will tliey go ? The fact is, that this class of our population have manifested great apathy in availing themselves of the benefits of colonization. Nearly all the immigrants annually taken over to Liberia, are manumitted slaves, whose expatriation is made the condition of their freedom ; and they may be properly called compulsory immi- grants. These are from the Southern and Middle States. It is very rare that any Northern free negroes are induced to immigrate. Indeed, it may be affirmed Mdthout incorrectness that, as a body, they are opposed to immigration. This result has been produced, in a great measure, by the influence of abolitionists, who are opposed to every scheme of colonization beyond the limits of the United States. It can then be scarcely said that there are any voluntary immigrants to Liberia. The few free negroes from the Middle and Southern States, who go over in the vessels of the Colonization So- ciety, are the only exceptions. The conclusion, thereibre, is manifest : that if colonization of the free blacks depends upon voluntary immigration, it is impracticable. The only alternative is, that its beginning and growth, up to a cei'tain point, must be compulsory. This necessity offends the feelings of many jiersons whose opinions deserve respect. A little reflection however will recall the fact, that forced coloniza- tion has been the order of past events. The Turi- '•ans formed the colony at Plymouth from necessity, X INTRODUCTION. and were forced immigrants ; so were the early settlers of Virginia, and tlie exiled Huguenots of South Carolina. Australia is an example of this in our own day. It has heen for years a penal settlement of En inland ; until now it has arisen to the dignity of an important power ; and the pro- cess of forced settlement luis heen transferred to Van Deiman's Land and New Zealand. These in- stances are cited to show that it is no new thing souglit to he introduced, hut a recognized method by which new States have heen founded. We may tlien safely answer the question : that the free blacks of the United States will not, voluntaril}^ remove beyond the limits of this country anywhere, either to Liberia or to Hayti, The two classes of blacks, slave and free, can- not remain together in the same community with- out producing pauperism and crime in one, and discontent and insubordination in the otlier. The Southern States are fully convinced of this truth, by practical demonstration. Hence the impor- tance, indeed necessity, of ridding themselves of the free blacks in their midst. The Northern States refuse to receive these parialis, therefore the alter- native of reducing them to slavery, by legislative enactments, is seriously agitated in the South ; and, in a fe\Y Legislatures, bills to tliis effect have been already introduced and considered. ro})ular senti- ment will, the more readily, sanction this method of disposing of the difficulty, because of the anti- INTllODUCTION. XI slavery agitation at tlie North, and the growing demand for slave labor at the South. The colonization of this class, on the Island ot Hayti, presents a much preferable way of getting rid of tliem, and the plan is of easy execution. The Island is only a few days sail from all the Southern sea-ports, and the expense of their trans- portation would scarcely be felt by the Southern people. The slightly increased taxes necessary for this purpose, would be trebly compensated — by the removal of this element of pauperism, vice and in- subordination from all contact with the slave popu- lation — by the diminished expenses of criminal administration and patrol regulations — and by cut- ting off a prominent agency of kidnapping, incen- diarism and rebellion, now wielded by abolitionists against Southern society. By this measure, all ])arties would be benefited — the Southern States, the Island of Hayti, and the free blacks themselves. The plan is simply suggested ; there is no space in which to elaborate it. The importance of redeeming this fertile Island from its present waste, seems to be kept constantly in view by the Author ; and he turns to the probability of its being seized by the Americans. It manifestly presents a more inviting and open field to their enterprise than Cuba. According to its size, it is superior in material resources ; the whole coast is exposed to attack, and its subjugation would be easy. It is not probable, however, that England XU IN TIIUDUCTION. and France would be willing to see the United States hold tlie Island, nor indeed any part of it. Tlie recent eflbrts of Mr. Cazeneau to obtain a treaty from Santana, granting important privileges to the United States in Spanish Hay ti, were strenuously op- posed by the French ; and, finally, defeated through their influence. There is evidently much jealousy^ on this subject, towards the United States ; not, that we have shown any disposition to assume sovereignty over Hayti, but, that it is natural to look, in tliis direction, for the influences (if any are to be applied) for its salvation from impending barbarism. In my view, the free blacks of the United States should be made tlie medium through wliich the re- forming power of our civilization can be brought to bear on the social condition of Hayti. Dr. Liv- ingstone very truly remarks, that ^' trade is the jnoneer of Christianity." This truth is the result of sixteen years of missionary experience among the wild tribes of Africa ; and it is confirmed, by the history of commerce, the world over. The patriot and philanthropist, therefore, whether his sympa- thies are with the black man or the white man in the United States, must favor any feasible plan of colonizing the free blacks heyond our limits. It is objected, that the success of this enterprise would be to build up a black government, so near our Southern States, as to affect injuriously the slave population. If it was, now, first proposed to INTRODUCTION. XUl establish negro rule in Hayti, the objection would have much force. But the Island is, in fact, already under a black administration ; and the effect of colonizing our free ncixroes on it, is limited to im- proving this new Africa, and benefiting the condi- tion of the immigrants. I have been induced to translate this work, be- cause of another reason. Eeliable information, as to the practical working of emancipation in Hayti, is wanting to American readers. The following history is by a Frenchman, concerning a former French colony ; his means of correct information are the most abundant, and his motives for truth- fulness the highest. We may therefore accept his picture as drawn to the life. But what a ])icture ! Laocoon writhing in the deadly embrace of the ser- pent, was not more certainly doomed than are all civilizing interests in Hayti, in the stifling grasp of African barbarism. We of the Southern States are, specially, inter- ested in this matter. Like questions are being stated, affecting our social institutions ; and simi- lar fanatical agencies are seeking a like solution — the solution of cruelty and blood. I desire to warn the Southern people against this result, by holding up, before tbeir eyes, the ludicrous and sanguinary consequences of African domination. These pages point out the significant fact, that the white and hlacJc racci canriot exist together as equals in the same community. Tlie truth goes fur- XIV INTRODUCTION. ther : that even the yellow and bLack castes cannot commingle socially. Government becomes, in such a condition, a question of the dominance of races. All other interests become merged in this one ; a war of skins exhausts every element of prosperity, and general ruin settles down upon the unhappy country. Applying these teachings .to the slavery question in our country, the conclusion is irresisti- ble : that the African race here, must remain a servant to the white man, as a necessary condition of the preservation of our civilization and liberties, or be removed altogether beyond the limits of the United States. The latter alternative is scarcely possible, unless the wicked agitators of the land shall, in their madness, hurry events to that crisis, when the preservation of the white race shall de- mand the extermination of the black race. The black man would then have changed his relation, as a loyal servant, haj)py and secure, under the constant protection of a christian master, to the position of our wild Indian tribes — an outcast and an Ishmael, wasted by the ceaseless aggressions of white civilization. Transpiring political events seem to portend a great social revolution, growing out of this ques- tion. It may result in a distinct confederation of the Southern States. Such a Government would know how to harmonize the social and political in- terests, so deeply rooted in domestic slavery, by maintaining the present humane relation between INTRODUCTION. XV the white master and the Wack servant. Every patriot would deplore the disruption upon which this new Confederation would be consequent ; but self-preservation is a law of so supreme a nature, as to consecrate all necessary means to secure its end. I commend this work to the reader, with the as- surance, that the ludicrous and the horrible will spice the subject sufficiently to please the strongest taste. It is Punch in Dahomey. Baltimore, 1861. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. Qa pas bon, Qa senti fumee. — (Emperor Dcssalincs.) The subject I am about to treat, considered all together, attracts and embarrasses me. I have to speak of a country, which has journals and sorcer- ers — a middle class and fetiches; and, where the worshippers of snakes have proclaimed by turns, *^in the presence of the Supreme Being," demo- cratic constitutions and monarchs ^^ by the grace of God." What I am about to relate of this country, and, especially, of the Chief who rules it, falls far short still, both of what we know, and could imagine of the subject. But, in this tragi-comedy, the conclu- sion of which, after all, will be the condemnation or final restoration -of one of the five human families, is there then only the interest of curiosity to follow? Here my hesitations begin. The black world, from which we are about to tear the veil, presents, in- deed, in the same incident, and often in the same man, such a confusion of contrasts — civilization and the Congo — the touching and the atrocious — the ludicrous and human blood, mingle^ penetrate, and XVlll AUTHORS P 11 E E A C E . jostle in it, with such an improbahle and startling brutality — that in remaining scrupulously truthful, I risk authorizing at the same time, the most oppo- site expectations. Let it, therefore, be well un- derstood, in advance, that the sentiments which guide me in this recital, and the conclusion Avhich is developed from its whole, are equally removed from excess of optimism, and excess of negation. I do not admit, for example, with some stupid negropholists, that the facial angle is the measure of human duties; and that a broad flat nose excuses certain abominations. But, so far from concluding, however, from these abominations, the original in- feriority of the black race, I see in them the proof of its moral liberty ; that is to say, of its perfecti- . bility. If this race can descend to extreme per- versity, it can, therefore, attain to extreme virtue; and, we find it, in fact, at these two degrees of the moral scale. I do not den}", however, that the civilizing aptitude of the negro has exceeded but little, up to the present time, certain instincts of imitation ; but every civilization is not necessarily spontaneous. In the case of nine European nations in ten, what is it after all but progress — intelligent imitation ? That this imitation is not always in- telligent in Hayti — that this France, with crisped hair, exhibits in its borrowed accoutrements, an incoherence burlesque, or savage — proves conclu- sively this fact : that we cannot go from the river Gambia to the banks of the Seine, in one day. The AUTHOR 8 PREFACE. XIX essential matter is, that tliis faculty of imitation is not limited. We recognise, infallibly, the per- fectibility of nations, races, and species, only by this sign: and experience confirms this in Hayti. Talents, which would do honor to any country, have been produced among some Haytiens, who, before and since the emancipation, have lived in our intellectual midst ; and, even among those, who have received the i-adiation ai'ar off. Although Hayti has been, for the past eight years, in the full reaction of African barbarism, it is repugnant to admit, that so many encouraging symptoms may be only the derision of chance; and that these appeals of the last hour have been uttered, for more than half a century, by the breath of civilization, only to pass away, and be miserably lost on the Ivory Coast. Likewise, it appears to us moreover, that the Empire of Sou- louque is to be estimated neither better nor worse, altogether, than many republics of the neighbor- ing continent. If Spanish civilization has forgot- ten itself, is it at all astonishing tliat sometimes, Cafre barbarism calls itself to mind? All difler- ences of the past being laid aside, Hayti, has, moreover, an excuse that these republics have not ; because, it concealed, beforehand, in i(s own bosom two elements of strife — namely : a minority of half- whites, whose inclinations and education placed them on a level with French ideas ; and a black majority, to which despotism is, at once, an in- XX A U T II R S P R E F A C K . stinctive 'aspiration, and a necessary transition. Each of these elements, by turns, has found it diffi- cult to acclimate itself in the political atmosphere of the other ; hence, a perpetual uneasiness, and sometimes, also, fever and delirium. If the crisis is more violent than ever, at the present time, so much tlie better perhaps ; only decisive symptoms are exhibited; and there are many cliances in favor of health. Soulouque, in w^hom all the reminis- cences of original savagery are, accidentally, summed up, seems indeed guided, half by the force of things, and half by his own instincts, to build up on its true foundations, this rudiment of nationality. These reservations being made, I feel perfectly protected from every accusation of partiality, or systematic hostility. Besides, now that the very basis of the dispute has been decided by emanci- pation, what interest would there be to remain partial ? I will, therefore, take men and facts, just as I find them, and leave each to produce its own conclusion, without disquieting myself to know, whether they furnish reason, to benevolence, for laughter or horror. SOULOUaUE AND HIS EMriRE. I. Historical Review — Origin of Haylieu Parties. Most of the well informed Haytiens, make it a sort of jioint of honor, to disguise as much from the stranger, as they do fiom themselves, the anta- gonism which divides the sang-melee, or j'ellow caste, from the hlack caste. I consider it much more useful to rectify the douhle misunderstanding whence this antagonism springs, for Ave do not destroy error by denying it. If, at the present time, Hayti seems condemned to become a branch of the kingdom of Juida — if each of the two ele- ments which were civilizers, after their ftishion, is often there transformed into an instrument of bar- barism — it is especially because the facts, on all sides, are not understood in time. A historical summary of the two great Haytien parties is indis- pensable, to the proper understanding of the inter- ests, passions, hopes, and terrors which heave about that pinchbeck and ebony majesty, called Faustin 1st. 22 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. Tlie quarrel of tliese two castes readies back, even to the origin of Pla^^tien independence. Each one of them claims for itself alone, the work of en- franchisement^ and accuses the other of having, from principle, covenanted with white oppression. Both are, at the same time, right and wrong. The truth is^ the j^ellow element and the black element have both, equally, participated in the common work ; but each in its time_, on its own account, and in the order, and within the limits, assigned it by the force of things. As to the initiative, the honor of it does not belong to either party. We are about to see the revolutionary shock pass, in some sort fatall}^, from above downward — through every gradation of the old colonial society ; and at every pause which manifested itself in the trans- mission of this movement^ the metropolis interfered to accelerate it. In this case, the real revolutionary initiative be- longs to the planters. Not less improvident than the metropolitan aristocracy, although at bottom more logical, they warmly accepted and patronized the ideas, whence sprang 1789. The enfeeblement of monarchical authority was the relaxation, in their favor especial 1 3^, of a system which excluded them from high colonial positions, and forced their pride, and their habitudes of despotism, to bow be- fore the almost discretionary power of the metro- politan agents. Civic equality, in their estima- tion, was the complete assimilation of the colony to SOULOUQUB AND HIS EMPIRE. 23 France, and tlie free exercise of the means of action, which their immense Avealth appeared to secure them. It was in this sense tliat they interpreted the convocation of our States-General. Without waitino; for the authorization of the Government, the colonists formed themselves into parish and provincial assemhlies^ and sent to Paris eighteen deputies, who were admitted, some by right, and others as petitioners. Over excited hy this first success, -these pretensions to political and adminis- trative equality transformed themselves, very soon, among the colonial aristocracy, into open opinions of independence. The provincial assemblies dele- gated, the direction of the interior affairs of the colony, to a sort of convention, which met together at Saint- Marc ; and this body, (in which the plan- ters' influence Avas dominant) declared itself con- stituted hy virtue of the j^oiver of their constitue'iits ; contrary to the advice of the minority, which pro- posed saying, ^' In virtue of the decrees of the me- tropolis!'' But, at the side of this aristocracy, Avere found the whites of the inferior and middling classes, who especially welcomed, in the new opinions, an advent of civil and social equality. These two classes could not hesitate between the feudal oligarchy, which the planters had a glimpse of in their dreams of independence, and a share in the conquests al- ready realized by the metropolitan liberalism ; they took a stand for the mother country. The planters 24 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. ' very quickly changed their tactics. They pretended to renounce their projects of independence ; armed themselves against the metropolitan influence of demagoguic ideas, and thus succeeded in organiz- ing for themselves, out of the dregs of the white population, a numerous party. But Governor Pei- nier, supported hy the sound portion of the colonial middle class, dispersed the insurrectionary Assem- bly of Saint-Marc. At this conjuncture, a third element appeared on the scene ; and proceeded to take, in relation to the entire white population, the role which the colonial middle-class had assumed with reference to the planters. Whilst the colonists discussed liberty and equality, the manumitted slaves did not stop up their ears. They had more reason than any of the other classes, to see in the revolution a benefit ; because, the suspicious susceptibility of colonial prejudice took delight in rendering the desti notion between them especially wounding and harsh, for the reason, that by their color (two-thirds of them being sang-melee) their education, and their quality as free-men and proprietors, they were brought into immediate contact with the white class. The 'decree of the 8th of March, 1790, con- ferred upon them, in fact, some political, rights ; but this decree excited, in all ranks of the white population, so much dissatisfaction, that the Gov- ernor himself concurred in preventing the execu- tion of it. The manumitted slaves had in vain SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 25 tdken np arms in favor of the metropolis, in the struggle, sustained by the Governor, against the colonial aristocracy. The latter, after the victory, did not behave the least well towards them ; in- deed, he pushed his dislike so far, as to refuse them the right to wear the white pompoon, which served to distinguish the royalist party. The raulattoes abandoned this party ; and a new decree, by which the Constituent Assembly repealed the decree of tlie 8th of March, completed the rupture. I can only recite, from memory, the revolt of the mu- lattocs, 0(/e, CJiavannes, and Bigaiid, A third decree restored, to the manumitted slaves, their rights ; new resistance was made by the whites. The demagoguic party rebelled against authority ; the aristocratic party, or the indepen- dents, offered the Colony to England ; the royalists, (juite as hostile to the mulattoes as the two other parties, could devise no better plan of holding the planters in check, than by secretly exciting the blacks to revolt; and the mulattoes, who, on their side had again taken up arms, to maintain their rights against the white caste, reaped all the benefit of this intervention of the blacks, among whom they even made numerous recruits. I will not relate over again this bloody imhroglio^ in which the three white factions (ibr, in the colo- nies, as well as in France, the royalist party itself was already condemned to play the part of a fac- tion,) found themselves, successively, reduced to 26 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. the necessity of treating, as equal with equal, with the manumitted slaves. One fact is, here, promi- nent above every otlier : tlie new citizens, feeling that their only point of support was in the metro- polis, had the address, or the good faith, Avhich is often all one, to remain faithful to it. It thus happened that they became for the time, as to the commissioners charged with pacifying the Island, what the white middle -class had been to Governor Peinier — the only colonial auxiliaries of French in- fluence ; so that the final triumph of metropolitan authority resulted, necessarily, in the preponder- ance of the men of color. The colored class is severely reproached for ne- glecting, at the outset, to stipulate any thing in favor of the slaves ; and, what is more, for having injuriously affected to separate their interests from those of the black population. Indeed, the mixed- blood, Julien Raymond,* appealing to the gen- erosity of the Constituent Assembly, in behalf of the men of color, made a merit of their composing the criminal police of the colony ; and, in this capa- city hunting after runaway negroes. He repre- sented the men of color as the real rampart of colonial society ; and protested, with force, that they had no interest in exciting the slaves to revolt. *The same individual afterwards asked at tlie tribune of the Convention tlie liberty of the blacks, as a natural consequence of the civic equality accorded to his caste. SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 27 inasmucli as tliey owned this kind of property themselves. Oge, with arms in his hands, held nearly the same language ; and, ohstinately re- pelled the proposition, which his companion, Cha- vannes, made to him, to wit: to excite the slaves in the workshops to rehellion. This is the accu- sation : that Raymond and Oge acted, knowingly or not. as very clever aholitionists. Can it he pro- ved, if required ? Could the mulattoes, reasonably, have begun, by proclaiming their soUdai^ife with the black caste? But it was this very community of interest, which the adversaries of their civic rehabilitation de- nounced and developed. These objected, with rea- son, that the prejudice of skin was the most power- ful safeguard of society, and of colonial property ; and, that this obstacle being once removed, for the benefit of the enfranchised class, there was no rea- son why the black tide would not overflow at the same issue. Most of the mulattoes affected to sep- arate themselves from the slaves, that they might serve the common cause better. In proceeding otherwise, the colored class w^ould have necessarily failed, and the negroes would have gained only one thing : that is, to have remained separated from liberty by two removes, in place of one. But, at first, did the blacks desire liberty ? Did they even comprehend the meaning of it? On their part, this is what is denied them ; and, at first view, this accusation is much more tenable. 28 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. tlian those, from which we are about to exculpate the yellow caste. In their struggles against the mulattoes, the confederated whites armed a portion of their slaves; and the African companies, as they were called, tortured and massacred with fury, these very mulattoes, who nevertheless had come to open the way to the black race. The mulatto p|ty, which in their turn, had armed their own pSk|iile, gave liberty to the principals; but the new freed men thought they could not better attest their gratitude for this, than by returning their com- panions to slavery, which act did not provoke the least protestation. At the affair of the Croix-des- Bouquets, where fifteen thousand blacks (this time veritable insurgents, for they had been principally recruited from the workshops of the whites) gave the victory to the colored class. Was it still emancipation that they sought? Was it the magic word liberty, which precipitated these un- armed and half-naked Congos, under the horses feet, to which they clung ; hurled them on the bayonet points, which they seized with their teeth; and crowded them on the mouths of the loaded cannon, into which they thrust their arms, until they touched the balls, exclaiming in an excess of silly hilarity to be speedily interrupted by the ex- plosion, which scattered them to fragments : ^'lloe trape li! " (I have caught it, I hold it?) No ! it was a bull's tail — an enchanted tail, it is true — which their chief, Hyacintlie, who knew his world, SOULOUQUE AND IIIS EMPIRE. 29 branclisbed tliroiigh their ranks, for the purpose of turning aside the cannon balLs, and changing the bullets to dust. I leave the reader to imagine what carnage was made of these unhappy creatures. But the sorcer- ers, who formed the staff of Hyacinthe, immedi- ately, proclaimed with loud cries, that the dead revived again in Africa ; and a new human offer- ing rushed joyously to add itself to that bed of corpses.* These credulous heroes — (who can deny them this title ?) — were at bottom much less re- vengers of their race, than devotees to some gloomy African rite brought direct from Cape Lopez, or Cape Negre ; and as tradition is perpetuated still from house to house, and in the mysterious con- venticles of Vaudoux.-\ The fete having termi- nated, the survivors returned, peaceably, to their labor as slaves, at the order of Hyacinthe, and without demanding their profit in the affair. In tlie meanwhile, it is true, the pure negro ele- ment^ the insurgents of the Northern province, ■•■• This belief, in the migration of body and soul, caused so many suicides among the slaves of the Gold Coast, especially the Ibos, that the planters were obliged to have recourse to a strange expedi- ent to prevent it. They cut off", either the head, or the nose and ears, of the suicide, and nailed thera to a stake. The other Ibos, ashamed at the idea of appearing in their country without these natural ornaments, were resigned not to hang themselves. t A kind of African frcc-niasonry, of which Sonlouque is one of the high dignitaries. We will see it reappear in the later events of llayti. 30 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. which the royalist party were already frightened in having let loose, refused to disperse. But, what retained these hands under the authority of Jean- Francois, Biassou, and Jeannot, was much less the thirst for liberty, than the fear of punishment, (which they deserved for their robberies), and the prestige, which the gloomy, and grotesque para- phernalia of African sorcery, still exercised over them. After the example of Hyacinthe, " Biassou sur- rounded himself with sorcerers, and magicians, and formed his council of them. His tent was filled with little cats of all colors^ snakes, bones of the dead, and all other objects, which were symbols of African superstition. During the night, great fires were kindled in his camp; naked women performed horrible dances around them, making frightful contortions, and chanting words, which are only understood, in the deserts of Afri- ca. When the excitement reached its height, Bi- assou, followed by his sorcerers, presented himself to the crowd, and exclaimed, that the Spirit of God inspired him. He announced to the Africans that, if they fell in battle, they would reappear alive in their old African tribes. Then frightful cries would echo far through tlie forest ; the chants, and the sombre tambours recommenced ; and Biassou, profiting b}^ these moments of frenzy, hurled his bands against the enemy, whom he sur- SOULOT'QIIE AND HIS EMPTRK. 81 ]n'ised in tlie dead of night." (Histoire d'Ha'iti, 1847.) Jean-Francois and Biassou knew this so well that they proposed to enslave again their innumerable hordes, in consideration of six hundred exemptions. They aimed so little at exercising an apostleship over the race, that they sold, without ceremony, to the Spaniards,* negroes, who were not insurgents — men, women and children, who fell into their ])ower. They did not act much more liberally towards their own soldiers, who were subjected to a dis- cipline, hut little less hard than slavery, and over whom they arrogated the right of life and death. This is not all : for whilst the small party led by the old freed-men — I am far from saying all the old freed-men — strove to show themselves worthy of the social restoration for which they fought, the *The author we are about to cite, reproduces the following letter, in which, Jean-Francois asks an agent of the Spanish Government for authority to sell the joung Negroes, who were his prisoners. To M. Tabert: CGmmamktnt of His Majesty. "Humbly praying Mr. Jean-Francois, Chevalier of the Royal Or- ihr of St. Louis, ami Admiral of tlie ichole French portion of subjuga- ted Saint-Domingo^ that, having sovaa very trouhlcsofne snh]aci&, and not having the heart to destroy thein, we have recourse to your good 7cill, to ask that you will allow them to pass, tliat they may be re- moved from the country. We prefer to sell them for the benefit of the king, and eraploj' the proceeds in making purchases of necessaries for the army, encamped for the defense of His Majesty's rights." Let us render this justice to the excellent heart of Jean-Francois, ///;ners. Sinrilien summoned the men of color to lay down their arms, and disperse. A gun was fired from the ranks of the latter, we are assured, by a young mulatto of the Herard party. The fire soon became general. But, at tlie first discharge of artillery, the mulattoes disbanded, leaving fifteen dead on the ground ; and of this number, was M. Laudun, a former minister. Night, which comes almost instantly in that latitude, permitted most of the wounded to escape, and regain their houses — the remainder were despatched on the spot. Most of tlie fugitives cast themselves into the sea ; a great number of these were killed by the black fishermen, with tlieir oars, or drowned ; others, found among the ropes of vessels attached to the shore, were de- livered up to the soldiers, and massacred on touch- ing the shore. Gen. K^oufFran did not neglect this opportunity of clearing himself, in Soulouque's eyes, from all suspicion of connivance with these ^'small mulattoes.'' He displayed more fury than Similien, and Bellegarde, in tliis butchery of the prisoners, and tlie wounded. The launches of the Danaide, and those of the merchantmen, in the 14G SOULOUQUE AND IIIS EMPIRE. roadstead, succeededj in gathering out of the water, some fifty fugitives. Among these, were IMM. Fery and Detre, (former ministers,) and Senator Augusto Elie. The French consulate, where most of the fugi- tives had gathered, was filled with groans the whole night; every moment new fugitives fled there, and their wives, motliers and sisters, learned from them, what they had suffered. The incumbrance became so great, that M. Raybaud was obliged to make an opening in the wail, which gave an outlet into the adjoining house. Tlie two houses^ fortunately, formed outside, but one edifice, and was thus equal- ly protected by the consular flag'. The 17th, at day-break, feeble and intermitting reports of musquetry were heard, terrifying the people much more, than the copious fusilade and cannonade, of the previous evening. The execu- tions began ; they were ordered by Bellegarde. — The victims were professors of the Lyceum, mer- chants, doctors, &c., arrested during the previous niglit ; some because their wounds would not allow them to fly ; otliers, because they thougiit tliey might dispense with flight, not having taken any part in the events of the day before. All died with courage. These executions took place, at the end of the street, upon which the English consulate was situated, some seven or eight steps from its flag, and under the very eyes of the consul, and the fugitives gathered tliere. SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 14 Y The most regretted of those who perished there, was Doctor Merlet, one of the most lionorable, and best informed men of the Reinihlic. He fled wound- ed to the door of tlie Swedish consuLite, which unfortunately was closed, and was there massa- cred, on the door-sill, with circumstances of great atrocity. This door was riddled witli balls ; a do- mestic of the consul, who happened to be behind it, was ti'aversed with several shots. Another young man, happened to rush into the English consulate, and the soldiers dared to enter there, violently, for the purpose of seizing him. The consul then, in full uniform, went to Gen. Bellegarde to invoke the right of asylum for his flag. Bellegarde replied that it was gone. Mr. Ussher, being very much troubled, went to ask counsel of M. Raybaud ; and together they went to see the President. At the entrance to tiie palace, unhappy females, of tlie most wealthy families in the city, begged witli tears in their eyes, permission to carry away tlie remains of their fathers, husbands, and sons. Tliey were cruelly refused ; and all these bodies were hauled away the next day in carts, and cast, pell-mell, into a trench, near the entrance to, but without, the Cemetery. Yet odious as this useless refinement of cruelty appears to us, it was much heiglitened in the estimation of local customs, and in the oi)inion Haytiens attach to the decorum of burial. Wliilst nine-tenths of the people live in miserable huts, — whilst the cdilices left by our 148 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. colonists have fallen to ruin, and their negligent inheritors, philosophically, plant bananas in the vestibules of the old seigniorial hotels, — the cemete- ries are covered with monuments^, which more than one European city might envy. Black and yellow families, even the richest among them, are some- times, literally, ruined by death. There are many negr esses who spend their whole lives, in prepar- ing, and enriching their funeral toilettes ; and some poor devils, who dwell under two branches of a tree, live on unwholesome food, and clothe them- selves with rags or a sunbeam, are able, by club- bing together, to furnish homeric funeral ceremonies to him among them, who precedes the others to the country of their ancestors. The guard crowded the court of the palace, rest- ing on their arms, with their feet in blood. They had lost seventeen of their number in the shock of the previous evening ; and the funeral orations, uttered in their honor, were as disquieting, in their style, as their sentiments. The two consuls were received with an outburst of disapprobation. At the instant they crossed the steps, a captain, step- ped out from his company, and addressing M. Ray- baud, wished to know if he came again to '"^ask pardons." M. Raybaud, of course, did not deign to reply. On their arrival in the hall of reception, the President sent to them the provisional secre- tary of state, excusing his not being able receive them himself, and enquiring the motive of their SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 149 visit. A laborious conversation was engaged in, from a distance, thanks to the coming and going of four ministers, between Soulouque and the consuls. M. Raybaud demanded, energeticall}^, the right of asylum for the consular flags. The President only wished to admit it, in favor of women and children ; requiring imperatively the return of the young man, who had sought refuge in the British consulate. He concluded by insisting on it only, in case it should be Professor Normil Brouard. This last point, on which the President consented, finally, to yield, was that, which gave place to the most lively discussion. But Bellegarde had anti- cipated all this ; and, without the knowledge of the two agreeing parties, the suspected person, in question, had been already shot. Before leaving the ministers, the consul told them, it was high time that this horrible tragedy had ceased ; and after having, again, recommended the respect due, not only to the consulates, but also to the dwellings and property of the Europeans, he forewarned them that, for fear of some mistake, the French residents were about to be authorized, by him, to hang at one of their windows a tri-color streamer ; the President consented to this, without much difficulty. The houses inhabited by French- men, became thus, in fact, so many new places of refuge. The consul, besides, reminded them, that a great many of the stores belonsfin'ir to the na- 160 SOULOUQITE AND HIS EMPIRE. lives, contained French mercliandise unpaid for, and that in case of loss, demands of indemnity would necessarily result. The word indemnity produced its usual effect, and the ministers pledged themselves, with the most sincere emioressement ^ to watch over this matter. This last guarantee was so much the more important, hecause, every house in Port-au-Prince was either a shop or warehouse ; that there is scarcely one of these shops or ware- houses where some of our manufactured products are not sold ; and that, for want of advances, and especially of individual credit,* almost all the mer- chants are only, in some sort, depositories of for- eign merchandise, upon which they speculate. In a word, without departing, in a single instance, from his consular attributes, M. Rayhaud had found the means of covering, with our flag, the whole threatened portion of the city. Mr. Ussher, who scarcely spoke a word during their interview, retired after this step, and shut himself up in his consular ark, not to appear again for a week, when this deluge of blood, began to recede. Mr. Ussher is a very honest man, who, in private life, enjoys merited consideration, and in a regular situation would hold his rank with much distinction ; but in this human hell, in this * Specie is so rare in Hayti, that they borrow it there, at a rate, which varies from 20 per cent, per annum, to one per cent, a day. As to credit, it does not exist even by name. Bills of exchange and notes arc unknown in commercial transactions. SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 151 cliaos of unlikely atrocities, where his British recti- tude was found wandering astray for two days, Mr. Ussher, we must say, completely lost his mind. This first measure of our consul was insufficient, nevertheless, to reassure tlie bourgeoisie. The ware- houses and sho2)s, even those of tlie blacks, re- mained closed. The deserted streets were, only, traversed by patrols and isolated soldiers, with pistols or sabres in their hands, and a few Euro- peans, whose white skin was their badge of se- curity. Proclamation, after proclamation, was heard, beginning with these words: '^Whosoever dc." — and concluding, invariably, thus : ^^ Shall he sliot!" The usual supply of provisions were not brought in from the country ; and, notwith- standing the prospect of famine, the citizens feared, much more than tliey desired, the arrival of the country-people. The lamhis had resounded during the day, from many points of the plain, and some colored proprietors had been murdered on their plantations. Towards four o'clock, in the even- ing, the panic appeared so well founded, that our consul had the cash deposits of the chancellor's house removed to the corvette. The blacks of the vicinity began to flow into the city, and a general conflagration could be foreseen for that nijirht ; — but a flooding rain, which continued, from sunset to sunrise, happened to adjourn these terrors. The 18th, at day-break, the report of ^fusillade 152 .^OULOUQIIE AND HIS EMPIRE. announced that Bellegarde continued liis work of death. One of these new executions took place, near the flag of the English consul, under his eye^, and in spite of his remonstrances. A mu- latto, colonel of the staff, was massacred in the court of the palace itself. The last bonds of discipline were visibly relaxed ; and we expected, hourly^ to see the soldiery, deaf to the voice of their chiefs, rush on the city. An unclean crowd, the habitual auditory of Similien, jDrovoked them, by cries and gestures, through the railing of the palace court. '^It is the good God who gives us this !" cried these strange interpreters of Providence, with their frightful naivete, as at the pillage of the Cap. The great apprehension of the moment, on the part of the families decimated by Soulouque, was, that overcome by the savage passions he had let loose, he would, finally, be sacrificed himself. Blood for blood ; they considered themselves very happy still, to be sheltered under the axe of the executioner from the poignards of assassins. They soon learn- ed, that the President rewarded, very badly, so much solicitude. At the news of the dismal evenings of the capi- tal, the pretended insurrection of the South became real, and gained ground. A courier brought the news ; and Soulouque, taking, according to his logical habit, the effect for the cause, only saw in it another proof of the ^' mulatto conspiracy of Port-au-Prince," without being able to compre- SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 153 hend — the wretch ! — that if the mulattoes cried out, it was because he bled them. He resolved to go himself, with the greater part of the forces, to the scene of revolt; and declared that he would leave behind him ^^ neither enemy, nor subject of anxiety." The extermination of the yellow hour- geoisie, and i)illage for the black bourgeoisie — these were therefore the double perspectives, for the morrow. M. Raybaud, in his numerous, wander- ings about the city, was stopped, before every door, by the black friends of order_, who entreated him to interpose. A few distinguished personages of the country gave him secret meetings, in some third house, in order to make the same entreaty. In- deed, he alone was able to attempt a supreme ef- fort. Terror had stifled the voice of the few honest persons, who were yet found among the attendants of Soulouque. The smell of blood, as we have seen, made M. Ussher sick ; and as to the consuls of other countries, situated as they were, in their jiosi- tion of merchants, depending continually upon the local administration, they did not enjoy the least influence. But liow could lie reach the President? A happy chance — for the Haytiens — served M. Ray- baud, at this conjuncture. News of tbe French revolution of February had reached Port-au-Prince, five or six days before, and the consul wrote, that he desired, as soon as possible, an audience with the President, to give him ojp^al notification of it. 154 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. The pretext was decisive ; for Soulouque, being a very scrupulous observer of propriety with respect to foreigners, and especially so, as to us, replied to the consul, that he would receive him, the next day, the 19th, at eight o'clock in the morning. They scarcely doubted at that time, in France, but the revolution of February was beneficial for some purposes. M. Raybaud was received, with a grand display of military honors. The troops, in battle array, presented arms to him, and the President, in full uniform, surrounded by his ministers, and the black Generals of his stafp, advanced to meet him, almost to the principal entrance of the palace. Natually taciturn, especially with strangers, Soulouque hesitated always in introducing conver- sation. This day, on the contrary. His Excellency took the initiative, by a rolling fire of questions, on the events at Paris — falling, sometimes, into strange enough blunders ; but, nevertheless, with- out going so far as a dignitary of the country, who, the very next day, persisted in taking M. de La- martine for the /emme a Martin. Soulouque, evi- dently, sought to mislead the conversation ; and a very marked constraint was depicted on his coun- tenance, when M. Raybaud introduced the real object of his visit. The struggle was violent ; full of irritation at certain moments ; and, for a long time, indecisive. Soulouque enumerated, with volubility, his real or pretended griefs against the men of color, and with SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 155 many reiDetitions, as he did in the Courtois affair, and his eyes filled with tears of anger. He also often stopped, his voice f^iiling him. Then, he repeated after every pause, with the relentless persistence, with which, he pursued an idea, when he was con- vinced : " These gentlemen have proposed to me a game— their head against mine ; they have lost ! It is very mean in them to disturb you, and to take so many ways of paying me. Is it not so consul— that this is very mean?'^ But M. Kay baud stood firm on his side ; and asked, with an equal obsti- nacy, not only the immediate cessation of the executions, but also a complete amnesty, in con- sideration of the blood already shed. Soulouque, finally, yielded the first point ; but he only al- lowed, the promise of an amnesty, to be extorted from him, on condition of excepting a dozen names, which he reserved the right to designate. When the consul was about to leave. General Souffran rushed into the hall, out of breath, tell- ing the President that the French ivere taking joart with the rebels; that a launch from the corvette had roamed about the whole night in the lagimes, in order to gather up those rebels, who succeeded in liiding in the mangroves ; that we held, besides, the collector and the custom-house under the fire of the mortars on our launches ; and that all the Haf/tiens luere indignant at it!'' The Secretary of State, for the interior, Vaval, a man of dirt and blood— who, wliilst the consul pleaded the 156 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. cause of so miicli misery, manifested, frequently, his imjjatience — excelled in this feigned anger. Soulouque's face Avas horribly contracted ; all was lost ! The consul replied, with mingled surprise and anger, that he promised himself the pleasure of congratulating our sailors, if they had had, in fact, the happiness to save a few more unfortunate persons ; that, in politics, the victor of to-day is, often^ the proscribed of to-morrow ; and that Souf- fran, liimself, ^ 'might he soon in a j^osition to heg tJiat a hand he extended to him. ' ' Yaval and Souifran remained very subdued at this remark ; particu- larly, as these concluding words of M. Eaybaud, did not seem yqyj displeasing to Soulouque. ''President!" added M. Raybaud, ''of all the persons here present, I am the only one, who is not dej)endent on j^ou ; and my opinion ought therefore to appear, at least, the most disinterested. Most of tliese gentlemen, in order to give you, in their way, pledges of devotion, flatter, more and more, your resentments, and urge you to the most sanguinary measures, without caring the least in the world, /or the judgment which ivill he passed on your conduct out of this Island. I take with me the assurance you have given, and go to dissemi- nate the news of it through the city." The countenance of Soulouque, finally, relaxed ; this a2)peal to Euroj)ean opinion had produced its usual effect. Moreover, because an incurable mis- trust is the basis of his character, all counsel, even SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 15 T the most importunate, tlie sincerity of which he could not suspect, is calculated to impress him strongly. The President, pressed cordially the hand of M. Eayhaud, and concluded, by requesting him to withdraw our launches. The latter promised that their withdrawal would take place imme- diately after the publication of the ammesty. The next morning, the ammesty was proclaimed in the streets, to the sound of military music. The consuhites were emptied almost completely ; but none of the refugees, on board the vessels, dared to land, before three or four days ; and then, only, after a scrupulous examination of their consciences, to ascertain if in the last ten months, they had not offended against Soulouque, either by thought, word, deed or omission. The latter intended, in fact, to limit the amnesty to Port-au-Prince, and to the events alone of Sunday. In order the bet- ter to assert his rights, in this respect, immediately after his interview with M. Raybaud, he gave orders for tlie trial — that is, the condemnation to death — of the former minister and senator, David Troy, and of many other notabilities, arrested, at the same time, with him. The family and friends of M. David Troy, im- plored M. Pay baud to solicit his pardon. But the feeble spring of clemency, which the French consul had twice already succeeded in putting in play, would be so violently strained, by suddenly mak- ing a new effort, that it might break. To gain 158 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. time, was, the only chance, which offered. M. Kay baud, therefore, called on the ecclesiastical superior, and engaged him to explain to the Presi- dent, to whom he had easy access, that among christian and civilized nations, it is not customary to execute condemned persons during Holy Week ; and, especially, on Good Friday, the day appointed for the execution. This touched again the tender cord. His Excellency promiset], '' in order that it might appear, said he, that Hayti is a civilized na- tion, David Troy will not be put to death until after Easter." One of the proscribed persons on the excepted list, the former minister, M. Fer}^, had been res- cued by our sailors. Seven others succeeded in reaching the corvette from time to time. The four remaining persons, — MM. Preston, a former presi- dent of the Chamber of Kepresentatives — Banse, Senator, and one of the most honorable characters in the country — the merchant Margron, well known for the blind hatred, he had manifested until then against the French name — and finally, Blackhurst, founder and director of the posts, in the Kepublic — all succeeded, under different disguises, in reach- ing the French consulate. One of them was pur- sued ; and the consulate^ b}^ order of Bellegarde, was surrounded, at a respectable distance, how- ever ; but, at the first request of the consul, the President, relieved him of this, at least, importu- nate attendance. Although the hotel continued to SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 159 be watched, at niglit, by a considerable force, the four proscrits, (thanks to the devotion of Captain Galland, of the ship Triton^ from Nantes, who waited for them one night in the midst of the lagunes,) were also able, at length, to reach the Danaide. The share of our marines had been as large as it was distinguished, in this mission of humanity, which thus inaugurated, in tlie midst of the An- tilles, our republican flag. The excellent disposi- tion of Commander Jaunin, — the zeal of his offi- cers, — the admirable discipline of his crew, the devotion with which he remained, himself, for seventy-five hours, exposed, on an infected shore, to the ardors of a devouring sun, and to tropical night-storms — in a word, this attitude constantly imposing, without being hostile, — all had given to the measures of M. Raybaud an authority, which it seems could not have been obtained, but in the presence of a station of many ships of war. Nevertheless, all was near being j^ut again in question. During the day, of the 21st, a real mili- tary emeute broke out, in the palace court. The troops of the guard, silentl}^ worked on, they say, by Similien, vociferated against the amnesty, and demanded pillage as a compensation. The Presi- dent was no longer master of them ; and the re- port, that Similien was about to be proclaimed, in his place, as the price of tliis so much coveted pil- lage, and the appearance of some men of frightful 160 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. mien, who began to circulate through the streets, with torches of resinous wood in their hands, soon carried the panic to its height. The Corvette was anchored in nearer shore, and our consul had his archives, and flag, carried to an isolated house, sheltered from conflagration, and near the sea. On learning this, Soulouque, in great haste, sent the commander of the place, to inform M. Ray- baud, that some measure would be taken to reas- sure the public mind ; and a few moments after- wards^ a proclamation was published, which au- thorized any one to kill, on the spot, whomsoever might be taken stealing, or seeking to burn, any property. The President departed three days afterwards, for the South, leaving the city under the guardian- ship (little encouraging) of Bellegarde and Simi- lien. The first few days passed, in mortal fear ; then, astonishment succeeded fear ; then, finally, thankfulness was added to astonishment. A whole week had passed away, without massacres, pil- lage, or conflagration ! Either Similien, dej)riv- ed of a great part of the guard, which Soulouque had taken with him^ did not dare to risk the attempt, — or, by a reaction of secret rivalry, which already existed between the old and the new favorite, Port-au-Prince experienced, just as Paris did at the same period, the benefits of order, by disorder ; and the infamous reaction began to re- store what was left of good sense. Bellegarde, who, eight days before, was the terror of the boui^gcoisie, SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 161 became its favorite. They were greatly pleased with him, for not doing, or permitting to be done, infinite mischief; and on the 3d of May, a warm address from persons of note thanked him for it. France and Europe, alas ! were they not also reduced to fondle some Bellegardes ? News from the South was received, and mingled much shadow with all this rose. Not content with being the heir of the prophet, Acaau, — Soulouque wished to inherit his army. Before leaving Port-au-Prince, and although he had taken away, with him, three or four times more force, than was necessary to reduce the rebels, he thought of appealing to the piquets. Their osten- sible chiefs were, an old recluse, named Jean Denis, one of the most ferocious robbers that the country of Jeannot and Beassou had produced — and a cer- tain Pierre Noir, a brigand philosopher^ who, after having conquered cities and laid them under tri- bute, scorned to exchange, for the highest grades of the army, the modest title of Captain, which he held from himself alone. In 1847, the commander of an English frigate, threatened to bombard the city of Ca3^es if reparation was refused for an insult offered one of its oflicers, by the band of Pierre Noir. He was put directly en rapjjort with the lat- ter, who said to him : '^'You wish to burn down the city ? — On which side will you begin — so that lean go to work on the other ? The businef^s will be quicker done." A man, called Voltaire Castor, 162 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. condemned to forced labor for tlieft, under Boyer, and who in the galley-prison passed as Colonel of Acaau's staff, was, after Pierre Noir and Jean Denis, the most important personage of the new allies of Soulouque. In order to reiinite these, Pierre ISToir and Jean Denis, made them rather in- explicit promises ; but i^t was comprehended instant- ly. Soulouque himself feared to understand it, for his proclamation, on beginning the campaign, said: ^'The properties are respected — this is our motto!" A recommendation, which did more honor, to the perspicacity of His Excellency_, than to the morali- ty of his defenders. Pierre Noir began by occupying the city of Cayes^ which was very peaceable ; let loose the mal- efactors detained in the prisons, and put, in their places, the principal mulattoes of the town. As to Jean Denis, he threw himself on Aquin and Cavaillon, which were occupied by the body of the rebels, to the number of three or four hundred, and 23ut these to flight, at the first encountre. The greater part of the vanquished, composed of mu- lattoes, who did not expect any quarter, took refuge in the hills, where many afterwards i)erished. A hundred andeighty-nine blacks of the wealthy class, who had taken sides with the mulattoes, and who laid down their arms, expecting at least, that their lives would be spared, in consideration of their color, were garroitedj and in this condition slain to the last man ; so that the following speech of Acaau, SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 163 and his prophet, was accomplished : '^Nigger ricJi, he mulatto, &c." . . Voltaire Castor poignarded seventy of these wretches with his own hand.* This precaution of the piquets was, at least, use- less, for the Military Commission, instituted in the suspected communes, killed, according to regula- tion, almost as fast, and quite as certainly. At Miragoane, his first station, the President began by having his own aide-de-camp, Col. Desbrosses, who was mayor of that city, shot, with a few others. The same day, there were executed, at Aquin, Le- lievre. General of Division, two Colonels and two Captains; and, at Cavaillon, deputy Lamarre and Col. Suire. Thirty others succeeded in escaping. General Lelievre, who was designated, in the sen- tence, as the head of the insurrection, Avas a paraly- tic old man ; they had to prop him up as best they could_, to shoot him. At the same time, there was condemned, at Cayes, another old man, almost an octogenarian. Col. Daublas, (former mayor, and chief of the first commercial house of that city,) Senator Edward Hall, and a dozen superior officers, only one of which, Col. Saint-Surin, had taken an * A short time after, at Aquin, this same Voltaire Castor, armed with a iromblo7i, (a sort of swivel) entered a room where there were stowed away thirt3' suspects, and calmly began to fire upon them, not ceasing to reload and discharge his weapon, until the entire com- pany was shot down. One of these unfortunate people, who was only wounded, succeeded in escaping. In another prison, A''oltaire Castor, expedited his work by sabre cuts, not ceasing, as he after- wards boasted, to strike, until his arm fell from sheer fatigue. 104 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. active part in the movement. The President issued an order, to have the executions put off until his arrival, vi^hich would take place the 9th ; but Dau- blas, and two of his companions, were slain_, the day before, by th.G piquets. Soulouque, on arriving, appeared very much mortified ; not on account of this butchery, but at the disobedience of the piquets; and to punish them in his peculiar manner, he spared the lives of the other convicts. Their pun- ishment was commuted to hard labor in public ; and tliey were to be seen from the next day, with some forty others, of like rank, as companions, chained together two and two, traversing the streets of Cayes, from which they removed the filth under the whips of the blacks. The victims of this fright- ful oppression had never participated, either direct- ly or indirectly, in the rebellion. It was on the simple denunciation of their personal enemies, or their debtors, that they were reduced to this con- dition. Not content with exercising his authority, over the band of Pierre Noir, by refusing to grant it fifty heads — Soulouque wished to disband it. He therefore, addressed the National Guards (the offi- cial euphemism of piquets,) a proclamation, in which he said : ^^You have shown yourselves wor- thy of the country ! Peace being now established, return to your firesides, and give yourselves up to your noble and useful labors , and repose after your fatigues. ' ' To which the p)iquets, replied, that they SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 165 asked notliing better, than to repose after tlieir fatigueSj but that they paid people when they were dismissed. Soulouque thought he would be able to get rid of them, by additional thanks, and a few gourdes (dollars.) ThQ iDiquets after pocketing the gourdes J said it was not enough. Soulouque con- cluded, that honor was dearer to them than money, and, to the great discontent of the army, (which ought, besides, to sicken over this chapter) he let fall a real shoAver of grades upon the bandits. The African vanity of the piquets was taken, at first, by this bait, notwithstanding the abuse Pier- rot, and even Acaau, had made of it. During eight days, nothing could be seen in the streets of Cayes but plumes ; after which, the bandits, feeling that immense void, left in the heart by human gran- deurs, cried out, and, this time, in the tone of me- nace : '^N'a j)cts noics, non, ia i^vend dans piege cila encore!'' (They will not catch us again in this trap !). We must mention, that since their victor}^, at Cavaillon, their number had considerably in- creased ; and, as usual, the piquets of yesterday exceeded, in their demands, those of the day before. As their last demand, they claimed, firstly, for each one of them five squares (carreaux) of land, — not wild, but in full production, — to be taken from the property of the mulattoes ; secondly, a few houses in the city for their ofiicers. On learning, that Soulouque allowed these de- mands to be discussed in place of replying to them with cannon-ball, the ring-leaders of Port-au- 166 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. Prince, wlio were held in check a moment by Bel- legarcle, renewed their ultimatum^ of the 9th of April ; having however, added to it, from time to time, some articles, in comparison with which, the claims of the piquets were only moderate. By their new programme, — to the acceptance of which they made conditional the reentrance of KSoulouqiie into his capital, — the friends of Semilien besides the dic- tatorship, — a flag of a single color, — and the depo- sition of the last mulatto functionaries, — demanded: pillage of the warehouses of the mulattoes — the confiscation of all the houses belonging to them, ex- cept one a piece — thirty of their heads — banishment of a great number, — and (observe) of these, four black generals, — among which the name of their former friend, Bellegarde, figured, having become, decidedly, a reactionist. The friends of Similien claimed further, that the* Government, (that is to say Soulouque,) should seize the monopoly of pro- ducts for exportation, and that he should cancel the d,ebt for French indemnities (this was, as we know, the equivalent of our millions to the emigrants) ' 'considering/' they said ''that this indemnity had been agreed to by mulattoes, since banished, or de- claimed traitors to the country ; and, who had treated with the agents of a hing, ivho no longer existed.'' Yet if what transpired, in the spring of 1848, is well remembered, and that the friends of Similien were unable to read^ (which doubly removes the suspicion of imitation,) it will be difficult to deny the ubiquity of the social and democratic cholera. IX. The scruples of Soulouque — A negro inrproviptu. We have to deal no longer with a poor irreso- lute negro, whom a feverish want of sympathy, from the enlightened class, kept, unconsciously, on the side of harharism. The heaj) of corpses, which interposed between that class and himself, had broken the charm. Of the two men, which we have seen in Soulouque, henceforth there only re- mained the savage ; a savage who had suddenly obtained a revelation of his strength ; and who — proud of imposing the terror, which only seemed small in his estimation — drunk with joy in feeling himself free from the invisible bonds with which the intrigues of men smd fetiches had fettered him — convinced of the legitimacy of his griefs, and the predestination of his vengeance — rushed, through the first opening which offered, to the gratifica- tion of his appetites for hatred and tyranny. Nevertheless, there is a kindness of government, which belongs to the role of power; and, if, as it is often seen, tlie most systematic and inveterate pre- judices of opposition cannot resist this evidence of government responsibility, is it astonishing that tliis influence captivated an ignorant and brutish 168 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. mind, wliicli no preconceived opinion misled, simply because it had no opinions ? The instincts of the savage would, even, in this case recoil before ab- surdity, almost as soon as the reason of the sophist. The only difference in favor of the second, is that the sophist being undeceived, would be able to generalize, for his own use, each of the revelations of experience, while the savage would see, nothing, beyond the present cause, and its immediate effect. It is unnecessary to seek, any further, for an ex- jjlanation of the abrupt incoherencies — the alterna- tions, from perfect good sense, to ferocious imbe- cility — which the character of Soulouque is now about to displajT-. The request of the piquets had, certainly, nothing in it, which could offend the notions of natural right, that might exist in the brain of a negro tyrant. To take a part of their property from the mulattoes, who, in his opinion, had endeavoi'ed to take power and propert}^ from him, was, in the eyes of Soulouque, almost an indulgence. He, nevertheless, received this request, very unfavor- ably. At the very time, that some civilized poli- ticians, (who believed nothing could be done but by conciliation,) allowed themselves to compound with similar petitions, Soulouque, of himself alone, fore- saw, that the property to be divided being limited, and the number of piquets threatening to become unlimited since being favored, their demands in- creased by reason of the difficulty of satisfying SOULOUQUE AND IIIS EMPIRE. 169 tliem. Hence, there was only one step, in order to conclude, that it was necessary to avoid all transactions with i\\Q lyiquets ; and, although there was yet time enougli, to disperse these national workshops of a new kind. But if, the instinct of the cliief shrunk, from the country tastes of the han- dits, the logic of tlie savage could not resign itself, to consider as dansi;erous — and to treat as rash — tliose, who manifested so much zeal against his pretended enemies. In order to reconcile all, in his way, Soulouque struck, they say, the difference between them ; while refusing to surrender the property of the mulattoes to the piquets^ he abandoned their pro- prietors to them. Those pardoned on the 9th of May — Senator Edward Hall and his companions in misfortune — were the first installment of this tacit agreement. Soulouque consented that t^ey might be massacred the 1st day of June. This done, the 2)iquets began to hunt down the mulattoes, of the country ; burned, killed, and robbed, under the very eyes of the black authorities, who ke})t silent, or approved of it. From the mulattoes, the band of Pierre ISToir passed to Europeans ; and some Frenchmen, them- selves were maltreated, and extorted — not excepting our own consular agent, at Cayes, whose residence the bandits devastated. At this news, Soulouque, whose letters to Bellegarde, invariably, terminated with this recommendation: ^^Let us have no diffi- 170 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. culty luith the French!'' — Soulouque was ready to sink, with anger and fright. This was the oppor- tunity, if ever, to hreak with the piquets. At Tor- heck, Port-Salut, CavaiUon, I'Aanse-d'Hainaut, Aquin, Saint-Louis, and other theatres of their ex- actions and atrocities, the people wanted hut a mute sign, from the President, to get rid of this handful of wretches. At Jacmel the black garri- son, and the mulatto bourgeoisie, had even taken the initiative of resistance. A band, which at- tempted to penetrate this city, by violence, was, vigorously, repelled, leaving behind some forty of their number prisoners ; and there was no doubt, but that the President would permit an example to be made of them. But Soulouque reflected, in the meantime, that if the piquets happened to give him new embarrassments, with respect to foreigners, they had given new proofs of their zeal, with re- gard to the mulatto conspirators ; and, seeing, that it would be inconsistent, to confound reward and punishment upon the same heads, His Excellency gave, simultaneously, tlie order to make reparation to the foreigners, by indemnifying their losses, and to give the piquets satisfaction, by throwing into prison the most respectable colored inhabitants of Jacmel, of whose services, the black authorities were, besides, deprived. We foresee the rest ; t\\Q piquets continued to maltreat the foreigners, to the great anger of Soulouque, who was over- whelmed, anew, in reparations and excuses, but SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 1^1 whom, they were sure of disarming, by fresh violence against the " mulatto conspirators.'^ This negro version, of what is called, the see- saw policy, Soulouque applied to every thing. So far from opposing any obstacles, to the emigration of the yellow class, the authorities seemed, at first, to view it with a favorable eye. But the greater part of the emigrants, as I have said, being re- tailers, whose flight would prejudice the foreign consignees, these complained loudly of it.* Sou- louque was so much the more aifected, by this de- mand, because the most certain part of. his reve- nues, (it will be henceforth folly to say the revenues of the government,) accrued, from duties on im- portations and exportations ; that is to say, from bartering with foreign countries. Emigration was, therefore, rigorously prohibited ; a decree de- nounced the emigrants, with civil death, and per- petual banishment. This very severity was of good omen ; as it seemed to indicate, that the thought of reviving commerce, animated Soulouque ; and, as a consequence, the termination of this system of terror, which depopulated the shops, and filled up the cemeteries and prisons. Unfortunately, Soulouque reasoned thus — that emigration being prohibited, the mulattoes would * Wc are ready to prove that none of our countrymen took part in this demand. Loss for loss — they preferred to see their debtors escape, than be killed. 172 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. remain in the country ; that by remaining in the country, they would only be the more able to con- spire ; and this increase of danger could only be counterbalanced by additional precautions. As the first increase of precautions, he gave orders to have all the able-bodied mulattoes of Port-au- Prince enrolled, in order to watch over them more easily ; and this press of mulattoes con- demned, a great number of shops, to inactivity, which neither emigration, nor the executioner had yet made vacant.* As a second increase of pre- cautions, (and it was well that the trifling insurrec- tion of the South had ceased for want of insur- gents,) Soulouque redoubled his fury against the mulattoes of that part of the Island. It is easy to understand, how it was that commerce was not benefitted by all this. A few men of color, who by this triple scourge, of forced enrollment, the piquets, and the military commissions, had not yet been driven from their warehouses, were compelled to seek, a last chance of safety, in clandestine emi- gration. And emigration was not limited to men ; the vessels which coasted along this accursed coun- try, already deserted by almost every fiag, encoun- tered every day at sea, miserable launches, filled with women and children, endeavoring to reach Ja- maica. Incensed, at so much unwillingness, Sou- '. * Many public administrations were even compelled, to suspend their functions, for the want of persons able to write. SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 173 loiique was transported, with additional fury, against the mulattoes, who were so much the less excusahle in his eyes, because he never ceased to proclaim, his reliance upon them, in the orders of the da}^ — like the following : ^' Haytiens ! a new era has arisen for the Repub- lic ! The country having throAvn off the shackles of all the heterogerieous elements luhich obstructed its progressive march, has become prosperous. The greater part of the traitors have sought refuge on foreign soil. . . . Citizens of Cayes ! I will soon leave your city, to explore the rest of the Southern department. My stay here lias restored calm to the public mind ; and I am happy to say, that this calm and security have been noticed in, all parts of the Republic. . . . etc., etc." In fact, he left Cayes the 2d of July for Jeremie, a city which liad been very tranquil for many years, and vainly flattered itself to escape this terrible visi- tation . Besides a portion of his guards , and three or four regiments of the line, he carried with him a band of piquets, who scattered along the whole route, robbery and assassination ; — some thirty Generals, that, through mistrust of their disposition towards him, he held under his hand ; — a military commis- sion to whom he delivered, from time to time, one of these Generals ; — and a cloud of informers in rags, who, at every halt of the President, played the part of people in scenes like those, a recital of 8 174 SOULOUQUE AND IIIS EMPIRE. which we have borrowed from an order of the day, of the 16th July : ''Haytiens! the population of Jeremie, which awaits the arrival of the Government chief, in order to make known to him their griefs and wishes, assembled in that city, the 13th of this month. Orally and hy ])etition they have de- nounced as traitors to the country — " (Here follow the names of fiftij-seven of the principal citizens ; they were functionaries, whose places the staff of \\i^ ]jiqnets coveted, or merchants who, to their misfortune, had had dealings with the friends of the piquets. In his diseased predisposi- tion to believe in the sincerity, and devotion, of all those who flattered his susjDicions, Soulouque con- sidered nothing further). '"' Haytiens " — added this head of the Government, in an impulse of paternal solicitude — ^^Haytiens, the citizens of Jeremie, who, like those of every other part of the Kepublic, aspire to that peace ivhich leads to liap)- piness, demand justice of these accused persons, whom they declare to be the only obstacles to j)ub- lic tranquility, in the Grande-Anse. You want peace — you shall have it. I promise it to you ; I swear it by this sword, with which, you have armed me in defence of your honor, and the glory of Hayti. This sword shall never be returned to the scabbard, as long as there shall be left one of these perjurers to strike, who conspire the ruin of SOTJLOUQITE AND IILS KMI'IRM. 1Y5 the country." In fact, they arrested the perjurers, in question, tried, and executed them. One might he surprised, that liaving the piquets under his hand, Soulouque shouhl have sacrificed, to prejudice, judicial proceedings. This is to he very ignorant of the individual. The hiw gave liim military commissions, and lie would have thought liimself, deprived of one of his preroga- tives, if they had demanded that he shoukl yiekl them. It was, hesides, a means of testing the sus- pected officers of his suite, to require them to sit, in these commissions, when, hy chance, the accused person, might he one of their friends. The sentence was distingnislied in such cases, hy its sad brevity. The commissioners, being forced accomplices of as- sassination, wished, at least, to divide among them- selves the sarcasm of a judicial parody. On the con- trary, the military commissions^ which were filled up from the ultra-hlack party, heightened by the luxury of forms their constitutional impudence. We have under our eyes many pi^oces-verbaux, of these commissions. We read in them, almost con- stantly this phrase : " The informer has set forth the accusation, hut has produced no evidence.'' And this other: ''The President has enjoined, upon the advocates, that they must say nothing against their consciences, nor contrary to the re- spect due to the laws, but they should express themselves, with decency, and moderation ; and, 17G .SOIILOUQUK AND UTS EMPIRE. that every otYender shall he condemned to a 2^i(n'isJi- ment, ivhich luill he defined hy the law.'' The advocates understood this, at a glance ; and, in order not to he exposed to the retroactive effect of the future law, with which, they were threat- ened, they sang with stifled voices, and in guise of pleading, the praises of the Government chief. This formality through with, the accuser persisted in supporting his accusation, continuing, of course, not to produce any evidence of the charge. The vote was taken ; and the council, having seen the articles, d:c., invariahly condemned the said ac- cused to the punishment of death, inasmuch as the pmhlic order had been compromised. It was in like manner^ for example, that Senator Edward Hall was tried and condemned. There was another feature, not less characteristic. The text, cited to sustain the conviction of this Sen- ator — who was not a military officer, and had heen put on his trial only under the pretext of conspira- cy — was the 25th article of the military code, which applied, not to conspirators, hut to soldiers, or per- sons attached to the army, who should have exposed any Haytiens to the effect of reprisals, either hy committing acts not approved hy the government, or in acting contrary to its instructions. Some text was necessary for these terrible boobies, and this had, at least, the merit of originality and surprise. Again, among others,, in the trial of the venera- ble Danblas, the President, in order to spare the SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. ItY scruples of his colleagues, altered, of liis own au- thority, the decisive question — to wit : '^Is it cer- tain that the accused, etc?" — and said: ^'Is it certain, or is it prohahle^ etc?" Then, in default of any evidence to the charge, the sentence was based on some j^^ohahilities, as thua: '^seeing the j)Osition of things, and considering to what extremi- ties men are carried, who are always seeking to annoy, and interrupt, tlie progress of government, by constantly intriguing to i)roduce a cha7ige of the Executive every year, (an allusion to the fetiche hidden in the ])alace garden) which is very prejudi- cial to the countr}^ — and^ finally, considering that these Messieurs, enemies of their country, have proved their designs, hy that lyistol-shot which Celig- ny fired at the President personally , (vaudoux version of the two pistol shots fired in the jDresidential palace at General Celign}^ Ardouin) — by these facts, the council. . . {passing hy the conclusions of the public minister who had ap})arently abandoned the accusation) — condemn the aforesaid accused (Daublas) to the punishment of . . . death." This frightful tribute of blood liad been almost exclusively, at first, levied on the colored bourgeoisie: senators, deputies, generals, and superior ofiicers, magistrates, merchants, and great projirietors, paid their contingent with resignation ; when a black General of Division, named Telemaque, who com- manded tlie arrondisscmcnt of Cayes was put, in his 178 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. turn, upon trial in company wifh all tlie superior officers of his staff. Not finding a shadow of guilt to their charge,, and believing they could swerve in favor of the ac- cused blacks, from the office of executioners, which was imposed upon them, in regard to the mulattoes, the military commission dared to acquit tlie pri- soners. Soulouque instantly gave orders to have them rejudged, and to make an e7id of it this time — they obeyed ; the General and his staff were mas- sacred with great parade, on the principal square of the city. A short time afterwards, another black Greneral, named Brice, was arrested on the Domi- nican frontier, and conducted, with a part of his staff, to the prison at Port-au-Prince, from which he was only released on becoming a maniac. The execution of David Troy, whom they thought had been forgotten in this prison until the return of the President, again sealed the bloody brotherhood which the latter renev/ed between the two colors. Yet, though no suspected murmur arose from that vast solitude — lialf desert, half cemetery, which he had created in the peninsula (terror restricted itself to lamentations) — Soulouque suspected that order was scarcely reestablished, and he returned to Port-au-Prince on the 15th of August. On en- tering the city, he and his troops passed through a succession of triumphal arches, ornamented with enthusiastic legends, upon which His Excellency deigned in ])assi ng, to cast the occasional look of SOULOUQUE AND UIS EMPIRE. 170 a connoiseur, saying : ^^tliis is very pretty." The report spread, that tlie President had learned to read,* and the noisy delight of the ^'black people" was thereb}' increased. It was no longer tlie good will, which should exist between vaudoux coreli- gionists — it was a mixture of curious veneration, and pride, which urged that eagerly obedient crowd to welcome the transfigured Soulouque ; respect for whom, was fear^ and whose only sceptre was an axe. Some scene of massacre was, at first, feared ; and many colored families, solicited an asylum in the consulates ; but yielding to the new impressions, which existed all about them, the two or three hun- dred scoundrels, avIio, for the last two months, had boasted, that Soulouque should not return to the city, but upon coi'taiu conditions, now dissimulated as much as possible. The city was illuminated for three evenings ; and the houses of the mulattoes — houses which proscription or murder had visited — were distinguished above all the others, for the garlands of palms, and wreaths of leaves, which gave them an additional decoration. From the marked coolness, which he exhibited to Similien, it was easy to believe that the Presi- dent, himself, had returned to more peaceable * Soulouque, in fact, exercised himself, secretly, in reading; and we are assured that printed letters were already without mystery to His Tmiicricil Majesty. Soulouque did not make less progress in writing. 180 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. opinions ; but this delusion did not long continue. Among tlie innumerable suspects, who, not being able to fly from this land of sorrow, filled the pri- son at Port-au-Prince, three were under sentence of death ; these were Gen. Desmaret, who had a command on the Dominican frontier — a colonel, and a magistrate. Some persons dared to hazard an application to the President, to spare their lives, at least ; they only succeeded, in putting him in a state of frightful nervous excitement. M. Ray- baud was entreated to attempt a last effort to save them. Soulouque received the consul-general, with his usual warmth and courtesy ; but, not without the constrained smile, he had prepared for the occasion, becoming fixed on his lips, which were agitated by an involuntary trembling. For the first time, in three months — during which, he mowed down yel- low and black, Avithout creating about him, any other murmurs than those of the falling bodies, — he found himself in the presence of a man, who dared to think and say, tliat Christian blood ought not to be shed like water. From the first moment of that long interview, Soulouque raved with anger. M. Eaybaud waited, until this torrent had passed by, when he set before him the numerous reasons, which the interests of the country, and those of the President himself, could suggest. Soulouque, ap- parently overcome by lassitude, renewed, with a SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 181 sort of calm, liis favorite argument : ''that the mii- lattoes having proposed to him a game, and having lost, 'it was very mean in them to disturb the con- sul, instead of paying gracefully."' But, by de- grees, expression following, with difficulty, the swelling flood of thoughts, wliicli pressed in tumult through his head, incaherent words succeeded to phrases, and monosyllables to words. At the end of an hour, the consul was less advanced than on entering. At length, Soulouque said: ^' If my mother sJiould issue from the grave, and fall at my feet, her prayers ivoidd not save them !" After tliis oath "by my godmother" — (the most terrible oatli til at a Haytien negro can make) — M. Kaybaud replied — "Grant me, at least, one of them." "The half of one if you wish," replied Soulouque ; and, tliis time he managed to smile. The savage had conquered ; and he celebrated his triumph, in savage fashion — half laugh, half anger. Let us^ however, remark that this formal revolt, persisted in by Soulouque, against the man who represented, in his eyes, French civilization, was only an indirect consequence, although a logi- cal one^ of the feeling which had induced him to yield, twice before. It was about the end of Au- gust ; all the details of this European melo-drama were, therefore already known in the Antilles in one hundred and twenty days, on which the victory of June dropped the curtain . Soulouque who read , eagerly, the journals of France, and the United States, was delighted (as not long before he was on 182 SOITLOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. the subject of Santana) at the proofs of cliaracter given by the democrats from Madrid to Berlin ; and it is, only, because the black chief piqued himself, ujDon borrowing from civilized Europe his opinions and clothes, that we can understand Avhat new turn his dispositions had received from this influence. M. Raybaud in endeavoring to impose clemency on him, in the same way he had done the past year, was evidently rather suspected : ' the loliiies only ridicule the negroes,' he would say. However, the three condemned persons at Port- au-Prince had not yet perished ; this is explained by negro j^hysiology. During the first revolu- tion, Commissioner Sonthonax, in order to per- fect the new freed-men in republicanism, wished to introduce the guillotine at Port-au-Prince — then Port-Repuhlican. A white man, named Pelou, a native of Rouen, suffered the costs of the first ex- periment. A comjiact mass of blacks, whom Jean- not, Biassou, Lapointe and Romaine-la-Propetesse, had surfeited, on every human atrocity, surrounded the place of execution. But, either the wind, that day, had a i3articular influence on the African nervous system, or, the terrible effect of the ma- chine, bewildered the notions of these simple men, who had never put the whites to death except, inch by inch, — the head had scarcely fallen, when a prolonged howl of grief and fright, went up from the front rank of the spectators ; and was, by de- grees, communicated to that portion of the crowd, which had seen nothing, by means of that animal SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 183 electricity, an example of wliicli the vaudoux has already furnished. In a few seconds the guillo- tine was torn to pieces— and has never since been erected in Hayti. More than fifty years afterwards, a similar scene transpired in Port-au-Prince. Soulouque ordered, that the executions should take place at Las-Oaho- bcas, a village on the Dominican frontier. The three condemned men, in fetters, set out on the journey, under guard of a hundi'ed and fifty police- men, and an entire regiment of inflintrv, towards this destination. But, whilst passing through the city, their sad and resigned bearing excited amon- the women, such an impulse of sympathy, such a tempest of cries and tears, that the effect became contagious and extended even to the blacks In .spite of the efi^orts of the soldiers, every body pre- cipitated themselves towards the condemned men, embraced them, and squeezed their hands Tlie soldiers and officers, finally, could not restrain it • and soon afterwards, the most violent murmurs broke out, even in the ranks of the escort against so much cruelty. The dismal cortege departed nevertheless, from the city, and marched for four hours, towards Las-Cahobas ; but, either his own nerves had been shaken by this scene, or, because ot the universal reprobation, which spontaneously assailed it, he wished to give himself time to re- flect,— the President sent an order, to have the condemned men remanded to prison. At night-hill, they, therelbre/ passed again 184 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIEE. througli the cityj preceded, surrounded, and fol- lowed^ by a compact mass of j^eople of all colors, drunk with joy, who shouted, " vive le President!" It might have been remarked that the blacks of the quarters, Morne-a-Tuf and Bel-Air — those who were the most hostile, and excited, against the mulattoes, — shouted, laughed, and wept, more ve- hemently than any others ; and the city being spontaneously illuminated, these quarters presented the most sjilendid illumination. All was saved. Paper-money rose more than a quarter ; the orators of Morne-a-Tuf proclaimed, that the mulattoes possessed some merit ; and that, after all, they had suffered enough. Even Sou- louque appeared to experience the contagion, decid- edly ; for, (what had not happened since the begin- ning of this reign of terror, even to the few suspects acquitted, here and there, by the councils of war) he, successively, caused fifteen, of those detained, to be freed ; the most insignificant, it is true, of the five or six hundred persons who filled the dun- geons at Port-au-Prince. But, three weeks after- wards, the enlargements ceased ; the arrests begun ; the President had eight of the principal colored inhabitants of Jacmel shot, of whom the piquets, as I have said, had complained. The populace of Port-au-Prince, insulted and menaced, not only, the mulattoes, but even the black bourgeoisie ; and the country people, finally, spoke more than ever of coming to pillage the city. This was a financial experiment of ISoulouque. X. The conspiracy of capital in Hayti. Hayti presents this miracle of credit — a paper- mone}^, not resting upon any metallic, or terri- torial pledge — a paper money, which the Govern- ment issues, at discretion, reserving the right, to redeem it when it pleases^ and at such rate, as it pleases ; and wliich, moreover, it declares spurious money, hy refusing to receive it, in payment for importation duties. And notwithstanding all this, at the close of twenty years, on the accession of Soulouque, it still circulated, for ahout one-fftli of its nominal value. In otlier words, in 1847, about seventy-two gourdes of paper, (the real gourde is worth 5 francs and some centimes,) was necessary to represent one doubloon — that is, a Spanish gold- piece of 85 francs value. The Haytien gourde has, as we see, a well deter- mined character. The scenes of the month of April, and the terror following them, did not fail, nevertheless, to affect it. What has preserved its currency, until now, is tlie fact, that the import- ers of foreign merchandise, accepted it, from the retailers, thanks to the certainty of their being able to pass it, immediately, to the planters, in 186 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. IJayment for their coffee. The planters receive it in preference to specie, which they mistrust much more. But the murders and imprisonments ; the flight of the greater numher of the retailers ; and the serious fears, which such a condition of things caused the importers to feel, with regard to the solvency of others — arrested transactions ; and as a consequence, the circulation of the gourde. The little coin, which remained in the country, had also contrihuted, until then, to sustain the gourde — either hy entering for a part stipulated beforehand, in the agreements — or, by supplying, as odd-money, the insufficiency of change, in the transactions of the retailers witli consumers. But the j:>?'0scn'^s and the fugitives, knowing very well that the Haytien paper-money, outside of Hayti, was worth only so much paper, had swept off, in leaving the Island almost all the metallic cur- rency. This double support being wanting, the gourde suddenly lost more tlian a third of its cur- rent value. The duties on importations are tlie principal re- source of the Haytien treasury ; in consequence of interrupting trade, the public revenue diminished, therefore, more than a half. This reduction of re- ceipts, coinciding with tlie expedition to the South, and the levy enmasse — that is, with an enormous in- crease of expenses — tlie ministers were soon com- pelled to announce, tremblingly to Soulouque, that funds were wanting. " We must make them," SOULOTJQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 187 calmly replied tlie Executive. And the fabrica- tion of paper-money — wliicli was only done, occa- sionally, so as not to lose the art — was briskly car- ried on, to an issue, of irom fifteen^ io twenty thou- sand gourdes a daj^ But the notes, unfortunately, had this peculiarity — tliat the quantity, ftir from making up for tlie quality, injured it. The little foreign commerce which still supplied the daily consumption,* and, as a consequence, the Haytien retailers, t Avho were the intermediaries of this trade, at length refused, therefore, to accept the paper-gourde but at the rate of 185 to the doubloon, (nearly the tivelfth of its nominal value.) The ^' black people" have so entirely lost the use of money, properly so called — are so entirely accustomed to use notes as a normal money — that, taking (as the ^^ white peo})le " have done already, and with still less reason) the effect for the cause, they consider this depreciation of the representa- tive value of the gourde^ as a real rise in the price of products. Two facts have aided in producing this mistake. Firstly, the government, which cannot, honestly, encourage a depreciation, already so rapid, continues to pay off the civil and mili- * This country, the richest in the Avorld, is compelled to obtain from abroad, the fourth part of its articles of prime necessity — such as, meal, meats, salt-fish, soap and all articles of dress. t By the terms of the law, all the retail-trade is the exclusive privilege of the citizens of ITayti. 188 SOULOIIQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. tary riinctioiuirie.s, at tlie I'ate of the noniinal val- uation of the gourde. In the second place, as it is natural, that wages should fall in projjortion to tlie diminution of transactions, and the emigration of llie wealthy consumers, the day-laborer, because of this fall, continues, not only to receive the same number of notes for the same amount of labor, but, not being able to comprehend, that his Avork is valued less, he therefore concludes, from the ac- knowledgments even of capitalists, that the real value of the note has not varied. Therefore, there was a conspiracy, between the foreign merchants and the retailers, to starve the poor people, and to oblige them to pay, for products of first necessity, twice and a half dearer than in 1847 ; therefore, it was necessary to give a lesson to this infamous capital. The infamous capital, which they wished to oppose by mildness, only became the more fero- cious by it, and the '^ black people" saw in this increased defiance, only a new proof of the con- spiracy, in question. The financial programme of the friends of Similien — that is, pillage, combined with the industrial, and commercial monopoly of the government — responded (May and June, 1848) to this double prejudice. The feeble hope of security, which, the pardon granted to General Desmaret and his companions, produced, reacted on the gourde, which, from 185 to the doubloon fell, suddenlj^, to 150 ; but it was a depreciation, at least, of a hundred per cent., in SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 189 comparison with the valuation of 1847 ; and the first outburst of African sensibility having ])assed by, the common people, recommenced their com- ])laints, against the cons])iracy of the merchants. Besides, when the French, English and American shippers had been informed, in the interval, of what occurred at Hayti, it happened that all ar- rivals from abroad ceased, (in September, the road- stead of Port-au-Prince liad onlv a sincrle forei^^'n vessel in it,) just at the time, the small quantity of supplies, which remained in circulation, were consumed. Hence a rise in the price of products, (this time too real,) which was a new cause of popular effervescence, and commercial panic ; and the gourde was restored to 185. The army, which, because of this depreciation, was compelled to feed and lodge itself, at the rate oi six centimes a day to the man, — the subaltern officers, who, with their hundred francs a year, were reduced to ask alms, when they were not em- ployed as laborers, — and the innumerable civil functionaries who made the counterpart of an effec- tive military, proportionally seven-fold as great as our own, and who, seeing the hardness of the times, had not even the resource of pillage — all this world of gold-lace, and rags, — sliouted famine, as loudly, as tlie common people. The Government was alarmed at it ; and, in order to divert the storm, it became very necessary to encourage those preju- dices, which it could only have dissipated, by avow- 190 SOULOUQUE AND HIS ExMPIRE. ing itself the author of all the evil. It proclaimed, therefore, on two occasions, tlfat, it was ahont to put a stoj), to the outrageous rise in all the articles of co7isum]ption ; caused, it is said, by the enemies of the people, — only a part of which had succomhed, to the sword of the law, — and by the bad faith of Haytiens, who conspired against the public good, otJieriuise than by arms. On seeing the Government completely of their opinions, the black people understood at least, that they might leave the instrument itself of conspi- racy, in the hands of the enemies of the public weal, and yet, the warehouses would not be pillaged. The panic reached its height. Fortunately, Sou- louque and the Secretary of State for finances, M. Salomon, only intended to accept the second part of the financial programme of Similien ; — that is, monopoly complicated to the utmost— which was returning to the old idea of Acaau. M. Salomon, himself, for a long time, caressed this idea ; and it was by this title, that the Similien faction, had given him, on the 9th of April, the portfolio of Finance. The Government, however, at first, only monop- olised two articles of export — cotton, and (the principal of all) coffee. It reserved the right, to monopolise these two articles, at fixed prices, and to distribute them among the merchants. The price of selling by wholesale, the greater part of foreign merchandise, was also fixed by the admin- SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 191 istration. The mere announcement of a system, Avhich was about to give, in fact, a fixed and forced currency to the gourde, produced, let us acknowl- edge, one of the results M. Salomon expected ; from 185 gourdes to the doubloon, paper fell again to 110. But this was, only, the consequence of a series of mistakes, more and more decisive, whicli we ask permission to enumerate briefly, and in order not to return again to it. The favorite excuse of white socialism is, that they have not been willing to put it to a trial. But the experiment has been made ; it was a veritable socialistic experiment that Sou- louque made. First error : When the Government found itself, face to face, with the necessities of practice, it com- prehended, willing or unwilling, that Hayti, not being the only country of America, which sold coffee, and bought meal, salt-provisions, soap, tis- sues, &c., all tarification of tlie one, or the other class of products, which would be onerous to for- eign commerce, would only end in driving the latter from tlie national markets. Prices ought, there- fore, to be so fixed, that the foreign merchants would not complain of it, and, really, there would bono demands ; ]u-oof positive that these merchants could lose nothing, and, as a consequence, the pro- ducers and consumers gained nothing. Tlius, the fundamental data of the system :— diminution of the price of foreign merchandise— and augmen- tation of the price of domestic products were 192 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EJViPlllE. abandoned^ even before this system went into opera- tion. Further, it was necessary to institute., in each of the eleven ])orts, open to importation, an adminisiration of monopoly ; that is, new machinery, and a new intermediaire, to use a technical term. The expenses, occasioned by this new interme- diaire, would not fall, (for the reasons 1 have given.) on foreign commerce ; and before however, burdening any one, they would fall, necessarily, either directly or indirectly, on the native sellers and buyers, whose situation, in consequence, was found aggravated. Second error : The crop of coffee was, by chance, very poor that year ; socialism did not insure against these kinds of accidents. Under the regime of free competition, high prices compensated the cultiva- tors, for the scarcity of their ^n'oducts ; but, as one of the objects of the law was, precisely, to give some fixity to t\iegou7xle, by making prices certain, - — as, on the other hand^ the government, after having taken away, from foreign commerce, the advantages of free competition, could not, at the risk of driving it away, impose on it charges, by a great increase of the fixed prices — the tariff was not altered. The deficit of the coffee crop was thus transfered to agricultural labor, (which they had pretended to benefit) by a clear loss. Third error : Under the regime of free com23eti- tion, certain ship-captains, by favor of older and more extended relations than those of their rivals. SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. [<)?) would succeed, in spite of tlie deficiency of the crop, in completing their cargoes. Many other vessels, it is true, would have to leave empty ; — but their captains, or their agents, could only attribute it to the want of activity. From the time, on tlie con- trary, that the Government monopolised the sale of coffee, at the risk of deserving the reproach of partiality, and driving away forever, from the Hay- tien market, the rejected importers, it could not exclude a single vessel from its share. The distri- bution was therefore made pro-rata, according to the value of the merchandise introduced. It re- sulted from this inetliod of division, that a vessel such as had imported a cargo of the value of 50 or 00,000 francs, obtained, only, at great pains, and after long delays, a counter-value of from 5 to 6000 francs. Every body was constantly dissatisfied. Those captains, who lost by this innovation, the benefit of a long acquaintance with the Haytien market — that is, those even whom it was most im- portant not to discourage— returned from it, swear- ing that they would not be caught again, in that socialist nest. For similar reasons, the principal foreign consignees wrote, urgently, to their houses, to suspend all shipments. The receipts of the cus- toms, which, by the cessation of emigration, had recovered somewhat, soon fell again. In order to arrest this commercial desertion, the Government authorised the foreign vessels to go, (by way of keeping them,) and complete their cargoes of coffee 194 SOULOUQTJE AND TITS EAIPTRE. in all tlie open ports of tlie Island — even, in tliose, wliicli liad been, exclusively, reserved before this to the Haytien coasting-trade ;'tliis ruined the lat- ter. But here is the worst of it : the American vessels, loaded with meal, signified to the Govern- ment, that they would not unload their meal^ but in exchange for fidl cargoes of coffee ; and it was necessary to take these from the quantity to be dis- tributed, for scarcity was imminent. Those foreign importers, whose trade did not prevent Hayti from being taken by famine, reduced more and more their operations. Fourth error : Some traders who were obliged, come what might, to dispatch their vessels, agreed to pay to contraband a premium, which rose some- times to a hundred per cent. The speculators kept for themselves the half of this premium, and devoted the other half to buying . . . the employees of the monopoly. By tbe force of things alone, every- thing returned to the former condition, with this dif- ference nearly — that the treasury was deprived of the duties on exports ; and the high prices bene- fited, not the producers, but extortioners, and stock- jobbers. Fifth error : Not being able to indemnify them- selves, for the over-tax, with which contraband speculation oppressed tlie export of coffee, but by a corresponding rise in imported merchandise, the foreign merchants refused, suddenly, to deliver these goods, at the price, fixed by the monopoly SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 195 law. The '^ black people," naturally , recommenced their threats against the conspiracy of capital. The retailers, especially, because of their being Haytiens, were insulted every day, and struck by the poj^ulace. The gourde did not improve by all this ; and M. Salomon accelerated the crisis, by endeavoring to stop it. He began, by excluding from the division of the monopolised products, the trading consignees, who refused to sell at tlie tariff price ; and, in order to prevent this interdict being eluded by fraud, he sought to compel the traders to deposit their mer- chandise, to be given out by the customs-officer, in a common locality, belonging to the Govern- ment, without guarantee against fire, robbery, or riots. Besides, he rendered the retailers liable to penalties and seizure, who refused, on their part, to submit to the tariff; and domiciliary visits^, con- fiscation, and beatings, at length succeeded in bringing to reason this wicked capital. We fore- see^the rest. Scarcely a year had passed away, Avhen M. Salomon was able to inscribe, on the door of his economical edifice; ''Sold at sixty-five per cent, discoimt for tlie purpose of peremptory and general settlement." I do not exaggerate it : the monopoly prices were only bearable, at the valua- tion of one hundred and ten gourdes to the doub- loon ; but under the influence of these monstrosities, (which, moreover, were but the most practical, logical, and conclusive, consecjucncc of the socialist 196 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. principle, proposed by M. Salomon) tlie rate of the doubloon was, gradually, raised to tioo hundred and eighty-tivo ; wlien, at the very height of emigration, arrests and executions, it had not exceeded one hundred and eighty-five. It is useless to add, that the cultivators, being obliged to deliver their coffee, at the rate of from nine to ten centimes the pound, ceased for the most part to gather it. It is un- necessary to speak further, of what became of the last receipts of the treasury, under the influence of a situation, where all things were, fatally, com- bined-to exhaust the resources at once, without and within. At the present time. His Majesty, Faustin the 1st, (whose monarchical splendors we will soon have to relate,) would be^ probably, reduced to clothe himself, with a banana leaf, and to dine with his Minister of Finance, if the latter, helped by a fortunate despair, had not brought his country, and his Emperor, back to the modest regime of the bourgeoisie political economy.* At the time of decreeing this socialist experiment, Soulouque deigned to remember, that he had Chambers to enact laws; and the Chambers, re- cently so boastful, sanctioned by a vote, as mute as it was unanimous, the fantasies of M. Salomon. *Tlie monoply was aljolislied in the beginning of 1850. At the first departure from this system, the doubloon fell from two hundred and eightj^-two gourdes to one hundred and forty-four ; and coffee, which the cultivators were obliged to sell, at the rate of ten francs the quintal, rose to thirty-five, and even to forty francs. SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 197 Soulouq[ue, as usual, opened tlie session in person ; and, insensible as tliey were to tliis kind of emotion, an involuntary sliudder ran along all the benches, when they noticed, in the presidential cortege, that very Voltaire Castor, who had poniarded, with his own hand, seventy of the prisoners garrotted at Cavaillon. His Excellency announced to the Parlia- ment — 'that the rebels being nesLrly vanquished , Hayti was about to reach, at length, that degree of grandeur and j^rosperity, which divine Providence had reserved for it.' The chorus of vivats, which welcomed this speech of the President, was less full than usual — and for a very simple reason: a tliird of the senators, and a portion of the repre- sentatives, were absent, because of proscription, or death. In order to prove, certainly, that this < was, neither discontent, nor coldness, on their part, the chamber of Representatives, two days afterwards, warmly thanked the President, for having saved the country, and the Constitution. There was not a single page of that Constitution, which had not furnished wads to the guns, before which. Deputies and Senators, had fallen, by the dozen. At one of the following sittings, a representative, 'consider- ing, that the President of Hayti had merited well of the country, for his constant efforts, in maintain- ing order and the institutions, proposed to grant him, as a title of national recompense, a house of his own choice, situated in the city;' and the two 198 SOULOUQL'E AND HIS EMPIKi). Chambers, moved as by a spring, rose, c?i masse, for its adoption. Three months passed, afterwards, in silent votes ; but soon this satisfied and decimated majority, trembled, when they found that their silence was taken, for an implied protest. And it hastened to burn, another grain of incense, at the feet of the negro tyrant. The orator of the Senate, said : ''Already, Mr. President, we have shown the bene- ficent influence of your sage and moderate admin- istration At your voice, passions die, (he had cut their throats !), and the reign of established laws has become a verity to us all Circum- stances have, happily, conspired to put in relief 3^our high character, exhibiting every thing noble and generous. Continue, Mr. President^ do not pause " The orator of the Chamber of Kepresentatives, in his turn, exclaimed: ''How great is the love of the nation for your Excellency ! How much is it honored by your pa^enia? administration, by those noble sentiments oi fraternity , by the concord and clemency J which animate you — and which have transported it, many times, with enthusiasm!" {Moniteur Haytien, the 6th of January, 1849.) Toussaint, Dessalines, and Chrif^tophe, were able to exercise a tyranny quite as hard — but never, as well received, as that of this formidable poltroon, to whom, every shadow was a phantom, and every silence an ambuscade. And this was not the stupor SOULOUQUM AND HIS EMPIKK. 19^ of the first moment of .surprise, wliicli froze every will about him. From that parliament, bloody with tlie murderous blows struck at its inviolability, and which, wij^cd the blood from its own visage, to allow a liypocritical smile to be seen — from the remnant of that mulatto poi)ulation, which was forbidden, even, the confederacy of sorrow, — from those prisons, whose limits, badly secured and guarded, enclosed enough suspects to form, at need, an avenging army — there has not even to this day, arisen, a single cry, whicli has not been one of servile devotion. We ought not, after all, to com])lain of it ; be- cause the ultra-black faction, wliicli remains, alone, standing in tlie midst of this universal prostration, must, sooner or later, attract and fix that suspicious look, which blights all that is not engulfed. And indeed, we are about to see, the three heads of this faction, suffer the consequences of those inexorable suspicions, Avhich it excited. This second reaction will be, happily, let us remark, much less mournful tluin the first, although the victims of it are less wortliy of pity. The one sprang out of a dream of extermination — the other is to issue out of a buttle of rum. Rum, naturallv, leads us to General Si milieu. XI. A sun-set. The misfortunes of the piquets. A voltairiiui papa-loi. I have drawn, at length, the portrait of Similien ; and, if the moral conduct of this frightful person- age, has not been too much lost to view, one will not he astonished, to see him fall a victim to his own sensibilities. Here is the new turn his feel- ings served him. A few days after the massacres of April, 1848, Bellegarde, as we have seen, inspiring as much security, as he had previously caused fear^ received a warm address of thanks from the bourgeoisie of Port-au-Prince. The only merit of the new favor- ite, and of his second, the commander of the place, was in having held Similien in check ; but to make it plain, a dangerous challenge had been thrown down to the latter. After the example of that devotee, who, in order to avoid making enemies on any side, was careful not to forget the devil in his prayers, the bourgeoisie thought, therefore^ it was prudent to include Similien in the official expres- sion of its thanks, with the two men, who were the objects of it. This sudden stroke of flattery happened to surprise him, just at the time, he gave himself up, betw^een two flasks of rum, to his daily SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 201 meditations on the ingratitude of the mulattoes ; and J being the more touched with such a return of sympathy because he felt he had done nothing to merit it, he was seized, while sitting, with the real tenderness of a drunkard, for that very colored population, wliicli he was about to devote to mas- sacre, pillage, and conflagration. Similien was, fortunately, subject to seeing dou- ble, as well morally as physically. In returning liis thanks to the mulattoes, he had no intention of embroiling himself with their enemies ; the more so, that these, being deeply wounded by the obsta- cles, which Bellegarde opposed to their schemes of pilLige, were the natural allies of the supplanted favorite. Accordingly, Similien divided his life into two parts, which he kept sacred' — the one, to drink with tlie mulattoes, in order to discharge the debt of his heart — the other, to drink with the ultra-black leaders, to preserve their exasperation against the mulatto tendencies of his rival. This zigzag of drunkenness, had a two-fold success. Not content with bidding highest on the communist programme of t\\Q piquets, this coterie of plunderers, ultimately, demanded of it as I have said, the banishment of Bellegarde. On their part, the men of color, measuring their urbanity by the increasing terror, with which, Simi- lien inspired them, replied with an empressement, day after day, more flattering to the bacchanal politeness of this terrible associate. The latter 202 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. concluded from tliis, that he was the idol of both the mulatto and ultra-black parties. His head was turned ; and finding that tlie insignificant name, he had borne until then, was not in harmony with his high destinies, Similien desired to be called thenceforth, only, Blaximilien. Until the expiration, either by law or revolution, of the presidential powers, would allow him to add, to that sonorous name, the title which he al- ready entertained in his mind, Similien thought he could not dispense Avith being, at least, the se- cond personage of the State. Therefore, it was necessary to evict Bellegarde •; and as the sudden favor of Bellegarde, formerly a simple colonel, could only be explained by the influence of the vaudoux, of which he was one of the wildest vo- taries, Similien conceived the bold project of sap- ping the edifice, at its base, by discrediting the vaudoux. Soulouque being still absent, the unbe- lieving tailor approached, Madame Soulouque, on this subject. He remonstrated, with her, in a pa- ternal tone, that brother Joseph w^as not, what vain people thought ; that he was, in a strict sense, permitted to render, to the Supreme Being, the homage of a pure lieart ; but he (Similien) blushed to see, the Chief of a free country, open his palace to droles, and drol esses, who burned wax-tapers, cut cards, or made serpents speak', for money. The President's lady, who, during this tirade^ had several times nearly fainted, could not restrain SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 203 the indignation^ wliicli tlie monstrous scepticism of Similien produced. Plurt at the reception, his friendly counsels had received, the latter, in his turn, became incensed, and they came to angry words. '^ I will write to the President about it !" exclaimed Madame Soulouque. ^ ' Very w-cll ! ' ' ma- jestically replied the commander of the guard — " say for me, to the President, that he is as foolish as you are ; that he will have a difference Avith me himself; and that to return to Port-au-Prince, he must submit to my conditions." Similien, however, I am told, was unconscious at the monent, of all he said under the influence of anger ; but believing it necessary to console him- self for the ingratitude of w^omen, as formerly he had done for that of men, by a double draught of rum, he was unable to recover a lucid quarter of an hour, before the return of the President, to af- ford him an opportunity of retracting his menaces. The ultra-black fliction had even aggravated these threats by taking up the matter ; and I leave the rea- der to imagine whether the President's lady. Belle- garde, and brother Joseph took part, from this circumstance, in the daily denunciations which they w^ere careful should reach Soulouque. Hence the cold reception His Excellency gave Similien ; and in order that he might be left, in no doubt, as to his disgrace, the next day, he rebuked him, with an evidently affected severity, in relation to some insisrnificant details of the service. The ex- 204 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. favorite believed he could reclaim Soiilouquej by invoking tlie souvenirs of an old intimacy ; lie, therefore, replied as a companion — that is, with a familiarity, which made his despotic friend knit his brows. Similien concluded from this, that the friendly expression, which he desired to give his words, was not sufficiently manifest ; and he declared it to such a degree, that his familiarity degenera- ted into impertinence, which ended in injuring his prospects. It was, therefore, his fate to be always misunderstood. At the end of his expedients, the sentimental drunkard remembered, that, in a simi- lar case, he had succeeded in conquering the hearts of the mulattoes, by showing them what it would cost to become embroiled with him ; he imagined, by an analagous proceeding, to regain the heart of Soulouque. In other words, Similien undertook to conspire in earnest, which, with the help of rum, was very soon a secret to no one. The Presi- •dent dissimulated several months ; — when, one morning, at the parade of the guards, he said in a brief tone to the old favorite : '^ General Similien, I deprive you of your command. Go ; and remain under arrest, in your house, until further orders !" On hearing himself thus addressed, in the midst of that very guard, whose fanatical devotion he had so often proved, Similien concluded^ in good faith, that the President had become crazy ; but he thought he dreamed himself, when the con- SOULOUQUE AND JITS EMPIRE. 205 tident and sneering look, lie cast rapidly about him, only met indifferent countenances and mute mouths. Not a man stirred. Similien had been, already, some days under arrest, when three or four officers, first dared to hazard an opinion on that measure. Removed durini>; the niii-ht, these officers were taken, by sea, to the dungeons, at Mole Saint-Nicholas, and spoke no more. After mature reflection, Similien discovered the secret of the enigma. The people and the army, evidently, exj^ected to rise, in his favor^ when Sou- louque was engaged, in his next expedition, against Santo-Domingo ; they had only affected indiffer- ence, in order to conceal more effectually their scheme. Indeed, Soulouque entered upon the cam- paign, the 5th of March, 1849, and from that day Similien, expecting hourly, that his friends, the mulattoes and ultra-black leaders, would come, arm in arm, to supplicate him to accept the Presi- dency, took no pains, afterwards, to conceal his legitimate hopes. Six weeks, however, had al- read}^ passed away in this feverish expectation, and the future President began to be disturbed ; when, finally, an unusual movement was made about the house. Considering the heat, Similien was, properly, found in a condition of toilette, which recalled much more the formal sitting of a Mandingo chief, tlian that of a Haytien President. Fearing to compromise the dignity of his debufj he, hastily, 20G SOULOUQUE AND IITS EMPIRE. leaped into liis pantaloons^ crying to the numerous groups, wliicli he heard already in the house, to be pleased to wait a little. But such was the impa- tience of the visitors, that they forced the door open, seized Similien, hore him, in the twinkling of an eye, into the street, and there drove him with blows, not towards the palace, but to prison. They cast him, half-naked into the same dungeon, from which David Troy, his first victim, had issued some time before, to proceed to execution ; and, strange coincidence, this occurred the 16th of April, 1849, a year, to the day, after the scene of the massacre, which inaugurated the programme of Similien. By a coincidence, not less singular, Similien suffered in that dungeon the effects of the very suspicions, of which he had been the principal instigator. Believing himself, in fact, sure of the ultra-black element, he had turned exclusively, in the last few months, towards the class of color, upon which he relied to work out of the difficulty ; so that Soulouque finally regarded him, as no- thing more than a ^'mulatto conspirator." A few screams from the women, which seejned rather produced, by astonishment, than commiseration, were heard on the passage of the escort, which carried along the old favorite ; but that was all. The male part of the population, which, formerly, would have burned the city to have pleased Simi- lien, did not stir, any more tlian the guard had done previously. The ''philosophers" (orators SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 207 and good talkers) of the quarters of Bel-Air, and Morne-a-Tuf, were content, to point tlieir fingers to the two opposite points of the horizon, and say : '■^ The sun rises there — and sets there'' — a negro sentence, which is intended to express the insta- bility of hnman grandeurs. The ascendancy of respect and terror, which Soulouque exercised, even at a distance, did not alone explain, however, this new attitude of Simi- lien's friends. In thinking to sap the vaudoux creed, the latter had been unconsciously digging for the last ten months, the mine in which his popularity was swallowed up. Soulouque only delayed his action, until this silent work, whose progress his spies had foUoAved day after day, pro- duced its results. The counter-part, in a word, was complete : the vaudoux, which was the first cause of the ultra-black irruption^ became tlie first instrument of reaction. To finish with Similien, let us remark, that he was not shot ; but some months afterwards, he Avished for nothing better. A step was taken in his favor, on the occasion of proclaiming the Em- pire : — ^' He get out of prison!'' exclaimed His Imperial Majesty — "• 7ie loill he covered ivitli moss first!" Similien sent word to Soulouque that his legs were so swelled by the pressure of his fetters, that they were about to mortify :— '^ I do not care for that ; icheii tliey fall off, he can he chained, hy the neck!" said Faustin 1st, adroitly. The cx-favor- 208 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. ite died J very mysteriously , in prison, about the end of 1853. In the interval that elapsed, between placing Similien under arrest, and sending him to prison, the principal chief of the piquets, Pierre Noir him- self, also, paid his tribute to that suspicious des- potism, one of whose most frightful instruments, he had become. Faithful to his habits of modesty, Captain Pierre Noir had obstinately refused the grade of General, which fell to his lot in the shower of promotions, of which his band was the object in 1848. He only wanted the emoluments of it ; and yet, feeling ashamed, to receive, what he could take, levied these emoluments himself on the public ; attacking the foreigners by ^oreference. Our consul- general was worn out, asking reparations, — always heard, but always to be renewed. At length, losing patience, M. Raybaud summoned the Government, once for all^ to deprive Pierre Noir of the possibili- ty of harm ; adding that the deference it used, to- wards this abominable wretch, induced the belief, that the President was, really afraid of him ; and therefore, he boasted of it. Soulouque, who_, for six months, had shed human blood, in streams, to prove that he possessed character was, you may well imagine, very sensitive to this suspicion of cow- ardice. A courier immediately took the order to Pierre Noir, to report himself at Port-au-Prince. Judging that this trip would be injurious to his health, Pierre Noir took care not to obey, and he SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 209 called together the whole body of the piquets; — but measures had been so well taken, that before he could assemble his band, he was arrested, in the vicinity of Cayes. When he was led out to be shot, with two of liis lieutenants, the bandit offered to make the officer, commanding the escort, his prime minister, if he would allow him to escape ; and, what is rare in Hayti, tlie officer refused, although Pierre Noir was perfectly able to keep his word, if the case had happened. In demanding justice, only, of a simple cut-throat, M. Eaybaud had, in fact, disembarrassed Soulouque of a conspirator, much more dangerous than Similien. It was proved, that the modest Pierre Noir, only awaited the time, when the President should be found fighting with the Dominicians, in order to organise a small African kingdom, in the South, to the exclusion of eyer?/ heterogeneous element; that is, to the exclusion of the mulattoes, who would have been massacred, simultaneously, at all points on the peninsular ; and to the exclusion of the whites, who would have been massacred, after the mulattoes, beginning with the two French and English consular agents. The execution of tliis bold rascal, who reached, after ten months of impunity, an ascendency almost without limits, diffused through tlie black populace of the South, an impression of superstitious respect, with which, Soulouque had alread}^ struck the rob- bers of Port-au-Prince. The j/^i'r^^^e^s contented themselves, in manifesting their desolation, by an 210 SOULOUQUE and' HIS EMPIRE. extravagance of sorrow, wliicli ended in fatiguing the President. ^'This has become too silly/' said His Excellency, one morning ; and, three new ex- ecutions took place, to impose silence on the sobs of the brigands. Let us remark, in order not to recur to it again, that after Similien and the piquets — that is, after the military and the bandit elements of the ultra- black tragedies, — the vaudoux element also had its turn. Some months after his accession to the throne, Soulouque suffered from a swelling of the knee. The doctor prescribed some leeches ; and brother Joseph having become Colonel, and Baron, con- curred in the advice of the physician ; but the dis- tinguished patient indicated, his preference, for conjurations. Either Voltairianism suifered, or vexed at seeing, for the first time, his counsels dis- regarded, brother Joseph had the imprudence to say, that the Emperor would not recover from it. Soulouque, who paid his sorcerer, to dispel bad presages, and not, to make them, gave orders, im- mediately, to have brother Joseph conducted to the dungeons of the Mole-Saint-Nicholas. His Impe- rial Majesty got into difficulty then with a formi- ble party, considering the power, the sorcerers had, of injuring even from a distance. But the vessel, which carried the disgraced papa-loi to the Mole, providentially, capsized, on the way ; and^ by a most remarkable chance, brother Joseph only per- ished of all the people on board of it. SOULOUQUE AND TIIS EMPIRE. 21) 111 conclusion, a little good had already sprung out of the very causes of so much evil. The fear of being ridiculed about his vaudoux beliefs; the diseased anxiety of escaping the suspicion of fee- bleness ; — and finally, tlie fear of witchcraft, Avhicli alone, had driven Soulouque back into the ultra- African party — had become, by turns, the cause of the reactions which • had successively, carried off three scoundrels, who personified that party. Un- fortunately, much was wanting, to make this re- action systematic. Soulounue, so ready to generalize his suspicions, and hatreds, with regard to the mulattoes, — Soulouque only appeared to see tlie danger here, in proportion, as he encountered it ; imprisoning, or shooting without deliberation the ultra-black conspirators, whom he detected in the act of ofience ; but, without leaving his confidence with the rest of the party, which had become the nursery of the dukes, counts, and barons, who, now pufi'ed up the powerful Empire of Faustin. It is true, there was about Soulouque an emulation of hatred or fear, to flatter his prejudices against the oppressed class, whilst the ultra-black party found itself protected, by him, because of the very excess of these prejudices. How could he oppose hostilely the piquets, with- out declaring himself, more or less, the friend of their victims? Not one of the seven, or eight_, honorable men, who remained in the entourage oi Soulouque^ dared to hazard such an interpretation. -il2 SOULOIIQUE ' AND IITS EMriRE. In the iiieaiitiiiio, tlie piquets, tuul tlicir I'riends, continued, hy force of the powers, with which , they were invested, the system of terror tliey had exer- cised, in 1848, on the great high-ways. Either, hecause of an enthusiasm of gratitude to the man, witliout whom, they would he, again, reduced to steal sugar-cane, or heg — or, because the greater part of them did not feel their consciences very clear, with respect to the conspiracy, which cost Pierre Noir his life — all these strange Generals, took pains, to prove devotion, after their fLishion ; that is, by discovering in every hourgeois a suspici- ous person. Under the influence of these beset- ments, which no one could resist^ the impulses of savage distrust, which Soulouque, sometimes, re- vealed against the real suspects, resumed their first direction. The prisons, and dungeons, gave up none of their captives, except those that disease or starvation delivered ; and, if the arrests and executions had become more rare, it was because the material began to be exhausted. The influence of the consuls only could reach this matter ; and occasions were not wanting for its ex- ercise. Hatred of the mulattoes being in some sort, wdth the drunken rabble of the place, but a shadow- ing of its hatred for the whites, there w^as no kind of insults and exactions, which they spared the latter. One day, some Europeans, (and our consu- lar agent of Cayes was of the number) were in- sulted, and struck, at the conclusion of a hearing. SOULOUQUi: AND HIS EMPIllE. 213 by a justice of tlic peace, before wbom they bad been summoned, as witnesses ; and the local au- tborities brutally, refused them any protection. Anotlier day, a trap was set, for some captains of vessels, ready to sail, in order to catch them in the very act of smuggling ; and the snare not having succeeded, the authorities, notwithstanding, de- tained the vessels, offering, (verbally, to be sure,) to spare the captains, upon being paid, the ruinous delays which would follow a judicial enquiry. Upon the slightest pretext, the foreign merchants were arrested, and carried before the tribunals. Here is an example of these pretexts : In 1850, a young black, fifteen years old, work- ing on a plantation, took it into his head to poison a Frenchman for pastime, who superintended the estate. He introduced into the earthen bottle, from which he was accustomed to drink, some bamboo down and rose-apple roots. Scarcely had the Frenchman drank of this beverage, than he regarded, with suspicion, the young black who had presented it to him. The latter fled at full speed ; was apprehended, and taken before the commander of the place, at Cayes. He confessed, that he really designed to poison the Frenchman; but he did so, because this white man had made seditious motions against the government. The startling political precocity of this young drole, extorted a smile of approbation, from the representative of authority. He sent for the Frenchman, and after having 214 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. grossly insulted liim, had him cast into a dungeon, for trial. This commander is a drunkard, named Sanon, who, a short time ago, was a trumpeter ; hut now, is Count de Port-a-Piment. The commander of the province, an old chief of ^nquets, Jean Claude, alias Duke des Cayes, had had incarcerated, some days hefore that, for reasons quite as curious^ another Frenchman, who was a peaceable merchant^ and had been established, for thirt}^ years, in the country. A caj^tain, out of service, who happened to be discharged by this mer- chant for whom he had worked, as a day laborer, had him accused of saying : ' ' That there were too many Generals in the country, and not enough laborers on the cc'ffee plantations." It was proved, by the declaration of the witnesses to the charge, them- selves, that only half of this innocent speech had been given ; and, that the informer had made, on the contrary, the following proposition, which was much less innocent : '' That unless things changed^ they would kill all the whites." The Frenchman was nevertheless condemned ; for in such cases, Monseigneur, the Duke des Cayes had the hall of audience surrounded by an armed force ; and this means never failed, of its effect, on the tribunal. When a foreigner is rescued, from these trials, by the intervention of his consul, it is not without difficulties. The head of the first English house, at Cayes had a sad experience of it, one evening. The unhappy Englishman, reached his dwelling sumo minutes alter the hour, wliich it pleased this SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 215 terrible Duke, liis persecutor, that every one should he at home ; he was apprehended, bodily, by a pa- trol_, who had waited for him, at the very door of the house, where he had spent the evening, and took him to tlie guard-house, kicking and beating him with a cane on tlie way. He passed the night, there, in company Avith thieves, and vagabonds, insulted and abused till morning. The foreign military marine, itself, is not exempt from such insults. Near the end of 1849, some officers, of an English steamer which had anchored at Cayes, were making some hydrographic obser- vations on the sea-beach. They were arrested, by the guard, and conducted with extreme brutality, iu the midst of the hootings of the populace, to the inevitable Duke, Jean Claude, who received them with every possible obscenity. He, how- ever, consented to release the captives ;* but, not * The commander of the English steamer, who had, himself, been treated with extreme insolence by General Jean-Claude, sailed after complaining of his consular agent, who was content with a hack- neyed expression of regrets, without requiring the punishment of the guilty parties. The English consulate took an honorable re- Tengc, a short time afterwards, by exacting from Soulouque the pardon of an architect condemned to death ; who was unfortunatehj, executed nevertheless. The vice-consul bitterly complained of this to Soulouque ; who ascribed it to some administrative mistake. And, for the purpose of quieting the consul, surrendered to him an old General, who was dying in prison — adding that, as a General was of much more consequence than an architect, the vice-consul should regard this last favor as so much the more precious than the first. It is scarcely necessary to say, that Soulouque demanded money of hi3 General, in order to make the comi»ensation exact. 216 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. without first having turned, over and over, in his hands, with suspicious attention, a harometer, which he had taken from them — adding, that they did not carry quick-silver in a glass tuhe for no- tliing ; and, that this ver}^ quicksilver, was con- clusive proof, that these Messieurs came to search for hidden treasures. I do not answer for it, tliat Monseigneur, the Duke des Cayes, did not operate, on his own account, by digging in the suspected place. A short time afterwards, the commanders of two Spanish ships of war, which put into the bay of Flamands, were wandering ashore, when a certain General, who by a double antiphrase, was called, M. de Ladouceur, Comte de VAsile, had them seized, bodily, and required that one of the com- manders should remain as a hostage. Whilst M. Raybaud, and our consular agent at Cayes, nego- tiated the reparation due the Spanisli flag, the crew, of a third ship of the same nation, went ashore to get some provisions, at I'Arcahaye, and were received, on landing, with such hostile de- monstrations, that they were obliged to return to sea, leaving the ensign in command^ a prisoner. The next day, the captain landed alone, and had himself conducted to the commanding General of the subdivision, before whom he demanded, ener- getically, the'respect due to Spanish sailors. At this word, Spanisli, the General, divided between anger and stupidity, spoke of nothing less, than SOULOTIQUE AND HIS KMPTRK. 217 having the amUicioiiK rebels sliot, inimetliatoly. This qui-j^ro-qico, which woiihl have gone beyond the bounds of comedy was, finally, cleared up. The captain proved, by all kinds of unquestiona- ble evidence, that there were other Spaniards, in the world, besides those of the Dominican part of it. The General was shaken, but not convinced ; and, in order to relieve his responsibility, he sent the ensign to Port-au-Prince, where he arrived on foot, escorted like a malefactor — and, after having been insulted, along the whole route, with the epi- thets oi pirate and spy. At Port-au-Prince, the fact of Spain's existence Avas readily admitted ; and a third reparation was added to the two already demanded. At every difficulty of this kind, which the ex- incpiets tlirew on his hands, Soulouque exhibited according to circumstances, contrariness, irrita- bility, or consternation. His grief being well es- tablished, he hastened to acknowledge it ; if neces- sary, he had the subaltern agents of this system of exaction, and outrage arrested ; he even compelled, in grave cases_, the principal representatives of au- thority to frame jiublic excuses, with accompani- ments of salvos of artillery, and a general illumi- nation ; but this was all. Jeane Claude and his associates were not spar- ing, either in excuses, powder, or lamps ; but, some days afterwards, they recommenced their outrages, sure of the obstinate indulgence of Soulouque, 218 SOULOUQUD AND TITS EMPTRK. though it cost his vanit}^ the most cruel discomforts, for all crimes which appeared to be an excess of devotion and zeal. We regret to say, the Britisli consulate as if it sought to create for itself a claim, hy contrast, on the Haytien Government, did not always second, as much as was in its power, the energetic persis- tence that our agent put in operation, to obtain reparations which concerned it, against this weak side of the black chief. The English sailors, and residents, often complained of certain unseasonable conduct ; and we are inclined to believe that the Foreign Office, itself, might, for once, regard fa- vorably, the departure of its agents from this see- saw system, which is the classic proceeding of the English chancery in Hayti. As to the French Government, it expresses itself on the wrongs, oc- curring to our countrymen, without ceasing ; and in terms, which shows its intention of stopping them, by putting an end to it, once for all.' The most efficacious method of repression — that which has always succeeded with M. Raybaud, is to take the Haytien Government on its weak side, money ; and to exact, for every wrong committed against European residents, not only, reparation for their material losses, but, also, costs and damages^ as compensation for the impositions suffered by them. This is nothinc^ but common riG:ht. If these means are insufficient — if Faustin 1st prefers to pay, every day, compensation for injuries, SOULOUQUE AND HIS ExMPIRE. 219 rather than get rid of these strange favorites, — we do not see why, France and England should hesitate, to strike at the root of the evil, and exact, imperatively, the submission, en masse, of these official bandits, to whom Soulouque has surrendered the whole province of tlie South. This would still not be going beyond common right ; because, all reparation implies, on the part of the 2)erson grant- ing it, the undertaking to prevent, within the limit of his j)ower, the repetition of the wrong repaired. But it is proved that the belaced canaille^ which he has to deal with there, is incorrigible ; and it is, equally, beyond doubt^ that in order, to bring to rea- son, if necessary, those of the disgraced^:)igwe^s, who would renew the undertakings of the late Pierre Noir, Soulouque would not have to expend a hun- dreth part of tlie brutal energy^ which he has gratuitously displayed against their victims. In- deed, it is high, to estimate at a thousand scattered over the whole country, the entire body of these scoundrels ; who pretend to isolate, from the white race, a country, whose only resource is its foreign commerce ; who, retain, by their influence, in the l)risons or in exile, the class which serves as inter- mediaries to this commerce ; and who feed an in- creasing lire of hatred, savagery and disorder, in the bosom of a people, the most slothful, I am con- vinced, but the most inoffensiv^e, hospitable and governable in the world. XII. Victories and conquests of Soulouquc. A sorcery trial . The Em- pire and the Imperial Court. Let US take up the order of events, by Avhicli, Hayti progressed to the era of tlie Faiistins. Soulouque, one day, asked liow Napoleon had ar- rived at Empire. They replied, that it was by gaining the battle of Marengo ; and the black chief, who prided himself, as we have seen, npon following our fashions, wished also to have his Marengo. The Dominicans — tliose mulatto rebels^ as he styled them — must pay the expenses of the thing. It would be a double blow ; for, on the same occasion, Soulouque would succeed, in getting rid of the mulattoes who were not rebels, the lar- gest possible number of whom, he had had enrolled, with the intention, of exposing them to the first fire. For the six years that the Spanish portion of the Island had been declared independent, these expeditions had been the signals of conspiracies and Haytien revolutions ; but Soulouque had taken good care of this, by always taking with him, as hostages, the innumerable Generals, whom he sus- pected of looking more or less to the succession. As to Similien and the piqiLcts^ as I have said, the SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 221 first remained under arrest^ subject to the surveil- lance of the new favorite Bellegarde — and the second^ taken unawares by the violent death of their chief, only, dreamed of watering, the grave of the late Pierre Noir, with rum and silent tears. This war was, profoundly, distasteful to nine- tenths of the Haytiens ; and the possibility, of a Dominican ball cutting short the august days of Soulouque, was not of such a nature, as to bring desolation among the innumerable families, about to be decimated. Never, however, — never did more sincere and ardent hopes of success, accompany an enterprise. The idea, that Soulouque might re- turn beaten, and a prey to exasperation, alone, caused the bourgeoisie, black and yellow, especially the last, a real agony of terror. The first news of the expedition^ happily, somewhat calmed these apprehensions. The 19th of March, 1849, the Dominicans, having been driven out of Las-Matas, by a corps, which left the Cap, with the President at their head, lost their artillery : and the next day, Soulouque, proudly, encamped at Saint-Jean, an almost central point of the Island. As it had not been ever before thought of, Sou- louque, after reaching this point discovered, that he had set out on his expedition without provisions. He soon after found there were some at Azua, which had been evacuated without resistance, by four thousand Dominicans, commanded in person by President Jimenez ; but. he committed the 10 222 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. blunder^ of consuming these supplies on the spot, awaiting, for an entire week, submissions Avhich did not take place. Driven from Azua by famine, the black army, however, succeeded in reaching, after many other unexpected successes, the river Ocoa — distant, about twenty leagues, from the Dominican capital. This unhappy little people ^vere lost, without help. The wealthy families of Saint-Domingo embarked, hastily ; and congress, seeing the impossibility of any defence, were about to hoist over it the Frencli flag. All this was known, day after day, at Port-au- Prince ; and the entire population were, literally, about to prepare the triumphal procession, w^hicli was due to the conqueror of Saint-Domingo, when suddenly, on the 30th of April, a sinister report circulated through the city. From the vicinity of Bani, the Haytien army, abruptly, fell back to Saint-Jean, passing over this distance of forty-five leagues, in less than four days. Wliilst the Hay- tiens slept, in the pleasures of Azua, the Domini- cans had had time to summon to their aid Santana, who had withdrawn, for a time, from state-aff'airs ; and Santana gave a new proof of character to his admirer, Soulouque, by completely beating him in two engagements, which cost the Haytiens six pieces of cannon, two flags, three hundred horses, more than a thousand guns, a quantity of baggage, and hundreds of slain, several Generals among the number. Santana, then, drove back the Haytien SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 223 army towards the sea-board, where it was, cruelly, cannonaded with grape shot, by the Dominican fleet, posted there to intercept it. 1 The causes of a defeat, so unexpected, remained to be explained. To attribute it to the improvidence of the President, was to sport with one's head ; but the hougeois, remembering, opportunely, that France had served them for forty years, as a shield in every instance in whicli they had reason to fear, some out-burst of the fury of the ultra-black party — the bourgeois hastened to set down, this defeat, to our account. Although the consul-general of France had spared no means for a year past, of di- verting Soulouquefrom his conquering flincies, they suddenl}^ discovered that the counsels, prayers, and importunities of M. Raybaud had, only, pushed the President into an enterprise, for which he was not yet prepared. Tlie perfidious M. Raybaud knew, in advance, that he sent liim to a cut-throat place ; because, the pretended Dominican fleet was neither more nor less than two — then seven — after- wards fourteen — and finally nineteen French ships of war. Messieurs, the mulattoes, who, with nearly five or six exceptions, thought themselves obliged to cry louder than any others, discovered this figure of nineteen ships ; two of which, especially — the Ndiacle and Tonnerre — which had been absent from that station for many years, had powerfully contributed, in their opinion^ to the success of the ambuscade. The mulattoes, also, discovered that 224 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. M. Raj^iaud, who was only the clay before tlieir idol, had added to his wrongs that of sending to the enemy, Soulouque's plan of campaign, which had been, apparentl}^, confided to him. The black authorities concluded by accepting literally this romance, in which, alas ! fear held the pen. Our countrymen w^ere the subject of menaces. The city was over-run, in every sense, by orderlies on horseback ; and the forts were armed, for the purpose of sinking our stationary Corvette, which they sup-^ j)Osed was making preparations^ on its part, to bombard the city. M. Raybaud, whose nerves were tolerabl}^ well inured, seemed very little moved by all this bluster. However, lie had, already, taken some proper mea- sures to protect our countrymen, when two procla- mations suddenly appeared, restoring to order the enthusiasm and joy of the day ; and, by giving it another direction redoubled the inquietudes of the unfortunate bourgeois, who, by too great zeal in manifesting their gallopJiobia on this occasion, had made themselves the heralds of a defeat, which was henceforth to be disclaimed. In one of these proclamations, the President said : — *' Soldiers ! from triumph to triumph, you reached even to the banks of the river Ocoa. You occupied, at that place, a position, whose advantages justi- fied me in leading you further ; hut I did not tliinh proper to abuse your courage. . . . Having reached your firesides, you will have much to tell those, SOULOUQUli; AND HIS EMPIRE. 225 wlio were not present on these battle-fields, wliicli recalled tlie glories of our ancesters. . . Soldiers ! I am content with you ! ' ' In another proclamation, addressed to the people and the army, Soulouque, after having enumerated his triumphs, adds : — ^^ But entirely favorable as may have been these circumstances, wisdom recommended me to return to the capital The Government tvishes, stilly to allow its loaiidering sons time for reflection and repentance.'' It remains to be said, that the garlands of palms and leaves, which were thrown aside for a short time, the next day decorated the houses along the vQute of the magnanimous ^^ Conqueror of the East," wlio returned to the city, amid the noise of prolonged salvos of artillery ; and this intrepid gasconnade was completed, by having a Te Deuni chanted for his successes. Arrests and executions were then expected. In the interval, the parents and friends of tlie suspects, were very much em- barrassed wliat kind of countenances to assume — fearing at the same time, if they appeared sad, to seem to insult the official py — and if they affected joy, to seem to offend their actual griefs. Sou- louque, moreover, neglected nothing, on his part, to give the diapason to public opinion. Every re- ception, at the palace, was marked by scenes like the following — only the substance of which can be reproduced — because, of the impossibility of ex- 226 SOULOUQUE AND IIIS EMPIRE. hibiting, on paper, the embellishments of Creole antics and rhetoric. After having testified his displeasure at the ridiculous reports, which had been circulated, about the pretended interference of a French squadron, Soulouque repeated to the civil and military nota- bilities, Avho listened to him, with eager attention, trembling painfully to catch the minutest detail of the presidential version — Soulouque repeated, I say, that he had not, by any means, intended to engage in a final expedition. The occasion, the tender grass, and the surprising triumphs, which marked each of his steps, on the Dominican territory, had alone led him on, and in his own defence, up to the gates of Santo-Domingo. But, the rebels of the East finding themselves plunged into the most frightful wretchedness, since they had renounced the benefits of national unity, their own soldiers having nothing for several days, to subsist upon except an ear of corn, divided between four men — this had decided him to postpone a conquest, al- ready, accomplished in fact. ^'And who would believe" — exclaimed the President — '' that this glorious expedition has only cost the Haytien army ?ihontf/ty slain f' An Interrupter. — " Forty-eight, M. President !" Soulouque. — ^' Let it go for forty-eight. . . In retaliation, this magnificent campaign, which only cost us the death of forty braves, has left cruel souvenirs to the rebels. They lost so many of SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 227 their people, that they were incommoded, /or ma^2/ leagues, ivitJi the stench of their cotyses. Is it not a fact that they were incommoded hy it?" The Generals. — '^ Yes, President," (with a gen- eral contraction of their nostriLs, as though they smelt something bad. A future duke, even, made a show of seeking for an absent pocket-handkerchief.) Soulouque {smiling.) — ''It was not their fault; for, these cowardly rascals little dreamed, of find- ing me in command. How they run, the iDOor devils ! how they run ! . . Apropos ; have we not heard of a pretended cannonade that the fleet of the rebels would have given us on the way ? . . . (Knitting his brows) — I will be curious to know, whether it is not the mulattoes here, who have put this report in circulation." A General (of the last promotion.) — ' ' Yes ! Presi- dent." Soulouque. — '' I think I will decide, after all, to give a lesson to these Messieurs, the mulattoes. They have spoken, also, of abandoned cannon. . . ." Numerous voices. — " No, Mr. President, you did not abandon any cannon !" Soulouque (dryly.) — ''You are deceived about that ; I did abandon a few of them; and I know w^hy I did it. Since we are going to occupy, defi- nitely, the insurgent territory, in six months — are we not certain of recovering them?" At this announcement of a new campaign, which they were sick of at the bottom of their hearts, the 228 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. Generals, one after the other, came forward, and solicited the favor of the President, to be made part of it. ^'Yes," said the President, becoming excited, by degrees — ''you, and all the others — old and young — all those in a condition to march the pi'gi^e^s also ! I will put forth, if necessarj^, all my resources. Even my existence ; for I swear to subjugate the rebels. We must not leave among them, either a chicken or a cat alive. I will pursue them to the depths of their forests — and even to the top of the CihaOj^ without pity, as though they were tvild hogs I" A general chorus — ^^ Like ivilcl hogs!'' A violent hiccough of anger, habitually, inter- rujDted these explosions of His Excellency, whose eyes became always blood-shot, and his lips ashy. The President only recovered a little serenity, by narrating the injuries, he had had time to inflict on the Dominicans, in his retreat — to wit : the burn- ing of Azua, — of all the dwellings and distilleries within a radius of two leagues, — the wood-yards of mahogany, and the fields of sugar-cane ; the des- truction of Saint- Jean, of Las-Matas, and, finally, of all the hananaries. It remained to be seen, what victims w^ould pay the expenses of this victory by the Dominicans ; for there was no doubt, but some blood was still necessary to appease this thirst of vengeance. * The name of a chain of very high mountains. SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 229 Brotlier Joseph was charged to settle, in this re- spect the hesitations of the President ; who, ainong the five or six hundred prisoners, confined in the prison and dungeons of Port-au-Prince, experienced some emharrassment of choice. A friend of one of these prisoners fancied, that, in order to save him, he would employ the immense influence, which brother Josepli still enjoyed with the President. He therefore sought out the sorce- rer, and, playing the part of believing, supplicated him to use, his well-known influence over the god, Vmidoux, in favor of the prisoner. Brother Joseph replied, that, in fact, the serpent had some favors for him ; that he would promise to supplicate it, and what is more, gratuitously ; but, for the pur- pose of helping the conjuration, some wax-tapers, neuvaines, and masses, were, indispensably neces- sary, and all these cost ^' money — a great deal of money.'' This was the reply his questioner expect- ed ; and a sufliciently round sum was given to the sorcerer, who, being suddenly illumined by a mag- nificent idea, replied in that soft tone, habitual to him : ^ ^ My God ! it costs no more to pray for a hun- dred, or a thousand, than for one ; and, if they will furnish me the means for it, I will deliver all the other prisoners, at the same time with 3Iasson" — the name of the prisoner for whom he acted. Masson, being informed of this offer, hastened to communicate it to his numerous companions in captivity, who, for the most part, eagerly accepted 230 SOULOUQUE AND IIIS EMPIRE. it. It was, indeed, holding out the hope, that, in order to sustain his reputation for witchcraft, hrother Joseph woukl attempt a secret measure with Sou- louque. These prisoners, having put together all their resources, in money or in kind, (General Des- maret, among others, gave his epaulettes) succeed- ed, with the aid of their friends outside, in collect- ing a value of about two thousand gourdes ; which brother Joseph pocketed, recommending it to be kept secret. Some few of the prisoners, on the contrary, had the imprudence, to refuse any encour- agement to the mockeries of this scoundrel. The sorcerer proposed a discount to them ; and, in order not to be disappointed in it, even offered, finally, to be satisfied with a simple formality, which con- sisted in wearing, a collar of a certain form, upon their necks. They sent him to the devil ; and brother Joseph swore to send them to the execu- tioner. The sorcerer, then, returned to the palace with the two-fold intention — of denouncing the few pris- oners from whom he could not extort money, as having ofiered to pay him, to work witchcraft against the President, — and, of demanding, on the contra- ry, the liberty of those, who had allowed them- selves to be extorted, with a good grace. But, on the way, brother Joseph reflected, that the first part of his request, only, had any chance of suc- cess ; and, calculating, that the cheated prisoners might ask him to return their money, after the fail- SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 231 ure of the second request-or, at least, treat him as a swindler, which might injure his consideration as a prophet— he said to himself, the shortest way, with them, was to shut their mouths. Therefore, he denounced, in the same charge, hoth, the pris- oners who had disregarded his vaudoux influence, and some of those who happened to pay trihute to this influence ; certain that the other subscribers to this salvage to crime, would see in him a counsel eloquent by discretion.* Let us say, however, that moved by a scruple of delicacy, he accused those prisoners, who had paid him,-and whom he only denounced because of the necessity of his position, —much less than those, of whom he had reason to complain. Among these last— that is, among the mcredu- lous,-was General Celigny Ardouin, who had lam in chains, for the past fifteen months, in the dun- creon where he had been cast, slashed all over with sabre-cuts. Soulouque had not yet had him con- demned ; and no one could say why not, for he was never heard to pronounce his name, without tailing into one of those terrible fits of fury,t before which * I am assured, that some hidden hatred had indicated, to brother Joseph, the prisoners he should denounce in preference; and that this was to the papa-vaudoux another opportunity of speculation, quite as lucrative as the two others. t By a strange fatality, the unfortunate Celigny Ardouin had, two or three years before, through the influence of his position as min- ister saved the life of his denouncer, brother Joseph, who was then 232 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. every counsel of clemency was silent. The denun- ciation of brother Joseph, therefore, flattered, dou- bly, the superstitious hatreds of Soulouque. The General was immediately put upon his trial, with nine of his companions, (July 1849). The only witness to the charge preferred against him refused downright to take the oath ; giving as his reason, that he was not satisfied to take this oath on the crucifix. The judges did not pause, at this circum- stance ; but the statement of the grounds for the sentence announced, stoutly, the fact, to which this witness was about to testify — the fact of money having been given to procure conjurations, and neuvaines, designed to cause the President to per- ish, or to render him a fool. The compilers of our judicial formulas, in use in the Haytien tribunals, never suspected that one of them would serve, in the year 1849, as the frame of an accusation of sor- cery. After having paid, this tribute, to the univer- sal cowardice, the judges, however, had the courage (under the circumstances it was really courage) to pronounce sentence of death only against three of the accused. Three others were condemned to three years imprisonment ; and the remaining four ac- quitted, but left by a last agreement, to the discre- iinder sentence of a capital condemnation. A more strange coinci- dence, still, is that the brother of the man, against whom, Soulou- que seemed to have summed up his hatred for the colored class, was precisely the person, to whom, as avc have seen, he owed his eleva- tion to the presidency. SOULOUQUE AND IILS EMPIRE. 233 tion of the President. Among these avant-derniers was General Celigny Ardouin. When he was apprised of this result, the Presi- dent tore the minutes of the judgment to pieces, exclaiming furiously, that they had, precisely, con- demned to capital punishment those, whose death was indifferent to him. The judges, wild with terror, excused themselves, hecause of the timidity of the witness, who had heen thrown into a dun- geon. The collective sentence Avas annulled ; and the ten accused persons were remanded before a new council of war, sitting at Croix-des-Bouquets, about three leagues from Port-au-Prince. But Soulouque had calculated, that day, on a large execution. He remembered, conveniently, that he had in confinement three unhappy persons, who had been condemned to death, for more than a year past ; and, having been disappointed in a grand tragedy, this was a very fit substitute, for his eager impatience of slaughter. The unfortu- nate men were. General Desmaret,and his two com- panions ; — the same who, in 1848, immediately after the expedition to the South, had been spared by the request of the entire population. They were executed at once ; but none of tliem were killed at the first fire. Here was again exliibited one of those proceedings of Soulouque's distributive jus- tice. The susjoects, having extenuating circumstan- ces in their favor, were shot, as they shoot a soldier 234 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. everywhere ; — wliilst the others, those who were specially recommended, were allowed to die hy in- ches. Either because Soulouqne was more terrible, vanquished than as victor — or, that the question of sorcery, which was mixed up with the affair, had enlisted, on this occasion, all the vaudoux sympa- thies of the city, on the side of the executioner — the people did not even murmur against this fero- cious retraction of the three pardons they had obtained. The execution passed off, without any other incident, than the appearance of the Execu- tive ; who, surrounded by a numerous staff — whose presence did not even disturb a band of dogs occu- pied in licking up the blood — came to witness the executions, and count the red marks on this human target. As to General Celigny Ardouin, and his nine co-accused, they were conducted on foot, and in chains, to Croix-des-Bosquets. The road had been rendered so impracticable, by the rains of the season, that, they took seven hours, to pass over this distance of three leagues, although the escort drove them forward with blows. M'lle. Celigny Ardouin prefered to follow her father. The consul-general of France, joined by the vice- consul (for the time, at the head of the British con- sulate) desired to make a supreme effort, in favor of the unfortunate General. The usual scene transpired ; excessive exhaustion interrupted, only from time to time, by short silences, the furious incoherences of Soulouque — incoherences, which, SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 235 on this occasion^ had the invariable refrain : ^^J must have his blood /" '^ But " — said M. Kaybaud_, ^^ wait at least until he is positively condemned ; and if he is, he will still have the riglit to sue for a review of his sen- tence." '^ No ! no !" replied Soulouque, '^ it will not end there . . . since, I tell you, his blood is necessary to me. He will be shot immediately — a7id like a dogV '^ At least have pity on his wife, and his un- happy children !" ^' I swear it ! let them all^ all, perish!'' The English vice-consul, in despair of the case, replied: ''Put him in one of your terrible dun- geons, at Mole-Saint-Nicholas ; but, at least, spare him his life !" ' ' 1 will take good care of it ! He will enter that dungeon, ivhence no one returns ! . , ." Having been condemned to death, at two o'clock in the morning, the unhappy General was execu- ted, at nine o'clock, in spite of his right of appeal. He died like all the others, with an admirable cool- ness — and, notwithstanding he was also left to die by inches ; he was particularly recommejided. The arrest of some other persons of distinction, filled the void, immediately, that this triple speculation of brother Joseph had made in the dungeons. Soulouque intended to have had himself proclaim- ed Emperor, on his return from the conquest of the 236 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. East, in the churcli at Gona'iveSj where Dessalines had been proclaimed ; and, the East not wishing to allow itself to he conquered, this supremely ridiculous idea seemed indefinitely postponed. But the new, and brilliant victory, which, the President had obtained over the intrigues of sorcery, sud- denly, restored him to the feeling of his predestina- tion ; and, lie yielded himself to the soft violence of the half-a-dozen droles, who had beset him with this idea, since the close of 1847. The 21st of August, 1849, he began to hawk about, at Port-au-Prince, from house to house, and from shop to shop, a petition to the two Chambers, by which, the ^' Haytien people, jealous of preserv- ing intact the sacred principle of liberty, . . . appreciating the inexpressible benefits which His Excellency, President Faustin Soulouque, had con- ferred upon the country, . . . recognizing the in- cessant and heroic efforts he had manifested in consolidating tJie institutions , ... do bestoio upon him, without further ceremony, the title of Em- peror of Hayti." No one, of course, carried his contempt of life, so far, as to refuse his signature to this document. On the 25th, the petition was taken to the Chamber of Representatives, who se- conded, with double eagerness from enthusiasm and terror, the loish of the people ; and the next day, the Senate sanctioned the decision of the Chamber of Representatives. The same day, the Senators, on horseback, went SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 23t in a body to the palace. The president of the Senate carried, in his hand, a crown of gilt paste- hoard, made during the night. He phaced it, with formal precaution, on the august head of Soulou- que, whose countenance became radiant at this desirable contact. The president of the Senate, then, attached to the breast of tlie Emperor, a large decoration of unknown origin, — passed a chain about the neck of the Empress, — and, pronounced his address ; to which His Majesty Faustin replied witli spirit : ' ' Vive la liberie ! vive V egalite !" The Emperor and his cortege, then proceeded to the church, to the sound of the most terrible music possible to imagine, but which was lost, liappily, in the frenzied crescendo of vivats, and the deafen- ing noise of salvos of artillery, Avhicli continued, almost without interruption, the whole day. On leaving the church. His Majesty, marched through the city ; and, I leave the reader to imagine, the profusion of garlands, triumphal-arches, suits of hangings, and inscriptions, that were displayed ! At the end of eight days, the illuminations, by order, still continued ; and the police watched, with a suspicious eye, the freshness of the leaves, with which each house — especially those of the mulat- toes — continued, during the order, to be decorated. In the meantime, Faustin 1st, sliut up in his cabinet, passed his entire time, in contemplation^ before a series of engravings, representing the cere- 238 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. monies of Napoleon's coronation. Not being able to wait any longer, His Imperial Majesty had the principal merchant of Port-au-Prince called, one morning, and commanded him to order, imme- diately, from Paris, a costume, in every particular like that he admired in these engravings. Faustin 1st, besides, ordered, for himself, a crown — one for the Empress — a sceptre, globe, hand-of-justice, throne, and other accessories, all to he like those used in the coronation of Napoleon. The finances of the Empire did not recover from this expense for a long time ; for all these objects were delivered, payed for, and what is more, used, as we will see further on. Whilst His Majesty discussed the price of his throne, his sceptre, his royal mantle sown with golden bees, and all the et cceteras, the departments advertised by public rumor (for there had not even been a question of consulting them), that they had an Emperor — the departments, hastened to send in, adhesion upon adhesion. It is unnecessary to say, that the most flourishing signatures and the most eccentric paraphi-ases, belonged to the stts- jjects, yellow as well as black. This graduation of universal enthusiasm, reproduced itself, under all possible forms : thus, the most noted localities were content to fire, in honor of Faustin 1st, twenty-one cannon — whilst the most obscure places, went up to two hundred and twenty-five. The ultra-black party, however, surpassed all others in the pomp SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 239 of forms. The words Sire, or Emperor^ in their opinion was too inexpressive, and they were sub- stituted by — magnanimous liero^ or, illustrious sover- eign, or illustrious grand sovereign ! In the serm ons , preached for the occasion, by the adventurers, dis- guised as priests^ — who compose the greater part of what is called the Haytien clergy, — Soulouque became the verij christian Emperor, or His very cliristian Majesty. The Constitution of the Empire dates from the 20th day of September. The imperial power is there declared hereditary, and transmissible from male to male, with the right of the Emperor in the event he should have no direct heirs (which is the case with Soulouque, having only a daughter) to adopt one of his nephews, or to designate his successor. The form of promulgating the laws^ is as follows : ^' In the name of the nation, we . . . by the grace of God and the Constitution of the Em- pire,'' . . . which gave satisfaction at once to the partisans of republican right — to those of divine right — and to those of constitutional right. The person of the Emperor is inviolable and sacred ; and the sovereignty resides in the universality of the citizens. The Emperor names the Senate, which does not prevent the Senate from uniting such attributes, as are much more sovereign than the national sovereignty, from which it does not emanate; and more powerful than the Emperor by divine right, whose creature it is : and so forth. 240 8OUL0UQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. We see that the Haytien Constitution has no reason to envy, in point of absurdity, any other constitution. Practice, in this case corrected, at least, the contradictions of theory ; for it is well understood that any Senator, or Deputy, who should think of differing with the Executive power, would he immediately shot ; this diminishes the chances of conflict. As to tlie Hayticns, they would have nothing to desire, as regards j^olitical and civil rights, if the Constitution could guaran- tee them a last privilege : that of dying a natural death. The compensation of the Senators and Deputies is fixed, at 200 gourdes a month— ^or, about eight hundred francs a year, at the actual currency of the gourde. One day, having the boldness to ask an increase of pay. His Imperial Majesty was very near having them shot. The civil list is fixed at 150,000 gourdes , which, as to every other person, would signify sixty thou- sand francs, but, for Faustin 1st, means 150,000 Sj^ariish dollars ; or nearly eight hundred thousand francs. Here is a detail of interpretation, which has not even been raised. Every proportion of the population being considered, Louis Philippe would have to possess, a civil list of fifty-eight millions, in order to attain the splendor of Faustin 1st. The Empress received an appanage of fifty thou- sand gourdes. An annual sum of thirty thousand goiLrdeSj the distribution of which was left to the SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 241 Emperor, himselF, was allowed to the nearest parents of His Majesty. Soulouque lias not yet definitely stopped this list of his parents ; because, the statute concerning the Imperial family, has these words, in the preamble : ^' We decree the follow- ing : Article 1st— The Imperial family is com- posed, /or tlie present, &c.," which is a hook of consolation to the forgotten cousins. Such as it is, this list has, already, a reasonable length. Be- sides the brother of the Emperor and the father and mother of the Empress Adelina, we see figur- ing on it eleven nephews or nieces of the Emperor, and five brothers, three sisters and five aunts of the Empress— in all, twenty-seven princes and princesses of tlie hlood ; they are very glad to be on it, for they will have some shoes during their lives. As to the Empress' aunts, one is a Duchess, and the four others are Countesses. Her brothers and sisters are, also. Counts and Countesses. Serene Highness is limited to Mon seigneur, the Prince Derival Levequc, and to Madame, the Princess Marie Michel, the father and mother of Her Ma- jesty, Adelina. Imperial Highness begins with the brother and nephews, or nieces of the Emperor. The first, has the title of 'Monseigneur , whilst the nephews are simply called Monsieur, the Haytien Prince. The nieces are, only, Madame very short. The daughter of the Emperor (Madame Olive) is Princess Imperial of Hayti. Will the new Court be exclusively military, like 242 SOULOUQUE AND IIIS EMPIRE. that of Dessalines — or, feudal, like that of Chris- tophe ? All that we can conjecture, on this grave question, is that, it will he settled, in the most ex- travagant sense. The expectations, which the friends of mirth entertained on this suhject, were even much exceeded hy the reality. Christophe, at the end of four years of his reign, had only named, three princes, eight dukes, nine- teen counts, thirty-six barons, and eleven cheva- liers — seventy-seven nobles, in all. Soulouque, himself, improvised at the first batch, four princes of the Empire, fifty-nine dukes, two marchionesses, ninety counts, two hundred and fifteen barons, and thirty chevaliers — four hundred nobles in all ; more than quintuple the aristocracy of Christophe, and equivalent to what would be, in proportion to the population of France, a batch of nearly twenty- nine tJiousand nobles. The princes, and dukes, are chosen among the Generals of Division ; the counts, among the Generals of brigade ; the barons, among the Adjutant Generals, and Colonels ; and the chevaliers, among the Lieutenant-Colonels. The civil functionaries have been the object, of an- other batcli of nobles, who have, considerably, in- creased this figure. The Senators and Deputies, for example, are all barons — that is, assimilated in rank to Colonels. These titles are hereditary ; but Soulouque, differing in this respect from Chris- tophe^ has not attached territorial privileges to them ; although, a feudal name is joined to the SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 243 titles, as far as the class of barons, exclusivel3^ The de, as under Christophe, has been put before all the names — what do I say ?— even before the first names ; as for example, in place of writing, M. le Baron Louis de Leveille, they write, le Baron de Louis de Leveille. When they took this aristo- cratic particle, they did know how much of it to use. The four princes of the Empire bear the title of Serene Highness. At the head, figures Monseig- neur Louis Pierrot ; in other words Ex-President Pierrot, who, having been banished, after his fall, into the interior, did not expect such good fortune. Monseigneur de Louis Pierrot bears, by exception, the title of Prince Imperial. His three colleagues Avere the Generals, Lazarre Tape-a-l'CEil, Souf- fran, and Monseigneur de Bobo. Bobo was the first wlio accorded Soulouque the title of Illustrious Grand Sovereign. Such a delicate attention mer- ited, from him, another, and His Majesty named him Prince of Cap-Haiti en — a city, for which Monseigneur de Bobo had, in fact, an old passion. He loved this city so much, that he was near car- rying it away, piece-meal, in his pockets. This miserable wretch was imprisoned, at the time of Beyer's fall, for robbery, and other atrocities, com- mitted after the earthquake which overthrew the Cap. Of the four Princes of the Empire, the eternal Pierrot is the only one now remaining. Lazarre Tapc-a-rOEil and Souffran survived only a short 244 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. time, {li'ter lliis rnagiiilicent advancement. As to Bobo, it is reported, that at this time he is a runa- way in the woods ; and the following is the reason of it: The ex-bandit belonged to that ultra-black coterie, which, after peopling the prisons, and cemeteries, with mulattoes, in its turn, paid abundant tributes of blood to the ferocious suspicions which it had excited; and which, for its own benefit, it justi- fied. In fact, we can affirm, that each of its mem- bers had, more or less, dreamed that, the marvelous destiny of Soulouque would be liis. Faustin 1st was not ignorant of this ; reciprocal denunciations had apprised him of it, at need ; and, his silent l^olice were the more watchful of Bobo, because he commanded, in chief, the province of the North, which was very jealous of the metropolitan pre- ponderance of the West, and had often aimed at constituting itself a separate Government. In the month of April 1851, and after having tried his hand, by the execution of his minister of justice, Francisque, (another notability of the ultra-black party) Soulouque, therefore, deprived Bobo of his command, and ordered him to come to Fort-au- Prince, and ask his august clemency. Monseigneur de Bobo knew, all the time, by experience, that, in refusing to obey this invitation, he would be condemned to death, but, that in obeying it, he would be shot ; and he escaped this dilemma, by the least dangerous alternative — hij flujht. SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 245 Soulouque expected an attempt at revoltj and lie had taken measures to repress it ; but many months passed away, without Bobo giving any signs of life. The unknown, mystery, as we know, exercised a terrible influence on the suspicious mind of His Majesty ; and, wishing to touch, with his finger, the invisible danger which covered, in his opinion, the inaction of the disgraced favorite, Faustin 1st marched to the North, at the head of a real arm3\ Arriving at the Cap, he declared, that prince Bobo, having become "the rebel Bobo," had forfeited all his titles ; and he put a price on his head, by de- claring, every one an accomplice of said rebel, who, knowing his refuge, did not, immediately inform the authorities. But the religion of hospitality is, still, so perennial among the negroes, that the pro- scribed noble has, until this day, escaped the clem- ency of his august master. With regard to the ministei- Francisque, death surprised him, in the class of dukes ; and his his- tory is sufficiently characteristic, to merit a second digression. On a certain night, the entire loost of custom-house officers broke into the counting room of a foreign merchant, and stole, from it, a consid- erable sum of money. The investigation, ordered on this occasion, led to the discovery of a revolu- tionary manifesto, and, also, a list of the members of the provisional government, on which flourished the very flower of the Similien coterie, or Zinglijis party, (as they were called at Port-au-Prince) ; some- 11 246 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIKE. thing like the party of the razors. In this list, figured the name of Francisque's own brother. The latter was, very soon, deposed by a decree, which, instead of giving him his title of Duke de Limbe, called him simply citizen Francisque ; which was equivalent to a double disgrace ; and, a short time afterwards, he was put under arrest. They only removed him from the dungeon, where he had lain, chained with his feet in the air, for several days, in order to conduct him, with nine co-accused, be- fore a council of war, whose jurisdiction he, vainly denied, not being himself a military man. Fran- cisque had not, really, taken any part in the con- spiracy ; but, to the challenge that the accused could furnish an easy proof of it, the imperial commissioners replied, at first, by jovial pleasan- tries, arid, then, by asking, against him and the four other accused persons who had been specially recommended, the sentence of death ; — a sentence, which was drawn up, midst laughter, and the noisy yawns, of the Messieurs of the council. Although, he had appealed from it, the tribunal wished, on the spot, to furnish a spectacle of the de2:radation of a Duke, and they brutally tore off from Francisque his decorations. The council of revision had the courage to annul the sentence. The five condemned persons were, then, taken be- fore a new council of war, sitting at Croix-des-Bou- quets ; and Avhich was presided over by the same man, who, in this very place, had pronounced the SOULOUQUE AND IFIS EMPIRE. 24T .condemnation of General Celigny Ardouin, one of the victims of Francisqne. An hour, afterwards, the latter, wlio had, moreover, made an appeal, was executed with tw^o otliers. He did not fall un- til the third discharge. Francisque w^as the third minister sliot, in three years. On the evening of the execution, an expression of pure joy illumi- nated tlie face of Soulouque — who exclaimed with the accent of a satisfied conscience : ^^They will not say this time that he had no trial !" But let us return to the new Court. Every duke was addressed as, Ms grace Monseigneur de N. . . Excellenci^ helonged to counts; and harons, were designated, uniformly, by monsieur. It is not the first offence in creating dukes of Marmelade and Lemonade. The nomination of tlie latter relaxed the most gloomy foreheads ; for, as to lemonade, it had never been know^n but as tafa. Monseig- neur de Lemonade, having been, besides, appointed grand pantler (master of the pantry) wandered from door to door, like a troubled spirit, vainly, asking what was the nature of his functions. In despair of his case, his grace addressed the Emperor, who not knowing any better himself, was content to reply: ^'It is somefhirig good." There is a duke du Trou (of the Hole), and a duke du Trou-Bon- hon (of the sugar candy Hole) ; a count de la Se- ringue (of the Syringe), a count de Grand-Gosier (of the Great-Gullet), a count de Coupe- Haleine (of 248 SOULOTTQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. Short- Wind), and a count de Numero-Deux (of the Number-Two). [See Moniteur Ilditien.'] As under Christophe, these kinds of designation have geography for their excuse. Some barons bear names to kill, such as the Baron de Arlequin (Harlequin,) the Baron de Gilles-Azur (of Blue- Clowns,) the Baron de Poutoute (of All-louse); or gallant names, such as the Baron de Paul Gupidon (of Paul Cupid,) the Baron de Jolicceur (of Good- heart,) the Baron de Jean Lindor, the Baron de Ilesamour Boho (Hurt-my-love-a-little,) and the Chevalier de Pouponneau. Many of these dignitaries have been in the gal- ley-slave prisonS;, and others, ought to have been there : they are not perfect. The piquet, Jean Denis, for example, had been named Didce ^'Aqui7i, the principal theatre of his robberies ; the execu- tor of the eminent works of the piquets, Voltaire Castor, has become his excellency M. de Voltaire Castor, Count de Tlle-a-Vache. Here and there, on the contrary, a few dukes appear, some counts and barons, who, in such a midst, really merit to be distinguished ; and who feel themselves, very badly at ease, among their terrible peers. Haytien high life is not allowed to be very acces- sible. The duchesses and countesses persist, for the most part, in selling — this one^ some tobacco and cafidles — that one, some rum — and another, some fish or other eatables ; neither more nor less than Her Majesty did the same, before the elevation SOULOUQUE AND PUS EMPIRE. 249 of her husband. Without these useful industries, the dukes, with their seventy francs a month, would scarcely sustain the grandeur of their rank. Many of them are, even, crushed out under the burden ; and do not scorn, from time to time, visit- ing the simple bourgeois in order to borrow from them a few gourdes, destined to purchase, shoes, pantaloons, or, some other little accessories, of every aristocratic toilette. They ask, occasionally an increase of pay, but His Majesty is without bowels for these illustrious unfortunates. Not satisfied with having a noblesse, Faustin 1st has created an Imperial and Military Order of Saint-Faustin, with chevaliers, commanders, and so forth ; besides, an Imperial and Civil Order of the Legion dlionneur. The ribbon of the Legion d'honneur was originally purely red ; but, since, he has modified the thing — which I regret to an- nounce to certain French democrats, who, allured by the similarity of names, have solicited of Fans- tin 1st, under color of being negropolists, (and one of them with offers of money) this vain bauble, of which the red is decidedly bordered with blue. Here again I exaggerate nothing. The demands of this kind have been so numerous, that Sou- louque, finally conceiving himself a high estimate of his two Orders of chivalry, expressed the regret of having been too prodigal with them^ since their creation. Everybody, in fact, are members of 250 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. these two Orders, to begin from the rank of captain inclusively. The organization of the household of the Em- peror, and of that of the Empress, is the same, as it was under Christophe ; who had, himself, blended together the ceremonial of the Court of Louis XIV., and that of the (;Ourt of England. Only, Soulouque has infinitely more governors of chateaux, chamberlains, masters of ceremony, huntsmen, stewards, &c., than Christophe ever had, and even, I believe, than Louis XIY. The traditions of the salons of Toussaint and Chris- tophe are nearly lost in Hayti, so that the solecisms of etiquette are very frequent, in the new Court ; Soulouque is not exempt from them, himself, al- though he begins to improve. They do as well as they can. XIII. The Ilayticu Clergy— Ceremon}' of the Coronation. At tlie same time that lie ordered, from Paris, the ornaments of the coronation, Faustin 1st or- dered a Bishop from Rome ; and here we are led to speak, of one of the most characteristic eccen- tricities of this eccentric Empire — the Haytien clergy.. Although the Catholic religion has heen, for a long time, the only one recognized in Hayti — and although, it emhraces almost the whole population there, — no hierarchical tie binds the Haytiens to the rest of the Church. Christophe, it is true, had an archiepiscojjal see erected in the Capital, and episcopal seats, in the chief cities, of his kingdom of two hundred thousand inhabitants ; but there is no need of bishoprics Avithout bishops, — and his black majesty, who, in notifying his accession to the Pope, asked him to send him a few, had the affliction not even to receive a reply. We can conjecture what must be the Haytien clergy, in the absence of every institution, and all control. As the first proof of its morality, we will state, that the greater number of the forty-eight, or fifty, individuals, French, Savoyards, or Span- 252 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. ish, who compose it, live in public concubinage, raising, at the parsonage, the children which re- sult from this relation ; and say, without ceremony, to the friends who visit them : ''I present to you my governess and my cJiildren." E^^ery year, un- til the j)resent, the Moniteur Haytien has published some terrible circulars again»t the governesses who are too youngs but without success. The more scrupulous, among these foreign priests, confine themselves to preserving appearances, by taking tivo governesses, instead of one. Are they menaced with expulsion ? — they hasten to the minister of justice, and there humbly represent that the gover- ment cannot, without cruelty, make their children orphans. One of these adventurers, Corsican in origin, who was finally expelled, for having taken up arms in favor of Herard, said to the minister : ^^The Government does wrong in suspecting me ; how can it be that I am not a man of order ? I have a numerous family to raise ; I have so many children, by such a woman." But the woman, he designated, was lawfully married to an inhabitant of the country. The minister, really, not knowing whether to laugh, or be angry, at this candor of cynicism^ replied: ^^But what you allege as an extenuating circumstance, is neither, more nor less, than the crime of adultery, which is prohibi- ted by the penal code!" The unfortunate man seemed confounded by this remark ; he had not before even dreamed of it. SOULOUQUE AND IIIS EMPIRE. 253 To complete tlieir disreputOj the cures are, con- tinually, quarrelling with their flocks, before the justices of the peace ; for, most of them are usurers, or keep a shop, at the parsonage, by their gover- ness — combining thus, in a way, as unexpected as little edifying to religion, the property of the family. They live, besides, upon the best terms, with vaudoux sorcery ; finding their profits, com- pletely, in selling it consecrated wax-tapers, which are resold to its customers ; and, in saying masses, which, in order to give them greater consequence, are sometimes made to intervene, in tlie conjura- tions. This smuggling trade, on the frontier of feticMsm and Christianity, is by no means the least productive of the perquisites of the Haytien cures. After this, is it astonishing, if construing in their way the example of men, whom they respect, on the faith of custom, as the living types of duty, that the free negroes of Hayti are, morally, and socially likewise, behind — perhaps more behind than the slave population of Saint-Domingo was, formerly ; and, because they see still, alternating in the same house, christian baptisms, philosophi- cal marriages, and Mandingo funerals ? I ought to speak severely of these things ; now here is the explanation of it. With four or ^yq very honorable exceptions, the most worthy among the deserving Haytiens, these adventurers are priests expelled from their dioceses ; and, who come to seek their fortunes in a country. 254 SOULOUQTTE AND HIS EMPIRE. • where tlie absence of hierarclrical bond screens tlieir past conduct from all enquiry, and their pre- sent behavior, from all efhcacious surveillance. Besides, they are only priests after their own fashion, by virtue of false certificates ; and there are found, among them, those, who, not having had time, or the sagacity^ to learn their new rblej do not really knoAv how to officiate. In his double capacity of very cliristian majesty , and of grand vaudoux dignitary, Soulouque j)rac- tices, in regard to funerals, both rites, at the same time. Sometime after his elevation, he celebrated at Petit-Goave, the place of his birth, a funeral service to his mother. The day was consecrated to the ceremonies of the church ; but, after night- fall, Faustin 1st, with some friends, went to the ceme- tery, secretly, and with his own hands sprinkled, the -blood of an immolated goat, over the grave of the old slave, who had given Hayti an Emperor. According to negro usage, the fete continued a week ; and Faustin 1st had a hundred beeves killed, for the fifteen or twenty thousand vaudoux guests, which had assembled, from every part of the coun- try. At the very time, Soulouque was applying, to Rome for the conclusion of a concordat, the vaudoux worship which he had only practiced from the be- ginning secretly, tended visibly to become the semi-official religion. In travelling, for example, if His black majesty hears the tambour of a papa SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 255 beating in the distance, lie will instantly stop, and seem absorbed, for some seconds, in a kind of inte- rior contemplation ; then, followed by some friends, who were, ordinarily, fBellegarde, SoufFran, and Alerte, he would hide himself, a moment, in the woods, to perform out of the way, some mysterious compliment of the ceremonies required, in such cases, by the couleuvrc. After these African side- prayers, Faustin 1st renewing conversation, on his favorite subject — that is, as to the negotiations with the Holy See — asked for new details on the organic law^s, whose spirit he had not well apprehended, and on the concordat j which he took to be a man. Under Boyer, after the recognition of Haytien nationality, there were serious efforts made, to sup- press these monstrosities. Some regular negotiations were opened, to this end, between the Government at Port-^au-Prince and the Court of Kome, which sent an American Bishop to the spot, with full powers to conclude the basis of a concordat. Un- fortunately, the Bishop was not sufhcicntly con- ciliatory. He required, among other things, the suppression of that article of the code, Avhich sub- jects, to the common law, the ecclesiastics convicted of uttering seditious speeches. On their side, the mulatto party, who, with regard to religion, were still of the opinion of the Directory, showed them- selves still less conciliatory, fixing, as the extreme limits of their concessions, the Napoleonic system, in which was contained the recognition of the right 256 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. of divorce. Altliough the commissioners, delegated by Boyer, might have been personally more com- petent than the body of the party, and although there was among them a very able negotiator, M. •B. Ardouin, the conference very soon became un- pleasant. A well-known negropholist succeeded, in embroiling every thing, by writing letter after letter to the Haytien Government, in order to de- monstrate, as clear as the day, that it was about io throw itself into the lions-mouth of Jesuitism. Briefly ; it did not understand tlie matter, and the young Republic, happy and proud in having escaped the yoke of Jesuitism, continued to sacrifice to snakes on the altar of philosophy. If, by the elevation of Faustin 1st, snakes had become^ more than even, in honor at Port-au-Prince, •as much could not be said of philosophy ; and there is reason to believe, that the obstacles to a concor- dat did not proceed, this time, from the Haytien Government. Soulouque was, certainly, the man to have any defender of the rights of the Govern- ment shot during the session, who should be sufH- ciently imprudent to raise questions of such a nature as to cause his coronation to fail. There was in this matter to the black monarch, more than a question of principle — there was a question of toi- lette ; for the Imi)erial mantle, sown with golden bees, and its splendid accessories, could only serve for that occasion. SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 257 Dressing is^ very certainly, one of the greatest cares of Soulouque. He has heen seen, sometimes, to show himself, in the city during the same clay, under three or four different costumes, each moiie dazzling than the other. He ordered, for example, in 1847, from Paris, a certain green dress, which did not cost less than thirty thousand francs ; just the actual hudget of puhlic instruction. Faustin Isl, for a long time, had doated upon a certain gold and scarlet costume, ordered for Riche, the cut and color of which, has never been adopted but by Hay- tien Presidents and Swiss doctors. The first time Riche put it on his back, a flatterer exclaimed : ''I have seen a similar dress on the Duke de Nemours." Riche, still a negro at heart, in spite of his energies and civilized instincts, became very pensive from that time ; and, finally, said, in scratching his ear : But Duke de Nemours, he not first chief.'' This discovery disgusted him, immediately, with the said costume, which he hastened to put off, and never afterwards put it on. Soulouque had it en- larged, from head to foot, including the boots, for his own use. It is proper to add, that Soulouque, especiall}^ on horseback, has a very fine appearance, under all this fabulous luxury, which certainly makes him the most stylish Emperor of our era. But a fatality was decidedly mixed up with this business. A certain Savoyard abbe, named Ccssens, — the grand chaplain to tlie Emperor, and cure of Port-au-Prince, with the title of 258 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. Ecclesiastical Superior, — in the meanwhile, found the secret of supplanting the Haytien merchant, M. Villevaleix, and of having himself sent, in his place, to Eome, from whence he counted certainly ui^on bringing back a mitre. _ This is what precisely sjDoiled the whole affair. This Abbe Cessens had the advantage, over many of his- brothers, of being really a priest, and^ of not being an excommunicated priest. The infor- mation which reached Rome concerning him was, hoAvever, of such a scandalous nature, that, at the first audience, he was severely reprimanded, by the Holy Father, and, formally, rejected at the second interview. The Abbe Cessens was not pleased with this disappointment. On returning from Rome, he related, what he Avished to be thought the pretended success of his mission ; and managed the thing so well^ that two French journals, — numerous copies of which were sent to Saint-Domingo — successively announced in good faith, the passage from Marseilles of Father Cessens, BisJiojo of Hayti ; and, the departure from Havre of Monseigneur Cessens, clothed with full powers for the Coronation of the Emperor Soulou- que. The latter, to whom it was very necessary to tell part of the truth^ was not careful to test a fable, of which he had the .2:)rofit, without the responsi- bility. And understanding that the Emperor did not wish to be undeceived, the feAV Haytiens who knew the foundation of the whole joke, prudently SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMriRE. 259 kept silent. Not a single member of the clergy dared, to protest, openly, against this sacrilegious hoax ; the more courageous satisfied themselves, by informing our Consul-general, M. Maxime Kay- baud, that they would not sanction it, by tlieir presence.* M. Raybaud, charitably, remonstrated with one of the ministers, M. Dufrene, alias, his grace, the Duke de Tiburon, on the necessity of preventing the scandal, which would result from this forbearance, by making Soulouque forego his project of a coronation. M. Dufrene promised to do it ; but reflecting, afterwards — on one hand, that he was a mulatto^ (that is^ a suspect,) and on the other, that His Ma- jesty had had one of his ministers shot, every year, and that the execution of the last was nearly a year since — Monseigneur, the Duke de Tiburon concluded to abstain from a communication so haz- ardous. The Bishop Cessens concluded, besides, with being satisfied with the title of Yicar Gene- ral — a title, equally^ usurped, but which, by im- plying the idea of a delegation, permitted a certain degree of likelihood to the pretended powers, with which he claimed to be invested. Soulouque, therefore, was about to be crowned at last ! ! About the close of March, 1852, Port-au-Prince * This threat was not carried out. According to the Moniteur Uaytieji, the clergy of the Empire were present in a body at the ceremony. 260 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. was, literally^ crowded by a multitude of deputa- tions called together by the occasiorij from all parts of the Em.pire. Sunday, the 4th of April, new uni- forms, were distributed^ to the troops of the guard and the garrison. The Sunday following, there was a blessing, and distribution of Imperial eagles. Finally, on the l*7th of April, at sundown, a hun- dred cannon, to which an immense clamor of pub- lic joy replied, in the popular quarters of Bel- Air and Morne-a-Tuf, announced that the festival of the coronation had begun ; that is, that it was necessary to illuminate for seven nights, and dance for seven days, continuously. The next day, the 18th, at three o'clock in the morning, the Imperial guard, and the military deputations, occupied the Champs de Mars, where a church had been erected ; for the construction of which, all the carpenters of the Empire were re- quired, to the last moment. The constituted corps, the consular body, the officers of the French steamer, the Crocodile, and the representatives of foreign trade, assembled in this church, and at nine o'clock, to the sound of bells, of drums, of the cannonade, and of the most terrible music pos- sible to imagine. Their Majesties left the Imperial Palace. The march was opened, by the Chevalier de Du- fort, king-at-ar'ms, whom twenty-seven heralds-at- arms and ushers of the palace followed, on foot, six abreast ; the first, were dressed in crimson vel- SOULOUQUE ANI) HIS EMPIRE. 261 vet, and armed with a caduceus. Then came, in the same order, the chevaliers, the harons, and the counts ; as to the dukes, they marched all ahreast. If the Moniteur Haytien is to he helieved, all these various dignitaries wore costumes appropriate to their rank — costumes of unequalled magnificence ; as witness that of the princes and dukes, such as an Imperial ordinance of the 9th of Novemher, 1849, had prescribed : ^^ A white tunic, which must descend below the knee ; a ro3^al blue mantle, the lengtli of which •must fall below the calf of the leg, broidered in gold three inches in breadth ; a doublet of red taffetas, fastened at the neck with a tassel of gold ; white silk stockings ; square gold buckles ; shoes of red morocco, covering the instep ; a sword, with handle of gold, at the side ; a round hat, turned up before, trimmed with gold lace, floating plumes of the national colors, for the princes and marshals of the Empire — and, with seven waving, red plumes, for the dukes. "^ Witness again the costume of the counts : '^A white tunic; a sky-blue mantle, broidered in gold, of the breadth of two inches ; doublet in white, even longer than that of the princes and dukes ; Avhite silk stockings ; square gold buckles ; shoes of red morocco, &c. ..." B}^ a singular omission, which, at first, seemed justified by custom and the heat of the climate, breeches were omitted, in the prescribed costume, 262 SOULOUQUE ANl) HIS EMPIRE. of the first dignitaries of the Empire. It was however a pure over sight, for we see them appear in hhie taffetas, in the uniform of the barons (red coats,) and in red taffetas, in that of the simple chevaliers (blue coats); but, alas ! (and may it not displease the Moniteur Haytien) nearly all tliis magnificence, which, under Christophe, was liter- ally realized, was in this instance, entirely wanting except on ])aper. The photographic reproduction of the ceremony, which we had an opportunity of consulting, the following year, at Port-au-Prince, did not exhibit the prescribed costume, except in seven or eiglit dukes and counts. With tliese exceptions, the more rich or more formal among the grand digni- taries, had replaced the ceremonial costume, by the uniforms, appropriate to the grade they held in the army. We could study, among forty others, the innu- merable differences^, which distinguished the city dress from the Court costume ; the military uni- forms, from the bourgeois clothes ; and the rest were obliged to compensate, by dignity of attitude, for the excessive simplicity of their tenue. In view of the enormous difference, which ex- isted, between the nominal and real value of the gourde, those princes and dukes, whom the Em- -peroY had not allowed a share in the acknowledged robberies, had only a provision, as we have seen, of a little more than forty cents a day, with which SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 263 to support tlie splendors of their rank ; winch was evidently not enough for so much taffetas and laces. We can estimate from this, the share of proportional luxury, which accrued to the counts and barons. And what shall we say of the un- happy chevaliers ! Among these, we could name more than one, who showed ''the calves of his legs," notwithstanding the explicit prescriptions of the ordinance of the 9th November, 1849. After the order of the noblesse, the three minis- ters of the Emperor, and his chancellor, marched abreast, to wit : Their Graces, Monseigneur de Louis Dufrene, Duke de Tiburon and Marshal of tlie Empire — Monseigneur de Louis Etienne, Duke de Saint-Louis du Sud — Monseigneur d'Hippolyte, Duke de la Bande-du-Nord, and His Excellence M. de D. Delva, Count de la Petite-Kiviere-de-Dal- marie. The princes of the Imperial family fol- lowed^ also abreast, with the exception of the Duke de Port-de-Paix, brother of the Emperor, wdio marched alone about four steps behind. Twelve platoons of the different corps of the I.nperial guard, behind which, marched six aides-de-camp of the Emperor, preceded, immediately, the car- riage which held Their Majesties, and the young Princesse Olive. Before and behind this carriage, drawn by eight horses — the magnificence of which would not be disowned by a more real monarch — were drawn up eighteen pages. Two simple, colonels, — the colonel of the light- 264 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. horse, grand equery of the Emperor — and the first equery of the Empress, hoth on horsehack, marched on each side of the Imperial carriage. The car- riage of the Princesses Imperial, Celia and Olivette, which came next, was drawn hy only six horses, and escorted hy only two lieutenant colonels, six aides-de-camp of tlie Emperor, and two platoons of the guard, which separated it from those, which contained the other ladies of the Imperial familj^, to wit : the nieces of the Emperor, the j^i'incess Marie Michel, mother of the Empress ; then, three sisters and two aunts of the latter, who were sim- ple countesses. The programme placed, in suc- cession, the carriages of the ladies of honor, ladies in waiting, princesses, duchesses, countesses^ barons and chevaliers ; hut, with four or fiYe exceptions, the programme on this point was not carried out. Most of these ladies, as I have said, exercised some useful calling, and would scarcely have been able to exhibit any carriages, except the small hand- carts and wheel-barrows, upon which, they trans- ported their goods. Many among them, more faithful to etiquette than their husbands, however, put on the court dress, the tails of which they made their little negroes carry. Arriving at the Champ de Mars^ Their Ilajesties entered a tent, to put on the costume of the coro- nation. Some minutes afterwards, tlie curtain of the tent was raised again, and the radiant face of Soulouque — that large, fat, infantine face, which SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 205 the fear of spells, or the thirst for blood sometimes changed^ in such a strange way — was detached, between a splendid diadem, and tlie blue mantle, spangled with gold ; but the mantle was too small, and the diadem too large ! His Majesty carried, besides, the sceptre, and the hand of justice. Through the influence of habit, and all engrossed as he was with his new role, Soulouque could not avoid, in the short passage from the tent to the church, casting some suspicious looks before him ; it was useless trouble. The most minute examina- tions had been made, in time, and they could not discover^ even with a microscope, on all the pas- sage of the Emperor^ either sprigs of grass, or grains of dust, shaping the form of a cross. The incredulous, as we know, were not less interested, than the believing, at these precautions ; because, at e^-y evil presage, which had struck Soulouque, for four years past, a human hecatomb had answered for it. The Empress, covered with her mantle, but without ring or crown, and escorted, by her cheva- liers of honor, opened this new march. The prin- cesses, Olive, Olivette, and Celia, held up her mantle ; theirs were supported, by the chevaliers, de Sampeur, Leandre de Denis, and Myrtil de La- tortue ; and that of the Emperor, by the princes, Jean- Joseph and Alexander de Jean- Joseph. Each of the honors — to wit : the sword, the collar, the rings^ the globe, &c. &c., were carried on a cushion,' 2('A\ SOULOUQT-E ANT) TITS EMriRK. l»y a liigli dignitarVj escorted by two other digni- taries of equal rank. A magnificent dais had been raised, in the church, for Souh:)uqne and Madame Soulouque ; and a Large and small throne served to receive, by turns, these two strange Majesties, according to the different phases of the ceremony. We must forego a detailed descrij^tion of it. The complicated evolutions, by wliich, the ob- jects composing the toilette of tlie coronation passed, from the hands, the heads, and the shoulders, of the august couple, to the altar ; the benediction and tradition of eacli of these objects ; tlie triple unction, whicli Their Majesties, kneeling on a cushion at the foot of the altar, received on the forehead, and botli liands ; — the Latin interroga- tions addressed sharply to the Emperor, at whicli, he opened his staring eyes, uncertain, in this roll- ing fire of new words, which confused his m^ory for an hour, whether it was proper for himself too to speak Latin on tliat occasion ; the vigorous effort, by which he recovered his presence of mind, and comprehended that it was proper ; the rapid combat, which the promising words, indicated by the ritual — and the confessing words, more fiimiliar to his christian souvenirs, displayed on his lips ; — finally, the respectful, but noisy kiss, which the abbe Cessens impressed on the cheeks of the Monarch ; — all these would much exceed the limits of this volume — and even then, we would not have reached the second part of the ceremony. SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 267 The programme alone, which wf^s moreover limi- ted to the most summary indications, was not in- cluded in less than eleven mortal pages in folio, of small print. A striking episode distinguished the close of the coronation. The Emperor, who was anxious to receive from the hands of the Church the sceptre and the sword, — by a noble movement of pride (which was, besides, anticipated by this pro- gramme) took the crown from tlie altar, himself, and phiced it on his own head. As to the 'august Adelina, she was crowned by her husband. This other prevision of the programme: ^'pro- longed cries of 'vive V Emperor ! viveV Imperatrice!' heard in all parts of the Church,"* was not less faithfully filled ; and that, at two different times, before the Te Deum, and after tlie constitutional oath, taken on the Holy Evangel by the Emperor. Tlie Abbe Cessens gave the signal for the first ac- clamations, -by exclaiming on the march from the great throne : ' Vivat Imperator in wiernum /' ; and the king-at-arms gave the signal to the others, by saying, in the same breath : ^' The very glorious^ and most august Emperor, Faustin 1st, Emperor of Hayti, is croioned and entltroned. Vive V Empereur!' ' The programme should have certainly dispensed with carrying anticipation so far. A very natural *That nothing raipfbt be wanting to complete the imitation — the progriimme was tcxtually copied, and without an}' other variation, than changing the past tense into the future, in the i>roccs-vcrhal of the coronation of Na^ioleon and Josephine. 268 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. love of life with some,, and a real fanatical devo- tion with a larger number, guaranteed, beforehand, the spontaneity and unanimity of these acclama- tions. Among the common people, especially, the enthusiasm, excited by the dances, the noise of the tamborines, cymbals, bells, and the cannonade, became delirious. Moreover, on this occasion, a profound sentiment of pride mingled with it ; for 8oulouque was, certainly, the first pcqoa-vaudoux , who Had had the honors of a coronation, — and, of a coronation exactly like that of Napoleon, — that demi-god of negroes. The music of the grand mass was, by turns, ex- ecuted on trumpets, clarinets, cymbals, and the tambours of the Imperial guard — a formidable or- chestra, which would give the tooth-ache to a dead man — and, by the musicians of their majesty's chapel, which was composed, of a first and second master, of twenty-five chevaliers ; together, present- ing an efiective of eleven violins, three violoncellos, a clarinet, seven flutes, two cornet-a-pistons , and hut a single singer, the chevalier Theogene de Poule — and, finally, twenty-four hnigliVs ladies. Some of these performers had real merit ; but, in the choice of others, there was much more regard paid to birth, than to talents ; and harmony was, only, in the hearts of the latter. At the ofiertory, the Abbe Cessens received, from their Majesties' own hands, two wax-tapers, incrusted with thirteen pieces of gold ; besides, a loaf of silver, and a loaf SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 269 of gold, and a vase. These five offerings were borne, by a princess and four duchesses, escorted by an equal number of counts. Let us pass over the ruinous magnificence, which for eight days, celebrated this coronation ; but the bill of expenses did not even stop there. Some time afterwards, the Haytien Chambers voted, for the consecration of the Abbe Cessens, 250 thousand gourdes, (1,250,000 francs) ; appropriated, both to meet unforseen expenses, and because (said this model parliament) ''it is becoming the dignity of the nation, to surround with every hind of consid- eration , the Sovereign who enjoys its love and sympatliy." 12 XIV. The principle of authority in Hayti — The Secret of Soulouque. Every one lias considered Soulouque' s elevation to Empire, only from its comic side. Some Ameri- can journals thought tliey discovered in it, nothing less than the first official manifestation, of the schemeof a black confederation, which would group, about the Haytien nucleus, the slave and enfran- chised populations of the other Antilles. It is, indeed, possible_, that the colored men of Gaude- loupe had dreamed of some such thing, before the scenes of April 1848^ which edified them as to Sou- louque' s tenderness for the men of color. It was, moreover, possible, that this idea had originated at Paris, in the brains of certain mono-maniac negro- pholists ; in whose opinion, emancipation would not be complete, until they should see, in our colo- nies, — widowed of every vestige of European civili- zation, — white or mulatto slaves expire under the lash of black planters. Finally, in proof of this it appears, that, in the Spring of 1849, the black insurgents of Sainte-Lucie assailed the Governor's palace, and burned some dwellings, to the cry of ^'Vive Soidouquef" But the man, who had lent SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPfRE. 2^1 liis name to those vague designs, was certainly the last person who would have had a hand in them. On learning the part, these stupid or culpable expectations had assigned him, Soulouque mani- fested as much irritation as fear, and exclaimed : ''This is another turn of tliese mulatto rascals , in order to embroil me with France and England — indeed, with all the world !" As to Soulouque's subjects, the idea of demanding from abroad the benefits of a solidarity of their race, was, if possi- ble, still more foreii^rn than it was with him. To give only one proof of it ; the news of emancipa- tion decreed in 1848 in our colonies — news wliich it would seem ought to have aftbrded real joy to the future Emperor, was received by him with absolute indifference. He, only, concerned himself about tlie negroes. Since we are tranquilised on this subject, we can speak in a friendly way of this Emperor, without parallel, and of this Empire without an equal. The first question, whicli presents itself, is that of duration ; and this, appears to us, settled in favor of Faustin 1st. The three preceding black despots had fallen, without doubt, by tlie coalition of like hatreds and terrors as those wliich Sou- louque has accumulated about himself for the past seven years. But Toussaint, Dessalines and Chris- tophe were surrounded, by the Generals of the war of Independeuce ; that is, by so much of the infliu- ence of a rivalry, which tlie remembrance of a 272 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. long continued equality, rendered imjiaticnt of the restraints im})0sed by the capricious tyrannies of the very one of them, they had made their master ; and who, as each wielded an authority, without limit, over that portion of the army, they had or- ganized, were perfectly prepared to manifest their rancor in rebellion. There was nothing like this about Soulouque. Perfectly unknown until the very day, that an electoral expedient raised him to supreme power, he exercised, over his trembling entourage, the ascendancy of surprise and mystery ; and tlie illusion was so complete, as it descended from tlie beginning on his character, that it even impressed upon the general weakness, tlie exag- gerated aspect of every reaction. In the second place ; the warlike and disci])lined generation, of the three epochs, of which we are treating — that, which the old aggregation of the work-shops had grouped, in compact and distinct masses, about each chief — had com2:)letely disap- peared. A long peace was sufficient, besides, to prevent the reconstruction of the great military influences of former times. The greater part of the actual Generals were only so, in name and by a fiction, which consisted in assimilating the ])rin- cipal civil functions, to corresponding military grades ; and with regard to the real Generals, they shared the immense unpopularity, which now burthened the military service. The Haytien army SOULOUQUB AND HIS EMPIRE. 273 has been increased to more than twenty-five thou- sand men, out of a population of a half million* of souls, in which the women figure at least for tlirce-fifths ; this is equivalent to an effective, quintuple that of our own. We can understand how intolerable such a military system is in a country, where thirty years of absolute unrestraint has rendered the masses unaccustomed to all de- pendence on each other — where, the absence of in- dustry, and the systematic division of property, binds almost all the sturdy men, to the soil — and Avhere the facilities of concubinage, now the recog- *In his " Geography of the Island of Hayti," published in 1832, M. A. Ardouin inclines to the figure of *700,000 souls; of which, he assigns 125,000 to the Spanish part of the Island, which leaves SVS.OOO to the French part. But the author, at the same time, in- dicates the tendency of the country people to flow into the cities, where the hygienic conditions are very inferior. But, it is not too much to estimate at 75,000 souls the deficit, which should result, as much from this increase of the causes of mortality, as from the civil troubles of 1842 and 1843; from eight years of war with the Do- minicans; and, finally, from the conclusive facts of emigration, and executions, since the IGth of April, 1848. All exact, or even, approximative estimates of the population are, moreover, impos- sible. The country blacks, who attach a high importance to having their children baptized, bury the greater number of their dead, as a compensation, after the idolatrous rites ; so that the civil list being in the hands of the clerg}'. is not registered with any accuracy, ex- cept the number of births, which renders all comparative estimate impossible. The number of births taken, separateh', would be a basis of calculation quite as uncertain ; for it is a notorious fact, that the mortality of infants is much greater, in Ilayti, than any where else. 274 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIUE. m'zed condition,* have imposed upon each of them family ties. The enticement of a month's pay of four gourdes (at the rate per day of one franc fifty centimes) out of Avhicli, the liaytien soldier must lodge, feed, and, in part, equip, himself, is not of a nature to overcome this legitimate repugnance. Not being put in barracks, they can, in truth, dispose of their time, between the periods of service ; and the greater number of them, take this service very much at tlieir ease. Nothing is more common, for instance, than to see, in a vacant sentry-box, a peaceable gun watching, all alone^ over the safety of the Empire. Do they project another expedi- tion against the Dominicans? — the whole body of the black army gather with an enthusiasm, dif- ficult to describe, at the distribution of provisions and cartridges ; and the soldiers, are no sooner on the march, than they desert, right and left of the way, by bands ; taking the air, in the woods, while the provisions last ; and wasting, foolishly, their cartridges in petards. Tliis relaxation of discipline exhibits the little moral authority, which the Generals now enjoy ; and as, by some remain- ing scrupulousness, the deserters think they are bound to hide themselves^ or, at least, to buy the indulgence of their chiefs, they experience towards *Out of 2,015 births shown l)y the Moniteur Hayticn of the 10th of August, 1850, in some localities tjikcu at hazard, there -were only eighty-four legitimate children; a little less than/o«r ;;fr ccni. SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 275 tliesGj a sentiment, in wliicli, the hatred of the of- fender, is augmented by the hatred of the debtor.* Free from tlie influence of these rivalries, in which were personified, hy turns, the compLairits raised by Toussaint, Dessalines, and Christophe, Soulouque had, besides, a point of support which these had not. Toussaint and Christophe, with tlieir party, being violently taken with civilization, repelled unmercifully the vaudoux ; and Dessa- lines, in spite of his sincere, or affected, fondness for African savagery, was liimself embroiled with the 2^cfpas. Being then only General, he had him- self ^'physiced," on the day of battle, by one of them ; — that is, his body was covered with amu- lets, designed to render it invulnerable ; but, all physiced as he was^ he Avas, exactly, wounded at the first fire. Furious at this, Dessalines beat his sorcerer, with his own hands, and made liim re- turn the ten Portuguese dollars paid for tlie con- sultation ; and declared, from that day, that the papas were only a set of odious intriguers. f Sou- * About the end of December, 1847, the Dominicans having stopped on the Haytien territory, Honlouqne sent against tliem three regiments, Avhich, at llie time tlicy marched, presented together an effective strcngtli of only VOO men, aUhou^h each regiment is or- ganized with about GOO men. After the first distribution of rations, five-sixths of the sohliers were absent, at the call ; one of the regi- ments was found reduced even to jlj'Ucn soldiers, and forty-three officers. t On another occasion, Dessalines, then inspector general of Avor- ships, learned that a vaudoux council was held in the plain of Cul- 276 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIllE. louqne, whose tyranny was-, on the contrary, only a vaudoux reaction, has, in the innumerable ad- herents of this negro free-masonry, as many spies as decoys, ready to apprise him of the least symptom of conspiracy, or to create, by a mute understand- ing, a void about the conspirators ; — as witness the sudden and profound indifference, with which the fall of Similien was received. And yet, by reason of the boldness with wliich his old familiarity with the President inspired him, and by his rank in the presidential guard which had become the last centre of that esprit-de-corps , that formerly ren- dered military revolutions so easy, — Similien was the onl}^ person who filled the two conditions neces- sary to repeat, in opposition to Soulouque, the part which was, successively, played by Dessalines and Christophe against Toussaint ; by Christophe against Dessalines ; and by Eichard against Chris- tophe. Soulouque, therefore, for the time, had no con- spiracy to fear ; for the instrument and the subject — the army and the masses — were wanting for such de-Sac, under the pi'esidencj of an old black woman — and that a great number of farmers had left their work to be present. He surrounded the place of meeting with a battalion ; dispersed the assembly by firing into it ; and having taken fifty prisoners, had them bayonetted immediately. M. Thomas Madiou who relates this fact, adds : Toussaint held in horror every thing pertaining to vaudoux ; he often said that he spoke through his nose, only be- cause the vaudoux had thrown some spells on him. SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 27'r a conspiracy. Not being able to believe in treachery where treason was powerless, every suspect, finally, considered real tlie noisy evidences of devotion, which terror created about him ; and if some timid desire of deliverance sprang up, here and there, in their hearts, we can affirm, that there was not in all Hayti, two men, two friends, even two parents, sufficiently, sure of each other, to venture an inter- change of their opinions. A double, a triple es- pionage, that often changed the informer into the accused, proved but too surely, moreover, the uni- versal distrust, which was practiced at even the distance of two thousand leagues. The proscribed Haytiens, whom we questioned, invariably replied, by praising Soulouque ; as though, they feared that the reflux of the Alan tic would bear back, to the illiterate old negro, who reigned over their vacant firesides, some involuntary sign of disap- probation, in order that the invisible vengeance of the master might be visited upon them here. The very excess of this fear produced everywhere else, some outbursts of individual despair ; but, though the incentive of ambition was wanting, that of vengenance was not less to be dreaded by Soulouque. In the prostration of that yellow and black bourgeoisie, which seemed to have only the courage to die, all was not really compulsion and stupor. There was, also, much of that veneration, instinctive in the African, for the hand which strikes him, or the foot which tramples him under. 278 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. Despotism existed in tlieir manners, before it was developed in state affairs ; and I will give a single proof of it. During tlie butcher}" of tlie mulattoes, at Saint-Marc, by the orders of Cbristopbe, a Gen- eral, to exhibit his obedience, slew with his own hands his wife and children. But unreasonable as he was in this point, Christophe, himself, thought that it was an excess of obedience, and with a vio- lent blow of his cane, some say, — and with a kick, say others, — he knocked out one of the murderer's eyes. The thought of this abominable devotion, which, everywhere else, would be but baseness ap- proaching idiotism — this thought, found a place in a mind, if not the most cultivated, at least the most upright, the most firm, and the most eager for civilization, which had arisen for long years past, in the ranks of the black caste. This Gen- eral was, neither more nor less than the future President Kiche — the predecessor of Soulouque, and the man of adoption by the enlightened class of the country, who have wept him, (we can say without metaphor,) with tears of blood. A class so indulgent to the fanaticism of servility was evidently capable of experiencing it, more or less, on their own account. This predisposition did not, even, await the stimulus of fear, to be re- vealed in them : thus, under the regime of an ultra-democratic constitution, whilst Soulouque was only President, the warmest advocate of equality, SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 2*79 thought it very natural and regular, that, at the formal dinners, ho should have himself served by Generals, placed behind liis chair. Among the penitent revolutionists, who, moreover, exalted tlie principle of authority, were there not many of them that pushed their sincerity, even, to chang- ing his plates? Terror has, therefore, done no more tliere, than stimulate a tendency inherent in the public mind of Hayti ; and whose outward maniibstation does not imply any inward revolt. His black Majesty has even subjected, with impu- nity, the monarchical sentiment of his subjects to some very rude tests. To conceal nothing — Sou- louque, (in comparison with whom the chaste Hippolyte was, not long before, open-breasted ; and whom we have seen, up to 1849, especially in his bloody expedition to the South, repel, with vir- tuous horror, the female enticements, which enthu- siasm and often, alas ! fear excited, on his march) — Soulouque, since he has become Emperor, seems quite decided to take, literally, the intrepid rhetori- cal figure, by which certain official addresses have designated him — ilie father of Jiis peojole. No lady of the court, they say, will be long sheltered from the formidable attentions of Faustin. And if I reveal these intimate details, it is only properly to state that this is not vice in his estimation. The'idea of domination, especially of royalty, being insep- erable in the African mind, from that of discrc- 280 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. tionary* power, Souloiique really only sees in this matter one of the thousand superb privileges, be- longing to his position as Emperor; and he exer- cises this right, with the double security, of a pure conscience, and an iron-constitution ; another guar- antee of stability, which we must take into ac- count. Those who speculate, on the natural death of Faustin, risk having to wait so much longer, because he practices a proverbial sobriety, with re- gard to rum — that slow poison of the negroes, which kills them toward the hundreth year. From all these guarantees of security and dura- bility, there would have resulted anywhere else a reaction of clemenc}^ : unfortunately, Soulouque continues to show himself, as inexorable and sus- picious, as in the very height of the crisis of 1848. On the occasion of his accession to the throne, a proclamation, made the fusion of all hearts the order of the day, and advised the citizens, to join the hand of reconciliation over the altar of their coun- try. Some i^ersons ventured to take the thing lite- rally^ and timidly expressed to His Majesty, tliat, at least, in carrying the altar of the country from prison to prison, their bolts and walls would be an *Here is another shade of this negro interpretation of the right of domination. After the scenes of April, the friends of Sirailien, would occasionally through idleness drop into the shops, and say to the merchants "wives, with the most natural tone imaginable: "You, please me; and when Ave shall have killed your husbands, you will become our wives." SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 281 insurmountable obstacle, to the required hand-shak- ing. But at this simple mention of an amnesty, Soulouque exhibited the angry horror of a miser, upon whom they prevailed to expend, in a day, the patient savings of a year. Since then, let us re- mark, he has been so much the less able to enter- tain the idea of clemency because his deference for monarchical modes and precedents seem to dictate to him, that he would have the benefit of it, with- out the cost. In fact, there is not a single official rejjast given at the palace, at which Faustin 1st does not bridle up, during dessert, to su6h toasts as the following : ^^To the magnanimity of the hero ! To the clemency of the great man!'' Keaction could, scarcely, be produced in Hayti except from Rome. But for the audacious decep- tion practiced, by the Abbe Cessens, it, assuredly, only depended on the Holy See, to take advantage of the ardent desire, this negro monarch felt, to be crowned, to benefit the innumerable suspects con- fined, without trial, in the prisons ; it was only necessary to have made an amnesty the first condi- tion of this coronation. Even now, if a concordat should put an end to the monstrosities above de- scribed — if in place of the scandalous adventurers, wlio, in order to have their irregularities tolerated, are often the first to flatter the fantasies of Sou- louque — a real clergy, so much the more respected because it would have the benefit of the contrast, should make the counsels of humanity and good 282 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. sense heard by this brute, but not depraved nature, it would not be necessary to despair, perhaps, of clemency. The character of Soulouque offers, in fact, resources valuable to every civilizing influence, which will be in a situation to profit by them. I will put in the first rank^ an extreme respect for foreign opinion ; — a respect, w^hich penetrates the natural dissimulations of his black majesty ; which renders it sensitive beyond all expression, to the pleasantries of the French and American journals ; and which has often succeeded in controlling him, even, in*his most sanguinary transpoi-ts of rage ; as witness the success, with which our Consul-Greneral touched this spring in 1848. Soulouque has, (which I believe I before stated,) in addition to the good traits of natural suspicion, an instinctive deference for all advice, the disinter- estedness of which, he cannot suspect ; and hence, again, tlie ascendency of the French consul, when pleading the cause of a class, which, with a small number of exceptions, had previously set up as a matter of policy, hatred to France and Frenchmen. The influence then, a foreign agent, whose inter- ference in their domestic aflairs, loyal and well conducted as it may be, must always produce some umbrage, has been able to obtain accidentally, might not a serious clergy — a body wbose inter- vention would not be offensive, because it would be exclusively moral, and moreover, anticipated and SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 283 accepted, — obtain more easily still, and in a mea- sure more lasting ? The day, that a steady liglit of humanity sliall penet]-ate this darkness of savagery — Avlien Soulou- que shall be able to comprehend, that to breathe and walk are not political crimes, and that the only ambition of tlie class he fears, is neither to be im- prisoned, nor shot — on that day, all things con- sidered, Hayti will be, theoretically, nearer to civilization, than it has ever been. Let us not forget ; althougli he may have sprung from the midst of tlie mulattoes, only to enter among the ultra-blacks, and hence has not ceased to suffer from the contact of anti-French influences, Soulouque is, with Riche, the only Haytien chief, which has, if not understood, at least felt the necessity of en- couraging, and retaining our countrymen.* But it was because of its hatred and distrust of French- men, that Hayti refused the right of property to the * He has even more merit in this particular than Riche, who was not beset lilve him, by the ultra-black minority, and who was en- couraged in his civilizing tendencies, on one side, by a few men of the young mulatto generation, who, in this respect, were much more intelligent than their predecessors ; and on the other hand, by some enlightened blacks, among others, his minister, U. Larochel. The opposite happened to Soulouque. If some men secretly deplored that their country was not open to white civilization, they concealed it, or even pretended to join the clamors of the ultra-black party, in order not to attract upon themselves the suspicions of this terri- ble party. Soulouque, besides, had to struggle, in his own council, against the anti-French objections of his minister of finance, M. Salomon, a well-instructed and very able black. 284 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. whites ; and, if our old colony, wliicli ^ ^exported annually four hundred millions of pounds of sugar, no longer makes more than enough for the wants of its sick ;" if, after having given to its metropolis, an annual excess of near twenty-two millions of francs, it now returns, with great difficulty, to its own treasury only six to seven millions ; if its money, only, circulates for the ffteentli of its nominal value ; if the little coin, which, usury causes to circulate on the sea-coast, is hurdened with an in- terest varying from 36 to 365 per cent ; if, finall}^, near the middle of 1847, hefore the ultra-hlack panic, and under the influence of a complete reac- tion of security, a plantation of fifty arpents^ well situated, and in great part set with coffee-trees — that is, in full operation — was found only to realize a tliousand francs — it is to the ridiculous and savage exclusion, of which I have spoken, that this relapse into harharism must he ahove all attrihutable. The black insurrection inherited only the waste it had made. European immigration could alone replace, in old Saint-Domingo, the elements of labor and commerce, which disappeared from it, with our colonists. It, alone, could bring back there capital, tlie proceeds of cultivation and manu- facturing, the experience and the commercial rela- tions necessary^ — to revive the sugar-houses, — to ])lace local production in a situation to contend with the increasing competition, which was caused, by the agricultural and mechanical ameliorations in- SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 285 troduced, by European activity, in the other An- tilles — to restore to this production its former outlets — to substitute, in fine, for the fatal expedient of a continued emission of notes, the norinal resources of an increase of revenue. The disposition, which Soulouque exhibited with regard to the whites, in general, and the French in particular, would have been, therefore, an augury of veritable regenera- tion to Hayti ; if in this, as apropos of the piquets, as apropos of the amnesty, and always for the want of an enlightened and acceptable arbitration, which might have rescued at the proper time, the civili- zing purpose or instinct, from those savage preju- dices which neutralized them, it would not have been necessary to be satisfied, again_, with the rule Avithout the application — with the principle without its consequence. Although, it was only necessary for him to frown, to destro}^ tliis combination of savagery and fear, which perpetuated, twenty-five years after the foreign recognition of Haytien in- dependence, an isolation thenceforth without pre- text, Soulouque made, or allowed to be introduced into his imperial constitution, the article prohibit- ing whites from acquiring real estate in Hayti. Soulouque had not even the logic of his despot- ism. This strange constitutional Emperor would, most certainly, have had shot, and with the best faith in the world, whosoever had dared to assert, that the Goverment was not Faustin 1st; and it is not too much to wish, that he would carry his imi- 286 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. tation of Christoplie, in this respect^ even to the end ; who, setting out from the same idea, believed that it was his interest, at least, to administer the finances of the Government, as a good proprietor ; but no. Jealous of accumulating in this, as in all other cases, the profits of tlie most contradictory situations, Faustin 1st, carried into the adminis- tration of the country, which he considered as his l^erpetual patrimony, tlie improvident greediness of a transient revolutionist. The Government is charged with clothing the troops; and, under this pretext, Soulouque, who is awarded the office of furnisher-general, purchases constantly, hundreds of pieces of cloth at fictitious prices — often double, and even triple, their real value ; which (to use a common expression), is equivalent to saying, that his black Majesty makes the goose jump from his own basket. The mili- tary stores are filled with cloth, which they con- stantly ofter, (and it is always accepted, thanks to the allurement of this profit,) at from one to tico hundred per cent. It is Avell known that, notwith- standing this profusion of cloth, the formidable Empire of Hayti continues to exliibit the bizarre phenomenon of an army dressed in rags. The favorite officials of the day, naturally have their share in the plunder, which includes all the Gov- ernment supplies. At first, Soulouque, alarmed by the invasion of this famished band of highest SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 28*7 bidders, Avho followed on liis steps, repelled tliem en masse ; but since, he has allowed himself to be bent, — and is satisfied to levy a profit, of from thirt}^ to forty per cent., on every transaction of the kind he permits. Besides, he has rather gained than lost, by this division of profits ; because the piquets in favor, and their friends, have become so many courtiers, whose inventive avidity is able to ferret gold out of transactions, in which His Majesty, often thought, he had made a clean sweep. Some individuals found out the secret, of stealing from the plunder itself. We will cite, for instance, that such sup- plies, as have to pass through three or four hands, are sold each time at a profit of eighty to one hun- dred per cent., before reaching the military stores. Soulouque levied, as his share, 60,000 francs, in that cause, decided in favor of a lady of his ac- quaintance ; and Avho had to pay, in consequence, fifteen francs to the Goverment for what was only worth tour.* * The ramifications of public peculation did not ahvays stop there. Rather than permit these fabulous supplies of cloth to rot, some Generals found it logical to resell them, for their own benefit, t3 the retailers of Port-au-Prince, below the market price of the fabric ; which had the tri[)le effect — of depriving the treasury of the duties, it would have received upon the same quantity of cloth, de- livered to consumption, in the regular waj^ ; of creating a ruinous competition, with the houses, which had sujjplicd themselves, with similar merchandise, in this way ; and finally, of diminishing the (juantit y of goods exchanged with those abroad ; — that is, the ex- 288 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. If Soulouque would employ the snras, he annu- ally monopolises, to create plantations and sugar manufactories, he might, perhaps, congratulate himself, on tliis concentration of capital, in one hand ; /o?', it is by the absence, or dispersion of productive energy, that the richest and best situated of the Antilles, has become the most uncultivated and abandoned of all. These millions, unfortunately, only enter the imperial money-chest, to be sent directly out of the country ; and, go to Paris, Lon- don, or Kew York, to pay for the splendid caprices of His Majesty's toilette. Let us add ; in his in- corrigible mania to steal himself, Soulouque, not satisfied with disjiosing of tlie public revenues, at pleasure, also, smuggles, like any other common mortal, in order that, the articles purchased, for his own use, may enter without paying duties.* portation of domestic products suffered by the legal importation, in proportion to the deficit, and causes of depression. Since this was written, M. Maximo Raybaud has, moreover, suc- ceeded in imposing* upon Soulouque an arrangement, which has the result on one part, of protecting, the payment of the colonial in- demnity, from the fraudulent tricks that the interpretation of the convention of the 15th of May, I84'7, excited ; — on the other part, to secure the payment of interest, and the extinguishment of the Haytien loan. The financial wants, whicli this double obligation has created, will put a stop to the unreasonable Avastes, of which I have spoken. If he is wanting in all foresight, and capability of generalization, Soulouque knows how, on the contrary, to yield to the pressure of an immediate necessity. * To the passion for fine clothes, and handsome decorations, Sou- louque, has latterly added the mania for building. His great de- SOULOUQUE AND IIIS EMPIRE. 289 Soiilouqiic's official receipts go abroad, like his private revenue, and are, besides, worse employed there. All, he does not retain for his personal ex- penses, is spent in preparations for exterminating the Dominicans ; especially in buying American vessels, often out of service, wliich he loads with artillery, as thougli he desired to render them still more incapable of sailing ; and which his negro sailors blow up, from time to time, body and goods, either by carelessness, or in breaking into the powder-magazine to steal the wherewith to make fusees and crackers. It is useless to show that such purchases, besides being the occasion of ruinous armaments, are of a nature, too unusual to en- courage the current of exchanges ; and constitutes a wasting loss to the Haytien treasury. A system, in which every thing combines, on one hand to increase the expenses, and on the other to reduce, at once, the receipts, and the capi- tal circulating in the interior, the primary cause of these receipts, — this system has, necessarily, but one consequence : the continued emission of notes. And accordingly, in manufacturing them almost sire is to possess a house in each of the squares of Port-au-Prince. He has also turned his attention a little to agriculture, and actually seeks to improve a considerable plantation, in the vicinity of the Capital, which the nation made him a present of. Unfortunately, he has impressed en 7iHi$se for this operation, and in the name of niilitar}' service, all the cultivators of the banks of the Artihonite, the only part of the lOmpire, where agricultural labor is not entirely abandoned. 290 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMrillE. without intermivssion, at from fifteen to tioenty-ftve thousand gourdes a day, is di.splayed in all its eclat the financial genius of Soulouque, What sustains, as I have remarked, the circula- tion of this fahulous pa])or-money is the fact, that tlie foreign importers have still the goodness to re- ceive it only upon the sine-qua-non condition of, immediately, exchanging it, and on the spot^ for products of the soil, especially coffee and dye- woods — which are now almost the only remaining branch of Haytien export. Simple good sense would, therefore, counsel the encouragement, at any price, of the export of coifee, in order to coun- terbalance as much as possible the causes of depre- ciation, with which, a continued and unlimited emission of notes burdens the representative ex- pression of this production. Soulouque has done just the contrary. The socialist experiment of monopoly having resulted in destroying, or nearly so, the metallic receipts of the treasury^ by putting to flight foreign importation, which alone nourished them, Sou- louque imagined in 1850 to replace them, by natural resources. The enticement was so much the more tempting, as by a very rare coincidence, it happened that very year, on one hand, that the crop of coffee was of extraordinary abundance in Hayti — and on the other, that coffee was very much in demand, and consequently very dear in the mar- kets of Europe. At the same time, that the mo- SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 291 nopoly laws were repealed, the Haytien govern- ment awarded itself, therefore, the right of taking for its own henefit, at the merchant-consignee's, the fifth of the coffee designed for exportation, at the rate of fifty goiirdes the qnintal — that is, nearly forty per cent, below the current price. This loss oi forty per cent., assessed on the five-fifths, was explained, as to the mass of exported coffee, hy a former over-tax of eight per cent.; hnt this was not all. The government is privileged to pay for this fifth monopolized by it, at forty per cent, below the cur- rent price in custom-house goods, which it agreed to receive in payment of the export duties due on the four* fifths remaining ; but, as the merchant in possession of a thousand quintals, for example, re- ceived in payment for the two hundred quintals taken awa}^ by the government, 10,000 gourdes in custom-house goods, then, by the terms of the tariff, it was only entitled to 6,400 gourdes, as the export duty of the remaining eight hundred quin- tals, and there remained some 3^600 gourdes of un- employed goods. By one of those curiosities of credit, only to be met with in Hayti, these unem- ployed goods^ and hence without value, lost in the transaction only about fifty per cent.; v/hich, on a thousand quintals of coffee, worth in the producing market 80,000 gourdes, reduced this new loss to 1 ,800 gourdes, or to a little more than two per cent. This two per cent, added to the eight per cent.. 292 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. above-mentioned, increased to more than ten per cent, the over-tax, with which, this new financial combination of M. Salomon has oppressed the whole exportation of coffee.* But, in ordinary times, the coffee of our old colony, although of excellent quality, was formerly placed, with some difficulty, in European markets; which was attributed to the imperfect manner of cleansing it. What would then happen when, being no longer sustained, — at the place of pro- duction, because of low rates resulting from the excess of the crop, — and at the place of consump- tion, by the fluctuation of the prices, — these cof- fees, besides, are offered in European markets, with an additional charge of from ten to eleven per cent.? The consumer would not wish any more ; the ex- porter would not demand any more ; and the cul- tivator, (of course,) would not produce any more.f -'•This financial expedient was, to be sure, the occasion of new intrigues. It was thus, for example, that the sale of the fifth of the crop of 1850-'51 was burdened with two good-will presents of five francs each per quintal of a hundred pounds. t To speak correctly, they did not gather it any longer. The cul- tivation of coffee is now reduced, indeed, in Saint-Domingo to the gathering of the grains wliich, periodically, fall from the old coffee trees, not a single one of whicli is renewed. The blacks even allow to be lost on the spot, a portion, more or less considerable, of this precious product — according as it sells, more or less well, in Europe, and as there is wanted, a greater or less quantity, to represent the few j^ards of cottonades and some pounds of salt meats, required by each family, from foreign commerce. It is by favor of the margin left by this excess, that the export of the coffee of the country can SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 293 Sooner or later, the situation of things, which I have described, must produce its extreme conse- quences ; but they are inevitable, if this partial monopoly is maintained. Coffee failing, importers vrill stop their shipments ; for it is not probable that they will consent to exchange cargoes of pro- visions, (meal, fabrics, &c.,) for cargoes of dye- woods, which vessels never take, except by en- gagement, and often only as ballast. Importation being arrested, the circulation of the pajyer-gourde, whicli is sustained by it alone, would cease also ; so much the more, that the three or four elements of interior trade which Hayti possesses, proceeds from the soil, and is found (considering the ex- treme division of proj>erty) almost always reunited in the same hand ; which is sufficient to paralyze barter. Deprived, b}^ the same blow^ of the receipts from still resist the factitious enhancement of price, with which the mo- nopoly of the fifth has affected it. But the miracle of fertility, of which I speak, cannot continue indefinitely. The old coffee-trees, and their young shoots, are gradually stifled by the formidable power of the vegetation of the forests, which formerly gave them shelter ; the excess in question will disappear ; production will cease, even by becoming insufiicient, whence a double cause of real rise in price, which being added to the economical consequences of the monopoly of the fifth, will close European markets to Haytien coffee. Only one method will then remain to regain these markets : the renewal of the plants. But the blacks, whom the prospect of an immediate, and certain, profit cannot now recover from their apathy, will not issue from it for a stronger reason, before the prospect of a hypothetical and remote profit. 13 294 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. importations, of the revenue from exportations, and the territorial tax, which the contributor could no longer pay, hut in rags of dirty paper. His Majesty, would have but one resource left to sus- tain, for a short time longer, the splendor of his throne : namely, to sell Ids counts, dukes j and barons to the plantei's of Cuba and Porto- Rico. As to the black peasants, from the moment the cessation of these commercial transactions shall have taken from them, all chance of increasing their m^ans of living by labor, they will not be slow to shut themselves up, in this problem : to obtain tlic necessaries of life at the least fatiguing price pos- sible. This problem, nine Haytiens in ten have already proposed to themselves ; and the bananas have re- solved it. I have heard many individuals assert, that this solution was the best ; and rejoice over the happiness of a people, which would only have to sleep, two or three years in succession, to wake up in the midst of the golden age. There is in this opinion, all things considered, some truth. The only inconvenience of this happiness is, that it will suppress, with the necessity of labor, the feeling of social solidarity ; destroy with this sen- timent the respect for property ; introduce want thenceforth by the gradual disappearance of the bananas, which the stronger will steal from the more feeble, and for the reproduction of which, the latter will liave more reason to care ; and bring SOULOUQUE ANlJ HIS P^MPIKK. 295 man, finally, to consider liis felloAv-uian as a repast served by nature. Certain oceanic peoples, not less privileged than the subjects of Soulouque witb re- spect to climate, justify this disgusting hypothesis. Indeed, the more we contemplate this living enigma, called Soulouque, the more gloomy it be- comes. Never were such numerous energies, guar- antees, and civilizing aptitudes, found accumulated in the same hand ; and never was there made a more giatuitous recoil towards barbarism, with a mind more reckless of consequences. According as this inexplicable monarch shall be pleased to enter on the path, his interests and instincts direct him — or, to remain in that, I cannot say what hidden impulse drives him, — Hayti will be pros- perous in ten years, or cannibal in twenty. Does Soulouque conceal his game ? He almost ex- plained it, one day, when he said to some one : ^' In order to tear from me my secret, it would be necessar}^ to open me like a mackerel !' This ope- ration would expose his black Majesty, too much. Let us endeavor to seek the secret elsewhere : — in tliat little Dominican Republic whose obstinacy, in continuing republican, costs so much sleeplessness and grief to Faustin 1st. XV. The Doniinicaii I»opiiblif. Tlic social condition of the Spanish part of Saint- Domingo presented at tlie ept^ch of the first revo- lution, a complete contrast witli that of the Frencli portion of tlie Island.". Whilst here, principles, truly christain, contained in the edict of 1698, gradually gave place to a legislation, which hranded mixed marriages, embarrassed emancipation, and openly established the prejudice of color, as a means of police— rthere, all was organized to facilitate the fusion of tlie two races. The code of the Indies recognized marriages between master and slave ; permitted emancipation, in an absolute manner ; allowed to the slave, in fact, the power of redeem- ing himself, by recognizing him the owner of the revenue acquired outside the labor, due to the mas- ter ; and assimilated, almost entirely, the enfran- chised class to the whites. Spanish customs, with their tendencies to practical equality, which did not exclude subordination, but gave it a patriarchal character, also favored intermixture ; and local circumstances facilitated this influence of manners^J At the very time the labors of the mines had ex- hausted the few aborigines, who escaped from the ferocity of the first conquistador es, the occupation 80UL0UQUE AND HIS EMPlRil. 297 of Mexico and Peru opened, to the spirit of adven- ture, an illimitable field. The want of laborers, on one hand, and the allurements of the unknown, on the other, caused the most enterprising portion of the population, to emigrate to terra-firma ; and planting on a large scale, which prevents all con- tact between the master and the slave, remained almost unknown, in the newly settled Spanish colo- ny. The servitude of the blacks, who were about to replace in Hayti the Indians (declared free by repeated edicts of the Metropolis) was changed into domesticity. Besides, the greater number of the colonists had adopted, the favorite occupation of the Spaniards of that period ; they became herds- men. And, the isolation, which this kind of life produced, — the community of ideas, education, ne- cessities, and the relations of equality, nearly abso- lute, which was brought about, in the long run, between the master and the slave, — did the rest. The double stratum of free blood, which the con- quering race, and the last remnant of the indige- nous race, mingled* with the African blood, was so little distinguished from it in the second generation — the bronze tint of the Spaniard, the copper hue -■Four thousand natives rallied around the Cacique Henri, with whom Spain finally treated as power with power. Their descend- ants, though considerably mixed, are still recognized by the beauty of their hair, Avhich both men and women take great pride in wear- ing smooth and flowing. Some connoisseurs pretend to distinguish the women of Indian origin by the following sign : that the veins, instead of being designated by blue lines under the skin, appear red. 298 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. of the Indian, and the histre color of the muhitto, tended so much to blend together, under the influ- ence of a common hygiene, and climate, — that the closest observers (if there were any) would have been, often, very much embarrassed to discover, in their faces, the secret of a lineage, lost in the savannahs and forests. This work of fusion, which, neither European im- migration, under its moral relation, nor African immigration, in its physiological relation, could lessen, Avas summed up, at the period of the revolu- tion, in the following figures : 25,000 whites of the pure Spanish race ; — 15,000 : Africans which, by their distribution, escaped every insurrectionary propagandist, and, moreover, were too proud of the social superiority, which a daily contact with their masters gave them, over the slaves of the French part of the Island, to consent to imitate those, whom they scornfully called '^negroes;*' — and, finally, ^3,000 sang-meles, who styled themselves volunteer whites ; and who, there being no injurious objection raised against them, were at length con- sidered as such.* The dissolving element of the French colony, had thus become the conservative element of the Spanish colony. Vanity, which there dug an abyss of hate between the three classes — here, produced their cohesion. The troubles of the French portion of the Island *We borrow these figures from the book of M. Lepelletier de Saint-Remy. SOULOUyUB AND HIS EMPIRJi]. 299 only served to render tliis cohesion closer. Hostili- ties having broken out between Spain and France, tlie Spanish Governor committed the error, of at- tracting and enrolling the bands of Jean-Francois, and Biassou. They entered the East, as into a conquered country, exacting titles, cordons, a pen- sion of a hundred thousand livres each, and mas- sacred, occasionally, the royal emigrants — of whom they had declared themselves tlie protectors. Jean- Francois slew a thousand* of them at Fort Dauphin, under the eyes of the Spanish authorities, who did not dare to protest, although they had given them an asylum. (Whilst the slave minority, comparing the mildness of its servitude, with the strange liberty enjoyed by the soldiers of Jean-Francois, who were mutilated, killed, or sold, at the least caprice of their masters,, were strengthened more and more, in its contempt of the "negroes" and the revolution — the white minority, and sang-mele majority, experienced a common indignation, and a common terror, in seeing themselves at the mercy of these savage masses, whose every step had been marked on the frontier, by the massacre of whites or mulattoes. When the peace of Bale gave us the whole Island, and Toussaint, being disposed to deceive the Span- ish portion, as he had done that of the French section, indicated that he was about to take posses- *IIistoire d'Haiti, par Madiou. 300 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. sion of the East, in the name of France, tliis accord of repugnance and fear was still more energetically manifested. A deputation, from the parishes, went and supplicated the two Metropolises to concert to- gether, so that the cession of the East miglit be delayed, until France Avas prepared to take posses- sion of it, instead of her soi-disant delegate. But, before the response came, Rigaud, who alone held Toussaint in check, was defeated ; and the latter, leaving Dessalines to complete the massacre of the colored men of the South, abruptly returned to- wards the Spanish part of the Island. The mulatto, Chanlatte, and General Kerverseau, Avho served under his orders, vainly endeavored, at the head of a hundred and fifty French, and a handful of Domi- nicans besides, to stop the passage of the black army. As to the Spanish Governor, he limited himself to a show of defense ; and Toussaint re- mained master of this magnificent territory, wliich his approach made a desert. All who could fly, had fled ! These events transpired in 180] . The following year, two frigates appeared on the horizon of Saint- Domingo. At this mute signal of deliverance, without even knowing wliether a landing was pos- sible, (the condition of the sea not permitting it) a hundred and fifty Creoles, aided by a few French- men, seized one of the forts, by massacring the garrison, and being compelled by the want of suc- cor, to seek the open country, propagated the revolt. SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 301 At the end of twenty days, the whole East had suhniitted to its new Metro23olis. After the disas- ter_, which smote the army of Leclerc, and when our flag, surrounded hy only a few hundred soldiers^ seemed rather to compromise, than to protect, the population which it sheltered, the East, alone, had the courage to continue French ; preferring, the danger of fidelity, to the risks of negro rule — and, even, to the guarantees of material security, offered by the British protectorate. Tlieir invincible horror of the negro yoke, and their confidence in the French flag, have continued until now, the two dis- tinctive traits of popular opinion in Dominica. Dessalines, coming a short time afterwards, at the head of twenty-two thousand negroes, spread mas- sacre, pillage, and devastation to the very gates of Santo-Domingo; and General Ferrand being obliged to retreat before him, they proved this double ten- dency. The devotion of the Dominicans to France did not depreciate for a moment. Under the able administration of Ferrand, the ancient audiencia, not long before the most desolate of the Spanish colonies, rapidly changed its aspect. Public ofiices were organised, roads opened, and outlets abroad established. But, four years had already passed away, and France, who was absorbed in her Continental struggle, seemed not to remem- ber, that, in the midst of the Gulf of Mexico, a handful of French citizens were abandoned to them- selves, between an enemy six times more numerous, 302 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. and the Ocean, ^ which was ploughed by the cruisers of another enemy, awaiting, from the Metropolis, a sign of encouragement, or, at least a verbal pledge of protection. A gloomy disaffection began. In the meanwhile, the unjust invasion of Spain by Napoleon took place, and the Castillian citizens of Saint-Domingo were touched to the heart, by that electric thrill, which, from the Pyrenees to Cadiz — from Cadiz to tlie Antilles — from the Antilles to the Vermillion sea — excited the Spanish race against us. These two wrongs were easily set to work against the French by the Grovernor of Porto- Kico, and especially by English agents ; who did not cease to show to the Dominicans, on one hand, an innumerable army of negroes ready to profit at any time, by the desertion of France, to invade them — and, on the other, a British squadron, de- termined to protect them against the hatred of France, until the old mother country was prepared to succor them. An insurrection broke out, in the Canton of Seybo ; and the leader of the insurgents, a Spanish Creole, Juan Sanchez Kamirez, soon gathered about him two thousand men. Ferrand attacked them, with five hundred ; who, after a combat of four hours, were overwhelmed and put to flight. Ferrand blew out his brains on the field of battle, and the few French detachments, distri- buted through the colony, fell back towards Santo- Domingo ; — a place which was only protected by a dilapidated wall, and without a ditch, but which SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 303 Brigadier-G-eneral Barquier took it into his head to defendj against the combined efforts of the insur- gents, and tlie English cruisers. The small supj^ly of provisions, which were found in the place, or which the corsairs succeeded in throwing in, were soon consumed, and they ate boots, harness, and their buffiilo skins ; these, like- wise, were soon consumed. It then became ne- cessary to make a sortie, and gain a battle, ^ery time they desired to dine. In war they must do as in war ; this dinner was composed, almost en- ti^:'ely, of poisonous roots, called gualliga ; which grew, fortunately, in abundance in the vicinity of the city, and whose venomous properties, were a little abated, after six hours of very complicated manipulations. At the end of eight months, — and, after eleven sorties, and as many battles and victories, each of which cost the enemy very dearly — destiny interfered decisively : the gualliga failed. And as difficulty never comes alone, the English cruiser, having become by degrees a squadron, pre- pared a landing. Barquier, who had refused, to the last, to treat with the insurgents^ resigned himself, therefore, to propose to the commander of the British forces, an honorable capitulation, and such, as could be demanded by brave men, still supplied with gualliga. I know but one thing quite as sublime as this super-human heroism, and which had the consciousness of its obscurity : it is the address made by Major General, 8ir Hugh Lyle 304 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. Carmicliael, to his troops, in taking possession of the place : ^' Soldiers !" said Sir Hugh, *"' you have not had the glory of vanquishing the brave garrison, which you replace ; but you are about to rest your heads upon the same stones, where these intrepid soldiers are about to cease their glorious labors, after hav- ing braved the dangers of war, and the horrors of famine. May these grand souvenirs impress your hearts, with sentiments of respect, and admiration for them ; and remember, that, if you follow some day their example, you will have done enough for our glory." Barquier, with his diminutive garrison, marched out with the honors of war, and were taken to France, at the expense of Great Britain. These are some of the magnificent souvenirs, which close the history of our brief domination at Santo-Domingo. To the involuntary respect, which they left, in the hearts of the inhabitants, the re- grets of contrast — the first effervescence of past Espagnolisme — were added. The treaty of Paris confirmed the retrocession, which operated, in fact, in favor of Spain ; and this beautiful colony — to which a French administration of four years dura- tion, working under the most unfavorable circum- stances, was sufficient to reveal the secret of its riches, — found its old metropolis poorer, feebler, and more incapable of resuscitation than ever. The memory of General Ferrand became, and continues SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 305 to this day, in tlie Spanish portion of the Island, an object of real worship. '(in 1821, an advocate, named Nunez Caseres took advantage of the reaction, produced by the discontent, or indiiference, which was produced un- der the Spanish flag, to raise at Santo-Domingo the standard of Columbia, and proclaimed himself President. But an old municipal rivalry existed, between Santiago, an important town of the in- terior, and Santo-Domingo. A schism almost in- stantly, took place, and a fourth of the pillage of Christophe's treasury, saved by Boyer, they sa}^, in one way and another, played an important part in the affair. Considered from a distance, the movement, which was about to subjugate the entire French portion of the island, to the successor of Petion, would pass for a mulatto reaction : and the latter, who ardently coveted tlie East, had easily sown division among its subjects, hoping that by favor of a kind of sympathy which his color, and his recent triumph over African influence, estab- lished between the sang-mel^'e majority of the Spanish part of the Island and himself, he would be easily accepted as mediator. Indeed one of the two factions called him. Under the impression of the relative security he inspired, there^was no de- fence organized ; and his army divided into two bodies, one of wliich, penetrated by the north, the other by tlie south, readied Santo-Domingo, with- out striking a blow ; where he liad nothing to do 306 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. but proclaim tlie Constitution of the West,, (Feb- ruary the 9th, 1822). ^ The Castillian portion of the inhabitants had, however, neither shared this security, nor indiffer- ence. Foreseeing what Boyer contemplated in coming, and not being able to expect, the least help, from the Goverment at Madrid, they were reminded of the flag, which, twice before, had saved, the Spanish part of the Island, from an in- vasion by the West ; and a deputation of notables, secretly, visited the Governor of Martinique, to solicit the protection of France. A fleet, under command of Rear-Admiral Jacob, was quickly dis- patched towards Saint-Domingo ; but in the mean- time, the annexation deception of Boyer was ac- complished. The negro troops, which already in- undated the whole country, were restrained, by fear of an explosion of French tendencies, and Rear- Admiral Jacob arrived, only in time, to receive those of the inhabitants, who were more openh' compromised by our intentions. The ability, of Avhich Boyer began to give proof, abandoned him in the administration of this easy conquest. In a countr}^, wliere the fourth of the population was of white derivation, — and half of the sang-meles claimed this origin, — it was impos- sible to dream of, openly, applying that article of the constitution, which prohibited tlie whites from holding real estate. But Boyer applied it, in an indirect way ; either, by obliging the whites to be SOULOUQTJE AND HIS EMPIRE. oOT naturalized as Haytiens — French as well as Si)an- isli — who should continue to reside in the country, as proprietors;* — or, by confiscating the effects of the absent proprietors, wlio should not come forward, and make good their rights, after tlie expiration of a year, (which was pi'olonged four months in order to ])reserve tlie hypocrisy of forms) ; — or finally, by requiring the production of title-j^apers in a coun- try, where the right of property, often, only rested upon oral tradition. If any white person pro- tested, he was imprisoned^ persecuted, and even sometimes shot ; and this di.scouragement, or fear, drove off, one after another, the few important families, wlio had succeeded in avoiding the ban- ishment, with which, these iniquitous fiscal regu- lations smote the European race. With it, disap- peared from the soil, day by day, '^ talents, riches, commerce, and agriculture, "f ^^ ^ few years, the enormous accumulations, of money, whicli, the former descendants of the first colonists, allowed * Those whites who did not wish to renounce their nationality, and swear allegiance to Boyer, had, it is true, the right of selling their lands ; but a system, which drove away the whites established in the East, kept away, for a stronger reason, Euroj^ean emigration, which could only furnish them purchasers. The people of the coun- try possessed a hundred times more land, than they could cultivate. This right was therefore simply ridiculous. f Manifesto of the Dominican insurgents. — At the fall of Boyer, the figure of the Eastern population, Avhich, twcntj- years before, rose to about 125,000 souls, was found reduced to about 85,000 — a loss of nearly fifty per cent. 308 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. to accumulate in their coffers, from generation to generation, had disappeared ; and the invasion of Haytien paper-money ended, in paralyzing the feeble commercial circulation, wliich the slow dis- tribution of this coin had kept up. The roads, opened by Ferrand, were no longer passable ; and, by the gradual disappearance of foreign flags, agricultural production, had nearly descended to the level of domestic consumption. The old University of Santo-Domingo, wdiich for- merly, attracted the Spanish youth of the Islands, and the neighboring continent, no longer even opened its vacant halls, to the youth of the coun- try, who were condemned to the weak intellectual broth, of a board of public instruction, which was organized, for the whole Republic, at a cost of fifteen thousand fra7ics. It was not so, as to the architectural remains of the ancient Castilian mag- nificence which, by a frightful symbol, was unable to crumble down under this breath of barbarism. (Boyer did not K3ven leave to the Dominicans, the privileges of a barbarous condition. The two great resources of every inij)erfect social organiza- tion-/-raising cattle, Avhich in this propitious cli- mate, and on the immense plains of virgin fertilit}^, required neither money nor care — and cutting the precious woods, a labor which brought an imme- diate remuneration — did not escape any more than the rest, from the covetous greediness of the Port- au-Prince Government. The vast domains of land, SOULOUQUE AND JUS EMPIRE. 809 granted to tlie first colonists, were almost every- where clianged into hatos (pastures) which the descendants of these colonists enjoyed in common. Under tlie pretext, of a])plying to the East, the land system of the West, Boyer required, that the hatos should he divided between the occupants ; and J as these had not been careful to preserve their titles to a joint property, which no one before de- nied them, this requirement, apparently so inoffen- sive, ended in the pure and simple confiscation of these common pastures. The division of these pastures, alone, would have been, besides, suf- ficient to ruin cattle-raising. The operation of this measure met with so much resistance, in its application^, that it did little more than oppress the hattiers with a state of menace ; but this was sufficient, to render the yoke of Port-au-Prince odious to them. An intolerable fiscal system,; a little later, paralyzed the cutting of mahogany^ and, finally, extended to the country, the discour- agements and hatreds, which the destruction of commerce_, and the material or moral proscription, which oppressed the elite of the population, had scattered through the towns. Let us add that, not content with associating the inhabitants of the East, with its present barbarism, Hayti made them responsible for her past, by making them pay their quota of the French indemnity, which they did not owe. The blows, given by Boyer, to the Catholic sen- 310 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIKE. timent of the Dominicans, who continue religious like the Spaniards of the XVth century_, would have been a sufficient cause to band together, in a common antipathy, the different elements of that population., I have remarked_, that, /with regard to religion, the old mulatto party still entertained the ideas of the revolution and the Directory. From the con- flict between that bigoted philosophy, which only believed in compere Mathieu,(and that ardent Ca- tholicism, which believed alone in miracles, there was obliged to spring up mortal offences ; and the Government of Port-au-Prince made the wound bleed at pleasure. The treasures of the Church, more than once, satisfied its financial penury. The presbyteries, chapters, and convents, were de- prived of their lands and rents, for the benefit of the public domain. Cheats, and humiliations, of every kind, were no more spared that all-powerful Dominican clergy, which has personified, since the first days of the conquest, the supremacy of the Indies, than to the conventional priests of the French portion of the Island. (The Archbishop, primate of Santo-Domingo, who, nevertheless, was thought to have taken a hand in the annexation, rendered this antagonism more striking still, by refusing to extend his jurisdiction over the West, and, finally, astonished the masses, by deserting his See to go and die in a convent of Cuba. The systematic exclusion, which, gradually drove SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 311 them from tlie public employmentSj — the presence of numerous black garrisons, in each of these towns, — the daily insults to which this contact ex- posed them, under a regime, where partiality in favor of the blacks, was established, by means of government, — all, concurred to give the Domini- cans that role of the vanquished, which, in the absence of any other wrongs, justified revolt. At the first news of the insurrection of Cayes (1843,) the old Sj^anish audiencia, with Santo-Domingo in tlie lead, rose, en masse, against Boyer. The idea of a separation did not, however, pre- dominate on the first uprising ; for, the Spanish part of the Island sent deputies, to the Constituent Assembly, at Port-au-Prince. But, even there, the definitive rupture happened to be accomplished. The Dominican deputation, nobly, prefered its own soil. The East consented, not to separate from the West — but upon condition, that the west would, no longer, persist, in separating itself from civilization, — and, tliat white immigration should cease to be prohibited. Either the threatening condition, which this last effort at reconciliation implied, was not understood, — or, that they thought the menaces of a population, six times less numer- ous than that of the French portion of the island might be disdained, — the exclusion of the whites was maintained. Absolute equality of worship was, besides, introduced, for the first time, in the fundamental faith ; and this innovation,! in which 312 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. the spirit of imitation had, probably, more share, than the spirit of system, /was perhaps considered by the Dominicansjas its legal approval, and in consequence, an aggravation of the blows given, under Boyer, at their religious sentiments. '^ If, when Catholicism was the religion of the State, its ministers were scorned, and vilified, what will it be now, that it is about to be surrounded by secta- ries, and enemies?" (Manifesto of the Dominican insurgents.) From this moment^ all the districts of the East l^repared for insurrection, whilst the Dominican deputies, who kept their seats, for the sake of form, in the Constituent Assembl}^, took secret mea- sures, with Kear-Admiral Mosges, commanding the French naval forces, — with M. A. Barrot, envoy to Port-au-Prince, to negotiate the question of the in- demnity — and with M. Lavasseur, our consul-gen- eral. The Dominican deputies asked, the concur- rence of France, to the separation, which was being prepared ; offering us, in exchange, either the sov- ereignty, the protectorate, or the cession, jDure and simple, of their territory. Our agents refused to decide, confining themselves to transmitting these overtures to the French Government ; but between the oppressors and the oppressed — between Port- au-Prince, which repelled civilzation, and Santo- Domingo, which invited it-^-between those Haytiens who, as a recompense of the generous abandonment of our rights, and of our systematic patience, in SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 313 the indemnity affair, establiylied hatred to the name of France in a constitutional principle, — and those Dominicans who, not owing us any thing after all, invited, for tlie fourth time in fifty years past, that French flag, they were the last to defend, in the Island,-^could the sympathies of our Govern- ment be questioned ? The deputies of the East, therefore, thought, it unnecessary to dissemble their hopes ; and, one fine da;f , Herard had them ar- rested. M. Levasseur obtained their liberation ; and the Dominicans only saw, in this measure, a formal pledge of our protection. The arrival, at Santo- Domingo, of M. Juchereau de St-Denis, the consul designed for Cap, — and who, in consequence of the destruction of that city, was allowed, by the Hay- tien Government, to transfer his residence to the eastern capital— the presence of French ships, which had transported M. Juchereau de St-Denis, and the Dominican deputies, liberated by M. Levasseur —and the undiplomatic, but ardent sympathy of our sailors— all, contributed to strengthen the Do- minicans, in this conviction. Although, our agents might kill themselves, saying, that France had not decided; although, the chief of the Dominican deputation, M. Baez, advised them, the very first, to await this decision before acting ; Santo-Domingo gave the signal of revolt (27t]i February, 1844), which was propagated, witli the rapidity of light, over the whole Spanish portion of the Island. 314 SOULOUQUE AND THS EMPIRE. M. Jucliereau de St-Deiiis could, at least, have prevented the consec[iiences of an impatience, which it was not in his power to comprehend. The Hay- tien garrison of Santo-Domingo was perfectly pre- pared, to batter down the city; he obtained its capitulation. The chancellor of the consulate, M. Terny, even took it upon himself to overcome the last hesitations of the Haytien commander, b}^ going, all out of breath J to tell the latter^ that an innumerable body of insurgents would, in a few moments, come to slay him — him and his soldiers. '' But I do not see any one," said the commander, putting his nose against the window. ^'' It is true beyond question ; theTj are at dinner . . !" replied M. Terny, with great composure^ whose observa- tion produced the greater effect, because he had the merit of the local color. "I did not think of that !" said the commander in reply ; and the Haytien garrison embarked. The insurgents published a long manifesto, in- tended to assert their wrongs and rights, with those civilized nations to whom they opened the Island. The Dominicans declared they revolted, in virtue of the principle, which had justified_, some months previously, the fall of Boyer.) This indirect sanc- tion was even perfectly useless. ;. "Because the natives call the Island, Hayti, it does not follow, that the western part of it, which was first erected into a Sovereign Government, has the right to consider the teri'itory of the East, as SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 315 an integral part of that Government. ... If the eastern portion ever belongs to any other domina- tion, than that of its own sons, it will appertain to France, or Spain, and not to Hayti. . . ." Do you object the tacit agreement of 1822 ? The existence of that compact is more than doubtful ; and you have released us from it, at all events, by violating it outrageously. ^'We owe no duty to those wlio deprive us of our rights." Do you con- sider, on the contrary, the East as conquered by force? very well ! Let force decide. Such is the substance of this long document, in which Spanish fatalism, and the scholastic wrangling of the old Metropolitan university, reveals itself, sometimes, in a piquant manner: as in this phrase : '•^Con- sidering^ that a people, which is condemned to obey by force, and obeys, does well ; — but that as soon as it can resist, and resists, it does better. . . .'' And here this generous diminutive of a nation, for the ])a.st twelve years, has been strutting from battle field to battle field, mounted on its consider- ing. We have not related, here, the romantic episodes of this struggle ; the useless attempts made, for eight years, by the English and Americans, to as- sume for Saint-Domingo, the interested part of saviors ; the touching obstinacy of the young Re- public for French tendencies^ wliicli refused, in the most desperate situations, to yield the right of offer- ing itself to us, and which, in awaiting the reply of 3T6 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. France, was reduced to fight with only swords as a matter of economy. Let us confine ourselves to stating, that the Haytiens taken, en masse ^ would not have asked anything better, than to let the Dominicans alone. The rupture of the national bond, as they say at Port-au-Prince, was certciiYily the least regret of a revolution, which, a few days afterwards, detached, for its own advantage, the North and the South from this bond. But for Acaau — who frightened everybody a little, and ap- propriately rallied the different parties on the neutral ground of Guerrier's candidature, — Hayti would, probably, now be divided into four distinct Governments ; two monarchies, and two Republics. The Haytiens have moreover exhibited, at all times, an invincible repugnance to being garrisoned at Saint-Domingo ; and the levies en masse, of which, the war in the East was, and is still, the pretext, opposed it for a stronger reason. Let us add that I this war has frequently threatened the French part of the Island with famine, whose inhabitants sup- plied their stock of provisions, from the cattle of the Spanish part, and left them, in exchange, its coffee. If, finally, fear of the whites, made the submission of a country desirable, which invited white immigration — these very jealousies contri- buted, also, by reaction, to render odious a war, which, in prolonging itself, might substitute- for this peaceable immigration, an armed intervention. Guerrier and Riche seemed to share, in this re- SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 3l7 pect, the general impression ; tand their attainment of power was marked, by a tacit truce, between the East and West. Soulonque, himself, seemed dis- posed, upon principle, to let the Dominicans alone ; but M. Dupu}^, and Similien became, the one, min- ister, and the other, intimate counsellor ; — M. Du- puy, who was interested in military supplies, and Similien, who looked to the Presidency, were skill- ful enough, without their knowledge, to push him into a war, which, ensured to the one very hand- some profits, and furnished the other Dominican balls as accomplices. Soulouque yielded, with so much less mistrust, to these suggestions, because they proceeded at the same time, from two opposite sides — from two rival influences, — from two sworn enemies. (From 1847, the subjugation of the East, became the fixed idea of the future Emperor ; and since — even among those, who deplored this mania — there were some who flattered it, in order not to be shot. The favorite delusion of Soulouque — that which his courtiers caressed the most, — consisted, a long time, in believing that the Dominicans sighed after Haytien rule ; and, that the fear of punishment, which they deserved for revolt, alone restrained this impulse of submission. Therefore, he never ceased offering them a magnanimous par- don.) One of the ministers, more honest than his colleagues, tried to give another direction to the President's ideas, and pronounced the word/e(iera- tion. "What is it, this federation ?" said Soulou- M 318 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. que, frowning at tins word, so entirely new to his mind and ears. ^'Mr. President, it is — it is what you wish" — stammered the minister. ^'Then it is good," said Soulonque, tranquilised. ''I do not retract it; I promise the federation ; I will even consent to recognize the grades, created by the in- surgents !" In fact, amnesty, and federation were synonymous to Soulouque ; and this qui-pro-quo continued several months. I have related, what misrepresentations Soulouque reported of his expedition in 1849 ; deceptions so much the more cruel, that after these repeated as- surances of an amnesty, he expected to be received in the East with open arms. Enmities of skin, were added to the exasperation of being beaten, to poison the wound, with which, this savage pride bled. The victors were, not merely rebels, but also mulattoes, as he called them ; and his fixed idea of conquest was changed, into a fixed idea of extermination. The thirst for gold, which equaled, in Soulouque, the thirst for blood, had its part^ also, in the preparations of destruction, which he never ceased to make against the "Spaniards ;" for the idea of Spaniards was always associated, in that part of the world, with the idea of quadripoles j"^ precious relics, and virgins of massive gold. This was the allurement, which, from a distance, fasci- nated Toussaint ; — which, had attracted Dessalines ■* A Spauisb gold coin valued at two j'isloks. SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 319 Up to the gates of Santo-Domingo ; — and which, more recently still, — at the time of the African re- action, between the death of Guerrier and the ac- cession of Riche, — invited Pierrot to the East, Avhere he was as hadly received, as his Emperor was later. Have we not touched, decidedly, on the secret of Soulouque ? If the negro tyrant continues the pressure of 1848, against the prostrate mulattoes, is it not from fear, (otherwise very chimerical) of seeing them, at the time of the general killing of the Dominicans, which he projects, develope the solidarity of despair, which unites them to the 8ang-7nele majority of that population ? If, on the contrary, he caresses the piquets so much, it is he- cause he, no doubt, thinks them indispensable to this work of extermination ; in which, they Avould display, with a science, and aplomb of cruelty which they, alone, still possess, in the country of Biassou, those furious antiphathies of color, of which they are the last depositories. Does not the invasion of the Spanish part of Island^ (if so be that this part may suffer itself to be invaded) offer, moreover, an easy solution of the unexpected differ- ence, between the government and the piquets, on the question of pillage ? This question may be put off, as long as the fabrication of paper mone}^, and the prices of provisions, will help them to wait ; but, which will be inevitably renewed, when this paper money is no longer worth anything, and the foreign 320 SOULOIIQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. merchants refuse to deliver their goods. This pro- hahly explains, also, how Soulouque, after being so much alarmed, by tlie attitude of these danger- ous creditors, as to have the most pressing of them shot, nev^ertheless, continued to fill the administra- tion, and the army stafi', from their ranks. The hour of settlement having come, that would be the time to pay off the hatred of the West. Is it not, in short, in these expectations of a pillage whose riches are exaggerated, that it is necessary to seek the secret of that frightful improvidence, with which, His Majesty scatters and wastes, interest and principal, the last resources of the country? I have not invented these suppositions ; they are cur- rent in H^yti, — and iigured_, not long ago as we said, in Europe, among the constitutional previsions of the time. The last campaign against the Dominicans, brought a new and cruel disappointment to these expectations, (December, 1855). Only one of the two Haytien corps d'armee was engaged, by its advanced guard ; which disbanded at the first fire, on this reflexion being uttered in a loud voice by one of the Generals: '^the Emperor has deceived the common people, by assuring them, that the Dominicans would surrender^ without striking a blow!" This imprudent General was, no less a person than His Excellency, the Count de I'He a-Vache, alias the abominable Voltaire Castor ; ^vho, upon SOTILOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 321 this remark being proved against liim, was shot, with several Colonels, his friends.* This was also, after all, a method with Sou- louque of settlement, witli the piquets. '\ The second corps did not even attack the enemy, and were remanded to general quarters, in consequence of a council of war ; at wliicJi, it was decided that the troops manifested suspected dispositions. Hence, a new investigation, and Sinoi\\Qv fusillade ^ in which General Dessalines, son of the Ex -Em- peror of that name, and Colonel Belliard, son of the Ex-King Christophe, were associated. No rival dynasty will, therefore, have to congratulate itself upon the bad-luck of that of Faustin. After these acts of autliority, Soulouque marched, in person, upon Santiago ; but was stopped, some leagues from the frontier, by the Dominicans, who, *' In order to harmonize everything, after his fashion always, Sou- louque sent to execution, with the friends of Voltaire Castor, many honest people. t After the last news this settlement would have been more urgent than ever. "Yhe piquets, among which, for a year past, fearful im- patience was exhibited, at length (in 1856) revolted in the plains of Cayes ; and, now, the peninsular of the South may be, in blood and flames. Will His Majesty arrive in time on the spot? For himself, and the countr}', the whole question lies in this. Free to choose, the yellow and black bourgeoisie will range themselves, certainly with fear, on the side of Soulouque, on seeing the xtiqucls on the other ; but if Soulouque does not go in person, to rally these fears about him, the cities will be inevitably drawn into the insurrection. The bourgeoisie would rather howl in consequence of blows, than be eaten up by tho pique/s. 322 SOULOUQITE AND HIS EMPIRE. however, only remained masters of the field, after a furious combat of six or seven hours. The manager of the pages to the Empress, a certain General Toussaint, who only held in com- mon the name of the Jlrst of blacks, in spite of the pathetic appeals, made by several journals in his case^ paid the penalty of this third misfortune. The Emperor, who had had him put under arrest, from the debut of the campaign, as guilty of having censured the expedition, had him shot on his re- turn. Soulouque reentered his capital, on the very evening of Saint-Fausiin, which, for the first time in eight years, passed without illuminations, and a salute of cannon. This sudden humiliation of defeat necessarily concealed formidable storms. Besides, victory would have been more danger- ous to Soulouque, on this occasion, than defeat ; for a new element had appeared in the Dominican question. A furious hatred had succeeded, in 1852, to the almost proverbial friendship), which had, for so long a period, united the acting President, San- tana, with Ex-President Baez. In 1853, the first banished the other, whom he accused of conspiring against him ; and concluding, from certain ma- noeuvres, in which, the name of France was im- properly mixed up, as premeditating the violent restoration of Baez, Santana entered into negotia- tions with the Americans. The most unforeseen chances conferred upon upon us, the mission of • SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 323 dissipating this mistake ; and M. Maxime Eay- baud, soon after, came to restore all to order, at Santo-Domingo. But the annexation glue was not detached, so easily, from whomsoever it touched ; and the threats of a Haytien invasion helping, American influence seems to have gained ground in the councihs of Santana. fOnce well convinced, on his part, that he could only ex})ect from France a friendly neutrality, Baez threw himself back entirely on England"^ which was not S23aring, however, in advances. Here then, (the young Republic was condemned to oscillate^ between the two influences,; which re- pelled, so energetically, its interests and instincts. ^The question was thus reduced to know which, a British agent, or a fillihuster Yankee^ should have the honor, and the profit, of relieving this patient sentinel, Avho, to the qui-vive of barbarism, had, for. so long a time, responded : *"' France !" /England and the United States would bring, without doubt, strength, security, and riches ; but the English protectorate, would be that of Pro- testantism — and the American, with the invasion of Protestantism, would be the tyranny of that in- exorable prejudice of color, which spares, neither soul nor body — neither Christian nor citizen — neither talent nor fortune — neither the cradle nor the grave. We can understand the repugnance, which su.ch an alternative inspires, in a country, whose religious wrongs have, perhaps, contributed 324 SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. more, to raise its indignation, than its national in- juries ; and where, the majority of the population belong to the sang-mele races. But, naturally, the greatest number of chances are in favor of the Yankee, whose covetousness has a more powerful impulse ; and to whom, the proximity of the coveted territory, on one part, and the commodious irresponsibility of the Govern- ment at Washington, on the other, allows excep- tional means of action.* But, if the least military success of Soulouque should furnish the American annexationists, who keep themselves on the watch, a pretext of saving the Dominican Republic, the following is the way the question would be pre- sented to His Imperial Majesty. We borrow this citation from the WeeJdy Herald (New York) of the 28th of April, 1850 : ^' . . . . But if at this time, there is no move- ment with regard to the annexation of Cuba, there have been many made^ concerning the Island of Hayti. His Excellency, B. B. Green, has been sent out to that country, for the purpose of making a report on its actual condition, its population, soil, climate and other matters ; and Mr. Green is, "-■■ Besides, that it enters into their avowed system of the absorp- tion of all the Gulf of Mexico — the occupation of Hayti would have a very special interest for the American annexationists ; because, from thence, they could descend, in a few hours, upon Cuba. This last consideration has been many times set forth, by the American press. SOULOUQUE AND HIS EMPIRE. 325 probably, at this moment in Washington, preparing and setting forth the result of his labors. We should not be at all surprised, from the informa- tion we have received, to see an expedition, (with the sanction of the Government at Washington) soon, leave some Southern port^ to go to the assist- ance of the Dominican, or Spanish portion of the inhabitants, against the blacks ; and, in the end to invade the island and annex it to the United States. A projet of this kind may be openly sus- tained, in the United States, and the organization of an expedition, with this view, would experience obstacles from no quarter. It would be a glorious thing to overthrow those horrible pirates — the worst of pirates and coal black bandits — the negro population called the Empire of Hayti, and to reduce Faustin 1st to the condition, for luhich nature has designed him." 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Decisions of cases in Virginia of the Higli Court of Chancery, with remarks upon Decrees by tlie Court of Appeals, reversing some of those d-^cisions, by George Wythe, 2d and only complete edition. With a Memoir of the author, Analysis of the Cases, and an Index, by i^. B. Minor, L B. And with an Appendix, containing references to cases in pari materia, an essay on lapse, joint tenants and tenants in common, &c., &c., by Wm. Green, Esq. Svo, sheep. Richmond, 1852 4 00 WHIT'^. ACRE vs. BLACK ACRE, a Case at Law, re- ported by J. G., Esq., a retired barrister of Lincolnshire, England, 18mo, mus., Richmond, 1856 75 VIRGINIA. RULES OF THE COURT OF APPEALS from its establishment to the ))resent time. Also, Rules of the District Courts of Fredericksburg and Williamsburg. Svo., paper. Richmond 10 GILMER'S (F. VV.) VIRGINIA REPORTS. 8vo., calf. Richmond. 1821 2 00 GRAT TAN'S (P. R.) VIRGINIA REPORTS. 15 vols , Svo, calf. Richmond, 184.5-60. Per volume 4 00 LEIGH'S (B. W.) 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A History of the Political Cam- paign in Va. in 1855, to which is added a review of the position of parties in the Union, and a statement of the political issues distinguishing them on the eve of the Presi- dential Campaig;n of 1856, by J. P. Hambleton, M. D., 8yo, mus., Richmond, 1856 2 50 VIRGINIA CONVENTIOIS'. Proceeding and Debates of the Va. State Convention of 1829-30, to which are sub- joined the new Constitution of Virginia, and tlie votes of the people, 8vo, calf, Richmond, 1830 5 00 VIRGINIA STATISTICS. Documents containing statis- tics ordered to be printed by the State Convention sitting in the city of Richmond, 1850-51, 8vo, calf, Richmond, 1851 2 50 VIRGINIA CONVENTION. Journal, Acts and Proceed- ings of a General Convention of the State of Virginia as- sembled at Richmond 1850, 8vo, half calf, Richmond, 1850. 5 00 VIRGINIA CONVENTION 1850-51. Register of the De- bates and Proceedings of the Virginia Reform Convention, (imperfect,) 8vo, half sheep, Richmond, 1851 3 00 VIRGINIA. Journal of the Senate and House of Delegates for various years. Richmond. VIRGINIA. Journal of the Convention of 1776. 4to, half sheep. Richmond, 1816 2 00 ELLETT'S ESSAYS ON THE LAW OF TRADE, in reference to the Works of Internal Improvement in the U.S. 8vo, mus., Richmond, 1839 150 LETTERS OF CURTIUS, written by the late John Thom- son, of Petersburg; to which is added a Speech delivered by him in August, '95, on the British Treaty ; to which a short Sketch of his Life is prefixed. 12mo, paper. Rich- mond, 1804 1 00 JEFFERSON. Memoir, Correspondence and Miscellanies from the Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Edited by Thomas Jefferson Randolph. 4 vols., 8vo, boards. Charlottesville, 1829 5 00 JEFFERSON. Observations on the Writings of Thomas Jefferson, with particular reference to the attack they con- tain on the IMemory of the late Gen'l Henry Lee. In series of letters, by H. Lee. 2nd edition. With an Intro- duction and Notes, by Charles C. Lee. 8vo, mus. Phila- delphia, 1839 1 75 LONDON (D.H.) ON THE COMMERCIAL, AGRICUL- TURAL AND INTELLECTUAL INDEPENDENCE OF VIRGINIA AND THE SOUTH. 8vo, paper. Rich- mond, 1860 25 VIRGINIAN (THE) HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN COLONIZATION. (This contains, among other docu- ments, portions of the Debate on Slavery in the Virginia Legislature of 1832.) Edited by Rev. P. Slaughter. 8vo, mus., Richmond, 1855 1 00 RUFFIN'S (EDMUND) AFRICAN COLONIZATION UNVEILED. Slavery and Free Labor described and compared. The Political Economy of Slavery • or the Institution considered in reg^ard to its influence on public wealth and the general welfare. Two Great Evils of Vir- ginia, and their one Common Remedy, 8vo, pa Rich- mond, 1860. The four pamphlets, each 10 HISTOID -y. BEVERLY'S (ROBERT) HISTORY OF VIRGINFA In four parts. I. The history of the settlement of Virdnia and the government thereof, to the year 1706". II. The natural productions and conveniences of the country, suited to trade and improvement. HI. The native Indians, their religion, laws and customs, in war and peace. IV. The present state of the country, as to the polity of the gov- ernment, and the improvements of the land, to 10th of June, 1720. By Robert Beverly, a native of the place Ke-pnnted from the author's second revised London edi- tion of 1792, with an introduction by Charles Campbell author of the "Colonial History of Virginia." 14 plates' Svo, mus. Richmond, 1855 ' 2 «ift AN ACCOUNT OF DISCOVERIES IN THE* WEST until 1519, and of Voyages to and along the Atlantic Coast of North America from 1520 to 1573. Prepared for the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society, by Conway ^..^"^i^^son 8^'0,mus. Richmond, 1848. (Published at $5.) 2 50 JEFFERSON'S (THOMAS) NOTES ON THE STATE OF VIRGINIA. A new edition, prepared by the author containing many new notes never before published. It is printed from President Jetferson's copy (trtockdale's London edition of 1787) of the Notes on Virginia, with his last additions (they are numerous) and corrections in manuscript, and four maps of Caves, Mounds, Fortifica- tions, he. Letters from Gen. Dearborn and Judge Gibson, relating to the Murder of Logan, &c. Fry and Jefferson's Map of Virginia, Maryland, Dela- ware, and Pennsylvania— very valuable on account of the Public Places and Private Residences, which are not to be found on any other Map. A Topographical Analysis of Virginia, for 1790— a curi- ous and useful sheet foi historical reference. Translations of all Jefferson's Notes in Foreign Lan^ guages, by Prof. Scheie de Vere, of the University of Virginia. Svo, mus. Richmond, 1853 o 'lO SMITH'S (M.) GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW *6f" THE BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN NORTH AMERICA 18mo, sheep. Baltimore, 1814 35 6 VIRGINIA CONVENTION OF 1776: Historical and Bio- graphical. By H. B. Grigsby. 8vo, mus. Richmond, 1855. 1 50 OREGON, OUR RIGHT AND TITLE: containing an account of the condition of the Oregon Territory, its soil, climate and geoi^raphical position ; together with a state- ment of the claims of Russia, Spain, Great Britain, and the United States. Accompanied with a map prepared by the author. By Wyndhara Robertson, jr., of Virginia. 8vo, paper. Washington, 1846. . 50 HOT SPRINGS. The Invalid's Guide to the Virginia Hot Springs, with cases illustrative of their effects. By Thos. Goode, M. D. 32mo, cloth. Richmond, 1846 25 VIRGINIA. Report on the Soils of Powhatan County. By W. Gilham, Prof. Va. Military Institute. With a Map. 8vo, paper Richmond, 1857 35 BIRD. WESTOVER MANUSCRIPTS, containing the his- tory of the dividing line betwixt Virginia and North Ca- rolina. A Journey to the Land of Eden, A. D. 1733; and A Progress to the Mines, written from 1728-36, and now first publislied. By W. Bird, of Westover. 8vo, boards. Petersburg, 1841. New edition in press 3 00 BLAND PAPERS, being a selection from the manuscripts of Col. T. Bland, jr., of Prince George county, Va.; to which are prefixed an Introduction and Memoir edited by Charles Campbell. 2 vols, in one, 8vo, h'f ro. Peters- burg, 1840 3 00 VIRGINIA POLITICS. A History of the Political Cam- paign in Virginia in 1855; to which is added a review of the position of Parties in the Union, and a statement of the political issues distinguishing them on the eve of the Pre- sidential Campaign of 1856. By J. P. Hambleton, M. D. 8vo. mus. Richmond, 1856 2 50 VIRGINIA CONVENTION. Proceeding and Debates of the Virginia State Convention of 1829-30, to which are subioined the New Constitution of Virginia, and the votes of the people. 8vo, calf. Richmond, 1830 5 00 VIRGINIA. Pay and Muster Rolls of the Virginia Militia in the War of 1812. 8vo, half calf. Richmond, 1851-2. 15 00 VIRGINIA STATISTICS. Documents constaining statis- tics ordered to be printed by the State Convention sitting in the city of Richmond, 1850-51. 8vo, calf. Richmond, 1851 2 50 VIRGINIA CONVENTION. Journal, Acts and Proceed- ings of a General Convention of the State of Virginia, as- sembled at Richmond, 1850. 8vo, half calf. Richmond, 18.50 5 00 VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, ADDRESSES, &cc. (Contents: Stuart's Indian Wars, 1763 ; Grace Sherwood's Trial, 1705 ; Address in 1833 by J. p. dishing; in 1851 by W. H. Macfarland; in 1852 by H. A. Washington ; in 1853 by H. B. Grigsby ; in 1856 by R. M. T. Hunter; in 1856 by J. P. Holcombe.) 8vo, half turkey. Richmond, 1833-56 5 00 VIRGINIA CONVENTION, 1850-51. Register of the De- bates and Proceedings of the Virginia Reform Convention, (imperfect.) 8vo, half sheep. Richmond, 1851 3 00 VIRGINIA, A Comprehensive Description of Virginia and the District of Columbia, containing a copious collection of geographical, statistical, political, commercial, reli- gious, moral and miscellaneous information, chiefly from original sources, by Joseph Martin; to which is added a History of Virginia, from its first settlement to the year 1754, with an abstract of the principal events from that period to the Independence of Virginia, by W. H. Brock- enbrough, formerly Librarian at the University of Virgi- nia, and afterwards Judge of the United States Court of Florida, 8vo, sp. Richmond , 2 00 MAURY. Paper on the Gulf Stream and Currents of the Sea, read before the National Institute at its annual meet- ing in 1844, by M. F. Maury, Lieut. U. S. Navy. 8vo, pa. Richmond, 1844 13 BURKE. The Virginia Mineral Springs, with remarks on their use, the Diseases to which they arc applicable, and in which they are contra-indicated ; accompanied by a Map of Routes and Distances. A new work — 2d edition. Improved and enlarged. By W. Burke, M.D. 12mo, muslin. Richmond, 1853 75 COTTOM'S EDITION OF RICHARDSON'S ALMA- NAC. 24mo, paper, 6c. Per dozen, 25c ; per gross, )l^'2.50. Containing, besides the twelve calendar pages and astronomical calculations, a Jewish Calendar, Garden- er's Monthly Instructor, List of the Virginia Senators, Members of Congress, Ser.ate and House of Delegates; Virginia and North Carolina State Governments; State and Federal Courts of Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, and the District of Columbia; Conjectures of the Weather, Equation or Time Tables, Receipts, Anecdotes, &c. Published annually. JEFFERSON & CABELL. Early history of the Univer- sity of Virginia, as contained in the Letters of (during the years from 1810 to 1826) Thos. Jefferson and Joseph C. Cabell, hitherto unpublished; with an Appendix con- sisting of Mr. Jefferson's bill for a complete system of education, and other illustrative documents; and an In- troduction, comprising a brief historical sketch of the University, and a biographical notice of Joseph C. Cabell. 8vo, muslin. Richmond, 1856 2 50 JUBILEE AT JAMESTOWN, VA. Report of Proceed- ings in Commemoration of the 13th of May, the Second 8 I Centesimal Anniversary of the Settlement of Virginia, I containing the Order of Procession, the Prayer of Bishop Madison, the Orations, the Odes and Toasts ; together with the Proceedings at Williamsburg on the 15th, the day when the Convention of Virginia assembled in the old || Capitol, declared her Independent, and recommended a * similar procedure to Congress, and to the other States. 8vo, paper. Petersburg, 1807 100 j VIRGINIA. Journal of the Senate and House of Delegates jj for various years. Richmond. * VIRGINIA. Journal of the Convention of 1776. 4to, half sheep. Richmond, 1816 2 00 JEFFERSON. Memoir, Correspondence and Miscellanies from the Papers of Thos. Jetferson. Edited by Thos. Jefferson Randolph. 4 vols., 8v, boards. Charlottesville, 1829 , 5 00 JEFFERSON. Observations on the Writings of Thomas Jefferson, with particular reference to the attack they contain on the Memory of the late Gen'l Henry Lee. In series of letters by H. Lee. 2nd edition. With an Intro- duction and Notes, by Chas. C. Lee. 8vo, mus. Phila- delphia, 1839. i 75 -A.<3-I^IOXJLTXJPtE- RUFFIN'S (EDMUND) FARMEK'S REGISTER. 10 vols., 8vo, half roan 30 00 RUFFIN'S (EDMUND) PRIZE ESSAY ON AGRICUL- TURAL EDUCATION. 2nd edition, 8vo, paper 10 RUFFIN'S ( EDMUND ) AGRICULTURAL ESSAYS : Containing articles on the theory and practice of draining (in all its branches:) advantages of ploughing flat land in wide beds ; on clover culture and the use and value of the products; management of wheat harvests ; harvesting corn fodder ; on the manner of propagation and habits of the moth or weevil, and means to prevent its ravages ; inquiry into the causes of the existence of prairies, savan- nas and deserts, and the peculiar condition of soils which favor or prevent the growth of trees; depressed condition of lower Virginia; apology for "book farmers;" fallow; usefulness of snakes; embanked tide marshes and mill ponds as causes of disease ; on the sources of malaria, or of autumnal diseases, and means of prevention ; on the culture, uses and value of the southern pea, (Ruffin's Prize Essay of November, 1854,) and especially as a manuring crop. 12mo, half bound. Richmond, 1855 1 25 RUFFIN. An Essay on Calcareous Manures. By Edmund Ruffin, a practical farmer of Virginia from 1812; founder and sole editor of the Farmer's Register ; Member and 9 Secretary of the former State Board of Agriculture; for- merly Agricultural Surveyor of the State of South Caro- lina; and President of the Virginia State Agricultural Society. 5th edition, amended and enlarged, with plates. Fine edition, 8vo, library style, ;ff'2; cheap edition, l2mo, half roan or mus. Richmond, 1852 1 25 PLANTATION AND FARM INSTRUCTION, Regula- tion, Record, Inventory, and Account Book, and for the better Ordering and Management of Plantation and Farm Business in every particular. By a Southern Planter. " Order is Heaven's First Law." New edition printing. MAGRUDER & ORVIS' DEBATE on the Punishment of tlie Wicked, and on the Kingdom of God. l2mo, muslin. Richmond, 1855 75 WALSH'S ( REV. J. T.) NATURE AND DURATION OF FUTURE PUNISHMENT. 12mo, muslin. Rich- mond, 1857 50 MEMOIR AND SERMONS OF THE REV. WILLIAM DUVALL, City Missionary. By the Rev. C. Walker. With a portrait. 12mo, mus. Richmond, 1854 50 STRINGFELLOW'S ( T., D.D. ) STATISTICAL AND SCRIPTURAL VIEW OF SLAVERY. 4th edition, 12mo, mus. Richmond, 1856. 50 FAMILY CHRISTIAN ALBUM. Edited by Mrs. E P. Elam. Svo, mus. Richmond, 1855 1 50 FLAVEL'S WORKS. Balm of the Covenant. View of the Soul of Man, &c. Svo, half roan. Richmond, 1828.. 60 BLAIR. Sermons of Rev. John D. Blair, collected from his manuscripts. Svo, sheep. Richmond, 1825 50 BARTLEY'S (J. AVIS) POEMS. Lays of Ancient Vir- ginia, &c. 12mo, mus. Richmond, 1855 75 MOCK (THE) AUCTION. Ossawatamie Sold ! A Mock Heroic Poem ; with Portraits and Tableaux, illustrative of the character and actions of the world- renowned Order of Peter Funks. By a Virginian. 12mo, mus. 10 tinted plates. Richmond, 1860 75 CARTER. Mugae, by Nugator; or Pieces in Prose and Verse. By St. Ledger L. Carter. 24mo, half roan. Bal- timore, 1844 75 BETHEL HYMNS. A Collection of Original Spiritual Songs. By Mrs Elizabeth Sowers, of Clark county, Va. 48mo, sheep. Richmond, 1849. . 25 FARMER'S (C. M.) FAIRY OF THE STREAM, and other Poems. 12mo, boards. Richmond, 1847 50 10 COURTNEY'S (REV J.) SELECTION OF HYMNS. 24mo, sheep. Richmond, 1831 35 SOXIOOIj- VAUGHAN'S (S. A.) ABECEDARIAN; OR, FIRST BOOK FOR CHILDREN. Designed to render the learn- ing of the Alphabet, and of Elementary Spelling and Defin- ing, pleasing and intellectual; and to fix in the mind habits of attention to the force of letters in the formation of words, and to the meaning of words, and through their ap- plication to their appropriate objects, to inculcate the love of Nature and reverence of Nature's God. 12mo, roan back. Richmond 15 YOUNG (THE) AMERICAN'S PRIMER, OR FIRST BOOK. 24mo, paper. Richmond, per dozen 25 SCHOOLER'S (SAMUEL) ELEMENTS OF DESCRIP- TIVE GEOMETRY, the Point, the Straight Line, and the Plane. 4to, mus. Richmond, 1S.5B 2 00 The paper, type, and plates, are in the finest style of the arts ; and the book, altogether, has been pronounced equal, if not superior, to any English, French, or American work on the subject. GARNETT'S (JAMES M.) LECTURES ON FEMALE EDUCATION, AND THE GOSSIP'S MANUAL. 3rd edition, ISmo, sheep. Richmond, 1825 50 C^SAR, with English Notes. By Samuel Schooler. Li preparation. STRINGFELLOW'S (T., D.D.) STATISTICAL AND SCRIPTURAL VIEW OF SLAVERY. Fourth edition, 12mo, mus. Richmond, 1856 50 FLETCHER'S (JOHN) STUDIES ON SLAVERY. Svo, sheep. Natchez, 1852 2 00 DEW. An Essay on Slavery. By T. R. Dew, late Presi- dent of William and Mary College. 2d edition, Svo, pa- per. Richmond, 1849 50 RUFFIN'S (EDMUND) AFRICAN COLONIZATION UNVEILED. Slavery and Free Labor described and compared. The political Economy of Slavery ; or the In- stitution considered in regard to its influence on public wealth and the general welfare. Two Great Evils of Vir- ginia, and their one Common Remedy. Svo. pa. Rich- mond, 1860. Each '. 10 UNCLE ROBIN IN HIS CABIN IN VIRGINIA, AND TOM WITHOUT ONE IN BOSTON. By J. W. Page. 2nd edition, plates, 12mo, muslin. Richmond, 1853 75 WHITE ACRE vs. BLACK ACRE, a Case at Law, re- ported by J. G., Esq., a retired bairister of Lincolnshire, England, ISmo, mus. Richmond, 1856 75 11 DOVE'S (JOHN) VIRGINIA TEXT BOOK OF ROYAL ARCH MASONRY. Plates, 12mo, mus. Richmond, 1853, 1 25 DOVE'S (JOHN) HISTORY OF THE GRAND LODGE OF VIRGINIA, AND ANCIENT CONSTITUTIONS OF MASONRY. 18mo, muslin. Richmond, 1854 75 DOVE'S (JOHN, M.D.) MASONIC TEXT BOOK. 2nd edition. Plates, 12mo, mus. Richmond, 1854 1 25 REMINISCENCES OF A VIRGINIA PHYSICIAN. By Prof. P. S. Ruter. 2 vols.. 12mo. paper. Louisville, 184!), 50 SOUTHERN AND SOUTH-WESTERN SKETCHES. Fun, Sentiment and Adventure ! Edited by a Gentleman of Richmond. 18mo, mus. Richmond 60 TUCKER. Gertrude. A Novel. By Judge Tucker, Pro- fessor of William and Mary College. 8vo, paper. Rich- mond , 1845 35 UNCLE ROBIN IN HIS CABIN IN VIRGINIA, AND TOM WITHOUT ONE IN BOSTON. By J. W. Page. 2nd edition, plates, r2mo, mus. Richmond, 1853 75 SKETCHES OF CHARACTER, ( Randolph, Wirt, Ken- ton, &c.) AND TALES FOUNDED ON FACT. By F. W. Thomas. 8vo, boards. Louisville, 18-19 25 MICHAEL BONHAM, OR THE FALL OF BEXAR. A Tale of Texas. In five parts. By a Southerner. Svo, paper. Richmond, 1852 25 EDITH ALLEN, OR SKETCHES OF LIFE IN VIR- GINIA. By Lawrence Neville. l2mo,raus. Richmond, 1855 1 00 nvnxjsiG. EVERETT'S ( Dr. A. B.) ELEMENTS OF VOCAL MUSIC ; including a Treatise on Harmony, and a Cha[)ter on Versification. Designed as a text-book for teachers and pupils in Female Seminaries, Male Academies, Sing- ing Classes, etc., etc., and for private study and reference. 2nd and enlarged edition. 18mo, mus. Richmond, 1860, 50 EVERETT'S (L. C. & Dr. A. B.) NEW THESAURUS MUSICUS, OR U. S. COLLECTION OF CHURCH MUSIC; constituting the most complete variety of new Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Sentences, Anthems, Chants, Sec. for the use of the Choir, the Congregation and the Singing School, ever offered to the American people. Comprising also all the popular old choir and congregational tunes in general use. Music, Svo, boards. Richmond, 1860 1 00 12 WINKLER'S HINTS TO PIANO-FORTE PLAYERS. 12mo, boards. Richmond, 1847 25 LUMBER (THE) DEALER'S ASSISTANT, OR COM- PLETE TABLES OF THE MEASUREMENTS OF TIMBER, &tc. — showing the quantity in feet and inches in any number of plank or scantling, from one to fifty ; of any length in feet or half feet, from eight to twenty-two feet long; of any width in inches and half inches, from three to twenty inches wide. By George S. Sutherlin. 12mo, half sheep. Richmond, 1849 50 VIRGINIA JUSTICE'S RECORD BOOK OF JUDG- MENTS. Cap size, half bound 150 PAJOT'S OBSTETRIC TABLES, translated from the French, and arranged by O. A. Grenshaw, M. D., und J. B.McCaw, M. D. 4to, boards. Richmond, 1856 125 PHYSICIAN'S TABULATED DIARY, designed to facili- tate the study of Disease at the Bedside. By a Physician of Virginia. Pocket size. Muslin. Richmond, 1856.. . . 50 SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER. 29 vols., 8vo, in numbers. Richmond, 1834-59 100 00 Dd^Most of the volumes or numbers are for sale separate. RANDOLPH'S POCKET DIARY AND DAILY MEMO- DANDUM BOOK. Richmond, 186— . 18mo, half bound, 35c.; tucks 60 RANDOLPH'S POCKET DIARY, DAILY MEMORAN- DUM AND ACCOUNT BOOK. Richmond, 186—. Half bound, 75c.; tucks 1 00 LIBRARY CASES, OR BOXES, in neat book form, very convenient and useful for preserving valuable pamphlets and magazines. 8vo. roan back 60 SKETCHES OF CHARACTER, ( Randolph, Wirt, Ken- ton, &c.,) AND TALES FOUNDED ON FACT. By F.W.Thomas. Svo, boards. Louisville, 1849 25 EDGAR'S SPORTSMAN'S HERALD & STUD BOOK Svo, sp. New York, 1833 150 WATER CURE. By Dr. J. B. Williams, and others. With comments and explanatory remarks on bathing for invalids, &c., by J. Timberlake. 18mo, paper. Richmond, 1853.. 25 THE PRACTICAL MINER'S OWN BOOK & GUIDE. By J. Budge. With additions by J. Atkins. Plates, 12mo, muslin . Richmond, 1860 2 00 THE CARPENTER'S GUIDE IN STAIR-BUILDING AND HAND-RAILING, based upon Plain and Practical Principles, with sufficient explanations to inform without confusing the learner. By Patrick O'Neill, Practical Stair-Builder. Folio, mus. Richmond 2 00 Date Di Lie ^- ^ < t'.PR ^ *J r? i . 972.94 A323P 404052 /