Boyer elected president.—His character.—Revolution in the north—annexed to the south.—Revolution in Spanish part.—Union of the whole.—Measures pursued after.—Overtures to France.—Arrival of French fleet.—Negotiation and independence.—Baron Mackau.—Dissatisfaction prevails.—British consul-general.—Further dissatisfaction.—Determination not to pay the indemnity.—Voluntary loan attempted—it fails.—Observations on the inefficiency of government.—State of the military.—Naval force, etc.

Jean Pierre Boyer, who succeeded the late president, Petion, and who consequently became chief of the countries of his predecessor and of Christophe united, is a native of Port au Prince, and is about forty-eight or fifty years of age. He is a mulatto, but somewhat darker than the people of that class. His father, a man of good repute and possessed of some wealth, was a store-keeper and a tailor in that city. His mother was a negress of the Congo country in Africa, and had been a slave in the neighbourhood. He joined the cause of the Commissioners Santhonax and Polverel, with whom he retired, after the arrival of the English, to Jacmel, when he joined General Rigaud, whom he accompanied to France, after the submission of the south to the authority of Toussaint. On his voyage thither he was captured by the Americans, during the short dispute between France and the United States, and after the adjustment of the differences between those two powers he was released. Having resided in France some time, he, with many other persons of colour, attached himself to the expedition of Le Clerc, and accompanied that armament for the subjugation of the colony: but on the death of that general, he joined Petion, who successively appointed him to be his aid-de-camp, private secretary, chief of his staff, general of the arrondissement of Port au Prince, and finally named him for his successor in the presidential chair.

Boyer is below the middle size, and very slender; his visage is far from being pleasing, but he has a quick eye, and makes a good use of it, for it is incessantly in motion. His constitution is weak, and he is afflicted with a local disease, which compels him to be exceedingly abstemious. He is fond of parade and exterior ornaments, as is the custom of the country, but he does not display his propensities for them, except in compelling those of his staff and household to appear in all their embellishments. He is but little seen among his people, except on a Sunday, when he appears at the head of his troops, and after reviewing them he rides through the city, attended by a cortÉge of officers and guards. He is exceedingly vain of his person, and imagines that it is attractive and captivating, and that his manners are irresistible.

I shall now proceed to notice a few of the proceedings of Boyer after his elevation to the supreme command in the republic.

I remarked in the last chapter, that the commander of the troops of Christophe at St. Marc, on finding that his soldiers had determined on a revolt, had sent to inform Boyer of the circumstance, and invited him to proceed to that place and take possession of it. No sooner had Boyer received this intimation than he made preparations to march into the north. He took only a few troops, consisting of his horse and foot guards, being aware that there would be no resistance to his advance, and that the people were ready to submit to him without any opposition. This was pleasing to the president, who, as it has been observed before, never shewed any disposition for hostile measures, and that fighting was a trade to which he was unaccustomed, and for which he had no predilection. On his arrival at St. Marc, he received the submission of the inhabitants, and was joined by the revolted troops of Christophe; and he also received information of the death of that chief, and that General Paul Romain, Prince du LimbÉ, had declared for the republic. He had therefore nothing to apprehend from any interruption likely to be given to his advance. On the 21st of October, 1820, he entered Gonaives, which received him without any opposition, and on the 22d he proceeded for the city of Cape Haytian, and the capital of Christophe, the inhabitants of which had made great preparations to receive him; he entered it the same night at the head of 20,000 men, and on the 26th he was proclaimed president of the north. General Romain called upon the people to receive the president with every demonstration of joy, and to acknowledge the people of the south as true Haytians and brothers, with the usual salutations of “Long live the Republic of Hayti!” “Independence, Liberty, and Equality!” and “President Boyer!”

After the first acclamations of the people had in some measure subsided, Boyer, by the advice of his officers and the chief people of the north, began to make such arrangements for incorporating the north with the southern government as were requisite and imperative for the better administration of the united districts. The troops of Christophe were also removed from their stations to others in the south, whilst those of the south, in some cases, succeeded them: and those general officers who had taken prominent parts in bringing about the revolution were confirmed in their rank; but as the government was republican, all distinctions of title were abolished, and the designation of citizen was adopted, as in the south. Some of those who were raised to titles by Christophe, and had survived the revolution, were well pleased to be disrobed of the trappings of nobility, because it entailed upon them an expenditure beyond their scanty means. The Baron Dupuy told me that he was pleased with the designation of citizen, whilst the appellation of baron had always sounded disagreeably to him. Noble distinctions, he said, suited those only whose conduct was noble, and who had by their virtues truly earned them. For his part he was not aware that he had accomplished any thing that ought to have raised him above his fellow-citizens. There is reason to fear that the Baron Dupuy was the only man in Hayti possessing such modest and unassuming ideas.

After the events of the revolution in the north, and the arrangements for the government of that district had been completed, Boyer made preparations for his return to Port au Prince. Elated with success, and vain of what he termed his unexampled career of glory derived from the downfall of his rival chief, he signified a wish that his entrance into the city of government should be attended with some pomp and demonstrations of joy suitable to the occasion. Accordingly, those of his suite who knew that nothing could be more gratifying to the president than show and parade, prepared for a triumphant entry, and at the northern gate an arch was constructed and ornamented with a variety of devices celebrating his victory. But it having been communicated to Boyer anonymously, that some disaffected individuals were conspiring to shoot him as he passed through this arch, he arrived at the government house by a circuitous route, before the whole was completed, and without the knowledge of the populace. He began to make some inquiry respecting the intelligence he had received, but it was soon suspended, as it was suggested by his chief officers that he would be acting wisely not to prosecute it further, as it might tend to fan the flame of disaffection rather than smother it.

The union of the north effected by this revolution, did not seem at all gratifying to the people of the south, as they had imbibed a great dislike to the inhabitants under Christophe’s government, from the civil feuds that had existed, and by which their lives and property had so often been in jeopardy.

The revolution in the north was followed by a similar event in the eastern or Spanish part, which took place at the end of the succeeding year. The first symptoms of the latter manifested itself in the city of Santo Domingo, the capital of the east. A deputation formed of the principal inhabitants waited on President Boyer at Port au Prince, and tendered the submission of the people of the east to the republic, and soliciting that their country might be incorporated with it.

Boyer no sooner received the communications of the deputies, than he began to march a force towards the Spanish frontiers, which he immediately followed with his staff; the whole as they advanced receiving on their route the congratulations of the inhabitants and expressions of good will and prosperity to the republic. In the Spanish part at this time there were a great many of the Haytians who had taken up their residence as cultivators, and had made some progress in their little plantations; these with the people of colour formed the largest proportion of the inhabitants; and when the measure of union with their western islanders was first suggested by the leading men in the city of Santo Domingo, a ready acquiescence was shewn by them, and a wish expressed that it should be proposed to Boyer without delay. On the arrival of the president in the city, the people displayed their satisfaction at being united to his government, and he with the same manifestations of pleasure assured them of his protection and good will. Such arrangements as were adviseable for the future government of the east were made without much delay, and General Borjellas was left in command of the city, and to carry into effect those plans which had been determined upon by the president and the people.

By the annexation of the eastern part therefore, the whole island became subject to one government. From Cape Tiburon to Cape Samana, and from Cape Nicolas Mole to Cape Engano, the power of Boyer extended, leaving no competitor to disturb his arrangements, nor to attempt to defeat those views which he contemplated for the preservation and repose of his dominions.

That a work of such magnitude should have been accomplished in so short a period, and without even the loss of blood and lives, seems more like the effect of magic than the result of the efforts of man; and so exceedingly vain was Boyer of the event, that he was known to declare that he thought himself like Bonaparte, and that he was endowed with almost supernatural power, and an agent of the Divine will to scourge those who had previously oppressed the people. He believes nothing to be the result of chance, or the effect of time and misrule; and arrogates to himself the capacity of accomplishing any thing which he may design and wish to execute.

After having reduced the whole island quite under his subjection, it was thought that Boyer would take into his immediate consideration its condition so far as regarded agriculture, commerce, and finance; and that he would resort to wise and judicious means by which the prosperity of the whole would be greatly promoted: that he would infuse a spirit of emulation into the cultivators, because there was nothing to interrupt their tranquillity, and they might pursue their labour unmolested and undisturbed. But this was not done; he seemed to be quite insensible to the good effects that would result from the encouragement of agricultural labour; and his people became so perfectly obstinate and indolent, that nothing could be obtained from them. Commerce also, which in the time of Petion began to decline, grew worse, and as the country produced but little, the people had the means of supplying but few wants: in fact it appeared very evident that Boyer wished to adopt a system of governing different from that which had been pursued by any of his predecessors. His plan has been to keep his people ignorant of artificial wants. By this means he expects the more easily to obtain from the produce of the soil the supplies required for the wants of government: in this he persists against all the suggestions of those persons who are capable of pointing out the disadvantages that must accrue from this line of policy. Finding his wants great, and that he had no means of supplying them from the products of the soil, or from the revenue arising from his commercial intercourse, he was driven to a fresh issue of debased coin, and to the project of working the mines in the different parts of his dominions, forgetting that the finest mine which Hayti possessed was in that soil, the very rich and productive quality of which was the theme of every man’s praise. Nothing can shew greater ignorance than considering gold and silver as real, instead of artificial wealth; or greater folly than exploring mines, whilst agriculture is neglected. The issue of the debased coin must, some time or other, be attended with all those evils which the inability to redeem it at its full value will inevitably bring on, and particularly in a country the inhabitants of which are in that very backward state of knowledge, where its expediency,—if it could be expedient to resort to an issue of it,—was beyond their conception, or the nature of the loss caused by it beyond their comprehension.

Another of Boyer’s inconsistent projects was his scheme for inducing France to recognize the independence of his country. Of all the impolitic measures devised by man, this certainly must stand preeminent for its folly; by his countrymen it must be deprecated as a wild scheme which will, in all probability, involve the republic in many difficulties. It is well known that on the 1st of January, 1804, Hayti was declared to be independent, since which period no attempts had been made, or steps taken by the government of France to reclaim it, except the visit of the commissioners in 1814, whose mission Louis the XVIIIth declared was undertaken without the authority of the crown, and consequently disavowed. So that in point of fact no attempt had been made by France to reassert its sovereignty over the island. Having therefore been independent de facto for twenty-one years, and having, by repeated proclamations of the several chiefs of government, and more particularly in the fulsome gasconades of Boyer himself, exhibited an unshaken spirit of hostility against French influence and French dominion, is it not the most unaccountable occurrence in the annals of almost any country, that overtures should have been made to France, to recognize an independence already established and tacitly admitted? Could any man in his senses, or set of men, have been so divested of all reason, judgment, or penetration? And is it not a circumstance unparalleled in the political history of any country in the world? But it is a fact, that the government of Hayti did in May, 1824, send two agents, Rouanney and La Rose, senators, to Paris, to negotiate for the recognition of the independence of their country, openly and avowedly admitting by it, that France still held the sovereignty over it, and that it was to all intents and purposes a colony, and an appendage to that crown. These agents were empowered to offer a very large pecuniary consideration, one hundred millions of francs, with certain privileges of trade over other nations; but the offer was rejected, and the agents ordered to quit the country without delay. The French cabinet had now got the thoughtless Haytian in the toil, and was determined to secure him; and no sooner was it known in France that Boyer had granted to an English company the privilege of working the mines in the eastern part of his dominions, and that other operations of a commercial nature would be connected with it, than a fleet of fourteen sail of the line was despatched under the command of Admirals Jarien and Grivel, for the purpose of reducing the Haytians to submission, and compelling them to acknowledge France as holding a sovereign right over them, or to accept of such terms for the recognition of their independence as should be tendered.

In this fleet sailed the Baron Mackau, an officer in the French navy, to whom was confided the business of the negotiation on the part of the French king; and certainly no man was better qualified for such an important trust. It would indeed have been impossible for any one to have displayed more adroitness and diplomatic skill, or have executed his mission with more satisfaction to his country: in fact, to use a nautical phrase, he got the weather-gage of the conceited Haytian.

The baron, it appears, was not altogether confined to pacific measures, for on his arrival in the harbour of Port au Prince the fleet shewed symptoms of active work being in embryo, unless the Haytians were disposed to submit to such terms as might be offered. The admirals moored their ships very judiciously abreast of the city, by which means, if hostilities were unavoidable, they might be able to make such an impression on it, as should alarm the people, and strike at once a decisive blow against their capital. From the untenable state of the several batteries and forts, any attempt at defence would have been unavailing, for it is evident that one line-of-battle ship could have demolished the whole. The appearance of such a formidable force before the city excited terror and consternation; the object it had in view was unknown, and it was unlooked for; and from the weak and defenceless condition of the city, every thing seemed hopeless.

The president, all his officers of state, his troops, and the inhabitants were alike in amazement; and his excellency, instead of setting an example of confidence, and exhibiting that spirit which, as the head of his country, he ought to have displayed, to rouse the energies of his people for defence, sunk into a half stupor, and absolutely shut himself up in his chamber, or closet, with his mistress and her children. His officers looked at each other like men bereft of reason through sudden fright; and the troops—those soldiers who were to brave every difficulty, and defy the whole world,—stood motionless, fearing that every moment would bring the signal of attack from their enemy. The women and children were sent off into the mountains in irregular droves, resembling the flight of a scared multitude, some with such articles as they could carry, and others without any thing. Upon the whole it is impossible to describe the panic which the arrival of the French occasioned; and I think I may venture to assert, that President Boyer will take great care that the Haytian historians shall not record the event during his sway, lest they be too minute in particularizing the conspicuous part he bore, and the bravery which he displayed!

When the whole fleet was safely moored, two officers of the president’s staff were despatched on board to the commander-in-chief to ascertain the object of their arrival, and they returned to the president with communications from Baron Mackau, explaining the nature of the mission with which he was entrusted, assuring him that it was entirely pacific, and that his master, the King of France, actuated by the most philanthropic motives, and in the spirit of the overtures which President Boyer had previously made, had been induced to appoint him as his representative to carry into effect such arrangements with his subjects of Saint Domingo, touching the recognition of their independence, as should be consistent with the dignity of his crown and the interests of his people. When this was announced to Boyer, he recovered somewhat from the alarm into which he had been thrown, and once more put on an appearance of confidence and resolution. When he heard that the object of the mission was conciliatory, and that hostile measures might be averted by submission to such propositions as might be offered, his mind became tranquil, and he at once determined, and his brave officers applauded him for his decision, not to draw his sword, but rather to try the effects of supplication on the sensible mind of the French diplomatist.

The next day Baron Mackau landed under a salute from the forts, and proceeded to the government-house, where he was received by the president, surrounded by the great officers of state and those of his staff. The same evening he was closeted with the president and the secretary-general Inginac for a considerable time, and entered upon the subject of his mission. They came to no conclusion that night, but the interview seemed to have been broken off somewhat abruptly and unsatisfactorily to the baron, who was necessitated to demand a prompt decision, or he should be obliged to resort to those measures for which he was so amply provided. The same night, and immediately after the departure of the baron to his hotel, a conference took place at the bureau of the president between the secretary-general, some members of the senate, and himself on the subject of the propositions, and it was determined that another interview should take place the next day at the secretary-general’s house, and that he should be deputed to make such arrangements as the exigence of affairs required. The baron acquiesced in the appointed meeting, and accordingly prepared himself to meet the secretary-general, but without any disposition to relax in those demands which he had made the night previous. The French cabinet, it must be remarked, had provided the baron with ordonnances of different degrees of propositions, already prepared for presentation, acceptation, and signature, and with these he proceeded to the place of interview, first presenting that which was most favourable for his country, and lastly, the one which the secretary-general Inginac, in the name of the republic, deemed it adviseable to accept, and by which, should its several clauses not be complied with, Hayti is admitted to be a colony of France. The ordonnance is dated in Paris on the 17th of April, 1825, and signed by the king, and sets forth, that the ports in the French part of St. Domingo shall be open to the commerce of all nations; that the French ships and merchandize shall be admitted into the French part on paying only half the duties exacted from other nations, and the same on the exports thence; that the inhabitants of the French part of Saint Domingo agree to pay, in five annual instalments, the sum of one hundred and fifty millions of francs as an indemnity for the losses of the ancient colonists; and that when the conditions of this ordonnance are fulfilled the French part of Saint Domingo is declared independent. When this ordonnance is particularly considered, it will be seen that France has been admitted to the sovereignty of Hayti, and that President Boyer when he accepted it, recognized in Charles the Xth his future sovereign, at once declaring himself to be only the nominal representative of that monarch, and by the most extraordinary weakness and precipitancy assigns over the independence of his country, at once annulling that constitution framed by his predecessors, which says, “never again shall a colonist or an European set his foot upon this territory with the title of master or proprietor.”

The negotiations having been concluded on the 8th of July, preparations were made for proclaiming their independence on the 11th, and a great deal of ceremony and parade attended it. The people of Port au Prince exulted at the idea of being now placed beyond the possibility of disturbance in their persons and property; but such exultation was confined to the city alone in which the celebration of the event was to take place. Throughout the whole island, and particularly the north and south, the intelligence was received with great murmurings, and the negro cultivators began to apprehend that they had been sold to the French for the purpose of reestablishing slavery. At Cape Haytien in particular the people shewed the strongest symptoms of a disposition to revolt, and in the neighbourhood all was ripening for resisting the measures of the government. Boyer was informed of it, and so powerful did it appear, that he immediately ordered troops to advance for the purpose of awing the people into an acquiescence in the arrangements which had been made. He succeeded in doing so; but although he discovered the principals and seized them, yet fearing the consequences that were likely to ensue from bringing them to trial, he only directed them to be banished to the south, confining the limits of their place of exile to the vicinity of Jacmel.

A general officer, who commanded one of the southern arrondissements, demanded from the secretary-general, Inginac, the cause of so disgraceful a concession on the part of President Boyer, and declared that it was cowardly and treacherous to the people. The secretary-general replied, “that it was impossible to do otherwise, as the French fleet lay off the city, and if the president had not acceded to the ordonnance, the destruction of the city would have followed, and then what would have become of our wives and children, our properties and the republic?” The general, who was a negro, with a look of the greatest indignation, immediately asked the secretary-general “if President Boyer and himself considered the city of Port au Prince alone the republic; and if that city had fallen into the hands of their enemies, whether there were not other places in which they might have taken refuge, rather than have submitted to the disgrace of such an unprecedented treaty?” After the spirited declaration of the negro general, it was intimated to him that his presence was particularly required at his place of command.

There were several fÊtes given in Port au Prince to Baron Mackau and the French officers, all of which were only remarkable for the fulsome compliments which flowed from the respective parties. The French, who six months before were execrated by the people, were received with every appearance of esteem by those who had taken an active part in these transactions. The ears of strangers were continually beset by persons engaged by the President to cry through the streets, “Vive Charles the Xth!” “Vive le Dauphin de France!” “Vive la France!” “Vive HaÏti!” “Vive le President d’HaÏti!” “Vive l’IndÉpendence!”

Baron Mackau seems to have had a perfect knowledge of the people to whom he had been sent, for he dealt out his flattery with no unsparing hand, and the avidity with which Boyer swallowed it excited no little surprise among the French, and became the subject of general talk with all classes of people, Haytians and foreigners. Their noble struggle against Le Clerc, and their courage and virtues, were continually the subjects of the baron’s praise; at other times, the progress and improvement in the various branches of knowledge which the people had made, and above all, the high talents of Boyer, his discernment and discretion, and his many good and noble qualities.

The negotiation for independence having been arranged, it was necessary, before the whole could be concluded, that commissioners should forthwith be sent to France for the final adjustment of some differences which could not be provided for in the preliminary treaty, and for the raising of money by a loan for the payment of the first instalment of the indemnity. The persons appointed for the mission were, Mons. Rouanney, a senator, who had been employed in the previous mission, Mons. Daumec, a lawyer, and Colonel FrÉmont, aid-de-camp of the President. Daumec, the only man possessed of the least talent, was taken ill on his passage to France, and died soon after his arrival in that country. The duty therefore devolved on the other two, who were incompetent for the management of the important charge with which they were entrusted, and their execution of it confirmed such a conclusion. Rouanney was perhaps as little calculated for diplomacy as any person that could have been selected—he is a weak and superficial character, a compound of vanity and presumption; and FrÉmont could only have been nominated to display the splendour of the Haytian military costume, and to shew to the good people of France the magnificence of the court of the redoubtable President of Hayti!

They failed in their mission, for they were unable to determine on any question that was submitted by the French for their consideration, and consequently the cabinet of France was driven to the alternative of tendering to them the basis of a definitive treaty comprising twenty-one articles, with which they were ordered to return to Hayti, and to lay it before their government for approval or rejection. Their return excited no little astonishment; and when the document of which they were the bearers was presented to Boyer, he was anxious to accept it, but his council, it appears, and the secretary-general, Inginac, decidedly opposed it, alleging that if it were received it would be compromising the honour and independence of the republic; for it was a strange anomaly, and bore no analogy to a definitive treaty of peace, but in all its relative parts had a resemblance to a convention between a king and his rebellious subjects. Boyer therefore, much against his inclination, rejected the treaty, but intimated to the French cabinet his sincerity in wishing that such a treaty had been concluded as would be reciprocally advantageous, and establish a good understanding between the two countries. He also pledged himself to conform to the terms of the ordonnance of the French king, by the admission of the ships of France chargeable with reduced duties, and by providing for the payment of the indemnity at the respective periods at which the instalments became due.

With respect to the loan for paying the first instalment that fell due on the 31st of December following, the commissioners, Rouanney and FrÉmont, seem to have been totally ignorant of the nature and effect of such a negotiation. They appear to have been in a maze from the attractions of Paris, and their understandings—if they ever had any—warped by the influence of French intrigue, for they concluded a contract, that not only exhibited the greatest absurdity, but one that would entail a most extraordinary loss upon their country by its redemption; a loan that has excited the risibility of the moneyed men who had a share in its negotiation, and has displayed the incapacity of the persons selected by the Haytian government to represent it in a measure of so much importance.

Such was the state into which Boyer had thrown the republic by his weak and most improvident policy, and it required some skill and ingenuity to avert the evil likely to ensue from it, for dissatisfaction began to be prevalent. From the press of Hayti being under the censorship of the government, the proceedings with France relative to the recognition of independence were not known in many parts of the country, particularly amongst the cultivators of the interior. Although forming the largest proportion of the people, they had no knowledge of the conditions on which the French had acceded to the recognition, until the members of the chamber of communes returned to the several parishes which they represented, and explained the whole of the measures pursued by the president. No sooner was it made known that the French were to receive one hundred and fifty millions of francs as an indemnity to the old colonists, and that the ships of France were to be admitted on half duties, than a general murmur of disgust was heard, and the members of the communes were most justly censured for having countenanced an act which would entail upon them endless trouble and anxiety. The idea of paying so large a sum, or even any money at all, for so insecure a boon as that of the recognition by France, was declared to be of all acts the most absurd and inconsistent; and to admit them besides to a privilege of trade more favourable than that which was conceded to England, which had always been constant in her intercourse, was deprecated as a measure which was likely to bring down upon them the displeasure of that government, particularly as the President had, only but a very short time previous to his abject submission to France, most unwisely abrogated the law of Petion which admitted the manufactures and produce of Great Britain into the ports of the republic at lower rates of duty than those of other countries.

Such being the impression upon the generality of the people, they hesitated not to say, that the admission of the indemnity to France as a national debt by the legislative bodies was not binding upon the people; for as they had gained their independence by one of the greatest struggles in modern times, and as they had supported it at the expense of a great deal of blood, and as it had become indisputable from twenty-one years’ possession, they could only consider such conduct on the part of President Boyer as the effect of weakness and that want of energy and decision which ought to be conspicuous in the head of any government; and therefore that they were determined to resist any levies that might be attempted for raising the amount of the instalments out of their properties. In this predicament was Boyer placed, and it was made the more awkward to him from the cry of his people, “for arrangements with England,” and “give the English privileges, and down with privileges to France.” They were sensible, they said, that the British government would have protected them against the enemies of their peace and independence; but now, from the precipitancy of their own rulers, they were no better than a colony of France again; and that England could not hold out to them any expectation of support, unless she embroiled herself in a war with her neighbouring state.

Finding such to be the feelings of the people, Boyer had recourse to an expedient which he thought would appease their irritation, and once more soften them to an approval of his conduct. He made indirect overtures to the British government, and afterwards a direct communication, to know if it were the intention of the King of England to recognize the independence of his country, as the King of France had been induced to do; but no assurances were received, further than that his Majesty, for the protection of British commerce in the republic of Hayti, contemplated to send out consuls to that country to preside over the interests of British subjects; and that if the Haytian government had any proposals to offer, on which a treaty of commerce could be entered into upon a reciprocal basis, it would receive that attention which the nature of it demanded. This disposition of the British government was no sooner known in Hayti,—and I had been the bearer of it to Boyer—than the people manifested the highest symptoms of joy and satisfaction, declaring that they were now at the acme of their wishes. Boyer found it an act of prudence to express similar feelings of pleasure, though he secretly hated the English, and would have submitted to any sacrifice rather than have seen them triumphant in the opinions of the people; Inginac, the secretary-general, was not only gratified at the intelligence, but shewed openly that this was the nearest wish to his heart, and as he had always been much attached to the English from having had a good deal of intercourse with them, there was no event from which he could derive so much satisfaction and happiness as to see the representative of the commerce of Great Britain land upon their shores. The inhabitants of the country considered this as a tacit admission of their independence by Great Britain, and Boyer encouraged such an opinion.

It was, indeed, extraordinary to see the people running towards the government-house to congratulate Boyer when the intelligence was first made public, and the respectable citizens congratulate each other with the most happy countenances, as they were likely to be secured in the enjoyment of their properties. That their country would now prosper, and advance in wealth and consequence when recognized by the crown of England, seemed to them certain; and they hailed it as an event of the highest importance to their interests and to their future aggrandizement.

From the moment of its being announced that the British government had come to the determination of sending out a consul-general to Hayti, Boyer’s officers of state and the people in general manifested the greatest solicitude for his appearance; a solicitude, emanating from a great sense of the importance which they attached to it. The president suppressed his feelings, whatever they might have been; but at times he could not resist the temptation of condemning the delay which intervened between the appointment of the consul and his departure from England; and he was often heard to say, that he questioned the sincerity of the British cabinet respecting such intentions, and that he believed it to be only a ruse de commerce. The inhabitants, however, were of a different opinion; they knew the integrity of the British government, and were confident that its commerce would not be neglected, but promoted and extended wherever it could be accomplished. Under this conviction they began to consult each other, and take into consideration in what manner they should best evince their joy, and shew those marks of respect to which a consul from England was so justly entitled.

It was determined by them to receive him on his landing with shouts and acclamations, and to conduct him to his hotel, accompanied by the most opulent and powerful of the citizens, and that the city should be illuminated; but when their plans were communicated to Boyer by the presidential spies, he had it made known indirectly that such manifestations of their pleasure would not only be irregular, but that he should feel it as an insult offered to himself, as he had not been consulted on its propriety, nor applied to for his permission.

On the 25th of May, the consul-general and his suite arrived in his Majesty’s ship Druid, Captain Chambers; but as she did not appear off the harbour till nearly dark, she was not recognised by the government officers, and consequently did not salute before the following morning, when it was returned by the forts, which was the only demonstration of respect offered by the Haytian authorities on his arrival. Nay, President Boyer could not conceal his antipathy, nor restrain his dislike to the English, even though he perceived that the presence of the British mission had a strong tendency to reconcile all classes of his citizens to his impolitic measures. He individually neglected even to congratulate the consul on his arrival; he did not pay him the common civility of sending one of his aides-de-camp to express himself friendly to the object of his visit, as was the case on the arrival of the French consul-general, to whom he sent two of his staff to offer him the assurances of his high consideration and esteem. The consul-general of England was only visited by a subaltern of artillery on the staff of General Inginac, and the general was absolutely precluded paying a higher compliment to him by the positive orders of Boyer; by the express order of that very man who would have been subjected to the animadversions, if not the hatred, of his citizens, had not the British government sent out a representative to give them something like an appearance of protection against the intrigues of France. He would no doubt have set the whole of his citizens in a ferment, had it not been prevented by the timely arrival of the British consul-general, when their animosity and irritation seemed to have been softened by the gratification of seeing the British ensign proudly waving from a British man-of-war.

The consul-general, Mr. Charles Mackenzie, a gentleman of the most refined and accomplished manners, and possessing talents of the highest order, received all this contumely with the most perfect indifference, attributing it to a very just cause. He knew that Boyer was secretly attached to the French, that he cordially disliked the British, that he had arranged with the French for the purpose of giving that nation influence and privileges in Hayti, and that any intercourse with England was forced upon him by his people. He knew also that Boyer was not the individual he was represented to be; that he possessed neither enlarged nor cultivated ideas, and had no correct knowledge of the world; and consequently, from these circumstances, he very judiciously put down all that show of neglect on the part of the government to its proper account, ignorance.

It is necessary now to advert to the proceedings of Boyer after his arrangements with France, and to see what steps he took to provide for the necessities of the government, brought on in a very increased proportion by the improvident measures which he had pursued.

In the first place, he called upon the legislative body to sanction his treaty with France, to admit it to have been both expedient and unavoidable, from the situation into which the republic was thrown by the unlooked-for appearance of the French armament on their shores, and finally, by their entrance into the harbour of Port au Prince, before any preparations for defence could be made. No one entertained any doubt respecting the issue of this question; every person who knew how the legislative body was constituted was aware that it would meet with their acquiescence, that no member would have the temerity to offer his dissent, and that it would pass nem. con. In fact, there was no debate upon the question; the measure was proposed, and passed three times in one day.

Another important question also, submitted by the president, was the indemnity promised to France. He called upon them to declare it a debt of the nation, and to devise such means as would enable him to meet and liquidate it at the periods when the respective instalments became due. This met with some trifling opposition, but was however carried, and immediately promulgated on the plea that the honour of the republic and its credit would be compromised were it not most rigidly and strictly complied with.

When it was known through the country that the representatives of the people had acceded to these two propositions of the president, the inhabitants began to express themselves in language easily to be understood, and to declare that they would not submit to be burthened with the indemnity to France, and that on no consideration whatever would they contribute towards its liquidation, it never having met with their concurrence: that they never wished the recognition of their independence by France, and in fact that the whole of the proceedings of the government, with regard to the negotiations with that power, ought to be universally execrated by every citizen in the republic; and when it was further known that an act had passed to compel each arrondissement to pay its proportion as pointed out under the law, they strongly expressed their determination to resist a levy which they were neither willing nor able to raise.

I had an opportunity of knowing the sentiments of the people on this subject, from a communication made to me by several of the most opulent of the planters in the south-western part of the republic, and it was made without any feeling of hostility entertained on their part towards the government; but they declared that the small cultivators, and others composing the great mass of the population of their district, were so exasperated at the concession of such privileges to their enemy, that they were confident that no force could compel them to pay their quota of the indemnity, and that resorting to compulsory measures would only infuriate them so much more.

The government from every quarter received the most unfavourable intelligence respecting the impression which their measures for raising this indemnity had made, and the irritability which it had excited; it was therefore deemed advisable to try if it were possible to raise one or two of the instalments by voluntary loans, to be redeemed in thirty years, and to bear an interest of six per cent. on the stock at par. If this could have been accomplished, the compulsory measure would not have been enforced, and the law would have remained a dead letter; but the attempt proved unsuccessful. The people had no confidence in the government, and although every officer of the state contributed, and even some British merchants, yet they could not raise three hundred thousand dollars, and even that sum has not been paid into the treasury.

Many citizens, on being applied to, to aid the contribution, declined to render any assistance to a measure which they declared to be pregnant with the most pernicious consequences; for they had, they said, no hesitation in avowing it to be their opinion that the government never intended to repay one shilling either of principal or interest, and that they could not, consistent with their ideas of justice towards their fellow citizens, give their sanction to so unjust and nefarious a proceeding. They observed also, that as to faith in the integrity of the government they had none; that under no consideration would they lend it a dollar, for that it was impossible for it to redeem any loan it might obtain when it was fettered with a debt that was too burthensome for the country; a debt contracted by every species of weakness, and want of energy and courage in those who were placed at the head of the state.

In the eastern part of the republic, the people were much more violent in their opposition, for they openly remonstrated against contributing towards the indemnity, alleging that they had not been an integral part of the French colony at any time, and that they would not be compelled to pay any proportion of the debt contracted by the government for a recognition of independence by France, because they never acknowledged the right of that power to any part of their division of the island. They had voluntarily joined that part of the country under Boyer’s government, but not with the supposition that they were to submit to such an arrangement as to pay any proportion of an indemnity which it was thought proper to give to France for a recognition of the rights of the people of the other extremity. This was but just in the inhabitants of the Spanish end of the island, and it would be unfair to condemn them for thus strenuously rejecting every attempt on the part of the government to allure them into an acquiescence.

It was pretty generally believed also, that this determination of the people of the east was countenanced by the officers who commanded in its several districts, who were not backward in expressing their dissatisfaction at the measures of the president; and the latter found it advisable not to adopt any further means for the raising of a loan in the country, but to try what could be accomplished when the new law for levying the contributions came into force.

Into this dilemma therefore has Boyer thrown his country, and without any ostensible means by which he can extricate it from the difficulties in which it is involved. Oppressed with the weight of an overwhelming debt, contracted without an equivalent—with an empty treasury, and destitute of ways and means for supplying it—the soil almost neglected, or at least but very partially tilled—without commerce and credit,—such is the present state of the republic; and it seems almost impossible that, under the system which is now pursued, there should be any melioration of its condition, or that it can arrive at any very high state of improvement. Any change from the present would in all probability be worth the experiment, but the existing inefficiency of the government precludes the chance of any beneficial alteration being effected. Hence there appears every reason to apprehend that it will recede into irrecoverable insignificance, poverty, and disorder.

It must be manifest to every individual who visits Hayti, and who devotes some little attention to the state of the country, that the leaders in the government mistake the true principle of governing, and that their ideas of the most effectual way to exalt their country are erroneous, wild, visionary, and inconsistent. They are so excessively vain too of their talents and discernment, that they think they have framed a constitution the most pure and unobjectionable of all the modern republics; and they arrogate to themselves the merit of having perfected a system that must eventually excite the admiration and receive the approbation of the world. With such arrogance on the part of her rulers, it is not surprising that Hayti, instead of improving in her condition, should greatly decline, and that her advancement under such circumstances should be exceedingly slow. Whereas, on the contrary, were the president and his advisers to study the best interests of their country, they would look round for information, consult the experienced from every quarter, and court advice rather than shun it. But so long as Boyer is permitted to fill the presidential chair, this cannot be expected; his vanity is too deeply ingrafted to be easily rooted out, and labouring as he does under the most extraordinary infatuation of his infallibility, no good can be anticipated from his government, nor can the people be expected to advance in knowledge, wealth, or prosperity.

The only department of government to which Boyer seems to devote his attention is the military establishment, and in this he is apparently sincere, but without displaying those requisites which constitute the capability of regulating the internal affairs of that branch of the state. The standing force of Hayti exhibits at once the absurdity of his measures, and illustrates the folly of his arrangements with France. It is stated by himself at forty-five thousand men,—I say nothing of the national guards, one hundred and thirteen thousand,—all well armed, well disciplined, and completely found with every article necessary for the soldier. If, therefore, his force were as stated by himself, so powerful and well organized, the only thing that can be said is, that he must have been a most inefficient commander, and in any other country would have been subjected to the strongest animadversions, for not having opposed the French force instead of submitting to such terms as those to which he assented. Whatever may be the numerical strength of the Haytian standing army, its disposition weakens its power, and evidently displays the incapacity of Boyer as a military man, although his egotism, and the adulation of his staff, would wish it to be understood that he is but little inferior to the greatest captain of the age. It is a known fact that he cannot, within any moderate period, concentrate at any given point five thousand men; and notwithstanding their boasted discipline, I have no hesitation in declaring that not one half of such a body would be fit for active service on any sudden call or emergency.

Let us look at the condition of a Haytian regiment with respect to equipment for the field. I have seen several of them in what was represented to be marching order; and what was their state? Some of the men are without even bayonets to their firelocks, many without a cartouch-box, and some without either belts, cartouch-box, or bayonet. Then their uniform, too—that can hardly be described. The coat ought to be of blue cloth, with red facings; a cap similar to the French infantry, with the arms of the republic, in brass, on the front of it, white duck trowsers, and black gaiters. This I say ought to be their uniform, according to the military regulation; but the officers commanding regiments are not quite so nice, not such strict disciplinarians as officers in the British army, for the former are not in the least particular should their men appear either on parade, or in marching order, without many of those articles which, by the latter of their instructions would be considered indispensable. A Haytian commanding officer looks to nothing but his own personal appearance. If that has undergone the survey of his chÈre amie and his fille de chambre, he stalks forth to the head of his corps in all the majesty of command, with his nodding plumes waving to and fro, not unlike one of those heroes frequently represented in some ballet or spectacle. He has no concern for the appearance of his soldiers, and consequently they exhibit one so extremely outrÉ, that I fear a description would scarcely obtain credibility. Shoes are considered superfluities, for in a regiment of four hundred men you will not find many dozen pairs. Shirts again are not required; as the jacket hides them, they are therefore voted as unnecessary and extravagant. Their caps in colour,—for they deem cleaning to be a labour unbecoming a soldier,—which ought to be black, resemble more the colour of the earth on which they walk, and are generally applied for carrying it when they are ordered on working parties, putting them therefore to a very important use. And their feathers, instead of standing perpendicular, are mostly horizontal, because a soldier generally applies his cap for the purposes of a seat in one instance, and as an utensil for carrying water in the other.

I have heard a great deal about the courage of the Haytian soldiers, and such a thing as bravery in all probability did exist in the early periods of the revolution; but whatever may be said to the contrary, I am inclined to think that they are as deficient in real courage as they are in every other requisite for a soldier. High sounding and vaunting declarations of their character for heroism, fortitude, and resolution, on occasions of a very critical nature, I have often heard from the citizens, but I have known, from my own personal observation, of instances in which they have shewn the most abject cowardice. In ambuscade, or for irregular warfare, bush fighting, or any similar operations, they may be useful; but if they be ever brought in front of an enemy, to contend for any position at the point of the bayonet, or to perform any duty exposed to the menace of even an inferior force, they will shew themselves exceedingly deficient in courage, and quite on the alert to fall back; and it will be seen also, that their officers are not often to be found setting their men any example of disregard of personal danger, or of giving those proofs of innate valour and bravery which are so characteristic of European soldiers.

The naval force of Hayti is inconsiderable. It consists only of a brigantine of six or eight guns, and about three schooners of four guns each, not one of which is capable of leaving their own coast, being badly equipped, worse manned, and the officers quite ignorant of navigation, and they have about five hundred sailors. The government bought a vessel for the purpose of loading her with produce to send to France, to pay a debt it owed there, and they had not a Haytian who could navigate her, and they were obliged to get a British subject of colour to take the command. He went to Havre, and was named “The Haytian.” This affords a fair specimen of Haytian capacity.