Christophe takes the command.—His officers of government.—Promotes agriculture and commerce.—Petion opposes him.—Cessation of arms mutually agreed upon.—Christophe crowned king.—Code Henry.—Baron de Vastey’s opinions.—Commissioners from France.—Conduct to them.—Christophe pursues his system of government.—Petion relaxes in his.—His offers to the British government.—State of his dominions.—Has recourse to a debased currency.—Consequences.—His death.—Christophe negotiates for the possession of the Spanish part.—Revolution in his dominions.—His death. When Dessalines fell, the people seemed to consider that they were released from the most abject and oppressive tyranny, and the event was celebrated with the greatest demonstrations of joy; and satisfaction and comfort were observed in the countenances of the people, whilst the soldiers congratulated each other on being relieved from a state of servitude almost insupportable. It was no doubt a most fortunate event for the liberty of the people, and their exultations therefore cannot be in the least a matter of astonishment. There was one evil however which they had not to contend with in the time of Dessalines, a competition for the chief command. He had kept all Christophe, who had been next in command to Dessalines, and who, during the period of Toussaint’s sway, displayed great skill and activity at the head of the troops under his command, and to whom was entrusted the defence of the city of Cape FranÇois, on the arrival of the French army under Le Clerc, now assumed the supreme command in Hayti, and from his spirit and talent he seemed better qualified for this important trust than any other of the officers attached to the government. At this period he stood very high in the estimation of the people, and his humanity, with his moral and religious conduct, had diffused a general satisfaction and approval of his elevation. His bravery was indisputable, as he had upon several trying occasions manifested a degree of courage, which inspired his troops with confidence and his country with admiration. His assumption of the supreme command was therefore pleasing to his countrymen, who were not backward in proving that his elevation met with their universal concurrence, and that they Christophe displayed great judgment and good sense at the very beginning of his government by calling around him men of talent, both black and coloured, whether they had been at all times attached to the cause of independence, or, on the contrary, had on some occasions been ranged in opposition to it. He made no distinction; he looked for men of abilities wherever they could be found, and he had no aversion for even the whites (unless they were French, of whom he was always suspicious from their intriguing characters), having several of them near him, with whom he would often consult on matters of state policy, and on his future views with regard to agriculture, commerce, and matters of finance. To these persons he always paid implicit attention, deliberated upon every subject which they thought it prudent to suggest, and otherwise evinced a confidence in them, which in return inspired respect for his authority and an attachment for his person. With one of his secretaries, Mons. Dupuy, afterwards Baron Dupuy, I have had some conversation on subjects connected with the history of his country. He was a man of education and of great natural talents; had acquired considerable information on matters of government, and seemed to possess no little degree of knowledge of the politics and views of the European cabinets. His mind was well De Vastey, another of his secretaries, was also a man of strong natural understanding, and a work described as his “Reflections on the Blacks and Whites”, with his notes, printed at Cape Haytian, 1814, shews, that he possessed no little acquaintance with history, and that he was not without some knowledge of mankind in most countries, as well as of the opinions entertained in Europe on the affairs of his country. De Vastey is now living at the Cape in retirement, and is exceedingly attentive to the English residents, for whom he has a very high respect and veneration. He is a black. Mons. Prevost, afterwards Count Limonade, and secretary for foreign affairs, exhibited proofs of a very strong mind, and displayed considerable knowledge in political matters, as his state papers particularly exemplify: in him also Christophe placed great confidence, and to him he entrusted the entire regulation of his foreign communications; and in doing so, he shewed that he confided in a servant of no ordinary judgment and discretion, who seemed to be impressed with a sense of the importance of his duties, and shewed a great desire to acquit himself to the satisfaction of his chief, and to ensure the respect of his countrymen. With such men as these, and one or two others, English and Americans, Christophe generally conferred, and to their suggestions for his future plans of governing, he generally, if not always, acceded: and it is not a matter therefore of any surprise if the regulations with which he commenced his career should be marked by great judgment, discretion, and good policy. The first step of Christophe was to assume the plain and simple designation of “Chief of the Government of Hayti”, under which, and not the imperial dignity, it was his determination to govern; and he made the most prompt arrangements for immediately endeavouring to establish a commercial understanding with Great Britain and the United States. To effect this object he expressed the His first address teemed with sentiments which did honour to the feelings by which he was actuated. It was dated the 24th of October, 1806, and set forth the system which he intended to pursue with respect to commerce. It proclaimed certain free ports, and that the flag of all nations would be respected, and property protected; that personal security was pledged; and that the odious law, passed by his predecessor Dessalines, which established exclusive consignments in the citizens of the country, was abrogated, and that every individual should be privileged to place his property in the hands of his own factor, who should have the full protection of the government. Such regulations were productive of the greatest benefit to the country. Americans and Europeans began to find their advantage in trading with Hayti; and the manufactures of England, with the provisions of the United States, began to flow into it freely, and in quantities quite large enough for the means of the people, in return for which they obtained the staple products of the country, and on Christophe had not long been at the head of the government before a competitor for the supreme authority started up in the person of Alexandre Petion, a mulatto, who had succeeded to the command held by Clerveaux, after the death of that general, and was subsequently commander-in-chief at Port au Prince. Petion was greatly respected by the people; he was of a mild and attractive manner, and possessed talents of a very superior order. He had been educated in France, and served in the French armies, in which he had acquired the rank of a field officer. He was a skilful engineer, in which capacity, it appears, he had rendered the most essential Both chiefs now began to have recourse to arms, and Christophe, who had succeeded in many of the rencontres which had taken place, secured the whole of the north; but on his advancing to the south, and making an attempt on Port au Prince, he failed, returned to his seat of government at Cape FranÇois, and began to shew a disposition towards peace and the prosecution of those designs which he meditated for insuring the tranquillity of his country, and promoting the happiness of the people. In the February following he published his new constitution, in which the Catholic religion is declared to be the religion of the state, and every other religion is tolerated. For the better encouragement of commerce and an intercourse with foreigners, it is declared “that the government solemnly guarantees the foreign merchants the security of their persons and properties.” He began also to make great advancement in the In a proclamation which he subsequently issued, he dwells strongly on the subject of agriculture, and expresses an anxiety, beyond his ordinary solicitude, for the encouragement of that great source of national wealth. He makes a most forcible and powerful appeal to the people, exhorting them to an unceasing application to the culture of the lands, by the produce of which foreigners would be attracted to their ports, to enter into an exchange for the products of their own countries, as well as for money, whereby their country would advance in wealth, and themselves in happiness and prosperity. Being uninformed as to the line of politics which foreign countries might adopt towards them, he declared it to be his wish to remain quiet until they had made their decision, expressing a hope only that it might be such as would be favourable to their commerce, and tend to cement an intercourse founded on a basis of reciprocity. The declaration often made by Christophe, that he never would permit an interference with the colonies of any European state, was often questioned and never believed to be sincere; but an event occurred which at once proved his sincerity, and called forth the approbation of the British government. In the year 1811, Christophe was raised to the throne, under the title of King Henry, an act which seems to have had the approbation of the majority, if not of the whole of his subjects who were endowed with talents to discriminate. They were of opinion that the conversion of the state into a monarchy suited the exigences of the times, as more likely to make them respected abroad, and maintain their rights at home; putting it ever out of their consideration that it was an act only of gratitude, that they should manifest their sentiments of attachment for one who had, through a long career of war and desolation, rendered such important services in the cause of liberty. The act which raised him to the throne provided I shall not pursue my narrative of the operations of the respective chiefs who were now at the heads of the governments of the north and the south, but merely notice a few circumstances which appeared most prominent in the proceedings of each. About the period of the elevation of Christophe to the throne of the northern part of Hayti, a cessation of hostilities between him and his rival took place, through, it is generally believed, the intercession of the British government, who interposed to stop the further effusion of blood between the two chieftains, and if possible to reconcile them to the government of their respective divisions, without encroaching on each other, or without again exciting that jealousy which had so long existed between them. The application to the British government to take upon itself directly the adjustment of their differences, and to suggest a reconciliation on specific terms, was entrusted to the charge of a British merchant in the confidence of Petion, who, from his reverses, seemed to court a peace with his rival. Lord Castlereagh, the then secretary of state for foreign affairs in England, it is believed, declined to interfere Hostilities having been suspended, both these chiefs began to turn their attention towards the improvement of their dominions, and to use every possible effort for the encouragement of agriculture and commerce; but they certainly pursued quite opposite courses to attain their end; and in a few years it was evident, that the one who adopted a system of rigid enforcement raised his country into affluence, whilst the other who submitted to the indolent habits of his people, and was regardless of Christophe, there is no doubt, was the most conversant with the real character and disposition of his countrymen. He was sensibly impressed with the idea, that to govern them, it would be requisite and imperative to resort to strong and powerful measures, and not to proceed by slow and easy degrees: he knew that if he were once to relax in his authority, and permit them to pursue their own course, indolence would become so deeply rooted, that to obtain any exertions from them hereafter, would prove a most Herculean task, and in all probability lay the foundation of much irritation, if not of disturbance. He was persuaded therefore, that, before it would be possible to raise his country in wealth and in happiness, an implicit obedience to such regulations as he should deem adviseable, must be enforced; that if the people were left to their own free agency, from their innate love of indolence, nothing could be obtained from them: they would wander about quite unconcerned for to-morrow, satisfied With such impressions as these, Christophe and his council and advisers set about a work, which, whatever may be said of them as legislators, exhibits no little share of talent and judgment. His Code Henry made its appearance in 1812; it is a digest of the laws passed for the government of the kingdom, and seems to have provided for every class of offences. Some of its laws are new, and others are With this shield for the executive administration of the government, Christophe began to exact a due observance of all those measures likely to be beneficial to his country. He enforced attention to agriculture, encouraged commerce with foreigners, whom he led to his ports by extensive purchases of their commodities to supply the wants of his government, and he made rapid strides towards the advancement of education by establishing schools for the instruction of youth, and by inviting men of learning and talents from all countries, for the purpose of presiding at the head of the institutions which he had formed for the promotion of science. His regulations unquestionably display sound views of policy, which ought to have ensured the welfare of the country, together with the security and happiness of its people. It has been often asserted that the negroes are as capable of receiving instruction in morality, religion, and every branch of science, as the people of any Mazeres, in speaking of them, says, “The negro is only a grown child, shallow, light, fickle, thoughtless, neither keenly sensible of joy or of sorrow, improvident, without resources in his spirits or his soul. Careless, like other sluggards; rest, singing, his women, and his dress form the contracted limits of his taste. I say nothing of his affections, for affections, properly so called, are too strong for a soul so soft, so inactive as his.” On the subject of public instruction, which, the same writer contends, can never be introduced into Hayti, because there cannot be found people to comprehend its true virtues, he says, “There cannot be found throughout the dominions of Christophe ten men who can read fluently; and there certainly Mazeres is certainly not altogether wrong; his observations in the first paragraph are correct, with the exception of his opinion of the affections of the negro. It must, I think, be admitted that the affections of the negro race are somewhat warm and unalloyed; and in no instance are they so feelingly illustrated as in the solicitude evinced by the negro for his offspring. To his children his attachment is strong and unalienable; and he displays it on leaving his home with the greatest fervour, and on his return with every mark of gratitude and joy. Mazeres would wish to sink the affections of the negro to a condition below the instinct of the brute creation; but that he is wrong I can pronounce from experience, not only in Hayti, but in other quarters in which that species of the human race exists. In his second paragraph, he has gone too far in saying, not “ten men can read fluently”; but if he had asserted that, at the period of the revolution, when the first acts of rebellion commenced, a few only could “read fluently,” I think he would not have been wrong, for I do not find that among the blacks, at that period, any were at all learned, or had any skill or knowledge in those branches of science which he particularizes. This is exemplified in Toussaint, Dessalines, and Christophe, not one of whom, at the Baron de Vastey, who is a warm advocate for the genius and talents of his countrymen, and exceedingly severe upon the opinion of Mazeres, says, Christophe was particularly anxious to improve the face of his country, by making every exertion to divest it of all those appearances of dilapidation effected during the war; and by commanding all the nobility, and persons attached to the state, to erect magnificent houses on their estates, and otherwise to ornament the plantations in the vicinity of their residences, so as to give the whole an air of grandeur After the fall of Bonaparte in 1814, the ministers of Louis XVIII. sent out commissioners to Hayti to try what could be accomplished by a negotiation with the two chiefs on the subject of the admission of France to the sovereignty of the island. By these emissaries an indirect menace was held out, forgetting that by harsh measures no good could be done. De Medina, who was the commissioner deputed to Christophe, had served in the army of Toussaint, and afterwards betrayed his cause and joined Le Clerc. Such an individual was an object of considerable suspicion to Christophe, and from some irregularity which ensued respecting the credentials of Medina, he was arrested, and his papers seized. On the examination of the papers, it was discovered that his aim was to excite insurrection and disorder among the people, and endeavour to prevail upon them to recognize Louis XVIII. as their sovereign, that monarch assuring them of his paternal solicitude, and of his pledge that they should retain their property and military rank. Christophe brought Medina to trial, and he was found guilty by a military tribunal of the charges which had been alleged against him. He was committed Monsieur Lavaysse, who seems to have been the chief commissioner, and who had at the same time proceeded to Port au Prince, for the purpose of carrying on a similar negociation with Petion, met with no better success,—except that having been more cautious he avoided the fate of Medina,—as that chief was well informed of the nature of his mission, and was prepared to give a decided negative to the propositions of the French crown; and the rejection of his proposals was conveyed to M. Lavaysse in a way very flattering to him, nothing being evinced like the passion or violence exhibited by Christophe during the progress of these negociations. I happened to be in Jamaica at the time of the arrival of the French commissioners, who touched there on their passage for Hayti; and I was often in company with Lavaysse after his return from his unsuccessful mission, and I heard him speak in high terms of the conduct of Petion for promptness and decision, whilst he was warm against the harshness of Christophe. This however might have emanated from the former offering to the French a pecuniary indemnity for his dominions, although he would not recognize France as having the sovereignty; whilst After the failure of this mission, the French king declared officially that Monsieur Lavaysse had exceeded the power which had been delegated to him; but such a disavowal had no effect on the people, who were more determined than ever to resist the admission of French influence into the country. Other attempts were afterwards made, and commissioners were appointed to proceed to Hayti, with powers from the king of France; but although they proceeded round the island, and sent letters on shore at different places, yet they received no attention, and consequently they thought it advisable to give up the object of their mission as impracticable; and I believe no attempt was afterwards made during the sway of either of these chiefs. As Hayti might then be considered perfectly secure of her independence, and as a strong feeling pervaded the people of the north as well as the south against the French, the two governments, although there had not been any relations of amity established between them, proceeded in the work of civilization and general improvement in their divisions, without being apprehensive that their tranquillity would be interrupted by the encroachments of either. Christophe was unquestionably, as has been before observed, better qualified than his rival to govern The government of Petion, on the other hand, relapsed into a system of relaxation which subsequently proved the bane of his country, and ultimately brought upon him all those unhappy difficulties which he experienced previously to his death. After he had permitted his people to follow their own indolent inclinations, and indulge in the propensities inherent in the negro race, he found it impossible to prosecute measures for the advancement of the wealth and prosperity of his country similar to those which his rival had so successfully pursued. Agriculture had sunk to the lowest possible ebb, the Although Petion had laws, doubtless, by which he might have enforced from the people the cultivation of the soil, and prevented them leaving their plantations, except on those days particularly enumerated, yet he never seems to have attended to the spirit of the laws and have insisted upon their due execution, but simply to have contented himself with the mere letter, without in the least reflecting on the serious consequences that would inevitably flow from his want of that resolution and decision which formed so prominent a feature in the character of Christophe. The mild and soft disposition of Petion disqualified him to be the head of such a rude and untaught people as those over whom he was appointed to preside. Far from possessing the unrelaxing and unrelenting temper of his rival, he was kind, indulgent, and humane. Over a country so disorganized, and over a people so prone to every vicious propensity, and regardless of their own as well as the public good, a man of more nerve, and not so sensible to the finer feelings of our nature, would have been better calculated for governing than President Petion, who, The character given of Petion by Mr. Walton, I have heard confirmed by all classes of people in Hayti, and by those who are well versed in the dispositions of their countrymen; whilst admitting it, however, they were not backward in expressing their opinion that he was of too easy and too lenient a temper to enforce those measures which the exigences of the government so loudly and imperatively called for. Through such leniency and indulgence, The first thing which was suggested was a fictitious or debased currency, which in the opinions of most people is very little better than swindling under the sanction of government; especially a government like that of Petion, reduced to so low an ebb as to have been without a dollar in its treasury, and without any ostensible means of bettering its miserable condition, or adding to its pecuniary means. Every country has probably a fictitious circulating medium, and I shall not condemn it, or question its propriety, when the country is capable of redeeming it at any specific period, or at its pleasure: but when a country like Hayti has recourse to a debased currency, it is very little better than an imposition. Petion was without the means of raising money, even upon the demesnes of government, for the exigences of the state, so that it was impossible for him to hold out any security to the people, that his fictitious coin would be called in at any distant period, unless he did so at a very large discount. He commenced also another system, which proved exceedingly injurious to his finances, and I cannot see how he could have contemplated any other result. For the encouragement of the agriculturists, the government, whenever the price of the several products were low, bought very largely of some of them, for the purpose of raising their value, by which impolitic measure, they not only lost considerably by their trading system, but it had a most pernicious effect in driving foreigners To this Christophe was the very reverse, for he not only called upon the magistrates and other officers to see the law for the cultivation of the soil rigidly executed, and take into custody all those who committed the least breach, but, daily accompanied by his staff, he absolutely rode personally to different parts to ascertain whether the cultivators were doing their duty. He well knew those whom he had to govern, and also that were he once to allow them to give way to their love for indolence, it would in time become invincible, and therefore he adhered to the old rule, that a preventive is better than a cure. The consequences were, that from his system of coercion the calls of his government were provided for, the people individually advanced in wealth and security, and the cultivators, who would otherwise have been in a state of sloth and misery, disease and wretchedness, lived well, and were contented. The condition of cultivators under Petion’s mild government, and under whom there was no such thing as coercion, presented a striking and instructive contrast; indolent and unconcerned, they passed their This was the state of the country over which Petion presided previously to his death, which lamentable event took place on the 29th of March, 1818, after an illness of no long duration, but attended with circumstances that excited the greatest sympathy for his sufferings. It was generally admitted that the state of his country had produced an extraordinary depression of spirits, which no exertions of his most intimate friends could remove. Medical aid became unavailing, he lingered, but without, it appears, enduring any pain, and at last sunk under the weight of accumulated distress of mind, brought on by the deranged state of his finances and the impoverished condition of his country. Petion was undoubtedly a good man, and greatly beloved by his people, who valued him for his mild This was not the most dreadful part, nor that which excited the greatest anxiety; those inhabitants who had experienced the changes which had taken place during the time of Dessalines, and had seen the massacres of that wretch, began to fear a similar catastrophe during the interregnum, from the rude state of the negro population, from their relaxed state of morals, and from a spirit of ungovernable insubordination, fostered by the ill-judged mildness and leniency of the late President. The foreign merchants were alarmed, and apprehensive also of confusion as well as the probability of the destruction of their property; their fears in this respect were however fortunately unfounded, as nothing occurred which indicated the least disposition towards hostility and molestation. Petion had designed Boyer for his successor, who was immediately after his decease accordingly declared At the death of Petion, Christophe indicated no wish to interfere with the election of Boyer, who preserved the tranquillity of his dominions. Christophe was still pursuing his system of aggrandizement, and had realized a very large sum of money in his treasury, with which he contemplated the purchase of the Spanish territory and to annex it to his dominions; and for this purpose he had actually commenced a negotiation through the agency of some powerful individuals in London. This design unquestionably evinced great judgment, for it would have given him a decided superiority over the southern government, and he could have menaced all their points, and having a larger force would have been able to make considerable impression on their principal posts of defence; but his death, which took place in October 1820, put an end to the negotiation, and established the union between the north and south, uniting them in one government, designated “The Republic of Hayti.” The system pursued by Christophe had become too despotic for the people; exceeding the bounds of prudence, his ambition had no limits, and his tyranny and oppression became at last so insupportable that neither the people nor his troops would any longer submit to his power and caprice. A revolution ensued which began with the revolt of His wife and daughters were spared through the interference of Boyer, who sent them to Port au Prince by water, with instructions that they should be particularly protected, and not disturbed by the citizens; and after his return to the city, permission was given them to leave the country, which they accepted, and sailed for England, where they were received, by those persons who were admirers of Christophe, with some respect and attention. A small estate was secured to them, and Madame Christophe’s jewels, which were valuable, were restored to her, and I have reason to believe that |