Finance.
As in most American republics, the income of the Haytian state depends chiefly on the custom-house. It is said the people will not bear direct taxation, and that therefore the Government must rely on import and export duties. The heavy debt which was imposed on Hayti by France nearly sixty years ago has been the principal cause of the financial embarrassments of the republic.
The mission of Baron Mackau, sent by Charles X. in 1825, had for object the imperfect recognition of the independence of the republic of Hayti, on condition of their paying £6,000,000 as an indemnity to the old colonists—a sum quite out of the power of the country to raise—and only five years were allowed to complete the transaction. One is at a loss to understand how President Boyer could have consented to so burdensome an arrangement. Subsequently the indemnity was reduced to £3,600,000, but although fifty-eight years have passed, a balance still remains due. It was not till 1838 that these arrangements were concluded, and France definitively recognised the independence of Hayti. The republic had effected a loan in Paris in 1825 of £1,200,000 nominal to pay the first instalment due, and even this debt has not been completely settled. The whole transaction proved a cruel burden to the country, and, by introducing heavy export duties and the curse of paper money, greatly injured agricultural and every other interest.
The import duties average about 30 per cent. on the value, whilst the export duties are at so much a quintal on coffee, and have varied according to the exigencies of the moment. Major Stuart’s Report for 1877 enters into many details which may be found interesting. I propose to give here only the general results; but I may say that the duties embrace almost every article, and are as high as they can bear.
The progress of the revenue collected in Hayti is another proof to me that the population has greatly increased.
It is not necessary to examine the budgets of many years. In 1821, before the union with Santo Domingo, the income is stated by Mackenzie to have been $3,570,691, and the expenditure $3,461,993. In these sums must be included some exceptional receipts and expenditure, as the revenue of the whole island in 1825 was only $2,421,592. The long and quiet Presidency of Boyer, coupled with his honest administration, enabled him not only to pay off considerable sums to France, but to leave a heavy balance in the treasury. Boyer, however, has the demerit of having introduced the paper currency, and of having put into circulation $2,500,000 more than he withdrew, thus reducing the exchange of the doubloon from 16 to 1 (par) to 40 to 1.
After Boyer came the period of revolutions, and consequent deficits and heavy issues of paper money. In four years they had sent down the exchange to $60 to one doubloon. But the disastrous period of Haytian financial history was the reign of Soulouque, when millions of paper dollars were issued every year, sending down the exchange to $289 to one doubloon.
In 1849 no less than $4,195,400 were issued to meet the expenses of the establishment of the empire.
The budget for 1848, the last year of the republic, is nominally a very modest one (exchange $25 to £1):—
| Army | $3,232,238 | = | £129,289 |
| Interior | 770,395 | = | 30,815 |
| Finance and foreign affairs | 668,814 | = | 26,752 |
| Justice, education, public worship | 303,393 | = | 12,135 |
| ———— | |||
| £198,993 |
But as 2,200,000 paper dollars were issued during the year, it is probable that this budget was not adhered to.
The budget for the year in which the empire was established is given as follows (exchange $40 to £1):—
| Army | $3,810,216 | = | £95,255 |
| Interior | 735,937 | = | 18,398 |
| Finance, &c. | 2,237,389 | = | 55,934 |
| Justice, &c. | 309,293 | = | 7,732 |
| ———— | ———— | ||
| $7,092,835 | = | £177,319 |
But these budgets are not to be trusted, and do not represent the real expenses.
When the accounts were examined subsequent to the fall of Soulouque, it was found that of the coffee monopoly alone £400,000 had been abstracted for the use of the Emperor and some of his Ministers and favourites. The comparative large sums of £40,000, £20,000, and £12,000 were taken at a time, without any account being rendered. During Soulouque’s reign over $28,000,000 were added to the currency.
In June 1863, General Dupuy, Finance Minister to President Geffrard, published a very clear financial statement. The total debt remaining due to France was £1,436,000. The custom duties produced:—
| In | 1860 | £511,666 |
| ” | 1861 | 463,333 |
| ” | 1862 | 566,000 |
Minor taxes, £26,341.
Deficits.
| In | 1859 | £30,276 |
| ” | 1860 | 35,904 |
| ” | 1861 | 81,193 |
| ” | 1862 | 81,483 |
These were calculated on the amount of paper money signed to meet them, but at the close of 1862 there was £79,834 in hand.
The budget of 1863-64 was fixed as follows:—
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The deficit was met by adding ten per cent. to the duties.
During the Presidency of General Geffrard the finances were better administered than under Soulouque, but millions of dollars disappeared, without any one being found willing to give an account of what had become of them. One coloured and two black generals are supposed to have appropriated the principal portion. On the Chamber of Deputies venturing to make inquiries on this interesting point, it was summarily dismissed, and a packed Chamber substituted.
Civil war ended by General Geffrard resigning and quitting the country. I do not believe, however, that he carried with him more than he could have fairly saved out of his salary. He, moreover, was the only President that I knew who kept up the position of chief of the State with any dignity.
No budgets were procurable during Salnave’s time, and the civil war that was carried on during three years caused the Government and insurgents to issue paper money, so that before Salnave’s fall this paper currency was to be obtained at 3000 paper to one silver dollar. It was withdrawn by the subsequent Government at 10 to 1 for their own paper.
The finances under General Nissage-Saget were, for Hayti, at first decently administered; but when the bad black element from the south entered into its councils, malversation became the order of the day. But during this Presidency a great change was made in the currency: all paper money was withdrawn at an exchange of 300 to 1, and American silver dollars substituted. This change was much criticised both before and since, as unsuited to the circumstances of the country. On the whole, the balance of arguments was in favour of a metallic currency.
Under President Domingue there were no honest financial measures taken. Everything was done to suit the pleasure of Septimus Rameau, and a loan was raised in France, and the largest portion distributed among the friends of the Minister in a manner which astonished even Haytians. It was a disgraceful transaction, that the next Chamber endeavoured to ignore; but as it was supported by the French agents, the Government of Boisrond-Canal had to yield and acknowledge it.
For the years 1876 and 1877 we have the receipts and expenditure stated in detail. The income from duties, &c., was £805,900; the expenditure, £804,737; including £202,876 to the sinking fund. The army and navy figure for only £167,568, and public instruction was increased to £82,245. In Soulouque’s budget of 1849, justice, education, and public worship were credited with only £7732.
Budget for 1876-77.
| Finance and commerce | £89,558 |
| Foreign relations | 46,714 |
| War and marine | 167,568 |
| Interior and agriculture | 111,931 |
| Justice | 36,095 |
| Public instruction | 82,245 |
| Public worship | 12,586 |
| District chest (communes) | 75,160 |
| Sinking fund | 202,876 |
| ———— | |
| £824,733 |
The latest budget I have before me is that of 1881. It is as follows:—
| Finance and commerce | £67,610 |
| Foreign relations | 48,954 |
| War | 214,837 |
| Interior | 298,913 |
| Justice | 54,565 |
| Public instruction | 115,037 |
| Public worship | 13,875 |
| ———— | |
| £813,791 |
The amount of the income to meet this expenditure is not stated.
The circulating medium in the early days of Haytian independence consisted of foreign gold and silver coins, and then some fabricated in the country, of inferior quality and appearance, of both silver and copper. In 1826, President Boyer beginning to feel the pressure of his engagements with France, issued paper notes of different values. Being irredeemable, they soon fell to a heavy discount, 3½ to 1. The succeeding Governments, as I have noticed, continued the same course, until, on the accession of Soulouque to power, the exchange was about 4½ to 1. The unchecked emissions after he ascended the imperial throne gradually lessened the value of the paper, until, in 1858, it was 18 to 1.
Some order having been put into the finances by General Dupuy, the exchange in 1863 was more favourable, being 12½ to 1; the troubles which succeeded in 1865 sent it to 17 to 1; and with the revolutionary Government of Salnave and the civil war that followed it went down like the assignats during the French Revolution,—in 1857, 30 to 1; in 1859, 3000 to 1.
The issues of Salnave’s Government were so discredited that they were at one time exchanged at 6500 paper dollars for one of silver. Until lately the American dollar and its fractions, with a plentiful bronze currency, sufficed for all wants. Now, however, a special Haytian dollar is being coined, with the object apparently of preventing its export—a very futile expedient, as experience proves.
A sort of National Bank, managed principally by Frenchmen, was established a few years since, but its operations do not as yet appear to have had much influence on the country. As the bank, however, has some control over the collection of duties, it may introduce a more honest perception of these imports; but I do not think the managers will find that their lines have fallen in pleasant places.
THE END.
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