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.