Hayti; or, The black republic.

by Sir Spenser St. John

Geffrard’s difficulties were great, as he had to conciliate the black party and appoint as Ministers certain foremost generals of that colour, and their ignorance and stupidity were almost beyond anything that can be conceived; and this is the President’s best excuse for having tried to govern himself. And yet the extreme section of the party was not satisfied, and soon after Geffrard’s advent to power began to conspire against him, and to raise the cry that he was about to sell the country to the whites. As soon as a coloured chief shows the slightest desire to modify any legislation hostile to foreigners, this cry is raised, and prevents many improvements.

To show of what a negro conspirator is capable, I must enter into a few particulars of what was called the conspiracy of General Prophète. In September of 1859, the year of Geffrard’s advent to power, a section of the blacks determined to murder him. They knew that he was a most affectionate father, and accustomed to visit every evening Madame Blanfort, his newly-married daughter; they therefore laid an ambush for him behind a ruined wall that skirted the street that led to her house. The usual hour having passed for the evening visit, the conspirators began to fear that their project might fail that night and be discovered, so they moved quietly towards Madame Blanfort’s residence, and looking through the window, saw the young bride seated reading, evidently awaiting her father’s arrival. The conspirators held a hurried consultation, and decided to murder the daughter, in the expectation that Geffrard, on hearing what had occurred, would rush out. They therefore returned to the window, and a negro named Sarron raised his blunderbuss, fired at the girl, and killed her on the spot. Geffrard heard the shot, and rushing to the palace door, would have fallen into the ambush had not some friends seized and detained him.

Fortunately these conspirators were as stupid as they were brutal, and the whole of them were taken. The chief of the political conspiracy was allowed to depart, whilst the others, to the number of sixteen, were shot. It was stated at the time that too many suffered, but they were all equally guilty, for although all had not been consulted as to murdering the daughter, all meant to assassinate the father. These conspirators were most of them aides-de-camp to the President, and belonged to what are called the best families of the capital. What is a President to do with such people?

In March 1860 a concordat was signed with the See of Rome, an account of which as amended is given in another chapter. In September there was a fresh conspiracy to murder Geffrard, in which a man named Florosin was implicated, and therefore the plot was called after him. In the following year Hayti reaped the fruit of her obstinacy in refusing to acknowledge the independence of the eastern province. Discouraged by the continual state of tension in their relations with the black republic, the Dominicans decided to return to their allegiance to Spain, and in March 1861 Santo Domingo was declared a Spanish colony, with the Dominican General Santana as first Governor-General. Geffrard thus found himself face to face with a new danger, as every question remained unsettled, including the important one of boundaries.

The annexation to Spain had been brought about by Santana and his party, but was opposed by another faction, who crossed over into Hayti, and there being secretly furnished with arms and money by the authorities, invaded the Spanish colony and commenced a guerilla warfare. They were beaten, and twenty-one being taken, were summarily shot by Santana.

Proofs having then been obtained of the complicity of the Haytian Government in this movement, Spain determined to punish these intermeddlers. A fleet was sent to Port-au-Prince, with orders to demand an indemnity of £40,000, to be paid in forty-eight hours, and a salute which was not to be returned. The money was not to be had at so short a notice, and the discontented blacks threatened to upset the Government and massacre the whites if a salute were fired first.

At that time the chief representative of the foreign powers was Mr. Byron, our acting Consul-General, and on him fell the sole responsibility of effecting an amicable arrangement and preventing the threatened bombardment. He saw the Spanish admiral Rubalcava, of whom he ever spoke in the highest terms, explained the difficulties of Geffrard’s position, and obtained important concessions—first, as to the payment of the indemnity, which was ultimately reduced to £5000, and, second, that the Haytian salute should be returned. He then went to the palace, smiled at the fears of the rabble, and gave the resolute advice to brave them and fire the salute. This was done, and all passed off as well as he had predicted. Throughout their history, the Haytians have been thus beholden to the agents of England and France.

In November 1861, General Legros père conspired to upset the Government, but these mild plotters were only banished or imprisoned. This abortive movement was followed (1862) by an attempted insurrection of the Salomon family in the south. This conspiracy, the third in which they were accused of being engaged, was a complete fiasco, but it cost the lives of fourteen of their members.

One of the promises made by the new Government was a reform in the finances and a reduction of useless expenditure; but Geffrard’s incapable or corrupt Ministers had not fulfilled that promise. The Chambers were naturally curious as to the disappearance of millions of dollars without any explanation being forthcoming, and forced two incapables to resign, and General Dupuy, the Minister of Riché, was summoned from London to take charge of the finances. He was a very intelligent man, quite worthy of the post, and his appointment inspired confidence; but the Opposition in the Chambers continued their attacks on the Government, and at last Geffrard was forced to dissolve and order fresh elections. There can be no doubt that so many abuses were protected as to justify much discontent, but the Opposition might have been more moderate considering the difficulties of the situation, the insurrection in the east against the Spaniards, and the continued conspiracies of the blacks.

Geffrard and Dupuy were both anxious to modify Article 7 of the constitution, aimed against foreigners, but the proposition was so badly received that it was withdrawn.