The government of Hayti[14] is in form republican, but is in fact a military despotism, all power being concentrated in the hands of the President, who carries out or ignores the laws according to his pleasure. There are Secretaries of State, a Senate, and House of Representatives; but in General Geffrard’s time the Ministers had no power in their respective departments, but were simply clerks to register the will of the chief of the state. The Senate was very humble, whilst the House of Representatives, when it showed any signs of independence, as in the memorable session of 1863, was summarily dismissed, and a packed Chamber substituted.
During the time of the next President, General Salnave, the civil war prevented the Congress meeting regularly. The Chambers met once; but drawn swords, pistol-shots, and yelling mobs caused the deputies to understand that with Salnave as chief of the State constitutional government had disappeared. “In revolutionary times, revolutionary measures,” said Salnave’s Chief Minister; “we must return to the immortal principles of 1793.” He talked much of cutting off heads, but, to his credit be it said, whilst Minister he never shed a drop of blood. Enough had been done of that during the revolution of 1865.
The presidency of Nissage-Saget followed. Though the shooting of General Chevalier showed that he could act as illegally as any of his predecessors, yet he was a quiet man, who would have worked with the House of Representatives if they had connived at some of his peccadilloes, and been blind to those of his Ministers, who were often most unhappily chosen. But they were of more than Roman sternness with their friends in power. However, both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies certainly influenced the Government; but as the majority was generally in opposition, quarrels with the executive followed, and Nissage-Saget, in revenge, connived at the illegal appointment of General Domingue to the presidentship in the spring of 1874. From this time forward Hayti has been going from bad to worse, until revolution after revolution has brought the old Finance Minister of Soulouque into the Government, and General Salomon is now President of Hayti.
It may be seen from the above sketch that constitutional government is not likely to be favourably developed in such a soil as that of Hayti. The mass of the population, being ignorant Africans, wish to be governed by a despotic chief, and not by what they irreverently call a “tas de voleurs.” No constitutional checks are sufficiently strong to overcome the popular will, and as yet few Presidents have been able to resist the desire of the people for personal government. They themselves seldom show any disposition to thwart this national predilection.
I have known Hayti for upwards of twenty years, and I must confess that one by one my illusions have passed away, and my opinions are very changed indeed from what they were during my first year’s residence in that country. I then knew a number of enthusiastic young lawyers and others, deputies and government employés, who talked admirably of their projects of reform, and of their desire to see the country advance in civilisation. I believed in this party, and was eager to see it arrive at power; but when it did have a chance of having a Government united with the Legislature in carrying out judicious reforms, it proved a most lamentable failure. Boisrond-Canal was President, a man full of good intentions, honest, who had fought gallantly against the savage tyranny of Salnave, and whose conduct then had merited the eulogium passed on him of a man “sans peur et sans reproche.” No sooner was this chief in power, than his former friends, jealous of his advancement, fell away from him, raised opposition in the Chambers, thwarted every project of Government, and at last, by their plots and an appeal to arms, brought on a revolution, which ultimately swept Boisrond-Canal and all his mean plotting and scheming opponents out of the country, and brought in General Salomon. The question of “What will he do with it?” is anxiously watched; and there are many who believe that a paternal despotism is the best solution, and may give the country some years of comparative peace.
The Government of General Salomon has had its baptism of blood, and dozens of those whom I well knew have been shot since its advent. The Government accuse these gentlemen of having conspired. Their friends declare that General Salomon wished to revenge private wrongs of old standing, and imitate General Soulouque in terrifying the coloured population by wholesale massacres. Septimus Rameau, under President Domingue, followed this policy. He selected three of his most formidable adversaries to murder; succeeded with two, and drove many of the coloured population into exile. This is what is termed energetic action. It appears the starting-point for black Presidents, who know that no sooner are they installed in power than the coloured population begin to conspire. How far there is any truth in the charge of conspiracy against those gentlemen who were then residing in Hayti, I will not at this distance of time attempt to determine; but it is probable that their deaths may be somewhat laid at the door of those who, from their secure retreat in Jamaica, launched their pamphlets against the new Government.
Constitution-making is almost the necessary result of any change of government in Hayti. In 1805 Dessalines issued the first constitution, which was revised next year by President Pétion. In the northern province Christophe had his own constitution as President, which he also had to revise in 1811 when he became King. In the western and northern provinces under Pétion, the constitution was also changed in 1816, and had a long life, as it lasted till the expulsion of President Boyer in 1843, when the successful insurgents determined to have a fresh constitution, which, however, did not last long, as President Riché returned in 1846 to that of Pétion of 1816, only somewhat revised. In 1849 Soulouque, becoming Emperor, had a new constitution to suit the occasion, which lasted till his expulsion. Geffrard did not attempt to construct a new social pact; but the revolution under Salnave voted one in 1867, which was set aside in 1874 by Domingue. The last constitution is that which was voted in 1879 under General Salomon, and is the one now in force in Hayti.
On the 23d October 1879, General Salomon was elected President for seven years, and the constitution is dated 18th December 1879. It consists of 205 Articles.
Article 1. “The republic of Hayti is one and indivisible; its territory and the dependent islands are inviolable, and cannot be alienated by any treaty or convention.” This is a very favourite formula in America, and was the pretext for continuing a useless war on the Pacific coast, as both Peru and Bolivia declared that their constitutions forbid a cession of territory. That its territory should remain inviolable depends on its own conduct and the will of others, and is therefore rather superfluous.
The articles relating to Haytians and their rights have been somewhat modified, and are more liberal than in former constitutions. Article 4 declares that every African or Indian and their descendants are capable of becoming Haytians; and a concession is added, that, on the proposition of the President of Hayti, any foreigner fulfilling certain conditions may became a citizen.