As soon as it is known that the recruiting parties are about, men begin to stay at home, and only women come in from the country. This brutal system of enlistment was one of the causes of the fall of President Geffrard. To punish the inhabitants of Cap Haïtien for their unsuccessful insurrection in 1865, the President had recruiting parties sent out into that town, and the respectable young men were captured by dozens, transferred to Port-au-Prince, and forcibly incorporated into the battalions of tirailleurs. It was they who in 1867 gave the signal for those revolutionary movements which finally upset the President. The brutality shown by these recruiting parties is revolting, as the men are armed with clubs, and permitted to use them at discretion.

General Geffrard used to harangue these unhappy volunteers as if they were burning with enthusiasm to join the army, whilst, bleeding, tattered, and torn, they listened sulkily to his words, all the time carefully guarded by their brutal captors. Their chief pretended not to see their state.

This reminds me of an incident which occurred during the late war between Chili and Peru. Some hundreds of Indians had been lassoed in the interior, and brought down to Lima to fill up the regiments. President Prado was urged to address them, and they were collected under one of the windows of the palace. The general approached with his staff, and leaning out of window began—“Noble volunteers,” when he perceived that the men were tied together, and that a dozen pairs were secured by a long rope. He drew back hastily and said, “Noble volunteers indeed. I cannot lend myself to such a farce;” and no persuasion would induce him to return to continue his speech. President Prado has been deservedly criticised for his conduct during this war; but had his countrymen listened to his advice, there would have been no war between Chili and Peru.

The pay of the Haytian army is nominally as follows:—

General of division£140a year.
General of brigade105”
Adjutant-general75”
Colonel40”
Commandant or major20”
Captain12”
Lieutenant10”
Sub-lieutenant7”
Non-commissionedfrom £3 to £5”
Private£2 10”

The rations of a foot-soldier on duty are about two shillings a week, whilst that of a cavalry-man are three shillings. As the soldiers not on duty are allowed to work, they receive no rations. The President’s guard, consisting of several battalions, was composed principally of the mechanics and respectable labourers of the town and neighbourhood, who often paid the colonels so much per week to be exempt from active service.

The ordinary battalions are recruited among the country people, and these rarely present themselves except on pay-day. Even for this there is little encouragement, as if they do not present themselves at the appointed time, the officers divide the balance of the pay amongst themselves. If any man persistently comes to receive his dues, he is detained to do active duty for a month or two, which effectually checks his zeal and his love of dollars.

When the pay of officers is so trifling, it is to be supposed that the better classes do not enter the army as a profession. The higher grades are generally named for political services, whilst the lower are filled by men raised from the ranks. Except in a few special cases, it is rare for a man to have gone through all the grades of officer.

The generals are a power in the State, and have to be conciliated. The most ignorant blacks, as I have mentioned, are given the most important commands, from their supposed influence among the lower orders, whom they perfectly resemble in everything but uniform. They supplement their inadequate pay by every illegitimate means.

President Geffrard had really a desire to form an army, but the materials at hand were poor. His lower officers were as usual taken from the ranks, and inclined to pilfering. A captain was detected in the act of robbing the custom-house. As he had charge of the guard, the President determined to make an example. I find the incident recounted in my journal written at the time, and as the incidents are very characteristic of the people, I will tell the whole story. The danger of not knowing the connections of those to whom you are speaking may be exemplified by the following:—During the inevitable quarter of an hour before dinner, I was sitting next a charming Haytian lady, educated in England and married to an Englishman, when she began to tell me the news of the day. At the parade that morning the President had ordered the epaulettes of an officer to be torn off his coat on account of a petty theft he had committed at the custom-house. After he had given the order, the President turned away his head, but presently remarked, “Is he dead yet?” “Dead! your Excellency,” exclaimed an aide-de-camp. “Yes, dead. I thought that an officer of my army so publicly disgraced would instantly have put an end to his existence.” The lady’s anecdote produced a hearty laugh, first at the acting of the President, and then at the idea of any Haytian officer having a notion of such delicate honour. I remarked to my companion that the President would have done better, instead of only punishing the petty thieves, to lay a heavy hand on the great robbers, as for instance Mr. ——. The lady quietly turned to me and said, “I am sure you do not know that Mr. —— is my brother.” The start I gave convinced her that I did not; but I felt uncomfortable until, during dinner, with a nod and a smile, she asked me to take wine with her. Mr. —— had been engaged with some others in a détournement, as it was delicately called, of about seventy thousand dollars, but when I knew him afterwards, he was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and a more unworthy man it would have been difficult even for Hayti to produce.