No. 171.
Mr. Bassett to Mr. Evarts.
Port au Prince, Hayti, August 17, 1877. (Received Sept. 3.)
Sir: I have the honor to represent that this government is now in the midst of a kind of ministerial crisis, in consequence of a resolution [Page 317] adopted in the Chamber of Deputies on the 10th instant, declaring blamable and unpatriotic the conduct of two of President Canal’s ministers in causing to be inserted in the official journal, Le Moniteur, the vote of the chamber “adjourning” a project of law which was submitted by the executive, and which proposed to make a general increase of the salaries of government employés. Already the unpopular minister of the interior, Mr. Thoby, has resigned, and it is thought that the minister of finance and foreign affairs, Mr. Ethéart, will be forced to leave the cabinet. President Canal has called upon the leaders of the chamber to aid him in forming a new ministry, and has even pressed them to take part in the ministry themselves. But they have all declined to accede to his wishes in this regard.
The crisis has not yet passed, and I shall in due time give you full information of the important facts in the matter, as illustrative of the bearing and tendency of political events in this remarkable and peculiar republic.
I am, sir, &c.,