Mr. Peck to Mr. Seward
Sir: In despatch No. 22, dated March 13th, 1867, I informed you that, on the day of my writing, President Geffrard abdicated his power and left the country, [Page 307] and that the functions of government were assumed by the cabinet, assisted by a “committee of consultation.”
I beg leave to report in this despatch the political events which have occurred since the abdication. At the first sitting, and indeed in all the sessions of the cabinet and its assisting committee, violent discussions occurred. Several of the members of the committee of consultation took extreme revolutionary ground, declaring that the revolution was an accomplished fact, and hence that the cabinet had no right to retain office; that not only the cabinet, but even the constitution and the chambers, ought to be regarded as things of the past, and that no authority ought to be recognized which did not emanate directly, and which was not fresh from the people. The discussions which these views occasioned prevented not merely harmony of action, but action itself. As a consequence, during two or three fearfully critical days there was scarcely the form of a government. And while the functions of government were thus in suspense, the public peace was exposed to three imminent dangers. The first of these dangers was that the mob would rise and indulge itself in general pillage and other violence. Business being suspended, troops of idlers were at liberty to do mischief. Every man had a weapon in his hand, and gun and pistol firing was the order of the day. The property of the late President and his relatives was sacked with hardly an objection from any quarter. Nothing was more probable than that the current which had such beginnings would soon get beyond the control of the assembly of debaters who were quarrelling over the principles of revolutionary governments. The next danger was that the “Tirailleurs,” the President’s body-guard, would give itself up to wanton violence. This corps, in past days the élite of the army, was originally recruited by volunteers, but of late it had been filled with men gathered from all parts of the country by cruel impressments It had in this way become such a mélange as might easily ripen into any mischiefs. Why should not men whose minds had become soured by years of military service, to which they had been forced by the press-gang, and in which they had been kept by the mere law of arbitrary power, feel that society owed them a recompense? And why should they not rise, now that there was hardly the least restraint upon them, to take that recompense where they could find it? Nor was the danger to the public peace from this quarter a fancied one. The corps seized an arsenal which had lately been filled with army stores, and took from it all its contents, and for days military equipments were being hawked about the streets for sale at any price. Every hour, too, troops of the disorganized and almost disbanded corps were making threats of further mischiefs which they were intending to do.
The third danger to the public peace during this period of non-government came from the probability that ambitious men would catch the favorable moment to excite popular commotions to advance their political interests. Many things made it clear that pronunciamientos were being matured, and to what violence such modes of president-making might lead no one could predict. But, by the favor of Providence, none of these dangers, although they kept the public mind in a state of harrowing alarm, came to issue.
In the course of two or three days the senate came together. The seats in this body are acquired by the election of the lower house, from a list presented by the President. The members of the convening body had, therefore, been elected through the favor of President Geffrard, and were recognized by the public as partisans of his. Their doings, therefore, were not likely to meet with much favor from the country with which President Geffrard and his adherents were in such disfavor.
A sense of this fact lead some of the members to doubt whether the body should undertake to elect a President, which, according to the constitution, was its first duty. This doubt was greatly increased by the fact that the revolution at St. Marc, of which I spoke in my last despatch to you, had cut [Page 308] off all communication with the north, so that no members were in attendance from that quarter. Two days of the session were accordingly passed in discussing the question whether anything should be done.
At length this question was settled in the affirmative. Then came the question, What shall be done? It was manifest that the revolution must be accepted as an accomplished fact; that the justice of its demands as to reforms must be acknowledged, and that its principles must be received and put in practice. On these related points there could be no doubt. But should the men of the revolution be put in power, or should the great offices be given to men of standing and worth, who had not been identified with the revolution and who, therefore, might be expected to introduce into the government the needed changes, without permitting any serious revulsion to public interests to occur?
The latter alternative seemed, at first, likely to be accepted. But reports of the rapidly-increasing strength of the revolution in the north at length decided the senate to surrender everything to the revolution, which it did on Sunday, March 17th, by electing General Nisage, the supposed head of the movement in the north, to the presidency. General Nisage is a man noted for the probity of his character, and his good name made all parties here accept the choice. The dread of a continuance of the dead-lock in the temporary government gave to this public approval some degree of enthusiasm. It was, therefore, with positive joy that people saw steamer after steamer going to St. Marc with delegations, sent to urge General Nisage to accept the proffered honor. And this joy gave place to uneasiness when two, three, and even four days passed without the return of the delegations, and indeed without even a report of what was passing in the north. What was detaining the delegations will appear further on.
Here my narrative of events occurring here must pause while I go back to trace the history of the movement in the north.
On the 9th instant, a few days before President Geffrard had publicly announced his determination to abdicate, one Victorin Chevalier, a citizen of Gonaives, who was exiled for the part he took in the attempt at revolution in that town in May last, came, with 15 followers, from Turks’ Island, and appeared at St. Marc, where he hoisted the flag of revolution. The government officials could not, or would not, withstand him; and, after a short conflict, the demand for revolution was accepted by General Nisage, the officer in command of the government troops.
Immediately upon the accession of General Nisage to the new order of things, a provisional government was formed, and General Nisage was, by the unanimous choice of the people, and with the consent of Chevalier and his party, put at its head. It was well that the movement accepted such a chief. Chevalier is a man of violent and unreasonable temper, and is thoroughly “red republican” in his political principles. If he had been allowed to rule, the most weighty vengeance would probably have been visited upon all friends of President Geffrard. The firm hand and good sense of Nisage kept prudence and moderation in their seats.
But the movement took, so far as principles were concerned, the most revolutionary form. A new constitution, new chambers, a shortening of the presidential term, the election of the President by the people—such was its programme.
Being thus established at St. Marc, the revolutionary party sent troops to set up the new order of things at Gonaives. But General Lorquet, the commandant of that arrondissement, met the detachment and sharply repulsed it. A day or two afterwards a new movement was made by the revolutionary party towards Gonaives; but, just as battle was about to be joined, a messenger brought word that President Geffrard had abdicated.
Hostilities were at once suspended, and General Lorquet, with all his troops and the people of Gonaives, acceded to the St. Marc’s movement.
[Page 309]Of some affairs which occurred in both St. Marc and Gonaives, when the revolutionary party got the mastery, and which brought our consuls at those points into great difficulty, and even personal peril, in consequence of their efforts to protect American citizens and political refugees, I may speak hereafter, in a separate despatch.
Just as the revolution had become well established at St. Marc and Gonaives, a delegation from the senate arrived at St. Marc to give General Nisage notice of his election, by the senate, to the presidency. The tidings brought by the delegation at first threw some confusion into the ranks of the revolutionists. There was much heated discussion of the question, Shall we, now that our movement has been recognized by the election of our leader to the presidency, retract our declaration that the constitution must be changed and the chambers be set aside? The discussion soon ended, however, in a unanimous:decision to adhere to the plan for a total change of the political state and to maintain the provisional government.
This decision being reached the successive delegations which came from this city with entreaties to General Nisage to accept the presidency were all detained, and communications with this city were forbidden.
After two or three days’ preparation an army of between two and three thousand men started from St. Marc for this city; and, on the morning of the 20th, when everybody here was expecting to receive General Nisage as the regularly elected President, he made an entry into the town with his army, and announced that he not only refused the election tendered him by the senate, but, as chief of the new government established by the people, declared that the senate itself no longer had being.
The bearing of the wild-looking troops at his back was an argument which could not be resisted, and the town yielded without striking a blow.
The new comers did not abuse their easy triumph. They showed a spirit of conciliation in the political arrangements which they made, and order was well maintained among their troops.
The provisional government established at St. Marc was now modified somewhat. Prominent men from different parts of the country, and of widely different political antecedents, were taken into it. Even friends of President Geffrard were assigned to places in it.
The provisional government, as thus re-constituted, consisted of a general committee of 21 persons, representatives of different arrondissements, at the head of which stood General Nisage as Provisional President. From this general committee an “executive committee” was taken. The government, as thus constituted, embraced a fair share of the best men of the country.
Although General Nisage was made Provisional President, General Chevalier was appointed “chef d’execution des volontés du peuple.” Precisely what the duties of this chief of the execution of the will of the people were to be was not announced.
A committee of thirty persons, fairly representing all parts of the republic, was appointed to meet on the 8th of next month, (April,) “to make such changes in the constitution as experience demanded.”
The different departments of the public service were also allotted to special committees of five members each, taken from the geueral committee of 21.
The wheels of government were thus set in motion, and, on the whole, the provisional authority has had more success in securing the adhesion of the country, and in maintaining order, than could have been expected. Still there has been endless jar in the working of things and a general break-up has been greatly feared by intelligent observers. Everybody has felt the want of a firm directing mind, and this feeling has led the government to send a delegation to Turks’ Island, to invite General Salnave, who is there, to come here and take a place on the general committee; in fact, to be the head of things.
[Page 310]The return of the delegation is now hourly expected, and important results are likely to grow out of the reply from General Salnave which it may bring.
I am sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.