No. 172.
Mr. Bassett to Mr. Fish.
Port au Prince, Hayti , April 27, 1876. (Received May 25.)
Sir: On the 17th instant I had the honor to send you a telegram via Kingston, Jamacia, in these words, namely:
Hayti, April 17.
Hamilton Fish,
State
Department, Washington.
Revolution triumphant. Domingue refugee on French war vessel. Rameau and Lorquet shot. Revolutionary committee in charge of affairs. Better spirit toward foreigners.
BASSETT.
The present dispatch is designed to outline somewhat in detail the occurrences which resulted in the facts stated in my telegram.
In my No. 440, of the 25th ultimo, I gave in brief a statement of the then actual condition of public affairs, predicting Domingue’s overthrow as a logical consequence of the almost universal sentiment of the country against Mr. Minister Rameau’s usurpations and tyrannical rule.
The situation then, as given in this statement, was, on the one hand, Domingue and Rameau in actual power, breathing vengeance against all opposed to them and confident of their ability to quell every attempt [Page 326] against their sway; on the other hand, there was a formidable insurrection “at Jacmel, another in the south at Petit Frou, a nascent spirit of revolt in other localities, and, more than all, a settled conviction of the country against the detested Rameau. Thousands of men, gathered from every quarter, had been sent forward under the government’s most trusted generals, to crush the insurgents by energetic action and overwhelming numbers. The uprising at Petit Frou was to be put down by a single sweep of a wing of the army in its march on Jacmel; the latter place was to be reduced in a combined attack by land and by sea, and every citizen who dared even to express an opinion on the affairs of his own country, if that opinion was not in laudation of Domingue and Rameau, was to be silenced with an unsparing hand.
But alas for men whose hopes are based on injustice! The insurgents at Petit Frou, inspired by the settled conviction against Rameau, were not put down by the government forces. And when the combined attack was made, on the 5th instant, against Jacmel, government artillery and musketry had to confront the same inspiration, and its land-forces, under command of the minister of war, were driven back and scattered in every direction, while the bombardment from the sea was a consummate farce, the Haytian admiral having the wisdom to keep at a respectful distance from the insurgent-guns, which he knew had determined men behind them. So that the attack by government troops upon that city was a complete and humiliating failure to them. An order then went forward from Domingue’s own hand charging his forces to push to the last extremity the attempt to reduce the city. “Reduce it to ashes; cause it to disappear, and spare no one found in hostility to the government,” was the burden of the almost frantic order.
But revolt had taken root too deeply, and once begun spread rapidly. The admiral, the minister of war, and the minister of the interior lost heart, if they ever had any, in the government cause. They dropped over to the insurgents, the admiral saying in a letter to General Boisrond Canal that he (the admiral) supposed he might keep up a semblance of blockade and bombardment upon Jacmel until the arrival of more definite news from “the movement” in other parts of the republic.
Meantime the north had caught the spirit of revolt. On the 1st instant a small place near Cape Haitien called Frou pronounced against the government, and on the 4th instant the important city of Cape Haïtien itself joined the revolution. So universal and deep-seated was the determination to rid the country of Rameau’s tyranny that all the central places on that part of the republic fell into line with the revolution, and the movement soon swept the whole north without the firing of a single gun. Men left their business, cultivators quitted their farms, and merchants gave their money to swell the advancing hosts. Every town on the line welcomed the revolutionists with open arms and warm hearts. And as fast as the former gave adhesion to the cause a revolutionary committee chosen by the prominent citizens took temporary charge of affairs, and in most instances these committees at once reaffirmed respect for foreigners and declared null and void the offensive license-decree referred to in my No. 428 of February 17, 1876.
When on the 12th instant St. Marc pronounced for the revolution, the government sent its ablest available general, Lorquet, at the head of a small force, to confront the onward march of the revolutionary army. But when he reached L’Arcahaie he too joined the revolution. Even yet Rameau was blinded by passion, rage, and tyranny. He gave it out that he would resist to the last; that he would, if his necessities demanded it, put Port au Prince to fire and sword and fight over its [Page 327] ashes; that he would, if too closely pushed by revolution against his authority, teach the whites and mulattoes of the city that the blood of 1804 was still in vigor. There is no mistaking the fact that there was great fear that he would attempt to carry out these and others of his savage threats. I knew by confidential communication from the commander of the arsenal, General Ansèlme Prophète, on the 11th instant, that he had received something like an order inspired by Rameau to put a slow match to that dreadful place at the last moment, and I am led to believe that orders or intimations had been given in the view of letting loose upon this and other cities the semi-civilized blacks of the mountains at that moment. I am told also, and it seems to be generally believed here, that an order was actually given to some of Rameau’s favorite black regiments to attack and cut down in the streets or houses every white or colored person that they could find, in case the revolutionists arrived at the gates of the city. It is a painful duty to record these statements, but dreadful as they are they seem to be accepted as correct by this community, and to be corroborated by known facts.
The 13th and the 14th instants were days of harrowing suspense to the people of Port au Prince. The diplomatic corps were then and for some time before had been in daily conference at my office, and we had free and frequent consultation with the commanders of the foreign men-of-war in the harbor. We determined of course to stand firmly by our posts, and in the interests of humanity faithfully to fulfill every duty which the moral influence of our official positions imposed upon us. We kept before the President constantly the leading ideas of Christian civilization, and allowed no act like the inquieting in their homes of the families of the insurgents, the shooting of prisoners, or the putting of women in prison and in torturing irons on account of their political sympathies, to pass without an informal remonstrance from us; remonstrance firm and solid, but always conveyed in the most carefully-chosen and delicate language and manner. It is generally believed here that our unwavering line of conduct in this regard, the presence of foreign men-of-war in these waters, and the wisdom and discretion, but well-known determination, of their commanders to protect foreigners and their interests from illegal and unwarranted violence, actually prevented contemplated acts of savagery.
The morning of the 15th instant brought us news that General Lorquet was marching upon the city at the head of several thousand revolutionary troops, against whom the government had no adequate forces to oppose. The most critical moment seemed to have arrived. The diplomatic corps met at my office, and decided to give to the President intimation of our knowledge of the critical situation, to tender to him in the most delicate manner any service that we could render to him personally, (which of course meant that if he wished to embark for foreign territory, as several of his predecessors had done under circumstances less pressing than those then existing, we would aid him in that sense,) and to express to him our now firmly fixed expectation that in any event the usages of civilization would be observed. The President did not seem fully to realize the situation, and received our representations in a manner not entirely satisfactory to us.
The French minister afterward sought conference with his naval commander, while the British minister and myself conferred with Captain Barrett, of our war-steamer Plymouth, in the view of completing arrangements for a firm defense of the rights and interests of our countrymen in any extremity that might arise. We all then decided to await the events to be developed during the day. But while we were returning [Page 328] from our conferences we received from the President, to our surprise, a pressing request to call at the palace. It was now about one o’clock in the afternoon. As we were leaving the wharf, we noticed that boxes of specie, taken from the government money-vaults, were being hurriedly brought to the landing and put on board a schooner flying the Dutch flag, but really a Haitian vessel. This attempt of Rameau to take away from the country the only funds which his misrule and almost open robbery of the government resources had left, at the very moment when everybody else saw that he must fall within a few hours, created the utmost indignation and excitement. A mob, of indescribable appearance, broke open the iron doors of the building from which the money was being taken, smashed in the iron safes, opened the vaults, and nearly murdered some Americans who had, innocently on their part, but, as I believe, maliciously on his part, aided Rameau in taking out the specie. Another mob gathered on the wharf, broke open the boxes containing the money, and what they could not carry off they flung into the sea. All these proceedings were the work of a few moments only.
Meantime, I and my colleagues of Prance, Great Britain, Spain, and Santo Domingo hurried to the palace, to respond by our presence to the President’s request to see us there. We found it full of military officers and full of excitement, The President made it known to us that he had decided to abdicate, and that he wished us to take a letter in that sense to the revolutionary chieftains, praying for an armistice of twenty-four hours, in order to allow him time to hand over the executive authority to the cabinet according to the constitution. We readily accepted the charge, and started off on horseback to meet the army in march upon the capital. As we approached the Portail St. Joseph, which leads from the city into the plain of the Cul de Sac, we encountered a body of several hundred men, evidently posted there to oppose the entrance of the revolutionary forces and to prevent others from going out to communicate with them. They were almost wild with excitement, and I felt for a moment that we were in personal danger. But the officers recognized the British minister and myself, and cried out to their men, “Don’t fire.” As soon as the ranks saw who we were, they swung their hats in the air, and sent up deafening shouts of “Vive les ministres d’Amérique et de l’Angleterre! C’est vous qui avez conservé la société. A bas Domingue! Vive la révolution!” After riding several miles without meeting the revolutionary army, which we now knew to be farther from the city than we had been led to believe at the palace, we came to a halt, and decided that, in view of probable events in the city during the afternoon, it would be advisable for some of us to be there. Accordingly, the French minister and the Spanish chargé d’affaires turned back, an act which subsequent events proved to be a wise one, while the British minister and myself kept on at a rapid pace until we met General Lorquet, delivered to him the President’s letter, obtained a satisfactory guarantee for the requested armistice, and then hurried back to the city.
On our arrival here we found Domingue in refuge under the French flag, Rameau dead, and the city actually without any recognized governing authority. It appeared that at about half past three o’clock in the afternoon the whole city had thrown itself into a paroxysm of excitement and indignation against Rameau. Young men and old, stimulated and encouraged by the women, some of whom, among them the sister of General Brice, who was killed, under Rameau’s order, May 1, 1875, actually shouldered muskets and went forward to the contest, took the offensive, and marched in front of and around the palace and before the [Page 329] residences of government partisans in different parts of the city. The palace was soon deserted by every one except Domingue, Rameau, and their wives. The son of the General M. P. Pierre, who was shot in a most brutal manner May 1, 1875, under Rameau’s orders, (see my No. 364, of May 8, 1875,) seemed to be in command of the body of young men gathered in the vicinity of the palace. At his appearance, the officers upon whom Domingue and Rameau were counting for their last defense, reversed their arms in token of submission to young Pierre and his comrades. A pressing request was then sent out by Domingue and Rameau asking for the immediate presence of the French and Spanish representatives, who at once came to the spot, and, at a glance taking in the situation, asked for a guard to accompany them and the presidential family to the French legation. The response was: “A guard for Domingue and the ladies, yes; for Rameau, never!” My colleagues, however, concluded to undertake the then perilous task of escorting to the French legation, about 350 yards distant, the four persons of the presidential family above indicated. They thereupon, about half past four o’clock, came out from the palace arm in arm with them in such a way that Rameau was between the two foreign representatives. Yells and shouts against Rameau greeted his appearance, shots were fired off in the air, and when the party had reached a point within about fifty yards of the French legation, the mob, finding it impossible to rescue Rameau from the determined protection of my colleagues without possible injury to them, tripped up his feet, causing him to fall to the ground’ and in an instant his body was riddled with bullets. Domingue also received a blow upon the head from the butt of a musket and a bayonet-thrust in the side. The late General Brice’s sister, above alluded to, dipped her handkerchief in Rameau’s blood, and held it up to the crowd, crying out that her brother’s blood was now avenged.
The President and Mesdames Domingue and Rameau reached the French legation in safety, and were, without further difficulty or opposition, taken on board the French war-steamer Le Sané. A day or two afterwards they sailed on that vessel for St. Thomas, notwithstanding Domingue’s somewhat absurd request to be taken to Aux Cayes, and then to Curacoa.
Thus fell, without a single shot fired in their defense after the critical moment arrived, Domingue and Rameau, whose administration of this government has, notwithstanding fair promises at the beginning, been characterized by violence, fraud, and hostility to foreigners. Domingue himself was not regarded as essentially a bad man, though trained to the severities of military life. His knowledge of the world, of history, and men proved to be quite limited. Personally, he always appeared to be, and I must do him the justice to say that I believe that he was, at heart, honest and patriotic, though under Rameau’s inspiration he sometimes showed that he was capable of acts not in accord with moderation or Christian civilization. He was certainly a man of pleasing and gentlemanly manners. But Rameau, in spite of his apparent intelligence, was a wicked, prejudiced, avaricious, conceited, revengeful, thoroughly dishonest man. He was, I imagine, never known to keep his word or pay an honest debt or to forgive even an imagined slight or offense. He was by nature a tyrant, and was almost without a redeeming trait in his character. And yet he had gained such perfect control over his uncle, Domingue, that the latter became a complete nullity in the conduct of affairs, and left everything to Rameau, who, in his unlimited control of affairs, showed forth alike his evil nature and disposition and his capacity for mischief and wickedness. I venture to predict that the [Page 330] memory of Septimus Rameau will, for an indefinite period, be held in execration by the Haitian people.
From the death of Rameau until the next morning the city was without any responsible government. Yet so great and sincere was the relief felt among all classes at the overthrow of Domingue and Rameau that almost no excesses of lawlessness were manifested, except that on the morning of the 16th instant a mob gathered around the house of General Lorquet, who had entered the city with a small guard of mounted men about 9 o’clock, was attacked and he himself was shot, and except that the palace and Lorquet’s residence were ransacked by the mob. The shooting of Lorquet is thought to have been inspired by personal enemies of the general and to have had no particular political significance.
On that same morning a revolutionary committee was selected to control affairs until the formation of a provisional government. Two days later General Boisrond Canal, with about one hundred others of the Haitian exiles from Jamaica, landed here at the wharf. He was there met by thousands of his fellow-countrymen and almost carried bodily by enthusiastic admirers through some of the principal streets of the city to the Catholic cathedral, where a Te Deum was chanted on the occasion. I happened to ride in the vicinity of the cathedral in coming to town just as General Canal was emerging therefrom, when he and some of the multitude recognized me, and in an instant, as if with one impulse, the assembled thousands sent up deafening and prolonged cheers for the American minister and the American flag, which were echoed by the bands of music and by the swinging of hats and the waving of handkerchiefs in the air for several seconds.
On the 23d instant a provisional government was named, composed of Canal and four others. The following day the inauguration ceremonies took place, at which were present all the foreign representatives and a large concourse of citizens and foreigners.
I am happy to say that the conduct of both the revolutionary committee and of the provisional government thus far has been commendable. No lists of persons for exile or persecution have yet been issued, as is only too usual on violent changes of government in this country. Only persons who are technically responsible for Domingue’s administration, and others whom pretty well founded or widely-spread notoriety designates as having been concerned in peculations of the public funds, have been declared “under accusation,” to be tried regularly before the proper tribunals. Elections have been ordered in each commune, with the view to an early assembling of the Corps Législatif and the establishment of a definitive government. The accomplishment of these ends will probably require about six weeks. The almost universal voice seems now to demand that Boisrond Canal shall be called to the Presidency, and the indications now appear to be that he will be called to that high office with the almost unbounded enthusiasm of his countrymen.
While I am far from entertaining the belief that Hayti is to be created into a paradise by the overthrow of Domingue and Rameau, yet I am quite clear in the opinion that no government can now possibly be chosen here which will not be a marked improvement upon the one just fallen, and that the Haitian people will hesitate a long time before they again allow such a man as Rameau to assume sway over them and their liberties.
I am, &c.,