BOYER THE SUCCESSOR OF PÉTION IN HAYTI.
Boyer, the new president, was peaceably acknowledged by the people of
the republic as their lawful chief, and no other general of the army
manifested any disposition to establish an adverse claim to the vacant
dignity.
Boyer, finding himself tranquilly seated in power, and placed beyond
any danger from the hostile enterprises of the rival dynasty, devoted
himself to the encouragement of agriculture and commerce within his
territory. He made a tour of inspection through all the different
districts, and in each of them the due observance of the laws was
enjoined, and the citizens were urged to abandon their idle habits, and
for the good of the State, if not for the promotion of their individual
interests, to employ themselves in the development of the great
resources of the country.
Within a few months after his elevation to power, the new president
formed the resolution to disperse the hordes of banditti that infested
Grande Anse, and kept the whole South in perpetual alarm. Conscious of
the importance there existed of depriving his great competitor of a
lodgment within the very heart of the republic, such as to expose its
very capital to the danger of an attack both in front and rear, Boyer
determined to fit out a sufficient force to sweep the mountains of La
Hotte, and if possible, to capture Gomar within the very fastnesses
which had been for so many years his natural citadel.
Christophe, on the other hand, determined, if possible, to preserve
this important point from which he could so easily gain an entrance to
the territory of the republic, made a diversion in favor of the Maroons
in this movement against them, by assuming a hostile attitude upon
the northern frontier of the republic. A formidable detachment of the
royal army was already entering the neutral territory of Boucausin,
and threatening another attack upon Port au Prince, when Boyer found
it necessary to defer his intended expedition against Gomar, and
recall all his forces to repel the danger which was threatening in an
opposite quarter. This was the single result which Christophe designed
to accomplish by his movement on Port au Prince; and when this had been
effected, his army returned to its quarters in the North.
But Boyer was not to be turned aside from his resolution of rescuing
the best districts of his territory from continual spoliation, and
when the panic had subsided which had been inspired by the threatened
invasion of Christophe, he put his troops in motion in the autumn of
1819, for a campaign against the Maroons of Grande Anse. The troops of
the republic met, and defeated the brigands.
Having accomplished the objects of his visit, and left peace and
tranquillity where those conditions had so long been unknown, Boyer
commenced his return to his capital, gratified that his attainment
of power had been effected so peaceably, and that the hopes of his
administration were already based more solidly than ever upon the
wishes of the people.
Boyer had now attained complete success in his design to shut the
boundaries of his states against the machinations of Christophe; and
until a more favorable moment he contented himself to maintain a policy
strictly defensive against an opponent so warlike. The latter, on his
side, enraged at the defeat and overthrow of his allies of Grande Anse,
began to threaten another invasion of Boyer’s territory, and many
months glided away in the daily expectation of the commencement of
hostilities between the two governments. In this interval the growing
tyranny of Christophe forced a flood of emigration from his realms
into the territories of the republic, and the very household troops
of the monarch began to desert in large numbers from the service of a
sovereign whose cruelty decimated their ranks at the instigation of
his caprice. Bold, crafty, and suspicious, Christophe with one breath
congratulated his subjects upon the glorious possession which they held
of personal liberty and national independence, and with another he
doomed them to scourgings, imprisonment, and death.
So unlimited and habitual was his severity, that it was said of
him that he would put a man to death with as little hesitation as
a sportsman would bring down an article of game. His dungeons were
filled with thousands of victims of all colors, and new detachments of
prisoners were daily arriving to swell the number. The innocent were
confounded with the guilty; for under the promptings of his hatred or
jealousy, the despot would not stop to make nice discriminations.