UNION OF HAYTI AND SANTO DOMINGO.
The death of Christophe was hailed with enthusiasm and applause, in his
own part of the Island, as well as in the republic; and on the 15th of
October, 1821, General Paul Romaine put himself at the head of affairs,
and proclaimed a republic. A deputation was at once dispatched to
President Boyer, with an offer to unite the two governments under him,
as their head. This was accepted, and in a short time the union took
place.
From the time of the evacuation of the Island by the French under
Rochambeau, Santo Domingo, the Spanish part of the Island, had become a
place of refuge for the white colonist, and the persecuted mulattoes;
and during the administration of Dessalines and Christophe, Santo
Domingo was comparatively quiet, except an occasional visit from the
partisans of some of the Haytian chiefs. Santo Domingo was a mulatto
government, and it hailed with joy the union under Boyer, and a scheme
was set on foot to carry the Spanish part of the Island over to Boyer.
Many of their best men thought it would be better for the whole Island
to be governed by one legislature, and that its capital should be at
Port au Prince.
The authorities of Santo Domingo were clearly of this opinion, for when
the new project was laid before them, they yielded a ready assent, and
a deputation immediately set forward in the month of December, 1821,
to convey the wishes of the Spanish blacks to the mulatto chief of
the French part of the Island. Boyer was formally solicited to grant
his consent that the Spanish part of the Island should be annexed to
the republic. This was a demand so gratifying to Boyer’s personal
ambition that any reluctance on his part to comply with it was clearly
impossible. Thus the Spanish deputies were received with the utmost
graciousness, and dismissed with every favor that gratified hope could
bestow.
But a year had elapsed since the rebellion in the North had transferred
the realms of Christophe as a precious godsend to the peaceable
possession of Boyer, and the army of the republic was now ordered to
put itself in readiness for a victorious and bloodless march to Santo
Domingo. Boyer placed himself at its head, and a rapid advance was made
into the heart of the Spanish territory. Not the least resistance was
encountered, and the inhabitants of each of the towns in succession
hastened emulously to testify their adherence to the cause of the
republic, until the invading column marched at last in a sort of
triumph into the city of Santo Domingo.
The principal authorities, and the people generally, made a formal
transfer of their allegiance to their new rulers, and were permitted
to remain in the enjoyment of their former privileges. The chief
command of the lately acquired territory was placed by Boyer in the
hands of General Borgella, and the president returned to Port au
Prince, gratified by the extraordinary success with which fortune had
crowned his administration; which he commenced by governing a distant
province in the southwestern part of the Island, and by a succession
of unlooked-for incidents, he had been placed at the head of the whole
country, without a competitor to annoy him, or any malcontents to
disturb the internal repose of his government.
The death of Christophe, and the elevation of Boyer to the government
of all St. Domingo, were events which had in the meantime created a
strong sensation in the ranks of the old colonists residing in France,
as well as at the office of the minister for the colonies. Boyer’s
attachment to France was presumed to be stronger than that of his
predecessor, Pétion, and under such circumstances, new hope was derived
from the event of his exaltation to power. It was now thought that
an occurrence so propitious to the claims of France upon her ancient
colony would lead to a satisfactory adjustment of the difficulty which
had been interposed against the success of former negotiation. The
French cabinet immediately formed the resolution to sound the new chief
of Hayti as to his sentiments in regard to an arrangement between
the two governments. The difficulties in the way of an easy conquest
of the country, and the tone of firmness which had been held both by
Christophe and Pétion to all former demands made upon them by the
agents of France, had by degrees depressed the hopes of the colonists,
and diminished the expectations of the French government in relation
to the claims upon St. Domingo. The restoration of the Island to its
former condition of colonial dependence, and the establishment of the
ancient planters in the possession of their estates and negroes, were
no longer regarded as events within the bounds of possibility, and the
demands of France upon the government of Hayti were now lowered to the
mere claim of an indemnity to the colonists for the losses which had
reduced them to beggary.
At length, a secret agent of the minister of marine held an audience
with Boyer, and informed him that the French government having in
former years made repeated attempts to accomplish an arrangement
between the two countries, all of which had been fruitless, it was
desired that Boyer himself would renew the negotiations in his turn. In
consequence of this information, Boyer appointed General Boyé as his
plenipotentiary, who was furnished with instructions authorizing him
to commence negotiations with the appointed agent of France, either
in that or some neutral country, for the purpose of terminating the
differences existing between their respective governments. M. Esmangart
and the Haytian envoy agreed to hold their conferences at Brussels, but
the hopes of the two contracting nations were in this instance also
destined to be frustrated. The parties could not agree as to the nature
of the indemnity to be made.
At length, in 1825, after the recognition of the independence of Hayti
by others, the French, under Charles X., sold to its inhabitants the
rights which they had won by their swords for the sum of one hundred
and fifty millions of francs, to be paid as an indemnity to the
colonists. This was the basis of a treaty of peace and fraternal
feeling between France and Hayti, that resulted in great good to
the latter. In 1843, a party opposed to president Boyer made its
appearance, which formed itself into a conspiracy to overthrow the
government. Seeing that he could not make head against it, Boyer, in
disgust, took leave of the people in a dignified manner, and retired to
the island of Jamaica, where, a few years since, he died.
Jean Pierre Boyer was born at Port au Prince, on the second of
February, 1776, received a European education at Paris, fought under
Rigaud and Toussaint L’Ouverture; and in consequence of the success
which the black leader obtained, quitted the Island. Boyer returned to
Hayti in Le Clerc’s expedition; he, however, separated from the French
general-in-chief, and joined in the foremost in the great battle for
the freedom of his race. He was a brave man, a good soldier, and proved
himself a statesman of no ordinary ability. When he came into power,
the mountains were filled with Maroons, headed by their celebrated
chief, Gomar; Rigaud and Pétion had tried in vain to rid the country of
these brigands.
Boyer, however, soon broke up their strongholds, dispersed them,
and finally destroyed or brought them all under subjection. By his
good judgment, management, and humanity, he succeeded in uniting the
whole island under one government, and gained the possession of what
Christophe had exhausted himself with efforts to obtain, and what
Pétion had sighed for, without daring to cherish a single hope that
its attainment could be accomplished. Few men who took part in the St.
Domingo drama, did more good, or lived a more blameless life, than
Boyer.