Chapter IV: The Haitian People

The first sight of Port-au-Prince is perhaps most startling to the experienced Latin-American traveler. Caribbean cities are of the Spanish-American type--buildings square and squat, built generally around a court, with residences and business houses scarcely interdistinguishable. Port-au-Prince is rather a city of the French or Italian Riviera. Across the bay of deepest blue the purple mountains of Gonave loom against the Western sky, rivaling the bay's azure depths. Back of the business section, spreading around the bay's great sweep and well into the plain beyond, rise the green hills with their white residences. The residential section spreads over the slopes and into the mountain tiers. High up are the homes of the well-to-do, beautiful villas set in green gardens relieved by the flaming crimson of the poinsettia. Despite the imposing mountains a man-made edifice dominates the scene. From the center of the city the great Gothic cathedral lifts its spires above the tranquil city. Well-paved and clean, the city prolongs the thrill of its first unfolding. Cosmopolitan yet quaint, with an old-world atmosphere yet a charm of its own, one gets throughout the feeling of continental European life. In the hotels and cafes the affairs of the world are heard discussed in several languages. The cuisine and service are not only excellent but inexpensive. At the Cafe Dereix, cool and scrupulously clean, dinner from _hors d'oeuvres_ to _glaces_, with wine, of course, recalling the famous antebellum hostelries of New York and Paris, may be had for six gourdes [$1.25].

A drive of two hours around Port-au-Prince, through the newer section of brick and concrete buildings, past the cathedral erected from 1903 to 1912, along the Champ de Mars where the new presidential palace stands, up into the Peu de Choses section where the hundreds of beautiful villas and grounds of the well-to-do are situated, permanently dispels any lingering question that the Haitians have been retrograding during the 116 years of their independence.

In the lower city, along the water's edge, around the market and in the Rue Republicaine, is the "local color." The long rows of wooden shanties, the curious little booths around the market, filled with jabbering venders and with scantily clad children, magnificent in body, running in and out, are no less picturesque and no more primitive, no humbler, yet cleaner, than similar quarters in Naples, in Lisbon, in Marseilles, and more justifiable than the great slums of civilization's centers--London and New York, which are totally without aesthetic redemption. But it is only the modernists in history who are willing to look at the masses as factors in the life and development of the country, and in its history. For Haitian history, like history the world over, has for the last century been that of cultured and educated groups. To know Haitian life one must have the privilege of being received as a guest in the houses of these latter, and they live in beautiful houses. The majority have been educated in France; they are cultured, brilliant conversationally, and thoroughly enjoy their social life. The women dress well. Many are beautiful and all vivacious and chic. Cultivated people from any part of the world would feel at home in the best Haitian society. If our guest were to enter to the Cercle Bellevue, the leading club of Port-au-Prince, he would find the courteous, friendly atmosphere of a men's club; he would hear varying shades of opinion on public questions, and could scarcely fail to be impressed by the thorough knowledge of world affairs possessed by the intelligent Haitian. Nor would his encounters be only with people who have culture and savoir vivre; he would meet the Haitian intellectuals--poets, essayists, novelists, historians, critics. Take for example such a writer as Fernand Hibbert. An English authority says of him, "His essays are worthy of the pen of Anatole France or Pierre Loti." And there is Georges Sylvaine, poet and essayist, conferencier at the Sorbonne, where his address was received with acclaim, author of books crowned by the French Academy, and an Officer of the Legion d'Honneur. Hibbert and Sylvaine are only two among a dozen or more contemporary Haitian men of letters whose work may be measured by world standards. Two names that stand out preeminently in Haitian literature are Oswald Durand, the national poet, who died a few years ago, and Damocles Vieux. These people, educated, cultured, and intellectual, are not accidental and sporadic offshoots of the Haitian people; they _are_ the Haitian people and they are a demonstration of its inherent potentialities.

However, Port-au-Prince is not all of Haiti. Other cities are smaller replicas, and fully as interesting are the people of the country districts. Perhaps the deepest impression on the observant visitor is made by the country women. Magnificent as they file along the country roads by scores and by hundreds on their way to the town markets, with white or colored turbaned heads, gold-looped-ringed ears, they stride along straight and lithe, almost haughtily, carrying themselves like so many Queens of Sheba. The Haitian country people are kind-hearted, hospitable, and polite, seldom stupid but rather, quick-witted and imaginative. Fond of music, with a profound sense of beauty and harmony, they live simply but wholesomely. Their cabins rarely consist of only one room, the humblest having two or three, with a little shed front and back, a front and rear entrance, and plenty of windows. An aesthetic touch is never lacking--a flowering hedge or an arbor with trained vines bearing gorgeous colored blossoms. There is no comparison between the neat plastered-wall, thatched-roof cabin of the Haitian peasant and the traditional log hut of the South or the shanty of the more wretched American suburbs. The most notable feature about the Haitian cabin is its invariable cleanliness. At daylight the country people are up and about, the women begin their sweeping till the earthen or pebble-paved floor of the cabin is clean as can be. Then the yards around the cabin are vigorously attacked. In fact, nowhere in the country districts of Haiti does one find the filth and squalor which may be seen in any backwoods town in our own South. Cleanliness is a habit and a dirty Haitian is a rare exception. The garments even of the men who work on the wharves, mended and patched until little of the original cloth is visible, give evidence of periodical washing. The writer recalls a remark made by Mr. E. P. Pawley, an American, who conducts one of the largest business enterprises in Haiti. He said that the Haitians were an exceptionally clean people, that statistics showed that Haiti imported more soap per capita than any country in the world, and added, "They use it, too." Three of the largest soap manufactories in the United States maintain headquarters at Port-au-Prince.

The masses of the Haitian people are splendid material for the building of a nation. They are not lazy; on the contrary, they are industrious and thrifty. Some observers mistakenly confound primitive methods with indolence. Anyone who travels Haitian roads is struck by the hundreds and even thousands of women, boys, and girls filing along mile after mile with their farm and garden produce on their heads or loaded on the backs of animals. With modern facilities, they could market their produce much more efficiently and with far less effort. But lacking them they are willing to walk and carry. For a woman to walk five to ten miles with a great load of produce on her head which may barely realize her a dollar is doubtless primitive, and a wasteful expenditure of energy, but it is not a sign of laziness. Haiti's great handicap has been not that her masses are degraded or lazy or immoral. It is that they are ignorant, due not so much to mental limitations as to enforced illiteracy. There is a specific reason for this. Somehow the French language, in the French-American colonial settlements containing a Negro population, divided itself into two branches, French and Creole. This is true of Louisiana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and also of Haiti. Creole is an Africanized French and must not be thought of as a mere dialect. The French-speaking person cannot understand Creole, excepting a few words, unless he learns it. Creole is a distinct tongue, a graphic and very expressive language. Many of its constructions follow closely the African idioms. For example, in forming the superlative of greatness, one says in Creole, "He is great among great men," and a merchant woman, following the native idiom, will say, "You do not wish anything beautiful if you do not buy this." The upper Haitian class, approximately 500,000, speak and know French, while the masses, probably more than 2,000,000 speak only Creole. Haitian Creole is grammatically constructed, but has not to any general extent been reduced to writing. Therefore, these masses have no means of receiving or communicating thoughts through the written word. They have no books to read. They cannot read the newspapers. The children of the masses study French for a few years in school, but it never becomes their every-day language. In order to abolish Haitian illiteracy, Creole must be made a printed as well as a spoken language. The failure to undertake this problem is the worst indictment against the Haitian Government.

This matter of language proves a handicap to Haiti in another manner. It isolates her from her sister republics. All of the Latin-American republics except Brazil speak Spanish and enjoy an intercourse with the outside world denied Haiti. Dramatic and musical companies from Spain, from Mexico and from the Argentine annually tour all of the Spanish-speaking republics. Haiti is deprived of all such instruction and entertainment from the outside world because it is not profitable for French companies to visit the three or four French-speaking islands in the Western Hemisphere.

Much stress has been laid on the bloody history of Haiti and its numerous revolutions. Haitian history has been all too bloody, but so has that of every other country, and the bloodiness of the Haitian revolutions has of late been unduly magnified. A writer might visit our own country and clip from our daily press accounts of murders, robberies on the principal streets of our larger cities, strike violence, race riots, lynchings, and burnings at the stake of human beings, and write a book to prove that life is absolutely unsafe in the United States. The seriousness of the frequent Latin-American revolutions has been greatly over-emphasized. The writer has been in the midst of three of these revolutions and must confess that the treatment given them on our comic opera stage is very little farther removed from the truth than the treatment which is given in the daily newspapers. Not nearly so bloody as reported, their interference with people not in politics is almost negligible. Nor should it be forgotten that in almost every instance the revolution is due to the plotting of foreigners backed up by their Governments. No less an authority than Mr. John H. Allen, vice-president of the National City Bank of New York, writing on Haiti in the May number of _The Americas_, the National City Bank organ, who says, "It is no secret that the revolutions were financed by foreigners and were profitable speculations."

In this matter of change of government by revolution, Haiti must not be compared with the United States or with England; it must be compared with other Latin American republics. When it is compared with our next door neighbor, Mexico, it will be found that the Government of Haiti has been more stable and that the country has experienced less bloodshed and anarchy. And it must never be forgotten that throughout not an American or other foreigner has been killed, injured or, as far as can be ascertained, even molested. In Haiti's 116 years of independence, there have been twenty-five presidents and twenty-five different administrations. In Mexico, during its 99 years of independence, there have been forty-seven rulers and eighty-seven administrations. "Graft" has been plentiful, shocking at times, but who in America, where the Tammany machines and the municipal rings are notorious, will dare to point the finger of scorn at Haiti in this connection.

And this is the people whose "inferiority," whose "retrogression," whose "savagery," is advanced as a justification for intervention--for the ruthless slaughter of three thousand of its practically defenseless sons, with the death of a score of our own boys, for the utterly selfish exploitation of the country by American big finance, for the destruction of America's most precious heritage--her traditional fair play, her sense of justice, her aid to the oppressed. "Inferiority" always was the excuse of ruthless imperialism until the Germans invaded Belgium, when it became "military necessity." In the case of Haiti there is not the slightest vestige of any of the traditional justifications, unwarranted as these generally are, and no amount of misrepresentation in an era when propaganda and censorship have had their heyday, no amount of slander, even in a country deeply prejudiced where color is involved, will longer serve to obscure to the conscience of America the eternal shame of its last five years in Haiti. _Fiat justitia, ruat coelum!_

_From The Nation of September 25, 1920._

Documents

_The following are from The Nation of August 28, 1920_

The Proposed Convention with Haiti

The Fuller Convention, submitted to the Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs on May 22, 1915, by Mr. Paul Fuller, Jr., Envoy Extraordinary of the United States to Haiti, read as follows, the preliminary and concluding paragraphs being omitted:

1. The Government of the United States of America will protect
the Republic of Haiti from outside attack and from the
aggression of any foreign Power, and to that end will employ
such forces of the army and navy of the United States as may be
necessary.

2. The Government of the United States of America will aid the
Government of Haiti to suppress insurrection from within and
will give effective support by the employment of the armed
forces of the United States army and navy to the extent needed.

3. The President of the Republic of Haiti covenants that no
rights, privileges, or facilities of any description whatsoever
will be granted, sold, leased, or otherwise accorded directly
or indirectly by the Government of Haiti concerning the
occupation or use of the Mole Saint-Nicolas to any foreign
government or to a national or the nationals of any other
foreign government.

4. The President of the Republic of Haiti covenants that within
six months from the signing of this convention, the Government
will enter into an arbitration agreement for the settlement of
such claims as American citizens or other foreigners may have
against the Government of Haiti, such arbitration agreement to
provide for the equal treatment of all foreigners to the end
that the people of Haiti may have the benefit of competition
between the nationals of all countries.

The Haitian Counter-Project

The counter-project of the Haitian Government, of June 4, 1915, with such of the modifications suggested by Mr. Fuller as the Haitian Government was willing to accept, read as follows:

I. The Government of the United States of America will lend its
assistance to the Republic of Haiti for the preservation of its
independence. For that purpose it agrees to intervene to
prevent the intrusion of any Power and to repulse any act of
aggression against the Republic of Haiti. To that end it will
employ such forces of the army and navy of the United States as
may be necessary.

II. The Government of the United States will facilitate the
entry into Haiti of sufficient capital to assure the full
economic development of that country, and to improve, within
the immediate future, its financial situation, especially to
bring about the unification of its debt in such fashion as to
reduce the customs guaranties now required, and to lead to a
fundamental money reform.

In order to give such capital all desirable guaranties the
Government of Haiti agrees to employ in the customs service
only officials whose ability and character are well known, and
to replace those who in practice are found not to fill these
conditions.

The Government of Haiti will also assure the protection of
capital and in general of all foreign interests by the
organization of a mounted rural constabulary trained in the
most modern methods.

In the meantime if it be necessary the Government of the United
States, after consultation with the Government of Haiti, will
give its aid in the repression of serious disorders or troubles
which might compromise these foreign interests.

The American forces which have in the given circumstances
cooperated with the Haitian troops in the restoration of order,
should be retired from Haitian territory at the first request
of the constitutional authority.

III. The President of the Republic of Haiti covenants that no
rights, privileges, or facilities of any description whatsoever
will be granted, sold, leased, or otherwise accorded directly
or indirectly by the Government of Haiti concerning the
occupation or use of the Mole Saint-Nicolas to any foreign
government or to a national or the nationals of any other
foreign government.

IV. The President of the Republic of Haiti covenants within six
months of the signing of this convention to sign a convention
of arbitration with the Powers concerned for the settlement of
the diplomatic claims pending, which arbitration convention
will provide for the equal treatment of all claimants, no
special privileges being granted to any of them.

V. In case of difficulties regarding the interpretation of the
clauses of the present convention, the high contracting parties
agree to submit the difference to the Permanent Court of
Arbitration at The Hague.

Mr. Fuller had suggested a further modification which the Haitian Government refused. It changed the final paragraph of Article II to read: "The American forces which have in the given circumstance cooperated with the Haitian troops, shall, when order has been reestablished, be retired," etc. His other suggestions were accepted with unimportant verbal changes.

The Haitian-United States Convention

The convention between the United States and Haiti was ratified on September 16, 1915, after the occupation of the country by American troops. In its final form it is in interesting contrast with the suggested agreements printed above.

The United States and the Republic of Haiti, desiring to
confirm and strengthen the amity existing between them by the
most cordial cooperation in measures for their common
advantage, and the Republic of Haiti desiring to remedy the
present condition of its revenues and finances, to maintain the
tranquillity of the Republic, to carry out plans for the
economic development and prosperity of the Republic and its
people, and the United States being in full sympathy with all
of these aims and objects and desiring to contribute in all
proper ways to their accomplishment;

The United States and the Republic of Haiti have resolved to
conclude a convention with these objects in view, and have
appointed for that purpose plenipotentiaries:

The President of the Republic of Haiti, Mr. Louis Borno,
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Public Instruction,

The President of the United States, Mr. Robert Beale Davis,
Jr., Charge d'Affaires of the United States of America;

Who, having exhibited to each other their respective powers,
which are seen to be full in good and true form, have agreed as
follows:

ARTICLE I. The Government of the United States will, by its
good offices, aid the Haitian Government in the proper and
efficient development of its agricultural, mineral, and
commercial resources and in the establishment of the finances
of Haiti on a firm and solid basis.

ARTICLE II. The President of Haiti shall appoint, upon
nomination by the President of the United States, a General
Receiver and such aids and employees as may be necessary, who
shall collect, receive, and apply all customs duties on imports
and exports accruing at the several customs-houses and ports of
entry of the Republic of Haiti.

The President of Haiti shall appoint, upon nomination by the
President of the United States, a Financial Adviser who shall
be an officer attached to the Ministry of Finance, to give
effect to whose proposals and labors the Minister will lend
efficient aid. The Financial Adviser shall devise an adequate
system of public accounting, aid in increasing the revenues and
adjusting them to the expenses, inquire into the validity of
the debts of the Republic, enlighten both governments with
reference to all eventual debts, recommend improved methods of
collecting and applying the revenues, and make such other
recommendations to the Minister of Finance as may be deemed
necessary for the welfare and prosperity of Haiti.

ARTICLE III. The Government of the Republic of Haiti will
provide by law or appropriate decrees for the payment of all
customs duties to the General Receiver, and will extend to the
Receivership, and to the Financial Adviser, all needful aid and
full protection in the execution of the powers conferred and
duties imposed herein; and the United States on its part will
extend like aid and protection.

ARTICLE IV. Upon the appointment of the Financial Adviser, the
Government of the Republic of Haiti in cooperation with the
Financial Adviser, shall collate, classify, arrange, and make
full statement of all the debts of the Republic, the amounts,
character, maturity, and condition thereof, and the interest
accruing and the sinking fund requisite to their final
discharge.

ARTICLE V. All sums collected and received by the General
Receiver shall be applied, first to the payment of the salaries
and allowances of the General Receiver, his assistants, and
employees and expenses of the Receivership, including the
salary and expenses of the Financial Adviser, which salaries
will be determined by the previous agreement; second, to the
interest and sinking fund of the public debt of the Republic of
Haiti; and third, to the maintenance of the constabulary
referred to in Article X, and then the remainder to the Haitian
Government for the purposes of current expenses.

In making these applications the General Receiver will proceed
to pay salaries and allowances monthly and expenses as they
arise, and on the first of each calendar month will set aside
in a separate fund the quantum of the collections and receipts
of the previous month.

ARTICLE VI. The expenses of the Receivership, including
salaries and allowances of the General Receiver, his
assistants, and employees, and the salary and expenses of the
Financial Adviser, shall not exceed 5 per cent of the
collections and receipts from customs duties, unless by
agreement by the two governments.

ARTICLE VII. The General Receiver shall make monthly reports of
all collections, receipts, and disbursements to the appropriate
officers of the Republic of Haiti and to the Department of
State of the United States, which reports shall be open to
inspection and verification at all times by the appropriate
authorities of each of the said governments.

ARTICLE VIII. The Republic of Haiti shall not increase its
public debt, except by previous agreement with the President of
the United States, and shall not contract any debt or assume
any financial obligation unless the ordinary revenues of the
Republic available for that purpose, after defraying the
expenses of the Government, shall be adequate to pay the
interest and provide a sinking fund for the final discharge of
such debt.

ARTICLE IX. The Republic of Haiti will not, without the assent
of the President of the United States, modify the customs
duties in a manner to reduce the revenues therefrom; and in
order that the revenues of the Republic may be adequate to meet
the public debt and the expenses of the Government, to preserve
tranquillity, and to promote material prosperity, the Republic
of Haiti will cooperate with the Financial Adviser in his
recommendations for improvement in the methods of collecting
and disbursing the revenues and for new sources of needed
income.

ARTICLE X. The Haitian Government obligates itself, for the
preservation of domestic peace, the security of individual
rights, and the full observance of the provisions of this
treaty, to create without delay an efficient constabulary,
urban and rural, composed of native Haitians. This constabulary
shall be organized and officered by Americans appointed by the
President of Haiti, upon nomination by the President of the
United States. The Haitian Government shall clothe these
officers with the proper and necessary authority and uphold
them in the performance of their functions. These officers will
be replaced by Haitians as they, by examination conducted under
direction of a board to be selected by the senior American
officer of this constabulary in the presence of a
representative of the Haitian Government, are found to be
qualified to assume such duties. The constabulary herein
provided for shall, under the direction of the Haitian
Government, have supervision and control of arms and
ammunition, military supplies and traffic therein, throughout
the country. The high contracting parties agree that the
stipulations in this article are necessary to prevent factional
strife and disturbances.

ARTICLE XI. The Government of Haiti agrees not to surrender any
of the territory of the Republic of Haiti by sale, lease, or
otherwise, or jurisdiction over such territory, to any foreign
government or Power, nor to enter into any treaty or contract
with any foreign Power or Powers that will impair or tend to
impair the independence of Haiti.

ARTICLE XII. The Haitian Government agrees to execute with the
United States a protocol for the settlement, by arbitration or
otherwise, of all pending pecuniary claims of foreign
corporations, companies, citizens, or subjects against Haiti.

ARTICLE XIII. The Republic of Haiti, being desirous to further
the development of its natural resources, agrees to undertake
and execute such measures as, in the opinion of the high
contracting parties, may be necessary for the sanitation and
public improvement of the Republic under the supervision and
direction of an engineer or engineers, to be appointed by the
President of Haiti upon nomination of the President of the
United States, and authorized for that purpose by the
Government of Haiti.

ARTICLE XIV. The high contracting parties shall have authority
to take such steps as may be necessary to insure the complete
attainment of any of the objects comprehended in this treaty;
and should the necessity occur, the United States will lend an
efficient aid for the preservation of Haitian independence and
the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of
life, property, and individual liberty.

ARTICLE XV. The present treaty shall be approved and ratified
by the high contracting parties in conformity with their
respective laws, and the ratifications thereof shall be
exchanged in the City of Washington as soon as may be possible.

ARTICLE XVI. The present treaty shall remain in full force and
virtue for the term of ten years, to be counted from the day of
exchange of ratifications, and further for another term of ten
years if, for specific reasons presented by either of the high
contracting parties, the purpose of this treaty has not been
fully accomplished.

In faith whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed
the present convention in duplicate, in the English and French
languages, and have thereunto affixed their seals.

Done at Port-au-Prince (Haiti), the 16th day of September
in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fifteen.

ROBERT BEALE DAVIS, JR.,
Charge d'Affaires of the United States

LOUIS BORNO,
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
and Public Instruction

The New Constitution of Haiti

The new Constitution of the Republic of Haiti, ratified under the American Occupation, altered the former Constitution in regard to the important subject of the right of foreigners to hold land. Article 6 of the old Constitution reads:

No one, unless he is a Haitian, may be a holder of land in
Haiti, regardless of what his title may be, nor acquire any
real estate.

Article 5 of the Constitution of 1918 makes the following provision:

The right to hold property is given to foreigners residing in
Haiti, and to societies formed by foreigners, for dwelling
purposes and for agricultural, commercial, industrial, or
educational enterprises. This right shall be discontinued five
years after the foreigner shall have ceased to reside in the
country, or when the activities of these companies shall have
ceased.

The Haitian President's Proclamation

In the _Moniteur_, official organ of the Republic of Haiti, for September 4, 1915, in a column headed "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," the president of Haiti published a proclamation on the situation arising from the occupation by American troops of the customs-house at Port-au-Prince.

Haitians! At the very moment when the Government, engaged in
negotiations to settle the question of the presence of American
military forces on Haitian territory, was looking forward to a
prompt solution in accordance with law and justice, it finds
itself faced with the simple seizure of possession of the
customs administration of the capital.

Previously the customs-houses of several other cities of the
republic had been occupied in like fashion, and whenever the
news of such occupation reached the National Palace or the
Department of Finances, it was followed by an energetic
protest, demanding that the diplomatic representative of the
American Government residing at Port-au-Prince restore the
customs-houses and put an end to acts so contrary to the
relations at present existing between the Government of Haiti
and the Government of the United States of North America.

Haitians! In bringing these facts officially to the attention
of the country, I owe it to myself to declare further, in the
most formal fashion, to you and to the entire civilized world,
that the order to carry out these acts so destructive of the
interests, rights, and sovereignty of the Haitian people is not
due to anything which can be cited against the patriotism,
devotion, spirit of sacrifice, and loyalty of those to whom the
destinies of the country have been intrusted. You are the
judges of that.

Nor will I conceal the fact that my astonishment is greater
because the negotiations, which had been undertaken in the hope
of an agreement upon the basis of propositions presented by the
American Government itself, after having passed through the
ordinary phases of diplomatic discussion, with frankness and
courtesy on both sides, have now been relieved of the only
obstacles which had hitherto appeared to stand in their way.

Haitians! In this agonizing situation, more than tragic for
every truly Haitian soul, the Government, which intends to
preserve full national sovereignty, will be able to maintain
the necessary resolution only if all are united in exercising
their intelligence and energy with it in the present task of
saving the nation....

SUDRE DARTIGUENAVE

Given at the National Palace, September 2, 1915, in the 112th
year of our independence.

_The following are from the Nation of September 11, 1920_

Why Haiti Has No Budget

At the session of the Haitian National Assembly on August 4, the President of the Republic of Haiti and the Haitian Minister of Finance laid before that body the course of the American Financial Adviser which had made it impossible to submit to the Assembly accounts and budgets in accordance with the Constitution of Haiti and the Haiti-American Convention. The statement which follows is taken from the official Haitian gazette, the _Moniteur_ of August 7.

MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT

Gentlemen of the Council of State: On account of unforeseen
circumstances it has not been possible for the Government of
the Republic to present to you in the course of the session of
your high assembly which closes today (August 4) the general
accounts of the receipts and expenditures for 1918-1919 and the
budget for 1920-1921, in accordance with the Constitution.

It is certainly an exceptional case, the gravity of which will
not escape you. You will learn the full details from the report
which the Secretary of Finance and Commerce will submit to you,
in which it will be shown that the responsibility for it does
not fall on the Executive Power....

In the life of every people there come moments when it must
know how to be resigned and to suffer. Are we facing one of
those moments? The attitude of the Haitian people, calm and
dignified, persuades me that, marching closely with the
Government of the Republic, there is no suffering which it is
not disposed to undergo to safeguard and secure the triumph of
its rights.

DARTIGUENAVE

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF FINANCE AND COMMERCE

Gentlemen of the Council of State: Article 116 of the
Constitution prescribes in its first paragraph: "The general
accounts and the budgets prescribed by the preceding article
must be submitted to the legislative body by the Secretary of
Finance not later than eight days after the opening of the
legislative session."

And Article 2 of the American-Haitian Convention of September
16, 1915, stipulates in its second paragraph: "The President of
Haiti shall appoint, on the nomination of the President of the
United States, a Financial Adviser, _who shall be a civil
servant attached to the Ministry of Finance_, to whom the
Secretary shall lend effective aid in the prosecution of his
work. The Financial Adviser shall work out a system of public
accounting, shall aid in increasing the revenues and in their
adjustment to expenditures...."

Since February of this year (1920) the secretaries of the
various departments, in order to conform to the letter of
Article 116 of the Constitution, and to assure continuity of
public service in the matter of receipts and expenditures, set
to work at the preparation of the budgets for their departments
for 1920-21.

By a dispatch dated March 22, 1920, the Department of Finance
sent the draft budgets to Mr. A. J. Maumus, Acting Financial
Adviser, for preliminary study by that official. But the Acting
Adviser replied to the Department by a letter, of March 29: "I
suggest that, in view of the early return of Mr. John
McIlhenny, the Financial Adviser, measures be taken to postpone
all discussion regarding the said draft budgets between the
different departments and the Office [of the Financial Adviser]
to permit him to take part in the discussions."

Nevertheless, the regular session was opened on the
constitutional date, Monday, April 5, 1920. Mr. John McIlhenny,
the titular Financial Adviser, absent in the United States
since October, 1919, on a financial mission for the Government,
prolonged his stay in America, detained no doubt by the
insurmountable difficulties in the accomplishment of his
mission (the placing of a Haitian loan on the New York market).
Since on the one hand the Adviser could not overcome these
difficulties, and on the other hand his presence at
Port-au-Prince was absolutely necessary for the preparation of
the budget in conformity with the Constitution and the
Haitian-American Convention, the Government deemed it essential
to ask him to return to Port-au-Prince for that purpose. The
Government in so doing secured the good offices of the American
Legation, and Mr. McIlhenny returned from the United States
about the first of June. The Legislature had already been in
session almost two months.

About June 15 the Adviser began the study of the budget with
the secretaries. The conferences lasted about twelve days, and
in that time, after courteous discussions, after some cuts,
modifications, and additions, plans for the following budgets
were agreed upon:

1. Ways and Means
2. Foreign Relations
3. Finance and Commerce
4. Interior

On Monday, July 12, at 3.30, the hour agreed upon between the
ministers and the Adviser, the ministers met to continue the
study of the budget which they wanted to finish quickly....
Between 4 and 4:30 the Secretary of Finance received a letter
from the Adviser which reads as follows:

"I find myself obliged to stop all study of the budget until
certain affairs of considerable importance for the welfare of
the country shall have been finally settled according to the
recommendations made by me to the Haitian Government.

"Please accept, Mr. Secretary, the assurance of my highest
consideration,
JOHN MCILHENNY"

Such an unanticipated and unjustifiable decision on the part of
Mr. McIlhenny, an official attached to the Ministry of Finance,
caused the whole Government profound surprise and warranted
dissatisfaction....

On July 13 the Department of Finance replied to the Financial
Adviser as follows:

"I beg to acknowledge your letter of July 12, in which you say,
'I find myself obliged, etc....'

"In taking note of this declaration, the importance and gravity
of which certainly cannot escape you, I can only regret in the
name of the Government:

"1. That you omitted to tell me with the precision which such
an emergency demands what are the affairs of an importance so
considerable for the welfare of the country and the settlement
of which, according to the recommendations made by you, is of
such great moment that you can subordinate to that settlement
the continuation of the work on the budget?

"2. That you have taken such a serious step without considering
that in so doing you have divested yourself of one of the
essential functions which devolves upon you as Financial
Adviser attached to the Department of Finance.

"The preparation of the budget of the state constitutes one of
the principal obligations of those intrusted with it by law,
because the very life of the nation depends upon its
elaboration. The Legislature has been in session since April 5
last. By the Constitution the draft budgets and the general
accounts should be submitted to the legislative body within
eight days after the opening of the session, that is to say by
April 13. The draft budgets were sent to your office on March
22.

"By reason of your absence from the country, the examination of
these drafts was postponed, the acting Financial Adviser not
being willing to shoulder the responsibility; we refer you to
his letters of March 29 and of April 17 and 24. Finally ... you
came back to Port-au-Prince, and after some two weeks, you
began with the secretaries to study the draft budgets.

"The Government therefore experiences a very disagreeable
surprise on reading your letter of July 12. It becomes my duty
to inform you of that disagreeable surprise, to formulate the
legal reservations in the case, and to inform you finally that
you bear the sole responsibility for the failure to present the
budget in due time.
"FLEURY FEQUIERE, Secretary of Finance"

On July 19, Mr. Bailly-Blanchard, the American Minister, placed
in the hands of the President of the Republic a memorandum
emanating from Mr. McIlhenny, in which the latter formulates
against the Government complaints sufficient, according to him,
to explain and justify the discontinuance of the preparation of
the budget, announced in his letter of July 12.

_Memorandum of Mr. McIlhenny_

I had instructions from the Department of State of the United
States just before my departure for Haiti, in a passage of a
letter of May 20, to declare to the Haitian Government that it
was necessary to give its immediate and formal approval:

1. To a modification of the Bank Contract agreed upon by the
Department of State and the National City Bank of New York.

2. To the transfer of the National Bank of the Republic of
Haiti to a new bank registered under the laws of Haiti to be
known as the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti.

3. To the execution of Article 15 of the Contract of
Withdrawal, prohibiting the importation and exportation of
non-Haitian money, except that which might be necessary for the
needs of commerce in the opinion of the Financial Adviser.

4. To the immediate vote of a territorial law which has been
submitted to the Department of State of the United States and
which has its approval.

On my arrival in Haiti I visited the President with the
American Minister and learned that the modifications of the
bank contract and the transfer of the bank had been agreed to
and the only reason why the measure had not been made official
was because the National City Bank and the National Bank of
Haiti had not yet presented to the Government their full
powers. He declared that the Government did not agree to the
publication of a decree executing the Contract of Withdrawal
because it did not consider that the economic condition of the
country justified it at that time. To which I replied that the
Government of the United States expected the execution of
Article 15 of the Contract of Withdrawal as a direct and solemn
engagement of the Haitian Government, to which it was a party,
and I had instructions to insist upon its being put into
execution at once....

_The Counter Memoir_

To this memorandum the Executive Authority replied by a counter
memoir which read in part as follows:

"The modifications proposed by the Department of State [of the
United States] to the bank contract, studied by the Haitian
Government, gave rise to counter propositions on the part of
the latter, which the Department of State would not accept. The
Haitian Government then accepted these modifications in nine
articles in the form in which they had been concluded and
signed at Washington, on Friday, February 6, 1920, by the
Financial Adviser, the Haitian Minister, and the [Haitian]
Secretary of Finance. But when Messrs. Scarpa and Williams,
representing respectively and officially the National Bank of
Haiti and the National City Bank of New York, came before the
Secretary of Finance for his signature to the papers relative
to the transfer of the National Bank of Haiti to the National
City Bank of New York, the Secretary of Finance experienced a
disagreeable surprise in finding out that to Article 9 of the
document signed at Washington, February 6, 1920, and closed as
stated above, there had been added an amendment bearing on the
prohibition of non-Haitian money. The Secretary could only
decline the responsibility of this added paragraph of which he
had not the slightest knowledge and which consequently had not
been submitted to the Government for its agreement. It is for
this reason alone that the agreement is not signed up to this
time. The Government does not even yet know who was the author
of this addition to the document to which its consent had never
been asked."

Today, gentlemen, you have come to the end of the regular
session for this year. Four months have run by without the
Government being able to present to you the budget for
1920-1921.... Such are the facts, in brief, that have marked
our relations recently with Mr. McIlhenny....

FLEURY FEQUIERE, Secretary of Finance

The Businessmen's Protest

The protest printed below, against Article 15 of the Contract of Withdrawal, was sent to the Haitian Secretary of Finance on July 30.

The undersigned bankers, merchants, and representatives of the
various branches of the financial and commercial activities in
Haiti have the honor to submit to the high appreciation of the
Secretary of State for Finance the following consideration:

They have been advised from certain sources that pressing
recommendations have been made to the Government of Haiti.

1. That a law be immediately voted by which would be prohibited
the importation or exportation of all money not Haitian, except
that quantity of foreign money which, in the opinion of the
Financial Adviser, would be sufficient for the needs of
commerce.

2. That in the charter of the Banque Nationale de la Republique
d'Haiti there be inserted an article giving power to the
Financial Adviser together with the Banque Nationale de la
Republique d'Haiti to take all measures concerning the
importation or exportation of non-Haitian monies.

The undersigned declare that the adoption of such a measure,
under whatever form it may be, would be of a nature generally
contrary to the collective interests of the Haitian people and
the industry of Haiti. It would be dangerous to substitute the
will of a single man, however eminent he might be, however
honorable, however infallible, for a natural law which
regulates the movements of the monetary circulation in a
country.

It would be more dangerous yet to introduce in the contract of
the Banque Nationale de la Republique d'Haiti a clause which
would assure this establishment a sort of monopoly in the
foreign money market, which constitutes the principal base of
the operations of high commerce, when it has already the
exclusive privilege of emission of bank notes. Such a clause
would make of all other bankers and merchants its humble
tributaries, obeying its law and its caprices....

(Signed) THE ROYAL BANK OF CANADA; AMERICAN FOREIGN BANKING
CORPORATION; HAITIAN AMERICAN SUGAR CO.; RAPOREL S.S. LINE;
P. C. S.; ELECTRIC LIGHT CO.; PANAMA LINE; ED. ESTEVE & CO.;
CLYDE LINE; COMPTOIR COMMERCIAL; GEBARA & CO.; ALFRED VIEUX;
V. G. MAKHLOUF; N. SILVERA; SIMMONDS FRERES; ROBERTS, DUTTON &
CO.; WEST INDIES TRADING CO.; J. FADOUL & CO.; R. BROUARD; A. DE
MATTEIS & CO.; J. M. RICHARDSON & CO.; COMPTOIR FRANCAIS; H.
DEREIX; E. ROBELIN; F. CHERIEZ; I. J. BIGIO, AND GEO. H.
MACFADDEN.

"By Order of the American Minister"

Correspondence regarding the refusal of the Financial Adviser of Haiti, an American, but an official of the Haitian Department of Finance, to pay the salaries for the month of July, 1920, of the President and certain other officials of the Haitian Republic, revealing that the action was taken by order of the American Minister to Haiti, without explanation and without authority in the Haitian Constitution or in the Haiti-American Convention, was printed in the _Moniteur_ for August 14.

I.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, August 2, 1920.

MR. A. J. MAUMUS, Receiver General of Customs

In accordance with the suggestion made to the Financial Adviser
on July 24, your office began on the morning of July 30 to pay
the salaries for that month to the officials and public
employees at Port-au-Prince.

Nevertheless up to this morning, August 2, no checks have been
delivered to His Excellency the President of the Republic, the
secretaries of the various departments, the state councilors,
and the palace interpreter.

In calling your attention to this fact I ask that you will
please inform me of the reasons for it.

FLEURY FEQUIERE, Secretary of Finance.

II.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, August 2, 1920.

TO THE SECRETARY OF FINANCE AND COMMERCE

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of
August 2 in which you ask this office to inform you regarding
the reasons for the non-delivery, up to the present time, of
the checks for His Excellency the President of the Republic,
for the departmental secretaries, the state councilors, and
the palace interpreter, for the month of July.

In reply this office hastens to inform you that up to the
present time it has not been put in possession of the mandates
and orders regarding these payments.

A. J. MAUMUS, Receiver General.

III.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, August 2, 1920.

TO THE FINANCIAL ADVISER

The Department of Finance, informed that checks for His
Excellency the President of the Republic, the departmental
secretaries, the state councilors, and the palace interpreter
had not been delivered up to this morning, August 2, reported
the fact to the Receiver General of Customs asking to be
informed regarding the reasons. The Receiver General replied
immediately that the delay was due to his failure to receive
the necessary mandates and orders. But these papers were sent
to you by the Department of Finance on July 21, and were
returned by the payment service of the Department of the
Interior on July 26, a week ago.

I inclose copies of the note from the Department of Finance to
the Receiver General, and of Mr. Maumus's reply.

I should like to believe that bringing this matter to your
attention would be sufficient to remedy it.

FLEURY FEQUIERE, Secretary of Finance.

IV.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, August 5, 1920.

TO THE SECRETARY OF FINANCE AND COMMERCE

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of
August 2, regarding the delay in payment of the salaries of the
President of the Republic, secretaries, and state councilors.

In reply I have the honor to inform you that the payment of
these salaries has been suspended by order of the American
Minister until further orders are received from him.

J. MCILHENNY, Financial Adviser.

V.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, August 10, 1920.

TO THE FINANCIAL ADVISER

I acknowledge receipt of your note of August 5 in reply to mine
of August 2 asking information regarding the reasons for your
non-payment of the salaries for last July due to His Excellency
the President of the Republic, the secretaries, and state
councilors, and the palace interpreter.

I note the second paragraph of your letter, in which you say,
"In reply, etc."

I do not know by what authority the American Minister can have
given you such instructions or by what authority you
acquiesced. The non-payment of the salaries due the members of
the Government constitutes a confiscation vexatious for them
and for the entire country. It is not the function of this
department to judge the motives which led the American Minister
to take so exceptionally serious a step; but it is the opinion
of the Government that the Financial Adviser, a Haitian
official, was not authorized to acquiesce.

FLEURY FEQUIERE, Secretary of Finance.

VI.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, August 5, 1920.

MR. A. BAILLY-BLANCHARD, American Minister

I have the honor to inform Your Excellency that the offices of
the Financial Adviser and of the Receiver General have not yet
delivered the checks for the July salaries of His Excellency
the President of the Republic, of the secretaries, state
councilors, and palace interpreter, although all other
officials were paid on July 30.

The Secretary of Finance wrote to the Receiver General asking
information on the subject, and was informed that he had not
received the necessary mandates and orders. The fact of the
non-delivery of the checks and the reply of the Receiver
General were then brought to the attention of the Financial
Adviser, who has not yet replied.

In informing your Legation of this situation, I call the
attention of Your Excellency to this new attitude of the
Financial Adviser, a Haitian official, to the President of the
Republic and the other members of the Government, an attitude
which is an insult to the entire nation.

J. BARAU, Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

VII.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, August 6, 1920.

MR. A. BAILLY-BLANCHARD, American Minister

I have the honor to inclose a copy of a note from the Financial
Adviser to the Secretary of Finance, replying to a request for
information regarding the non-payment of checks....

In his reply the Financial Adviser informs the Department of
Finance that "the payment of these salaries has been suspended
by order of the American Minister until further orders are
received from him."

My Government protests against this act of violence which is an
attack upon the dignity of the people and Government of Haiti.

J. BARAU, Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

VIII.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, August 6, 1920.

MR. J. BARAU, Secretary of Foreign Affairs

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your
Excellency's note under date of August 5.

In reply I have to state that the action of the Financial
Adviser therein referred to was taken by direction of this
Legation.

A. BAILLY-BLANCHARD, American Minister.

IX.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, August 7, 1920.

MR. A. BAILLY-BLANCHARD, American Minister

In reply to my letter of August 5 in which I had the honor to
inform Your Excellency of the non-payment of checks, ... Your
Excellency informs me that it is by direction of the Legation
of the United States that the Financial Adviser acted.

My Government takes note of your declaration.

J. BARAU, Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

The Concession of the National City Bank

Simultaneously with the non-payment of the July salaries of the President and other officials of the Haitian Republic, the Haitian Minister of Finance received from the Financial Adviser, an American, nominally a Haitian official, but acting under instructions from the American Government, the following letter urging immediate ratification of a modified form of agreement between the United States Department of State and the National City Bank of New York. It was widely assumed in Haiti that this letter supplied the key to the unexplained non-payment of salaries, ordered by Mr. A. Bailly-Blanchard, the American Minister. The letter was printed in the _Moniteur_ for August 14.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, August 2, 1920

TO THE SECRETARY OF FINANCE

I have the honor to inform you that I have been instructed by my
Government that in view of the continual delay in obtaining the
consent of the Haitian Government to the transfer to the new bank of
the modified concession as agreed upon between the Government of the
United States and the National City Bank, the Government of the
United States has agreed to let the operations of the National Bank
of the Republic of Haiti continue indefinitely on the French
contract at present existing, without amendment.

I desire urgently to draw your attention to the fact that it would
be most desirable in the interest of the Haitian people that the
Government of Haiti should give its immediate consent to the
proposed modifications of the contract and to accept the transfer of
the bank rather than see the present contract continue with its
present clauses.

JOHN MCILHENNY, Financial Adviser

[Transcriber's Notes:

Spelling, punctuation and capitalization has been retained as in the original publication except as follows:

Page 27: Changed "glaces" to "glaces"

Page 40: Added closing quotation mark to paragraph opening with the words: "And Article 2 of the American-Haitian Convention"

Page 44: Added period to end of sentence "It is for this reason alone that the agreement is not signed up to this time"]

End of Project Gutenberg's Self-Determining Haiti, by James Weldon Johnson

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