The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-31 00:00:00

A VISIT .TO THE EMPEROR OF
HAITI. •
The following graphic account of a visit paid to the
Emperor Faustin I. by a French gentleman, who
has just returned from Haiti, will be read with in-
terest. • The object of the writer. of the letter in
visiting the West India Islands' was to inquire into
the state of the negro population, ;he being a warm
advocate for the abolition of slavery, and an influential
member of the principal abolitionist societies in
France. It will be seen, hoWever, that the present
'letter has no reference to the peculiar object of his
journey, but is confined exclusively to an account of
the new Emperor :
" Kingston (Jamaica), March 18, 1850.
"During the month which I have passed at Haiti
—a month of new studies and curious observations—
I have not had a moment of leisure to write to'you,
having been continually
But now that I am enjoying
moving from place to place.
the repose of this quiet
island I could,from my notes and my recollections,
send you a whole volume on the most interesting of
the West India islands—on that empire of the western
world which looks forward with pride and confidence
to its example being imitated by la belle France. In
order, however, not to extend my letter to an undue
length, I shall postpone the.account of the picturesque
and limit myself to some
dpeoeretinroiptioo my
description
efhieme journey,Majesty
ety
the' Emperor Faustin I.-
and his court.
"On my arrival at Port-au-Prince my first care
was
Popch consul) to pre-
sent ine to,t, tIo
he4resent noment, is
t ° ask
the Al.
thecentre of Atria* admirisn, and envy le this
Rmaayebawuhde, (t be
After a delay of a few
rdeemyso,tlnipo.
Rrtaiyobneuofdtihnefegrlmobeed.
one that the desired inter-
view would be granted, and that it had been arranged
that it should take place on the following day. At the
appointed time we went to the Palace. This edifice,
which was in former times the residence of the
governors of St. Domingo, assumes an imposing and
even royal appearance when compared with
the wretched hovels of which the rest of
the town is composed. In point of fact, however, it
would be considered very mediocre in any country
where architecture has made some progress. The
palace is very low, being composed of only one story,
raised a few feet from the ground, and approached by
four or five steps, which extend all around the edifice.
A court which is railed in, and in which the Emperor
passes a review of his troops every Sunday, reminds
one vaguely of that of the Tuileries. On entering the
palace we were shown into a waiting room, which I
examined with attention. The floor is in white marble,
thefurniture in black hair-cloth and straw. On a richly
carved table appeared a beautiful bronze clock,
representing the arms of Haiti—namely, a
palm-tree, surrounded with fascines of pikes
and surmounted with the Phrygian cap. The
walls were decorated with two fine portraits,
hung so as to correspond with each other. The
one represents the celebrated French conventionalist,
the Abb6 Gregoire, and the other the reigning Em-
peror of 'Haiti. The former is the work of an
European artist; the latter does honour to the talent
of a mulatto artist, the BaronComlbyeratteeltiesnhouhladd,
neighbouringe e perhaps,t been
attracted rem
apartment,a rbkye dt
the
more,estienpt of his Majesty in the
if 0
which we , were
presently ushered. This apartment is hung with
the portraits of all the great men of Haiti. and it is
in it that the grand receptions are given. We imme-
diately approached his Majesty, who was alone
in the room and standing. the Emperor was
dressed in a handsome green uniform, irreproachable
either in material'or form. He wore two gold epau-
lettes_ ornamented with two silver stars ; a plaque
provisionally ornamented with crystal decorated his
breast. He had a sword by his side, ani carried his
hat in his hand. He commenced by giving us a very
cordial shake of the hand. He then sat down on a
fauteuil,
,and waited, with some appearance of confu-
sion and timidity, till M. Raybaud addressed him.
We had, at his invitation, sat down upon chairs. The
consul, after mentioning my name and profession, in-
formed the Emperor that I had come to visit his empire
simply from motives of curiosity and amusement, and
that it would have been a great disappointment to me
if I had been obliged to leave the island without
having
.had the honour of being received by his Ma-
jesty. To this speech I added, • Sire, it was the only
object of my voyage,' at the same time half rising from
my seat. The Emperor imitated my movement, and
thanked me, adding at the same time, 'I have already
had the pleasure of seeing this gentleman at the re-
view on Sunday.' It was now my turn to offer my
thanks for this flattering reminiscence. The conver-
sation continued in the same manner for about twenty
minutes. When we rose to, take our leave of the
Emperor, he again shook hands with us. Three sa
lutations on our part, and as many on his, concluded
the ceremony.
" Faustin Soulouque is completely black, but his
features have not by any means that savage and
hideous form which ignorance attributed to the
negroes of purely African origin. On the contrary,
his features are pleasing, and there is a peculiar
sweetness in his smile. Though 64 years of age, he
does not appear to be more than 50. In height he
is middle-sized. His breast is large and project-
ing, his shoulders broad, and his haunches clumsy,
like those for which Louis XVIII. was peculiar.
From the regularity of his features, his profile looks
like that of a Roman Emperor. When standing, his
corpulence makes him appear little. Though natur-
ally taciturn, he is always dignified and choice in
his words. It is right to rectify an error which at-
tributes to him an entire ignorance of the French
language. In my presence he spoke very,correctly,
and without any mixture of creolicisms. He has
also been accused of not being able either to read or
write. The truth is, that he signs ills name legibly,
and even in cases of necessity writes letters, and be-
sides that he reads every evening, without the aid of
a secretary, the new history of Haiti, which has just
been published by M. Modion, a native of much merit,
who has recently been created a baron. He is greatly
annoyed at the caricatures of him published in the
Paris Charivari, and the jokes of the press in general.
On this point he is susceptible to an incredible extent.
"Faustin Soulouque is of the most humble origin.
Re was born a slave on the property of M. Viallet.,
This gentlemen, who is a European, has been pointed
out to me. He has succeeded in escaping all the re-
volutionary storms which have agitated this country,
and at present is an inhabitant of Port-au-Prince.
The Emperor Soulouque having one day recently
met him, went up to him and said, ' Although I am
an Emperor to the rest of the world, I cannot but
look upon you as my master." And I,' replied M.
Viallet, ' consider myself as your subject.' How
strange are human destinies! .
it At the period of the evacuation of Haiti by the
French, the emancipated slave entered as a soldier the
army of General Dessalines. From 'step to step he
rose to the rank of colonel, and he held that rank at
the period of the fall of the President Boyer, a grave
event, in which the present EmperOr was not at all
implicated. From his taciturnity—a quality which
among the blacks is considered to denote the most
approved wisdom and discretion--he was admitted into
the secret of the several conspiracies which succeeded
each other from 1843 to 1847. Having been created
a general of division under Richer, he only owed bis
election as Emperor to the accident of his name having
been mentioned in the Senate at the moment when
the votes were divided between two candidates,
neither of whom had a sufficient majority. He then
became, the means of conciliation between the parties.
The blacks voted for him on account of his ebony skin,
the mulattos because they thought they had no rea-
son to fear the ambition of one who had till then been
quite unknown. But the latter were not long in
discovering that they had given to themselves a
master and not a flexible instrument. Hence proceeded
the sanguinary events of the month of April, 1848.
"Soulouque triumphed in consequence of his dis-
playing a terrible energy of character. His victory
was disgraced by some frightful executions. Per-
fidious counsellors drove him into a course of ven-
geance, speaking of nothing less than exterminating
the whole coloured race, who form the fifth of the
Population of Haiti. In this state of matters the
Consul-General of France acquired for ever
the gratitude of humanity. In the midst of the
balls which whistled through the streets of Port-
au-Prince he repaired to the chief of the State,
and succeeded, after reiterated efforts, in obtaining
from him an amnesty, which excluded only twelve
persons, whose safety had been already secured. In
departing with the good news, M. Raybaud said to
Soulouque, ' President, of all the persons here pre-
sent I am the only one who does not depend on you,
and my opinion should appear to you at least the
most disinterested. Many of these persons (pointing
to the instigators of the crime) excite your resent-
ment as much as possible, and drive you to the most
sanguinary measures, without in the least troubling
themselves about the opinion that will be entertained
of you beyond this island. These last words
made the greatest impression on the mind of Sou-
louque, and the hand of the conqueror ready to strike
the conquered was arrested by this appeal to the
tribunal of civilized nations. Soulouque. for the last
two years was principally occupied in re-conquering
the Spanish part of the island, erected into the Do-
minican Republic, when, to the surprise of the Euro-
pean press, he was proclaimed Empsrnr. People
have generally agreed in saying that he did not