HAYTI. 



335 



extreme regret and annoyance at what had 

 been done, and his grief of mind at the dis- 

 covery, when it was too late to remedy it ; ex- 

 pressing his readiness, in the official Moniteur 

 of the 3d, to make the most ample public 

 apology. 



Captain Annesley, of the Jason, in reply, 

 stated that this was the third time her Ma- 

 jesty's ships had been sent to Port au Prince 

 to demand satisfaction from the Government 

 of Salnave for insults offered to the British 

 flag, her Majesty's representative, in the per- 

 son of Mr. St. John, and also, on the present 

 occasion, for an outrage of a most barbarous 

 character, and for a most barbarous purpose, 

 on her Majesty's mails. On each occasion, the 

 only reparation offered was a paltry apology ; 

 but to commit an outrage and then apologize 

 was not quite so satisfactory to her Majesty's 

 Government as the Government of Hayti seem- 

 ed to suppose, and he felt it his duty on the 

 present occasion to inform the President that 

 this was the last time such apologies would be 

 accepted, and that next time when her Majes- 

 ty's naval authorities were sent to Port au 

 Prince on a similar mission the reparations 

 demanded and enforced would be of a much 

 more substantial character, and would also be 

 of such magnitude as would make the Haytian 

 authorities hesitate before offering insult to a 

 great power, and sufficiently effective to check 

 very materially the naval strength, of the 

 republic. The President expressed himself 

 satisfied, and the naval commanders, having 

 accepted of the President's apology, liberated 

 the embargoed vessels, and, hoisting the Hay- 

 tian flag on the fore of the Doris, gave it a 

 national salute, and the Jason returned to 

 Jamaica to report. 



Thus the civil strife went on, with alter- 

 nate success or defeat, until, in September, 

 things began to turn in favor of \h.Q revo- 

 lutionists. On the 27th a naval engagement 

 took place before Cape Haytien between Sal- 

 nave's steamers and those of the revolutionists. 

 In the beginning, the rebel steamer Republic 

 fought alone against the Alexandre Petion and 

 the Silvain, and, notwithstanding she was sub- 

 ject to the concentrated fire of those two steam- 

 ers, ran down the Silvain, causing her great 

 damage. At this time the rebel steamer Mont 

 Organist appeared on the scene of conflict, thus 

 making the forces equal. After eight hours' ' 

 engagement, Salnave's steamers were so badly 

 damaged that they were compelled to retire, 

 the Alexandre Petion being completely disa- 

 bled, and having to be towed into Cape Hay- 

 tien by the Silvain, where they took protection 

 under the guns of the fort. 



Gonaives was surrendered to the revolution- 

 ists ; so were Aquin, Borgue, Fort Liberte, Saint- 

 Louis, Le Male, and Port de Paix. A large 

 quantity of coffee, reported to be twelve thou- 

 sand bags, fell into the hands of the revolu- 

 tionists in Aquin. In Jeremie and Aux Cayes 

 the headquarters of Salnave's troops were aban- 



doned to the rebels, and the communications 

 by land to Aquin were entirely reestablished. 

 Salnave's forces, ^beseiging Jacmel, went over 

 to the revolutionists. 



In October gold rose to 1800. Salnave ap- 

 plied to the British admiral, Phillimore, com- 

 manding the English squadron at Jamaica, to 

 send a vessel to Port au Prince to protect it 

 against the threatened bombardment by the 

 rebels. He also forwarded troops and supplies 

 to Gonaives, Aux Cayes, and Jacmel, the last 

 place being beseiged by General Chevallier, 

 Salnave's Secretary of War. But his general, 

 Vil Lubin, was defeated before Jacmel by the 

 insurgents under General Louis Tann6. The 

 Picos (Piquets), seeing the turn things were 

 taking with Salnave, began to desert from his 

 ranks in large numbers, and to join the revo- 

 lutionists. In November, Salnave prepared 

 for the worst. He rapidly concentrated the 

 few forces left at his command and fortified 

 Port au Prince to the utmost. Exchange rose 

 to 2,500. Salnave's position in November is 

 best seen by the following proclamation : 



To the People and to the Army : 



HAYTIANS : After the unfortunate surrender of the 

 army of Gonaives under the command of Victorin 

 Chevallier, after the unwarrantable and extravagant 

 acts he committed at the capital during my absence 

 at Camp Bondet, I nevertheless ventured to nominate 

 him to the high position of Minister of War and Ma- 

 rine, to satisfy his insatiable ambition, and the better 

 to have under my notice his injurious and hypo- 

 critical movements. Shortly after, at the head of the 

 army besieging Jacmel, he has, after two months' 

 sojourn before that city, managed, from the nature 

 of his high position, to betray my confidence and to 

 raise the standard of revolt at the head of the army 

 he commanded ; without, however, reflecting that 

 he was contributing by that act of infamous treachery 

 to augment the evils which for so long a time have 

 afflicted our unfortunate country. 



Haytians ! it was on the 4th of this month of No- 

 vember that Victorin Chevallier betrayed his com- 

 mand in pretending that the army under his orders 

 had voluntarily bestowed on him the title of chief of 

 the popular army, in using the name of General Vil 

 Lubin as Provisional President, and in seeking, final- 

 ly, to seduce from allegiance General Jean Chrisostom 

 tllysse, commanding the Department of the West, 

 and Hector Kebecca, commandant of the district of 

 Leogane. 



These two honorable officers have done their duty 

 toward me by remitting me the dispatches addressed 

 to them. They have done worthily. I congratulate 

 them. 



This act, without precedent in our political ante- 

 cedents, instead of enfeebling me, adds to my stabil- 

 ity ; for, as I have promised to the nation, in the face 

 of God and of man, I will chastise all these traitors ; 

 I will purge society from these ambitious men who 

 infest it ; I will reestablish public order and national 

 unity. 



In consequence, Victorin Chevallier, ex-Secretary 

 of S,tate for War and Marine, is placed without the 

 pale' of the law. All citizens are invited to abandon 

 him, and the officers generally of the army are ab- 

 solved from all obedience to him. 



Given at the National Palace of Port au Prince, 

 6th November, 1869, and the sixty-sixth year of in- 

 dependence. S. SALNAVE. 



General Chevallier, in his turn, issued the 

 following proclamation : 



