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A VISIT TO THE EMPEROR OF HAITI, 



cases of necessity writes letters, and besides that, he reads 

 every evening, without the aid of a secretary, the new his- 

 tory of Haiti, which has just been published by M. Modion, 

 a native of much merit, and 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 in- 

 credible extent. 



" Faustin Soulouque is of the most humble origin. He 

 was born a slave on the property of M. Viallet. This 

 gentleman, who is an European, has been pointed out to 

 me. He has succeeded in escaping all the revolutionary 

 storms which have agitated this country, and at present 

 is an inhabitant of Port-au-Prince. The Emperor Sou- 

 louque having one day recently met him, went up to him 

 and said, 4 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 ! 



" 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 this taciturnity — 

 a quality which among the blacks is considered to denote 

 the most approved wisdom and discretion — he was admit- 

 ted into the secret of the several conspiracies which suc- 

 ceeded each other from 1843 to 1847. Having been 

 created a general of division under Richer, he only owed 



