No. 372.
Mr. Bassett to Mr. Fish.

No. 296.]

Sir: Referring to my No. 284, of the 23d of February last, I have the honor to state that I have just learned from confidential but reliable [Page 606] sources that the leaders of the Corps Législatif, realizing at last the certainty of Domingue’s success, and the futility of their opposition thereto, have, in the most private and confidential manner, opened with the prominent Dominguists negotiations looking to a compromise between the two parties, whereby the former agree to vote Domingue into the presidency in the regular way prescribed by the constitution, and the latter are to concede certain guarantees of apparently minor importance, such as, that Mr. Boyer Bazelais shall be admitted to his seat in the chamber of deputies without further factious opposition, and that certain elections recently held in the south shall not be unduly pressed for recognition. The negotiations are still in progress, and if well concluded, they may for the moment avert the civil strife tor which all parties here seem to have been more or less preparing themselves, and they may secure the precedent, all important to Hayti, of having a chief of state quietly retire at the end of the term for which he was elected.

The date fixed by the constitution for the opening of the legislative session was Monday last, the 6th instant; but no attempt at an organization has thus far been, and for several days yet may not be, made. Meantime, most persons here are in anxiety about the issue which must now so soon be met, and commercial affairs seem shifted from their ordinary grooves and for the moment brought almost to a stand-still. The events of the next ten days may enable us to determine whether peace or domestic strife awaits this country in the near future.

I am, &c.,

EBENEZER D. BASSETT.