Office of the Historian

No. 396.
Mr. Langston to Mr. Evarts.

Legation of the United States,
Port-au-Prince, January 9, 1880. (Received Jan. 23.)
No. 220.]

Sir: The anniversary of Haytian independence was observed this year, commencing on the 31st ultimo and closing on the 1st instant, by all classes of the people, in and about the capital especially, with marked spirit and earnestness.

The reception held by the President at the National Palace on the afternoon of the 31st, attended chiefly by the representatives of foreign powers, resident of this city, and the high dignitaries and officers, civil and military, was large and brilliant.

The diplomatic and consular body, composed of the various ministers, chargés d’affaires, and consuls-general and consuls, accredited to the government, was fully represented on this occasion, and through its dean, Comte Millon de la Verteville, minister of France, paid its respects and congratulations to his excellency the President in handsome and befitting, phrase.

The opening of the first day of the new year, 1880, was announced with such firing of cannon as to make to echo and re-echo the mountains which surround the city, and far across the beautiful harbor which lies ever so peaceful and tranquil in its face—those sounds which so strikingly remind the Haytian of the peculiar circumstances in the midst of which the independence of his country was begotten.

It was on the 1st day of January, 1804, that Hayti’s great but bloody leader, Dessalines, sustained by his officers and men, as well as the people, declared the independence of his countrymen, who had but just asserted and maintained in blood their right to freedom, and who were then to enter upon a national existence, honorable, it was to be hoped, to themselves and mankind.

Whatever may have been the conflicts, the experiences, the revoke tions, which have interrupted the progress and general advancement of the country, the people of Hayti may with just pride celebrate the fact that, for seventy-six years, they have maintained and to day enjoy, with the hope of transmitting to their posterity, if they are wise and loyal, national independence and self-government.

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Among the ceremonies of the 1st instant, especially appropriate and interesting, should be mentioned first of all in the order of importance the meeting at La Place Pétion. Here were assembled the President, the secretaries of state, and more distinguished personages, the members of the corps legislatif and foreign representatives, occupying the altar of the country (l’autel de la patrie), officers of the government of every rank and grade, and citizens prominent in social and political life, as well as an immense crowd of the more common people, gathered in honor of the occasion to listen, upon this classic ground, near the grave of the statesman whose name it bears, to the address of the chief of state, delivered here after a custom followed by all his predecessors. A copy, with translation, of the discourse delivered by the President, and published in the Moniteur of the 3d instant, is herewith inclosed. Though brief, it is well worded, and appropriate in sentiment and style, characterized by earnest patriotism, and genuine devotion, seemingly, to the country and government.

In the next place, the military display on this occasion deserves special mention, for it was unusually imposing. The army discovered, in its several branches, the good effects of the reorganization which it has been undergoing since the advent of the present administration, and its uniform, equipment, behavior, and numbers showed it more than ever a means of defense, support, and honor to the country. Without being able to state the exact figures, it is safe to estimate the number of the regular army, the guard of the President, and the national guard parading on the 1st instant, at three thousand, residents in the main of Port-au-Prince.

With regard to the Te Deum celebrated at the cathedral, the general rejoicings throughout the day, and the illuminations in the evening, no less can be said than that the former was performed with the interest usual to such exercises of the church, while the latter were cordial and well ordered.

The fête of this occasion, like the close of the President’s address and the conclusion of the exercises at the church, was signalized, at 5 o’clock p.m., with a salvo of seventeen guns. And thus the seventy-sixth anniversary of Haytian independence, celebrated with éclat, passed in good order and with beneficial effect, no doubt, to all concerned.

I am, &c.,

JOHN MERGER LANGSTON.
[Inclosure in No. 220.—Translation.]

Salomon, President of Hayti, to the people and to the army.

Fellow-Citizens: In establishing our independence our fathers were not contented with bequeathing to us a native country; they wished that a solemn fête might each year remind their descendants upon what condition this nationality could be conserved. To establish as a national fête this anniversary of the proclamation of our independence and of the oath which they had taken on this occasion, was to make us remember constantly the close union by means of which they had created this country. Was not this, in fact, the secret which conducted to victory the heroic soldiers of an entire people, of a whole race—which made one nation of an agglomeration of slaves?

Fellow-citizens, have we profited by the lesson which our fathers have given us, of that which in their wisdom they had wished each year to remind us by the fête? The response is only too easy; a fatal spirit has taken possession of our people; parties whose names have very often changed, while the tendencies and the object might be the same—parties exasperated—have from the beginning compromised the work of 1804. Without doubt, our national independence remains intact. But was this all we had [Page 628] to do to satisfy ourselves to conserve it? Did we not owe it to our fathers, to our race, to ourselves, to prove to the world that this independence was not the mere result of courage and of fortune? That on the side of the virtues upon which nations are founded we have the qualities which conserve and develop them? And yet, neither intelligence nor courage has failed us, hut we have only understood how to misuse them; we have turned them against ourselves. We have forgotten that sentiment of solidarity, that firm union which enabled our fathers to escape difficulties even greater than ours. This fête vainly recurs each year; it is no longer appreciated; this voice of the past is only an echo without value, a common remembrance, a custom, which has been ruined by habit.

Very well, to-day, in presence of the ruins which surround us, I have desired to impress you with the hearty and profound meaning of this feVfce I have wished to call up in your presence this simple idea, and yet so forgotten, of the union which had gathered our fathers in a single bundle, which had enabled them to conquer. I am held so much more to do this as I am, I do not ignore it, before the eyes of so many people, the symbol of the discord and of the division. I have merited the perilous honor that around me, during my lifetime, has grown up a sort of tradition. But be very well convinced, fellow citizens, that if I merit another after my death, it shall be that of having been to my country the firmest support of the peace which I desire to establish, at any price, of the sincere and loyal union of all the members of the Haytian family. I hope to lead them through a community of interests and the forgetfulness of the past to this grand sentiment of conciliation and solidarity which it is altogether our duty to adopt, which this fête imposes upon us in such high sense. This is, fellow citizens, the task which I have traced for myself, this is, God helping, that which, by your assistance, General Salomon will accomplish.

Vive l’Union de la Famille Haïtienne!

Vive la Constitution!

Vive la Paix!

National Palace, Port-au-Prince, January 1, 1880, 77th year of Independence.

SALOMON.