No. 638.
Mr. Thompson to Mr. Bayard.
Legation of
the United States,
Port au Prince
Hayti, July 2,
1888.
No. 191.]
Sir: In direct opposition to what he said a few
days previously (dispatch No. 188, inclosure No. 2) President Salomon, on
the 25th ultimo, accepted the resignation of General Jeanty commander of the
arron-dissement of Port au Prince, and appointed in his place General Herard
Laforest, who was commander of the place, and who has been succeeded by
General Camille Molière. The general of the port has been removed, and
General Duplessis appointed to that office.
Tuesday and Wednesday nights passed; a few shots were fired from different
parts of the city; on Friday a proclamation was published about the city
from the secretary of the interior (copy, with translation, herein inclosed,
marked respectively A and B), and since then a remarkable quietness that
seems abnormal has settled over the city, interrupted only by occasional
stampedes at the market places and on the streets, where reports have been
circulated that at a certain hour a movement against the Government was to
be made.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure iu No.
191.—Translation]
order of the day.
Port au
Prince, June 29,
1888.
The speculators, who are accustomed to seek their fortune in civil
troubles, and who can not resign themselves to gain their living by
honest labor, have recommenced, since a few days, their criminal
campaign against the public peace. To assist in the success of their
absurd propagandas, that have remained without effect up to this moment
(thanks to the good sense of the people), but they have conceived to
throw uneasiness in the minds of families by the firing of shots at
night at intervals in different quarters of the city.
The Government, that has sworn to maintain peace, and which does not know
how to back down before its duty, will not hesitate to take all proper
measures to foil this infamous calculation and to re-assure the
population; but it is strong enough to warn before it strikes.
In consequence, every individual who, under any pretext whatever, fires a
shot at night or day in any part whatever of the city shall be
immediately arrested and delivered over for judgment to the special
military council, and punished with all the rigor with which the law
arms the Government for the safeguard of the public order.
The secretary of state, of interior, and the general of police.
