File No. 838.00/1370.
There is attached, hereto, a proclamation issued by the President of
Haiti relative to the treaty.
[Inclosure—Translation—Extract.]
address to the people.
Fellow Citizens:
At the meeting of November 11 the Senate of the Republic sanctioned
the Haitian-American Convention. This event, the most important in
our national history, is the foundation of Haitian independence, of
the solemn consecration of the new era of progress for the nation
after the days of the 27th and 28th July, which days we can not
think of without a shudder of horror.
If you will consider the vote of the convention for its merits and
patriotism, you will render with me legitimate homage to the
honorable members of the Legislative Corps who have shown once more
their sense of duty in the face of a situation exceptionally grave
for this unhappy country. They have come together in large numbers
to open finally the road of material and thorough evolution which
has always been their object. Honor, therefore, to the saviors of
the country’s glory for their act of which the magnanimity is only
equalled by its heroism, [worthy] to have the right to the
benediction of our posterity. * * *
Without entering into a discussion of facts anterior to the coming of
the Americans, remember that in a moment of our supreme despair the
powerful and generous nation of North America saw our unhappiness,
took pity on us and came in the name of humanity and universal
fraternity to offer us the hand of friendship and of succor. Was it
necessary to repel, even under a disguised form, as several people
of the type of many of my predecessors seem to think, this friendly
aid?
Being persuaded of the loyalty of the Government of the United States
and convinced that its people, who by means of their works have
become so great as to become our ideal, desire fully to guide us in
the route which centuries of civilization have made, which we,
unhappy slaves of false reasoning brought about by jealous
prejudices, have never tried to find, I have not a second of
hesitation.
I wish here to thank cordially my official collaborators whose
experience, wisdom and inperturbable conviction, together with their
ardent faith and their devotion, have been the strong aid to my firm
resolution.
You have not been strangers to the struggle brought about by
diversity of opinion whereby people opposed to the convention
struggled against the Government to prevent its acceptance. We have
defended it foot by foot and have guaranteed its various clauses in
order to overcome the imminent peril with which lack of reflection
and blindness was liable to threaten our national sovereignty. And
who can deny that the formal refusal to accept the convention would
have been the destruction of our independence? * * * In the future
the people will see that we have done the best thing and that we
have acted for love of country. * * *
Therefore fellow citizens, let us wish success to ourselves and glory
for the world of civilization. I repeat that the new era has begun
but the fruits of our labors demand that you repudiate forever the
past shame, the nefarious past which has made a blot upon the
immortal names of our ancestors. * * *
Having thought well over this convention and with firm realization of
the future join in crying: Long live Peace and Union, long live
Work, long live Regenerated Haiti!
