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Rh Assembly, Pétion had unquestionably disregarded the authority of the Chief of the Provisional Government. The latter was not disposed to suffer any such infringement of his prerogatives and when, on the 18th of December, 1806, the Assembly met in the church at Port-au-Prince, the breach between the two Generals was complete. The Deputies from the Northern and Artibonite provinces at once protested against the presence of those whom they considered as unlawfully elected. But no notice was taken of their protest. A committee, of which Pétion was appointed the chairman, was commissioned to draw up and to submit to the Assembly the draft of the Constitution. In a proclamation of December 24 Christophe openly declared many of the most important members of the Assembly to be rebels; he then prepared to march against Port-au-Prince. Yet on the 27th of December Pétion submitted the report of the committee to the Assembly and that same day the Constitution was adopted. Immediately the Deputies from the Northern and Artibonite provinces despatched to Christophe a written protest against the "so-called Constitution, the consequence of intrigue and malevolence, and against all that may follow until the dissolution of the Assembly." The Constitution of 1806 established a republican form of government; as an evidence of the distrust then existing against Christophe, exaggerated precautions were taken against the Chief of the Executive Power, whose authority was greatly curtailed. All the powers were centred in one body, the Senate, which had the entire possession of all executive, legislative, and military functions. The Senate alone had the right to appoint the civil and military functionaries, to determine their duties and the place of their residence; it had the direction of the foreign affairs and was, in consequence, authorized to draw up all treaties; it had the initiative in the matter of laws and legislative measures; it assumed also the privileges of a Supreme Court. The President of the Republic, elected for four years, was