Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/213

 Assembly was fixed for the 15th of September. Municipalities were created and the mayors began to exercise powers which hitherto had belonged to the military authorities.

The Constitution, enacted on the 30th of December, 1843, contained many important innovations. The judges were to be elected by the people, instead of being appointed by the President; all offenses, either criminal, political, or by the press, were to be submitted to trials by jury. Presidency for life was abolished; the term of the Chief of the Executive Power was limited to four years; and no measure could be adopted by the President without the countersign of the proper Minister. The right to introduce laws was conferred on the House of Representatives and on the Senate as well as on the President. Matters concerning the communes and the arrondissements were in charge of the municipalities and the arrondissement councils. An estimate of the revenues and expenses was to be voted annually; a Court of Accounts was instituted. The Army was declared a law-abiding body; and strict measures were enacted in view of guaranteeing personal freedom and respect of property.

The Haitians are still governed by most of the stipulations of the Constitution of 1843. Had it been earnestly carried out from the time it was adopted, it might have proved the beginning of a new era for Haiti. Charles Hérard ainé, who was elected President on the 30th of December, 1843, was unfortunately deficient in the competency necessary to facilitate the transition from a military to a civil government. When a member of the Provisional Government he had provoked discontent among the inhabitants of the Northern and Eastern Departments. He had shown no regard for the susceptibility of his fellow-citizens of the former Spanish territory. Besides, the Provisional Government had committed the error of decreeing, on the 27th of September, 1843, the closing to foreign commerce of all the ports of this portion of the island. This measure so excited the people that they rose in revolt on the 16th