Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/244

 Council of the Secretaries of State by Decree of September 10, 1874. This made Rameau the true ruler of Haiti. The Constitution adopted on the 6th of August, 1874, was drawn up by him. Unfortunately, he was of a dictatorial and domineering nature; his will became supreme, whilst Domingue was but a figurehead.

One of the first acts of Salnave after his election to the Presidency was the signing of a treaty with the Dominican Republic, which the Haitian Congress refused to ratify. His object in recognizing the independence of the new State was to put an end to the unceasing hostilities which were causing so much bloodshed on the borders. Septimus Rameau immediately proceeded to resume negotiations with General Gonzalez, who was at that time President of the Dominican Republic. General N. Léger, who was then Chief of the Staff of the President of Haiti, was despatched to Santo Domingo with instructions to make preparations for a new convention. On his return to Port-au-Prince he was accompanied by the Dominican plenipotentiaries; and on the 9th of November, 1874, a Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation was agreed upon. Haiti thus accepted as an accomplished fact and fully recognized the independence of the Dominican Republic. Since that time relations between the two countries have been most cordial.

In the course of the same year, 1874, Haiti signed a treaty with Great Britain for the extradition of fugitive criminals.

The other measures adopted by Domingue's Government did not turn out so happily. In 1875 a loan was floated in Paris concerning which the Haitian people were grossly deceived. Foreign bankers and unscrupulous agents conspired in defrauding the Republic, which was made the debtor for money from which others had profited. This scandalous financial transaction did not tend to allay the dissatisfaction already existing in