Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/247



After Domingue's departure the Constitution of 1867 once more came in force. According to this Constitution Boisrond Canal was elected President of Haiti for four years on the 17th of July, 1876. The new ruler was beset with innumerable difficulties resulting from the financial measures taken by his predecessor. He was principally exposed to the ill-will of France, which, with a view of imposing a settlement of the loan known as the Domingue or the 1875 loan, went so far as to refuse to recognize his Government officially. Yet at Paris it was a well-known fact that Haiti had not received the amount of money the responsibility for which France was trying to force upon her. In Europe and in the United States people clamor unceasingly as to the alleged corruption and unscrupulousness of Haitian statesmen, declaring that without the assistance of foreign Powers they are incapable of honestly managing their finances. However, whenever a financial scandal occurs in Haiti, among the guilty parties there will always be found, either as the inspirers or the accomplices of the misdeed, those very foreigners who loudly denounce Haitian corruption whilst claiming for themselves the monopoly of virtue and integrity.

As it was, the Haitian people, who have never 227