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 552 IIAYTI mation of emancipation, came to the aid of the French governor. The siege of Port de la Paix was raised, the Spaniards were driven back, and after a long contest, during which Toussaint was appointed by the French author- ities commander-in-chief of the army, the Eng- lish in 1797 were expelled from the island, the whole of which, by the treaty with Spain con- cluded at Basel, July 22, 1795, now belonged to France. Under the energetic administra- tion of Toussaint 1'Ouverture, peace was re- stored, commerce 'and agriculture revived, the whites were protected and their estates restor- ed to them, and a constitution for the colony was adopted, acknowledging the authority of France, but making no distinction between the citizens on account of race or color. In 1801, however, Napoleon Bonaparte, then first con- sul, resolved to restore slavery in Santo Do- mingo ; the French legislature at Paris decreed its restoration ; and an expedition under Gen. Leclerc was sent to enforce the decree. The army landed at Samana at the end of January, 1802, the campaign was commenced, and fought with various success until May 1, when a treaty of peace was concluded. Notwithstanding this treaty, Toussaint was treacherously seized at midnight, and conveyed to France, where he died April 27, 1803. Indignant at the capture of their leader, the negroes immediately renew- ed hostilities under Dessalines, who prosecuted the war with vigor and success ; and the yel- low fever, having broken out in the French army, became a more fearful and fatal antago- nist than the marshalled negroes. In the midst of this calamity Leclerc died, and was succeeded in command by Gen. Rochambeau. The first act of this general was the renewal of the armistice, but it proved of no advantage to him ; the blacks continued to receive reen- forcements, the fever raged violently, and to add to his embarrassment, an English fleet appeared off the coast. When the period for which the armistice had been proclaimed ex- pired, his army was reduced to a mere hand- ful of men, powerless for either offence or de- fence, and was soon after driven into Cape Haytien, where on Nov. 30, 1803, the French general capitulated to the commander of the English squadron. On Jan. 1, 1804, the Hay- tians formally asserted their independence; and Dessalines, who had conducted the war to its close, was appointed governor for life. Not content, however, with the simple title allotted to his station, and in imitation of Bonaparte, who had six months before grasped the im- perial sceptre of France, Dessalines assumed (Oct. 8, 1804) the title of Jean Jacques I., empe- ror of Hayti ; but his reign was troublous and brief, and terminated in a military conspiracy on Oct. 17, 1806, he himself being assassinated on the same day. Hayti was now divided among several chieftains, the principal of whom were Henri Christophe in the northwest and Petion in the southwest. The eastern part of the island was repossessed by Spain. Chris- tophe was appointed chief magistrate for life ; but in 1811, having become dissatisfied with his present honors, he changed his title to that of king, calling himself Henri I., and had the kingly office made hereditary in his family. P6tion continued to act as president of the southwest till March, 1818, when he died, uni- versally lamented by his people. On the other hand, the despotic Christophe by his arbitrary acts provoked the vengeance of his subjects, and shot himself during a revolt against his authority in October, 1820. Boyer, who suc- ceeded Petion in power, now united all the governments of the west, and ruled over the whole Haytian territory. The retrocession of the eastern colony had been made at the insti- gation of the English government ; but it was never fully acquiesced in by the inhabitants, and its possession by Spain had since been rather nominal than real. The proximity of a free republic, separated only by a convention- al line, was also fraught with danger, and en- couragement to revolt was not otherwise want- ing. At length the people determined to be as free and independent as their neighbors, and on Nov. 30, 1821, threw off the Spanish yoke and declared their country a republic. Profit- ing by the dissensions that followed, Boyer, the Haytian president, now invaded the dis- turbed country, and in 1822 united the whole island under his government. France ac- knowledged the independence of its former colony in 1825, on the condition that Hayti should pay 150,000,000 (subsequently reduced to 90,000,000) francs, as an indemnity for the losses of the French colonists during the rev- olution. Boyer retained the presidency till 1842, when a revolution broke out against his power and compelled him to flee ; and soon af- ter the inhabitants of the east, under the lead- ership of Juan Pablo Duarte, rose against the Haytians, overpowered them, and in February, 1844, formed themselves into an independent state under the style of the Dominican Repub- lic. In the following years the supreme pow- er in Hayti was successively held by H6rard, Guerrier, Pierrot, and Riche" till 1847, when Gen. Faustin Soulouque was elected president. He renewed the attempt to subjugate the east- ern republic ; but he, at the head of an army 5,000 strong, was opposed by Santana with only 400 men, and signally defeated at Las Carreras on the river Ocoa in April, 1849. Soulouque was a member of the secret order of Vaudoux; he was superstitious and illiter- ate, but possessed of great ambition. On Aug. 26, 1849, aided by the blacks, he assumed the title of emperor as Faustin I., and caused the constitution to be altered to meet the changed circumstances of affairs; and to consolidate his power, he surrounded himself by a court composed of princes of the blood, dukes, counts, barons, &c., and established two orders of knighthood, that of St. Faustin and the legion of honor. He was crowned with great pomp in 1850. His policy, which had become des-