On the 9th of March Alexandre Pétion, then a Senator, was elected President of the Republic of Haiti for four years. The country was then beneath the sway of two rulers with two separate governments: the State of Haiti consisting of the Northern and Artibonite departments, and the Republic of Haiti composed of the Western and Southern departments. The forces and resources of each were about equal.
Christophe made desperate efforts to subdue Pétion. In 1812 he failed in a last attempt to take possession of Port-au-Prince and returning to Cap he left his opponent alone. They both preserved their respective positions and by ceasing their attacks each one was able to look after the interests of the portion of the territory under his command.
Christophe had himself proclaimed King of Haiti in March, 1811, and assumed the name of Henri I. Contrary to the principles of Dessalines, whose desire was for the equality of all classes, he created a nobility and established a strict etiquette at his Court. As supreme ruler, free from the opposition of a deliberative assembly, he governed according to his will and fancy, keeping each one in his place by force of severe discipline. Personal safety and peace were the results of the order which existed throughout the land: thus agriculture and trade flourished and prospered.
Christophe endeavored to maintain friendly relations with both Great Britain and the United States, and did his utmost to propagate public instruction. The portion of the country under his command was therefore prosperous, although there existed a feeling of discontent among the people.
Pétion, who was of a kind nature and easy tempered, was hampered besides by the Constitution to the adoption of which he had largely contributed; he was thus unable to proceed in his administration with the same vigor displayed by his competitor. In more or less open opposition with the Senate, which finally adjourned sine die, he had to contend with many plots. Goman, in the vicinity of Jérémie, further harassed him by keeping up a guerilla warfare. And in 1810 General André Rigaud, who had returned from France, became Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Department, establishing an administration independent of the President's control. Pétion's authority was thus restricted to the Western Department. This secession occurred without any bloodshed, and ended peacefully after Rigaud's death, when the Southern Department acknowledged once more the authority of the President of the Republic (1812).
André Rigaud was born at Cayes on the 17th of January, 1781; his father was a Frenchman and his mother a negrese named Rose Bosley. He was one of the minted militiamen who fought at Savannah for the independence of the United States. He died at Cayes on the 17th of September, 1811.
Owing to the unfavorable influences of these disturbances, agriculture suffered much neglect. However, Pétion's kindness to the peasants won over all their sympathies; and he gained their entire confidence and devotion when, through liberal grants and frequent sales of land, he transformed those who had been until then but simple tillers of the soil into landowners. By establishing this system of small estates Pétion bound up the interests of the people to that of the Republic, thereby gaining their support for the maintenance of the national independence. To public instruction he gave likewise his earnest attention; among other schools he founded was the "Lycee" at Port-au-Prince, which still bears his name. Imbued with a sense of the necessity of having the independence acknowledged by the great Powers he strove to display abroad the country's flag. Ships flying the Haitian colors were dispatched to England and the United States, where they were made welcome; foreign commercial intercourse was thus secured. Great Britain even forgot that she had forbidden her colonies in the West Indies to have any dealings with Haiti. Being at war with the United States she was scarcely able to supply Jamaica with provisions; the island would therefore have suffered from famine were it not for the help gladly given by Haiti.
Under the administrations of both Christophe and Pétion prosperity reappeared. But anxiety caused by France's attitude soon paralyzed their efforts. Louis XVIII had succeeded Napoleon I; and the new monarch thought that it would be easy to reconquer Haiti. With this object, at the end of June, 1814, he dispatched to Haiti three agents: Dauxion Lavaysse, Dravermann, and Franco de Medina. At that time Prance did not possess an inch of territory in her former colony; for the inhabitants of the Spanish portion had taken up arms and in 1809 once again bowed to the authority of Spain. However, among the papers of Franco de Medina, whom Christophe had caused to be arrested and tried under the charge of being a spy, were discovered the secret instructions given by the French Government, which revealed the intention of the Bourbons, not only to send an army to recover Haiti, but also to reestablish slavery in the island. The feeling provoked by these instructions was intense. Christophe and Pétion's one thought was to have all in readiness for the national defense. Arms, ammunition, and all the necessary provisions were accumulated in the mountains, in the places most difficult of access, where Haitian strategy would be able to wear out the European troops. The expenses were considerable; but the people stoically endured every discomfort and displayed the greatest enthusiasm to defend, with their lives if need be, the liberty of the soil, of which they meant to remain the sole masters.
Napoleon's escape from Elba occurred just in time to thwart the plans of Louis XVIII. Yet upon the return of the Bourbons to power they once again took up the idea of retaking Haiti. In July, 1816, Lieutenant-General Viscount of Fontanges, the Councillor of State Esmangart, and Captain du Petit Thouars of the French Navy were appointed the King's Commissioners at Saint-Domingue. But they failed in their purpose, and the resistance offered them by both Christophe and Pétion left to them no other course of action but to return to France; consequently they sailed from Port-au-Prince on the 12th of November, 1816.
On their arrival in France they tried to make believe that their failure was caused by the intrigues of Great Britain and the United States. In their report they charge the two countries with slandering France and making her odious to an ignorant people and with maintaining Pétion's distrust by continually telling him that France's only design was to place him and his whole race once more under the yoke of slavery. (B. Ardouin, Vol. VIII, p. 257.)
On the same day Pétion issued a proclamation to the people which read as follows: "Our rights are sacred; they have their source in nature which created all men equal. We will defend our rights against all those who will dare to think of subduing us. Our aggressors will find on this island ashes mingled with blood, bullets and an avengeful climate. Authority rests on your will; and your will is to be free and independent. You will be so or we will give to the world the awful spectacle of burying ourselves under the ruins of our country rather than submit again to servitude, even in its mildest form."
Christophe also issued a proclamation on the 20th of November, in the following terms: "We will negotiate with the French Government on equal footing, from Power to Power, from Sovereign to Sovereign. No negotiation will be entered upon with that country unless the independence of the kingdom of Haiti, political as well as commercial, be previously recognized. Neither the French flag nor any Frenchman will be allowed to enter any port of the kingdom until the French Government positively recognizes the independence of Haiti."
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