22 Juillet 1813

The fact that we have no known issues of the northern government’s newspaper dating from the time Christophe established his monarchy in March 1811 until July 1813, makes it difficult to speculate about when or why the epigraph might have changed to a quotation from Voltaire’s final play, Tancrède, to his 1742 tragedy, Mérope. The new epigraph reads in English translation, “The first to be king was a happy soldier/Who serves his country well does not need elders.” The first article of this issue describes “melodious songs and music” that accompanied the”fête” of King Henry Christophe, which had been celebrated yearly on the 15th of July, beginning in 1807.

26 Juillet 1813

This entire issue describes the “fête” of the Royal Prince, Victor Henry, which was celebrated on the 20th of July 1813, evidently, the day before his actual birthday. Baron de Vastey, who was the young prince’s tutor at one point, dedicated his 1817 Réflexions politiques sur quelques ouvrages et journaux francais concernant Hayti, to “his royal highness, Monseigneur, le prince, Victor Henry.” In the Réflexions Vastey also tells the sad tale of Christophe’s eldest son, François Ferdinand, who had been sent to France at the age of nine to be educated at the Lycée of M. Coignon (where Toussaint Louverture’s sons attended as well). Vastey reports, however, that Prince Ferdinand died in La Maison des Orphelins on October 5, 1805.  Because all of Christophe’s older sons passed away before he assumed governance of the north of Haiti, Victor Henry was the heir apparent.

5 Janvier 1814

One of the longest issues in our collection, with eight pages, the first of the La Gazette to appear in 1814 continues the long tradition of describing the festivities involved in celebrating Haitian Independence Day. The commemoration of the eleventh year of Haitian independence began with the usual speeches, spoken in front of a huge crowd in the city of Sans-Souci, the future site of the king’s new palace. In addition to Christophe, the queen, the prince, and the princesses, who were all in attendance, Baron de Vastey gave a speech on the king’s behalf in which he declared, “the founding of a monarchy has opened our hearts once again to hope, and foretells for Haitians a new and more glorious destiny.”

27 Janvier 1814

One thing readers may immediately observe is the irregularity with which La Gazette is now published. Today’s issue is number 2 in sequence, but appearing several weeks after issue 1. We observe also that the newspaper is no longer published only on Thursdays, as this issue appeared on a Wednesday. Nevertheless, there is much here that remains the same, as we continue to have lengthy reports of festivities, parades, and lavish dinners at the king’s palace. Notably, Richard the Lion-Hearted, the famous opera of Belgian composer, André Gétry, was performed for the festival of the king on the 6th of the month. One imagines that this was a very suggestive performance, since the opera dramatizes the legend of King Richard the first of England’s capture by the archduke of Austria, and naturally, his eventual release. There is repeated mention here as well of a massacre that occurred near the river that borders the Bay of Mancenille, and of Spanish participation in the festivities here described. Finally, at the end there is talk of the new palace, which although described as still being under construction, is promised to be “magnificent.”
To find out more about an issue, see this related post.

30 Avril 1814

The first article of this issue is focused on Haiti’s robust trade, briefly, but proudly, describing the movement and ships in and out of its harbors. The rest of the issue is devoted to describing the funeral of the Comte du Borgne, lieutenant general of the army of the king and deputy governor of the city of Sans-Souci. The Comte de Saint-Louis, a lieutenant general himself, gave a moving elegy after the blessing of the clergy, in which he stated of the deceased, “Dear and intrepid shadow of this estimable soldier whom we mourn…accept these vows, these homages, which we owe to your virtues.”

16 Août 1814

This issue rather gleefully announces the restoration of the Bourbon Monarchy, not because the government of Christophe was particularly fond of the Bourbons, but rather because Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte had been at last dethroned. The following statement provides a glimpse of the tenor of the rest of the report: “Our implacable enemy is no more; the execrable Bonaparte, who had vainly tried to exterminate us, has just succumbed to the united efforts of the Allied Powers. As happy as we are now, Europe has just broken his tyrannical yoke forever.”

19 Novembre 1814

Readers will notice with this issue that the epigraph of La Gazette Royale has once again changed. Fascinatingly, the quote now used is not attributed to any particular individual and reads: “Friends! when you hear the words Slave and Master, let nothing stop the wrath that ignites us, the bell of liberty has been rung! run to your weapons, to fire, to carnage, and to vengeance!” However, further examination of the present issue reveals that these are the words of Baron de Vastey, given in a speech after the capture of the French spy, Agoustine Franco de Médina. Franco de Médina had been sent to the northern part of Haiti in the summer of 1814 by the French Minister of the Marine, Baron de Malouet, in order to spy on the northern kingdom of Haiti with the hopes of restoring the former colony to French rule.

17 Avril 1815

Importantly, this issue contains a reprint of an article from Peltier’s L’Ambigu, which itself had printed a letter written by Louis XVIII, originally published in January in the Moniteur de la France. In the letter the French monarch  disavows and condemns the ill-fated mission of Dauxion Lavaysse, the French spy sent to Haiti on the orders of the French Minister of the Marine, Baron de Malouet, at the beginning of the Bourbon Restoration in the summer of 1814. Even while still insisting that the original intentions of the mission had been “peaceful,” the French king unequivocally declared that Lavaysse had not “been authorized to transmit communications that were contrary to this mission.” 

2 Juin 1815

This issue reports Napoleon Bonaparte’s escape from the island of Elba where he had been living in exile since the spring of 1814 when he was forced to abdicate his throne, per the treaty of Fontainebleu. The Gazette calls Bonaparte’s re-entry into the city of Paris, practically without obstacle and accompanied by only 1000-1100 men to guard him, “an event that has no equal in history.” The report continues by revealing that Bonaparte subsequently “tranquilly” re-established possession of his empire, while Louis XVIII, the royal family, and the king’s supporters, including numerous ex-colonists, fled. According to the editor of the Gazette, Bonaparte’s move had the effect of putting a halt to an additional planned expedition on the part of the French to attempt to re-conquer their former colony. The second article details the celebration of the coronation of the king and queen in the city of Sans-Souci on the 2nd of June; while the final article provides a list of all the foreign ships departing from Cap-Henry from April 1st to the 6th of June. Note also that this issue was likely published after the 2nd of June, despite the date at its head, since it reports events that took place as late as June 6th.

13 Juin 1815

This issue begins by reporting the abolition of the slave trade, not slavery, in France and all its harbors and colonies. All five articles of Napoleon Bonaparte’s “Decree of the Abolition of the Slave Trade,” as taken from Peltier’s l’Ambigu, are reprinted in full. After praising the actions of British and French abolitionists such as Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce, and the abbé Grégoire, attention is turned once again to the failed expedition of Lavaysse, Dravermann, and Médina, and the former ex-colonists, whose designs on independent Haiti, the editor tells us, were foiled by Bonaparte’s re-establishment of his control of France. The editor subsequently includes, in order to prove that France still wants to reclaim the former colony, a long passage from a work published anonymously in Paris in 1814 entitled, Des véritables causes qui ont amené la ruine de la colonie de Saint-Domingue, et des moyens certains d’en reprendre possession et d’y vivre tranquillement à l’abri de nouveaux ouragans politiques, par un observateur de bon sens, ami de la justice et de la témoin de tous les évènemens. One memorable interpretation from this pro-colonial text concerns Toussaint Louverture, whom the anonymous author claimed, “protected whites,” and would have accepted for the colony to remain French had Bonaparte, “instead of sending the Leclerc expedition, which only started a new fire in the colony,” simply given Louverture a certificate recognizing him as captain-general.

29 Juin 1815

This article begins with a condemnation of Pétion as a traitor to Haiti, accusing him of having attempted to strike a treaty with France that would have made Haiti once again a French colony and named Pétion as governor-general. Bonaparte’s re-entry into France is thus again blamed for having foiled these plans. There is also a lengthy mention and account of the basis for these accusations drawn from Baron de Vastey’s Le Cri de la Conscience, ou réponse à un écrit, imprimé au Port-au-Prince, intitulé: Le peuple de la république d’Hayti, à Messieurs Vastey et Limonade (1815). After printing fifteen bullet points meant to support a charge of “high treason” against Pétion, the editor of the Gazette finishes by making an appeal for a new hero to appear and free the people of the southern republic of Haiti, an appeal which resonates with the famous “Black Spartacus” passage in the abbé Raynal’s Histoire des deux Indes (1770-1780). The editor writes, “Does there not any longer exist a man, a warrior among you, who would be generous enough to save his brothers and his country? Where is he, this liberator, this avenger of liberty and independence? Let him only show himself, and the country will be saved!!!”

19 Juillet 1815

With this issue we notice that the epigraph has changed yet again. It now reads in English translation, “Friends of the Old Regime are necessarily the Partisans of Prejudice and Slavery!” The only article published in issue number 6 of the Gazette of 1815 is devoted to describing the celebration of the king’s “fête.” The celebration was evidently as lavish as ever, with bombastic speeches and flowing wine. Once the feast was finished the king and the royal family, along with the members of the court, attended a mass in the church, presided over by the Duc de l’Anse, the archbishop of Haiti. After the mass, the royal party returned to the palace for dessert, and it is there that Lapommeraye, the musician of the king, plays the music of the Royal Dahomet for the king. Interestingly enough, the author of this recitation attributes the words, “Aïa bombaya bonbay,” heard in the song, to none other than the ex-colonist, Drouin de Bercy, a fierce opponent of Haitian sovereignty. Finally, several inscriptions newly etched onto the facade of the palace are described. The most interesting of these is described as follows: “At the bottom of the crown placed in front of the right wing of the palace was this inscription: To the First Monarch Crowned in the New World.”

9 Novembre 1815

About This Publication Elements of this issue that immediately stand out are the switch to pages with three columns and yet another change of epigraph. Although it appears without attribution, the new quote at the top of the page is actually adapted from a line in the French playwright Racine's tragedy, Athalie, and reads in my [...]

4 Janvier 1816

About This Publication As far as can be discerned from the extant numbers of the Gazette Royale, the January 4, 1816 issue is the first time that the epigraph "L'Union fait la Force" appears, which is also the national motto of Haiti. The bulk of the articles are given over to celebrating the thirteenth anniversary [...]

25 Janvier 1816

About This Publication Citing a French publication called, L'Aristarque Français, itself having reprinted a newspaper article from Boston dated 16 October 1815, we learn that an alleged attempt had been made on the life of President Alexandre Pétion. Evidently, the identity of the leader of the "plot had been discovered" on the very day on which [...]

8 Février 1816

About This Publication This issue opens with a reference to Baron de Vastey's Le Cri de la Conscience, which had been published in June 1815 as a response to a collectively authored publication from the southern republic of Haiti, which was itself a response to some of Vastey and Limonade's earlier writings: Le Peuple de la [...]

24 Mai 1816

This issue marks yet another (and the final known) change to the epigraph, which is now the Haitian national motto, “L’Union fait la Force” or “Unity is strength.” Here, we also have  the first clear evidence that the editorship of La Gazette Royale had changed from Juste Chanlatte to Baron de Vastey. Although, Vastey does not sign the letter from the editor that appears at the outset of this issue, in his 1816 Réflexions adressées aux Haytiens de la partie de l’Ouest et du Sud, sur l’horrible assassinat du Général Delvare, Vastey refers to himself as having first given an account of President Pétion’s murder of General Delvare in this very issue of the Gazette. The account of Delvare’s murder that Vastey later references is located here under the title of, “The editor of the Gazette Royale to his Compatriots.”

6 Juin 1816

About This Publication This issue opens with a complaint about a new law passed in the Republic of Haiti by President Alexandre Pétion. According to the author of the piece, the new ordonnance, printed in full below, will "overwhelm" the poor inhabitants of the countryside with new taxes. There is also a reprinted article from [...]

12 Juin 1816

About This Publication A fascinating letter from Baron to Vastey to General Jérôme-Maximilien Borgella dated December 1815 is reprinted in this issue of the Gazette. The letter begins by reminding Borgella, who was a general in the Haitian army and fought in the war of independence, about the parties that he and Vastey evidently attended together [...]

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