His Majesty's Speech, (delivered by to protect equally and promote ime Commission) on the Prorogation partially the happiness of all descripof Parliament, April 27, 1807. tions of bis subjects. “ Gentlemen of the House of « My Lords and Gentlemen, Commons, * We have it in cominand from “ His majesty has commanded us his majesty to inform you, that his to thank you, in his majesty's name, majesty has thought fit to avail him- for the supplies which you have furself of the first moment which would nished for the public service. He adnrit of an interruption of the sit- has seen, with great satisfaction, that ting of parliament, without material you have been able to find the means inconvenience to the public business, of defraying, in the present year, to close the present session; and that those large but necessary expences bis majesty has therefure been pleas- for which you have provided, withed to cause a commission to be is out imposing upon his people the sued under the great seal for pro- immediate burthen of additional roguing the parliament, taxes. “ We are further commanded to “ His majesty has observed with state to you, that bis majesty is anx- no less satisfaction, the inquiries ious to recur to the sense of his peo- which you have instituted into subple, while the events which have re- jects connected with public economy; cently taken place are yet fresh in and he trusts that the early attention their recollection. of a new parliament, which he will “ His majesty feels, that in resort- forthwith direct to be called, will ing to this measure, under the pre- be applied to the prosecution of these sent circumstances, he at once de- important objects. monstrates, in the most unequivocal “ My Lords and Gentlemen, manner, his own conscientious per- “ His majesty has directed us most suasion of the rectitude of those earnestly to recommend to you, that motives upon which he has acted, you should cultivate, by all means and affords to his people the best op- in your power, a spirit of union, portunity of testifying their deter- harmony, and good will amongst all mination to support him in every classes and descriptions of his peoexercise of the prerogatives of his ple. crown, which is conformable to the “ His majesty trusts that the disacred obligations under which they visions naturally and unavoidably are held, and conducive to the wel excited by the late unfortunate and fare of his kingdom, and to the se- uncalled for agitation of a question curity of the constitution. so interesting to the feelings and opi“ His majesty directs us to ex- vions of his people will speedily pass press his entire conviction, that after away; and that the prevailing sense so long a reign, marked by a series and determination of all his subjects of indulgences to bis Roman catho- to exert their united efforts in the lic subjects, they, in common with cause of their country, will enable every other class of his people, must his niajesty to conduct to an honourfeel assured of his attachment to the able and secure termination the principles of a just and enlightened great contest in which he is entoleration, and of his anxious desire gaged." After After which the Lord Chancellor 5. The law punishes assassination said, with death. My Lords and Gentlemen, “ By virtue of his majesty's com TITLE II. mission under the great seal, to us Of the Government. and other lords directed, and now 6. The government of Hayti is read, we do, in his majesty's name, composed- First, of a chief magisand in obedience to his commands, trate, who takes the title and quality prorogue this parliament to Wednes- of president and generalissimo of day, the 13th of May next, to be the forces of Hayti, both by land then here holden; and this parlia- and sea; every other denomination ment is accordingly prorogaed to is for ever proscribed in Hayti Wednesday, the 13th day of May Secondly, of a council of state. next." The government of Hayti takes the title, and will be known by the denomination of " The State of Constitution of the State of Hayti. Hayti.". 7. The constitution names the geThe undersigned mandatories, neral in chief, Henry Christophe, charged with the powers of the president and generalissinio of the people of Hayti, being legally con- forces, both by land and sea, of the voked by his excellency, the general state of Hayti. in chief of the army-penetrated by 8. The trust of president and gethe necessity of making their con- neralissimo of the forces is for life. stituents enjoy the sacred, imper- 9. The president has the right to ceptible, and unalienable rights of chuse bis successor; but only from man-proclaim in the presence and among the generals, and in the manunder the auspices of the All-power- ner hereafter prescribed. ful, the articles contained in the pre- This choice must be secret, and sent constitutional pact. contained in a sealed packet, which shall be opened only by the council TITLLI. of state, solemnly assembled for that of the Condition of Citizens. purpose. 1. Every body residing on the ter- The president shall take all neritory of Hayti is free, in the fullest cessary precautions for informing the council of state where this packet 2. Slavery is for ever abolished shall be deposited. in Hayti. 10. The armed force shall be 3. No one has a right to violate under the direction of the president, the asylumn of a citizen, nor to enter as also the administration of the forcibly into his dwelling, without finances. an order, emanating from a superior 11. The president' has the power and compelent authority, to make treaties with foreign nations, 4. All property is under the pro- as well for the purpose of establishtection of the government. Every ing commercial relations as to secure attack upon the property of a citizen the independence of the state. is a crime, which the law punishes. 12. He is to conclude peace, and VOL. XLIX. to sense. to declare war, to maintain the rights There shall be a justice of peace of the people of Hayti. in each parish, to determine contro13. He has also the right to con- versies up to a limited som. sider of the means of favouring and Each citizen may, however, have increasing the population of the his disputes deterinined by arbicountry. trators, if he thinks proper. 14. He is to propose the laws to the council of state, who, after hav TITLE VII. ing adopted them, and drawn them The catholic, apostolic, and Rom up, send them back to him for his man religion, is the only one acsanction, without which they cannot knowledged by the government. be executed. The exercise of other religions is 15. The appointments of the pre- tolerated, but not publicly. sident are fixed at 40,000 dollars a- There is to be an apostolic preyear. fect, to superintend what concerns TITLE III. Divine worship, and to communicate Of the Council of State. directly to the president upon the 16. The council of state is com- subject. posed of nine members, nominated The state gives nothing to the supby the president, of which at least port of any minister, but the law two thirds are to be generals. will fix the emoluments and perqui 17. The functions of the council sites that they are to receive. of state are, to receive the proposi- No one has a right to disturb the tions of laws from the president, and exercise of any religion. to draw them up in the manner they may judge adviseable; to fix the TITLE VIII. amount of taxes, and the mode of Public Education. collecting them; to sanction the trea- There shall be established a centies concluded by the president, and tral schcol in each division, and parto fix upon the mode for recruiting ticular schools in each subdivision. tlie army. An account shall be pre- It shall be, however, lawful for sented to them annually, of the re- every citizen to liave private semiceipts and expences, and of the re- naries. . sources of the country. The salaries of the professors and [The fourth and fifth heads re- masters shall be settled by a partispect the appointment of a superin- cular law. tendant general of the finances, the marine and the interior, and also the TITLE IX. appointment of a secretary of state.] The Guarantee of the neighbouring Colonies. The goverument of Hayti declares Of the Tribunals. to those powers who have colonies There shall be in every division in its neighbourhood its fixed detertribunal to determine both on civil mination to give no disturbance to and criminal matters. the government of those colonies. There shall be also a tribunal of The people of Hayti make no commerce in each division. conquests out of their own island, and and confine themselves to the preser- favourable to their interests, and those vation of their own territory. of their adherents; but as hostile to After these nine heads, there fol- the liberty of the people, as it was to low some general regulations, the the principles of sound reason. principal of which are: That every "Fellow-citizens, you have all been Haytian, from 16 to 50, can be cal- witnesses to the purity of my views, led into the army, whenever the safe- and the sincerity of my intentions. ty of the state requires it; that the You know how this sincerity has been government solemnly guarantees the abused, by the miscreants who foforeign merchants the security of mented revolt , and kindled civil war. their persons and properties; divorce Their efforts never intimidated me is strictly forbid in Hayti, and agri- for a single moment, or diverted me culture, which is declared the most from my design of serving my counancient, the most noble, and the most try. By night or by day I have never useful of all the arts, is to be encou- ceased to occupy myself in providing raged and protected.] for the public safety. What have I: This constitution was published at not done to effect it? What have I the Cape on the 17th of February, not suffered in counteracting the se1807, and is signed by three generals cret wiles and plots of the factious? of division, eight generals of brigade, “I have always been in the midst four adjutant-generals, and a number of you, and you can say whether my of civil officers. conduct has ever been influenced, or my honour tarnished, by ambition. PROCLAMATION. Invested with the Supreme Power, Henry Christophe, President and this day, by the wish of my fellow Generalissimo of the Military and citizens and my companions in arms, Naval Forces of the State of I have yielded to their desires; and Hayti, to the Army and People. I have consented to bear this weighty but honourable burthen, because it • The light has broke in upon us, was their wish that it should be enand a beneficent Constitution has put trusted to my hands, and because I an end to the plots and machinations, am willing again to serve my country. of which you were on the point of Happy shall I be if my efforts are becoming victims. A wise code, crowned with success, and if they adapted to our manners, our climate, tend to the happiness of my fellowand our customs, has sprung, as it citizens ! may be said, out of chaos, and fixed “But to attain this, my efforts once more the destinies of Hayti. alone will not be sufficient: the laws Long had I in vain sought to pre- and constitution which liave just been sent you with this precious gift : in presented to you must be observed. vain did I assemble the districts, and It provides for the religious preserurge them to send deputies to Port- vation of your rights; it secures to au-Prince, to give you a constitution. every citizen his personal liberty, his My anxiety, instead of being follow- right of property, and that of his ed with the desired success, only family. operated as an additional incitement “The fatal consequences of the to the factious to pervert the public wars in which we have been engaged, opinion, and to establish a constitution and still more the immoral example Z z 2 held held out to us by the French, had almost destroyed every principle of religion. The moral system was publicly laughed at, and a corrupted youth abandoned itself without remorse to all the licentiousness of its age; public education was degraded, and confided to mercenary instructors. It was necessary to restore to religion its dignity-to cause it to be respected and cherished. It was necessary to revive morality, to give it due distinction; to inculcate into the minds of youth its sacred principles, and those of honour also ; in short, to convince the people, that without religion and morality, human society could not exist. "Your interests will be secured to you by proper tribunals; the judgments pronounced by their ministers will be dictated by equity and justice. It remains for the people of Hayti to make themselves distinguished by their probity and good faith. Essentially a trading country, as well from its situation as the nature of the commodities it produces, it is necessary that it should attract the merchants of every country on the globe, both by its equity and its produce. "Trade being the source of all our wealth, it is important that the foreign merchants who frequent our ports should be equally protected with our fellow-citizens; and that they should, receive all that hospitality due to this useful class of society. "To feed this trade-- to give it a new spring-agriculture must be prosecuted with perseverance and vigour. Placed under the finest climate of the world, favoured by nature with her most precious gifts, even to profusion, the husbandman has not at Hayti to contend with the rigour of a frozen clime, or to fortify himself against the inclemencies of seasons. A little labour is sufficient to enrich him, and ́ to place him on a level with the manufacturers of other countries. Exert yourselves, then, industrious cultivators, to fill your warehouses with the produce of our fertile soil. Display to the eyes of the merchants of Europe all that can tempt their desires, and you will soon see your trade flourish much above your most sanguine expectations. "After having re-established religi on, defecated morality, restored manners, and encouraged agriculture and trade, we shall have still great labours. to encounter. We must not neglect the use of arms. The enemy watches our movements, and observes our proceedings. We rave as yet no guarantee of the affection. of our friends. We must bind the latter to us by treaties, we must be ready to meet the former in the field.-Abandoned to ourselves, our resources are in ourselves. They are in you, soldiers, who are ready generously to spill your blood sooner than yield to a haughty enemy your liberty, which is the reward of your courage! They are in you, inhabitants and industrious cultivators, from whom the state derives its wealth! It is your union, your submission to the laws, which are to be the cement and bond of our independence. "The line of politics which foreign powers will pursue with respect to us is not yet manifest: whatever it may be, let us place ourselves in such a situation, that, without holding out any defiance to them, we may, at the same time, have nothing to dread from those who may entertain hostile intentions. Let those who wish a political connection with us, or who would wish to enjoy the advantages of |