Grand’Anse. Its deputy Déjuste Thézard proposes an indemnity for the members of the Assembly.

At the sitting of 26 September, on the proposal of deputy Déjuste Thézard, of the Arrondissement of the Grand’Anse, the question of an indemnity to be granted to the members of the Constituent Assembly was raised. The motion was supported by deputy Damier, who thought and strongly maintained that the members could not uphold their dignity if they did not draw a monthly indemnity from the treasury. He said that there were among his colleagues rich men and poor; that the former could well do without payment; but that the latter would perish at Port-au-Prince without having been able to fulfill the mandate the people had entrusted to them; that he did not represent the rich; that he, for his part, had been sent to the Constituent Assembly by the true people. Deputy Saint-Amand was opposed to the motion of indemnity, as were deputies Beaugé and Donat; it was supported by deputies Bazin, Nelson Félix, Salès and Pirrhus Michel. Deputy Damier insistently demanded that the motion be put to the vote. He said: “If the indemnity is not voted, the whole Assembly will have to be shut up for forty-eight hours and left without food or drink; we shall see then whether empty sacks can stand upright, and whether the intelligence of the rich will be lucid enough to debate and vote decrees.” The Assembly was consulted by the president, J. S. Hippolyte; the greatest tumult broke out, and the members withdrew without having taken any decision.