Haiti. Pierrot calls the Departments of the East to a new union with the Republic of Haiti.

“The government of the Republic could not suffer such a regime to take root upon the sacred soil of the Haitian Fatherland; in February 1822 it fulfilled what the liberator of Haiti had foreseen. “Liberty was then restored to thousands of our brothers who groaned in a shameful slavery; civil and political equality was restored to a still greater number whom the prejudices of color held in humiliation; the civil and political laws of the Republic at last covered all the inhabitants with their protection. From that time property acquired a new value through its distribution among a greater number of hands: our industry and our commerce favored the development of labor among you, and your produce, delivered to European commerce, surpassed every hope: a new industry was created on the banks of the Artibonite, and you owe it to your union with the Republic.

“These results were obtained by the energy of the people alone; for it is true to say that, like us, you had cause to complain, in other respects, of the government of 1843. To that government succeeded the ephemeral administration of the perjurer, who carried into your Departments all the disorders and all the crimes that he spread among us. You at last judged that a separation had become necessary for you, and those who directed you proclaimed the independence of the Departments of the East, to set up a distinct State.(t)

“At that time, when security existed for no citizen, the Departments of the North and of the Artibonite believed that they too must pronounce their separation from those of the West and the South. But the immediate fall of the wicked man who had caused our civil troubles having brought to power the magnanimous Philippe Guerrier, there was no longer any reason to persist in this division of the Haitian territory, and the Republic was reconstituted under the rule of the laws, of which that illustrious citizen was the strict observer. His exemplary moderation led him to put an end to all hostilities against you. He recalled the army of Azua and branded the burning of that town and of the villages of Saint-Jean and Las Matas; he condemned the pillage of which their inhabitants were the victims; he received with kindness those of you who came to take refuge under his flags.

“Succeeding that virtuous citizen, I shall make my glory consist in imitating his noble conduct. I therefore call you, my dear fellow citizens, to a new union with the Republic of Haiti. National unity must be reconstituted in spite of all the intrigues and all the treacherous suggestions of which you have been the victims. I shall never renounce the indivisibility of the Haitian territory.