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Description and Holding Information
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Dhormoys, Une visite Chez Soulouque, 1859
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Une visite Chez Soulouque; Souvenirs d’un voyge dans l’ile d’Haiti: n.a. (Paul Dhormoys), (6)+7-275p, Paris, Lib. Nouvelle, 1859. (A TOC starts p.
273. Lacks index. The dedication, to MM. Villemot et Jouvin, is signed Paul Dhormoys. Faustin-Élie Souluque was a career officer, whose military service
dated back to the revolutionary days of Desallines, when, as a 20-year-old, he fought in the final battles leading up to Haitian independence. He
stayed with the army thereafter, and his military career culminated with his becoming Supreme Commander of the Presidential Guard under President
Jean-Baptiste Richè. Upon the death of Richè in 1847, Soulouque, then aged 65 and widely considered a dull, ignorant, and malleable figure, was selected by
the Boyerist elite to serve as what they assumed would be an interim figurehead President of Haiti. Turning on that faction, Soulouque purged the army
of its reigning mullato elite, installed black-skinned loyalists in all government positions of importance, and created a secret police and his own
personal palace guard. Within a year or so he had seized supreme power, which he used in 1849 to have himself proclaimed Emperor of Haiti under the
name Faustin I. His default model for imperial pomp was the First French Empire of Napoleon I. A colorful aspect of his short reign was the
establishment of a black nobility to populate his court. {See LLMC titles no. 31766, 31767, 31768.} His Letters Patent of 1859 created 4 Princes of the Empire, 59
Dukes, 2 Marquis, 99 Counts, 215 Barons, and scores of Hereditary Chevalliers and lesser nobles. Soulouque’s downfall came when he depleted the
state’s resources in a four vain attempts (1849, 1850, 1855 & 1856) to invade and reconquer the Dominican Republic, which had first been seized from the
Spanish during the rule of Touissant Louverture, and was again under Haitian rule from 1822-44. In 1859 a coup led by General Favre Nicolas Geffard, who
succeeded him as leader, but with the restored title of president, forced Faustin I to abdicate. Needless to say, European and North American public
opinion was happy to seize upon Soulouque’s remarkable reign as bemusing evidence of the incapacity of the rebel, black, Haitian republic for
self-government. This Dhormoy text, beginning with its ironical title, was designed to feed into that predisposition.)
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Title:
Une visite chez Soulouque : souvenirs d'un voyage dans l'île d'Haïti / Paul Dhormoys.
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OCLC Number:
793569267
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Available Volumes
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| Name | Fiche Count | Online | Paper Backup |
| Vol. 1 | | Yes | No |
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