We had arrived in Hayti at a period of great national excitement. On the 22nd of the previous December, the Government of the Emperor Soulouque had been subverted by a successful revolution under the leadership of the present President, and the Emperor himself, with his family, exiled. He was conveyed to Jamaica by a British man-of-war. Not a life was lost in this revolution. The fabric of Soulouque's power crumbled with a touch. The hateful reign of superstition, fraud, and impiety came to a sudden end. The most attached adherents of the Emperor abandoned him in his extremity. The republic was revived with universal acclamations. General Geffrard was called to the Presidency, and legally assumed the constitutional powers of the State. The false pageantry of Soulouque's court was set aside for the simpler forms of a Commonwealth. Scarcely was Geffrard settled in the seat of government, than a conspiracy was discovered to overthrow the restored republic, erect another kingdom, and revive the flimsy titles with which Soulouque had adorned his followers. The conspirators were tried and shot a few days before I reached the capital. As illustrative of the condition of the island, I will give a brief sketch of the affair.

The chief of the conspiracy was a General Prophète, Secretary of State for the Interior, under Soulouque.