send his sister, Mrs. Casting, a very kind woman, to me with 200 gourdes, about $16. She assured me that her brother, the President, was not responsible for the crueltics I had been subjected to, but that it was the fault of General Carrie. Encouraged by her kindness and her assurances in regard to General Geffrard, I afterward, when I got able, wrote to him a long letter setting forth my whole case, my innocence and my wrongs, and appealing to him for justice, but he never answered me.

The American, British, and German consuls continued very kind and attentive to me, and often visited me and gave me money when I needed it. At one time, speaking with them of Mr. Hubbard, I asked why he had so cruelly neglected me. The German consul answered that he was wholly identified with the Haytien interests; that he was then gone to Europe to marry a mulatto wife, the daughter of Minister Dupuy; that he had large pecuniary contracts with the government, and had no other country but Hayti.

The consuls procured Mr. Henry Baudeauf, nephew of Dupuy, to act as my counsel when I was brought before the court, in pursuance of the order of the court of cassation. The court read the order, and on Mr. Baudeauf rising to take exception, they stopped him and would not permit him to speak. They then pronounced sentence upon me of five years' imprisonment at hard labor in irons, and asked me if I had anything to say. I answered that I had, and was about to proceed, when the judges sprang to their feet, saying, “Don't speak, don't speak," and put on their hats and rushed out of the room. Messrs. Folsom, Boden, and the German consul were present. I was returned to my dungeon in irons. Baudeauf filed his exceptions and appealed from the sentence. Mr. Folsom wrote to Linstant, one of my counsel at Port-au-Prince, and received a reply from him, which is filed in the Department of State. Mr. Folsom then told me that as Hayti had been recognized by the United States, and a minister appointed to reside at Port-au-Prince, I must await his arrival, when he would doubtless interfere in my behalf.

About November, 1862, I heard of the arrival of Mr. Whidden, United States commissioner, at Port-au-Prince. I wrote to him, as did also Mr. Folsom and Mr. Boden, in my behalf. Mr. Whidden answered Mr. Folsom that President Geffrard was then absent on a tour, but that on his return he would have an interview with him and would send for me. Accordingly in December an order came to send me to Port-au-Prince, and I was taken out of my dungeon, relieved of my irons, and embarked on board a schooner. The consuls continued their kindness to me till my departure, and accompanied me to the wharf, and Mr. Folsom gave me money before we separated.

I arrived at Port-au-Prince after a voyage of about five days, some time in December. The next day I was taken to the house of Mr. Whidden to give him an opportunity to examine me, and learn the history of my treatment in Hayti. He took notes of my statements, and directly commenced negotiations with Dupuy for a settlement, Dupuy being anxious to bring the matter to a close. Mr. Whidden, however, soon informed me that the case presented two aspects-one for the public wrong by insulting the American flag, and one touching the spoliation and oppression to which I had been subjected-and that he must receive instructions from Washington before he could conclude any arrangement. After Mr. Whidden had received advices from Washington he was on the point of making an arrangement with Dupuy, when he was taken sick and obliged to leave for home on leave of absence. He sent for me and told me the affair was in a fair train for settlement, and would be left in the hands of Mr. Henry Conard, who would doubtless bring it to a close. The Haytiens on his leaving became indifferent as to an early settlement, and sent their papers and instructions to their minister in Washington, as I was informed. So the matter rested, as far as any overtures for a settlement were concerned, till after Mr. Whidden's return from his visit to the United States, in 1863.

In the mean time Mr. Whidden, seeing my feeble state and the sickness I suffered, had procured my transfer from prison to a hospital, and afforded me all the relief and comfort possible, as did also Mr. Conard. I was taken to jail once again for about a month, but not ironed, and then returned to the hospital, where I remained till my escape.

In April, 1863, I wrote to the President of the United States, and received a reply from the Department of State in June following, assuring me that my case should receive just consideration.

About this time the appeal of my counsel, Mr. Baudeauf, from my last sentence at Cape Haytien, which had been suffered to remain unnoticed for nine months or more, contrary to law, was brought to a hearing. Mr. Whidden remonstrated against reviving this matter at so late a day, as tending to complicate and embarrass the case now under negotiation, but they disregarded him and proceeded to affirm the judgment, and further decreed that I should be sent before the correctional court to have some punishment inflicted upon me for the terms in which my counsel had referred in his appeal to the decision of the court as having been in excess of their authority. They did not, however, take me before the correctional court. On this hearing, Linstant produced and offered to read the papers received from Mr. Eden, in place of those which had been abstracted, establishing my innocence, but they would not hear him, and forced him to withdraw. After the decision some of the judges called on me and apologized, saying they were obliged to render a political decision, or they would themselves be subjected to punishment, to the ruin of their families.

After Mr. Whidden's departure I was informed by a Haytien friend that St. Amant, in a

speech in a counsel of ministers, had referred to historical instances in Venice and Rome where the supreme authorities had resorted to assassination by poison to rid the state of dangerous or obnoxious persons, and contended that such means were proper, and that I was a fit subject for the application of the policy. My friend warned me to be cautious against poison, and the physician of the hospital admonished me to bar my door at night, and in all ways to guard against assassination. I made immediate representation of these matters to Mr. Conard, who came to see me, and told me not to eat anything they offered me, and gave me food from time to time, and also money.

When Mr. Whidden returned, about September 27, 1863, he very soon called on me and told me Dupuy was absent from the country, and General Damier was acting as minister of foreign affairs, and that General Damier was prepared to settle my claim, and had promised him to be magnanimous and generous towards me. He anticipated an immediate close of the whole affair, and several of my friends, to whom this had been communicated, called to congratulate me, saying I would next day be set at liberty, and restored to affluence. Twenty or more days elapsed and I became very sick-even the physician of the hospital feared I had been poisoned. When I regained a little strength, General Damier having sent a note to Mr. Whidden putting an end to all hope of justice toward me, and saying that I had been legally condemned and must suffer according to my sentence, unless I would ask for a pardon, which in that case would be granted, and money given to me, measures were taken for my escape.

The French consul general, thinking I would die, came and drew my will, which I executed, and he gave me twenty dollars. The British consul, the Spanish consul, Mr. Whidden, Mr. Linstant, and Father Pascal, each gave me twenty dollars. Some of this money was conveyed to me by the physician of the hospital.

In the mean time I received a letter from my sister in France, informing me that Dupuy, who was then there, had promised my family that if I would ask a pardon it should be granted, and a large sum of money given me. They, anxious for my liberty and return to life, begged me to accept these terms.

A friend residing at Kingston, Jamaica, being at Port-au-Prince, called on President Geffrard, who made to him similar propositions.

As I had never committed a crime, I could not ask a pardon from my oppressors, but preferred to run away and rely upon the justice of my own country.

On the 11th of November, 1863, at 10 o'clock, p. m, I scaled the wail of the hospital by the assistance of some ten shipmasters, who furnished me with ropes and aid, and went under the escort of the same gentlemen to the French legation, not choosing to go to Mr. Whidden's, because I knew if I was searched for it was there they would look for me. staid at the French legation about 36 hours, and then went to the British legation, where I remained about an equal period. The police were busy and active in searching for me, but I remained secure.

I

On the evening of November 14, I embarked on board the Spanish steamer Monte Christo, Captain Arriaga, bound for Kingston, Jamaica. I was escorted on board by Mr. St. John, British minister, and the Marquis of Forbin Janson, French charge d'affaires, and about sixty shipmasters and other gentlemen.

Captain Arriaga had his steam up ready to start the moment I arrived on board, and gave me a free passage to Kingston, where I arrived on the evening of November 16.

I immediately called on the United States consul, informed him of my case, and placed myself under his protection.

At Kingston I met Mr. Eden, of Grand Caymans, and several other respectable residents of that island who had knowledge of my proceedings there, and my dealings with Cortez, and took their testimony in the matter before the United States consul, also proof of my efforts there to provide a cargo of guano for my return voyage. I also met Captain Stubbs, of the Alma, who had aided me in my distress on the banks of Caicos, and got his deposition to the facts. These depositions are all filed in the Department of State.

After getting the testimony of Mr. Eden and his neighbors, as they and myself were well known at Kingston, I published in a paper of the place so much of the history of my case as is connected with Grand Caymans and my dealings with Cortez, with the testimony establishing my innocence therein. I did this to place myself right before the community of Kingston, where my witnesses were known, and where the Haytien emissaries were still endeavoring to prejudice me in the public mind. These emissaries, one Laraque, consul of Hayti, at their head, used all their exertions to prevent the newspapers from publishing my

narrative.

I omitted to mention in the proper connection that after my condemnation the bark was advertised to be sold at public auction, with all my instruments and things belonging to the vessel. At the opening of the sale a party offered a large sum of money for the whole, which was refused on the plea that it was insufficient, and the sale postponed till the next week, when it was again offered, and purchased by one Mr. Riverre, for the sum of 4,000 gourdes, about $480. Mr. Lewis protested against the sale of my instruments, as not being subject to any forfeiture.

After the sale, the vessel was immediately repaired and fitted out by Mr. Riverre, and sent

to Boston for further repairs and for a cargo of ice, in which trade she was regularly employed until lost.

The next session of the chamber of representatives strongly denounced this action of the government, whereupon the President called a force of armed troops, and suppressed the chamber and turned out the members, and ordered a new election, when his own partisans and soldiers were chosen.

Suffering all the time from illness, engendered in Haytien dungeons, and ruined in fortune, I at length applied to the United States consul for aid; and by his assistance was enabled to leave Kingston on the 5th of May last, and arrived in the United States on the 14th of the same month.

I write this narrative at Providence Hospital, in the city of Washington, where I am receiving medical attendance and careful nursing from the Sisters of Charity, in the hope of re-establishing, in some measure, my broken constitution.

Having now completed my narrative, I beg leave to submit a few comments on some points that seem to require special attention.

The despatch of Mr. Hubbard to the Department of State, dated April 13, 1861, seems the only document that gives my case a bad aspect before the department, and that more by its coloring than its facts. Its coloring is false, and its facts are not true.

I have charged Mr. Hubbard with countenancing and aiding the Haytiens in their unlawful and barbarous treatment of me. Concerning his motives I have to say that he was an adventurer who devoted himself to the acquisition of wealth in Hayti. To this end he courted the favor of the government, getting profitable contracts, and identifying himself socially with them. At the time I was seized he was under a matrimonial engagement with the daughter of Dupuy, one of the ministers of the republic, and one of my worst enemies, a colored woman, whom he afterward married. He had settled himself permanently as a merchant at Port-au-Prince, thriving on the favor of the government.

He takes pains in the beginning to throw a cloud over my voyage, as 66 very round about and apparently illegitimate," though it is hard to imagine how my wanderings in the West Indian seas, however varied and unfortunate, could be connected with any idea of a slavetrading expedition.

He says I entered my vessel at Port-au-Prince as "coming from New Orleans," but "could show no regular clearance from that city." I did not enter my vessel as coming from New Orleans, though she was registered as belonging there, but my papers showed my voyage to have commenced at Mobile, and Mr. Lewis, our commercial agent at Port-au-Prince, testifies that my "ship's papers were correct, and delivered to him in due time."

He says the bark was "suspected of being a slaver, which suspicion was substantiated by the written evidence of several of her crew and passengers." This is wholly untrue. The suspicion was started by the declaration of Binar, a passenger, who was trying to extort money from me, and supported under the influence of bribery, as is proved by the affidavits of Thibodeaux, Collar and Brown, by the five sailors whom I had put in jail for stealing. But not one of these men swore to anything more than hearsay and suspicion, and the suspicion was never substantiated by any circumstance or the oath of any one.

He says there were found twenty pairs of handcuffs on board. No such proof was ever made, and only eight pairs were ever on board. He speaks of twelve revolvers and four rifles. The revolvers were sold before any suspicion was aroused, and the rifles were doublebarreled hunting guns, and only three.

He tries to inflame prejudice against me by referring to two kegs of powder as a large amount to be on a merchant vessel, when, if he knew anything about it to authorize him to speak of it at all, he knew that the powder was on the manifest as cargo, and had been sold and debarked before the beginning of any difficulty.

He says there were in the hold a large number of beams, and cross bars, and plank. No such proof was ever made, no such fact ever existed. I had only my cargo of lumber, which was sold before any trouble, and a few pieces of scantling, not exceeding half a dozen, for ordinary use.

He says there were also in the hold a large number of water casks, reported over a hundred. No such report was ever made, no such proof was ever exhibited, or obtained, or offered; no such fact ever existed. Eight water casks were all I ever had on board, though, as elsewhere stated, I filled some twenty or twenty-five empty provision barrels with salt water for ballast. He says I had a large quantity of provisions, but in fact my supply was inadequate for my crew, and I had to buy an additional quantity at Port-au-Prince, and again of Captain Stubbs, as is shown by his affidavit.

While detailing matters intended to criminate me, Hubbard states in positive terms as facts, without giving his authority, such things as he must have learned from the Haytiens, if he did not fabricate them himself; but when he comes to speak of any complaint of mine he is careful to refer to me in such a manner as to show that he hopes he has so far discredited me as to deprive my word of all weight.

So he says my handcuffs were taken away and delivered to the government, but is wholly silent as to their restoration to me. And then he speaks of the seizure of my vessel, the trampling upon the flag, and my demand for reimbursement of the damages I had suffered,

in such terms as to convey the idea that my complaints were unfounded and my claims unworthy of attention.

Hubbard then speaks of an arrangement effected by the United States commercial agent, and says, that "after I had sold some goods which it would appear had been shipped on board the vessel on freight in Carthagena, to be delivered in Rio de Hache, and taken a few tons of logwood, I left Port-au-Prince." In this he adheres to his purpose of stating everything so as to bear an appearance unfavorable to me. In fact all that property had been sold and debarked before any trouble occurred, and wherever Hubbard learned that I had received it at Carthagena to be conveyed to Rio de Hache he must at the same time have been informed of the reasons of my change of destination, and the manner in which I became the owner of the property. But it did not suit his malicious design to communicate these facts to the department.

He says my crew was very large-not less than twenty men-of all nations, but principally runaway Frenchmen and Spaniards. If he had applied to the United States commercial agency at Port-au-Prince, certainly the proper quarter for an American official to apply to for information of American ships and seamen resorting to that port, he would have learned that I arrived there with a crew of twelve beside myself, including clerk, steward and cook, three who did no duty as seamen; and, after losing one by death and five by imprisonment, left with the same number, having lost something in the efficiency of my crew by shipping boys instead of able seamen, being, in fact, very light-handed for so large a vessel as the William. He would have learned that my crew were all Americans on my arrival, and all Americans and Frenchmen when I left, instead of being "of all nations," and not a Spaniard among them. As to their being runaways, I have no knowledge, and cannot conceive how Hubbard could have acquired any I can only say that after leaving the five highbinders in jail at Port-au-Prince, my crew, though not efficient, five of them being boys, were orderly and of good behavior, except the villain and thief Miranda.

He says my real object in going to Port-au-Prince, which I endeavored to effect without success, was to engage fifty men and six women, Haytiens, for the given purpose of working a guano island. It is true that this was a part of my object, my other motive being to find a market for my cargo. But why should Hubbard represent this object in an invidious light, and refer to my failure in it as if a wicked design had been baffled? Surely the purpose was one of legitimate commerce, and there is no reason to doubt that I would have succeeded if malice and cupidity had not combined to foment such difficulties with the Haytien government as caused me to abandon the enterprise.

All these matters of false statements and distorted truth Hubbard trumped up within two weeks of my seizure at Fort Liberty, showing clearly that he was concerting and confederating with the Haytiens to make up a case against me, and to report the case to the Department of State as, if possible, to close the doors of justice against me. He never applied to the United States commercial agency at Port-au-Prince, where proof existed of the falsity of most of the allegations against me which he sanctioned with his name.

If he had come to Fort Liberty, with whatever prejudices his mind might have been imbued and clouded, and, as was his right and duty, obtained possession of my papers, he would have held the proofs in his own hands of my innocence in regard to every charge ever imagined against me, and put it out of the power of my plunderers, Lilavois, La Motte, Carrie and their associates, to carry out their nefarious schemes.

But the pursuit of justice and the performance of duty were not at that time the objects of Hubbard's attention. He was then only solicitous to uphold the Haytiens in the course they had resolved upon toward me, whether moved only by the desire to pay his court to them, or hoping also to participate in the plunder of my wealth, I cannot judge.

He proceeds to give a pretended account of my appearance off the coast on the 25th of March, to the northeast of Cape Haytien, and my gradual approach to and final entry at Fort Liberty on the 31st, in which he falsely asserts that I "sometimes anchored in the small bays and inlets of the coast," and one night particularly in a "small bay called Fondblanc, near the village of Caracol," adding, as a proof of some criminal design, that "next morning a quantity of footprints were found in the sand on the beach." Not one word of this is true, and it seems to have been an original and gratuitous falsehood of Hubbard's, for the Haytiens, although they pretended to have such suspicions, did not assume to have received any proof of the facts; and even Miranda, my accuser, distinctly stated the contrary.

He says that on the 29th March I saluted an American schooner with the French flag, and furnishes what he calls an affidavit of Captain I. B. Gage to uphold the statement. I do not question the good faith of Captain Gage; but it is evident that he was not called upon by Hubbard to make his statement till after he had received my letter of 6th April, and was trying to drum up material to controvert my statements, and, perhaps, not till April 11, the date of his answer to me, being certainly eight, and possibly thirteen days after the alleged salute.

And Hubbard, doubtless fearing that the lapse of time might detract from the weight of Captain Gage's statement, carefully suppresses the date; and Captain Gage, perhaps distrusting the accuracy of his recollection, withholds from his statement the sanction of an oath. Yet Hubbard speaks of this statement of Captain Gage, which he calls an affidavit.

H.Ex. Doc. 260—6

although destitute of date or oath, as substantiating against me an accusation of an act which he calls piratical.

But Captain Gage, in his description of the vessel which saluted him, clearly negatives the idea that it could have been the William; for he describes her as carrying royal yards, and being taut and shipshape, while the William did not, and could not, carry royal yards on account of the weakness of her topmasts; and no seaman would describe a vessel so disabled, and steering witd, wiih her rudder loose and unsteady, like that of the William, as taut and shipshape.

Let it be remembered, also, that this part of the Haytien coast, and the port of Cape Haytien, are visited by great numbers of French vessels, and it will not seem strange that Captain Gage's having received a French salute off the coast should be manipulated by Hubbard into apparent proof of criminal or suspicious acts by me.

And now I will speak, with entire candor, of my own actual fault. It is true that I did, in the surprise and terror of finding myself again in Haytien jurisdiction, deny my identity, and pretend to be French, and instruct my crew to carry out the deception. If my log-book, and the testimony of my crew, could be procured, it would be seen that I called my crew aft and stated the reason of the deception when I gave them their instructions. It is true that, by the officious kindness of General Gourgue in offering to convey a letter to the French vice-consul, I was induced to attempt the continuance of the deception, by causing a note to be written to that officer, in the character of a French subject and mariner, informing him that I would sail the next day, and would call upon him personally at Cape Haytien, hoping thereby to prevent his visiting the ship or port until I should be able to escape. It is true that I intended and endeavored to perfect and keep up this deception till I could so far repair my damages as to be able to escape out of Haytien waters.

What degree of criminality was involved in this error? Not any. It was no offence against any law; did not subject me, by any statute, or regulation of public law, to any punishment or forfeiture. Hubbard calls it piracy, in which he shows his ignorance equal to his malignity.

It was an imprudent and suspicious act, well calculated to arouse surmises of evil in the minds of such a people as the Haytiens, especially when re-enforced by accusations of criminal intentions, such as were denounced against me by Miranda.

I do not complain that suspicion was aroused. I do not complain that rigid investigation was ordered. But does investigation necessitate dungeons, chains, and torture? Does sus picion justify conviction?

Had I not adequate excuse for any stratagem by which I could avoid or escape the power of these barbarians? My ship had been unlawfully seized by the police at Port-au-Prince. The flag of my country had been trampled upon and insulted by them. They had inflicted great and wanton damage upon me, and after promise of redress, it had been withheld. Threats had been showered upon me, that any efforts to procure justice through my government should be resisted and defeated. I had been driven to abandon the principal commercial object of my voyage, the procuring of a cargo of guano. Bribery had been employed to procure false testimony against me. I had been ostentatiously and insolently chased to sea by a public armed ship. For all these insults and wrongs I had given no provocation whatever. I could anticipate nothing but repeated acts of oppression and spoliation if I should again fall into the hands of those who bad shown themselves so unscrupulous in the abuse of power. Having, after most strenuous efforts to avoid it, drifted upon their coast with a disabled ship, and a weak and inefficient crew, and entered a bay with a narrow entrance under a misapprehension, thinking it was Porto Plata, from which I could not sail out again except by aid of the land breeze at night, my first and controlling thought was to make sure of my escape. I resorted to the expedient of denying my identity, and feigning a different nationality. I speak several languages, but decided to pass for French because the French have more commerce, and are in greater favor on this coast than any other nation, and because a part of my crew were French and talked that language, which is also the language of the country. Looking back, after all I have suffered, and reflecting coolly upon the circumstances in which I was placed, I cannot reproach myself for the course I adopted. Had I been in command of a vessel belonging to other owners, I should have felt it my duty to employ every means, short of actual force, to rescue ship and cargo from the danger into which adverse fortune had betrayed me. I was, on the contrary, sole owner of ship and cargo; but this fact did not diminish my anxiety to escape.

My use of the French flag at the fore masthead as a pilot signal, and feigning to be French, were never charged against me as a crime, except by Hubbard, to excuse his abandonment of me to the cruelties of my enemies. Even the French vice-consul, Meneau, although equally with Hubbard mixed up with the Haytiens in his family relations, and very bitter in his hostility to me, anxiously and officiously interfered to examine and verify my papers, and to protect such of my crew as claimed to be French subjects.

It was only the Americans who were shut up in dungeons, subjected to irons and torture, and deprived of all aid and counsel, even on trial, except that afforded by enlightened and benevolent Haytiens, at the peril of imprisonment.

Hubbard makes several minor misstatements about proceedings at Fort Liberty, and then gnorantly and falsely denies that I had raised the American flag at the time of my seizure.