CHAPTER XXV.
SALNAVE AS PRESIDENT OF HAYTI.
President Salnave was a native of Cape Haytian,
and was forty-one years of age when elevated to
power. He was the son of French and Negro parents.
He entered the army of Hayti in early youth, and was
a major under Geffrard when the empire was overthrown.
While holding the same commission under
the Republic, Salnave projected the rebellion of 1865,
and seized Cape Haytian, from which he was driven,
as we have described. He was said to be a man of
unusual intelligence, of progressive and liberal ideas,
great energy of character, and brilliant results were
expected from his administration.
However, obtaining supreme power by force, so common in Hayti, any one could see that Salnaves' government would be of short duration. The same influences as some of the men who aided him in driving out Geffrard, soon began secretly to work against the new president, and on the 18th of December, 1869, Salnave found himself shut up in his capital, and surrounded on all sides by his most bitter enemies. At last, on the 8th of January, 1870, the Haytian
