passionate nature, chafing easily under the slightest restraint.
Pétion was often actuated by his heart, whilst Christophe rarely allowed himself to be thus ruled. The former trusted the people, in the welfare of whom he was deeply interested; he contemplated granting them wise liberties and thought that it would be possible to instil into them a liking for work by making them the owners of the land they had watered with their blood. Christophe had very little faith in the improvement of the people through the enjoyment of liberty; he was convinced that an iron hand would more easily and more quickly compel the people to work. Two men of such vastly different natures could not possibly have the same political ideas. It was no wonder then that whilst Pétion was thinking of establishing a republican form of government, Christophe, if he were not inclined to the maintenance of the monarchy, wished at least to create a strong and forcible executive power. On account of this difference of opinion the two Generals were already at odds when on November 3, 1806, Christophe, in his capacity of Chief of the Provisional Government, summoned the citizens in order to elect a Constituent Assembly which was to meet at Port-au-Prince on the 30th of the same month. In the province of the North and in the Artibonite, which were under Christophe's direct influence, there were more parishes than in the West and in the South. The Chief of the Provisional Government was therefore sure of having in the Assembly a majority willing to support him. In consequence, he caused a draft of a constitution suitable to his ideas to be prepared.
To counteract Christophe's plans Pétion authorized the election of Deputies in many small towns in the Western and Southern departments, which had hitherto never been represented. He himself became a member of the Constituent Assembly, the majority of which he had now secured; and in his turn he prepared the draft of a constitution.
By increasing the number of the members of the
