simply invested with the care of proclaiming the acts adopted by the Senate and of taking the necessary steps for their execution; and although he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Army he was not allowed to confer any title or rank.
Believing that in this manner it had put an effectual stop to any tendency toward despotism, the Constituent Assembly, on the 28th of December, 1806, elected Christophe President of Haiti; the same day the twenty-four members of the Senate were also elected.
Nevertheless, Christophe, who had not received any notification of his election, continued on his march against Port-au-Prince at the head of a formidable army.
The Senate met on the 31st of December, and regarded Christophe's soldiers, who were then at l'Arcahaie, as enemies.
However, according to the new Constitution, the President-elect was granted fifteen days in which to take the oath of the office. Before the expiration of this time he could not, in the absence of any overt action on his part, be considered as having declined the office or being in rebellion against the Constitution, a copy of which they had not even thought of sending him. Yet when Christophe's soldiers reached Sibert on the 15th of January, 1807, they encountered the army of the Western and Southern provinces under the command of Pétion. A fierce battle ensued. Pétion was utterly defeated and would have been killed but for the devotedness of one of his aides-de-camp, Coutilien Coustard, who, noticing the danger in which his chief stood, seized the hat adorned with gold lace usually worn by Pétion and placed it on his own head. He was thus mistaken for his General and killed.
Following up his success Christophe besieged Port-au-Prince. But after various ineffectual attacks on this town he returned to the Northern province. An Assembly which assumed the title of "Assembly of the mandatories of the people" met at Cap, and on the 17th of February, 1807, adopted a Constitution which, contrary
