citizens." This was an absolutely illiterate man, but one possessed of that daring and gallantry which fascinate and arouse the masses. He soon became the prime mover of this popular outbreak, and on the 5th of April he took possession of the town of Cayes. The grievances of the country people, which had long been held in check, broke forth at last with a violence that terrified the inhabitants of the town. The peasants had one aim in view: the holding of the land; the means used in attaining this end were of minor importance to them. Like an impetuous torrent, Acaau's followers bore down, wreaking destruction on all who stood in their way. They committed many very regrettable excesses.
Whilst Acaau was enjoying his dictatorship at Cayes, the peasants in the Grand'Anse took up arms with the cries of "Down with the process-servers!"[1] They succeeded in occupying Jérémie and in becoming masters of the whole arrondissement of Nippes. Ridiculous as the cries of "Down with the process-servers!" may seem, they were nevertheless an evidence of the fixed idea of the peasants to remain in possession of their fields. Taking advantage of the hard circumstances in which they at that time found themselves, certain of the city merchants lent them money at usurious rates and, through the redemption proviso or by means of mortgage deeds, easily dispossessed them of their properties. By serving the judiciary acts the process-server foretold the approaching dispossession; hence the hatred he incurred.
Though political in the North and agrarian in the South, the agitation which was disturbing the entire country had the same object in view: the dismissal of Charles Hérard ainé, whose blunders were accountable for all this turmoil. The President was still at Azua
- ↑ It is noteworthy that the Haitian peasants, who knew nothing about the history of England, were manifesting the same aversion against the practitioners of law as was shown by the English serfs during the riots which took place in 1381 during the reign of Richard II. The serfs destroyed every judiciary document they could lay hands on and killed many lawyers in London.
