Note 17 — Chapter VII
Reading edition
Military trials have always been a disgrace to Hayti. Even under their model President Boyer (1827) they were as bad as they were under the Emperor Soulouque or the present President Salomon. Mackenzie, in his notes on Hayti, states that no defence was allowed, as that would have been waste of time. Four officers were tried and condemned to death: their arms were tied, and they were led by a police officer to the place of execution. They showed great intrepidity, though the soldiers fired a hundred shots before they killed them. President Geffrard had certainly more respect for the forms of law.