Mary D. Lewis writes in the wake of a New York Times series from May 20, 2022 on what the "ransom" Haiti paid to former French planters, compensation for property they lost in the revolution, did to the country.

Her own subject is the pressure that French merchant interests brought to bear on their government over the question of recognizing Haitian independence. Only the opening lines of the piece are available in this record, so the argument itself cannot be reported here.