Istwa Nou

Ashore, Bobo behaved like a candidate anyway. A crowd was assembled, speeches were made, and he rode through the capital in a broken down carriage throwing coins to children. American emissaries meanwhile approached men of standing: François Légitime, Solon Ménos, Jacques Nicolas Léger. Léger answered for all of them, saying he stood with Haiti rather than with the United States and meant to keep himself where he could defend Haitian interests. Philippe Sudre Dartiguenave, a lawyer from Anse à Veau and president of the Senate, was more willing. Caperton reported on 5 August that Dartiguenave was honourable, had joined no revolution, and accepted that Haiti would have to agree to whatever Washington laid down. On 8 August the two rivals were brought to the American legation. Asked whether other Haitians were as qualified as he was, Dartiguenave said many were and that the office was not of his seeking. Bobo said he alone had the honour, the intelligence and the confidence of the people, and that Haiti could not survive without him.