The background to the creation of a rural police goes back to the Haitian revolution. Toussaint l'Ouverture had faced a considerable problem after the initial success of the Haitian slave revolt. The former slaves saw no reason to continue working on the plantations once they had their freedom. Content to grow what they needed on the enormously fertile land of Haiti why should they continue onerous labour on the plantations? Toussaint realised that Haiti needed the revenue the plantations bought if the state was to survive and he enforced a rigorous enforcement of obligations on all labourers to work on the plantations in conditions little better than those they had enjoyed as slaves. Discontent was brutally crushed. After the betrayal of Toussaint and the renewal of the bitter war of liberation this enforcement of labour had broken down. With the success of the revolution under the leadership of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who declared himself emperor in 1 804, an attempt was made to re-impose the strict code of labour and this may have been one of the reasons why Dessalines was overthrown and killed in 1806. The state then broke into two with mulatto or mixed race officers under Pétion setting up a republic in the South with a constitution designed to perpetuate their supremacy over the majority black population. Pétion was generally described as a mild and lackadaisical figure and the population of the south as being allowed to fall into its indolent ways - this is according to the easy racial stereotyping typical of British and other commentators on Haiti, the only liberated Black state to exist in the early 19th century. Pétion may have had good reason not to enforce strict labour discipline however - simple survival. As leader of a mulatto elite he had no wish to push the majority black population into discontent and possible rebellion. The simmering hatred between black and mulatto periodically broke out in any case and enforcement of a strict code of rural discipline was bound to make matters worse, In the north however the black former slave General Henry Christophe had made himself president of a separate state. In 1811 he declared himself King. Unable to conquer the South, as Pétion was unable to conquer the North. Henry contented himself with creating a tightly controlled, disciplined state. He re-imposed the strict control of labour of Toussaint and issued a code-rural and the kingdom became prosperous and well governed. As part of the code-rural he created the Royal-Dahomets, a force of police recruited from Africa. Henry was feared rather than popular and when he succumbed to a stroke in 1820 rebellion broke out. His army mutinied and even his beloved guard proved unreliable. He shot himself and the kingdom was absorbed into the Republic, now under the presidency of Boyer following the death of Pétion in 1811. In "Relation des glorieux Evénements qui ont porté leurs majestés Royale sur le trône d'Haïti" by Julien le Prévost, comte de Limonade, published in 1811, at a royal review of the armed forces of the Kingdom by the newly crowned King Henry Christophe it is mentioned that at the head of the army were the Compagnies agricôles de la police, "that happy creation of Henry". It occurred to me that they might be synonymous with the Royal-Dahomets mentioned in the biography of Henry by Cole. However le Prévost makes no mention of any unit called the royal-dahomets in his work although he does refer to the Royal Bons-Bons at the same review - a unit drawn from the youngest of the Dahomey recruits and which formed a corps of cadets. In Baron Vastey's "Réflexion politique..." of 1817 there is a passing mention of the Royal-Dahomets, sadly with no further details, but clearly implying them to be a part of the armed forces of the kingdom. In the biography of Henry Christophe by Cole there are further details on the Royal-Dahomets although sadly no sources are specified. They are described as being 4000 strong, distributed in detachments of 70 to each of the 56 arrondisements as being renowned and feared for their efficiency in enforcing the code-rural and deterring thieves. No detail is given as to their uniform. Boyer attempted to reintroduce strict labour discipline throughout the country. The Englishman Franklin remarked that only under the threat of the bayonet and sabre were the labourers likely to work properly and stated that he had seen this on the estates of Boyer where the army was used. In 1826 Boyer therefore introduced the Rural Code, a measure Franklin noted was greeted with discontent and which he doubted would be enforced. An anonymous translator provided a parallel translation with the French text in 1827 and recommended that the code be applied to the British possessions in the west Indies. As part of this code a Rural Polices was created; they were equipped as troops of the Line and are referred to as dragoons. The English translation gives the uniform as follows: Officers wore a green coat, "flaps and tappets turned back", collar and cuffs red, facings red, white lining, plated buttons bearing a cornucopia surmounted by a cap of liberty and the words "Republique d'Haiti", and a cocked hat. The French wording is rather more precise; "L'uniforme de Officiers de la Police Rural sera habit-veste retroussé, a revers, poches en travers, collet et paremens rouge, passepoil rouge, doublure blanche, boutons blancs, bombés a moitié, avec un corne d'abondance et chapeau retapé." Further on the translation states that officers wear epaulets of silver with fringes according to rank, white waistcoats and pantaloons and boots. The men wear the same "habit-veste" of the same colour and fashion as the officers with the indications of rank in "galons" or bars of silver lace or white wool and "casques argentés" or silvered helmets. Hardly the most suitable wear for the climate, this is presumably in the style of the French dragoon helmet. The men were equipped with a dragoon sabre, cartridge box and carbine, and wore a red bandoleer over the right shoulder on which was written in blue letters "FORCE DE LA LOI". In severity the code is reminiscent of those imposed by Toussaint and Henry although it is signed by Boyer. Is it possible that in Boyer's Rural Police we have some hint of the organisation and uniform of Henry's Royal-Dahomets or Compagnies agricoles de la police? SOURCES; Anon: "The Rural Code of Haiti, in English and French," London 1827 Hubert Cole: "Christophe, King of Haiti," London 1967 James Franklin: "The Present State of Haiti (Santo-Domingo)," London 1828 Julien le Prévost, comte de Limonade: "Relation des glorieux Evénements qui ont porté leurs majestés Royale sur le trône d'Haïti," published in Cap-Henry and London, 1811 Back to Table of Contents: Booklet No. 6, Haiti 1793-1916 Back to El Dorado List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by The South and Central Military Historians Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com