The ignorance of the officers often leads them into ludicrous mistakes. A general commanding at Port-au-Prince saw a boat entering the harbour with the Spanish flag flying, and he instantly went down to the wharf. “Who are you?” said he to the officers. “Spaniards,” was the reply. “Paniols!” exclaimed he, “then you are enemies!” and proceeded to arrest them, under the mistaken idea that all Spaniards must be Dominicans, with whom Hayti was at war. It required the most vigorous language, and some emphatic gestures with his foot on the part of the French Consul-General, to prevent the Spanish officers being thrust into the common jail. The negro had never heard of Spain, although Cuba is within sight of Haytian shores. An English admiral came into the harbour of the capital, and President Salnave sent an officer on board to welcome our naval chief. This was a black general, who, when he got on board, was so tipsy that he commenced making formal bows to the mainmast, under the mistaken idea that it was the admiral, who, hearing of his maudlin state, came to receive him on deck, and soon dismissed him. I heard that he afterwards declared he had seen two admirals on board. I knew this man well, and though a tipsy savage, was intrusted with a most important military command. The army is legally recruited by conscription, the term of service being seven years, though volunteers serve only four; this, however, is purely nominal. During my stay, the invariable practice was for a colonel of a regiment to send out parties of soldiers, who seized in the streets any man whom they thought would suit. As this only occurred in times of danger, or when the President’s body-guard had to be completed, these captured volunteers had the greatest difficulty in getting free from the clutches of the recruiting sergeant. I have seen even deputies and senators walked off to the barracks. As soon as it is known that the recruiting parties are about, men begin to stay at home, and only women come in from the country. This brutal system of enlistment was one of the causes of the fall of President Geffrard. To punish the inhabitants of Cap Haïtien for their unsuccessful insurrection in 1865, the President had recruiting parties sent out into that town, and the respectable young men were captured by dozens, transferred to Port-au-Prince, and forcibly incorporated into the battalions of tirailleurs. It was they who in 1867 gave the signal for those revolutionary movements which finally upset the President. The brutality shown by these recruiting parties is revolting, as the men are armed with clubs, and permitted to use them at discretion. General Geffrard used to harangue these unhappy volunteers as if they were burning with enthusiasm to join the army, whilst, bleeding, tattered, and torn, they listened sulkily to his words, all the time carefully guarded by their brutal captors. Their chief pretended not to see their state.