A comparison of the list of presidents with the roster of executives of Haiti reveals a disproportion, for though the black Republic has been in existence since 1804, it has had but twenty-nine chiefs of state, the average duration of whose rule was therefore much longer than has been the case in Santo Domingo. It is to be observed, however, that of the Haitian executives only one completed his term of office and voluntarily retired; of the others, four remained in power until their death from natural causes, eighteen were deposed by revolutions, one of them, committing suicide, another being executed on the steps of his burning palace, and still another being cut to pieces by the mob; five were assassinated; and one is chief magistrate at the present time. The president and members of the Senate and House of Deputies are elected by indirect vote. Electors whose number and apportionment among the several provinces and their subdivisions are prescribed by law, are chosen by general suffrage in what are called primary assemblies in the several municipalities and constitute electoral colleges which meet at the chief town of the respective province. The electors having cast their votes for president the minutes of the session are sent to the capital. The votes are counted in joint session of Congress and the successful candidate is proclaimed by that body. Though the election procedure designated in the constitution was gravely followed, yet not once in the history of the country has the result of an election been in doubt, nor is there an instance when the candidate of the government was not elected, excepting only the election of October, 1914, when the American government brought watchers from Porto Rico to avoid gross frauds and coercion. Usually everything was prepared beforehand and the primaries and the meetings of the electoral colleges were little more than ratification meetings. The votes of the electoral colleges were generally unanimous in favor of the government's candidate, yet the odd spectacle has repeatedly presented itself, of a unanimously elected president being driven out of the country within a few months by a general revolution. The constitution authorizes the president to conclude treaties with the consent of Congress, to appoint certain government officials, to receive foreign diplomatic representatives, and to grant pardons in certain cases, and makes him commander-in-chief of the army and navy. Most of the chief magistrates have not felt themselves hampered, however, whether in peace or war, by any enumeration of powers in the constitution, for their ascendancy has generally been such that their wishes would be complied with and their illegal acts ratified or ignored by a subservient Congress. President Heureaux so controlled Congress, the courts, and all public functionaries, that the government was practically identical with his personality.