The State of Spanish Haiti lasted barely nine weeks. An emissary sent to Colombia for assistance in maintaining independence was unsuccessful. Another emissary sent to President Boyer of Haiti, for the negotiation of a treaty, brought back the answer that "the whole island should constitute a single republic under the flag of Haiti." For several years Boyer, a dark mulatto, who had united Haiti under his rule, had been endeavoring to influence the colored people on the Spanish side of the border, to such an extent that the activities of his agents repeatedly provoked protests from the Spanish governors, and he now recognized that his opportunity had come. Invading the country in the north and south his forces captured the most important points. He met with no resistance, due to the fact that the temporary government was entirely unprepared, that the population feared a repetition of the horrors of 1805, and that many were in sympathy with him while others were indifferent. On February 9, 1822, Nunez de Caceres was obliged to deliver the keys of Santo Domingo City to the invader and the whole island came under the dominion of Haiti. The twenty-two years of Haitian rule marked a period of social and economic retrogression for the old Spanish portion of the island. Most of the whites, especially the more prominent families, the principal representatives of the community's wealth and culture, definitely abandoned the country, some immediately upon the advent of the Haitians, others in 1824, when a hopeless conspiracy in favor of a restoration of Spanish rule was quenched in blood, and others in 1830, when a quixotic demand of the Spanish king for a return of his domain was refused by Boyer. The Haitians, anxious to eliminate the whites, encouraged such emigration and confiscated the property left by the emigrants. The policy of the Haitian government was to build up a strong African state in the whole island, and in pursuance of this policy it emancipated all slaves, colonized Haitian negroes on the Samana peninsula and in other parts of the Spanish-speaking territory and brought in colored people from the United States. Some of these remained in Puerto Plata, others in Santo Domingo City, but the larger number settled on the Samana peninsula, where their descendants still form the bulk of the population. Every effort was made to Haitianize the country by extending the Haitian laws, and imposing Haitian governors. Representation was also accorded in the Haitian congress. In 1825 the French government recognized the independence of the French part of the island in consideration of the payment of an indemnity, toward which the Haitians forced the Spanish part to contribute.