CHRISTOPHE, HENRY, was born about 1767 or 1768. The place of his birth seems to be uncertain, for St. Cheistopher, St. Croix, fit. Domingo, and Granada are mentioned by different writers. lie Int attracted attention when a young man as a skilful cook at a tavern in Cape Town, St. Domingo. In 1790, on the insurrection of the blacks in the French part of that island, he joined the insurgents, who pels great respect to hi, gigantic stature, energy, and courage. As the Degrees succeeded he was promoted In military rank. Toussaint Leave:tuna, the generalissimo of the blacks, employed him to put down an Insurrection headed by Moise, or Maws, that general's own nephew. Christophe, by employing consummate artifice, got pos session of Moses, who was put to death by his uncle, on which Chris tophe succeeded to his command in the northern province of French St. Domingo. Its subsequently suppressed other revolt. which troubled the dawn of negro freedom. In 1802, when General Leclerc, brother in-law of Bonaparte, conducted • strong expedition from France to regain St. Domingo from the blacks, Christophe boldly defended Cape-Town; and when obliged to retreat he burnt a great part of the town, and carried off 3000 men, with whom he joined Toussaint Loueerture. When Toussaint was treacherously seized and transported to Europe, Christophe rallied with Dessalines, who then became cotntuander-in-chief of the blacks. Through the effect. of climate and a fierce desultory warfare, in which no one was more dis tinguished than Christophe, there was no longer any French force in the island by 1805. Dessalines then assumed supreme power in Hayti, and advanced Christophe. Not long afterwards Dessalines was accused of abuse of powers, and Christophe, joining with the mulatto Pethion, got up AD insurrection and murdered him in October 1806. Christophe was then proclaimed generalissimo and president for life of the republic of Hayti, and he flamed Lis confederate Pethion his lieutenant and governor in the southern provinces. The negroes, imitating the republican proceedings of their old masters the French, had a national assembly of their own, which met at Cape-Town, and gave plausible grounds for Pethion, who was probably only jealous of Lis superior, to quarrel with Christophe. The mulatto general accused the president of a design against the liberties of the republic; the president called the general an anarchist and a revolted subject, and taking up arms drove him back to Port-an-Prince, where Petition how ever maintained himself and what he called his republic for nearly eleven years.
In 1811 Christophe being undisputed master of the greater part of the country, had himself proclaimed king of Hayti, under the title of Henry L, royalty at the same time being made hereditary in his family. Still following the fashions of Paris, he then organised a court and an hereditary nobility, creating black dukes, counts, barons, &c. On June 2, 1812, be was publicly crowned, and the ceremonies, all after the French pattern, are said to have been very solemn and imposing. On the fall of Napoleon, the house of Bourbon entertained hopes of regaining their old colony, but they were frustrated by the power and skill of Christophe, who possessed several qualities that fitted him for government. On the death of Pethion, in 1818, he endeavoured to get possession of his state by force of arms, but he was beaten back with great loss by the republican blacks under their new president, General Boyer. These reverses, added to subsequent losses by fire, and other accidents, materially weakened him at a moment when his cruelty had rendered Lim generally unpopular at Lome, and the state of Its health unfitted him for exertion. He was lying in bed from the consequences of an apoplectlo stroke in Sans Seed, a fine palace which he had built and fortified, when an insurrec tion burst around him, which had been aided by President Boyer. The insurgents had already proceeded to extreme measure; and the Duke of Marmalade (a significsut title), one of the first dignitaries of the kingdom, had proclaimed the abolition of monarchy. Seeing that nobles, generals. ofncers, and men alike deserted him, to avoid being taken prisoner, Christophe shot himself through the heart on the 8th of October 1820. His widow and children, with his favourite, General Nod, took refuge in Fort Henri, but the garriaou presently surren dered, when his eldest son, Noel, and some inferior officers were massacred.
During his reign Christophe entertained some enlightened views. At one time lie encouraged education, and the printing of books and newspapers, lie even made a code of laws, which he called ' Code Henri.' as Bonaparte had called his 'Code Napoldon: