Faustin I: A reply

By Thomas Whigham, 16 July 1995

Evidently Soulouque was the sort of guy to whom unconfirmed anecdotes appeared to stick. I recall one purportedly involving the British minister to Port-au-Prince (and cited I know not where). Evidently the minister, a man of classical training, thought one day to flatter the emperor by comparing him to the great Carthaginian general Hannibal:

"Votre majeste est plus grand qu'Hannibal," he reportedly said.

Soulouque, rather than be pleased with the comparison, is supposed to have retorted angrily:

"Mais moi? Cannibal???!!!"

Of course, what's really funny in this is that, by other unconfirmed accounts, Faustin really did participate in cannibalistic rites, drinking the blood of his late rivals, and keeping their skulls to use as drinking cups on his desk (another foreshadowing, we might be led to believe, of Duvalier).

So much for graphic tales. I'm enjoying the class very much.

regards,

Thom Whigham