Le baron Portal et l'indépendance d'Haïti, 1818–1821

Although France recognized Haitian independence in 1825 (21 years after its proclamation by the Haitian government), it was Baron Portal, minister of the Navy and Colonies in 1818–1821, who initiated that move several years earlier by abandoning for the first time all claims by France to direct colonial rule over rebellious Haiti. That decision was the result of a struggle between former colonial planters who had been expelled from the island in 1804 and were lobbying the French government to attack Haiti again, and the chambers of commerce of the major ports of Western France, which were very eager to trade with Haiti and did not want to hear about military operations against the former colony. Being himself a former merchant-trader from Bordeaux, Portal sided with the commercial lobbyists, put the development of French maritime trade above the interests of the planters and paved the way for Haiti's recognition in the process.