Demesvar Delorme (10 February 1831 – 25 December 1901) was a

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

an theoretician, writer, and politician. Born in

Cap-Haïtien Cap-Haïtien (; ; "Haitian Cape") is a List of communes of Haiti, commune of about 400,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the Departments of Haiti, department of Nord (Haitian department), Nord. Previously named ''Cap‑Fran� ...

, he participated in

Sylvain Salnave Sylvain Salnave (; February 6, 1827 – January 15, 1870) was a Haitian general who served as the President of Haïti from 1867 to 1869. He was elected president after he led the overthrow of President Fabre Geffrard. During his term there were c ...

's failed rebellion against President

Fabre Geffrard Guillaume Fabre Nicolas Geffrard (; 19/23 September 1806 – 31 December 1878) was a Mulatto Haitians, mulatto general in the Military of Haiti, Haitian army and President of Haiti from 1859 until his deposition in 1867. On 18 April 1852 ...

in 1865. After the fall of Geffrard and Salnave's election as

President of Haiti The president of Haiti (, ), officially called the president of the Republic of Haiti (, , ), is the head of state of Haiti. Executive power in Haiti is divided between the president and the government, which is headed by the prime minister of ...

in 1867, he was appointed Minister of External Relations and Minister of Public Education and Cults. In 1868, he was forced to leave the country and fled to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, where he lived in exile for ten years, publishing several works. One of his best known writings was the essay "Les Théoriciens au Pouvoir", which postulated that political power should belong to the intellectual elite. From 1891–1897, he was the first resident minister in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

with coacredition to the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

. In Rome he represented with Jean Joseph Dalbémar the government of Haiti in a case of border

arbitrage Arbitrage (, ) is the practice of taking advantage of a difference in prices in two or more marketsstriking a combination of matching deals to capitalize on the difference, the profit being the difference between the market prices at which th ...

under the auspicies of

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

, while the government of

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

was represented by Justino Faszowicz Baron de Farensbach and Tobias C. Bringmann, Handbuch der Diplomatie 1815-1963: Auswärtige Missionschefs in Deutschland
p. 202
Hommage à la Ville du Cap-Haïtien: Lu à la radio le 16 septembre 1940, 1942 - Cap-Haïtien (Haiti), 106 p
p. 96
/ref>

Selected works

* "Bulletin de la Révolution" - article, published 1865 * "La Reconnaissance du Général Salnave" - article, published 1868 * "La Démocratie et le Préjugé de Couleur aux Etats-Unis" - article * "Le Système Monroe" - article, published 1868 * "Les Théoriciens au Pouvoir" - essay, published 1870 * ''Francesca'' - novel, published 1873 * "Réflexions Diverses sur Haïti" - essay, published 1873 * "Les Paisibles" - article, published 1874 * ''Le Damné'' - novel, published 1877

References

* 1831 births 1901 deaths Haitian essayists Male essayists Haitian journalists 19th-century Haitian novelists Haitian male novelists People from Cap-Haïtien Foreign ministers of Haiti Government ministers of Haiti 19th-century essayists 19th-century Haitian male writers Ambassadors of Haiti to the Holy See Ambassadors of Haiti to Germany Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (Haiti) {{Haiti-politician-stub