La Vérité sur l'Emprunt d'Haïti (1875)

An 1875 Parisian pamphlet warning French investors against subscribing to a new Haitian government loan of 83 million francs. Written from a French financial perspective, it inadvertently provides devastating evidence of the 1825 indemnity's long-term consequences: Haiti's export economy had declined from 500 million francs annually under colonialism to 50 million francs by 1875, and the country was trapped in a debt cycle — borrowing to repay earlier borrowing. The pamphlet reproduces official Haitian government documents, testimony from a former Haitian finance minister, and detailed colonial-era production statistics. Despite its self-interested framing, it is one of the most detailed primary sources on the indemnity's economic consequences.