THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2025 69 the brig Alpha, he arrived in Pointe-à-Pitre on March 5. He was then presented with his exequatur, granted by the King of the French, Louis Philippe I. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Forsyth, dated February 13, 1840, Suau’s former employer in Charleston wrote that Suau had always conducted himself as “a strictly moral and honest young man.” The correspondence of the second U.S. consul in Pointe-à-Pitre with the department reveals that he was a diligent civil servant. On May 5, 1840, in accordance with U.S. Foreign Service regulations, Suau drew up an inventory of the consulate’s property, noting the absence of the U.S. flag and arms, to be received five months later. He worked mainly in connection with the then-significant maritime trade between the United States and Guadeloupe but was also called on to assist American citizens (in particular, sailors having problems with the colony’s authorities). At the same time, Suau worked as clerk to a French firm of ship brokers, whose associates included his brother Henry Amand. It should be noted that his income as U.S. consul was not very high: He received no salary from Washington and had to earn revenue from certain paid acts and services related to maritime traffic. e During his consular career, Suau saw his reputation attacked by a U.S. Merchant Marine captain, George Howland. In a letter dated April 16, 1842, sent to Secretary of the Treasury Walter Forward and referred to the State Department, Howland accused the consul of charging him undue sums and, more generally, of abusing his office, lacking loyalty to the United States, and demonstrating incompetence. “He is very young and unexperimented,” Howland declared, going so far as to call for the official’s replacement. Secretary of State Daniel Webster replied on May 2—but only on the question of the allegedly unjustified expenses and largely rejecting the claims made in this regard. As for the captain’s most severe accusations, they are totally unsupported by the other historical sources available on Suau. Another incident worth mentioning occurred in 1841, when a man introducing himself as “Colonel” Monroe Edwards gave the consul a letter purportedly from former Secretary of State Forsyth. The Secretary asked Suau to lend his full support to this “gentleman of the highest respectability” traveling on “business.” The following year, however, Suau read newspaper reports of the arrest in the United States of Edwards, who was actually a slave trader, forger, and swindler. Forsyth’s letter of recommendation was clearly a forgery, which the conscientious consul did not fail to point out to Secretary Webster. e Yet Suau’s consular mission is most notable for its tragic ending. The young civil servant was in Pointe-à-Pitre on the morning of February 8, 1843, when a powerful earthquake devastated the city, then home to some 22,000 inhabitants. With an estimated magnitude of around 8.5 on the Richter scale, this earthquake had its epicenter between Guadeloupe and Antigua and was felt from the north of South America to the north of the United States. It triggered a gigantic fire in Pointe-à-Pitre, further exacerbating the disaster. As a result, between 1,500 and 4,000 people are believed to have perished in the city. In a February 12, 1843, letter to Secretary Webster, the U.S. consul in Antigua, Richard S. Higinbotham, stated: “A French ship of war arrived here this morning from Guadeloupe and reports that the once beautiful town of Pointe-à-Pitre is now a heap of ruins and about three to four thousand persons supposed to have perished.” On February 16, his colleague in St. Pierre, Martinique, Philip A. de Crény, wrote in a missive to the same recipient: “Among the victims [of the earthquake], I regret to be obliged to announce A letter from Felix H. Suau to Secretary of State John Forsyth dated November 14, 1839, informs the State Department of his plans and regrets the “unavoidable” delay. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODIyMDU=