Hilaire was a mulatto, officer in the French army, who had obtained the cross of the "Légion d’Honneur". He was part of Maréchal Neys staff, of whom he was also the secretary. Hilaire, who was with the Maréchal at the "campaign of Spain" also received "L’Etoile des Braves", for his participation.
Clérié received also the precious lessons of Honoré Fery the most educated man in Haiti at that time, who will become provisory president of Haiti.
He was holding in his well-shaped and well fecund soul the germs of an evolution that would make him one day, the Man of his family, of his town and in addition, one of the glories of his country but ignored nevertheless.
This is due to the supreme power of willingness. Due to his elitist nature, he became, after ending an incomplete circle of study, by his personal efforts, by work and self-study, a man eminently educated; he was an autodidactic.
As a Lawyer, a Magistrate, an Orator, a Preacher, his words were as deep as they were luminous.
Tall, a large forehead, Alain Clérié had the look of an orator. He was a giant, shaped for the sacred ministry of speech. He was dignified to incarnate the great eloquence. Did the charm and the great power of the Verb sustain those exterior advantages? Ask the survivors of the 1850 to 1875 generations, who had the exquisite pleasure to listen to him either in court, or during his speeches on moral, philosophy and his sermons that inaugurated the Wesleyan Methodist church in Jérémie. He inflamed the zeal of the first converted during so many years that he built a strong base for his Church, an achievement as respectable as holly.
He will become the President of the National Constituent Assembly of Haiti in 1889.
He had cumulated the three forms of eloquence: the judiciary, the political and the sacred eloquence.
His written-discourses were pieces of literature that would not unequaled any anthology. The qualities of his style were precision, vigor, and clarity, refreshed by elegance that he, only, had the secret. Furthermore he was fortified particularly by the deepness of Thoughtfulness. He had to a high degree the utilization of the right terms that would come under his pen without effort.
His conclusions in Criminal Court were as outbreaking as strokes and were making the villains shacked. It was because his words had the double authority of the law and of the morality that he was preaching.
He only practiced as a lawyer for a short time, but he spent more than thirty years as a Judge. His character was marked with two qualities: goodness and lack of self-interest. He pleaded in Court, all his first causes without any interest for his honorary.
He handled his cases graciously, only for the art and his love for Humanity. All his life, he discreetly opened his purse, when it was filled, to all that were in need. He would lend his money, knowing that he would not be paid back, but he could not refuse. He pity all sufferings, he associated himself with the despair of every one; he wanted to help some, comfort others; he wanted to dry all tears. He forget his own problems; his exile, his ruin after a fire that destroy his house and belongings, the death of his high hearted and highly educated wife that gave him so much pains and sadness.
Clorinde Sansaricq married him and gave him sixteen children: two boys and fourteen girls who will make alliances with most of the families forming the Jérémie bourgeoisie.
