The Present State of Hayti (Saint Domingo) with Remarks on its Agriculture, Commerce, Laws, Religion, Finances, and Population

PREFACE

The Author has prepared this work for the press somewhat hastily, and under many circumstances which heavily oppressed him; he hopes therefore that the want of arrangement, and the dearth of matter which may be observed in his narrative, will not subject it to a severe condemnation. In presenting it to the public, he is not actuated by any personal considerations, his object being to convey some information respecting the resources of a country, and the character of a people, which have been so variously represented. The short delineation here attempted will, in all probability, suffice to shew that the accounts which have been given at different times of Hayti and its inhabitants have been much too highly coloured by the zealous advocates of negro independence; and he is ready to confess that at one time he was somewhat dazzled by the description, and was almost made a convert to their opinions. It having been his lot however, at a subsequent period, to hold considerable intercourse with the country, he has been enabled to form what he considers a more correct estimate of its present condition. Experience has convinced him that the representations so generally received of the improvement which it has made are greatly exaggerated, and he is not without the hope that the following sheets will convey more correct information on the subject, and thus prove useful to the merchant, if not interesting to the general reader.

He readily admits that in the historical part he has touched upon matters which have been already handled by other and much abler writers; this could not be very well avoided, the annals of Hayti affording but few events, and those having been often detailed. He conceived that such a summary of the history of the country would be necessary to illustrate the cause of the revolution, to shew the decline which ensued in agriculture and commerce, the decay of knowledge, and the progress of vice and immorality among the inhabitants.

Actuated therefore by the desire of throwing some light on the state of Hayti, and giving a faithful representation of the condition of its population, he ventures to solicit the attention of the public to the facts which have fallen under his own personal observation.

INTRODUCTION

An account of the present state of Hayti I believe has not yet been submitted to the public; to offer one likely to meet with a favourable reception is, I am aware, an undertaking of considerable difficulty: it requires, no doubt, that the author should be well skilled in the various branches of knowledge, in order to render it in every respect satisfactory and interesting to the public. Ignorant as I acknowledge myself to be in the higher walks of philosophy, and educated solely for the more humble avocations of a mercantile life, I can lay no claim to such acquirements: I must therefore rest my hope of commanding any degree of attention, on the truth and correctness of the statements which I shall produce, founded as they are on actual observation. I am conscious that I am standing on delicate ground, and touching on a subject likely to excite angry feelings in those who have long been the eulogists of the republic, who have been its advocates when assailed, and who have held it forth to the world as a country in which wealth abounds, virtue flourishes, and freedom reigns triumphant, instead of the oppression, the vice, and the poverty which once prevailed there; but I will not shrink from the undertaking, though powerful obstacles may present themselves, and formidable opponents be arrayed against me. My object in the following sheets is, to endeavour to dissipate this delusion, and to shew that there is nothing to warrant the unqualified panegyrics poured forth by those individuals who have been the most conspicuous for their zeal and enthusiasm, in holding up Hayti as a “land flowing with milk and honey”. In the performance of this, I have no other aim than that of benefiting the merchant and capitalist, the manufacturer, and the trader, who have had no opportunity of visiting a country to which their speculations in commerce may lead them, by guarding them against the shoals and quicksands upon which adventurers, destitute of information, are so frequently wrecked.

The admirers of Hayti have been very industrious in circulating the most deceptive accounts of the state of its commerce, by garbled and exaggerated specifications. They have led many to believe that its imports and exports are daily on the increase, and that the resources of the people for the purchase of the products and manufactures of other states receive a gradual and steady augmentation. I am much deceived if I shall not succeed in convincing the reader that this representation is a perfect delusion, and that from the diminished means of the people, the commerce of Hayti, instead of increasing, annually sustains a considerable diminution; and that while the present state of things continues to exist – while its rulers are weak and imbecile, and the mass of the population are kept in a state of the grossest ignorance – there does not appear a ray of hope that any improvement may take place in the circumstances of the country, or that any change will be effected, likely to prove advantageous to foreigners disposed to embark in an intercourse with Hayti.

Several visits to Hayti – in two of which I had, from the nature of my mission, occasion to remain there a considerable time – gave me opportunities of seeing the actual state of it, in all its different branches of agriculture, commerce, finances, and the moral and religious condition of its people, together with the state of its government and the views of its chief. I am therefore encouraged to hope that my details may be productive of some benefit to the commercial part of the community, and not be altogether unacceptable to others, whose avocations are different, but who may be desirous of correct information respecting those parts of the globe of which they may know but little except the name.

An historical account of Hayti would be a superfluous undertaking; I see nothing to add to what has already been written by Charlevoix, Raynal, Edwards, Walton, and others, in their elaborate and voluminous works, and who have omitted nothing interesting, or worthy of being recorded, from its first discovery by the illustrious Columbus down to a very recent period. Every event connected with its history seems to have been most faithfully detailed by these writers, and their works are entitled to the highest credit and consideration, as containing the best and most authentic account of this very extensive island.

Impelled, no doubt, as they were with a desire to afford to the world every possible information relative to the resources of the country, and of the character and general habits of the people, they have left little to be performed by their successors, except to notice the changes and events which may have taken place since the date of their latest productions. Besides a copious and a faithful historical sketch, they have given a correct statistical view of its agriculture, its commerce, and public revenue; they have also pointed out the slow advances made by the people in industry, in morality, and in general knowledge: but little, therefore, remains to be said on these subjects, except to call the attention of the reader to the striking contrast which the present situation of the republic exhibits, when compared with that which it displayed before the revolution; to give a brief sketch of Hayti as it is, with an occasional reference to Hayti as it was. I must beg leave to assure my readers, that in executing this task, I am actuated by no unfair nor unjust motives; I am only anxious that the highly coloured statements which have been published respecting its present wealth and prosperity should be submitted to the test of candid and impartial scrutiny. For a series of years Hayti has been made the theme of constant praise, and has excited no little share of the public attention, on account of the unexampled efforts which its slave population made to throw off the fetters by which they had been previously bound, and on account of their having, as their eulogists declare, made the most rapid and extraordinary strides in civilization and social improvement. It must be admitted that the revolution effected in Hayti, was an event almost unparalleled in history; and that a people just emerging from a state of barbarism should have so successfully combated and defeated the finest troops of France, is no doubt a circumstance calculated to call forth no trifling portion of astonishment and admiration: but when the partial eulogists of the Haytians go to the length of asserting that they have arrived at a high degree of moral improvement, that they have reached a state of refinement little inferior to that which generally prevails in Europe, the limits of truth are overstepped: such overstrained assertions are totally destitute even of the semblance of truth, and my personal experience enables me to declare, in the most explicit and unqualified terms, that at this very moment, the people of Hayti are in a worse state of ignorance than the slave population in the British colonies. There are some cases, it is true, in which instances of intelligence have been discovered in the Haytian citizen, but this never occurs except where individuals have had the advantages of an European education, or who, being the descendants of persons who previously to the revolution were possessed of wealth, had the means of travelling, for the purpose of acquiring the manners and customs of more enlightened nations. But taking the people in the aggregate, they are far from having made any advances in knowledge.

It has also been commonly asserted by the friends of Hayti, and I believe very generally credited in Europe, that it preserves its agricultural pre-eminence solely by free labour; now I think I shall be able to prove to a demonstration that this is not the case, and that it is too evident, from every document that has yet appeared on the subject, that agriculture has been long on the wane, and has sunk to the lowest possible ebb in every district of the republic; that the true art and principles of the culture of the soil, are not understood, or if in the least known, they are not practically applied. There is nothing to be seen having the least resemblance to a colony, flourishing in the wealth derived from a properly regulated system of agriculture.

On the subject of free labour I shall have occasion to offer a few remarks, and I trust that in doing so, I shall not be considered as inimical to it, where-ever it may be found practicable to obtain it; on the contrary, no man would be more happy to see that our own colonies could be cultivated by free labour, provided a full compensation should be honourably made to those whose interests might be endangered by the experiment, if unsuccessful; but I shall, I think, be able to shew that this is absolutely impracticable, and that the system of labour so pursued in Hayti, instead of affording us a proof of what may be accomplished by it, is illustrative of the fact, that it is by coercion, and coercion only, that any return can be expected from the employment of capital in the cultivation of soil in our West India islands. I shall also be able to shew that Hayti presents no instance in which the cultivation of the soil is successfully carried on without the application of force to constrain the labourer: on the estates of every individual connected with the government, all the labourers employed work under the superintendence of a military police, and it is on these properties alone that any thing resembling successful agriculture exists in Hayti. I am aware that this will excite the astonishment of persons who have been accustomed to think otherwise; but I shall state facts which cannot be controverted, even by President Boyer himself – nay, I shall produce circumstances which I have seen with the utmost surprise on his own estate; circumstances that must shew his warmest advocates, that all his boasted productions have not been obtained without the application of that system against which they loudly exclaim.

Instead of holding out an example of what might be accomplished by a people released from bondage, without first having been prepared for freedom by moral and religious instruction, I think Hayti rather forms a beacon to warn us against the dangers and difficulties by which that unhappy country has been overtaken. The present condition of Hayti, arising from the events which have taken place since the revolution, should render us exceedingly cautious how we plunge our own colonies into the same misery and calamity; by conferring on a rude and untaught people, without qualification, or without the least restraint, an uncontrolled command over themselves. However acutely we may feel for the miseries to which the West Indian slave was at one period subjected, yet I cannot conceive it possible that any one can be so destitute of correct information on the subject as not to know, that at this moment the slave is in a condition far more happy, that he possesses infinitely greater comforts and enjoyments, than any class of labourers in Hayti, and that, from the judicious measures which have been already adopted by the colonial legislatures, and from others which are in contemplation, for improving the condition of the slave, it is very rational to conclude that before long slavery will only be considered as a name; and that were it to receive any other designation it would furnish no peg on which the European philanthropist might hang his declamations against slavery.

To place the slaves in the British colonies upon a footing with the free labourers in Hayti, or with the largest proportion of the people in that country, would be a work of easy accomplishment; but the effect would be, to cause them to exchange a state of comparative plenty and comfort, for one in which every species of tyranny and oppression, with their concomitants, disease and want, are most lamentably conspicuous. Whatever may be the views of the British Cabinet relative to their colonies, I should warn it to steer clear of the erroneous policy which has proved so fatal to Hayti, and should it be determined that a change should be introduced into the policy hitherto pursued with so much success, and with so much advantage in our colonial possessions, I trust it will not be by emancipating the slave, before he is prepared for freedom by a proper moral and religious education. Let the system of slavery be gradually improved, and the slave will glide imperceptibly into a state of freedom.

It is not my intention, in this early stage of my remarks, to enter into any lengthened detail of the disunion or want of cordiality subsisting between the two classes of people in Hayti: this I shall reserve for its proper place; where it will be seen, that a very strong dissatisfaction prevails amongst the black population, which manifests itself upon almost every occasion of celebrating public events, and festivities. This acrimonious feeling evidently arises from the jealousy excited by the predominant influence of the coloured people in the government. This influence, detrimental as it may be to the good order and repose of the country, is courted and nurtured by the president, to the great danger of overthrowing the whole establishment. One or two attempts at revolt have been made by the people of the north, who were the subjects of the late Christophe, and from these efforts, although abortive, it may be inferred, that the spirit for a more extensive commotion still lurks in their minds, and that the least possible irritation would so agitate and inflame them, that the whole would be thrown into a scene of disorder, tumult, and irremediable confusion. The combinations are numerous and powerful, but such was the extraordinary apathy of the government, that until a communication was made by an individual to Boyer, neither he nor any one of his officers had the least intimation that such proceedings were in contemplation. The want of energy visible in the government makes it obnoxious to the people, and no country like Hayti can be expected to remain long in repose and tranquillity, unless its governors possess both talent and resolution to command.

That the government of Hayti is the most inefficient and enervated of any of the modern republics cannot be denied, and I cannot see the least hope of an improvement, unless there be a complete revision of its constitution, and a new one framed, better suited to the tastes of the people, and more adapted to their present very rude state of knowledge. From the present rulers it would be vain to expect any effort which might prove beneficial to the country; any attempt to cultivate or improve the habits and morals of the people, or to promote agriculture. The members composing the present government, seem to consider the poverty and ignorance of the people, as the best safeguards of the security and permanence of their own property and power.

A recognition of the independence of Hayti by Great Britain may give some strength to the measures of its government, because the people have called out loudly for the protection of that power, whilst they have as loudly exclaimed against the policy pursued towards France. No event in its history has excited in the republic greater abhorrence or more general murmuring, than the act of purchasing from France that which it had de facto possessed for twenty-one years unmolested and undisturbed; thereby at once admitting the sovereignty of that power over the island, and which sovereignty France will, at some convenient period, unquestionably assert, and that without the least fear of any inconvenient consequences arising from it; for what power can give aid to the Haytians against France, when the former have openly and formally admitted themselves to be a colony dependent upon the French crown. Whatever intercourse Englishmen may be disposed to maintain with Hayti, it is indispensable that they should use the most vigilant precaution, and exact a rigid adherence to such treaties as may have been entered into, if they would avoid certain loss; for the Haytian character, taken generally, will be found, so far from being entitled either to credit or confidence, not even to possess common honesty. Compacts with them are easily made; but a faithful adherence to agreements must not be expected; – their maxim is to break them, whenever they find it can be accomplished with advantage.

CHAPTER I

The island of St. Domingo, once the abode of fertility, and the scene of extraordinary political changes and events, lies in latitude 18° 20´ north and in longitude 68° 40´ west from Greenwich, having on its west the islands of Cuba and Jamaica, on its east Porto Rico, the Bahamas on its north, and bounded southerly by the Carribean Sea. Its extent has been variously stated; but Edwards, who describes it to be about 390 miles in length from east to west, seems the most correct; and it appears from late surveys to be nearly 150 miles in breadth from north to south. The Abbé Raynal has represented it at 200 leagues in length, and from 60 to 80 in breadth, but it is evident that his estimation is erroneous. Rainsford also states it to be about 450 miles in length, but from every information which I could obtain, its length does not appear to exceed 400 miles, nor its breadth 140. The reader, therefore, must look into these discrepances, and judge between them. As it is not easy to survey a country intersected by wilds and impenetrable mountains, much is necessarily left to conjecture.

It is the most extensive, and was at one period of its history the most productive of the Antilles, and was called by the aborigines Haiti, or Highland, and by which ancient designation it is now generally known, that of St. Domingo having been abolished at the revolution. To convey an adequate idea of what this once delightful island was, is not the object of the present work; on this head it is sufficient to observe that in the richness and extent of its productions, and in its local beauties, it exceeded every other island in the western hemisphere, and that the two divisions of the east and the west, when under the respective governments of Spain and France, were considered and indeed known to be the most splendid and most important appendages to those crowns. Its plains and valleys presented the most inviting scenes from the richness of the pastures and the verdure with which they eternally abounded. Its mountains were also said to contain ores of the most valuable kind, and produce timber admirably adapted for every useful or ornamental purpose. Nothing could exceed the extreme salubrity of the whole country, nor could it be surpassed in the vast exuberance of its luscious fruits, and in those productions of the soil which became the general articles of export, and from which all the wealth and all commerce of this colony flowed.

The French division, though infinitely less extensive than the Spanish part, and not containing a third of the whole island, has been considered the most valuable spot in the western world. The Spanish division however has greater natural resources, and affords greater facilities for agricultural operations: but the very extraordinary exertions of the French planter in the culture of the soil, compensated for the want of those advantages possessed by their Spanish neighbours, who, more indolently disposed, relied on the produce of their mines, which afforded, as they imagined, greater local riches than those which could be obtained from either agriculture or commerce, forgetting that these alone furnish the wealth which can render any country really and permanently prosperous and great.

It appears from every authority, that the first colony established here by the French, was settled in the sixteenth century, having been attracted thither by the Buccaneers, who had previously obtained a footing in the island from excursions which they often made from Tortuga, for the purpose of hunting the bulls of the Spaniards. These hardy and predatory warriors attracted the French, who supplied them with such necessaries as they required, and even sent them many settlers, with arms and implements for defence and labour. The extreme fertility of the country invited them to make some efforts to gain a permanent footing in it, and by means of intrigue coupled with a little force, they succeeded in obtaining possession of the whole of the west end, the line of which seems to have run in an oblique direction, from about Cape François on the north to Cape Rosa on the south. Having surmounted all the obstacles that presented themselves, and having overcome those difficulties which generally accompany the first attempts at colonization, or are met with in a newly discovered land, they pursued with incredible ardour and industry the culture of the soil, and the improvement of their valuable acquisition.

The Spanish court, jealous of and unable to contend with their rival colonists, submitted to France, when the two cabinets at home came to a mutual understanding and adjustment, respecting these foreign possessions. An arrangement was entered into, under which commissioners were appointed for settling the boundaries, and fixing the rights which had formed the ground of disputes between the settlers of these rival nations. The line of demarcation finally agreed upon commenced at the bay of Mansenillo on the north, dividing in its course the river Massacre; thence taking rather a westerly course, it reached an acute point at Dondon, and afterwards proceeded southerly to the river Pedernales.

This tract of country, as conceded to the French, contained about 1000 square leagues, exceedingly irregular in its character, intersected with mountains, and having plains confined and difficult of approach, so as to make it altogether much inferior in point of natural value to even a single district of the Spanish division; having also two extreme points or capes, Cape Nicolas Mole on the north, and Cape Tiburon on the south-west extremity, in both of which the soil is less valuable, from its being so very mountainous, and from its not possessing those facilities of communication which can be obtained in other districts. Notwithstanding the disadvantages against which the first settlers had to contend, and in defiance of every local obstacle, they seemed to have been impressed with the conviction, that if a spirit of perseverance and labour could be diffused amongst them, they would ultimately be richly rewarded for all their toil, and all that anxiety and deprivation to which it appears, at their first setting out, they were unquestionably subjected. Their conclusions were just, and time shewed the correctness of the principles on which they reasoned and acted, for their colony gradually rose in estimation; and at so early a period as the year 1703, under the government of M. Auger, a native of America, and who in early life had been in a state of slavery, it had become of so much consideration to France, that the greatest possible efforts were made to extend their system of cultivation to the whole of their colonial territory. That officer was indefatigable, it is said, in his exertions in encouraging and in stimulating the colonists in the culture of the lands, and as he had been previously governor of Guadaloupe, it is to be inferred that he possessed no ordinary skill in the business of preparing the ground for the production of those exotic and indigenous plants which became the main articles of export to the mother-country. That he was a most efficient governor all writers admit, for he had brought the state of his colony to a very high pitch of prosperity, when he died, lamented by all who had lived under his command. The plantations at this period had increased in every part, particularly in the valleys, where the soil was more congenial, and where the labour could be performed without being attended with those difficulties which impeded it in the more mountainous districts. In the western parts the cocoa-tree had begun to produce most luxuriantly, yielding great wealth to individuals, and a large revenue to the state. The sugar-cane had also arrived at great perfection, and the art of manufacturing the sugar from it had been for some time carried on with astonishing success. Coffee plantations were establishing, and the planters in every direction were vying with each other in bringing their properties into the highest possible state of cultivation.