The Present State of Hayti (Saint Domingo) with Remarks on its Agriculture, Commerce, Laws, Religion, Finances, and Population. Franklin Jameson J.
to those wise plans which would have promoted the cause of agriculture and commerce, instead of becoming a calm and unconcerned spectator of the decline of both, this colony might still have remained the most brilliant gem in the Spanish crown. A people who had, from the example of their neighbours, and by an impulse the most surprising, been roused from a state of lethargy and inactivity to great exertions in the culture of the soil, in the breeding of cattle, and in commercial enterprise, might have exalted their country to the highest possible state of prosperity, had their efforts been seconded by the regulations of a wise government, and had that protection been given to them to which they were surely entitled; but instead of such support and protection, instead of being watched over and guarded by their parent state, their prayers, their petitions, and entreaties, were unattended to, and they were given up as a prey to their rebellious and uncivilized neighbours, who used every exertion to throw their country into a state of anarchy and confusion. The individual and unsupported energies of the colonists, however, were roused by the alarming predicament into which they had been thrown, through the apathy and supineness of the cabinet of Spain, and they effectually stopped the incursions of the pillagers for a time, prevented the destruction of their towns and plantations, and finally, by their firmness and perseverance, saved their properties from the devastations which had destroyed those of the western division.
To the astonishment of the world, the slaves, as I have before remarked, adhered with extraordinary fidelity to the cause of their masters, and evinced no disposition to become participators in the work of rebellion, nor to enrich themselves by the spoils obtained by plunder, rapine, and every kind of predatory warfare. Although the example to throw off the yoke of slavery was constantly before them, few were the instances in which a slave joined the insurgents. Such an attachment on the part of the slave towards his master, however, is not to be wondered at, when it is known, that the Spaniards were kind, indulgent, and liberal owners, always attentive to their wants, and alive to their comforts; seldom inflicting punishment, except for flagrant acts of insubordination and theft, but treating them with a leniency and humanity which softened the rigours of slavery, and left it to be known only by name.
Notwithstanding the enmity which always existed between the two colonies, a smuggling trade was carried on, which, although not very extensive, was exceedingly productive to the Spaniards, as it took off part of their horned cattle, mules, horses, &c., and in return for which they received the products and manufactures of Europe, and slaves, which they could not obtain by the regular course of importation, on any thing like the same moderate or favourable terms. It is stated, that the French purchased annually upwards of twenty-five thousand head of horned cattle and about two thousand five hundred mules and horses; and that the Spaniards also transmitted upwards of half a million of dollars in specie during the year, for the purchase of goods, implements of agriculture, and negroes. Large shipments of mahogany and dye-woods found their way to Spain and different parts of Europe, and the United States, and indirectly to England: and a considerable intercourse existed with the islands of Porto Rico, Cuba, and Jamaica, to which latter two islands cattle were exported, and mahogany and dye-woods found a market in Jamaica more advantageous than any that could be found in Europe, owing to their being able to procure their returns in a more direct way than through the mother-country or any of the European states.
The commerce with Porto Rico and the Spanish main was also productive of some profit to the people of St. Domingo. The advantages accruing to the former arose from the facilities of smuggling, by which the enormous duties on foreign European goods of thirty-four per cent. in most cases were saved; and these goods could be purchased in St. Domingo on more moderate terms, from having been illicitly obtained from the French part of the island.
The trade to the United States was also of no little importance; for the vessels of that country took large quantities of mahogany, hides, some coffee, and a little dye-wood, in return for the cargoes which they brought thither, consisting of flour, beef, pork, butter, salted herrings, and dried cod-fish, with some East India goods, and various descriptions of lumber of America, more useful and easy in working for buildings than the hard wood of the country. The aggregate value of the exports and imports of this part of the island I have seen nowhere correctly stated: it is very evident, however, from the various accounts which I have seen, that it was infinitely less than the aggregate of the French part; and this may be safely confided in from the extremely fertile state of the one, when compared with the uncultivated condition of the other; from the industrious, the assiduous, and enterprising spirit, so characteristic of the French colonist, aided by the judicious measures of the cabinet of France, which sought to protect and encourage the agriculture and commerce of her colonies, whilst the Spaniards of the eastern division were left to pursue both their agricultural and commercial avocations under every species of discouragement and restraint. The energy displayed by one government, and the very relaxed system pursued by the other, accounts for the flourishing state of one part of this rich colony, whilst its rival was steeped in poverty: nothing, therefore, is left for conjecture as to the cause of so great a contrast; and both having subsequently been shaken by the effects of those pernicious doctrines so generally propagated at the Revolution, little is to be seen of the antecedent state of either, and chaos, ignorance, and indolence have superseded order, light, and industry.
Such was the state of the island at and during the two or three succeeding years of the revolution, as related by several writers, and confirmed by information obtained from individuals now residing in the country, who were present during the troubles which agitated and destroyed it, and reduced them from the height of affluence and peace into misery, and oftentimes into want – from them, much, of course, was to be elicited; and although I thought it a matter of prudence and a necessary caution, not to rely too implicitly on their communications, yet I always found them justly entitled to my confidence, on the fullest investigation. I never had a cause to question their veracity. Their account of the scenes which took place during the early stages and progress of the revolution, accords with the statements of others who have described them, and I have not been able to discover any discrepances between them.
CHAPTER II
It has been very erroneously thought by some persons, who feel interested in the fate of the slave population of the West Indies, or at all events they have, with no little industry, propagated the impression, that the revolution in Hayti begun with the revolt of the blacks, when it is evident, from the very best authors and from the testimony of people now living, who were present during its opening scenes, that such was not the fact, and that the slaves remained perfectly tranquil for two years after the celebrated “Declaration of Rights” was promulgated in France. Such persons give themselves but little trouble in searching the history of the island – they are satisfied with the report of others, who may be equally uninformed with themselves; and thus it is that they imbibe ideas and notions of the wonderful capacities of the negro population, who could have commenced, and so effectually carried themselves through a struggle for freedom, without, as they allege, the aid of any other more enlightened or more powerful auxiliary. It requires no observation of mine to shew that the first symptom of disorder shewed itself among that class of people in the colony denominated, at the time, Sang-mêlées, or Gens de Couleur, or, as termed in the British colonies, mulattoes, who from their numbers formed a very powerful body, and not being countenanced by the whites, became in time inveterately opposed to them: many of them, natives of the colony and of the other French islands, were residing in France at the time of the Revolution, and these consisted of persons who had been sent thither in early life for their education, together with others who possessed considerable property, as well as some talent and intelligence. At this period also, from an extraordinary prejudice that prevailed in France against the inhabitants of the colonies, arising from an aversion to the principles of slavery, and which was much encouraged by the denunciation against everything having the least appearance of despotism, a society was established, denominated “Amis des Noirs” (Friends of the Blacks), which aimed at the subversion of the government, and called for an immediate abolition of the slave-trade, as well as a general emancipation of all those who were at the time living in a state of slavery.
“With