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

Whilst these scenes of carnage and destruction were at their height, the French were daily losing their positions, and their force was constantly diminishing from the effects of the pestilence which raged through the whole army. The general-in-chief, who had for some time been in an impaired state of health, began visibly to sink under the ravages of disease, and on the 1st of November he breathed his last, leaving in the memory of his opponents a name blackened by the worst of crimes, unatoned for by one single virtue.

The command of the army now devolved on General Rochambeau, who, to say the least of him, was a worthy successor of Le Clerc, and possessed similar virtues. To him, therefore, was it left to pursue that barbarous policy which had been introduced by his predecessor, and which only tended to inflame the ardour of the black troops, without in any way promoting the good of the French cause. Rochambeau certainly took the command at a time when it must have appeared that the object of the expedition had failed, and that the prolongation of the contest would be attended with no favourable result. Opposed to an enemy, whose force was daily increasing, and whose ardour was unabated and resolution unshaken, he had but little hopes of accomplishing any thing beyond acting on the defensive, until such reinforcements should arrive as would enable him to act on the offensive with some degree of effect; but, even then, there seemed not the remotest possibility of his being able to retrieve the positions which had been lost, and place his forces in such security as might enable him to provide for a retreat, should subsequent disasters make such an alternative absolutely necessary.

In the early part of 1803, nothing decisive was done on either side. Rochambeau and Dessalines came in contact, and a battle ensued, in which the latter was successful; but the scene of carnage and massacres which followed is much too painful to admit of being detailed. The French general, who took about five hundred prisoners, put them all to death, forgetting or careless of the fate of his own soldiers who were in the power of his enemy. The latter retaliated; and the next morning at day break, on as many gibbets, there were exhibited five hundred French officers and men, sacrificed through the savage impetuosity of their general.

The war having broken out between England and France in July, a British squadron appeared off Cape François and blockaded the harbour, thereby rendering to the blacks a most important service, which in a great measure contributed to accelerate the expulsion of the French. This squadron precluded the possibility of the French receiving any supplies from the Spanish port, and the garrison and inhabitants of the city were therefore reduced to the most lamentable extremities. Every thing that could be found, horses, mules, asses, all had been consumed, and they were at last obliged to feed upon dogs. It is said “that the French were obliged for several weeks to subsist on those very bloodhounds, which they had procured for the purpose of hunting down the negroes.”

The city was at last reduced to the most melancholy state from the effects of famine and disease, the besiegers making great exertions to intercept any supplies that might be on their way for the relief of the besieged. All hopes of eluding the vigilance of his enemies having at length vanished, and extensive preparations having been made to take the city by storm, the French commander-in-chief began to see that there would be a necessity for offering to capitulate. Dessalines having received these proposals, agreed to them, and the articles were signed on the 19th of November. These articles were certainly highly favourable to the French, for they provided for the security of private property, and that all their sick and wounded should be carefully attended by the blacks, and afterwards conveyed to France in vessels bearing a neutral flag. For the evacuation ten days were allowed, and Rochambeau attempted a ruse de guerre, by which he hoped to evade the English squadron then blockading the city, but in this he totally failed. He thought that the strong and stormy winds which prevailed during the autumnal months, might blow off the English ships, and enable the French squadron to steal away unperceived; but the English commodore saw the design of the French general, and consequently increased his vigilance, and began to provide against the attempt meditated by the French commander.

Finding that he had been too sanguine, and that it was not possible to elude the vigilance of the English squadron, Rochambeau was obliged to enter into terms with the British commodore, to avoid the dreadful alternative of destruction in the harbour by red-hot shot, with which he was threatened, from the time agreed upon in the articles having expired. The force which surrendered consisted of three frigates and nearly twenty smaller vessels, and prisoners to the number of about eight thousand men were taken first to Jamaica and afterwards to England.

Thus ended the war between the French and the blacks in St. Domingo, and thus an expedition, which at different periods brought out upwards of forty thousand men, terminated in discomfiture and disgrace; and which, from the conduct of the respective generals on whom the command devolved, will ever remain an indelible stain on the military character of their country. No expedition in the annals of that country had been fitted out under more favourable and encouraging auspices, and respecting the success of which a greater interest was excited. Composed of the finest troops, and under the most experienced officers, a different termination might have been anticipated; but a mistaken policy having been pursued, after the moment of victory, the advantages which had been previously gained were altogether lost, and upon the victors was entailed the odium of defeat, together with the reproach of neglect, and the want of precaution and discernment.

The end of December, 1803, therefore beheld the blacks in quiet possession of the island, after a struggle in which they certainly exhibited proofs of skill and perseverance in the multifarious duties of the field, highly creditable to their chiefs who had the planning of them, and to the inferior leaders on whom devolved the executive part: and it would be wrong not to express in proper terms, the admiration called forth by the resistance which they made whenever they were hard pressed by the French troops. They at times displayed a great deal of heroism and unshaken courage. Standing on the dead bodies of their comrades, they were often seen fighting man to man with the French. Such real determination to protect their liberty was never contemplated by the French; the colonists, who had been the promoters of the expedition, always represented the negro character as being completely deficient in courage, and destitute of every necessary ingredient for making soldiers. In part this may be true, but examples of individual bravery among the negro population were not wanting to negative the first charge; and although the last may be partially admitted, still time and experience had made them efficient for the field, and the sequel has sufficiently proved that, at the evacuation of the island, the negro troops were in a state of discipline but little inferior to the French, and in point of courage equal. Looking at them in other respects, and taking into consideration that they were men, who before, nay even at that time, were in the grossest state of ignorance and moral degradation, our astonishment is excited, when we find that in the moment of rage and revenge they often refrained from acts of cruelty and torture, whilst their insatiable enemies were committing the most shocking and unfeeling barbarities.

It is fairly to be presumed, that during the war but little time could be devoted to the cultivation of the soil, and that every thing relating to it must have been neglected and have dwindled into a very backward state, and that this was the case I believe is generally known, for the cultivators were obliged to fly to arms, and were scarcely ever permitted during the struggles to return to their homes; the only persons, therefore, who could employ themselves on their plantations were the females, and such of their children as were too young to carry arms. But the efforts of these were not of much use, for such was the destruction which accompanied the movements of the parties at war, that the estates were laid waste on each side of the line of march for some miles. Every operation of agriculture was therefore in a very languid state, and the apprehension under which people laboured was so great that they thought not of any productions beyond what they required for their own sustenance: having no inducement to look forward, they only guarded against present wants.

It is represented by many intelligent persons amongst the people of colour, and in particular by the late Baron D – , who was secretary to Christophe, and a man of considerable talent and of the most unquestionable veracity, that the successors of Toussaint had not that influence over the cultivators which their predecessor had, and that neither persuasion nor the expectation of gain could prevail upon them to return to their agricultural employment: and that immediately after the war, it would have been impolitic, if not utterly impracticable, to have enforced it, as any thing like coercion at that moment, when the minds of the people were in a ferment, might have been attended with the most disastrous consequences.

Commerce too had also been suspended for the want of articles of exchange for the manufactures of Europe and the provisions of America, and during the existence of the struggle foreigners were deterred from adventuring to any extent, fearing the consequences resulting from such an unsettled state of things.

Toussaint certainly made great efforts to revive commerce as well as agriculture, and until he was treacherously seized by the French, he certainly promoted both to an extent which, when the state of the country and the agitation of the people are weighed, appears somewhat surprising, and of which I shall hereafter give a specification. The system adopted by Toussaint was not dissimilar to that which appears to prevail in Russia, where the peasantry are attached to the soil, “adscripti glebæ”; and he acted wisely by doing so on account of his people, of whose innate love of indolence he was no mean judge, and he was anxious to remove it, to promote industry and stimulate exertion.

The population of St. Domingo at this period had greatly diminished; the natural increase had been very small, and the ravages of war had caused the loss of a great many, besides the emigration which had taken place under the protection of the French. The entire population in 1802, as estimated by M. Rumboldt, was three hundred and seventy-five thousand; of which two hundred and ninety thousand were cultivators, forty-seven thousand seven hundred domestics, sailors, &c. and thirty-seven thousand three hundred soldiers. By a subsequent statement of the population of the island in the year 1803, immediately after the expulsion of the French, and of which a note was given to me by an individual who was about the person of Dessalines at the time of his accession to the chief command, the number appears to have been about three hundred and forty-eight thousand, of which two hundred and seventy-two thousand were cultivators, thirty-five thousand soldiers, and the remainder were composed of domestics, artisans, and a few sailors. The difference between these two statements of twenty-seven thousand in so short a time appears large, but the destruction of men must have been very great indeed during that period, from the extraordinary rancour which existed in the French, and from their cruel determination to give no quarter, but to pursue a system of extermination until they had completely destroyed all those who were inimical to their interest. The emigration to the Spanish part of the island was also considerable; many fled thither to avert the impending blow, and to save themselves from the fate which awaited those who had been wavering in the cause of liberty. The successors of Toussaint they were aware would visit them with the heaviest penalties, and from the known ferocity of Dessalines they had to expect but little mercy, his character among his brethren for barbarity and thirst for blood and revenge being too well established not to be greatly dreaded.

I shall now proceed to take a short review of the proceedings of the succeeding chiefs who governed the island after this time. In doing so, I shall abstain from any reference to military operations, except in cases where it may be required for the clearer illustration of my subject.

CHAPTER VII

Independence declared. – Dessalines attempts to take the city of Santo Domingo. – Raised to the imperial dignity. – New constitution. – His atrocious massacres. – Attempts to import negroes from Africa. – Encourages cultivators. – Census taken. – State of his army. – His death and character

The independence of Hayti was declared on the 1st of January, 1804, and the first step taken by Dessalines, who had been vested with the chief command, was to endeavour to stop the emigration which was going on, and remove the delusion under which the blacks were labouring. For this purpose he caused it to be made generally known, that all previous opinions would be buried in oblivion, and those who had been allured to take part with the enemies of the colony, and had been induced to emigrate from apprehension of the consequences which such conduct might entail upon them, were invited to return to their homes, being assured of protection and security; at the same time, however, he gave it out, that all those who were disposed to accompany the French army were at liberty to do so, and should be allowed to depart unmolested. This augured favourably, and many took advantage of this declaration of clemency, who afterwards had to regret their credulity and condemn their own want of foresight and discretion.

To give a colour of clemency and humanity to this declaration of the black general-in-chief, and to stamp it with the mark of sincerity, another proclamation was issued signed by Dessalines, Christophe, and Clerveaux, a mulatto, in which the independence of the colony is declared, and encouragement given to the emigrants to return to their properties. It says, “towards those men who do us justice, we will act as brothers; let them rely for ever on our esteem and friendship; let them return amongst us. The God who protects us, the God of freemen, bids us stretch out towards them our conquering arms.” Allured by a proclamation which held out a promise of security and protection, many returned from the interior of the island, whither they had fled for safety.

As a great many freemen of colour, as well as slaves, had emigrated to the United States at the commencement of the revolution, and as many had manifested a desire to return, but were without the means of accomplishing it, Dessalines devised a plan to enable them to do so; but this plan does not appear to have succeeded, for there is no authentic proof that any of them ever returned: it is on the contrary known, that although the emissaries of Dessalines were industriously employed in America, but very few of the negroes and people of colour availed themselves of the advantages which were so glowingly held out to them; doubting the sincerity of the general-in-chief on the one hand, and on the other, living in some degree of comfort and tranquillity with their new masters, they had no wish to try an experiment by which they might lose a great deal, and gain nothing. As it afterwards turned out, their decision was prudent and wise, for it was no doubt the aim of the inhuman Dessalines to make them all objects of his brutal ferocity, and this was the impression of those who were beyond the reach of his vengeance; they could never be inspired with the hope of safety, were they to give up the hold of which they had obtained possession. To hazard a security, by visionary schemes of improvement is a proof of weakness and indiscretion; and those who had obtained that security were determined to preserve it, by not listening to the proposals of the negro chief. Had such a proposal been made by Toussaint, many, from an innate love of their native soil, would no doubt have accepted it; but a proposition from a man so base and sanguinary as Dessalines, surely, could never have found one individual who would have had faith or confidence in it. It is evident, that he meditated the destruction of all those who returned, and that too in the most cruel and brutal way; such a thing as mercy formed no constituent of the character of the most ferocious tyrant that ever afflicted the inhabitants of any country. Those who had emigrated to America, I think, would have returned, had the proposition for their doing so been made by any other of the chiefs; but coming from such a wretch as Dessalines, it deterred instead of having encouraged them.

A short time after Dessalines had been invested with the chief command, he began to discard all the appellations which were used in the time of the French, and Hayti, the name given to the island by the Aborigines, was adopted instead of Saint Domingo, and he was severe in the extreme towards any one who might by the smallest and purest accident use any of the abrogated terms. This was followed by a general call on the people to revenge the wrongs which they had endured, and to execute vengeance upon those whom they conceived to have been the authors of it. The white French people, therefore, were indiscriminately sacrificed, not indeed by the inhabitants or cultivators, who preferred peace, and wished clemency to be shewn towards all, but by the troops, headed by their officers, and under the orders of the general-in-chief. No age nor sex was spared: the brutal soldiers, led on by their merciless officers, ran from door to door, and left not one alive whom they could find within; the females, whose amiable softness might have stayed the hand of the savage in his native wilds, first endured the most dreadful violation, and then were bayoneted and most shockingly mangled.

Military execution is at all times, and in all countries, to be greatly dreaded. It is always attended with those appalling enormities and barbarities, which make it the scourge of those nations which resort to it; it shews not the least mercy to either the innocent, the child, or the female with all her sweetness and charms, but all are indiscriminately the objects of its ravages, and the innocent with the guilty feel its atrocious influence, without being able to avert its vengeance and fury. In Hayti the effects of it must have been heavy indeed, and from the fact of its having been perpetrated by people who were little advanced over the unlettered savage of the desert, its consequences must have been horrible beyond the powers of language to describe. The measures which the merciless Dessalines adopted were enough to deter people from expressing their abhorrence for such vindictive proceedings. He made all his officers assume the capacity of spies, and in consequence, it became dangerous even to speak; all therefore being silent spectators of his enormities, he took it for granted that they approved, whilst fear alone prevented them from loudly pronouncing their abhorrence and detestation of his most flagitious conduct.

This crafty and execrable monster had recourse to one of the most diabolical acts recorded in the annals of history, for the purpose of collecting all those people together, who had escaped from the military massacres. He gave it out by a proclamation, that as he intended to stay his vengeance for the sufferings to which his brethren had been exposed, all those who had escaped execution under his military decree, should appear at an appointed spot for the purpose of receiving tickets, which might in future protect them from the vengeance of the people; and many who had been fortunate enough to escape, as they thought, in the first massacre, became the victims of the second; for no sooner did these unsuspecting and deluded creatures obtain what they conceived an assurance that their lives would be spared, than leaving their hiding places, they ran with eagerness to the place announced for issuing the tickets, when they were immediately seized and led away for instant execution. Before he perpetrated so deliberate, base, cool blooded, and horrible an act, even Nero would have paused; but the infamous and blood thirsty negro Dessalines secretly rejoiced at the success of his inhuman stratagem.

Another of this monster’s acts of barbarity is recorded. A young Frenchman, the son of a very opulent planter, had escaped during the early part of the revolution, with his father and the rest of his family, to Jamaica, where he had followed the occupation of a clerk in a mercantile house in Kingston. On its being known that all persons were invited back to their native country, he adopted the resolution to go up to Port au Prince, and procure leave to settle there. Speaking English fluently, he obtained a clerkship in the counting-house of an English merchant in that city. After having been there for some time, the monster heard of him, and it was intimated that he was a Frenchman. When he was sent for to appear at the government-house, the young man complied, and attended at the time appointed. Dessalines received him in the presence of his numerous officers, and told him that he had sent for him to ascertain if he were a Frenchman. The young man replied in the negative, and that he was a native of Jamaica, born of French parents, and had come to the city as a clerk to an establishment connected with the house in which he had lived in that island. Dessalines expressed much regret at the disappointment he felt, said he hoped to discover in him the son of a planter of his name, from whom he, Dessalines, had received much kindness, and who had once saved his life; and stated that he was most anxious to learn if any of the family were living, that he might be enabled to shew his gratitude, by restoring them to their estates, and affording them encouragement and protection. The young man elated with this expression of kindness and good will, and in the moment of credulous joy, declared himself to be the son of the man whom he had represented as having been his benefactor. The inhuman savage with a laugh which resounded through the whole apartment, and jumping, as he was wont to do whenever he had succeeded in entrapping an individual, from his chair, ordered the young man to be bayoneted in his presence, which was instantly done, whilst he looked on with the most ferocious countenance, indicative of the inward satisfaction he felt in having sacrificed another victim on the altar of revenge.

It is certain that Dessalines willingly took upon himself the responsibility of all these enormities; he even gloried in them, boasted that he had inflicted them on the French, and alleged that his predecessor Toussaint had been too lenient and too backward in his measures against those who opposed his cause. In his subsequent proclamation, he claims to himself the whole merit of these atrocious proceedings, and declares that in future he will admit no Europeans to hold property in the colony. That part of his proclamation is extremely harsh, and shews the malignancy of his nature, and his hatred of the whites; it states, as the translation from another author has it: “Generals, officers, soldiers, somewhat unlike him who has preceded me, the ex-general Toussaint L’Ouverture, I have been faithful to the promise I have made to you when I took up arms against tyranny, and whilst a spark of life remains in me I will keep my oath. Never again shall a colonist or European set his foot upon this territory, with the title of master or proprietor. This resolution shall henceforward form the fundamental basis of our constitution.”5

When all the massacres were at an end, he began to turn his attention towards restoring the country to some degree of tranquillity, after the injuries which it had sustained by the war, and to endeavour, if possible, to remove the fears under which the people seemed to labour, from the apprehension of a future interruption of their quiet and repose. He therefore determined to visit all parts under his command, and to make those arrangements which had a tendency, not only to augment the wealth of the island, but also to promote the welfare of his people, and inspire confidence in his future government. So commendable an act was certainly entitled to the highest praise and consideration, but emanating from so execrable a character it seemed paradoxical, and many questioned his sincerity, and were apprehensive that he contemplated measures of a contrary tendency. In the present instance, however, he was not dissembling, for he evinced more than common anxiety for the reestablishment of agriculture, and held out to the people the high advantages that were to be derived from their personal exertions in the culture of their lands; and for the purpose of stimulating them, he assured them of his intention to encourage an intercourse with the United States and England, in order to open a vent for their own productions, and to ensure on better terms the purchase of those articles of foreign growth and manufacture of which they stood in need. This seems to have been particularly offered for his consideration by some American merchants of respectability, with whom Dessalines frequently held conferences on subjects having a reference to his future government: and it has been communicated to me by one of them, that he was, notwithstanding his irascible temper, very attentive to their representations, and shewed great deference for their opinions, and frequently acted upon them in matters of commerce, when he found them consistent with the policy which he meant to pursue; otherwise he heard them deliberate upon them, and if he thought they proposed any thing to which he could not readily concur, he would freely state his objections, but always expressed himself thankful.