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

Although Petion had laws, doubtless, by which he might have enforced from the people the cultivation of the soil, and prevented them leaving their plantations, except on those days particularly enumerated, yet he never seems to have attended to the spirit of the laws and have insisted upon their due execution, but simply to have contented himself with the mere letter, without in the least reflecting on the serious consequences that would inevitably flow from his want of that resolution and decision which formed so prominent a feature in the character of Christophe. The mild and soft disposition of Petion disqualified him to be the head of such a rude and untaught people as those over whom he was appointed to preside. Far from possessing the unrelaxing and unrelenting temper of his rival, he was kind, indulgent, and humane. Over a country so disorganized, and over a people so prone to every vicious propensity, and regardless of their own as well as the public good, a man of more nerve, and not so sensible to the finer feelings of our nature, would have been better calculated for governing than President Petion, who, in the language of a writer on his country, was said to be “of a sensible and humane character; tutored in the schools of Europe, his mind has received an expansion that fits him for the helm of government, and his exterior an address that would distinguish him in a court. Ill suited perhaps to witness scenes to which his station as a military commander exposes him in the field of battle, the tear of sensibility often bedews his cheek at the sight of slaughter, and though brave, enterprising, and bold, he values more the responsive glow of a humane act than the crimsoned laurel he has plucked from the brow of his adversary. He sighs at the purchase of victory with the sacrifice of those subjects whom he loves: in short, nothing can be more descriptive of his peculiar virtues than the motto of an English artist at the foot of his portrait – ‘Il n’a jamais fait couler les larmes de personne.’”7

The character given of Petion by Mr. Walton, I have heard confirmed by all classes of people in Hayti, and by those who are well versed in the dispositions of their countrymen; whilst admitting it, however, they were not backward in expressing their opinion that he was of too easy and too lenient a temper to enforce those measures which the exigences of the government so loudly and imperatively called for. Through such leniency and indulgence, therefore, his country relaxed to an alarming degree in both agriculture and commerce, and he was driven, for the purpose of supplying the wants of government, to means which, although they brought temporary relief, were finally most baneful and ruinous. The revenue arising from the produce of the soil was small, from his not enforcing the culture of it to that extent which he might have done, considering the strength of the population; and the imposts on foreign manufactures fell infinitely below his estimation, from the reduction of the duties on British goods, and from the little encouragement given to foreigners by the diminished means of the people to purchase their commodities. Had he pursued the same coercive system which his rival Christophe adopted; had he compelled his people to cultivate their lands, by which his means of export would have been much increased; and had he enforced from the proprietors of the soil a strict attention to its cultivation, instead of allowing them to indulge in the most sensual appetites which can disgust our feelings, he would have aggrandized his country, and have raised it to the summit of affluence and prosperity. Had he taught the people to know artificial wants, and encouraged a desire for luxuries, he would have increased the resources of his country, and the burthens of the people would not have been heavier. The means for supporting the state would have been indirect, and consequently would not have excited any discontent; which his successor has experienced in no ordinary a degree. From these sources, therefore, forming, as I believe they do, the principal sources of revenue in all countries, he obtained much less than the extent of his dominions led him to anticipate, and consequently he became greatly involved, and was necessitated to devise other means of supporting his government.

The first thing which was suggested was a fictitious or debased currency, which in the opinions of most people is very little better than swindling under the sanction of government; especially a government like that of Petion, reduced to so low an ebb as to have been without a dollar in its treasury, and without any ostensible means of bettering its miserable condition, or adding to its pecuniary means. Every country has probably a fictitious circulating medium, and I shall not condemn it, or question its propriety, when the country is capable of redeeming it at any specific period, or at its pleasure: but when a country like Hayti has recourse to a debased currency, it is very little better than an imposition. Petion was without the means of raising money, even upon the demesnes of government, for the exigences of the state, so that it was impossible for him to hold out any security to the people, that his fictitious coin would be called in at any distant period, unless he did so at a very large discount. He issued in the first instance three millions of dollars in value in pieces of metal, a composition of about nineteen parts of tin and one part silver, and subsequently a further issue of a million of dollars in value. This measure of temporary relief proved a serious injury to his country, for it not only enabled him to carry on the business of his government for a time without any calls on the people, which, in its then impoverished condition, was exceedingly improvident, but it was the occasion of a great consternation among the foreign merchants whom he had induced to settle in his dominions, and who from great apprehension of the consequences began to look around them and to confine their commercial operations within very contracted limits. They lost their confidence in the stability of the government, and consequently, as their importations gradually fell off, the revenue fell infinitely short of the anticipated returns.

He commenced also another system, which proved exceedingly injurious to his finances, and I cannot see how he could have contemplated any other result. For the encouragement of the agriculturists, the government, whenever the price of the several products were low, bought very largely of some of them, for the purpose of raising their value, by which impolitic measure, they not only lost considerably by their trading system, but it had a most pernicious effect in driving foreigners out of the market, who would always cease to buy the moment the government attempted to raise the market value beyond what the value in the European markets warranted. Of these speculations of the government I had some little knowledge in my mercantile capacity in Jamaica, for it was through that island that most of Petion’s government produce found its way to England; and on the estimated value of it, very large sums in specie were sent to Port au Prince from Jamaica, the moment the proper documents of its being shipped were received. These measures of the government were exceedingly injudicious, for it raised the price of their products so much above the European markets, that the foreign merchants could not think of touching them; and it finally proved the most injurious system that could ever have been devised for upholding the exigences of any government. Had he enforced those laws which had been passed for the cultivation of the soil, and put all the estates of the government into tillage, and conducted them upon a judicious principle of management, as his rival Christophe had done in the north, all his wants would have been supplied, the distresses under which he daily laboured would have been averted, and his treasury, like Christophe’s, would have been always liberally replenished, without obliging him to resort to ways and means which proved in the end so injurious to him. It is therefore evident that Petion was not calculated to govern a people like the Haytians. His mildness of temper would never allow him to adopt coercive measures to raise his country to opulence; he restrained those who were disposed to insist on the cultivators doing their duty as pointed out by the law for the encouragement of agriculture.

To this Christophe was the very reverse, for he not only called upon the magistrates and other officers to see the law for the cultivation of the soil rigidly executed, and take into custody all those who committed the least breach, but, daily accompanied by his staff, he absolutely rode personally to different parts to ascertain whether the cultivators were doing their duty. He well knew those whom he had to govern, and also that were he once to allow them to give way to their love for indolence, it would in time become invincible, and therefore he adhered to the old rule, that a preventive is better than a cure. The consequences were, that from his system of coercion the calls of his government were provided for, the people individually advanced in wealth and security, and the cultivators, who would otherwise have been in a state of sloth and misery, disease and wretchedness, lived well, and were contented. The condition of cultivators under Petion’s mild government, and under whom there was no such thing as coercion, presented a striking and instructive contrast; indolent and unconcerned, they passed their time like animals without the least exertion, and without a thought beyond the supply of their immediate wants; and those wants being provided for, they again sunk into apathy and indifference. Lust and every vicious propensity obtained an unlimited sway over them, and to feed their sensual appetites and satiate their brutal passions seemed to form the only object which they studied. Disease became prevalent, poverty accompanied it in all its ravages, and a more wretched, miserable race of human beings could not have been selected than might be seen in different parts of the country over which the sensible and humane Petion ruled.

This was the state of the country over which Petion presided previously to his death, which lamentable event took place on the 29th of March, 1818, after an illness of no long duration, but attended with circumstances that excited the greatest sympathy for his sufferings. It was generally admitted that the state of his country had produced an extraordinary depression of spirits, which no exertions of his most intimate friends could remove. Medical aid became unavailing, he lingered, but without, it appears, enduring any pain, and at last sunk under the weight of accumulated distress of mind, brought on by the deranged state of his finances and the impoverished condition of his country. Petion was undoubtedly a good man, and greatly beloved by his people, who valued him for his mild and inoffensive manners, and for the courtly and unassuming conduct which he always manifested to every one who approached him. The day on which he died the people assembled in the square opposite to the government-house, waiting with the most painful anxiety to learn if all hopes of his recovery had vanished, and towards twelve o’clock at night, when the gun fired to announce that he was no more, the cries and moans of all classes were heard through the different streets as they were verging towards the square.

This was not the most dreadful part, nor that which excited the greatest anxiety; those inhabitants who had experienced the changes which had taken place during the time of Dessalines, and had seen the massacres of that wretch, began to fear a similar catastrophe during the interregnum, from the rude state of the negro population, from their relaxed state of morals, and from a spirit of ungovernable insubordination, fostered by the ill-judged mildness and leniency of the late President. The foreign merchants were alarmed, and apprehensive also of confusion as well as the probability of the destruction of their property; their fears in this respect were however fortunately unfounded, as nothing occurred which indicated the least disposition towards hostility and molestation. Petion had designed Boyer for his successor, who was immediately after his decease accordingly declared President in the customary form, and took upon himself the administration of the government.

At the death of Petion, Christophe indicated no wish to interfere with the election of Boyer, who preserved the tranquillity of his dominions. Christophe was still pursuing his system of aggrandizement, and had realized a very large sum of money in his treasury, with which he contemplated the purchase of the Spanish territory and to annex it to his dominions; and for this purpose he had actually commenced a negotiation through the agency of some powerful individuals in London. This design unquestionably evinced great judgment, for it would have given him a decided superiority over the southern government, and he could have menaced all their points, and having a larger force would have been able to make considerable impression on their principal posts of defence; but his death, which took place in October 1820, put an end to the negotiation, and established the union between the north and south, uniting them in one government, designated “The Republic of Hayti.”

The system pursued by Christophe had become too despotic for the people; exceeding the bounds of prudence, his ambition had no limits, and his tyranny and oppression became at last so insupportable that neither the people nor his troops would any longer submit to his power and caprice. A revolution ensued which began with the revolt of the garrison of St. Marc, the commandant of which sent a courier to Boyer to inform him of the event, and of the wish of the people to place themselves under his government. Shortly after, the city of Cape Haytian followed the example, and the troops were preparing to march against Christophe who was confined by sickness at Sans Souci. His guards now revolted, and finding all chance of escape impossible, he shot himself with a pistol in his own chamber. His sons were killed by the troops, as well as several of his officers of state who were obnoxious to the people and the soldiers. His eldest son, it was said, exhibited the most abject submission, and begged them to save his life; whilst his youngest defended himself with great heroism, killing several of the soldiers, but was at last cut down and shockingly mangled.

His wife and daughters were spared through the interference of Boyer, who sent them to Port au Prince by water, with instructions that they should be particularly protected, and not disturbed by the citizens; and after his return to the city, permission was given them to leave the country, which they accepted, and sailed for England, where they were received, by those persons who were admirers of Christophe, with some respect and attention. A small estate was secured to them, and Madame Christophe’s jewels, which were valuable, were restored to her, and I have reason to believe that she is in possession of an income which, although not splendid, is quite enough for the purposes of genteel life. She was considered a good and humane woman, and often softened the anger of her husband, who was addicted to sudden gusts of passion, and to the infliction of punishment with unjust severity. But notwithstanding his impetuosity of temper, he was the only man who was competent to preside over a people in the state of ignorance in which his subjects were. He not only possessed the discernment necessary to discriminate between that which was advantageous to his country and that which was injurious to his interest, but he had the courage and resolution to enforce the one and prevent the other. Had Christophe lived he would have raised his country in affluence and in civilization, but his death has sunk the former, and retarded the latter; and the people, now left to pursue with an unlimited range their own propensities, will dwindle again into that condition of ignorance which is characteristic of the early periods of the revolution.

CHAPTER IX

Boyer elected president. – His character. – Revolution in the north – annexed to the south. – Revolution in Spanish part. – Union of the whole. – Measures pursued after. – Overtures to France. – Arrival of French fleet. – Negotiation and independence. – Baron Mackau. – Dissatisfaction prevails. – British consul-general. – Further dissatisfaction. – Determination not to pay the indemnity. – Voluntary loan attempted – it fails. – Observations on the inefficiency of government. – State of the military. – Naval force, etc

Jean Pierre Boyer, who succeeded the late president, Petion, and who consequently became chief of the countries of his predecessor and of Christophe united, is a native of Port au Prince, and is about forty-eight or fifty years of age. He is a mulatto, but somewhat darker than the people of that class. His father, a man of good repute and possessed of some wealth, was a store-keeper and a tailor in that city. His mother was a negress of the Congo country in Africa, and had been a slave in the neighbourhood. He joined the cause of the Commissioners Santhonax and Polverel, with whom he retired, after the arrival of the English, to Jacmel, when he joined General Rigaud, whom he accompanied to France, after the submission of the south to the authority of Toussaint. On his voyage thither he was captured by the Americans, during the short dispute between France and the United States, and after the adjustment of the differences between those two powers he was released. Having resided in France some time, he, with many other persons of colour, attached himself to the expedition of Le Clerc, and accompanied that armament for the subjugation of the colony: but on the death of that general, he joined Petion, who successively appointed him to be his aid-de-camp, private secretary, chief of his staff, general of the arrondissement of Port au Prince, and finally named him for his successor in the presidential chair.

Boyer is below the middle size, and very slender; his visage is far from being pleasing, but he has a quick eye, and makes a good use of it, for it is incessantly in motion. His constitution is weak, and he is afflicted with a local disease, which compels him to be exceedingly abstemious. He is fond of parade and exterior ornaments, as is the custom of the country, but he does not display his propensities for them, except in compelling those of his staff and household to appear in all their embellishments. He is but little seen among his people, except on a Sunday, when he appears at the head of his troops, and after reviewing them he rides through the city, attended by a cortége of officers and guards. He is exceedingly vain of his person, and imagines that it is attractive and captivating, and that his manners are irresistible.

I shall now proceed to notice a few of the proceedings of Boyer after his elevation to the supreme command in the republic.

I remarked in the last chapter, that the commander of the troops of Christophe at St. Marc, on finding that his soldiers had determined on a revolt, had sent to inform Boyer of the circumstance, and invited him to proceed to that place and take possession of it. No sooner had Boyer received this intimation than he made preparations to march into the north. He took only a few troops, consisting of his horse and foot guards, being aware that there would be no resistance to his advance, and that the people were ready to submit to him without any opposition. This was pleasing to the president, who, as it has been observed before, never shewed any disposition for hostile measures, and that fighting was a trade to which he was unaccustomed, and for which he had no predilection. On his arrival at St. Marc, he received the submission of the inhabitants, and was joined by the revolted troops of Christophe; and he also received information of the death of that chief, and that General Paul Romain, Prince du Limbé, had declared for the republic. He had therefore nothing to apprehend from any interruption likely to be given to his advance. On the 21st of October, 1820, he entered Gonaives, which received him without any opposition, and on the 22d he proceeded for the city of Cape Haytian, and the capital of Christophe, the inhabitants of which had made great preparations to receive him; he entered it the same night at the head of 20,000 men, and on the 26th he was proclaimed president of the north. General Romain called upon the people to receive the president with every demonstration of joy, and to acknowledge the people of the south as true Haytians and brothers, with the usual salutations of “Long live the Republic of Hayti!” “Independence, Liberty, and Equality!” and “President Boyer!”

After the first acclamations of the people had in some measure subsided, Boyer, by the advice of his officers and the chief people of the north, began to make such arrangements for incorporating the north with the southern government as were requisite and imperative for the better administration of the united districts. The troops of Christophe were also removed from their stations to others in the south, whilst those of the south, in some cases, succeeded them: and those general officers who had taken prominent parts in bringing about the revolution were confirmed in their rank; but as the government was republican, all distinctions of title were abolished, and the designation of citizen was adopted, as in the south. Some of those who were raised to titles by Christophe, and had survived the revolution, were well pleased to be disrobed of the trappings of nobility, because it entailed upon them an expenditure beyond their scanty means. The Baron Dupuy told me that he was pleased with the designation of citizen, whilst the appellation of baron had always sounded disagreeably to him. Noble distinctions, he said, suited those only whose conduct was noble, and who had by their virtues truly earned them. For his part he was not aware that he had accomplished any thing that ought to have raised him above his fellow-citizens. There is reason to fear that the Baron Dupuy was the only man in Hayti possessing such modest and unassuming ideas.

After the events of the revolution in the north, and the arrangements for the government of that district had been completed, Boyer made preparations for his return to Port au Prince. Elated with success, and vain of what he termed his unexampled career of glory derived from the downfall of his rival chief, he signified a wish that his entrance into the city of government should be attended with some pomp and demonstrations of joy suitable to the occasion. Accordingly, those of his suite who knew that nothing could be more gratifying to the president than show and parade, prepared for a triumphant entry, and at the northern gate an arch was constructed and ornamented with a variety of devices celebrating his victory. But it having been communicated to Boyer anonymously, that some disaffected individuals were conspiring to shoot him as he passed through this arch, he arrived at the government house by a circuitous route, before the whole was completed, and without the knowledge of the populace. He began to make some inquiry respecting the intelligence he had received, but it was soon suspended, as it was suggested by his chief officers that he would be acting wisely not to prosecute it further, as it might tend to fan the flame of disaffection rather than smother it.

The union of the north effected by this revolution, did not seem at all gratifying to the people of the south, as they had imbibed a great dislike to the inhabitants under Christophe’s government, from the civil feuds that had existed, and by which their lives and property had so often been in jeopardy.

The revolution in the north was followed by a similar event in the eastern or Spanish part, which took place at the end of the succeeding year. The first symptoms of the latter manifested itself in the city of Santo Domingo, the capital of the east. A deputation formed of the principal inhabitants waited on President Boyer at Port au Prince, and tendered the submission of the people of the east to the republic, and soliciting that their country might be incorporated with it.

Boyer no sooner received the communications of the deputies, than he began to march a force towards the Spanish frontiers, which he immediately followed with his staff; the whole as they advanced receiving on their route the congratulations of the inhabitants and expressions of good will and prosperity to the republic. In the Spanish part at this time there were a great many of the Haytians who had taken up their residence as cultivators, and had made some progress in their little plantations; these with the people of colour formed the largest proportion of the inhabitants; and when the measure of union with their western islanders was first suggested by the leading men in the city of Santo Domingo, a ready acquiescence was shewn by them, and a wish expressed that it should be proposed to Boyer without delay. On the arrival of the president in the city, the people displayed their satisfaction at being united to his government, and he with the same manifestations of pleasure assured them of his protection and good will. Such arrangements as were adviseable for the future government of the east were made without much delay, and General Borjellas was left in command of the city, and to carry into effect those plans which had been determined upon by the president and the people.