Population.—Census 1824, opinion on it.—Further statement.—Manner
of taking the census.—Checks to increase.—Decrease is
evident.—Nature of those checks.—Increase in United States according
to Raymond.—Conclusion.
IT is a very difficult task to ascertain the exact number of the
population in Hayti, and I may in all probability not be correct in
the statement which was given to me, although I am convinced that the
individual from whom I received it would not knowingly have offered me
a document containing an erroneous calculation. Indeed I place great
reliance on this statement, because the official station of its author
affords him information which is not easily to be obtained from any
other source. It appears that the census said to have been taken in
the year 1824, and the particulars of which I have in my possession as
presented to me personally by Boyer, is a fabrication of government,
promulgated intentionally to astonish the nations of Europe with the
rapid increase of the population since the expulsion of the French in
the time of Dessalines. This census when taken into consideration will
appear almost incredible, and, from the irregular manner in which,
even on the confession of its advocates, it is acknowledged to have
been taken, it will be found unworthy of being received as an authentic
return. It states the number as follows:—
In the ancient Spanish part 61,468
In the part formerly under Christophe 367,721
In the part originally the republic established by Petion 504,146
———————
Total 933,335
———————
The incredibility attached to such a statement as the preceding will
be manifested, when it is remembered that in 1802, in the time of
Toussaint, the population
In the ancient French part was, according to Humboldt, about 375,000
And in the Spanish part it did not exceed 95,000
———————
Total 470,000
———————
Now it must I think be admitted that such an increase as appears from
a comparison of these two statements cannot be probable. That the
population of any country should double in twenty-two years, cannot for
a moment be believed. Here it is represented to have more than doubled,
for there is a decrease in the Spanish part of nearly thirty-four
thousand, and the subsequent war with Le Clerc and the massacres of
Dessalines, as well as the long internal contests between Christophe
and Petion, are not taken in the scale of decrease. The census of
1824, therefore, will, I should think, appear erroneous. That it is
prima facie a fabrication, cannot be denied; and the advantage expected
to result from this falsification I cannot comprehend. By the statement
to which I have alluded as given to me, and on which I can rely as
containing a more correct return of the population of 1824, Hayti
appears to contain:—
Blacks 608,400
Coloured of all degrees 90,700
Strangers domiciled 16,400
———————
Total 715,500
———————
And about three hundred white inhabitants, consisting of foreign
merchants, tradesmen, handicraftsmen, &c.
Of the above number, the divisions are stated in this manner:—
In the ancient Spanish part 54,000
The part formerly Christophe’s 302,300
The part originally the republic under Petion 359,200
———————
Total 715,500
———————
This account of the population carries on the face of it much more
probability than the statement of Boyer. Indeed I took no little pains
to inquire of individuals conversant with the subject, and they spoke
decidedly against the census of 1824, giving it as their opinion that
it could not have exceeded seven hundred thousand, at all events seven
hundred and twenty thousand of all degrees. It was their further
opinion that the population had not lately increased, but on the
contrary, from what they could observe in the different parts through
which they had occasion to travel on their mercantile concerns, there
appeared a great check, and that there was unquestionably an annual
decrease.
The manner in which the government proceeds in taking a census must
inevitably lead to inaccuracy and error, even where there is no design
to deceive. A census is taken in each arrondissement by the general
commanding, aided by the justices of the peace in the several parishes
composing it, and as there are no registers kept in those parishes
of births or deaths, every thing is left to estimation, occasional
visits being made to several parts of them to ascertain the number of
settlers. Now many of these proprietors have possessions in two or
three parishes within the arrondissement; and the returns of persons
composing their family are made in each of them, and thereby swell the
aggregate of the population much beyond the actual number. And further,
the census is not taken simultaneously in the several arrondissements,
but at different periods, and it is said, that the cultivators who move
from one to the other, are returned in two places.
If the people were industrious, and relaxed from those vicious courses
in which they now too much indulge; if marriage were more generally
diffused, and morality inculcated; if some system were adopted which
would tend towards a removal of the evils which now prevail through the
republic, the population would in all probability increase, but until
these are accomplished, such a result is not to be expected.
It has often been argued that labour in the colonies is a check upon
increase, and that may be possible when the labour is excessive. But
I think it will be admitted that a moderate portion of labour has a
contrary effect, and this is exemplified in those states of America
where slavery exists. In those states the increase is very great, and
excites considerable apprehension lest the slave population should
become too powerful a body to be kept in subjection. Raymond, an
American author, and a political economist, in his remarks on the
population of the United States, gives the increase of the slaves at
one and a half per cent. annually, which I think is a refutation of
the opinion of labour being a check of so serious a nature as has been
contemplated. In the British colonies I have seen instances of large
families, though the parents have undergone the regular labour of the
plantation; but in Hayti, where very little labour is performed, I was
not able to discover a solitary instance of a large family in any part
through which I had occasion to travel. In the slave states of the
North American Union, the labour of the slaves is as severe as in the
British colonies, and on travelling through them I saw as many cases
of large families among the slave population as occur among the white
people, so that even severe labour is not a check upon increase to such
a degree as many are led to imagine.
It must also be remarked, that among the Haytians there are but very
few instances of longevity, the males seldom exceeding forty or fifty
years of age, and the women probably a year or two more. At the age of
thirty, both men and women have the appearance of being prematurely
afflicted by the weight of time; the effects, no doubt, of an
unrestricted sensual intercourse and other vices, and greatly increased
by sloth and indolence. In the slave colonies, on the contrary, men and
women will be found at the age of fifty possessing all the health and
vigour of their sex, whilst those who have been emancipated, and have
imbibed the indolent habits, and pursued the licentious indulgences so
characteristic of the negro in a state of uncontrolled liberty, exhibit
the decrepitude of age even at forty.
I have offered the foregoing remarks on population with a view to shew
that it is impossible that the census taken in 1824 can be correct;
and I think it must appear conclusive, under all the circumstances
connected with the state of society, that the large increase of
population said to have taken place between the time of Dessalines and
the present period, rests upon no authority whatever. The habits of the
people manifestly oppose such a supposition. That for several years
there has been no increase, I am persuaded; and so long as the people
are permitted to indulge in all those excesses which are so prevalent
in the country, I am convinced that their number will continue to
decrease.
I have but little to advance by way of conclusion to my labours,
further than to observe that I trust it will be seen that Hayti has
been too much extolled; that the extraordinary and rapid strides
said to have been made by its inhabitants, in wealth, morality, and
knowledge, is a fiction which has not the slightest foundation; and
that, before a change can be effected, ages must roll away and a new
people be created. The present race are too hardened in vice to be
improved by example, or taught the distinction between that which
may benefit the country and that which must prove subversive of the
public good. Let loose from restraint, without having been first taught
how to enjoy freedom, they have given way to ungovernable passions,
and plunged into every species of vice. Feeling only the few wants
characteristic of the savage, and those wants easily supplied, they
are careless of all consequences, and never bestow a thought on the
future welfare either of their posterity or their country; but go on
without the least constraint, fostering and pursuing every evil and
pernicious habit. But such a state as this must bring on a crisis of
no ordinary danger and difficulty, and Hayti may yet have to endure a
repetition of those scenes of trouble and desolation which have marked
her career from the revolution; which may shake or perhaps destroy
the little fabric which she has raised, and finally bring upon her
people all those fatal consequences which spring from morals and habits
universally dissolute and relaxed.
Hayti affords us a strong instance of what may be expected from the
emancipation of slaves before they have been previously prepared to
receive this boon by moral and religious instruction, and a proof
that agriculture cannot efficiently be carried on in the colonies
if it depend on the labour of the enfranchised slave. Should it be
therefore thought expedient to declare the slaves in the British
colonies free before they have been prepared for such a measure, and
provision be made against the consequences of that sudden ebullition
which emancipation would excite, the colonies may be taken leave of
for ever as a productive appendage to the crown. Hayti bears me out in
this opinion; for that country presents a lasting monument of what may
be expected from injudicious emancipation, or what may be effected by
free labour. With the finest soil in the world for all the purposes
of tropical agriculture, with seasons the most congenial, with a
climate so varied in its temperature as to be peculiarly adapted for
the production, of not only tropical plants, but those of America and
of Europe also, with a population of labourers equal to her wants,
were they moral and industrious,—with all these important advantages
naturally adapted to raise her into eminence and wealth, yet has Hayti
sunk into the lowest state of poverty and moral degradation. Without
agriculture, for the country displays nothing but waste; without
commerce, for her harbours are empty, and present no appearance of a
revival of trade; with an exhausted treasury and a diminished revenue;
with a heavy debt and a debased currency, Hayti must finally be
overwhelmed in irretrievable ruin.
One plan however still remains to be tried, by which she may in
time perhaps recover her shattered state. Let the people be roused
to a sense of their abject condition, and if laws be enacted for
the enforcement of cultivation, let them not sleep, but be executed
with an unsparing hand, and the penalty which they impose be rigidly
inflicted on the disobedient and the indolent. Those mistaken views
of philanthropy upon which the government has hitherto proceeded have
proved destructive to the country, and the effects of ill-judged
leniency are now too heavy to be any longer borne. Coercive measures
are now, it is said, to take the place of mild ones; the people
are not to be permitted to pursue their own uncontrolled courses as
heretofore, nor the indolent to slumber with impunity. All are to
spring forward as with one impulse, to an extended culture of the soil,
for the purpose of restoring the country to its ancient condition.
I wish the promise thus held out to the world may be realized, and that
the government may still possess sufficient energy to give effect to
its declared intention; but I have my doubts of both. The president
is incompetent, and the government weak and imbecile; and whilst the
present rulers are permitted to hold the reins of the state machine, I
for one cannot hope that the country will emerge from that miserable
condition into which an unwise policy, and an overstrained and mistaken
philanthropy, have unfortunately thrown it. Time, it is said, effects
wonderful changes, but I fear no change can take place for the better
in Hayti until there be a new race of people, under the dominion of a
chief competent to rule them with efficient energy.
THE END.
G. Woodfall, Printer, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.
ERRATA.
Page 55, for “Aux Cazes”, and throughout the volume, for “Aux Cases”,
read “Aux Cayes”.
65, for “parish of Acub”, read “parish of Acul”.
199, and throughout the volume, for “Count Limonde”, read “Count
Limonade”.
215, for “Prince Larnders”, read “Prince Saunders”.
238, and throughout the volume, for “Sumana”, read “Samana”.
279, for “L’Arcahaze”, read “L’Arcahaye”.
296, for “Llamos”, read “Llanos”.
300, for “Cibas”, read “Cibao”.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Walton.
[2] Anonymous.
[3] Anonymous.
[4] Anonymous.
[5] Anonymous.
[6] Letter to Sismonde.
[7] Walton, Vol. I.
[8] P. Saunders.
[9] Extract from “The Courier.”