Schooner Felicity.
About the first of June, 1820, I chartered the Schooner Felicity in
New-York, and proceeded to Catskill, and took in a cargo for St.
Domingo; returned to New-York, and after shipping a crew, sailed on the
twenty-second of June for Port au Prince, in the Island of St. Domingo,
where we arrived after a passage of eighteen days, without the
occurrence of anything which would interest the reader. I found Port au
Prince to be a large but dirty city, no care being taken to clean the
streets, the yellow fever often raging here, particularly among the
shipping. The government is called a Republic, with a president elected
for life, receiving a salary of forty thousand dollars for his services,
and thirty thousand for his table expenses. The president being a
military chieftain, exercises great power over his subjects, who have
only the shadow of a Senate and Assembly, as they are subservient to his
will. The soil of the Island is very fertile, producing sugar-cane,
coffee, cocoa, and three crops of corn in one year; also, beans,
cabbages, water-mellons, and most kinds of garden vegetables: plantains,
yams, and every variety of tropical fruits in abundance. The Island at
this time was divided into three departments; the northern part was held
by a black royal Emperor, who styled himself Christoff, and exercised as
much power over his subjects as does the Emperor of Russia over his. The
southern part was owned by the Spaniards, as a Republic; the western by
the Republicans called Haytians, who were then at war with the Royalists
under the command of the black emperor. The war between those two
parties had been carried on for many years, and ended in the total
overthrow of the Royalists; the emperor blowing his brains out with his
pistol.
The president of this Republic lays heavy export duties on the produce
of the Island. The stamp duties on paper are said to amount to over two
millions per annum. All merchants and mechanics pay a heavy tax for
licenses to carry on their business. Whites are excluded from carrying
on their trades in their own names, or from purchasing real estate in
this Republic. A white can take a black partner, male or female, and do
business in his or her name. Most of the white men settled here prefer
the latter. This government has a mint, and coin their own money, which
contains ten per cent of silver mixed with other metal. They coin no
pieces larger than twenty-five cents, none smaller than six and a
quarter. This coin is considered a lawful tender, and the laws strictly
prohibit the carrying of any foreign gold or silver out of the country,
on penalty of forfeiting it. This compels any person selling a cargo
there to lay the returns out in some of the produce of the Island, which
is consequently the cause of heavy losses to the shippers. The
inhabitants are a mixed race of black and white, varying in color from
the blackness of charcoal to almost the whiteness of a snow-ball, and
hundreds of them have to take hard oaths to satisfy the authorities that
they have some black blood running through their veins, which entitles
them to the rights of citizenship in the Island. I have seen many
red-whiskered fair complexioned men pass themselves off for men of
color. Their national religion is Roman Catholic, no other being
tolerated, but strictly prohibited. The president keeps up a standing
army of forty thousand men, well uniformed, disciplined and equiped. As
I shall have to refer to their laws, customs and manners in my next
voyage, I shall leave the subject for the present.
Not being able to sell my timber at Port au Prince without a sacrifice,
my consignee applied to the government agent to purchase it, of which he
acquainted the president, who gave me a letter addressed to the public
administrator of Jerimie, and requesting me to proceed with my vessel
and cargo to that port, which I immediately complied with, after getting
a letter of address from an Italian Jew I found in Port au Prince, but
who resided in Jerimie, addressed to Messrs. Laforet & Brier, to whom I
consigned my vessel and cargo. On my arrival at that place my consignees
sold to the administrator all the timber he wanted, and the remainder at
an under price to individuals. My provisions sold at a saving. Jerimie
contains about two hundred houses, most of them being in a dilapidated
condition, in consequence of the constant alarm in which the inhabitants
have been kept by a troop of banditti, headed by an insurgent colonel,
who had deserted from the army, and had so terrified the people that the
women and children took shelter in the forts during the night, while the
men were kept under arms, being obliged to suspend all agricultural
pursuits, and leave their villages to decay. A few months since, the
chief of the banditti had been killed, his troops surrendered their arms
and received a pardon from the president. The inhabitants were now
making great preparations to repair their buildings and call back their
former trade.
While in this port, the padre, or priest died; he was carried to the
church in a chair, being tied fast to it, in a sitting posture, a book
placed in his hands. The corpse remained in this situation until about
four o'clock in the afternoon, when a marble slab was taken out of the
floor, an excavation made in the ground, the body deposited in the hole
with the clothes on, and then covered with a thick coat of lime.
A friend of mine, named Ghio, arrived here from Port au Prince in
company with one Captain Mills, from New-York, and while he and the
captain were walking the streets of Jerimie, Ghio for the first heard of
the death of the padre, when bursting into a flood of tears, he
exclaimed, "Captain Mills the poor padre is dead, and I suppose I shall
have to fill his place again," weeping at the same time. After a moments
pause, he said, "Captain Mills, it is a damned good berth, I can make
ten dollars a day by it." Ghio acted as a substitute in the place of the
deceased padre until his place was supplied by another.
I remained at Jerimie three or four weeks, employed in selling out my
cargo and obtaining a return freight of coffee, &c. I procured many
orders for house frames and other articles, and was strongly urged to
bring out some carpenters and a blacksmith, whom the inhabitants
promised to aid and assist in their business. Having disposed of all my
cargo and taken on board my return freight, I proceeded to sea, bound to
New-York, where I arrived in safety after a passage of eighteen days,
sold my return cargo, and sailed for Catskill, where I arrived about the
first of November. I then repaired the schooner and prepared for another
voyage.