mahogany, tobacco, indigo, sugar, hides, bees-wax, cocoa-nuts, oranges,
lemons, some coffee and some fustic, satin and many other kinds of wood;
but the trade in those articles now is not very considerable. There is a
vast quantity of _mahogany_ in the territory, standing in groves on the
mountains and the plains, and scattered over the valleys and along the
rivers and streams. The best mahogany in the West Indies grows on this
island. Some of these groves and trees are truly magnificent, growing
straight and to a great height. The best is now found inland, as it has
been nearly all already stripped off the coasts and cut away from near
the mouths of the principal rivers and around the bays, where it was
more accessible and of easier and cheaper carriage to market. It has
been extensively used for building purposes by the inhabitants of the
cities, more especially by those of the interior, the lumber now used in
the coast cities being carried thither from the States, and exchanged
for mahogany and other products. It is only of late years that the best
mahogany cuts have begun to come to market, as heretofore they were
carried to Europe, where they brought a better price.
“_Tobacco_ is now one of the principal exports. But little of it,
however, finds its way to this market. There is a large quantity of it
raised by the residents on the Spanish part of the island, particularly
about Santiago, on the Royal Plains, and in the neighborhood of
Maccrere. It is brought down in bales or ceroons on mules to Port
Platte, and shipped on board Dutch bottoms to Holland and the Germanic
states. There is also some cultivated about St. Domingo City and around
the Bay of Samana. But the cultivation and traffic in this commodity
compared with what it might be, were those fertile plains and rich
savannahs settled by an industrious and enterprising people, is scarcely
as a drop to the bucket. There are regions in the territory where
tobacco can be grown equal to the best Havana brands, and, on account of
the fecundity of the soil, with even much less labor.
“There are still some good _sugar_ plantations in the Dominican
territory, chiefly about St. Domingo City and to the west as far as
Azua, but they are ‘few and far between.’ The best sugar is now produced
in the region about Azua and Manuel, and is of a very superior quality.
The country people cultivate and manufacture, each on his own account,
and, in his small way, pack it in ceroons and carry it down to the coast
on mules. Indeed, the term ‘cultivate’ is not appropriately used in this
connection, as the cane grows up wild and spontaneously from season to
season, and from year to year in many places, and the inhabitants have
nothing whatever to do but cut and grind it in wooden mills and boil day
after day. The writer is not informed that they use the sugar-mills in
use in other sugar-growing countries in their operations. It is easy to
conceive what a source of incalculable wealth the culture of this staple
there would become, if in the hands of a skilful and enterprising
population.
“The trade in _hides_, compared with other products, is quite important,
which arises from the fact that a majority of the population pursue
grazing for a livelihood, and the rapidity with which stock increases
and the little care required in preserving it. Owing to the heat and
abundant oxygen which the atmosphere contains, the flesh of the beef,
unless properly salted and cured, keeps but a day or two, so that the
inhabitants are obliged to kill almost every other day. This now keeps
up and supplies the traffic. Perhaps three-fifths of the population of
the interior country and towns are now engaged in grazing.
“Compared also with other staples, the trade in _bees-wax_ is
considerable. The island producing the greatest quantity and variety of
flowering plants, shrubs, and trees, bees exist there in incalculable
and immense swarms. The prairies of the West in June furnish no parallel
to the flowers that perpetually unfold on these mountains, plains, and
valleys. The writer has been informed by a gentleman who recently
visited Dominica [Dominicana], that so strong and rank was the odor from
the flowers in passing over the Royal Plains, that it so jaded his
olfactories as to cause his head to ache, and almost made him sick. The
swarms build in the rocks, in the trees and logs, under the branches,
and even on the ground. Those who pursue this branch of business collect
the deposits in tubs, wash out the honey in the brooks by squeezing the
combs, and afterwards melt the wax into cakes, or run it into vessels
preparatory to carrying it to market. Those engaged in this vocation are
chiefly women. The trade in this article, however, bears no proportion
to its production and abundance. They have recently begun to save some
of the honey, and a small quantity of it has found its way to this
market. The reason why it has not been hitherto saved is owing to the
great cost of vessels to collect it in, as wooden-ware of all kinds has
to be taken there from the States.
“There are some exports of _cocoa-nuts_, _oranges_, _lemons_, _limes_,
and other fruit, all of which are both cultivated and grow wild in vast
abundance on the island, and are not excelled by any in the Antilles, or
on the Spanish main. The labor necessary to collect them, prepare them
for shipment, and carry them to the ports is not there. From this cause,
indeed, the whole Spanish end of the island languishes in sloth, and its
transcendent wealth goes year after year incontinently to waste.
“There is some _coffee_, which grows wild in abundance through the
island and on the mountains, and is collected and shipped. After the
abandonment of the coffee plantations, the trees continued to grow thick
on them, and finally spread into the woods and on to the mountains,
where they now grow wild in great quantities. Lacking the proper
culture, its quality is not the best, but the climate and soil is
capable of producing it unexcelled by any in Porto Rico or any of the
West Indies or Brazil. The writer is informed, however, that there are a
few coffee plantations under culture about St. Domingo City. The labor
of cultivating coffee and sugar in Dominica [Dominicana], with all the
modern appliances of civilization, would be absolutely insignificant
compared with the rich returns it would bring the planter.
“In addition to the staples and exports above-mentioned, the island
produces a vast number of other valuable commodities, among which we may
make notable mention of its lumber and different varieties of valuable
wood other than mahogany. The pitch or yellow pine grows in vast
abundance at the head of the streams and on the mountains, dark and
apparently impenetrable forests of which cover their sides and tops.
This lumber, with very little expenditure of labor and capital, could be
brought down the streams during their rises almost any month in the
year, to the principal cities. When the reader is made acquainted with
the stubborn fact that all the lumber used on the north side of the
island, except the little mahogany that is sawed there and at and about
St. Domingo City, is carried there at great cost from the States, and
sold at a price fabulous to our lumber-dealers here, he will measurably
comprehend the undeveloped resources of Dominica [Dominicana] in that
interest alone. Pine lumber sells at Port Platte for $60 per thousand
feet. It has then to be carried back to Santiago, Moco, and La Vega on
mules, where it sells for $100 per thousand, while those mountains and
the banks of their streams stand thickly clothed with it, in its
majestic and sublime abundance! There is but one saw-mill on the Spanish
end of the island near St. Domingo City, and that not now in operation.
They saw by hand a little mahogany at a cost of 80 cents a cut, ten feet
long; and when an individual wishes to build a house at Santiago, Moco,
La Vega, Cotuy, or any of the interior towns, he has to begin to collect
his lumber a year beforehand!... In consequence of this scarcity and
cost of lumber, those of smaller means build their floors of brick and
flags, and roof their houses with the same material or with the leaf of
the palm-tree. Besides the pine, there is the oak, the fustic and satin
woods, compache, and an indefinite variety of others. Some of the
hardest and most durable vegetable fibre in the world is to be found on
the island.”
It may appear somewhat strange to the reader that mahogany should be
used for building purposes, but so it is. The art of veneering is but
little known, house furniture consisting generally of solid mahogany.
LETTER IX.
Republic of Hayti.
HISTORICAL SKETCH--GENERAL DESCRIPTION PREVIOUS TO 1790.
“Think not that prodigies must rule a state--
That great revulsions spring from something great.”
I have given you Dominicana as a garden of poetry and the home of
legendary song. Well, Hayti is a land of historical facts, and the field
of unparalleled glory. Consulting one day with Mr. Redpath, the talented
author of the series of letters to which I have previously referred, he
suggested the impossibility of any one forming even a comparatively
correct opinion respecting affairs in Hayti, without being guided by a
sketch of the country’s previous history. Confessedly, therefore, much
as his letters were appreciated by the readers of the _Tribune_ he had
not done the Haytiens simple justice. Since nothing could be so highly
interesting, be it mine and the _Anglo-African’s_ to undertake what the
_Tribune_ and its correspondent failed to supply. The following
compilation will be taken from Rainsford’s, St. Domingo, and Edwards’
and Coke’s histories of the West Indies, but principally, and when not
otherwise marked, from Coke.
There is nothing low or cowardly in the history of Hayti.
Notwithstanding their conquests on the main land, the Spaniards were
wont to regard it as the parent colony and capital of their American
possessions. The buccaneers of Tortuga, however much they may have
suffered or have been feared, can not be said to have ever been really
conquered. In fact, by whomsoever settled, the country has shown one
uninterrupted record of pride and independence. I regard this as an
honor to begin with.
The history of Hayti begins with the buccaneers, a company of French,
English, and Germans, driven from their homes in the neighboring islands
by the haughty arrogance of the Spaniards, in 1629. These men, collected
on the shores of Tortuga, vowed mutual fidelity and protection to each
other, but eternal vengeance against their persecutors. How well they
kept their word has passed into a proverb.
In 1665 the court of Versailles, observing a beautiful country of which
some of its subjects had taken an actual though accidental possession,
took the fugitive colony under its protection. It was not difficult for
the French government to see that the island was in value equal to an
empire, and it was therefore determined to enhance its interests with
all possible speed. The first care was to select a governor who should
be equal to the difficult task of humanizing men who had become
barbarians; which important task was committed to D’Ogerton, a gentleman
of Anjou.
Hitherto not a single female resided in the settlement, to supply which
deficiency was the governor’s first care. With this view he sent
immediately to France, and many women of reputable character were
induced to embark. From this time the prosperity of the colony fairly
begins.
The personal fame of D’Ogerton drew many who had suffered persecution at
home to flee for safety to an asylum which his lenient measures had
established in Hayti, among whom was one Gobin, a Calvinist, who, upon
his arrival, (1680,) erected a house on the Cape, and prevailed on
others to join him in his retreat. Time added to their numbers, and the
conveniences of the situation justified their choice. As the lands
became cleared and the value of its commodious bay became known, both
inhabitants and shipping resorted to the spot, and raised the town of
Cape François to a degree of elegance, wealth, and commercial importance
which in 1790 scarcely any city in the West Indies could presume to
rival.
Considered in itself, the situation of the town is not to be commended.
It stands at the foot of a very high mountain which prevents the
inhabitants from enjoying the land breezes, which are not only delicious
but absolutely necessary to health. It also obstructs the rays of the
sun, causing them to be reflected in such a manner as to render the heat
at times almost insupportable. On one side of the town, however, is an
extensive plain, containing, perhaps, without any exception, some of the
finest lands in the world. The air is temperate, though the days and
nights are constantly cool. In short, it is another Eden. “Happy the
mortal who first taught the French to settle on this delicious spot.”
The situation of Port au Prince, to which place the seat of government
has been transferred, seems to have been unfortunately selected. It is
low and marshy, and the air is impregnated with noxious vapors,
rendering it extremely unwholesome. To this day it is commonly regarded
as the graveyard of American seamen. In 1790 it had also reached an
eminent degree of prosperity, and contained 14,754 inhabitants, of whom
2,754 were white, 4,000 free people of color, and the remainder slaves.
So, also, near Port au Prince is a fertile plain called Cul de Sac. The
mountains surrounding it possess a grateful soil, and are cultivated
even to their summits. The value of such lands is at present from ten to
twenty dollars per acre.
The town of St. Mark’s, near which the last body of colored emigrants
from America have settled, is somewhat more advantageously situated. It
lies on the northern shore of the bay, on the point of an obtuse angle
formed by the margin of the rocks and waves. Hills encircle it in the
form of a crescent, the points of which unite with the sea, and, while
they afford it shelter, leave it open to the breezes of the ocean, which
become the springs of health.
The land which the French had brought under cultivation previous to the
revolution was devoted mostly to the cultivation of sugar, coffee,
indigo, and chocolate. It is said that Hayti alone produced as much
sugar at this time as all the British West Indies united. The prodigious
productions of little more than two million acres of land were as
follows: brown sugar, 93,773,300 lbs.; white sugar, 47,516,351 lbs.;
cotton, 7,004,274 lbs.; indigo, 758,628 lbs. But great as this product
may appear, it by no means gives the entire amount, the quantity of
tanned hides, spirits, &c., being equally immense.
Immorality and irreligion everywhere prevailed, worse even than at
present, if we are to judge from a poem written about that time. The
West Indies would seem to be peculiarly conducive to this species of
iniquity:
“For piety, that richest, sweetest grant,
Of purest love blest super-lunar plant,
Is here neglected for inferior good,
Torn from the roots, or blasted in the bud.
Soft indolence her downy couch displays,
And lulls her victims in inglorious ease,
While guilty passions to their foul embrace
Seduce the daughters of the swarthy race.”
This brings us to the consideration of the all-important subject called
in America the “negro question,” but which is, nevertheless, the
immortal question of the rights of man.
The inhabitants of Hayti consisted of 540,000 souls, and were divided
into three distinct classes--the whites, the slaves, and the mulattoes
and free blacks. The term mulatto comprehended all shades between whites
and negroes. The whites conducted themselves as if born to command, and
the blacks, awed into submission, yielded obedience to their imperious
mandates, while the mulattoes were despised by both parties.
The freedom they enjoyed was rather nominal than real. On reaching a
state of manhood each became liable to serve in a military
establishment, the office of which was to arrest runaway slaves, protect
travellers on the public roads, and, in short, to “mount a three years’
guard on the public tranquillity.” To complete their degradation, they
were utterly disqualified from holding any office or place of public
trust. No mulatto durst assume the surname of his father; and to prevent
the revenge which such flagrant and contemptible injustice could hardly
fail to excite, the law had enacted that if a free man of color presumed
to strike a white man, _his right arm should be cut off_. In fact, they
were not much above the condition of the free blacks in the United
States. “On comparing the situation of these two classes of men”--the
slaves and the nominally free--says Coke, “it is difficult to say which
was the most degraded. The social difference was, without doubt, very
great, but in the aggregate must have been about the same.”
Such was the state of affairs previous to 1790. What they have been
subsequently remains to be seen. The whip of terror never yet made a
friend. It may prevent men from being avowed enemies for a while, but it
usually makes a deeper impression upon the heart than upon the skin. The
heart is nearest the seat of recollection, and will stimulate to revenge
for a long time after the wound has been inflicted, as the reader of the
following pages will abundantly attest.
“Time the Avenger! unto thee I lift
My hands and eyes and heart, and crave of thee a gift.”
LETTER X.
Republic of Hayti.
AFFAIRS IN FRANCE--THE CASE OF THE MULATTOES--TERRIBLE FATE OF OGÉ AND
CHAVINE.
It was towards the close of the year 1788 that the revolutionary spirit
which had been fermenting among the French people from the conclusion of
the American war first manifested itself in the mother country; and
although that extraordinary event convulsed the empire in every part, in
no place was the shock so great as in Hayti.
The mulattoes, notwithstanding their oppression and degradation, it
should have been observed, were permitted to enjoy property, including
slaves, to any amount, and many of them had actually acquired
considerable estates. By these means the most wealthy had sent their
children to France for education, just as many are now sent to Oberlin,
in which place they supported them in no small degree of grandeur.
It happened about this time that a considerable number of these
mulattoes were in Paris, among whom was Vincent Ogé. This young man
entered into the political questions relative to the people of color,
which were then violently agitated, and became influenced with a
conflict of passions at the wrongs which he and his degraded countrymen
were apparently destined to endure. His reputed father was a white
planter, of some degree of eminence and respectability, but he had been
dead for years. Ogé was about 30 years of age; his abilities were far
from being contemptible, but they were not equal to his ambition, nor
sufficient to conduct him through that enterprise in which he soon after
engaged. Supported in Paris in a state of affluence, he found no
difficulty in associating with La Fayette, Gregorie, and Brissot, from
whom he learned the prevailing notion of equality, and into the spirit
of which he incautiously entered with all the enthusiasm and ardor
natural to the youthful mind when irritated by unmerited injuries; and
he determined to avenge his wrongs.
Induced to believe that all the mulattoes of Hayti were actuated by the
same high-minded principle, he sacrificed his fortune, prepared for
hostilities, and sailed to join his brethren in Hayti.
What was Ogé’s disappointment when, after evading the vigilance of the
police and secretly succeeding in reaching these shores, he found no
party prepared to receive him, or willing to take up arms in their own
defence! It probably might have been said of him also, “_His heart is
seared._”
About two hundred were at length prevailed upon to rally around his
standard; and with this inadequate force he proceeded to declare his
intentions, and actually dispatched a note to the governor to that
effect.
In his military arrangements his two brothers were to act under him,
with one Mark Chavine, as lieutenants. Ogé and his brothers were humane
in their dispositions, and averse to the shedding of blood; but with
Chavine the case was totally different.
Ferocious, sanguinary, and courageous, he began his career with acts of
violence which it was impossible for Ogé to prevent.
Finally the brothers of Ogé joined Chavine in his petty depredations.
White men were murdered as accident threw them in their way. The
mulattoes, when they could not be induced to join them, were treated
with every species of indignity; and one man in particular, who excused
himself from joining them on account of his family, was murdered,
together with his wife and six children.
The inhabitants of Cape François, alarmed at these outrages which they
imagined to be committed by a far more formidable body of revolters than
really existed, immediately took measures for their suppression.
A detachment of regular troops invested the mulatto camp, which, after
making an ineffectual resistance in which many were killed, was entirely
broken up. The whole troop dispersed. Ogé and his officers took refuge
in the Spanish part of the island. The principal part of their
ammunition and military stores immediately fell into the hands of the
victors.
The triumphs of the whites over the vanquished insurgents were such that
they proceeded from victory to insult. The lower orders especially
discovered such pointed animosity against the mulattoes at large that
they became seriously alarmed for their personal safety, and many
regretted not having joined the now vanquished party.
Urged by fatal necessity many resorted to arms, so that several camps
were formed in different parts of the colony far more formidable than
that of Ogé. At this time RIGAUD, the mulatto general, makes his
appearance, declaring that no peace would be permanent “until one class
of people had exterminated the other.”
In the midst of these commotions which presaged an approaching tempest,
PEYNIER, the governor, resigned his office in favor of general
Blanchelande. The first step of the latter was directed towards the
unfortunate Ogé. The demand made on the Spanish governor for his arrest
was peremptory and decisive. Twenty of Ogés followers, including one of
his brothers, were speedily hung; but a severer fate awaited Ogé and
Chavine. They were condemned to be broken alive, and were actually left
to perish in that terrible condition on the wheel.
Chavine, the hardy lieutenant, met his destiny with that undaunted
firmness which had marked his life. He bore the extremity of his torture
with an invincible resolution, without betraying the least symptom of
fear, and without uttering a groan at his excruciating sufferings.
With Ogé the case was widely different. When sentence was passed upon
him his fortitude abandoned him altogether. He wept; he solicited mercy
in terms of the most abject humility; but in the end he was hurried to
execution, and left to expire in the most horrid agonies.
Previous to this the National Assembly in France, which had originally
declared “That all men are born free, and continue free and equal as to
their rights,” had to contradict this in order to pacify the planters,
and to declare it was not their intention to interfere with the local
institutions of the colonies.
It so happened, however, that with this decree they also transmitted to
the governor a chapter of instructions, one of the articles of which
expressed this sentiment: “That every person of the age of twenty-five
and upwards, possessing property or having resided two years in the
colony and paid taxes, should be permitted to vote in the formation of
the colonial assembly.” It was like the Dred Scott decision of the
United States, for the question immediately arose whether the term
“every person” included the mulattoes.