LITERARY SPECTATOR. "

HAITh

MR. MACKENZIE was appointed Consul-General to Haiti in 1826. In addition to his Consular duties, he was required to report on the state of society, and the actual condition of the new republic in all its relations. The manner in which he executed this diffi- cult task was approved by the Government, and Mr. MACKENZIE has been rewarded with a higher and more lucrative employment.

• Notes on Mal. By Charles Mackenzie, Esq. F.R.S. &c. 2 vas. London, 1830 He. considered himself called upori to publish his " Notes on • Haiti," shortly after his official report i had been Ordered to be laid on the table of the Houk of Commons, in consequence of misre- presentations which were circulated touching. the credibility of his statements. . The volumes are foil of interest. The first is de- voted to an account of the journey made-in pursuit of information ; and the second to a summary of the history of Haiti, accompanied by documents illustrative of particular points. The author has procured a considerable quantity of CHRISTOPHE'S papers, con- taining some curious correspondence, which he purposes making public at some future time.

The scenes of cruelty and bloodshed which we encounter at every step are most extraordinary. From the time of Mr. MAC- KENZIE'S landing at Port-au-Prince, on the 24th May 1826, to the conipletion Of his tour, in the month of July 1827, there is scarcely a district or village to which does not belong some tale of cold- blooded and atrocious cruelty ; now and then accompanied by acts of magnanimity and devotion, of firmness and courage, which would have done honour to a Spartan. The aspect of the town of Port-au-Prince is mean.

" The buildings being chiefly of wood, and seldom exceeding two sto- ries in height, have a paltry appearance. This style of house was adopted by the French, in consequence of frequent earthquakes, which were found to overthrow more substantial edifices. There are no public build- ings of any importance, except the palace. The arsenal (which was burnt during my stay), the prison, the church, the mint, the courts, the Lyceum, and the military hospital, are all insignificant in appearance."4

The police is military, but not effective, except against any un- fortunate wight who violates the " Code Rural ;" a confiscation of the plantains, yams, or fruit of any offender who strays to town on any of the forbidden days, acting as a great stimulus to the man of office. Our author, whilst at dinner, had an outbuilding attached to his cottage broken open, and a writing-desk, con- taining some money, stolen ; and although notice of the fact was communicated to the police within an hour, and a reward of one hundred dollars offered, the inquiry failed. The police, however, is said to have improved since 13ETION'S time.

The principal market-day is Saturday.

" The supply of beef, mutton, and fowls, is very tolerable ; that of fish uncertain ; and what is singular enough, although turtle abound in the bay, they are rarely met with for sale. There is also a respectable supply not only of- tropical vegetables and fruit, but of some European kinds, which are raised by some natives, and by some of the American settlers, who have received grants of land from the Government. Peaches, not of a good sort, and apples, come from the mountains near Fort Jacques ; and I have in my possession some exceedingly fine cloves, bought in the market of Port-au-Prince, which had been grown at Jeremie. The mere necessaries of Haitian life are reasonable-in price ; but whatever ap- proaches to luxury is extravagantly dear. House-rent, at least to every foreigner, is very high. I was asked for an unfurnished house, without either kitchen or stable, four thousand dollars a-year:"

The town is exceedingly unhealthy. "Its insalubrity is not a little increased by the interruption that the sea- breeze, so appropriately called the Doctor in most tropical countries,. meets with in its progress from the Island of Gonave, which, it will be seen by a reference to the map, blocks up the entrance to the bay. During the months of May, June, July, August, and September, the heat is most intense; for a considerable time my thermometer reached 99 deg. every day in the shade. The consequence of these concurrent causes is mortal disease among new corners. Within a month after my arrival, my prin- cipal servant died of yellow fever ; within three months one of the acting vice-consuls fell a victim to the climate ; and every other individual of my family, including servants (one of whom was a native of La Guayra), were most seriously, if not dangerously, ill. The chief sufferers, in ge- neral, are to he found among the crews of foreign vessels. The climate- and new rum are omnipotent. As an instance of the unfitness of Port- au-Prince for European constitutions, I may cite the fate of the French Consul-General's family. I believe that on arrival it consisted of six, five of whom were dead within fifteen months, M. Maler, the Consul-General,. being the sole survivor."

The citizens of Haiti are divided, according to numerical pro- portion, into Black, Coloured, and White. The first two are sub- divided into all the national distinctions of Europe and America; for, by the forty-fourth article, of the Constitution, all Indians, Africans, and their descendants, whether of mixed or pure blood, may become citizens after a residence of twelve months •' but this is often dispensed with. The remainder are native-born Haitians. Indolence and inactivity are the characteristics of the country. The majority of the inhabitants adjacent to Port-au-Prince are small proprietors, to whom, by an agrarian law. introduced by the late President PETION, small allotments of land have been made : they cultivate Guinea-grass and vegetables, and they rear poultry. There are few professed labourers. It is difficult to get the same set of people to .work two weeks continuously. The week's wages vary from one and a half to two dollars ; enabling the labourer to supply himself for a-considerable period with his chief luxury—rum. The necessaries of life are to be procured for a mere trifle, or with very little effort.

"The commerce of Port-au-Prince is carried on by various classes of persons. The imports from Europe and America are principally con- signed to European and North American commission-houses, besides a few Haitian establishments. The capital is one of the ports to which foreign merchants are confined by the law of patents; but they are, or at least were during the time of my residence, restricted by heavy penalties to wholesale business. Of course they cannot deal with the con- sumers, but with the native retailers, who are chiefly women, styled marchandes :' these employ hucksters, also women, who traverse the country, attend the markets, and give an account of their transactions to their employers, either every evening, once a week,- or once a month, according to their character for integrity. "As the payments to the importer are generally in money, and there is only one important-article of export, coffee, the purchases for returns can only be made after the crops have been gathered; and these are affected by brokers, who often bargain with a class of natives called coffee specu- lators, from their dialing for the chance of the market with the eultiVators, and either sell to the best advantage, or fulfil contracts previously•entered into.

" Among the respectable marchandes, there is said to be much good faith ; but with the great body of customers, I believe the merchants are obliged to use the utmost circumspection. " All the ordinary tradesmen, such as tailors, shoe-makers, and even a water-proof hat manufacturer, are to be found iii Port-au-Prince; And I confess I was struck with the respectable aapearance of several book- sellers' shops, having looked in vain for such things both in Barbadoes and Antigua. The books are generally elementary French publications and romances. The works of Voltaire, Rousseau, and others of the same class, abound. " There are also two printing-presses, one at which the Government .Gazette, Le Telegraphe, is printed, and the other from which the Feuille de Commerce issues. The former rarely contains more than the do- guments issued by the Government ; the latter occasionally some spirited papers, and is conducted by M. Courtois, who was for a short time Director of the Post-office. " The apothecaries' shops are numerous, as they ought to be in such a horrible climate ; and are well supplied with all the contents of the French pharmacopetia. There are also some tanneries,in which the bark of the mangrove is used as the tanning material."

The city of Cayes is one of the most flourishing places in the republic. It boasts considerable activity, and several opulent merchants ; but the commercial restrictions are severe. The fol- lowing anecdote gives an amusing illustration of the state of society.

"The town-adjutant (who holds the rank of captain, if I recollect aright) is moreover a professional cook, and generously contributes to the epicurean delights of all and any who call upon him, for a doubloon. ID his former capacity he had called upon me, in a gorgeous uniform of green and gold ; in the latter he was employed by my host, preparatory to his entertaining the magnates of the city ; and, to my utter surprise, after he had completed his aours, I saw him marched off between a file of soldiers. I was afraid that my friend had incurred the displeasure of the general for degrading his military profession by reverting to his original calling, and made anxious inquiries as to the cause of the phenomenon that had astonished me : but great was my amazement on being informed that the aforesaid adjutant was very prone to get drunk after such hot work as that in which he had been engaged; that the general had fixed a day or two after for entertaining his friends; and to secure the assistance of the tide of Cayes, he had marched him in safe keeping to his house in the country, before he had any opportunity of making himself o'er all the ills of life victorious! ' " Some opinion of the present state of this part of Haiti, as con- trasted with its state before the Revolution, may be formed. The plantation Laborde, once belonging to the family of the accom- plished Count ALEXANDER LABORDE, had the reputation of being one of the most splendid properties of the colony ; it had a popu- lation of 1400 slaves, and it produced, besides other matters, 1,200,000 hogsheads of clayed sugar : it now belongs to the widow of General ItiGAuu, who is the wife of M. H ARAN, an auc- tioneer at Port-au-Prince ; and when Mr. MACKENZIE visited it,

"He found only the walls of two of the sugar-works standing; the roof of the other was falling in as fast as possible. The dwelling-houses, which had been as elegant as substantial, entirely built of stone, were quite dila- pidated. I did not see a cane, and around a few miserable negro huts there were a dozen or sixteen labourers hanging about, and I was told that they merely cultivated provisions for their own use. I also saw a few cattle, not exceeding twenty, grazing in the very extensive savannas of the estate."

• The plantations Walsh, Mery, O'Shiel, and Esmangart, which were before the Revolution in a most flourishing state, are now utterly abandoned. Money is at 75 per cent. interest per annum.

The following character of HENRY CHRISTOPHE is given as de- rived from various authentic sources, and entitled to credit.

"Henry Christophe was born, according to an official account sanc- tioned by himself, in the island of Grenada, in the year 1769, and came at

an early age to St. Domingo. He was not a pure black, but a sambo or griffe, as it is called. He was the slave of a French gentleman, whose daughter resided there when I was at the Cape, to whom the former do- mestic was kind and attentive in his prosperity. He afterwards became a waiter at an hotel, then privateer's-man, and then returned to an hotel and gaming-house. It does not appear when he entered the army ; but in 1801 he was general of brigade and governor of the Cape. He distin- guished himself on the arrival of the French expedition, first in his nego- tiations with Le Clerc, and second, by filling his house, richly furnished, 'with combustibles, and setting fire to it, as a signal for the conflagration of the whole city. Before Toussaint submitted, Christophe had yielded to French ascendency, and served for some time, but afterwards joined the bands that were roused to revolt by the unsparing atrocities of Rocham- beau, whose memory has an unenviable celebrity in every part of Haiti. On the expulsion of the relics of that corps in 1803, Christophe was one of the officers that signed the act of independence ; and although he served under Dessalines, he is reported to have entered into a confederacy which led to the assassination of the Emperor Jacques I. at Pont Rouge. That, however, is resolutely denied by his partisans.

"The death of Dessalines was the signal for intrigue ; and Christophe, having failed in obtaining the wished-for ascendency over the whole, retired to the Cape in the beginning of 1807, and was proclaimed president and generalissimo of Haiti. On the 28th of March, 1811, he was elected lung, under the title of Henry I. The act called La loi constitutionnelle du Conseil d'6tat, qui dtablit la royaute a Haiti,' completely established the feudal law.

"During his presidency, and the early part of his reign, he was mild, forbearing, and humane ; but afterwards his nature seemed to have been completely changed, and he indulged in whatever his uncontrolled pas- sions suggested—and they suggested almost every act that can violate the charities of life ; and 'as he proceeded in his career, he became sus- picious and wantonly cruel. "He was destitute of even the elements of education, and scrawled a signature mechanically without knowing a single letter. He however un- derstood English as well as French, and possessed a rare memory as well as acuteness. Yet he never would speak the former when engaged in dis- cussions with the British, by which means he had leisure to consider the

topic- which his intezpreter was translating, and had at the same time an opportunity ef determining the fidelity of that officer. A ludicrous dory is told of an American captain, who had been brought before him for scene viotatibn of law, and who, indignant at the rating he received, and igno- rant of his Majesty's accomplishments, muttered to himself a wish that he had the sable king at Charleston. Henry quietly asked him, llow much do you think I should fetch ? "Pile offender was dismissed, nor do I believe that any further notice was taken of his irreverent remark.

" All his acts were not equally marked by the kingly virtue of mercy, his want of which began to be felt after he assumed the monarchy ; for although he had all the semblance of a constitution, he was practically a thorough despot, dictating to the puppets, who appeared to those at a distance to act independently. On his return from his last unsuccessful attempt on Port au-Prince in 1812, some busy meddler told him that the women of colour had gone to the cathedral to implore Heaven to prevent his return. This was sufficient ; bands of sanguinary ruffians proceeded from house to house of those destined for slaughter, in the dead of the night, and massacred, without remorse, an immense number of these hap- less beings. Indeed it is reported that, on an order for the indiscriminate murder of all the people of colour, even the sanctities of domestic life were violated ; and I have sat at the same table with a black general, who

I believe to have put to death, with his own hands, his coloured wife and children, in order to satiate his master's thirst for blood. But even that did not secure him from outrage, for in a fit of passion, he did him the favour to knock out one of his eyes.

" He also assassinated sonic German officers, who had been allured by his promises to erect fortifications, under some vague pretence of treason ; but the real motive was to prevent the exposure of his defences.

" Whatever may have been the motives of his early career, those of his latter life, if we can judge from his conduct, were to obtain uncontrolled power, and the most perfect indulgence of all his inclinations, however improper and licentious. I was told by a person who witnessed the trans- action, that having detected one of his servants at Sans Souci stealing a very small quantity of salt fish, he ordered him to be laid down in his presence, in the kitchen, and the man was literally scourged to death, and all entreaty sternly rejected. His Majesty then went to breakfast with as. much composure as if he had been performing a very ordinary act. " I had in my possession a copy of the sentence of a court on a man who had been convicted of robbery, with the mandate of ahe king to carry it into effect within twenty-four hours. This gentle punishment was to scourge the convict to death with rods. " An English resident, named Davidson, fell under his suspicion as espy: he was arrested, confined, and was even tortured. At the instance of all the foreigners he was released, but compelled to quit the country at con- siderable loss. A part of the correspondence between Christophe and Dupuy, which will also be found in a note, will give the best history of a transaction which has rarely been equalled iri the annals of cruelty and duplicity. - His indulgences are described to have been of the most abandoned description. He addicted himself to brandy, which added fuel to his na- turally ungovernable passions ; and though, to gratify his European friends, he insisted on marriage, and set the example in his own person, yet he habitually broke its ties ; and the palace acquired a title to a very degrading designation. It is recorded that the ladies attended there in regular rotation to abide the will of their despotic chief; and not one solitary Lucretia has been immortalized. • "Among his other deeds, he was devoted to a female of colour, the wife of one of his officers, who, even when I saw her, justified her pre- tensions to beauty and grace. In order to have undisturbed possession of • the lady, he voted the husband mad, and consigned him for a long time to a mad.house. Sated, however, with the charms he had so ardently coveted, he discovered that their possessor was an improper character, and, above all, that she had ' une mauvaise langue.' He then ordered her to go in procession to the Maison des Fous, with drums and trum- pets sounding,' to take out her husband, and to restore him to his con- nubial rights; and though these violations of decency were public, yet no one dared to report them in Europe, such being the vigilance of his police, and such his dreaded severity.

"His archbishops (two) were privately taken off; and so was Medina, the French agent. In short, the dagger and the cord were unsparingly used, and occasionally the poisoned chalice took off an unsuspecting victim, whom it would have been imprudent to have sacrificed more openly. But though I consider it more than probable that such state- ments are correct, yet, as they may have been exaggerated, I do not relate them with the same confidence that I have felt in such details as are sup. ported by documents. "In the midst of all this brutality, Christophe was intent on exalting the condition of his kingdom ; although his personal gratifications were probably the mainsprings of his action. He was the principal dealer in the country; and some English merchants, who had had extensive trans- actions with him, have described him to me as singularly well informed on all matters connected with this branch of his business. To promote the civilization of his subjects, he assembled men of talent, even from Europe, established schools, built fortifications, disciplined his army, formed courts for the administration of justice, encouraged commerce and agriculture, and undoubtedly promoted activity and enterprise. But the monarch was sullied with remorseless cruelty. As an ignorant untaught man, he may be considered one of those phenomena that occa- sionally excite attention, but leave scarcely any beneficial trace behind. He seems to have possessed a rare degree of native acuteness, activity, intrepidity, and the art of commanding the respect of those around him. These qualities, however, united with his absolute ignorance, were dis- advantageous, as, while they made him thoroughly master of one view of a subject, he was blind to every other; and thus knowing nothing of the almost imperceptible degrees by which alone civilization can be rendered permanent, he attemptedto carry his object by storm, and succeeded, until bodily infirmity convinced his barbarians that he was mortal. With all his strength of mind, he could not resist the temptation of encouraging a belief that he was protected by a tutelary demon, who would have instantly avenged any insult offered to him. It is also said that he had great faith in Obeah. With all his atrocities he was an affectionate father, and endeavoured to place his children above himself in mental culture."

In consequence of the revolt against HENRY, and the troops which he sent to quell it having joined with the insurgents, he de termined on self-destruction. The particulars are related by one of CHRISTOPHE'S secretaries.

"He was the first to reach Sans Souci, and to communicate them. He found Christophe, who had been calmly discussing with his medical ad- viser (the late Dr. Stewart, a Scotch physician, who had been long his confidential attendant) the most vulnerable parts of the human frame. The disastrous intelligence was privately given to him„ and he then com- municated it to his family, whom he desired to leave him alone, that he

might meditate on the beat course 'to be adopted in the emergency. So perfectly calm did he appear that no apprehehsion, was excited of his purpose. One of his attendants, on hearing him lock his bed-chamber door, looked through the key-hole to ascertain what was going on, and he saw the king apparently adjusting himself in an arm-chair, and immediately discharging one pistol through his head, and another through his heart, he fell back dead before any alarm could be given. This hap- pened about ten o'clock, on the night of the 20th of October, 1820."

Our author relates the trial, conviction, and execution of four black officers, charged with conspiring to murder the President, and expel or murder all Europeans, and to alter the government. In three hours after conviction they were at the place of execution.

" The place of execution is a large open space close to the principal burying-ground, called " La Cirn6tiere." On my riding there I found a considerable body of people assembled, and some women, clothed in,White, doge to the ditch that surrounds the place of interment, uttering wild cries, and exhibiting frantic gesticulations. They were the wives and fe- male relatives of the unhappy convicts. " The ground was guarded by the civic militia, whose apprehensions had been strongly excited by rumours of pillage meditated by the sufferers. A considerable body of troops, said to have been disaffected, remained in quarters; and the artillery, under the command of one of the mostdevoted of the president's adherents, were drawn up, during the time of the exe- cution, at no very remote distance. "I had not been long on the ground before the bustle announced the approach of the four convicts. Each was tied, by the arms behind his back, to a rope in the hands of a police-soldier, who walked after him ; each too was dressed in a white jacket and trowsers, and smoked a cigar. A strong guard surrounded the whole of the prisoners, and the melancholy procession was closed by the shooting party, which consisted, as well as I can recollect, of about five-and-twenty-men.

"1 shall never forget the firm intrepidity with which these poor fellows advanced to meet their fate. They moved on without the slightest hesi- tation, until they arrived at the fatal spot, close to a dead wall, at the ex- tremity of the open space already referred to. On reaching it they still remained pinioned ; but the policemen retired, and the shooting party advanced with evident reluctance. At the word being given, the firing coin- lanced; and instead of the wretched scene being closed by one, or at most two well-directed fires, there was absolutely a succession of discharges re- sembling a feu-de-joie. I am sure that not less than one hundred discharges must have taken place before the execution was ended. On reaching the ground, the whole four refused to be bandaged, threw off their hats, and exclaimed to their executioners, " Ne craignez pas !' The first volley only slightly wounded Captain Francois, who stood at the extreme left; second brought him down, though still alive. Michel was shot through the body In several places, and had .both his arms broken before he fell. _Lieute- nant Lion fell next, after having been severely wounded. " Dining the- who!e of this revolting exhibition, Sergeant Lion Courchois was standing on the extreme right of the party, calmly smoking a cigar, without moving a limb or a muscle of his face: ' A ball through his body brought him to the ground, and as he touched it, he spat the cigar from his mouth, and calmly discharged the volume of smoke from his lungs. The firing party then advanced, and putting the muzzles of their pieces to the bodies of these unhappy men, ended their sufferings by blowing them literally to pieces. At this part of the exhibition I gladly rode off, for it was the most revolting I had ever witnessed ; and strongly as I felt the disgusting cruelty of the proceeding, I was more strongly impressed with admiration of the cool, resolute, and unpretending intrepidity of these poor fellows, who had no strong stimulus to maintain their energy. They dreamt not of future immortality, nor that a record should ever be made of a firm- ness and courage which would have done honour to any Roman. Whe- ther admiration for the conduct of the dead, or disbelief of the charges against them, operated most, I cannot pretend to say, but there was cer- tainly a general gloom after the execution, such as I never before wit- nessed in Haiti.

" On the 5th, proclamation was made that the individuals executed, instigated by a desire of pillage, had attempted a revolutionary movement, which had been frustrated ; and that all was peace and happiness."