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

For a series of years Hayti has been made the theme of constant praise, and has excited no little share of the public attention, on account of the unexampled efforts which its slave population made to throw off the fetters by which they had been previously bound, and on account of their having, as their eulogists declare, made the most rapid and extraordinary strides in civilization and social improvement. It must be admitted that the revolution effected in Hayti, was an event almost unparalleled in history; and that a people just emerging from a state of barbarism should have so successfully combated and defeated the finest troops of France, is no doubt a circumstance calculated to call forth no trifling portion of astonishment and admiration: but when the partial eulogists of the Haytians go to the length of asserting that they have arrived at a high degree of moral improvement, that they have reached a state of refinement little inferior to that which generally prevails in Europe, the limits of truth are overstepped: such overstrained assertions are totally destitute even of the semblance of truth, and my personal experience enables me to declare, in the most explicit and unqualified terms, that at this very moment, the people of Hayti are in a worse state of ignorance than the slave population in the British colonies. There are some cases, it is true, in which instances of intelligence have been discovered in the Haytian citizen, but this never occurs except where individuals have had the advantages of an European education, or who, being the descendants of persons who previously to the revolution were possessed of wealth, had the means of travelling, for the purpose of acquiring the manners and customs of more enlightened nations. But taking the people in the aggregate, they are far from having made any advances in knowledge.

It has also been commonly asserted by the friends of Hayti, and I believe very generally credited in Europe, that it preserves its agricultural pre-eminence solely by free labour; now I think I shall be able to prove to a demonstration that this is not the case, and that it is too evident, from every document that has yet appeared on the subject, that agriculture has been long on the wane, and has sunk to the lowest possible ebb in every district of the republic; that the true art and principles of the culture of the soil, are not understood, or if in the least known, they are not practically applied. There is nothing to be seen having the least resemblance to a colony, flourishing in the wealth derived from a properly regulated system of agriculture.

On the subject of free labour I shall have occasion to offer a few remarks, and I trust that in doing so, I shall not be considered as inimical to it, where-ever it may be found practicable to obtain it; on the contrary, no man would be more happy to see that our own colonies could be cultivated by free labour, provided a full compensation should be honourably made to those whose interests might be endangered by the experiment, if unsuccessful; but I shall, I think, be able to shew that this is absolutely impracticable , and that the system of labour so pursued in Hayti, instead of affording us a proof of what may be accomplished by it, is illustrative of the fact, that it is by coercion, and coercion only, that any return can be expected from the employment of capital in the cultivation of soil in our West India islands. I shall also be able to shew that Hayti presents no instance in which the cultivation of the soil is successfully carried on without the application of force to constrain the labourer: on the estates of every individual connected with the government, all the labourers employed work under the superintendence of a military police, and it is on these properties alone that any thing resembling successful agriculture exists in Hayti. I am aware that this will excite the astonishment of persons who have been accustomed to think otherwise; but I shall state facts which cannot be controverted, even by President Boyer himself – nay, I shall produce circumstances which I have seen with the utmost surprise on his own estate; circumstances that must shew his warmest advocates, that all his boasted productions have not been obtained without the application of that system against which they loudly exclaim.

Instead of holding out an example of what might be accomplished by a people released from bondage, without first having been prepared for freedom by moral and religious instruction, I think Hayti rather forms a beacon to warn us against the dangers and difficulties by which that unhappy country has been overtaken. The present condition of Hayti, arising from the events which have taken place since the revolution, should render us exceedingly cautious how we plunge our own colonies into the same misery and calamity; by conferring on a rude and untaught people, without qualification, or without the least restraint, an uncontrolled command over themselves. However acutely we may feel for the miseries to which the West Indian slave was at one period subjected, yet I cannot conceive it possible that any one can be so destitute of correct information on the subject as not to know, that at this moment the slave is in a condition far more happy, that he possesses infinitely greater comforts and enjoyments, than any class of labourers in Hayti, and that, from the judicious measures which have been already adopted by the colonial legislatures, and from others which are in contemplation, for improving the condition of the slave, it is very rational to conclude that before long slavery will only be considered as a name; and that were it to receive any other designation it would furnish no peg on which the European philanthropist might hang his declamations against slavery.

To place the slaves in the British colonies upon a footing with the free labourers in Hayti, or with the largest proportion of the people in that country, would be a work of easy accomplishment; but the effect would be, to cause them to exchange a state of comparative plenty and comfort, for one in which every species of tyranny and oppression, with their concomitants, disease and want, are most lamentably conspicuous. Whatever may be the views of the British Cabinet relative to their colonies, I should warn it to steer clear of the erroneous policy which has proved so fatal to Hayti, and should it be determined that a change should be introduced into the policy hitherto pursued with so much success, and with so much advantage in our colonial possessions, I trust it will not be by emancipating the slave, before he is prepared for freedom by a proper moral and religious education. Let the system of slavery be gradually improved, and the slave will glide imperceptibly into a state of freedom.

It is not my intention, in this early stage of my remarks, to enter into any lengthened detail of the disunion or want of cordiality subsisting between the two classes of people in Hayti: this I shall reserve for its proper place; where it will be seen, that a very strong dissatisfaction prevails amongst the black population, which manifests itself upon almost every occasion of celebrating public events, and festivities. This acrimonious feeling evidently arises from the jealousy excited by the predominant influence of the coloured people in the government. This influence, detrimental as it may be to the good order and repose of the country, is courted and nurtured by the president, to the great danger of overthrowing the whole establishment. One or two attempts at revolt have been made by the people of the north, who were the subjects of the late Christophe, and from these efforts, although abortive, it may be inferred, that the spirit for a more extensive commotion still lurks in their minds, and that the least possible irritation would so agitate and inflame them, that the whole would be thrown into a scene of disorder, tumult, and irremediable confusion. The combinations are numerous and powerful, but such was the extraordinary apathy of the government, that until a communication was made by an individual to Boyer, neither he nor any one of his officers had the least intimation that such proceedings were in contemplation. The want of energy visible in the government makes it obnoxious to the people, and no country like Hayti can be expected to remain long in repose and tranquillity, unless its governors possess both talent and resolution to command.

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