J 1 1 Sketches of Hayti. [AUG. 



servir d Ihistoire. Has it then proceeded from policy ? We should 

 answer, yes. There are two great contending parties, for such they really 

 are, who are especially interested in the subject, the planters, and the most 

 active of the abolitionists ; and we believe that their silence has proceeded, 

 not from a dearth of knowledge of the facts, but from the impracticability 

 each party has experienced of giving to many of the occurrences that 

 complexion which would forward its particular views. It is not to be 

 supposed that the most enthusiastic abolitionists have avoided shuddering 

 at the numerous wanton and atrocious cruelties which have been perpe- 

 trated by the negroes ; nor can it be imagined that the planter would be 

 so blind to his own interest as to invite the public discussion of the ques- 

 tion, without the certainty of attaining an overwhelming triumph. His 

 position was the defensive. If, indeed, the progress and the condition of 

 Hayti had been referred to and enforced as an argument for the hasty 

 abolition of slavery in our own West-India islands, then the planter might 

 have appeared " ten thousand strong" by the use of tbe very same 

 statements, which, if advanced without provocation, would have made 

 him seem desirous, not so much of protecting his own property from 

 destruction, as of advocating that horrid system of personal bondage, 

 which in the abstract cannot be too bitterly condemned. Interest has, 

 therefore, trammelled the parties who are most conversant with Hayti ; 

 and thus the details of its progress have not received that attention which 

 they seem to require. It is true, that short occasional notices have been 

 inserted in different periodical journals ,* and in addition to several publi- 

 cations in France,* an anonymous work was sent forth in Edinburgh in 

 1818, entitled " History of the Island of St. Domingo, from its disco- 

 very by Columbus to the present period ;" still, nothing satisfactory has 

 appeared ; and as it is high time that the veil of mystery should be thrown 

 aside, we agree with Mr. Harvey in thinking, " that any information, 

 however imperfect, will at this time prove peculiarly acceptable." 



The author informs us in his preface, that " the materials of the volume 

 are principally derived from printed documents, procured in Hayti, and 

 from short notes made during my residence there ;" and he adds, " I beg 

 to state most distinctly, that I undertake to furnish nothing more than 

 brief and imperfect sketches of Hayti, such as, I hope, may be found in- 

 teresting to general readers." The precaution taken in the last sentence, 

 was not unnecessary ; but we shall not quarrel with Mr. Harvey from the 

 scantiness of his information. We regard his endeavour as likely to prove 

 the precursor of many more, and as it is the first, so, in all probability, 

 will it rank among the weakest. 



The first revolt in Hayti occurred in August, 1791; but it is wrong to 

 attribute it principally, as the volume before us does, "to the impolicy 

 and injustice of the planters and colonists themselves." It was the work of 

 the French revolutionists ; and, from its commencement to its close, it ex- 

 hibited an appalling picture of the influence of their diabolical machinations. 

 The French system of colonization might have been bad, and, as it affected 

 the wealth of the mother-country, it was most decidedly so. Its leading 

 features were these : The French planter generally looked upon his settle* 



* As Gregoire, de la Litter at ure des Negres, 1808; Guillernim, Precis Historigue 

 df.s derniers Evenements de Saint Doming ue t 1811 ; Regis, Memoir ~e Historique sur 

 Touissaint UOuverture, suini d^une Notice Historique sur Petion, 1811; Civique de 

 Gastine, Histoire de la Itfpubliqve de Haiti, 1819, <fec. 



