310 Notes on Haiti. [SEPT. 



described as destroying their fences to admit their bullocks into their 

 gardens, and as plundering them of their poultry and pigs : so that it 

 was absolutely necessary to keep a regular guard every night. All 

 the hopes of manufacturing sugar now depend on the efforts of these 

 settlers. 



Our limits will not permit us to enter into the instructive details 

 respecting the past and present state of industry and production of this 

 interesting part of the republic, suffice it to say, that the contrast is a 

 melancholy one. 



In the language of Mr. Mackenzie's informant, " The very little field 

 labour effected is generally performed by elderly people, principally old 

 Guinea negroes. No measures of the government can induce the young 

 Creoles to labour, or depart from their habitual licentiousness and 

 vagrancy. The whole body of proprietors constantly lament the total 

 incapacity of the government to enforce labour/' " The laws recog- 

 nize no other punishment than fine and imprisonment, with hard labour, 

 although it is no uncommon thing to see the soldiery and military police 

 use the ' plat de sabre' and cocomacac, in a most arbitrary and some- 

 times cruel manner ; but almost always, from the natural obstinacy of the 

 negro, without the intended effect." 



" The few young females on plantations seldom assist in any labour 

 whatever, but live in a constant state of idleness and debauchery- This is 

 tolerated by the soldiery and military police, whose licentiousness is 

 gratified by this means/' Such is the demoralized condition at pre- 

 sent of what was once the most happy and flourishing portion of St. 

 Domingo. 



Returning to Port-au-Prince, Mr. Mackenzie proposed, during the 

 fortnight he remained, to prosecute his researches into other parts of the 

 island ; but we can do little more than indicate his route, and we must 

 refer our readers to the book itself for particulars. 



Although universal suffrage is the law of the state, the exercise of 

 this privilege is overruled or evaded in the most gross and barefaced 

 manner. Insults to public officers of friendly powers are suffered to 

 go unredressed, and the open violation of municipal regulations and 

 fixed laws are unnoticed and unpunished. In fact it is quite evident 

 that the people are many centuries behind their nominal institutions, 

 and are totally unfit for the substantial enjoyment of popular rights and 

 privileges. 



On the 14th of March, Mr. Mackenzie embarked for Gonaives, from 

 whence he made excursions to various interesting points. He after- 

 wards crossed the high lands to Cape Haitien, of the remains of which 

 city, and the state of society therein, as compared with the capital, he 

 gives rather a pleasing account. 



" The streets are spacious and well paved, and the houses chiefly of 

 stone, with handsome squares, large markets, and a copious supply of 

 water from fountains." 



The public buildings are, however, in a ruinous state ; but " upon the 

 whole, the city is remarkably beautiful, and must have been, during its 

 glory, the most agreeable residence in the Western Archipelago : but 

 now little more is to be seen than the traces of former grandeur ; even 

 in the Place d'Armes, the handsomest square in it, some of the finest 

 houses are unroofed, and plantain trees are growing in the midst of the 

 ruins !" 



