268 < 1BA AND TOltTO RICO 



other countries. The Catholic priests, who are paid by 

 the Btate, are comparatively few in number, and dislike 

 heartily the life in the interior. The republic is divided 

 into five dioceses, and there are one hundred and ten 

 priests. There are, however, only eighty-four parishes, 

 although there are chapels in many places where services 

 are occasionally held. 



Religious toleration in other countries came after long 

 struggles between different denominations. Haiti is an 

 exception to all such precedents, inasmuch as without 

 possessing, so far as is known, a single Protestant citizen, 

 and certainly without one Protestant church or even one 

 Protestant meeting ever having been held there, she boldly 

 proclaimed religious freedom and her independence at the 

 same time. 



From the date of independence until 1869, while the 

 Catholic religion had never ceased to be fostered by the 

 state or to be professed by the Haitian citizens, the eccle- 

 siastical system remained in a semidisorganized state, and 

 the church lost the affection and respect of the people. In 

 1869 President Jeffrad concluded a concordat with the 

 Holy See, agreeing to pay a rehabilitated priesthood from 

 the treasury of the state and to furnish it with suitable 

 residences. Soon afterward the church was put on a 

 regular footing, which has since been sustained. In the 

 hope of raising up a native priesthood, and in order that 

 there might always be at hand priests especially prepared 

 for the work in Haiti, the church established at Paris the 

 Grand Seminary of Haiti, which is still maintained. There 

 is an Episcopal bishop, but he receives little pecuniary 

 support, and the Protestant population does not number 

 four thousand souls. The Haitians are devoted to Free- 

 masonry, and love to surround the funerals of their breth- 

 ren with all the pomp of the order. 



The government of Haiti has always manifested a com- 

 mendable concern for the education of the youth of the 

 country, and to that end has never ceased to encourage 



