A HAYT1EN REFUGEE. 



2? 



the same fear of being confounded with what they deem 

 an inferior caste, that is so often exhibited by vulgar peo- 

 ple, who have no ascertained or fixed social position. 



It was in consequence of the state of feeling, which I 

 have described, that Soulouque, the Emperor of Hayti, who 

 is utterly black, is stated to have recently commenced his 

 terrible system of persecution against the browns. Upon 

 the pretence that they were conspiring against his govern- 

 ment, or contemplated other capital offences, he issued 

 warrants for the arrest of all the prominent brown men 

 within his Empire. They were obliged to abscond preci- 

 pitately, to save their lives. Many of them took refuge in 

 Jamaica. 



I visited one who cultivates a small plantation of about 

 twenty acres, near Kingston. Nothing about him but his 

 complexion and his hair indicated African blood. He had 

 a fine intelligent countenance, and good address. His 

 grounds were under admirable culture, and displayed skill, 

 industry and thrift. His tobacco beds were his pride, but 

 around them the rarest tropical fruits and vegetables to be 

 found upon the island, were growing in luxuriant perfec- 

 tion. He had been stripped of most of his property by 

 the Emperor, but he was living here in apparent comfort 

 and respectability. Upon the walls of the room in which 

 my companion and myself were shown, were suspended 

 two portraits, one of his wife and the other of his daughter. 



