OUVERTURE. 
under which he received a part of his education. While 
every thing was apparently carried on by tribunals or de¬ 
partments, the prefident, in fa£l, was inverted with abfo- 
!ute power; he was the Bonaparte of Hayti, furrounded 
by inerticient and ufelefs machinery. The lands in the 
republic are partitioned among the officers and public 
functionaries, according to a fixed fcale; and the negroes 
may work on hire, or live in idlenefs, as they feel dif- 
pofied. Henry, on the contrary, lays claim to all the va¬ 
cant lands, and partitions them out among his generals 
B-nd other officers, as he thinks fit; and a kind of feudal 
fyft’em is eftablifhed, each having on his eftate a fet of re¬ 
tainers, who receive one-fourth of the produce for their 
labour, and are generally foldiers by profertion. Thead- 
miniftration of affairs in the republic is condu&ed by a 
prefident, three fecretaries of (fate, thirty reprefentatives 
of the commons, and twenty-four fenators. Thefe affeCl 
to ridicule the aCts of Henry, by faying, that “ his hands 
are lefs fit to wield the feeptre than the frying-pan at the 
inn of the Cape,” where he was formerly a flave; while 
Henry contents himfelf with publifhing every year the 
whole organization of the two governments in the “ Royal 
Almanac of Hayti,” and tempts the republicans, by Ihow- 
ing the vacancies he has to difpofe of in the civil and mi¬ 
litary functions of the monarchy. All honours flow from 
th£ crown, which is hereditary in the family of Chriftophe, 
who afteCts to trace his pedigree to the houfe of Dahomey 
in Africa. His hereditary nobles confift of two princes, 
excluflve of the blood royal, eight dukes, eighteen earls, 
thirty-two barons, and eight knights. Six grand-marflials 
of Hayti, eight lieutenant-generals, fifteen field-marfhals, 
fix major-generals, and one hundred field-officers, com- 
pofe the ftaffi of the army. Therels befides a Royal and 
Military Order of St. Henry, which confers perfonal no¬ 
bility on thofe who are decorated with it: in 1818 it con- 
fifted of fix grand-crofies, flxteen knights-commanders, 
and 165 knights-companions. The ftaff of the army of 
the republic is lefs numerous, confifting only of fix ge¬ 
nerals of divifions, and nine brigadier-generals; there are, 
of courfe, no honours or diftinCtions but what are con¬ 
ferred by offices. Lacroix feems to think that the re¬ 
public is more firmly efiablifhed, becaufe property is more 
divided, and becaufe there are more points of contaCf be¬ 
tween authority and obedience, and confequently a greater 
number interested in maintaining the prefent government. 
Both, however,depend folely for internal tranquillity, and 
repelling external attack, on force of arms. If you will 
preferve yourfelves free, laid Touflaint, be careful to pre¬ 
serve your arms. Petion inculcates the fame fentiment; 
and the baron de Valley re-echoes it, lamenting the fate 
of the ancient inhabitants of the ifland, who were exter¬ 
minated becaufe ignorant of their ufe. 
The regular army of king Henry confifis of about 25,000 
men, of which 4.600 form the royal guard ; they are of all 
arms, exceedingly well, indeed fplendidly, drefled and 
equipped in all re(pe<fts, and in an excellent ftate of dif- 
cipline. According to the teftimony of feveral Britifh 
officers, no European troops are better trained than the 
black regiments of Hayti. Among them are about 4000 
blacks from the coaft of Africa, formed into feparate com¬ 
panies, which bear the name of Royal Dahomeys. They 
are placed under officers of tried attachment to the king, 
and are in faft the national guards, to whom the general 
police of the country is entrufted; and fuch, according 
to Lacroix, is the ftriftnefs of this police, that the culti¬ 
vators are not permitted to leave their houfes without a 
written permiftion from the commanding-officer of the 
Dahomeys. The army of the republic is alfo about 25,000 
men, of which 3600 men compofe the prefident’s guard. 
They are not fo well drefled nor difeiplined as the king’s 
army, and rite greater part are placed in cantonments 
among the planters. The police of the towns is not fo 
ferift in the republic as in the monarchy; the people of 
colour, who are chiefly in power, are more difficult to 
bring under fubordination than the blacks. They are 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1229. 
121 
more loofe in their morals, particularly the women, who 
tranfa£l almoft all the bufinefs of the towns. The bonds 
of marriage can fcarcely be faid to exirt in the republic. 
Henry, on the contrary, compels his foldiers to marry ; 
and woe be to him that violates the nuptial tie! Aware 
that much depends on appearances, Henry fullers no one 
to appear before him who is not decently clothed ; and 
the confequence is, that, inflead of naked blacks of both 
fexes ftrolling about the ftreets as heretofore, every one 
now puts on a becoming habit. The republicans are lei's 
attentive in this refpeft; but here too the natural vanity 
of the blacks has induced them to clothe theinfelves bet¬ 
ter than heretofore. Petion himfelf aft’edled an indiffe¬ 
rence to drefs, but his great officers made as brilliant an 
appearance as thofe of Henry. “ By a Angular fate,” fays 
Lacroix, “ drefles of velvet magnificently embroidered, 
which not long ago arrayed the fenators of the mod pow¬ 
erful empire of the world, have found their way to Hayti, 
and now clothe the fenators of this little republic. This 
circumflance, (he adds,) infignificant in itfelf, is a new 
example of the nothingnefs and the decay of human gran¬ 
deur in the age of revolutions in which we live.” 
The population of the two governments, according to 
Lacroix, confifis of 4.80,000 blacks, 20,000 perfons ot^co- 
lour, and 1000 whites, chiefly Germans, making all to¬ 
gether 501,000 fouls; of w'hom 261,000 are republicans, 
and 240,000 royal ills. Each may be conlidered. to confift 
of three clafles. The firll embraces all the civil a ltd "-mi¬ 
litary officers, who poflefs a great part of the property of 
the ifland. The fecond clafs is compofed of thofe who 
exercife the various mechanical arts, the trades-people of 
the towns, and the foldiers. The third is compofed of 
the afilual labourers of the eftates, or the hufbandmen, 
who are moftly blacks. Thefe people are in fa£t but a 
little removed from their former condition of flavery, 
being completely at the mercy and caprice of the civil 
and military authorities of the two governbienfs. 
The finances of each are ftated to be fo flourishing, that, 
after paying all expenfes, there is a furplus of at leall fif¬ 
teen millions of livres, entirely difpofable by the king and 
the prefident. The fyftem of policy is the fame. The 
king and the prefident have both declared, that, on the 
firll appearance of an enemy on the coaft, every town (hall 
difappear, and the whole nation take up arms. “ The 
laft of the Haytians,” fays king Henry in his manifeflo, 
“ will breathe out his laft figh l’ooner than renounce his 
independence. Free by right, and independent in fa< 5 l, 
we will never renounce thefe bleilings; nor vvitnefs the 
fubverfion of the edifice which we have raifed and ce¬ 
mented with our blood. Faithful to our oath, we will 
rather bury ourfelves beneath the ruins of our country, 
than fufter the final left infringement of our political rights.” 
And, in order to avoid giving any umbrage to other pow¬ 
ers, king Henry has lately (1819) ifl’ued a proclamation, 
declaring that no a'fylum fhall be granted in Hayti to any 
difafFe< 5 ted or runaway negroes from any of the Weft- 
India iflands, and efpecially from thofe belonging to his 
Britannic majefty. 
The moll recent advices (Jan. 1820.) ftate, that at 
length the long rivalry of Chriftophe and Boyer had fub- 
fided into fo friendly an underftar.ding, that the inter- 
courfe with neutral veflels, between their refpedlive 
courts, could be carried on without moleflation. And 
the fame accounts add, that king Henry Chriftophe has 
taken the prudent courfe of fecuring the attachment of 
his troops, by conceding to them grants of land, and ad¬ 
vancing to them the means of cultivating them; while 
they are dill within the reach of a fummons to military 
duty. Confcious of his ftrength, he reje6ls all overtures 
from France that fhall not come to him with the recog¬ 
nition of his independence, “ as from one brother-king 
to another.” 
As the prefident Boyer partakes in thefe fentiments, 
though not fo royally, we are allured that both govern¬ 
ments are well prepared for any attempts that may be 
I i made 
