FOR THE PORT FOLIO.-MEMOIRS OF HAYTI.

LETTER XVIII.

The Cape, Island of Hayti, Febuary, 1806.

ON new year's day, being the anniversary of the Fête de l'Independence, we were gratified by a military exhibition displayed in honour of the great national event which was intended to be celebrated. Several days previous thereto, the inhabitants of the town, male and female, old and young, were commanded by a public edict proclaimed through the streets, and enforced by the customary beat of drum, to assemble on the Champ de Mars, an extensive hollow square, early on the morning of that day. The orders were observed by the great body of the community, insomuch that at seven o'clock a numerous concourse of people had assembled. After the review of a battalion of infantry by the general of division, Capoix, a citizen appointed for the occasion mounted a stage and read aloud the Declaration of Independence, which was received with loud acclamations of joy by the surrounding citizens and soldiers. At the conclusion of this ceremony, the troops accompanied by the general and his staff, the principal civil and military officers, and many of the people, proceeded to the church, where divine service was performed, and prayers for the health of their majesties and family, and supplications for the prosperity of the empire offered to the throne of Mercy. The solemnity displayed upon this occasion was truly pleasing, particularly in that part of the service where the priest standing before the altar turns his face towards the congregation and presents to their view the sacred host. At that instant the soldiers, who were formed in two ranks from the door to the altar, facing inwards and resting upon one knee, with one motion presented arms, and bowed their heads before the holy shine. Great appearance of devotion and piety was manifested by all present, insomuch that at that moment it was absolutely impossible to reconcile the conduct of the humble and suppliant devotee before the altar, with that of the deliberate and cruel assassin.

The general in chief Christophe, was not present, as he had a few days before left the Cape, to attend the national celebration with the emperor at the city of Dessalines. It is said that much pomp and splendour was displayed at this festival given by his majesty, and that most of the generals and civil officers of distinction were invited. Relative to this entertainment, I have been informed of a singular transaction, which from the source it is derived I have reason to believe is true. It is stated, that during the desert after dinner, a piece of confectionary in imitation of the skeleton of a white man, was served upon the table. The object in view by this stange mode of gratifying the tastes of the guests was no doubt, upon that day of national jubilee, to excite and cherish in the minds of the chiefs, their hatred of the French, by exhibiting to their sight such expressive symbols as could not fail to call to their recollection, the, remembrance of their past deeds.

Since the establishment of the present government, but one instance has occured, even during the most sanguinary period, when Carnage brandished her deadly weapons throughout the Island, and polluted them with the blood of thousands of innocent victims, in which an American has lost his life. This you might suppose would be sufficient to inspire us with that degree of confidence in the government and people, which would remove all unpleasant apprehensions. But this is not the fact. There is a certain appearance of ferocity in the soldiers, and such a native propensity to pillage, that a white man scarcely feels secure either in his person or property. In addition to these circumstances, there are events which frequently occur of a nature calculated to excite uneasiness if not alarm; and I assure you, I express the opinions of the great body of the Americans now here, when I say, that at times we consider our situation as extremely precarious. This must be the case in all countries. where despotic Power wields her iron sceptre, and where the will of an arbitrary monarch is the national law. Several occurences of the sort I have mentioned as productive of uneasiness, have taken place immediately prior to and during my sojourn here, of which the following is one:

A young Frenchman of the name of Decoudrés arrived at Gonaives in October last from Baltimore, with the intention of establishing himself in the Island as a merchant. He was by

birth a Creole, and descended from a family well known in that vicinity to have once been opulent in estates. The young man was himself personally well know at Gonaives, and from the amiableness of his deportment and the suavity of his manners, had acquired the esteem of all his acquaintance. He was of course recognized as a white Frenchman, and as such was obnoxious to the laws of proscription, but his conduct was so correct and void of the appearance of duplicity, that no one felt disposed to persecute him. He had not resided in this state of security more than probably two or three weeks, when some malicious traitor informed the emperor of his being in the island. The unfortunate man was immediately arrested by the orders of his majesty, and conveyed to the seat of government at Marchand. When Dessalines saw him, he addressed him with his usual fierceness of manner, and the following conversation is said to have passed. "Are you not a white Frenchman?" "I am." "Did you not know that I had forbidden under pain of death, any Frenchman from setting foot in my dominions?"-"I did: but I had so much confidence in the clemency of your majesty, that I did not fear to place myself under your protection." The young man was charged with being a spy, and was immediately imprisoned. The place of his confinement was situated about two hundred yards from the palace. It was a small house, or rather box, about six or eight feet square elevated on posts about fifteen feet above the ground, and having in it only a small aperture of the size of a pane of glass to admit the air. His food, consisting solely of bread and water, was conveyed to him in a basket which he hoisted up by a string to his window, and in this situation, deprived of all communication with friend or foe, he was detained perhaps eight or ten days. The object in this mode of procedure could only have been to increase the misery of the prisoner by solitary reflection, which when it had sufficiently progressed, he was taken out, formally tried, and sentenced to death. He was led to a plain not far distant, by six soldiers (probably veterans in the corps called the quatrieme, of which I

once made such honourable mention) who were prepared to hew him down with their sabres. On the fatal spot, the unfortunate youth endeavoured to prevail upon the soldiers to mitigate his sufferings by changing the manner of his death, into shooting. To gain, their consent, he gave them his watch, hat, money and clothes, but to no purpose, for the inhuman viliains, after promising to grant him this poor last favour, forfeited their words, and cut the ill-fated victim into pieces. It may not be unworthy of remark, that upon occasions where the death of a prisoner has been decreed, and where a mock trial is intended merely as a scheme of deception, the emperor appears in public with a red kerchief about his head. The bloody signal is so well known, that the officers who sit upon a trial, know full well before the evidence is given, what must be the judgment of the court. An American gentleman who was at Marchand upon business with the emperor, informed me, that he saw his majesty on the day of Decoudré's trial in this peculiar dress; not indeed whilst in the execution of his judicial functions, (for spectators are not admitted within the walls which surround the fatal tribunal,) neither in the performance of his public duties, for at such periods, murder and destruction, entirely engross his attention, and take place of all other considerations. Such transactions as these, you may well suppose, are not of so pleasing a nature as to excite sentiments of entire confidence in a people, a great portion of whom are of a character equally ferocious with the villain who conspired, the chief who directed, and the base slaves who executed this sanguinary deed.

The next occurrence I shall notice, produced considerably more alarm than the preceding one. About the middle of last. month, two American schooners, well armed, were lying at Gonaives. The captain of one of them, in a dispute one day with the ordonnateur, an important civil officer, proceeded to blows, and gave the man of colour a complete flogging. As was to be expected, a complaint was immediately preferred to the emperor, who ordered the American to be brought before him at Marchand. The captain not being disposed to take so distant a ride into the country, under the existing appearance of affairs, weighed anchor, and with the other schooner, the commander of

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which was implicated in the same quarrel, put to sea. The wind being favourable, and there being no means of stopping them, unless the guns of the fort were adequate to the task, a fire was immediately commenced upon them, but without effect. The vessels briskly returned the salute, a short fight ensued, and the fort was soon silenced. During this transaction, the spirit of the populace which had already been excited by the indignant treatment shown to the ordonnateur, became roused to so furious a height, that they swore vengeance upon all the Americans in the place. A riot of an alarming nature now threatened our countrymen, and as a means of safety, most of them retreated on board the ships in the harbour, many of which were strongly fortified with guns. Several however remained on shore, and had it not been for the prudence of the commanding general, Magny, the lives of some would in all probability have been sacrificed. That officer, as soon as he perceived the danger to which the Americans were exposed from the rage and fury of the mob, who had actually almost killed one, ordered the soldiers to seize them all and bring them to his house; and whilst the infuriated rabble were calling aloud for vengeance, they were appeased by being told that the Americans would be punished after a regular trial. By these means our countrymen were preserved, and as soon as the popular phrenzy had subsided, they were rereleased from their confinement; those who were in the fleet returned to shore, and tranquillity was restored. The affair terminated much more satisfactorily than was at first apprehended, for indeed at one stage, it was seriously alarming. Batteries were actually constructed on the shore and furnished with cannon, to be in readiness to fire upon the fleet. Had this hostile operation been commenced, the fire from the shipping would soon have been severely felt, for the Americans were prepared for the worst, and had assumed a warlike attitude. In this state of things, however, a flag of truce from the shore with amicable propositions rendere any further continuance of these belligerent appearances unnecessary. As you may not perhaps in this relation see any cause for uneasiness to those Americans who were resident in other parts of the Island, I will state to you the circumstances under which the first account presented itself to us at the Cape.