[the priesthood without difficulty; but the Spaniards have not yet brought themselves to make Negro priests and bishops like the Portuguese. Slaves are treated with extreme mildness, and are usually fed as well as their masters. A religious principle and an illicit affection tend to their eman cipation. A slave can redeem himself at a price fixed by law. Thus the fate of the slave is softened by the hope of freedom, and the authority of the master by the habit of being confounded, in some sort, with those who were the other day in slavery. The laws against slaves are much neglected; those in their favour are very exactly observed. Few of the Creoles can either read or write; hence the want of social intercourse, which is also aug mented by the badness of the roads. Over the whole of the Spanish part of the island, mountains and plains, were spread, in 1798, 125,000 inhabitants; of whom 110,000 were free, and 15,000 slaves; which does not amount to 40 individuals to one square league. The Spanish Creoles are insensible of all the treasures which surround them, and pass their lives without wishing to change their lot; while the French portion furnishes three-fifths of the produce of all the French West India colonies put together, or more than 10 millions sterling. The dress and mode of living of the Spanish Creoles indicate pride, laziness, and poverty. The capital of itself indicates decay; little insignificant towns are to be seen here and there, with a few colonial settlements, for which the name of manufactories would be too great an honour; also immense possessions, called hattes, where beasts and cattle are raised with little care, in different degrees of domestication; as the domestic, the gentle, and the shy. Those called wild or mountaineers, as also the shy, cost the herdsmen, called pioneers and lancers, immense labour and danger in the chase. The hattes are the most numerous sort of Spanish settlements, and of an extent far disproportioned to their utility. Some are several square leagues, and do not contain above 500 head of cattle, great and small. Some are called horse-hattes, others cattle-hattes, according to the name of the animals they contain; others used in breeding pigs are called corails. A small piece of wood-land, called venerie, frequently serves as a boundary between the hattes, common to those on both sides of it, and also shelters the cattle from the heat of the sun. The woodland likewise attracts the wild animals, and lessens the labours of the huntsman. In these hattes, the people lodge miserably, and have but poor subsistence. The small provision farms, called canacos, fall generally to the lot of the poorer colonists, or most commonly people of colour, or freed people. 6. Territorial extent of ditto.-Many circumstances conspired to render this island a place of importance to the Spaniards. It was a key to the gulf of Mexico, a convenient place for their shipping to touch at, an excellent rendezvous for their squadrons and fleets, and an important hold for naval operations of all sorts; but from the impolitic measures of the government, and the restraints on commerce, it proved rather a burden than an advantage to the mother country. The Spanish part is computed to contain about 90 leagues in its greatest length from e. to w. 60 leagues in its greatest breadth; having a surface of about 3200 square leagues. About 400 square leagues of this surface are in mountains, which are generally more capable of cultivation than those in the French part, and have sometimes a soil that disputes the preference with that of the valleys. There remains therefore a fine fertile surface of more than 2700 square leagues, divided into valleys and plains of various lengths and breadths. 7. Commerce and productions of ditto.The supply of horned cattle to the French part of the island could not be estimated at less than 15,000 head annually: of which the Spaniards furnished four-fifths. These, at 30 dollars a head, and bring ing them by the Spaniards, could not be less than 450,000 dollars. This formed three quarters of the produce of the colony; and the impost paid to government was 10 per cent. The number of 200,000 head of cattle is the number in the gene. ral census taken by order of the president, in 1780; and if we count the cattle exempted from the tribute, they may amount to 250,000, without comprehending horses, mules; and asses, which, with an augmentation estimated since 1780, would make a stock of 300,000 head, and an annual production of 60,000; and suppose a fifth part of the young ones perish accidentally, there still remains 48,000. The resources of the colonists are very confined, and their few establishments all below mediocrity. There are but 22 sugar manufactories of any consequence; the rest being not worth naming; and even these 22 have altogether but about 600 Negroes. Of these six produce syrup, and some sugar; but the others, which are called trapiches, where animals are employed to turn the mills and press the canes, without shelter in the open air, make nothing but syrup. The whole of this produce is generally used in the colony; small quantities are sometimes sent to Puerto Rico, or to Old Spain; and the goodness of the sugar has proved that of the soil, but nothing in favour of the ma-] [nufacturer. The coffee raised here is excellent; each tree in a state of bearing will produce, on an average, a pound weight, and sometimes of a quality equal to that of Mocha, yet chocolate is preferred to it. Cotton grows naturally at St. Domingo, of an excellent quality, even without care in stony land, and in the crevices of the rocks. The numerous roots of indigo are only obstacles to the feeble cultivation of the fields, where it grows spontaneously. All these valuable productions bave shared the fate of depopulation. Tobacco, says Valverde, has here a larger leaf than in any other part of America; it grows every where, and equals sometimes that of Cuba or the Havannah. It is as much esteemed as this latter, in the manufactures of Seville, and is even preferable to it in segars. Its cultivation has lately become more general. The kernel of the cocoa nut of St. Domingo is more acidulated than that of the cocoa nut of Venezuela and Caracas, to which it is not inferior; and experience proves, that the chocolate made of the two cocoas has a more delicate flavour than that made of the cocoa of Caracas alone. pa 8. Statistical accounts of the French division. The French part of St. Domingo, containing 2,500,000 acres, of which 1,500,000 were under high cultivation in 1789, was then divided into 10 jurisdictions, which were subdivided into 52 parishes. The w. jurisdictions are, Port au Prince, St. Mark, Le Petite Goave, and Jeremie; the n. Cape François, Fort Dauphin, and Port de Paix; and those in the s. Les Cayes, St. Louis, and Jacmel. Before the late revolution there were in these rishes about 42,000 white people, 44,000 free people of colour, and 600,000 slaves. Other accounts make them considerably less; the above, however, is from good authority. The number of deaths during 1789, according to the bills of mortality, were 7121; the number of births the same year, 4232. The excess of deaths, 2889, will be the less astonishing, when it is considered, that in the years 1787 and 1788, there had been imported into the colony nearly 60,000 new Negroes. The exports from Jan. 1, 1789, to Dec. 31, of the same year, were 47,516,531 lbs. white sugar; 98,573,300 brown sugar; 76,835,219lbs. coffee; 7,004,274 lbs. cotton; 758,628 lbs. indigo; and other articles, as tanned hides, molasses, spirits, &c. to the value of 46,873 livres. The total value of duties on the above exportations amounted to 770,801 dollars, 3 cents. 9. Chief towns.-Port au Prince is the seat of the French government in this island in time of peace, and a place of considerable trade. Cape VOL. II. François exceeds Port au Prince in the value of its productions, the elegance of its buildings, and the advantageous situation of its port. It is the governor's residence in time of war. The mole, though inferior to these in other respects, is the first port in the island for safety in time of war, being by nature and art strongly fortified. The other towns and ports of any note are, Fort Dauphin, St. Mark, Leogane, Petit Goave, Jeremie, Les Cayes, St. Louis, and Jacmel, which see under their different names. The most ancient town in this island, and in all America, built by Europeans, is St. Domingo, of which an account is given under its proper head. 10. A summary account of the revolution of the blacks.-The Negroes in the French division of this island have, for several years past, been in a state of insurrection. In the progress of these disturbances, which have not yet subsided, the planters and others have sustained immense losses. We shall here give a summary account of this insurrection. The situation of the French colonies early attracted the attention of the constituent assembly; though at this time all was as tranquil as such a state of oppression would permit. The first interference of the national assembly in the affairs of the colonies was by a decree of the 8th of March 1790, which declared, that all free persons, who were proprietors and residents of two years standing, and who contributed to the exigencies of the state, should exercise the rights of voting, which constitute the quality of French citizens. This decree, though in fact it gave no new rights to the people of colour, was regarded with a jealous eye by the white planters, who evidently saw that the generality of the qualification included all descriptions of proprietors; they affected, however, to impose a different construction upon it. The people of colour appealed to common justice and common sense; it was to no purpose; the whites repelled them from their as semblies; some commotions ensued, in which they mutually fell a sacrifice to their pride and re sentment. These disturbances again excited the vigilance of the national assembly: a decree was passed on the 12th day of October 1790, by which the assem bly declared, as a constitutional article, "That they would establish no regulations respecting the internal government of the colonies, without the precise and formal request of the colonial assemblies." Peace, however, was not the consequence of] Б [this decree. The proprietors, it is true, had obtained a legal right of tyrannizing; but the unfortunate question still recurred, who should be permitted to exercise that right? On this head the decree was silent. New dissensions arose; each of the partics covered, under a factious patriotism, the most atrocious designs. Assassination and revolt became frequent. Mauduit, a French officer of rank, lost his life by the hands of his own countrymen. The unfortunate Oge, a planter of colour, who had exerted himself in France in the cause of his brethren, resolved to support by force their just pretensions. He landed in the Spanish territory of St. Domingo, where he assembled about 600 Mulattoes. Before he proceeded to hostilities, he wrote to the French general, that his desire was for peace, provided the laws were enforced. His letter was absurdly considered as a declaration of war. Being attacked and vanquished, he took refuge among the Spaniards, who delivered him up to his adversaries. These disturbances still increasing, the national assembly found it necessary, at length, to decide between the contending parties. On the 15th of May 1791, a decree was made, consisting of two articles, by the first of which the assembly confirmed that of the 12th of October, so far as respected the slaves in their islands. It is true, that the word slave was cautiously omitted in this document, and they are only characterised by the negative description of "men not free," as if right and wrong depended on a play of words, or a mode of expression. This part of the decree met with but little opposition, though it passed not without severe reprehension from a few enlightened members. The second article, respecting the people of colour, was strongly contested: those who were before known by the appellation of patriots divided upon it. It was, however, determined in the result, that the people of colour, born of free parents, should be considered as active citizens, and be eligible to the offices of government in the islands. This second article, which decided upon a right that the people of colour had been entitled to for upwards of a century, instead of restoring peace, may be considered as the cause, or rather the pretext, of all the subsequent evils that the colony of St. Domingo has sustained. They arose not indeed from its execution, but from its counteraction by the white colonists. Had they, after the awful warnings they had already experienced, obeyed the ordinances of an assembly they pretended to revere; had they imbibed one drop of the true spirit of that constitution to which they had vowed an inviolable attachment; had they even suppressed the dictates of pride in the sug gestions of prudence; the storm that threatened them had been averted, and in their obedience to the parent state they had displayed an act of patriotism, and preserved themselves from all possibility of danger. But the equalization of the people of colour stung the irritable nerves of the white colonists. The descendants of slaves might have lost the resentments of their fathers; but the hatred of a despot is hereditary. The European maxim allows, "That they never pardon who have done the wrong; but in the colonies this perversity attains a more monstrous growth, and the aversion to African blood descends from generation to generation. No sooner had the decree passed than deputies from the islands to the national assembly withdrew their attendance: the colonial committee, always under the influence of the planters, suspended their labours. Its arrival in the island struck the whites with consternation: they vowed to sacrifice their lives rather than suffer the execution of the decree. Their rage bordered upon phrenzy: they proposed to imprison the French merchants then in the island, to tear down the national flag, and hoist the British standard in its place. Whilst the joy of the Mulattoes was mingled with apprehensions and with fears, St. Domingo re-echoed with the cries of the whites, with their menaces, with their blasphemies against the constitution. A motion was made in the streets to fire upon the people of colour, who fled from the city, and took refuge in the plantations of their friends in the woods: they were at length recalled by a proclamation; but it was only to swear subordination to the whites, and to be witnesses offresh enormities. Amidst these agitations the slaves had remained in their accustomed subordination. Nor was it till the month of August 1791,: that the symptoms of the insurrection appeared amongst them. A considerable number, both of whites and people of colour, had lost their lives in these com- · motions before the slaves had given indications of disaffection; they were not, however, insensible of the opportunities of revolt afforded by the dissensions of their masters: they had learnt that no alleviation of their miseries was ever to be expected from Europe; that in the struggle for colonial dominion, their humble interests had been equally sacrificed or forgotten by all parties. They felt their curb relaxed by the disarming and dispersion of their Mulatto masters, who had been accustomed to keep them under rigorous discipline.], [Hopeless of relief from any quarter, they rose in different parts, and spread desolation over the island. If the cold cruelties of despotism have no bounds, what shall be expected from the paroxysms of despair? On the 11th of September 1791, a convention took place, which produced the agreement called the Concordat, by which the white planters stipulated, that they would no longer oppose the law of the 15th of May, which gave political rights to the people of colour. The colonial assembly even The colonial assembly even promised to meliorate the situation of the people of colour, born of parents not free, and to whom the decree of the 15th of May did not extend. An union was formed between the planters, which, if it had sooner taken place, had prevented the insurrection. The insurgents were every where dispirited, repulsed, and dispersed; and the colony itself preserved from total destruction. By a decree of the national assembly, the 24th of September, the people of colour were virtually excluded from all right of colonial legislation, and expressly placed in the power of the white colonists. If the decree of the 15th of May could instigate the white colonists to the frantic acts of violence before described, what shall we suppose were the feelings of the people of colour on that of the 24th of September, which again blasted those hopes they had justly founded on the constitutional law of the parent state, and the solemn ratification of the white colonists? No sooner was it known in the islands, than those dissensions, which the revolt of the Negroes had for a while appeased, broke out with fresh violence. The apprehensions entertained from the slaves had been allayed by the effects of the concordat: but the whites no sooner found themselves relieved from the terrors of immediate destruction, than they availed themselves of the decree of the 24th of September; they formally revoked the concordat, and treacherously refused to comply with an engagement to which they owed their very existence. The people of colour were in arms; they attacked the whites in the s. provinces; they possessed themselves of fort St. Louis, and defeated their opponents in several engagements. A powerful body surrounded Port au Prince, the capital of the island, and claimed the execution of the concordat. At three different times did the whites assent to the requisition, and as often broke their engagement. Gratified with the predilection for aristocracy, which the constituent assembly had in its dotage avowed, they affected the appellation of patriots, and had the address to transfer the popular odium to the people of colour, who were contending for their indisputable rights, and to the few white colonists who had virtue enough to espouse their cause. Under this pretext, the municipality of Port au Prince required M. Grimoard, the captain of the Boreas, a French line of battle ship, to bring his guns to bear upon, and to cannonade the people of colour assembled near the town: be at first refused, but the crew, deluded by the cry of patriotism, enforced his compliance. No sooner was this measure adopted, than the people of colour gave a loose to their indignation; they spread over the country, and set fire indiscriminately to all the plantations: the greatest part of the town of Port au Prince soon after shared the same fate. Nothing seemed to remain for the white inhabitants but to seek their safety in quitting the colony. In the n. parts the people of colour adopted a more magnanimous, and perhaps a more prudent conduct. "They begun," says Mr. Verniaud, "by offering their blood to the whites. We shall wait,' said they, till we have saved you, before we assert our own claims." They accordingly opposed themselves to the revolted Negroes with unexampled courage: they endeavoured to soothe them by attending to their reasonable requisitions; and if the colony of St. Domingo had ever been preserved to the French nation, it would have been by the exertions of the people of colour. After this recital of authentic and indisputable facts, it will not be difficult to form a clear idea of the nature of the insurrection: it is at the present moment far from being concluded, and we refer such readers as would wish to consider it in a more detailed view, to the History of Bryan Edwards and Walton's Hispaniola. St. Domingo is situated between lat. 17° 55′ and 20° n. and between long. 71° and 77° w. from Paris. It lies 45 leagues e. n. c. of Jamaica, 22 s. e. of Cuba, and 29 n. w. by w. of Porto Rico; and is, not including the small dependent islands that surround it, 160 leagues long from e. to w. and from 60 to 70 broad from n. to s.] Catalogue of the settlements, ports, and rivers of this island. S. Miguel, Bays and Ports. Yaque, Petit Trou, Salado, Bahia de las Aguilas, Artibonito, Puerto de la Beata, Camú, Puerto de Petitrú, Mao, Bahia de Neiba, or De Puerto Viejo de Azúa, Puerto de la Caldera, Cala de Macoriz, Del Soco, De la Romana, De Quiabon, Bahia de Higuey, Bahia de Samaná, or De las Flechas, S. Lorenzo, Neiba, La Romana, Macoris, Soco, Cucumaya, Higuey, Yuna, Indios. Capes and Points. De S. Rafael, De Mongón, De Peña, De Sabanetas, In the part of the French. Puerto del Principe, Grand Goave, Jeremie, Cayes du Fond, Coteaux, Tiburón, Cayes de Jacmel, De las Damas, Capes and Points. De San Nicolas, De los Locos, De Grand Pierre, De S. Marcos, Percée, De la Geringa, De Doña Maria, De las Ballenas, De Irois, De Burgados, De Cascajo, De Abacú, De Pasqual, De Trois Lataniers, De Benet, Del Moral, De Jacquemel, De Marechau, De Belle Roche, De Margót, De Feste, Mole St. Nicolas. Presidents, governors, and captains-general who have presided in the island of St. Domingo. 1. The Adelantado Don Bartolomé Columbus, brother to the celebrated Admiral Christopher Columbus, founder of the city of St. Domingo, and which was the first city of the kings of Spanish America, in 1496; he governed a short time, since the changes made by the alcaldía mayor Francisco Roldan obliged the Catholic kings to nominate, 2. Don Francisco Bobadilla, a knight and comendador of the order of Calatrava, nominated |