HAYTI.

From the London Anti-Slavery Reporter.

The following remarks on Hayti are so pertinent, and contain so much information, which is not extensively circulated as our own columns.—They are from the pen of Mr. F. W. Chesson.

"Hayti is a country unfortunately but little known in England, and is generally associated with treatment not calculated to inspire much affection and respect. But while a retrospect of Haytian history may, to a great extent, justify this idea of the country, so far as the past is concerned, it by no means follows that this idea is applicable to the present state of affairs. On the contrary, we have great pleasure in stating that under the firm and enlightened rule of the Emperor Faustin, as well as from a widespread education, Hayti has entered upon an era of peace and prosperity, during which she has developed her resources, and which cannot fail to be of lasting benefit, and to constitute the chief glory and strength of a nation.

"Few Englishmen (so far as our knowledge extends) know much either about the geographical position of Hayti, or the character and condition of her people; and yet the communication between England and Hayti is very frequent, and they are engaged in a large and lucrative trade with us, to the extent of which her custom-house entries are able to testify. Hayti is second to no country in the world in the quality of her soil and the excellence of her produce. Her coffee, cocoa, sugar, indigo, and mahogany are world-famed; and we believe that in the matter of cotton particularly, there is a glorious probability of Hayti playing a very prominent part in removing the necessity for the almost exclusive use of slave-grown cotton which is now painfully imposed upon us.

"But Hayti possesses other claims upon our attention besides those which are yielded from the richness of her soil and the value of her natural products. In the artistic standard of her work, particularly in those which, like cabinet making, require skill, taste, and ingenuity, Hayti is second to no nation on earth. The following extract from an article on Haytian Industry, from the pen of a distinguished Haytian, M. Durvelas Durval, will afford our readers some idea of the progress in this respect which his country has already made:

"'At the exhibition, these products were made: formerly some coarse cotton stuffs, known by the name of 'manganes,' baggings, saddle-cloths, saddles, ropes of the palm tree, and baskets, and large wicker-work baskets; now cloths of fine cotton and gold thread of different shades, and the making of artificial flowers and fruits in wax, which occupy the delicate hands of our young city girls, tanning, although not of the most perfect kind, shoemaking, harness-making, hatmaking, goldsmithing and clockmaking, all afford products worthy of notice, and employ many excellent workmen. The tailor's art, practised by Haytians as well as foreign workmen, follows the European fashions.—But the business in which the improvement is most striking is cabinet-making. It is to some skilful German workmen we owe the formation of those brave and intelligent Haytian operatives, whose number is increasing every year; in our shops, and also under their own direction, after the European manner and in a highly finished style.

"'There is, indeed, no department of mechanics, agriculture, or art, for that matter, which the people of Hayti have not afforded a proof of their ability to keep pace with European civilization.

"'A Haytian friend of ours tells an amusing story of a French bishop who was appointed to a diocese in Hayti, and who went out to the country with the idea that he was going to labor among a people as barbarous as the negro tribes of Western Africa. What was his astonishment, on landing at Jacmel, to find himself surrounded by all the evidences of an advanced civilization, and welcomed by a society whose good breeding and polished manners rivalled the social habits of Paris or London! But the bishop would have felt little surprise at what he saw and heard if he had been acquainted with the history, throughout the country, of an admirable system of education, founded by Emperor Christophe, that so far back as 1815, King Christophe introduced the Lancasterian system into his dominions, under the supervision of a number of enlightened English teachers, whom he invited over for that purpose. The country is divided into sixty-five parishes, in each of which a public school is maintained by the State; while in Port-au-Prince, Cape Haytian, and Cayes, there are high schools, academies, colleges, schools of medicine, and other superior educational establishments, provided for by the liberality of the community. In the colleges the English language is taught; the value of this requirement being universally appreciated, especially by those who intend to engage in commercial pursuits. All the teachers are natives of the country, and many of them are men of high respectable ability and attainments. The Emperor himself gives the highest encouragement to the education of his people, and no man is more fully conscious of the fact, that education is the most powerful and effective means of increasing the happiness and promoting the best and most permanent interests of a nation, and securing the stability of the empire. Hence His Majesty takes such a warm, paternal interest in the principal schools, and endeavors, from time to time, to increase their efficiency and usefulness.

"'Of the literature of Hayti we will, at present, say little, although much might be written thereupon. Mr. Alphonse de Saint-Remy, and M. Madieu, by name, have acquired some celebrity—the former by his biographical works, and the latter by his poems. But we have now before us several newspapers published in Hayti, containing original articles—copies of which we have had the pleasure to receive—written with great ability and spirit, and instinct with a high tone of moral feeling.

"'American journalists have grossly calumniated Hayti, but never were the primary cause of her social and political degradation. The writers of America naturally regard her with an unfriendly eye, because Hayti is a practical protest against the system of negro Slavery, and a convincing evidence of the capacity of the African race. And while we are gratified to observe that the French government and nation are disposed to view Hayti with a friendly eye, yet we cannot but deplore the subtle efforts which have been made to incite feelings of hostility between the two nations, and which efforts were excited by the successful efforts she made to cast off her galling yoke.

"'As a consequence of the state of public opinion in America we find the pro-slavery press making insidious attempts to obtain such a footing in the hitherto ill-governed and disorganized Dominican Republic, as will enable them the more effectually to attack the independence of Hayti, through what is logically her weakest and most powerful section of the island. But we are glad to be able to state that General Santana, the President of the Dominican Republic, who, there is grave reason to believe, had availed himself of his elevated position to promote the intrigues of American agents, has been removed from office amid general expressions of satisfaction. His successor is M. Baez, a patriotic statesman, whom he banished on his elevation to power, and whose Presidentship says the Journal des Debats, 'was inaugurated by public rejoicings.' 'The people,' continues the same journal, 'repaired in a body to the residence of the Archbishop, the ex-President, General Reglamota, the Consuls of Spain, England, and France, where speeches were delivered in celebration of this joyous event.'

"'We earnestly wish that the Journal des Debats exhibited as intelligent an acquaintance with the State of Hayti as it does with that of St. Domingo; for the truth is the very reverse of what it states, and it has so misinterpreted the condition of the former country that the Baron Damien, the Haytian Minister at Paris, felt himself called upon to address a dignified reply to the statements of the French journalist. In his reply he uses language to the following purport:

"'"I beg you and the whole world to believe me when I declare that the Emperor of Hayti has no desire to see St. Domingo subject to him. She is a State duly organized, that requires no suggestion, but quietly and unremittingly exerting herself to take the rank which belongs to her among other nations of the world... Her government... Her sovereign... and every foreigner who visits our country is astonished at the progress... that the chief to whom it has confided its destinies is a ruler of extraordinary wisdom, and fully competent to fulfill his mission; that he has no desire to disturb the internal peace and prosperity of the country, and that he has nothing more at heart than to protect the rights and interests of all who are interested in the future of the Haytian nation. Under these circumstances, it is the conviction of our dignity as a nation, and with a sense of the duty which devolves upon us, we shall, with the blessing of the Almighty, keep strictly within our own border, maintaining a position which will constitute the best justification for our independence, and win the respect of every friend of humanity.'

"It is a pleasure for us to turn from the Journal des Debats, to a late issue of the organ of the French press, Le Courrier de Havre. In an article on Hayti, this journal remarks that Hayti is putting forth efforts to raise herself to an equality with other civilized nations, both as regards the richness of her soil and her geographical position, and the desire she has to secure a strong and stable government. The following extract from this article cannot fail to be interesting:

"'"The two allied nations, especially France and England, should keep up a good understanding with that empire and its government, and to respect its independence. They ought to consider Hayti as a free, sovereign, and independent State... with which European ideas are penetrating into... Hayti has been made a subject of mockery... which has been laughed at because people did not understand the true state of things. The inhabitants to constitute themselves into a nation... Imagine the feuds, the jealousies, and probably even the wars, which would arise if England were divided into two separate principalities, each maintaining a different form of government, and each maintaining a different system of legislation... But if Hayti made an attempt at imitation, it is ridiculous to laugh at. Ought the attempt at imitation to be treated with laughter? Is the effort to raise herself to a level with European civilization to be answered by the contact with civilization? To prosecute such a course would be as unjust as it is contrary to humanity. The slanderers of Hayti did not give her time to move; they have judged her prematurely, and without reason; they did not see that it would have been honorable in them to encourage these generous efforts instead of insanely abusing a people composed of men, former slaves, who became independent by their valor, and were left to themselves to create a nationality. The man, who better than all his predecessors, understood the future of his country, who he felt in himself the force and energy necessary to overwhelm anarchy, and to found a strong and stable government, is the Emperor Faustin I. In spite of reverses, he has been able to establish... without caring for obstacles, which he overcame with admirable firmness, laying the foundation of the groundwork upon which he is raising a monumental edifice which is to assure the destiny of his people.'

"We cannot but deplore as a calamity the continued disunion subsisting between Hayti and St. Domingo. The fact simply is, that the island ought not to be ruled by two distinct governments. Imagine the feuds, the jealousies, and probably even the wars, which would arise if England were divided into two separate principalities, each maintaining a different form of government, and each maintaining a different system of legislation. The state of the actual affair of affairs in the island of St. Domingo is the greater pity; because, a direct misfortune, it is that the isolation of the Dominican Republic, from its weakness and instability, has enabled foreign intrigue to aim successful blows at the independence of the whole country. The Haytian government may have erred in its mode of expression, but, in the case of Hayti, it becomes a distinct right, and we cannot but deplore, and shall not think that negro capacity for self-government will have been fairly tried, so long as the two States under one government would form a far more efficient guarantee of the political independence of the entire nation, and of the tri-color flag, than all the treaties and all the foreign engagements into which France and England might enter to protect them, or any fleet which they might make in the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean Sea.

"Postscript.—Since the foregoing was written, a suspension of hostilities between Hayti and St. Domingo has been agreed to."