Hayti; or, The black republic.

RELIGION, EDUCATION, AND JUSTICE.

Religion.

During the long Presidency of General Geffrard, the concordat with Rome was carried out in some of its most essential points. Until then the Roman Catholic clergy in Hayti were a byword and a reproach to every one who respected religion. There were few priests who were not the expelled of other countries, and even adventurers had assumed the clerical garb to obtain an easy and lucrative living. There was one priest in the south, who was considered a bon enfant and inclined to luxurious cheer, who turned his attention to money-making, and every week he sallied forth from the town of Les Cayes to forage in the country districts. So that he was paid his fees, it was immaterial to him what he was called upon to bless; he would indifferently sprinkle holy water on a new house or a freshly built temple dedicated to the Vaudoux worship. The simple inhabitants would bring out their stone implements, imported in former days from Africa and used in their fetish rites, and the priest would bless them; then he would return to town in a jovial mood and chuckle over his gains. In comparatively a few years that man remitted to Europe through an English house the sum of twelve thousand pounds sterling.

Another, whom I knew personally, lived in a town not far from the capital, and his amours somewhat scandalised the Archbishop. He tried in vain to have him removed from his parish. The priest was popular, had influence in Government circles, and defied his superior. He might have defied him to the end had he not mixed in politics; but having embraced the losing side, he was ultimately banished.[15]

In the same neighbourhood there lived another priest whom the Archbishop had dismissed for living in the same house with his large family, and for engaging in commerce; and Monseigneur also applied to the Government to have him expelled from the republic. The curé appealed for protection to the French Legation, saying that he should be completely ruined if forced suddenly to abandon the country. The representative of France, thinking he ought to have time granted him to settle his affairs, stated the case to the Haytian Minister of Public Worship, who agreeing with him, remarked, “Il est peut-être mauvais prêtre, mais bon père de famille.”

There was a priest who formerly lived at La Coupe, the summer resort of the inhabitants of Port-au-Prince—a dapper Parisian—who was perfectly astonished by the accounts the peasantry gave of one of his predecessors; and I could gather from him that, short of being present at human sacrifices, the man would join in any feast given by the negroes in a district as full of Vaudoux worshippers as any in the island, and his immorality equalled his other qualities.[16]

Several of these ignoble priests were Corsicans who had been driven from their country on account of crime. For fear, however, any one should consider these statements to be exaggerated, I will add to the testimony given by the Archbishop an extract from a speech of M. Valmy Lizaire, Minister of Public Worship (1863):—

“N’éprouve-t-on pas un sentiment pénible et douloureux en contemplant l’état de notre église depuis sa naissance jusqu’à ce jour, en voyant la dignité du saint ministère souvent menacée et compromise par des inconnus sans qualités, par quelque moines la plus part du temps échappés de leur convents et venant offrir jusqu’à chez nous le dangereux spectacle de leurs dérèglements? Je ne ferai point l’horreur à plaisir en essayant de retracer içi tout ce que nos annales religieuses renferment de désordres et d’excès. Il suffit de dire que nulle part, peut-être dans la chrétienté, le clergé n’a profané autant qu’en Haïti le sacerdoce dont il est revêtu.”

At length the scandal became so intolerable that the Government of Hayti determined to negotiate a concordat at Rome, and after many difficulties had been overcome, it was signed in 1860, and the Pope sent as his delegate Monseigneur Testard de Cosquer to bring it into practice. He was one of the most pleasing of men, handsome, eloquent, and the romantic but terrible episode related of him as the cause of his leaving the army and entering into holy orders rendered him an object of great interest to the fair sex. He brought with him a body of French clergy, whom he gradually installed in the different parishes of the republic, not, however, without a difficult struggle with those who formerly held possession and disgraced the Church.

The concordat consisted of seventeen articles and two additions, which provided first for the special protection of the Catholic religion; the establishment of an archbishopric at Port-au-Prince, and as soon as possible other dependent bishoprics, paid by the State; nomination by the President of three bishops subject to the approval of the Holy See,—the clergy to take an oath of fidelity to the Government; establishment of seminaries and chapters; nomination of priests by the bishops of persons approved of by the Government, and a few other arrangements of lesser importance.

The Roman Catholic Church, however, although the religion of the State, has never been popular in Hayti. Amongst the upper classes, disbelief, among the lower the influence of the Vaudoux, and the fanatical opposition of the Catholic priesthood to Freemasonry, have combined to prevent the Church from gaining either the confidence or the affection of the nation. Even over the women the priests exercise less influence than in other countries.

Although the Roman Catholic religion is that of the State, all others are tolerated, and many Haytian Ministers have felt inclined to encourage the Protestants, not only to counterbalance any political influence of the priests, but with the object of creating a rivalry in the performance of their missionary duties. These passing fits of enlightenment, however, have been but of short duration, and little has been done to encourage any form of religion.

At present Hayti is divided into five dioceses; but at the time of the last report I have seen, there were only one archbishop and two bishops; these were aided by four vicars-generals.

Port-au-Prince, being the capital, is the seat of the archbishopric, where Monseigneur Guilloux still worthily holds sway, and he is aided in his duties by a vicar and chapter. He has always had a difficult part to play, and during the civil war of 1869 ran many risks, and was nearly expelled the country.

The budget makes allowance for one archbishop at £800 a year; two bishops at £480 a year; the vicar of Port-au-Prince at £160 a year; three other vicars at £120 a year; and sixty-seven parish priests at £48 a year.

Besides this regular pay, the Government is bound to furnish the clergy with suitable residences. The Archbishop has a very comfortable and spacious house, sufficiently furnished for the climate, and situated in the healthiest quarter of the town. The clergy receive also many fees, the amount for baptisms, marriages, and funerals having been fixed by arrangement with the Government. When I was in Port-au-Prince there was a very warm discussion as to whether the fees were to be employed towards the payment of salary, each party accusing the other of wishing to violate the concordat.

After the expulsion of President Geffrard, the revolutionary party desired to upset all his arrangements, even to the concordat. Monseigneur Guilloux published a strong defence of that treaty, taking very high ground, and claiming a great deal for the Church.

This pamphlet called forth the following epigram from General Alibé Féry:—

Les Deux Enclos.

This was a much-admired specimen of Haytian wit.

As I have previously observed, Hayti has never quite reconciled herself to the clergy, and therefore the influence exercised by the priest is less than in other Catholic countries. There are two patent causes: first, the hold that the Vaudoux worship has on the mass of the people, and, second, the pertinacious opposition of the Church to Freemasonry.

It is the fashion to extol the intelligence and far-sightedness of the Church of Rome, but certainly the opposition shown to Freemasonry, that harmless institution in Hayti, has done more to injure the influence of the Catholic clergy among the educated classes than any other cause. All who know what Freemasonry is, know that its objects are to promote good-fellowship, with a modicum of charity and mutual aid. The exercise of ancient rites, which, though a mystery, are as harmless, and perhaps as childish, as the scenes of a pantomime, never deserved the opposition of a serious clergy.

The Haytians are devoted to Freemasonry, and love to surround the funerals of their brethren with all the pomp of the order. I was once invited to a masonic funeral, and we marched through the town with banners displayed, each member wearing the insignia of his rank; but I noticed that as soon as the church was reached, everything pertaining to the order was removed from the coffin, and the members pocketed their insignia. We then entered the sacred building. The funeral was one that greatly touched us all, as it was that of a young officer who had that morning been killed in a duel, under peculiarly unfortunate circumstances. The priests came forward,—suddenly they stopped, and with signs of anger retreated up the church. A gentleman followed to inquire the cause. The abbé answered that until all signs of Freemasonry were removed he would not perform the ceremony. What signs? He replied that all the mourners had little sprigs in their button-holes, which was a masonic sign. We had all to conceal the sprigs until the ceremony was over. It was a trifle, but it excited the utmost anger among the mourners present.

My deceased friend, Seguy-Villevalien, wrote me an account of what occurred on another occasion. A general and high officer in the brotherhood died, and the Freemasons determined to give him a grand funeral, and President Domingue signified his intention to be present. A great procession was organised, and was preparing to start for the cathedral, when a messenger arrived from the vicar to say that he would not allow the funeral to enter the church unless the masonic procession was given up. The President was furious, and being a very violent man, was ready to order a battalion to force a way for the funeral, when a prudent adviser said to Domingue, “The Protestants do not object to Freemasonry; let us send for Bishop Holly, and ask him to perform the service for us.”

Bishop Holly willingly consented, and the procession started for the Protestant cathedral, where the funeral service was performed, with banners displayed, and every other masonic sign in full view. Nearly every man present was a Roman Catholic, and probably for the first time in Hayti had a President, his ministers, his aides-de-camp and followers been present in a Protestant church.

The strongest feeling, however, against the Church arises from the prevalence, not only of the Vaudoux worship, but of its influence. There are thousands who would never think of attending one of its ceremonies who yet believe in and fear the priests of this fetish worship. The Papalois, however, as I have stated in Chapter V., do not disdain to direct their followers to mix up with their own the ceremonies of the Christians. They will burn candles before the church doors; will place on the cathedral steps all the rubbish of hair and bone which are religious emblems with them; and will have in their temples pictures of the Virgin Mary and of Jesus Christ. In former times they would gladly pay heavily to the degenerate priests of the ante-concordat days to sprinkle with holy water the altars of the temples under which their slimy god was held confined.

When it is remembered how imbued Haytian society has been with this degrading worship, it is perhaps not a matter of surprise how small is the influence of the clergy among the rural population. The Catholic priests are also comparatively few in number, dislike heartily the life in the interior, and are paid by the State. There is also little enthusiasm awakened by that rivalry which a successful Protestant Church would have brought forth.

There is no doubt but that the conduct of the clergy has been very much criticised in Hayti, and none, from the Archbishop downwards, have escaped the attention of the teller of merry anecdotes; but, as far as I could myself observe, their moral conduct, with very few exceptions indeed, was all that could be desired. At the same time they showed little enthusiasm, cared little for their congregations, were inclined to domineer, and preferred the comfort of their town-houses to missionary toils in the interior, and were persistently opposed to every liberal measure. Whilst I was in Port-au-Prince, a priest slapped a lady’s face in church for some error in ceremonial.

The priests of the ante-concordat period no doubt rendered the task of the new clergy as difficult as possible, first by their pernicious example, and then by their opposition; but Archbishop Guilloux has now completely cleared the island of them, and has established a respectable clergy in their place. His friends say that their influence is daily increasing throughout the republic.

The Protestants have not had much success in Hayti. The Episcopalians are represented by a bishop. Mr. Holly, a convert from Romanism and a black, was the first representative of that Church whom I met with in Port-au-Prince. He had many of the qualities which ensure a good reception. He had pleasant manners, was well educated, and was thoroughly in earnest; but the pecuniary support he received was so slight that he never could carry out his views. I believe that those who attend the Anglican services in the whole of Hayti number less than a thousand, and the majority of these are probably American and English coloured immigrants.

The Wesleyans had for their chief pastor Mr. Bird, who was an institution in Hayti. He had a very good school, and was highly respected. There are several chapels in different parts of the island, and I notice, in a recent consular return, that as many as 1400 attend the services. With other denominations combined, the Protestant population may be considered to amount to between 3000 and 4000.

When I first arrived in Hayti, and was curious as to the character of certain individuals, I was often struck by the reply, “Oh! he is an honest man, but then he is a Protestant,”—and this from Roman Catholics!

The Protestants are not yet in any way sufficiently numerous or influential to be a counterpoise to the Catholic clergy, and do not, therefore, incite the latter to exertion. I did suggest that the Protestant clergy should all join the Freemasons’ lodges, and be ready to perform the religious ceremonies required at funerals. It would have greatly increased their popularity and influence in the country; but I believe my advice was considered too worldly.

Divorce is another bone of contention between the Catholic clergy and the people. By the civil law divorce is recognised, and cases occur every year. The clergy denounce those who re-marry civilly as living in a state of concubinage, and much ill-feeling is the result.

Although, as I have before remarked, the Catholic clergy have greatly improved in conduct since the concordat, yet, in popular estimation, there is still something wanting. I have not forgotten the excitement caused by a song which a young Haytian (black) wrote on the subject. A very good-looking priest had at all events been indiscreet, and the Archbishop decided to banish him from the capital to a rural district. A deputation of females, early one morning, waited on Monseigneur to remonstrate, but he was firm, and then the song declared:—

As there was a certain amount of truth in the scandalous stories afloat, Monseigneur was very irritated with the author, and imprudently applied to Government to have him arrested. He was arrested, but his influential relatives soon procured his release, but under the condition of suppressing the song. Of course he was the hero of the hour, and his verses had a greater success than ever.

Although “the complete ascendancy of the Church of Rome is incompatible with liberty and good government,” yet it is a matter of regret that in Hayti the Roman Catholic priests have had so little success. Their task is no doubt difficult, and, under present circumstances, almost a hopeless one. They cannot cope with so vast a mass of brutal ignorance and gross superstition, and one of the best men among them used often to complain of the little assistance they received from what might be considered the enlightened classes. My friend Alvarez, the Spanish chargé d’affaires, was very indignant at the idea presented by a French author, Monsieur Bonneau, that Catholicism was incapable of contending with the Vaudoux worship; but there is no doubt that as yet nothing has had much influence in suppressing it.

The Roman Catholic Church, however, has been greatly reinforced since I left Hayti in 1877. It now counts as many as seventy priests, and had above 64,000 Easter communicants in 1863. How many of these were in secret followers of the Vaudoux?

To afford a special supply of priests for Hayti, the Archbishop Testard de Cosquer established in 1864 a Haytian seminary in Paris, to the support of which the Chambers in Port-au-Prince voted 20,000 francs a year. This allowance being irregularly paid, the seminary was closed, but was reopened by Monseigneur Guilloux, who obtained a yearly sum of 10,000 francs from the Haytian Government. It is perhaps needless to say that even this small amount is generally greatly in arrear.

There can be no doubt that Monseigneur Guilloux and his clergy are fighting a good fight in the cause of civilisation, but with such a Government and such a people their progress must be slow.

Education.

The following anecdote aptly illustrates the saying, Who shall teach the teachers? It is a custom in Hayti that in all schools, public as well as private, there shall be once a year a solemn examination in the presence of a commission appointed by Government. M. Seguy-Villevalien kept the best private school or college that Port-au-Prince had ever seen, and on the appointed day for the public examination the official commission arrived, and having been duly installed in the seats of honour, teachers and pupils presented themselves, and the work commenced. All went well till the exercises in orthography were nearly over, when unfortunately M. Villevalien turned to the president of the commission, a negro of the deepest dye, but a high Government functionary, and said, “Would you like to try the boys yourself?” “Certainly;” and various words were given, which were written down on the black-board to the satisfaction of all. At last the president gave the word “Pantalon,” and a smart boy carefully chalked it up. “Stop!” cried the sable chief, “there is a mistake in that spelling.” The master, the teachers, and the boys carefully scanned the word, and could detect no mistake. The black had a smile of conscious superiority on his lips. At length the master said, “I see no mistake, president.” “You don’t! Do you not know that it is spelt with an e—‘pentalon’?” After a severe glance at his pupils to prevent an explosion of laughter, my friend, perfectly equal to the occasion, answered, “It used to be spelt so, president, but the Academy has lately changed the mode, and it is now spelt with an a.” The courtesy and gravity of M. Villevalien’s manner was such that the president of the commission was quite satisfied and pleased with himself. He wrote a favourable report on the condition of the school. Had the almost uncontrollable laughter of the boys burst forth, what would have been the report? And yet this man was a leading spirit in his country, and thought fit for the highest offices, though he was as stupid as he was ignorant.

I arrived at the college just too late for this scene, but in time to hear the cheerful laughter of the boys, who, after the departure of the commission, made the playground ring with their merry jokes.

President Geffrard, whose term of office extended from January 1859 to February 1867, did more than any other chief to encourage education, and yet, even in his time, not more than one in ten of the children of school-age attended the educational establishments.

Major Stuart, in his report on Hayti for the year 1876, gives some statistical tables which show the state of these establishments in the year 1875, and little has changed since, so that his figures will sufficiently serve the purpose required. There were—

To these may be added the pupils in the private schools and in those of the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Cluny.

It is very difficult to test the results attained at the official schools, but I think, judging from my own experience in Hayti, that they are small indeed. Some of the commissions appointed to examine the scholars report favourably, but, after the example of Monsieur Pentalon, I put but little faith in these judgments.

In the official report for the year 1878 there is much shortcoming confessed, and the feeling after reading it is, that the majority of the teachers are incompetent, as all negligently-paid service must be. Good teachers will not remain in employment with salaries often six months in arrear, and only those who can find nothing else to do will carry on the schools. Negligence is the result, and negligence in the masters acts on the scholars, and their attendance is irregular; and the means of teaching are often wanting, as the money voted for the purchase of books goes in this revolutionary country for arms and powder. Parents, particularly negro parents, rarely appreciate the value of the knowledge to be acquired in schools, and are apt to send their children late and take them away early, in order to aid in the family’s support.

The best school in the country is the Petit Séminaire, conducted by priests—Jesuits, it is said, under another name. The head of the college in my time, and, I believe, to the present day, was Père Simonet, a very superior man, quite capable of directing the institution aright; and I have been informed that the favourable results of their system of education have been very marked. In September 1883 this establishment was directed by fifteen priests of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, and contained as many as 300 pupils.

The Sisters of Cluny have also an establishment near Port-au-Prince, where the daughters of the chief families of the capital receive their education, and their institution is well spoken of. I attended one of their examinations and school exhibitions, when recitals and acting by the young girls were the amusements afforded us. Some of the pupils appeared to be remarkably bright, and they acquitted themselves of their tasks in a very pleasing manner. Since I left Hayti, these establishments for girls have greatly increased in importance. There are now as many as sixty sisters, and twenty others called “Filles de la Sagesse,” who have established schools throughout the country, which in 1883 were attended by about 3000 pupils.

The Christian Brothers have also many schools dispersed throughout the country, principally, however, in the larger towns, which are fairly well attended. They are reported to have had also in 1883 as many as 3000 boys under tuition.

It is generally thought that the teaching in all these schools is not such as to develop the intellect of the pupils. As might have been expected, too much time is given to trifling with religious subjects, as teaching the girls an infinity of hymns to Mary, and to the study of the lives of the saints. Such, at least, was the complaint made to me by the relatives of the girls. Nothing appears to be able to avert the evil influence of the immodest surroundings of these schools. A gentleman told me that, entering a room where his nieces were sitting sewing, he heard them singing a most indecent song in Creole, probably quite innocent of the real meaning, and they told him that they had learnt it from the native servants at the school; whilst the pupils at the Petit Séminaire have often suffered from the utter depravity of some of the lower portion of the population.

In one of the official reports on the principal lyceum, the Minister of Public Instruction remarks:—“As regards studies, discipline of pupils and teachers, the national lyceum has fallen into a shameful state. It is to the superior direction that this abasement of the lyceum is in part to be attributed. It so far forgets itself, as to give to professors and pupils scandalous spectacles, which attest the disregard of propriety and of the most ordinary reserve that a teacher ought to observe in presence of early age and youth.”

By this account it would appear that the pupils have often but a poor example to imitate. I should have set down to political feeling this strong censure had I not known the lyceum in my time to have fallen very low indeed in public estimation.

Poor, however, as the education is that is given in Hayti, it is nevertheless an advance; and if ever revolutions cease and peace be kept for a few years, the Government may yet turn its attention to founding educational establishments on a solid basis. Of this, however, there is very little hope.

There are several private schools in Hayti. The best, as I have previously observed, was kept by the late M. Seguy-Villevalien. He had a very high opinion of the capacity of Haytian boys to learn, and he turned out some excellent scholars. His school, however, deteriorated in late years from his inability to secure superior teachers, arising first from parents not paying their school-bills, and secondly from the Government omitting to settle their accounts with him for the bursars. I mention this to show what a people the Haytians are. During the civil war in 1868 and 1869, M. Villevalien spent all his capital in supporting some dozens of boarders, whose parents were among the insurgents, and by his energy saved them from being drafted into the army. Yet when the war was over, few, if any, paid him what was due, or did it in depreciated paper, which was almost equivalent to not paying at all.

Education in Hayti is too often sacrificed to political exigencies, and a master of a high school is not chosen for his capacity, but for his political leanings.

We all noticed what has often been remarked in Africa, that negro boys, up to the age of puberty, were often as sharp as their coloured fellow-pupils; and there can be no doubt that the coloured boys of Hayti have proved, at least in the case of one of their number, that they could hold their ground with the best of the whites. Young Fénélon Faubert obtained the “prix d’honneur au grand concours” at Paris in rhetoric, “discours latin,” and only missed it the next year by unpardonable carelessness.

Some of the Haytian lads have the most extraordinary memories. M. Villevalien mentioned one to me who came to his school rather over the usual age. My friend took up a book on rhetoric and asked him a few questions, which were answered in the words of the author without an error; curious as to the extent of his proficiency, the schoolmaster kept turning page after page, and found, to his surprise, that the boy knew nearly the whole volume by heart. He then began to converse with him, and found, that although he could repeat his lesson perfectly, he did not really understand the sense of what he was repeating.

Whilst I was at Port-au-Prince the following affecting incident occurred:—Many families who have accumulated a certain amount of wealth by retail trade are desirous of having their children well educated, and therefore send them to France. A Haïtienne of this description placed her daughter at the Convent of the Sacré Cœur in Paris. After seven years’ residence there, she passed a few months with a French family, and saw a little society in the capital. She then returned to Port-au-Prince, was received at the wharf by a rather coarse-looking fat woman, whom her affectionate heart told her was her mother, and accompanied her home. Here she found a shop near the market-place, where her mother sold salt pork and rum by retail; the place was full of black men and women of the labouring class, who were, as usual, using the coarsest language, and who pressed round to greet her as an old acquaintance. Traversing the shop, she found herself in a small parlour, and here she was destined to live. Her mother was doing a thriving trade, and was always in the shop, which was a receptacle of every strong-smelling food, whose odours penetrated to the parlour. There the young girl sat within earshot of the coarse language of the customers. What a contrast to the severe simplicity of the convent, the kindness of the nuns, the perfect propriety! and add to this the recollection of the society she had seen in Paris! She was but a tender plant, and could not stand this rude trial, and sickened and died within the first two months. At her funeral many speeches were made, and the doctor who had attended her, whilst declaring that she died of no special malady, counselled parents not to send their children to be educated in Europe, unless, on their return, they could offer them a suitable home. No wonder, under these circumstances, that every educated Haytian girl desires to marry a foreigner and quit the country.

The well-known lawyer, Deslandes, objected to Haytian children being sent to Paris for their education, as likely to introduce into the country French ideas and sympathies, and thus imperil their independence.

At the present time education must be completely neglected, as the whole attention of the country is devoted to mutual destruction.

Justice.

My first experience of a court of justice in Hayti was a political trial. Four of the most respectable and respected inhabitants of Port-au-Prince were to be tried for their lives on a charge of conspiracy against the government of President Geffrard. My colleagues and I decided to be present. On approaching the courthouse, we saw a considerable crowd collected and some military precautions taken. Forcing our way through to some reserved seats, we found ourselves in a perfectly plain room,—a dock on the left for the prisoners, opposite to them the jury seats, behind a table for three judges, and a tribune for the public prosecutor.

After a few preliminaries, the trial began with a violent denunciation of the accused by the public prosecutor—a stuggy, fierce-looking negro with bloodshot eyes, named Bazin, who thought he best performed his duty by abuse. As one of the prisoners was a lawyer, all the bar had inscribed their names as his defenders, and they showed considerable courage in the task they had undertaken. On the least sign of independence on their part, one after the other was ordered to prison, and the accused remained without a defender.

The principal judge was Lallemand, of whom I have elsewhere spoken as combining gentleness with firmness; but he could scarcely make his authority respected by Bazin, the military termagant who led the prosecution. He browbeat the witnesses, bullied the jury, thundered at the lawyers, and insulted the prisoners. He looked like a black Judge Jeffreys. At last his language became so violent towards the audience, of whom we formed a part, that the diplomatic and consular corps rose in a body and left the court. I never witnessed a more disgraceful scene.

I may add that the prisoners were condemned to death; but we interfered, and had their sentence commuted to imprisonment, which did not last long; whilst their black persecutor, seized by some insurgents the following year, was summarily shot.[17]

This experience of the working of the trial-by-jury system did not encourage frequent visits to the tribunals, and afterwards I rarely went, except when some British subject was interested.

In the capital are the court of cassation, the civil and commercial courts, and the tribuneaux de paix; and in the chief towns of the departments similar ones, minus the court of cassation. In fact, as far as possible, the French system has been taken as a model. The form is there, but not the spirit.

The statistical tables connected with this subject have been very fully worked out in Major Stuart’s very interesting Consular Reports for 1876 and 1877. Here I am more concerned in describing how justice is administered. I may at once say that few have any faith in the decisions of the courts; the judges, with some bright exceptions, are too often influenced by pecuniary or political considerations, and the white foreigner, unless he pay heavily, has but slight chance of justice being done him.

In the police courts they know their fate beforehand. During my stay in Port-au-Prince foreigners avoided them, but sometimes they had unavoidably to appear. An elderly Frenchman was summoned before a juge de paix for an assault upon a black. The evidence was so much in favour of the white that even the Haytian magistrate was about to acquit him, when shouts arose in different parts of the court, “What! are you going to take part with the white?” and the Frenchman was condemned. So flagrant an abuse of justice could not be passed over, and the authorities, afraid to have the sentence quashed by a superior tribunal, allowed the affair to drop without demanding the fine.

An American black came one day to Mr. Byron, our Vice-Consul, and said he had been accused of stealing a box of dominoes from his landlady, and asked him to accompany him to court to see justice done him. Mr. Byron, knowing the man to be respectable, did so. The accuser stated that whilst sitting at her door talking to a neighbour, she saw her lodger put the box of dominoes into his pocket and walk off with it. She made no remark at the time, but next day accused him. The man denied having touched the box. The magistrate, however, observed, “She says she saw you; you can’t get over that,”—and had not Mr. Byron remarked that the prisoner’s word was as good as the accuser’s, being at least as respectable a person, he would instantly have been sent to prison.

A remarkable trial was that of two brothers, who were accused of having murdered a Frenchman, their benefactor. The evidence against them appeared overwhelming, and their advocate, a thorough ruffian, was at a loss for arguments to sustain the defence. At last he glanced round the crowded court, and then turned to the jury with a broad grin and said, “Après tout, ce n’est qu’un blanc de moins.” The sally produced a roar of laughter, and the prisoners were triumphantly acquitted by the tribunal, but not by public opinion; and the people still sing a ditty of which the refrain is, I think, “Moué pas tué p’tit blanc-là,”—“I did not kill that little white man.”

In 1869, among about fifty political refugees that lived for months in the Legation was one of the accused. I was standing watching him play draughts with another refugee, who did not know the name of his opponent, and he kept humming the song about the murder, and every time he made a move he repeated the refrain, “Moué pas tué p’tit blanc-là.” I noticed his opponent getting paler and paler. At last he pushed aside the board, started to his feet, and said, “Do you wish to insult me?” We were all surprised, when a friend called me aside and told me the story of the trial.

Though more attention has since been paid to words, the spirit of the old saying remains—that the whites possess no rights in Hayti which the blacks are bound to respect.

In civil cases bribery of the judges is notorious, and the largest or the most liberal purse wins. Most persons carefully avoid a lawsuit, and prefer submitting to injustice.

The judges, curiously enough, are rarely selected from among the lawyers. The Government can appoint any one it pleases, and as these posts are awarded for political services, those selected consider that the appointments are given to enable them to make their fortunes as rapidly as possible. As the pay is small, their wives often make it an excuse to keep shops and carry on a retail trade; but the fact is that the Haïtienne is never so happy as when behind a counter.

The active bar of Port-au-Prince is composed of very inferior men. I often heard my friend Deslandes address the courts. He was at the summit of his profession, and to have him for your advocate was popularly supposed to secure the success of your cause. And yet I heard this eloquent and able advocate, as he was called, whilst defending an Englishman charged with having criminally slain an American negro, drop the legitimate argument of self-defence, and weary his audience for a couple of hours trying to prove that the Englishman was an instrument of Divine Providence to rid the world of a ruffian. Naturally the Englishman was condemned.

Whilst in court the lawyers surround themselves with heaps of books, and continually read long extracts from the laws of the country, or—what they greatly prefer—passages from the speeches of the most celebrated French advocates; whether they explain or not the subject in hand is immaterial. I have often heard my French colleagues say that they have tried in vain to discover what these extracts had to do with the case in point. Few of these lawyers bear a high character, and they are freely accused of collusion, and of other dishonest practices. Unhappy is the widow, the orphan, or the friendless that falls into their hands. Many of my Haytian friends have assured me that, though they had studied for the bar, they found it impossible to practise with any hope of preserving their self-respect. No doubt the bar of Hayti contains some honest men, but the majority have an evil reputation.

The laws of Hayti are not in fault, as they are as minutely elaborate as those of any other country, and the shelves of a library would groan beneath their weight. Had M. Linstant Pradine been able to continue the useful publication he commenced—a collection of the laws of Hayti—it was his design to have united in a regular series all the laws and decrees by which his country was supposed to be governed.

Though a few young men of good position have studied for the legal profession in France, yet the majority of the members of the bar are chosen among the lawyers, clerks, and others who have studied at home. A board is appointed to examine young aspirants. It consists of two judges and three lawyers; and if the young men pass, they each receive a certificate of qualification, countersigned by the Minister of Justice. After this simple process they can open an étude on their own account.

One of the greatest difficulties of the diplomatic and consular officers in all these American republics is to obtain prompt and legal justice for their countrymen. Although the juge d’instruction ought to finish his work at the utmost in two months, prisoners’ cases drag on, and as the law of bail is unknown, they may be, and have been, confined for years before being brought to trial.

The President of the republic names the justices of the peace and their deputies, the judges of the civil and criminal courts, the courts of appeal, and the members of the court of cassation. All but the first-named judges are irremovable according to the constitution; but revolutionary leaders are not apt to respect constitutions, and during President Domingue’s time his Ministers upset all the old legal settlements. The last constitution, that of 1879, permitted the President to remove judges for the space of one year, in order that the friends of the Administration should be appointed to carry out their destined work.

It would be perhaps useless to describe in detail the other legal arrangements in Hayti, as they are founded on French precedents.