Hayti; or, The black republic.

by Sir Spenser St. John

In giving these figures, Mr. Madion adds (“Histoire d’Haïti,” vol. i. p. 29) that the planters, in order not to have to pay the full capitation-tax, omitted from their return of slaves all the children, as well as those over forty-five years of age, so that at least 200,000 should be added to those in servitude, among whom were 15,000 coloured of both sexes. Up to 1847 Mr. Madion considered that the population had neither increased nor decreased. Deducting the whites, there would remain about 750,000.

Mr. Mackenzie, in his “Notes on Hayti,” vol. ii., discusses the question of population, but the tables he inserts in his work vary so greatly that no reliance can be placed on them. In one, the population in 1824 of the French portion of the island is stated to be 351,716; in another, given in full detail as to each district, it is put at 873,867, whilst he adds that Placide Justin had previously estimated the population at 700,000, and General Borgella, a good authority, stated it at a million. It is evident that no one had very precise data on which to found an estimate.

During the struggle between the French and the coloured races, the whole of the whites were either driven out of the country or killed, and some slaves were exported to Cuba and the United States. What remained, therefore, of the two other sections constituted the population of the empire of Dessalines.

During the Presidency of General Geffrard (1863), I heard him remark, that from the best official information he could get, the population had increased to over 900,000. This estimate must be largely founded on conjecture. The negro race is undoubtedly prolific, and in a hundred years ought to have more than doubled—nay, in so fertile a country, with unlimited supplies of food, more than quadrupled its population. The losses during the war of independence were considerable, as there was no mercy shown by either side, and the sanguinary strife lasted many years. The long civil war between Pétion and Christophe was kept up during the whole reign of the latter, but probably did not cost the country so many lives as the building of the great mountain-fortress of La Ferrière and the handsome palace of Sans Souci. During the Presidency of Boyer, lasting twenty-five years, there was peace, and ample time was given, for the population to make up for all previous losses; but after his departure came the wars with Santo Domingo and civil strife.

All these causes, however, would only have slightly checked population. If you ask a Haytian how it is that his country remains comparatively so thinly peopled, he will answer that the negresses take but little care of their children, and that at least two-thirds die in infancy. After reading the chapter on Vaudoux worship and cannibalism, I fear some of my readers may come to another conclusion. I cannot, however, think that these fearful excesses can be carried to the extent of greatly checking the increase of population. That the negresses are careless mothers is highly possible, and in the interior there are few, if any, medical men to whom they can apply in case of need.

After carefully examining every document on the subject which came before me, and noting the state of those portions of the country through which I have passed, and comparing all the information I received during my twelve years’ stay, I have come to the conclusion that the population has greatly increased, probably doubled, since 1825. All the old residents appear to be of the opinion that the Haytian is lazier than ever, and many intelligent natives decidedly hold that view; and yet we find that the exports and imports have doubled in quantity during this period, which can only be accounted for by a very great increase in the population. It is possible, however, that the augmentation is much less than it should have been.

Either on account of losses from warlike operations, or more probably by diseases produced from the greater excesses of the men, the female population is much larger than that of the male. Some go so far as to say there are three women to one man; others, two-thirds females. I am myself inclined to fix it at about three-fifths. The great disproportion in the amount of the women has often been observed among the negro tribes on the coast of Guinea. In Hayti there is no emigration to account for the disproportion; in fact, the movement of population has been the other way, and many recruits arrive from the United States and the European colonies in the West Indies.

The population is generally supposed to consist of at least nine-tenths black to one-tenth coloured, and that the coloured is decidedly more and more approaching the black type. It is natural that, continually breeding in and in, they should gradually assimilate to the more numerous race. As a rule, the coloured population may be said to reside chiefly in the towns and villages.

Mackenzie speaks of some Maroon negroes who lived in the mountains near La Selle in the north-eastern district of Hayti, and held no intercourse with the other inhabitants, but fled at their approach. They were doubtless the descendants of fugitive slaves. When we paid a visit to the mountain above referred to, we heard the peasantry speaking of these people, but it appeared more of a tradition than an ascertained fact. They call them the Vien-viennent, from their cry on seeing strangers. From what is told of their being seen in the deep woods at midnight dancing and going through certain ceremonies, it is probable that these strange people were only sectaries of the Vaudoux worship practising their African rites.

The vexed question as to the position held by the negroes in the great scheme of nature was continually brought before us whilst I lived in Hayti, and I could not but regret to find that the greater my experience the less I thought of the capacity of the negro to hold an independent position. As long as he is influenced by contact with the white man, as in the southern portion of the United States, he gets on very well. But place him free from all such influence, as in Hayti, and he shows no signs of improvement; on the contrary, he is gradually retrograding to the African tribal customs, and without exterior pressure will fall into the state of the inhabitants on the Congo. If this were only my own opinion, I should hesitate to express it so positively, but I have found no dissident voice amongst experienced residents since I first went to Hayti in January 1863.