The National Register.
London, England, 1816-08-11 00:00:00

DISTRESSES in !ie COUNTRY.

EXTRACT Or A LETTER FROM RILSTOX, DATED A UO. 4.

" The distress, Sir, is beyond every thing that has
been described. Imagination -steed not be called to our
: plain cast-;,asessts Of feet, of tl,.ings as they really are,
are beyond measure affecting. Having received .51. for
distribution from a benevolent individual (whose name I
should rejoice to publish, did I not fear incurring his dis-
pleasure), the whole of which I distributed in bread, I
called at a cottage near me. and met the wife of the cot-
tager with a spade in her hand ; and I asked her what
she was going to do with it e She replied,' to sell it, Sir ;
it is one of the last things we could apace ; hut I cannot
see my children perishing for want of bread while we
have any thing that would purchase They shall not
want (1 eagerly eselaimedl ; I have brought yen succour ;God
has raised up friends for you ; we shall yet see better times:—
I presented her with two loaves. Astonishment was fixed on
her comiteuauce, and the tears of _latitude silently found their
way down her cheeks. She could but feebly articulate her
thanks. I then called at another cottage ; the father of the fa-
mily that itiliabited it had been dashed to pieces in one of the
pits, a Neck or tar) before. I presented the widow with two
loaves. oven (said she) has sent you here this morning ;
we should to-day have wanted bread, had it nut been for your
kind visit; our stock was all gone.' I called at a third; there
were nine children ; the little habitation was divided into two
rooms by a rue suspended in the middle; the afflicted father
was on a rough eutteb tin one side.aed the mother nu the other.
Famine and Sickness bad taken up their abode with them. It
was a scene of such complicated wretche Ines as I had never
hethre beheld. In ;twister to the inquiry, is your mother at
home?' a hand scarcely any thing hut skin and bone was es-
ti tided, gently drew aside the rug, and in a very feeble voice
whispered • yes.' I told her I was come to bring her starving
family a little relief; the intelligence was too much for her fee-
ble frame; she fell almost lifeless on her pillow. Otte little ta-
ble, two chairs, and two miserable beds, witil the rug that di-
vided the cottage, was the whole of their furniture. 1 know,
Sir, that other districts are iu distress ; but our sorrows are of
an earlier date, and conseiptently of longer standing, than those
of any other county. Before the peeve was concluded, oar
staple manufacture —our iron-works began to fail ; and without
help the pressure on our neighboarhood is insupportable. Stich,
indeed, is the misery that prevails, that I am thoroughly per.
snaded the district would be no longer habitable, were it not
for the general attention that bras been paid by men (Mall deno-
minations, and people of all ranks, to the education of the poor.
The little information that has been given has softened their
manners, and awakened them to discern some of those great ties
that hind society together, and which they know it mould be in-
famy to tear asunder. I know, sir, find many will say., it is of
no avail to afford temporary aid. What! is not holt a half bet-
ter time no bread? Is bread for to-day of no value• because
we know not whence we may receive a supply to-morrow Is
it then absolutely impossible, it you save your fellow•mcature
to-day from perishing, that any event shall occur to-morrow for
his permanent relief? For my (milpillt, from what I have seen
and heard, distressed as our motility undoubtedly r, my expec-
tations rise high. An active Magistrate in our district lateh.
suggested, that if a gtateral sanction was given to the use ut
gaslights, it would do much in aid of our iron-manufactories ;
and that if our coals were allowed a free competition with the
Newcastle coals in the Metropolis. multitudes would be perm:l-
ucidly ciorloyasi who are stow tit a starving condition."

PRiez 9'd.

ST. DOMINGO, Olt HAYTI.
The following particulars respecting this Nand, are
taken from the letter of a traveller, dated the 16th of
June, 1816:

" When a vessel arrives in the harhonr of Capc Henr•,
no person is permitted to land until the ship has heel' visited l
a boat from the shore. Shortly after our corning to anchor,
therefore, the visiting boat came off to us, with a military Offi-
cer, an interpreter, &c. Their appearance was by no mean*
prepossessing ; their dress consisted pt' wide checked trowsers,
with hoots above them. a long blue coat, faced with red, and
out at elbows, while a huge cocked hat. bit. a red feather, at
least two feet long, and a dragoon sabre by their side, gave to
their black faces a very formidab'e appearance. They were,
however, very polite, inquired the news from Europe, swallowed
cheese, ham, &c. by the lamp, washing all down with wine, air,
and porter; they then conducted the Captain and all the par
sengers to the Governor, the Duc tk Marmalade, a black nate,
about GO years of age, a native of Africa, mild in his manners.
and exceedingly well liked Loth by natives and foreigners. He
merely inquired our names and business, took all our letters,
papers, &c. in order to have them translated for his Nlsjrh•,
and then ordered us to wait on Baron Dirpity, a man of colunr,
about 30, Private Secretary to the King, and reckoned a seemws
Talleyrand. Ile certainly looks a man of address. 1 was at:
terwards introduced to Prince John, the King's son, who is a
good young man, but has no abilities. I was, however, much
pleased with him, and received many kindnesses front him.
" On one who has seen Negroes and coloured people only la
the degraded situation in which they are in the Colonies, it has
a singular effect when be goes among them where they only
have command and control ; and, although from toy short rest.
Bence in this quat ter vi the world, and tioin my general feel.
ings towards them, as a people who are and have been cruelly
and unjustifiably ill used, still I felt something like an ill na.
timed contempt for their assuming an authority over me. The
desolation which surrounds you in the town of Cape Hem y
serves to keep alive this feeling, and is, on first lambus:, per-
haps, the most impressive scene leser IA ituessed. It fat merly
contained GO or 70,000 inhabitants, built upon a plain, in the
most regular order, all the streets intersecting each other at
light angles, and miming in straight lines E. and W. and N.
and S. The buildings have been uniformly elegant. Pictui e
to yourself sach a place—the houses completely sacked, and
only the outward walls and balconies remaining,—trees and
shrubs growing wi .hin and upon the walls—and grass grossing
upon the streets—and you have something almost as melancholy
as the appearance of Cape Henry.
"To eoinnletn the oieture_ however_ •eu must ronprivo

blazing snit, and the lively verdure all around, and something
SO impressively sad in the appeal ance of the partial occupation
of the ruined houses, a hich hero and there contain a family- of
lilac/ s or Mulattoes, that words cannot convey any adegnate
description of the scene. You are coutinually reminded that
others than those, you now see in a coiner of what ha • been
princely mansion, raised it and dwelt in it ; and, tier Wight %nn
can tell, the vets persons a ho now huddle up in one corner of
it, may have cut the throats of the burner owners. The houses
of the few English and Americans resident are exceptions to
this, as are also the few occupied by the Nobility. These have
been completely repaired. and just serve to skew how splendid
a place it mast have been when all the others were in the same
state. The sane description will apply to the country. I had
an opportunity of travelling from Goodie°, acrms to the Cape,
a distance of 60 or 7/1 miles. On every side I could ate the
ruins of fine plantations : and from the appearance of the rains-
try, I have little doubt but the assertion of the French is cur.
rect, ' that their possession in St. Domingo were once worth
all the Colonies in the West Indies.' I had no opportunity of
seeing Christopher, which I was sorry fur; but he kept himself
so aloof from the Cape, that I might have continued there theee►
months without his being once ill it.
"'The following authentic particulars of his character t ty
convey to yon a livelier idea of him than mere description o.
person, which, by-the-bye. I have been told is the elegant it ',•
del of an Hercules. In battle lie is brave to desperatimi : has
courage rising with danger. Ile bus been seen in the heat ot
an engagement, animated with the fury of a tiger, raging ami
foaming through all his ranks. He is rev ettgeful beyend mea-
sure. Ha had a regiment commanded by a coloured man,
which went over to Patton. The moment lie was apprised of
the circumstance, he ordered a massacre of all the coloured wo-
men in his dominions • and not even to waste powder on them.
I was shown several places where numbers of those unfortunate
females were butchered ;many were hid there by the relative!
till the Airy abated, and I have had the particulars of their es-
cape from the lips of two or three. They still live in great
dread; and some who are even u ealthy would gladly abandon
all and en any where to get out of his ppWer, ahem they hate,
but never name. He is extravagant in Ins notions of gnu:deur.
and proud as Lacit.er himself; severe as a tyrant towards those
of his own colour, and who are his subjects, at the same time
rigidly enforein4 the laws, and protecting Ate-augers who respect
them. In no country in Elam), are duties and customs so
zidlv e•acted, or illicit trade so completely presented. Add •
to this that I travelled in the interior of the country, where nut
a white face is to lie seen, with as much security as I coal
done im any part of Great Britain. This is nut to /
without a passport signed by hims-lf. No stranger is ,
to go a howbeit yards beyon-f the harriers of the Cape
permission. Ido nut think, however, that his Clovernmem
lie of long duration. He is so much the tyrant, that he
have many enenues among his seeming friends ; besides,
himself a usurper, and engrossing all the riches of the cos
and applying them often foolishly. and without advice, n
aurally inspire those about him with tuitions dangerous
safety. His personal character is so well knew n, that
a ill atteinpt any thing against him till they Joe vine to
him. At all events, I conceive Petion must eventually
aloe him. His character is an opposite to christophu's in at.
,bat is good, that his success Sill NM the country.

19

mid
be done
allowed
without ; : .
went will
he lowa 1
. . 0,
les, ['dog Alp t. I pip,
cumitry,
le%t
%.111 - I
to hie .11
that DOW.
1,1 lia% •
Ily O%rt, •
in AL