The National Register.
London, England, 1816-08-12 00:00:00

DISTRESSLS•in the COUNTRY.

EXTRACT OF OF A LETTER FROM BILSTON, DATED AFC,. e.
" The distress, Sir, is beyond every, thing that has
been described. Imagination need not be called to our
aid: plain statements of fact, of things 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-
tagcr with a spade in her hand ; and -I asked her what
she was going to do with it ? She replied, ' to sell it, Sir;
it is one of the last things we could spare ; but I cannot
sec my children perishing for want of bread while we
have any thing that would pure ase it.'—` They shall not
want (1 eagerly eseliiimed) ; I ha . brought you succour ;God
has raised up friends for you ; w ball yet sec better tiiiies.'—
I presented her with two loaves Astonishment was fixed on
her countenance, and the tears ratitudc silently found their
way down her cheeks.. She e d hut feebly articulate he
r
thanks. I then called at anoth 'cottage ; this father of the fa-
mily that inhabited it hat been Isbell to pieces in one of the
pits, a week or two before. I presented the widow with two
loaves. ' Heaven (said she) has sent yon he! e this morning ;
we should to-day have wanted bread, had it net 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 rug Amip..l)(lcd io the middle; the afflicted ;attic'
was on a roue!, couch on one side,arid the mother on the other.
Famine and sicknia. had taken up their abode with them. It '
was a scene °lsm+ complicated wretchedness as I had never
befere be held. In answer to the inquiry, 'is your mother at
home?' a hand scarcely any thing but skin and bone was ex-
tended, gently drew aside the rug, anti in a very feeble coke
whispered' yes.' I told her I was come to bring her starving
fainity a little relief ; the intelligence WWI too much for her fee-
ble triune ; slse fish almost lifeless on her pillow. One tittle ta-
ble, two chairs, and two miserable beds, with the rug that di-
vided the cotter., was the whole of their furniture. I know,
Sir, that other districts are in disusess; but :''ii sorrows are of
an earlier date, and consequently of longer. tanding, than those
of any other comity. Detour the pc;:! , was concluded. our
staple manufacture--our iron-works began to fad; and without
help the pressure on our neighbourhood is insupportable. Suds,
indeed, is the misery that prevails, that I sin thoroughly per-
suaded the district would be ha 44112t.r habitable, were it not
for the genei al attention that has been paid by men of all demo-
lineations, and people of all ranks, to the education of the poor.
'Flee little inturmation, that has been given has softened their
manners, and awakened them to discern some of those great ties
that bind society ton. her, and whiekthey know it would be in-
famy to tear Runnier. I know, Sir, that many will say, it is of
no avail to afford temporary aid. What! is not half a luqf bet-
ter than no in cad? Is bread for to-day of no value, because
we know not whence we may receive a supply to-morrow? Is
it then absollitely inipossilite, it you save your fellow-eicature
to-day from perishiug, that any event stall occur to-morrow for
his permanent relief? For toy 'iwn part, from v. hat I leaet.,go„,
I and heard, distressed as our einiiitry nioloohteilly is, city expee-
-1 lations rise high. An active alagistiate in our distuct.
suggebtcd, that If a gencsal sanction was given to
~0,4. t. 114
gas-fights. it mullet do much to aid or our iron-m4nuractories ;
and that it our coals were ifflcesed a lice competition with the
Newcastle Coals in the Metro4✓ni4, multitudes would he perwa-
needy employed who are now is a starving condition.'

ST: DOMINGO, OR 114

PRICE 9i4L

The following particulars respecting this Island, are
taken from the letter of a travellet, dated the 16th of•
June, 1816:

" When a vessel arrives in the harbour of Cape Henry,_
no person is permitted to land until the ship has i een visited by
a boat from the shore. Shortly after our COIIIIII4 I'll anchor,
therefore, the visiting boat came off to us, with a military Offi-
cer, all interpreter, dec. Their appearance was by no nicams
prepossessing ; their dress consisted of wide checked trowsers,
with bouts above them. a long blue coat, faced .witli red, and
out at elbows, while a huge cocked hat, with a red feather, at
least two feet long, and a dragoon sabre by their side, gave to
their black faces a very formidable appearance. They were,
however, very polite, inquired the news from Europe, swallowed •
cheese, ham, etc. by the lump, washing all down with wine, gin,
and porter; they then conducted the Captain and all the pas-
sengers to the Governor, the Doc de Marmalade, a black man,
about 00 years ef age, a native of Africa, mild in his manners,
and exceetlingly well liked both by natives and foreigners. He
merely inquired oar names and business, took all our letters,
papers, sec. in order to have them translated for his Majesty,
and then ordered us to wait on Baron Dainty, a man of colour,
about 50, Private Secretary to the King, and reckoned a second
Talleyrand. He certainly looks a man of address. I was af-
terwards introdnced 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 nosy kindnesses front hitn.
"On one who has seen Negroes an coloured people only to
the degraded situation in which they-ate in the Colonies, it has -
a singular effect when he goes ainonststhem where they only
have command and cornet ; and, altho,tgk troll ally short resi-
dence in :his quarter of the world, and from my general•feel-
logs towards them, as a people who are and have been (weeny
amid unjustifiably ill used, still I felt something like at ill na-
tured contempt for their assenting an authority over me. The
els-sedation which surrounds you in the town of Cape Henry
serves to keep alive this feeling, and is, on first landing, per•
Laps the most impressive scene I ever witnessed. It formeri•
continued GO or 70,900 inlisidtants, built upon a plain, in the
most regular order, all the streets intersecting:each other at
right angles, and mulling in straight lines E. and W. and N.
and S. The huildius base heel; uniformly elegant. Picture
to yosrself such a place—the houses completely sacked, and .
only the outward walls and balconies remaining—trees and
shrubs growing within and upon the walls—and grass growing
upon the streets —miasma hate something almost as melancholy
as the appearance of Cape Henry.
" complete the picture, bon ever, you most conceive a
climate iiniforinly serene, a kind of splendour in Me bright
blazing -um and the lit ely t erditre all around, end something
so impressively sad in the appearance of tles partial occupation
of the rained houses, which here and there coutaia a family of
BlacS s or hlulattosss that K ord. cannot convey any adequate
description of the scene. You arc eontinually.reminded that
others than those, yO3 ,now see in at corner of what has been a
princely mansion, raised it and dwelt in it; and, for aught you
cars tell, the very persons who now huddle up in ants earner of
it, may have cut the throats of the former °trams. The house.
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 lutist hate been when all the others were in the same
state. The same description will apply to the country. I had
an opportunity of travelling from Gonaives across to the Cape,
a distance of ASO or 70 miles. On every side I could see-the
ruins Wane plantations : and from the appearance of the roan- -
try, I have little doubt but the assertion of the Fiend] is cor-
rect, ' that their possessions in St. Domingo were once worth
all the Colonies in the West Indies.' I had no opportunity of
seeing Olvistopke, wlllell ' was soles. for ; hilt he kept himself
so aloof fr4in the Cape, that I might has e continued there three
months without his being once in it.
" The following authentic particulars of his chatacter may
convey to you a livelier idea (Whim than mere description ofhis
person, ss hich, by-the-bye, I have beta told is tits elegant mo-
del of an Hercules. In battle lie is bras r to desperation ; his -
courage rising with danger. He has been seen in the heat of
an engattement, animated with the fury of a tiger, raging:mid
foaming through all his ranks. He is ref engetul heyond mea-
sure. Ha had a regiment commanded by a coloured man, .
wllich sent over to Petion. The mienwit he was apprised of
the circumstance, he ordeied a massaese of all the coksined wo-
men in his dominions ; and not evemlo waste powder on theta.
I was sheash several places where numbers of thosennti itunatc
females were butchered ; many were hid there by the relative*
till the fury abated, and 1 have had the particulars of tht it es- •
cape ti be lips of two or three. They still live in greet •
dread sad sonic who are es cu wealthy would gladly abandon
all and go any scheme to get oat of his power, whom they hate,
but never name. lie is extravagant in his notions of grandeur,
and aloud as Lucifer himself; severe as a tyrant tura:nate those
of his own colour, and who are his subjects, at tar same time
rigidly criforein; the lases.and protecting strangeres silty respect
them. In no country in Europe are duties and customs so ri-
gidly exaetetl, or illicit unite so completely prevented. Add -
to this that I travelled in she interior of the a: try, where not .
a white face is to be seen, with as much security :is 1 could have
done in any part of Groat Britain. This. is not to be done -
without a passport signed by himself. -No stranger is allowed
to go a I dred yards beyond the harriers of the Cape without
permission Ido not think, however, that his Government will
he of long duration. He is so mock the tyrant, that he must
have many enemies among his staining friends ; besides, being
himself a usurper, and engrossing all the riches of the country.
and ;olds ing them otien foolishly, and without advice, will na
-walls inspire those about him with mamas dangerous to his
Wets,. His personal character is so well know'', that none
will attempt any thing against him till they are sure to have
hint. At all events, I conceive Petion .mitst eveuttially over-
t•ome him. Has character is PO opposite to tairistopncs in all
that is good, that his success sill .Alibi",