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 28 mB LuZ r






 CHAPTER III.

The diverse elements of the population of Hanii The blacks, the whites
 the mulattoecs; immorality and aereitude.

T HE larg,- black population of Hayti was of African origin.
 Stolen from their native land, they were transplanted inJ
the island to become beasts of burden. The slati--trade was
then at its height. Nations and individuals who stood at the
head of the civilized world, and pri..-dl thtmsit4-lir in the name,
of Christian, were not asham:l1 to trallic in the bodies and soula
of their fllow-m-.n. Threo hundrv4lr vitsels, empljyedl every
year in thit detestable trallic. ,pralad robbery, conflagration, and
carnage over the :,astsi and thl. lauds i(f A'riea. Eighty thou-,
sand menI, women, and children, torn Irom their hones, were
loaded with chains, and thrown into the holds of ships, a prey
to desolation and despair. In vain had the laws and usagje of
Africa, less unjust than thotse of Christian countries, Iorinidden
the sale of men born in slavery pe-rmilling the- uutrag,- only in
the case of per'-oNI taken in war,.:,r ,suh a- L-Il l i- thLir liberty
by death or .rinim. Cupidily ireattd ain e.r-,.-win. d Jemand;
tho price of luman ,i-,h r.,, in the nmark;[r, thei re-uire. suap-
ply Iollowed. The iAfrican prin':,., .iraitr. n with lth.- lo,.e of
lucre, disregarde-d th.- tetablihetbd liitation and Ibr thiir owu
bad purposes multiplied the caurLes whikh entailed the I,~.l of lib-
erty. Proceeding fntm a less to a gri-ater wrong, bhey under-
took wars espre.sly lur the purpose of gaining capti'ves for the
slave mart; and when still the demand went on increasing, they
became wholerale r...bbers of men, andl siz,.d a village. or
scoured a d;-tri, t. From trh coasts thel di'vatation -priad into
the interior. A regularly organized sy-tVm tamin iito opera-
tion, which constantly sent to the sea--horu thousands of inno-






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