slave in St. Kitts, swayed his bloody sceptre over the north, the people of the south, among whom I was staying, feared and hated him, and disputed his power 'vi et armis;' and that a regiment of soldiers having been won over by him turned traitors to their fellow-citizens, took to the mountains, and kept this whole district in an uproar for many years, having been subdued only three or four years before my arrival among them. Had I possessed all this information, I could better have understood the murderous visages and tigerish looks which I saw every day; not that they were universal, for the town's-people were many of them worthy, peaceable citizens; and the most ferocious had doubtless been killed off in their sanguinary wars.

There were in the employ of the House some twenty American blacks, who formed part of a considerable emigration which came to the Island from Philadelphia and New-York in 1824. Those whom I saw came principally from Bucks County, (Penn.,) and were by far the best blacks I ever met with. They had in their number several preachers, as Bradford, Robinson, Legrow, etc., and were well-behaved, industrious men, many having large families. They had been induced to emigrate by specious stories of the lands they would receive, and the great crops of coffee and sugar they would raise: but they soon found their mistake. If they had been fairly treated by the Government, and kindly received by the natives, they would have proved a valuable acquisition. They soon found that they could get no title-deeds to land without living upon it a certain number of years, and they accepted it on such conditions; but instead of being cordially received by the country negroes, the latter seem to have entertained for them a downright hatred. They stole every thing they could lay their hands on, and the major part of their victims were driven into the towns to keep themselves from starving, where they now live as day-laborers. A few individuals have persevered in the country, but they have great difficulty in getting a title to their land, for which piece of imposition the Government should take shame and confusion of face to itself.

The bloody scenes of which the Island was the theatre for so long a period have destroyed all congeniality of feeling between the Haytien black and his American brethren; or it may be that they are from different stocks. Were the Africans of the French and Spanish colonies from the same districts with those of the English? I believe the fact to be, that they all went to the same marts indiscriminately, and that the slave who is picking coffee in Brazil may have had a brother in Carolina gathering rice, or in the cane-fields of Cuba or Jamaica, or cutting throats to-day and smothered in a sulphur ship to-morrow, in St. Domingo.

The triumph of the Haytien blacks over their masters has rendered them audacious; and their half-rustic half-military mode of life has produced a lawlessness of feeling and conduct, which is inconceivable to those who have only seen the African in a state of servitude or submission. They look upon our blacks with undisguised contempt; while the peaceable disposition of the latter only lays him open to every species of imposition. Several of them went upon the estate of a mulatto woman, the widow of a revolutionary general. She was notorious for her wicked character. They took the act' as it is called, or bound themselves to work the plantation on shares for a term of years. After suffering every kind of ill treatment, they broke their contract in a body, and moved into the town where they lived a year or two, the old woman using every inducement to prevail upon them to return to her lands, where they might raise produce for her, and be cheated themselves. They resolutely refused to go, until at last she got authority to send a guard of soldiers after them to escort them. I saw the soldiers when they arrested one of the number, an old man named Tilghman, from Philadelphia. 'Come!' said they, 'march!' 'Tell them,' said the old man 'that if they want to get me there again, they must carry me, for I will not go.' Without more ado, they threw him on the ground and dragged him along by the heels for several rods, his head and shoulders scraping the ground. Not a voice dared to cry 'Shame!' but they dropped him at last, and the persecution was given up; and the emigrants were not compelled to go to the hated plantation, for the authorities were tired of them.

It was soon evident that the emigrants gave a faithful account of things to their friends at home; for though many contrived to get back to the States, they received no additions to their number. Among those who returned, was the young woman who was murdered in Broadway, a year or two since, by her husband. If these emigrants had gone to Liberia, they would have had land of their own without difficulty, and would now be living under their own vines and fig-trees, and probably not a larger proportion would have died than have perished in Hayti. There they would have had companions and countrymen, sympathizing in their joys and sorrows, and speaking the same language; they would have had their churches and their schools, where their children could be taught. If rumors of wars, and standing armies ever die away in Hayti, it is to be hoped that the people will settle down into more sober and regular habits, and that industrious cultivators will be seen, instead of a rude and dissolute soldiery. Under such a change, this noble island will offer a happy home to millions of blacks, if so many are without an asylum: but at present it is difficult to imagine a country which presents less inducements to the emigrants; for of what service is a fertile soil that must be cultivated in the midst of an inhospitable people? Be it observed that I am now speaking of the emigrant's reception. Whites generally have little cause to complain; and I cheerfully bear testimony to the kindness experienced in a long residence. This is the more gratefully acknowledged, as the citizen of the United States is the only individual who is there entirely unprotected by his government. English, French, Danish, Swedes, Germans, etc., have their consuls and vice-consuls; but not even a commercial agent of the United States is to be found in the whole island, though our vessels and our seamen frequent these parts more than all the rest.

In 1837, a planter from Florida purchased lands in the vicinity of Port-au-Plat, at the eastern end of the island, and removed thither with all his slaves. They of course became free, as he anticipated; but what arrangement he has made with them, I am not aware. They must either labor for wages or on shares. As that quarter of the island has been comparatively quiet, the negroes are probably more civil; but if he made this move as a speculation, he has probably had cause to repent ere this. If undertaken with the benevolent design of improving the condition of his slaves, every one will wish him success, however problematical the result may be.

،

Taking a walk through the principal streets, I found that every house was a shop. Where,' said I, 'do you find purchasers where every one seems to have goods to sell?' 'Oh, you will see in a day or two.' Accordingly, on Saturday morning the mystery was solved. As soon as it was light, the occupants were out, parading the dry goods on empty crates and boxes and on lines under the balconies, in most showy style. Bright red and yellow handkerchiefs and dresses, white cotton and linen goods, piles of crockery, pins, needles, and other useful articles, were exposed for sale. The provision dealers had their tables spread out with a tempting display of salted pork, cut into various sized pieces; salt beef, soap in bars, red herrings, cheese, salt fish, salt mackerel, and a variety of other 'salaisons,' on which the people for the most part live; for though they have fresh pork and beef, yet by far the larger portion of their animal food is of the above articles. By eight o'clock the whole street looked like one great shop a mile long or more; every thing inside apparently being brought out of doors; though a closer inspection showed the shelves still garnished with demijohns of tafia, (a cheap rum,) poor French claret, olive oil, strings of garlic, etc. But they are ready none too early. The town is soon swarming with country people, bearing baskets on their heads and arms, and driving or leading mules and asses, also loaded with the products of the country; plantains, bananas, yams, fowls, oranges, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, peas, and fruits of various kinds. These were all wending their way to the market-place, selling however on the road to whomsoever chose to buy. Such a spectacle as a West-India town presents at such a period, is worth a voyage to see. The shop-keepers hailing their rustic acquaintances: 'Here Jeannette, I have some mouchoirs, which will suit you to a charm.' 'Well, I'll call when I go back.' 'Samson, come and see these splendid manchets; horn handles; will last your life time.' 'Ma'amselle, with the red gown there! bring your bananas this way! How do you sell them? The bunches are very small.' A loud voice in the rear calls out: 'Clear the road there! Don't you see my jack has walked six leagues without taking his load off? Let me get along.' 'Ah, vous mentez, Jean Pierre, you black nigger; you know you stopped at Compere Bean Soleil's last night, and you and your beast had as much as you could eat, and a good night's rest to boot!' And here ensues a guffaw from shop-folks, countrymen, and every body else, Jean Pierre's being the loudest. Every one now wants to say something witty, but nobody listens. A jackass runs foul of a table and overturns it; the owner rushes out to make him or his owner pay damages; and such a shouting, shrieking, yelling takes place, as if Bedlam were let loose; for they laugh at nothing, quarrel at nothing, drink too much tafia, spend their money, and by three o'clock the town is deserted, the goods folded up and put away. Thus passes Saturday, and Sunday sees a repetition of the same scenes; with the addition of

a parade of soldiery; and as many of these come in from the country, the day is more noisy if possible than the preceding. The shop-keepers find their account in all this; some of them bringing in three hundred dollars every fortnight.

A great proportion of the soil is rich, though but a small part is yielding its fruitfulness for the benefit of man, vast tracts being entirely desert and uncultivated. After the expulsion of the French, their lands fell into the possession of the local government, who gave away the best plantations to the most distinguished patriots, whether black or of mixed blood. Thus many who had been writhing under the taskmaster's whip, found themselves possessors of estates which had produced princely incomes. But though they became owners, they were far from being recipients of the same advantages as their white predecessors. The land was there, and the coffee-trees were still bearing luxuriant crops; but where were the gangs of slaves to gather and prepare them for market? In the first place, half of them had been slain in the war, and in the next place every one who was left received one half of all he assisted in cultivating. Under the 'ancient regime, every estate was in perfect order; the slave receiving nothing but food to give him strength. Under the new state of things, every thing like order had vanished: the ci-devant slave was now the free 'cultivateur;' and 'liberty' did not mean labor. He was to be seen oftener with his musket and military coat than with his hoe and frock; oftener basking in the sun, or dancing to the sound of the tamboo, than digging in the cane-field or trimming the coffee trees; oftener, in short, construing liberty as uncontrolled licentiousness, than stooping to work, which made him think of the lash of the overseer.

ST. CROIX.

AGAINST the current strong, a power unseen
Hurries us onward. The revolving wheel,
Obedient to that power within, doth feel
No wish to linger near this lovely scene;
Though by the river-side the fields are green,
And cool the deep shade of the wooded hill;
Though down steep mountains leaps the laughing rill,
And sunny vales inviting smile between.
Thus in our hearts the love of God should work
Against the world's strong downward-rolling tide;
Undallying, unregretting then, we flee
The charms that on its banks alluring lurk,
Nor rest until our souls at anchor ride,
Safe in that haven blest where we would be.

New-York, October, 1841.

THERE is a grandeur and solemnity in some of our spacious forests of the West, that awaken in me the same feeling that I have experienced in those vast and venerable piles, among the stained windows and clustering columns of a Gothic cathedral: and the sound of the wind sweeping through them, supplies occasionally the deep breathings of the organ.'

WIDE, wide the dim primeval wood
In mighty grandeur spreads around,
Casting its shadows heavily
O'er all the moist untrodden ground:
Above, a solid roof it weaves

In many a verdant arch and dome,
Far through whose thick expanding leaves
The struggling sunbeams faintly come;

And many a tall and knotted trunk
Sustains the old majestic pile,
And many a shooting spray and branch
Bend o'er to shape the vaulted aisle;

And many a tempest-twisted tree
Forms chancel, nave, and sacristy,
Whose trunks the ivy and the grape
With waving festoons thickly drape.

WASHINGTON IRVING.

Spreads the old forest dim and deep,
Like some renowned baronial hold,
Some gray monastic edifice,
Some vast cathedral, stained and old.
As now amid its alleys green
You ramble on with solemn pace,
Pillar and aisle and architrave
In the o'erleaning grove you trace;
The curving arch, the fluted shaft,
The cornice quaint, and sculptured frieze;

Dark buttress, statue-covered wall,
Your eye along the fabric sees.
The chapel opes its dusky room,
Now sun-lit, now profound in gloom;
The altar from some turfy mound
Rears its green masses from the ground.

An all-pervading tinge of awe
Into the inmost spirit flows,
As up the long-drawn aisle the foot
Across the grassy carpet goes.
When slow the dimly-falling Eve

The lonely place with darkness steeps,
And through each glimmering grot and dell
With wooded form mysterious creeps,
The gazer in each swinging bough
And in each lonesome shadowy nook,
May fancy the dull-vestured form
Of aged priest with cross and crook: