mulattoes; (2) that the founders of the independence desired to attract to their country immigrants of the African race from the United States and from the surrounding islands of the Antilles, where the Protestant religion generally prevailed among the people of that race; and (3) that the spirit of free religious inquiry which had sprung up in France had probably reached Haiti during the closing years of the last century.

It should be remembered that the Roman Catholic religion has never ceased to be fostered by the state or to be professed by the great majority of Haitian citizens, but in spite of the return to duty in the Republic of many of the priesthood, the ecclesiastical system remained in a semi-disorganized state from 1804 to 1869. In the latter year, the government of President Geffrard concluded a concordat with the Holy See.

The concordat as finally agreed to consisted of nineteen articles. Its objects were: To secure full and special protection for the Roman Church and the presence in the country of a recognized and responsible priesthood, which had not before been the case since the independence. It established an archbishopric at Port au Prince and dependent bishoprics elsewhere, all paid by the state. The incumbents are to be nominated by the President and approved by the Pope, and they are all bound to take an oath of fidelity to the Government. Provision is also made for the establishment of chapters and seminaries. The priests are nominated by the bishops, but the nominations must be approved by the Government. Besides the pay which they all receive from the state, it is bound to furnish them with suitable residences, and they are allowed to exact certain fees agreed to by the Government for special masses, baptisms, marriages, funerals, etc.

In due season, after the ratification and promulgation of the concordat, the Pope delegated Monseigneur Tostard de Cosquer to put it into active operation. Monseigneur brought with him. a body of priests, all Frenchmen, whom he installed in the differ

ent parishes of the Republic. In this work he encountered the most bitter and determined opposition on the part of the moderately large body of irresponsible priests and other ecclesiastics, all foreigners, who, though still professing the Roman Catholic faith, had, in most instances, been deprived of authority in their own country, and had then come to Haiti, where they exercised, wholly on their individual responsibility, the priestly functions.

The Archbishop was not installed until 1864, but the concordat speedily put the church in Haiti on a regular footing, which has ever since been maintained.

In the hope of raising up a native priesthood, and in order that there might always be at command priests specially prepared for the work in Haiti, Monseigneur Tostard de Cosquer, acting in accord with the wishes of the Government, established at Pont du Château, Paris, the Grand Seminary of Haiti, which is still maintained, and to the support of which the Corps Législatif at Port au Prince voted 20,000 francs a year. The outcome of this commendable plan does not seem to have proved as fruitful in all respects as was anticipated, for President Hyppolite in his annual messages has deplored the fact that there is constantly an unsatisfied demand for priests, and out of one hundred and ten priests referred to in his message of 1891, only five appear to be natives of the Republic, all the others being Frenchmen.

The Republic is divided into five dioceses. These, together with the number of ecclesiastics in each, are as follows:

Of this number, several are always absent on leave, so that those in actual service at any one time probably are somewhat less than

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a hundred, but even that number would give more than one priest for every commune. There are, however, only eighty-four parishes, though there are chapels in many places which have not yet been formally constituted into parishes, either because the chapels themselves have grown out of the fact of there being too large a population to be accommodated in the regularly established places of worship, or else they are in localities where the sparseness of population has not seemed to warrant the creation of separate parishes. For instance, at Port au Prince, besides the venerable cathedral in the central, the commodious St. Anne's in the southern, and the equally commodious St. Joseph's in the northern section of the city, there are chapels in Bel Air, at Turgeau, at St. François de Sales, near Fort Per, and so on.

In brief, it may be stated that under the present organization of the Roman Catholic Church in Haiti, there is no part of its territory whose spiritual needs are wholly neglected.

The Archbishop, Monseigneur Hillon, died in 1890. Since that period, the office has been vacant. In addition to the archbishop, there are in actual service two bishops, five vicars-general, and a secretary-general each for the archbishop and the two bishops.

Suitable provision is made by the state for the residences of the three latter-named dignitaries, that of the archbishop at Port au Prince being a considerable establishment. Two thousand four hundred dollars and $1,200, respectively, are set apart annually for the rental of the houses of the two bishops, and $3,876 a year for parsonages. The appropriations for religious purposes in the budget for the fiscal year 1891-'92 amounted to $89,158.08. The archbishop receives $3,750 and each of the bishops $2,250 per annum, and, in addition to these sums, $1,875 for installations and $3,375 for what is called exaltation of the archbishops and bishops are appropriated, so that these three high ecclesiastical functionaries together received $13,500 for that year over and above the rentals of their official residences.

The vicar-general at Port au Prince has $750 and each of the other vicars $562.44 a year, while the secretaries-general have each $337.44. Provision is made for 120 priests at $1,875 a month, making $27,000 for twelve months, and besides, there are still further appropriations for supplementary pay to 22 priests at $30 a month, $7,920; for the pay of the personnel employed $4,860, and for furniture and other materials $1,500, amounting altogether to $14,280, and still further, $7,500 are to be devoted one-half to the wardrobes and passages of 20 priests (probably for those coming to the country), and the other half to the passages of a like number of those on leave, $187.50 being allowed to each. Twenty thousand francs, which are quoted in the budget at only $3,750 are applied to the support of the Grand Séminaire d'Haiti at Pont du Château, Paris, and there are $1,640 noted for extraordinary expenses connected with the church.

It is thus seen that the Government of Haiti has appropriated directly $79,158 for the ordinary operation and support of the Roman Catholic Church in the Republic for one year. For the support of the Protestant churches, during the same period the appropriations were $10,000. The disparity is believed to be fairly based on the numbers belonging to each denomination. The Government of Haiti has given and is still giving proof that it stands ready to encourage and aid every legitimate effort to establish and spread within its jurisdiction the Christian religion of all recognized denominations.

Of the Protestant denominations in Haiti, the oldest is the Wesleyan Methodist. The Constitution of 1805 practically held out an invitation to all the then existing Protestant churches to enter this new field of labor. None of them spontaneously responded to the invitation, but in 1816, long before France had recognized the independence, President Pétion, feeling great need for teachers in the public schools, had recourse to England. He offered such liberal salaries that teachers were forthcoming, the

Wesleyans being the first to respond, and thus they began their work in Haiti. The teachers made favorable reports to the missionary committee at London, and in 1818, three pastors of that denomination were sent to the island. Their work there has been encouraged and maintained ever since. The Rev. M. B. Bird, now succeeded by the Rev. T. R. Picot at Port au Prince, was the leading pastor for more than forty years, and pastors are still supplied from England or Jamaica. After more than seventy years of existence in the country, not a single regularly installed native clergyman of that denomination is to be found, but there are six principal stations now in good working order, there being one each at the capital, at the cape, Gonaïves, Jacmel, Jérémie and Petit Goâve, together with some few outposts. An official report made in 1884 placed the number of faithful and professing Wesleyans at 3,000. The Government allotted to their work $2,490.66 in 1891-'92.

The African Methodist denomination was introduced by the colored emigrants from the United States in 1824. This church has at present only one principal station at the capital and one outpost, but it has ordained two native pastors with several lay helpers. It received $1,500 of the Government appropriations of 1891-'92.

The Baptists also owe their establishment to the colored emigrants from the United States in 1824, but they have had pastors from England and from Jamaica as well as from the United States. They have at present five principal stations in as many cities of the Republic and several important outposts, chiefly in the north, and they have also two native ordained pastors, two from Jamaica, and no lack of lay helpers. They had $3,000 of the last Government appropriations.

The Episcopalian Church was also introduced there by colored American immigrants, a colony of them having come out from New Haven, Conn., in 1861, partly for that purpose, with their