Mr. Douglass to Mr. Blaine.
Port-au-Prince, January 26, 1891. (Received February 9.)
Sir: Referring to your No. 89, of the 9th instant, which covered a copy of a letter addressed to you on the 7th instant by G. A. Brett, Son & Co., complaining of an unnecessary and unreasonable detention of American sailing vessels in the ports of Haiti that inflicts serious loss upon the owners of such vessels, and further complaining that “our captains receive no help from their representative in Haiti,” I have the honor to state that the grievance complained of is not of recent origin, nor is it one under the control of the representatives of the United States, except in so far as they may be able by representation, persuasion, and remonstrance to induce the Government of Haiti to remove the hardship and redress the wrong which are the basis of the complaint; and I have the honor further to state that for some time prior to the receipt of your No. 89, just referred to, I had, on the representations of the captains and consignees of the vessels thus detained here, made it my duty repeatedly to set before Mr. Firmin, the minister of foreign affairs, who is also minister of commerce, the wrong done to our sailing vessels by what appears to be their unreasonable detention and the duty of his Government to remove this burden on American commerce.
In response to my statements on the subject, Mr. Firmin has cited to me, as if he did not entirely approve of it, the long-standing law of Haiti, by which sailing vessels are held until the duties are paid on their cargoes by the consignees. He has also explained to me that much of the delay complained of is due to the tardiness of the consignees in paying those duties, and in further explanation has offered the fact that the importations during the past few months have greatly exceeded any expectation or previous preparation of the Government to receive them. For instance, he said that the wharf was built to receive the freight of only four or five vessels at a time, and that the custom-house force was organized accordingly.
In answer to all this, however, I have insisted that the law making sailing vessels responsible for the duty on their cargoes is the imposition of a hardship which the Government of Haiti ought to remove, both as a matter of public policy and of justice.
It is due to Mr. Firmin to state that he seemed to be favorably impressed by my representations on the subject, and that he has promised me to do what he can to enable our vessels hereafter to pass the customhouse with as little delay as possible. I count on his friendly disposition and his promises in this respect, and I shall follow them up.
I am, etc.,