An excellent letter from Jean-Pierre Boyer (1776-1850) written during his first year as President of Haiti to the English missionaries, John Brown and James Catts, in response to their request for an additional missionary.
Boyer writes warmly, “I inform you that I see no inconvenience in your making the request of another missionary whom you say you need to help you with the instruction of the Reformed Faith and the preaching of the Gospel with which you are occupied; The Government will always see with satisfaction that you take the most effective measures for the accomplishment of your laudable efforts and enterprises, and it will make it a duty to second them.”
John Brown and James Catts sailed from Bristol on 22 November 1815, first for Tobago, and reached Port-au-Prince in February, 1817. Brown did most of the preaching, while Catts established a school. William Harvey describes the works of the mission school: “The Haytian youth were taught reading, writing, the elements of arithmetic, and English, and after they had made considerable progress in the latter, the business of the school was conducted into that language. This was to introduce English into general use” (Harvey).
Alas, Boyer’s warmth would amount to little. The mission was brought to a swift close in November of 1818 (and led to no Wesleyan Methodist missionary returning for 9 years) when a worshipper at the Methodist chapel committed matricide. The incident was leveraged by antagonists of the Methodists who blamed the mission and violence quickly ensued. As such, President Boyer encouraged Brown and Catts to leave. The former returned to England, though Catts went to Trinidad. Despite some adverse conditions, the Methodist community continued in Port-au-Prince and even increased in numbers in subsequent years under the Haitian-run leadership.
Presidential letters from early years of Haiti rarely come to market. This one sheds some light on the shifting fortunes of foreign missions in the new republic.
Harvey, W., Sketches of Hayti: From the Expulsion of the French to the Death of Christophe (London, 1829), p.201.
