384        PRESENT   STATE   OF   HAYTI,     [cHAP. XIII
suitor who is the most liberal in his bribes to the
judges. It is a fact which cannot be controverted,
that justice in Hayti may be bought; and those who
are appointed to administer it, cannot escape the
imputation of making the chair of justice the vehicle
of corruption. Justice never flows from a pure and
unvitiated source. The civil and criminal codes of
Hayti do certainly provide for its due administra-
tion, and for the protection of property and indi-
viduals against molestation ; but there is a laxity in
the courts which deserves the severest reprobation,
and caUs for a prompt remedy. There is so much
procrastination, and such inconceivable dilatoriness
in the officers of the courts, that cases of a civil
nature, although of no importance and capable of
being decided at the first glance, are oftentimes
heard and reheard, considered and reconsidered, be-
fore any judgment is given ; and those who may
be committed for trial for an alleged offence, are
alike subjected to the tardy proceedings of the law,
and the innocent often suffers, by an unjust impri-
sonment before trial, equal in duration to that which
is awarded to an offender after his conviction. The
supineness and apathy of the judges are the subjects
of general condemnation, and their want of discern-
ment and discrimination renders it frequently neces-
sary to reverse or suspend the execution of their
judgments.
The law establishing a trial by jury in criminal