TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:

—Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.

—Original work has a Table of Errata Corrige at the end of the volume. This has been manteind out of consictency with original work; however, errors listed have been corrected in text.

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THE
PRESENT STATE OF HAYTI,

(SAINT DOMINGO,)

WITH REMARKS

ON ITS

AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, LAWS, RELIGION,
FINANCES, AND POPULATION,

ETC. ETC.

BY JAMES FRANKLIN.

LONDON:

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

MDCCCXXVIII.

G. WOODFALL, ANGEL COURT, SKINNER STREET, LONDON.

CONTENTS.

PREFACE.

The Author has prepared this work for the press somewhat hastily, and under many circumstances which heavily oppressed him; he hopes therefore that the want of arrangement, and the dearth of matter which may be observed in his narrative, will not subject it to a severe condemnation. In presenting it to the public, he is not actuated by any personal considerations, his object being to convey some information respecting the resources of a country, and the character of a people, which have been so variously represented. The short delineation here attempted will, in all probability, suffice to shew that the accounts which have been given at different times of Hayti and its inhabitants have been much too highly coloured by the zealous advocates of negro independence; and he is ready to confess that at one time he was somewhat dazzled by the description, and was almost made a convert to their opinions. It having been his lot however, at a subsequent period, to hold considerable intercourse with the country, he has been enabled to form what he considers a more correct estimate of its present condition. Experience has convinced him that the representations so generally received of the improvement which it has made are greatly exaggerated, and he is not without the hope that the following sheets will convey more correct information on the subject, and thus prove useful to the merchant, if not interesting to the general reader.

He readily admits that in the historical part he has touched upon matters which have been already handled by other and much abler writers; this could not be very well avoided, the annals of Hayti affording but few events, and those having been often detailed. He conceived that such a summary of the history of the country would be necessary to illustrate the cause of the revolution, to shew the decline which ensued in agriculture and commerce, the decay of knowledge, and the progress of vice and immorality among the inhabitants.

Actuated therefore by the desire of throwing some light on the state of Hayti, and giving a faithful representation of the condition of its population, he ventures to solicit the attention of the public to the facts which have fallen under his own personal observation.

THE PRESENT STATE

OF

HAYTI,

OR SAINT DOMINGO.

————

INTRODUCTION.

An account of the present state of Hayti I believe has not yet been submitted to the public; to offer one likely to meet with a favourable reception is, I am aware, an undertaking of considerable difficulty: it requires, no doubt, that the author should be well skilled in the various branches of knowledge, in order to render it in every respect satisfactory and interesting to the public. Ignorant as I acknowledge myself to be in the higher walks of philosophy, and educated solely for the more humble avocations of a mercantile life, I can lay no claim to such acquirements: I must therefore rest my hope of commanding any degree of attention, on the truth and correctness of the statements which I shall produce, founded as they are on actual observation. I am conscious that I am standing on delicate ground, and touching on a subject likely to excite angry feelings in those who have long been the eulogists of the republic, who have been its advocates when assailed, and who have held it forth to the world as a country in which wealth abounds, virtue flourishes, and freedom reigns triumphant, instead of the oppression, the vice, and the poverty which once prevailed there; but I will not shrink from the undertaking, though powerful obstacles may present themselves, and formidable opponents be arrayed against me. My object in the following sheets is, to endeavour to dissipate this delusion, and to shew that there is nothing to warrant the unqualified panegyrics poured forth by those individuals who have been the most conspicuous for their zeal and enthusiasm, in holding up Hayti as a “land flowing with milk and honey”. In the performance of this, I have no other aim than that of benefiting the merchant and capitalist, the manufacturer, and the trader, who have had no opportunity of visiting a country to which their speculations in commerce may lead them, by guarding them against the shoals and quicksands upon which adventurers, destitute of information, are so frequently wrecked.

The admirers of Hayti have been very industrious in circulating the most deceptive accounts of the state of its commerce, by garbled and exaggerated specifications. They have led many to believe that its imports and exports are daily on the increase, and that the resources of the people for the purchase of the products and manufactures of other states receive a gradual and steady augmentation. I am much deceived if I shall not succeed in convincing the reader that this representation is a perfect delusion, and that from the diminished means of the people, the commerce of Hayti, instead of increasing, annually sustains a considerable diminution; and that while the present state of things continues to exist—while its rulers are weak and imbecile, and the mass of the population are kept in a state of the grossest ignorance—there does not appear a ray of hope that any improvement may take place in the circumstances of the country, or that any change will be effected, likely to prove advantageous to foreigners disposed to embark in an intercourse with Hayti.

Several visits to Hayti—in two of which I had, from the nature of my mission, occasion to remain there a considerable time—gave me opportunities of seeing the actual state of it, in all its different branches of agriculture, commerce, finances, and the moral and religious condition of its people, together with the state of its government and the views of its chief. I am therefore encouraged to hope that my details may be productive of some benefit to the commercial part of the community, and not be altogether unacceptable to others, whose avocations are different, but who may be desirous of correct information respecting those parts of the globe of which they may know but little except the name.

An historical account of Hayti would be a superfluous undertaking; I see nothing to add to what has already been written by Charlevoix, Raynal, Edwards, Walton, and others, in their elaborate and voluminous works, and who have omitted nothing interesting, or worthy of being recorded, from its first discovery by the illustrious Columbus down to a very recent period. Every event connected with its history seems to have been most faithfully detailed by these writers, and their works are entitled to the highest credit and consideration, as containing the best and most authentic account of this very extensive island.

Impelled, no doubt, as they were with a desire to afford to the world every possible information relative to the resources of the country, and of the character and general habits of the people, they have left little to be performed by their successors, except to notice the changes and events which may have taken place since the date of their latest productions. Besides a copious and a faithful historical sketch, they have given a correct statistical view of its agriculture, its commerce, and public revenue; they have also pointed out the slow advances made by the people in industry, in morality, and in general knowledge: but little, therefore, remains to be said on these subjects, except to call the attention of the reader to the striking contrast which the present situation of the republic exhibits, when compared with that which it displayed before the revolution; to give a brief sketch of Hayti as it is, with an occasional reference to Hayti as it was. I must beg leave to assure my readers, that in executing this task, I am actuated by no unfair nor unjust motives; I am only anxious that the highly coloured statements which have been published respecting its present wealth and prosperity should be submitted to the test of candid and impartial scrutiny. For a series of years Hayti has been made the theme of constant praise, and has excited no little share of the public attention, on account of the unexampled efforts which its slave population made to throw off the fetters by which they had been previously bound, and on account of their having, as their eulogists declare, made the most rapid and extraordinary strides in civilization and social improvement. It must be admitted that the revolution effected in Hayti, was an event almost unparalleled in history; and that a people just emerging from a state of barbarism should have so successfully combated and defeated the finest troops of France, is no doubt a circumstance calculated to call forth no trifling portion of astonishment and admiration: but when the partial eulogists of the Haytians go to the length of asserting that they have arrived at a high degree of moral improvement, that they have reached a state of refinement little inferior to that which generally prevails in Europe, the limits of truth are overstepped: such overstrained assertions are totally destitute even of the semblance of truth, and my personal experience enables me to declare, in the most explicit and unqualified terms, that at this very moment, the people of Hayti are in a worse state of ignorance than the slave population in the British colonies. There are some cases, it is true, in which instances of intelligence have been discovered in the Haytian citizen, but this never occurs except where individuals have had the advantages of an European education, or who, being the descendants of persons who previously to the revolution were possessed of wealth, had the means of travelling, for the purpose of acquiring the manners and customs of more enlightened nations. But taking the people in the aggregate, they are far from having made any advances in knowledge.

It has also been commonly asserted by the friends of Hayti, and I believe very generally credited in Europe, that it preserves its agricultural pre-eminence solely by free labour; now I think I shall be able to prove to a demonstration that this is not the case, and that it is too evident, from every document that has yet appeared on the subject, that agriculture has been long on the wane, and has sunk to the lowest possible ebb in every district of the republic; that the true art and principles of the culture of the soil, are not understood, or if in the least known, they are not practically applied. There is nothing to be seen having the least resemblance to a colony, flourishing in the wealth derived from a properly regulated system of agriculture.

On the subject of free labour I shall have occasion to offer a few remarks, and I trust that in doing so, I shall not be considered as inimical to it, where-ever it may be found practicable to obtain it; on the contrary, no man would be more happy to see that our own colonies could be cultivated by free labour, provided a full compensation should be honourably made to those whose interests might be endangered by the experiment, if unsuccessful; but I shall, I think, be able to shew that this is absolutely impracticable, and that the system of labour so pursued in Hayti, instead of affording us a proof of what may be accomplished by it, is illustrative of the fact, that it is by coercion, and coercion only, that any return can be expected from the employment of capital in the cultivation of soil in our West India islands. I shall also be able to shew that Hayti presents no instance in which the cultivation of the soil is successfully carried on without the application of force to constrain the labourer: on the estates of every individual connected with the government, all the labourers employed work under the superintendence of a military police, and it is on these properties alone that any thing resembling successful agriculture exists in Hayti. I am aware that this will excite the astonishment of persons who have been accustomed to think otherwise; but I shall state facts which cannot be controverted, even by President Boyer himself—nay, I shall produce circumstances which I have seen with the utmost surprise on his own estate; circumstances that must shew his warmest advocates, that all his boasted productions have not been obtained without the application of that system against which they loudly exclaim.

Instead of holding out an example of what might be accomplished by a people released from bondage, without first having been prepared for freedom by moral and religious instruction, I think Hayti rather forms a beacon to warn us against the dangers and difficulties by which that unhappy country has been overtaken. The present condition of Hayti, arising from the events which have taken place since the revolution, should render us exceedingly cautious how we plunge our own colonies into the same misery and calamity; by conferring on a rude and untaught people, without qualification, or without the least restraint, an uncontrolled command over themselves. However acutely we may feel for the miseries to which the West Indian slave was at one period subjected, yet I cannot conceive it possible that any one can be so destitute of correct information on the subject as not to know, that at this moment the slave is in a condition far more happy, that he possesses infinitely greater comforts and enjoyments, than any class of labourers in Hayti, and that, from the judicious measures which have been already adopted by the colonial legislatures, and from others which are in contemplation, for improving the condition of the slave, it is very rational to conclude that before long slavery will only be considered as a name; and that were it to receive any other designation it would furnish no peg on which the European philanthropist might hang his declamations against slavery.

To place the slaves in the British colonies upon a footing with the free labourers in Hayti, or with the largest proportion of the people in that country, would be a work of easy accomplishment; but the effect would be, to cause them to exchange a state of comparative plenty and comfort, for one in which every species of tyranny and oppression, with their concomitants, disease and want, are most lamentably conspicuous. Whatever may be the views of the British Cabinet relative to their colonies, I should warn it to steer clear of the erroneous policy which has proved so fatal to Hayti, and should it be determined that a change should be introduced into the policy hitherto pursued with so much success, and with so much advantage in our colonial possessions, I trust it will not be by emancipating the slave, before he is prepared for freedom by a proper moral and religious education. Let the system of slavery be gradually improved, and the slave will glide imperceptibly into a state of freedom.

It is not my intention, in this early stage of my remarks, to enter into any lengthened detail of the disunion or want of cordiality subsisting between the two classes of people in Hayti: this I shall reserve for its proper place; where it will be seen, that a very strong dissatisfaction prevails amongst the black population, which manifests itself upon almost every occasion of celebrating public events, and festivities. This acrimonious feeling evidently arises from the jealousy excited by the predominant influence of the coloured people in the government. This influence, detrimental as it may be to the good order and repose of the country, is courted and nurtured by the president, to the great danger of overthrowing the whole establishment. One or two attempts at revolt have been made by the people of the north, who were the subjects of the late Christophe, and from these efforts, although abortive, it may be inferred, that the spirit for a more extensive commotion still lurks in their minds, and that the least possible irritation would so agitate and inflame them, that the whole would be thrown into a scene of disorder, tumult, and irremediable confusion. The combinations are numerous and powerful, but such was the extraordinary apathy of the government, that until a communication was made by an individual to Boyer, neither he nor any one of his officers had the least intimation that such proceedings were in contemplation. The want of energy visible in the government makes it obnoxious to the people, and no country like Hayti can be expected to remain long in repose and tranquillity, unless its governors possess both talent and resolution to command.

That the government of Hayti is the most inefficient and enervated of any of the modern republics cannot be denied, and I cannot see the least hope of an improvement, unless there be a complete revision of its constitution, and a new one framed, better suited to the tastes of the people, and more adapted to their present very rude state of knowledge. From the present rulers it would be vain to expect any effort which might prove beneficial to the country; any attempt to cultivate or improve the habits and morals of the people, or to promote agriculture. The members composing the present government, seem to consider the poverty and ignorance of the people, as the best safeguards of the security and permanence of their own property and power.

A recognition of the independence of Hayti by Great Britain may give some strength to the measures of its government, because the people have called out loudly for the protection of that power, whilst they have as loudly exclaimed against the policy pursued towards France. No event in its history has excited in the republic greater abhorrence or more general murmuring, than the act of purchasing from France that which it had de facto possessed for twenty-one years unmolested and undisturbed; thereby at once admitting the sovereignty of that power over the island, and which sovereignty France will, at some convenient period, unquestionably assert, and that without the least fear of any inconvenient consequences arising from it; for what power can give aid to the Haytians against France, when the former have openly and formally admitted themselves to be a colony dependent upon the French crown. Whatever intercourse Englishmen may be disposed to maintain with Hayti, it is indispensable that they should use the most vigilant precaution, and exact a rigid adherence to such treaties as may have been entered into, if they would avoid certain loss; for the Haytian character, taken generally, will be found, so far from being entitled either to credit or confidence, not even to possess common honesty. Compacts with them are easily made; but a faithful adherence to agreements must not be expected;—their maxim is to break them, whenever they find it can be accomplished with advantage.

CHAPTER I.

Situation and general description of the French and Spanish divisions, previously to the Revolution in the former country.

The island of St. Domingo, once the abode of fertility, and the scene of extraordinary political changes and events, lies in latitude 18° 20´ north and in longitude 68° 40´ west from Greenwich, having on its west the islands of Cuba and Jamaica, on its east Porto Rico, the Bahamas on its north, and bounded southerly by the Carribean Sea. Its extent has been variously stated; but Edwards, who describes it to be about 390 miles in length from east to west, seems the most correct; and it appears from late surveys to be nearly 150 miles in breadth from north to south. The Abbé Raynal has represented it at 200 leagues in length, and from 60 to 80 in breadth, but it is evident that his estimation is erroneous. Rainsford also states it to be about 450 miles in length, but from every information which I could obtain, its length does not appear to exceed 400 miles, nor its breadth 140. The reader, therefore, must look into these discrepances, and judge between them. As it is not easy to survey a country intersected by wilds and impenetrable mountains, much is necessarily left to conjecture.

It is the most extensive, and was at one period of its history the most productive of the Antilles, and was called by the aborigines Haiti, or Highland, and by which ancient designation it is now generally known, that of St. Domingo having been abolished at the revolution. To convey an adequate idea of what this once delightful island was, is not the object of the present work; on this head it is sufficient to observe that in the richness and extent of its productions, and in its local beauties, it exceeded every other island in the western hemisphere, and that the two divisions of the east and the west, when under the respective governments of Spain and France, were considered and indeed known to be the most splendid and most important appendages to those crowns. Its plains and valleys presented the most inviting scenes from the richness of the pastures and the verdure with which they eternally abounded. Its mountains were also said to contain ores of the most valuable kind, and produce timber admirably adapted for every useful or ornamental purpose. Nothing could exceed the extreme salubrity of the whole country, nor could it be surpassed in the vast exuberance of its luscious fruits, and in those productions of the soil which became the general articles of export, and from which all the wealth and all commerce of this colony flowed.

The French division, though infinitely less extensive than the Spanish part, and not containing a third of the whole island, has been considered the most valuable spot in the western world. The Spanish division however has greater natural resources, and affords greater facilities for agricultural operations: but the very extraordinary exertions of the French planter in the culture of the soil, compensated for the want of those advantages possessed by their Spanish neighbours, who, more indolently disposed, relied on the produce of their mines, which afforded, as they imagined, greater local riches than those which could be obtained from either agriculture or commerce, forgetting that these alone furnish the wealth which can render any country really and permanently prosperous and great.

It appears from every authority, that the first colony established here by the French, was settled in the sixteenth century, having been attracted thither by the Buccaneers, who had previously obtained a footing in the island from excursions which they often made from Tortuga, for the purpose of hunting the bulls of the Spaniards. These hardy and predatory warriors attracted the French, who supplied them with such necessaries as they required, and even sent them many settlers, with arms and implements for defence and labour. The extreme fertility of the country invited them to make some efforts to gain a permanent footing in it, and by means of intrigue coupled with a little force, they succeeded in obtaining possession of the whole of the west end, the line of which seems to have run in an oblique direction, from about Cape François on the north to Cape Rosa on the south. Having surmounted all the obstacles that presented themselves, and having overcome those difficulties which generally accompany the first attempts at colonization, or are met with in a newly discovered land, they pursued with incredible ardour and industry the culture of the soil, and the improvement of their valuable acquisition.

The Spanish court, jealous of and unable to contend with their rival colonists, submitted to France, when the two cabinets at home came to a mutual understanding and adjustment, respecting these foreign possessions. An arrangement was entered into, under which commissioners were appointed for settling the boundaries, and fixing the rights which had formed the ground of disputes between the settlers of these rival nations. The line of demarcation finally agreed upon commenced at the bay of Mansenillo on the north, dividing in its course the river Massacre; thence taking rather a westerly course, it reached an acute point at Dondon, and afterwards proceeded southerly to the river Pedernales.

This tract of country, as conceded to the French, contained about 1000 square leagues, exceedingly irregular in its character, intersected with mountains, and having plains confined and difficult of approach, so as to make it altogether much inferior in point of natural value to even a single district of the Spanish division; having also two extreme points or capes, Cape Nicolas Mole on the north, and Cape Tiburon on the south-west extremity, in both of which the soil is less valuable, from its being so very mountainous, and from its not possessing those facilities of communication which can be obtained in other districts. Notwithstanding the disadvantages against which the first settlers had to contend, and in defiance of every local obstacle, they seemed to have been impressed with the conviction, that if a spirit of perseverance and labour could be diffused amongst them, they would ultimately be richly rewarded for all their toil, and all that anxiety and deprivation to which it appears, at their first setting out, they were unquestionably subjected. Their conclusions were just, and time shewed the correctness of the principles on which they reasoned and acted, for their colony gradually rose in estimation; and at so early a period as the year 1703, under the government of M. Auger, a native of America, and who in early life had been in a state of slavery, it had become of so much consideration to France, that the greatest possible efforts were made to extend their system of cultivation to the whole of their colonial territory. That officer was indefatigable, it is said, in his exertions in encouraging and in stimulating the colonists in the culture of the lands, and as he had been previously governor of Guadaloupe, it is to be inferred that he possessed no ordinary skill in the business of preparing the ground for the production of those exotic and indigenous plants which became the main articles of export to the mother-country. That he was a most efficient governor all writers admit, for he had brought the state of his colony to a very high pitch of prosperity, when he died, lamented by all who had lived under his command. The plantations at this period had increased in every part, particularly in the valleys, where the soil was more congenial, and where the labour could be performed without being attended with those difficulties which impeded it in the more mountainous districts. In the western parts the cocoa-tree had begun to produce most luxuriantly, yielding great wealth to individuals, and a large revenue to the state. The sugar-cane had also arrived at great perfection, and the art of manufacturing the sugar from it had been for some time carried on with astonishing success. Coffee plantations were establishing, and the planters in every direction were vying with each other in bringing their properties into the highest possible state of cultivation.

In the year 1715, however, the island suffered a very severe calamity, and in the succeeding year another followed, in both of which almost all the cocoa-trees perished, and considerable damage was done to every vegetable production; and the planters, who had by this time acquired an easy, if not a competent fortune, sustained losses that only time and continued exertion could possibly repair. It will be seen, however, that a great improvement gradually followed, and that agriculture had not been neglected, for in the year 1754 the colony had advanced to a wonderful pitch of prosperity, and seems to have satisfied the wishes of the proprietors of the soil, as well as the most sanguine expectations of the government. It is said by an anonymous writer, that “the various commodities exported from the island amounted to a million and a quarter sterling, and the imports to one million seven hundred and seventy-seven thousand five hundred and nine pounds. There were fourteen thousand white inhabitants, nearly four thousand free mulattoes, and one hundred and seventy-two thousand negroes; five hundred and ninety-nine sugar plantations, three thousand three hundred and seventy-nine of indigo, ninety-eight thousand nine hundred and forty-six cocoa-trees, six million three hundred thousand three hundred and sixty-seven cotton plants, and about twenty-two millions of cassia-trees, sixty-three thousand horses and mules, ninety-three thousand head of horned cattle, six millions of banana trees, upwards of one million plots of potatoes, two hundred and twenty-six thousand of yams, and nearly three million trenches of marrioc.”

From this period up to the French revolution the colony advanced still further in prosperity, every year adding to the wealth of the planters, and to the revenue of the crown. Nothing could exceed the condition into which the plantations had been brought by their owners; a steady and enlightened system of agriculture had been established, which had been productive of the most beneficial results. Every plantation, laid out with the greatest care and neatness, was so arranged as to bring every part of the soil into use in its proper order of succession—not the least particle appears to have escaped the eye of the owner, for what could not be rendered fit for the production of the cane, served either for cotton, coffee, indigo, or other plants. In the valleys surrounded by mountains, the access to which for carriages was attended with some danger, and consequently were chiefly in pasture, the verdure was astonishing. These valleys having small rivulets or streams running through them, and shaded by occasional groups of trees and shrubs, which grew spontaneously on the margins of a spring, or round any body of water that might occasionally be collected from the mountain falls, became extremely valuable for the raising of cattle for the consumption of the planters, and on this account extremely profitable to their owners; for here the animals could graze undisturbed and cool under a meridian sun, and range unmolested, indulging in the richness of the surrounding herbage. The culture of the land for the sugar-cane at this period seems to have engaged the greatest attention of the planter, for at no time had such amazing crops been produced as in the year preceding the revolution; the soil in the plains of the north, Artibanite and the Cul de Sac, being peculiarly adapted for it, from its extreme strength and excellent quality, and from its situation, which enabled it to receive the aid of irrigation in seasons when drought prevails. The estates also appropriated to the production of sugar exhibited a degree of uniformity and order, in all the departments of plantation labour, which can scarcely be exceeded even at the present period, when the system is supposed to have become more mature, and its true principles better understood.

The coffee plantations had at this time arrived at great perfection—they were extensive, and exceedingly fruitful; for the genius and industry of the proprietors were exerted to their utmost limits in this branch of agriculture. Every property was divided and subdivided into small fields, in which the trees were planted with all that nicety and regularity which is often seen in a well regulated nursery. The pruning-knife and the hoe were regularly applied to the trees requiring to be dismembered of their superfluous branches, and wanting nurture at their half expiring roots. The cotton and indigo plantations had also arrived at the height of excellence in planting, and it was not possible that greater abundance could have been obtained from them, than that which was usually returned at or a few years previously to the convulsion which took place. The cocoa tree was also at this time exceedingly flourishing, and much care and attention were bestowed upon its cultivation; its produce being found an article of no inconsiderable demand, and extremely profitable in the returns which it yielded the cultivator.

A better or clearer proof cannot be given of the highly improved state of agriculture at this time, than by a reference to the number of plantations which had been established, and to the quantity of produce which had been exported to France, with the value of the whole, as estimated by persons whose authority may be relied on, and who were doubtless competent judges, from having in the island filled situations which gave them opportunities of fairly estimating everything connected with the country.

Moreau St. Mery, a writer of great credit, and a native of St. Domingo, states, “that in the year 1791 there were, in the French division alone, seven hundred and ninety-three sugar estates, seven hundred and eighty-nine cotton plantations, three thousand one hundred and seventeen of coffee, three thousand one hundred and fifty of indigo, fifty-four cocoa manufactories, and six hundred and twenty-three smaller settlements, on which were produced large quantities of Indian corn, rice, pulse, and almost every description of vegetables required for the consumption of the people. There were also forty thousand horses, fifty thousand mules, and two hundred and fifty thousand cattle and sheep; and that the quantity of land actually in cultivation was about two million two hundred and eighty-nine thousand four hundred and eighty acres.”

The quantity of produce exported from the island to France appears, by various accounts, to have been very large indeed, furnishing a very strong corroboration of the flourishing state of the colony, and of the extent to which agriculture had been carried. It would appear that not much regard was paid to other means by which the prosperity of the country might have been enhanced, the inhabitants resting solely on the culture of the soil to exalt the island in the eyes of the parent state, and to make it an appendage worthy to be cherished and protected. Mr. Edwards and others have stated the amount of exports as follows: that is to say, about one hundred and sixty-three millions four hundred thousand pounds of sugar, sixty-eight millions one hundred and fifty thousand pounds of coffee, six millions two hundred and eighty-six thousand pounds of cotton, nine hundred and thirty thousand pounds of indigo, twenty-nine thousand hogsheads of molasses, and three hundred puncheons of rum. Walton, in his Appendix, enumerates many other articles of export besides those which I have named, and he states the quantity of each much larger, and values the whole at about six millions and ninety-four thousand two hundred and thirty pounds, English money. The same writer observes, that the value of the imports into the country about that time from France was four millions one hundred and twenty-five thousand six hundred and ten pounds sterling. At this period, also, it appears from authority, that the population amounted to about forty thousand white people, twenty-eight thousand free persons of colour, and about four hundred and fifty-five thousand slaves; and that the valuation of the whole of the plantations in culture, with the buildings, slaves, cattle, and every implement for the use of agriculture, was estimated at fourteen hundred and ninety millions of livres, or somewhat about seventy millions English money.

The Spanish division of Hayti is said to contain two-thirds of the whole, and is estimated at about three thousand one hundred and fifty square leagues, an extent of country capable of affording the means of subsistence to a population of at least seven millions of souls. In local advantages this part certainly exceeds the western division, from its soil being almost in a virgin state, and a very large proportion of its valleys and elevations never having been tilled. The indolence and inactivity inherent in the Spanish character have been displayed in all their colours in this part of St. Domingo; for although their district possessed all the natural means required to raise them to an equal pitch of splendour with their French neighbours, yet so powerful were their propensities for pleasure, and every species of amusement, that they devoted but little of their time to the improvement of their properties, and they obtained from them but little beyond a scanty supply for their own immediate wants. From every source of information that can be consulted, it appears that the Spaniards, from their earliest settlement down to the period when they finally quitted the country, depended more on their mines than on anything that possibly could be derived from either agriculture or commerce; consequently agriculture was in a backward state, and the culture of the soil made but a very slow progress: indeed, but a very small proportion of the country was in a state of tillage; the inhabitants merely paid a little attention to the natural pastures which abounded in all the plains of the east, and whose luxuriance and verdure continued throughout the whole year. In these they raised large herds of cattle, for which they found a market, not only among their neighbours the French, who required a considerable supply for their estates, but they exported very large quantities to Jamaica and Cuba. To the raising of cattle, therefore, and to the occasional cutting of wood—mahogany, cedar, and a variety of other timbers for ornamental work, as well as dye-woods,—did the Spaniards devote their time, and hence did they contrive to satisfy their moderate and contracted wants, without having recourse to tillage.

It has been observed, and I think very truly, that the most important obstacle to the advancement of this part of Hayti, was the policy pursued by Spain towards her colonies. The system of government under which she ruled her transatlantic settlements seems to have been one of extreme oppression, and of unexampled rigour, and, from the earliest period of her sway, this system was most rigidly enforced in Hispañeola. There does not appear upon record any circumstance previously to the year 1700, which evinced a disposition on the part of Spain to promote the welfare of the colony, by calling forth its local resources, and by encouraging and tolerating settlers from others of their unprofitable and barren islands, in which all their energies and efforts had been fruitless and unavailing. The high state of the west end, under their prudent and more assiduous neighbours the French, whose industry and perseverance had astonished the world, and whose judicious and highly commendable system for promoting the cultivation of their country had become the theme of much praise and admiration, seemed about this time to have produced among the Spaniards some disposition to adopt measures for insuring to the parent state a more lucrative trade from their colonies. The force of example was too powerful to be resisted, and even the Court of Madrid began about this time to devise measures which might improve, and which might call into play all those resources which this highly fertile and most congenial soil was known to possess. Governors of known prudence and patriotic zeal for the interest of their nation were selected, and sent out, with injunctions to promote the interests of agriculture, and to give a spur to commerce, by opening an intercourse with their neighbours. The wants of the French in cattle, mules, and horses, were exceedingly extensive, and offered to the Spaniards an opportunity of improving their properties, by providing a vent for the sale of their stock. It gave an impulse to industry, and the once inert and unconcerned Spanish planter became in time an active and enterprising agriculturist, shaking off that languor by which he had been previously characterized, and at length assuming a degree of animation and spirit, which enabled him to take advantage of those resources which nature had placed within his reach.

A mutual interchange and good understanding between the two powers of France and Spain having taken place, this intercourse, become more frequent and reciprocally beneficial, continued for a series of years. In 1790, however, this most important branch of their commerce was cut off by the convulsion into which the neighbouring province was thrown. All that part of the population who dwelt on the frontiers withdrew themselves into the interior, leaving behind them their cattle, which fell into the hands of their rapacious neighbours, whose inroads caused much consternation amongst the proprietors; but their slaves, from habit or from some other powerful cause, remained unmoved and attached to them, although they had before them such strong incentives to revolt. Every appeal made by these people (and it is said, that they made innumerable ones) to the cabinet of Spain for protection against the fatal example of the French division, met with a very cold reception, if not a positive rejection. In this state of suspense and continued fear and alarm the people remained, until the disgraceful treaty of Basle gave Hispañeola to the republican government of France; and this event I cannot better describe than in the language of one of the most correct writers on this country[1], whom I shall here quote as an authority which has been hitherto deemed unquestionable. Speaking of this event, which occurred in the year 1795, and of the designs of the French rulers, he says, “though busied in the plans of universal dominion on their own continent, their cabinet did not lose sight or cease to entertain a hope of again possessing colonies abroad, and they were well aware which were the most desirable. Perhaps no system of invasion had been longer or more deeply premeditated, and digested with more mysterious secrecy, than the entire subjugation of Spain and her American settlements, in which, besides the common views of aggrandizement, their constitutional enmity to the reigning family acted as a powerful stimulus. This policy was coeval with that ambition which marked the first career of the present ruler of France and the specious veil under which the hidden, but continued advances were regularly made towards the end in view, adds to the guilt of duplicity and ingratitude, when we consider that Spain has scrupulously maintained her treaty of alliance and has fulfilled the stipulations entered into in 1795, notwithstanding all the three changes that have given other names to the French government, without altering its entity, or revolutionary or destructive system; that the cabinets of Madrid have bended to a degree of abject condescension, rather than be precipitated into a war; that they have sacrificed the interests and inclinations of their people, and have been driven at length into a state of non-reprisal, rather than risk a warfare with a nation they respected, and though an ally, furnishing both men and money under promises to share in the conquests made, they have been treated rather as a faithless neutral without claim, representation, or character, and thus their country has been impoverished and laid waste, and the supports of national union and energy undermined.”

Further, in continuation of this disgraceful treaty, by which Spain so abjectly submitted to surrender her colony to France, he says, “by this instrument of diplomatic intrigue and subtlety Hispañeola was made over unreservedly to France; the oldest subjects of the Spanish crown in the western world were thus bartered like so many sheep, and an island, not the capture of an enemy during war, and given up at its termination, but one that had descended to them as a primitive right, and had formed the glory of the preceding monarchs, who saw it discovered and settled. When possession was given in further aggravation of the Spanish natives, the transfer was received by Toussaint at the head of the intrusive settlers of one division of the island, with whom the former had previously and generously shared their territory; in short by a horde of emancipated slaves to whom the French republic had given equality, consistence, and power, and who now came to erect a new standard on the spot consecrated by the labours and ashes of Columbus, and long revered as an object of national pride.”

“In justice to the Dominican people it may be said, that none of the Spanish settlements possess more of the amor patriæ which ought to distinguish loyal subjects: they received the news as a thunder-bolt, and the country presented an universal scene of lamentation. They appealed to the humanity of their sovereign, but without effect, and then had recourse to remonstrances.”

Receiving no answer to their prayers or to their remonstrances, the people were left in a state bordering on despondency, with the only alternative of leaving their native land, or of swearing allegiance to a power in whom they could not confide, and which they had been taught to detest. Emigration therefore was determined on, and all orders—nuns, friars, clergy, and men of property and influence—with their families and their slaves, embarked for Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Spanish main, leaving behind them their possessions, to seek a shelter, and to find homes and occupations, in a country in which they might be protected by laws to which they had been accustomed, and submit to a government which they had been taught to respect. The extent of this emigration was considerable, and is said to have amounted to one third of the population; and it is evident from a subsequent census that this was not an exaggeration, and that so large a proportion of the people absolutely left the country, abandoning their abodes and much wealth rather than submit to a people whom they hated as the usurpers of their possessions.

In the years 1789 and 1790, about which time the first disturbances among the slaves in the French part of the island commenced, it appears the Spanish division contained about one hundred and fifty thousand souls or upwards; but by a subsequent census taken immediately after the cession to the French, and after the spirit for emigration had in some measure subsided, there remained only about one hundred thousand of all descriptions, a very strong proof of the detestation in which the Spaniards held this treaty, which assigned them over as subjects of the republican government of France. It is very evident, however, whatever impressions this arrangement might have made on the Spanish colonists, that it was one dictated by the rulers in France, and therefore accepted from necessity, and not from choice. The infamous Godoy, Prince of Peace (which high sounding title was confirmed by this treaty) was the leading personage in its negotiation, and being secretly leagued with the French ministry, became a willing instrument in consigning this bright and valuable appendage of the Spanish crown to the more designing and crafty schemes of the French cabinet, which had been from the beginning of their ambitious aim at universal dominion, not unmindful of the advantages that were to be derived from colonial possessions. When it is seen that the mistaken and weak policy, as well as the pusillanimity of the Spanish cabinet, caused so great a sacrifice as the dismemberment of their most valuable colony, it becomes a matter of no astonishment that the people should relax in their efforts to aid the means and resources of their parent state, by any exertions, in the cultivation of their lands, beyond what might be requisite for their own support. As this neglect and heedless inattention to their prosperity had been for a series of years observable, and as every incentive to industry was checked by the measures of the crown, it is not to be wondered at that this division of the island did not advance at the same rate as that which was under the dominion of France. However manifest the declension of the colony was to Spain, she never made any movements, nor adopted any means indicating a desire to revive the drooping energies of the colonists, and reinstate them in their former easy circumstances and affluence. If the cabinet of Madrid had had recourse to those wise plans which would have promoted the cause of agriculture and commerce, instead of becoming a calm and unconcerned spectator of the decline of both, this colony might still have remained the most brilliant gem in the Spanish crown. A people who had, from the example of their neighbours, and by an impulse the most surprising, been roused from a state of lethargy and inactivity to great exertions in the culture of the soil, in the breeding of cattle, and in commercial enterprise, might have exalted their country to the highest possible state of prosperity, had their efforts been seconded by the regulations of a wise government, and had that protection been given to them to which they were surely entitled; but instead of such support and protection, instead of being watched over and guarded by their parent state, their prayers, their petitions, and entreaties, were unattended to, and they were given up as a prey to their rebellious and uncivilized neighbours, who used every exertion to throw their country into a state of anarchy and confusion. The individual and unsupported energies of the colonists, however, were roused by the alarming predicament into which they had been thrown, through the apathy and supineness of the cabinet of Spain, and they effectually stopped the incursions of the pillagers for a time, prevented the destruction of their towns and plantations, and finally, by their firmness and perseverance, saved their properties from the devastations which had destroyed those of the western division.

To the astonishment of the world, the slaves, as I have before remarked, adhered with extraordinary fidelity to the cause of their masters, and evinced no disposition to become participators in the work of rebellion, nor to enrich themselves by the spoils obtained by plunder, rapine, and every kind of predatory warfare. Although the example to throw off the yoke of slavery was constantly before them, few were the instances in which a slave joined the insurgents. Such an attachment on the part of the slave towards his master, however, is not to be wondered at, when it is known, that the Spaniards were kind, indulgent, and liberal owners, always attentive to their wants, and alive to their comforts; seldom inflicting punishment, except for flagrant acts of insubordination and theft, but treating them with a leniency and humanity which softened the rigours of slavery, and left it to be known only by name.

Notwithstanding the enmity which always existed between the two colonies, a smuggling trade was carried on, which, although not very extensive, was exceedingly productive to the Spaniards, as it took off part of their horned cattle, mules, horses, &c., and in return for which they received the products and manufactures of Europe, and slaves, which they could not obtain by the regular course of importation, on any thing like the same moderate or favourable terms. It is stated, that the French purchased annually upwards of twenty-five thousand head of horned cattle and about two thousand five hundred mules and horses; and that the Spaniards also transmitted upwards of half a million of dollars in specie during the year, for the purchase of goods, implements of agriculture, and negroes. Large shipments of mahogany and dye-woods found their way to Spain and different parts of Europe, and the United States, and indirectly to England: and a considerable intercourse existed with the islands of Porto Rico, Cuba, and Jamaica, to which latter two islands cattle were exported, and mahogany and dye-woods found a market in Jamaica more advantageous than any that could be found in Europe, owing to their being able to procure their returns in a more direct way than through the mother-country or any of the European states.

The commerce with Porto Rico and the Spanish main was also productive of some profit to the people of St. Domingo. The advantages accruing to the former arose from the facilities of smuggling, by which the enormous duties on foreign European goods of thirty-four per cent. in most cases were saved; and these goods could be purchased in St. Domingo on more moderate terms, from having been illicitly obtained from the French part of the island.

The trade to the United States was also of no little importance; for the vessels of that country took large quantities of mahogany, hides, some coffee, and a little dye-wood, in return for the cargoes which they brought thither, consisting of flour, beef, pork, butter, salted herrings, and dried cod-fish, with some East India goods, and various descriptions of lumber of America, more useful and easy in working for buildings than the hard wood of the country. The aggregate value of the exports and imports of this part of the island I have seen nowhere correctly stated: it is very evident, however, from the various accounts which I have seen, that it was infinitely less than the aggregate of the French part; and this may be safely confided in from the extremely fertile state of the one, when compared with the uncultivated condition of the other; from the industrious, the assiduous, and enterprising spirit, so characteristic of the French colonist, aided by the judicious measures of the cabinet of France, which sought to protect and encourage the agriculture and commerce of her colonies, whilst the Spaniards of the eastern division were left to pursue both their agricultural and commercial avocations under every species of discouragement and restraint. The energy displayed by one government, and the very relaxed system pursued by the other, accounts for the flourishing state of one part of this rich colony, whilst its rival was steeped in poverty: nothing, therefore, is left for conjecture as to the cause of so great a contrast; and both having subsequently been shaken by the effects of those pernicious doctrines so generally propagated at the Revolution, little is to be seen of the antecedent state of either, and chaos, ignorance, and indolence have superseded order, light, and industry.

Such was the state of the island at and during the two or three succeeding years of the revolution, as related by several writers, and confirmed by information obtained from individuals now residing in the country, who were present during the troubles which agitated and destroyed it, and reduced them from the height of affluence and peace into misery, and oftentimes into want—from them, much, of course, was to be elicited; and although I thought it a matter of prudence and a necessary caution, not to rely too implicitly on their communications, yet I always found them justly entitled to my confidence, on the fullest investigation. I never had a cause to question their veracity. Their account of the scenes which took place during the early stages and progress of the revolution, accords with the statements of others who have described them, and I have not been able to discover any discrepances between them.

CHAPTER II.

Cause of the revolution in the colony.—People of colour in France.—Their proceedings.—League with the society of Amis des Noirs.—Ogé’s rebellion.—His defeat and death.—Conduct of the proprietors and planters.—Consequences of it.

It has been very erroneously thought by some persons, who feel interested in the fate of the slave population of the West Indies, or at all events they have, with no little industry, propagated the impression, that the revolution in Hayti begun with the revolt of the blacks, when it is evident, from the very best authors and from the testimony of people now living, who were present during its opening scenes, that such was not the fact, and that the slaves remained perfectly tranquil for two years after the celebrated “Declaration of Rights” was promulgated in France. Such persons give themselves but little trouble in searching the history of the island—they are satisfied with the report of others, who may be equally uninformed with themselves; and thus it is that they imbibe ideas and notions of the wonderful capacities of the negro population, who could have commenced, and so effectually carried themselves through a struggle for freedom, without, as they allege, the aid of any other more enlightened or more powerful auxiliary. It requires no observation of mine to shew that the first symptom of disorder shewed itself among that class of people in the colony denominated, at the time, Sang-mêlées, or Gens de Couleur, or, as termed in the British colonies, mulattoes, who from their numbers formed a very powerful body, and not being countenanced by the whites, became in time inveterately opposed to them: many of them, natives of the colony and of the other French islands, were residing in France at the time of the Revolution, and these consisted of persons who had been sent thither in early life for their education, together with others who possessed considerable property, as well as some talent and intelligence. At this period also, from an extraordinary prejudice that prevailed in France against the inhabitants of the colonies, arising from an aversion to the principles of slavery, and which was much encouraged by the denunciation against everything having the least appearance of despotism, a society was established, denominated “Amis des Noirs” (Friends of the Blacks), which aimed at the subversion of the government, and called for an immediate abolition of the slave-trade, as well as a general emancipation of all those who were at the time living in a state of slavery.

“With these people” (meaning the men of colour in France), says a writer on this subject, “the society of Amis des Noirs formed an intimate connection. Their personal appearance excited pity, and, cooperating with the spirit of the times and the representations of those who deeply sympathized upon principles of humanity with their condition, all ranks of people became clamorous against the white colonists, and their total annihilation was threatened.” Not long after the formation of this union of feeling and sentiment between the friends of the blacks and the men of colour in France, the national assembly promulgated their famous declaration of rights, an act certainly contemplating the destruction of all order, and having an evident tendency to excite the lower classes of the people into every species of insubordination and general ferment; one of its leading and most important clauses being, that “all men are born and continue free and equal as to their rights.”

The society of Amis des Noirs, aided by a corresponding institution in London, together with the united body of the coloured people in France, lost no time in sending out this very celebrated declaration, and in disseminating its principles throughout the whole island; their efforts were not unavailing, for the mulattoes, conscious that the French nation were favourable towards their designs of demanding a restitution of their rights, and the full and unqualified enjoyment of those privileges hitherto confined to the white colonists, had recourse to arms, and appeared in bodies for the purpose of awing the provincial assemblies into concession; but their number not being great, they were in the onset easily subdued. It is said, however, that notwithstanding this check to their progress, the assemblies were much disposed to concede to the demands of the mulattoes; but in no instance could they think of permitting those white inhabitants to participate in these privileges, who had in any way cooperated with them. Several of the civil officers of the colony and magistrates declaimed against slavery, and openly avowed themselves supporters of the declaration of the national assembly of the mother-country; they were arrested by the provincial assemblies, and committed to prison, and such was the irritation and fury of the mob, that Mons. Beaudierre, a respectable magistrate at Petit Goane, was taken out by force, and, in spite of the municipality and other powers, put to death. In some cases the governor successfully interposed, and those who were most obnoxious to the people were conveyed out of the colony by secret means. During all these outrages, there is no account upon record of the negroes taking any part, and the fact seems to be established, that at this period they were quite tranquil and unmoved, although their several proprietors were concerned either for or against the measures from which the agitations sprung.

It appears that the governor of the colony had lost a great deal of his popularity, and consequently of his power, by his interposition; for a general colonial assembly, convoked in January 1790 by order from the king, determined that his instructions were imperfect and inapplicable, and the people therefore proceeded on a plan of their own, and changed both the time and the place at which the assembly should be held. Nothing could have emanated from the deliberations of the body convoked by this determination of the people, for the discontented and confused state of the colony being soon known in the mother-country, and an apprehension having arisen that the island was likely soon to be declared independent, the national assembly, in March 1790, came to the following decision: “That it never was the intention of the assembly to comprehend the interior government of the colonies in the constitution which they had framed for the mother-country, or to subject them to laws which were incompatible with their local establishments; they therefore authorize the inhabitants of each colony to signify to the national assembly their sentiments and wishes concerning the plan of interior legislation and commercial arrangement which would be most conducive to their prosperity.” Then followed a resolution, “That the national assembly would not cause any innovation to be made, directly or indirectly, in any system of commerce in which the colonies were already concerned.”[2]

The people of colour and the society of Amis des Noirs were, as it might have been anticipated, thrown into considerable alarm by the promulgation of a decree of so ambiguous a character, and no little surprise and consternation followed its appearance in the island. It was construed into an acquiescence in the further continuance of the slave-trade; it was also conceived to confer upon the colonists the power of settling and affixing their colonial constitutions, and to absolve them from their allegiance to the French crown.

The first general assembly of the island which was convoked after these decrees had been received, and had excited the astonishment of the people, was held at St. Marc on the 16th of April 1790. Their deliberative functions commenced with a discussion upon the hardships to which the people of colour were subjected under the military system of the colony, and it was determined, that on no subsequent occasion should they be required to perform more duty than was usually exacted from the whites.

An inquiry into the abuses alleged to prevail in the colonial courts of judicature, and the discussion of a new plan of colonial government, were the principal subjects which occupied the attention of the assembly until the end of May, when it was adjourned or prorogued.

M. Paynier was at this time governor-general of St. Domingo: he had neither the capacity nor the disposition required for administering the affairs of the colony at such a period. Instead of being actuated with the desire of conciliating the parties opposed to each other, he secretly gave every possible aid and encouragement to the supporters of ancient despotism. The appearance of Colonel Mauduit, however, a man of some talent and energy, effected a change; for he soon acquired much influence over the governor-general, and prevented the coalition which was about to take place between the assembly and the mulattoes; and declaring himself the protector of the latter, he speedily gained over to his interest the greater part of that class of people. The planters at this time, too, were in an undecided state, wavering in their opinions, and fixed to no measures likely to preserve the tranquillity of the island, and there was not one of their body capable of impressing them with a due sense of the condition into which they were likely to be precipitated by their want of energy and decision. Forming as they did a numerous class of the inhabitants, had they been unanimous in their opinions, and united in their views, the repose of the colony would in all probability have been preserved. Such not being the case, however, and some of the provincial assemblies making efforts to counteract the measures of the general one, a civil war seemed likely to be the result of so much diversity of sentiment. The decree of the general colonial assembly of the 28th of May was indicative of an approaching convulsion, which before long might be expected to burst forth; the preamble to this decree exhibited sentiments which seemed to breathe a spirit hostile to the peace of the people. The articles themselves assume it as a branch of the prerogative of the crown to confirm or annul the acts of the colonial legislature at pleasure. These articles are important, and I shall detail them as they have been given by others.

“First. The legislative authority, in every thing which relates to the internal concerns of the colony (régime interieur), is vested in the assembly of its representatives, which shall be called ‘The General Assembly of the French Part of St. Domingo.’

“Secondly. No act of the legislative body, in what relates to the internal concerns of the colony, shall be considered as a law definitive, unless it may be made by the representatives of the French part of St. Domingo, freely and legally chosen, and confirmed by the king.

“Thirdly. In cases of urgent necessity, a legislative decree of the general assembly, in what relates to the internal concerns of the colony, shall be considered as a law provisional. In all such cases the decree shall be notified forthwith to the governor-general, who, within ten days after such notification, shall cause it to be published and enforced, or transmit to the general assembly his observations thereon.

“Fourthly. The necessity of the case, on which the execution of such provisional decree is to depend, shall be a separate question, and be carried in the affirmative by a majority of two-thirds of the general assembly; the names and numbers being taken down (prises par l’appel nominal).

“Fifthly. If the governor-general shall send down his observations on any such decree, the same shall be entered in the journals of the general assembly, who shall then proceed to revise the decree, and consider the observations thereon, in three several sittings. The votes for confirming or annulling the decree shall be given in the words Yes or No, and a minute of the proceedings shall be signed by the members present, in which shall be enumerated the votes on each side of the question, and if there appears a majority of two-thirds for confirming the decree, it shall be immediately enforced by the governor-general.

“Sixthly. As every law ought to be founded on the consent of those who are to be bound by it, the French part of St. Domingo shall be allowed to propose regulations concerning commercial arrangements, and the system of mutual connexion (rapports commerciaux, et autres rapports communs), and the decrees which the national assembly shall make in all such cases, shall not be enforced in the colony, until the general assembly shall have consented thereto.

“Seventhly. In cases of pressing necessity, the importation of articles for the support of the inhabitants shall not be considered as any breach of the system of commercial regulations between St. Domingo and France; provided that the decrees to be made in such cases by the general assembly shall be submitted to the revision of the governor-general, under the same conditions and modifications as are prescribed in articles three and five.

“Eighthly. Provided also, that every legislative act of the general assembly executed provisionally, in cases of urgent necessity, shall be transmitted forthwith for the royal sanction. And if the king shall refuse his consent to any such act, its execution shall be suspended as soon as the king’s refusal shall be legally notified to the general assembly.

“Ninthly. A new general assembly shall be chosen every two years, and none of the members who have served in the former assembly shall be eligible in the new one.

“Tenthly. The general assembly decree that the preceding articles, as forming part of the constitution of the French colony in St. Domingo, shall be immediately transmitted to France for the acceptance of the national assembly and the king. They shall likewise be transmitted to all the parishes and districts of the colony, and be notified to the governor-general.”

It was not likely that a decree, the articles of which were thus opposed to the maintenance of order, could exact the acquiescence and submission of the people, and lead them to an approval of that which seemed to aim at the destruction of all subordination. Serious apprehensions arose as to the measures which would be adopted and pursued at this juncture, to avert the impending storm which was expected at no distant period to burst forth.

It was imagined, and was a received opinion, that the “declaring of the colony an independent state, in imitation of the English American provinces”, was certain, and every effort was made to avert such a proceeding. No obedience to the general assembly could be enforced. The inhabitants of Cape François were the first to set the example of renouncing all respect for that body, and of calling upon the governor-general to dissolve them. With this request he instantly complied, charging the general assembly with a design of undermining the peace of the colony, by forming projects of independency, contrary to the voice of the colonists; he even charged them with having been accessories or instigators of the mutiny of the crew of one of the king’s ships, and pronouncing them traitors to their king and country, he declared that he should take the most prompt and effective measures for bringing them to that punishment for which their treachery so loudly called.

An attempt was made to arrest the committee of the western provincial assembly, and a force under M. Mauduit was sent for that purpose, but he failed in effecting his object, for the members, hearing of his approach, collected about four hundred of the national guard for their defence, and M. Mauduit retired after a skirmish or two, without any other advantage than the capture of the national colours.

The general assembly being apprised of this attack, immediately summoned the people to the support and protection of their representatives. The northern provincial assembly adhered to the governor-general, and, to oppose the progress of his opponents, they sent him all the troops stationed in that quarter, together with an additional force of about two hundred mulattoes. The western province collected a much greater force, and everything seemed to indicate a sanguinary civil war, when an event occurred which for a time averted all those unhappy results that would inevitably have taken place, had the opposing parties come in contact.

Most unexpectedly, at this momentous juncture, for the purpose of trying the effect of a personal appeal to the national assembly of France, the general assembly of the island determined on a voyage to Europe. About one hundred members, all that remained of their body, from the effects of sickness and desertion, embarked on board the Leopard (that very ship, the crew of which had declared themselves in their interest a very short time previously) on the 8th of August, and took their departure, hailed with the warmest acclamations of the populace, who could not restrain their admiration at so extraordinary an act of devotion to the good of their country. It is said, that “tears of sensibility and affection were shed at their departure by all classes of people, and the parties in arms appeared mutually disposed to submit their differences to the king and the national assembly.”

Immediately after this storm had subsided, every effort was made by the governor-general, Paynier, to restore confidence and tranquillity amongst the people, and for some time, there was a strong indication of the peace of the colony being once more established; but the designs of the people of colour in France, abetted by the society of Amis des Noirs, at the head of which were some of the most violent of the revolutionary characters of France, destroyed all their hopes, and every species of anarchy and confusion was anticipated from the proceedings of these disseminators of the pernicious doctrine of equality and the rights of man.

It was at this period that the first mulatto rebellion took place, at the head of which was the famous Ogé, the protegé and disciple of La Fayette and Robespierre, a young man about thirty years of age, and a native of the northern part of St. Domingo. He had been educated in France at the expense of his mother, a woman of property living near Cape François; having been admitted to the meetings of the society of Amis des Noirs, he had imbibed all their principles, and had become enthusiastic in demanding an equality of rights and privileges for his coloured brethren. Encouraged by the society, and the revolutionary leaders, he left France for the purpose of instigating his fellow colonists of colour to take up arms in the assertion of their claims. To give him something like an appearance of military command, the society purchased for him the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the army of one of the German states. To conceal his designs from the king and the national assembly, he made a circuitous voyage by North America; but his object was known before he left France, and intimation was sent out to the governor-general that he had embarked for St. Domingo, and that his scheme was to excite his coloured brethren to arms. A description of his person, and I believe a portrait also, were transmitted for the better discovery of him on his arrival; but notwithstanding every precaution, he landed secretly, and the circumstance remained unknown, until some weeks afterwards he wrote to the governor, reviling him for his proceedings, and in the name of all the mulattoes, of which he declared himself to be the protector, demanding in the most contumelious language the immediate execution of all the statutes of the Code Noir, and that in all times to come there should be no distinction, as to rights and privileges, between the whites and the other inhabitants of the island. To give a greater force as he thought to his demand, he vauntingly stated, that unless the governor-general acceded to his propositions, he should assert them by the force of arms. Ogé, however, was somewhat premature in his calculations of support and aid in the carrying into effect the object of his voyage; for although some considerable time had elapsed from his landing, and he had the assistance of his brothers, who were tainted with the same love of insubordination and tumult, he never could collect at any one time more than from two to three hundred to join him in his cause. He encamped his followers near the Grand Rivière, and it is said, that his brothers and another chief, Chevane, instigated their people to commit many excesses, and at times murdered the unoffending inhabitants in the vicinity, with the most shocking cruelty, whenever they declined to join in their proceedings. Instances were many, in which whole families were murdered, from the circumstance of a father, or even a brother, refusing to take up arms to favour their cause.

Supported by so small a body, and no simultaneous movement taking place in any other part of the colony, the career of Ogé and his associates was not likely to be of any long duration. Steps were immediately taken by the governor to suppress the revolt, and to bring the leaders to trial, if it were found practicable to apprehend them. Troops and the Cape militia were sent to oppose them, when a skirmish ensued in which many of the rebels fell, and some were taken prisoners. Ogé escaped with Chevane; but as it was known that they had fled into the Spanish territory, they were demanded by the successor of Peynier, M. Blanchelande (the former having resigned his command, and embarked for Europe,) who brought them to trial in March 1791, and they were condemned: Ogé and Chevane to be broken on the wheel, and his brother and some of his followers to be hanged. The fortitude of Chevane never forsook him to the last, and he met his fate with extraordinary resolution and courage; but Ogé exhibited the greatest pusillanimity, supplicating in the most abject manner that mercy might be extended to him. It appears that a respite was granted to him, in consideration of his promise to make the most important discoveries were his life spared. He made a full confession before commissioners appointed for that purpose, and in that confession was detailed the whole plan which the coloured people had devised to excite the negro population to open rebellion.

It seemed a case of peculiar hardship, if not of great injustice, and breach of all faith and honour, that after the unfortunate and deluded man had made such important disclosures, and had informed the governor of the whole of their designs, by which their further progress might be defeated, his life should be sacrificed; mercy having been held out as the price of his confession, it should have been extended to him, for this he had unquestionably, upon every principle of justice, a right to expect and to demand. Why it should not have been granted to him, no reason has been assigned. He was executed immediately after, and at the fatal spot he shewed neither the firmness, fortitude, nor the mind of a brave man suffering in that cause of which he had been the leader.

The proceedings of the government with respect to the revolt of Ogé, and the very unjust execution of the latter, excited great animosity between the whites and the people of colour, the latter of whom had collected in large bodies in various parts. In the western and southern districts they formed encampments, and displayed a determination to resist the oppression and the unjust decrees of the governor. At Jeremie, and at Aux Cayes in particular, a most formidable body had collected, well armed and accoutred, and shewed a great desire to come in contact with the government troops. It has been generally admitted that Mauduit, who commanded the troops of the government, was in secret conference with their leaders, and that on several occasions he appeared among them singly, and consulted with them, advising them not to desist from their purpose, but to move forward with energy and perseverance. That he did this traitorously, is evident, for having obtained intelligence of the whole of their plans through this ruse, he availed himself of it for the purpose of defeating them, and as it afterwards turned out, the mulattoes were dispersed and obliged to seek refuge in any place where it was not likely that they could be known or discovered.

The members of the colonial assembly who had gone to France for the purpose of laying their complaints at the foot of the throne, were not received with much favour; on the contrary, having appeared at the bar of the national assembly they were dismissed with considerable disappointment and chagrin. The report of the committee appointed to examine their claims, displays no little disapprobation of the proceedings of the general colonial assembly. It concludes by saying, “that all the pretended decrees and acts of the said colonial assembly should be reversed and pronounced utterly null and of no effect; that the said assembly should be declared dissolved, and its members rendered ineligible and incapable of being delegated in future to the colonial assembly of St. Domingo; that testimonies of approbation should be transmitted to the northern provincial assembly, to Colonel Mauduit and the regiment of Port-au-Prince, for resisting the proceedings at St. Marc’s; that the king should be requested to give orders for the forming a new colonial assembly on the principles of the national decree of the 8th of March 1790, and instructions of the 28th of the same month; finally, that the cidevant members, then in France, should continue in a state of arrest, until the national assembly might find time to signify its further pleasure concerning them.”

Nothing could exceed the consternation which this decree excited throughout the colony, and the indignation of the people was manifest from one extremity of it to the other. To have called another general colonial assembly would have been an act of impossibility, for the people in many districts absolutely refused to return other representatives, declaring those that were under arrest in France to be the only legal ones, and that they would not proceed to another election.

The national guards, who had for some time felt, with no little mortification, the insult offered them by Mauduit, who had previously carried off their colours, evinced a disposition to resent the affront, and to refuse all further adherence to the cause in which they had enlisted; and they were soon after joined in their revolt by the very regiment of which Mauduit was the commander, tearing the white cockade from their hats, and indignantly refusing obedience to him. Discovering the error into which he had fallen, he offered to restore the national colours, and appealed to them for protection against insult, which these faithless wretches pledged. But because he would not stoop to the humiliation of begging pardon of the national guards on his knees, he was, notwithstanding this pledge, on the day appointed for the ceremony of restoring the colours, suddenly pierced by the bayonets of those very soldiers whom on innumerable occasions he had so kindly and so liberally treated. The other troops who happened to be present at this most dastardly and inhuman act, could not witness it without an attempt to revenge themselves on the perpetrators; they were however restrained from effecting their intention, and only compelled them to lay down their arms, when they were sent off prisoners to France, there to receive that punishment which such an enormity most justly deserved.

About this period the accounts of the fatal end of Ogé had arrived in Paris, an event that caused an amazing sensation amongst the advocates of the people of colour and the society of Amis des Noirs; it brought forward the Abbe Gregoire, the staunch friend of the former, who, with extraordinary eloquence and great warmth, claimed the benefit which the instructions of March 1790 gave to them. After a violent address from Robespierre, who said, “Perish the colonies rather than sacrifice one iota of our principles”, the national assembly confirmed the decree of the 15th of May, 1791, which enacted, “that the people of colour resident in the French colonies should be allowed the privileges of French citizens, and, among others, those of having votes in the choice of representatives, and of being eligible to seats both in the parochial and colonial assemblies.”

This decree, on being received in the colony, excited no little sensation; the greatest indignation was manifested by the white people in every quarter, but still they refrained from acts of hostility to the measures of the mother-country, under the hope that when the new colonial assembly, which was to meet at Leogane on the 9th of August, entered upon its legislative functions, it would without doubt afford them that redress which they so anxiously desired.

The mulattoes, no doubt, expected that a most serious opposition would be given to this decree, as the governor, M. Blanchelande, had assured the provincial assembly of the north, “that he would suspend the execution of this obnoxious decree whenever it should come to him properly authenticated”; they accordingly assembled in large bodies throughout the whole colony, and displayed a determination to enforce by arms the concession of those privileges to which, under the decree of the national assembly, they asserted they were entitled.

Here, it will be perceived, the first serious symptoms of tumult and insubordination appeared, not from any revolt of the slave population, but from the unhappy interference of the national assembly of France, influenced by the supporters and advocates of the people of colour, and the society of Amis des Noirs. Had this interference been declined by the mother-country, and had the colonial assembly been invested with the sole legislative power of framing regulations for the internal government of the island, all those lamentable scenes which subsequently followed would have been averted, and the colony would have preserved its peace and repose, and have proceeded on, in its highly rich and cultivated condition, to the great advantage of the proprietors, to the enhancement of the revenues of the parent state, and without, in any way, oppressing the slave cultivators or increasing the burthens under which they were said to labour.

At the period of this narrative to which we have now arrived, the effects of the Revolution in France had made a very sensible impression on the whites, as well as on the people of colour; and it has been a matter of no little astonishment, that during the disputes which so unhappily existed, and whilst the adherents of one party were committing acts of hostility against the other, the slave population should have remained passive observers of the contest between their respective masters, and in no instance, I believe, did they fly to their succour and support. The proprietors and planters of all denominations had arrived at a very high state of affluence, their plantations were extensive, in a high state of cultivation; thus possessing a soil rich and productive in a climate particularly favourable for cultivation, their wealth scarcely knew any limits. But unfortunately their manners and habits became relaxed and depraved in proportion as they advanced in affluence and prosperity. Proud, austere, and voluptuous, they often committed acts which humanity must condemn; and in the season of agitation and disappointment, when the contending factions at home and abroad were endeavouring to undermine them, they perhaps were led to the infliction of excessive punishments, and to practise an unusual degree of severity in exacting labour from their slaves. Sensual pleasures had also, at this time, become so prevalent as to excite very general disgust.

The mass of society had become so depraved, that vice in every shape was gloried in, whilst virtue was scarcely known; it cannot therefore be a matter of much surprise, that the rude, untaught, and unlettered slave, just emerging from his savage customs, should be led by example to imbibe the vicious habits, and indulge the loose and ungovernable propensities which characterized his master. Upon the creole slave example made an instant impression, whilst the newly imported African, slow to observe, was only led into excesses by the craft and persuasion of his creole fellow bondsman. Example, therefore, most unquestionably suggested the extraordinary cruelties which in the spirit of revenge were inflicted by these infuriated people, instigated by the mulattoes in the first instance for the more certain enforcing of their claims to the privileges which the decree of the 15th of May, 1791, conferred upon them. In all these disputes the females of the colony also bore a conspicuous part; entering into all the views and feelings of their male companions, they displayed an unparalleled degree of enthusiasm for the cause in which their husbands, fathers and brothers had respectively engaged: forgetting their sex, and lost to the softer feelings of female nature, they furiously flew to the standards of their party, and by gesture and menace shewed that they were ready to meet the fate which seemed likely to fall on their friends.

I cannot better illustrate the characters of the planters and the slave population at this period, than by the description given of them by Rainsford in his History of St. Domingo, who must have been conversant with them from having been a sojourner in the colony under circumstances of great danger, and whose experience, arising from general intercourse, must enable him to be a very competent judge. He says of them: “Flushed with opulence and dissipation, the majority of the planters in St. Domingo had arrived at a state of sentiment the most vitiated, and manners equally depraved; while injured by an example so contagious, the slaves had become more dissolute than those of any British island. If the master was proud, voluptuous, and crafty, the slave was equally vicious, and often riotous; the punishment of one was but the consequent of his own excesses, but that of the other was often cruel and unnatural. The proprietor would bear no rival in his parish, and would not bend even to the ordinances of justice. The creole slaves looked upon the newly imported Africans with scorn, and sustained in turn that of the mulattoes, whose complexion was browner, while all were kept at a distance from an intercourse with the whites; nor did the boundaries of sex, it is painful to observe, keep their wonted distinction from the stern impulses which affect men. The European ladies too often participated in the austerity and arrogance of their male kindred, while the jet black beauty among slaves, though scarcely a native of the island, refused all commerce with those who could not boast the same distinction with herself.”

CHAPTER III.

First revolt of the slaves in 1791.—Their ravages.—Decree of the national assembly 4th of April 1792.—Santhonax and Polverel.—Their secret agency.—Encourage the slaves.—Their declaration of freedom to the slaves.—Consequences arising from it.—Character of the slaves.—Disabilities of the coloured people.

In the preceding chapter I have sought to discover if the first cause of the revolt of the slaves in Hayti proceeded from any hatred towards their proprietors, or if it were excited by the intrigues of the contending parties, who were each attempting to gain over that class in favour of their cause; and I find that the result of my investigation of the subject is in favour of the latter supposition. From facts that appear to me undeniable I have come to the conclusion, that unless the national assembly of France had made an attempt to destroy that principle of governing the colony which had previously been adopted, and which before the Revolution had been sanctioned by every person connected with it, the slave population would have remained until this day peaceable and tranquil observers of passing events, unmindful of their being in bondage, because under that bondage they had no wants, and in that state, whatever may be the opinion of mankind, they had no care beyond that of their daily labour, to which they felt it was no hardship to submit; for there does not appear an instance in which it exceeded the ordinary work of any labourer within the tropics.

The revolt of the slaves, therefore, I take leave to say, did not proceed from any severity or great oppression on the part of their proprietors, but from the proceedings of the parties who at different periods were striving for a preponderating power in the colony:—of the whites who aimed at the preservation of their privileges, and resisted all innovation; and of the people of colour, who made every possible effort to be admitted into the same sphere, and to the enjoyment of those rights which Gregoire and his revolutionary colleagues were willing to concede to them. To these causes, and to these alone, as it will appear to every unbiassed reader, are to be attributed all those lamentable scenes which subsequently ensued, and to which the human mind cannot turn its attention without experiencing those painful sensations which are excited by the ravages of civil warfare and rebellion.

The first act of open rebellion among the slaves appears to have occurred in the vicinity of the Cape on or about the 23d of August 1791, on the plantation Noé, situated in the parish of Acul. The principal ringleaders murdered the white inhabitants, whilst the other slaves finished the work of devastation, by demolishing the works and setting fire to the dwellings, huts, and other places contiguous to them.

They were joined by the negroes from other estates in the neighbourhood, upon all of which similar tragedies were performed, and desolation seemed likely to spread through the whole plains of the north. The barbarity which marked their progress exceeded description; an indiscriminate slaughter of the whites ensued, except in instances where some of the females were reserved for a more wretched doom, being made to submit to the brutal lusts of the most sanguinary wretches that ever disgraced humanity. Cases are upon record, where the most amiable of the female sex were first brought forth to see their parents inhumanly butchered, and were afterwards compelled to submit to the embraces of the very villain who acted as their executioner. The distinction of age had no effect on these ruthless savages, for even girls of twelve and fourteen years were made the objects of satiating their lust and revenge. Nothing could exceed the consternation of the white people; and the lamentations of the unhappy women struck every one with horror. Such a scene of massacre has scarcely been heard of, as that which accompanied the commencement of the rebellion in the north.

Some opposition was made to their progress by a few militia and troops of the line, which M. De Tonzard collected for the purpose; not indeed, with the expectation of effectually dispersing them, but of enabling the inhabitants of the city of Cape François to put themselves in such a state of defence as might save them from that destruction which seemed to await them. The citizens flew to arms, and the national guards, with the seamen from the ships, were mustered, and ready to receive the rebels should they make an attempt upon the city.

There was in the city at the time, a large body of free mulattoes, on whom the lower order of whites looked with a suspicious eye, as being in some way the authors or fomenters of the revolt; these were also enrolled in the militia, the governor and the colonial assembly confiding in them, and relying on their fidelity. The report of the revolt was soon known throughout the whole colony, but more particularly in the northern districts, the white inhabitants of which, being speedily collected together, established two strong posts at Grand Rivière and at Dondon, for the purpose of checking the advance of the revolters, until such time as a force could be concentrated, sufficiently powerful to disperse them: but in this they were disappointed, for the negroes had increased their own numbers by the revolt of the slaves on many other estates, and they had also been joined by a large body of mulattoes. With this united force, they successfully attacked the two positions which were occupied by the whites, who were completely routed. Success put the rebels in possession of the extensive plain with all its surrounding mountains, abounding with every production of which they stood in need for their sustenance.

The defeat of the whites was followed by a scene of cruelties and butcheries which exceeds imagination; almost every individual who fell into the hands of the revolters met with a wretched end, tortures of the most shocking description being resorted to by these blood-thirsty savages: blacks and mulattoes seemed eager to rival each other in the extent of their enormities.

The union of the mulattoes with the revolted slaves, was not an event unlocked for; as I have before remarked, they were strongly suspected of being the instigators of the rebellion. This junction caused serious apprehensions, that those mulattoes who had joined the whites in the city, and had marched for the purpose of cooperating with the inhabitants of the plains, would desert their posts and go over to the revolters; and it is probable that such an event might have ensued, had not the governor, before he permitted them to be enrolled, and before he could implicitly confide in them, demanded from them their wives and children, as hostages for their adherence to the cause which they had engaged to support.

In this northern insurrection, the destruction of the white inhabitants, it is said, was considerable, exceeding, of all ages, two thousand; besides the demolition of the buildings of a great many plantations, and the total ruin of many families, who from a condition of ease and affluence were reduced to the lowest state of misery and despair, being driven to the melancholy necessity of supplicating charity, to relieve the heart-rending calls of their hungry and naked offspring. The loss of the insurgents was however infinitely greater; being ignorant of the effects of cannon they were consequently cut down in masses, while the sword was also effectually used. It appears that upwards of 10,000 of these sanguinary wretches fell in the field, besides a very large number who perished by famine, and by the hands of the executioner; a very just retribution for their savage and inhuman proceedings. There is every reason to believe that the loss sustained by them in all their engagements must have been immense, as they seemed to have imbibed a most extraordinary idea of the effect of artillery: it is said of them by a writer of repute, that “The blacks suffered greatly in the beginning of the revolution by their ignorance of the dreadful effects of the guns, and by a superstitious belief, very generally prevailing at that time, that by a few mysterious words, they could prevent the cannon doing them any harm, which belief induced them to face the most imminent dangers.”

Whilst these ravages were going on in the north, the western district was menaced by a body of men of colour, who had collected at Mirebalais, sanguinely expecting to be joined by a large party of slaves from the surrounding parishes. Their aim was the possession of Port au Prince and the whole plain of Cul de Sac; but being joined by only about six or seven hundred of the slaves of the neighbourhood, they did not succeed in their object; and after having set fire to the coffee plantations in the mountains, and done some injury amongst the estates in the valley, they began to deliberate on their condition, and to devise some plan, by which they might be able to rescue themselves from the dilemma into which they were thrown by their own rash and improvident proceedings. Some of the most powerful of the mulattoes, who found it impossible to gain the negroes over to their cause, deemed it advisable to propose an adjustment of their disputes, and attempt to bring about a reconciliation with the whites. One of the planters, a man of some power and address, and having been always very highly esteemed by the people of colour, as well as the negroes through the whole of the Cul de Sac, interposed, and a treaty was concluded on the 11th of September, between the people of colour on the one part, and the white inhabitants of Port au Prince on the other.

This treaty was called the Concordat: it had for its basis the oblivion of past differences and the full recognition of the decree of the national assembly of the 15th of May. The treaty was subsequently ratified by the general assembly of the colony, and a proclamation was issued, in which it was held out that further concessions were contemplated for the purpose of cementing a good understanding between both classes, and these concessions, it was supposed, alluded to the admission of those persons of colour to the privileges of the whole who were born of enslaved parents. Mulattoes also were voted to be eligible to hold commissions in the companies formed of persons of their own colour, and some other privileges of minor consideration conceded to them. This, it was hoped, would restore order, and enable the people once more to enjoy peace and repose. But a circumstance occurred which blasted these hopes, and the flame, which appears only to have been partially subdued, was rekindled, and burst forth again with an astonishing rapidity, devouring all within its overwhelming reach.

Immediately after the ratification of the Concordat by the colonial assembly had been announced, and when it was admitted by all parties that its several provisions, amongst them the decree of the 15th of May, were judicious and highly commendable, tending to preserve order and tranquillity through the island, intelligence was received of the repeal of that very decree by the national assembly in France, and of its having been voted by a very large majority. This was followed too by an intimation that the national assembly had determined on sending out commissioners to enforce the decree of the 24th of September 1791, which annulled the decree of the 15th of May, and to endeavour to restore order and subordination. Such unaccountable, and, as they may be justly characterized, deceptive proceedings on the part of the national assembly excited the indignation of the people of colour, who immediately accused the whites of being privy to these transactions, and declared that all further amity and good understanding must be broken off, and that either one party or the other must be annihilated. All the coloured people in the western and southern parts flew eagerly to the standard of revolt, and having collected a strong force, they appeared in a few days before Port au Prince, on which they made an attempt, but as that city had been strengthened by an additional force from France, it was enabled to receive the attack of the insurgents, and ultimately to repel them with no inconsiderable loss. The city however sustained considerable injury, and the revolters were successful in several attempts to set fire to it, by which a very large part of it was burnt down, or otherwise injured.

In the plains of the Cul de Sac the negroes joined the mulattoes, allured by the charm of plunder and the pledge of freedom, and the expectation of satiating their lust on the defenceless and unoffending white females who should fall into their hands. In these plains some sanguinary battles were fought, remarkable however for nothing except the unrelenting cruelties with which the prisoners of the respective combatants were visited, and the barbarous and inhuman executions which followed them.

In these engagements it is recorded that the whites had the advantage, but they were unable to follow up their success, being destitute of a force of cavalry for the pursuit, a circumstance which made it quite impossible for them to improve on any decisive movement which they had effected. It appears, that in every skirmish or engagement the whites were in all cases most forward and bold in their attacks, and few only were the instances in which the contest was commenced by the mulattoes; whenever they were brought in contact with their opponents they exhibited no individual or collective displays of courage and heroism, but, on the contrary, there seemed a tincture of cowardice in all their proceedings, for they arranged the negroes in front of their position, and in all cases of advance these deluded creatures bore the first attack of their adversaries, whilst their coloured allies, leaders, and deluders, often remained inactive during the moment of trial and slaughter.

In December the commissioners Mirbeck, Roosne, and St. Leger arrived. Their reception was respectful, and there was a peculiar degree of submission shewn to them; but when they proclaimed a general amnesty and pardon to all who should submit and desist from further acts of insubordination, and subscribe the articles of the new constitution, a general murmur was excited, and marks of disapprobation were shewn towards them, not only by the colonial assembly, but by every individual of the contending parties. They remained in the island but a short time; and as an opinion prevailed that they were the mere instruments or organ of the national assembly, they obtained no attention or respect. Without any display of talent, they aspired to the government of a people, who were not to be commanded without being first taught that their commission was of a pacific tendency, and that their instructions were to appease, and not to excite. Instead of this, they declined to give any explanation of the object of their appointment beyond that which had been previously known, the enforcing of the decree of the 24th of September 1791. Finding all their efforts unavailing, and that they were unsupported by either party, finding that their authority was disputed and their representations despised, and, above all, left without any troops by which they might attempt to enforce obedience to their power, and submission to the decrees of the mother-country, they took their departure from the island by separate conveyances, after having made many most ineffectual attempts to obtain the confidence and the good opinion of the people over whom they were sent to preside, and from whom they were sent to exact an accordance with such measures as the national assembly might think it expedient to adopt.

About this time, also, there were some changes in France which indicated further arrangements with respect to the administration of the colonies, which could only tend to widen the breach, and inflame the parties to that degree of violence which would preclude the expectation of any amicable adjustment at a future period. The society of Amis des Noirs had now gained a considerable influence in the national assembly, and there seemed to exist an union of feeling in favour of the mulattoes, and also of the slave population, whom it was designed at no distant period to emancipate, however unprepared they might be, by moral improvement, to receive such a boon. It was suggested that instructions should be sent out to the colonial assemblies, conveying to them such intentions, as well as their opinion of the means by which “slavery might be abolished in toto”, without in the least affecting the interest of the people, or in any way putting their property in jeopardy. This design, however, of the anti-slavery party in France met with some momentary opposition, although the advocates of the measure uttered loud invectives against the planters in general; but whatever influence the former might have collected and brought against the latter, it is very clear it failed in its desired aim, for in less than two months this assembly passed another decree, which abrogated that of the 24th of September. This decree is of the 4th of April 1792, and it is the first step towards an emancipation of slavery, although it does not declare such an intention. It is important, and I shall therefore insert it from a translation in another work, to the writer of which I am much indebted.

“The national assembly acknowledges and declares, that the people of colour and free negroes in the colonies ought to enjoy an equality of political rights with the whites; in consequence of which it decrees as follows:—

“Article 1st. Immediately after the publication of the present decree, the inhabitants of each of the French colonies in the windward and leeward islands shall proceed to the re-election of colonial and parochial assemblies, after the mode prescribed by the decree of the 8th of March 1790, and the instructions of the national assembly of the 28th of the same month.

“2d. The people of colour and free negroes shall be admitted to vote in all the primary and electoral assemblies, and shall be eligible to the legislature and all places of trust, provided they possess the qualifications prescribed by the fourth article of the aforesaid instructions.

“3d. Three civil commissioners shall be named for the colony of St. Domingo, and four for the islands of Martinique, Guadaloupe, St. Lucia, and Tobago, to see this decree enforced.

“4th. The said commissioners shall be authorized to dissolve the present colonial assemblies; to take every measure necessary for accelerating the convocation of the primary and electoral assemblies, and therein to establish union, order, and peace, as well as to determine provisionally (reserving the power of appeal to the national assembly) upon every question which may arise concerning the regularity of convocations, the holding of assemblies, the form of elections, and the eligibility of citizens.

“5th. They are authorized to procure every information possible, in order to discover the authors of the troubles in St. Domingo, and the continuance thereof, if they still continue; to secure the persons of the guilty, and to send them over to France, there to be put in a state of accusation, &c.

“6th. The said civil commissioners shall be directed, for this purpose, to transmit to the national assembly minutes of their proceedings, and of the evidence they may have collected concerning the persons accused as aforesaid.

“7th. The national assembly authorizes the civil commissioners to call forth the public force whenever they may think it necessary, either for their own protection, or for the execution of such orders as they may issue by virtue of the preceding articles.

“8th. The executive power is directed to send a sufficient force to the colonies, to be composed chiefly of national guards.

“9th. The colonial assemblies immediately after their formation shall signify, in the name of each colony respectively, their sentiments respecting that constitution, those laws, and the administration of them, which will best promote the prosperity and happiness of the people, conforming themselves nevertheless to those general principles by which the colonies and the mother-country are connected together, and by which their respective interests are best secured, agreeably to the decree of the 8th of March 1790 and instructions of the 28th of the same month.

“10th. The colonial assemblies are authorized to send home delegates for the purposes mentioned in the preceding article, in numbers proportionate to the population of each colony, which proportion shall be forthwith determined by the national assembly, according to the report which its colonial committee is directed to make.

“11th. Former decrees respecting the colonies shall be in force in every thing not contrary to the present decree.”

The carrying of this decree into effect was entrusted to Messrs. Santhonax, Polverel, and Ailhaud, the executive in France sending out a body comprising eight thousand men of the national guards, for the purpose of compelling the colonists to submit to their authority. Having arrived on the 13th of September, their first act was to dissolve the colonial assembly, and their next, to send the governor, Blanchelande, to France, where, after an examination into his administration, he was sentenced to death, and suffered on the guillotine in the April following. M. Desparbes, who was invested with chief command in his stead, having disagreed with the commissioners, was also suspended, and, like his predecessor, he was sent to France to undergo a similar fate.

The greatest consternation everywhere prevailed on the announcement of this decree, and, as I have before observed, a pretty general feeling existed, that this was only a prelude to a general emancipation of the slave population, and which afterwards was actually realised. The white inhabitants, in particular, suspected the candour of the commissioners, who were anxious to have it believed that the object of their mission was nothing more than to carry into operation the provisions of this decree, and to settle all those disputes between the one class and the other, which had been fomented to the great destruction of persons and property. These agents of the national assembly seem to have been well skilled in the art of dissimulation, more particularly the leader, M. Santhonax, who, whilst professing to the whites the warmest solicitude and anxiety for the preservation of peace and the promotion of the prosperity of the colony, was secretly intriguing with the mulattoes, and holding clandestine meetings with their chiefs; and in the end, in conjunction with his coadjutors, he openly declared that they, with the free negroes, should enjoy their privileges, receive the protection of the national guards, and that he would espouse their cause in every possible way in which it could be effectually promoted.

The properties of the white inhabitants, as well as their lives, seemed at this juncture in the greatest jeopardy, and they possessed no means of averting the fate which seemed to await them. Some little hope, however, was raised in their minds by the appointment of a new governor, M. Galbaud, who arrived to take the command in May 1793, and to place the island in the strongest state of defence, it being apprehended by the French government that the British might interpose in the existing disputes, as war had been declared between the two powers. His arrival was hailed by the authorities and the inhabitants of the Cape with the strongest manifestations of joy, and from his having property in the island, they had the highest confidence in his character for probity, and anticipated that the most decisive measures would be adopted for the restoration of their property, and for the security of their lives. But how vain were their anticipations, and how fleeting their hope! The national assembly of France, the great mover of all the evils which afflicted this unhappy country, again interposed with new instructions, and suspended the new governor from his command, decreeing that any one holding property in the colonies should be ineligible to fill any office of trust in the colony in which his estate was situate.

Galbaud did not, however, resign his appointment without a struggle; and aided by his brother, a man of some spirit and great enterprise, he collected a force composed of militia, seamen from the ships in the harbour of the Cape, and a strong body of volunteers, and without delay advanced against the commissioners, whom he found ready to receive him at the head of the regular troops. A conflict severe and bloody ensued, and considerable resolution was displayed by the rival parties, each supporting their cause with unshaken firmness and determined bravery; but the sailors, who composed the greatest body of Galbaud’s force, having become disorderly, he was obliged to retire, which he did without being in the least interrupted or opposed by the force of the commissioners.

The next day various skirmishes took place, in which the success was in some degree mutual; and whilst the brother of Galbaud fell into the hands of the commissioners’ troops, the son of Polverel was captured by the seamen attached to Galbaud’s force. The commissioners finding, however, that their force diminished, and that their opponents were resolute and fought with unexampled bravery, had recourse to a measure which in the sequel caused much slaughter, although it succeeded in the destruction of Galbaud’s force; they called in the aid of the revolted slaves, offering them their freedom, and promising that the city of the Cape should be given up for plunder. Some of the rebel chiefs rejected a proposition which could only produce the sacrifice of lives and the spilling of human blood, without in any way promoting their own cause, but Macaya, a negro possessing some power over his adherents, and being of a savage and brutal disposition, with an insatiable thirst for the blood of the whites, accepted the proposal of the commissioners, and with three or four thousand of his negro brethren joined their standard, when a scene of horror and of carnage ensued, the recital of which would shock the hardest and most unfeeling heart. Men, women, and children were without distinction unmercifully slaughtered by these barbarians, and those who had escaped the first rush into the city, and had reached the water-side, for the purpose of getting on board the ships in the harbour, were intercepted and their retreat cut off by these merciless wretches, just at the moment when arrangements had been accomplished for their embarkation. Here the mulattoes had an opportunity of gratifying their revenge; here they had arrived at the summit of their greatest ambition and glory; here it was that these cowardly and infamous parricides, gorged with human blood, sacrificed their own parents, and afterwards subjected their bodies to every species of insult and indignity; here it was that these disciples of Robespierre—this injured and oppressed race—the theme of Gregoire’s praise, and the subject of his appeal and harangue, shewed themselves worthy disciples of such masters! If any thing were wanted to establish the fact of these scenes being unexampled, and without a parallel, one thing, I am sure, will alone be sufficient, and that is, that the commissioners, these amiable representatives of the national assembly, the immaculate Santhonax, and the equally humane and virtuous Polverel, these vicegerents of the society of Amis des Noirs, these protectors of the mulattoes, were struck with horror at the scene which was presented to them, and repaired to the ships, there to become spectators of the effects of their own crimes, and of a splendid and opulent city devoured by the flames which had been lighted by the torch of anarchy and rebellion.

In this destruction of the Cape, some instances of the most extraordinary brutality were exhibited, and others of devotedness and heroism were displayed; one or two it will be as well to mention, as illustrative of the generosity and humanity of the one party, and of the ferocity and cruelty of the other. When the revolters first entered the city, every man, woman, and child were bayoneted or cut down with such instruments as they could muster, but the young females were in most cases spared, for the momentary gratification of the lust of those into whose hands they fell. One case of the most singular enormity took place:—a leader of the revolted slaves, named Gautier, had entered the house of a respectable merchant in the square, in which were the proprietor, his wife, his two sons, and three daughters; the sons were young, not exceeding the age of ten, but the daughters were elegant young women, the eldest about eighteen, and the youngest not exceeding fourteen. Gautier, assisted by one or two wretches equally inhuman, promised to spare the family, on account of his having received many acts of kindness and generosity from the father, to whom he was often sent by his master on business, he being a domestic slave. These poor creatures, who were at first half-expiring from the terror of the scene around them, and from the idea of being the captives of barbarians, recovered somewhat from the alarm into which they had been thrown, through the promises of security thus unconditionally pledged to them; and although not permitted to go out of the sight of their captors, they did not apprehend that any mischief was in embryo, and that their lives were to be sacrificed. Impressed with the idea of safety, they proceeded to prepare a repast for their supposed guardians, and set it before them in the same splendour as they were wont to do when receiving their best and dearest friends. Gautier drank freely, and his compeers did no little justice to the rich repast. Night coming on, and apprehensive of the consequences of a surprise from the governor’s force, they began to deliberate upon what plan they should adopt to secure their unhappy captives from flight, when, not being able to devise any thing likely to be effectual, they came to the savage resolution of murdering them all. The daughters were locked up in a room, under the watch of two of the revolters, whilst the remainder of them commenced the bloody task by bayoneting the two sons. The mother, on her knees, imploring mercy with pitiful cries, met with the same fate, whilst the husband, who was bound hand and foot, was barbarously mangled, by having first his arms and then his legs cut off, and afterwards run through the body. During this blood-thirsty scene, the daughters, ignorant of the tragic end of their parents, were in a state of alarm and terror not to be described, yet hoping that their lives were safe. But, alas! how deceitful that hope! for their destiny was fixed, and their time but short. Gautier and his diabolical associates went into their room, stripped them naked, and committed on their defenceless persons the most brutal enormities, when with the dead bodies of their parents they were thrown into the flames which were then surrounding them, where they all perished.

I shall mention another case of an opposite character, and in which a degree of heroism was exhibited that deserves to be recorded with every praise. A M. Tardiffe, a planter, and a young man of considerable property and of great courage and presence of mind, had joined the force of the governor, and had consequently become an object of great hatred, particularly on the part of some of the mulattoes who resided in the vicinity of his estate. Awakened one night about twelve o’clock by the cries of females, he jumped up, and rushed to the room in which his sisters, two amiable young ladies, were reposing, where he found armed men attempting to get through the window. He instantly flew for his sabre and pistols, which were loaded, his sisters following him, and then returned to the room to oppose the assassins. He found one had accomplished his purpose of getting into the room, whom he in an instant ran through the body; when, turning to the window, he shot another fellow just entering, and afterwards one or two others who made similar attempts. About this time his domestics had all come up stairs, and they shewed themselves most faithful in adhering to their master; for, not contented with merely opposing the entry of the assassins into the house, they sallied forth to meet them at the front of it, and although their numbers were inferior to that of their unprincipled and lawless invaders, they successfully attacked them, killing seven, and driving away the rest, with the exception of one, who was captured, who happened to be the illegitimate brother of M. Tardiffe, to whom he had shewed the warmest affection and whom he had cherished as the dearest relation. In return for such ingratitude and villainy, how did M. Tardiffe act? Did he give him up for public justice? No. Did he permit his faithful and enraged domestics, who were witnesses of his crimes, to execute momentary vengeance upon him? No. But he took him by the hand, mildly remonstrated with him, and afterwards furnished him with the means of leaving the colony for America, lest the searching hand of justice might before long stay his career. I have thought it adviseable to relate these two cases, from the extraordinary enormity of the first, and from the singular circumstances attending the last, having received the detail of them from an individual who was engaged in most of the events which occurred at that period.

After this first revolt of the slaves in the north, emigrations commenced in almost all parts of the colony, some going to the United States, many to the neighbouring islands; and some of the most opulent and powerful of the planters to England, under the impression that the British government would be disposed to turn its attention to their cause. The war between France and England having commenced, some regard was paid to their solicitations, and through the instance of M. Charmilly (the M. Charmilly of Spanish notoriety) the government of England sent out directions to the governor of Jamaica to afford to those inhabitants of St. Domingo who were desirous to place themselves under British protection every possible support, and to send without delay a competent force, and to take possession of such places as the people might be disposed to surrender to them.

The intentions of the British government being known by the means of secret agents, the commissioners, Santhonax and Polverel, had recourse to every possible means of strengthening the force in the colony, and of being prepared for the reception of the British troops whenever they should make their contemplated descent. They collected the regular troops, militia, and such of the whites as were in their interest, together with the free negroes and mulattoes who had hitherto followed their cause. But this was not deemed by them a sufficient body when united, to oppose British soldiers led on by experienced commanders. They therefore at once “proclaimed the abolition of every species of slavery, declaring that the negroes were thenceforth to be considered as free citizens”; and thereby assigned over to a lawless banditti the fee simple of every property in the French part of the island of St. Domingo, placing every white inhabitant within almost the grasp of a set of people insensible to every feeling of humanity, rude and ruthless as in their native wilds.

A description of these untutored people cannot be better given than in the language of Mr. Edwards, who says, “The Charaibs of St. Vincent, and the Maroons of Jamaica, were originally enslaved Africans; and what they now are, the freed negroes of St. Domingo will be hereafter,—savages in the midst of society, without peace, security, agriculture, or property; ignorant of the duties of life, and unacquainted with all the soft endearing relations which rendered it desirable; averse to labour, though frequently perishing for want; suspicious of each other, and towards the rest of mankind revengeful and faithless, remorseless and bloody-minded; pretending to be free while groaning beneath the capricious despotism of their chiefs, and feeling all the miseries of servitude without the benefits of subordination.” The prediction of this elegant author has certainly been realized in all its parts, and subsequent events have fully confirmed the opinion which he had formed of the negro character, when left to his own uncontrolled will and unrestrained in his propensities. Sloth, lust, and every species of wantonness and cruelty marked the progress of the enfranchised slaves in the first moment of their freedom; and until leaders of decisive and resolute powers for command undertook to preserve some degree of order and submission, they wandered in parties through the different parishes, inflicting the most unheard-of cruelties on the innocent and unoffending, without regard to sex or colour. To the will and command of their chief they were generally obedient, although they were subjected to duties of the most dangerous and laborious description; but when the least relaxation of discipline was permitted, they again resorted to plunder and destruction, and to every other species of insubordination, gratifying their insatiable thirst for the blood of the whites, as well as of that of the mulattoes, who were averse to the measure of emancipation. In these predatory excursions they committed the most shocking excesses, and more real and afflicting accounts have been received of the enormities practised by them when wandering in detached parties, than have been known to follow the most sanguinary battle in which they had been engaged.

I see nothing through the whole career of the rebellion to induce me to alter my opinion of the cause whence all these lamentable effects sprung; and I must again repeat, that it was not misconduct on the part of the proprietors which excited the first revolt, and induced the slaves to take up arms against those from whom, in innumerable instances, they had experienced kindness and indulgence. It was natural to expect that in a colony, the operations in which are entirely performed by slaves, some cases of oppression would occur which would justly deserve reprobation; but the rebellion became general, although I am not aware that any successful attempt has been made to shew that the conduct of the planters towards their slaves was generally harsh and oppressive.

De Vastey, in his remarks, would wish it to be inferred that the brute creation received infinitely more kindness and indulgence from their master than was shewn towards the slave: but De Vastey being a negro, it is natural that he should exhibit the worst side of the picture, without noticing its better one. He adduces no instances of that oppression which he wishes to prevail upon mankind to believe to have been inflicted: we have nothing from him but allegations and assertions, without proof to support them. It is true, that he puts forward some statements of cruelties inflicted on his negro brethren, but those were subsequent, even by his own account, to the revolt and to the emancipation; but he has forgotten that the first atrocities, the first acts of cruelty and indiscriminate murder, were committed by his very brethren (for whom he claims the pity of mankind for their sufferings and for their unmerited bondage) on the plantation Noé, and others in the vicinity. De Vastey, it is plain, is no authority on which the charge of cruelty on the part of the planter before the rebellion can be supported.

With regard to the mulattoes, or free men of colour, who were doubtless the chief instigators of the rebellion and of the first revolt of the slaves, although they cannot escape the condemnation justly due to them for their perfidy, yet the extreme disabilities under which they laboured in some measure might be adduced in mitigation of the censure which their faithless conduct so truly deserved. If they had not commenced the work of revolt, but had remained quiet observers of the proceedings of the national and colonial assemblies, and delayed their operations until the result of the deliberations and arrangements of those bodies had been promulgated, they would have called forth spontaneous expressions of approbation from all classes of people: but the eagerness which they manifested for civil feuds and for a preponderancy of power in the colony, without any conditions and without the least possible reservation, has called down upon them, and I think justly too, very severe reprobation. It has been observed, that this class of people were, from their education and from their general demeanour, as eligible members of society as the whites, and as such ought to have been admitted into all its rights and advantages. This, I believe, no one undertakes to deny; but it is no more than fair and equitable towards the white population to observe, that prior to every concession being made to them, something like a line of demarcation should have been drawn as to the limits to which those concessions should be carried, otherwise from their number and power the mulattoes might have obtained an overwhelming preponderancy in the colony, rendering the white colonists mere cyphers.

The decrees against the people of colour, as they appear on the records of the colony, are extremely harsh and impolitic, and a relaxation, if not a repeal of them, would have been only an act of justice. The government held them in no repute, but considered them as it were national property, and gave the public a right in them. They were subjected by the governors, when they had arrived at a particular age, to a military servitude of the most degrading kind, and for a time to labour on the public roads, the severity of which was almost too great to be borne. They were not permitted to hold any office of power or trust in the state, nor could they even follow the humble calling of a schoolmaster. The least possible taint in the blood excluded them, and the distinction of colour had no termination. Not so in the British colonies, where it is lost in the third generation. It is said also, that “the courts of criminal jurisdiction adopting the popular prejudices against them gave effect and permanency to the system. A man of colour, being a prosecutor, must have made out a strong case indeed, if at any time he obtained the conviction of a white person. On the other hand, the whites never failed to procure prompt and speedy justice against mulattoes. To mark more strongly the distinction between the two classes, the law declared that if a free man of colour presumed to strike a white person, of whatever condition, his right hand should be cut off; while a white man for a similar assault on a free mulatto was dismissed on the payment of an insignificant fine.”[3]

It is, I conceive, impossible for any one to be informed of the existence of such a system without exclaiming, that whatever might have been the proceedings of the people of colour in the work of rebellion, their grievances offered considerable extenuation of their conduct. This presents the most disgraceful and indefensible page in the colonial records of criminal jurisprudence. True it is that its severity, that its flagrant injustice, precluded the possibility of putting it in force; the abhorrence which it so generally excited among all orders of people, made it a dead letter; but it was notwithstanding a law in force, and might have been acted upon by an arbitrary and unmerciful judge.

The only circumstance that contributed towards affording the coloured people some degree of security and protection under their disabilities was the power which they indirectly derived from the possession of property in the colony. They consequently had influence, because under a corrupt government money bought it, and many were the venal officers of the state who had stooped to be their pensioners. Many of these mulattoes held large estates, and possessed besides extensive available funds; these men in most cases evaded those exclusions from society, to which their brethren of less influence were obliged to submit. They were secure enough both in their persons and property, whilst the less wealthy among their coloured brethren had to submit to every species of insecurity and mortification.

I have now said as much as may be deemed necessary on the subject of the situation of the coloured people at the time of the first disturbances in St. Domingo, and I trust I have made it appear conclusive, that the cause of those disturbances did not proceed from the oppression and the tyranny practised over the slaves, but from the measures of the national assembly, the colonial assemblies, aided by that specious and intriguing body, the society of Amis des Noirs, and the coloured people then residing in France, who had been tainted with the pernicious doctrines then prevailing in that country.

CHAPTER IV.

Effects of emancipating the slaves.—Arrival of the British forces.—Their subsequent operations.—Evacuation by General Maitland.—M. Charmilly negotiates with the English.—Views of the English cabinet.—Parties in the contest.—And insincerity of the French planters.

Having, in the last chapter, arrived at the period when Santhonax and Polverel conferred freedom upon the slave population, and at the time also when the planters of the colony had solicited the aid of the British government to their cause, I shall now proceed in my detail of the effects produced by the former, and, in as succinct a manner as possible, notice a few of the operations of the latter, as well as the consequences arising from them.

No sooner had the abolition of slavery been promulgated, than it spread through the whole colony with remarkable rapidity, and the work of insubordination and destruction commenced. In the different parishes the slaves rose simultaneously, formed into bodies, took possession of the mountains, and secured themselves within those fastnesses which everywhere abound through the island. They then sallied forth into the plains, spreading devastation around them, setting fire to the cane fields, and demolishing every description of habitation within their range, murdering the unoffending white inhabitants wherever they met with them. In one part of the colony the insurgents amounted to nearly one hundred thousand, without any leader who had the least possible command over them. In the north their force in the first instance only amounted from about twenty to twenty-five thousand, but they quickly increased to forty thousand of a most desperate and sanguinary character.

The British force under Colonel Whitelocke made its appearance before Jeremie on the 19th of September 1793; it consisted only of about eight hundred and seventy rank and file. As this place was to be given up to the British force by stipulation, the town was taken possession of the next day, and the inhabitants all took the oath of allegiance with much eagerness. Cape St. Nicolas next followed; but here the inhabitants displayed some hostility, and most of them joined the standard of republicanism, although they had before strenuously adhered to the royal cause, and kept the white flag always hoisted. Tiburon was next tried, but here, notwithstanding the strongest pledges of cooperation on the part of the planters, their infidelity was so manifest, and the force of the enemy had become so formidable, that the troops were obliged to retreat with some loss, and this object of the expedition therefore unfortunately failed. From fatigue and from sickness, from the exposure to which they had been subjected, both in the sun and the noxious dews of night, the troops became much dispirited and discouraged, and further operations were suspended until a force from England arrived of sufficient magnitude to prosecute further offensive measures. This did not take place until the February following, when a British squadron arrived with troops, which were immediately landed, with Major (now Sir Brent) Spencer at their head, who most gallantly attacked the enemy, drove them back with considerable loss, and thereby retrieved that which before ended in a failure. The whole bight of Leogane was now commanded by the British squadron, and a further force being expected from England, it was anticipated that Port au Prince would fall an easy conquest, from the supposition that the people were mostly in favour of their cause. A considerable time elapsed before the reinforcements from England made their appearance; in the interim, many skirmishes took place in the vicinity of Leogane, as well as at Tiburon, and in the neighbourhood of Cape Nicolas Mole; in some instances the British were successful, and in others the enemy obtained advantages.

About this period it was that Andrew Rigaud first made his appearance at the head of the revolted slaves: he was a man of colour, and had the command at Aux Cayes. With about two thousand of the rebels he marched from his station and besieged Tiburon; but the fort which was manned by some British soldiers, who defended it with their usual intrepidity, and who afterwards sallied forth, attacked the besiegers in the field, and put them to the rout with great slaughter.

During the interval occasioned by the non-arrival of the reinforcement from England, the planters who were, in the first instance, favourable to the cause of the British, began to shew some symptoms of displeasure; and the tardiness with which the operations were carried on, and the absence of that decision which the urgency of their situation required, induced many very powerful individuals to relinquish all further adherence to the party in which they had engaged, and to join the republican standard.

On the 19th of May the force which had been so long looked for arrived under the command of General Whyte, who, with Commodore Ford, proceeded at once to deliberate on the measures which it would be adviseable to adopt for the capture of Port au Prince. On the 30th the ships of war, consisting of four ships of the line, three or four frigates, and several smaller vessels, anchored off the city. The land forces amounted to only about fifteen hundred men capable of doing duty. The next morning a flag was sent to summon the city to surrender, to which no attention was paid, and it is even said that the letter was returned unopened. The commissioners, Santhonax and Polverel, were known to be in the city with a considerable force; and it was expected that a powerful stand would be made, for the preservation of this important place. Fort Bizotton, which is situate on an eminence to the southward of the city, commands the Leogane road and the southern entrance in the harbour. The land-side was attacked by a body of troops under the gallant Major Spencer, whilst a simultaneous attack was made on the sea-side by two of the ships of war. Captain Daniel of the forty-first regiment, with about seventy or eighty men, took advantage of a thunder storm which happened about eight o’clock, entered the breach which had been rendered practicable, and carried the fort at the point of the bayonet. The captain was severely wounded, and some of his men and officers fell. The city soon surrendered, and the commissioners evacuated it on the fourth of June, the birth-day of the then sovereign of Great Britain, George the Third, when the British troops entered and took possession of it together with the shipping in the harbour. It was the intention of the republican commissioners to set fire to the city, but the prompt and decisive attack of the British gave them no time for carrying so destructive a design into effect.

This capture was of great consequence to the cause of the British as far as their proceedings had gone on; it gave confidence to the soldiers, and inspirited the colonial troops who had joined their standard; but it afterwards proved to be the grave of many a British officer and soldier: sickness began to rage amongst the troops to such an alarming extent, as is generally the case in the autumnal months, that it was found necessary, for the preservation of the post, to erect additional lines of defence, fearing that in their then condition the enemy might try to regain the position. To accomplish this, the troops were subjected to incessant toil, first in the sun, and then during the night exposed to all the pernicious vapours arising from heavy rains which fall during the rainy seasons. In point of booty the capture of Port au Prince was a very fine acquisition, although the commissioners carried off with them every thing valuable which it contained, consisting of upwards of two hundred mule loads. They were accompanied also by upwards of two thousand of the inhabitants, who followed in their career. Finding however that they had lost all their influence in the colony, and that Rigaud and Toussaint L’Ouverture had obtained possession of the whole, they thought it expedient to leave the island, and return to France, where they received the congratulations of the government, whose representatives they had been appointed to carry into operation the most injudicious decrees that could possibly have been framed for the internal government of any colonial appendage.

The value of the captured property has been variously estimated: a writer of some authority says, that “In the harbour were found two and twenty top-sail vessels, fully laden with sugar, indigo, and coffee, of which thirteen were from three to five hundred tons burthen, and the remaining nine from one hundred and fifty to three hundred tons, besides seven thousand tons of shipping in ballast; the value of all which at a moderate computation could not be far short of four hundred thousand pounds sterling. One hundred and thirty-one pieces of cannon regularly mounted in batteries were on the lines.”

After the reduction of Port au Prince, a further reinforcement arrived under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Lennox, consisting of about six hundred men, but on their passage from the windward islands to Jamaica, to which latter place they first sailed, sickness broke out amongst them, by which more than one hundred died on board, and a hundred and fifty were left at Port Royal in the last stage of disease. It is impossible to describe the mortality that prevailed amongst the troops in St. Domingo. When active operations were likely to be attended with a beneficial result, the commander-in-chief was prevented from taking advantage of the positions which he held, by the epidemic which at the time so lamentably raged. There could not be produced eight hundred British soldiers in a condition for the field, and many of them had only a short time previously been discharged from the hospitals; of course they were not equal to the fatigue of active service, nor were they in the least fit for a duty which rendered it necessary to expose them to the pernicious humidity of the night air. The commander-in-chief, General Whyte, was seized with this malignant fever; and his health was so much impaired by the effects of disease, and anxiety for the fate of his officers and men, who were daily dying around him, that he was compelled to leave the island and return to England, when the command devolved on Brigadier-General Horneck.

From the departure of General Whyte in September 1794, until the arrival of General Williamson in the month of May following, nothing of any material consequence ensued, except some skirmishes between the posts of the British and revolters, attended with no decisive result on either side. During this short period of inactivity on the part of the British, Rigaud, collecting a strong force, advanced towards Leogane, which at that time was defended by some colonial troops, and succeeding in his attack upon the place, he inhumanly murdered the French planters who fell into his power, and afterwards advanced upon Port au Prince; but in his attempt upon Fort Bizotton which commanded his advance, he failed, having been repulsed by the garrison, with great slaughter, whence he retreated, for the purpose of making another effort for the recovery of Tiburon. He left Aux Cayes with a force of three thousand men with four small armed vessels, and on the 25th of December they commenced the attack on the place. The fort, which consisted of only about four hundred and fifty men, defended it with great bravery; and after the loss of two-thirds of their number, the remainder sallied forth, cut their way through the revolters, and reached Irois in safety.

In the vicinity of St. Marc, Colonel Brisbane, who commanded there, had much to do in keeping the insurgents in check, who had at this time become exceedingly bold in their movements, and seemed determined on the most vigorous operations, both offensive and defensive. The colonel with a few British and some colonial troops, obtained advantages over them in several skirmishes in the plains of the Artibanite; but whilst he was engaged there the mulatto inhabitants of St. Marc, who had pledged themselves most solemnly to observe the strictest neutrality, violated their pledge, and in the most cowardly manner put to death all whom they found actively engaged against the French republic. The garrison defended themselves in the fort, from whence they were relieved in a short time by a vessel of war from Cape Nicolas Mole. The white inhabitants also of St. Marc, many of whom were the most forward to hail the arrival of the British and to place themselves under British protection, engaged in a plot for the destruction of Colonel Brisbane, but that officer, ever on the alert, discovered and successfully defeated their designs.

At Port au Prince a similar conspiracy was brought to light, the object of which was the destruction of the garrison and all the English people by those very French inhabitants who joined in hailing with acclamations the arrival of the British force before the city. Such abominable treachery did not go without its commensurate punishment; the conspirators were seized, and about twenty of the principal ones, amongst whom were several French officers of rank, were condemned by the sentence of a court-martial. Of these conspirators fifteen were shot on the 18th of February, 1795, and the remainder were sent off the island.

General Williamson, who had been previously appointed commander-in-chief in the West Indies, arrived in the island in May, and immediately proceeded to place every station in the best state of defence that his very limited means would allow. He endeavoured to strengthen the whole line of posts from St. Marc to Jeremie, and not having a force sufficient to enable him to secure all points by a strong cordon of British and colonial troops, he resorted to a measure which, although at the moment it might have been one of expediency, was not likely to be advantageous in the end. To augment his force he formed several corps of negroes, whom he purchased of the French planters, and placed them under the command of officers of the line; but their inefficiency was soon discovered, and they became not only a very unserviceable, but also a very ungovernable body. General Williamson retained the command but a very short time; his successor, General Forbes, completed the arrangements of his predecessor, and remained entirely on the defensive.

In the autumn of this year, 1795, intelligence had been received that the war between France and Spain had terminated, and that the Spanish part of the island had been ceded to the French republic in perpetuity. It was stipulated, however, that so many of the inhabitants as should feel disposed to depart from the island to reside in the dominions of the King of Spain, should be permitted to remove or dispose of their property, and that the space of one year should be granted to them for that purpose.

About the end of this year the termination of the operations in Flanders having placed troops at the disposal of the British government, Brigadier-General Howe arrived with about seven thousand men at Cape Nicolas Mole. From the extent of this force a great deal might have been accomplished had they arrived at an earlier stage of the proceedings in the island, but the subjugation of the colony had now become extremely difficult, if not altogether impracticable. They attempted but little, and becoming languid and spiritless from sickness and disease, whilst the enemy were increasing in numbers, as well as in vigour and activity, the little that was undertaken proved unsuccessful.

It was not until the month of March, 1797, that any active operations were recommenced; when General Simcoe landed to take the command, an officer who had been selected by his government for the important trust, from his known talents and tried experience. He began his arduous undertaking by examining the whole line of defence, and lost no time in making every judicious arrangement for resuming offensive operations. It was also about the same time that the negro Toussaint L’Ouverture appeared invested by the republican government of France with the high rank of General-in-Chief of the Armies of St. Domingo. To this very extraordinary personage the British general was destined first to be opposed; and from the system of insurrectional warfare which had been pursued, the general found he had to combat with an antagonist of no ordinary capacity and courage. Wary and exceedingly cautious, well acquainted with the strength of the British force and the experience of their commanders, Toussaint made no effort beyond that of menacing the position of Mirebalais, before which he appeared with an almost overwhelming force. The British force at that point not being sufficient to oppose his progress, retired thence through the plains of Cul de Sac into Port au Prince, abandoning the whole of the country through which they retreated, and from which, from its fertility, the enemy were enabled to obtain abundance of provisions. By this movement also all communication with the Spanish part of the island was cut off.

To the southward, however, the operations were more favourable to the British. The negroes were driven from every post which they had occupied in the neighbourhood of Port au Prince, and Rigaud at the head of his mulatto force was defeated at Irois. Nearly at the same time Toussaint attacked St. Marc’s, but was obliged to retire with considerable loss, leaving a great many of his followers prisoners.

Notwithstanding these partial successes the British cause in the island seemed on the wane, and their force diminishing from a variety of concurrent circumstances, no attempt was afterwards made to advance against the enemy; but measures were adopted to guard against any surprise or any attack which their opponents contemplated upon those positions, in the line of defence, which were considered to be vulnerable. In the interim, and during the existence of this irregular warfare, General Simcoe, finding that in the present condition of his forces nothing could be undertaken with the least probability of success, and that to remain within his line of defence was imperative, left the island about the month of August, when the command devolved on Major-General Whyte. Finally, however, the Honourable Brigadier-General Maitland succeeded, to whom was left the important duty of making the most beneficial arrangements for evacuating the island, which his situation could command. And when it is considered that that gallant officer (who did not arrive until April, 1798,) took the command of the British forces under circumstances of extreme difficulty and discomfiture, at the moment of disasters and distress, the termination of the contest, the subsequent truce and negotiations with Toussaint, although making some concession, were called for by considerations of overwhelming expediency. These negotiations gave up the whole of the British possessions, and their colonial black troops (for whom a very large sum of money was paid to the very persons who afterwards took arms against them) to the black general, Toussaint, in the name of the French republic, and thus ended an enterprise from which no advantage resulted either to the ex-colonists or to the interests of Great Britain.

It is not my province to enter into a discussion of the merits of the enterprise into which Great Britain had been led, nor shall I venture to censure the undertaking on the one hand, or to applaud it on the other. It was commenced unquestionably at an unfavourable period, when the government of England had to contend, not only against the gigantic power of the French republic in Europe, but against the revolutionary spirit which had manifested itself at that time in England. Involved, therefore, as she was at the time of the emigration of the French agents from St. Domingo in disputes abroad and in domestic feuds at home, it is not surprising that those efforts were not made which the planters had anticipated, and which they were led to expect from the pledges which had been given to M. Charmilly, who had been the organ of those planters, and who, it is to be feared, was too sanguine in his representations of the unanimity which prevailed amongst them. I should be disposed to think favourably of the conduct of M. Charmilly had I not received the most unquestionable information, that his communications were much too highly coloured, and that his zeal for the cause of his colony somewhat exceeded that which ought to have been evinced by a discreet and prudent negotiator. The British general was without doubt deceived as to the strength of the revolters and as to the disposition of the planters; and the unanimity said to have existed amongst them, was most manifestly negatived by subsequent events, in which intrigue and treachery superseded fidelity and honour. M. Charmilly, however, in the opinions of many, may not have subjected himself to censure by his conduct; he may have been actuated by the best of motives, and have thought, at the time, that by exhibiting a favourable side of the picture the impression would be likely to succeed; but the best informed persons, with whom I have had opportunities of conversing on the subject, have given it as their unbiassed sentiment, that had not the disposition of the colony been too favourably represented, the British cabinet would either never have entered into the contest, or have undertaken it with their accustomed promptitude and known vigour; they would never have left any thing to chance, nor have depended so much upon extensive cooperation.

However much inclined Great Britain might have been to seize a favourable moment for dismembering republican France of her colonial possessions, yet I think she would have paused before she commenced any offensive operations against St. Domingo in its then insurrectional state, had she not been led by the most specious arguments to believe that the object was attainable without any great efforts; for although the slaves were in open rebellion, still they, as well as the mulattoes, were divided against themselves, and that an interposing power would inevitably turn the scale, and eventually succeed in restoring tranquillity, and finally the conquest of the whole colony. That the cabinet of England had been influenced by the accounts laid before it of the state of St. Domingo, needs no further argument than this, that the force sent was quite inadequate for the accomplishment of the object, which certainly would not have happened, had the descent upon that island received that deliberation which was usually given to similar operations in the time of war.

Before I proceed any further in my remarks, it may not be irrelevant to shew who were the parties engaged in this civil warfare and general havoc in the colony, for I find only one or two who have written before me who have been sufficiently clear and explicit on this point; and it is probable that I may not be quite so explanatory as the subject requires, but I shall, I trust, succeed in dissipating some of the cloud in which the whole seems to have been enveloped.

At the commencement of the revolution in the colony, the party that first appeared was composed of those white inhabitants who were tainted with republicanism, those of the mulattoes or gens de couleur of property who imbibed the same principles, and others of the people of colour, who had no stake in the country, but embraced similar opinions respecting liberty and equality. Their opponents consisted of the white inhabitants and persons of colour who adhered to the old form of government. To the former party, in the course of time, were added the revolted negroes, who had doubtless been instigated by them, and after the promulgation of the decree declaring a general emancipation, they were joined by the greater proportion, if not by the whole of that class. To the latter party a few only of the mulattoes, and a very small body of negroes, remained attached; added to which were the British forces which, from the end of the year 1793 to the evacuation in 1798, at different periods were landed.

To strengthen the former party, and to weaken the latter, the decrees of the national assembly of France materially contributed, whilst the proceedings of the general colonial and provincial assemblies, instead of giving to the latter any support, had a contrary effect, by inducing many of the people of colour, who had espoused it, to hoist the national cockade, and become active members of the republican party, thereby giving the cause of the royalists a fatal blow. It will be perceived that most of these proceedings of the two parties in the contest occurred before the British forces had been called in; and that the emancipation of the slaves was simultaneous with their arrival and an act of the French commissioners to strengthen the national cause against the royalists and the British. Now as the agents or emigrants of the royalist party who had gone to England, and as the negotiations of M. Charmilly took place at the very period when the hopes of his party rested upon so insecure a foundation, it seems to me something like deception was practised, and that the British government were not correctly informed of the actual state of the cause which they were engaging to support; and it is under this impression, an impression founded upon the authority of persons who were actually engaged in all the scenes of active operations which took place from the first arrival of the British to the termination of their proceedings under the Honourable Brigadier-General Maitland, that I venture to charge the French planters and their party with that want of unanimity which M. Charmilly, their accredited representative, assured the British commander displayed itself through most parts of the colony.

If an impartial review be taken of the whole of the conduct of the French planters during the contest in which they were embroiled, it will become evident that no blame can be attached to the British commanders who were successively employed. They had to contend against a variety of conflicting opinions and unexampled sickness, and had local difficulties to surmount of great magnitude. They evinced on all occasions superior military judgment, undaunted courage, and unwearied zeal, and exhibited the greatest prudence and discretion in moments of no ordinary anxiety.

The calamitous disease which prevailed amongst the troops, was itself almost enough to dispirit the most sanguine; and it is not to be wondered at, that men who met death bravely in the field, should have shrunk from its approaches when it thus appeared in all its hideous forms amongst their comrades.

Such was the state of things in the colony at the close of the year 1798, and with which I shall conclude this chapter.

CHAPTER V.

The period between the evacuation by the British forces and the arrival of the French army under Le Clerc.—Cultivation.—Law to enforce it.—Character of Toussaint.—Reverses.—His arrangement with the French general.—His seizure and removal to France.

The evacuation of the colony by the British troops having taken place, most of the planters who had been faithful to their engagements departed at the same time, taking with them such moveable property as they were enabled to carry away: many proceeded to Jamaica, and others to Cuba and the United States. Toussaint L’Ouverture was thus left in full possession of the island, and in the undisturbed enjoyment of the chief command, with which he had been invested some time before by the French republic. The adherents to the British, except such as had previously left the island under the protection of the English squadron, having joined the national standard, every thing seemed to have the appearance of tranquillity. Peace succeeded the din of arms and the asperities of civil war.

Having, therefore, completely subjugated the party who had been opposed to him, Toussaint commenced his work of improvement in the whole department of his government. Free from the toils of the complicated warfare in which he had been engaged, his first care and attention were turned to the culture of the soil, in which in a short period he made the most rapid and astonishing progress: strongly impressed with the conviction that “agriculture is the main spring, the master sinew of every great state, the perennial fountain of wealth”, he began to enforce a rigid attention to all its branches, and by every possible means to place it in that highly productive condition in which it stood previously to the revolution. Many of the planters who had joined his standard were reinvested with their estates, but without any property in the slaves, and they were encouraged by him to persevere in the cultivation of their lands, assured of his protection and of the early adoption of such regulations as should enable them to procure cultivators. He seems to have possessed a very correct idea of the true source from whence national wealth was obtained, and he left no measures untried that would in the least promote its increase. He had heard, and appeared firmly to believe “that rural or agricultural labours are equally conducive to health and strength of body and mind. The culture of the earth constitutes the most natural and innocent employment of man; it fills our houses with plenty and our hearts with gladness.” He never allowed an opportunity to escape him of shewing how indelibly this maxim was imprinted on his mind. It may, however, be well imagined, that after five or six years’ relaxation from the labours of the field, those who had been accustomed to it in a state of slavery, were not at all disposed to return of their own accord to their original occupations; and as he well knew that his negro brethren could not be easily induced to labour, and that some degree of coercion would be requisite to enforce it, he began to issue strict injunctions, that every one not employed in any military capacity should labour in the cultivation of the lands held not only by the government, but by such of the planters as had been restored to their estates.

The planters were compelled to receive them on their plantations in the capacity of servants, and the cultivators were ordered by the government to make choice of their employers under whom they were destined to work for their sustenance, and were not on any consideration permitted to leave the properties on which they in the first instance agreed to labour, unless their services were required in the army. The government had fixed a remuneration for the cultivators equal to one-third of the crops, but there were many who made other arrangements more suitable to the views of parties, and by which, also, each was accommodated. Such a law as this, and enforced so immediately after the cessation of civil war, when the minds of the negroes were scarcely cool, was a strong illustration of the power which Toussaint held over them, and of his conviction, that nothing could be accomplished in the advancement of agriculture unless he at once adopted powerful and rigid measures. He therefore enacted laws and regulations to encourage and excite industry, while he denounced very heavy penalties against idleness and vagrancy.

This celebrated edict for the enforcing of the culture of the soil appeared in the year 1800, and it subsequently formed a leading part of the Code Henry of Christophe. It embraces every object that could possibly be conceived likely to promote his great aim; and whilst its enactments might have the appearance of severity, unpalatable to the people just emerged from slavery, so great was his influence that he felt no alarm for the consequences of enforcing them; and those who had the temerity to infringe them were visited with the whole weight of the penalties.

This law apportions the hours of labour for the cultivator, which by the 22d article appears in every point the same as that which is exacted from the slave in the British islands, that is to say, it commences at the break of day and concludes at night, allowing an interval of an hour for breakfast, and another of two hours at noon, or thereabouts. It provides against any innovations, and precludes the labourer or the proprietor from the chance of imposing on each other. I see nothing ambiguous in it, it is clear in the letter, and the spirit of it cannot be erroneously interpreted. From the 113th to the 120th article inclusive, it appears beyond the possibility of contradiction, that Toussaint was conscious that nothing could be done in the work of the soil without such forcible regulations as would command the most strict attention to tillage.

It is quite clear that the labour which this law exacted each day from the cultivator was not oppressive, nor have I been able to discover that the slaves in the British colonial possessions ever complained of the labour to which they were subjected, as having been too severe; and it is undeniable that Toussaint, under the very law which has been cited, compelled the same portion to be done, and that for the better insuring its performance, military guards were placed to superintend the labourers and to seize those who endeavoured to evade their duty. That they could not have been injured by labour, and that they did not murmur at its quantum is tolerably clear, for it is said by a writer of some repute, that “the plantation negroes were in general contented, healthful, and happy”; and that this was their condition I am assured by the concurring testimony of men who had witnessed their state at that period. Is it not the case also in the British colonies? Are not the slaves on the plantations in the time of crop, when the labour is perhaps heavier than at any other period, “contented, healthful, and happy”? Most unquestionably they are; I never saw them otherwise than “contented and happy”, except at the moment when some insidious and intriguing person was attempting to estrange them, and to impress them with the idea that they were degraded and debased.

If degradation accompanied labour, the cultivators under Toussaint were the most abject people in existence, for they were driven to it under the strong arm of military power, and for any offence which they committed they were liable to be brought before a military tribunal. There were no civil authorities by which the indolent or refractory cultivator was to be tried for his offences; there was no distinction between the vagrant who was detected in idleness and the soldier who fled from his post, they were both amenable to the military power, were sentenced by a court-martial, and awarded an equal punishment.

Possessed of no mean capacity and judgment, he knew the character and the dispositions of his negro brethren, and so nicely did he discern and reward industry, and discriminate between the active and meritorious and the indolent and the worthless, that, although in some cases his judgment was harsh, it was admitted to be just. His plans were allowed to have been devised with great skill, and his regulations produced the happiest results, which soon became manifest throughout the whole colony. His agricultural improvements excited the astonishment and surprise of his greatest enemies, for in a short period after he commenced his system, the most beneficial results became visible; and notwithstanding the protracted warfare in which he had been engaged, and the devastation caused by it, he produced a crop equal to one-third of the quantity of the best year of the French planters.

He was extremely attentive to the state of the population, which he was anxious to increase by every possible means. He held out to those who had emigrated during the contest, every encouragement to return, pledging himself to reinstate them in their properties, and assuring them that their agricultural avocations should receive all the support which it was possible for him to afford. This had a very happy effect, and many returned and brought with them the slaves who had accompanied them in their flight, but who of course became free on their landing. He also endeavoured to impress the people with a sense of their improper conduct when they addicted themselves to sensuality and voluptuousness, and made great efforts to prevent its extension, by recommending marriage throughout his country: he was aware of the evil effects of the system of polygamy which prevailed amongst his brethren, and knew that it was a severe check on the increase of population, for he had discovered innumerable instances in which the offsprings were but few, where concubinage was so unlimited; and after a short time, it became evident that an increased population resulted from his salutary regulations.

With regard to the general character of this extraordinary man I have but little to say in addition to what has been already recorded of him. I am however inclined to believe that his biographers speak of him with too much warmth, and would have it believed that he was almost without a fault. Whatever may be the prevailing opinion, he has left indelible marks behind him which prove that he was revengeful and sanguinary in the field; and the atrocities and cruelties which he exercised over those mulattoes who fell into his hands, are demonstrative of no little ferocity of disposition. It has been argued in exculpation, that surrounded as he was with people of that class who adhered to his cause, and who, he expected, might revolt and join the standard of his enemies, it was a matter of absolute expediency, that he should resort to the severest measures to deter them from deserting his standard, or from engaging in any enterprise inimical to his cause. But in all his actions he seemed to be actuated by a determination to exact the most rigid acquiescence in his will and a complete acknowledgment of his supreme power, and to establish which, true it is, he had at times recourse to very harsh and cruel measures, which, although effectual for a time, nevertheless proved injurious to the peace and security of his government afterwards.

Rainsford, who is no mean authority, for he had personal knowledge of Toussaint, says, that he was a man without those unrelenting feelings which others ascribe to him; but this opinion may proceed from gratitude on the part of that officer, who was set at liberty by Toussaint after having been in prison for a considerable period, and in momentary expectation of the forfeiture of his life. Speaking of him in his general character, and of his actions in the field, he says: “Thus proceeded this illustrious man, like the simple acorn, first promiscuously scattered by the winds, in its slow but beauteous progress to the gigantic oak, spreading its foliage with august grandeur above the minor growth of the forest, defending the humble shrub, and braving the fury of the contending elements.” And again, as if the author would wish to find a cover for the many massacres which Toussaint had sanctioned and indulged in, he says: “When the cloud, charged with electric fluid, becomes too ponderous, it selects not the brooding murderer on the barren heath, but bursts perhaps indiscriminately in wasteful vengeance over the innocent flocks reposing in verdant fields. He was, without doubt, a man possessed of many virtues, and performed many very good and very generous acts, and, what must be admitted to have redounded greatly to his reputation, he was always grateful, and never left an obligation unrequited. To those planters whom he induced to return to the island, and whom he restored to their properties, he was generous, kind, and indulgent; and of the confidence which they placed in his assurances, they had never cause to repent. Taking him altogether, he was undoubtedly a most extraordinary character, and whatever might have been the extent of his vices, they were certainly counter-balanced and atoned for by many virtues.”

It is said of him by another writer, who seems to have been conversant with all his private and public acts, that “the excellences of his character unfolded themselves more and more, as opportunities were afforded for their developement. The same humanity and benevolence which had adorned his humble life, continued to distinguish him in his elevation. He never imitated the conduct of other leaders, in flattering the multitude, encouraging them in crimes, or urging them to revenge and slaughter; on the contrary, mercy, industry, and order were always inculcated by his counsels, recommended by his example, and enforced by his authority. The fertility of his inventions, the correctness of his judgments, the celerity of his movements, the extent of his labours in the combined and multifarious business of war and government astonished both friends and foes.”[4] And in another place it is observed of him: “If there was one trait in his character more conspicuous than the rest, it was his unsullied integrity. That he never broke his word, was a proverbial expression common in the mouths of the white inhabitants of the island, and of the English officers who were employed in hostilities against him.”

Immediately after the business of the war had been completed, Toussaint proceeded to the restoration of public worship, according to the forms which existed prior to the revolution, and he even extended the liberty of religious worship beyond the Roman communion, by admitting one or two of the Methodist persuasion, who had arrived from the United States, to the privilege of preaching in Cape François, and to whom he gave every protection.

His military establishment was on a scale of some extent during the war, but was much reduced at the peace. The discipline of his troops did him great credit, and excited considerable surprise in the British officers; their movements were effected with great precision, and although they were not after the manner of European evolutions, yet they were well adapted for that species of irregular warfare in which they were engaged. The men were under tolerable command, and no symptoms of insubordination were known to have shewn themselves; they seemed to be aware of the consequences that would ensue to their cause if order and submission were not rigidly exacted, and they were therefore taught to obey their officers as a duty indispensable for their security.

The country generally was so intersected and varied with underwood and mountains of difficult ascent, that more reliance was placed on the movements of irregular bodies detached in small parties, than on any thing that could be accomplished by the more steady operations of heavy masses. Such being the mode of warfare best calculated to meet the obstacles presented to military operations, Toussaint sought to drill his troops in such evolutions as would enable him effectually to meet the exigencies with which he might have to contend. He had them taught expertness, promptitude and dexterity, and quick and steady firing, without any attention to those movements in column which are so much practised in Europe. It is said of them, that “at a whistle a whole brigade would run three or four hundred yards, then separating, throw themselves flat on the ground, changing to their backs or sides, keeping up a strong fire the whole of the time till they were recalled; then they would form again in an instant with their wonted regularity. This single manœuvre used to be executed with such facility and precision as totally to prevent cavalry from charging them in bushy and hilly countries.” This system is nearly similar to the one practised by our rifle and light infantry corps in England, and decidedly best adapted for any operations in the colonies, where the country presents so rugged and uneven a surface. The amount of his force has been variously stated, and I do not conceive it possible to give a fair estimate of the whole during the time of the war: his peace establishment consisted of about forty thousand foot and two thousand cavalry, all of which were well equipped, and at all times in readiness for active service.

In the organization of his government, and in the framing of his constitution and laws, Toussaint was assisted by some able men from America and Europe. He never allowed any prejudices against white persons to influence him, when their services were required, nor did he permit any of the superior officers of his government to shew any disrespect towards them, but he exacted the most courtly attention to them as the most likely means to secure the aid of men of learning, whatever may have been their country or their calling. It was by this that he induced the able Molière and M. Marinit, as well as several well-informed English and Americans to reside near him; to these he was kind and liberal, obtaining from them the greatest assistance in the organization of his municipal governments, and in the whole arrangement of the different departments of state, as well as in forming regulations for the better insuring to his country a commercial intercourse with strangers, without which all his efforts in cultivating the soil would have been unavailing; for without a vent for the products there would have been no stimulus for the exertions of the grower, and one of the sources of national wealth would consequently have been dried up. His tour through the Spanish part of the island was attended with considerable advantage to him, for it infused a kind of confidence into the people, by whom he was received in every part with great respect, and often with every demonstration of joy. This is not surprising, for the fame of his deeds and his warlike achievements and his deportment, which is said to have been mild and courtly, were likely to excite favourable sentiments, and to elicit a good deal of applause. This tour was certainly one of necessity, and not undertaken from any vain parade and ostentation; for the Spanish part of the island, although formally ceded to France by the treaty of 1795, had not all been occupied by the republican forces. The city of Santo Domingo, a place of considerable strength, and surrounded with fortifications sufficiently powerful to resist any attack that might have been made upon it, still held out, and it was not until the arrival of Toussaint in 1801, with a large force, that a legal surrender of the whole Spanish division was finally accomplished. Having succeeded in this, he left his brother Paul in command, and then pursued his journey through the other districts, establishing posts, appointing officers to command them, with other important military and civil arrangements, which he deemed necessary for the purpose of governing more easily the whole of that part of the island. Having completed this tour, which was attended with much benefit to every part of the island which he visited, he began to hope for some repose from the fatigues attendant on such multifarious occupations, which might enable him to cultivate the sweets of peace and retirement, as well as to see all those designs fully completed, and which had for their object, the enriching of his country and the happiness of his people.

The end of the year 1801 placed the whole island once more in some degree of tranquillity, and in submission to the authority of the negro chief, rapidly advancing in wealth and increasing its intercourse with those countries which sought to establish with it the friendly relations of commerce. But the short peace of Amiens, which took place in October of that year, leaving the then ruler in France, Bonaparte, without any power to contend with, his first object was the recovery of Saint Domingo. Wanting employment for his large armies, and instigated by the fugitive colonists who had been expelled at the commencement of the revolution, and who were anxiously longing for their lost possessions; thirsting also for colonies and commerce, and urged by the speculators in France, he determined on subjugating the island by force, reestablishing slavery, and reinstating the ex-colonists in their original properties. To accomplish these objects by force rather than by negotiation, was more congenial to the temper and martial spirit of the French ruler. He therefore began to make extensive preparations for an undertaking, which he vainly thought could not fail ultimately to gain new laurels for his troops, and exalt himself more than ever in the estimation of the people of France, who were always forward to reward him for any successes which accompanied his efforts, with no ordinary demonstrations of joy.

This expedition consisted of twenty-six sail of the line, on board of which were embarked 25,000 men, under the command of the brother-in-law of Bonaparte, General Le Clerc, seconded by some of the ablest generals of France, and many other officers of distinction who were conversant with the island, and who formerly held properties in it. Not, however, relying entirely on what such a force might be able to execute, the First Consul had recourse to a measure which he concluded would insure the neutrality of Toussaint, if it did not induce him to lend him an active cooperation. Two of the sons of the negro chief had been sent to France for their education, for the purpose of giving them the opportunity of following a course of studies, which might prepare them to fill, with advantage to their country, those important posts for which they seemed destined. Taken from their preceptor by orders of the First Consul, they were hurried on board the fleet, to be made as it were to intercede with their father, and, if possible, to prevail on him to accede to such proposals as the commander-in-chief of the expedition was empowered to offer; and, in fact, they were placed as hostages in the hands of the French commanders, and thus made amenable for any hostile steps which their father might be disposed to take.

The expedition arrived in the bay of Sumana, in the eastern extremity of the island, on the 25th of January, 1802, when, without the least delay, General Le Clerc distributed his force into three divisions, which were to make simultaneous attacks on three distinct parts of the colony. One division was directed to disembark and take possession of the city of Santo Domingo, and was commanded by General Kerseran; another, under General Boudet, was sent to Port au Prince; whilst the commander-in-chief proceeded with the remainder of the troops to the south side, when a part was landed at Mansenillo Bay, under General Rochambeau; and the principal body with Le Clerc, and his personal staff intended to disembark at Cape François, for the purpose of gaining possession of that city.

Toussaint had been apprised of the intentions of the French government to send out a force to Saint Domingo, but of its extent, its nature, and its ulterior designs, he had no knowledge. He merely conjectured, that it had no hostile object, and that it was just such a force as might have been expected would be sent by the parent state, for the better insuring the peace and obedience of the colony. That such was his impression I think there is great reason to believe, for he issued his orders to all his generals at their respective posts, commanding them to receive the French troops without suspicion; and his proclamation called upon the people to admit them as friends. Others again seem to infer that he not only knew that the designs of the consular cabinet were inimical to the existing order of things in the colony, but that he knew the extent of the means which were to be employed in their execution. If this latter were the fact, then that caution, vigilance, and activity which had marked his former career, had entirely forsaken him, for it is evident he made no preparations for the reception of a force entertaining hostile intentions.

I shall not go through the whole detail of the landing of this armament at the different points selected for that purpose, but I shall offer a short sketch of the general operations which followed.

Whatever might have been the instructions given by the First Consul to Le Clerc, the latter did not appear the least disposed to try the effect of negotiation before he displayed some intentions of hostility, for General Rochambeau, who landed in the neighbourhood of Fort Dauphin, formed his troops on the beach, and the negroes, who had been led by the proclamation of their governor-general to believe that they had landed as friends, ran in crowds to witness the disembarkation, and with the most friendly demonstrations welcomed their arrival. But Rochambeau, most dastardly and inhumanly, without the slightest intimation of what was to follow, charged them at the point of the bayonet, when a great many were slaughtered, and the rest with difficulty fled to places of protection, leaving the fort in possession of the French. This took place on the 2d of February, two days before the arrival of the commander-in-chief in the harbour of Cape François, and as the account of it soon reached the city, General Christophe, who commanded there, was enabled to prepare for its defence, and at once discovered, that instead of coming as friends, this force had arrived for the purpose of subjugation.

By this premature commencement at Fort Dauphin, Le Clerc was foiled in his design of taking the black general by surprise, or in playing off any of those stratagems and intrigues so characteristic of a Frenchman. From the intelligence which he had received of the movements of Rochambeau, Christophe was instantly on the qui vive. Wary and watchful, he disposed of his men judiciously, strengthening the most vulnerable points, and encouraging his troops to meet every attack with courage and fortitude, setting to them an example of confidence in their own power, which animated them to the most surprising efforts. He also intimated to the inhabitants of the city, that their lives would be inevitably held as a security for the hostile proceedings of the French armament, and that he would never surrender the place so long as a single habitation remained standing. This threat of the negro general produced the most appalling sensations, because they were aware of the intentions of the French being hostile, and they were also sensible, that there would be no abatement of the dreadful denunciation of the black commander. To avert the dreadful alternative, a select body of the inhabitants, headed by the municipal authorities, were deputed to wait upon the French commander-in-chief, and to implore him to desist from hostile operations, until such time as their safety could be provided for, as it was the determination of Christophe to sacrifice them, and to destroy the city, should any attack proceed from the French force. Le Clerc gave them no assurances that he would desist from offensive measures; he received them, however, courteously, and advised them to return to the city, and take with them the proclamation which he was about to issue, and give it every publicity in their power. He also told them in the most specious way, that the object of his force was not the restoration of slavery, but the preservation of the colony in obedience to the consular government of France, without in any way interfering with or infringing upon the rights of the people, as now admitted; but rather to fix those rights on a more permanent basis, and to secure them against innovation. To such flattering communications the deputation listened with easy credulity, and returned to the city buoyed up with the delusive hope that their lives and properties would be protected, and that the lamentable catastrophe resulting from retaliatory measures would be effectually averted.

The proclamation of Bonaparte, couched in his usual ambiguous style, was intended no doubt to deceive the negro population by confirming their rights to be free and equal, whilst at the same time the real object of the expedition was the restoration of slavery, and the restitution of the colony to its condition previously to the revolution. Having pledged however his faith to the negroes, that they should enjoy that freedom which had been conferred upon them, they were at the same time told, that in the event of their rejection of the terms which the commander-in-chief was empowered to offer, violence would be resorted to, and the pledge withdrawn. It may not be improper to insert a translation of this proclamation, which will thus speak for itself.—

“INHABITANTS OF SAINT DOMINGO!

“Whatever your origin or your colour, you are all French; you are all free, and all equal before God, and before the republic.

“France, like St. Domingo, has been a prey to factions, torn by civil commotions and by foreign wars. But all has changed, all nations have embraced the French, and have sworn to them peace and amity; the French people too, have embraced each other, and have sworn to be all friends and brothers. Come also, embrace the French, and rejoice to see again your friends and brothers of Europe.

“The government sends you Captain-General Le Clerc; he brings with him numerous forces for protecting you against your enemies, and against the enemies of the republic. If it be said to you, these forces are destined to ravish from you your liberty, answer, the republic will not suffer it to be taken from us.

“Rally round the Captain-General; he brings you peace and plenty. Rally all of you around him. Whoever shall dare to separate himself from the Captain-General will be a traitor to his country, and the indignation of the republic will devour him, as the fire devours your dried canes.

“Done at Paris, &c.

“(Signed) The First Consul, Bonaparte.

“The Secretary of State, H. B. Maret.”

Such a document as the preceding, promulgated too at a moment when an extraordinary panic had arisen from the extent of the French force, about to commence its operations simultaneously from several points, was not likely to pass without making a very deep impression on those whose minds were vacillating and unfixed, and who had refrained from declaring themselves until they were informed as to the views of the French government with regard to the future administration of the colony, in the event of their being successful. This proclamation was received by the wavering among the negro population as one of great sincerity, assuring them that they had nothing to apprehend about their being again destined for slavery. Many therefore embraced the offers which it held out, and joined the standard of the invaders, and Le Clerc, anticipating further submissions before Toussaint arrived, determined on the commencement of active measures so soon as he should be informed that Rochambeau, having effected a successful landing, was advancing upon the city. He did not however land his forces till he had tried the effect of an epistolary communication with General Christophe, the commander at the Cape, in which in the true Gascon style of invective and threat, Le Clerc informs that individual, that unless he immediately accedes to the landing of his forces, he will “hold him (Christophe) responsible for what may happen.”

Christophe was not to be entrapped. Firm, inflexible, and determined in his conduct, he returned an answer to the French commander couched in language which could bear but one interpretation, that he would make every possible resistance to the French arms, and that they should not enter “Cape Town until it was reduced to ashes.” “Nay,” says he, “even in the ruins I will renew the combat.” Again he says, “How can you hold me responsible for the event? you are not my chief. I know you not; and can therefore take no account of you, till you are acknowledged by Governor Toussaint.”

Immediately after this correspondence had taken place, Le Clerc made preparations for landing, which he effected promptly in the neighbourhood of Da Limbe and the Bay of Acul, no great distance to the westward of the city. Le Clerc’s object seems to have been to gain the heights round the Cape, before the negroes could effectually carry their threat of devastation by fire and sword into execution. These movements were anticipated by the negro general, who therefore prepared to intercept them. Knowing that the white inhabitants were wavering and faithless, and that he could not confide in them were he to permit their neutrality, and being fully aware that many mulattoes, and even negroes, were secretly inclined towards the French, he without hesitation commenced the work of conflagration, which he had previously given them to understand would be done the moment the French set their foot on shore in an hostile manner. The order being given, was obeyed with alacrity, and both Le Clerc and Admiral Villaret, when they came within sight of the city saw the devastation which was likely to ensue. The French commanders made great efforts to save the town, and the crews of the ships were landed for that purpose, but they were only able to save a few buildings from the destructive element.

The part of Christophe’s threat most dreaded was the massacre of the inhabitants of the city, but to his credit be it said, he did not put it in execution. True no doubt it is that he carried off a great many whom he intended to hold as hostages for the conduct of the French; but it is not recorded that he treated them with any barbarity, or that he executed any of them. After this the negro general retreated with his forces, and took up a strong position until he was joined by the Governor-General Toussaint.

Having arrived a short time after the fall of the Cape, and having previously issued orders to all his subordinate generals to prepare for the most active defence against the French arms, Toussaint personally inspected every post, and minutely surveyed every position in which it was practicable to make a successful stand against his opponents.

It was at this time, and whilst he was at his seat at Ennery, about thirty miles from the Cape, that his two sons were presented to him to try how far another attempt at fraud, sophistry, and hypocrisy might succeed. I shall not attempt to go through the whole detail of the scenes which took place between the wily tutor Coisnon, the affectionate children, the fond father, and the tender mother; let it suffice, however, to state that they failed of their wonted success, for Toussaint was inflexible. I cannot resist the temptation of quoting a passage from a writer, who describes the tender interview which took place between them. “The two sons ran to meet their father, and he with emotions too big for utterance, clasped them silently in his arms. Few it is to be hoped are the partakers of our common nature, who, on witnessing the embraces and tears of parental and filial sensibility, could have proceeded at least without powerful relentings of heart, to execute the commission with which Coisnon was charged.”

But this cold-blooded emissary of France beheld the scene with a barbarous apathy, worthy of the cause in which he was employed. When the first burst of paternal feeling was over, Toussaint stretched out his arms to him, whom he regarded with complacency as the tutor of his children, and their conductor to the roof and embraces of their parents. This was the moment which Coisnon thought most favourable to the perpetration of his treacherous design. “The father and the two sons”, says he, “threw themselves into each other’s arms. I saw them shed tears, and wishing to take advantage of a period which I conceived to be favourable, I stopped him at the moment when he stretched out his arms to me.”

The crafty and unfeeling Coisnon thought that the most favourable moment had arrived for opening the business of his mission, and without delay entered upon it by addressing the chief, and imploring him to reflect upon the consequences that would inevitably result from any hostile measures against the power of Bonaparte, as any resistance to so powerful a force, composed of troops that had always been elated with victory, must prove unavailing. On the other hand, he pledged the sincerity with which his master was actuated, spoke of the admiration which Toussaint’s conduct had excited, and of the distinguished valour and judgment which he had displayed in the multifarious operations of the war. He also held out to him the most attractive, yet delusive, promises of what would ensue from his joining the French standard, and the vengeance that would doubtless accompany any act of hostility; and, finally, he handed to the negro chief the letter, of which he was the bearer, written by Bonaparte in his own hand, and teeming with expressions which might have moved the resolution of more determined men than Toussaint. But that cautious, unbending, and inflexible man was on his guard against the snare that was laid to entrap him, and the cunning tutor was necessitated to try the effect of a more powerful agency, the intercession of his children and the entreaties of his wife. Bonaparte, in his letter to the chief, tries what effect an allusion to the former will have. “We have made known to your children, and to their preceptor,” he says, “the sentiments by which we are animated. We send them back to you. Assist with your counsel, your influence, and your talents, the captain-general. What can you desire? The freedom of the blacks? You know that in all the countries we have been in, we have given it to the people who had it not. Do you desire consideration, honours, fortune? It is not after the services you have rendered, the services you can still render, and with the personal estimation we have for you, that you ought to be doubtful with respect to your consideration, your fortune, and the honours that await you.” Such an appeal might have had some influence and power over a vain man, and the feelings of the father might have been softened when the eloquence of the preceptor pleaded in behalf of the children, whose lives would be the forfeit of the non-compliance of the parent. But this would not do, nor would the subsequent artless appeal of the tutored children, aided by the faithful mother, from whose tears the savage Coisnon prematurely looked for success. All were unavailing, and Toussaint, after having composed himself, and assumed an appearance of ease and confidence, took the preceptor by the hand; then directing the others to retire, he said to him, with a stern and dignified manner, “Take back my children, since it must be so. I will be faithful to my brethren and my God.”

Notwithstanding the failure of Coisnon’s mission, a truce was agreed upon for a few days, for the purpose of carrying on a correspondence between Le Clerc and Toussaint, to try if the horrors of war might not be averted by mutual concessions. Le Clerc anticipated a favourable result, but Toussaint’s reply contained no augury of his submission to the will of the chief consul. The truce, therefore, being at an end, each of the chiefs prepared for active operations, and Toussaint and Christophe were declared to be enemies of the French republic, and all persons were called upon to seize them.

Every art and every stratagem was now devised by Le Clerc, which might entice over the negroes to his cause; and he therefore first held out assurances to their officers of rank and preferment in the French army, and to the negroes themselves he gave the most solemn promise that their freedom should be respected and preserved inviolate. Another circumstance also, which very materially contributed to the successes which Le Clerc gained, was, that the cultivators throughout the colony had had enough of war, and had determined to remain neutral in the pending struggle, so long as their properties were insured to them, and their remaining inactive was permitted. Consequently, Le Clerc having nothing to apprehend from them, was at liberty to turn the whole of his attention against the organized forces of the negro chiefs; and, to oppose these, required no little skill and manœuvre, from the great obstacles which the face of the country presented to European forces, inured only to a systematic mode of fighting, whilst the negro soldiers were thoroughly instructed in skirmishing, bush fighting, and every other irregular mode of warfare. For such operations as these, they were in the highest possible order, both as to discipline and equipments. They knew well how to manage their artillery, were quick in firing, and no bad marksmen. All their movements were effected with amazing rapidity, and from one point of communication to another they flew with the greatest celerity. The French seemed astonished at the quickness with which they performed their movements, and at times when they thought victory certain, found themselves unexpectedly opposed to a body, who made the most desperate attack upon them, and forced them to retire completely discomfited. They also had another advantage over the European troops; neither the scorching heat of the sun, nor the pernicious influence of the night air, had any injurious effects upon them, whilst the French were suffering severely from the evil consequences of both. Although one day they might have sustained a defeat, still, on the next, the negro soldiers appeared in force before their enemy, prepared to renew the combat. Not so with the French; for the severity of the duties of the field was insupportable, and on many occasions, when they had gained advantages, their fatigue was so great that they were unable to follow them up, and thereby throw their opponents into disorder and confusion.

The principal exertions of the French troops commenced in the plains of the north, just after the truce had expired, and about the 20th of February, by an attack on Plaisance, which place having surrendered, the black commander and his soldiers, consisting of five hundred infantry and cavalry, joined the French standard. Marmalade followed, having been defended a short time by Christophe, who was at last obliged to retreat, in consequence of the treachery of one of his officers who had surrendered an important position on his line, and had followed the example of the commander at Plaisance.

In the neighbourhood of Port Paix, the French troops, under Humbert, sustained a check; and on the 20th of February the troops under General Debelle were obliged to retire, after having sustained some loss.

The division of General Boudet having landed at Port au Prince, left that city, and proceeded against La Croix des Bouquets, where the celebrated Dessalines had taken up a position; but on the approach of the French force he set fire to the place, and the next day, by a most extraordinary and rapid movement across the mountains, appeared before Leogane, to which place he also set fire, notwithstanding the resistance offered by a French frigate which lay in sight, and which had been sent thither to insure its safety. The movements of this chief were the most surprising; one day he was found in the plains of the Cul de Sac, acting with the most determined bravery, and committing dreadful ravages in the face of the French army; and the next, he was found in the plains of Leogane committing similar excesses, avoiding, in both, coming in contact with the enemy in the open field. Bush fighting, and setting fire to the plantations, to impede the advance of the enemy and destroy their provisions, was his only aim, and in this he seems to have been unusually fortunate and successful.

One of the black chiefs, La Plume, who had retreated before Generals Desfourneaux and Hardy from the vicinity of Plaisance, surrendered, with all his troops, to General Boudet, which compensated for the losses which the French had sustained, and was a serious, if not a fatal, blow to the negro cause.

On the 24th of February, General Rochambeau fell in with Toussaint, who had under him about three thousand men, and had taken up a strong position in the Ravine à Couleuvre. The attack was commenced by Rochambeau, and met with great skill and courage by the negro general and his troops, and a most sanguinary conflict ensued. The blacks fought with the most determined bravery, and the French made the greatest efforts to exceed them; and at last, after having lost eight hundred of his men, who were left dead in the field, Toussaint thought it prudent to retreat, and take up his position on the banks of La Petite Rivière. There could not have been more military skill shewn than was displayed by the respective commanders in this battle. The slaughter was immense, and the loss of the French, it was conjectured, exceeded that of the negroes; but the latter had no public journals to announce their triumphs, whilst the former had the benefit of gazettes and proclamations to extol their successes, and to magnify the disasters of their opponents. It is certain that after the action Rochambeau could not advance, and the black general was in some measure justified in claiming the victory, as well as some merit for taking up another position, particularly as Le Clerc was advancing to cut him off with a large force; and which seems true enough, for he took up a line in the vicinity of Gonaives, with his advance upon the road of St. Marc.

Whatever opinion is entertained of the result of the battle, its consequences were certainly injurious to his cause; his retreat was demonstrative of discomfiture, and such a feeling existed among his troops, as well as among those of his other divisions. Under the influence of this feeling, and the allurements of the French generals, who held out the most engaging promises, desertions became frequent, and in one instance the conduct of the black general Maurepas, who commanded the district of St. Marc, and who, at the moment that Le Clerc was engaged in making preparations to compel him to retire from it, surrendered with his force, consisting of two thousand men, proved quite decisive of the fate of the contest.

Declining to enter into a further detail of the operations in the field, as they consisted chiefly of irregular warfare, and presented nothing of importance, I shall merely make a few observations on the conduct of the respective chiefs who commanded, and their measures to defeat each other’s design.

I think it must be admitted to be indisputable that the greatest success was in favour of the French, and that although some partial advantages were gained by the blacks, yet they seemed to have no ultimate chance of prolonging the contest. It is true that Toussaint, Christophe, and Dessalines held strong positions, and that it would take a considerable time to dislodge them, as well as cause a great sacrifice of human lives. Le Clerc therefore resorted to every device likely to gain over the black troops, and the most successful one was, his promotion of many of those who had previously joined him, and the practice of an unusual degree of mildness towards the remainder, by which he so much exalted himself in the estimation of the whole, that the negroes undertook to allure their brethren to their standard, holding out to them advantages similar to those which they had themselves gained. This stratagem succeeding in a very extensive degree, he was joined by a great number of the troops of the black chiefs, and a great many laid down their arms, so that in a short period Toussaint was left with scarcely any adherents, except those few planters who suspected the designs of the French, and correctly dived into the intentions of the French general. These remained firm to him for a time, but when one reverse was followed up by another, and when there was not a visible chance of any further efforts being likely to succeed, and when his retirement seemed inevitable, most of these deserted him, and made their submission to the French commander, leaving Toussaint to contend against a variety of difficulties, and to surmount obstacles sufficient to have reduced the proudest and noblest spirit to a state of the greatest despair. But even at this trying period Toussaint’s fortitude never forsook him. He foresaw that his enemy before long would find that they had to contend with greater obstacles than any which his resistance could present; nor was he mistaken; for in a short time, Le Clerc, elated by his successful movements, began to develope the designs with which he was instructed, and thinking that he had completely discomfited the whole of the forces of the black generals, or, at all events, that he had so dispersed their followers that they could not again appear before him, he set about executing the great object of the expedition—that of restoring the planters who had accompanied him to their hereditary estates, and of placing the negroes once more under their control, reviving their ancient property in them, and pledging the French government to resist all future attempts that might be made to disturb them.

It is impossible to portray the indignation which this impolitic and base act of Le Clerc so universally excited. The very planters themselves, apprehensive of the consequences which so unwise and so hasty a proceeding was likely to produce, declined to avail themselves of an offer, the impracticability of enforcing which seemed to them to be certain. They were convinced that no good could result from it; but circumstances of the most painful and dangerous nature were more likely to arise, were the general to attempt putting his plans into execution.

The poor deluded and credulous cultivators, who had been allured by the promises of their enemy, now saw their error, and without a moment’s delay began to consult their own safety, to devise means to evade the orders of the French commander, and join their brethren who still adhered to the negro general; and finally to aid in defeating such outrageous proceedings by the most energetic and the most effectual plan which they had the means of concerting.

Such of the negro troops, also, as had joined the French under the perfidious pledges of the commander-in-chief, began to feel considerable anxiety lest they should be forced to share the fate which seemed to impend over their black brethren in general. To revolt, however, appeared almost impossible; they were not concentrated at any one point, but seemed to have been placed in small detached bodies, and were so completely under the control and surveillance of the French that desertion was difficult, and in most instances not to be effected without detection, when they were subjected to the most cruel punishment.

Toussaint now saw that his predictions were realized, and that the time had arrived when the scale of success would turn in his favour, and with that promptitude which accompanied all his resolutions and all his plans of operations, he seized the favourable moment, and with the most extraordinary celerity formed a junction with Christophe, when they proceeded towards the north, calling upon the cultivators on their way to join their cause, and to revenge the base and unprecedented conduct of the French general. From all quarters the cultivators flocked to their standard, and in a few days their force became somewhat imposing; and although they were armed with such weapons only as could have been found on the plantations, and had but a short supply of musquetry, still they moved on by forced marches with the most surprising rapidity, driving their enemy from one post to another, without meeting with the least opposition, until they appeared before Cape François, which being defended by a strong force, and covered by the fleet in the harbour, was saved from the fate which awaited it.

Le Clerc, now shut up in the besieged city of Cape François, was reduced to the greatest extremities, and he began to devise means for evacuating the place, and taking up some position within the Spanish territory; but a strong reinforcement which arrived from France somewhat revived his hopes, although he knew further offensive measures would not be advisable. The city too, from the number of people within its walls, began to exhibit symptoms of a pestilential nature, and the alarm became most distressing; inhabitants and troops alike became martyrs to its ravages, and every thing indicated the most wretched termination of the siege. Beginning therefore to feel the evil consequences of his premature and precipitant as well as nefarious conduct, he began to consult with his officers upon some plan which might have the effect of putting a stop to the further prosecution of the impending struggle: he saw the error he had committed, and it was necessary that he should recover the position he held, before he gave his ill-advised and perfidious orders for the reestablishment of slavery. To accomplish this, the captain-general had recourse again to cunning and delusion, and to every species of trick and artifice which his inventive mind could suggest: but it was a work of no ordinary difficulty to restore confidence, and impress the simple cultivators with an idea of sincerity, after having been guilty of the most atrocious acts of treachery and deceit. Something, however, it was imperative to try, and the usual measure of proclamation was immediately decided upon as likely to produce the desired effect.

This proclamation contains the old specious declaration of “Liberty and Equality to all the inhabitants of Saint Domingo, without regard to colour,” and the most abject apology for his conduct in the late contest, with an assurance that his future intentions were of the most friendly kind, and that he ardently desired to reconcile conflicting opinions, appease internal discord, restore peace to all classes of people, and place the colony in the most flourishing and prosperous condition. In this proclamation a great deal was also said about a constitution that should be acceptable to the people, the basis of which was the old term “Liberty and Equality,” providing however, it appears, for the acceptation of it by the French government, as a measure of precaution.

It may easily be conjectured that such submissive expressions of regard and solicitude for the people would be likely to accomplish the Frenchman’s purpose, and that the negro population, in their rude state of ignorance, would not be able to discover or penetrate into the designs at which he aimed. That this was the case with the proclamation of the captain-general, is most evident, for that class of the people, on its being declared to them by the emissaries of the French that the reestablishment of slavery was not contemplated, and that the French government merely aimed at the sovereignty over the island, became clamourous for arrangements, whilst the cultivators who had encountered much fatigue and inconvenience, and who had been deprived of those comforts which peace and repose presented, were equally anxious for some understanding by which a further prosecution of the war would be avoided. All classes seemed to concur in one point, that the only object for which contention and resistance to the French was justifiable, was the preservation of that liberty which the representatives of the French government declared to them in 1793, and which declaration had been confirmed by the national assembly of France.

This proclamation, issued by Le Clerc on the 25th of April, 1802, confirming, as they conceived, their liberty, they did not consider that there remained further cause for a continuation of the struggle, for the question of sovereignty was not one which gave them any concern.

To the wishes of the great body of the people Toussaint reluctantly submitted, and Dessalines gave his decided opinion that no negotiations should be entered into, except for the purpose of receiving a proposal for the evacuation of the colony by the French forces. Both these chiefs doubted the sincerity of the French general, and believed that his propositions were only intended to cover more vigorous efforts to crush them hereafter. In the mean time Christophe found it prudent, from some symptoms of defection among his troops, to open a negotiation with Le Clerc, and officers were appointed for that purpose, when the former demanded a general amnesty and preservation of his own rank and property, as well as that of all his compatriots: the same to extend also to Toussaint and Dessalines. To this Le Clerc, after some deliberation, but with no good will, acceded, and the arrangements were accordingly concluded.

Toussaint and Dessalines, after having reflected for a short time on their respective situations, and standing almost alone against the prevailing wish of the people, consented to the terms which had been granted to Christophe as a matter both of experiment and expediency, and thus for the present ended the contest, which for the extent of it may have been justly described as the most cruel and sanguinary in the annals of warfare. By this peace the island of St. Domingo is admitted to be under the sovereignty of France.

The peace being concluded, the cultivators and proprietors returned to their homes, and recommenced their labours in the soil, in the pleasing hope of being permitted to remain in the bosom of their families, enjoying all those comforts of which the horrors of war had so long denied them. The three negro chiefs, Toussaint, Dessalines, and Christophe retired to their respective plantations, after having been assured by Le Clerc, with every mark of sincerity, that their persons and property should be held sacred, and that instructions should be transmitted to them, upon which they were to act in their future military commands. In their retreat, however, it appears that Dessalines and Christophe were far from feeling confident of their own safety; they consequently did not slumber in their retirement; and being greatly apprehensive of the consequences of the experiment into which they had been led, they waited, with no little anxiety, the result of it.

Credulous, and relying on the captain-general’s honour, from the confidence which he had inspired, Toussaint thought of little but the enjoyment of repose in the bosom of his family. At his estate in the vicinity of Gonaives, he took up his abode, surrounded by his faithful wife and endearing children (with the exception of his two sons who had been detained as hostages, and of whose fate no intelligence was ever received), there to indulge in the sweets of domestic life, after the toils and the cares of a protracted civil war, in which he had borne the most conspicuous part, and shared in all its extraordinary vicissitudes and all its heart-rending scenes of death and destruction. But his retirement was invaded—the snare was laid for him by the perfidious Le Clerc, and in the moment of sleep, unconscious and unsuspecting, he was surrounded by some troops sent for the purpose, torn from his bed in the dead of night, torn from his faithful wife and beloved children, and hurried on board a frigate, there to remain until preparations were made for sending him to France. It was useless and unavailing to make any resistance, or to exclaim against such treachery and inhumanity: he submitted to his fate, and left it to his countrymen to avenge his wrongs. He only asked for the protection and security of his family, but they became also the objects of suspicion, and were subsequently hurried on board the same vessel with their father. They were all sent to France, and their tragical end became the subject of general horror and indignation throughout Europe. Le Clerc, to soften the barbarity and atrocity of this act, gave it out that Toussaint was plotting against the French, and was aiming, in conjunction with his other officers, to seize the first unguarded moment in which they might be caught, to break the peace, and to renew the combat with redoubled vigour and determination.

Thus terminated the career of Toussaint. His end will ever blacken the pages of French history, and leave such a stain on the character of its government that no lapse of time can efface. History cannot produce a more base and unjustifiable act of violence; and it is to be hoped, for the sake of humanity, its perpetrators will meet with that just execration which so much perfidy and treachery deserves.

CHAPTER VI.

The period from the seizure of Toussaint to the final expulsion of the French, by Dessalines, in 1803.—State of cultivation.—Commerce declined—and observations on the population.—Its extent.

The dispute between the people of the island and the French had now assumed a different character, for it could no longer be designated a contest between the revolted slaves of a colony and their government, but a civil war, originating in an attempt of oppression on the part of that government, over those inhabitants whom it had thought proper to declare to be, “free and equal before God, and before the republic.” A conflict, I say, emanating from the basest act of duplicity, and from the most unexampled breach of faith and confidence that has been heard of in modern times; a conflict which, in the sequel, proved the destruction of its authors, and the expulsion of the French from all property in St. Domingo. Our minds must be totally divested of all those impressions which the rebellion of the slaves at first created; and we must view the future operations of the contending parties abstractedly, and not as having any connexion with past events.

Whatever might have been the instructions given to the captain-general Le Clerc by his master, that officer seems to have acted with a degree of precipitancy that must be condemned. Had the French ruler been ever so confident in the success of an enterprise as the one in which he had engaged, as a soldier and as a general who had commanded in a series of campaigns, he must have left something to the discretion of the officer whom he had appointed to conduct it, and not have insisted on an implicit obedience to instructions that could only have been given from a vague knowledge of the scene on which such enterprise was to be carried into effect. The success of most offensive operations depends in a great measure on the local information which a commanding officer acquires on his arrival at the point at which such operations are to commence; and a great deal, therefore, must, I imagine, be left to his judgment and discretion, without fettering him with instructions from which he cannot deviate, however injudicious and inefficient they may become, from the local obstacles with which he has to contend. Bonaparte himself, I believe, never acted but as circumstances pointed out, paying but little attention to the directions which, from time to time, he received from the executive government of France. I think it, therefore, not unfair to draw from this the inference that, on sending out his brother-in-law, Le Clerc, to command the expedition to St. Domingo, he vested in him the power to act as circumstances might require, and as prudence and discretion might dictate.

After the outrage which he committed on the unfortunate Toussaint and his family, the captain-general began to deliberate on the organization of a new form of government, and about the end of June, 1802, he issued his regulations for that purpose; but he had forgotten that the treacherous conduct, of which he had so recently been guilty, remained unrevenged, and that the people would not submit to it with impunity, but resort to measures of retaliation until they had satiated themselves for the atrocious deed. These regulations had certainly nothing in them new; they were merely those of Toussaint, re-modelled as it were, but they were prematurely issued, for they only tended to inflame the more, and to hasten that crisis which began to threaten the French cause in the colony.

No sooner was the cruel seizure of Toussaint known, than Dessalines, Christophe, and Clerveaux flew to arms, collected their scattered forces, called the cultivators and others to join their standard, to revenge the outrage committed on their chief, and to defend themselves against the designs of the French general. In a few days, they found themselves at the head of a large body of troops, armed and well equipped, and determined on a most desperate struggle for liberty, and either to expel the French or perish in the attempt. The French troops, on the other hand, were hourly diminishing by various diseases incident to the climate. The officers were dying daily, and others sunk into an irrecoverable despondency; and a disaffected spirit had manifested itself amongst them, through which not only the privates and subaltern officers deserted their standards, but even generals followed the example. The scenes of carnage and destruction which took place are said to have shocked humanity, and the atrocities of the French exceeded so much the executions of their black opponents, that the latter seem to have entitled themselves to the character of being merciful when compared with the tortures inflicted by the former.

The circumstance of the introduction of bloodhounds I have heard spoken of by some who were engaged in the war, and they have all declared that many of the statements of the cruelties said to have been committed by them were unfounded. They were brought it is true, but the blacks were prepared for them; and although in some instances in which they were tried they tore some persons, and absolutely devoured a child or two, yet they were found to be ineffectual for the object for which they were intended, as they were shot in great numbers, so that at last they had but few to use, and those which were left were rendered useless, from the negroes having been always prepared to meet them. I do not mean by this that it at all lessened the enormity of such an act, on the part of the French, because it was not successful; on the contrary, the ferocity of it stands unmitigated, although it proved abortive.

In the plains of the Cape, and in the city, the massacres by the French were beyond the powers of description; and the least that can be said of the conduct of the agents of the French government is, that they must have been bereft of all feelings of humanity, that they were of the worst and most debased of the dregs of the French people, and unworthy to become the associates of even the untutored savage. The latter may plead nature for his savage propensities, but the former has nothing to offer to lessen the magnitude of his crimes, or to efface the recollection of his unheard-of cruelties.

Whilst these scenes of carnage and destruction were at their height, the French were daily losing their positions, and their force was constantly diminishing from the effects of the pestilence which raged through the whole army. The general-in-chief, who had for some time been in an impaired state of health, began visibly to sink under the ravages of disease, and on the 1st of November he breathed his last, leaving in the memory of his opponents a name blackened by the worst of crimes, unatoned for by one single virtue.

The command of the army now devolved on General Rochambeau, who, to say the least of him, was a worthy successor of Le Clerc, and possessed similar virtues. To him, therefore, was it left to pursue that barbarous policy which had been introduced by his predecessor, and which only tended to inflame the ardour of the black troops, without in any way promoting the good of the French cause. Rochambeau certainly took the command at a time when it must have appeared that the object of the expedition had failed, and that the prolongation of the contest would be attended with no favourable result. Opposed to an enemy, whose force was daily increasing, and whose ardour was unabated and resolution unshaken, he had but little hopes of accomplishing any thing beyond acting on the defensive, until such reinforcements should arrive as would enable him to act on the offensive with some degree of effect; but, even then, there seemed not the remotest possibility of his being able to retrieve the positions which had been lost, and place his forces in such security as might enable him to provide for a retreat, should subsequent disasters make such an alternative absolutely necessary.

In the early part of 1803, nothing decisive was done on either side. Rochambeau and Dessalines came in contact, and a battle ensued, in which the latter was successful; but the scene of carnage and massacres which followed is much too painful to admit of being detailed. The French general, who took about five hundred prisoners, put them all to death, forgetting or careless of the fate of his own soldiers who were in the power of his enemy. The latter retaliated; and the next morning at day break, on as many gibbets, there were exhibited five hundred French officers and men, sacrificed through the savage impetuosity of their general.

The war having broken out between England and France in July, a British squadron appeared off Cape François and blockaded the harbour, thereby rendering to the blacks a most important service, which in a great measure contributed to accelerate the expulsion of the French. This squadron precluded the possibility of the French receiving any supplies from the Spanish port, and the garrison and inhabitants of the city were therefore reduced to the most lamentable extremities. Every thing that could be found, horses, mules, asses, all had been consumed, and they were at last obliged to feed upon dogs. It is said “that the French were obliged for several weeks to subsist on those very bloodhounds, which they had procured for the purpose of hunting down the negroes.”

The city was at last reduced to the most melancholy state from the effects of famine and disease, the besiegers making great exertions to intercept any supplies that might be on their way for the relief of the besieged. All hopes of eluding the vigilance of his enemies having at length vanished, and extensive preparations having been made to take the city by storm, the French commander-in-chief began to see that there would be a necessity for offering to capitulate. Dessalines having received these proposals, agreed to them, and the articles were signed on the 19th of November. These articles were certainly highly favourable to the French, for they provided for the security of private property, and that all their sick and wounded should be carefully attended by the blacks, and afterwards conveyed to France in vessels bearing a neutral flag. For the evacuation ten days were allowed, and Rochambeau attempted a ruse de guerre, by which he hoped to evade the English squadron then blockading the city, but in this he totally failed. He thought that the strong and stormy winds which prevailed during the autumnal months, might blow off the English ships, and enable the French squadron to steal away unperceived; but the English commodore saw the design of the French general, and consequently increased his vigilance, and began to provide against the attempt meditated by the French commander.

Finding that he had been too sanguine, and that it was not possible to elude the vigilance of the English squadron, Rochambeau was obliged to enter into terms with the British commodore, to avoid the dreadful alternative of destruction in the harbour by red-hot shot, with which he was threatened, from the time agreed upon in the articles having expired. The force which surrendered consisted of three frigates and nearly twenty smaller vessels, and prisoners to the number of about eight thousand men were taken first to Jamaica and afterwards to England.

Thus ended the war between the French and the blacks in St. Domingo, and thus an expedition, which at different periods brought out upwards of forty thousand men, terminated in discomfiture and disgrace; and which, from the conduct of the respective generals on whom the command devolved, will ever remain an indelible stain on the military character of their country. No expedition in the annals of that country had been fitted out under more favourable and encouraging auspices, and respecting the success of which a greater interest was excited. Composed of the finest troops, and under the most experienced officers, a different termination might have been anticipated; but a mistaken policy having been pursued, after the moment of victory, the advantages which had been previously gained were altogether lost, and upon the victors was entailed the odium of defeat, together with the reproach of neglect, and the want of precaution and discernment.

The end of December, 1803, therefore beheld the blacks in quiet possession of the island, after a struggle in which they certainly exhibited proofs of skill and perseverance in the multifarious duties of the field, highly creditable to their chiefs who had the planning of them, and to the inferior leaders on whom devolved the executive part: and it would be wrong not to express in proper terms, the admiration called forth by the resistance which they made whenever they were hard pressed by the French troops. They at times displayed a great deal of heroism and unshaken courage. Standing on the dead bodies of their comrades, they were often seen fighting man to man with the French. Such real determination to protect their liberty was never contemplated by the French; the colonists, who had been the promoters of the expedition, always represented the negro character as being completely deficient in courage, and destitute of every necessary ingredient for making soldiers. In part this may be true, but examples of individual bravery among the negro population were not wanting to negative the first charge; and although the last may be partially admitted, still time and experience had made them efficient for the field, and the sequel has sufficiently proved that, at the evacuation of the island, the negro troops were in a state of discipline but little inferior to the French, and in point of courage equal. Looking at them in other respects, and taking into consideration that they were men, who before, nay even at that time, were in the grossest state of ignorance and moral degradation, our astonishment is excited, when we find that in the moment of rage and revenge they often refrained from acts of cruelty and torture, whilst their insatiable enemies were committing the most shocking and unfeeling barbarities.

It is fairly to be presumed, that during the war but little time could be devoted to the cultivation of the soil, and that every thing relating to it must have been neglected and have dwindled into a very backward state, and that this was the case I believe is generally known, for the cultivators were obliged to fly to arms, and were scarcely ever permitted during the struggles to return to their homes; the only persons, therefore, who could employ themselves on their plantations were the females, and such of their children as were too young to carry arms. But the efforts of these were not of much use, for such was the destruction which accompanied the movements of the parties at war, that the estates were laid waste on each side of the line of march for some miles. Every operation of agriculture was therefore in a very languid state, and the apprehension under which people laboured was so great that they thought not of any productions beyond what they required for their own sustenance: having no inducement to look forward, they only guarded against present wants.

It is represented by many intelligent persons amongst the people of colour, and in particular by the late Baron D——, who was secretary to Christophe, and a man of considerable talent and of the most unquestionable veracity, that the successors of Toussaint had not that influence over the cultivators which their predecessor had, and that neither persuasion nor the expectation of gain could prevail upon them to return to their agricultural employment: and that immediately after the war, it would have been impolitic, if not utterly impracticable, to have enforced it, as any thing like coercion at that moment, when the minds of the people were in a ferment, might have been attended with the most disastrous consequences.

Commerce too had also been suspended for the want of articles of exchange for the manufactures of Europe and the provisions of America, and during the existence of the struggle foreigners were deterred from adventuring to any extent, fearing the consequences resulting from such an unsettled state of things.

Toussaint certainly made great efforts to revive commerce as well as agriculture, and until he was treacherously seized by the French, he certainly promoted both to an extent which, when the state of the country and the agitation of the people are weighed, appears somewhat surprising, and of which I shall hereafter give a specification. The system adopted by Toussaint was not dissimilar to that which appears to prevail in Russia, where the peasantry are attached to the soil, “adscripti glebæ”; and he acted wisely by doing so on account of his people, of whose innate love of indolence he was no mean judge, and he was anxious to remove it, to promote industry and stimulate exertion.

The population of St. Domingo at this period had greatly diminished; the natural increase had been very small, and the ravages of war had caused the loss of a great many, besides the emigration which had taken place under the protection of the French. The entire population in 1802, as estimated by M. Rumboldt, was three hundred and seventy-five thousand; of which two hundred and ninety thousand were cultivators, forty-seven thousand seven hundred domestics, sailors, &c. and thirty-seven thousand three hundred soldiers. By a subsequent statement of the population of the island in the year 1803, immediately after the expulsion of the French, and of which a note was given to me by an individual who was about the person of Dessalines at the time of his accession to the chief command, the number appears to have been about three hundred and forty-eight thousand, of which two hundred and seventy-two thousand were cultivators, thirty-five thousand soldiers, and the remainder were composed of domestics, artisans, and a few sailors. The difference between these two statements of twenty-seven thousand in so short a time appears large, but the destruction of men must have been very great indeed during that period, from the extraordinary rancour which existed in the French, and from their cruel determination to give no quarter, but to pursue a system of extermination until they had completely destroyed all those who were inimical to their interest. The emigration to the Spanish part of the island was also considerable; many fled thither to avert the impending blow, and to save themselves from the fate which awaited those who had been wavering in the cause of liberty. The successors of Toussaint they were aware would visit them with the heaviest penalties, and from the known ferocity of Dessalines they had to expect but little mercy, his character among his brethren for barbarity and thirst for blood and revenge being too well established not to be greatly dreaded.

I shall now proceed to take a short review of the proceedings of the succeeding chiefs who governed the island after this time. In doing so, I shall abstain from any reference to military operations, except in cases where it may be required for the clearer illustration of my subject.