1789.

ry spirit.

CHAP. II. avarice of gain, had rather calmed than provoked the dissentions of those whose interest should have bid them to agree; and by Origin of the revolutiona- softening the evils of a state which is so bad in its best form, have conciliated the affections of those to whose labours, under the present regimen, every thing productive of wealth or prosperity must depend. A partial concession to those who, by complexion itself, claim half a right to political existence, would have been sufficient: with a little regard for the morals of a people who require them the most, and a revolution in their own minds, as far as human nature will admit. These would have preserved to them, now lingering in a melancholy exile, if not the sudden victims of their impolicy, an island the boast of the new world, and a powerful support of the old. If they had then contemplated some more legitimate means of prosecuting the labours of their colony, they might, however immediately unavailing, have laid a foundation for their posterity more lasting than the bequest of inordinate wealth, and have claimed the approbation of society.

CHAP.

CHAP. III.

Account of the Progress and Accomplishment of the Independence of St. Domingo.

1789.

M. Duchil

nor.

AT the commencement of these changes in the government of CHAP. III. the mother country, and consequently of others in that of the colonies, the governor of French St. Domingo was M. Duchilleau, leau, govera man of no moderate powers, but who, from conciliating the temper of the new council of France, was continued in his office. It soon however became, in power or consequence, but nugatory; for, upon the first meeting of the assemblies before described, his proclamations were disregarded, and his government insulted, if not despised.

The states-general, at which two deputies appeared from each of the provinces, declared themselves the National Assembly in May, 1789, and on the 20th of August they made their Declaration of Rights. Between these two periods, the public mind had been heated against the white colonists by

such

CHAP. III. such a variety of means, as to threaten their total annihila

The publication of the Declaration of Rights did not tend to remedy this unfavorable impression of the people against one of their own communities; for the article that, " All men are born, and continue, free and equal as to their rights," implied an entire subversion of their establishments, and created a complete ferment among the whole of the French proprietors. They conceived, and the French government appear afterwards to have done the same, that the effect of this declaration was to rouse the negroes to an assertion of those rights it was supposed to give them. Apprehensive of disorders arising in the colony, the governor soon received orders from his new constituents, the National Assembly, to call together the inhabitants for the purpose of interior regulation. The measure had been anticipated by the ready disposition of the self-constituted legislators, and a provincial assembly for the northern district had already met at Cape François; an example which was soon followed by the western and southern provinces, the former of which met at Port-au-Prince, and the latter at Aux Cayes. For more immediate communication between the people, and to accommodate every description, parochial committees were also established. These committees were of the disposition which might be expected, and, by dividing among themselves upon every occasion, they served only to inform the negroes of their frivolity, and to excite them to take advantage of their want of unanimity and power; and the princi

pal

1790.

pal determination in their proceedings was that, of the necessity of CHAP. III. a full and speedy colonial representation. The order of the king, however, which was received in January 1790, tended to supersede their deliberations, by convoking a general Colonial Assembly, which was appointed to meet in the central town of Leogane. The mode which it directed of electing the members did not satisfy the provincial assemblies, and they substituted a plan of their own, changing the town of Leogane to that of St. Mark, and fixing on the 25th of March, and afterwards on the 16th of April, for the time of meeting.

The mulattoes, not willing to be left behind in exertion, when they perceived the opposition of the whites to every movement of the government, determined to proceed a step still farther, and accordingly arming themselves, they proceeded to claim by force the benefit of equal privileges with the whites. Their combination was premature, and they were soon overpowered. Different parties were secured at Jacmel and Artibonite, to whom, on their submission, notwithstanding the exasperation of the whites in general against them, an unconditional pardon was given. In the division of parties, too, inconsistent as it may appear, some of the whites, among whom were included persons of high respectability, adopted the cause of the people of colour, and even seconded their inclination to revolt. Among these, an old magistrate named Ferrand de Beaudierre, was the first to become conspicuous, for the purpose of removing the disgrace which had attached to him in consequence of having

offered

1790.

CHAP. III. offered marriage to a woman of colour. He drew up a memorial in their behalf, which had not time to be presented to the parochial committee, before he was seized by an enraged mob, and put to death. The deputy procureur-general, M. Dubois, also, whose duty demanded a different course, became so infatuated, as to declaim against the slavery of the negroes in their presence; but he enjoyed a milder fate; he was only arrested by the people, and dismissed from the colony by the governor, who soon after followed.

Such was the confused state of the colony, and every one seemed to be so bent upon harassing the metropolitan government, that it was, with great reason, apprehended in France, that the island was about to declare itself independant, or to submit to some foreign power. The alarm became general throughout those places which had any concern with St. Domingo, and the National Assembly on being earnestly implored to consider of the best means of saving so valuable a dependancy resolved, after a serious discussion of the subject, "That it was not the intention of the Assembly to interfere with the interior government of the colonies, or to subject them to laws incompatible with their local establishments; they therefore authorized the inhabitants of each colony to signify their own plan of legislation and commercial arrangement, preserving only a conformity with the principles of the mother country, and a regard for the reciprocal interests of both." It superadded, that no innovation was intended in any system of commerce in which