we availed ourselves, from the extreme cheapness at which we No. VII. were supplied. On the 27th we got under weigh, and on the 28th chased two strange sail. By noon we brought one of them to, which proved to be a government sloop from Cape François, bound to Port-au-Prince, laden with wines and provisions of all kinds. The schooner that had been previously taken, being manned and armed, she was sent one cruize, commanded by the purser, who soon returned with a schooner, laden with provisions, that had sailed with the same sloop. We took every body out of her except some ladies, who were passengers, and the same evening came to anchor in Gonaives Roads, Sent a flag of truce on shore, and saw General Toussaint, who seemed very well pleased with the proposition of a treaty for trading, to and from Jamaica, and rendering every thing agreeable. Next day we got under weigh, and stood off and on till evening, as the captain had promised to send all the prisoners on shore when they should send a small vessel for them. In the mean time the person who was sent prize-master, having intoxicated himself in the evening when the ship was running into her anchorage, he bore up for Port Royal, and behaved very unmanly to the poor distressed ladies. He would not allow them to open their trunks for clean clothes, nor would he allow them any of two cases of wine, which the captain had left entirely for them. The vessel came for the prisoners next morning, and they went on shore, but the Black General was exceedingly vexed at the treatment the ladies had received, as they were the wives of offi cers No. VIII. cers in whom he had much confidence. This circumstance had nearly been the cause of much mischief, and the dissolution of the treaty, as he would hardly believe it was not intended by the captain, as all the male prisoners were returned with the exception only of one, who had preferred to remain with one of the ladies, who was his sister. In a short time, however, his temper warm, but not irascible, was appeased, and all was well. On the 14th December a brig, the Mary, arrived from Jamaica, laden with provisions, and on the 6th we put the two gentlemen conducting the treaty on board her, when she hoisted the flag of truce, and we bore up for Port Royal, where we arrived on the 8th. Anticipation of the fate of the French expedition upon No. VIII. (Referring to Page 264.) Extract from the former Publication of the Author of this Work the then projected Expedition of St. Domingo, describing its Progress; and, from a Comparison with the subsequent Dispatches of the French General, demonstrative of the Verity of those Principles upon which he argued against its Adoption. UPON what foundation the projectors of the French armament rested their hopes of success (supposing them not totally ignorant of what was to be attempted in the reduction of St. Dolished during mingo at present), other than the prowess of the First Consul, it is not easy to conceive-the astonishing difficulties that have been by the author, pub its projec tion. surmounted, of the French surmounted, and prodigies that have already been achieved by No. VII. the invincible Bonaparte! But they should have recollected, that Anticipatithe improbable successes of that general were not unfrequently on of the fate attributed to the CAUSE he supported!-certainly the best calcu- expedition. lated to inspire young troops with a romantic idea of chivalry, and to carry them, unknowing, through dangers that would appal the most hardy veterans. How different is the object at present: detachments from armies, that held combined Europe at defiance, when resolved to be free, and gave peace to the conquered nations that no longer opposed their freedom, are embarked to expel their own spirit from another land; to suppress every generous emotion they had been accustomed to feel; and to again fill the furrows of a smiling country with blood-the blood of FREEMEN, WHOM THEY HAD THEMSELVES CREATED. "Unused to the sickening suspense of a maritime conveyance, they are painfully wafted to the seat of war in a noxious climate; they debark in a country rendered hostile by a series of inexplicable menaces, and prepared to meet with indignation those it considers as betrayers of the cause in which they had formerly bled!— Vanished is the enthusiastic spirit of bravery, that was wont to lead them to the fight, while other voices sound the Song of Liberty! "Allons! enfans de la patrié Contre nous---de la tyrannée L'etendart sanglant est elevée! 3 G Mugir No. VIII. Anticipation, &c. Mugir ces ferocés soldats, Que viennent dans nos bras Egorgés vhs fils et votre Campagné ! Aux armes !" * "The hitherto victorious troops of the republic, land in various directions, beneath the heavy fire of forts well appointed; and mounted chiefly with brass ordnance: they press forward to▬▬ what?-not to enter towns from which the enemy has fled precipitately, leaving behind them every comfort necessary for an army, requiring early rest to recruit; they enter cities, not merely evacuated, but no longer cities! to be mocked by the ruins of repose, and the destruction of necessaries they required. "Recruited from their own magazines, or the trifling aid to be forced from a few Americans, they proceed into a country, every foot of which, when obtained, is deprived of all that can aid their enterprize. Troops, dispirited by novel tactics, and an enfeebling climate, are to pass their nights in the open air, and exposed to the nocturnal vapours, alone fatal to European habits, sustained only by provisions furnished from their own stores, with no more water than they have conveyed with them, and unable to proceed, or to return. Anticipati "Occasional aids, with peculiar good fortune, carried them No. VIII. farther into the interior, to experience all those difficulties in a more extensive degree; with a subtraction from their numbers on, &c. and their comforts, in proportion to the victories they may obtain, and the difficulties they may surmount. "On the other hand "A country is raised, to repel a horde of invaders, to whom are attributed the intentions of despoiling the land, and enslaving its inhabitants; a well-disciplined army in every part, intimately acquainted with every quarter of the island, inured to the climate, and habituated to the soil; trained to a long expectation of the attack, is prepared to meet them. Hardy, and unencumbered with stores, they sport with an harrassed enemy; and, when the day decides against them, leaving the enemy to burning towns, and mined plantations, they recede in safety within the next line of fortifications: were they even deprived of all adventitious aid,* the umbrageous plantain alone affords them repose and food, or they luxuriate in the varieties of the yam and the banana, rcfreshed by the streams, to which they readily find access; they rise unimpaired, to support the cause next their heart, and revel in proportion as their assailants are dismayed. "Almost impenetrably fortified up to the very mountains of Cibao, whose inaccessible tops reach the heavens, Toussaint recedes with ease, faster than the wasting enemy can, with pain, * Which is impossible, while every little coasting-bark from America brings a fresh supply; and an ample resource is found in every new situation. |