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.