who had been previously well known in Paris, reached that city. The
public mind was instantly inflamed against the planters almost to
madness, and for some time those in the city were unable to appear in
public, either to apologize for their brethren or defend themselves. To
keep alive that resentment which had been awakened, a tragedy was
founded on the dying agonies of Ogé, and the theatres of Paris conveyed
the tidings of his exit to all classes of people.
Brissot and Gregorie, two well-known reformers, availing themselves of
this auspicious moment, brought the case of the mulattoes before the
National Assembly.
This was early in May, 1791. The eloquence displayed by Gregorie on this
occasion was most marvellous, enforced by such facts as a state of
slavery and degradation rarely fails to produce, and the whole finished
by an affecting recital of the death of Ogé.
Amid the ardor with which he pleaded the cause of the mulattoes, a few
persons attempted to stem the torrent by predicting the ruin of the
colonies. “_Perish the colonies_,” exclaimed Robespierre in reply,
“rather than sacrifice one iota of our principles.” The sentiment was
reiterated amid the applauses of an enthusiastic Senate, and the
National Assembly, on the 15th day of May, decreed that the people of
color born of free parents should thenceforth have all the rights of
French citizens; that they should have votes in the choice of
representatives, and be eligible to seats both in the parochial and
colonial assemblies.
The colonial representatives no sooner heard that these decisive steps
were taken than they declared their office useless, and resolved to
decline any further attempts to preserve the colonies.
The colonists who resided in the mother country heard the decree with
indignation and amazement. But in the island, as soon as it became
known, the planters sunk into a state of torpor, and appeared for a
moment as if petrified into statues. All local feuds between the whites
were immediately suspended, and all animosities swallowed up by what
appeared to them an evil of unparalleled magnitude. The civic oath was
treated with contempt; tumult succeeded subordination; proposals were
made to hoist the British colors; and resolutions crowded on resolutions
to renounce at once all connection with a country that had placed the
rights of the mulattoes on an equal footing with their own.
The mulattoes, who became criminal from their color, were obliged to
flee in every direction. Their homes afforded them no protection. They
were threatened with shooting in the street; and thus menaced by
destruction, they began to arm in every direction.
The governor beheld this commotion with palsied solicitude. He foresaw
the evils that must burst upon the colony, without having it in his
power to apply either a preventive or a remedy.
But a far more awful mine, surcharged with combustibles, and destined to
appall all parties, was at that moment on the very eve of an explosion.
LETTER XI.
Republic of Hayti.
A CHAPTER OF HORRORS (WHICH THE DELICATE READER MAY, IF HE CHOOSES,
OMIT).
“Out breaks at once the far-resounding cry--
The standard of revolt is raised on high.”
Among the various transactions which had taken place, both in the island
and in France, little or no attention had been paid to the condition of
the slaves. It is true an abolition society had been early established
in Paris, called the “Friends of the Blacks,” (_Amis des noirs_). Their
sufferings had also been used to give energy to a harangue, or to
enforce the necessity of general reformation, but their situation was
passed over by the legislative assemblies as a subject that admitted of
no redress.
These, sensible of their condition, numbers, and powers, resolved, amid
the general confusion, to assert their freedom and legislate for
themselves. They had learned from the contentions of both their white
and colored masters that violence was necessary to prosperity. Such
measures they adopted; and no sooner adopted than they were carried into
effect.
It was early on the morning of August 23, 1791, that a confused report
began to circulate through the capital that the negroes were not only in
a state of insurrection, but that they were consuming with fire what the
sword had spared. A report so serious could not fail to spread the
greatest alarm. It was credited by the timid, despised by the fearless,
but was deeply interesting to all. Pretty soon the arrival of a few
half-breathless fugitives confirmed the melancholy news; they had just
escaped from the scene of desolation and carnage, and hastened to the
town to beg protection and to communicate the fatal particulars. From
these white fugitives (the scale had turned) it was learned that the
insurrection was begun by the slaves on a plantation not more than nine
miles from Cape François.
There, it appeared, in the dead of night, they had assembled together
and massacred every branch of their master’s family that fell in their
way. From thence they proceeded to the next plantation, where they acted
in the same manner, and augmented their number with the slaves whom the
murder of their master had apparently liberated. And so on they went,
from plantation to plantation, recruiting their forces in proportion to
the murders they committed, and extending their desolations as their
numbers increased.
From the plantation of M. Flaville they carried off the wife and three
daughters, and three daughters of the attorney, after murdering him
before their faces. In many cases the white women were rescued from
death with the most horrid intentions, and were actually compelled to
suffer violation _on the mangled bodies of their dead husbands, friends,
or brothers, to whom they had been clinging for protection_.
The return of daylight, for which those who had escaped the sword
anxiously waited, to show them the full extent of their danger, was
anticipated by the flames that now began to kindle in every direction.
This was the work of but a single half night. The shrieks of the
inhabitants and the spreading of the conflagration, occasionally
intercepted by columns of smoke which had begun to ascend, formed the
mournful spectacle which appeared through a vast extent of country when
the day began to dawn.
It was now obvious that the insurrection was general and that the
measures of the revolted slaves had been skilfully preconcerted, on
which account the revolt became more dangerous. The blacks on the
plantation of M. Gallifet had been treated with such remarkable
tenderness that their happiness became proverbial. These, it was
presumed, would retain their fidelity. So M. Odelac, the agent of the
plantation, and member of the General Assembly, determined to visit them
at the head of a few soldiers, and to lead them against the insurgents.
When he got there he found they had not only raised the ensign of
rebellion, but had actually erected for their standard THE BODY OF A
WHITE INFANT, _which they had impaled on a stake_. So much for happy
negroes and contented slaves! Retreat was impossible. M. Odelac himself
was soon surrounded and murdered without mercy, his companions sharing
the same fate--all except two or three, who escaped by instant flight
only to add their tale to the list of woes.
The governor proceeded immediately to put the towns in a proper state of
defence; and all the inhabitants were, without distinction, called upon
to labor at the fortifications. Messengers were despatched to all the
remotest places, both by sea and land, to which any communication was
open, to apprise the people of their danger, and to give them timely
notice to prepare for the defence. Through the promptitude with which
the whites acted, a chain of posts was instantly established and several
camps were formed.
But the revolt was now found to be even greater than imagined. The
slaves, as if impelled by one common instinct, seemed to catch the
contagion without any visible communication. Danger became every day
more and more imminent, so much so that an embargo was laid on all the
shipping, to secure the inhabitants a retreat in case of the last
extremity. Among the different camps which had been formed by the whites
were one at Grande Riviere and another at Dondon. Both of these were
attacked by a body of negroes and mulattoes, and a long and bloody
contest ensued. In the end the whites were routed and compelled to take
refuge in the Spanish dominions. Throughout the succeeding night carnage
and conflagration went hand in hand, the latter of which became more
terrible from the glare which it cast on the surrounding darkness.
Nothing remained to counteract the ravages of the insurgents but the
shrieks and tears of the suffering fugitives, and these were usually
permitted to plead in vain.
The instances of barbarity which followed are too horrible for
description; nor should we be induced to transcribe any portion of them,
were it not that many persons regard such statements as mere assertions
unless accompanied by a record of the unhappy facts. The recital of a
few, however, will set all doubts forever at rest.
“They seized,” says Edwards, “a Mr. Blenan, an officer of the police,
and, having nailed him alive to one of the gates of his plantation,
chopped off his limbs one by one with an axe.”
“A poor man named Robert, a carpenter, by endeavoring to conceal himself
from the notice of the rebels, was discovered in his hiding-place, and
the negroes declared that he _should die in the way of his occupation_;
accordingly they laid him between two boards, and deliberately sawed him
asunder.”
“All the white and even the mulatto children whose fathers had not
joined in the revolt were murdered without exception, frequently before
their eyes, or while clinging to the bosoms of their mothers. Young
women of all ranks were first violated by whole troops of barbarians,
and then, generally, put to death. Some of them, indeed, were reserved
for the gratification of the lust of the leaders, and others had their
eyes scooped out with a knife.”
“In the parish of Timbe, at a place called the Great Ravine, a
venerable planter, the father of two beautiful young ladies, was tied
down by the savage ringleader of a band, who ravished the eldest
daughter in his presence, and delivered over the youngest to one of his
followers. Their passions being satisfied, they slaughtered both the
father and the daughters.”
“M. Cardineau, a planter of Grande Riviere, had two natural sons by a
black woman. He had manumitted them in their infancy, and treated them
with great tenderness. They both joined the revolt; and when their
father endeavored to divert them from their purpose by soothing language
and pecuniary offers, they took his money, and then stabbed him to the
heart.”
Amid the worst of these scenes Mr. Edwards records that solitary and
affecting instance wherein a _soft-hearted_ slave saved the lives of his
master and family by sending them adrift on the river by moonlight.[E]
This is generally admitted to have been the _Washington_ of Hayti,
Toussaint L’Ouverture.
At this time, also, the mulatto chiefs, actuated by different motives,
not only refused to adopt such horrid measures, but particularly
declared their only intention in taking up arms was to support the
decree of the 15th of May, which had acknowledged their rights, of which
the whites had been endeavoring to deprive them, and proposed to lay
down their arms provided the whites acknowledged them as equals.
The white inhabitants gladly availed themselves of an overture which,
though it pressed hard on their ambition, afforded a prospect for
deliverance from impending danger. A truce immediately took place, which
they denominated a _concordat_. An act of oblivion was passed on both
sides over all that had passed, the whites admitting in all its force
the decree giving equality to the mulattoes. The sentence passed upon
Ogé and the execution of it the _concordat_ declared to be infamous, and
to be “held in everlasting execration.” So much for Ogé.
Both parties now appeared to be equally satisfied, and a mutual
confidence took place. Nothing remained but to induce the mulattoes to
join the whites in the reduction of the negroes, now in a most
formidable state of insurrection. To this the mulattoes consented. New
troops were introduced from France. The whites were elated, and perfect
tranquillity stood for a moment on the very tiptoe of anticipation.
But the great lesson of the revolution was speedily to be learned. The
hurricane of terror which was yet to overcome them was at that moment on
the Atlantic, and hastening with fatal impetuosity towards these
uncertain shores.
UNION.
It was early in the month of September that intelligence reached France
of the reception which the decree of the 15th of May had met with in
Hayti. The tumult and horrid massacres which we have noticed were
represented in their most affecting colors. Consequences more dreadful
were still anticipated. The resolution of the whites never to allow the
operation of the ill-fated decree was represented as immovable; and
serious apprehensions were entertained for the loss of the colony.
The mercantile towns grew alarmed for the safety of their capitals, and
petitions and remonstrances were poured in upon the National Assembly
from every interested quarter for the repeal of that decree which they
plainly foresaw must involve the colony in all the horrors of civil war,
and increase those heaps of ashes which had already deformed its once
beautiful plains.
The National Assembly, now on the eve of dissolution, listened with
astonishment to the effects of a decree which, by acknowledging the
rights of the mulattoes, it was expected would cover them with glory.
The tide of popular opinion had begun to ebb; the members of the
Assembly fluctuated in indecision; the friends of the planters seized
each favorable moment to press their point, and actually procured a
repeal of the decree at the same moment that it had become a medium of
peace in Hayti.
At length the news reached these unhappy shores. The infatuated whites
resolved to support the repeal, which would leave the mulattoes at their
mercy. A sullen silence prevailed among the latter, interrupted at first
by occasional murmurings and execrations, and finally exploding in a
frenzy which produced the most diabolical excesses yet on record.
Rigaud’s original motto was again revived, and each party seemed to aim
at the extermination of the other. The mulattoes made a desperate
attempt to capture Port au Prince, but the European troops lately
arrived defeated them with considerable loss. They nevertheless set fire
to the city, which lighted up a conflagration in which more than a third
part of it was reduced to ashes.
Driven from Port au Prince, by the light of those flames which they had
kindled, the mulattoes established themselves at La Croix Bouquets in
considerable force, in which port they maintained themselves with more
than equal address. At last, finding themselves and the revolted slaves
engaged in a common cause, they contrived to unite their forces, and
with this view drew to their body the swarms that resided in Cul de Sac.
Augmented with these undisciplined myriads they risked a general
engagement, in which two thousand blacks were left dead on the field;
about fifty mulattoes were killed, and some taken prisoners. The loss of
the whites was carefully concealed, but is supposed to have been equally
as destructive.
The furious whites seized a mulatto chief whom they had taken prisoner,
and, to their everlasting infamy, upon him they determined to wreak
their vengeance. They placed him in a cart, driving large spike nails
through his feet into the boards on which they rested to prevent his
escape, and to show their dexterity in torture. In this miserable
condition he was conducted through the streets, and exposed to the
insults of those who mocked his sufferings. He was then liberated from
this partial crucifixion to suffer a new mode of torment. His bones
were then broken in pieces, and finally he was cast alive into the fire,
where he expired. So much for the whites.
The mulattoes, irritated to madness at the inhumanity with which one of
their leaders had been treated, only awaited an opportunity to avenge
his wrongs. Unfortunately, an opportunity soon occurred. In the
neighborhood of Jerimie, M. Sejourne and his wife were seized. The lady
was materially _enciente_. Her husband was first murdered before her
eyes. They then ripped open her body, took out the infant and _gave it
to the hogs_; after which they cut off her husband’s head and entombed
it in her bowels. “Such were the first displays of vengeance and
retaliation, and such were the scenes that closed the year 1791.”
“A law there is of ancient fame,
By nature’s self in every land implanted,
_Lex Talionis_ is its latin name;
But if an English term be wanted,
Give our next neighbor but a pat,
He’ll give you back as good and tell you--_tit for tat_!”
LETTER XII.
Republic of Hayti.
TRAGEDY OF THE REVOLUTION CONTINUED--RIGAUD SUCCEEDED BY
TOUSSAINT--TOUSSAINT DUPED BY LE CLERC.
We omit, as unnecessary to the thread of this narrative, the contentions
between the French and English, in consequence of the British invasion,
from 1792 to 1798; during which time Rigaud was succeeded by Toussaint
L’Ouverture, whose superior military genius had won for him the
appointment of Commander-in-Chief of the native forces.
But there is yet another “lesson of the hour” to be gleaned from the
history of this marvellous revolution. Treachery led to the fall of
Toussaint.
On the 1st day of July, 1801, a Declaration of Independence was made by
Toussaint, in the name of the people.
The ancient proprietors of plantations, who in the former insurrections
had been compelled to quit the island and seek an asylum in France, soon
found in this act of independence a confirmation of their former
suspicions. They saw that all their valuable possessions must be
inevitably lost, and that forever, unless government could be prevailed
on to send an armed force to crush at once a revolt which had become so
formidable as to assume independence.
The complicated interests of commerce were instantly alarmed and
awakened to action; powerful parties were formed; a horde of venal
writers started immediately into notice; a change was wrought in the
public sentiment as by the power of magic; and negro emancipation was
treated in just the same manner that negro slavery had been treated
before. Such was the fickleness of the French at that time, and such is
the inconstancy of the human mind in ours.
Bonaparte, aiming himself at uncontrolled dominion, found it necessary
to bribe all parties with gratifying promises to induce them to favor
his views, and to enable him to introduce such changes in the form of
government as he desired.
The transitory peace which had taken place in Europe produced at this
time a band of desperate adventurers, who, destitute of employment, were
ready for any enterprise that could afford them an opportunity to
distinguish themselves. Accordingly an expedition of 26,000 men was
fitted out, at the head of which was placed General le Clerc;[F] and
such was the confidence of its success, that he was accompanied by his
wife, (sister to Napoleon,) and her younger brother Jerome Bonaparte.
But it was not to the fleet and army that Napoleon trusted exclusively
for success. A number of plotting emissaries had been secretly
dispatched to tamper with the unsuspecting blacks, to sow the seeds of
discord between parties, and to shake their confidence in Toussaint.
Even Toussaint’s children had been prepared, by the deceitful caresses
of the First Consul, to assist, by their representation of his conduct
towards them, in the seduction of their father.
Le Clerc with his detachment of the French squadron, appeared off Cape
François on the 5th day of January, 1802. General Christophe, who,
during the absence of Toussaint, held the command, on perceiving the
approach of the French fleet, immediately dispatched one of his officers
to inform the commander of the squadron of Toussaint’s absence, and to
assure him he could not permit any troops to land until he had heard
from the General-in-Chief. “That in case the direction of the
expedition should persist in the disembarkation of his forces without
permission, he should consider the white inhabitants in his district as
hostages for his conduct, and, in consequence of any attack, the place
attacked would be immediately consigned to the flames.”
The inhabitants, trembling for their personal safety and the fall of the
city, sent a deputation to assure Le Clerc that what had been threatened
by Christophe would actually be realized should he persist in his
attempt to land his forces.
Le Clerc, regardless of this destiny, and intent upon the gratification
of his own ambition, proceeded to put on shore his troops, flattering
himself with being able to gain the heights of the Cape before the
blacks should have time to light up their threatened conflagration.
Christophe instantly perceived this movement, and, steady to his
purpose, ordered his soldiers to defend themselves in their respective
posts to the last extremity, and to sink if possible the ships of the
assailants; but that when their own positions were no longer tenable, to
remove whatever valuables could be preserved, reduce every thing besides
to ashes, and retire.
Le Clerc did not reach the heights of the Cape until evening, and then
only to behold the flames which Christophe had kindled, and which filled
even the French soldiers with horror. They beheld with unavailing
anguish the stately city in a blaze, the glare of which gilded the
ceiling of heaven with a dismal light. Their expectation of a booty
vanished in an instant, and the only reward which awaited them, they
plainly perceived, was a heap of ashes or a bed of fire.
It was during these scenes of devastation on the shores that Toussaint
was engaged in rendering the interior as formidable as possible; after
the accomplishing of which he returned towards the ruins of the capital
to discover if possible the real intentions of the French respecting the
island, and to learn if any amicable proposition was to be made, which
should secure to the inhabitants that freedom for which they had taken
up arms.
In this moment of suspended rapine, Le Clerc resolved to try what effect
a letter addressed personally to Toussaint by Napoleon would have upon
the black commander, who was yet unapprised of its existence, or of the
arrival of his sons from France. A courier was immediately dispatched
with the former, and with intelligence that the latter were with their
mother on his plantation, called Ennerry.
The wife and children of Toussaint, ignorant of the part they were to
play, entertained, as the author of their happiness, Coison, the
preceptor of their children, who was at that moment plotting their
destruction.
Toussaint, animated with the feelings of an affectionate parent,
hastened, on the receipt of the letter and intelligence of the arrival
of his children, to fold them in his warm embrace. He reached the
plantation the ensuing night. When his arrival was announced, the mother
shrieked, and instantly became insensible from a delirium of joy. The
children ran to meet their father, and sunk without utterance into his
open arms. When the first burst of joy was over, and the hero turned to
caress him to whom he immediately owed the delight he had experienced,
Coison began his attack. He recapitulated the letters of Bonaparte and
Le Clerc; he invited him to accede to them, and represented the
advantages resulting from his submission in such glowing colors as could
hardly fail to awaken some suspicions. He perfidiously declared that the
armament was not designed to abridge the liberty of the blacks, and
concluded with observing that, unless the proposed conditions were
immediately acceded to his orders were to return the children to the
Cape.