ACCESSIBLE ARCHIVES
Collection: African American Newspapers
Publication: THE NATIONAL ERA - also maybe revolution
Date: April 13, 1848
Title: ST. DOMINGO . THE MISREPRESENTATION
Location: Washington, D.C.
ST. DOMINGO . THE MISREPRESENTATION.
April 3d, 1848, Mr. Bayly, of Virginia, in the House of Representatives, in replying to Mr. Giddings, said: "But he would give the professed philanthropist from Ohio one instance - a horrible instance it was - where this process of universal emancipation was done at a blow, with a single dash of the pen; it was the well-known case of St. Domingo . Then the thing had been effected by the busy intermeddling of visionary fanatics, just as it was now sought to be done by the gentleman from Ohio and his associates. There was then a bank of fanatics in London, who met in the Old Jewry, and who passed resolutions very similar to the amendment which it as now sought to foist on the pending resolution. "It was then proposed to aid these negroes with men and money in a struggle for their freedom; and similar resolutions were at the same time adopted in France by an association similar to that to which the gentleman and his abolition friends belonged among us. These fanatical visionaries set the revolt of the blacks in St. Domingo in motion; their machinations succeeded in exciting a servile insurrection , in the course of which every white man and woman and child in the island was massacred, with the exception of a small remnant, who fled to the shipping in the harbor, and barely escaped with their lives. Whole hecatombs of dead bodies were piled up in the streets, amid burning, murder, and pillage. Nay, so great was the fury of the blacks, that their rage and revenge could not glut themselves with the butchery of every white person, (and they found no difficulty in drawing that line of distinction which the gentleman thought so great a mystery; it was no problem to the negroes;) but they then turned upon the mulattoes, and exterminated them. They seemed to hate very human creature that had white blood in his veins with a bitterness that had no parallel, unless in the breast of the member from Ohio." Mr. Bayley, just before making these statements, remarked, that the "House knew very well that he was not in the habit of speaking of what he had not looked into, or of making assertions without knowing on what they were founded." We shall soon demonstrate to the satisfaction of every reader, we care not what his prepossessions, that, in regard to St. Domingo , Mr. Bayly has made assertions which he cannot prove, and spoken on a subject without knowing anything about it, if we may judge by the extract above quoted. His loose declamation, we presume, was stimulated by an editorial in the National Intelligencer, which appeared on the morning of the day when the speech was made, betraying a similar misunderstanding of the subject referred to: "Les Amis des Noirs," says the Intelligencer, "having, in the old Revolution, just as they have done now, procured the passage of a decree to the same effect as that to which we have referred, the Government of their principal colony (St. Domingo ) knowing that the decree was one of desolation and death to them and theirs, made by persons who either knew not or were reckless what they were doing, hesitated to carry it into effect. Impatient of the delay, Les Noirs took the execution of it into their own hands." The assertion is here made that a decree for the immediate abolition of slavery in the French Colonies was procured by " Les Amis des Noirs," and that from this sprung the horrors of St. Domingo . It is utterly groundless, as we shall presently show. One word in regard to the " Ams des Noirs" - "fanatical visionaries," "an association similar to that to which the gentleman from Ohio and his Abolition friends belong among us," says Mr. Bayley. The leader of this Abolition association, of these "fanatical visionaries," whose "machinations succeeded in exciting a servile insurrection ," was LAFAYETTE, the friend and ally of America, whose full-length portrait, in the Hall of the House, was looking down on the man who ventured to stigmatize him as a fanatic. Lafayette, Condorcet, Brissot, and the Abbe Gregoire, were the controlling spirits of " Les Amis des Noirs." This is a matter of history, into which, we presume, the gentleman from Virginia had never looked.
PRELIMINARY.
We now ask the attention of our readers, especially the Southern portion of them, while we present a record of well authenticated facts in relation to the "horrors of St. Domingo ." We have carefully examined standard authorities upon the subject, and if Mr. Bayly or the Intelligencer choose to question our statements, there is not a member of Congress who may not verify them by consulting the several volumes treating of St. Domingo , in the Library of Congress. It is a shame that the American People should permit their minds to be abused by the inconsiderate, reckless assertions of men, either too prejudiced or too careless to examine, before they presume to assert. The population of St. Domingo in 1789 was estimated as follows:
In the French section.
Whites - - - 30,826 Free colored - - 27,548 Slaves - - - 465,429 ------Total - 523,803
In the Spanish section.
Free people of all colors 122,640 Slaves - - - 30,000 ------Total - 152,640 GRAND TOTAL - 643,000 Never was there a more heterogeneous and inflammable population. The whites were divided into three classes - the creole planters, or large proprietors, constituting the native aristocracy; the European residents, composing the officeholders, adventurers, speculators; and the petits blancs, the poorer whites, tradesmen, mechanics. Each of these classes hated the others. The aristocratic planter was jealous of the monopoly of office in the hands of the European, and regarded with profound contempt the lower order of whites; who in their turn looked up with sullen envy at the ostentatious display of the planters. These classes had but one feeling in common; and that was, a most implacable abhorrence of the mulattoes or free colored people, who, it is stated, owned one-third of the real estate and one-fourth of the personal property of the island. Notwithstanding this, they were considered as public property; compelled to do any kind of public service without compensation; degraded and insulted in every possible way, short of absolute enslavement. The slaves, or negroes, were most brutally treated in the French part of the island. This is the testimony of all who have written upon the subject. Large masses of them consisted of Africans recently imported, who still retained the heathenish superstitions and usages of their mother country. It is obvious that whatever temporary prosperity in a pecuniary sense such a colony might enjoy, it was doomed to ruinous convulsions. The state of society was unnatural, abhorrent, repugnant to every principle of humanity, morals, and, we may add, political economy. Any violent change in the mother country would be certain to array in fierce conflict elements so fearfully discordant. We shall prove, 1st. That Emancipation was not in any sense the cause of the troubles and insurrections in St. Domingo ; 2dly. That the history of that doomed colony furnishes conclusive evidence in proof of the entire safety of Immediate Emancipation, as it is called.
THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLES.
The beginning of troubles may be dated in the year 1788. December 27th of that year, the States-General of France passed a resolution to admit to that body a number of the "Tiers Etat," equal to that of the other two orders. When the news reached St. Domingo , the white colonists immediately resolved to assert their right to be represented, and commissioned eighteen delegates, six of whom, after much discussion by the States-General, were recognised. About this time the Society of Les Amis des noirs was organized. Next arose in Paris a secret association of the planters, called the Massaic Club, with branches in the colonies; instituted ostensibly to support the Revolution, but really to sustain this movement, so far as it might strengthen them against the colonial authorities who were supposed to favor the rights of the free people of color. Every blow struck for liberty in France electrified the colonies. When the fall of the Bastile was announced in St. Domingo , the colonists became wrought up with intense excitement. "Liberty and Fraternity" sounded from the lips of all classes. All were seized with the fever of imitation; and whatever France did was regarded as a pattern for her dependencies. Just at this time a rumor was started of a servile insurrection ; and a large force was marched to the locality designated as its seat, but everything there was tranquil. The rumor was groundless; still the preparations made against this imaginary horror, it is thought, suggested to the slaves possibilities never dreamed of before.
THE REAL STRUGGLE.
Meantime, in the general discussion of the subject of human rights, the mulattoes or free people of color began to take a deep interest. Many of their number were at Paris, receiving an education, and their correspondence with relatives at home, stimulated them to the demand of rights, which the French Revolutionists could with no consistency deny. October 22d, 1789, the wealthy mulattoes despatched a deputation to Paris to urge their claims to representation in the Colonial Assembly. They presented 6,000,000 livres to the Government, and pledged one-fifth of their property to aid in the liquidation of the national debt. The deputation received great encouragement. Lafayette and his associates deeply sympathized with them. The President of the National Assembly said, that no part of the nation ever reclaimed in vain its rights from the Assembly of the representatives of the French People. M. Charles de Lameth declared that, although he was one of the largest proprietors in the colony, he was in favor of the admission of the mixed races to a share in the legislative power. Encouraged by these indications, the free people of color in the colony began to press their claims on the attention of the authorities; but they were at once met by the most unrelenting opposition from all classes of the whites. Lacombe, a mulatto, was hung at Cape Francois for having merely signed a petition on the subject. M. Ferrand de Baudiere, a magistrate at Petit Goave, a venerable old man, who had drawn up a petition of a similar kind for the mulattoes, was dragged from his home, and brutally murdered. The petits blancs signalized themselves above all others by their outrages against these unfortunate people, who, thus far, had distinguished themselves for their forbearance. January, 1790, the Assembly of the colony convened, consisting of some two hundred and thirty members, who were implacabale against the mulattoes, and disposed to assume for themselves independent legislative powers. Lafayette and his friends were meanwhile urging the claims of the free people of color, and had the satisfaction of procuring the passage of a decree by the National Assembly, dated March 8th, 1790, that "every person of twenty-five years of age, the proprietor of real estate, or, in fault of that, who had been a resident of the place for two years, and paid taxes for the support of the colony, should be entitled to vote for members of the Colonial Assembly." Let it be observed, that the contest concerned not the natural rights of the slaves, whom nobody proposed to emancipate, but the political rights of the free colored people. Although the decree did not, in specific terms, extend the right of suffrage to this class, it was clearly understood that by the omission of any qualifying prefix to the word "persons," its rights were secured. The promulgation of the act kindled a flame in the colony. The whites execrated the National Assembly. The Colonial Assembly passed a resolve that it would prefer death rather than share political rights with "a degenerate and bastard race." The populace went so far as to threaten death to the French residents in the colony. This Assembly was dissolved. A new election was held; the mulattoes were excluded by force from the suffrage to which they were entitled; the same unrelenting enemies of their class were returned; and one of the first acts of the new Assembly was, to assert its right to originate all legislation, and overcome the Governor General's veto by a majority of two-thirds. This functionary, finding his prerogatives encroached upon, endeavored to strengthen himself by secretly encouraging the colored party. Ere this, however, intelligence of the disturbed state of the colonies, and of apprehended violence in Martinique, having been received by the home Government, the National Assembly passed a decree explaining away that of March 8th, so far as it conferred political rights on the free people of color, and, in effect, licensing the slave trade - an act of tergiversation which aroused the indignation of Lafayette and Les Amis des Noirs. Bitter feuds continued to prevail in the colony until the principal provinces were arrayed against each other, and open war broke out between the Governor General and the Colonial Assembly. In the struggle, the free people of color were invoked by the former, and he made such head against the Assembly that the whole body, driven to desperation, resolved to embark for France, and lay its grievances before the National Assembly. Meanwhile the mulattoes continued to be the subjects of the grossest outrages and insults, and began to lose their patience. Vincent, or James Oge, an educated mulatto, in Paris, who had for a long time been laboring for the reclamation of the rights of his class, disgusted at the explanatory decree of the National Assembly, out of heart, irritated and desperate, abandoned Paris, and on the 2d October, 1790, landed at Cape Francois, where, without much deliberation, he put himself at the head of two hundred of his friends, resolved to compel concessions. He demanded of the Governor General that the decree of March 8th be carried into effect; expressly excluding from his demand the negroes or slaves. With them he would have nothing to do. No rights but those of the mulattoes were in question. The response to this demand was a force of six hundred men sent out to punish him. These were routed. Another force, twelve hundred strong, with artillery, was more successful. Oge's band was scattered; he and his fellow-chief, Baptiste Chavanne, took refuge in the Spanish part of the island, whence they were reclaimed. They were tried secretly. The whole mulatto population was deeply excited. At last, after two months' confinement, they were sentenced; led, bareheaded, en chemise, into the public square, with ropes round their necks, and then placed upon the wheel, where, with faces upturned to heaven, and their thighs, legs, and arms broken, they died a horrible, lingering death. This took place on the 9th of March, 1791. It was never forgotten; it filled the hearts of the free colored population with undying hate. Similar efforts were made by them in the Southern and Western provinces, but they were peacefully put down by the Governor General and his adviser, Colonel Mauduit. But for this they received no credit. The planters suspected them of having made secret promises to the mulattoes, to be fulfilled at a more convenient season. September 16th, 1790, the Assembly of St. Mark's arrived at Brest, and soon made known their complaints. But the decision of the National Assembly was against them. It passed a decree extinguishing all the legislative powers of the Colonial Assembly, prohibiting its members from being elected thereafter, sustaining the Governor General; and the King was besought to issue commands for a new election, conformably to both the decrees of the 8th and the 28th of March -- decrees, by the way, clearly contradictory. The consequences of this unwise, vacillating, inconsistent legislation by the National Assembly were most ruinous. This decree was dated October 12th, 1790. Nothing could exceed the consternation of the great planters. They looked with dismay upon the elevation of the petits blancs; and both were fired with deadly animosity against the mulattoes. The authorities were overwhelmed. Col. Mauduit was horribly murdered; Blanchelande, the Governor General, was compelled to fly from Port-au-Prince, and received the Governor General with open arms; but everywhere else the wildest anarchy prevailed. "Amid all the varying animosities of party warfare," says Brown, in his History of St. Domingo , "on one subject the unanimity was perfect. This was the doggedness of creole prejudice when the question was brought up to establish the political rights of the mulattoes." Up to this moment, despite all the measures of the Home Government, these people had been excluded from their rights. The Constituent Assembly at Paris, to obviate all doubt, and settle the question, decided (May 15th, 1791) that "all people of color residing in the French colonies, and born of free parents, were entitled to the same privileges as French citizens, and, among others, to the right of voting at elections, and to seats in the Provincial and Colonial Assemblies." The violence of the colonists now overleaped all bounds. The Constituent Assembly was execrated; France was abjured; every French resident was menaced; the parties swore to resist force by force. The Governor General, in consternation, ventured to announce that he would suspend the operation of the decree until he could receive the reply to a remonstrance he had just addressed to the Minister of Marine. All this time the free people of color were quiet, carefully abstaining from violence, relying upon the energy and good faith of the home Government. An influential member of their class wrote to a friend in Paris: "The punishment of Oge has only served to make us more than ever resolved to conquer, or perish in the struggle which is to decide whether we shall enjoy the rights offered to us by the restorers of French Liberty. We have never been guilt of murdering any one, or of intending any one's death; yet our own blood has been poured out like water. We could retaliate, but we refrain. The idea that the negroes might take advantage of such hostilities to desolate this beautiful country is enough to make us renounce the thought."