Kitabı oku: «The Present State of Hayti (Saint Domingo) with Remarks on its Agriculture, Commerce, Laws, Religion, Finances, and Population», sayfa 4
At the period of this narrative to which we have now arrived, the effects of the Revolution in France had made a very sensible impression on the whites, as well as on the people of colour; and it has been a matter of no little astonishment, that during the disputes which so unhappily existed, and whilst the adherents of one party were committing acts of hostility against the other, the slave population should have remained passive observers of the contest between their respective masters, and in no instance, I believe, did they fly to their succour and support. The proprietors and planters of all denominations had arrived at a very high state of affluence, their plantations were extensive, in a high state of cultivation; thus possessing a soil rich and productive in a climate particularly favourable for cultivation, their wealth scarcely knew any limits. But unfortunately their manners and habits became relaxed and depraved in proportion as they advanced in affluence and prosperity. Proud, austere, and voluptuous, they often committed acts which humanity must condemn; and in the season of agitation and disappointment, when the contending factions at home and abroad were endeavouring to undermine them, they perhaps were led to the infliction of excessive punishments, and to practise an unusual degree of severity in exacting labour from their slaves. Sensual pleasures had also, at this time, become so prevalent as to excite very general disgust.
The mass of society had become so depraved, that vice in every shape was gloried in, whilst virtue was scarcely known; it cannot therefore be a matter of much surprise, that the rude, untaught, and unlettered slave, just emerging from his savage customs, should be led by example to imbibe the vicious habits, and indulge the loose and ungovernable propensities which characterized his master. Upon the creole slave example made an instant impression, whilst the newly imported African, slow to observe, was only led into excesses by the craft and persuasion of his creole fellow bondsman. Example, therefore, most unquestionably suggested the extraordinary cruelties which in the spirit of revenge were inflicted by these infuriated people, instigated by the mulattoes in the first instance for the more certain enforcing of their claims to the privileges which the decree of the 15th of May, 1791, conferred upon them. In all these disputes the females of the colony also bore a conspicuous part; entering into all the views and feelings of their male companions, they displayed an unparalleled degree of enthusiasm for the cause in which their husbands, fathers and brothers had respectively engaged: forgetting their sex, and lost to the softer feelings of female nature, they furiously flew to the standards of their party, and by gesture and menace shewed that they were ready to meet the fate which seemed likely to fall on their friends.
I cannot better illustrate the characters of the planters and the slave population at this period, than by the description given of them by Rainsford in his History of St. Domingo, who must have been conversant with them from having been a sojourner in the colony under circumstances of great danger, and whose experience, arising from general intercourse, must enable him to be a very competent judge. He says of them: “Flushed with opulence and dissipation, the majority of the planters in St. Domingo had arrived at a state of sentiment the most vitiated, and manners equally depraved; while injured by an example so contagious, the slaves had become more dissolute than those of any British island. If the master was proud, voluptuous, and crafty, the slave was equally vicious, and often riotous; the punishment of one was but the consequent of his own excesses, but that of the other was often cruel and unnatural. The proprietor would bear no rival in his parish, and would not bend even to the ordinances of justice. The creole slaves looked upon the newly imported Africans with scorn, and sustained in turn that of the mulattoes, whose complexion was browner, while all were kept at a distance from an intercourse with the whites; nor did the boundaries of sex, it is painful to observe, keep their wonted distinction from the stern impulses which affect men. The European ladies too often participated in the austerity and arrogance of their male kindred, while the jet black beauty among slaves, though scarcely a native of the island, refused all commerce with those who could not boast the same distinction with herself.”
CHAPTER III
First revolt of the slaves in 1791. – Their ravages. – Decree of the national assembly 4th of April 1792. – Santhonax and Polverel. – Their secret agency. – Encourage the slaves. – Their declaration of freedom to the slaves. – Consequences arising from it. – Character of the slaves. – Disabilities of the coloured people
In the preceding chapter I have sought to discover if the first cause of the revolt of the slaves in Hayti proceeded from any hatred towards their proprietors, or if it were excited by the intrigues of the contending parties, who were each attempting to gain over that class in favour of their cause; and I find that the result of my investigation of the subject is in favour of the latter supposition. From facts that appear to me undeniable I have come to the conclusion, that unless the national assembly of France had made an attempt to destroy that principle of governing the colony which had previously been adopted, and which before the Revolution had been sanctioned by every person connected with it, the slave population would have remained until this day peaceable and tranquil observers of passing events, unmindful of their being in bondage, because under that bondage they had no wants, and in that state, whatever may be the opinion of mankind, they had no care beyond that of their daily labour, to which they felt it was no hardship to submit; for there does not appear an instance in which it exceeded the ordinary work of any labourer within the tropics.
The revolt of the slaves, therefore, I take leave to say, did not proceed from any severity or great oppression on the part of their proprietors, but from the proceedings of the parties who at different periods were striving for a preponderating power in the colony: – of the whites who aimed at the preservation of their privileges, and resisted all innovation; and of the people of colour, who made every possible effort to be admitted into the same sphere, and to the enjoyment of those rights which Gregoire and his revolutionary colleagues were willing to concede to them. To these causes, and to these alone, as it will appear to every unbiassed reader, are to be attributed all those lamentable scenes which subsequently ensued, and to which the human mind cannot turn its attention without experiencing those painful sensations which are excited by the ravages of civil warfare and rebellion.
The first act of open rebellion among the slaves appears to have occurred in the vicinity of the Cape on or about the 23d of August 1791, on the plantation Noé, situated in the parish of Acul. The principal ringleaders murdered the white inhabitants, whilst the other slaves finished the work of devastation, by demolishing the works and setting fire to the dwellings, huts, and other places contiguous to them.
They were joined by the negroes from other estates in the neighbourhood, upon all of which similar tragedies were performed, and desolation seemed likely to spread through the whole plains of the north. The barbarity which marked their progress exceeded description; an indiscriminate slaughter of the whites ensued, except in instances where some of the females were reserved for a more wretched doom, being made to submit to the brutal lusts of the most sanguinary wretches that ever disgraced humanity. Cases are upon record, where the most amiable of the female sex were first brought forth to see their parents inhumanly butchered, and were afterwards compelled to submit to the embraces of the very villain who acted as their executioner. The distinction of age had no effect on these ruthless savages, for even girls of twelve and fourteen years were made the objects of satiating their lust and revenge. Nothing could exceed the consternation of the white people; and the lamentations of the unhappy women struck every one with horror. Such a scene of massacre has scarcely been heard of, as that which accompanied the commencement of the rebellion in the north.
Some opposition was made to their progress by a few militia and troops of the line, which M. De Tonzard collected for the purpose; not indeed, with the expectation of effectually dispersing them, but of enabling the inhabitants of the city of Cape François to put themselves in such a state of defence as might save them from that destruction which seemed to await them. The citizens flew to arms, and the national guards, with the seamen from the ships, were mustered, and ready to receive the rebels should they make an attempt upon the city.
There was in the city at the time, a large body of free mulattoes, on whom the lower order of whites looked with a suspicious eye, as being in some way the authors or fomenters of the revolt; these were also enrolled in the militia, the governor and the colonial assembly confiding in them, and relying on their fidelity. The report of the revolt was soon known throughout the whole colony, but more particularly in the northern districts, the white inhabitants of which, being speedily collected together, established two strong posts at Grand Rivière and at Dondon, for the purpose of checking the advance of the revolters, until such time as a force could be concentrated, sufficiently powerful to disperse them: but in this they were disappointed, for the negroes had increased their own numbers by the revolt of the slaves on many other estates, and they had also been joined by a large body of mulattoes. With this united force, they successfully attacked the two positions which were occupied by the whites, who were completely routed. Success put the rebels in possession of the extensive plain with all its surrounding mountains, abounding with every production of which they stood in need for their sustenance.
The defeat of the whites was followed by a scene of cruelties and butcheries which exceeds imagination; almost every individual who fell into the hands of the revolters met with a wretched end, tortures of the most shocking description being resorted to by these blood-thirsty savages: blacks and mulattoes seemed eager to rival each other in the extent of their enormities.
The union of the mulattoes with the revolted slaves, was not an event unlocked for; as I have before remarked, they were strongly suspected of being the instigators of the rebellion. This junction caused serious apprehensions, that those mulattoes who had joined the whites in the city, and had marched for the purpose of cooperating with the inhabitants of the plains, would desert their posts and go over to the revolters; and it is probable that such an event might have ensued, had not the governor, before he permitted them to be enrolled, and before he could implicitly confide in them, demanded from them their wives and children, as hostages for their adherence to the cause which they had engaged to support.
In this northern insurrection, the destruction of the white inhabitants, it is said, was considerable, exceeding, of all ages, two thousand; besides the demolition of the buildings of a great many plantations, and the total ruin of many families, who from a condition of ease and affluence were reduced to the lowest state of misery and despair, being driven to the melancholy necessity of supplicating charity, to relieve the heart-rending calls of their hungry and naked offspring. The loss of the insurgents was however infinitely greater; being ignorant of the effects of cannon they were consequently cut down in masses, while the sword was also effectually used. It appears that upwards of 10,000 of these sanguinary wretches fell in the field, besides a very large number who perished by famine, and by the hands of the executioner; a very just retribution for their savage and inhuman proceedings. There is every reason to believe that the loss sustained by them in all their engagements must have been immense, as they seemed to have imbibed a most extraordinary idea of the effect of artillery: it is said of them by a writer of repute, that “The blacks suffered greatly in the beginning of the revolution by their ignorance of the dreadful effects of the guns, and by a superstitious belief, very generally prevailing at that time, that by a few mysterious words, they could prevent the cannon doing them any harm, which belief induced them to face the most imminent dangers.”
Whilst these ravages were going on in the north, the western district was menaced by a body of men of colour, who had collected at Mirebalais, sanguinely expecting to be joined by a large party of slaves from the surrounding parishes. Their aim was the possession of Port au Prince and the whole plain of Cul de Sac; but being joined by only about six or seven hundred of the slaves of the neighbourhood, they did not succeed in their object; and after having set fire to the coffee plantations in the mountains, and done some injury amongst the estates in the valley, they began to deliberate on their condition, and to devise some plan, by which they might be able to rescue themselves from the dilemma into which they were thrown by their own rash and improvident proceedings. Some of the most powerful of the mulattoes, who found it impossible to gain the negroes over to their cause, deemed it advisable to propose an adjustment of their disputes, and attempt to bring about a reconciliation with the whites. One of the planters, a man of some power and address, and having been always very highly esteemed by the people of colour, as well as the negroes through the whole of the Cul de Sac, interposed, and a treaty was concluded on the 11th of September, between the people of colour on the one part, and the white inhabitants of Port au Prince on the other.
This treaty was called the Concordat: it had for its basis the oblivion of past differences and the full recognition of the decree of the national assembly of the 15th of May. The treaty was subsequently ratified by the general assembly of the colony, and a proclamation was issued, in which it was held out that further concessions were contemplated for the purpose of cementing a good understanding between both classes, and these concessions, it was supposed, alluded to the admission of those persons of colour to the privileges of the whole who were born of enslaved parents. Mulattoes also were voted to be eligible to hold commissions in the companies formed of persons of their own colour, and some other privileges of minor consideration conceded to them. This, it was hoped, would restore order, and enable the people once more to enjoy peace and repose. But a circumstance occurred which blasted these hopes, and the flame, which appears only to have been partially subdued, was rekindled, and burst forth again with an astonishing rapidity, devouring all within its overwhelming reach.
Immediately after the ratification of the Concordat by the colonial assembly had been announced, and when it was admitted by all parties that its several provisions, amongst them the decree of the 15th of May, were judicious and highly commendable, tending to preserve order and tranquillity through the island, intelligence was received of the repeal of that very decree by the national assembly in France, and of its having been voted by a very large majority. This was followed too by an intimation that the national assembly had determined on sending out commissioners to enforce the decree of the 24th of September 1791, which annulled the decree of the 15th of May, and to endeavour to restore order and subordination. Such unaccountable, and, as they may be justly characterized, deceptive proceedings on the part of the national assembly excited the indignation of the people of colour, who immediately accused the whites of being privy to these transactions, and declared that all further amity and good understanding must be broken off, and that either one party or the other must be annihilated. All the coloured people in the western and southern parts flew eagerly to the standard of revolt, and having collected a strong force, they appeared in a few days before Port au Prince, on which they made an attempt, but as that city had been strengthened by an additional force from France, it was enabled to receive the attack of the insurgents, and ultimately to repel them with no inconsiderable loss. The city however sustained considerable injury, and the revolters were successful in several attempts to set fire to it, by which a very large part of it was burnt down, or otherwise injured.
In the plains of the Cul de Sac the negroes joined the mulattoes, allured by the charm of plunder and the pledge of freedom, and the expectation of satiating their lust on the defenceless and unoffending white females who should fall into their hands. In these plains some sanguinary battles were fought, remarkable however for nothing except the unrelenting cruelties with which the prisoners of the respective combatants were visited, and the barbarous and inhuman executions which followed them.
In these engagements it is recorded that the whites had the advantage, but they were unable to follow up their success, being destitute of a force of cavalry for the pursuit, a circumstance which made it quite impossible for them to improve on any decisive movement which they had effected. It appears, that in every skirmish or engagement the whites were in all cases most forward and bold in their attacks, and few only were the instances in which the contest was commenced by the mulattoes; whenever they were brought in contact with their opponents they exhibited no individual or collective displays of courage and heroism, but, on the contrary, there seemed a tincture of cowardice in all their proceedings, for they arranged the negroes in front of their position, and in all cases of advance these deluded creatures bore the first attack of their adversaries, whilst their coloured allies, leaders, and deluders, often remained inactive during the moment of trial and slaughter.
In December the commissioners Mirbeck, Roosne, and St. Leger arrived. Their reception was respectful, and there was a peculiar degree of submission shewn to them; but when they proclaimed a general amnesty and pardon to all who should submit and desist from further acts of insubordination, and subscribe the articles of the new constitution, a general murmur was excited, and marks of disapprobation were shewn towards them, not only by the colonial assembly, but by every individual of the contending parties. They remained in the island but a short time; and as an opinion prevailed that they were the mere instruments or organ of the national assembly, they obtained no attention or respect. Without any display of talent, they aspired to the government of a people, who were not to be commanded without being first taught that their commission was of a pacific tendency, and that their instructions were to appease, and not to excite. Instead of this, they declined to give any explanation of the object of their appointment beyond that which had been previously known, the enforcing of the decree of the 24th of September 1791. Finding all their efforts unavailing, and that they were unsupported by either party, finding that their authority was disputed and their representations despised, and, above all, left without any troops by which they might attempt to enforce obedience to their power, and submission to the decrees of the mother-country, they took their departure from the island by separate conveyances, after having made many most ineffectual attempts to obtain the confidence and the good opinion of the people over whom they were sent to preside, and from whom they were sent to exact an accordance with such measures as the national assembly might think it expedient to adopt.
About this time, also, there were some changes in France which indicated further arrangements with respect to the administration of the colonies, which could only tend to widen the breach, and inflame the parties to that degree of violence which would preclude the expectation of any amicable adjustment at a future period. The society of Amis des Noirs had now gained a considerable influence in the national assembly, and there seemed to exist an union of feeling in favour of the mulattoes, and also of the slave population, whom it was designed at no distant period to emancipate, however unprepared they might be, by moral improvement, to receive such a boon. It was suggested that instructions should be sent out to the colonial assemblies, conveying to them such intentions, as well as their opinion of the means by which “slavery might be abolished in toto”, without in the least affecting the interest of the people, or in any way putting their property in jeopardy. This design, however, of the anti-slavery party in France met with some momentary opposition, although the advocates of the measure uttered loud invectives against the planters in general; but whatever influence the former might have collected and brought against the latter, it is very clear it failed in its desired aim, for in less than two months this assembly passed another decree, which abrogated that of the 24th of September. This decree is of the 4th of April 1792, and it is the first step towards an emancipation of slavery, although it does not declare such an intention. It is important, and I shall therefore insert it from a translation in another work, to the writer of which I am much indebted.
“The national assembly acknowledges and declares, that the people of colour and free negroes in the colonies ought to enjoy an equality of political rights with the whites; in consequence of which it decrees as follows: —
“Article 1st. Immediately after the publication of the present decree, the inhabitants of each of the French colonies in the windward and leeward islands shall proceed to the re-election of colonial and parochial assemblies, after the mode prescribed by the decree of the 8th of March 1790, and the instructions of the national assembly of the 28th of the same month.
“2d. The people of colour and free negroes shall be admitted to vote in all the primary and electoral assemblies, and shall be eligible to the legislature and all places of trust, provided they possess the qualifications prescribed by the fourth article of the aforesaid instructions.
“3d. Three civil commissioners shall be named for the colony of St. Domingo, and four for the islands of Martinique, Guadaloupe, St. Lucia, and Tobago, to see this decree enforced.
“4th. The said commissioners shall be authorized to dissolve the present colonial assemblies; to take every measure necessary for accelerating the convocation of the primary and electoral assemblies, and therein to establish union, order, and peace, as well as to determine provisionally (reserving the power of appeal to the national assembly) upon every question which may arise concerning the regularity of convocations, the holding of assemblies, the form of elections, and the eligibility of citizens.
“5th. They are authorized to procure every information possible, in order to discover the authors of the troubles in St. Domingo, and the continuance thereof, if they still continue; to secure the persons of the guilty, and to send them over to France, there to be put in a state of accusation, &c.
“6th. The said civil commissioners shall be directed, for this purpose, to transmit to the national assembly minutes of their proceedings, and of the evidence they may have collected concerning the persons accused as aforesaid.
“7th. The national assembly authorizes the civil commissioners to call forth the public force whenever they may think it necessary, either for their own protection, or for the execution of such orders as they may issue by virtue of the preceding articles.
“8th. The executive power is directed to send a sufficient force to the colonies, to be composed chiefly of national guards.
“9th. The colonial assemblies immediately after their formation shall signify, in the name of each colony respectively, their sentiments respecting that constitution, those laws, and the administration of them, which will best promote the prosperity and happiness of the people, conforming themselves nevertheless to those general principles by which the colonies and the mother-country are connected together, and by which their respective interests are best secured, agreeably to the decree of the 8th of March 1790 and instructions of the 28th of the same month.
“10th. The colonial assemblies are authorized to send home delegates for the purposes mentioned in the preceding article, in numbers proportionate to the population of each colony, which proportion shall be forthwith determined by the national assembly, according to the report which its colonial committee is directed to make.
“11th. Former decrees respecting the colonies shall be in force in every thing not contrary to the present decree.”
The carrying of this decree into effect was entrusted to Messrs. Santhonax, Polverel, and Ailhaud, the executive in France sending out a body comprising eight thousand men of the national guards, for the purpose of compelling the colonists to submit to their authority. Having arrived on the 13th of September, their first act was to dissolve the colonial assembly, and their next, to send the governor, Blanchelande, to France, where, after an examination into his administration, he was sentenced to death, and suffered on the guillotine in the April following. M. Desparbes, who was invested with chief command in his stead, having disagreed with the commissioners, was also suspended, and, like his predecessor, he was sent to France to undergo a similar fate.
The greatest consternation everywhere prevailed on the announcement of this decree, and, as I have before observed, a pretty general feeling existed, that this was only a prelude to a general emancipation of the slave population, and which afterwards was actually realised. The white inhabitants, in particular, suspected the candour of the commissioners, who were anxious to have it believed that the object of their mission was nothing more than to carry into operation the provisions of this decree, and to settle all those disputes between the one class and the other, which had been fomented to the great destruction of persons and property. These agents of the national assembly seem to have been well skilled in the art of dissimulation, more particularly the leader, M. Santhonax, who, whilst professing to the whites the warmest solicitude and anxiety for the preservation of peace and the promotion of the prosperity of the colony, was secretly intriguing with the mulattoes, and holding clandestine meetings with their chiefs; and in the end, in conjunction with his coadjutors, he openly declared that they, with the free negroes, should enjoy their privileges, receive the protection of the national guards, and that he would espouse their cause in every possible way in which it could be effectually promoted.
The properties of the white inhabitants, as well as their lives, seemed at this juncture in the greatest jeopardy, and they possessed no means of averting the fate which seemed to await them. Some little hope, however, was raised in their minds by the appointment of a new governor, M. Galbaud, who arrived to take the command in May 1793, and to place the island in the strongest state of defence, it being apprehended by the French government that the British might interpose in the existing disputes, as war had been declared between the two powers. His arrival was hailed by the authorities and the inhabitants of the Cape with the strongest manifestations of joy, and from his having property in the island, they had the highest confidence in his character for probity, and anticipated that the most decisive measures would be adopted for the restoration of their property, and for the security of their lives. But how vain were their anticipations, and how fleeting their hope! The national assembly of France, the great mover of all the evils which afflicted this unhappy country, again interposed with new instructions, and suspended the new governor from his command, decreeing that any one holding property in the colonies should be ineligible to fill any office of trust in the colony in which his estate was situate.
Galbaud did not, however, resign his appointment without a struggle; and aided by his brother, a man of some spirit and great enterprise, he collected a force composed of militia, seamen from the ships in the harbour of the Cape, and a strong body of volunteers, and without delay advanced against the commissioners, whom he found ready to receive him at the head of the regular troops. A conflict severe and bloody ensued, and considerable resolution was displayed by the rival parties, each supporting their cause with unshaken firmness and determined bravery; but the sailors, who composed the greatest body of Galbaud’s force, having become disorderly, he was obliged to retire, which he did without being in the least interrupted or opposed by the force of the commissioners.
The next day various skirmishes took place, in which the success was in some degree mutual; and whilst the brother of Galbaud fell into the hands of the commissioners’ troops, the son of Polverel was captured by the seamen attached to Galbaud’s force. The commissioners finding, however, that their force diminished, and that their opponents were resolute and fought with unexampled bravery, had recourse to a measure which in the sequel caused much slaughter, although it succeeded in the destruction of Galbaud’s force; they called in the aid of the revolted slaves, offering them their freedom, and promising that the city of the Cape should be given up for plunder. Some of the rebel chiefs rejected a proposition which could only produce the sacrifice of lives and the spilling of human blood, without in any way promoting their own cause, but Macaya, a negro possessing some power over his adherents, and being of a savage and brutal disposition, with an insatiable thirst for the blood of the whites, accepted the proposal of the commissioners, and with three or four thousand of his negro brethren joined their standard, when a scene of horror and of carnage ensued, the recital of which would shock the hardest and most unfeeling heart. Men, women, and children were without distinction unmercifully slaughtered by these barbarians, and those who had escaped the first rush into the city, and had reached the water-side, for the purpose of getting on board the ships in the harbour, were intercepted and their retreat cut off by these merciless wretches, just at the moment when arrangements had been accomplished for their embarkation. Here the mulattoes had an opportunity of gratifying their revenge; here they had arrived at the summit of their greatest ambition and glory; here it was that these cowardly and infamous parricides, gorged with human blood, sacrificed their own parents, and afterwards subjected their bodies to every species of insult and indignity; here it was that these disciples of Robespierre – this injured and oppressed race – the theme of Gregoire’s praise, and the subject of his appeal and harangue, shewed themselves worthy disciples of such masters! If any thing were wanted to establish the fact of these scenes being unexampled, and without a parallel, one thing, I am sure, will alone be sufficient, and that is, that the commissioners, these amiable representatives of the national assembly, the immaculate Santhonax, and the equally humane and virtuous Polverel, these vicegerents of the society of Amis des Noirs, these protectors of the mulattoes, were struck with horror at the scene which was presented to them, and repaired to the ships, there to become spectators of the effects of their own crimes, and of a splendid and opulent city devoured by the flames which had been lighted by the torch of anarchy and rebellion.
