7G8 The Horrors of San Domingo. [June,

THE HORRORS OF SAN DOMINGO*

[Concluding Chapter.]

T h e subject which I hoped to present It is only in the remote historical sense intelligibly in three or four articles has that Slavery provoked Insurrection. The continually threatened to step out of the first great night of horror in San Domin­ columns of a magazine and the patience go rose from circumstances that were not of its readers. The material which is at explicitly chargeable to the absence of hand for the service of the great points freedom or to the outrages of the slave­ of the story, such as the Commercial Dif­ holder. But if these things had not ficulty, the Mulatto Question, the State fuelled the lighted torches and whetted of Colonial Parties, the Effect of the the blades when grasped, it would have French Revolution, the Imbroglio of been strange an d ' monstrous indeed. Races, the Character of Toussaint l’Ou- Stranger still would it have been, if the verture, the Present Condition of Hayti, flames of that first night had not kindled and a Bibliography of the whole subject, in the nobler breasts among that un­ is now detached for perhaps a more de­ chained multitude a determination never liberate publication ; and two or three to endure plantation ferocity again. The points of immediate interest, such as the legitimate cause for rebelling then took French Cruelties, Emancipation and the the helm and guided the rest of the story Slave Insurrection, and the Negroes as into dignity. Soldiers, are grouped together for the The frequency of enfranchisement purpose of this closing article. might mislead us into expecting that the colonial system of slavery was tempered with humanity. It was rather like that PLANTATION CRUELTIES. monarchy which the wit described as be­ T h e social condition of the slaves can­ ing “ tempered by assassination.” The not be fully understood without some ref­ mulatto was by no means a proof that erence to the revolting facts connected mercy and justice regulated the planta­ with plantation management. It is well tion life. His enfranchisement reacted to know what base and ingenious cru­ cruelly upon the negro. It seemed as if elties could be tolerated by public opin­ the recognition of one domestic senti­ ion, and endured by the slaves without ment hurt the master’s feelings; the exciting continual insurrections. Won­ damage to his organization broke out der at this sustained patience of the against the lower race in anger. The blacks passes into rage and indignation connections between black and white of­ long before the student of this epoch fered no protection to the former, nor reaches the eventual outbreaks of 1791: amelioration of her lot. Indeed, the over­ it seems as if a just instinct of manhood seer, who desired always to be on good should have more promptly doomed these terms with the agent or the proprietor houses of iniquity, and handed them over of a plantation, was more severe towards to a midnight vengeance. And there re­ the unhappy object of his passion than to sults a kind of disappointment from the the other women, for fear of incurring discovery, that, when the blacks finally reproach or suspicion. When he became began to burn and slaughter, they were the owner of slaves, his emancipating not impelled by the desire of liberty or humor was no guaranty that they would the recollection of great crimes, but were receive a salutary and benignant treat­ blind agents of a complicated situation. ment. When a Frenchman undertakes to bo * See Numbers LYI., LVIII., LIX., and LXV. of this magazine. cruel, he acts with great esprit. There 1863.] The Horrors of San Domingo. 7C9 is spectacular ingenuity in the atrocities cylinder just large enough to receive his which he invents, and even his ungov­ body: potted in this way, he remained ernable bursts of rage instinctively aim till the overseer considered that he had a coup de theatre at his victim. The ne­ improved. Sometimes he was left too gro is sometimes bloodthirsty, and when long, and was found spoiled ; for this mode he is excited he will quail' at the opened of punishment soon ended a man, be­ vein; but he never saves up a man for cause he could not move a limb or change deliberate enjoyment of his sufferings. his attitude! Dungeons were construct­ When the wild orgy becomes sated, and ed with iron rings so disposed along the the cause of it has been once liquidated, wall that a man was held in a sitting there is no further danger from this dis­ posture with nothing to sit upon but a position. But a French colonist, whether sharpened stick : he was soon obliged to smiling or sombre, was always disposed to try it, and so oscillated between the two be tormenting. The ownership of slaves tortures. Other cells were furnished unmasked this tendency of a race which with cases, of the size of a man, that at home, in the streets of Paris and the could be hermetically sealed : these were court-yard of the Abbaye and La Force, for suffocation. The floors of some were proved its ferocity and simple thirst for kept submerged with a foot or two of blood. The story of the Princess Lam- w ater: the negroes who came out of them balle’s death and disfigimation show's the were frequently crippled for life by the broad Gallic fancy which the sight of dampness and cold. Bon cages, collars, blood can pique into action. But the and bon masks, clogs, fetters, and thumb­ every-day life of many plantations sur­ screws wrcrc found upon numerous plan­ passed, in minuteness and striking refine­ tations, among the ruins of the dun­ ment of tormenting, all that the sans­ geons. culotte ever dared or the savage ever The qualre piquet was a favorite style dreamed. of flogging. Each limb of the victim was Let a few cases be found sufficient stretched to the stake of a frame which to enlighten the reader upon this point. was capable of more or less distention; They are specimens from a list of horrors around the middle went an iron circle which eye-witnesses, inhabitants of the which prevented every motion. In this island, have preserved; and many of position he received his modicum of lash­ them, being found in more than one au­ es, every muscle swollen and distended, thority, French as well as colored, are till the blood dripped from the machine. to be regarded as current and unques­ After he was untied, the overseer dress­ tionable facts. ed the wounds, according to fancy, with The ordinary brutalities of slavehold­ pickled pimento, pepper, hot coals, boil­ ing were rendered more acute by this ing oil or lard, sealing-wax, or gunpow­ Creole temper. Whippings were carried der. Sometimes hot irons stanched the to the point of death, for the slave-vessel flow of blood. was always at the wharf to furnish short M. Frossard * is authority for the story lives upon long credit; starving was a of a planter who administered a hun­ common cure for obstinacy, brine and dred lashes to a negro who had broken red-pepper were liberally sprinkled upon a hoe-handle, then strewing gunpowder quivering backs. Economy w'as never a in the furrows of the flesh, amused him­ virtue of this profuse island. Li ves were self with setting the trains on fire. sauce piquante to luxury. M. de Creveeoeur put a negro who had The incarceration of slaves who had killed an inhuman overseer into an iron marooned, stolen vegetables, or refused * L a Cause des JEsclaves N'egres et des Ilabi- to work, had some features novel to the tans de la Guinee, portee au Tribunal de la Bastille and the Inquisition. A man Justice, de la Religion, de la Politique: I. 335; would be let down into a stone case or II. 66. VOL. XI. 49 770 The Horrors of San Domingo. [June, cage, so confined that the birds could After the dessert, Caradeux repaired to have free access to him. They fed daily the court, where the negro had bceu upon the unfortunate m an; his eyes were obliged to dig his own grave and to get carried off, his jaws laid bare, his arms into it, which he did with singing. The torn to pieces, clouds of insects covered earth was thrown around him till the the lacerated body and regaled upon his head only appeared. Caradeux pulls out blood. his handkerchief; the ladies run, throw Another planter, attests M. Frossard, themselves at his feet; after much feign­ after having lived several years with a ed reluctance, he exclaims, — negress, deserted her for another, and “ I pardon you at the solicitation of wished to force her to become the slave these ladies.” of her rival. Not being able to endure The negro answered, — this humiliation, she besought him to sell “ You will not be Caradeux, if you par­ her. But the irritated Frenchman, af­ don me.” ter inflicting various preparatory punish­ “ What do you say ? ” cried the mas­ ments, buried her alive, with her head ter, in a rage. above ground, which he kept wet with “ I f you do not kill me, I swear by my eau sucree till the insects had destroyed god-mother that I will kill you.” her. At this, Caradeux seized a huge stone, How piteous is the reflection that the and hurled it at his head, and the other slaves made a point of honor of preserv­ blacks hastened to put an end to his suf­ ing their backs free from scars,—so that fering. the lash inflicted a double wound at ev­ Burning the negro alive was an occa­ ery stroke! sional occurrence. Burying him alive There was a planter who kept an iron was more frequent. A favorite pastime box pierced with holes, into which the was to bury him up to his neck, and let slaves were put for trivial offences, and the boys bowl at his head. Sometimes moved towards a hot fire, till the tor­ the head was covered wi th molasses, and ment threatened to destroy life. He con­ left to the insects. Pitying‘comrades sidered this punishment preferable to were found to stone the sufferer to death. whipping, because it did not suspend the One or two instances were known of slave’s labors for so long a time. planters who rolled the bodies of slaves, “ W hat rascally sugar ! ” said Cara- raw and bloody from a whipping, among deux to his foreman ; “ the next time you the ant-hills. If a cattle-tender let a turn out the like, I will have you buried mule or ox come to harm, the animal alive ; — you know me.” The occasion was sometimes killed and the man sew­ came soon after, and the black was thrown ed up in the carcass. This was done a into a dungeon. Caradeux, says Malen- few times in cases where the mule died fant, did not really wish to lose his black, of some epizootic malady. yet wished to preserve his character for Hamstringing negroes had always been severity. lie invited a dozen ladies to practised against marooning, theft, and dinner, and during the repast informed other petty offences: an overseer seldom them that he meant to execute his fore­ failed to bring down his negro with a man, and they should see the thing done. well-aimed hatchet. Coupe-jarret -was This was not an unusual sight for ladies a phrase applied during the revolutiona­ to witness: the Roman women never ry intrigues to those who were hamper­ were more eager for the agonies of the ing a movement which appeared to ad­ Coliseum. But on this occasion they de­ vance. murred, and asked pardon for the black. Cutting off the ears was a very com­ “ Very well,” said Caradeux; “ remain at mon punishment. But M. Jouanneau, table, and when you see me take out my who lived at Grande-Riviere, nailed one handkerchief, run and solicit his life.” of his slaves to the wall by the ears, 1863.] The Horrors of Sail Domingo. 771 then released him by cutting them off watched curiously the characteristics of with a razor, and closed the entertain­ their various expedients for torture are ment with compelling him to grill and so common that they furnish us with a eat them. There was one overseer who trait of French Creolism. A poor cook, never went out without a hammer and for instance, was one day thrown into nails in his pocket, for nailing negroes an oven with a crackling heap of bagasse, by the ear to a tree or post when the because some article of food reached the humor struck him. table underdone. As the lips curled and H alf a dozen cases of flaying women shrivelled away from the teeth, his mas­ alive, inspired by jealousy, are upon rec­ ter, who was observing the effects of ord ; also some cases of throwing negroes heat, exclaimed,— “ The rascal laughs! ” into the furnaces with the bagasse or But the most symbolical action, ex­ waste of the sugar-cane. Pistol-prac­ pressive of the colony’s whole life, was tice at negroes’ heads was very common ; performed by one Corbierre, who pun­ singeing them upon cassava plates, grind­ ished his slaves by blood-letting, and gave ing them slowly through the sugar-mill, a humorous refinement to the sugar pitching them into the boiler, was an oc­ which he manufactured by using this casional pastime. blood to assist in clarifying it. If a woman was fortunate enough to Let these instances suffice. The pen lose her babe, she was often thrown into will not penetrate into the soi-rows which a cell till she chose to have another. Ma­ befell the slave concubine and mother. dame Bailly had a wooden child made, The form of woman was never so mu­ tvhich she fastened around the necks of tilated and dishonored, the decencies of her negresses, if their children died, un­ fetichism and savageism were never so til they chose to replace them. These outraged, as by these slaveholding idol­ punishments were devised to check in­ aters of the Virgin and the Mother of fanticide, which was the natural relief of God. the slave-mother. The special cruelties, together -with Venault de Charmilly, a planter of the names of the perpetrators, which distinction, afterwards the accomplished have been remembered and recorded, agent of the emigrant-interest at the would form an appalling catalogue for court of St. James, used to carry pincers the largest slaveholding community in in his pocket, to tear the ears or tongues the world. But this recorded cruelty, of his unfortunate slaves, if they did not justly representative of similar acts which hear him call, or if their replies were un­ never came to the ears of men, was com­ satisfactory. He pulled teeth with the mitted by only forty thousand whites of same instrument. This man threw his both sexes and all ages upon an area little postilion to the horses, literally tying him larger than the State of Maine. There in their stall till he was beaten by their was agony enough racking the bosoms hoofs to shreds. He was an able advocate of that half-million of slaves to sate a of slavery, and did much to poison the hemisphere of slaveholding tyrants. But English mind, and to create a party with the public opinion of the little coterie of the object of annexing San Domingo and villains was never startled. It is literal­ restoring the colonial system. ly true that not a single person was ever Cocherel, a planter of Gona'ives, had condemned to the penalties of the Code a slave who played upon the violin. Af­ Hoir for the commission of one of the ter terrible floggings, he would compel crimes above mentioned. One would this man to play, as a punishment for think that the close recurrence, in time having danced without music. He found and space, of these acts of crime would it piquant to watch the contest of pain have beaten through even this Creole and sorrow with the native love of melo­ temperament into some soft spot that dy. The cases where French planters belonged to the mother-country of God, 772 The Horrors o f San Domingo. [June, if not of France. Occasionally a tender of blood shed at other suggestions, and heart went back to Paris to record its their ears had devoured the crackling of sense of the necessity of some ameliora­ the canes and country-seats-of their mas­ tion of these colonial ferocities ; but the ters, did the guiding spirit of Liberty words of humanity were still spoken in emerge from the havoc, and respond the interest of slavery. It was for the with Toussaint to the call of French sake of economy, and to secure a natural humanity, by fighting for the Repub­ local increase of the slave population, lic and the Rights of Man. Suicide was that these vague reports of cruelty were the only insurrection that ever seemed suggested to the government. The plant­ to the slave to promise liberty; for dur­ ing interest procured the suppression of ing the space of a hundred years nothing one of the mildest and most judicious of more formidable than the two risings of the books thus written, and had the au­ Padre Jean and Makandal had thrilled thor cast into prison. When the crack the consciences of the planters. If the of the planter’s lash sounded in the pur­ latter had preserved the unity of senti­ lieus of the Tuileries itself, humanity had ment that belonged to the atrocious uni­ to wait till the Revolution had cleared ty of their interest, and had waived their out the Palace, the Church, and the pride for their safety, they might have Courts, before its clear protest could re­ proclaimed decrees of emancipation with verberate against the system of the colo­ every morning’s peal of the plantation- ny. Then Gregoire, Lameth, Condoreet, hell, and the negroes would have replied Brissot, Lafayette, and others, assailed every morning, “ Vous maitre.” the planting interest, and uttered the There is but one other folly to match the bold generalization that either the colo­ accusation that the sentiment of French nies or the crimes must be abandoned; Abolitionism excited the slaves to rise : for the restraining provisions of the Code that is, the sentiment that a slave ought Noir were too feeble for the sugar exi­ not to be excited to rise against such gency, and had long ago become obsolete. “ Horrors of San Domingo ” as we have There was no police except for slaves, no just recorded. The men who are guilty inspectors of cultivation above the agents of that sentimentality, while they snugly and the overseers. He was considered enjoy personal immunity and the dear a bon blanc, and a person of benignity, delights of home, deserve to be sold to whose slaves were seldom whipped to a Caradeux or a Legree. Let them be death. There could be neither opinion stretched upon the quatre -piquet of a nor economy to check these things, when great people in a war-humor, whose fa­ “ La cole d’Afrique est une bonne mere ” thers once rose against the enemies that was the planter’s daily consolation at the would have bled only their purses, and loss of an expensive negro. hamstrung only their material growth. Such slavery could not be improved ; In the two decades between 1840 and it might be abolished by law or drowned 1860 the American Union was seldom in blood. There is a crowd of pamphlets saved by a Northern statesman without that have come down to us shrieking with the help of San Domingo. People in cit­ the ineptitude of this period. It was ies, with a balance at the hank, stocks popular to accuse the society of the Amis floating in the market, little children go­ lies Noirs of having ruined the colony ing to primary schools, a well-filled wood­ by inspiring among the slaves a vague shed, and a house that is not fire-proof, restlessness which blossomed into a desire shudder when they hear that a great for vengeance and liberty. But it is a moral principle has devastated proper­ sad fact that neither of those great im­ ties and sent peaceful homes up in the pulses was stirring in those black fonns, smoke of arson. Certainly the Union monoliths of scars and slave-brands. Not shall he preserved; at all events, the till their eyes had grown red at the sight wood-shed must be. Nothing shall be 1863.] The Horrors o f San Domingo. 773 the midnight assassin of the country until “ The French and Spanish planters had slavery itself is ready for the job. So introduced a general system of concubi­ the Northern merchant kept his gold at nage, and the consequence was a numer­ par through dread of anti-slavery, and ous progeny of mulattoes, many of whom saved the Union just long enough to pay associated with the whites nearly on seventy-five per cent, for the luxury of terms of equality, were educated at home the “ Horrors.” Did it ever once occur to or sent to Europe to be educated, and him that his eminent Northern statesman many of them were wealthy, having been was pretending something that the South freed by their parents and their property itself knew to be false and never hypo­ left to them. These things had lowered critically urged against the anti-slavery the character of the white proprietors, men ? Southern men of intelligence gradually bringing them down to the lev­ had the best of reasons for understand­ el of the mulattoes, and lessening the dis­ ing the phenomena of San Domingo, and tance between them and the blacks ; and while the “ Friends of the Black ” were in addition to this, there were a number dripping with innocent French blood in of the white population who were poor Northern speeches, the embryo Secession­ and enervated, and rendered vicious by ists at Nashville and Savannah strengthen­ the low state of social morals and influ­ ed their convictions with the proper ren­ ence of the climate. dering of the same history. Take, as a “In this state of affairs,when the French specimen of their tranquil frame of mind, Revolution broke out, the wild spirit of the following view, which was intended liberty caught to the island and infected to correct a vague popular dread that in the mulattoes and the lower class of white all probability was inspired by Northern population, and they sought to equalize statesmen. It is from a wonderfully calm themselves with the large proprietors. and judicious speech delivered before the The foundations of society were broken Nashville Convention, a dozen years ago, up by this intermediate class, and in the by General Felix Iluston of Mississippi. course of the struggle they called in the blacks, and the two united, exceeding the “ This insurrection [of San Domingo] whites in the proportion of twelve to one, having occurred so near to us, and being expelled them from the island. Since within the recollection of many persons that time a continual struggle has been living, who heard the exaggerated ac­ going on between the mulattoes and the counts of the day, has fastened itself on negroes, the latter having numbers and the public imagination, until it has be­ brute force, and the former sustaining come a subject of frequent reference, and themselves by superior intelligence. even Southern twaddlers declaim about “ There never has been a formidable the Southern States being reduced to the slave insurrection, considered purely as condition of St. Domingo, and Abolition­ such ; and a comparison of our situation ists triumphantly point to it as a case with slavery as it has existed elsewhere where the negro race have asserted and ought to relieve the minds of the most maintained their freedom. timid from any apprehension of danger “ Properly speaking, this was not a slave from our negroes, under any circumstan­ insurrection, although it assumed that ces, in peace or war.” form after the island was thrown into a revolutionary state. This generally truthful statement, “ The island of St. Domingo, in 1791, which needs but little modification, shows contained about seven hundred and fifty that San Domingo was helping to de­ thousand inhabitants, about fifty thousand stroy the Union at the South while it was of whom were whites, more than double trying to save it at the North. The words that number of mulattoes and of mixed of the Secessionist were prophetic, and blood, and the balance were negroes. Slavery will continue to be the great un- 774 The Horrors o f San Domingo. [June, impaired war power of Southern institu­ England against the slave-trade. These tions, till some color-bearer, white or men sometimes spoke as republicans from black, in the name of law and order, their desire to act as despots; they suc­ shakes the stars of America over her in­ ceeded in getting their delegates admit­ land fields. ted to seats in the National Assembly to mix their intrigues with the current of events. Their '■'■Club Massiac” in Paris, AUGUST 22, 1701. so named from the proprietor at whose "When the French vessels, bringing residence its meetings were held, was news of the developing Revolution, touch­ composed of wealthy, adroit, and unscru­ ed the wharves of Cap Frainjais, a spark pulous men, who often showed what a seemed to leap forth into the colony, to subtle style of diplomacy a single interest run through all ranks and classes of men, will create. It must be hard for bugs of setting the Creole hearts afire, till it fell a cosmopolitan mind to circumvent the dead against the gros peau and the pean formica leo, whose sole object in lying fin * of the black man. Three colonial still at the bottom of its slippery tunnel parties vibrated with expectations that is to catch its daily meal. were radically discordant when the can­ If this great party of slave-owners had non of the people thundered against the preserved unity upon all the questions Bastille. First in rank and assumption which the Revolution excited, their de­ were the old planters and proprietors, scendants might to-day be the most troub­ two-thirds of whom were at the time lesome enemies of our blockade. But, his­ absentees in France. They were, ex­ tory will not admit an If. The unity which cepting a small minority, devoted roy­ is natural to the slaveholding American alists, but desired colonial independence was impossible in San Domingo, owing to in order to enjoy a perfect slaveholding the existence of the mulattoes and the authority. They were embittered by com­ little whites. mercial restrictions, and louged to be set A few intelligent proprietors had fore­ free from the mother-country, that San seen, many years previous to the Revolu­ Domingo might be erected into a feudal tion, that the continuance of their privi­ kingdom with a court and gradation of leges depended upon the good-will of the nobility,whose parchments, indeed, would mulattoes and the restriction of enfran­ have been black and engrossed all over chisement. The class of mixed blood was with despotism. They wanted the free­ becoming large and formidable: of mulat­ dom of the seas and all the ports of the toes and free negroes there were nearly world, not from a generous motive, nor forty thousand. They were nominally from a policy that looked beyond the sin­ free, and had all the rights of property. gle object of nourishing slavery at the A number of them were wealthy owners cheapest rates, to carry its products to of slaves. But they still bore upon their the best markets in exchange for flour, brows the shadow cast by servitude, from cloths, salted provisions, and all the ne­ which many of the mixed blood had not cessaries of a plantation. The revolution­ yet emerged. The whites of all classes ary spirit of France was hailed by them, despised these men who reminded them of because it seemed to give an opportunity the color and condition of their mothers. to establish a government without a cus­ If a mulatto struck or insulted a white tom of Paris, to check enfranchisements man, he was subjected to severe penal­ and crush out the dangerous familiarity of ties ; no offices were open to him, no the mulatto, to block with sugar-hogsheads doors of society, no career except that of the formidable movements in France and trade or agriculture. This was not well endured by a class which had inherited * Gros pcau, thick skin, was the French term equivalent to Bozal: peau fin was the the fire and vanity of their French fathers, Creole negro. with intellectual qualities that caught pas- 18G3.] The Horrors of San Domingo. 775 sion and mobility from the drops of negro also, with a view to its abolition m fifteen blood. Great numbers of them had been years.” * carefully educated in France, whither There is reason to doubt the entire they sent their own children, if they could sincerity of these representations, but they afford it, to catch the port and habits of were sufficient to convert every proprie­ free citizens. They were very proud, tor into a bitter foe of mulatto recogni­ high-strung, and restless, sombre in the tion. The deputies were soon after ad­ presence of contempt, lowering with some mitted to the bar of the National As­ expectation. Frequent attempts had been sembly, whose president told them that made by them to extend the area of their their claims were worthy of consideration. rights, but they met with nothing but ar­ They said to Clarkson that this speech of rogant repulse. The guilty problem of the president “ had roused all the white the island was not destined to be relieved colonists in Paris. Some of these had or modified by common sense. The plant­ openly insulted them. They had held also ers should have lifted this social and po­ a meeting on the subject of this speech; litical ostracism from the mulatto, who at which they had worked themselves up loved to make money and to own slaves, so as to become quite furious. Nothing and whose passion for livid mistresses was but intrigue was now going forward among as great as any Frenchman’s. They were them to put off the consideration of the the natural allies of the proprietors, and claims of the free people of color.” The should have been erected into an inter­ deputies at length left Paris in despair. mediate class, bound to the whites by in­ Ogd exclaimed, “ If we are once forced telligence and selfish interest, and drawn . to desperate measures, it will be in vain upon the mother’s side to soften the con­ that thousands will be sent across the dition of the slave. This policy was often Atlantic to bring us back to our former pressed by French writers, and discussed state.” Clarkson counselled patience ; with every essential detail; but the de­ but he found “ that there was a spirit scendants of the buccaneers were bent of dissatisfaction in them, which nothing upon playing out the island’s tragedy. but a redress of their grievances could The mulattoes were generally selfish, subdue,—and that, if the planters should and did not care to have slavery disturb­ persevere in their intrigues, and the Na­ ed. When their deputies went to Paris, tional Assembly in delay, a fire would be to offer the Republic a splendid money- lighted up in St. Domingo which could tribute of six million livres, and to plead not easily be extinguished.”— This was their cause, one of their number, Vincent the position of the Mulatto party. Oge, dined with Clarkson at Lafayette’s, The third class, of Little Whites, com­ and succeeded in convincing the great prised the mechanics and artisans of ev­ Abolitionist that he believed in emancipa­ ery description, but also included all tion. “ The slave-trade,” they said, “ was whites whose number of slaves did not the parent of all the miseries in St. Do­ exceed twenty-four. This party likewise mingo, not only on account of the cruel hailed the Revolution, because it hated treatment it occasioned to the slaves, but the pride and privileges of the great pro­ on account of the discord which it con­ prietors. But it also hated the mulat­ stantly kept up between the whites and toes so much that the obvious policy of people of color, in consequence of the hate­ making common cause with them never ful distinctions it introduced. These dis­ seemed to be suggested to it. Among tinctions could never be obliterated while the Little Whites were a goodly number it lasted. They had it in their instruc­ of debtors, who hoped by separation from tions, in case they should obtain a seat in the mother-country to cancel the burdens the Assembly, to propose an immediate incurred for slaves and plantation-neces- abolition of the slave-trade, and an imme­ * Clarkson’s History o f the Abolition o f the diate am adoration of the state of slavery Slave-Trade, Vol. II. p- 134. 776 The Horrors of San Domingo. [June,

saries ; but the majority did not favor co­ 1791, the National Assembly had passed lonial independence. Thus the name of a decree, admitting, by a precise desig­ Liberty was invoked by hostile cliques for nation, all enfranchised of all colors who selfish objects, and the whole colony trem­ were born of free parents to the right of bled with the passion of its own elements. suffrage. When this reached the island, Beneath it all lay stretched the huge En- the whites were violently agitated, and eeladus, unconscious of the power which many outrages were committed against by a single movement might have forestall- the people of color. The decree was ed eruption by ruin. But he gave no sign. formally rejected, the mulattoes again Several mulattoes had been already flew to arms, and began to put them­ hung for various acts of sympathy with selves into a condition to demand the their class, when Ogd appeared upon the rights which had been solemnly conced­ scene at the head of a handful of armed ed to them. In that decree not a word slaves and mulattoes, and attacked the is said of the slaves : the A mis des Noirs, National Guard of Cap Franqais. He and the debates of the National Assem­ was routed, after bravely fighting with bly, stretched out no hand towards that partial success, fled into the Spanish inarticulate and suffering mass. The quarter, whence he was reclaimed in the colonists themselves had been for months name of the king, and surrendered by shaking a scarlet rag, as if they delib­ the governor. Thirteen of his followers erately meant to excite the first blind were condemned to the galleys, twenty- plunge of the brute from its harness. two were hung, and Oge with his friend The mulattoes now brought their slaves Chavannes was broken upon the wheel. into headquarters at Croix-des-Bouquets, A distinction of color was made at the and armed them. The whites followed moment of their death : the scaffold upon this example, and began to drill a body which they suffered was not allowed to of slaves in Port-au-Prince. Amid this be erected upon the same spot devoted passionate preoccupation of all minds, to the execution of whites. the ordinary discipline of the planta­ Now the National Guard in all the tions was relaxed, the labor languish­ chief towns was divided into adherents ed, the negroes were ill-fed and began of the mother-country and sympathizers to escape to the mornes, the subtle earth- with colonial independence. In a bloody currents carried vague disquiet into the street-fight which took place at Port-au- most solitary quarters. Then the ne­ Prince, the latter were defeated. Then groes began to assemble at midnight to both factions sought to gain a momentary subject themselves to the frenzy of their preponderance by allying themselves with priestesses, and to conduct the serpent- the mulattoes : the latter joined the met­ orgies. But it is not likely that the ropolitan party, which in this moment extensive revolt in the Plaine du Cap of extremity still thought of color, and would have taken place, if an English served out to the volunteers yellow pom­ negro, called Buckman, had not appear­ pons, instead of the white ones which ed upon the scene, to give a direction to distinguished themselves. The mulat­ all these restless hearts, and to pour his toes instantly broke up their ranks, and own clear indignation into them. No preserved neutrality. one can satisfactorily explain where he It would be tedious to relate the dis­ came from. One writer will prove to turbances, popular executions, and fero­ you that he was an emissary of the plant­ cious acts which took place in every quar­ ing interest in Jamaica, which was will­ ter of the island. Murder was inaugu­ ing to set the fatal example of insurrec­ rated by the colonists themselves : the tion for the sake of destroying a rival provincial faction avenged their previous colony. Another pen is equally fertile defeat, and were temporarily masters with assurances that he was bought with of the colony. On the 15th of May, the gold of P itt to be a political instru- 1863.] The Horrors o f San Domingo. 777 mcnt of perfidious 'Albion. It is shown for us vengeance. Tear down the fig­ to be more probable that he was the ure of the white man’s God which brings agent of the Spanish governor, whose the tears to your eyes. Hear ! It is Lib­ object was to effect a diversion in the in­ erty ! It speaks to the hearts of us all.” terest of royalism. According to anoth­ The morning broke clear, but the tem­ er statement, he belonged to the Cudjoe pest had dropped from the skies to earth. band of Jamaica maroons, which had for­ The costly habitations, whose corner­ ced a declaration of its independence stones were dungeons, in whose courts from the governor of that island. Buck- the gay guests of the planter used to sea­ man was acquainted with Creole French, son their dessert with the punishments he and was in full sympathy with the super­ had saved up for them, were carried off stitious rites of his countrymen in San by exulting flames. The great fields of Domingo. Putting aside the conjectures cane, which pumped the earth’s sap and of the times, one thing is certain beyond the negro’s blood up for the slavehold­ a doubt, that he was born of the moment, er’s caldron, went crackling away with and sprang from the festering history the houses which they furnished. Rich which white neglect and criminality had garments, dainty upholstery, and the last spread, as naturally as the poisoned sting fashions of Paris went parading on the flutters from the swamps of summer. And negroes’ backs, and hid the marks of the he filled the night of vengeance, which floggings which earned them. The dead was accorded to him by laws that cannot women and children lay in the thickets be repealed without making the whole where they had vainly implored mercy. life of the planet one sustained expres­ There are long careers of guiltiness sion of the wrath of God. whose devilish nature becomes appar­ A furious storm raged during the night ent only when innocence suffers with it. of August 22 : the blackness was rent by Then the cry of a babe upon a negro’s the lightning that is known only to the pike is the voice of God’s judgment against hurricane-regions of the earth. The ne­ a century. groes gathered upon the Morne Rouge, Will it be credited that the whites who sacrificed a black heifer with frantic witnessed the smoking plain from the dances which the elements seemed to roofs of Cap Franqais broke into the electrify, thunder emphasized the dec­ houses of the mulattoes, and murdered laration of the priestess that the en­ all they could find, — the paralytic old trails were satisfactory, and the quarters man in his bed, the daughters in the same were thrown into a huge brazier to be room, the men in the street, — murdered burned. At that moment a bird fell and ravished during one long day ? In from the overhanging branch of a tree this crisis of the colony, suspicion and directly into the cooking spoil, and ter­ prejudice of color were stronger than rible shouts of encouragement hailed the personal alarm. Every action of the omen. Is it an old Pelasgic or a Thra­ whites was piqued by pride of color and cian forest grown maenadic over some the intoxication of caste. These vulgar forgotten vengeance of the early days ? mulatto-making pale-faces would hazard It is the unalterable human nature, mask­ their safety sooner than grasp the hand ed in the deeper colors of more fervid skies, of their own half-breeds and arm it with gathering a mighty breath into its lacer­ the weapon of unity. Color-blindness ated bosom for a rending of outrage and was at length the weakness through a lion’s leap in the dark against its foe. which violated laws revenged themselves: “ Listen 1 ” cried Buckman. “ The good the French could not perceive which God conceals himself in a cloud, He mut­ heart was black and which was white. ters in the tempest. By the whites He If Northern statesmen and glib editors commands crime, by us He commands of Tory sheets would derive a lesson from benefits. But God, who is good, ordains San Domingo for the guidance of the peo- 778 The Horrors of San Domingo. [June, pie, let them find it in the horrors wrought ity for warlike enterprises as in their oth­ by the white man’s prejudice. It is the er traits. The people of Wadai are dis­ key to the history of the island. And it tinguished for bravery above all their is by means of the black man that God neighbors. The men of Ashantee are perceives whether the Christianity of great fighters, and have such a contempt Church and State is skin-deep or not. for death that they will continue their at­ Beneath those oxidated surfaces He has tacks upon a European intrenchment in hidden metal for the tools and swords of spite of appalling losses. A band that is a republic, and into our hands lie puts overpowered will fight to the last man; the needle of the text, “ God has made for it is the custom of the kingdom to pun­ of one blood all nations,” to agitate and ish cowardice with death. They are al­ attract us to our true safety and glory. most the only negroes who will deliver The black man is the test of the white battle in the open field, in regular bodies man’s ability to be the citizen of a long- with closed ranks. In Dahomey war is lived republic. I t is as if God lighted a passion of the ruler and the people, Ilis lamp and decked Ilis altar behind and the year is divided between fighting those bronze doors, and waited for the and feasting. The king’s body-guard of incense and chant of Liberty to open five thousand unmarried women preserves them and enter Ilis choir, instead of the tradition of bravery, as European passing by. So long as America hates regiments preserve their flags. The mild and degrades the black man, so long will Mandingos become obstinate in fight; she be deprived of four millions’ worth of they have minstrels who accompany ar­ God. In so much of God a great deal mies to war, and recite the deeds of for­ of retribution must be slumbering, if the mer heroes; but they are not capable of story of San Domingo was a fact, and discipline. On the contrary, the negroes not a hideous dream. of Fernando Po march and exercise with a great regard to order. In Ashantee and upon the Gold Coast the negroes NEGRO SOLDIERS.* make use of horn signals in war to trans­ T h e native tribes of Africa differ as mit orders to a distance; and on the much in combative propensity and abil- "White Nile and in Kaffa drummers are stationed in trees to telegraph commands. * Anikropologie der Naturvolker, von Dr. Theodor Waitz. ZweittT Theil: die Neger- L. F. Sonthonax a Bourdon de V Oise. Pam­ vblker und ihre Yerwandten. Leipzig, 1300. phlet. The vindication of Sonthonax for de­ Very full, minute, and humane in tone, though claring emancipation. telling all the facts about the manners and hab­ Colonies Etr anger es et Haiti. Par Victor its of native Africans. Schoelcher. 2 Tom. Valuable, but leaning Memoires pour servir a VUistoire de la Re­ too much towards the negro against the mu­ volution de Saint Domingue. Par le Lieutenant- latto. Gdndral Baron Pamphile dc La Croix. 2 Tom. Histoire des Desasfres de Saint-Domingue. Generally very fair to the negro soldier: him­ Paris, 1795. Journalistic, with the coloring self a distinguished soldier. of the day. Le Systeme Colonial devoile. Par le Baron Campagnes des Franqais a Saint-Domingue, de Vaster, mulatto. Terrible account of the et Refutation des Reproches fails au Capitaine- plantation cruelties. General Rochambeau. Par Ph. Albert de Lat- Memoires pour servir a VUistoire d'lTayti. tre, Propri^taire, etc., 1805. Shows that Ro­ Par 1’Adjutant- General Boisrond- Tonnerre. chambeau could not help himself. Written to explain the defection of Dessalines Voyages cVun Naturaliste. 3 Tom. ParDcs- from Toussaint, and the military movements courtilz. Pro-slavery, but filled with curious of the former. The author was a mulatto. information. I)es Colonies, et particularement de celle de Expedition a St. Domingue. Par A. Metral. Saint-Domingue; Memoire Jlistorique et Poli­ Useful. tique. Par le Colonel Malenfant, Chevalier de The Empire o f ffayli. By Marcus Rainsford, la Legion d’Honneur, etc. A pretty impartial Captain in West-Indian Regiment. Occasion­ book, by a pro-slavery man. ally valuable. 1863.] The Horrors of San Domingo. 779 Great circumspection is not universal; guard and walked alone to the head of but the Veis maintain posts, and when a column of old troops of his who had de­ they are threatened, a watch is kept night serted to Desfourneaux, and were about and day. The negroes of Akkra know to deliver their fire ! “ My children, will the value of a ditched intrenchment. you lire upon your father ? ”— and down The English praise the negro soldiers went four regiments upon their knees. whom they have in Sierra Leone for The white officers tried to bring them un­ good behavior, temperance, and disci­ der the fire of cannon, but it was too late. pline ; and their Jolofs at the Gambia Here was a greater risk than Napoleon execute complicated manoeuvres in a ran, after landing at Frejus, on his march striking way. West-Indian troops have upon Paris. performed many distinguished services, Contempt for death is a universal trait and English officers say that they are as of the native African.* The slaveholder brave as Europeans ; but in the heat of says it is in consequence of his affinity a fight they are apt to grow intractable to the brute, which does not know how and to behave wildly. The troops which to estimate a danger, and whose nervous Napoleon used in Calabria, drawn from organization is too dull to be thrilled and the French Colonies, emulated the French daunted in its presence. It is really in soldiers, and arrived at great distinction. consequence of his single-mindedness: E ’Eseayrac says that the native negro the big necks lift the blood, which is two has eminent qualities for the making of a degrees warmer than a white man’s, and good soldier,—dependence upon a supe­ drench the brain with an ecstasy of dar­ rior, unquestioning confidence in his sa­ ing. If he can clearly see the probable gacity, an enthusiastic courage which manner of his death, the blood is up and mounts to great audacity, passiveness, not down at the sight.f The negro’s and capacity for -waiting. nerves are very susceptible; in cool blood From this the Congos must be except­ he is easily alarmed at anything unexpect­ ed. Large numbers of them deserted ed or threatening. His fancy is peopled General Dessalincs in San Domingo, and with odd fears ; he shrinks at the prospect fled to the mountains, frightened at the of a punishment more grotesque or refin­ daring of the French. Here, if brave, ed than usual. And when he becomes a they might have been armed and officered Creole negro, his fancy is always shooting by Spaniards to effect dangerous move­ timid glances beneath the yoke of Sla- ments in his rear. But he knew their * When the insurgents evacuated a fort near timidity, and gave himself no trouble Port-au-Pj-ince, upon the advance of the Eng­ about them. There is a genealogy which lish, a negro was left in the powder-magazine derives Toussaint from a Congo grand­ with a lighted match, to wait till the place was father, a native prince of renown; but it occupied. Here he remained all night; but was probably manufactured for him at the when the English came later than was expect­ ed, his match had burned out. Was that insen­ suggestion of his own achievements. The sibility to all ideas, or devotion to one? sullen-looking Congo is really gay, rol­ t Praloto was a distinguished Italian in the licking, disposed to idleness, careless and French artillery service. His battery of twen­ sensual, fatigued by the smallest act of ty field-pieces at Port-au-Prince held the whole reflection; Toussaint was grave, reticent, neighborhood in check, till at length a young forecasting, tenacious, secretive, full of negro named Hyacinthe roused the slaves to attack it. In the next fight, they rushed upon endurance and concentration, rapid and this battery, insensible to Its fire, embraced the brave in war* What a confident and guns and were bayoneted, still returned to noble aspect he had, when he left his them, stuffed the arms of their dead comrades into the muzzles, swarmed over them, and ex­ * The independent Congos in the interior tinguished the fire. This was done against a are more active and courageous, expert and supporting fire of French infantry. The blacks quarrelsome than those upon the coast, who lost a thousand men, but captured the cannon, have been subjected by the Portuguese. and drove the whole force into the city. 760 The Horrors o f San Domingo. [June, very. The negroes and mulattoes at San ket properly. Among the Gold-Coast Domingo looked impassively at hanging, negroes are good smiths, who have some­ breaking upon the wheel, and quarter­ times even made guns. In the West In­ ing ; but when the first guillotine was dies, the Creole negro has become a sharp­ imported and set in action, they and the shooter, very formidable on the skirts of Creole whites shrank appalled to see the woods and in the defiles of the mornes. head disappear in the basket. It was too He learned to deliver volleys with pre­ deft and sudden for their taste, and this cision, and to use the bayonet with great mode of execution %vas abandoned for the valor. The old soldiers of Le Clerc and more hearty and lacerating methods. Ttoehambeau, veterans of the Rhino and When a negro has a motive, his nerves Italy, -were never known to presume up­ grow firm, his imagination escapes before on negro incapacity to use a musket. the rising passion, his contempt for death The number of their dead and wounded is not stolidity, but inspiration. In the taught them what men who are deter­ smouldering surface lies an ember capa­ mined to be free can do with the white ble of white heat. That makes the negro man’s weapons. soldier difficult to hold in hand or to call Rainsford, who was an English cap­ off. lie has no fancy for grim sitting, tain of a West-Indian regiment, describes like the Indian, to die by inches, though a review of fifty thousand soldiers of he can endure torture with tranquillity. Toussaint on the Blaine du Cap. “ Of He is too tropical for that; and after the the grandeur of the scene I had not the exultation of a fight, in which he has smallest conception. Each general offi­ been as savage as he can be, the process cer had a demi - brigade, which went of torturing his foes seems tame, and he through the manual exercise with a de­ seldom does it, except by way of close re­ gree of expertness seldom witnessed, and prisals to prevent the practice in his ene­ performed equally well several manoeu­ my. The French -were invariably more vres applicable to their method of fight­ cruel than the negroes. ing. At a whistle a whole brigade ran Southern gentlemen think that the ne­ three or four hundred yards, then, separat­ gro is incurably afraid of fire-arms, and ing, threw themselves flat on the ground, too clumsy to use them with effect. It is changing to their backs or sides, keeping a great mistake. White men who never up a strong fire the whole of the time, touched a gun are equally clumsy and till they were recalled; they then form­ nervous. When the slavers began to fur­ ed again, in an instant, into their wont­ nish the native tribes with condemned ed regularity. This single manoeuvre was muskets in exchange for slaves, many lu­ executed with such facility and precis­ dicrous scenes occurred. The Senegam- ion as totally to prevent cavalry from bians considered that the object was to charging them in bushy and hilly coun­ get as much noise as possible out of the tries. Such complete subordination, such weapon. The people of Akkra planted promptitude and dexterity, prevailed the the stock against their hips, shut both whole time, as would have astonished any eyes and fired; they would not take aim, European soldier.” because it was their opinion that it brought These were the men whose previous certain death to see a falling enemy. Oth­ lives had been spent at the hoe-handle, er tribes thought a musket was possessed, and in feeding canes to the cylinders of and at the moment of firing threw it vio­ the sugar-mill. lently away from them. When we con­ Rainsford gives this general view of sider the quality of the weapons furnish­ the operations of Toussaint’s forces : •— ed, this action will appear laudable. But “ Though formed into regular divisions, as these superstitions disappeared, espe­ the soldiers of the one were trained to cially upon the Gold Coast and in Ashan- the duties of the other, and all under­ tee, negroes have learned to use the mus- stood the management of artillery with 1863.] The Horrors o f San Domingo. 781 tlie greatest accuracy. Their chief dex­ expectedly forced by the French, who terity, however, was in the use of the plied the blacks with suave proclama­ bayonet. With that dreadful weapon tions, deprecating the idea of a return fixed on muskets of extraordinary length to slavery. Money and promises of per­ in their iiands, neither cavalry nor artil­ sonal promotion -were also freely used. lery could subdue infantry, although of The negro is vain and very fond of pomp. unequal proportion ; but when they were This is his weakest point. The Creole attacked in their defiles, no power could negro loved to make great expenditures, overcome them. Infinitely more skilful and to imitate the lavish style of the than the Maroons of Jamaica in their slaveholders. So did many of the mu- cock-pits, though not more favored by lattoes. Toussaint’s officers were not all Nature, they found means to place whole black, and the men of color proved ac­ fines in ambush, continuing sometimes cessible to French cajolery. from one post to another, and sometimes Take a single case to show how tliis stretching from their camps in the form change of sentiment was produced with­ of a horse-shoe. With these lines artil­ out bribery. When the French expedi­ lery was not used, to prevent their being tion under Le Clerc arrived, the mulat­ burdened or the chance of loss; but the to General Maurepas commanded at surrounding heights of every camp were Port-de-Paix. He had not yet learned well fortified, according to the experience whether Toussaint intended to rely up­ and judgment of different European en­ on the proclamation of Bonaparte and to gineers, with ordnance of the best kind, deliver up the military posts. General in proper directions. The protection af­ Humbert was sent against him with a forded by these outworks encouraged tlie strong column, and demanded the sur­ blacks to every exertion of skill or cour­ render of the fort. Said Maurepas, — “ I age ; while the alertness constantly dis­ am under the orders of Toussaint, who is played embarrassed the enemy, who, fre­ my chief; I cannot del i ver the forts to you quently irritated, or worn out with fa­ without his orders. IVait till I receive his tigue, flew in disorder to the attack, or instructions ; it will be only a matter of retreated w'ith difficulty. Sometimes a four-and-twenty hours,” Humbert, who regular battle or skirmish ensued, to se­ knew that Toussaint was in full revolt, duce the enemy to a confidence in their replied, — “ I have orders to attack.” own superiority, when in a moment rein­ “ Very well. I cannot surrender with­ forcements arose from an ambush in the out an order from General Toussaint. vicinity, and turned the fortune of the If you attack me, I shall be obliged to day. If black troops in the pay of the defend myself.” ■ enemy were despatched to reconnoitre “ I also have my orders ; I am forced when an ambush was probable, and were to obey them.” discovered, not a man returned, from Maurepas retired, and took his station the hatred which their perfidy had in­ alone upon a rampart of the works. spired ; nor could an officer venture be­ Humbert’s troops, numbering four thou­ yond the lines with impunity.” sand, opened fire. Maurepas remains The temporary successes enjoyed by awhile in the storm of bullets to recon­ the French General Le Clerc, which led noitre, then coolly descends and opens to the surrender of Toussaint and his his own fire. He had but seven hundred subsequent deportation to France, were blacks and sixty whites. The French owing to the defection of several black attacked four times and were four times officers in command of important posts, repulsed, with the loss of fifteen hundred who delivered up all their troops and men. Humbert was obliged to retreat, munitions to the enemy. The whole of before the reinforcement which had been Toussaint’s first fine, protecting the Arti- despatched under General Debelle could bonite and the mountains, was thus un­ reach him. Maurepas’s orders were not 782 The Horrors o f San Domingo. [June, to attack, but to defend. So he instant­ ing departments were also thoroughly or­ ly hastened to another post, which inter­ ganized. The pay of the 22,500 men cepted the route by which General De- amounted to 7,838,400 francs; rations, belle was coming, met him, and fought 0,366,195 ; musicians, 239,112 ; uniform­ him there, repulsed him, and took seven ing, 1,887,682; officers’uniforms, 208,837. cannon. The pay of a non - commissioned officer This was not an encouraging com­ and private was 55 centimes per day. mencement for these children of the In this army there were one thousand French Revolution, who had beaten Su- mulattoes, and five or six hundred whites, warrow in Switzerland and blasted the recruited from the various artillery regi­ Mameluke cavalry with rolling fire, who ments which had been in the colony dur­ had debouched from the St. Bernard up­ ing the last ten years. Every cultivator on the plains of Piedmont in time to gath­ was a member of the great reserve of this er Austrian flags at Marengo, and who army, its spy and outpost and partisan. added the name of Ilohenlinden to the The chief interest of the campaign glory of Moreau. Humbert himself, at against Le Clerc turns upon the obstinate the head of four thousand grenadiers, defence of Crete-h-Pierrot. Here the had restored the day which preceded best qualities of black troops were mani­ the surrender of the Russians at Zu­ fested. This was a simple oblong re­ rich. doubt, thrown up by the English dur­ Le Clerc was obliged to say that the ing their brief occupation of the western First Consul never had the intention of coast, and strengthened by the negroes. restoring slavery. Humbert himself car­ The Artibonite, which is the most impor­ ried this proclamation to Maurepas, and tant river of the colony, threading its way with it gained admittance to the in- from the mountains of the interior through trenchments which he could not storm. the mornes, which are not many miles This single defection placed four thou­ from the sea, passed under this redoubt, sand admirable troops, and the harbor which was placed to command the prin­ of Port-de-Paix, in the hands of the cipal defile into the inaccessible region French, and exposed Toussaint’s flank beyond. The rich central plains, the at Gonaives ; and its moral effect was so river, and the mountains belonged to great upon the blacks as to encourage whoever held this post. The Mirbalais Le Clerc to persist in his enterprise. quarter could raise potatoes enough to In the brief period of pacification nourish sixty thousand men accustomed which preceded this attempt of Bona­ to that kind of food. parte to reconquer the island, Toussaint When Toussaint’s plan was spoiled by was mainly occupied with the organiza­ defection and defeat, he transferred im­ tion of agriculture. Ilis army then con­ mense munitions to the mountains, and sisted of only fifteen demi-brigades, num­ decided to concentrate, for the double bering in all 22,500, a guard of honor of purpose of holding the place, if possible, one thousand infantry, a regiment of and of getting the French away from cavalry, and an artillery corps. But the their supplies. I t was a simple breast­ military department was in perfect or­ work of Campeachy - wood faced with der. There was an Etat-Major, consists earth, and had a ditch fifteen feet deep. ing of a general of division with two aides- At a little distance was a small redoubt de-camp, a company of guides, one of dra­ upon an eminence which overlooked the goons, and two secretaries, — ten briga­ larger work. To the east the great scarp­ dier-generals with ten secretaries, ten ed rocks forbade an approach, and dense aides-de-camp, and an escort, — and a Spinous undergrowth filled the surround­ board of health, composed of one chief in­ ing forest. The defence of this place spector, six physicians, and six surgeons- was given to Dessalines, a most audacious general. The commissary and engineer- and able fighter. Toussaint intended to 1863.] The Horrors of San Domingo. 783 harass the investing columns from the across the ditch, and attacked both col­ north, and Charles Belair was posted to umns with drums beating the charge. the south, beyond and near the Arti- The French turned, and met just resist­ bonite. Toussaint would then be be­ ance enough to bring them again within tween the fortress and the French corps range, the same fire broke forth, and of observation which was left in the north, the columns gave way, with a loss to the — a position which he turned to brilliant first of four hundred and eighty men, and advantage. Four French columns, of two or three hundred to the latter. more than twelve thousand men, com­ Upon this retreat, the cultivators of menced, from as many different direc­ the neighborhood exchanged shots with tions, a slow and difficult movement, up­ the flanking parties, and displayed great on this work. The first column which boldness. came within sight of it found a body of It was plain to the French that this negroes drawn up, as if ready to give open redoubt would have to be invested; battle on the outside. It was the sur­ but before this was done, Dessalines had plus of one or two thousand troops which left the place with all the troops which the intrenehment would not hold. The could not be fed there, and cut his way French, expecting to rout them and en­ across a column with the loss of a hun­ ter the redoubt with them, charged with dred men. The defence was committed the bayonet; the blacks fled, and the to a quarteroon named Lamartiniere. French reached the glacis. Suddenly While the French were completing the blacks threw themselves into the the investment, the morning music of the ditch, thus exposing the French troops black band floated the old strains of the to a terrible fire, which was opened from Marseillaise within their lines. La Croix the redoubt. General Dobelle was se­ declares that it produced a painful sen­ verely wounded, and three or four hun­ sation. The soldiers looked at each oth­ dred men were stretched upon the field. er, and recalled the great marches which The advance in another quarter was carried victory to that music against the checked by a small redoubt that opened truants of Europe. “ W hat! ” they said, an unexpected fire. It was necessary to “ are our barbarous enemies in the light ? take it, and cannon had to be employed. Are we no longer the soldiers of the Re­ When the balls began to reach them, the public ? Have we .become the servile blacks danced and sang, and soon, issu­ instruments of la politique ? ” No doubt ing suddenly, with cries, u En avant! of th a t; these children of the Marseillaise Canons a nous," attempted to take the and adorers of Moreau had become de pieces with the bayonet. But the sup­ trop in the Old World, and had been porting fire was too strong, they were sent to leave their bones in the defiles thrown into disorder, and the redoubt of Pensez-y-bien.* was entered by the French. The investment of Crete-a-Pierrot was Early one morning the camp of the regularly made, by Bachelu, an engineer blacks was surprised by one of the col­ who had distinguished himself in Egypt. umns, which had surmounted all the dif­ Batteries were established before the ficulties in its way. Notwithstanding the head of each division, a single mortar previous experience, the French thought was got into position, and a battery of this time to enter, and advanced precipi­ seven pieces played upon the little re­ tately. Many blacks entered the re­ doubt above. This is getting to be vast­ doubt, the rest jumped' into the ditch, ly more troublesome than the fort of and the same terrible fire vomited forth. Bard, which held in check these very Another column advanced to support the * Think ftrice before you try me : the name of attack; but the first one was already a morne of extraordinary difficulty, which had crushed and in full retreat. The blacks to be surmounted by one of the French col­ swarmed to the parapets, threw planks umns. 784 The Horrors of San Domingo. [June, officers and men upon their x'oad to Ma­ seen coming towards the work. Down rengo. goes the drawbridge, the blacks issue to Rocliambeau thought ho had extin­ meet them, taking them for a storming guished the fire of the little redoubt, and party of the French. There is a mutual would fain storm it. The blacks had mistake, both parties of blacks deliver protected it by an abatis ten feet deep their fire, the sortie party retreats, and and three in height, in which our gallant the garrison enters the redoubt with ally of the Revolution entangled himself, them. Here they discover the mistake, and was held there till he had lost three but their rage is so great that they ex­ hundred men, and gained nothing. haust their cartridges upon each other “ Thus the Crete-h-Pierrot, in which at four paces. Descourtilz takes advan­ (and in the small redoubt) there were tage of the confusion to throw liimself hardly twelve hundred men,* had al­ into the ditch, and escapes under a vol­ ready cost us more than fifteen hundred ley. in sheer loss. So we fell back upon the The place is no longer tenable, and method which we should have tried in must be evacuated. A scout apprises the beginning, a vigorous blockade and Toussaint of the necessity, and it is ar­ a sustained cannonade.” ranged that he shall attack from the The fire was kept up night and day north, while Lamartiniere issues from the for three days without cessation. Des- redoubt. During Toussaint’s feint, the courtilz, a French naturalist, who had black garrison cut their way through the been forced to act as surgeon, was in the left of Rochambeau’s division. redoubt, and he describes the scenes of General Le Clerc cannot withhold his the interior. The enfilading fire shat­ admiration. “ The retreat which the tered the timber-work, and the bombs commandant of Crcte-a-Pierrot dared to set fire to the tents made of macaw-tree conceive and execute is a remarkable foliage, which the negroes threw flaming feat of arms. We surrounded his post into the ditch. A cannoneer sees a bomb to the number of more than twelve thou­ falls close to a sick friend of his who is sand men ; he saved himself, did not lose asleep; considering that sleep is very half his garrison, and left us only his dead needful for him, he seizes the bomb, and and wounded. We found the baggage cuts off the fuse with a knife. In a cor­ of Dessalines, a few white cannoneers, ner nods a grenadier overcome with fa­ the music of the guard of honor, a maga­ tigue ; a bomb falls at his side; he wakes zine of powder, a number of muskets, simultaneously with the explosion, to be and fifteen cannon of great calibre.” blown to sleep again. The soldiers stand Toussaint turned immediately towards and watch the bright parabola, in dead the north, raised the cultivators, attack­ silence ; then comes the cry, “ Gare a la ed the corps of observation, drove it into liomhe ! ” Hungry and thirsty men chew Cap Framjais, ravaged the plain, turned leaden balls for relief. Five hundred and defeated Hardy’s division, which at­ men have fallen. Some of the officers tempted to keep open the communica­ come for the surgeon’s opium. They tions with Le Clerc, and would have will not be taken alive. But the excite­ taken the city, if fresh reinforcements ment of the scene is so great that opium from France had not at the same time fails of its wonted effect, and they com­ arrived in the harbor. plain of the tardiness of the dose. Other After the arrest of Toussaint, Dessa­ officers make their wills with sang froid, lines reorganized the resistance of the as if expecting a tranquil administration blacks, and attacked Rochambeau in the of their estates. open field, driving him into the city, During the last night the little garri­ where Le Clerc had just died: in that son evacuates the upper redoubt, and is infected atmosphere he kept the best * Negro authorities say 750. troops of France besieged. “ Ah ! ce 1863.] The Horrors of San Domingo. 785 gaUlard,” the French called the epidem­ groom led a richly caparisoned horse to ic which came to complete the work of the quarter-general of the blacks, which the blacks. Twenty thousand men rein­ Rochambeau offered as a mark of his ad­ forced Rochambeau, but he capitulated, miration, and to replace that which he after a terrible assault which Dessalines regretted had been killed.” made with twenty-seven thousand men, The valor and fighting qualities of the • on the 28th November, 1803. blacks in San Domingo were nourished One more touch of negro soldiery must by the wars which sprang from their suffice. There was an intrenchment, own necessities. They were the native called Verdifere, occupied by the French, growths of the soil which had been long upon a hill overlooking the city. Dessa­ enriched by their innocent blood; more lines sent a negro general, Capoix, with blood must be invested in it, if they would three demi-brigades to take it. “ They own it. Learning to fight was equiva­ recoiled,” says Schoelcher, “ horribly lent to learning to live. Their cause mutilated by the fire from the intrench­ was neither represented nor championed ment. He rallied them : the grape tore by a single power on earth, and nothing them in pieces, and hurled them again to but the hope of making enormous profits the bottom of the hill. Boiling with rage, out of their despair led Anglo-American Capoix goes to seek fresh troops, mounts schooners to run English and French a fiery horse, and rushes forward for the blockades, to land arms and powder in third time; but the thousand deaths which the little coves of the island. Will the the fort delivers repulse his soldiers. He negro fight as well, if the motive and the foams with anger, exhorts them, pricks exigency are inferior ? them on, and leads them up a fourth We make a present to the Southern time. A ball kills his horse, and he rolls negro of an excellent chance for fighting, over, but, soon extricating himself, he runs with our compliments. Some of us do to the head of the troops. 1 En avanl! it with our curses. The war does not E n avant!’ he repeats, with enthusi­ spring for them out of enthusiasm and asm ; at the same instant his plumed despair which seize their hearts at once, chapeau is swept from his head by a as they view a degradation from which grape-shot, but he still throws himself they flee and a liberty to which they are forward to the assault. ‘ En avant! all hurrying. They are asked to fight En avant!’ for us as well as for themselves, and this “ Then great shouts went up along the asking is, like emancipation, a military ramparts of the city: ‘■Bravo! bravo! necessity. The motive lacks the perfect vivat! vivat ! ’ cried Rochambeau and form and incandescence, like that of a his staff, who were watching the assault. star leaping from a molten sun, which A drum-roll is heard, the fire of Ver- lighted battle-ardors in the poor slaves difere pauses, an officer issues from the of San Domingo. And we even hedge city, gallops to the very front of the sur­ about this invitation to bleed for us with prised blacks, and saluting, says, — * The conditions which are evidently dictated Captain-General Rochambeau and the by a suspicion that the motive is not great French army send their admiration to enough to make the negro depend upon the general officer who has just covered himself. If the war does not entirely himself with glory.’ This magnificent sweep away these poor beginnings and message delivered, he turned his horse, thrust white and black together into the reentered the city, and the assault is re­ arms of thrilling danger, we need not newed. Imagine if Capoix and his sol­ expect great fighting from him. He diers did new prodigies of valor. But may not disgrace himself, but he will not the besieged were also electrified, would ennoble the republic till his heart’s core not be overcome, and Dessalines sent is the war’s core, and the colors of two the order to retire. 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