An historical account of the Black Empire of Hayti; comprehending a view of the principal transactions in the revolution of Saint Domingo, etc

Front matter

AN historical account OF THE BLACK EMPIRE OF HAYTI. Ss .-Trr-s t-wt ■— . - . ■ ■ ■ II II ■ II II II I MH M 'iHill t i| 1/ Rauuibnt de* p J Barlow jad - -^/c* ' //////'/' /// ( s- //f''/. Jr-f/ft'// //'//// ////'// /'////■ r /f ////,/' /</ ///, /j/s/,/ / /'■ r4> /'r / C PitbUfltfii .i' tJv . 1st Jir.'ftr.JiUy i~x6e&4p Jus Cundet , jyy ion* , Paternoster Rtrw AN historical Account OF THE BLACK EMPIRE OF HAYTI: COMPREHENDING A VIEW OF THE PRINCIPAL TRANSACTIONS IN THE REVOLUTION 1.1 SAINT DOMINGO; WITH ITS ANTIENT AND MODERN STATE. BY MARCUS RAINSFORD, Esq. LATE CAPTAIN THIRD AVEST-INDIA REGIJIENT, #c. $c. " Tros, Tyriusve, mihi nullo discrimine agetur." VIRGIL. " On peut dire avec verite qu'il y a peu de traits de barbarie qui puissent leur (les noirs) etre imputes." DE CHARMII.LV. ALBION PRESS PRINTED : PUBLISHED BY JAMES CUNDEE, IVY-LANE, PATERNOSTER-ROW ; AND SOLD BY C3 CHAPPLE, PALL MALL. 180.5.

ADVERTISEMENT.

. AS all that is necessary to preface the following work will be found in the Introduction, nothing more is in tended in this place than to advertise the reader of some circumstances which could not be so well communicated under any other head. The sedentary attention so necessary to the production of a literary work, but ill comports with the character of a soldier; this, with other temporary inconveniences, and frequent migrations during their composition, will, it is feared, give occasion for apology in regard to some parts of the following sheets, where an inequality of style and occasional confusion of persons are perceptible, which must be attributed to the want of that tranquil lity, the desire of the enlightened in all ages, so neces sary to a correct view of men and things, and which polishes VI polishes, while it imparts the utmost reach of intellect.

Introduction

. IT has frequently been the fate of striking events, and particularly those which have altered the condition of mankind, to be denied that consideration by their cotemporaries, which they obtain from the veneration of posterity. In their vortex, attention is distracted by the effects ; and distant society recedes from the contemplation of objects that threaten a violation of their system, or wound a favourite preju dice. It is thus that history, with all the advantages of calm discussion, is imperfect ■, and philosophy enquires in vain for the unre corded causes of astonishing transactions. To remedy the evil in this enlightened æra, the disquisitions of the observer, and the relations of the traveller occur ; but these are pe rused with the rapidity, with which they are necessarily made, and, although they teach us what regards our own nature, impress no other sense of the period described, than as relates to the fleeting objects of immediate import — furnishing, therefore, little more (if so b much X

INTRODUCTION.

. much may always be expected) than frail documents for the judgment of the future historian. Such is precisely the case with the subject of the following pages. The rise of the Haytian empire is an event which may powerfully affect the condition of the human race ; yet it is viewed as an ordinary suc cession of triumphs and defeats, interrupted only by the horrors of new and terrible inflictions, the fury of the contending elements, and de structive disease, more tremendous than all. It will scarcely be credited in another age, that philosophers heard unmoved, of the ascertainment of a brilliant fact, hitherto unknown, or confined to the vague knowledge of those whose experience is not admitted within the pale of historical truth. It will not be believed, • that enlightened Europe calmly witnessed its contrasted brilliancy with actions which, like the opaque view of night, for a sullen hour obscured the dazzling splendour.

It is on ancient record,* that negroes were capable of repelling their enemies, with vigour, in their own country ; and a writer of modern * Leo Atiucanus says, that the negroes between Senegal and Gambia, in Africa, (the parts from whence slaves are, at present, supplied,) lived in the utmost innocence and simplicity, till the armed Moors came among, and subjected them, teaching them afterwards their religion, and the arts of life. About the fourteenth century, however, Heli Ischia, a native-negro, at the head of his countrymen, turning their own arts against them, bravely expelled their Moorish conquerors. This npgro continued in power, and acted as king, leading them to several foreign wars, and establishing them in power over a great extent of country. 6 date

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. XI date * has assured us of the talents and virtues of these people ; but it remained for the close of the eighteenth century to realize the scene, from a state of abject degeneracy : — to exhibit, a horde of negroes emancipating themselves from the vilest slavery, and at once silling the relations of society, enacting laws, and commanding armies, in the colonies of Europe. The same period has witnessed a great and polished nation, not merely returning to the barbarism of the earliest periods, but descending to the characters of assassins and executioners ; and, removing the boundaries which civilization had prescribed even to war, rendering it a wild conflict of brutes and a midnight massacre. - To attract a serious attention to circumstances, which consti tute an æra in the history of human nature and of martial affairs, is the purpose of the present disquisition ; which, it is hoped, will tend to furnish an awful, yet practical lesson, as well as to excite and gratify a laudable curiosity.

To this subject, the attention of the writer was peculiarly led, from a long acquaintance with the West-Indies, and opportunities of considerable observation of the colonies in that Archipelago. To the French colony of St. Domingo, his notice was early and par ticularly attracted; several of his military friends were afterward * Adanson, Voyage a l'Afrique, 1749-53, employed

INTRODUCTION.

. XII employed on its shores, and ultimately an accident caused a per sonal visit; the information resulting from which, on account of its subsequent effects, could not fail to be deeply impressed on his me mory. Of Hispaniola, or St. Do??ii?igo, there is no particular history, in any language, similar to those of the British colonies, so ably executed by Sir Hans Sloane and others. The earliest accounts are incorporated with the voyage of the great discoverer,, his Spanish coadjutors, and the legends of the missionaries. . Of these the description of Colum bus, and that of Peter Martyr, are the most intelligent, while the account of Las Casas is particularly interesting, and the History of Herrera acute and correct. That of Vespucci ought scarcely to be named, in retribution for his injury to Columbus.

After the establish ment of the French colony, when priests from the mother-country set tled upon the island, they furnished accounts of the establishment, and of the manners of its inhabitants, generally interesting and cor rect; the most celebrated of these are by the Fathers Du Pers, Char levoix, Du Tertre, and Labat. Neither are the accounts of the Buccaniers (the first founders of the French colony), by themselves — nor the observations of an anonymous writer in the Histoire Generale des Voiages,* without merit. From these sources, with the assistance of the able compilation of the Abbe Raynal, and occasional reference to the most polished of modern historians, Dr. Robertson, the fads with which the present work commences, are drawn * Paris, 1759. For

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. XIII For the different light in which some incidents will appear, from their authorities, as well as the opinions or sentiments which are occa sionally interspersed, the writer alone is answerable. When the circumstances which ultimately led to the independence of the island commenced, the first English work, exclusively, on St. Domingo made its appearance ;* and, though in the form of a pam phlet, contained a correct account of facts, with no other fault than an inflammatory style, easily imparted by such a subject at the period it was written. Not long after, Mr. Bryan Edwards, who had been successful in a General History of the British Colonies in the West-Indies, and who had intended to write a similar one of the French colonies, y published a quarto volume on the subject, com prising all the information he could collect.

This work, however, although it contained documents of the most authentic kind, did not increase Mr. Edwards's fame as an accurate writer; being, in point of fact, as well as topographically, incorrect; it provoked a volume of equal size in answer, from a gentleman, who, for many reasons, was well acquainted with his subject; M. de Charmilly,]; the com missioner empowered by a number of the colonists to offer a capitulation of St. Domingo to Great Britain. Though replete with errors arising from personal interest, and local prejudices, some facts are furnished * An Inquiry into the Causes of the Insurrection in St. Domingo, 1792. t Hist. Survey. Preface. I To Mr. Edwards he says, (in his " Lettre en Refutation de son Ouvrage sur St. Domingue") " You should have acknowledged, that all your information was derived from others, during a stay of a few

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. furnished by both these writers which could not be obtained by any other means. About the same time, there appeared at Paris, a work in two small volumes, in the form of Letters, under the name of the " Baron de Wimpffen ;" which, from external evidence, appear to be a collection of facts, arranged in an agreeable manner, on a subject occupying the attention of the French public, at the time. Whether it were or not a real voyage, among a variety of observations calculated to suit a temporary purpose, there are some that deserve a much better character. To these were added in France, a short time after, a work containing some authentic facts in a memoir of Toussaint, and a life of that great man, distorted for the purposes of party, by a popular writer, Du Brocas. The Remarks of Colonel Chalmers, in Eng land, succeeded ; from whose experience and local opportunities much was to be expected.* Of these, with a variety of private documents obtained from an extensive and intelligent correspondence, the writer has few weeks only, in a time of general disorder, shut up in the town of the Cape ; while the inhabitants of the colony, and even the city, were divided into different parties ; and that you could not speak the French language, or very badly."

" II fallait dire — ' Pendant un sejour de quelques seniaines seulement que j'ai demeure enferme' dans la ville du Cap, aussitdt apres la re'volte des negres en 1791, j'ai rassemble dans un tems de de"sordre et de troubles, les importans materiaux qui m'ont servi : — ' que vous aviez rien vu par vous-meme,' " &c. M. de Charmilly, at the same time, views the conquest of St. Domingo by the English as very easy— ridicules the idea of the blacks ever attaining any force, and hangs the fate of the whole of the Antilles on the prosecution of his favorite project. * It is amusing to see the confidence with which the subjugation of St. Domingo constantly in spired its advocates. Co). Chalmers, in other respects, a well-informed soldier and gentleman, is incautious enough to have the following assertion in his preface :— " The late events in St. Domingo

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. XV .has availed himself, in his third and fifth chapters, in a way, he trusts, neither injurious to their authors, nor unacceptable to the public. Two other works have arisen out of the subject more recent than the foregoing, which deserve to be mentioned : that of M. d'AR chenholtz on the Buccaniers, published in Germany ; and Mr. Dal jlas's English History of the Maroons, furnished from the materials of their superintendant, Mr. Quarrell, of Jamaica. On the former, while it furnishes illustrations of human nature, little dependence is to be placed in point of historical fact ; for it follows the Spanish accounts of the people of whom it treats, and conveys an obvious calumny on their most respectable members.* From the latter, some inferences are to be drawn, applicable to the subject of this volume, though the source, enveloped in interest, and the prejudice inseparable from a fa- Riingo have been much misunderstood, or highly exaggerated : he trusts that he has clearly proved that the temporary misfortunes sustained by France were occasioned by her impolicy, cruelty, or other causes, totally independent of the power of her black enemies, whose strength, as stated, is utterly inadequate to render them independent of that empire, or of any other much less formidable power.

If so, it is humiliating to hear senators gravely pronounce that France has lost St. Domingo," The colonel adds, from Homer,— " To few, and wonderous few, has Heaven assign'd " A wise, extensive, all-considering mind ! ! !" * Of the intrepid, generous, and intelligent Morgan (among others), M. d'Archenholtz asserts, ■ The horrors he committed are more dreadful than those of any of his colleagues. This monster filled the highest posts in the (British) state, and enjoyed with perfect security that enormous wealth which had cost the tears and blood of so many victims to his avarice, without suffering the smaller remorse to approach his hardened heart I" vourite

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. XVI vourite project, is not so pure as could be wished on such an import ant occasion. To the abstracts of these works may be added a variety of temporary productions (including the foreign and English public journals), to which proper reference has been had, with the caution necessary for consulting such an heterogeneous mass of materials. Thus, no cor rect or comprehensive account, has been given in our language, of this interesting country; even those who have enlightened the public mind on other great occasions, falling in with the general apathy, have forborne on this wonderful revolution.* To supply this omission, in a small degree, the writer, on a former occasion ,-f submitted to the public his ideas in a crude and imperfect state ; and the attention they received from some intelligent minds, afforded sufficient proof, that the public only required to be roused to entertain the considerations they suggested ; while the adoption of his humble narrative in the journals of those countries^: that * From this censure, however, must be excepted Mr. Cobbett, (the author of the Political Re gister) who has in more than this instance deserved the character he has obtained of an enlightened politician. t In the winter of 1501-2 t See " The Merchant," a respectable paper published in Rotterdam in the beginning of 1802, &c. &c. might

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. XVII might be supposed to possess the priority of information, evinces the necessity of such a communication as the present.* In it, will be found a succinct, and he trusts candid, view of the early history of the Spanish colony, in which the impolicy of cru elty, and the errors of injustice, are exposed, in preference to any national prejudice, or habit. The same ideas are continued, regarding the French establishment ; and a reference to human nature is prefer red, when considering the character of those, whose actions of terrific splendour could be tried by no other test. In regard to the height of the French colonial prosperity, he has not dilated the ac count by so minute a view of their domestic life as by some might be wished ; but, in what is necessary to give a correct idea of manners and conduct, it is hoped no deficiency will appear.

In any case where the question of slavery interferes, considering the subject on a broad basis, without regard to party, he has shewn its general inex pediency, rather than scrutinized its measures. And in tracing the revolutionary spirit to its source, he has endeavoured to point out moral delinquency without any other expression of rigidity than that which arose from the subject itself. In cotemporary history, that ha zardous, and perhaps invidious enterprize, he has rather adopted those facts, wherever such could be found, which have already received the common consent, than obtruded his own, in their place ; and where the latter are of necessity introduced, they have been scrupulously * See also " The Monthly," and other Reviews of this period. examined C

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. XVIII examined and confirmed. His own sojourn at Cape Francois and Fort Dauphin is the unaffected tale of a way-worn soldier,* experienced in the cross-roads of life, equally happy in the hospitality of an Indian cottage, or that of a magnificent empire — yet not regardless of each exclusive excellence, nor appropriating that of the one, to the other, or denying either. With regard to the transactions of the Black Re public (the appellation first given to the black government by the author), great care has been used to obtain the medium of truth be tween a variety of conflicting accounts ; and, for the better com prehending their direct intent and views, much attention has been paid to give in the translation of their public papers, their original spirit. Of one prominent subject of the present volume, it is painful to speak — yet an application to the general reader is necessary, as well as an apology to the sensibility of that sex, which the author would be much afflicted to forego — for the representations of cruelty, which will, he trusts, prevent such another violation of the human cha racter.

He is also desirous to avoid the appearance of enlarging on a subject which regards a country against whom his own is in hostilities. It must, therefore, be recollected, that it was during the peace which afforded an opportunity for the commission of crimes against human nature, of which he complains, that he first attacked the expedition against St. Domingo, and the immediate recourse to the assistance of the ferocious animals, which were surpassed by the cruelty of those, • The writer, at the time of his first publication, had been twenty-four years an officer in his Majesty's service. 5 by

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. XIX by whom they were employed. Mere description conveys not with so much force as when accompanied by graphic illustration, those horrors which are wished to be impressed upon the public mind. The existence of blood-hounds in the Spanish settlements in America, though disgraceful to the nation by which it is permitted, may yet continue, without any effect more extensive than with regard to the colonists, or their visitants ; but the practice of, and terrible reference to, the savage custom of a barbarous age (only employed exclusively against the worst criminals) in a European army, is a subject of the most alarming kind. That every public exhibition of even the forms of cruelty is pro ductive of dangerous effects on the human mind, cannot be denied, and should be avoided ; what then must be the callous insensibility produced on a soldier by circumstances such as are here delineated ?

It is reducing the heroism of war to a base contrivance of death. This cautionary memorial records the first step ; it is for the public only, by marking it with a general sentiment of detestation, to pre clude another and more dreadful, because more extensive, employment of the means. Such measures increase upon those who adopt them by insensible gradations, and once admitted, may extend even beyond their own intentions. The modern art of war is already removed to a sufficient distance from the magnanimity of ancient combat. Let not the breach be rendered wider by adoptions such as these. c PAGE 213—238 CHAP CONTENTS. CHAP. I. A SUCCINCT historical View of the Colonies of Hispaniola and St. Domingo, from the Discovery of Hayti, by Columbus, to the Height of their Prosperity in 1789 1—94 CHAP. II.

Origin of the Revolutionary Spirit of this Period in St. Domingo 95—108 CHAP. III. Account of the Progress and Accomplishment of the Independence of St. Domingo 109—212 CHAP. IV. State of Manners on the Independence of the Blacks in St. Domingo, with a Memoir of the Circumstances of the Author's Visit to the Island in CONTENTS. XXII PAGE CHAP. V. View of the Black Army, and of the War between the French Republic and the independent Blacks of St. Domingo 239—357 CHAP. VI. On the Establishment of a Black Empire, and the probable Effects of the Colonial Revolution - - - - 358—364