The French colonial question 1789-1791; dealings of the constituent assembly with problems arising from the revolution in the West Indies

Front matter

Glass.

Book ,£?.3f

THE

Preface

Under the direction of the late Professor Ralph C. H. Catterall I began to make a study of Barnave's career in the Constituent Assembly to complete the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. At the outset I was confronted with the necessity of making a rather intensive study of the early revolutionary period in order to give the biographical sketch an adequate historical setting. To compile a narrative of Barnave's daily deeds and speeches without sufficient explanation of what other men were doing and saying around him promised to be an idle undertaking. I needed to estimate Barnave's influence on the actions of the Constituent Assembly. With this task in view, therefore, I turned aside, after a few months of general investigation, to familiarize myself thoroughly with the work of the committee on colonies of which Barnave was reporter and most conspicuous member. My intention was to study afterwards other phases of Barnave's political activity in the same Intensive fashion and eventually to gather the results of my investigations into a complete biography. But that biography has now been written by another. The Life of Barnave (Oxford, 191 5, 2 vols.) by Miss E. D. Bradby has well-nigh exhausted the subject. Rather than to go gleaning after her I prefer to put together the best of my materials on the colonies and withdraw from the field.

The French colonies in the West Indies, with which this study deals, have already attracted the attention of historians. The secondary works listed in my bibliography will indicate what has been done for the period of the Constituent Assembly. For the most part, however, historians have been interested primarily in the colonies as such and have not examined with painstaking iv PRBPACB

care the records of the Constituent Assembly to discover the efforts of the national deputies at Paris to understand and redress the colonial grievances. This deficiency I have tried to supply. The failure of former writers to make this part of the story clear and accurate is my excuse for adding another book to the list.

To the friends who have helped me I hereby acknowledge my obligations. Professor Charles O. Hardy, of Ottawa University, who is making a study of the mulattoes in the West Indies, more than once placed valuable bits of information freely at my disposal. Professor Edward Raymond Turner, of the University of Michigan, read a part of my manuscript and from time to time gave me advice and encouragement. Professor Charles H. Hull, of Cornell University, read the entire manuscript and gave me a valuable suggestion which I tried to adopt. To Mr. Willard H. Austen, Librarian of Cornell University, I am especially grateful for many courtesies. He allowed me the freedom of the stacks and permitted me to collect all pertinent material in an alcove where I could work in peace and comfort. During my researches in the Archives Nationales, I was guided and assisted by Messrs. Waldo G. Leland and Abel Doysie, of the Carnegie Bureau for Historical Research. To all these friends I take pleasure in acknowledging my gratitude.

Canton, New York.

CHAPTER I. Preliminary Dealings With the Colonial Problem

"^ By 1789 the colonial empire of France had been reduced to scattered fragments. South of Newfoundland were the two small islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, inhabited by a few hundred Europeans engaged in cod-fishing. In the West Indies were Martinique, Guadeloupe, Tobago, Saint Lucia, and the French part of Santo Domingo or modern Haiti. Closely bound to this group by proximity of territory and similarity of institutions was French Guiana on the continent of South America^ Across the sea on the western coast of Africa were Senegal, Saint Louis, Goree and Juda — mere factories to facilitate trade in slaves, ivory and caoutchouc. Beyond the Cape of Good Hope were the He de France and the He de Bourbon, of no great importance commercially, serving as ports of call between France and the Far East. In India were Pondicherry, Karikal and Yanaon upon the Coromandel, and Mahe upon the Malabar coast ; <- Avhile upon the banks of the Ganges was Chandernagore 1 . Nearly all these possessions were profoundly affected by the French Revolution, but in this study only those in the West Indies will be considered.

^>The white population of these islands was divided into three general classes — the planters, the government officials, and the petits-blancs. A majority of the planters resided permanently in the colonies and exploited their wide acres of coffee and sugarcane with slave labor; but a wealthy minority lived in France

1 Statement of the Minister of Marine to the National Assembly. — Le Point du Jour (By Barere, started on June 19, 1870), no. 238. pp. 367- 370.

as absentee landlords and not infrequently contracted marriage alliances with impoverished noble families. The fact that one hundred fifty colonial proprietors sat in the Constituent Assembly as national deputies 2 may be cited as evidence of the number and political influence in the mother country of these colonial nabobs. The government officials were an arrant lot of "arbitrary soldiers, supercilious bureaucrats, and pedantic lawyers" 3 sent out from Europe to bear sway over the King's dominions beyond the sea. Contemptuous and disdainful of all things provincial, they formed a caste apart. The petits-blancs, or "mean whites", were small traders, adventurers and nondescripts in the cities, and slave overseers and mechanics in the country — all men of shady character and noted for their brutality, their lawlessness and their hatred of the colored race. 4

Likewise the colored population was divided into three classes — the mulattoes, the free blacks and the slaves. The mulattoes numbered about forty thousand against about eighty-three thousand whites^ and in some cases they had considerable wealth 6

3 Journal des' Ewts-generaux (By 'Lehodey de Saultchevreuil, started on June i, 1789), XXXII., 159.

3 Stoddard, T. Lothrop. The French Revolution in San Domingo (Boston and New York, 1914), 68.

* Raymond, Observations sur I'Origine et les Progres du Prejuge des Colons blancs contre les Hommes de Couleur; * * * (Paris, 1791), 11. Raimond, J., Memoire sur les Causes des Troubles et des Desastres de la Colonie de Saint-Domingue, * * * -(Paris, 1793), 8. Brissot, J. P., Discours sur la Necessite de maintenir le Decret rendu le 15 Mai 1791 (s. I. 11. d.). Cf. Stoddard, op. cit., 24-26.

B Gregoire, Lettre aux Philantropes, * * (Reprinted in Courier de Provence, XI, 11 5^135), 117. 'Cf. (Deschamps, Leon, Les Colonies pendant la Revolution (Paris, 1898), 296.

8 It was asserted that the mulattoes owned one-third the soil and one-fourth the slaves in Santo Domingo. Journal des Etats-gcncraux, XXV., 496. Raimond, Julien Veritable Origine des Troubles de S.-Domingue, et des Differentes Causes qui les Produits (Paris, 1792), 3-4. Raymond was a mulatto, educated and wealthy, resident in France since 1784.

and education ; but they were treated by the whites as social inferiors. They were not allowed to wear fine clothes, to ride in carriages, to sit beside the whites in church or at meals, and, though they served in the ranks of the militia and bore other burdens of citizenship, they were forbidden to hold any office, trust or employment. 7 "A mulatto could not be a priest, nor a lawyer, nor a physician, nor a surgeon, nor an apothecary, nor a schoolmaster." 8 Between the mulattoes and themselves the whites had fixed a great gulf, and they were determined that there should be no crossing. 9 Naturally the mulattoes were discontented with their status and, as early as 1784, they were appealing to the Minister of Marine to redress their grievances. 10

The free blacks were poor, ignorant outcasts, despised alike by whites and mulattoes. Their number was small, and they never played an independent role. 11 The African slaves were,

7 Gregoire, Memoire en Favour des Gens de Couleur on Sang-meles de St.-Domingue, & des autrcs Isles francaises de I'Ameriquc, adressc a V Assemble e nationale (Paris, 1789). 5-9. Statement of Goupil-Prefelne in Gazette nationale, on le Moniteur universel (Original edition, started on November 24, 1789, in folio. Commonly called simply the Moniteur), 14 mai 1791, p. 553.

'Edwards, Bryan. An Historical Survey of the French Colony in the Island of St. Domingo: * * * (In The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British West Indies, III. Fifth edition, London, 1819), ir.

9 Specific laws and ordinances which restricted the privileges of the mulattoes are quoted in Supplique et Petition des Citoyens dc Couleur des Isles & Colonics francaises, sur la Motion faite le 27 Novembre 1789, par M. de Curt, *** Du 2 DScembre 1789 (s. I. u. d.) Cahier, contenant les Plaint es, Dolcanccs & Reclamations des Citoyens-Ubres & proprictaircs de Couleur, des Isles & Colonies francaises. * * * Scptcmbre 1789 (s. I. n. d.) Stoddard (op. cit.) devotes an entire chapter to the mulattoes in Santo Domingo.

10 Raimond, Veritable Origine, 4; Lettre an Citoyen D * * *, (Paris, I793)> 7', Response aux Considerations de M. Morcau, * * * (Paris, I79 l ), U- Journal des litnts-t/cucraux, XXV. 493-494.

"Raymond says (Observations, 13) that there were only about fifteen hundred free blacks in Santo Domingo, and the number in the other colonies must have been even smaller. As regards their independent role, one may read in the Moniteur of November 29, 1789 (p. 22), a curious letter

J"

of course, mere chattels; but outnumbering, as they did, the free population of the islands some five or six times, 12 their pres- ' \ r ence caused at times great trepidation in the breasts of their mas-'- ters, who stood in constant fear of servile insurrection.

The military defense of the colonies devolved upon the mother country, but as a compensation for carrying this burden the mother country was disposed to monopolize the colonial commerce. This imperial control, or exterior regime as it was technically called, was a great source of annoyance to the planters, and because of their protests the royal government had seen fit to relax from time to time the stringency of the navigation laws. Thus by 1789 there were several ports of entry in the French West Indies to which foreign vessels might resort and, under government supervision, sell to the colonists certain specified commodities which the French markets could not readily furnish, and receive in exchange certain other commodities for which the French markets had little demand. But on the necessities of life, such as flour and clothes, the monopoly remained complete. Consequently, in times of dearth, the colonists suffered serious inconvenience from the inability of the French merchants to furnish, with expedition, a sufficient quantity of food-stuff. 13

signed by Les Negres Libres, Colons Americains, in which the argument is advanced that the pure negro is superior to the mulatto just as pure gold is superior to alloy. But this letter looks like the handiwork of a white colonist who sought to ridicule the efforts being made at the time by the mulattoes to secure political and social equality. The free blacks are made to say that they repose with confidence upon the wisdom and good offices o<f their patrons and protectors, the white colonists, and to express the hope that the projects of the mulattoes might fail. Further than this letter, which looks like a fabrication, I have found no evidence that the free blacks ever sought to act as a separate class.

"Deschamps, op. cit., 296.

13 L,a Luzerne, Memoire Bnvoye le 18 Juin 1790, au Comite des Rapports de I'Assemblee nationale (Paris, 1790), 81. Report of Baron d'Elbhecq, reprinted in Archives parlementaires, XI 761. Precis de la Seance de

The local government, or interior regime, of each colony was administered by a civil and military bureaucracy at the head of which stood the Governor and the Intendant. Both these high officials were appointed by the King and in theory were responsible to him for their stewardship ; but once in the colony their authority was limited in practice only by the check which one might exercise over the other. Both had a great amount of patronage at their disposal, and both were accused by the planters of tyranny, of peculation, and of winking at the iniquities of their proteges. 14

As a result of these conditions in the French West Indies, there was much discontent on the part of the inhabitants. The mulattoes deprecated the invidious social distinctions and demanded the abolition of "the aristocracy of color." The planters "groaned under the yoke of ministerial despotism" and demanded a controlling hand in the local administration of the colony and a voice in the administration of the exterior regime. The slaves were too ignorant perhaps to be conscious of grievances, but their cause had champions across the sea^ In February, 1788, there was formed at Paris the Socictc des Amis des Noirs, the avowed purpose of which was to secure the abolition of the

I'Assemblee nationale, Vendredi 28 Aout, Sept Heures du Soir (Published

by Baudouin, Versailles, 1789). Journal des Debuts et des Dicrets (Published by Baudouin, started on August 29, 1789), no. 2, pp. 1-2; no. 4. PP- 3-4; no. 10, pp. 1-4.

"Edwards, op. cit., 4. Gouy d'Arsy, Premiere Denoneiafion solemnelle d'un Ministre faite a I'Assemblee nationale, * * * (Paris, 1790). U. 49, 66-74, 77-78. 82-83, iio-iii, 124-125, 129. Confession generate faite an Public par I'Autewr du Mot a YOreille (Perhaps by Gouy d'Arsy. s.l.n.d.). 5, 7. Page, Discours historique sur la Cause & les Dcsasires de la Partie francaise de Saint-Domingue, * * * (Paris, s.d.), 2-3. Garran, J. Ph., Rapport sur les Troubles de Saint-Domingue, * * * (Paris, An \'l >. I, 31-32. De Pons, Observations sur la Situation politique de Saint-Domingue (Paris, 1790), 2-6. Cf. Stoddard, op. cit., 10-14.

slave trade and the gradual emancipation of the slaves. 15 The membership of this society does not seem to have been large, but many philanthropists who were not actually members heartily sympathized with its purpose, and the propaganda which it carried on served to deepen the discontent of the planters. How to secure home rule, therefore, and thus guarantee the existence of slavery, and how to bring about a further modification of the navigation laws was the problem which confronted the planter aristocracy.

If succeeding events had been other than they were, the solution of this problem might have been deferred indefinitely ; but in November, 1787, the King decided to revive the moribund Estates General, and some of the more captious planters undertook to seize this opportunity and seek redress for their grievances. They reasoned that if the planters could obtain a representation in the Estates General, they should thereby be raised to the dignity of French citizens and should no longer be victims of commercial oppression. Moreover, they might bring to the foot of the throne a petition for self-government, to which their benevolent sovereign would not turn a deaf ear. So, for this reason, it was determined to drag the colonies into the Revolution.

The movement started at Cap Francais, in the Northern Province of Santo Domingo, where the wealthiest planters lived

15 Les noirs ne sont pas encore murs pour la liberte; il faut les y preparer: telle est la doctrine de cette societe. Le Patriote frangais (By Brissot de Warville, started on July 28, 1789), no. 24, p. 4. Cf. Ibid., no. 19, pp. 4-5 ; no. 199, p. 4; no. 208, p. 5. Discours sur la Necessite, d'ctablir d Paris une Societe pour concourir, avec celle de Londres, a V Abolition de la Trait e & de VEsclavage des Negres. Prononce le 19 Fevrier 1788, dans une Societe de quelques Amis rassembles a Paris, a la Priere du Comite de Londres (s. I. n. d.). Raymond, Reponse aux Considerations, 3. The purpose of the society is clearly expressed in an address to the National Assembly reprinted in Archives parlementaires, XI 273-274.

and where, to the great annoyance of the planters, the Conscil Superiiur, a sort of colonial parlement, had just been suppressed by the arbitrary authority of the royal Administrators. 10 Here, in April, 1788, a petition to the King was secretly circulated and signed by four thousand colonists. On May 31, copies of it were forwarded to Marquis de Paroy and Comte de Reynaud, two well known proprietors resident in France. 17 This communication stimulated Reynaud to call together, July 15, eighty colonial proprietors in Paris and ask for advice. The assembly expressed itself in favor of a colonial representation in the Estates General and appointed nine proprietors, whose titles, wealth and social standing might have weight with public opinion, to take charge of the campaign. 18 These nine commissioners, 10 as they were called, met for the first time on August 5 and elected Gouy d'Arsy, one of their number, a blustering, ambitious nobleman, to act as Secretary-Reporter. 20 "Within a few weeks," to quote here the words of Stoddard, "a number of pamphlets appeared, mostly from the clever pen of Gouy d'Arcy ; wires were indus-

16 Opinion de M. le Marquis de Gouy d'Arsy. *** sur le Retablissement du Conseil-superieur du Cap, * * * (s.l., 1790). Clausson, Precis historiqite de la Resolution de Saint-Domingue (Paris, 1819), 25.

'"Precis sur la Position actucllc de la Deputation de Saint-Domingue. aux Etats-generaux (Versailles, 1789), 7- Extrait des Pieces justificative* d I'Appui de la Denonciation faite a I'Asscmblce nationale du Comte de la Luzerne. * * * (s. I. n. d.), 7. 17. Gouy d'Arsy, Premiere Denonciation, 35-36; Opinion, 10. Lettre du Comite Colonial de France, au Comite colonial de Saint-Dominguc ; * * * (Paris, 1788), 6, 92.

18 Lettre du Comite colonial de France, 8-11, 13-17- Gouy d'Arsy. Premiere Denonciation, 36.

"The nine commissioners were Due de Choiseul-Praslin. Marquis de Gouy d'Arsy, Due de Cereste-Brancas, Comte de Reynaud. De Peyrae, Comte de Magallon, Marquis de Paroy, Chevalier Douge, and Marquis de Perrigny. After two months, Due de Cereste-Brancas was replaced by Comte de Vaudreuil. Lettre du Comite colonial de Prance, 13.

triously pulled at Versailles ; and on September 4 a deputation styling themselves the 'Commissioners of San Domingo' appeared before the Minister of Marine, La Luzerne, and presented their petition" 21 now endorsed by a "volume" of signatures. 22 The Minister received his callers politely, read their petition aloud and commented on its phraseology, and promised to lay it before the King; but he steadfastly declined to recognize the bearers of it as commissioners of Santo Domingo because there was nothing to guarantee that the signatures were genuine. 23 A few days later, on the advice of the King, he drew up a memorial for the Conseil d'Btat, in which he reasoned as follows : There are about twenty-five thousand adult citizens resident in Santo Domingo. Supposing the four thousand signatures to be genuine, which can not be proved, they represent less than one-sixth the population of the colony. The other five-sixths were either opposed or indifferent or not consulted. If the petition had passed through the hands of the Governor and the Intendant, spurious signatures could have been detected. The devious and irregular way which the petition has travelled from the colony to the King indicates that it can not bear the full light of day. Can we then, the Minister asks, consider the credentials of the so-called commissioners of Santo Domingo as valid? Are we to allow this colony to have deputies in the approaching Estates General? The Conseil dfHtat answered both questions in the negative, and then the King, in justice to the colony, forbade the Minister of Marine to correspond with the nine so-called commissioners of Santo Domingo or to have other dealings with them that might seem to imply a recognition of their preten-

21 Stoddard, op. cit., 70.

22 Lettre du Comite colonial de France, 44-45.

23 Ibid. La Luzerne, Memoire, 5-6. Gouy d'Arsy, Premiere Denonciation, 37.

PRBUMINARY DEALINGS 9

sions. 24 Two days later, September 13, two of the commissioners waited on the Minister and received intelligence that a decision in their case had been reached by the King in council. "But what was decided, M. le Comte?" "That, Gentlemen," he answered, "you may never know ; the King has forbidden me to tell you ; it is a secret of state." 25 Full of surprise, anger, and contempt, the commissioners resolved to pass the word to the planters at Cap Franqais and advise that the agitation be carried on in the colony. In a long letter to these constituents, dated September 15, they call attention to the "critical position of he Ministry, the systematic indecision of the Court," and to what a little audacity had already been able to accomplish in Bretagne, Dauphine, Provence and Beam. They advised the planters to act secretly and promptly so as to circumvent the royal Administrators. 26 Thus was the campaign transferred from France to Santo Domingo.

When this letter reached Santo Domingo, events began to move rapidly. The Chamber of Agriculture, a small organization composed of planters, took the initiative and addressed a memorial to the Administration, November 7, in which it demanded that the colony be allowed to send deputies to the Estates General. 27 The Administration, taken unawares and wanting instructions from Versailles, 28 sought to temporize by reply-

24 La Luzerne, Memoire, 5-11.

M Gouy d'Arsy, Premiere Dcnonciation, 38. Lettre du Comite colonial de France, 103-104.

x Lettre du Comite colonial de France, no, 112. This letter, frequently cited above, contains 135 printed pages in 8°.

"Lettre bien Importance de la Chambre d' Agriculture de Saint-Domingue, adressh aux Membres du Comite" colonial Scant a Paris ( Paris, 1/88), 5, 15-16.

28 Memoire et Observations du Sicur Darbe-Marbois, Intcndant des Islcs-sous-lc-l'ent * * * (Paris, 1790), 10. Pieces justificative* des Faits cnonces dans le Memoire de M. le Comte de La Lucerne. * * * * (Paris, 1790), 8.

ing. November 16. that nothing could be done about the matter until the will of the colony could be ascertained. Straightway the Chamber demanded that the colony be given an opportunity to express its will and. without further delay, the Chamber issued a plan for the convocation of popular assemblies to elect deputies to the Estates General.- 9 And then the Governor bestirred himself and issued an ordinance in which he condemned the action of the Chamber of Agriculture, forbade the meeting of popular assemblies and threatened to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law whosoever dared disobey ; but he authorized the colonists to vote for or against representation in the Estates General by means of letters, each signed by no more than five persons, addressed to the Administration. 30 But this ordinance was almost completely ignored. In defiance of the Governor's commands, a few of the planters — it is impossible to say how many — met in secret assemblies and elected thirty-one deputies to the Estates General. 31 Whether these deputies would be admitted was another question.

After the Estates General had been in session for more than a month, eight individuals calling themselves deputies from Santo Domingo appeared at Versailles and, on June 8, made overtures for admission. 3 - The Clergy- and the Nobility gave them a cold

"Lettre bien Importante, 5-6, io-ii, 15-16.

" Pieces justificatives, 6. Ertrait des Pieces justificatives, 25-26. Gouy i'Ar-v, Premiere Detwnciation, 42-44.

^Opinion de M. de Cockerel. * * * (In the Moniteur, December 1, :" ; : p. .30). Journal des Etats-generaux, I 349, 332. Gouy d'Arsy. Premiere Detwnciation. 45. The names of the deputies elected in the Northern Province of Santo Domingo are given in Que ceux qui out une Ante lisent ceci (Cap Francais, 1789), 7-8. For the entire list see Brette, Les Constiiuants (Paris, 1897). 187-189.

= The names of these so-called deputies were Comte de Reynaud. Comte de Magallon, Marquis de Perrigny, Marquis de Gouy d'Arsy, Chevalier Douge, Marquis de Rouvray, Chevalier Cocherel, and Bodkin-

PRELIMINARY DEALINGS U

reception, but the Third Estate, hard pressed in the struggle with the privileged orders, admitted them provisionally "with testimonies of affection." 33 Nevertheless, it was generally known that their election was irregular, the King not having asked the colonies to send deputies, and for a time it looked as though nothing more would be done about the matter. But on June 13, at the end of the general roll call, Gouy d'Arsy expressed surprise at not having heard the Secretary- call the names of the deputies for Santo Domingo, and thereupon the "Dean", after having consulted the assembly, asked the colonists to bring forward their credentials. With this request they readily complied, saying graciously that they wished to sit among the "Commons" without distinction of birth. 3 *

The question of their definitive admission was now ready for decision and, on June 14, in the name of the twentieth bureau, Redon made a report on their credentials. And the report was unfavorable. Redon pointed out that the King had not asked the colonists to send deputies and that, moreover, the credentials under consideration were not conclusive proof that Santo Domingo desired deputies. But as this report was apparently regarded as only preliminary, the assembly took no action at the time and the colonists continued to sit provisionally as deputies without the right to vote. 35 At length, on June 19, a committee

Fitz-Gerald. It will be observed that the first five names here mentioned were on the list of the nine commissioners of Santo Domingo (See ante, p.

The other three men had come directly from the colony.

33 Journal inedit de Jallet, * * * (Published by J. J. Brethe: Fontenay-le-Comte, 1871), 81-82. Recit des Stances des Deputes des Communes depuis le 5 Mai 1789 jusqu'au 12 Juin suizvnt (Reimpression par F. A. Aulard, Paris, 1895), 97. Journal d'Adrien Duquesnoy, * * * * (Published by Robert Crevecceur; Paris, 1894), I 80, 91.

M I- j/ de I'Assemblee nationaU (Started on June 12. IJ

le 12 juin 1789 jusqu'au 17 juin, p. 39. Journal de Duquesnoy. I 91.

** Proees-zerbal (June 12-17. Kfo), 7$- on credentials was appointed and charged especially with the task of reporting on the credentials of the deputies for Santo Domingo. That evening the committee held a meeting and Gouy d'Arsy and three of his colleagues appeared before it. In reply to the objections raised by Redon, Gouy d'Arsy declared that the elections in Santo Domingo had been conducted almost exactly as had been the elections in France, and argued that the colony should not be deprived of representatives simply because the King had neglected to ask it to send deputies. Santo Domingo, said he, has wealth and importance. Reason demands that the colony have a representation. "You know what it cost England to decide this question with arms in her hands instead of deciding it in accordance with the invariable laws of reason and natural equity." 36 This florid argument seems to have had weight, for, on June 20, when the colonists, amid the enthusiasm of that great day, asked permission as deputies to sign the tennis court oath and thus cast their lot with the Third Estate in that hour of danger, the President of the National Assembly announced that the committee on credentials had unanimously decided to recommend the provisional admission of twelve deputies for Santo Domingo with the right to vote. The recommendation was adopted by acclamation and the colonial deputies affixed their signatures to the oath. 37 This was a decision pregnant with consequences, for it was a virtual admission that the colonies had the right to be represented in the Parliament of the nation. No European country had ever before been so generous. But the colonial deputies, though they were grateful, were not minded to admit that generosity was all on one

36 Point du Jour, no. 3, p. 18. Barere, editor of this journal, was a member of the committee on credentials and noted down what Gouy d'Arsy said. Cf. Proces-verbal, no. 2, pp. 2-5. Journal de Duquesnoy, I no.

37 Proces-verbal, no. 3, p. 7. Journal des Etats-generaux, I 169.

side. "Santo Domingo," said Gouy d'Arsy, "was still in her swaddling- clothes when she gave herself to Louis XIV ; now that she is great and powerful she gives herself to the nation." s

The question of their definitive admission came up again for discussion on June 27. The reporter of the committee on credentials, as if he had learned his arguments from the colonists themselves, emphasized the extent, the wealth, the population, and the commercial importance of Santo Domingo, and declared it the unanimous opinion of the committee that the colony should have deputies. As had already been foreshadowed, this recommendation was adopted unanimously by the National Assembly. 39 The point about irregular elections was passed over in complete silence, and the flood-gates of debate opened upon the question whether Santo Domingo should have twelve or twenty deputies. In determining the number, the inquiry was made: Should slaves be counted as part of the population? Several deputies took occasion to speak of the evils of slavery and to commend warmly the efforts being made by the Socictc des Amis des Noirs. A motion to take into consideration the eventual emancipation of the slaves was even made and applauded, but the discussion was suddenly interrupted and postponed by the appearance of several members of the Clergy and the Nobility who came in to take seats in the National Assembly. 40 The enthusiasm and the feeling of good fellowship which greeted the arrival of the newcomers extricated the colonists from a very embarrassing predicament.

When consideration of the question was resumed on July 3 Mirabeau, who, though probably not an Ami des Noirs, sym-

™ Journal de Duquesnoy, I. 114-115.

39 Procts-verbal, no. 9, pp. 5-6.

40 Point du Jour, no. 10, pp. 61-65. Journal des Etats-generaux. I 259- 262. Journal de Jallet, 107.