REMINISCENCES

INSURRECTION IN ST. DOMINGO.

BY

SAMUEL G. PERKINS.
:

REMINISCENCES

INSURRECTION IN ST. DOMINGO.

BY

SAMUEL G. PERKINS.

[Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Massachusetts

Historical Society, 1886.]

CAMBRIDGE
JOHN WILSON AND SON.
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1886.
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REMINISCENCES
OF THE

TNSUREECTION IN ST. DOMINGO.

Mr. Charles C. Perkins communicated to the Mas-

sachusetts Historical Society a manuscript \vhich he
had annotated, containing a narrative of the events
which happened during the insurrection in St. Domingo,
from January, 1785, to December, 1794, written by his

great-uncle Samuel G. Perkins, Esq., of whom he gave

the following biographical sketch :
—
Samuel G. Perkins, third son of James and Elizabeth Per-
kins, was born in Boston, May 24, 1767. At the age of four-
teen, his father being dead, and his mother having a large
family to educate and support, he was sent to sea, as was the
fashion in those days, to make his own way in the world.
After many trying experiences of which no record is pre-
served, as the account which he wrote of them was burned in

the great Boston fire of 1871, together with the original manu-
script of the Sketches and other papers belonging to his son

Stephen, he went to St. Domingo in 1785, and assisted in car-

rying on the business of the house of Perkins, Burling, & Co.,
which, after his elder brother James's return to Boston in 1793,
devolved upon Mr. Burling and himself. The " Sketches,"

now first printed from a copy made by his great-niece Miss

Sarah Paine Perkins in 1837,^ give an interesting account of
the writer's residence at the Cape, and bear abundant witness
to his courage, resolution, and strength of character. In the
account of his homeward voyage, after the destruction of Cape
Francais, — here printed after the Sketches, — Mr. Perkins
says that one of his reasons for embarking " on the slow and
heavily laden brig William for Boston " was his engagement
to be married. "
The attractive power which lay East," as he
quaintly puts it, was Miss Barbara C. Higginson, to whom he
was united on the 19th of March, 1795. Later he became a
partner in the house of Higginson & Co., and after he retired
from business was the president of an insurance company.
During the winter he lived in High Street, Boston, and in the

summer at Brookline, where about 1803 he bought several acres

of land from Mr. George Cabot, and built the house recently
occupied by the late eminent architect Mr. H. H. Richardson.
Here he made his reputation as a successful pomologist and
horticulturalist, and spent many happy years in cultivating his

garden, whose espalier pear-trees were famed for their delicious

fruit. In importing them from France Mr. Perkins under-
went many difficulties which he was fond of recounting. The
first importation was lost at sea ; and the second, which arrived
off the port of Boston during the British embargo, was seized
and destroyed. The third reached him safely, and became
the first espalier trees grown in New England, if not in the
United States. After the death of their owner they were sold
at large prices, and transported to the gardens of Dr. J. C.
Warren and other neighbors. In the latter part of his life Mr.
Perkins lost his eyesight ; but his knowledge of pear texture
was so accurate that he would instantly recognize any species
of pear by the touch, and as he picked a Bon Chretien, a
Duchesse, or a Seckel, would give it its correctname without
hesitation.
1 This copy was presented to the Library of the Historical Society by Mr.
Stephen Perkins. N. B. The notes within quotation marks are the author's the ;

others are the editor's.

;

He died on his birthday, May 24, 1847, at the age of eighty.

Knowing it to be his birthday, he frequently asked during the

day, " Is it still the 24th ? " and having repeated the question
for the last time shortly before midnight he peacefully expired,
leaving behind him the goodly record of a well-spent life,

whose years of trial and adversity, no less than those of

prosperity and happiness, had proved his strength of character,
intelligence, and never-failing kindliness of heart.

Boston, December, 1835.

To Franklin Dexter, Esq.
—
Dear Sir, Agreeably to your request I have committed to paper
a rough sketch of the events of the insurrection and subsequent emanci-
pation of the slaves of St. Domingo, with an account of the destruction
of Cape Fran9ais and the massacre of its inhabitants, to which I have
added some account of the state of the planters, and of society generally
prior to that period.
I have introduced some private anecdotes which, although strictly

conformable to fact, may not jDOSsess much interest to those who were
not actors in the scenes described but as they are in some measure
;

connected with the general events of the revolt, and form a part of the
general machinery of the revolution, I have mentioned them as coming
within the reminiscences of those days. As these papers have been
written from time to time, when I could find leisure to attend to them,
and as they now appear in the undressed and simple garb in which they
were first attired, they are defective in many respects. Such as they
are, however, I send them to you as a true representation of the facts
that came within my knowledge.
Very truly and respectfully your humble servant,
.

S. G. Perkins.

Sketches of St. Domingo from January, 1785, to December, ildijivritien

by a Resident Merchant at the Request of a Friend, December, 1835.

CHAPTER I.

At the time I arrived in St. Domingo in January, 1785, and for four
or five years subsequent, the flourishing state of trade and the pros-
perity of its inhabitants were without a pai-allel perhaps in the world
for here there were no poor, I may say, either white or black, for —
even among the latter those who were slaves were taken care of, fed and
clothed, and well sheltered by their masters, and those that were free
were able to get a living without excessive labor. If they were too old.
to work or otherwise incapacitated, they were provided for by their
friends and relations. This was shown by the fact that there were no
beggars in the streets and no poor houses in the cities and I do not ;

recollect that I ever saw a free negro or mulatto above the age of ten
years that was not decently and comfortably clad, until after the revolu-
tion or insurrection of the blacks. As respected the whites, the only
poor were the unfortunate gamblers and they were not in a state of
;

suffering, for when penniless they had free quarters at the gambling-
houses, where they could get plenty of good food and good wine to
carry them through the day. Indeed it may truly be said that every-
thing and everybody bore the marks of comfort and prosperity there ;

were no taxes on the inhabitants of any sort, and every one w^as free to
seek his bread in his own way.
The harbors of Port au Prince and Cape Fran^ais, which were the
two j^riucipal ports of entry, were always filled with ships either loading
or unloading their cargoes, and the sound of the negroes' labor song
while at the tackle-fall was always cheering and pleasant. These ports
were on the north and west, and Aux Cayes, the other port of entry,
was on the south side of the island. The town or city of Cape Fran-
(jais contained about thirty thousand inhabitants —
white, colored, and
black — of which three quarters were slaves. ^ This town was the
capital of tbe Northern Department, with a governor appointed by the
mother country. One regiment of French troops of the line of in-
fantry and one of artillery, besides a well-armed and well-organized
body of national guards or militia, made up of the white inhabitants
and a few mulattoes, composed the military force of the north. The
seat of government was Port au Prince " on the west, where the
governor-general and intendant-general resided here also was a mili-
;

1 Bryan Edwards (Historical Survey of St. Domingo, p. 159) says that there
were 8,000 free inhabitants of all colors, exclusive of the king's troops and sea-
faring people, and 12,000 domestic slaves. He describes Cape Fran^ais as a well-
built town, containing between eight and nine hundred houses of stone and brick,
besides shops and warehouses two fine squares with fountains, a church, gov-
;

ernment house, barrack for troops, a royal arsenal or prison, a play-house, and
two hospitals. The town owed its prosperity to the excellence of its harbor, and
the extreme fertility of the plain adjoining it to the east. This plain, fifty miles
long and twelve broad, was exclusively devoted to the cultivation of sugar-canes.
" It yielded greater returns than perhaps any other spot of the same extent in
the habitable globe."
2 Port au Prince, the metropolis of the colony, contained in 1790 about 2,754

whites, 4,000 mulattoes, and 8,000 slaves. In the plain to the east, called Cul de
Sac, which was from thirty to forty miles in length by nine in breadth, there were
one hundred and fifty sugar plantations. (Historical Survey of St. Domingo,
p. 162.)
tary force of the same nature as that at the Cape. The mulattoes,
formed into separate regiments, commanded by white officers, were in
general very fine troops handsome, tall, straight, and beautiful men.
;

But as the country was in a perfect state of peace from one end of the
French settlement to the other, the services of these troops were never
called for, except at processions and public reviews, until after the
news of the French revolution reached St. Domingo. The spirit of
the revolution which was going on in France had, however, gained
ground in the colonies, and insubordination among the troops of the
line had been manifested at an early period at Port au Prince, where
the colonel of the regiment —
a Mr. Mauduit,^ I think —
was mtirdered
on the parade by his troops. Until that period the most perfect harmony,
good feeling, and social intercourse existed among the inhabitants, and
the most pei'fect good-will and mutual confidence was evident between
the whites and their slaves. The only notorious and open violation of
the law was the practice of duelling, which was not only an every-day
sport among the young and dissipated, who were satisfied by a scratch
or slight wound on either side, but the combatants, having shown their
prowess in the morning, supped together in the evening in closer
friendship than ever.
The events of the latter part of the year 1789 and the year 1790
were confined to the disorderly conduct of some of the militia, the
revolt of the free mulattoes under the famous Oge,^ and their final
dispersion, with the capture and execution of their leaders, a detailed
account of which will appear in the course of these Sketches.
But it may be proper to explain the origin and leading causes of this
spirit of revolt, as it has been little known in this country and little
attended to in France, where it originated, and whence it was trans-
planted to the colonies by the revolutionary assemblies of that country
through the agency of the free educated mulattoes who were in France
at the commencement of the revolution. These men, sons of planters
of fortune, had received the best instruction that France could afford,
and were daily witnesses of the violent and injudicious measures
adopted by the National Assembly. They knew and felt that although
born free men, protected in "their property and in the enjoyment of per-
sonal security, they possessed no political rights whatever, and were

1 M. le Chevalier de Mauduit came to St. Domingo in 1790, and sided with

the
mulattoes against the Government. His deatli is thus described in the appendix
to Bryan Edwards' Historical Survey, p. 254 :
" Urged by his troops to ask par-
don of the national guard on his knees, and persistently refusing to do so, he
was knocked down by a sabre cut in the face. His head was then cut off and
carried on the end of a bayonet, while his body was dragged through the streets
to his house by the soldiers and sailors, who gutted it completely and destroyed
its contents."
- See note 2, p. 14.
denied even the privilege of defending themselves against the whites
unless their lives were endangered. They could, to be sure, prosecute
and recover damages for injuries received but if any one of them re-
;

turned blow for blow, he knew that he would be condemned to have his
right hand cut off by the common executioner.^ I never heard of but
one instance during my residence of this law being carried into effect.
Such disabilities were of course a galling and never-ceasing canker in
the minds of the free colored people and when they heard it declared
;

by the leaders of the French people that all men are born free and
equal, their active minds soon matured a plan by which they expected
to comgel the whites in the colonies to acknowledge their political
rights as well as their birthright to freedom. Oge was then in France,
and being a man of talent and consideration among them he was de-
spatched, via, the United States, to St. Domingo, for the purpose of
accomplishing this desired object. How he succeeded wUl be seen
hereafter.
Thus the causes of the insurrection and final revolution of the free
mulattoes and slaves of St. Domingo must be sought in the National
Assembly of France. The measures and rash and untried
precipitate
schemes adopted without due consideration or competent knowledge of
the subject in the mother covantry, were well calculated to jiroduce the
results which followed. They were foreseen by the famous Barnave,
who was at one time President of that Assembly, and were denounced
by that distinguished leader as involving the fortunes of the colonists.

" The declaration of the rights of man, without any distinction of coun-
try or color, by a nation holding extensive colonies, cultivated by slaves,
while it still determined to hold them with the full intention of reaping all
customary advantages from them, without providing any substitutes for the
slaves, or making any indemnity to their owners, must be deemed a rash
and hasty as well as an improvident measure but neither these consider-
;

ations nor the eloquence and warning of Barnave could resist the democratic
rage for liberty and equality which then prevailed."

Such is the language of the writers of that period.

There was then in France a society under the title of " Les Amis des
Noirs," ^ or " The Friends of the Negroes," which issued publications in

1 The penalty exacted from a white man who struck a mulatto was an incon-
siderable fine. The French mulattoes were liable to three 3'ears' service in the
so-called mare'chauss^, after which they had without pay,
to serve in the militia
providing arms and ammunition at their own expense. They were not allowed to
hold any public office or to exercise any liberal profession. The privileges of the
whites were not allowed in the French colonies to the descendants of an African,
however far removed, whereas in the British colonies they were acquired after
the third generation.
2 Brissot, Lafayette, and Robespierre were the leaders of this society, which

demanded the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade, whereas the English aboli-
'

favor of the oppressed Africans, and caused them to be circulated in

the West Indies. The planters had complained to the king of the dan-
gers to which they were exposed through the proceedings of this society ;

and although he did not favor their application his ministers did and ;

Necker in particular laid it down as an incontrovertible axiom, " That

the nation which sets the example of abolishing the slave-trade will become
the dupe of its own generosity." "The effects of the promulgation of
the doctrines of universal liberty and equality among the colonists,"
says a contemporary writer, " were first felt in the beautiful island
of St. Domingo, the finest parts of which were inhabited by a number
of the most flourishing, rich, and happy colonists perhaps in the world ;

and she became the greatest, the most lasting, and the most deplorable
victim to the ensuing calamities." To these causes we may look for the
claims made by birth free men with
by" the free mulattoes, who, though
respect to person and property, were not allowed by law to share in the
civil government.

" In the process of time," says the same author, "commissioners were
repeatedly sent from France but tliese carrying out with them the violent
;

political prejudices which they had imbibed at home, and being generally men
devoid of principle, if not of abilities, instead of attempting to heal differ-
ences on their arrival, trusted to the chances which length of time, distance,
and the uncertain state of government in the mother country might pro-
duce in their favor, and looked only to procure immediate power and con-
sequence by placing themselves at the head of some of the contending
factions. Thus, rushing at once as principals into all the rage and fury of
civil discord, they increased to its utmost pitch that confusion and mischief
which they were intended to remedy. '

Never was there a truer paragraph penned than and never were
this,

the rights, the properties, and the lives of a people more wantonly
sported with than were those of the whites of St. Domingo under the
reign of the last commissioners.
But to begin at the beginning, I must go back to the time when I
first took up my residence in this island and give a short account of the
general situation of its inhabitants, and of the relations of the planters

and slaves to each other. I state no fictions for the purpose of making
an impression, but simple facts, all of which were well known to myself,
as many of them passed under my own eye, and those that did not were
matters of notoriety throughout the country. Indeed, such was their
nature and such were the effects they produced on me at the time, that
they are as fresh and as visible to my mind's eye now as they were then
to my natural and unimpaired vision.

tionists limited their demands to any further introduction of slaves into the British
West Indian Colonies. Bryan Edwards (op. cit. p. 87, note) says that Lafayette
sold his plantation at Cayenne in 1789, with seventy negro slaves, witliout making
any stipulations concerning them.
2
10

As early as the latter part of the month of January, 1785, 1 arrived at

Cape became a resident. The state
Fran(;ais, where, as already stated, I
of the colony (I speak of the French part of the island) of St. Domingo
at this time was, as I have before said, the most flourishing, peaceful,
and happy that can be imagined. Everything and everybody pros-
leered. There were few or no criminals no complaints that reached
;

the public? ear, and no apparent distress (except such as our nature is
liable to everywhere) existed throughout the French settlements in the
island. The security of person and property was as perfect as it is in
Kew England, and much more so in fact, for street or highway rob-
beries, shoplifting, and house-breaking were crimes unknown throughout
the island. Any man might travel, night or day, alone and unprotected
from one end of the French settlements to the other, without fear of
interruption or insult of any kind.
There were no public houses on the high-roads, and the traveller who
was transported in the carriages of the planters from one estate to the
other was everywhere received with the greatest hospitality and kind-
ness, and entertained, without ceremony, in the most friendly and
sumptuous manner until he wished to go his way. A carriage was
then immediately brought to the door, and he was conveyed by a black
driver to the next estate, at a suitable distance on the road. In this-
way he arrived at the end of his journey, free of expense, free of
trouble, and delighted with everything he saw. He was charmed with
the humanity, kind-heartedness, and paternal care which he everywhere
observed in the masters towards their slaves, and with the good order,
cleanly habitations, well-cultivated gardens, domestic comforts, and con-
tented faces of the blacks. In this island, as in every other country on
the face of the earth, brutes in human form were occasionally to be met
with but on the French estates this was seldom the case, and if such
;

existed they were princii^ally among the free colored people, many of
whom were proprietors of plantations.
To confine myself, however, to what I have myself seen on planta-
tions where I have resided for several days together, I beg leave to
mention certain facts which show that the most perfect harmony, mutual
confidence, and kindly feelings may exist between the master and his
slaves.
Having become acquainted with some of the most distinguished plant-
ers in the neighborhood of the Cape, I had occasionally an opportunity
of visiting their plantations, and otherwise making myself acquainted
with the feelings that mutually existed between them and their slaves.
I am not going to speak of my opinions, but of facts within my knowl-
edge, having remained in the island many years and for many months
after the general emancipation of the slaves in the Northern Depart-
ments and the final destruction of the Cape. My object is to show
11

how by their owners, so far as T was acquainted

the slaves were ti'eated
with them ; and
have reason to believe that the proprietors in general
I
were equally indulgent and kind. Where this was not the case, public
opinion frowned on the delinquents, of whom there were but few.
The Chevalier Duperier, the Comte d'Hautval, the Chevalier Dugres,
the Comte de Corbier, Monsieur Duplessis, and others with whom I was
acquainted, resided on their plantations, and were the objects of the most
devoted alFection on the part of their slaves.
Being unwell or slightly indisposed, the first of these gentlemen had
the goodness to invite me to pass a few days with him on his estate.
While I was there, I was struck with the perfect order and regular
system with which everything was done both indoors and out. The
hospital was kept in the most cleanly state, and attended by the most
experienced nurses. Warm or tepid baths were provided for the sick,
on whom a physician attended once a day, or as often in the day as the
case required.
The master himself often visited the patients several times in the
course of twenty-four hours to see that they were kept clean, and treated
kindly. The convalescents were supplied from his own table with the
most delicate and nutritious food, morning, noon, and night. If there
was a disobedient or a sluggish slave to be punished, a complaint was
made by the negro driver, or superintendent of the field-work, to the
overseer, and by the overseer to the attorney or proprietor. The delin-
queut was brought to the hall, and there the facts and circumstances
were inquired into by the master, and the punishment, if any, was pro-
portioned to the degree of crime. One of these examinations happened
to be going on when I arrived at the plantation it was not interrupted
;

by my presence, and I had an opportunity of witnessing the strict justice

and merciful judgment of this amiable man.
Nothing could be more interesting than the morning and evening
regulations for the children on one of these plantations. An old black
woman, dressed as cleanly as a good New England housewife, seated
herself in the gallery with a basket of bread cut into large thick slices.
The children under working age were then marched in, in single file.

When the leader of the file arrived at the place where the old nurse
sat,she examined it from head to foot to see that it was clean and in
good condition. The child then received a slice of bread, and was
marched on to give place to the next, until all the children had been
examined and fed. If any one seemed ^particularly careful of itself, it
was caressed by the good dame, or received special marks of her ap-
probation if, on the contrary, there was evident neglect, she mani-
;

fested her displeasure, or threatened punishment if the offence was

repeated. The houses or huts of the negroes were so arranged as to
give to those who had families a separate house with a garden attached
12

to These gardens were cultivated by the occupants at hours allotted

it.

and the product was carried to the market town on

for that purpose,
Sundays by the slave who had raised it, and there sold for his own
benefit.
The planters were seldom without company and as they were al- ;

ways obliged to provide enough daily for the hospital as well as for the
family, any one arriving at the hour of dinner found a splendid repast.
The house servants were always kept in the most cleanly state, well
dressed and well mannered, and were treated with the utmost kindness.
This was the life of a planter of St. Domingo from 1784 to 1791. His
slaves were well fed and clad, and as contented and happy, so far as I
could judge, as any class of laboring people in Europe.^ But the de-
stroyer came among them first to render them discontented with their
;

lot, and then to urge them to revolt. This took place in the summer
of ninety-one (1791), through the instrumentality of white and mulatto
commissions sent out from France, and aided by the free mulattoes of
the island, who had revolted the preceding year. But the history of this
revolt, and the horrible consequences which followed, both to the whites
and must be reserved for another chapter.
to the blacks,

CHAPTER II.

In which the Reminiscences of an Old Inhabitant of St. Domingo are

continued.

The French revolution took j^lace in 1789. When the news of this
event was received at St. Domingo, there was great commotion among
the inhabitants. Some rejoiced and others lamented at the news.
Cockades (red and blue) were distributed everywhere and to every-
body who had a white face, and whether they liked it or not they were

1 Our author paints the condition of men of all colors and grades at St. Do-

mingo, before society had been disintegrated by French republican doctrines,

as absolutely felicitous. That of the masters, who lived luxuriously in a deli-
cious climate, taking no thought for the morrow and untroubled by conscientious
scruples as to their right to hold slave property, was exceptionally so but life ;

must have worn a very different aspect to the mulattoes, who were hated and op-
pressed by the so-called petits hlanrs, overseers, tradesmen, and shopkeepers, and
to the negroes who were alwaj's liable to be sold to cruel and brutal masters,
against whose absolute power they had no hope of redress. Tiieir condition
in 1790 had, however, greatly improved within the past tifty years, if the Pere
Xavier de Charlevois is to be trusted. In his History of St. Domingo, published
in 1733, he describes them as mere beasts of burden, living in huts no better than
the dens of wild animals, unpaid for their labor, and liable to receive twenty
blows of the whip for the least fault. "To this condition," he adds, " have men
who are not witliout intelligence, and who are not unaware that they are abso-
lutely necessary to those who treat them so brutally, been reduced."
13

forced to wear them when they went abroad. I mention this fact as
connected with an event that took place at the theatre on the first even-
ing after the excitement began, and to show that it is because the first
viohxtion of the law is suffered to pass without rebuke or punishment
that the greatest crimes are frequently licensed and established in
society.
I have mentioned that highway robbery was unknown in the colony,
and and every person passed without fear of interrup-
that everytliing
tion throughout the country. This was true until the French revolution
sanctioned all crimes, and brought upon this island the disgrace of having
the mail stopped on its way from Port au Prince to the Cape. News
had been received during the day that the mail had been robbed. Such
an event was so novel and unexpected that everybody in the city was
astounded. The perpetrator, whoever he might be, was considered as
the boldest villain that had shown himself in the island since the days
of the buccaneers, and the execration of the peoj^le was roused against
him. In the evening, in the middle of the play, a shout was raised, and
the delinquent having been brought on to the stage, surrounded by some
of the hot-headed young men of the place, was pronounced the first
patriot of the colony. He announced to the public that he had stopped
the mail to examine the despatches from the governor-general at Port
au Prince to the governor of the Northern Department, that he had
found important communications which interested the welfare of the
inhabitants, and justified the violence he had committed. Shouts from
every part of the house encouraged him, and he went on to make some
unimportant disclosures that were received with enthusiasm. Every-
body, soldiers as well as citizens, who had not mounted the national
cockade, were compelled to do it at the moment, and tumult and disorder
prevailed throughout the night.^

1 " Our family had all repaired to the theatre without cockades, not choosing
to make ourselves a party to tlie political disputes of the town, and my partner
(Mr. Burling) and myself had taken our seats in what was called the amphi-
theatre,where the young men of family usually sat. After the fellow who had
stopped the mail had told his story and was being applauded throughout the
house, a cry was raised to mount the national cockade. A young man full of
enthusiasm, seeing that Burling had no cockade in his hat, asked him the reason
in a tode that did not suit Burling's pride, and he accordingly answered tartly
that it was because he did not choose to assume it. To this the Frenchman,
who was one of the young Creoles of family and a high blood, made an insolent
reply, and Burling immediately struck him with his fist full on the breast. This
was death by the laws of honor, and Burling invited the other party to follow
him, and immediately left the amphitheatre. As I was not near when this fray
took place, I knew nothing of it until Burling called to me to go out with him ;

and when the whole thing was explained, and a Mr. Paigot, a gentleman well
known to us, came up and told Burling that the person he had struck was a
friend of his, and he begged that time and place might be named for a meeting
;

14

This was the beginuing of a disorganization which led to mistrust and

jealousy between the Government and the citizens, and ended in revolt
and massacre among the whites themselves.
Hitherto the people of color had remained quiet ; nor was there any
manifestation of revolt until the next year, 1790, when a young man, a
free mulatto of education, arrived in the island
from France, via Charles-
ton, South Carolina. His name was Oge. This person soon collected
a body of free colored people, to the number of twelve or fifteen hundred,
with arms, at a place called La Grande Riviere.-^
The Government by the National Guards, or militia of
troops, aided
the town, after great loss of men by sickness, dispersed the rebels, and
drove their leaders into the Spanish territory, where they were arrested
and sent to the Cape by water. They were, I think, twenty-one in
number, —
a white priest, the commander Oge, his lieutenant Marc Cha-
vanne, and eighteen others. The two chiefs were broken on the wheel,
and the priest and the rest were hung in the Church Square.^ I shall

in the morning, Burling referred him to me and went home, and I agreed to meet
Paigot the next morning at five o'clock in his lodgings, as all was now noise and
bustle, to settle these points. Accordingly at five I was at Mr. Paigot's house
but he was not up, and on being called by his servant lie came into the hall in
his dressing-gown, and said he had been up all night with the mail-robber carous-
ing and playing the fool, and had forgotten his engagement, but he would send
for his friend and consult with him, although he wished the affair could be made
np, as the young man would be a loss to his friends, and he knew Burling would
shoot him. This gave me an opportunity to say that the whole thing lay with
them, —they had given the challenge, and if they chose to withdraw it we were
satisfied, as the saddle was on their shoulders. '
My friend,' said Mr. Paigot,
'
est hrave comme le poudre a canon; but as every one was excited last evening the
"
aifair had better be dropped.'
1 " At the time this insurrection broke out I belonged to a corps of young men,

called the Volunteers, under the command of the Comte de Grasse. This corps
was ordered into the country to join the army at La Grande Riviere, and the
members who had horses were allowed to go on horseback to avoid the fatigue of
marching on foot to headquarters, which was of itself enough to break down one
lialf the company. The rendezvous in town was announced to the members,
and they were ordered to be on the ground at nine o'clock in the evening. It
rained with a violence seldom seen even in that climate, and after supping I filled
my canteen with some old rum, took leave of my friends, whom I never ex-
pected to see again, and mounting my horse started for the place of meeting. I
had not proceeded a hundred 3-ards when I was addressed by a negro who in-
quired my residence. On asking his errand, he gave me a letter, which I read by
the aid of a lamp, countermanding the order. You may be sure my heart leaped
for joy ;for had we proceeded, not one third of us would have returned alive."
Jacques Oge, son of a white planter and a mulatto woman, returned from
'"*

Prance, where he had been sent to be educated, filled with the hope of avenging
the wrongs of his class. Landing secretly at the Cape, he was joined by two or
tliree hundred mulattoes, who, as related in the text, were defeated in their first
encounter with the Government troops. Ogd and his lieutenant Marc Chavanne,
a quadroon like himself, fled to the Spanish territory, where they were seized
15

not here attempt to give any detailed description of this appalling spec-
tacle, because would be disgusting, although it was rendered imposing
it

in the highest degree, and most awful by the preparations, the circum-
stances, and the forms which preceded the execution. Two regiments
of free colored troops were drawn up on one side the square with their
arms loaded on the other three sides were the militia and Government
;

troops. Intimations had been circulated that the free mulattoes would
attempt a rescue but as the Government did not choose to show any
;

distrust of them, they were ordered on duty. The troops, assembled at

eight o'clock in the morning, were obliged to remain in a burning sun
until twelve at noon before the prisoners were brought out. The
battalion was now called to order, and a 23roclamation was read by the
assistant general declaring that if any person should attempt to signify
a wish that the culprit should be pardoned, or that the execution
should be suspended, whether such manifestation was made by word,
act, or gesture, he should be instantly shot dead on the spot without
form of trial.
The suffering of the troops was great from thirst and exhaustion, and
great murmuriug had arisen among them on account of the length of
time they had already been kept on the ground in a line, before the
prisoners arrived. A glass of water was not to be obtained at any cost
or by any means, and a faintness prevailed throughout the whole line
of the militia, which was greatly increased by the sight of so many
fellow-beings brought before them for execution. The expectation that
the corps of mulattoes, composed of about twelve hundred men, would
revolt, did not diminish their sufferings or strengthen their sinews but ;

the moment the proclamation was finished, every man throughout the
line on the four sides of the square was as fixed as if he had been
bound to a bar of iron.
The first step on the part of the colored people to produce a general
insurrection having failed, and peace being restored for a while, the
whites became suj^ine, and confident of their own power to control

and given up to their enemies. Early in Marcli, 1791, they were tried,and con-
demned to do penance, kneeling, in their shirts, bareheaded, with heavy waxen
torches in their hands, before the door of the church at the Cape ; to confess and
ask pardon of God, the king, and justice to be broken on the wlieel in the Place
;

d'Armes, and to have their heads cut off and exposed on stakes. Although Oge
made a full confession of the plot in which he had been engaged, he was put to
death with Cliavanne on the 9th of INIarch in the cruel manner prescribed. Two
days later, Vincent Oge, Jacques' brother, shared his fate twenty-one of their
;

followers were hanged, and thirteen were condemned to the galle3's for life.
The barbarous treatment of these unhappy men excited a storm of indignation
in France, and led to the decree of the General Assembly, on May 15, which
gave the privileges of French citizens to all men of color in her West Indian
colonies.
16

them.^ But they were not aware that the ease with which they sup-
pressed the first insurrection was one of the causes of the complete suc-

cess of those who were preparing a second. The Abbe Gregoire had
published in France an inflammatory pamphlet on the emancipation of
the slaves in the French colonies,^ which had been brought out to St.
Domingo and circulated among the free mulattoes, and its contents dis-
cussed with great vehemence by the planters and slaveholders generally,
at their own tables and elsewhere, in the presence of their house ser-
vants, who could not long remain ignorant of the fears and weakness of
their masters. However well they were treated, their imagination soon
became excited, and that real or imaginary love of liberty which is

inherent in our nature broke loose, and was fanned into a flame by their
masters, who, while they were cursing the Abbe Gregoire for writing
on the subject of negro emancipation, were wearing the cap of liberty
themselves, talking of the rights of man before their own slaves, and by
their republican opposition to the old Government encouraging their
slaves to rise against them.
However culpable the Abbe Gregoire may have been in attempting
to rouse the slave against his master, the planters and slaveholders gen-
erally were not less so in vaunting their own success in destroying the
ancient government of France. Their own freedom was the daily sub-
ject discussed at dinner, and the violent means by which it was obtained
was justified and applauded. How could slaves who had any percep-
tions stand by and hear such conversations between their masters and
not feel that the arguments were as good for them as they were for
those who, claiming the right as men to be free, insisted on enslaving
others ? ^

It toas then the publication of tracts on emancipation, aided and

enforced by the imprudence of the planters and other white inhabitants

1 They supposed that all danger had ceased in consequence of Oge's barbarous

punishment but, to use the expression of Mirabeau, " they were sleeping on the
;

margin of Vesuvius, and the first jets of tlie volcano were not sufficient to awaken
them."
2 Letter of the Abbe Gregoire, Bishop of the Department of Loire at Cher,

Deputy of the National Assembly, to the Citizens of Color in the French West
Lidies, concerning the Decree of the loth of May, 1791.
3 A writer in the " Quarterly Review," vol. xxi., 1819, speaks of the frenzy

which seized on the minds of the more wealthy part of the colonists at this time :

" With a population of slaves outnumbering the rest of the inhabitants in the
proportion of seven to one (Edwards says sixteen to one see preface to op. cit.),
;

they planted the tree of liberty, pulled down the legitimate authorities, and set
up the pernicious doctrine of equality and the rights of man. Their madness
moved the negroes but little but the free people of color, equal to the whites in
;

number, set up their claim to an equality of rights." According to Edwards,

chap. 1, pp. 26 and 36, the French part of the island contained thirty thousand
whites, twenty-four thousand mulattoes, and four hundred and eighty thousand
negroes.
17

of the island, joined to the secret arts of the free mulattoes, which
brought about the insurrection of 1701.
When this insurrection broke out (middle of August) I was in the
United States, but embarked immediately on hearing the news, as a
part of my immediate family as well as my partners in business re-
mained at the Cape, one of whom, Mr. Burling, had been already
severely wounded in the first severe conflict that took place between
the whites and the insurgents.^

1 " When the insurrection first broke out the Government sent a small party of

regular soldiers to put it down, but they were repulsed by numbers and returned
to town. The Government then sent Colonel Touzard with some regular troops
and a body of cavalry formed of the citizens of the town. My partner, Mr. Bur-
ling, belonged and went out with them. There was also a Mr. Selles
to this corps
(a friend of ours a sub-officer of the companj'), a man six feet two, and
who was
of great muscular power, from whom I had tlie following account of the attack
and overthrow of the blacks at that time. Colonel Touzard had lost his right
arm at Rliode Island during the Revolutionary War under Rocliambeau, and was
at this time lieutenant-colonel of the Cape, commanded by Colonel the Baron de
Champford. As the cavalry came to a turn in the road,' said Selles, we met
' '

our scouts riding back with great haste to inform us that there was a large body
of eight or nine hundred blacks and mulattoes on the road, with three pieces of
cannon which they had planted in front of them, one of which was a very large
piece placed in the middle of tiie highway and pointed directly towards us. They
added that a great part of these people were well mounted, and that their matches
were lighted to fire the cannon, should we approach them, by those who had
charge of the guns, the shot of which must, from the dense mass of our corps
confined in a narrow road, mow down half the company, when the mounted
mulattoes would charge the flying remnant and cut them to pieces, and therefore
recommended immediate retreat until the infantry came to their aid. Colonel
Touzard, however, chose to see the enemy himself, and ordered the corps to
advance. One of the soldiers or citizens who was in the first rank at this junc-
ture found out that he was not in his proper place, and said it was not, and fell
back into the third or fourth rank, Burling saw this movement, and immediately
clapped spurs to his horse and took the place the other had left, which brought
him within two or three of the file leader in the front rank and near to Colonel
Touzard. When the corps, which was composed of about forty or fifty men at
most, came in full view of the enemy, Touzard ordered a halt, and made a short
address to the little troop, exhorting tliem to be firm and steady in their charge,
which was now their only chanee of escape, as retreat was inevitable death.
" Close your ranks firmly, dravy your swords, and move forward on a quick
trot; and when I give the word to charqe, give spur to your horses and dash into
the cannon's mouth." When the troop had arrived so near that they could see
the preparation made to fire off the three pieces of cannon at once, the colonel
cried, " Attention! Charge! " As soon as the word to charge was given, Touzard
clapped his reins in his mouth, and with his left hand plucked out his sword with
such sleight of hand that Mr. Burling, who had his eye upon him, could hardly
see the motion. The moment the blacks saw the horse charge they fired the
three pieces which had been loaded with all sort of implements that they could
pick up or extract from the copper boilers, among which the broad-headed copper
spikes were the most abundant. About a dozen of the troop fell from their
horses, and the rest dashed past the cannon and into the thickest of the insur-
3
18

On my arrival I found Mr. Burling still confined with his wound,

and the Cape in a state of siege.^ The insurgents or revolted slaves,

gents' horsemen, who were waiting for the smoke to clear off that they might
see the effect of their and take advantage of the discomfiture and flight of
fire,

the whites. I saw Burling,' said Selles, make at a mulatto whose head was
'

covered with plumes, and who was doubtless one of their chiefs, as he was re-
markably well mounted but no sooner had he approached him than another
;

mulatto chief rode up, and was in the act of cutting him down when Burling saw
him, and received his blow on the back of his broadsword, and at the same
moment plunged the blade into the fellow's body, and he fell down from his
horse to the ground. Burling now turned to look for his first assailant but he ;

had turned to fly with his troops, who were broken and scampering in all direc-
tions. Burling followed, but the mulatto was better mounted; and Burling, see-
ing he could not overtake him, drew his pistol, and laying his reins on his horse's
neck shot the man dead. The mulatto fell forward over his horse's head, and
Burling, who was close behind at full speed, leaped over his body in pursuit of
others. The bugle had sounded the repeal to prevent the whites getting too
far away from each other, and Selles was in pursuit to rally them when he over-
took Burling and called to him to stop.' Well, what do you want? said Bur-
'
'

ling. The men are recalled,' said Selles, and 3'ou must go back.'
' '
When I '

have knocked that fellow off his horse I'll go back,' said Burling. Why, man, '

are you wounded ? said Selles.

' Not I,' said Burling, and he put spurs to his
'

horse but tlie moment of inaction he had had, showed him Selles was right, for
;

one of his legs was stiff, and on looking down he found his boot was full of blood.
He accordingly returned with Selles, and was with the other wounded men put
on board a boat to be sent to the Cape. There was one poor fellow by the
name of Le Sage who had received a copper spike in his knee from which he
suffered excessive pain. When they were landed, the surgeon, Valentine, a
friend of ours, came to Burling first but he would not let the doctor touch him
;

till he had relieved Le Sage, who, poor fellow died that night." !

1 " At the time the insurrection broke out my brother James was on a visit

with his wife and child to the Marquis de Rouvry on his plantation near Fort
Dauphin. The following account, taken from his widow lady, who is still living,
may be depended on as fact :
—
" We had been passing a fortnight with the Comte d'Hautval on his plantation,
'

and on our way home had engaged to dine with the Marchioness de Rouvry, and
then go on to the house of M. Ubeluc, the procurator of the Plantation Galifet,
where the insurrection first broke out. On our arrival at the De Rouvry planta-
tion shortly before the dinner-hour in company with M. Baury de Bellerive and
his lady and child, who also came from the Comte d'Hautval's, we were told that
Madame had gone to a neighboring plantation, but that she expected us, and
would be liome in season for dinner. On her return she informed us that she had
ascertained on inquiry that the whole country was in a state of insurrection that ;

as yet her slaves were ignorant of the fact, though it was to be feared they would
know it soon, as there was a general alarm, and people began to fly in all direc-
tions. We then held a council to decide what course we had best pursue, and
determined to leave the plantation that night at twelve o'clock for Fort Dauphin.
In the evening a slave passed tlirough the estate, and informed the negroes that
their fellows were burning and destroying everything. We soon discovered
what had happened by the changed manners of the slaves, their insolence and —
bravado, their noise and general deportment, —
but we nevertheless sat down to
dinner from a rich service of plate, though we ate little, and spent but a short
19

commanded by a black named Jean Fran^ois,^ had possession of the

whole plain for sixty miles along the coast, and were still burning and
plundering the country.

time at table in gloom^^ silence. The members of Madame de Rouvry's family

then at home were her daughter, a beautiful girl of sixteen a young lady, her in-
;

structress and a lady who had escaped from one of the neigliboriug estates that
;

afternoon. The Marquis was in the mountains on business. The lady of the
house packed up her plate, and ordered the carriages to be got ready and brought
to the door just before midnight. There were evident marks of discontent on the
faces of the servants, and some money was necessary to bribe the coachmen to
harness their horses and get ready to start. At twelve o'clock we left the house
in three carriages. The Marchioness and her daughter and instructress were in
the first carriage, with the plate myself and child, with Madame Baury and her
;

child, were in the second and Mr. Perkins and the lady who had escaped as
;

above stated, were in the third. M. Baury was on horseback. As we were ap-
prehensive of being stopped if we met any of the insurgents, the drivers were
ordered to avoid a village wliich was in our route but before their intention was
;

discovered they had gone so far on the road that led to it, that we could not turn
back without showing them our fears, and it was judged best to let them go on.
Mr. Perkins and M. Baury had agreed, in case the drivers refused to proceed, to put
.them both to death, and to mount their horses and drive the carriages themselves.
These gentlemen were both armed and as all our lives depended on getting to
;

Fort Dauphin there was no other alternative. When we arrived at the village we
found the houses filled with light^,'and the slaves howling and dancing through-
out the place. On reaching the centre of the village Madame de Rouvry's pos-
tilion drew up and stopped the whole party. We now gave ourselves up for lost,
but felt the necessity of keeping silent as long as we could, for fear of alarming
the blacks by whom we were surrounded, and who were evidently rejoicing over
the events of the day. Madame de Rouvry, who was a woman of great courage
and who was much feared by her slaves, ordered the fellow to proceed instantly
or she would have him punished in the severest manner. The man hesitated but ;

her voice, which he had been accustomed to obey, drove him from his purpose,
and he proceeded through the hamlet so quietly that the insurgents, who were
all in the houses dancing and beating their drums, never discovered us. The
presence of M. Baury, who was on horseback and armed with a sword, un-
doubtedly influenced the postilion's decision to go on rather than run the risk
of being put to death." The fugitives arrived safely at Fort Dauphin about
four o'clock in the morning, to the great surprise of the inhabitants. gentle- A
man of that place, to whose house they drove, assured them that the fears of
the regular troops there were so great that they could not be prevailed on to
march into the country even a few miles. '
A
droger ' was procured, and the
party embarked in her for the Cape, a distance of about forty miles. mattressA
was laid on the ballast of the vessel for Mrs. Perkins and her child to rest upon
during the passage."
1 Jean Francois took the title of Grand Admiral of France, and his lieutenan

Be'asson that of Generalissimo of the conquered districts.

a In this account of the escape of Madame de Rouvry and her guests nothing is said ot
Mousse, the faithful shive wlio warned them of their danger and facilitated their flight. In
1785, six years before the breaking out of the insurrection, this poor fellow was lamled at
Cape Franfais from a slave-ship, and taken to the slave-market in an apparently dying con-
dition. One of the brothers Perkins, happening to pass by, observed his pitiful condition,
remonstrated with the slave-dealer on his inhumanity, and on being told with an oath
;

20

The unhappy and female, who had fallen into their

whites, male
hands were most deplorable condition that the imagination can
in the
conceive. The women, old and young, were collected together on the
floor of a church about twelve or fifteen miles from the Cape, where
many of them fortunately died under the brutality to which they were
subjected. Such were the shocking accounts received of the sufferings
and degradation of these unfortunate ladies that the Government thought
proper to fit out an expedition under the command of the late gallant
Colonel Touzard,^ whom the negroes had named Manchot because he
had but one arm, the force of which they had felt in the first conflict.
This gallant officer, who had lost his right arm in this country during
the Revolutionary War, stormed their position, destroyed many hun-
dreds of them, and brought off all the whites that remained alive
but many of the females afterwards sank under their sufferings and
mortifications, and were relieved by death from an insupportable
burden.
The first person of any distinction who fell by the hands of the in-

surgents was M. Obeluc,^ proctor of the Plantation Galifet, one of the

most amiable and virtuous men in the colony. Himself and all his
family, except one young man who made his escape, were murdered
and outraged in the most barbarous manner.

1Colonel Touzard marched with a body of militia and troops of the line to the
plantation ofM. Latour, and attacked a body of about four thousand negroes.
Overwhelmed by numbers, he was at length obliged to retreat. Had the negroes
dared to follow him to Cape Fran^ais, they might easily have destroyed the
town.
- M. Obeluc, the overseer of the Galifet plantation, where the kindness
shown to the negroes was proverbial, was so firmly persuaded of their fidelity
that he ventured to return there with a few soldiers, and paid the penalty of his
rash confidence by death at their hands.

that the poor devil was not worth caring for, and could be bought for half a Joe (doubloon),
paid the money, and sent the unfortunate African to the hospital, where he eventually
recovered. Mousse was then employed In the counting-house, where he soon gained the
confidence of his masters. In 1701 he went with Mr. James Perkins to Madame de
Rouvry's. and by giving him timely information of the proceedings of the slaves probably
saved the lives of the whole party. Mousse then returned to Mr. Samuel Perkins, who men-
tions him in the narrative (p. 39) as one of the blacks in hishouse when the town was destroyed.
Mr. Perkins's only surviving daughter states that when her father was obliged to fly for his
life from St. Domingo, Mousse refused to be left behind, swam out to the boats, and insisted
on being taken on board. From the time of his arrival in Boston until his death in August,
1831, Mousse lived in Mr. James Perkins's house as a valued servant. An obituary notice
of him which appeared in a Boston daily paper of the 13th of August speaks of Mousse's
warm attachment to all the members of the household, and of the esteem in which he was
held by old and young for his honesty, independence of character, and warmth of heart.
"His remains," says the same notice, "were yesterday deposited in the family vault under
St. Paul's Church by tlie side of those of his late master, who was fondly attached to him."
It is said that the name of Mousse, a corruption of Blonsieur, was given to him by his fellow-
slaves in acknowledgment of his dignified deportment and superiority of character. He
gave his real name as Deyaha, and said that after he had been captured by slave-dealers
while tending sheep with his father in the interior of Africa, he was a month on his march
to the coast.
21

This, reader, was the consequence of the first step taken by the
abolitionists in disseminating their philanthropic tracts in the island
of St. Domingo ! ! !
-^

CHAPTER III.

Reminiscences of St Domingo, continued.

The period at which the last chapter closed was the autumn of 1791.
Several plantations within the range of country nominally under the
control of the insurgents were still in possession of their owners at
this period, who defended their canes and sugar works as well as their
dwellings, aided by their own slaves, against the ravages and incendiary
projects of the revolted blacks.
The fidelity of the slaves inmany instances was so great towards
their masters that no persuasion and no threats on the part of the in-
surgents could tempt them to revolt and at the risk of their own lives
;

they maintained and protected the estates from injury. This course of
conduct was not confined to those plantations where the proprietors re-
sided, but was successfully followed up by the slaves themselves in one
instance at least, within my own knowledge, for several years, and until
tranquillity was finally restored in 1794. This remarkable case I shall
take the liberty of relating in the course of my narrative, as it shows a
devotion on the part of the slaves towards their master and his interest
and prosperity, long after he ceased to be a proprietor, and for several
years after he had quitted the island and resided in this country (Charles-
ton, South Carolina), which has but few, if any parallel in history. The
proprietor of this plantation was a M. Lefevre, an elderly gentleman of
great respectability and large fortune. Other cases of strong attachment
and were shown by the blacks towards the proprie-
affectionate regard
tors and their families that reflect the greatest honor upon, and mark the
distinguished gratitude and benevolence of these unhappy people, who, but
for the ruthless pretenders to a philanthropic spirit, might have remained
in peace and contentment to the end of their days. The Chevalier
Duperier, whom I have before mentioned as having always distin-
guished himself among the wise and humane proprietors, was at home
when the revolt began to show itself. As it spread, it approached his
plantation, and his slaves were invited to join in the general insurrec-
tion. Of this they informed their master and as he had no means of ;

1 It is said that within two months after the breaking out of the insurrection,

two thousand whites had been massacred, one hundred and eighty sugar and
nine hundred coffee and indigo plantations destroyed, and twelve hundred Chris-
tian families reduced to beggary. Ten tliousand inhabitants had perished by
famine and the sword, and several hundreds by the hand of the executioner.
22

defence against the great mass of the revolted, he found it necessary to

abandon and make the best retreat he could to the town.
his estate,
With this intention, he ordered his carriage, intending to save his life, if
he could, by the sacrifice of everything else. As soon as it was known
among his slaves that he was about to leave them and to abandon his
plate and other valuables, they assembled in a body and insisted on
going with him as an escort to protect him against the revolted negroes.
Not contented with this mark of their attachment, they collected the
carts and mules, and loaded them with the valuable movable furni-
ture of the house, placed all his plate in his carriage, and surrounding
him in a body, armed with clubs, brought him safe to the city. This is
only one instance out of many of the same nature which occurred dur-
ing the first excesses of the insurrection.-^ M, Duplessis, a descendant
of one of the Europe and a large proprietor in St.
first families in
Domingo, his mother, wife, and child, were escorted in the same man-
ner through the midst of the revolted blacks by his slaves, who actually
defended them at the risk of their own lives against the insurgents, who
made every effort in their power to detain them.^ Immediately after

1 One of the most striking stories of negro fidelity is that of a slave belonging

to M. Baillou, the proprietor of a mountain plantation, about thirty miles from

Cape Fran9ais, who concealed his master's family in the woods, fed them with
provisions from the rebel camp for nineteen nights, and then brought them safely
to Port Margot. (Bryan Edwards, After Colonel Mauduit's
op. cit. p. 100.)
assassination (p. 7), his by a black servant
scattered limbs were collected
named Pierre, who gave them burial, " and, having washed them with his tears,
made that tomb which his piety had raised his own funeral pile." (Lacroix,
quoted in "
Quarterly Review," 1819, p. 437.)
- " When
this gentleman, M. Duplessis, found that the negroes of the neigh-
boring plantation were all in insurrection, he determined to quit his residence and
endeavor to reach the Cape with his family. He accordingly picked up what
plate he had at hand, and with his wife and child, his wife's mother, and the
child's black nurse, started for the city, he mounted on horseback, and the family
in a cabriolet dragged by three mules. His blacks insisted on accompanj-ing the
carriage for the protection of its inmates and they accordingly surrounded it,
;

and the whole cavalcade set off for the Cape. As the carriage could not move
faster than the slaves who had volunteered to protect it, the insurgents were not
long in overtaking and surrounding it, threatening to put the postilion to death
if he did not stop. The old lady —
mother of Madame Duplessis was a —
woman of strong character, very pious and very amiable she was beloved by ;

the slaves for her gentleness and benevolence, and was well known throughout
that quarter of the plain for her just and kind treatment, as well as her absolute
control over the blacks with whom she was brought in contact.
" The first step of the insurgents, after stopping the carriage, was to take out
the black nurse and the child, the latter of whom was immediately seized by one
of the men with a view to destroy it, as appeared by his language and attitudes.
The mother had fainted, and the father was at a great distance ahead of the car-
riage, so that there was none but this old lady to protect the party ; for their own
want of arms, with which the insurgents
slaves were unable to resist, botli for the
were furnished, and from their limited numbers compared with the incendiaries.
23

the destruction of the Cape, M. Duplessis, then between sixty and

seventy years of age, came to this country with his family, and sold
milk in the city of New York for their support, which he himself carried
round to his customers, preserving his good-humor and gentlemanly
manners towards every one he dealt with.
I remember that a friend of mine who had known him in the days of
his fortune told me that being out early in one of the streets in New
York he passed an old man, whose white locks first attracted his atten-
tion, leading a horse and crying, " Milk for sale " At the moment he
!

spoke my friend stopped, struck with his foreign accent and fine coun-
tenance, which he thought resembled that of some one whom he had
before seen. The milkman took from his panniers a tin vessel, and
entered a kitchen door of one of the houses. There was something in
the face, the tone of the voice, the long white hair that covered his
head, and the general movement of this person that riveted my friend
to the spot where he stood, until the old gentleman again came forth.
He could not tell why, but there was something in the appearance of
the milkman that drew my friend towards him, intending to ask for a
cup of milk, by way of introduction to a further conversation. When
they came nearer, they both looked with eagerness at each other for
a moment and then exclaimed simultaneously, " Good God is this !

The plantations were in flames on all sides of them, and the hands of the negro.es
were wet with the blood of their late proprietors.
still Take him into the field,'
'

said one of the savages, and cut his head oflF with a bill-hook.'
' Arretez, Mal-
'

heureux !
exclaimed the old lady, n'avez-vous pas d'enfans vous meme ?
'
'

[Stop, wretch! have you no child of your own?] Have you no fear of God,
who sees what you are doing, and will repay on the heads of your own children
the evil you inflict on this innocent child ? What has he done to your race that
you should destroy him ? If you wish for blood and for vengeance on one who has
held you in bondage, take my life, but spare the life of the unoffending infant.
And yoH, wench (addressing one of their women) how dare you sutTer those
!
'
'

wretches to conmiit this horrible crime 1 Have you no religion, no hope in God's
mercy, no love for your own offspring, that you see an innocent baby sacrificed
without cause, without object, and without any possible good to yourselves ? Fly !

quick! for I see the tear of compunction in your eyes. Fly, and save the child,
and save your own soul by restoring him to his mother and his nurse unharmed ;

and great shall be your reward hereafter ' A universal shout arose among the
!

women of the insurgents, and" they ran in a body to the spot where the child
had been carried. In the mean time, M. Duplessis had discovered that the car-
riage had been stopped, and he was returning full speed to see what was the
difficulty, when his mother-in-law ordered the postilion to make signs to him to
proceed on and not return to them, knowing his life would be endangered. This
the postilion did, and at the same time pointed out a party of insurgents who
were running across a field to cut off his escape. M. Duplessis saw the danger,
and putting -spurs to his Spanish jennet soon left his pursuers in the rear. He
then stopped to watch the movements of the carriage, and soon had the satis-
faction to see it move on to join him. The harangue of the old lady had pro-
duced the desired effect on the females of the band. The child was restored
unharmed, and the carriage permitted to proceed."
24

M. Duplessis? Is this Mr, P ?" A few minutes served to explain

to my friend the situation of this worthy old gentleman, who said that
he had taken a small farm in the neighborhood, where he kept four or
five cows, which furnished him with milk enough to keep the family
from stai'ving ; that he had two or three slaves that chose to follow him
to this country, who aided by their labor on the farm ; that his wife
took care of the dairy, and he brought the milk to town to sell that ;

he had a good farm that would easily maintaiu four or five cows more
if he had the means of buying them, but that he had no reason to com-

plain, for his family were all in good health, and were constantly em-
ployed, so that when night came they enjoyed a refreshing sleep which
enabled them to pursue their daily routine of labor without much suf-
fering but, said he, " if I had four or five cows more, I should be the
;

most independent man in the country, for I should have all I want this
side the grave." " That you shall not want long," said my friend ;

'"
come with me and you shall have the means of buying the cows if that
will make you happy." He presented the old gentleman five hundred
dollars in cash, which the latter declared made him as rich as a Jew,
and would make his wife as happy as a queen.
I have related this anecdote because it shows that a good and well-
balanced mind can be happy even in poverty that, however elevated
;

our situation may have been, if we have a proper view of our depend-
ence and uncertain state in this life and a due and proper confidence in
the Almighty, we cannot be degraded by the accidental loss of our
property.

CHAPTER IV.

Recollections of St. Domingo, continued.

As the exclusive object of these Sketches is to show the effects and

consequences of the revolt and insurrection of the blacks of St. Domingo,
I have purposely omitted a variety of interesting and touching circum-
stances relating to the disputes between the citizens, the soldiers, and
the local Government, and the massacres that ensued but there is one ;

fact which, although not necessarily allied to my general plan, is in

some degree connected with the events I am recording, and as it for-
cibly illustrates a trait in human nature (not unknown nor unacknowl-
edged by men of observation), I may be excused for relating it.
The government of the Northern Department of the island, of which
the Cape was the principal city, had made a stand against the outbreak-
ings of the people in favor of the French revolution, and many of the
most respectable citizens had thought it their duty, for the purpose of
maintaining order, to side with the ancient authorities in preserving the
25

peace of the commixnity. Although the Government had neither vio-

was
lated nor intrenched on the rights or privileges of the citizens, there
a jealousy existing between them which only required a bold and des-
perate spirit to inflame it into wild hatred and open violence.-^ Such a
one was found in a young man of a Jewish family of respectability, who
had been discarded by his father for his dissipated and abandoned
habits. This young man, with much art and address, had by false
representations and a show of ingenuousness, gained the friendship of
M. Cagnon, a merchant of high standing and large fortune, who had
ministered to his wants, supplied him with money for his support and
comfort, and in all things contributed, as far as in his power, to restore
him to the favor of his indignant parent, who was a man of character
and substance but he eventually discovered that his bounty was wasted
;

on a profligate, and he ceased to supply him any farther.

This gentleman, who was one of the most noble-spirited men in the
city, beloved by everybody who knew him for his benevolent nature

and amiable manners, commanded a company of cavalry, composed of

merchants and other men of character and respectability. At a general
review of the militia of the town, he had been despatched with his corps
to the Government House on duty. The uniform of this company was
yellow, and had been such for many years before the revolution. This
color, it seems, was obnoxious in the eyes of the young Jew, as he
alleged to his comrades in the line where he was placed under arms, be-
cause it was the same color as that worn by the Regiment d'Artois in
France. This pretext was doubtless set up with a view to rouse the in-
dignation of those around him, having, as was believed, determined on
ridding the city of his old benefactor, whose purse he could no longer
command. When M. Cagnon (for that was the officer's name) returned
with his troop to join the militia, the young Jew stepped out of the
ranks as the other approached him on the march, and ordered the
captain to strip off his coat, which he said was the badge of aristocracy.
The officer, finding himself thus addressed by a young man whom he had
saved from starvation and prison, was for a moment utterly astounded,
but recovering himself he asked by what right he called on him to do an
act so humiliating. The answer was " By the right of the voice of your
:

fellow-citizens. Off with your coat at once, or I will strip it off for
you "
!
M. Cagnon replied with great gentleness that if his uniform

1 "It must be ownetl that some of the nobility were very indiscreet in censur-

ing and laughing at the bourgeois. Madame la Marquise de liouvry used to say
publicly that formerly under tiie old regime the soldiers' password when on duty
was Frenez garde a vous
'
!
('Take care of yourself!') corresponding to the
'

English cry of, All 's well,' but now, under the republican system, the password
'

was, Prenez garde a raoi' (' Take care of nie'). Such things naturally irritated
'

the citizens, and produced ill-will towards the higher classes."

4
26

was offensive to his fellow-citizens, he would retire to his house and

change his dress to gratify them. " No, citizen ; off" with it here on the
!
spot " replied the miscreant, presenting his musket at the breast of his
benefactor, " or take the consequence of your refusal." " Never," said
Cagnon, " while my name be disgraced by an act so de-
I live, shall
grading to an and a gentleman "
officer The words had scarcely
!

passed his lips before he was shot dead by this vile assassin, and a gen-
eral massaci'e of the corps which he had commanded immediately com-
menced.^ Ho^Y many were destroyed I know not, but I saw several of
them flying, laid prostrate on their horses, to save themselves from the
fate they had just seen their comrades suffer. After this act of cruel
and cool barbarity, the militia marched through the town with pieces of
the coats of the troops that they had just murdered hanging to their
bayonets. There is no doubt that most of the militia abhorred the act
that they had not presence of mind or nerve enough to prevent but ;

the effect was nevertheless most encouraging to the blacks, who could
not but rejoice at seeing their masters cutting each other's throats.
The base ingratitude aud barbarous spirit of the young assassin was
universally spoken of with horror but there were many who had joined
;

him on these unhappy men, and some who applauded the

in the attack
act, but soon it was forgotten by the occurrence of new scenes of blood

and insurrection, and was overlooked and forgotten.

This was previous to the insurrection of the slaves, and was one of
the encouraging circumstances which led to that event, but it was not
the only evil that resulted from the disorganized state of society and the
consequent laxity in the discipline of the troops of the line. About
this time a whole regiment of artillery, which had command of the

1 " M. Cagnon, with about sixteen followers, went into the body of their
enemy to deliver themselves up. M. Lavard, commandant of the lately arrived
dragoons, met him in a friendly and proper manner, begged him to quit his
coat, as it was displeasing to the troops, and assured him of his protection. It
was too humiliating for the commandant of so respectable a corps, and a man
who on all occasions had behaved so well as M. Cagnon to be obliged to strip
himself in the street he would go home and do it, but not there. While they
;

were discussing the point, a pistol was fired by one of Cagnon's party, and
immediately four of tliem were shot dead, among wliich the lamented Cagnon
fell. Had tlieir fury stopped there, they might be forgiven but no, they nmst
;

add barbarity to murder. They cut off his head, stabbed liis dead body in sev-
eral places, cut bis jacket to pieces, dipping them in his blood, and wore them in
their shoes and on the end of their swords as trophies of victory." —
Extract from
a letter icritten by S. G. Perkins to his brother James, dated Cape, Oct. 20, 1792.
" Poor Cagnon is lamented by all the town. It is certain he did not fire at
all, but sacrificed his life rather than submit to be stripped in the street. As
commandant of a respectable corps, I think him riglit. He had rather die than
be disgraced. At present there is a momentary calm, but I fear much it will not
long continue. The public stores are in want of every kind of provisions, and
no means of obtaining them." — Do., dated Cape, Oct. 26, 1792.
27

powder magazine and the park of artillery, revolted and turned their
officers out of their quarters.
When the Government called out the regular infantry and the militia
of the town to subdue them, their chief told the commander of the troops
that were assembled round their quarters that the first gun that was
fired would be the signal to fire the magazine, which would blow him,
his troops, and the whole city to atoms along with themselves. From
the character of the man, this was known to be no empty threat, and
was no balm to the suffering of the citizens who were drawn up under
arms on the spot. There was no doubt as to the extent of the evil that
would follow the least indiscretion on the part of the commander of the
assembled troops, who was the colonel of tliQ regular regiment of in-
fantry. He stood firm, however, although it was whispered that his
own regiment was wavering. " Go," said he to his soldiers, —" go,
comrades, any who are disaffected or disinclined to act in the subju-
gation of the rebels, — go to your quarters ; you have my free consent
to hide your heads from this threatened danger, or rather this holy duty.
/ shall stay to complete the work I came to accomplish, and bring the
LEADERS of this revolt to punishment (for it is only a few of the regi-
ment who are guilty), even should I remain by myself." A shout of
" Vive Champford, nous vous suivrons a la mort !
" extended through-
out the line of his troops, and in a moment all was silent again.
All this passed within the hearing of the insurgents, who had shut
themselves up within the high iron railing which surrounded the artil-

leiy park,where they were formed in line with twenty pieces of loaded
cannon pointed towards the surrounding troops, and with lighted torches
in their hands.
The well-pointed emphasis on the word leaders, and the intimation
that he considered that there were but few of the regiment who were
guilty, was not lost on those who had been led into the revolt against
their own inclinations. " Soldiers of the artillery," cried Colonel Champ-
ford, addressing himself to the insurgents, " am I mistaken in my con-
jectures ? Is it not true that the great body of your corps has been led
away by the few factious spirits among you ? Your hitherto excellent
discipline and and marked bravery in the field as-
soldier-like conduct
sures me that you cannot, as a body, have turned traitors to your coun-
try. It is only the criminal leaders of this revolt that will be made
answerable to the laws and I pledge myself to you as an officer whose
;

word was never doubted, that those among you who have been led away
by the influence of the chiefs of the revolt shall be pardoned and re-
stored to your ranks without stain. Deliver up your chiefs therefore,
and surrender yourselves prisoners to the Government."
The leader of the revolt, who was a desperate and bold villain,
looked round on his troop to see what effect this speech had made on
;

28

them, when, seeing them hesitate, he attempted to apply his torch to

the gun immediately jinder his command as a signal to fire the maga-
zine but he was seized before he could effect his object, as were the
;

other leaders by their own comrades, and the whole regiment was
marched out under the guard of the troops and lodged in the church,
where they wei'e kept until they had been tried and sentenced.
This happy termination of one of the most daring and alarming
revolts ever known was owing to the skill and spirit of the Baron de
Champford, colonel of the regiment of the Cape, —
a brave and discreet
officer,and an amiable and excellent man. The Baron kept his word :

the leaders were punished in proportion to their relative degrees of

crime, and the rest were restored to their ranks, and were drawn up on
the Place d'Armes to witness the degradation and the execution of the
two principal leaders of the revolt. The minor criminals were sent to
the galleys.-^
These events are not to be forgotten by one who was an eye-witness
to the various scenes herein described, and who had to perform the
duties of a common soldier during this dreadful and alarming crisis.

1 " The form or ceremony of the degradation was very solemn. The square of
the Place d'Armes was surrounded with troops. On one side was the regiment
of the Cape, or regular troops of the line opposite to them was the mulatto regi-
;

ment; on the side to the right of the regulars were the citizens under arms, and
opposite to them were the artillery-men, who had been brouglit out with their
side arms to witness the punisliment of their comrades. The two principal
leaders were placed in the centre of the square in full uniform and unbound
they were both sergeants, daring in their appearance, and reckless in their man-
ner. Tiie only thing that seemed to disturb them was the scaffold, whicli was
erected under a gallows large enough for both. Their comrades, who had been
sentenced to a milder punishment, were drawn up opposite to them, with their
arms bound behind them, without arms or uniform. A small detachment was
drawn out as a guard over them, and their sentence was then read. As soon as
this was done, the adjutant-general, placing himself in the centre of the square,
ordered silence, and then read a proclamation that any person who should ask
for the pardon of the criminals, or suggest by word or deed a desire to save them
or to mitigate their punishment, should be shot dead on the spot. One of the
sub-ofBcers of the regiment tiien advanced and stripped off, first, the sword from
the side of the principal criminal, then his worsted epaulets, then his hat and
coat, and then with the butt end of a musket struck him on the breech as a mark
of official degradation. Wlien this ceremony had been performed also on the
other soldier, they were furnislied with white caps and led to the scaffold. One
of them appeared depressed and humihated but the leader never lost his insolent
;

and audacious manner, and when placed under the drop attempted to address
the soldiers, beginning with threats and denunciation against the officers of the
troops generally but his voice was soon drowned by the drums and trumpets of
;

the guard, and they were both launched into eternity."

;

29

CHAPTER V.

Recollections of St. Domingo, continued.

From the autumn of 1791 until the summer of 1793 the town of
Cape Fran^ais was besieged by the black army of revolted slaves, and
frequent attacks were made on its outposts by the troops of Jean
Francois.
The inhabitants of the city were all, even to the foreign residents,^
obliged to keep a strict guard to prevent surprise. The country
alForded ample supplies to the besiegers, and the harbor was entered
by all nations, who brought the means of support to its inhabitants.
Some few plantations in the neighborhood of the city and the rising or
mountain ground behind it were still free from the depredations of the
blacks and among these the Lefevre plantation, which was defended
;

by the slaves to whom it had been abandoned by its owner, to whom

its revenues were regularly transmitted. In the beginning of the
revolt other plantations were preserved by the judicious conduct of
.

the proprietors, and among Comte de Corbier,

the rest that of the
which was defended for a long time by and energetic owner,
its spirited
who at the time of the revolt was confiued to his bed by a rheumatic
fever. His first care was to send off his wife and children to the city
his next was to assemble his slaves around his bed, and to communi-
cate to them his detei-mination to defend his property. M. de Cor-
bier, although not old, was in the decline of life, and so infirm that
he could not stand without support, and then with great suffering.
His slaves gave him assurances of their fidelity, and offered to sacrifice
themselves in his defence. He had on his plantation two small brass
pieces of ordnance, which he caused to be put in good condition to
oppose the enemy, who were in the neighborhood. Scouts and out-
posts were established, and rejjorts were made to him as the insurgents
changed their position. Though everything was in flames around him
he still remained tranquilly in his bed. When at length the tide of
sedition began to flow towards his own estate, and he was assured by
his people that his plantation was their object, he caused himself to be
placed on a litter, and to be transported to the entrance of the road
by which the infuriated mob was approaching. Here he ordered the

1 " The Americans had a guard-house assigned to them, where tliey were obliged

to keep a regular watch every night.* The guard was commanded by my brother
James, and I acted as his lieutenant. We drew our forces from the American
shipping as well as from the residents in the city. The arms and anmiunition
were kept at our house, and my brother, as captain, was accountable to the Gov-
ernment or military commander. We had some laughable scenes at this station,
and one that came very near having a tragic ending."
30

cannon placed on either side of him as he lay stretched on his pallet, his
body raised by pillows so as to see the operations of the combat. "With
a drawn sword in his right hand and a pair of pistols at his side, he con-
ducted the defence of his estate in so masterly a manner that the insur-
gents were not only beaten off, but so roughly handled that he was left
in peace until his crop had been gathered in and his sugar transported
to the city. He then himself withdrew to the town, where I saw him
stretched on his bed in extreme suffering. He afterwards came to this
country with his family, and placed his eldest son under the care of one
of my brothers.
I mention these facts as evidences of the sincere attachment of some
of the slaves to their masters, and the little had to com-
inclination they
mit any outrage on them or to seek to obtain their freedom by violent
means when uninfluenced by the misrepi'esentations and acts of the
French philanthropists. But these very slaves, when once led into
deeds of violence and crime by their black companions, became as
daring and as reckless as the worst among them, and in some instances
more so. How any virtuous mind, knowing these facts, can supjiose
that the flood of destruction when once .raised to a head can be stopped
by the friends of humanity, I cannot conceive. When once the passions
are roused to desperation, the better feelings of men are lost in the
general vortex and tumult of action. Slaves who would have
died in
defence of their masters but a short time before under such circum-
stances were the first to massacre them and the only resource left to
;

the whites, where there was any equality of force, was a war of
extermination.
But let us follow the course of events as far as our recollections
serve us. The Government
of the Northern Department had under-
gone several changes. Commissioners had been sent out fi'om France
under pretence of tranquillizing the colony. One set had been recalled,
or had returned to Europe without effecting any important end.-^ A
new governor (Despaches) had been sent out with fresh troops from
France, but their efforts were of no avail against a people who had no
local habitation. They were here to-day and to-morrow in the moun-
tain passes, while the European foi'ces were dying by hundreds on the
burning plains without even the consolation of having signalized them-
selves by one deed of daring. They had no enemy to contend with
but the climate, no effort to make but against disease, no excitement
to rouse their failing energies but the sad duty of burying their com-
rades in the trenches that were left open for their reception. This

1 Tlie arrival of the commissioners Mirbeck, Roome, and St. Leger in Janu-
ary, 1792, caused great terror in the island, as it was supposed that it would be
followed by a general emancipation of the slaA'es. The commissioners returned
to France in March or April.
could not last long : the troops were recalled to the city or its outposts,

and the blacks had again full command of the plains.^

1 "body of several thousand troops liad been sent out from France under the
A
command of General Rochambaud, and they were billeted or quartered on the
citizens. We had four of them at different times in our family, althougli we
were foreigners. In general they dined with the master of the house where they
were lodged; but with us they ate by themselves. These forces cleared tlie
plains for a time of the insurgents, who retired to the mountains to watch their
foes as they were daily sinking under the influence of the climate. Such was the
mortality among them that one half the whole army perished witiiout seeing an
enemy to encourage and animate them. As soon as these troops were recalled
to the city tlie blacks rushed again to the plains with renewed confidence, and
bearded the inhabitants at the entrance of the town, which they now invested and
attacked almost nightly. Every white inhabitant was a soldier attached to some
corps, and even tlie Americans were obliged to do duty whether they were resi-
dents or not. On recurring to this fact I am reminded of a laughable circum-
stance that took place one night when I had the command of the guard. There
was a sail-maker — a French white man —
who lived next door to us, who was
in tlie habit of getting drunk every week or so, and making a great noise so as to
disturb the neighborhood. My sister, Mrs. James Perkins, being quite unwell,
I was requested by her or some one to silence this noisy fellow, whose cries and
oaths were such as to annoy every one within hearing. I went to his door, but it
was fastened, and I could not obtain an entrance. He was then bawling and
howling like a maniac. I accordingly went for a guard of French soldiers,
whom I brought to the spot, where we found our man in the street stark naked,
attacking every one and alarming the whole neighborhood. When he saw the
guard he attempted to escape; but as they presented their bayonets on every
side he was obliged to surrender. As he had no clothes on, and very siiort hair,
it was difficult to secure him, as he slipped through their hands whenever they

attempted to seize him. I accordingly procured a wide board, to which, when

some negroes had caught him, he was tied on his back, and carried through the
streets to prison, where he was detained a week or more, and then on promise of
good beliavior released. This frightened him so much that he kept quite sober
for a long while, always avoiding me, drunk or sober, as he would an evil spirit.
One night, however, some time after the event just related, when I had charge of
the guard, one of my sailor soldiers who had been posted as a sentinel at some
distance from the guard-house and near the residence of the sail-maker came run-
ning to the guard-house without his musket, frightened out of his senses, and
said that he had been surprised, had had his gun taken from him by a nian who
was stark naked, and who appeared to be mad. I knew at once that this must be
my sail-maker, and taking two men with me, armed with muskets, and arming
myself with my sword, we approached the quarter very cautiousljs hoping if pos-
sible to surprise the fellow should he be still in the street. As we looked round
the corner of a house near the spot, we saw our man marching backwards and
forwards like a sentry, with his gun on his shoulder. At the least noise he would
cry out, Qui vive ? and present his musket in the direction of the sound. As the
' '

gun was loaded with ball it was necessary to be cautious. We tlierefore got as near
him as possible without being seen, and as he turned from me to walk back to his
limit I sprang from behind the wall of the house with my sword upraised, crying,
'
Down with the traitor !
No sooner did he hear my voice than he dropped his
'

musket, and throwing himself on the pavement, face downwards, began to beg
that I would spare his life. I put my foot on his back, and let him feel the point
32

At this period the Northern Department was commanded by Gen-

eral Galbaud, who was governor of the Cape. The troops had been
fed principally by the American merchants at the Cape, who furnished
provisions to the Government, — first for money, then for drafts on
France. When these were refused payment, as was the case, bills on
the French minister at Philadelphia were proffered, and in some in-
stances accepted, inpayment for the articles required for the soldiers.
My on M. de Ternant, then minister at Philadelphia, for
drafts
twenty thousand dollars were at first refused payment, though subse-
quently paid. Orders were, however, given to make no more drafts on
him, and the Government was non23lussed.
Forced loans had been tried before the drafts on France had been
issued the inhabitants were discouraged, and an earthquake had shat-
;

tered almost all the buildings throughout the town.^ The fear of a
revolt among the slaves in the city compelled such of the white inhabi-
tants as were not on military duty to keep guard before their houses
during the night, relieving each other every four hours. The regular
troops, who werewant of food, swore that unless some measures
in
were taken to relieve them they would plunder the city. All was
despair and distrust, and efforts were made to collect what remained
from the depredations of the insurgents and to ship it off to this
country.
In governor called a meeting of the French
this state of things the
merchants, to whom
he represented the condition of the troops and the
necessity of providing some means for their relief. At this meeting it
was agreed, and unanimously voted, that if the American merchants
would furnish the necessary provisions to the Government to satisfy
the soldiers, they, the French merchants, would pay for the same at
fixed prices in the produce of the island, which they daily received by
coasting-vessels from places to which the revolt had not spread. This
engagement was solemnly entered into by the merchants, and confirmed
by the governor, who caused the American Board of Commerce to be
notified of the fact. On receiving the notification the Board undertook
to supply the funds needed, and without hesitation fulfilled their engage-
ment to the amount of between eight and nine hundred thousand livres,

of my sword in his loins then made liim promise never to appear naked again in
;

the street, and that he would in future be a quiet and good citizen."
1 " About this time an earthquake took place whicii shattered the houses, which

were built of irregularly shaped stones, to such a degree that it appeared impos-
sible they could stand another shock. The like had never taken place before since
the settlement of the Cape. The first sliock was at daylight in the morning. It
would be difficult to describe the terror of the inhabitants on this occasion. The
second shock, which occurred in the afternoon of the same day, was much more
formidable and alarming than the first, and seemed to us the precursor of some
great evil, as it proved to be."
33

of which amount the house with which I was connected furnished up-
wards of one hundred and eighty thousand. When the provisions
promised by the American merchants had been delivered, they found
that the French warehouses which a few daj'S before had been well
stocked with sugar, coffee, cotton, cocoa, etc., were empty with the
exception of a few belonging to the more honorable and respectable
merchants. The goods had, as was supposed, been reshipped on board
the coasters or the European ships that lay in port and none from the
;

coast had been sent to replace them.

There was nothing left to pay for the goods that had been delivered,
and those who had emptied their magazines professed themselves unable
to comply with the requisition. A representation of the facts was ac-
cordingly made to Governor Galbaud, and he felt it hrs duty to desig-
nate a number of merchants who had been present at the meeting as the
responsible parties, and to direct the company of the public magazines
to draw orders on them for their respective shares. This was done
accordingly, and some goods were delivered in the early part of the
morning of Monday the IGth of June, 1793 but the French merchants
;

after breakfast on tlie same day generally refused to deliver anything

more, without giving any reasons whatever for so doing. Some of
them had indeed delivered their full quota agreeably to their original
engagement but this amounted to a small portion of the whole debt.
;

It was soon rumored abroad that new commissioners, Polverel and

Santhonax, had arrived from Port au Prince, the seat of the General
Government, where they had been to quell a rebellion.^ Dissatisfied
with what they called the dictatorial ordinance of Governor Galbaud iu
forcing them to pay a debt which they had solemnly contracted, the
French merchants resolved on applying to these all-powerful rep-
resentatives of the nation for redress of their grievances. This they
accordingly did and on June 13th General Galbaud, arrested by
;

the commissioners, was sent prisoner on board the ship of war " La
Normandie " to be transported to France for trial.'^

^ The new commissioners were tliree Jacobins, Santhonax, Polverel, and Ail-

haud. The latter was sent back to France in 1793, leaving his colleagues abso-
lute masters of the colony. Santhonax soon after got rid of Polverel by sending
liim home as bearer of despatches, and disembarrassed himself of General Ro-
chambeau, who had arrived as commander-in-chief, by ordering him on board a
corvette. He then nominated Toussaint I'Ouverture to fill his place. (Quar-
terly Review, 1819, p. 441.)
2 In the attack on the Government House by twelve hundred seamen, Gal-

baud's brother was taken prisoner, while one of Commissioner Polverel's sons fell
into the hands of the Government party. An exchange was proposed by the
latter;
but the commissioner refused to allow it, saying " that his son knew his
duty, and was prepared to die in the service of the Republic." (Edwards, op. cit.
p. 144.) On leaving St. Domingo, General Galbaud took refuge in the United
5
34

On Tuesday morning the American Board of Commerce sent a depu-

commissioners with a memorial representing the facts, and
tation to the
asking payment of their debt in such manner as might appear just under
the circumstances. The memorial was received by M. (or, as he was
called, Citizen)Santhonax, who ordered the committee to return the next
morning for their answer. On Wednesday morning, when, at the hour
appointed, the deputation returned to the Government House for their
answer, Citizen Santhonax placed in the hands of the chairman of the
committee a printed document, ordering thirty-six merchants therein
designated, jointly and severally, to pay the debt due to the Americans
forthwith and in default of payment on the first application the credit-
;

ors were directed to apply to the procurator-general for redress. This

officer was ordered by the same document to seize the property of the
said merchants wherever it was to be found, and to sell as much of
the same at public auction as was necessary, to discharge the balance
due the American merchants and in case there was not property suffi-
;

cient to be found, to seize the persons of the said merchants, and hold
them in prison until the money was forthcoming.
On looking over the names designated, the chairman saw one or two
names of gentlemen who had already paid their full quota, and he men-
tioned the fact to the commissary, considering it an injustice that they
who had and promptly done their duty already, should be
so honorably
called on again to pay. " Withdraw, citizens," was the reply of this
petty despot, " you have your answer " (" Retirez-vous, citoyens, vous
avez votre reponse ").

One who had paid his portion without hesitation

of the gentlemen
on the first demand was a M. Pousset, a merchant of the first class
and standing in all respects. The committee thought it their duty
to call on him immediately to show him the ordinance, and consult
with him as to the course they had best take under the circumstances.
The partner of M. Pousset, a gentleman whose name I now forget,
read the paper with astonishment, but he said, with the greatest frank-
ness, that themerchants of the Cape had rendered themselves responsi-
ble, and it was their duty to make good their engagements that he ;

could give no other advice to us than that we should see those who had
not paid and show them the ordinance, and if they still persisted in re-
fusal, to apply, as directed, to the attorney-general for aid. The whole of
this day (Wednesday) was employed hunting up the delinquents. As
in
those whom we could find, absolutely refused to do anything, and others
kept themselves out of our reach, we were obliged to call another meet-
ing of the creditors to decide what was to be done. At this meeting it

States. The preceding governor, M. de Blanchelande, who came out in 1790,

was guillotined in France,Aug. 9, 1793, and his son shared the same fate in July
of the following year.
35

was agreed that the committee should call on the attorney -general the
next day, and lay the subject before him.
Accordingly on Thursday morning, June 19, the committee pro-
ceeded to the house of the public functionary who was charged with the
execution of the decree. He was not at home but on their way to his
;

house they saw the ordinance pasted on the walls of the houses, where
it had been put the day before. Returning home they found the stores
everywhere shut. The most gloomy silence prevailed in the streets, and
the inhabitants, who were collected at various places in small knots or
groups, eyed the committee as they passed, and showed evidently that
they were speaking of them or their measures. Being acquainted with
many of these persons, and seeing that something important was in
agitation, I stepped upone of those who had paid a portion of his
to
quota and asked him the cause of all this gloom, and why the stores

were shut. He replied, " You will know presently." The committee
then proceeded to the Bay, as the street was called where their houses
and stores were situated. Here a very different scene presented itself.
All was bustle and agitation. The balconies were filled with persons
armed with spy-glasses, looking attentively at the ships of war, and
asking each other in loud tones what all this meant. Arrived at my
house I was called up into the balcony, and a spy-glass was put into my
hand. " See," said my partner, " the ships of war are getting springs on
their cables, and have brought their broadsides against the town what
;

can all this mean ? " what we had seen in the upper
I then related
streets ; and we no longer doubted that some serious attack was in-
tended, and that the merchants of the place were privy to the fact.
The truth undoubtedly was that the French merchants, outraged by the
arbiti'ary decree of the commissioners, whom they had but a day or two
before petitioned to relieve them from the obnoxious Galbaud, and
the still more obnoxious debt due to the American Board of Commerce,
had now solicited protection from Galbaud himself and the French
admiral against the still more obnoxious commissioners. Of this I
have never had the least doubt, although I have no other evidence of
the fact than the circumstances themselves. It has been said that an
affront offered to some of -the naval officers by the commissary or
some of his mulatto troops, was the cause of the ships taking sides
against the Government, but of this I know nothing. Be it as it may,
we had not looked many minutes at the ships of war when we saw their
large boats hauled alongside, and filled with armed men to the number
of seven or eight hundred. There was no longer any doubt on our
minds as to their object, and as we were well convinced that serious
consequences would ensue, and perhaps the town be battered down, we
sent off our books and valuable papers, together with such specie as we
had on hand, on board a brig which was consigned to the house, whose
36

captain happened to be on shore with his boat, and was fortunately with
us at the house.^
In the mean time the armed sailors from the ships were landed and
marched to the Government House, where the commissioners resided.
This body of undisciplined men was headed by a brother of General
Galbaud's, who had embarked with him. He bore the commission of a
major in the army, as 1 was informed, and was considered a brave and
good officer. As soon as this rabble, for it can be called by no other
name, arrived in sight of the Government House and within shot of a
battalion composed of two regiments of mulatto infantry, which was
drawn up in front of it, two colored officers of rank from these regi-
ments advanced, and demanded a parley with the leaders of the sailors.
Galbaud ordered his people to halt, and immediately stepped forward
with another officer to hear what they had to say. While saluting
each other with profound respect, the mulattoes dropped their hats, and
seized " Massa Galbaud " in their arms, while at the same moment a
portion of the line of infantry discharged their pieces into the body of the
sailors as they were standing huddled together, without any suspicion of
treachery, awaiting the termination of the conference.^ Many were killed
dead on the spot, and many wounded tlie rest fled at full speed to their
;

boats, which still remained at the .wharves, but so closely were they
pursued by the mulattoes that few reached their ships in safety. Many
of those who were in the rear, finding the boats had put off with those
that arrived first, jumped into the water. Such as could swim were
picked up and carried on board their ships, but many were drowned.
The loss of men in this way was altogether great; but it formed only a
portion of the total loss, which included those who were butchered on
the occasion.
The commissioners had been doubtless informed of evei'ything that
was going forward, and knew tliat many of the citizens of the town who
probably intended to join the sailors had been the movers in this fool-
ish and inconsiderate measure. Doubtless an order had been given to
massacre all the whites that were found in the streets, and it was most
faithfully executed."^

1 " It was fortunate for us that we decided as we did at once

; for had we wasted
half an hour, or even twentj' minutes, it would have been too late, and we should
have lost all our books and money.We had about fifteen thousand dollars on
hand Scarcely was it placed in the boat when we
at tlie time in silver in bags.
lieard the sound, and soon caught sight of a large body of regular troops and the
;

boat had not got half-way to the shipping when the whole street was lined with
soldiers to prevent all communication between the shipping and the shore. No
opportunity offered after this to save anything."
- " This fact was related to me by an eye-witness when I returned to the Cape

six weeks afterwards, at which time Major Galbaud was confined in chains in
})rison. What finally became of him I never knew."
3 " A clerk of ours named Dubeau, a very athletic young man, told me that he
37

No sooner was this massacre ended than another scene of carnage

commenced Government House, or in the gardens and square in
at the
front of it. A young men of the first families, called the
corps of
"Volunteers," composed of about three hundred high-spirited gentlemen,
attacked the mulattoes, and attempted to enter the Government House

was one of the many spectators of the scene at tlie Government House, and that
lie fled with tlie rest down the street leading to the King's Wharf. Finding himself
close pressed by the mulattoes, and numbers of merchants, as well as sailors, fall-
ing about him under the shot of the pursuers, who did not stop to examine the
bodies, but followed the flying, he thought his only chance was to fall with the
next volley. This he did, and as soon as the soldiers had passed over him in
pursuit, he sprang on his feet and entered a house, where he secreted himself
until he found an opportunity in the evening to get off to the siiipping. I cannot
resist an inclination to relate as briefly as possible an anecdote of tliis young man,
Dubeau, which made a strong impression on my mind at the time it occurred. A
gentleman whose name I now forget, but a man of some consequence, and a mem-
ber of the Assembly, owed the house some two or three hundred dollars, and not
having called to pay it as was expected, I sent M. Dubeau to him to collect
the money. Dubeau returned witiiout it, saying that the gentleman was un-
well and could not be seen. Some time after I told Dubeau to go again but ;

he made some excuse, and showed such an aversion to going that I went myself
to the house, and liaving inquired for the person was introduced to his chamber,
where I found him walking the room. On making my business known, he
begged pardon for not having paid the debt before, but said he had been con-
fined for some weeks to his room, having been bitten by a mad dog, and that his
physician had ordered him to remain indoors six weeks, when, if all was right, he
might go out, and he would then call and settle the account. On my return to
the counting-house, I mentioned the fact, and I observed Dubeau turn pale as
ashes. A week or ten days elapsed when one day, while Dubeau was posting his
books at a desk near the window that opened into the street, I turned towards
the door and saw the gentleman in question, who had just arrived. Addressing
him by his name, I asked him how he did. The moment his name was men-
tioned, Dubeau dropped his pen, sprang out of the window into the street, and
took to his heels as if the man had presented a pistol at his head. I saw notliing
more of him during the day, and could not account for this extraordinary be-
havior. The next day, when I called him to account for his conduct and absence
from his duty, he related the following facts as an apology for his apparent
derangement :Sir,' said the poor fellow, trembling from head to foot like a
'

child, 'you will excuse me when you know the horror I feel at the name of a
mad dog. My father died raving mad, having been bitten by my uncle, who had
been bitten bj' a mad dog, and himself fell a victim to hydrophobia. I was
young at the time, but I saw my father while under the effects of his wound,
and the awful and heart-rending scenes that it produced in my family made such
an impression on my mind that the thought of it almost makes me mad myself.
When I first went to his house and was told the facts, I was so much alarmed
and affected that I could not return, or tell you the reason why I declined going
again. Wlien he arrived here and you called him by name, I was seized with an
indescribable terror, and the first impulse carried me out of the window and
drove me away from the house. His presence haunted me during the whole
day, and I was afraid to return home while it was light. Indeed, I have thought
of nothing else since, and I hope the circumstances which I have related of my
family misfortune may plead in my favor.' "
38

and seize the commissioners. These, however, had made their escape
into the country with a body of
their guards but the blacks had been
;

armed, and their Uberty proclaimed, so that the numbers that were col-
lected to oppose the whites left this unhappy battalion of volunteers no
chance of success. The greater part were destroyed, but some brave
fellows among them escaped and joined themselves to other armed
corps.
They did not, however, die unrevenged, for their discipline was ex-
having been trained under the Chevalier Dugres and the young
cellent,
Comte de Grasse and the efforts they made and the courage they dis-
;

played brought double their number to the ground. The scene was
horrible. At the same moment a general massacre of the white in-
habitants commenced in the upper part of the town and as no boats;

could either come on shore or go off from it in consequence of the whole

Bay being lined with white troops who were stationed there early in the
afternoon to prevent all communication with the shipping, our house

towards evening was filled with women who had fled from the emanci-
pated slaves who were butchering all they could reach in the upper part
of the town. Most of these were mulatto women, who fled with the
rest when the massacre began. "What became of them finally I know
not, for as we ourselves had no means of escape they all left the house
during the night, and sought safety elsewhere.

CHAPTER VI.

Recollections of St. Domingo, continued.

The Government House was distant about half a mile from the resi-
dence of the American merchants and the landing-jjlace where the
;

sailors had disembarked was nearly half that distance below them down
the bay, but in full view from the balconies. A little further on was
the Artillery Park, where a regiment was stationed. As the fighting
was some distance from the seaboard, we could only hear the rattling
at
of the musketry, but could see none of the operations after the sailors
had been driven into the sea, as the troops engaged were in the neigh-
borhood of the Government residence. When the alarm among the
inhabitants in our quarter had been raised to the highest pitch by the
news that the commissioners had freed and armed the slaves, every one
seized his firearms, and without concert placed himself at the corner of
his street to defend his person and his property, or his family, if he had
any, expecting momentarily that his own house servants would join in
the massacres. Every moment accounts from the interior of the town
were brought by the fugitives of the dreadful and deadly contention that
was going on there between the white inhabitants and the armed slaves,
39

who now considered themselves authoi'ized by the commissioners to com-

mit every sjiecies of outrage. While some were struggling with the
whites in the streets, others were robbing the houses of their most pre-
cious effects or committing acts a thousand times worse on the female in-
mates. A constant and unceasing fire of musketry had been kept up in
the upper part of the city since the first attack of the mulatto regiments
on the sailors, but when nightf^ll arrived it extended everywhere, for the
fears of the whites led them to dread every one who appeai'ed, and as
they could not distinguish between the whites and blacks in the dark, it
was only a cry of " Who 's there ? " and a shot followed the sound before
the question could be answei-ed. Thus, in the general panic whites de-
stroyed whites and blacks destroyed blacks throughout the night, and
one constant and incessant firing of musketry, with incessant roaring of
cannon, was heard in every direction and even at our own doors till
daylight. At this period a field-piece was planted at the corner of our
house by some white soldiers, who began firing up the street, but they
were soon driven from their position by other cannon at the head of it.
The white troops that had in the early part of the afternoon been sta-
tioned along the seaboard to prevent communication with the shipping
had withdrawn before dark, and had mostly joined the whites in de-
fence of the town, and were now involved in the general warfare,
but as the brigands of the country had been let into the city, the troops
had by degrees been driven to their quarters, or to the Artillery Park,
where they made their stand.
The quarter of the town where our house stood was entirely de-
serted, not a soul was to be seen at sunrise, and no boat of any kind
was in sight from the front balcony. The hot contest was carried on
chiefly at a distance from us (although a musket ball did find its way
into our room while we were at breakfast). We were alone, and with-
out support, except from our own arms.^ We felt the necessity of
escape, but we had no means left were no boats or boat-
us, as there
men to be seen. The cannon atthe head of the street still kept up
a regular fire towards the bay for some time after the enemy had
retired. Soon after it ceased we heard a cry in the street, and
running to the window saw a merchant of the city, who had com-
manded a troop of horse the day before, running swiftly to the water,
with his sword drawn, and without his hat, crying as he went, " Sauvez-
vous tout est perdu " Repeating these words with great vehemence,
!
!

he plunged into the sea and swam towards the shipping. It was now
time to look about us we breakfasted, however, and consulted with
;

1 "The white persons in the liouse, all well armed, were Mr. Burling, Mr. J.
Carter, Mr. a Frencli clerk of ours, whose name has escaped me, a young
,

man named Porter, an apprentice of ours, and myself; the blacks, Tom, Sam-
son, Plato, Moussa, Yorick, and Nancy the cook."
40

each other as to the course to be pursued. Although well armed, we

could not expect to defeud ourselves long against the numbers that
would soon be ufion us, and it was determined to try to rouse one or more
of the boatmen who might be skulking behind some of the large flat-

boats anchored along the bay, that were employed to load the shipping.
After repeated from the front balcony for a passage-boat, with all
calls

the force we we at last had the satisfaction of seeing a

could muster,
black head raised above the side of one of these vessels but all our ap- ;

peals for help availed us nothing. The head was shaken in negation,
and dropped out of sight. My partner, who was with us, was almost a
cripple with the rheumatism. To attempt to swim to this boat was for
him out of tlie question, and we could not and would not leave him,
even if death had stared us in the face. Renewed calls for help brought
up another black head and a friendly shake of assent. We all therefore
left the house as we stood, without a second shirt to our backs, and even

without carrying off our watches, which were left in our bedrooms, but
armed with pistols for our defence.^
We had the our blacks, to whose leader
gi'eatest confidence in a —
faithful slave, whom wehad long owned —
we gave the charge to keep
the doors shut, and to open them to no one but ourselves, should we be
fortunate enough to return. This man had informed us the night before
that he had been promised his liberty if he would join the rebels. We
were in a few minutes placed on board a vessel belonging to Baltimore,
that happened to be nearest the shore. Scarcely had we time to thank
God for our escape, wheu, looking with a glass towards our house, we
saw that it was surrounded by a troop of black cavalry our doors were ;

open, and our negroes were wading off towards the ships. I jumped
into a boat with two sailors, and soon brought them all on board in
safety. They told us that scarcely had we left the shore when they
heard the tramp of the horses, and fearful of being obliged to join the
insurgents, they quitted the house and made for the w^ater, where they
were hidden from the troops by the piles of lumber that covered the
bay, or seaboard. This was on Friday morning, June 20. Our house
1 " When we saw the means of relief before us, we wei'e too much overjoyed to

think of anytliing but the preservation of our Uves, and our retreat was therefore
rather precipitate. While. tiie blacks were rowing us off we regretted our haste,
and began to reproach ourselves that we had not stopped to take our watches
and a change of clothes but had we done this we should doubtless have been all
;

sacrificed. We might have defended the passage upstairs for a time, and could
have done it against quadruple our numbers, but we must finally have been over-
powered and put to death. Our confidence in our strength was great, because
we had plenty of muskets and ammunition, twice as many as we had men for ;

the ammunition and the arms of the American Guard were kept at our house,
and we had loaded them all. Fortunately we were too much alarmed to wait tlie
issue of a battle, as we could expect no support from the whites, who had aban-
doned our neighborhood on every side for the third of a mile."
41

was soon filled with blacks, like all other houses on the bay, and a
regular plunder began of the most valuable effects that had been left by
their late occupants. Money, plate, watches, and jewels were the first
objects that were sought for. This we discovered afterwards, as will be
seen by what follows. Transported on board one of our own vessels
that lay farther out in the harbor, we had time for reflection, and leisure
to inquire into our situation and wants. We were without clothes, except
the light linen dresses which we were accustomed to wear in the morning,
and of these we had only what we had on our backs. Everybody we
saw among the inhabitants who had escaped was in the same situation,
and of course no relief could be looked for from them. After due de-
liberation, we determined to arm ourselves and land the next morning,
with a view to get some clothes, and if possible to save some dry-goods
of value belonging to our friends, that were in one of the back rooms
of the house. After having resolved on this course, we seated ourselves
on the deck to watch the "course of proceedings on shore.
The firing had not ceased for one moment from the time it first began
on the preceding day at one o'clock, and as we approached we were
able to see more distinctly where it was kept up with most vigor. At a
small fort called the Picolet, which had been taken possession of by the
few volunteers who had escaped from the massacre at the Government
House and by some troops of the line who had abandoned the commis-
sioners, there was a I'olling fire of musketry during the whole night, and
in every quarter of the town the flashing of guns was to be seen in quiek
succession, sometimes one or two, and in some places several together,
as if a desultory warfare was carried on by detached parties, or by in-
dividuals who were destroying each other. This at the time we sup-
posed to be a contest between the remaining whites who were defending
themselves individually, or in small parties, against the slaves who had
been let loose upon them, but we afterwards found it was a contest
among the liberated slaves for the possession of the plunder which some
were carrying away, while others who had been less fortunate in their
search shot at them. Thousands of the blacks were supposed to have
been destroyed in this way, for as soon as they had gotten rid of their
masters, either by murdering them or by running away from them, they
turned their arms against each other to secure the plunder that either or
any of them possessed. This scene kept us on deck during the night,
and however strange it may appear to those who have never been placed
in circumstances of great peril, we were never distressed or discouraged.
As soon as daylight permitted, we began our preparations for a descent,
and having broken our fast we embarked in three boats with four sail-
ors in each, and commanded, one by Captain Clark, one by my partner,
and one by myself. We were all armed with muskets and pistols and
with a supply of cartridges. There were, besides, one or two volunteers
6
42

to each boat, — among others, a Mr. Hunter, of Georgia, a high-spirited

gentleman, who had made one of our family at the time of our flight.
Our party was therefore composed of about eighteen or nineteen armed
men, the leaders of whom were in too destitute a condition to hesitate
about risking their lives in the hope to obtain wherewithal to cover
their nakedness.
As we passed on towards the shore we were hailed by the master
of a small brig belonging to Charleston, South Carolina, the brave and
amiable Captain Campbell, who has since commanded the frigate " Con-
stitution," and desired to come alongside his vessel. This we at first
refused to do, as we saw the coast was clear, and were afraid that by
delay we might lose what appeared so good a chance to us of obtaining
our object. This we stated to him, but he insisted on our compliance,
and otfered to accompany us we therefore rowed alongside his brig,
;

and he called on his crew for volunteers to accompany him in his own
boat. The call was met with three cheers both from his own crew
and ours, and in a few minutes we had an accession of four stout sail-
ors commanded by a cool, steady, and spirited officer. This gave us all
our original force for fighting men, and left four men to take care of
the four boats, so that our party was quite respectable as to force. We
placed our boats' sterns to the shore with graplines at the head, and a
sailor was left with each to steady them in this position, so that when
we came down to the boats with our several loads of goods, we had only
to wade off a short distance and place them in the stern-sheets, where they
were stowed away by the boatguards. The sea-breeze had set in very
strong, so that our clothes and a part of the goods got quite soaked with
the spray which came over the bows. This arrangement was necessary,
not only for the convenience of loading, but to have the boats in a posi-
tion to facilitate our escape in case of need. The event showed the
importance of this precaution.

AVe appointed Captain Campbell commander of the sailors who were

to form our defence, while we attempted to save some portion of our
property. The streets being laid out at right angles, and the houses
built in square blocks, our guards stationed at the entrance of the
streetson either side the block in which our house and stores stood,
could repel any small body that might get information of our landing.
No opposition was made to it, and not a person of any kind was to be
seen alive. The only impediment to effecting an entrance into our own
house was a dead negro, who lay directly across the doorway with a
bundle at his head. On removing him, we found he had been shot in
the back, probably while running off with his jilunder. I shall never
forget with what nonchalance one of the sailors caught up the bundle,
and threw it to one of his comrades who was behind him, crying out,
" JIollo, Jack, catch this, and throw it into the boat, my boy ; here is
43

fine plunder for us !

" Other dead bodies were scattei'ed about, but all

of blacks. We rushed into our several lodging-rooms, where we found

our wardrobes untouched. The keys were in them, but not an article
appeared to be deranged. Our watches were gone, but we had what
was more important to us left, —
our clothes. Each one seized a
sheet, and filled it with whatever came first to hand and as we ;

always had a large stock of linen, we were not long in placing

our bundles, filled with shirts, pantaloons, and other articles of dress,
in the boats. As soon as this was done the goods-room was opened,
and other sheets were filled and placed on our shoulders to be carried
to the boats. As we had to cross the open street on the seaboard in
going to the boats, we were saluted from behind some piles of lumber
up the bay by a few musket-balls, which whistled by our ears, but
we could see no one. As the party that was firing at us was so hidden
that we could not return the compliment with any effect, we continued
our labors, starting as quickly as we could with our burdens across the
we arrived under the shelter of the piles of lumber in front
street, until
of our own house on the seaboard. We knew that if the alarm was
once given, we should be soon overpowered from the back part of the
town, and in this we were not mistaken, for Campbell, who was lame
in oneleg, was put to his mettle to superintend the defence of the two

posts where our guards were stationed. This, however, he did do so

effectually that the first assailants were driven for security behind the
blocks of houses above us. But we were not left long undisturbed.
Soon after the cessation of firing, a white man, dressed in soldier's
clothes, rushed into one of the streets on horseback, crying to our party
to save him. While pushing his horse full speed towards our lines,
several muskets were fired at him by the blacks. We received him as
a fugitive from the enemy. He had no arms, said he had been taken
prisoner by the blacks, and had seized an opportunity to make his es-
cape. Finding there were boats on sliore with white people, he came
to ask our protection and to be taken on board with us. He asked
the strength of our party, and was willing to take arms and lead us to
attack the rebels, if we had a few brave fellows to spare for the expe-
dition. While we were listening to this fellow, my partner came up
from the boats, and hearing what he proposed, asked him a few ques-
tions, which evidently confused him, and made him look round as if
desirous of escaping. He was still on horseback, and Mr. Burling, being
satisfied that he was a spy sent by the negroes to see what our force
was, did not hesitate, but drawing a pistol from his belt would have shot
the fellow dead had I not seized his arm and prevented him. This in-
terference led to a warm altercation between us, in which the bystand-
ers took sides. Meanwhile the fellow made his escape to the blacks,
and in fifteen minutes after, we were attacked by a strong body of them
;

44

in both streets, and our late distressed friend and fellow-sufferer was
seen actively engaged in urging them on to the attack. Reinforcements
were every moment arriving from the back part of the town, and a
stronger body had taken their stand behind the boards above us on the
bay, fromwhom we had every now and then a discharge.
Retreat was necessary, as we saw we should soon be overpowered
but we had made our arrangements so that the boats were manned,
ready to pull off, while the guard, although diminished in numbers, kept
up a brisk fire until all was prepared. As soon as this was announced,
Captain Campbell drew off his battalion in a sailor-like manner, and
made his retreat good to the boats, without the loss of any one except
the French who had stolen a march upon us. Scarcely had we
soldier
put off when the blacks made their appearance, but not being able to
see whether the boats were still all off"-shore, they moved very cau-
tiously, fearing an ambush, so that we had made good progress before
they were jjrepared to fire on us from the beach, and one or two well-
directed shots from the boats soon dispersed them.^
These details may have little interest for general readers ; but as
they led to other results, and as they show the importance of system
and organization, as well as of union of thought in all cases of a like
nature, I have thought it proper to state them at the risk of taxing
their patience. Had I not interfered to prevent the shooting of the
soldier who came among us in the character of a suppliant for protec-
tion, we never could have been sure that his fate was deserved, and
we should have always deeply regretted the rashness that led to the
catastrophe. At the time I was blamed, and perhaps justly, but I
have never repented that I saved a fellow-being, though he proved him-
self afterwards to be a spy and a traitor. It is better that ten guilty
men should escape than that one innocent should suffer, either by Lynch
or Statute law.
As our persons were well known to most of the blacks of the part

1 " My partner, Mr.

Burling, who had been confined with severe rheumatism
for a long time, and almost deprived of the use of his limbs before the events of
the 19th, became as active as any of the party in consequence of the excitement
and exertion that he was obliged to make.
" When Captain Campbell announced the necessity of a retreat and all were
ready to move, Burling stood at the door of the store facing the bay, ready also,
as we supposed, as he had been called from the rooms above for the purpose,
but at the moment when Campbell was about to draw off the guard, and the
blacks were pressing on us with force. Burling cried out, Keep your guard,
'

Campbell, while I run up and lock the goods-room door, we may have another
chance at it yet,' —
and back he ran upstairs and through the whole length of
the building to lock this cursed door, while we were exposed to be overpowered
by the brigands. Nothing could stop him, back he would go, and would have
gone if the devil had stood on the stairs. He was the most fearless man I ever
knew."
45

of the town where we bad lived, it was soon known among them that

we had landed with arms, and had shot several negroes in defending
ourselves from their attacks. This was treasured in the memory of
some who hoped for an opportunity to revenge themselve-" at some
futux'e period.

CHAPTER VII.

Recollections of St. Domingo, continued.

Hitherto the excitement of the scene that was passing before us,
and the continued action of the morning, had kept up our spirits to their
highest stretch but as we had now attained our immediate object, and
;

were out of danger from the attacks of our enemies, we had nothing
more to gain or to hope for, as we were convinced that we should never
again be permitted to land, or to secure any more of our property.
The silent gloom that succeeded, as we rowed forward to our ships,
was soon aroused by the cries and lamentations of the miserable beings
who stood on the decks of the vessels that we passed, all of whom had
been watching our landing and anxious return in the frail hope that we
might bring them tidings of their lost friends. Men, women, and chil-
dren half naked (a most heart-rending sight), with uplifted hands were
beseeching us to give them hope of safety, —
some for their wives, some
for their husbands, some for their children, and some for their parents.
They mingled their tones of supplication and entreaty with such a show
of wretchedness that the firmest hearts among us gave way to emotions
that none but brutes could have resisted. We were overwhelmed with
grief; and men who but a few minutes before bad braved death without
a sensation of fear or sense of suffering were now unmanned and as
feeble as children. All that had passed before, and all that suc-
ceeded this scene, until I arrived in the United States six months after-
wards (and my sufferings were neither few nor light), were nothing to
what I then felt. Forty-four years have passed since that period, and
the facts are now as fresh and as marked on my memory as if they had
occurred but yesterday. The 'wives and children of planters, of mer-
chants, and of mechanics who had been murdered in their defence were
now frantic with despair, for they had lost all, even their guardians and
only earthly protectors. But the horror of the husbands, fathers, sons,
and brothers who were inquiring for their female relatives was, if pos-
sible, still more strongly depicted on their faces and in their agitated
frames, for they felt that miseries worse than death had befallen
them.
Let those who advocate the immediate emancipation of the slaves in
our own country reflect for a moment, and ask themselves what would
;

46 .

be their feelings had Heaven cast their lot in the Southern States, their —
only patrimony the slaves that their fathers had inherited from their
parents, —
should the mistaken philanthropy of their neighbors pursue
a course of measures calculated to produce the same effects on them
and their f{\milies that I have witnessed, and have feebly described in
these pages ? I say nothing of the violation of the compact that gives
the Southei-n States the right by law to hold this property undisturbed
I speak only of the effects that would necessarily be produced, and the
misery that must follow the success of their plans, —
misery not only
to the innocent whites, but misery and tenfold wretchedness to the
slaves themselves for this would as certainly follow a general rising
;

of the blacks, or an immediate emancipation of them, as effect follows

an operating cause. But let us proceed with our narrative.
Scarcely had we arrived on board of our own vessel when she was
surrounded with boats filled with the late inhabitants of the town, who
came have their inquiries satisfied, or to beg for a few clothes to
to
protect them from the burning rays of the sun for hundreds who lived
;

at a distance from the first outbreaking of the slaves, having retired to

rest, had left their beds and fled with nothing but their night-clothes to

cover them as the storm approached their own dwellings. Who could
resist at such a moment to contribute a portion of their means to their
suffering fellow-beings ? There were but few of us that were not soon
reduced almost to as small a stock as that we possessed before we
landed, particularly in shirts, for this garment served for either sex,
and allwere equally destitute.
We had scarcely swallowed our dinner when we were called on deck
to witness new scenes. The seaboard was now lined with black troops
on horseback, with long lines of mules tied to each other by their tails,
and accompanied by black drivers. These mules —
which had been
brought in from the country for the purpose, with their drivers, who
were accustomed to this mode of transportation, coffee being brought
to the town for sale in this manner —
were at once loaded with the dry-
goods and other articles easily transported from our stores. When one
set was charged and led off, another line was brought up and loaded,
until all the articles from the stores and houses that could be thus car-
ried away were sent off to the country. The whole bay for nearly
three quarters of a mile was stripped of its merchandise and other ;

parts of the town were doubtless plundered in the same manner, but
this we could not see.
We sat watchiug the plunderers till nightfall, but the darkness of
the night had not long set in when we were by a light which
attracted
soon spread into a blaze, and in a ^evf minutes the whole line of houses
on the bay were on fire. This was immediately followed by a general
conflagration of the interior of the town, amidst the rattling of mus_
47

ketry and the roaring of cannon ; for the lower part of the city and the
forts weredefended by such whites as had aot been able to escape
still

on board the ships. The nature of the merchandise in many of the

French and American warehouses was such that it burned vividly, with
occasional explosions, caused by the large quantities of brandy, rum,
and other spirits left in them. Great quantities of oil, tar, and pitch
contributed to feed and brighten the flame, so that all objects at a dis-
tance were distinctly visible.'
The whole harbor was lighted up ; and the ships, with their miserable
tenants, were not the least distressing objects before us. The sight
of a great city in flames, though awful, is sublime, and we sat watch-
ing the flames until daylight announced that something must be done
for our own preservation and support. The property that we had left

in our stores, the debts that were due to us for goods sold to the inhab-
itants, were all lost forever; our only resource was in the commission-
ers, whose act enforcing the payment of the goods delivered to the
Government was doubtless the immediate cause of all the disasters
and dreadful effects we have related. After consulting with such of
the American merchants as could be collected together, it was deter-
mined to send a flag of truce on shore at the ferry at the upper part of
the town, in hope of gaining access to the commissioners, who were
the now ruling and supreme power.
But who would undertake this hazardous mission ? The late Com-
modore Barney, who commanded the ship " Samson," then in port,
oflTered his barge, rowed by six men, with the American flag at her

stern and a white flag at her bow. He would doubtless have been
the best man to have gone in her, but as no part of the debt was due
to him, and as he had his ship to take care of, we could not with any
propriety accept his offer. In this conjuncture, being the youngest of
the party who were immediately concerned in the measure, I offered to
go, provided I could obtain the company of a mulatto of respectability
whom I knew and had seen on board one of the ships. Without this
precaution it was deemed by all a desperate attempt. The boat was
accordingly manned, the flags hoisted at the stern and stem of the barge,
and I set forth to find my friend the mulatto. Fortunately for me, he
scouted the idea of landing among a set of savages whose hands were
stillwet with the blood, not only of the whites and mulattoes who had
fallen within them, but with that of their fellow-slaves, whom they had
destroyed to possess their plunder. " My person or my color," said my
1 " our store a great quantity of rum and brandy, oil, candles,
There was in
and other combustible merchandise, beside a quantity of gunpowder in one of
our iron chests made into cartridges for the American Guard, so that we outshone
tliem all; and our house was distinguislied as exhibiting a finer display of fire-
works than any along the whole bay. When it blew up there was a shout among
us that on another occasion would have been taken for one of victory."
;

48

judicious friend, " would afford you no protection whatever, even if I

was spared and your flag would only* be a signal for your own de-
;

struction, since it must be well known that several American boats

have landed with armed men, and yourself among them, and if any of
the blacks were killed you would never be allowed to reach the com-
missioners, but would be immediately sacrificed. For all the Govern-
ment owe your merchants I would not risk my neck for one minute
among them, —
I^ who have done them no harm and I advise you to ;

return on board your ship." By the time I had reached the vessel
where oiir party were, a new alarm had arisen. It was circulated
among the shipping that the men of war, of which there were four or
five in the harbor, were preparing to leave the port that evening as
soon as the land-breeze should set off from the shore. I was accord-
ingly despatched on board the Admiral's ship to ascertain the fact, I
found everything indicating a movement on board, and soon learned
that it was the intention of the men of war to get out of the harbor as
soon as the wind would let them.
This news was soon spread throughout the fleet, which amounted to
three or four hundred vessels of all classes.
The alarm spread that the blacks were preparing to come off and
attack the shipping in the night ; and as the ships of war lay at the
outer part of the harbor, and the merchant vessels within, it would in

fact have required not a great effort on their part to have possessed
themselves of all the shipping that was anchored nearest to the shore.
The excitement and disorder that ensued throughout the vessels, and
the panic that prevailed among them, can be better conceived than de-
scribed. Many of the great French ships lay with their yards fore and
aftunprepared to put to sea some were without
; ballast, some were
under careen, — that is, were undergoing repairs, — and few had their
sails bent ; many were without provisions or water for a voyage of any
length, and they had every reason to fear that they would meet with
but a poor reception in any other port in the Island. But necessity
hath no law : the fear of the blacks was stronger than the fear of star-
vation ; the danger from one was immediate, from the other remote.
The was hoisted on the Admiral's ship for all vessels to get ready
signal
to leave the port, and the confusion was without parallel.
The usual time to go to sea from this port is the morning, as soon
as the objects that mark the channel can be seen but at sundown the ;

ships of war dropped their topsails, and as soon as the land-wind blew
they got under way. In these latitudes there is little or no twilight
it was soon dark after the sun had disappeared, and the efforts to get

forward were increased to such a degree by the fear of being loft at the
mercy of the blacks that every one set all the sail he could to pass
his neighbor, by which reason the greatest disorder prevailed, and vessels
:

49

were constantly running into each other. The bawling and brail-

ing of the masters, the cursing and swearing of the sailors, and the
crying and moaning of the poor inhabitants, who were going they knew
not where, was enough to shake the resolution of any one who was a
silent spectator of the scene. In the morning at daylight all the fleet
were laying to the wind in sight of each other off the harbor boats ;

were passing between the vessels, and friends joining each other to take
their chance together; the city, full in sight, was still burning with
violence and the harbor, with the exception of a few vessels that had
;

been crowded on to the shore on either side of the channel, was desti-
tute of shipping.

I cannot refrainfrom mentioning an event that happened to my partner,

who was on board the brig " Martha," belonging to us, on her passage out
of the harbor. As he was a very passionate but a very humane and brave
man, it made him exti-emely angry, while it caused the rest of us great
amusement when he related the morning when we
facts to us the next
met off the harbor. As we were and had no time to
in different vessels,
consult with each other as to the course we should pursue, I borrowed
the boat of the captain in whose brig I was passenger, and went on
board the one where Mr. Burling was with our money and books. When
I arrived I found him in bed, dressed in a red baize shirt and trousers
which he had borrowed from one of the crew of his vessel. He was in
great pain from head to foot with a fierce return of rheumatism. This
did not surprise me, because he with the rest of us had got entirely
wet when we went on shore on Saturday; and while the excitement
was kept up he had escaped a relapse. But on questioning him as to
the time when the pain returned he stated the following facts to me
"As we were passing near the shore on coming out of the harbor we
heard a lamentable cry for help from the shore near the Picolet.' Every
'

one said it was the cry of a woman in distress, and I accordingly ordered
two sailors into the boat, and with a view to save the poor creature I got
in myself, although quite stiff and beginning to feel a return of my dis-
ease. The difficulty of landing in the night among the breakers was very
great, and I knew I must get drenched again. Still 1 could not bear the poor
woman's wailing, and I determined to rescue her if possible. She might,
I thought, be some reputable female who was left by her friends, and who
hfifd escaped from the brutality of the insurgents. The captain tried to
dissuade me from the attempt, but I had got my head full of the suffering
of the woman, and the relief I should afford her, so on we pushed into the
breakers, when T got well soused before we struck the beach. It was ex-
tremely dark, but I could see the poor woman standing with outstretched
arms awaiting her deliverance. As the distance between the boat and the
shore was considerable, I called to her to wade off and we would take her
in; off" she came, but what was my horror and indignation when, instead
of a woman, a tall strapping soldier, without his coat and in white trousers,
presented himself alongside. '
Where is the woman,' I said, whom I heard
'

crying here? '

Woman, sir! there has been no woman here; it was I that
'

7
'

50

you heard! The traitoi- that escaped us on Saturday came full upon my
'

mind, and I took up the tiller to knock the rascal's brains out, but he was
out of my reach; and I was so stiff I could not move a joint. Push off the '

boat, men, and let the rascal remain where he is; he shan't come into the
boat, — knock him down with your oars if he attempts it said I to the !
'

sailors. The men w^ere about to comply, when the rascal, in the most
humiliating tone and crouching down in the water, with both hands up-
lifted in prayer, cried out, Pour I'amour de Dieu, sauvez-moi. Monsieur!
'

and I was fool enough to take him in." This scene occun-ed on Sunday,
June 22, 1793.

No one who has not been placed in a like situation can easily im-
agine the feelings which overwhelm the mindwhen men are driven from
their homes where they have passed a great part or perhaps all of
their lives ; deprived, not only of their property, but of many of their
nearest and dearest friends by the ruffian hands of licentious bandits ;

not knowing where they are to go, or what is to be their future lot in
this world of sorrow and suffering ; doubtful whether those they have
left behind are dead, or living in a state of degradation and misery ten
thousand times worse than death itself ; themselves on the point of
being transported to a distant country where they must be shut out
from all information for months, if not forever, that might allay their
anxious fears. The beings who were now looking on the burning ruins
of the city which but a few days before they inhabited in peace and hap-
piness, surrounded by friends and relations, now scattered they knew not
where, blessed with abundance and with those domestic ties that sweeten
and make life desirable, were now friendless, penniless, and without a
home on the habitable globe where they might shelter their heads.
This was the work and the consequence of the sudden emancipation of
the slaves in the Northern Department of St. Domingo.^ Let those
who are now endeavoring to bring about the
self-styled philanthropists
immediate emancipation of the slaves in our own country ask themselves
whether they are willing to see themselves to be the instruments of
like scenes of misery and wretchedness to their fellow-citizens. Is the

1 The representations and entreaties of the planters who liad escaped from St.

Domingo induced the British Government to send an expedition to the island in

September, 1793, under Colonel Whitelock, with orders to occupy such ports as
were willing to accept protection. Although the commissioners had a force of
some fourteen or fifteen thousand whites, and a motley band of negro troops at
their command, they did not feel themselves strong enough to repel the English,
and therefore resorted to the desperate expedient of proclaiming the abolition of
slavery. About one hundred thousand blacks then took possession of the moun-
tain fastnesses, while a desperate band of thirty or fortj' thousand mulattoes and
negroes ravaged the northern districts. On hearing of the seizure of Port au
Prince by the English, the connnissioners fled to the mountains with about two
thousand followers, but finding that Toussaint I'Ouverture had occupied the
heights, they turned their steps to the coast and embarked for France, (Quarterly
Keview, 1819, p. 4;J9.)
51

comfort, or what they call the comfort, of the blacks of more importance
to them, or to the real friends of humanity, than the 2)reservation of
the lives of their white brethren of the South ? Can ladies, nay, can
women of any degree, contemplate the horrors of degradation which
must fall on their own sex throughout the Southern States in case of
sudden emancipation, or of a general rising of the blacks, still hold
meetings to encourage a course of things that must inevitably produce
this result ? Can men who profess themselves Christians, who have
wives and daughters, sisters and friends, labor to produce evils to their
fellow-men, —their fellow-countrymen, too, —
that if brought home to
their own firesides would make them shudder with horror? But so
sure as this great and awful revolution is effected the shock will not be
confined to the Southern States ; it will be felt to the uttermost limits
of this great Republic, even to the firesides of those who have promoted
it. This will be their recompense in this world of the future we know
;

nothing.
But the comforts and the freedom of the slaves are of more impor-
tance than any consequences that may result to our white population,
say these fanatical emancipators. We shall see how it operated on the
blacks after they had gained their boasted freedom.

CHAPTER VIII.

Recollections of St. Domingo^ continued.

The fleet separated on Monday forenoon, some for France, some for
the United States of America, some for the bight of Leogane, and other
ports to leeward in the island. Nothing can be more beautiful than a
fleet of three or four hundred all classes, from the
sail of vessels of

humble droger or coasting-craft, up to the majestic ship of the line,

all under full sail, moving in various directions. The brig in which I
was destined to pursue my course, in company with half a dozen other
American residents at the Cape, was commanded by an amiable and
worthy Bostonian, and that in which my partner Mr. Burling had
embarked was owned in tlm city, partly by our house. Mr. Burling,
who had charge of all the money we had saved from the flames —
about fifteen thousand dollars —
was captured and carried to Jamaica,
there being at this time war between England and France, but before
his capture he had gone into a small port called Limhe, a few leagues
to leeward of the Cape, to get water for his voyage to the United
States.
I may be excused perhaps
for relating an adventure that he met with
at this place, as shows what feelings and dispositions were roused
it

among the blacks the moment they heard of the liberation of their
;

52

fellows at the Cape. On meet

landing, Mr. Burling having chanced to
a planter of our acquaintance, a man and owner of sev-
of great wealth
eral plantations, named Frauc^-ois Lavaud, communicated to him the state
of things at the Cape, and Lavaud immediately determined to load Bur-
ling's vessel with sugar, as well as that of another American who had
also put in there. His carriage was in town, and he invited these two
gentlemen to proceed in it to one of his plantations in the neighborhood,
while he mounted his horse to accompany them, with a view of making
final ai-rangements regarding the freight he was to give them. Scarcely
had they left the town when four blacks, mounted on fleet horses, passed
the carriage at full speed. They were armed with swords and pistols,
and passed directly on towards Mr. Lavaud, who was some hundred
or two yards in advance of the cabriolet which contained our friends.
The moment the blacks arrived within striking distance of this gentle-
man they shot him dead. As this was done view of those in the
in full
carriage, they ordered the postilion to stoj), and by the time they had
got out the assassins were before them with their pistols presented at
their breasts. The shock they had received by seeing their companion
killed before their eyes, without even a question being asked him,
left them no doubt would be made with them.
that equal despatch
" We Americans," exclaimed both these gentlemen together
are
" we belong to the United States," One of the blacks who knew
enough of English to understand them, cried out, " Stop, comrades,
they are not Frerfch ; they are from America, —a country of liberty."
" No matter," said another, " they are whites, and that is enough ; shoot
them like dogs." A dispute arose between the four, two swearing
they should be killed because they were whites, and the others opposing
the step with great vigor. During the contest between the murderers,
the two Americans slipped off into the woods, and as it was now nearly

dark they were left to grope their way as well as they could till day-
light,sometimes wading through deep swamps, and sometimes so en-
tangled in the underbrush of the wood that they could with difficulty
extricate themselves. When day appeared they found themselves on
the seaboard, and soon descried their vessels at anchor. Having hailed
their respective ships, they were soon on board, well pleased with hav-
ing escaped this second massacre. Our woman-cook had gone on shore,
where Burling left her.
The which I was embarked sailed to the port of St. Marks,
brig in
where we were no sooner anchored than a guard of soldiers took
possession of the vessel. The officer pi-oceeded to examine us, and
finding we were inhabitants of the Cape, sent us off to jail, where we
were locked up with all sorts of filthy criminals of the lowest grade
of the slave population. As soon as it was rumored throughout the
town that a number of American gentlemen from the Cape were
;

53

confined in prison, we were visited by some of the white inhabitants,

among whom was a Mr. Ricard whom I had formerly known at the
Cape. This gentleman remonstrated with the jailer, who was a mulatto
man, for putting us into a confined room with a parcel of black convicts,
and finally obtained from him a promise that we should be separated.
He then sent us some mattresses to spread on the fioor, which was of
stone covered with mud, where we were destined to sleep, if we slept

at all, or to remain on our legs during the night, for there was neither
chair nor bench to be had to rest upon. I had afterwards an oppor-
tunity of thanking this amiable man for his kindness, as it saved us
from much suffering.
Fearing that the news of the revolution at the Cape and the emanci-
pation of the slaves might produce similar effects at St. Marks with
those we had so lately witnessed, we were very desirous of remaining
up, and in the jailer's room, to which we had been allowed to retire
through the intervention of our French friend, so that we might be
ready, in case the jail was forced or set fire to during the night, to
defend our persons or make our escape according to circumstances.
To effect this object, we represented to the jailer that we were half
famished, and begged him to procure us a good supper, and plenty of
wine of the best quality, and invited him to join us in the good fare
that he might provide. We gave him money to buy what was needed
and having ordered supper to be served up very late in the evening, we
passed the intermediate time in cogitating on the future. During the
repast we contrived to ingratiate ourselves with our host, who very
obligingly allowed us to remain at table till one in the morning,
when he told us it was more than his head was worth to extend this
indulgence. He then locked us up in our room, and left us to a sound
and undisturbed repose until the morning was well advanced.
As the governor of the place did not arrive in town until the after-
noon of this day, we were detained in jail but on his arrival he called
;

to see us, and after some inquiries ordered our release.

When the governor first arrived he absolutely refused to let us out
until he had orders from the commissioners ; but on our telling him
that we were under their special protection, and that the revolution at
the Cape had taken place in consequence of their having ordered the
merchants to pay us the debt that the Government owed us, and that
this persecution would be highly resented by them when they should
receive our letters, he ordered the prison doors opened, and apologized
very humbly for the mistake that had been made.
The first step we had to take was to j^rocure some ready-made shirts.
I had only three remaining of all I had saved from my wardrobe, the
rest having been disposed of to those that were more needy than
ourselves.
54

After a short stay at St. Marks, I proceeded to Port au Prince,

where I found a vessel loaded with flour from Baltimore to the con-
signment of our firm. Having disposed of this cargo, and obtained
some money for my expenses from the commissions that I received,
I determined on returning to the Cape to look after the debt due us
from the Government. One of the commissioners, Citizen Polvorel,
had in the mean time arrived at Port au Prince, where a guillotine was
erected by him in terrorem, to keep the whites in order.
I had applied to him by letter for instructions as to the mode to be
pursued to obtain my money, and was informed that without the evi-
dence of the debt nothing could be done that the ordinance award-
;

ing to my house the amount due to it must first be produced, and then
the commissioners would take the subject into consideration. As this
ordinance had been left in the hands of the commissioner of the Gov-
ernment stores at the Cape, I had no chance of getting anything but
by going back to look it up.
I accordingly embarked on a small vessel — one of the coasting craft
of the island — with several other passengers, among whom was an
American, whose name I shall not mention because he is long since
dead, who had also claims on the Government to an inconsiderable
amount. On our passage, this person, who was a great talker, was ex-
ceedingly indiscreet in his observations respecting the commissioners.
There were several Frenchmen on board the boat, and one of them
was a gentleman evidently above the rank of the other French passen-
gers. He was extremely taciturn, but evidently watchful of everything
that was said or done among the guests in the cabin. I had frequently
chided the half-Dutch, half- American passenger (for such he really
was) for the license he gave his tongue, which I thought extremely
impolitic at least, situated as we were but his reply was, " Nobody
;

understands us and if they do, I care not a straw." There were sev-
;

eral parcels on board, directed " To the Citizen Santhonax, Commis-

sioner, etc., at the Cape," lying in the cabin in a small open box these ;

had been frequently handled by this person, who said one day that he
should like to see what the despatches contained, and had an inclination
to open them and satisfy his curiosity. The master of the vessel was
on deck at the time, but the French gentleman, whom I have men-
tioned, was sitting apparently half asleep at one end of the cabin.
" For Heaven's sake " said I, " what do you mean ? Are you mad ? "
!

" No," said he in reply, " I am not mad but I mean to see what mis-
;

chief these rascals are brewing." Shocked at the cool and determined
manner which he showed, I remonstrated with him. I represented not
only the crime, but the consequences that would follow it. I attempted
to rescue the packet from his grasp. Everything that could be done I
did to prevent this outrage on common decency. I told him if it was
55

known he would be hung, and deservedly and if the result were to

;

end there I should not regret it, but all on board, particularly myseli
as an American, would be implicated, and we might expect on our ar-
rival to be all imprisoned if the packet was missing. This rash man,
however, had broken the seal, and proceeded to read the enclosures,
when a movement from the person at the further end of the cabin
alarmed him, and he threw the despatches out of the cabin window.
My anger was roused to the highest pitch, and I said everything that
my indignation suggested to him but he remained as undisturbed as if
;

I had been paying him a compliment for liis hardihood. The French
gentleman rose and went on deck, and as I had suspected that he had
seen the letters thrown overboard, if not all that had passed, I followed
him up, greatly distressed lest he might suspect me of participating in
this shameful outrage. He joined me on the deck and immediately
opened a conversation on the subject, by which I was soon relieved
from all apprehension as regarded myself at least.
He told me that he had heard the conversation between me and the
other American citizen during the time we had been on board ; that he
understood English well, and could speak it with considerable ease ;

that he had watched the whole proceeding below, and that he was
happy to say he was fully satisfied with my conduct, and should, in case
of need, bear testimony to my madman below
efforts to prevent that
from committing the crime he had so foolishly been led into. He then
told me he was a councillor of State that if the facts were known to the
;

Government, the violator of these public despatches would pay for the
trespass with his life but that he should be discreet, and if the cap-
;

tain did not discover the loss of the parcel he should remain silent,
provided no other violence was committed. He cautioned me, how-
ever, not to mention to Mr. that he knew anything of the trans-
action, as it might lead to some communication between them, and in
this case he should be obliged to order the captain of the vessel to
arrest and confine him, which would lead to an open publicity of the
transaction, and thus bring about a catastrophe which he was desirous
to avoid.
I shall never forget the mild, benignant,and amiable character of
this gentleman. Few men would have shown the same
in his situation
degree of moderation and forbearance that he did. I have now for-
gotten his name but I afterwards learned that he was a man of great
;

consideration, and high in the confidence of the Government. "When

we arrived at the Cape he took a kind leave of me, and bowed coldly
to my companion. I confess I had some doubts on my mind whether
the loss of the packet would not be discovered either by the master of
the vessel or the commissary, and that we should be called on to ac-
count for it ; but all passed off in silence.
56

The author of this shameful scene was extremely alarmed when he

observed the marked difference which this gentleman showed towards
us at parting, and he would have given all he was worth to have
been sure of his life, for his reflections had convinced him that he bad
forfeited it to his curiosity.
On my arrival Iwent on board the Boston brig " Betsey," which
had arrived at the Cape after its destruction. The captain, who was
an old acquaintance of mine, received me kindly, and inquired what
was my object in coming there. Being told that it was to obtain evi-
dence of the debt due to my house from the Government, and to en-
deavor to collect it from them, he advised me to return without landing,
as I might be assured if I went on shore I should be shot on the ram-
parts before twenty-four hours had passed, if I had not been already
assassinated in the streets. He stated that it was well known that I
had landed with a party of armed men and had shot some of the blacks ;

that he had heard the thing mentioned among the blacks repeatedly,
and that nothing would rejoice them more than to get me into their
power. I told my kind friend and adviser that we had done nothing
more than we had a right to do, which was to defend our lives while
we were securing a part of our property, and that if I could reach the
commissary I had no doubt I could obtain from him the necessary pro-
tection against violence and that as I had come up from Port au Prince
;

with the knowledge of Citizen Polvorel for this purpose, I could not re-
turn without an effort to get my money. I accordingly requested the
loan of his boat to put me on shore, which he granted with tears in his
eyes, and I landed on the quay called the King's Wharf. On the end
of the wharf I observed a black man dressed in a suit of white dimity,
wearing a white cocked hat bound with gold-lace on his head, having a
gold-headed cane in his hand, and a large gold watch-chain hanging
from his fob. He eyed me as I approached the quay, and when I
landed he walked up to me very deliberately (for he was very fat),
opened both his arms, and gave me the fraternal accolade.
By this time I had recognized Andre, a slave and house-servant of
M. Joyeux, one of my neighbors, a stout old gentleman, who, like myself,
was an American commission merchant, although a Frenchman. He had
been killed in the general massacre and his favorite servant, who was
;

about his height, being an aristocrat in feeling, and having by the new
order of things become a citizen, had thought it would well become the
dignity of his new character to wear his master's Sunday suit and carry
his gold-headed cane. During our short interview the good Andre rec-
ommended me to be cautious, not to show myself in public more than
was absolutely necessary, and to sleep on board my vessel without tail
every night. He also advised me to salute all the blacks I had occasion
to speak to with the title of Citoyen, as all were now free and equal.
57

On leaving Anflre, to proceed to the residence of Mr. INIeyers, who

was then American Consul, I perceived a number of black men and
one white man in the water, in the act of rolling a hogshead of sugar
into a large flat-bottomed boat. The white man was encouraging the
rest to exert themselves by cheering them with his voice. " Allons,
mes enfans, encore une fois !
" exclaimed the old gentleman, whose
head was as white as snow " now for the last shove " and the hogs-
; !

head was safely lodged in the boat. " Now for another," said he, turn-
ing round to come to the shore for another cask, when who should I
see but my former next-door neighbor, M. Laroque, lately a gentle-
man of large fortune, now without hat or shoes, in a coarse checked
shirt and trousers, doing the labor which but a few weeks before was
the business of his slaves. I immediately went down to the beach to
meet him. " What " said I, " is this M. Laroque that I see here
!

working like a slave ? " " Que faire, mon ami ? " said he " 11 faut
;

bien vivre." I was struck dumb. He then cautioned me not to use

the word slave on any occasion, as it might cost me my life.
On leaving him I proceeded to the Government stores, which were
near the wharf, and there found Consul Meyers, with whom I proceeded
towards the commissioner's lodgings, which were no longer at the ancient
Government House, that building having been mostly destroyed during
the contest. On our way we were conversing in a low tone, with our
faces turned towards each other, and our heads rather stooping, my hat
being drawn over my face to avoid being recognized, when I received a
blow on the breast that almost levelled me with the ground. On look-
ing up to see whence the blow came, I saw before me a negro fellow of
great size, in full uniform, with his sword half drawn, glaring upon me
with the most infernal countenance I ever beheld. My first impulse
was to break out upon this savage with a heavy curse, but as prudence
is the better part of valor, a moment's reflection cooled my anger, and

I asked the fellow what he meant by striking me in that manner. He

eyed me steadily for a moment, and then raising himself up with the
most arrogant manner to his full height (which was six feet two or
three inches), in the most contemptuous tone he exclaimed in Creole,
" Moi trompc! " (" I am mistaken in my man ") and passed on.
! Al-
though it was consoling that I was not his man, I did not get over the
pain in my breast during the day, and I thought it best on the whole to
show my face in future, that I might not have to pay for the misdeeds
of others as well as my own. The incident, however, gave me an ex-
cuse for asking the commissary to give me a carte de surete, which he
granted without hesitation. The commissary treated me politely enough,
and told me if I could procure my ordinance he would write to Citizen
Polvorel at Port au Prince to have my balance paid.
On application to the Guard Magazin for this purpose, 1 was shown
58

one end of which was filled

into a large room, fifty or sixty feet long,
with papers in one solid mass and here I was to hunt for ray single
;

sheet of proof. I had the work of a month before me at least I was ;

in despair. However, to work I went, and as if fortune thought it

proper to indemnify me for the blow I had received in the morning, she
placed the paper in my hands in fifteen minutes. Full of spirits at my
good luck, and communicate to him my
I sallied forth to find the consul
happiness. On the way I met a negro, whom I had known as the
servant of a rich old merchant of my acquaintance who had retired from
business. The fellow recognized me at once, and made up to me with
his hand extended, which I took and shook with great cordiality, ex-
pressing a hope that he was well. This fellow was not decked out like
my friend Andre, but was decently clad. I was afraid to ask about his
master for the fellow had always appeared to me to be a surly bad-
;

tempered chap, and I felt a conviction in my mind that he had mur-

dered him. " Will you come home to my house and dine with me ? "
said he ";I shall be glad to give you a dinner if you are not too proud
to dine with a black man." My blood ran cold at the thought of dining
with the murderer of my old friend, but I thought it best to appear
satisfied, and I asked liim where he lived. He said he lived in the
same house where he had so often seen me. " At what hour do you
dine? I have some business to attend to before dinner that will engage
me for some time." " Oh, at any hour you please, only come." " Thank
you I will endeavor to be with you at two."
;
" Very well, I '11 wait
for you." " Apropos," said I, " you had better not, on the whole, wait

beyond your usual dinner-hour, for I may be detained altogether, and

not be able to come." The me with a malignant eye,
fellow looked at
said nothing, and went his had not separated from this man
way. I
many minutes when I met an American captain who asked me where I
intended to dine. I told him what had passed between me and the
black, that I had resolved not to dine with him, but that I felt uneasy
at his apparent suspicions and jealousy. " Never mind him," said the
captain " you will of course sleep on board, and as you are, I under--
;

stand, under the special protection of the commissary, they dare not
touch you in daylight if you keep yourself in the business quarter, where
there are always men enough to protect you. Come and dine with me
at an excellent house close by, and before dark you can go on board." I
accepted his invitation, and at one o'clock we sat down to table. The
host was a mulatto man, whom I had never seen before to my knowU
edge. It was soon rumored at table that I had a special protection
from the commissary, and my host was very gracious and disposed to
make me comfortable. There were perhaps twenty persons at table, —
some well-dressed mulatto men, several American ship-masters, and
others of whom I knew nothing, —
all, however, well-clad and decent^
59

looking people. Scarcely were we seated at table when a black fellow,

without hat or shoes, a dirty checked shirt and trousers, which had
apparently been worn for six months, entered the room, and without
ceremony took a chair at table. Every one turned his eyes on this in-
dividual, expecting the landlord would order him out of the room at ;

least that was my expectation. But the fellow, seizing on a roasted

fowl, began to devour it most voraciously, and after a few minutes' eat-
ing helped himself plentifully with wine from the bottle of his neighbor
which stood beside him. The landlord immediately placed another bot-
tle on the other side of his guest, but said not a word to the intruder,

who appropriated the rest of the wine he had seized to himself. After
eating to his heart's content and cursing the whites in his negro Creole,
he looked round the table with the fierceness of a tiger for a few min-
utes to see if any one chose to take exception at his conduct. Every
one, however, being occupied with his dinner or his own thoughts, and
not choosing to notice him, he retired. After he was gone, some one
asked the host why he
permitted such a scamp to take a place at his
table. '*
If I was to refuse," said the man, " I should have my throat
cut in a short time. When such things happen, as they frequently do, I
have found the safest and best way to be silent, and I am then quit for
a dinner and a bottle of wine but the jealousy of these liberated slaves
;

is such that you hint that they are not fit company for the whites,
if

you may be sure that they will find some occasion, when you least ex-
pect it, to put a knife into you." The captain with whom I came turned
his eyes towards me, and I thought it would have been safer to have ac-
cepted the invitation I had received from the cut-throat in the morning.
The host was a free-born mulatto, whom I have since seen in this coun-
try. Although cautious, he did not hesitate to speak freely of the
liberated blacks as, in general, a most worthless and depraved set of
men, who had already committed so many crimes that all timidity and
compassion were strangers to them when their anger or their cupidity
was roused. I mentioned to him the invitation I had received and how
I had evaded it. " That fellow," he remarked, " is said to be one of
the most daring villains among them. He murdered his master, and
has possessed himself of his 'house and all his tangible property.
You did right to avoid him, but you had better in future keep out
^
of his way."

1 " Among the various facts related to me during my then short stay at the

Cape, there is one that may be worth relating, as it shows the effects and con-
sequences of avarice and the futility of a miser's calculations. A M. Cassig-
narde, a near neighbor of mine, who was quite rich and always kept a large
amount of specie on hand to operate with as occasion offered, on the night, be-
tween the Thursday and Friday of the breaking out of the insurrection at the Cape,
had allowed all his slaves to quit his house, except a child of five or six years of
age. He and his partner then dug a large hole in his yard, which was in the
;

60

The quarter where business was now done was confined to a small
space about tlie King's Wharf and the public stores, the upper part of
all
the town having been destroyed. Before dark I went on board and re-
lated all that had taken place to my friend the master of the " Betsey."
He was rejoiced to see me well and under the protection of the commis-
sary. " That," said he, " may save you from a public execution but ;

look to yourself, for I believe there is a plot among the blacks to put you
to death." and heated
I considered this to be the effect of an anxious
imagination was not conscious of ever, during my residence of
; for I
nearly nine years, having done an injustice or been guilty of any severity
towards any black man in the place, and the contest during the time
we were securing our clothes and our goods, even if it had terminated
in the death of any of them, could not in justice be imputed to me as a
crime. I slept little, however, during the night my thoughts were ;

constantly calling up all I had done while I remained at the Cape, and
I could not remember any event of my life that could justify hostility
towards me from any of the slaves I had ever known. On the con-
trary, I knew I was a favorite with them for repeated acts of indulgence
and interference in their behalf, and I did not feel afraid to trust myself
with any of them that I had ever known. The man, however, with
whom I had declined to dine, came frequently to my mind but his ;

anger was of fresh growth, and my friend could not have reference to
him.
Towards morning I fell asleep, but my rest had been so much broken
that when' I a2:)peared at the breakfast-table the captain thought me un-
well, and insisted on my remaining on board during the day to recruit

centre of the building, and nicely paved with bricks, and therein deposited be-
tween thirty and forty thousand dollars, replaced the paving so as to leave no
marks of having been removed. His house was burned with the rest; and
its

although his slaves knew he had large sums in the house when they left it, after
the fire no traces of the treasure could be found by them, and it was supposed he
had removed it. Had M. Cassignarde, when order was restored, stated the fact to
the Government, they would have had it removed to a place of safety for him, but
fearing that thej^ might claim a salvage, he determined to keep his own counsel
until a fitter opportunity occurred to carry it on board some American vessel.
Such, however, was his anxiety that he could not refrain from paying frequent
visits at night to the place where it was deposited, and this he did until he was
observed, and a suspicion aroused that the money was still there. Some of his
slaves who knew the child had been left in the house, having searched in vain
for the treasure, took the child with them to the spot and he soon pointed
;

out the place where it was hidden. They then carried it off, replacing every-
thing as before. Cassignarde continued his watch as often as he dared to go
to the place but when, having matured his plan of removal, he went to get it
;

on a dark night, he found that it had taken wings to itself and was gone. I saw
the old man in extreme poverty at the Cape while I was there. He had entered
his complaint to the Government but it was now too late, and he was brooding
;

over his loss and his folly for not having taken this step earlier."
61

but was all-important that I should see the commissary at once, aud
it

obtain his orders on Port au Prince for payment of my balance. I

therefore went on shore immediately after breakfast, and going to the

Government House, where I left my ordinance with the secretary of
the commissioner, was told to call the next day for my answer.
I now had the whole day before me, and nothing to do. I thought,

therefore, I would take a stroll into the upper part of the town and up
the bay to see the state of our house, and to take a last view of the
ruins of a dwelling where I had passed so many pleasant and happy
years of my life. I went first to the great squares where the bodies of

the dead had been burned. The bones were lying in long rows across
the squares in great masses, showing that the destruction of human life
must have been great. As there could be no correct computation made
of the number, the only means of judging was from the quantity of hu-
man bones that lay on the surface of the ground. In some of the streets
dead bodies still lay exposed but whether they were those of persons
;

killed at -the time of the destruction of the town or whether they were
the fruit of more recent assassinations, I had no means of judging. The
walls of the old Government House were still standing, but the interior
appeared to be mostly destroyed. I descended to the bay, at least to
the street which ran back of our houses. The timbers and rubbish
which lay in heaps in the cellars were still burning. Our two iron
chests lay among the burning materials, with their covers forced open.
There was not a soul moving in that quarter of the town all was still
;

as death. I moved round to the front of the building on the bay side ;

what a change had taken place in six short weeks ! This was the busi-
ness part of the city, where the whole bay for three quarters of a mile
was filled with merchandise being landed or being- shipped all was ;

bustle, noise, and cheerful labor. The blacks during the working days
enlivened the scene by their rough but cheering songs as they pursued
their labor, with constant explosions of loud laughter at the absurdity of
their ownroundelays. On Sundays, groups of dancers took the place of
laborers, and the drum and the pipe, and the laugh and the song, made
the air ring with gayety and frolic. Now all was hushed as death not ;

even the dip of an oar or the- sight of a boat, where all was alive but yes-
terday, with the voice of the mariner urging his craft to her appointed
destination. The stores and warehouses that were so lately loaded with
merchandise from all parts of the world lay smouldering in flames, and
the harbor that formerly was filled with the ships and crafts that had
transported it hither contained only a few inferior vessels at its outer
anchorage. A melancholy came over my spirit, as I leaned against the
wall of the house, contemplating these sad changes, that I had never be-
fore felt. I turned my back on the gloomy scene, and stood gazing into
the cellar, endeavoring to see what were the materials that had for so long
"

62

a iieriod retained combustion. I had not been in this position long wlien
I heard the tramping of horses, and immediately turned round to see
whence it proceeded. At no great distance from me, coming from the
then business quarter of the town, I saw a troop of black horsemen. The
captain of the troop, as I took him to be from the ejjaulet on his right
shoulder, was some distance in advance of his troop. My first inapulse
was to move off into the back street; but this I thought might cause
suspicion, and as I had the commissary's protection in my pocket, I
thought it best to remain where I was, looking steadily at the troop. I
observed the leader of these men look at me with a scrutinizing eye
from the moment I turned my face towards him the troop continued ;

to advance until they came within a hundred yards of me, when the
chief ordered a halt, and advanced alone to the spot where I stood. I
had no doubt he came to arrest me, but as I had lived a life of suffering
and danger for some time, and was naturally of a firm temperament, I
stood his glance without showing any fear, although I would have
given much to have been on board my ship. After eying me for a mo-
ment he said in negro Creole, " Vous pas conne moi, ha " " No," !

said I, "I don't know you."

!
"Si fait, vous conne moi bien, oui
(" You don't know me, ha but you do know me very well, yes ")
!
!

I told him I did not recollect him if I knew him. "•

Vous pas con-
naitre Antoine, uaigre M. Lefevre ? Ces epaulets la pour quoi vous
pas conne moi." Don't you know Antoine, the negro of M. Lefevre ?
("

It is my epaulets there that prevent your knowing me," pointing to his

ej^aulets.) You may perhaps recollect that I mentioned in the first
part of these Sketches a black slave belonging to M. Lefevre, who had
charge of and defended his plantation against the insurgents on the
Plain du Nord. Antoine was this very man. I knew him well, for he
used to come in the large fiat-bottomed boat with the crew to get the
necessary provisions from our store for the plantation. I knew all he
had done before the destruction of the Cape to preserve his master's
property, and my heart jumped for joy when I heard his name. " You
see those fellows there," continued Antoine in his Creole, and pointing
his thumb over his shoulder ;
" the rogues think themselves free, but

they are a thousand times more slaves than ever. They are cut-throats,
murderers, wretches, ready to commit any crimes, but they have put
on uniforms, and think they are great men ! And what," said he,
" have the blacks gained that have been set free ? They are starving
for the greater part for want of food some work, to be sure, when
;

they can get work to do, but most of them are too lazy to work, and go
without food until they are obliged to seek it by plunder." All this
was said in a subdued voice, but with sufficient action to lead his fol-
lowers to suppose he was in dispute with me. He asked why I ex-
posed myself by coming to that part of the town. I told him I had a
;

63

written and sealed protection from the commissary. " That 's right,"

said he, " let me see it." I accordingly pulled out the paper, which he
took care to display so that his comrades might see it. After returning
my passport, he asked me if I had any vessel at the Cape, as he wished
to load one for Charleston, where his master lived. He said he had
loaded one already, and had produce enough on the plantation to load
another ; if I would let he would load her for his
mine go to Charleston,
master. He uniformly made use of this word
rnaste?' in speaking of

M. Lefevre. I told him I had understood that one third of the pro-
duce of the plantations went to the Government, one third to the
blacks that worked it, and one third to its support and the mainte-
nance of the workmen. " That is true," said Antoiue " but I always ;

contrive to save enough out of the two thirds to remit a good portion to
my master, who, after all, if justice was done him, is the owner of the
whole." I was truly delighted with my friend Antoine, and could have
given him the fraternal accolade with all my heart and as I stepped ;

forward to offer him my hand he saw my object, and stopped me. Point-
ing with his swoi'd (which he had drawn when he first came up to me)
up the cross street, as if ordering me to be gone, he advised me to retire
and not to put myself in peril again, but to sleep on board always, and
to get away as soon as I could. I had told him I had no vessel, which
was a great disappointment to him but he said he should look out for
;

one, and hoped to make a good shipment to M. Lefevre. I afterwards

saw and dined with this old gentleman in Boston, and related the facts
above stated to him. He said it was all true ; that this man had con-
tinued for a long time to make him remittances, but that of late they
had ceased, and he was afraid the faithful Antoine was dead.
As I returned to the King's Wharf determined
not to dine on shore
again, I met the chap who had invited me to dine with him the day
before. He walked directly up to me, and with a fiendish expression
on his countenance addressed me thus " Well, Citizen, so you would :

not dine with me yesterday." I attempted to make some apology, but

the fellow cut me short with —
"It is not true; the reason you did not
come is because I am black, because you despise the black people. I
know what you did when you landed with a body of armed men that ;

account is to be settled, look to yourself!" Some persons coming by,

he walked on and so did I as fixst as I could towards the boat that
;

was waiting for me.

I now determined to get away from the Cape as soon as possible
and as a brig (" Delight," I think her name was) had come out from
Boston to my address, I resolved, if I could get my papers from the
commissary the next day, to go down to Port au Prince in her the day
after. I had told my adventures of the day to my friend the master
of the " Betsey," who cursed the papers and the commissaries, and
64

swore I was a madman to wait for anything. I however went on

shore in the morning, and proceeded directly to the commissary, who
gave me my orders on the Commissioner of the Public Stores at Port
an Prince, with which I embarked, and sailed the next morning in the
" Delight " and delighted I was to get away from my once happy
;

home.^
I ought not, perhaps, to omit mentioning an incident that occurred
while I was at the Cape, which serves to show, in another instance, that
the blacks, when left to themselves, were generally contented and happy
with their masters. I had observed that the negro woman who was
formerly our cook had left the brig at Limbe while my partner was on

1 " I subsequently understood, from persons whom I left at the Cape, that a
regular plot was laid to take my life, by commissary as
false information to the
to my having tried to prevail on a negro boy, named Farmer (who had remained
behind at the Cape when his master, my friend Mr. Tremain, fled with us), to
go off with me and if this failed it was planned to draw me away from the
;

small settlement about the public stores, and put me privately to death. I un-
derstood that this scheme was laid by a free black woman named Betsey, who
had been a sort of housekeeper or upper servant in our family while Mrs. Perkins
remained at the Cape and as she had always conducted herself well during
;

that time, we same capacity after Mrs. Perkins left the island.
retained her in the
This woman had been suspected of embezzling wine and other stores belonging
to the house that were under her charge and I had determined to get rid of her,
;

although I could not allege this as a reason, because I had no proof of the fact.
She, however, contrary to the rules of the family and to the police of the city,
stayed out one night till teu o'clock; and having no written card from us, as the
law required, she was taken up on her return home by the patrol and lodged in
tiie guardhouse. I knew nothing of this till the next morning, when Miss Betsey
was not to be found, and the keys of the store-closet, of which she had charge,
were missing but we soon learned that she was in limbo, waiting for an order
;

from me to release her but in limbo I was determined she should remain, at
;

least for the whole of that day. Wlien she was released, she complained at my
having left her there so long, and I paid her her wages, and discharged her. This
made her very angry, as I was told at the time but after a while she appeared
;

to have gotten over it, and used occasionally to visit the house. This had hap-
pened some time before the events above spoken of, and the circumstances had
slipped my mind at that time, although I had been told that with all her appar-
ent reconciliation, she still continued to feel a revengeful spite towards me.
When I arrived at the Cape from Port au Prince she kept a boarding-house, and
had a barber's shop attached to her establishment, in which she liad placed Master
Farmer as principal operator, he having been accustomed to dress his master's
hair, which was always well frizzled and powdered. To this shop I went to get
sliaved; and there, to be sure, I had some conversation with Farmer about his
master, asked him why he did not come off with our slaves, though I avoided
asking him to go away then, as I knew this was strictly prohibited. Neverthe-
less this, it seems, was made the foundation of a plot to take my life, through
the revengeful disposition of Miss Betsej'. I had seen her that morning, and she
was very gracious indeed, and urged me to take lodgings and to eat at her house ;

but as I had determined not to sleep on shore, she lost an opportunity of carrying
her purposes into execution while I was there, and I left the Cape before she was
aware of my intention."
65

shore, and that he left her there. On my arrival at the Cape she came
immediately to see me, and after expressing her joy at finding me well,
asked me to give her my clothes to wash while I remained there. This
I did without hesitation, and they were me the next day
all returned to
done up in nice order ; but whenpay her for washing them,
I offered to
she turned on her heel and exclaimed, " Pray, what do you take me for,
master? Do you think I would take money from you now?" I did
everything in my power to prevail on this woman to accept some money,
if not for washing my clothes, as a present from me but nothing that ;

I could say had any effect on her. She absolutely refused to take any-
thing, and insisted on washing my clothes while I stayed, without pay,
saying, " You will want it all by and by, master, and I have hands that
will always provide me with enough." I was very much affected with
the disinterested and kind conduct of this girl. She had been many
years our slave, was an excellent cook, but was generally esteemed to
be a bad-tempered woman. She was hideous in her form and face, al-
though she now appeared to me quite comely, and was very clean in
her person and habits.
On my arrival at Port au Prince I delivered my credentials, and
was assured that I should have the first produce that came in from the
country on the Government account but I soon found that a Phila-
;

delphia ship, on board of which there was a French supercargo, that

had arrived at Port au Prince after I did, was getting all the sugar
that arrived, while I was put off with excuses by the old commissioner
of the warehouses, who had orders to supply my demands first.
I complained, and told the old gentleman that he had no right to do
this; but although he promised that I should have the next parcel, still
the French supercargo found means to soften his heart that I had not
the power of doing. At last I became fearful that I should get noth-
ing, and I told the old fellow that unless he stopped furnishing the
other vessel and gave me my produce, I should complain to Commissioner
Polvorel, who was at Port au Prince. This, however, he disregarded,
and was moreover somewhat impertinent, so that I determined to pay
a visit to the great magician who held the lives and fortunes of every
one in his right hand.
I had never seen Citizen Polvorel, although I had corresponded with
him but I knew his character, and had no doubt he would see that the
;

order of his colleague was executed. I accordingly went to the Gov-

ernment House, and sent in my name requesting an audience. I was
not kept long waiting, but was soon ushered into this man's presence.
There was in the room with him an old mulatto man named Penchina,
a Counsellor of State, said to possess great acquirements and great in-
tegrity. He had a mild and amiable countenance. He bowed respect-
fully when I entered, and directing my attention by a wave of his head
9
66

to the side of the room on which I had entered, he said, " There is the
Citizen Commissioner."
The Citizen Commissionerwas seated at a table covered with papers,
pens, and ink and as I turned to the spot where he sat, his large
;

white eyes met mine with such a peculiar stare and forbidding frown
that it had almost as powerful an effect upon my frame as the blow I
had received in the breast from the black officer in the Cape. What '•

is your business. Citizen ? " said he, rising from his seat, and showing

a figure as jiowerful as his eye was severe and frightful. I stated in as

few words as jiossible the object of my visit, and told the manner in
w'hich I had been jout off from day to day, while another vessel was
loaded with the merchandise I had been encouraged to believe fi-om
the Citizen Santhonax would be delivered to me in preference to all
others after my arrival at Port au Prince. The commissioner's eyes
grew red as I related my story, until they looked like those of an angry
tiger ready to leap on his prey. Where the storm was to fall 1 knew
not, but I would readily have given up my claim to have been safe on
board the " Delight." My senses began to reel, and the guillotine
erected at Port au Prince, which I had frequently seen, rose up before
my eyes in terrible array, when the commissioner burst out with a
voice of thunder, his hand clenched and extended towards me, " Allez,
Citoyen, allez a ce Gueux-la, et dis lui de ma
que s'il ne vous
part,
paye pas tout de suit, je lui mettrai I'epee aux reins " ("
Go, Citizen, go
to that villain there, and tell him from me, that unless he pays you im-
mediately, 1 will plunge my sword into his loins "). By this the gentle
commissioner meant only to say he would have the old man guillo-
tined. The style or title by which the commissioners Santhonax and
Polvorel were sent to St. Domingo by the National Assembly of France
was " the Civil Commissioners " " Well," thought I, " that is kind,
!

gentle, and forbearing " I did not wait, however, tc talk with this
!

philanthropic emancipator for fear that he might take it into his head
to emancipate me from the toils of life I therefore departed to pay a
;

visit to my old friend of the warehouses.

I told him literally what the commissioner had said; and the doors of
the public stores were immediately thrown open for my inspection, with
assurances thatall that was there (which, by the by, was very little) and

all thatcame should be at my service. I must say that I was very

much amused at the terror and dismay of the old man when I told
him what the Citizen Polvorel had said but as his fate was in my
;

hands, I thought there was no great harm in suspending the sword of

justice over his head until he had fulfilled his duty.

One other instance of the paternal cure which the Citizen Commis-
sioner exercised over his loving subjects may show the state of the white
population under the reign of these lovers of freedom. My friend Mr. J.
67

G. F an American citizen of the United States, but a resident mer-

,

chant of Port au Prince, had written to his correspondents in this coun-

try that such was the precarious situation of the place that he couUl not
advise them to send out any more goods for sale, and recommended a
suspension of their shipments to Port au Prince until things bore a
more favorable aspect, I had done the same thing myself but my let- ;

ters were not copied, nor seen by any one. How the fact got to the
commissioner's ears I know not but while I was
; in the act of writing
one of these letters in the counting-room of Mr. F' , a file of soldiers
commanded by an officer entered. Mr. F was out on business.
The officer demanded to see him called for ; his letter-book and paper
case, where he kept his half-written, unfinished letters summoned an
;

interpreter, and began the examination of the unfinished letters then

lying on his table. I looked at these people with astonishment, not
knowing their object but as soon as the interpreter began to read, and
;

the officer to comment on those parts of the letters that related to the
importations of goods, I found that I was myself exposed to be brought
up before those horrid white and red eyes again, that had so lately
thrown me into a cold sweat. I continued to write on for a minute or
two, as if quite easy about their movements, and then doubling up my
paper, as if it contained some memoranda, I rose and left the room with-
out interruption. I went in pursuit of F but he was not to be ,

found he was, however, soon arrested and sent to prison. After a

;

fortnight's detention in jail to the great injury of his business, he re-

ceived his trial at the request of the American masters and some Amer-
ican citizens, who represented to the Government the baleful effects that
such proceedings must produce when known in the United States. I
attended the trial. The commissioner was not present and I had reason
;

to be thankful that my friend maintained such perfect self-possession.

The trial was by interrogatories from the judge to the prisoner. F
acknowledged without hesitation all he had written, stated the grounds
on which he did it, declared that he would do it always when he thought
it for the interest of his friends and the United States, and so completely

justified himself that the court ordered him to be discharged, with a

caution to be prudent.
The young men who had escaped from the massacre of the Cape on
board of coasting- vessels, and others that fell into the hands of the com-
missioners at the time, settled at Fort Dauphin, a small town about forty
miles east of the Cape. A second massacre took place there some
months afterwards, that carried off the principal part of the survivors
of the first.

The circumstances were related to me by a gentleman by the name

of Jolly, whom Ihad long known at the Cape, on my return to St.
Domingo in 1794. I met this gentleman at Cape St. Nicholas mole, or
68

at St. Mark's, I forget which. He told me that Jean Fran9ois, the

commander of the original insurgents of the plain Du Nord, had be-
come jealous of having so large a body of young white men so near
him, although they had taken no steps whatever to annoy him. They
at firsthad received assurances of protection from him, and I think
he said the black chief had visited Fort Dauphin, and had held a
conference with them as to their views but of this I am not certain.
;

However this may be, they felt themselves in perfect security from
having received his promises not to molest them, and no guard was
kept on foot to give the alarm in case of need. Accordingly, one
night when all the inhabitants were buried in sleep, this man, Jean
Francois, entered the town with a strong party of black troops, and
murdered every white man they could find. A few, very few, made
their escape, A number of the young volunteers who had fought so
Jbravely at the Government House at the Cape on the 19th of June,
and had subsequently escaped and gone to Fort Dauphin, were all
butchered in their beds, or while endeavoring to escape in their
night-clothes. M. Jolly had succeeded in getting off in a boat, and
subsequently arrived at the place where I saw him.
From this gentleman, and some others who had been preserved from
the knives of the blacks in the sacking of the Cape and carried into the
country, I learned also the fate of many of the inhabitants, male and
female, who fell into the hands of the commissioners. The road, said
my informants, from the town to the Haut du Cape (a village about
two or three miles from the Cape), was lined with men, women, and chil-
dren of all colors, lying on the gi'ound exposed to the burning rays of
the sun without food, without liquid of any sort to quench their vehe-
;

ment thirst exposed to all the outrageous insults of the blacks who
;

guarded them half naked, and half raving with their sufferings, and
;

praying the Almighty to relieve them from their miseries by death.

Some had already been happy enough to reach " that bourne from which
no traveller returns " some were speeding their way thither some
;
;

weeping, some praying, and some cursing the cruel authors of their suf-
ferings. Among them there were some who, having money within their
reach when they were obliged to fly, had taken gold, as the lighter arti-
cle in proportion to its value, in their pockets. They endeavored to
bribe their guards to give them a glass of water in exchange for gold
pieces of eight or sixteen dollars in value but the savages refused their
;

yellow money, and demanded white money or dollars, with which they
were acquainted. Such as were fortunate enough to have it obtained
what they wished, but those that were without it were refused, although
they offered sixteen times the value that their neighbors had paid for it.
Hence arose a traffic of dollars for Joes or doubloons, happy to give
one piece for another as it would procure them what they most wanted,
69

a little water. How long these miserable people were left in this situa-

tion, I know not ; but finally the commissioners ordered that they
should receive food and shelter. Among the sufferers were many
mulattoes and blacks who had and as soon as
not joined the insurgents ;

the excitement was passed, and the plunder of the freed blacks was ex-
pended, they themselves had to experience a full share of the miseries
they had inflicted on their masters. Famine and sloth soon accomplished
what my friend Antoine had so strongly prophesied would be their fate;
and those who had been used as instruments to extirpate the whites soon
became the greater sufferers.
Long before the destruction of the Cape it was known that the insur-
gents of the plain Du Nord, who were commanded by Jean Francois,
were languishing under the severest trials and the most despotic rule.
The life of the laborer and the soldier were equally under the sole con-
trol of this chief. The smallest departure from the orders given them
cost them the severest stripes, or the loss of their lives. Even those
highest in the ranks were without hesitation cut off, if his will ordained
it and his second in command was shot by his order, without trial, be-
;

cause he had disobeyed him. It is true that he sometimes exercised his

authority for beneficial and humane purposes but his power was, never-
;

theless, absolute, and his orders instantly executed whether for good
or bad ends.^
So far from gaining a relief from labor or the blessings of liberty, the
blacks were ten times more slaves than ever, and ten times more severely
treated and worked, without any of those comforts that always awaited
them under their former masters when their labors for the day were
over, and when sickness or wounds were their lot. In lieu of a clean
comfortable bed, and kind nurses in a commodious hospital to watch

^ " The following well-authenticated anecdote shows what summary punish-

ment this chief of the insurgents was accustomed to inflict The black man who
:

was second in command, whose name has escaped mj' memory, had a separate
command at some distance from Jean Franoois. He was one of those brutes that
always extend their barbarity in proportion to their power. His cruelties to
the whites who had fallen into his hands, and particularly to the women, had
been reported to his chief more than once but occupied with other objects of
;

more importance to himself, he' had overlooked them. It was, however, finally
reported to him that he held an old lady in prison who was supposed to have
hidden money on her plantation, and that the lieutenant had threatened that
unless she revealed the place where it was deposited before a certain day, he
would tie her up and whip her to death. On the morning of the day assigned for
this execution, Jean Francois set off for the quarters of his lieutenant with a
company of cavalry. On his arrival he was informed that his second was in the
courtyard executing this threat. The chief entered, and found the poor and help-
less old woman, stripped naked and tied to a tree, undergoing the infliction of the
cart-whip while the lieutenant was seated in his arm-chair, encouraging his
;

menial to lay on the strokes harder Jean Fran9ois had him shot dead on the
!

spot."
70

over them, they were left to seek relief from the shelter of the hedge
on the bare ground, without the care that they had formerly seen given
by their masters, even to the beasts of the field.
Certainly, if a balance of suffering could be made up, the black slaves
lost as much in proportion to their wants and habits of life by their
emancipation in St. Domingo, as the whites did. Instead of being
raised in the scale of humanity, they were doubly degraded for they ;

became the slaves of their own black or mulatto chiefs, a cruel race
whom they detested, in lieu of being the slaves and servants of the
comparatively humane whites, by whom they were always well fed and
well clothed and generally well treated.

" Note — taken from various authors, such as Cornier's

Memoire sur la situa-
'

Dominique a I'cpoque de Janvier, 1792

tion de St. also from a work by M. Buclis,
;
'

called Un mot de ve'rite,' published at Paris, December, 1791 and partly from
'
;

the speeches of the deputies sent from St. Domingo to the National Assembly and
delivered at the bar of that body, Nov. 30, 1791.
" While the National Assembly,' says a writer of that day, 'was considering
'

how laws should in future be made for St. Domingo, that valuable colony ex-
hibited the most ludicrous caricature of the revolution in the mother country.
Two of the mulatto deputies to the Assembly, " Henry " and " Hirondelle Viard,"
having clandestinely returned to the island after the insurrection of Oge, im-
ported thither all the artifices used by the demagogues of Paris. They distributed
libels and incendiary publications of every kind, and provided persons to read
them at private meetings of the slaves who could not read all was summed up ;

in one favorite expression from Robespierre, "Perish the colonies rather than sac-
rifice one iota of our principles !" It was industriously disseminated that the king
bad given liberty to the negroes through the influence of the Abbe' Gre'goire, but
that the white colonists withheld the boon thus granted to them. They conse-
quently looked upon Gre'goire as their patron saint. The revolt broke out in the
night between the 22d and 23d of August, and was marked in its commencement
with tiiat base ingratitude which too often enhanced the guilt of bloodshed in the
mother country. The first person of any distinction who fell was M. Odeluc,
member of the General Assembly, and the attorney of M. Galifet's estates, on all
of which the treatment of the slaves had been so eminently mild, humane, and
paternal that it was a prevalent mode of expressing any man's happiness to say
at the Cape that he was liappy as one of Galifet's negroes. "When M. Odeluc
recognized his coachman among his assassins, he said, " I have ever treated you
with kindness why do you seek my death " " True," replied the wretch, " but
;
'?

I have promised your throat " and instantly the whole gang rushed in
to cut
;

and murdered their benefactor. About twenty white persons, nearly all who
were present, perished with him. Another principal place where the insurrec-
tion broke out at the same time, was the plantation of M. Flaville. The attorney
who resided there owed his death to his gentle and merciful disposition. About
eight days before, a negro had been caught in the act of setting fire to an out-
building belonging to M. Chabaud. On his examination the man gave intelli-
gence of a plot for a general confiagration and massacre, and pointed out four of
M. Flaville's negroes as the principal ringleaders. On being made acquainted
with this charge, the attorney had so much confidence in the attachment which
he had deserved from those under his management, that he assembled them, told
them of the accusation and his own disbelief, urged the enormity of such a crime,
"

71

and offered his own head as an atonement if he had injured any of them. With
one voice they answered that the story was a gross cahunny, and loudly swore
inviolable fidelity to him. They kept their oath by bursting into the bedrooms
of the members of his family, murdering five of them as well as himself, in the
presence of his wife, who on her knees in vain implored mercy for him, and told
her, in mockery of her sorrow, that she and her daughters would be spared to
serve their pleasure. Then throwing down their weapons, the murderers took
torches, and soon set everything on the spot in a blaze. It was the appointed

signal, and all the neighboring gangs instantly armed themselves. This account
was given by a young man of sixteen, who escaped, though with two wounds.
Wherever whites were found they were immolated. Men and women, young
and old, fell indiscriminately under the unrelenting fury of the assassins. It was
thought that if the Government had sent a strong force into the country, the in-
surrection might have been suppressed but they sent only a small detachment,
;

and the flames gained ground on all sides, until the adjacent districts presented
to the view nothing but heaps of ashes and mangled carcasses. This small force,
liowever, gained some advantages over the insurgents but the negroes had
;

increased to such numbers, that when beaten in one quarter they spread them-
selves into another, till they had filled the greater part of the Northern Depart-
ment with carnage and desolation. Those who were taken and tried for the
murder of their masters pointed to the real source of the mischief: "he was
not," said they, " a bad or cruel man ;we killed him for the sake of the nation ;

they have labored in France to give us freedom."

"
The crimes committed in this struggle for the French rights of man,' says
'

this writer, " are shocking in the recital, but they are due as a dreadful lesson to
the world and to posterity.' (Here follows a detailed account of the horrible
acts of butchery and brutality which were inflicted on the whites, both male and
female; but they are too shocking to present to the eye of any man of feeling, and
too gross to be read by any female of character.) 'Nor did the ferocity of the
negro natures, stimulated as it was by the new principles, show itself against those
only whom they considered their enemies, but also against their confederates,
their countrymen and kindred. Such of their own race as declined joining in
their excesses, they frequently seized and roasted by the next fire.' 'Wlien they
were in want of surgeons to attend their wounded,' says this historian, 'they
confined them in a hut and set fire to it. Their chiefs were always at enmity
with each ether, and ready for mutual destruction they exercised over their fol-
;

lowers an absolute despotism and unparalleled tyranny their claims to superiority

;

were outrages of nature, — children killing their fathers with their own hands, and
presenting their dead bodies to their comrades as evidence of their courage, and
proofs of title to the confidence of their companions.' Accounts were received
in France before the National Assembly had dissolved itself, that property had
been destroyed in St. Domingo to an amount exceeding twenty-five million
pounds sterling, or about one hundred and twenty millions of dollars. About two
thousand white inhabitants had been destroyed, or had perished miserably and ;

at least fifteen thousand of the insurgents themselves had fallen, less by the de-
spair to the which they had driven the colonists than by their own internal jealous-
ies, and the barbarities of the chiefs they had chosen. It is a melancholy fact,'
'

says our author, 'that the slaves who had been most kindly treated by their mas-
ters were generally observed to be the very soul of this no less perfidious than
bloody insurrection. Yet, for the honor of human nature, it should be also
known that some were found who at the risk of their lives rejected with disdain
all attempts to seduce them.'
72

Boston, Jan. 11, 1836.

Franklin Dexter, Esq.
Dear Sir, — Your last note, which I received a few days past with
the second part of the narrative of the revolution of St. Domingo, re-
quests me to give you an account of the events of my voyage after I
left th^t island at the close of 1793. I omitted to do it in the narrative,
because it was unconnected with the you had expressed a wish
facts that
to learn regarding the insurrection and I now do it with diffidence, be-
;

cause it involves so much of personal action that there must necessarily

be great appearance of egotism.
But as the account is for your personal inspection, and not intended
for the public eye, I will with great pleasure comply with your request,
not doubting that you will excuse the frequent and necessarily repeated
recurrence to myself which will appear in the course of the narrative,
which I shall confine to the simple facts, without deviation from their
course so far as they now rest on my mind.
Very truly and respectfully yours,
S. G. Perkins.

Narrative of a Voyage from Port au Prince to Boston the latter Part

of the Year 1793.

The constant alarms which existed at Port au Prince after the de-
struction of the Cape, lest a similar fate should befall that city ; the
frequent arrests of persons who were obnoxious to the ruling powers,
and some rumors that were current as to the disposition of the slaves,
led me to determine on returning to America and accordingly, after ;

my business was closed, I took passage on board the brig " "William,"
Captain P for Boston.
, The week before the brig was ready for
sea, I was dining on board an American vessel with a party of gentle-
men, among whom was the commander of a British armed cutter named
Young. Some vessel had arrived the day before from the United
States, the master of which reported that he had been chased by a row-
boat, armed with fifty or sixty men of all colors.
We had heard of this boat before at Port au Prince, and it had been
reported that an American vessel had been taken by her, and all hands
murdered but how the fact was ascertained I do not now remember.
;

In the course of the conversation respecting this cruiser, it was men-

tioned that there was on board of her an Irishman of prodigious size,
who had hailed the American, and that from his brogue his nationality
was easily known that he was quite young in appearance, although as
;

ferocious in his manners as a wild bull. At this description Captain

Young, of the cutter, observed that he had no doubt this fellow was a
deserter from his cutter, on board of which vessel he had acted as
73

boatswain, and that he had left her some time ago without their having
been able to trace him since. " The Lord have mercy upon any poor
fellow who may chance to fall into that rascal'spower," said he, " for
surely nothing else could save him ;O'Brian (I think he called
for this
him) would not hesitate to cut the throat of any man living, if he could
get a dollar byit and when his passions are up, nothing but absolute
;

force would prevent him from destroying his opponent. He has the
strength of a lion with the ferocity of a wild-cat."
As we were about to pass through the strait where boat had been
this

seen, this description of the commander of the cutter was not very con-
soling ;but as we reflected were two or three chances to one
that there
that we might not meet or and as many more that if we did we
see it,

might, with a good breeze, escape from any description of row-boat then
known, as the American had done before us, we flattered ourselves with
the hope that we should be " quitte pour la peur." Besides, as she had
been seen by several vessels that had escaped her, it was supposed that
she would, from fear of having an armed vessel sent after her, shift her
cruising-ground, and leave the coast between the island of Gonarve and
that of St. Domingo open for us to pass unmolested.
I mention these facts because, if I had supposed there was any great
risk of falling in with her, I should not have trusted myself in the
" William," as she was a dull sailer, and deeply laden with molasses. I
had had enough of pirates on land without running the chance of meet-
ing them at sea, and I was too much exhausted both in body and spirit
to expose myself unnecessarily to a new encounter. The season was,
however, far advanced, and there was no other op23ortunity for the
Northern States I had no sjjare cash to enable me to pay my passage
;

to Baltimore and then home by land, for the little I had saved from my
commissions was my all, aS far as I then knew, and I could not spare a
cent. Besides, I was engaged to be married, and the attractive power
lay far east. After I resolved to embark, I was requested by a M.
Thouen, a planter who had become obnoxious to the Government and
was coming to the Cape, to take charge of two watches belonging to
him, as he was fearful, in case he fell in with a British cruiser, that they
might be taken from him, he being a Frenchman, and there being war
at the time between France and England. One of these was a plain
gold watch the other was mounted with diamonds, and cost two
;

thousand crowns, or twelve thousand francs. It had belonged to M,

ThoUen's wife, who had lately deceased. The watches had been given
to me before any rumors of pirates had reached us and when they did ;

M. Thouen had left Port au Prince. I had of my own money seventy

Joes in gold, rolled up in strong paper, and about seven hundred dollars
in silver, besides my watch (for I had bought a gold one at Port au

Prince) and a pair of silver-mounted pistols that my brother had given

10
;

74

me some time before I left home. When we sailed all these arti-
my own watch excepted, were
cles, deposited in my trunk. We left
Port an Prince early in the morning, and had a good run until mid-
night, when it fell calm. The next morning at daylight I was roused by
the captain, who told me we had heard of was in sight and
that the boat
making I immediately rose and dressed myself; and as the
for us.
be apprehended was plunder of everything in sight, I put
least evil to
M. ThoUen's diamond watch and my rouleau of Joes in the lower part
(about the ankles) of my pantaloons, which were large, and had, as is
usual in that country, feet to them his gold watch I put into my fob,
;

under my own watch, which I wore as usual, hoping that by taking it

they would look no farther. I went on deck, and there I saw the row-
galley coming towards us with eight or ten oars of a side. We could
not tell which, as she came on, head towards us. She soon came near
enough for us to distinguish the men and a long swivel-gun on the deck.
The quarters of the brig were sun-ouuded with bags of cotton, which
came breast-high, so that they served for shelter in case the pirate
should fire into us. I took my station on the quarter-deck with my
spy -glass laid on the bulwark, looking out for O' Brian, the Irish giant
but I could see but one man of extraordinary size, and he appeared
more like a Spaniard. There were perhaps fifty or sixty men on her
deck, all armed with pistols, blunderbusses, and cutlasses, besides long
knives in their belts.
There was not a breath of wind, and no vessel in sight, and we were
about half-way between Gonarve and St. Domingo in the narrowest
part of the channel. The crew of the brig were all on her deck watch-
ing the approach of the galley. Not a word was spoken by any one,
for we were all too much taken up with our own thoughts and fears to
be interested in anything else, and as we were without arms, resistance
was useless. There was one man, however, a poor Fi'ench passenger
who lived in the steerage, who did not make his appearance. He had
crept down into the hold under some rubbish, where he thought he
might escape i\\q first onset at least. As the galley approached near to
us there appeared to be great confusion on board, " Long Tom," as the
swivel-gun is called, was pointed towards us, and one of the ruffians
stood with a lighted torch ready to fire it should there be occasion, or
should they apprehend resistance. As our people stood uncovered and
unarmed, the pirates could see there was no danger, and they steered
the boat alongside, raising the most disorderly shouts imaginable. I
looked steadily at the crew for O' Brian, but I could see no one who
answered his description. The moment the galley touched our vessel
twenty or thirty men sprang on board and beggiu laying about them
with their cutlasses, until they had driven all the crew, including the
mate, down forward, where they were secured. The captain and
;

75

myself remained aft on the quarter-deck during this gentle operation, but
as soon as it was accomplished tlie rush was aft towards us. The fury
of the crew, however, was restrained by their leader, who asked in
French for the captain, and I pointed him out to this now gentle and
polite assassin for as soon as the crew were confined, he became as
;

complaisant as you could desire. lie asked me whence we came and

where we were bound when he was answered, he asked for the ship's
;

papers. These the captain produced. He said the cargo was French
property, and that he should send us into St. Jago de Cuba for adjudi-
cation, as there was war between Fi-ance and Spain, and we were a
good prize. I asked him if his boat belonged to St. Jago. He said it
did, and that she was commissioned to make French prizes that he ;

knew our cargo was French, sent off to save it from destruction by the
blacks. To this we could only answer that we were willing to go to
St. Jai>-o, where we could easily prove that the cargo was the proceeds
of the property carried out from America.
He showed us what he called a commission from his captain to take
charge of us as prize-master, and said that as soon as the wind sprung
up he should run down for the island of Cuba but in the mean time he
;

demanded the keys These were given him, and we all

of our trunks.
went into the cabin together, where the trunks were opened, the money
and other effects in them seen, and then reshut without disturbing any-
thing, except an overturn of our clothes to see if there were any more
bags hidden beneath them.
The captain had a bag containing about five hundred dollars in
his trunk, but nothing else of value except his clothes. The cook
was allowed to come on deck to get breakfast, and two of the sailors
were let out to haul the yards about, as the wind we had made
little

necessary.
The mate officiated as one, and the other was a man named Jack
Stevens. I shall never forget Jack Stevens. We invited the prize-
master with us in the cabin, where he behaved himself
to breakfast
with great decency, —
talked of the Americans, how much he liked
them that it was his intention to go to the United States and live
;

among a people who had a free government that he had known many
;

Americans, and was very sorry to take us out of our course, but it was
his duty he could not help himself; he was under orders, being the
;

second in command on board the galley, but that we should soon be liber-
ated, as he had no doubt we could show all was right, etc* The fellow
managed his tongue so well that he soon talked us out of our fears
and as I could see nothing of the Irishman, I began to think this must
be some other boat fitted out as a privateer. After breakfast we went
on deck the galley was at some distance from us, and we had on board
;

sixteen armed men beside the prize-master. The captain's papers had
76

been all put on board the galley, but I thought if a breeze of wind
should spring up while the galley was at a distance from us we might
retake the brig and proceed on our course. I talked to the mate about
it, who readily agreed if the captain, who was an uncommonly strict
man, would consent and lend a hand. I asked him whether the sailor
was to be trusted and could be depended on. " Who, Jack Stevens ?
Ay, sir, for anything he undertakes, I '11 answer for him while there
is any breath in his body." " Well," said I, " sound him carefully, and
take care that you are out of ear-shot of the rascals, for some of them
may understand a little English." Jack was soon after sent to me, and
I found him ready to undertake any four of them thieves, as he called
them, if the captain and mate and myself would manage the rest we ;

might mark him out any four we chose, and he would engage to silence
the lot. " But, Jack," said I, " we can't in open day engage seventeen

armed men who are on the watch it must be done at night when some
;

are asleep, so that we can secure their arras, and then we may have
only half the number to contend with and we may release the rest of
;

our crew unobserved, and if there is a breeze, by extinguishing the

lights, we may escape the galley." " Well, sir, any way you like, so

that I get a fair lick at their dingy heads I warrant you I '11 warm
;

the wax in their ears." " Well, hush is the word, Jack the captain is ;

to be consulted yet. I will see you again but be careful you don't
;

show fight before we are all ready." Jack promised faithfully to be

prudent, and I went to consult the captain. But at this moment our
attention was attracted by a shot from the galley that lay in shore of
us towards Gonarve. On looking towards her we discovered a small
boat still farther in shore, and the galley appeared to be in pursuit, and
fired again and again and we could hear the shout of the crew each
;

time that Long Tom was let off. I asked the prize-master what this
meant, and he replied that it was a pirate they were in pursuit of.
Well, thought I, what a lucky thing it is for us that we have fallen
into the hands of these honest men for as sure as we now live, if they
;

had not picked us up the pirate would, and it is better to be in the

hands of privateersmen than to be butchered by the pirates. " How do
you know that it is a pirate ? " said I. " Oh, I know it very well for !

we have heard from vessels that we have boarded that there is a pirate
in the neighborhood and that must be he, for there is no anchorage for
;

vessels in the island of Gonarve." The galley was soon alongside the
small boat, when a general shout was again raised, and away they came
towards us at full speed, with the small boat in tow. The small boat
was was frequently hidden by the large one but
so situated that she ;

as they approached us, and the galley hauled up to cross our bow, I
saw the boat was full of men. I took the spy-glass, and the first glance
I got at her showed me the man whom I had so much dreaded seated
77

in her stern sheets steering her. As soon as they got within suitable
distance, the small boat was cast off, and she rowed directly for the brig.
Que faire ? I went below.
You may suppose that my
were not at ease. I heard the
feelings
fellow's voice ordering the hatches opened with many oaths and impre-
cations. I seated myself on the after locker, and took up a book that
happened to be near me without knowing what I was doing. I opened
it; but my thoughts were on other things. I heard the abusive lan-
guage of the pirate ordering the men and officers to obey him immedi-
ately, or he would cut them in pieces. My blood boiled within me. I
could with diiliculty keep my seat, but I determined to keep below and
not be the first aggressor ; but all my prudence, all my discretion, all
my self-possession, were gone. I felt as if my last hour had arrived ;

that there was no escape that we had been deceived from the first, and
;

that we were in the hands of a gang of pirates.

I always hated discord and contention, and if left to myself should
never kill a fly but I hated oppression of all kinds still more from my
;

infancy upwards, and always resisted what I thought such at all haz-
ards. The hatches were broken open, and I heard the orders of the
savage given to load his boat with various articles still I remained ;

quiet. " Well," said the pirate, " let 's look into the cabin " and giv- ;

ing a call to his comrades, down they rushed. I sat still with my book
in my hand, pretending to read. " Holloa holloa here below have
! ! ;

you got anything to drink ? " vociferated the beast as he entered, (at
the same time reaching a case bottle of gin or brandy from the cap-
"
tain's case that stood in the transom.) " Here, my lads, take a tiff !

turning out a tumbler full of the liquid, which he drank off without
taking breath he then repeatedly filled the glass for his companions
;

until the bottle was empty.

The prize-master had followed this fellow below, which I was glad
to see for though I had lost all confidence in him, still there was a
;

decorum, a kindly manner, that soothes even while it destroys.

I had a pair of new white-top boots hanging up in the cabin near the
door; they had been sent out to me by my friend and brother-in-law,
but were too large for me. -I had had thoughts of putting Mr. Thoiien's
watch into one of these, thinking it a place not likely to be searched,
but something had prevented my doing it. As soon as these wretches
had drunk as much gin as they chose, their leader began to look round
for plunder. I saw his object, and forgot the good and valuable hint
given me by our friend Butler, " He that fights," etc. The first
things that caught his eye were my boots, nicely polished, ample in di-
mensions, and apparently just from the last. These he seized without
ceremony. My blood was up to boiling heat away went the book ;

across the cabin, and with one spring 1 snatched the boots from his
78

hand and threw them into my berth at the other side of the cabin.
" Those are mine, sirrahj" said I, and turning to the prize-master I
called on him in French to protect his prisoners from the outrage of
this brute. O'Brian, confused by the sudden and unexpected assault
and the manner in which I addressed him, was for a moment thrown
off his guard, and probably, from being accustomed to be commanded
and ordered about his ship while in the royal navy, was for a minute
confounded but his recollection soon came to him, for his cutlass was
;

out by the time I had finished my appeal to the prize-master, and with
a tremendous oath he made at me. But the prize-master, whose views
were to find out if possible whether we had other precious metals beside
those he had seen, thought gentle methods answered the objects of his
party better than violence, and he immediately stepped between us
and ordered the fellow to desist. I then told the Frenchman that if
we were a lawful prize to him and his galley, it was his duty as well
as his interest to protect us from these outrages, and insisted on his
sending the fellow out of the vessel. O'Brian did not understand any-
thing I said, but stood cursing and swearing that he would have his
revenge.
The prize-master, however, spoke to him in Spanish, and soon per-
suaded him to leave the cabin. As he moved off he stopped at the
door, and turning round doubled his fist,which he shook at me with the
fierceness of a maniac, and swore by the living God he would have my
heart's blood I made no reply, but tried to look as bold as he did,
!

although I felt myself entirely in the power of the gang, of whose char-
acter I no longer had any doubt. It was not long before I heard the
splashing of oars, and I was soon informed that the boat with her crew
had gone off to the island of Gonarve, and glad indeed was I for my ;

courage for want of fuel began to cool, and I felt convinced that unless
we were relieved before night we should all be murdered.
I now set myself to work to devise means of defence in case of need, for
I was determined not to surrender my life without an effort at escape. I
had harsh feelings towards the ^jrize-master, but I saw he was a feeble man,
and could not, if he would, protect us long against this barbarian, should
he return in the night with his myrmidons to cut our throats. I returned,
therefore, to the project of retaking the vessel as soon as a good oppor-
tunity offered at night and to this end I applied to the captain. Cap-
;

tain P was a man

of great size and strength but as my friend
;

Jack Stevens said of him, "he is not made of the right stuff, sir" The
captain's arguments were first, it was impossible for us to master
:

seventeen armed men, even if we were armed ourselves ^ then, if we;

1 " The following facts will show that this is a mistake, and that by good

management and a determined spirit a much more slender force than we pos-
sessed can control and subdue seven times its own force. The brig 'Ann,'
79

failed we were sure to be murdered ;

we succeeded ou board
next, if
our own vessel, the galley might overtake and we were lost without
us,

redemption ; and last, the captain of the galley had his register, and if

Robert Lord, belonging to G. II and W. P of this city, was captured

,

in tbe year 1799 by a Frencli privateer and carried to France, wiiere she was con-
demned. The captain came to Paris while I was there in the early part of 1800,
and I gave him a small box in charge, containing a variety of valuable articles,
to bring home to my wife. Captain Lord returned to Bordeaux from Paris,
where he was put in charge of a ship, with a view to bring her to the United
States. On her passage she fell in with a French privateer from Guadaloupe, and
was captured. All the crew, including the mate, were taken out of the ship, the
captain alone being allowed to remain on board and after putting fourteen men
;

and a prize-master and an Irishman whom they had taken from an English vessel,
she was ordered to Guadaloupe. As soon as the prize separated from the priva-
teer, the prize crew began to hunt for plunder, and among other objects fell on
the box I had consigned to Captain Lord's care. The articles were taken out
of it and divided among the crew. The Brussels lace, cambric handkerchiefs,
kid gloves, etc., with a case containing eighteen silver fruit-knives, were separ-
ated in equal proportions and divided among the privaleersmen. Lord saw this
division made with an aching heart. He had tried to save the box from plunder
by representing to these fellows that it was a present from a gentleman in Paris
to liis wife in America, and was put into his keeping but all he could say merely
;

raised a laugh against him, and he was obliged to submit, but with a deter-
mination, if possible, to retake the vessel and repossess himself of the articles.
Accordingly he formed a plan wliich he carried into operation in the following
manner As he knew notliing of the feelings of the Irish passenger towards his
:

captors, his first object was to sound him and ascertain whether he had a right to
expect any aid from him. This he did very cautiously, and soon found his man
ready to go all lengths with him. As soon as this was settled, he communicaled
his plan to his companion, wliich was to be carried into effect the first foul day
that occurred. In the mean time Lord, who had always a penknife in ids hand
whittling pieces of pine into various shapes, contrived to make, without being
observed, several toggles or roimd spikes or spigots of wood suited to put into tlie
staple when the hatches are closed and the hasp is drawn over it. These he put
into his pocket, and waited until a suitable day should arrive for his purpose.
At last a cold drizzly day occurred, and the prize-master retired to the cabin for
shelter, and took to his book for amusement, and the Irish passenger followed his
example. Plalf the crew were asleep below deck, down in the forward steerage,
it being their watch below, so that there were only seven men on deck, one of

whom was at the helm. The rest of the watch were sitting under the lee of the
long boat to shelter themselves from the rain and Lord walked the main deck,
;

occupied as usual with his penknife. Lord spoke French well enough to be un-
derstood by the crew, with whom he had made himself familiar during the lew
days they had been together. Why do you sit here in the rain 1 asked Lord
' '

of these men ;two of you are enough to stay on deck at a time, and the rest of
'

you can keep yourselves dry down forward, and if anything occurs to need your
assistance you can be called.' Accordingly, four of the six went below, and
as the booby-hatch was always left open to admit the air, they could see and
hear all that was going on on deck. The provisions and water were kept down
aft, and the covering of this hatch was, like the forward one, covered with what is
called a booby-hatch, which has hinges and fastens with a staple and hasp, and is
always kept unfastened. Lord took up a tin pot which he had placed on the deck,
80

we were overhauled by a British cruiser, we should be taken for pirates

ourselves and be hung up in some of the Bahama Islands without judge
or jury. Beside, we might be relieved !

The captain was a very good-natured, indolent man, and if put to his

mettle could fight as well as anybody ; but he did not like the labor nor
the excitement, and though as anxious as any of us to get out of their
hands, he thought discretion the better part of valor. I could not
move him.
My next plan was to get at my pistols that were in my trunk they ;

were loaded and in excellent order, being a pair of first-rate arms,

which, as I before said, were presented to me by my brother. My
project was to ask the prize-master for the key to get a clean shirt ;
this he readily granted, but he accompanied me to the cabin. I told
him I was afraid that Irish whelp would return in the night, and as he
had threatened to put me to death, I wanted my pistols to defend my-
self. He looked slyly at me, and said there was no danger he would ;

protect me. I said everything I could think of to persuade him, but he

remained inexorable.
In the course of the day Jack Stevens got into a row with one of the
pirates the fellow struck him with the flat of his sabre. Jack knocked
;

and asked one of the men on deck to go down aft and get him some water, and at
the same time he walked forward, and covering over the hatch of the forescutttle
he closed the hasp and put a toggle or spigot into the staple and before the
;

party below were aware of their situation or had time to make a clamor, he
had returned to the man on deck and asked him to see what the other sailor
was about so long in getting the water. This man went to the hatchway
aft, and stooped down to call his comrade, when Lord seized him by the breech
and pitched hipi headlong into the after-steerage, and then shut over the hatch
and fastened it as he had the other. This last act was seen b3' the man at the
helm, who immediately stamped violently on the quarter-deck to rouse the prize-
master. This was the signal for the Irish passenger to begin operations and hav-
;

ing all things ready prepared. Lord soon silenced that personage. In the mean
time the helmsman sprang forward to seize upon Lord, who had placed a harpoon
in such manner that he could possess himself of it at once but the Frenchman
;

was so quick upon him tiiat Lord was obliged to drop his weapon and resort to
his fist, with which he knocked the fellow overboard the first blow he struck him.
The noise now, both forward and aft, by beating against the hatches in trying to
force them open, was so great that Lord was obliged, with his companion, to
have recourse to tlie firearms, which they repeatedly discharged to let the sailors
know they had the means of suppressing them entirely. When this impression
was sufficiently made, they entered into a compact with their prisoners, agreeing
that if the two fellows aft would supply them with provisions and water, they,
Lord & Co., would cook it and give them their share. This the Frenchmen both
fore and aft were glad to accede to, agreeing to let a portion out to help work the
ship daily, and to submit in all things to the recaptors. In this way the ship was
brought to Bermuda, where she was libelled for salvage in the Vice- Admiralty
Court. Lord collected all the articles belonging to me, and delivered them to my
wife but the lace was sadly cut up."
;
;

81

him clown, and the whole horde rushed forward to avenge the insult
Jack jumped overboard, and swam to the galley, that was not far off.
This caused great alarm, and it required all our eloquence to pacify the
indignant prize-master and the enraged crew. Jack was put in confine-
ment on board the galley under deck, where he was kept till the next
morning almost suffocated and quite starved. The next morning he was
let out but the moment he put his foot on the deck, he sprang into the
;

sea and swam for the brig. By coaxing and persuasion I got the prize-
master to take him on board but he was put below at once, and kept a
;

close prisoner.
It had been calm all day, and we saw nothing in the offing. The
prize-master dined with us in the cabin, and was very good-humored ;

talked of St. Jago, and wished for a good breeze to carry us there
abused the Irishman for a hot-headed and said he was afraid he
fool,
was no was a pirate,
better than he should be, but did not think he
but that he was a thief and a drunkard. He had seen him before, but
that party did not belong to their crew they were suspicious of them,
;

and kept a jealous eye upon them. All this I considered as mere sham,
as in fact it pi'oved to be but he talked of morality and honor, as if
;

he knew their worth. He, however, treated us with civility, and the
afternoon went off without any new incident the weather was still ;

calm.
But night approached, and my apprehensions came with it. I had no
confidence in the assumed character of the galley, and was convinced
something would befall us before the next morning. No means of re-
sistance was left us ; the captain refused to aid in the rescue of the ves-
sel, and indeed prohibited the undertaking. Besides, our right-hand
man. Jack Stevens, was confined under deck in the galley.
After remaining above as long as the pirate would permit, I went to
my berth and lay down with my clothes on, but not to sleep, for had I
drunk deeply from the fountain of Lethe I could not have closed my
eyes or lost for a moment my recollection. I thought of all the means
within my power to defend myself. I did not despair or lose iny reso-
lution ; it was increased rather than diminished but what could my ;

will, unarmed as I was, do against a host of cut-throats, armed with

every sort of deadly weapon, from the knife to the blunderbuss ?
I felt sure that O'Brian would revisit us during the night, and his last
threatening attitude and vengeful curse when we parted were constantly
present to ray mind but I was young, strong, and full of confidence in
;

my own powers, and I had been accustomed to dangers all my life.

The habit of constant exposure to danger grows by degrees into indif-
ference. We lose our excitability as danger and oppression become
familiar to us, and a strong feeling of dogged submission or a deter-
mined resolution to resistance controls all our actions. The latter was
11
82

my feeling ; was no hope in cowering before the ferocity of

for there
such a villain,and die I must if he came on board, unless chance or
Heaven should interpose. These thoughts occupied my mind during
the night at the least noise I was up and ready for the worst that
;

could come but I did not feel as if I were to die that night, and I was
;

determined not to if my own exertions could save me. There was no

light in the cabin, but such as the eye habituated to darkness can dis-
cern, but my senses were all awake, and hour after hour passed on
while I watched and listened for the splashing of oars which were to
bring the Irish giant back upon us. The morning, however, arrived,
and no O'Brian appeared, and my heart and spirits sank within me.
Strange as it may appear, I was less depressed, and ten times .more fit
for action and resistance during the whole of this gloomy night than I
was when I went on deck and found all quiet and safe. I said nothing
to any one on the subject of my apprehensions, and a little reflection and
a warm breakfast brought me to life again.
I mentioned in the first part of this letter that a M. Thoiien had
given me a couple of watches to keep and bring to the United States
for him, and that I had placed one of them in the ankle part of my
pantaloons on one leg, and a rouleau of Joes in the other, which be-
longed to myself. I had carried them thus the whole of the day, but
with great inconvenience and pain, as they chafed my ankles so that I
could scarcely move at night. When I turned in I removed them to the
pockets of my pantaloons, which were covered with the flaps of my
frock-coat. After breakfast I took the spy-glass as usual and looked
round the horizon and the distant shore, to see if there was anything
in sight. As I looked to the northward, I thought I saw a speck, but
could not make out what it was. I said nothing. The brig's head was
to the northward, and there was a breath of air stirring from the east,
off shore. I lounged forward and got into the bow, and then, without
any apparent object, went out to the end of the bowsprit.
I watched the motions of the prize-master ; and whenever he turned
his face towards me I looked with my glass round the shores of Go-
narve and St. Domingo, sweeping the horizon as if I was amusing
myself, but watching the speck in the north as I came to it in turn. It

grew larger by degrees, but not fast. I saw, however, it was a sail just
peering above the horizon but as there was little or no wind, we ap-
;

proached each other very slowly. My elevated position gave me an

opportunity of seeing it when no one on deck could observe it, and the
galley was still lower than us. Here I sat for an hour and a half with-
out interruption and as the wind freshened to the northward where the
;

strange vessel was, the masts and sails rose out of the sea, and al-
though I was afraid to look too steadily at it, I was not long in discov-
ering that it was a large ship of some sort or other. This is esjsily seen
83

long before you can discern the hull of the ship, by the distance between
the naasts and as the ship was running down a southwest course, my
;

mlud was satisfied that it was a British ship of war probably bound to

Jamaica.
About half-past ten or eleven o'clock the galley hailed the brig.

I heard the say something to the prize-master about bati-

captain
menta, which I knew must relate to this ship, although I did not
understand Spanish. I therefore kept my face turned from the
deck of the vessel towards the north, looking steadily at the vessel
which I was now was a British frigate. There was
fully convinced
but one glass on board our vessel and that I had, and intended to
;

keep as long as I could. The prize-master came forward and asked

for the glass, but I could not hear him. He asked me what sort of a
ship that was in the olfiug, but a sudden deafness had come over me
and I did not notice his question. At length he ordered me to come
on board, to which I answered that I would presently when I had
rnnde out the vessel ahead. He then again demanded the glass: and
as the captain of the galley hailed again to know what the ship was, the
fellow sprung out on to the bowsprit and threatened to throw me over-
board if I did not surrender the glass. I told him not to be violent,
there was time enough for him and me too to look at the ship, that
I could not make her out yet but the fellow seized the glass, and I
;

remained and hoped that the ship would erelong be within gun-
quiet,
shot of us. The prize-master looked for a moment only, and sprang
on deck, calling to the galley that it was ^ frigata Itujiesa. I still kept
my position, looking anxiously at the frigate, which I could now see
plainly with my naked eye. Suddenly I heard a noise on deck, and
on turning round saw the pirates beating the brig's sailors down below
with their sabres. The prize-master came forward and ordered me on
board, and tlien directed the captain, the French passenger, and myself
to go into the cabin. This we did without hesitation, followed by the
prize-master and four men, three of whom were armed with blunder-
busses.
At hung a cot-bed, in which the mate
the entrance of the cabin
usually slept. Here I was ordered to stop, —
the captain and French-
man being placed opposite to me. Each had a blunderbuss presented
at his breast and the fourth man, with a dagger in his hand, stood over
;

the poor wight who was to be operated upon, with his dagger raised
ready to strike in case of need. The prize-master began with the
Frenchman, whom he ordered to strip.^ This "• Crapaud " did witliout
delay, and on examination of his ^^antaloons five Joes in gold were

1 It appeared afterward tliat the French passenger had manifested liis thanks

to the prize-master for sending off O'Brian by showing him five Joes he had in
his trousers, saved from that thief ! This was indication enough.
;

84

found in the pockets. Every part

body was searched for more
of his
but this was all the poor fellow possessed in the world, and with
it he

was flying from insurrection and bloodshed to the United States.

I watched the operation, not daring to move for fear my friend with
the blunderbuss might take it in dudgeon but I saw what my fate was
;

to be, and I thought of poor Thoiien's diamond watch, to say nothing

of my seventy Joes so nicely rolled up in my breeches pocket.
As soon as the new-made citizen was thrown aside under the care
of his especial musketeer, they began with the captain, who stood, like
myself, with the open mouth of the double-charged blunderbuss at his
breast. The enormous frame of this individual made it necessary for
him to strip his huge limbs and muscular body to nudity. Looking at
the fellow with the dagger with one eye, and at the musketoon with
the other, while he reluctantly undressed, was too ludicrous to be I'e-
sisted and although I did not know what was to follow this desha-
;

billement, either to his own person or mine, I burst into a broad

laugh, which caused the gentlemen who were searching him to turn
their attention to me. The captain had nothing about his person, that
I recollect, but his silver watch to surrender ; and when they were
satisfied with this, they left him to his man-at-arms, and came over to
poor me.
The prize-master ordered me to undress ; and as I stooped under this
pretence, I endeavored to smuggle poor Thoiien's beautiful watch, which
was done up but my object was at once
in paper, into the mate's cot ;

detected, both by the fellow with the dagger and the prize-master. The
fellow struck at me with his stiletto but the blow was arrested by the
;

officer, who warned me to remain immovable, as he should not again

arrest the arm of his companion if I attempted to throw anything from

my person. The watch was seized in its passage, and then I was
thoroughly searched, and the two gold watches and my rouleau of Joes
taken from me. The prize-master, or head pirate, then proceeded to the
trunks of the captain and that which belonged to me, and took out
the two bags of silver, my pistols, and some other articles; and leaving
the guard to watch over us, he proceeded with his satellite, after giving
some orders in Spanish to the guard, to the deck. These fellows stood
with the muzzle of their guns pointed at our breasts for some minutes,
when a rude stamping on the deck caused them to move backwards, till
they reached the deck also leaving us half naked, looking at each other
;

like a set of craven hounds, whipped out of the course. All was silent
on deck for some time and the captain having resumed his small clothes
;

thought he would take a peep and see what was going on. He mounted
the ladder very cautiously but no sooner had his eyes cleared the top
;

of the companion-way, than down came his unwieldy bulk on to the

steerage-floor. I roared with laughter to see his mighty frame lay
';

85

prostrate on the deck ; new mode

but on inquiry as to the cause of this
of retreat, I learned that directly opposite to the gangway he saw half
a dozen musketoons presented at his head, which brought on a relaxa-
tion of his muscular system, and down he fell like a brave fellow. The
galley now pushed off and as she passed under our stern, the crew
;

gave us three cheers, and rowed off towards the island of Gonarve
and thus ended our acquaintance with these freebooters.
We were soon on deck, and the crew were released from their con-
finement and as the breeze increased we shortly had full sail on the
;

brig, steering for the frigate that was now within a few miles of us.
But unfortunately, in lieu of coming down to us, she crossed our bow,
apparently bound to Jamaica. After things were got into a little order
the crew went into the steerage to shift their clothes, but they were
soon up again looking like despair. " Well," I asked, " how do you find
things below ? " " Why," said Jack Stevens, " them damned pirates have
robbed us of all our clothes, and I have nothing left but what I stand
in; but my old check shirt and trousers must serve me till I get home.
But there 's some comfort left, for I am now ready for the newest fash-
ions." This good-natured remark put us all in spirits, and we deter-
mined to go into St. Nicholas' mole to repair our losses and to give
information of the pirate. I drew up a statement of facts which I
presented to the captain of the " Penelope " frigate the mole was
;

at this time in possession of the British. The governor ordered a

cutter immediately to proceed in pursuit of the pirates ; but as the
rascalshad got a good haul, and a night had intervened, I presume
they had gone off with their plunder, for I never heard anything more
of them.
After replenishing our stores and clothing the sailors, we set sail
for Boston ; and and tedious passage we arrived in the bay.
after a long
But Dame Fortune had not done with me yet. It was now the middle
of December and the captain mistaking Boston Light for that of Cape
;

Ann (for there was only one light at Cape Ann, and the Boston Light
was a fixed one), we were running head on, with a strong eastei'ly or
northeast wind, directly on to the rocks of Cohasset. I was in bed, but
not yet asleep, when I heard the man forward cry out, " Breakers
ahead " Every one on board sprang to the deck, and " Wear Ship
!
!

was the order. We escaped but we had nothing to spare, for the rocks
;

were close under our stern when we had got the brig round. The
whole night was boisterous, and the wind increasing, and we had got
into a position that brought the wind directly against us in beating out
of this cul-de-sac. The weather was very cold, and the sailors came
frequently to ask for liquor, which the captain had not the fortitude to
refuse them. I told him repeatedly that his men would all be frozen if

he continued to give them spirits but he said it was cold and hard work,
;
86

and they wanted something to warm them. He was himself a very

temperate man in all things. I felt convinced that the men could not
hold out morning if they continued to drink, and I went into the
till

cabin and threw all the gin or brandy in the case out of the cabin win-
dow. I went on deck and told the captain what I had done he said ;

he was glad of it but he had already given them too much. Before
;

the night was half out some of the men began to complain that they
could stand the deck no longer, and two of them actually had their feet
frozen. I supplied the place of one of them, and did duty as well as
the rest for it was neck or nothing.
;

In the bustle and darkness of the night, and shifting the boom, I lost
my hat overboard, and was obliged to tie a handkerchief about my head
after 1 found I was getting chilled. At daylight we made Boston Light,
and ran for it close into the rocks. The pilot came on board, and at the
moment he put his foot on the deck our foretopsail blew into a thou-
sand pieces. It was now a severe gale and thick snow-storm but our ;

jiilot brought us up to anclioring-ground somewhere between the Castle

and South Boston Point. Farther we could not proceed and as soon as ;

the crew had got the ship moored, and some food and hot coffee, all
hands turned in, exhausted in body and mind. It seems ridiculous to
relate what follows, but as you have led me on so far you must excuse
the recital About or a little before daylight, I awoke from a profound
:

sleep, in a state of suffocation. I tried to speak and to call the captain

to my aid, but I could not utter a sound it was with the greatest dif-
;

ficulty I could breathe at all. The cabin was in utter darkness, and I
felt as if I should not survive a minute. My throat was entirely closed
up by what appeared to me a blister, that stopped the passage of the
air. It was tight, but yielded to the touch when I introduced ray finger,
but filled the whole space of the gullet, so that nothing could pass into
or out of it. I thought it was very hard that after escaping the blacks
at St. Domingo, the pirates at sea, and the rocks at Cohasset, I should
arrive as it were in safety within sight of my home and my friends and
die like a dog at last. I had in my pocket a sharp-pointed penknife,
that I had placed great confidence in the night I expected a visit from
O'Brian ; and without delay turned it against myself. I
this I seized,
thrust it into my throat, and at once found myself covei-ed with blood.
I attempted to rise. It was blowing a gale from the northwest, and so
cold that I could not dress myself. At this moment the pilot turned
out to see how I had got
the weather was, and soon struck a light ;

some relief from the wound

had given myself, but I could not speak.
I
I made signs to him to come to me, and when he saw me covered with
blood, the fellow was as much frightened as I was at seeing O'Brian.
He, however, called the captain, whom I begged, by writing on a slate,
to put me on shore at Dorchester Point, but this he said was impossi-
87

ble as the wind blew a gale directly off shore besides, what could I do
;

when I got there ? " True enough," thought I and I threw myself down
;

in despair. A fire was, however, soon made, and a flannel dipped in

hot water was applied to my throat but I thought of the brandy I had
;

thrown overboard the night before, and wished for a portion of it back
again, as I believed it would have answered better than the water.
After breakfast we got the anchor up, and beat up to town, and I was
landed on the end of Long Wharf about noon, and accommodated with
a hat by one of the Custom House boatmen.
Thus closed my year's labors beginning with earthquakes, followed
;

up by revolutions, loss of property, capture by pirates, and hazard of

shipwreck, and ending by being gagged (the palate or roof of my
mouth, which had become inflamed and swollen to a great extent from
having taken a severe cold during the preceding night, was the cause of
my suffering). I have frequently thought that the easy life I have been
allowed to live through the blessing and mercy of Providence since that
period has been in some measure permitted to me as an offset for the
sufferings that I had then to endure and as my lot, taken altogether, has
;

been not only a favorable, but a happy one through life, and a much
better one than I deserved, I have never ceased, and I trust and hope I
shall never fail, to acknowledge my gratitude and to offer up my thanks
to the Author of all good.
Before closing this letter I must mention a circumstance that took
place some fifteen or twenty years after the events I have recorded. I
was sitting in my counting-room on India Wharf writing, when Mr. John
Turner Sargent, whom you doubtless recollect, came in accompanied
by another gentleman, to whom he introduced me in pretty much the
following manner :
—
" Permit me, Mr. Perkins, to introduce an old shipmate of yours.

Captain Stevens, of Philadelphia." I looked at Captain Stevens, and

called up my recollection as far as I could at the moment, but did not
remember to have sailed with any Captain Stevens in the course of my
various voyages and I of course observed that it must have been my
;

brother, as I did not recollect to have ever seen Captain Stevens be-
fore. The captain smiled, and with an arch look asked me if I had
forgotten him as an old shipmate on board the William."
••'
I replied
that I had entirely (for the pirate business never occurred to me).
" Well," said he, " if you have forgotten me, I shall never forget you.
Don't you remember the pirate, off Gonarve, and Jack Stevens who was
before the mast on board the brig William,' Captain P
' ? " You
may be assured that we were not long in renewing our acquaintance.
Captain Stevens had come from Philadelphia with letters of introd-uc-
tion to Mr. Sargent, and, as the latter told me, one of his first inquiries
was whether I was living and where he could find me.
;

"When I began this relation I expected to make a shorter story of it

but when one is writing of events long since gone by, the concatenation
of our ideas is maintained by association. Thus one event leads to the
recollection of another ;and if this chain is broken, it is difficult to
reunite the facts in the due course of events.
Very truly yours, etc.,

Samuel G. Perkins.

V?
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