town was burnt.  The commissioners, who were spectators of this horrible scene, and who had done all they could to restore peace, escaped unhurt, but they were left upon a heap of ruins, and with but little more power than the authority which their commission gave them.  They had only about a thousand troops left in the place.  They determined, therefore, under these circumstances, to call in the Negro Slaves in the neighbourhood to their assistance.  They issued a proclamation in consequence, by which they promised to give freedom to all the Blacks who were willing to range themselves under the banners of the Republic.  This was the first proclamation made by public authority for emancipating slaves in St. Domingo.  It is usually called the Proclamation of Santhonax, though both commissioners had a hand in it; and sometimes, in allusion to the place where it was issued (the Cape), the Proclamation of the North.  The result of it was, that a considerable number of slaves came in and were enfranchised.

Soon after this transaction Polverel left his colleague Santhonax at the Cape, and went in his capacity of commissioner to Port au Prince, the capital of the West.  Here he found every thing quiet, and cultivation in a flourishing state.  From Port au Prince he visited Les Cayes, the capital of the South.  He had not, however, been long there, before he found that the minds of the slaves began to be in an unsettled state.  They had become acquainted with what had taken place in the north, not only with the riots at the Cape, but the proclamation of Santhonax.  Now this proclamation, though it sanctioned freedom only for a particular or temporary purpose, did not exclude it from any particular quarter.  The terms therefore appeared to be open to all who would accept them.  Polverel therefore, seeing the impression which it had begun to make upon the minds of the slaves in these parts, was convinced that emancipation could be neither stopped nor retarded, and that it was absolutely necessary for the personal safety of the white planters, that it should be extended to the whole island.  He was so convinced of the necessity of this, that he drew up a proclamation without further delay to that effect, and put it into circulation.  He dated it from Les Cayes.  He exhorted the planters to patronize it.  He advised them, if they wished to avoid the most serious calamities, to concur themselves in the proposition of giving freedom to their slaves.  He then caused a register to be opened at the Government house to receive the signatures of all those who should approve of his advice.  It was remarkable that all the proprietors in these parts inscribed their names in the book.  He then caused a similar register to be opened at Port au Prince for the West.  Here the same disposition was found to prevail.  All the planters, except one, gave in their signatures.  They had become pretty generally convinced by this