the partizans of the French revolution.  When Jean Francois and Biassou commenced the insurrection, there were many white royalists with them, and the Negroes were made to wear the white cockade.  I repeat, then, that during the years 1795 and 1796, I can find nothing in the History of St. Domingo, wherewith to reproach the emancipated Negroes in the way of outrage[8].  There is every reason, on the other hand, to believe, that they conducted themselves, during this period, in as orderly a manner as before.

I come now to the latter part of the year 1796; and here happily a clue is furnished me, by which I have an opportunity of pursuing my inquiry with pleasure.  We shall find, that from this time there was no want of industry in those who had been emancipated, nor want of obedience in them as hired servants:  they maintained, on the other hand, a respectable character.  Let us appeal first to Malenfant.  “The colony,” says he[9], “was flourishing under Toussaint.  The Whites lived happily and in peace upon their estates, and the Negroes continued to work for them.”  Now Toussaint came into power, being general-in-chief of the armies of St. Domingo, a little before the end of the year 1796, and remained in power till the year 1802, or till the invasion of the island by the French expedition of Buonaparte under Leclerc.  Malenfant means therefore to state, that from the latter end of 1796 to 1802, a period of six years, the planters or farmers kept possession of their estates; that they lived upon them, and that they lived upon them peaceably, that is, without interruption or disturbance from any one; and, finally, that the Negroes, though they had been all set free, continued to be their labourers.  Can there be any account more favourable to our views than this, after so sudden an emancipation.

I may appeal next to General Lacroix, who published his “Memoirs for a History of St. Domingo,” at Paris, in 1819.  He informs us, that when Santhonax, who had been recalled to France by the Government there, returned to the colony in 1796, “he was astonished at the state in which he found it on his return.”  This, says Lacroix[10], “was owing to Toussaint, who, while he had succeeded in establishing perfect order and discipline among the black troops, had succeeded also in making the black labourers return to the plantations, there to resume the drudgery of cultivation.”

But the same author tells us, that in the next year (1797) the most wonderful progress had been made in agriculture.  He uses these remarkable words:  “The colony,” says he[11], “marched, as by enchantment, towards its ancient splendour; cultivation prospered; every day produced perceptible proofs of its progress.  The city of the Cape and the plantations of the North rose up again visibly to the eye.”  Now I am far from wishing to attribute all this wonderful improvement, this daily visible progress in agriculture, to the mere