Effects of emancipating the slaves.—Arrival of the British forces.—Their subsequent operations.—Evacuation by General Maitland.—M. Charmilly negotiates with the English.—Views of the English cabinet.—Parties in the contest.—And insincerity of the French planters.

Having, in the last chapter, arrived at the period when Santhonax and Polverel conferred freedom upon the slave population, and at the time also when the planters of the colony had solicited the aid of the British government to their cause, I shall now proceed in my detail of the effects produced by the former, and, in as succinct a manner as possible, notice a few of the operations of the latter, as well as the consequences arising from them.

No sooner had the abolition of slavery been promulgated, than it spread through the whole colony with remarkable rapidity, and the work of insubordination and destruction commenced. In the different parishes the slaves rose simultaneously, formed into bodies, took possession of the mountains, and secured themselves within those fastnesses which everywhere abound through the island. They then sallied forth into the plains, spreading devastation around them, setting fire to the cane fields, and demolishing every description of habitation within their range, murdering the unoffending white inhabitants wherever they met with them. In one part of the colony the insurgents amounted to nearly one hundred thousand, without any leader who had the least possible command over them. In the north their force in the first instance only amounted from about twenty to twenty-five thousand, but they quickly increased to forty thousand of a most desperate and sanguinary character.

The British force under Colonel Whitelocke made its appearance before Jeremie on the 19th of September 1793; it consisted only of about eight hundred and seventy rank and file. As this place was to be given up to the British force by stipulation, the town was taken possession of the next day, and the inhabitants all took the oath of allegiance with much eagerness. Cape St. Nicolas next followed; but here the inhabitants displayed some hostility, and most of them joined the standard of republicanism, although they had before strenuously adhered to the royal cause, and kept the white flag always hoisted. Tiburon was next tried, but here, notwithstanding the strongest pledges of cooperation on the part of the planters, their infidelity was so manifest, and the force of the enemy had become so formidable, that the troops were obliged to retreat with some loss, and this object of the expedition therefore unfortunately failed. From fatigue and from sickness, from the exposure to which they had been subjected, both in the sun and the noxious dews of night, the troops became much dispirited and discouraged, and further operations were suspended until a force from England arrived of sufficient magnitude to prosecute further offensive measures. This did not take place until the February following, when a British squadron arrived with troops, which were immediately landed, with Major (now Sir Brent) Spencer at their head, who most gallantly attacked the enemy, drove them back with considerable loss, and thereby retrieved that which before ended in a failure. The whole bight of Leogane was now commanded by the British squadron, and a further force being expected from England, it was anticipated that Port au Prince would fall an easy conquest, from the supposition that the people were mostly in favour of their cause. A considerable time elapsed before the reinforcements from England made their appearance; in the interim, many skirmishes took place in the vicinity of Leogane, as well as at Tiburon, and in the neighbourhood of Cape Nicolas Mole; in some instances the British were successful, and in others the enemy obtained advantages.

About this period it was that Andrew Rigaud first made his appearance at the head of the revolted slaves: he was a man of colour, and had the command at Aux Cayes. With about two thousand of the rebels he marched from his station and besieged Tiburon; but the fort which was manned by some British soldiers, who defended it with their usual intrepidity, and who afterwards sallied forth, attacked the besiegers in the field, and put them to the rout with great slaughter.

During the interval occasioned by the non-arrival of the reinforcement from England, the planters who were, in the first instance, favourable to the cause of the British, began to shew some symptoms of displeasure; and the tardiness with which the operations were carried on, and the absence of that decision which the urgency of their situation required, induced many very powerful individuals to relinquish all further adherence to the party in which they had engaged, and to join the republican standard.

On the 19th of May the force which had been so long looked for arrived under the command of General Whyte, who, with Commodore Ford, proceeded at once to deliberate on the measures which it would be adviseable to adopt for the capture of Port au Prince. On the 30th the ships of war, consisting of four ships of the line, three or four frigates, and several smaller vessels, anchored off the city. The land forces amounted to only about fifteen hundred men capable of doing duty. The next morning a flag was sent to summon the city to surrender, to which no attention was paid, and it is even said that the letter was returned unopened. The commissioners, Santhonax and Polverel, were known to be in the city with a considerable force; and it was expected that a powerful stand would be made, for the preservation of this important place. Fort Bizotton, which is situate on an eminence to the southward of the city, commands the Leogane road and the southern entrance in the harbour. The land-side was attacked by a body of troops under the gallant Major Spencer, whilst a simultaneous attack was made on the sea-side by two of the ships of war. Captain Daniel of the forty-first regiment, with about seventy or eighty men, took advantage of a thunder storm which happened about eight o’clock, entered the breach which had been rendered practicable, and carried the fort at the point of the bayonet. The captain was severely wounded, and some of his men and officers fell. The city soon surrendered, and the commissioners evacuated it on the fourth of June, the birth-day of the then sovereign of Great Britain, George the Third, when the British troops entered and took possession of it together with the shipping in the harbour. It was the intention of the republican commissioners to set fire to the city, but the prompt and decisive attack of the British gave them no time for carrying so destructive a design into effect.

This capture was of great consequence to the cause of the British as far as their proceedings had gone on; it gave confidence to the soldiers, and inspirited the colonial troops who had joined their standard; but it afterwards proved to be the grave of many a British officer and soldier: sickness began to rage amongst the troops to such an alarming extent, as is generally the case in the autumnal months, that it was found necessary, for the preservation of the post, to erect additional lines of defence, fearing that in their then condition the enemy might try to regain the position. To accomplish this, the troops were subjected to incessant toil, first in the sun, and then during the night exposed to all the pernicious vapours arising from heavy rains which fall during the rainy seasons. In point of booty the capture of Port au Prince was a very fine acquisition, although the commissioners carried off with them every thing valuable which it contained, consisting of upwards of two hundred mule loads. They were accompanied also by upwards of two thousand of the inhabitants, who followed in their career. Finding however that they had lost all their influence in the colony, and that Rigaud and Toussaint L’Ouverture had obtained possession of the whole, they thought it expedient to leave the island, and return to France, where they received the congratulations of the government, whose representatives they had been appointed to carry into operation the most injudicious decrees that could possibly have been framed for the internal government of any colonial appendage.

The value of the captured property has been variously estimated: a writer of some authority says, that “In the harbour were found two and twenty top-sail vessels, fully laden with sugar, indigo, and coffee, of which thirteen were from three to five hundred tons burthen, and the remaining nine from one hundred and fifty to three hundred tons, besides seven thousand tons of shipping in ballast; the value of all which at a moderate computation could not be far short of four hundred thousand pounds sterling. One hundred and thirty-one pieces of cannon regularly mounted in batteries were on the lines.”

After the reduction of Port au Prince, a further reinforcement arrived under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Lennox, consisting of about six hundred men, but on their passage from the windward islands to Jamaica, to which latter place they first sailed, sickness broke out amongst them, by which more than one hundred died on board, and a hundred and fifty were left at Port Royal in the last stage of disease. It is impossible to describe the mortality that prevailed amongst the troops in St. Domingo. When active operations were likely to be attended with a beneficial result, the commander-in-chief was prevented from taking advantage of the positions which he held, by the epidemic which at the time so lamentably raged. There could not be produced eight hundred British soldiers in a condition for the field, and many of them had only a short time previously been discharged from the hospitals; of course they were not equal to the fatigue of active service, nor were they in the least fit for a duty which rendered it necessary to expose them to the pernicious humidity of the night air. The commander-in-chief, General Whyte, was seized with this malignant fever; and his health was so much impaired by the effects of disease, and anxiety for the fate of his officers and men, who were daily dying around him, that he was compelled to leave the island and return to England, when the command devolved on Brigadier-General Horneck.

From the departure of General Whyte in September 1794, until the arrival of General Williamson in the month of May following, nothing of any material consequence ensued, except some skirmishes between the posts of the British and revolters, attended with no decisive result on either side. During this short period of inactivity on the part of the British, Rigaud, collecting a strong force, advanced towards Leogane, which at that time was defended by some colonial troops, and succeeding in his attack upon the place, he inhumanly murdered the French planters who fell into his power, and afterwards advanced upon Port au Prince; but in his attempt upon Fort Bizotton which commanded his advance, he failed, having been repulsed by the garrison, with great slaughter, whence he retreated, for the purpose of making another effort for the recovery of Tiburon. He left Aux Cayes with a force of three thousand men with four small armed vessels, and on the 25th of December they commenced the attack on the place. The fort, which consisted of only about four hundred and fifty men, defended it with great bravery; and after the loss of two-thirds of their number, the remainder sallied forth, cut their way through the revolters, and reached Irois in safety.

In the vicinity of St. Marc, Colonel Brisbane, who commanded there, had much to do in keeping the insurgents in check, who had at this time become exceedingly bold in their movements, and seemed determined on the most vigorous operations, both offensive and defensive. The colonel with a few British and some colonial troops, obtained advantages over them in several skirmishes in the plains of the Artibanite; but whilst he was engaged there the mulatto inhabitants of St. Marc, who had pledged themselves most solemnly to observe the strictest neutrality, violated their pledge, and in the most cowardly manner put to death all whom they found actively engaged against the French republic. The garrison defended themselves in the fort, from whence they were relieved in a short time by a vessel of war from Cape Nicolas Mole. The white inhabitants also of St. Marc, many of whom were the most forward to hail the arrival of the British and to place themselves under British protection, engaged in a plot for the destruction of Colonel Brisbane, but that officer, ever on the alert, discovered and successfully defeated their designs.

At Port au Prince a similar conspiracy was brought to light, the object of which was the destruction of the garrison and all the English people by those very French inhabitants who joined in hailing with acclamations the arrival of the British force before the city. Such abominable treachery did not go without its commensurate punishment; the conspirators were seized, and about twenty of the principal ones, amongst whom were several French officers of rank, were condemned by the sentence of a court-martial. Of these conspirators fifteen were shot on the 18th of February, 1795, and the remainder were sent off the island.

General Williamson, who had been previously appointed commander-in-chief in the West Indies, arrived in the island in May, and immediately proceeded to place every station in the best state of defence that his very limited means would allow. He endeavoured to strengthen the whole line of posts from St. Marc to Jeremie, and not having a force sufficient to enable him to secure all points by a strong cordon of British and colonial troops, he resorted to a measure which, although at the moment it might have been one of expediency, was not likely to be advantageous in the end. To augment his force he formed several corps of negroes, whom he purchased of the French planters, and placed them under the command of officers of the line; but their inefficiency was soon discovered, and they became not only a very unserviceable, but also a very ungovernable body. General Williamson retained the command but a very short time; his successor, General Forbes, completed the arrangements of his predecessor, and remained entirely on the defensive.

In the autumn of this year, 1795, intelligence had been received that the war between France and Spain had terminated, and that the Spanish part of the island had been ceded to the French republic in perpetuity. It was stipulated, however, that so many of the inhabitants as should feel disposed to depart from the island to reside in the dominions of the King of Spain, should be permitted to remove or dispose of their property, and that the space of one year should be granted to them for that purpose.

About the end of this year the termination of the operations in Flanders having placed troops at the disposal of the British government, Brigadier-General Howe arrived with about seven thousand men at Cape Nicolas Mole. From the extent of this force a great deal might have been accomplished had they arrived at an earlier stage of the proceedings in the island, but the subjugation of the colony had now become extremely difficult, if not altogether impracticable. They attempted but little, and becoming languid and spiritless from sickness and disease, whilst the enemy were increasing in numbers, as well as in vigour and activity, the little that was undertaken proved unsuccessful.

It was not until the month of March, 1797, that any active operations were recommenced; when General Simcoe landed to take the command, an officer who had been selected by his government for the important trust, from his known talents and tried experience. He began his arduous undertaking by examining the whole line of defence, and lost no time in making every judicious arrangement for resuming offensive operations. It was also about the same time that the negro Toussaint L’Ouverture appeared invested by the republican government of France with the high rank of General-in-Chief of the Armies of St. Domingo. To this very extraordinary personage the British general was destined first to be opposed; and from the system of insurrectional warfare which had been pursued, the general found he had to combat with an antagonist of no ordinary capacity and courage. Wary and exceedingly cautious, well acquainted with the strength of the British force and the experience of their commanders, Toussaint made no effort beyond that of menacing the position of Mirebalais, before which he appeared with an almost overwhelming force. The British force at that point not being sufficient to oppose his progress, retired thence through the plains of Cul de Sac into Port au Prince, abandoning the whole of the country through which they retreated, and from which, from its fertility, the enemy were enabled to obtain abundance of provisions. By this movement also all communication with the Spanish part of the island was cut off.

To the southward, however, the operations were more favourable to the British. The negroes were driven from every post which they had occupied in the neighbourhood of Port au Prince, and Rigaud at the head of his mulatto force was defeated at Irois. Nearly at the same time Toussaint attacked St. Marc’s, but was obliged to retire with considerable loss, leaving a great many of his followers prisoners.

Notwithstanding these partial successes the British cause in the island seemed on the wane, and their force diminishing from a variety of concurrent circumstances, no attempt was afterwards made to advance against the enemy; but measures were adopted to guard against any surprise or any attack which their opponents contemplated upon those positions, in the line of defence, which were considered to be vulnerable. In the interim, and during the existence of this irregular warfare, General Simcoe, finding that in the present condition of his forces nothing could be undertaken with the least probability of success, and that to remain within his line of defence was imperative, left the island about the month of August, when the command devolved on Major-General Whyte. Finally, however, the Honourable Brigadier-General Maitland succeeded, to whom was left the important duty of making the most beneficial arrangements for evacuating the island, which his situation could command. And when it is considered that that gallant officer (who did not arrive until April, 1798,) took the command of the British forces under circumstances of extreme difficulty and discomfiture, at the moment of disasters and distress, the termination of the contest, the subsequent truce and negotiations with Toussaint, although making some concession, were called for by considerations of overwhelming expediency. These negotiations gave up the whole of the British possessions, and their colonial black troops (for whom a very large sum of money was paid to the very persons who afterwards took arms against them) to the black general, Toussaint, in the name of the French republic, and thus ended an enterprise from which no advantage resulted either to the ex-colonists or to the interests of Great Britain.

It is not my province to enter into a discussion of the merits of the enterprise into which Great Britain had been led, nor shall I venture to censure the undertaking on the one hand, or to applaud it on the other. It was commenced unquestionably at an unfavourable period, when the government of England had to contend, not only against the gigantic power of the French republic in Europe, but against the revolutionary spirit which had manifested itself at that time in England. Involved, therefore, as she was at the time of the emigration of the French agents from St. Domingo in disputes abroad and in domestic feuds at home, it is not surprising that those efforts were not made which the planters had anticipated, and which they were led to expect from the pledges which had been given to M. Charmilly, who had been the organ of those planters, and who, it is to be feared, was too sanguine in his representations of the unanimity which prevailed amongst them. I should be disposed to think favourably of the conduct of M. Charmilly had I not received the most unquestionable information, that his communications were much too highly coloured, and that his zeal for the cause of his colony somewhat exceeded that which ought to have been evinced by a discreet and prudent negotiator. The British general was without doubt deceived as to the strength of the revolters and as to the disposition of the planters; and the unanimity said to have existed amongst them, was most manifestly negatived by subsequent events, in which intrigue and treachery superseded fidelity and honour. M. Charmilly, however, in the opinions of many, may not have subjected himself to censure by his conduct; he may have been actuated by the best of motives, and have thought, at the time, that by exhibiting a favourable side of the picture the impression would be likely to succeed; but the best informed persons, with whom I have had opportunities of conversing on the subject, have given it as their unbiassed sentiment, that had not the disposition of the colony been too favourably represented, the British cabinet would either never have entered into the contest, or have undertaken it with their accustomed promptitude and known vigour; they would never have left any thing to chance, nor have depended so much upon extensive cooperation.

However much inclined Great Britain might have been to seize a favourable moment for dismembering republican France of her colonial possessions, yet I think she would have paused before she commenced any offensive operations against St. Domingo in its then insurrectional state, had she not been led by the most specious arguments to believe that the object was attainable without any great efforts; for although the slaves were in open rebellion, still they, as well as the mulattoes, were divided against themselves, and that an interposing power would inevitably turn the scale, and eventually succeed in restoring tranquillity, and finally the conquest of the whole colony. That the cabinet of England had been influenced by the accounts laid before it of the state of St. Domingo, needs no further argument than this, that the force sent was quite inadequate for the accomplishment of the object, which certainly would not have happened, had the descent upon that island received that deliberation which was usually given to similar operations in the time of war.

Before I proceed any further in my remarks, it may not be irrelevant to shew who were the parties engaged in this civil warfare and general havoc in the colony, for I find only one or two who have written before me who have been sufficiently clear and explicit on this point; and it is probable that I may not be quite so explanatory as the subject requires, but I shall, I trust, succeed in dissipating some of the cloud in which the whole seems to have been enveloped.

At the commencement of the revolution in the colony, the party that first appeared was composed of those white inhabitants who were tainted with republicanism, those of the mulattoes or gens de couleur of property who imbibed the same principles, and others of the people of colour, who had no stake in the country, but embraced similar opinions respecting liberty and equality. Their opponents consisted of the white inhabitants and persons of colour who adhered to the old form of government. To the former party, in the course of time, were added the revolted negroes, who had doubtless been instigated by them, and after the promulgation of the decree declaring a general emancipation, they were joined by the greater proportion, if not by the whole of that class. To the latter party a few only of the mulattoes, and a very small body of negroes, remained attached; added to which were the British forces which, from the end of the year 1793 to the evacuation in 1798, at different periods were landed.

To strengthen the former party, and to weaken the latter, the decrees of the national assembly of France materially contributed, whilst the proceedings of the general colonial and provincial assemblies, instead of giving to the latter any support, had a contrary effect, by inducing many of the people of colour, who had espoused it, to hoist the national cockade, and become active members of the republican party, thereby giving the cause of the royalists a fatal blow. It will be perceived that most of these proceedings of the two parties in the contest occurred before the British forces had been called in; and that the emancipation of the slaves was simultaneous with their arrival and an act of the French commissioners to strengthen the national cause against the royalists and the British. Now as the agents or emigrants of the royalist party who had gone to England, and as the negotiations of M. Charmilly took place at the very period when the hopes of his party rested upon so insecure a foundation, it seems to me something like deception was practised, and that the British government were not correctly informed of the actual state of the cause which they were engaging to support; and it is under this impression, an impression founded upon the authority of persons who were actually engaged in all the scenes of active operations which took place from the first arrival of the British to the termination of their proceedings under the Honourable Brigadier-General Maitland, that I venture to charge the French planters and their party with that want of unanimity which M. Charmilly, their accredited representative, assured the British commander displayed itself through most parts of the colony.

If an impartial review be taken of the whole of the conduct of the French planters during the contest in which they were embroiled, it will become evident that no blame can be attached to the British commanders who were successively employed. They had to contend against a variety of conflicting opinions and unexampled sickness, and had local difficulties to surmount of great magnitude. They evinced on all occasions superior military judgment, undaunted courage, and unwearied zeal, and exhibited the greatest prudence and discretion in moments of no ordinary anxiety.

The calamitous disease which prevailed amongst the troops, was itself almost enough to dispirit the most sanguine; and it is not to be wondered at, that men who met death bravely in the field, should have shrunk from its approaches when it thus appeared in all its hideous forms amongst their comrades.

Such was the state of things in the colony at the close of the year 1798, and with which I shall conclude this chapter.