Page:Emancipation in the West Indies.djvu/3

 France, Denmark, and Sweden, in 1848. It is, then, 14 years since the last act of lib- cration, 28 since the most important one, and 69 since the first. There still remain in Slavery, about 6750 009 Africans on the continent and islands of America; that is to say, nearly 400 000 in the United States, nearly 2000 000 in Brazil, 750 000 in Cuba, and Porto Rico, and 50 000 in the Dutch possessions.

The slaves of St. Domingo were set free under martial law, amid the disorders of the first French Revolution; those of Great Britain were led into liberty in time of pro- found peace, by carefully prepared statutes; those of France and Denmark during the Revolutionary year of 1848, but without the interposition of martial law. We have here, then, all the possible conditions of a commu nity,—peace, war, and that intermediate state which we call Revolution. If the ex- periment had failed in any of these cases, we might think it owing to peculiar circum- stances; if it had failed in all we might think the policy a mistaken one, at least, so far as these Islands are concerned; if it has succeeded in all, shall we not say it will also succeed every where? Let it be noticed that the number of slaves set free is about two- fifths of those in this country; or, to be more exact, as many as are now in the States of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida. But while the 1 600- 600 freedmen occupied an area of less than 300 000 square miles, these ten States have an area of 600 000 square miles,-a circum- stance very favorable to Emancipation; while the climate of none of them is such as to ex- ciude the white man from active labors, as in the West Indies.

At the period of emancipation, St. Domin- go presented a condition of things somewhat like our own at this moment, but much more like what ours may be a year hence if we do not avail ourselves of the teachings of expe- rience. For three years the colony had been torn by civil wars between the whites and mulattoes, in which the negroes had taken little part. The Spaniards, in alliance with the revolted slaves of 1791, and in the inter- est of the exiled Bourbons, had invaded the country, and occupied several important places. The English, then as now eager to destroy a commercial rival, were in treaty with the planters to invade the island also. The French Republic, represented in St. Do- mingo by two commissioners, Southonax and Polverel, was on the point of losing the rich colony. The commissioners had but a thou- sand French soldiers, a few hundred mulat- toes, and the fragment of loyal slaveholders, to oppose so many enemies. At this crisis, by a bold act of justice, the very thought of which they had repelled four months before. they brought to the French cause the power- ful aid of 500 000 negroes. On the 29th of August. 1793. they declared all the slaves free. Just three weeks after. the English troops landed, but it was too late. On the 4th of February, 1794, the National Con- vention confirmed the proclamation of the Commissioners, and abolished slavery in the other colonies. In June of the same year, Toussaint L'Ouverture, with 5000 men, wino till then had fought under the Spanish flag, forced himself into the chief city, re- leased the French General, and put himself and his negro soldiers at the orders of the Republic. From that hour the fortune of the war was changed. The English were driven ont, (1798) the Spanish retired, and early in 1801, Toussaint proclaimed the French Republic in the Spanish portion of the Island, already ceded to France by the treaty of 1795, thus confirming the liberation of 100 000 more slaves who had been own- ed by the Spaniards.

In the meantime, war alone had not occu- pied the great genius of this negro warrior and statesman. Having become virtually Governor of the colony, in 1796 he had set himself to the task of organizing free labor, —a work begun by the French Commission- ers in 1794. Sonthonax, returning from an absence in France, in 1796, was astonished at the prosperity which he saw. After the expulsion of the English, in 1798, Toussaint recalled the fugitive planters, gave them their former slaves for hired laborers, and opened the ports to free trade. To direct and enforce his regulations. he put the whole Island under military government, and supported his sys- tem of labor, when resisted, by the bayonet. The fruits of this sagacious policy were in- stantly visible. Commerce returned to the unfortunate Island; labor flourished; the planters grew rich; the condition of the la- borers was wonderfully improved; the Gov- ernment was respected, and every thing promised well for the future.

Suddenly, all this prosperity was again destroyed—not by the negroes, who had cre ated it—but by the stupendous folly of Na-