Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/51

Rh Still they chose to run the greatest risks rather than share the administration of the island with men whom they considered their inferiors. From the convocation of the States General, the wealthy planters began to defy the colonial authority, thus giving the first example of insubordination. On their own responsibility they secretly appointed eighteen representatives whom they sent to France. On their arrival at Versailles they found the National Assembly already organized. This first act of insubordination was followed by others still more important. When the news of the fall of the Bastille reached Saint-Domingue, the pretensions of the colonists knew no bounds. They elected municipalities and even an Assembly, which, assuming the title of "General Assembly of the French part of Saint-Domingue," met at Saint-Marc and arrogated full powers. On the 28th of May, 1790, this Assembly adopted a decree which constituted almost a declaration of independence. The attitude and encroachment of this body was naturally highly displeasing to the colonial government, which ordered its dissolution and resorted to force in order to compel its members to disperse. The whites took no pains to conceal from the "affranchis" the discord existing among themselves. Excluded from all the assemblies elected at Saint-Domingue, the freedmen had never ceased to protest against the arbitrary deprivation of their political rights. Their representatives in France, among whom were Julien Raymond and Vincent Ogé, were fighting hard to put an end to their humiliating position. Through the powerful assistance of the Society "des Amis des Noirs," they were received, on the 22d of October, 1789, by the National Assembly. Later on the "affranchis" offered to France 6,000,000 francs and the fifth of their properties in guarantee of the national indebtedness. The Assembly was not long in taking up