Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/53

Rh de l'Artibonite a party of 25 whites, after searching in vain for a mulatto, ended by killing his two children; in the same locality they murdered a father and his two sons. A black freedman was, without the least provocation, put to death by a party of whites; whilst at Cap-Français there took place a wholesale slaughter of the "affranchis" by the colonists. Such are the atrocities with which the wealthy planters started the French revolution in Saint-Domingue. By and by both "affranchis" and slaves retaliated by taking revenge of all the horrible crimes of which they had been the victims. Many foreign writers unfriendly toward Haiti make mention only of the reprisals; but they intentionally omit all allusion to the frequent revolting crimes which had caused them. By a decree of March 8, 1790, the National Assembly had, however, indicated the powers vested in the colonial assemblies of the French possessions. And, according to article 4 of the Instructions adopted on the 28th of the same month, all persons 25 years old, owning real estate or domiciled in the parish for two years and paying taxes, were authorized to take part in the election of those assemblies. The "affranchis" possessed the full requirements, and therefore imagined that they would at last be able to exercise their political rights. Their illusions did not last long. The colonists of Saint-Domingue did not consider as persons men of the black race; they regarded them as things. In consequence they were not allowed to vote. Foreseeing the decision of the wealthy planters, Vincent Ogé, one of the commissioners of the "affranchis," decided to return to Saint-Domingue in order to demand the fair application of the Decree and the Instructions of March, 1790. He assumed the pseudonym of Poissac; and in spite of all the hindrances placed in his way he succeeded in leaving France. He arrived at Cap-Français in the evening of October 16, 1790, and proceeded forthwith to Dondon, his native place. As soon