Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/275

 commenced their sittings, and constituted themselves the National Assembly; and their arrival not a little surprised that body, who probably never expected deputies from St. Domingo, or who at all events thought eighteen deputies too many Cur one colony. Accordingly, it was with some difficulty that six of them were allowed to take their scats. At that time colonial gentlemen were not held in great favor at Paris. Among the many feelings which then simultaneously stirred and agitated that great metropolis, there had sprung up a strong feeling against negro slavery. Whether the enthusiasm was kindled by the recent proceedings of Clarkson and Wilberforce in London, or whether it was derived by the French themselves from the political maxims then afloat, the writers and speakers of the revolution made the iniquity of negro slavery one of their most frequent and favorite topics; and there had just been founded in Paris a society called Amis des Noirs, or friends of the blacks, of which the leading revolutionists were members.

The intelligence of what was occurring at Paris gave great alarm in St. Domingo. When the celebrated declaration of rights, asserting all men to be "free and equal," reached the island along with the news of the proceedings of the Amis des Noirs, the whites, almost all of whom were interested in the preservation of slavery, looked upon their ruin as predetermined. They had no objection to freedom in the abstract, freedom which should apply only to themselves, but they considered it a violation of all decency to speak of black men, mere "property." having political rights. What disheartened the whites gave encouragement to the mulattoes. Rejoicing in the idea that the French people were their friends, they became turbulent, and rose in arms in several places, but were without much difficulty put down. Two or three whites, who were enthusiastic revolutionists, sided with the insurgents; and one of them, M. de Beaudierre, fell a victim to the fury of the colonists. The negro population of the island remained quiet; the contagion of revolutionary sentiments had not yet reached them.

When the national assembly heard of the alarm which the new constitution had excited in the colonies, they saw the necessity for adopting some measures to allay the storm; and accordingly, on the 8th of March, 1790, they passed a resolution disclaiming all intention to legislate sweepingly for the internal affairs of the colonies, and authorizing each colony to mature a plan for itself in its own legislative assembly, (the revolution having superseded the old system of colonial government by royal officials, and given to each colony a legislative assembly consisting of representatives elected by the colonists,) and submit the same to the national assembly. This resolution, which gave great dissatisfaction to the Amis des Noirs in Paris, produced a temporary calm in St. Domingo. For some time nothing was to be heard but the bustle of elections throughout the colony; and at length, on the 16th of April, 1790, the general assembly met, consisting of 213 representatives. All eyes were upon the proceedings of the assembly; and at length, on the 28th of May, it published the results of its deliberations in the form of a new constitution, consisting of ten articles. The provisions of this new constitution, and the language