178 ROSENGARTEN— MOREAU de SAINT MERY. [April 20, 



writers upon the island of Santo Domingo, was ]\Iederic Louis Elie 

 Moreau de St. Mery, who produced three vokmiinous works upon 

 the French possessions in the West Indies. Born at Fort Royal, 

 Martinique, in 1750, he passed his early manhood in Haiti, and 

 settled at the then capitol of the colony. Cap Franqais (now Cap 

 Haitien). He held an important ofifice in the administration of the 

 colony, and also, under a commission from Louis i6th, travelled ex- 

 tensively through the French West Indies, collecting material for a 

 work published in 1785, under the title " Lois et Constitutions des 

 Colonies Francaises de I'Amerique sous le vent, de 1550 a 1785." 

 Returning to France he took an active part in the French Revolution, 

 until obliged to flee from his political enemies to the L'nited States. 

 It was during a period of exile in the latter country that he published 

 two works descriptive of the island of Santo Domingo, one devoted 

 to the Spanish part of the island, the other to the French part. Pub- 

 lished by himself in Philadelphia in 1797. it was republished in Paris 

 in 1875 by ]\Iorgand in 2 vols. 8vo. It is to this day regarded by 

 the Haitians as the highest authority upon the physical geography 

 of their country and is quoted at length in the latest Haitian gazeteer 

 (Ronzier Die. geog. et admin, d. Haiti, Paris, 1899). Mr. Talman 

 reproduces St. Mery's chart of the Island, and a full abstract of his 

 description of its meteorology. 



Moreau de St. Mery was active in the Philadelphia Society of Cap 

 Franqais, and in the Library of the American Philosophical Society 

 there is the ist vol. of its Proceedings, — no 2nd or later volume is 

 preserved,— it shows that Aloreau de St. Alery was the leading 

 spirit in its activities. That his meteorological observations of San 

 Domingo during his residence there in the eigliteenth century, should 

 be found of value today, is but another proof of his useful activity. 

 His chief monument however is his collection, bearing his name, of 

 original documents on the French in America, and by it he is 

 now made known to students in the pages of Aulard. Brymner, 

 Thwaites and other historians. 



