“HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
their demands with the sword. Ac- 
cordingly, large bodies of them ap- 
. in arms in different parts of 
ae country, and published mani- 
festos, setting forth their views, 
their demands, and determinations. 
But without a skilful leader, with- 
out sufficient concert, and without 
a plan, their attempts for the pre- 
sent were easily overpowered. 
© At this period the cause of the 
mulattoes seemed to be desperate ; 
their rebellion had been curbed at 
home ; they were abandoned by the 
legislature of France. Upon hear- 
ing of the disposition of the colo- 
nies to the mother country (for 
sentiments of rage and indignation 
were general throughout all the 
islands, particularly at Martinique) 
the commercial and manufacturing 
towns, which subsisted by the West 
India trade, took the alarm. They 
believed that the inhabitants either 
wished to renounce their depend- 
ency, or to throw themselves into 
the arms of a foreign power; so that 
the source of their wealth would be 
dried up, or diverted into a different 
channel. The National Assembly 
was forced to pay attention to their 
amours, and to deliberate upon 
he most proper scheme to soothe 
| the minds of the colonists. After 
long and animated debate, a de- 
4 45 . . 
eree was passed which imported that 
aba of France would not 
erfere with the commercial ar- 
rangements or internal regulations 
t le colonies; and that the con- 
‘stitution of each should be such as 
‘itself should choose, provided it was 
istent with the necessary subor- 
ization and dependence on the 
her country. 
; isdecree was perhaps the most 
equitable, prudent, and_ politic, 
‘that could then have been devised. 
| A colony has surely a just right to 
7 A eT j 
| 
[73 
frame the laws by which it shall be 
governed. Never would the French 
colonies have submitted to be go- 
verned by a legislature at 3000 
miles distance, after what had hap- 
pened in the mother country, and 
with the example of the Americans 
ever before their eyes. Besides, 
the decree was founded on the 
strong basis of moral necessity ; the 
colonies were ready to’ renounce 
their allegiance. Had France ad- 
hered to it, they might still have 
been in her possession ; yet nothing 
could equal the clamour which it ex- 
cited among the mulattoes; but par- 
ticularly among the members of the 
society of the Amisdes Noirs. They 
reprobated it as the offspring of ty- 
ranny and the mother of oppression. 
They said that it sanctioned all the 
abuses which already existed in the 
West Indies, and that it would be 
the foundation of greater. Thusthis 
decree failed of effect in establish- 
ing tranquillity: while it satisfied 
one party, it rendered another dis- 
contented and furious. 
About the beginning of 1790, an 
order arrived in St. Domingo, from 
the king, for convening a general 
Colonial Assembly. To such a de- 
gree was the respect for royalty di- 
minished in St. Domingo, that this 
order was nearly disregarded. The 
members were elected in a manner 
different from what had been there 
enjoined; the place appointed for 
holding it was altered, the time fix- 
ed for its meeting. 
This important assembly, on 
which so much depended, at length 
met at St. Mare’s, on the 16th of 
April, to establish the peace, and to 
settle the constitution of their coun- 
try. They at first evinced a spirit 
of moderation; their deliberations 
were conducted with prudence, 
and their acts were framed with 
wisdom 
