HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
_| treachery. Strange as it may ap- 
pear, this unfounded and extrava- 
pant charge gained universal belief 
th oughout the island, and cast the 
greatest odium on the general as- 
sembly. Several parishes recalled 
th eir deputies ; and in general the 
habitants looked upon it with 
i ousy and mistrust. 
Breve yernor, encouraged by 
impression which had gone 
broad to the discredit of his ene- 
mies, determined, by the advice of 
é olonel Mauduit, to take active 
easures to ensure his ascendancy, 
e dissolved by proclamation the 
general assembly. With an armed 
force he arrested several of the de- 
pages of a provincial meeting, who 
ad presumed to convene contrari- 
| ly to his wishes. He collected 
troops from every quarter of the 
| island, established magazines, and 
ide, with activity, every prepara- 
on for war. 
ae eanwhile the members of the 
f Assembly were not inactive. They 
| summoned the inhabitants to re- 
pair to St. Marc’s in defence of 
their deputies; they raised troops, 
|| and gained over to their side the 
srew of a ship of war, which had 
een under the command of a par- 
fizan of Peynier and Manduit. All 
Was anxiety and alarm, Hostilities 
seemed on the eve of commencing ; 
mn important blow was expected to 
= instantly struck; every thing 
reatened an obstinate and bloody 
Hs critical period the effu- 
yuman blood was prevent- 
and the fate of the colony sus- 
ed for aseason by an event un- 
ed for, and at this day unac- 
atable. A sudden impulse seiz- 
he members of the general as- 
nbly to go to France, and to jus- 
y their conduct before the su- 
[75 
preme authority of that country. 
Accordingly,inafew days they,actu- 
ally, to the number of eighty-three, 
left their native country on this 
bold and patriotic enterprize. This 
disinterested conduct struck the 
contending factions with equal as- 
tonishment and admiration. A 
momentary calm succeeded, and all 
parties seemed disposed to abide 
by the decision of the King and the 
National Assembly of France. The 
peace of the colony, however, was 
soon violated from another quar- 
ter, and by men of different prin- 
ciples. A desire of anarchy and a 
desire of despotism are equally pre- 
judicial to good government, and 
produced the same fatal effect upon 
the island of St. Domingo. It had 
lately suffered from the latter ; it 
was now to suffer from the former. 
The ruling party in the Assem- 
bly, with Petion, Brissot, and Ro- 
bespierre at their head, had seen 
with extreme ‘dissatisfaction the 
peaceable demeanour of the gens de 
couleur, and the prospect of.peace 
being established by their coalition 
with the ‘whites. Such an event 
would have baffled all their schemes ; 
they therefore strained every nerve 
to prevent it; and as misrepresen- 
tation and calumny had not been 
effectual, they were determined up- 
on a bolder enterprize. 
Among the mulattoes of the 
West Indies then residing in France, 
was James Ogé, a young man of 
considerable abilities, of a warm 
imagination, and a sanguine tem- 
per. Him the levellers pitched 
upon as a fit person to answer their 
purposes. ‘They introduced him 
to. the meetings of the society of 
the Amis de Noirs, where he was in- 
structed in his rights and his inju- 
ries ; where he had painted to him, 
in glowing colours, the cruel wron 
an 
