e236] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1796. 
know all the means you ought to 
employ to preserve liberty and 
equality; which are the fundamen- 
tal laws of the constitution. 
Citizens rally at the voice of the 
delegates of the republic, since it 
is inher name, and forher dearest 
interests, that they are going to 
address you. 
The ancient government of the 
colonies had distinguished three dif- 
ferent classes—the whites, the co- 
loured people, and the slaves. To 
those different classes, now united 
and honoured with the name of 
French citizens, we are going to 
speak alternately. We shall first 
address that portion of the people of 
the colony, which has most suf- 
fered under the tyrannic order 
which has been abolished, and we 
shall say tothem: By the republican 
constitution, which the French na- 
tion has just adopted, you have re« 
covered your primitive rights ; but 
you must know the proper means 
to preserve them without trouble, 
and to transmit them without in» 
terruption, to your remotest pos- 
terity. Those ships, the warriors 
whom they bring to you; all those 
formidable preparations are design- 
ed against the English, who are the 
most cruel enemies of your liberty ! 
They dare to indulge the hope of 
framing new chains for you. See 
these blood-thirsty tigers bending 
still your brethren under their ho« 
micidal whips. We cannot suffer 
any longer so dismal an object ; 
join the forces which France sends 
to you, expel from the territory of 
the French republic those tyrants of 
mankind, pursue them even to 
their haunts, and destroy the last 
of them! What! is it not incum- 
bent on you to revenge your bree 
thren, whom they keep fettered itt 
the surrounding islands? Yes} ci- 
tizens, every thing ought to ims 
press you with an implacable hatred 
for those tyrants, whose most lu- 
crative trade is, reducing you to 
slavery, misery, and death. What 
can withhold your vengeance? Rush 
on this impious race ;_ make it dis- 
appear from that sacred spot, which 
toolong has been the theatre of its 
crimes and depredations. 
Labour and instruction, citizens, 
are necessary to the preservation of 
the people, and the constitution 
imposes them asa duty upon all 
citizens. ‘The 15th article of the 
second title contains these words. 
Young men cannot be inscribed in 
the civic register, if they do not 
prove that they can read, write, 
and follow a mechanical branch of 
business. That clause, citizens, 
can and ought to take place only 
agreeably to the constitution, after 
the first day of the 12th year of the 
republic. 
The manual operations of agri- 
culture belong to the mechanic 
arts. 
Yes, labour and agriculture par- 
ticularly, is absolutely necessary to 
him who wishes to preserve his 
rights, and enjoy his liberty. 
Through labour we procure the 
necessary things to our existence 
and enjoyment; through labour 
only we can preserve our liberty. 
Had your ancestors; the inha- 
bitants of Africa; devoted them- 
selves to the culture of their fruit- 
ful lands, they most assuredly 
would not have debased themselvés 
by reciprocal bloody wars; of 
which greedy Europeans have 
availed themselves to reduce them 
to the most intolerable and degrad- 
ing 
