STATE PAPERS. 



71; 



disputing the honour of the first 

 blow. — Blacks and yellows, whom 

 the refined duplicity of Europeans 

 has for a long time endeavoured to 

 divide ; you, who are now consoli- 

 dated, and make but one family ; 

 without doubt it was necessary that 

 our perfect reconciliation should be 

 sealed with the blood of your 

 butchers. Similar calamities have 

 hung over your proscribod heads; a 

 similar ardour to strike your ene- 

 mies has siijnaliscd you : the like 

 fate is reserved for you : and the 

 like, interests must therefore render 

 you for ever one, indivisible and 

 inseparable. Alaintain that preci- 

 ous concordj tliat happy harmony 

 amongst yourselves : it is the pledge 

 of your happiness, your salvation, 

 and your success : it is the secret of 

 being invincible. Is it necessary, 

 in order to strengthen these tics, to 

 recall to your remembrance the ca- 

 talogue of atrocities committed 

 against our species; the massacre of 

 the entire population of this island, 

 meditated in the silence and scoig- 

 fruid of the cabinet ; the execution 

 of that abomitiable project, to me 

 unblushingly proiiosed, and already 

 begun by the French, with the 

 calmness and serenity of a counte- 

 nance accustomed to similar crimes. 

 Guadaloupe, pillaged and destroy- 

 ed ; its ruins still reeking with the 

 blood of the children, women, and 

 old men put to the sword ; Pelage 

 (himself the victim of their crafti- 

 ness), after having basely betrayed 

 his country and his brothers; the 

 brave and immortal Delgressc, blown 

 into the air with the fort which he 

 di'fendcd, -.ilher than accept their 

 oU'cri'd chains. Magnanimous war- 

 rior ! that noble death, far from en- 

 feebling our courage, serves only to 

 iousu within us the dctcrmiaatiou of 



avenging or of following thee. Shalf 

 I again recall to your memory the 

 plots lately framed at Jeremie ? the 

 terrible explosion which was to be 

 the result, notwithstanding the ge« 

 nerous pardon granted to these in- 

 corrigible beings at the expulsion of 

 the I'rench army ? The deplorable 

 fate of our departed brothers in 

 Europe? and (dread harbinger of 

 death) the frightful despotism exer- 

 cised at Martinique ? Unfortunate 

 people of Martinique, could I but 

 fly to your assistance, and break 

 your fetters ! Alas ! an insur- 

 mountable barrier separates us. 

 Perhaps a spark from the same fire 

 which enflames us, will alight into 

 your bosoms : perhaps, at the sound 

 of thiN commotion, suddenly awak- 

 ened from your lethargy, with arms 

 in your hands, you will reclaim your 

 sacred and imprescriptible rights. — • 

 After the terrible example which I 

 have just given, that, sooner or 

 later. Divine justice will unchain on 

 earth some mighty minds, above the 

 weakness of the vulgar, for the de- 

 struftion and terror of the wicked ; 

 tremble, tyrants, usurpers, scourges 

 of the new world! our daggers are 

 sharpened: your punishment is rea- 

 dy ! sixty thousand men, equipped, 

 inured to war, obedient to my or- 

 ders, burn to offer a new sacrifice to 

 the names of their assassinated 

 brothers. Let that nation come, 

 who may be mad and daring enough 

 to attack me. 



Already at its approach, the irri- 

 tated genius of Hayti, arising out 

 of the bosom of the ocean, appears; 

 his menacing aspect throws the 

 waves into commotion, excites tem- 

 pests, and with his mighty hand 

 disperses ships, or dashes them in 

 pieces ; to his formidable voice the 

 laws of nature pay obedience; dis- 



eascsj 



