44. AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



and had no master to whom they could appeal, being 

 subject to military service without pay, to the corvee 

 or labor upon the highways, the hardships of which 

 were insupportable, as well as to a constant and galling 

 tyranny. The law was invariably framed in favor of 

 the white man, who, if he struck a mulatto, was subject 

 to a trivial fine, while retaliation by the man of color 

 might cost him his right hand. It should be added, 

 however, that custom was usually more lenient than the 

 law, and that such atrocious enactments were generally 

 a dead letter. 



As might have been expected in the circumstances, 

 the mulattoes took their revenge on the despised blacks, 

 whom they were permitted to hold as slaves. They 

 were notoriously the hardest taskmasters in the island, 

 and in return they were naturally envied and hated by 

 the ignorant mass of black humanity. The whites, to 

 complete the discord, were divided among themselves, 

 the Frenchmen from Europe affecting a superiority 

 over the white Creoles, the seasoned natives of the 

 island, a condition that never made for good feeling. 

 Moreover, the white planter, who endeavored to gain a 

 foothold by producing sugar, cotton or coffee, seems to 

 have had a just grievance against the merchants whom 

 the law favored and who set the price for negroes and 

 all other commodities that had to be bought in exchange 

 for produce. Such at least was the conviction and ex- 

 perience of a keen observer, Francis Alexander Stanis- 

 laus, Baron de Wimp ff en, 7 who went to Santo Domingo 

 in 1788, tried to establish himself as a coffee planter at 

 Jaquemel, on the southern coast not far from Les 

 Cayes, and after three years of fruitless effort, gave up 

 the attempt in disgust, glad to escape, as from the flames 



7 See Note, Vol. I, p. 31. 



