44, AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
and had no master to whom they could appeal, being 
subject to military service without pay, to the corvée 
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 Wimpffen,’ 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 
*See Note, Vol. I, p. 31. 
