*6 History of Hayti. 
Hayti to be abandoned, their working having become difficult 
on account of an insufficient population. 
Another cause of decay was being developed at the same 
time. This was the war sustained by the Dutch, English, and 
French against the Spanish navigators, who designed to exclude 
every other flag from these new seas. These adventurers, who 
sailed in light vessels, and who afterwards became celebrated 
under the name of Buccaneers, settled at several points, and 
especially at Tortuga, a small island situated on the northern 
coast of Hayti. From thence, they spread by degrees over the 
main land, where they founded, under the protection of Cardi¬ 
nal Richelieu, the French colony of St. Domingo. 
The Spaniards, from the commencement of their settlement, 
introduced slaves of African origin into Santo Domingo, the 
name of the capital, which, instead of Hispaniola, was soon ap¬ 
plied to the whole island. The two oppressed races lived in the 
same tortures; but when, three centuries later, came the hour 
of deliverance, the public law of the new nationality recognized 
their common right to the exclusive property of the soil. 
Under the Spanish dominion, the colony remained stationary. 
Three hundred years of possession had only produced a popula¬ 
tion varying from 100,000 to 150,000 souls. 
The French had much greater success. In 1789, the por¬ 
tion which they possessed numbered a population of about 
600,000, and five sixths of this population, compelled to labor 
in merciless bondage, had brought the property of the masters 
to the highest degree of prosperity. 
The French Revolution now added another danger to that 
which had already shown itself in partial revolts amongst the 
slaves. The white colonists, and the free men of color* formed 
antagonistic parties, who discussed their privileges in presence 
of the trembling slave. The logical conclusion of such a state 
* In Hayti, the phrase “ men of color ” is used exclusively to designate 
persons of mixed blood, black being applied and confined to those of pure 
African descent. 
