HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
527 
1791. M. de Conway then resolved to set out for France, and was replaced in 
the interval by M. de Cossigny, who commanded at the Isle of Bourbon. 
1792. M. de Malartic, named likewise by the King as Governor-general, arrived 
at the Isle of France in June, 1792. The colonies were then governed by their 
particular Colonial Assemblies, whose decrees had the force of law, when they had 
received the sanction of the governor, who represented the state. 
He had, moreover, the command of the military force, and the regulation of the 
interior department. 
The Intendant was charged with the administration of the finances. 
1793. When the news of the power of the Jacobins in France was brought to 
this island, the Jacobin club was established, which was called the Chaumiere. 
In 1794, the Chaumiere club soon rivalled the constituted authorities. The 
members of this club of the Isle of France forced M. de Malartic to grant them a 
sloop to convey one of their detachments of about one hundred men to the Isle of 
Bourbon, in order to arrest M. Duplessis Vigoureux, the Governor; M. Fayol, the 
Civil Commissary; and M. de St. Felix, formerly Commandant of the Marine, on 
the pretext that they corresponded with the English. They executed their design, and 
brought these three prisoners away on board the sloop. On their arrival at the Isle of 
France they were landed under an escort from this detachment, and were conducted 
to the Chaumiere. The president, who was formerly a police officer, said gravely to 
them, “the people accuse you, and the people will judge you.” They were then 
conducted to the dungeon, where they were fettered, and they remained there about 
six months. 
The Chaumiere , in the mean time, fixed up a guillotine in the public place, in 
expectation of making use of it against these victims of their suspicions. 
The Colonial Assembly, better composed, succeeded in putting a stop to the 
effervescence of the Jacobins, by ordering that these prisoners should be judged only 
by a court martial, named by all the citizens of the colony, united in primary assem¬ 
blies, each in its own district. This method occasioned a delay that gave them time 
to concert together, in order to contrive that the choice of members of the commis¬ 
sion might fall upon upright persons, and this design was crowned with success.. 
At this moment an account arrived of the decree abolishing slavery in all the 
settlements of the French Republic. This news, which so deeply interested the 
inhabitants of the colony, operated a great change in their opinion concerning the 
