88 10 1079 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document The regeneration of the French people and the establishment of the Republic has necessarily led to the reform of the vernacular era. We could no longer count the years during which kings oppressed us as an era during which we had lived. The prejudices and lies of both the throne and the church sullied each page of the calendar we were using. You have reformed this calendar and replaced it with another where time is calculated in exact and symmetrical measurements. This is not sufficient. Long usage of the Gregorian calendar has filled the people's memory with a considerable number of images that they have long revered, and which today remain the source of their religious errors. It is therefore necessary to replace these visions of ignorance with the realities of reason, and this sacerdotal prestige with nature's truth. We understand nothing except through images. In the most abstract analysis, in the most metaphysical combination of ideas, our understanding only progresses by means of images, our memory uses and depends only on them. Therefore, if you want the methodology and cohesion of this calendar to easily be understood by the people, and to engrave itself rapidly in their memory, you must use images in your new calendar. . . . What if at each moment of the year, the month, the decade, and the day, the glances and thoughts of the citizens fell upon a picture of farming, or nature's bounty, or an aspect of the rural economy? You could not doubt the fact that this would be a big step in moving the nation toward a system of agriculture, and that each citizen would feel nothing but love for the real and true gifts of nature he enjoys. For centuries, the people felt this love for imaginary objects, alleged saints whom they could not see, let alone know. I will go even further and say that priests could only give substance to their idols by attributing to each of them direct influence over matters of tangible interest to the people: This is how Saint John came to grant harvests while Saint Mark protected the vineyards. If arguments were required to demonstrate the irresistible power that images have on human intelligence, I would not need to enter into metaphysical analyses. I would find adequate proof in the theory, doctrine, and practice of priests. Take, for example, priests, whose universal and definitive goal is, and always will be, to subjugate mankind and enslave it under their dominion, instituted the practice of commemorating the dead. They did so to inspire disgust in us for earthly and worldly riches so that they could enjoy more of these riches themselves, and make us dependent on them through the myth and imagery of purgatory. You can see here their skill in seizing upon men's imagination and controlling it to suit their purposes. But they didn't choose to act out this farce in a pleasant setting, one joyous and fresh, which would have made us cherish life and its pleasures. Instead they chose November 2nd to lead us to the tombs of our fathers. They chose a time when the nice days are over, the sky is sad and gray, the earth's colors are fading and the falling leaves fill our soul with melancholy and sadness. At that time of year, making use of nature's farewells, they took hold of us, to lead us through Advent and their endless number of so-called holy days, through all that they had insolently conjured up that was meant to be mystical for the predestined (in other words, for imbeciles) and terrifying for the sinner (in other words, for the clear-sighted). Priests, these men who appeared to be enemies of human passion and its sweetest sentiments, wanted to turn these to their own advantage. . . . The Commission that you named to make the new calendar more sensible and easier to learn, therefore believed that it could achieve this goal if it succeeded in using names to strike the imagination and using nature and a succession of images to teach. The main idea upon which we have based our proposal is to use the calendar to consecrate the agricultural system, to lead the nation back to it, highlighting periods and times of the year with clear or tangible signs taken from agriculture and the rural economy. The more the memory is presented with fixed points of reference, the more easily it remembers. We have therefore developed the idea of giving each month of the year a characteristic name that depicts its unique temperature and the types of agricultural produce in season at that time. And that would, at the same time, suggest to which of the four seasons that make up the year it belongs. This latter effect is achieved by four endings, each given to three consecutive months, that produce four different sounds indicating the seasons in which they belong. . . . Thus the names of the months are: AUTUMN Vendémiaire (Vintage) Brumaire (Fog) Frimaire (Frost) WINTER Nivôse (Snow) Pluviôse (Rain) Ventôse (Wind) SPRING Germinal (Buds) Floréal (Flowers) Prairial (Meadow) SUMMER Messidor (Harvest) Thermidor (Heat) Fructidor (Fruit)As I have mentioned, the effect of these names is such that by merely saying the name of the month one will clearly feel three things and how they are connected: the type of season; the temperature; and the state of vegetation. Sortable Date 1793-10-00 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Jacques Guillaume, ed., Procès-Verbaux du Comité d'instruction publique de l'Assemblée legislative, vol. 2 (Paris, 1891), 440–41, 582–84, 697–99, 701. Description An account of the resource A reformed calendar was a goal of the revolutionaries who sought to remake not only the political system and the social order, but also the very experience of life. To rid the calendar of the malign influence of Christianity as a bulwark of tradition, in the fall of 1793 the Convention set up a committee to draft a new secular, rational calendar. Headed by the Dantonist Philippe–François Fabre d’Eglantine, the committee filed the report excerpted below in October 1793. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 435 Title A name given to the resource The Calendar Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/435/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource October 1793 Laws Text https://revolution.chnm.org/files/original/c907c543bf68eb3cda06463a6eed4477.jpg 871a1fcb4c410daccdaf11e5e301bf98 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Engraving Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 24 x 29 cm Title (French) The image's title, in French. Incendie du Cap Français Caption The image's caption. le 20, 21, 22 et 23 juin 1793 ou 2, 3, 4 et 5 Messidor an I.er de la République Sortable Date 1802-00-00 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Bibliothèque Nationale de France Description An account of the resource In June 1793, the French governor of Saint Domingue, Thomas–François Galbaud, tried to raise a revolt of the whites against republican commissioners sent from France. To defeat him, the commissioners promised freedom to the slaves who would fight on their behalf. Thousands of whites fled the northern town, which nearly burned to the ground. This incident marked the end of white domination of the island and the beginning of slave emancipation. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pierre-Gabriel Berthault (engraver) Jean Duplessi-Bertaux (engraver) Jacques François Joseph Swebach (designer) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Public Domain Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPEG Language A language of the resource French Title A name given to the resource The Cap Français Fire Relation A related resource http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/106/|de Vinck. Un siècle d'histoire de France par l'estampe, 1770-1870. Vol. 44 (pièces 5943-6108), Ancien Régime et Révolution Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1802 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 106 Image Popular Politics War https://revolution.chnm.org/files/original/10dd9e7fe707f8c2e68cf3a797621bcc.mp3 ee51b2da356d68d44f273e9c53f2713f Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound <table><tbody><tr><td>La Carmagnole I Madame Veto avait promis, Madame Veto avait promis. de faire égorger tout Paris, de faire égorger tout Paris. Mais son coup a manqué, grâce à nos canoiners. Refrain: Dansons la Carmagnole Vive le son, Vive le son, Dansons la Carmagnole Vive le son du canon. II Monsieur Veto avait promis (bis) D'être fidèle à son pays, (bis) Mais il y a manqué, Ne faisons plus quartié. Refrain III Antoinette avait résolu (bis) De nous faire tomber sur le cul; (bis) Mais le coup a manqué Elle a le nez cassé. Refrain IV Son Mari se croyant vainqueur, (bis) Connaissait peu notre valeur, (bis) Va, Louis, gros paour, Du Temple dans la tour. Refrain V Les Suisses avaient promis, (bis) Qu'ils feraient feu sur nos amis, (bis) Mais comme ils ont saute! Comme ils ont tous danse! Refrain VI Quand Antoinette vit la tour, (bis) Elle voulut faire demi-tour, (bis) Elle avait mal au coeur De se voir sans honneur. Refrain Refrain Refrain </td> <td>The Carmagnole I Madame Veto has promised Madame Veto has promised To cut everyone's throat in Paris To cut everyone's throat in Paris But she failed to do this, Thanks to our cannons. Refrain: Let us dance the Carmagnole Long live the sound Long live the sound Let us dance the Carmagnole Long live the sound of the cannons. II Mr. Veto had promised (repeat) To be loyal to his country; (repeat) But he failed to be, Let's not do quarters. Refrain III Antoinette had decided (repeat) To drop us on our asses; (repeat) But the plan was foiled And she fell on her face. Refrain IV Her husband, believing himself a conqueror, (repeat) Knowing little our value, (repeat) Go, Louis, big crybaby, From the the Temple into the tower. Refrain V The Swiss had promised, (repeat) That they would fire our friends, (repeat) But how they have jumped! How they have all danced! Refrain VI When Antoinette sees the tower, (repeat) She wishes to make a half turn, (repeat) She is sick at heart To see herself without honor. Refrain Refrain Refrain </td> </tr></tbody></table> Sortable Date 1792-08-00 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Description An account of the resource Sharing its name with a popular dance, this song heaps scorn upon the queen (Madame Veto), believed to be a traitor, and the "aristocrats" who support her. Like "It’ll Be Okay", the simple tune of the "Carmagnole" permitted even the illiterate to learn lyrics with which to proclaim their conviction in the Revolution’s progress. Title A name given to the resource The Carmagnole Relation A related resource http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/624/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1792-08-00 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 624 Popular Politics Public Opinion Sans-culottes Song The Terror Event A non-persistent, time-based occurrence. Metadata for an event provides descriptive information that is the basis for discovery of the purpose, location, duration, and responsible agents associated with an event. Examples include an exhibition, webcast, conference, workshop, open day, performance, battle, trial, wedding, tea party, conflagration. Sortable Date 1795-06-26 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 888 Title A name given to the resource The Chouans join 4,000 émigrés landed at Quiberon on the shores of Brittany by an English fleet. Defeated by General Hoche on July 21st. Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/888/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 26, 1795 Timeline Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document You pitiful priests, you villainous and stupid clowns, do you not see that your God would not have been eligible [to vote?] Jesus-Christ, who you make to be God incarnate, would have been among the scum under the law you yourself have just helped to pass. How can we respect you, preachers of a proletarian God, who is not even an active citizen! You should respect the poverty that Christ himself ennobled. . . . The true active citizens are those who captured the Bastille, those who cleared the fields while the feeble clergy and the Court, despite their immense wealth, acted like plants. . . . Despite the most profound respect for the holy decrees of the National Assembly . . . I do not consider this law [on citizenship] to be a valid decree. As I have written repeatedly, there are in the National Assembly 600 members [i.e., noble and clerical deputies] who have no more right to vote on laws than I do. Certainly the clergy and the nobility should have the same number of representatives as the rest of the Nation, that is one for each 20,000. Yet the nobles and the clergy number 300,000 individuals and thus should choose 15 representatives from among their 600. The rest should be sent to the observation galleries with only a consultative vote. It is from among these 600 that the majority of votes to pass the decree on silver currency came [and the law on citizenship]. . . . So these decrees should be ignored, because the minority [i.e., the First and Second Estates] became the majority in these cases, . . . so it is right to say that the Decree that should be obeyed is that which was rejected [against the silver currency and against passive citizenship]! Sortable Date 1789-12-12 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Les Révolutions de France et de Brabant (12 December 1789), 109–12. Description An account of the resource Camille Desmoulins, an influential populist writer, here attacks the distinction between "active" and "passive" citizenry based on personal wealth, by pointing out that Christ himself would have been relegated to "passive" citizenry. Desmoulins holds the clergy responsible for this undemocratic policy, charging that the 300 representatives of the clergy in the National Assembly, as well as those from the nobility, should have only a "consultative" vote and that any laws passed with the votes of these deputies should be disregarded by all patriots. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 412 Title A name given to the resource The Clergy as a Target: A Political Problem Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/412/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December 12, 1789 Religion Sans-culottes Text The Terror Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Edict of the King: On the subject of the Policy regarding the Islands of French America March 1685 Recorded at the sovereign Council of Saint Domingue, 6 May 1687. Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre: to all those here present and to those to come, GREETINGS. In that we must also care for all people that Divine Providence has put under our tutelage, we have agreed to have the reports of the officers we have sent to our American islands studied in our presence. These reports inform us of their need for our authority and our justice in order to maintain the discipline of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith in the islands. Our authority is also required to settle issues dealing with the condition and quality of the slaves in said islands. We desire to settle these issues and inform them that, even though they reside infinitely far from our normal abode, we are always present for them, not only through the reach of our power but also by the promptness of our help toward their needs. For these reasons, and on the advice of our council and of our certain knowledge, absolute power and royal authority, we have declared, ruled, and ordered, and declare, rule, and order, that the following pleases us: Article I. We desire and we expect that the Edict of 23 April 1615 of the late King, our most honored lord and father who remains glorious in our memory, be executed in our islands. This accomplished, we enjoin all of our officers to chase from our islands all the Jews who have established residence there. As with all declared enemies of Christianity, we command them to be gone within three months of the day of issuance of the present [order], at the risk of confiscation of their persons and their goods. Article II. All slaves that shall be in our islands shall be baptized and instructed in the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith. We enjoin the inhabitants who shall purchase newly-arrived Negroes to inform the Governor and Intendant of said islands of this fact within no more that eight days, or risk being fined an arbitrary amount. They shall give the necessary orders to have them instructed and baptized within a suitable amount of time. Article III. We forbid any religion other than the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith from being practiced in public. We desire that offenders be punished as rebels disobedient of our orders. We forbid any gathering to that end, which we declare to be conventicle, illegal, and seditious, and subject to the same punishment as would be applicable to the masters who permit it or accept it from their slaves. Article IV. No persons assigned to positions of authority over Negroes shall be other than a member of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith, and the master who assigned these persons shall risk having said Negroes confiscated, and arbitrary punishment levied against the persons who accepted said position of authority. Article V. We forbid our subjects who belong to the so-called "reformed" religion from causing any trouble or unforeseen difficulties for our other subjects or even for their own slaves in the free exercise of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith, at the risk of exemplary punishment. Article VI. We enjoin all our subjects, of whatever religion and social status they may be, to observe Sundays and the holidays that are observed by our subjects of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith. We forbid them to work, nor make their slaves work, on said days, from midnight until the following midnight. They shall neither cultivate the earth, manufacture sugar, nor perform any other work, at the risk of a fine and an arbitrary punishment against the masters, and of confiscation by our officers of as much sugar worked by said slaves before being caught. Article VII. We forbid them also to hold slave markets or any other market on said days at the risk of similar punishments and of confiscation of the merchandise that shall be discovered at the market, and an arbitrary fine against the sellers. Article VIII. We declare that our subjects who are not of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith, are incapable of contracting a valid marriage in the future. We declare any child born from such unions to be bastards, and we desire that said marriages be held and reputed, and to hold and repute, as actual concubinage. Article IX. Free men who shall have one or more children during concubinage with their slaves, together with their masters who accepted it, shall each be fined two thousand pounds of sugar. If they are the masters of the slave who produced said children, we desire, in addition to the fine, that the slave and the children be removed and that she and they be sent to work at the hospital, never to gain their freedom. We do not expect however for the present article to be applied when the man was not married to another person during his concubinage with this slave, who he should then marry according to the accepted rites of the Church. In this way she shall then be freed, the children becoming free and legitimate. . . . Article XI. We forbid priests from conducting weddings between slaves if it appears that they do not have their masters' permission. We also forbid masters from using any constraints on their slaves to marry them without their wishes. Article XII. Children born from marriages between slaves shall be slaves, and if the husband and wife have different masters, they shall belong to the masters of the female slave, not to the master of her husband. Article XIII. We desire that if a male slave has married a free woman, their children, either male or female, shall be free as is their mother, regardless of their father's condition of slavery. And if the father is free and the mother a slave, the children shall also be slaves. . . . Article XV. We forbid slaves from carrying any offensive weapons or large sticks, at the risk of being whipped and having the weapons confiscated. The weapons shall then belong to he who confiscated them. The sole exception shall be made for those who have been sent by their masters to hunt and who are carrying either a letter from their masters or his known mark. Article XVI. We also forbid slaves who belong to different masters from gathering, either during the day or at night, under the pretext of a wedding or other excuse, either at one of the master's houses or elsewhere, and especially not in major roads or isolated locations. They shall risk corporal punishment that shall not be less than the whip and the fleur de lys, and for frequent recidivists and in other aggravating circumstances, they may be punished with death, a decision we leave to their judge. We enjoin all our subjects, even if they are not officers, to rush to the offenders, arrest them, and take them to prison, and that there be no decree against them. . . . Article XVIII. We forbid slaves from selling sugar cane, for whatever reason or occasion, even with the permission of their master, at the risk of a whipping for the slaves and a fine of ten pounds for the masters who gave them permission, and an equal fine for the buyer. Article XIX. We also forbid slaves from selling any type of commodities, even fruit, vegetables, firewood, herbs for cooking and animals either at the market, or at individual houses, without a letter or a known mark from their masters granting express permission. Slaves shall risk the confiscation of goods sold in this way, without their masters receiving restitution for the loss, and a fine of six pounds shall be levied against the buyers. . . . Article XXVII. Slaves who are infirm due to age, sickness or other reason, whether the sickness is curable or not, shall be nourished and cared for by their masters. In the case that they be abandoned, said slaves shall be awarded to the hospital, to which their master shall be required to pay six sols per day for the care and feeding of each slave. . . . Article XXXI. Slaves shall not be a party, either in court or in a civil matter, either as a litigant or as a defendant, or as a civil party in a criminal matter. And compensation shall be pursued in criminal matters for insults and excesses that have been committed against slaves. . . . Article XXXIII. The slave who has struck his master in the face or has drawn blood, or has similarly struck the wife of his master, his mistress, or their children, shall be punished by death. . . . Article XXXVIII. The fugitive slave who has been on the run for one month from the day his master reported him to the police, shall have his ears cut off and shall be branded with a fleur de lys on one shoulder. If he commits the same infraction for another month, again counting from the day he is reported, he shall have his hamstring cut and be branded with a fleur de lys on the other shoulder. The third time, he shall be put to death. Article XXXIX. The masters of freed slaves who have given refuge to fugitive slaves in their homes shall be punished by a fine of three hundred pounds of sugar for each day of refuge. Article XL. The slave who has been punished with death based on denunciation by his master, and who is not a party to the crime for which he was condemned, shall be assessed prior to his execution by two of the principal citizens of the island named by a judge. The assessment price shall be paid by the master, and in order to satisfy this requirement, the Intendant shall impose said sum on the head of each Negro. The amount levied in the estimation shall be paid for each of the said Negroes and levied by the [Tax] Farmer of the Royal Western lands to avoid costs. . . . Article XLII. The masters may also, when they believe that their slaves so deserve, chain them and have them beaten with rods or straps. They shall be forbidden however from torturing them or mutilating any limb, at the risk of having the slaves confiscated and having extraordinary charges brought against them. Article XLIII. We enjoin our officers to criminally prosecute the masters, or their foremen, who have killed a slave under their auspices or control, and to punish the master according to the circumstances of the atrocity. In the case where there is absolution, we allow our officers to return the absolved master or foreman, without them needing our pardon. Article XLIV. We declare slaves to be charges, and as such enter into community property. They are not to be mortgaged, and shall be shared equally between the co-inheritors without benefit to the wife or one particular inheritor, nor subject to the right of primogeniture, the usual customs duties, feudal or lineage charges, or feudal or seigneurial taxes. They shall not be affected by the details of decrees, nor from the imposition of the four-fifths, in case of disposal by death or bequeathing. . . . Article XLVII. Husband, wife and prepubescent children, if they are all under the same master, may not be taken and sold separately. We declare the seizing and sales that shall be done as such to be void. For slaves who have been separated, we desire that the seller shall risk their loss, and that the slaves he kept shall be awarded to the buyer, without him having to pay any supplement. . . . Article LV. Masters twenty years of age may free their slaves by any act toward the living or due to death, without their having to give just cause for their actions, nor do they require parental advice as long as they are minors of 25 years of age. Article LVI. The children who are declared to be sole legatees by their masters, or named as executors of their wills, or tutors of their children, shall be held and considered as freed slaves. . . . Article LVIII. We declare their freedom is granted in our islands if their place of birth was in our islands. We declare also that freed slaves shall not require our letters of naturalization to enjoy the advantages of our natural subjects in our kingdom, lands or country of obedience, even when they are born in foreign countries. Article LIX. We grant to freed slaves the same rights, privileges and immunities that are enjoyed by freeborn persons. We desire that they are deserving of this acquired freedom, and that this freedom gives them, as much for their person as for their property, the same happiness that natural liberty has on our other subjects. Versailles, March 1685, the forty second year of our reign. Signed LOUIS, and below the King. Colbert, visa, Le Tellier. Read, posted and recorded at the sovereign council of the coast of Saint Domingue, kept at Petit Goave, 6 May 1687, Signed Moriceau. Sortable Date 1687-05-06 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Édit du Roi, Touchant la Police des Isles de l'Amérique Française (Paris, 1687), 28–58. Description An account of the resource The Code noir initially took shape in Louis XIV’s edict of 1685. Although subsequent decrees modified a few of the code’s provisions, this first document established the main lines for the policing of slavery right up to 1789. The very first article expels all Jews from the colonies; Jews played a significant but hardly dominant role in the Dutch colonies of the Caribbean region but were not allowed to own property or slaves in the French colonies. The edict also insisted that all slaves be instructed as Catholics and not as Protestants. For the most part, the code concentrated on defining the condition of slavery (passing the condition through the mother not the father) and establishing harsh controls over the conduct of those enslaved. Slaves had virtually no rights, though the code did enjoin masters to take care of the sick and old. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 335 Title A name given to the resource The Code Noir (The Black Code) Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/335/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource May 6, 1687 Laws Text Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document When one speaks of any class of description whatsoever of the human race, it must be understood that he speaks in general terms, which admit of various and numerous exceptions. It is in those deceptions, that great accomplishments and great defects, that great virtues and great vices, are only found. Thus, generally speaking, the negroe is not perhaps the worst species of the human race. He is an animal rational in a middle degree; tolerably good, because he is docile and timid, and because he never thinks of a better condition than what he actually enjoys, unless the thought, as well as the means of attaining, is forced upon his observation. He is little capable of actual gratitude and solid attachment; but he is endowed with a general vague notion of right and wrong; and, as he is exceedingly jealous of what he supposes to be his due, chiefly of what has been promised to him, he is pretty well inclined to do what he knows to be his duty. Besides, he has all the defects of people of the lowest class; he perverts every thing to gratify his sloth, lust and gluttony, and, under these predicaments, he will be found an impudent liar. He is exceedingly attentive, and has sufficient skill to lay hold of every remission of discipline, to turn to his own advantage the weaknesses and examples of his matter. He is imitative and apish, as the rest of the human race; and, as such, rather exerts himself to attain the evil, which presents more present and palpable enjoyments, than the good, the benefits of which are, unfortunately, almost always more abstruse and remote. In a physical view, he is strong and robust, bears fatigue with hardiness, is little liable to distempers, as he is calculated by nature, and improved by habit to be the inhabitant of a warm climate. Such, nearly and in a general view, is that creature whom we are forced to keep in his natural state of thraldom, in order to obtain from him the requisite services; because it is now proved by experience, more decisively than by speculative reasonings, that, under a different condition, he would not labour, unless to remove actual wants, which are few and small in the West Indies. Here, let the philanthropic imprudent speculator view the present situation of things, correct his system, and profess contrition for the incalculable mischief he has done, in the republican parts of St. Domingo. But no more of this subject. It is necessary, then, to turn this our property to the best account. We must exact from the negroe all the work he can reasonably perform, and use every means to prolong his life. If interest directs the first, humanity enjoins the second, and here they both go hand in hand. Happy accord! the consciousness of which forms the whole philosophical and political system of the planter; all the magic of the supreme power of one chief, and of that entire submission of the many, which would still have submitted unimpaired in this island, had not the fatal French revolution introduced principles, incompatible with the condition of the country (a). In order to make the best of the powers of the negro, and to keep him in subjection, chastisement is unfortunately sometimes necessary. Such also is the case with soldiers, with sailors, and with all servile classes of men. But, that his life may be prolonged as long as possible, the planter must not forget that chastisement ought to be neither too severe at a time, nor too often repeated; that the negroe stands in need of quiet, of relaxation, of comforts during health; and of tender and attentive assistance in times of sickness; that he must have always homely, but wholesome and abundant fare and cloaths and lodgings suiting to the climate. The planter has been sensible that humanity, as well as interest, calculated on the surest grounds, directs all those things; he has not been deaf to these suggestions. Nay, who knows but gratitude must be occasionally felt. Upon recollection, the negroe will be found to do for the planter more than the planter does, and is bound to do for him. I should prefer, in many respects, to form a gang of young Guinea Negroes of the best choice; and even when there is a sufficient number of men full grown for the labour, I would advise to purchase only boys and girls of fourteen and fifteen. Guinea negroes require, in the beginning, to be gently worked and well attended. Some may be lost in the seasoning to climate; but to counterbalance this, they are formed and disciplined according to the master's own ideas, and it is the surest means make a good and beautiful gang. In the Choice of Guinea negroes, the planter ought to attend to the following circumstances: youth, an open cheerful countenance, a clean and lively eye, fresh lips, sound teeth, a strong neck, a broad and open chest, sinewy arms, dry and large hands, a flat belly, strong loins and haunches, round thighs, dry knees, muscular calves, lean ankles, high feet and lean; an easy and free movement of the limbs; and a middling stature, or rather small. The Congo, Arada, and Thiamba, are the best nations. Women, in general, do not admit of so much nicety of choice in this respect, because, all over the coast of Guinea, women are accustomed to work for the men. A gang ought to be, as much as possible, composed of the same nation. I preferred the Congos. They are docile, and work pretty well, provided they are well fed. As soon as Guinea negroes are purchased, the first Care is to have them well bathed with warm water, in order to take off the palm oil, with which they are rubbed on ship-board. This is necessary, as it intercepts perspiration. They must next be clothed as the climate requires (b). It is likewise extremely necessary to cause them to drink for the space of a fortnight, a sudorifick potion (as the dock water) to forward the eruption of cutaneous distempers, which the ship surgeons have often barbarously repressed, and which produce fatal consequences. If direct suspicion of this is entertained, it is better to reproduce the itch, and then to cure it methodically. They ought to be christened also as soon as possible. Some planters stand godfathers for all their negroes, to keep them free from the superstitious and abusive power of godfathers and mothers of their own colour. I prefer setting negroes to work as soon as they arrive, but this must be done by degrees, avoiding exposure at first to cold rains and dews, because the climate to which they have been accustomed, is different from that of the mountains of St. Domingo; for the same reason, I should advise to purchase Guinea negroes only in the spring. They require also to be particularly watched by the drivers, on account of their distempers. Both religion and good manners enjoin that the negroes be united in lawful wedlock. But wedlock ill agrees with the natural levity and fickleness of this class of people. Nay, experience has shown that regular marriage would be the means of converting peaceable concubinage into adultery, discords, and deadly feuds. Some evils are unavoidable, and his Holiness himself is obliged to license brothels at Rome, however repugnant to his character of sanctity. It is necessary, as much as is possible, to procure an equal number of men and women. Intercourse of the sexes should be prevented, as much as can be done, between the neighbouring plantations; matches should be promoted by small benefits and encouragements; concord maintained between man and wife, without pretending altogether to fetter inconstancy. Here only gentle means must be used; for the natural affections and passions of men are seldom restricted by open force. The women ought to be rewarded in their pregnant state, or while rearing, more especially if the fathers are among themselves. (a) It is particularly remarkable, that while almost all the Dutch and British colonies have suffered, one time or other, the shock of local insurrections of negroes, the French colonies have never felt any thing of that kind. I can see no better reason for this, but the difference of their respective constitutions. Ours left the strength and power of the multitude a hidden mystery. The whole sway was, visibly at least, in the hands of a single man, both here and in the mother-country; and this is the exact pattern and example of the power of the matter on his own estate. This is only a hint of a very extensive idea, which, it further explained, would be found to be beyond contradiction.(b) I cannot omit the unpleasing but necessary practice of stamping them. Sortable Date 1798-00-00 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived P. J. Labourie, The Coffee Planter of Saint-Domingo (London, 1798), 157–70. Description An account of the resource Laborie provides the perspective of the planter himself. He gives a detailed description of the organization of slave labor in the production of coffee. Although he shared quite negative views of the African slaves, he recognized that extreme brutality would diminish the capacity of the slaves to work. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 337 Title A name given to the resource The Coffee Planter of Saint Domingo (London, 1798) Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/337/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1798 Economic Conditions Text Event A non-persistent, time-based occurrence. Metadata for an event provides descriptive information that is the basis for discovery of the purpose, location, duration, and responsible agents associated with an event. Examples include an exhibition, webcast, conference, workshop, open day, performance, battle, trial, wedding, tea party, conflagration. Sortable Date 1871-07-05 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1038 Title A name given to the resource The Comte de Chambord (Henri V), back in France, refuses to abandon the royalist white flag. Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/1038/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource July 5, 1871 Timeline Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document The undersigned, chargé d'affaires of His Majesty the Emperor of the French and King of Italy at the general Diet of the German Empire, has received orders from His Majesty to make the following declarations to the Diet: Their Majesties the Kings of Bavaria and of Würtemberg, the Sovereign Princes of Regensburg, Baden, Berg, Hesse-Darmstadt and Nassau, as well as the other leading princes of the south and west of Germany have resolved to form a confederation between themselves which shall secure them against future emergencies, and have thus ceased to be states of the Empire. The position in which the Treaty of Pressburg has explicitly placed the courts allied to France, and indirectly those princes whose territory they border or surround, being incompatible with the existence of an empire, it becomes a necessity for those rulers to reorganize their relations upon a new system and to remove a contradiction which could not fail to be a permanent source of agitation, disquiet and danger. France, on the other hand, is directly interested in the maintenance of peace in Southern Germany and yet must apprehend that, the moment she shall cause her troops to recross the Rhine, discord, the inevitable consequence of contradictory, uncertain and ill-defined conditions, will again disturb the peace of the people and reopen, possibly, the war on the continent. Feeling it incumbent upon her to advance the welfare of her allies and to assure them the enjoyment of all the advantages which the Treaty of Pressburg secures them and to which she is pledged, France cannot but regard the confederation that they have formed as a natural result and a necessary sequel to that treaty. For a long period successive changes have, from century to century reduced the German constitution to a shadow of its former self. Time has altered all the relations in respect to size and importance which originally existed among the various members of the confederation, both as regards each other and the whole of which they have formed a part. The Diet has no longer a will of its own. The sentences of the superior courts can no longer be executed. Everything indicates such serious weakness that the federal bond no longer offers any protection whatever and only constitutes a source of dissension and discord between the powers. The results of three coalitions have increased this weakness to the last degree. An electorate has been suppressed by the annexation of Hanover to Prussia. A king in the north has incorporated with his other lands a province of the Empire. The Treaty of Pressburg assures complete sovereignty to their majesties the Kings of Bavaria and of Würtemberg and to His Highness the Elector of Baden. This is a prerogative which the other electors will doubtless demand, and which they are justified in demanding; but this is in harmony neither with the letter nor the spirit of the constitution of the Empire. His Majesty the Emperor and King is, therefore, compelled to declare that he can no longer acknowledge the existence of the German Constitution, recognizing, however, the entire and absolute sovereignty of each of the princes whose states compose Germany today, maintaining with them the same relations as with the other independent powers of Europe. His Majesty the Emperor and King has accepted the title of Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine. He has done this with a view only to peace, and in order that by his constant mediation between the weak and the powerful he may obviate every species of dissension and disorder. Having thus provided for the dearest interests of his people and of his neighbors, and having assured, so far as in him lay, the future peace of Europe and that of Germany in particular, heretofore constantly the theatre of war, by removing a contradiction which placed people and princes alike under the delusive protection of a system contrary both to their political interests and to their treaties, His Majesty the Emperor and King trusts that the nations of Europe will at last close their ears to the insinuations of those who would maintain an eternal war upon the continent. He trusts that the French armies which have crossed the Rhine have done so for the last time, and that the people of Germany will no longer witness, except in the annals of the past, the horrible pictures of disorder, devastation and slaughter which war invariably brings with it. His Majesty declared that he would never extend the limits of France beyond the Rhine and he has been faithful to his promise. At present his sole desire is so to employ the means which Providence has confided to him as to free the seas, restore the liberty of commerce and thus assure the peace and happiness of the world. Bacher Regensburg, 1 August 1806 Sortable Date 1806-08-01 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived James H. Robinson, ed., Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History, vol II, no. 2: The Napoleonic Period (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1902), pp. 13-15. Description An account of the resource To increase his control over the German states and definitively destroy the Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon set up the Confederation of the Rhine, grouping together a large number of formerly indepedent states, and forced the Emperor to abdicate his position. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 516 Title A name given to the resource The Confederation of the Rhine and the Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire (1 August 1806) Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/516/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 1, 1806 Europe in Revolution Laws Monarchy Napoleon Bonaparte Text Event A non-persistent, time-based occurrence. Metadata for an event provides descriptive information that is the basis for discovery of the purpose, location, duration, and responsible agents associated with an event. Examples include an exhibition, webcast, conference, workshop, open day, performance, battle, trial, wedding, tea party, conflagration. Sortable Date 1806-07-12 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1048 Title A name given to the resource The Confederation of the Rhine created to replace the defunct Holy Roman Empire. Relation A related resource https://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/1048/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource July 12, 1806 Timeline