In Congress, July 4, 1776. A Unanimous Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled.
When in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such principles, and organizing its Powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their Future Security. Such has been the Patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Asent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only.
He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their Public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.
He has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation have returned to the People at large for their exercise, the State remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their offices, and the Amount and payment of their Salaries.
He has erected a Multitude of New Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance.
He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our trade with all Parts of the World:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection, and waging War against us:
He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.
He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.
He has constrained our fellow citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic Insurrection amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.
Nor have We been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
The French people proclaim in the presence of the Supreme Being the following declaration of the rights of man and citizen:
Rights.
1. The rights of man in society are liberty, equality, security, property.
2. Liberty consists in the power to do that which does not injure the rights of others.
3. Equality consists in this, that the law is the same for all, whether it protects or punishes.
4. Security results from the cooperation of all in order to assure the rights of each.
5. Property is the right to enjoy and to dispose of one's goods, income, and the fruit of one's labor and industry.
6. The law is the general will expressed by the majority of the citizens or their representatives.
7. That which is not forbidden by the law cannot be prevented.
No one can be constrained to do that which it does not ordain.
8. No one can be summoned into court, accused, arrested, or detained except in the cases determined by the law and according to the forms which it has prescribed.
9. Those who incite, promote, sign, execute, or cause to be executed arbitrary acts are guilty and ought to be punished.
10. Every severity which may not be necessary to secure the person of a prisoner ought to be severely repressed by the law.
11. No one can be tried until after he has been heard or legally summoned.
12. The law ought to decree only such penalties as are strictly necessary and proportionate to the offense.
13. All treatment which increases the penalty fixed by the law is a crime.
14. No law, either civil or criminal, can have retroactive effect.
15. Every man can contract his time and his services, but he cannot sell himself nor be sold; his person is not an alienable property.
16. Every tax is established for the public utility; it ought to be apportioned among those liable for taxes, according to their means.
17. Sovereignty resides essentially in the totality of the citizens.
18. No individual nor assembly of part of the citizens can assume the sovereignty.
19. No one can without legal delegation exercise any authority or fill any public function.
20. Each citizen has a legal right to participate directly or indirectly in the formation of the law and in the selection of the representatives of the people and of the public functionaries.
21. The public offices cannot become the property of those who hold them.
22. The social guarantee cannot exist if the division of powers is not established, if their limits are not fixed, and if the responsibility of the public functionaries is not assured.
Duties.
1. The declaration of rights contains the obligations of the legislators; the maintenance of society requires that those who compose it should both know and fulfill their duties.
2. All the duties of man and citizen spring from these two principles graven by nature in every heart:
Not to do to others that which you would not that they should do to you.
Do continually for others the good that you would wish to receive from them.
3. The obligations of each person to society consist in defending it, serving it, living in submission to the laws, and respecting those who are the agents of them.
4. No one is a good citizen unless he is a good son, good father, good brother, good friend, good husband.
5. No one is a virtuous man unless he is unreservedly and religiously an observer of the laws.
6. The one who violates the laws openly declares himself in a state of war with society.
7. The one who, without transgressing the laws, eludes them by stratagem or ingenuity wounds the interests of all; he makes himself unworthy of their good will and their esteem.
8. It is upon the maintenance of property that the cultivation of the land, all the productions, all means of labor, and the whole social order rest.
9. Every citizen owes his services to the fatherland and to the maintenance of liberty, equality, and property whenever the law summons him to defend them.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
The French people, convinced that forgetfulness and contempts of the natural rights of man are the sole causes of the miseries of the world, have resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration these sacred and inalienable rights, in order that all the citizens, being able to compare unceasingly the acts of the government with the aim of every social institution, may never allow themselves to be oppressed and debased by tyranny; and in order that the people may always have before their eyes the foundations of their liberty and their welfare, the magistrate the rule of his duties, the legislator the purpose of his commission.
In consequence, it proclaims in the presence of the supreme being the following declaration of the rights of man and citizen.
1. The aim of society is the common welfare. Government is instituted in order to guarantee to man the enjoyment of his natural and imprescriptible rights.
2. These rights are equality, liberty, security, and property.
3. All men are equal by nature and before the law.
4. Law is the free and solemn expression of the general will; it is the same for all, whether it protects or punishes; it can command only what is just and useful to society; it can forbid only what is injurious to it.
5. All citizens are equally eligible to public employments. Free peoples know no other grounds for preference in their elections than virtue and talent.
6. Liberty is the power that belongs to man to do whatever is not injurious to the rights of others; it has nature for its principle, justice for its rule, law for its defense; its moral limit is in this maxim: Do not do to another that which you do not wish should be done to you.
7. The right to express one's thoughts and opinions by means of the press or in any other manner, the right to assemble peaceably, the free pursuit of religion, cannot be forbidden.
The necessity of enunciating these rights supposes either the presence or the fresh recollection of despotism.
8. Security consists in the protection afforded by society to each of its members for the preservation of his person, his rights, and his property.
9. The law ought to protect public and personal liberty against the oppression of those who govern.
10. No one ought to be accused, arrested, or detained except in the cases determined by law and according to the forms that it has prescribed. Any citizen summoned or seized by the authority of the law, ought to obey immediately; he makes himself guilty by resistance.
11. Any act done against man outside of the cases and without the forms that the law determines is arbitrary and tyrannical; the one against whom it may be intended to be executed by violence has the right to repel it by force.
12. Those who may incite, expedite, subscribe to, execute or cause to be executed arbitrary legal instruments are guilty and ought to be punished.
13. Every man being presumed innocent until he has been pronounced guilty, if it is thought indispensable to arrest him, all severity that may not be necessary to secure his person ought to be strictly repressed by law.
14. No one ought to be tried and punished except after having been heard or legally summoned, and except in virtue of a law promulgated prior to the offense. The law which would punish offenses committed before it existed would be a tyranny: the retroactive effect given to the law would be a crime.
15. The law ought to impose only penalties that are strictly and obviously necessary: the punishments ought to be proportionate to the offense and useful to society.
16. The right of property is that which belongs to every citizen to enjoy, and to dispose at his pleasure of his goods, income, and of the fruits of his labor and his skill.
17. No kind of labor, tillage, or commerce can be forbidden to the skill of the citizens.
18. Every man can contract his services and his time, but he cannot sell himself nor be sold: his person is not an alienable property. The law knows of no such thing as the status of servant; there can exist only a contract for services and compensation between the man who works and the one who employs him.
19. No one can be deprived of the least portion of his property without his consent, unless a legally established public necessity requires it, and upon condition of a just and prior compensation.
20. No tax can be imposed except for the general advantage. All citizens have the right to participate in the establishment of taxes, to watch over the employment of them, and to cause an account of them to be rendered.
21. Public relief is a sacred debt. Society owes maintenance to unfortunate citizens, either procuring work for them or in providing the means of existence for those who are unable to labor.
22. Education is needed by all. Society ought to favor with all its power the advancement of the public reason and to put education at the door of every citizen.
23. The social guarantee consists in the action of all to secure to each the enjoyment and the maintenance of his rights: this guarantee rests upon the national sovereignty.
24. It cannot exist if the limits of public functions are not clearly determined by law and if the responsibility of all the functionaries is not secured.
25. The sovereignty resides in the people; it is one and indivisible, imprescriptible, and inalienable.
26. No portion of the people can exercise the power of the entire people, but each section of the sovereign, in assembly, ought to enjoy the right to express its will with entire freedom.
27. Let any person who may usurp the sovereignty be instantly put to death by free men.
28. A people has always the right to review, to reform, and to alter its constitution. One generation cannot subject to its law the future generations.
29. Each citizen has an equal right to participate in the formation of the law and in the selection of his mandatories or his agents.
30. Public functions are necessarily temporary; they cannot be considered as distinctions or rewards, but as duties.
31. The offenses of the representatives of the people and of its agents ought never to go unpunished. No one has the right to claim for himself more inviolability than other citizens.
32. The right to present petitions to the depositories of the public authority cannot in any case be forbidden, suspended, nor limited.
33. Resistance to oppression is the consequence of the other rights of man.
34. There is oppression against the social body when a single one of its members is oppressed: there is oppression against each member when the social body is oppressed.
35. When the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is for the people and for each portion of the people the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable of duties.
The representatives of the French people, constituted as a National Assembly, and considering that ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole causes of public misfortunes and governmental corruption, have resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable and sacred rights of man: so that by being constantly present to all the members of the social body this declaration may always remind them of their rights and duties; so that by being liable at every moment to comparison with the aim of any and all political institutions the acts of the legislative and executive powers may be the more fully respected; and so that by being founded henceforward on simple and incontestable principles the demands of the citizens may always tend toward maintaining the constitution and the general welfare.
In consequence, the National Assembly recognizes and declares, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and the citizen:
1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on common utility.
2. The purpose of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
3. The principle of all sovereignty rests essentially in the nation. No body and no individual may exercise authority which does not emanate expressly from the nation.
4. Liberty consists in the ability to do whatever does not harm another; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no other limits than those which assure to other members of society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by the law.
5. The law only has the right to prohibit those actions which are injurious to society. No hindrance should be put in the way of anything not prohibited by the law, nor may any one be forced to do what the law does not require.
6. The law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have the right to take part, in person or by their representatives, in its formation. It must be the same for everyone whether it protects or penalizes. All citizens being equal in its eyes are equally admissible to all public dignities, offices, and employments, according to their ability, and with no other distinction than that of their virtues and talents.
7. No man may be indicted, arrested, or detained except in cases determined by the law and according to the forms which it has prescribed. Those who seek, expedite, execute, or cause to be executed arbitrary orders should be punished; but citizens summoned or seized by virtue of the law should obey instantly, and render themselves guilty by resistance.
8. Only strictly and obviously necessary punishments may be established by the law, and no one may be punished except by virtue of a law established and promulgated before the time of the offense, and legally applied.
9. Every man being presumed innocent until judged guilty, if it is deemed indispensable to arrest him, all rigor unnecessary to securing his person should be severely repressed by the law.
10. No one should be disturbed for his opinions, even in religion, provided that their manifestation does not trouble public order as established by law.
11. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may therefore speak, write, and print freely, if he accepts his own responsibility for any abuse of this liberty in the cases set by the law.
12. The safeguard of the rights of man and the citizen requires public powers. These powers are therefore instituted for the advantage of all, and not for the private benefit of those to whom they are entrusted.
13. For maintenance of public authority and for expenses of administration, common taxation is indispensable. It should be apportioned equally among all the citizens according to their capacity to pay.
14. All citizens have the right, by themselves or through their representatives, to have demonstrated to them the necessity of public taxes, to consent to them freely, to follow the use made of the proceeds, and to determine the means of apportionment, assessment, and collection, and the duration of them.
15. Society has the right to hold accountable every public agent of the administration.
16. Any society in which the guarantee of rights is not assured or the separation of powers not settled has no constitution.
17. Property being an inviolable and sacred right, no one may be deprived of it except when public necessity, certified by law, obviously requires it, and on the condition of a just compensation in advance.
The public calls the hero wicked, and the wicked a hero; it also calls the virtuous a harlot and a harlot virtuous. . . . So were the Countess Du Barry and Marie Antoinette. Through her dissolute and revolting debauchery, Du Barry amazed the universe in the alleys, and the crossroads of Paris. She did all these things in evil ways. The same debauchery and agitation of passions were observed in Marie Antoinette's life. Men, women, everything was as she liked. She was satisfied with everything. Her clumsiness as well as her careless mistakes involuntarily gave her behavior the publicity du Barry sought. These two famous women were much alike when it came to misleading and degrading the one they owed respect to. Until his death, du Barry fooled Louis XV. She would sleep with any valet as well as with courtiers. Marie Antoinette also was unfaithful to Louis XVI and fooled him too. . . .
Marie Antoinette arrived in France in 1768 in order to marry. This marriage was the most amazing that could ever be imagined. At this point it is interesting to talk about the life at the Court during these years. This will explain the reasons for this marriage and why it ended up in such a dissolute way.
The Duke of Choiseul, who was considered to be as good as Richelieu and Mazarin, was a sort of Prime Minister. Louis XV was the weakest of men and the most despicable prince of his century. This Duke, who was as scheming as he was bold, had paid for his favor through submission, a servile obedience, and the accomplishment of the most awful political crime one could ever imagine. Even though he had power, he was afraid of du Barry's intrigues. He despised her and even insulted her in public.
The Du Barry organized a conspiracy. Her side was powerful. The Duke had enemies. He had made some reforms and he had been in office for a long time—at court, people like to see change. Finally he was afraid of a coming fall. It was natural he was looking for a protection. He thought he had found one by organizing the marriage of the pretty archduchess and the Dauphin. . . . this marriage made the Duke become odious to the eyes of the nation.
Du Barry was a courtesan criticized because she was a villain and because of her debaucheries . . . . This woman was scheming and haughty. She was used to dominating everybody around her and she wanted to extend her domination on Marie Antoinette. . . . She had judged—according to the weakness of the son—how easy it would be to dominate his spirit. It was done. The Prince was under the yoke, and France was going to be racked by the pride and the ambition of these two persons. . . .
Marie Antoinette had to become pregnant. This constituted the essential instructions she had received from her mother when she left Vienna. She allowed her august husband to use every possible resources on this matter: they were as short as empty. A lover was then necessary. He had to be handsome, kind, and avowed. . . . Everybody argued about this pregnancy. The women who were around her did not forgive her for having a lover. This is how these religious women were.
These infuriated men alone could have devised the means, and what is still more incredible, partly have succeeded in the execution of their project. The means were doubtless execrable, but it must be acknowledged that they were of gigantic conception. The Jacobins possessed minds rarefied by the fire of republican enthusiasm, and they may be said to have been reduced, by their purifying scrutinies . . . to the quintessence of infamy. Hence they displayed, at the same time, a degree of energy which was completely without example, and an extent of crimes, which all those of history, put together, can scarcely equal.
They saw that to obtain the end which they had in view, the received systems of justice, the common axioms of humanity, and the whole range of principles, adopted by Lycurgus, would not be of use, and that they must arrive at the same object by another road. To wait till death took away the great proprietors of estates, or till they consented to their own spoliation; to wait till years rooted out fanaticism, and effected a change in customs and manners; to wait till recruits, raised in the ordinary way, could be sent to the armies: all this appeared doubtful and tedious. As if, therefore, the establishment of a republic and the defense of France, taken separately, afforded too little employment for their genius, they resolved on attempting both at the same time.
Agents having been placed at their posts in every corner of the republic, and the word communicated to affiliated societies, the monsters . . . gave the fearful signal which was to recall Sparta from its ruins. It resounded though France like the trump of the exterminating angel—the monuments of the sons of men crumbled away, and the graves opened.
At the same moment a thousand sanguinary guillotines were erected in all the towns and villages of France. The citizen was suddenly awoke in the night by the report of cannon and roll of the drum, to receive an order for his immediate departure to the army. He was thunderstruck, and knew not whether he was a wake. He hesitated and looked around him. There he espied the ghastly heads and hideous trunks of those unfortunate wretches, who had perhaps refused to march at the first summons, only that they might take a last farewell of their families. What could he do? Where were the leaders, under whom he could place himself in order to avoid the requisition? Every one, thus taken separately, found himself deprived of all defense. On one side he beheld certain death; on the other bands of volunteers, who, flying from the famine, persecution, and intolerance of the interior, were going to seek bread and liberty in the army. They were intoxicated, singing, full of all the ardor of youth; and the citizen, with a guillotine before his eyes, seeing no other resource but to join them, took his departure with despair in his heart. On arriving soon afterwards at the frontiers, the necessity of defending his life, the courage natural to the French, the inconstancy and the enthusiasm of which they are characteristically susceptible, considerable pay, abundant food, the tumult and dangers of a military life, the women, the wine, and his native gaiety of disposition, made him forget that he had been brought thither by force, and he became a hero. Thus persecution on the one hand, and rewards on the other, created armies by enchantment; for when once the first example had been set, and the requisition obeyed, men by a natural imitative impulse, were eager, whatever might be their opinions, to walk in the steps of others.
Here then were the rudiment of a military force, but it was necessary that this force should be organized. A committee, of which it has been said that its talents could not have been surpassed except by its crimes, employed itself in connecting these disjointed corps. Let no one, however, suppose that they resorted to the ancient tactics of Caesar and Turenne, No. Everything was to be new in this newly modeled world. It was no longer an object to save the life of man; it was no longer a rule to give battle only when the loss would at least be reciprocal. The art of war was now reduced to a calculation of numbers, rapidity, and time of attack. As to numbers, two or three armies immediately followed each other, to keep up an imposing mass of strength . . . . It might cost ten thousand men to take a place; it might be necessary to attack it twenty times, and on twenty successive days—still the place was to be taken. When the blood of men is reckoned as nothing, it is easy to make conquests. Were not deserters and spies sure to be found? The engineers trolled a song while they studied the weak points of the army, and secured victory in spite of the scientific secrets appertaining to their department of service. The telegraph conveyed flying orders, the earth yielded saltpeter, and France vomited forth innumerable legions.
While the armies were forming, the prisons were filled with all the wealthy persons of France. At one place they were drowned by thousands, at another the doors of the crowded dungeons were opened and the victims fired upon by cannon loaded with grapeshot. The guillotine was at work day and night. This implement of destruction was too slow for the haste of the executioner; and the artists of death invented a new kind, which cut off several heads with a single blow. The streets were so inundated with blood, as to become impassible; and it became necessary to change the place of execution. It was in vain that immense pits were opened to receive the dead bodies; they were soon filled, and new ones obliged to be dug. Grey-headed people of eighty years old and girls of sixteen, fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, husbands, wives and children died covered with the blood of each other. Thus the Jacobins attained four leading points at once, towards the establishment of their republic; they destroyed the inequality of rank, leveled the fortunes of individuals, augmented the finances by the confiscation of every person's property who was condemned, and attached the army to their interest by buoying it up with the hope that it would some day posses these estates.
The people, now hearing of nothing but conspiracies, invasion, and treason, were afraid of their own friends, and fancying themselves upon a mine which was ready to burst beneath them, sunk into a state of torpid terror. This the Jacobins had foreseen. A man, if now asked for bread, gave it; if for his garment, he took it off; if for his life, he resigned it without regret. At the same time he saw all the churches shut, its ministers sacrificed, and the ancient worship of the country banished under pain of death. He was told that there is no celestial vengeance but a guillotine; while by a contradictory and inexplicable jargon, he was commanded to adore the virtues for which festivals were instituted, where girls, clothed in white, and crowned with roses, entertained idle curiosity by singing hymns in honor of the Gods. The unfortunate confounded people no longer knew where they were, nor whether they existed. They sought in vain for their ancient customs—these had vanished. They saw a foreign nation in strange attire, wandering through the public streets. If they asked which were their holidays, and which the days of their ordinary duties, new appellations struck their ears. The day of repose had disappeared. They trusted at least that the fixed return of the year would restore the natural state of affairs, and bring some consolation with it. Unfounded hope! As if condemned for ever to this new order of misery, the unknown months seemed to tell them that the revolution would extend to eternity; and in this land of prodigies, they had fears of losing themselves even in the midst of the streets, the names of which they no longer knew. . . .
Thus was the unhappy nation bandied about by the hands of a powerful faction, suddenly transported into another world, stunned by the cries of victims, and the acclamations of victory resounding from all the frontiers, when God, casting a look towards France, caused these monsters to sink into nothingness.
Such were the Jacobins, of whom much has been said, though few people knew them. Most persons have indulged in declamation and published their crimes, without stating the general principle on which they acted. This principle consisted in the system of perfection, towards which the first step to be made was the restoration of the Spartan laws. We have ascribed too much to passions and circumstances. A distinguishing feature of the French Revolution is, that it is necessary to admit speculative views and abstract doctrines, as infinite in their causes. It was in part effected by the men of letters, who were rather inhabitants of Rome and Athens than of their own country, and who endeavored to bring back the manners of antiquity into modern Europe.
Extract of a letter from Cape François, April 15th.
"Amidst that unremitting fatigue of mind and body that has for many months past fell to my lot, I snatch a moment, to inform you of our situation and prospects. It would seem that the complete revenge of the ancient Carribbs of this island, who were extirpated by the Spaniards, is to fall upon the devoted heads of the French; not for want of ability in them to repel the evil, if united, but from those fatal dissensions which have been so carefully nurtured by the infernal arts of a blood-thirsty aristocracy, and which threaten, nay, have almost accomplished the total ruins of French St. Domingo.—This place is reckoned the strongest in the island and yet do we by no means think ourselves secure from the town's being taken by an attack, if made with vigor, and by 60 or 70,000 brigands, as we are threatened will soon be the case.—In the western districts of the island, every thing wears the most horrid appearance. The troops are in a state of anarchy, and subordination generally at an end, while the wretched remains of Port-au-Prince are surrounded by an enemy, from whom an attack is every moment expected, and from whose mercy (if conquerors) nothing is to be hoped. To give you an account of the various assassinations, murders, tortures, and excesses of almost every kind that have been committed within these few months, would ask a large volume. Vast numbers of opulent people are reduced to a morsel of bread, by the ruin of their plantations, and are going (many of them) almost pennyless into foreign lands for the preservation of an existence which has become altogether precarious here. We are willing to hope that the ocean which surrounds Hispanola will check the extension of the spirit of revolt; for, if it should become general through the islands, it will require almost half Europe to subdue it. As to myself, I will endeavor to leave this once delightful, though now miserable country, in all June; a country which has become alike ungrateful to the sailor and the mechanic, to the merchant and the philosopher—a country,
Where cruel passions the
warm heart infest
And banish pity from the
human breast,
Where hostile ruffians draw
the vengeful blade
And stain with infant gore
the blushing shade!
I turn, disgusted, from this
horrid scene
Of tortur'd captives, slaves,
and murder'd men,
To where the far-fam'd
Pennsylvania strays,
Renown'd for justice, and
for length of days."
EDENTON, November 9th.
The Governor of South Carolina has issued a proclamation, requiring and ordering all free negroes and people of color, who have arrived there from St. Domingo, or who have arrived within twelve months from any other place, to depart the state in ten days from the date thereof, many characters amongst them being deemed dangerous to the welfare and peace of that state.
Extract of a letter from the master of a vessel at Cape François, to his owners in this city, dated September 18th.
"I take this opportunity by a brig bound to Philadelphia, to inform you I am still lying here with my cargo on board, as well as all other vessels loaded with American produce. They will neither buy our cargoes, nor let us go out of port. We have not sold 20 barrels of flour since I have been here. The merchants I am consigned to are constantly out fighting the Negroes. This afternoon went out a large body of troops in order to make a general attack to-morrow on the Negro camp, which is from 8 to 10,000 men. When we shall get away from here God only knows. There is no trusting any body for sixpence. No articles of provision will sell. Cash is kept close.
Extract from another letter of the same date.
"The Negroes are destroying and burning every thing before them. To-morrow an army of two thousand men is to go out to the plains to attack the Negroe camp in our neighborhood.—We hope it will be successful. By keeping watch and patrol, we have prevented the Negroes from attempting any thing against this place. We are secure from any danger at present."
Extract from another letter of the same date.
"I dropped you a line, on guard, the other night by Capt. Green. Since which the blacks have continued their ravages; they have burnt and destroyed almost every sugar plantation in that part of the Island. When these devastations will cease, is as uncertain as it was on the first day of the insurrection. A total stagnation of business, and an impossibility of collecting a farthing of specie, are amongst the calamities that attend this barbarous rebellion. Personal safety in the town is not yet endangered; you need therefore be under no apprehension on that score."
AUTHENTIC PARTICULARS
Of the late Disturbances at S. Domingo, received from a gentleman at Cape François, in a letter to his friend in this city.
Cape François, Wednesday evening, Aug. 24.
YESTERDAY morning the Volunteers were all ordered out by order of the Assembly, who convened at an early hour. I was not acquainted with the case till near 9 o'clock, at which time a draft from every company was made, together with a large party of the Cape regiment, to march immediately to the plains, and but a few miles from town, where it seems the Negroes of a number of plantations had rebelled, assembled in a body, and killed the Overseer of one plantation, and a gentleman belonging to this town. In the afternoon reports began to circulate, and the alarm became general. Several thousands of the Negroes had assembled, and committed some ravages by burning several habitations, which they continued doing all last night, in spite of the troops which went out to stop their depredations. Many Negroes were yesterday killed, indeed all that could be met with. This morning a respectable re-inforcement were sent to the body which marched yesterday. I have not yet heard whether the insurrection is quelled—but the damage already sustained is immense. Upwards of 30 habitations are already destroyed. To what length they will carry their rage God knows. To night, no doubt, many more habitations will be destroyed. A gentleman living within a few doors of us was this morning brought in dead. Planters, with their wives and children, are every minute arriving, who bring accounts of continued distress and destruction.
The cause of this dreadful insurrection I dare not conjecture; but it is said, the tyranny of some of the Overseers is not the least of the causes. A plot to burn the town and the shipping in the road, has been discovered, and which was to have been attempted the night before last. Many will be the sacrifices before the business ends, and doubtless the conspirators of so infernal a piece of work, will soon meet their just reward. Some are taken up on suspicion of supplying the incendiaries with the means, and some have been caught in attempting to execute the infernal project.
Nothing has been done in town these two days, but keeping the volunteers and militia in arms, and every store and ship is obliged to be kept shut. In fine, all is fear, suspicion, jealousy! and every one has an interest in watching even the looks of the people of color.
Sunday, 28 August.
Since writing the foregoing, numerous have been the most cruel murders and massacres,—and numberless plantations, with the buildings and crops, destroyed by fire.—From the quay is an extensive view of a vast plain, bounded by a ridge of mountains, about 8 or 10 miles distant. The length of the plain I have not ascertained, but it may be about 30 miles. No longer than Monday last, this great space was filled with beautiful villas, elegant places, and nearly the whole covered with sugar cane; the greatest part of which are now laying in ashes. Almost the whole is destroyed!—If the infernal devils were content with this destruction, it would be happy for the Colonists; but they add the cruelty of savages to their incendiary conduct, inhumanly murdering all the whites they catch, sparing neither age nor sex.—I cannot enter into particulars; it would take more time than I have to spare.—Suffice it to say, that our troops are not able to check the ferocity of the Blacks, who are continually increasing in numbers. As many as 5,000 are assembled in a body, about 6 miles from town, and now and then the artillery has a chance to throw a few shot among them. Upwards of a thousand have already been killed on different plantations, and in different manners. If any are taken, they are commonly put to death on the spot.
Since the commencement of the insurrection great numbers have been brought prisoners to town, a few Mullatoes, and the rest Negroes. If the prisoners did not walk so fast as their guard, they would be pricked with bayonets to quicken their pace. In a few instances the prisoners have been killed in the streets, not being able to avoid the rage of the people, which follows a prisoner till he ceases to live. Yesterday a shocking massacre of about fifty black prisoners was acted at the Champ-de-Mars. They were brought to town and ordered to be executed immediately at that place. They came to town in four or five parties, at different times of the day. Among them were some women, who, with the rest, were either shot, or cut to pieces with sabers. Indeed, my friend, I do not know where to stop in this horrible description! And I mention these particulars just to give you an idea of this war or horror and carnage in which we are engaged!
The villages of Limbe and Port-Margot, situated on the other side of the mountains, at the back of the town, are burned, and all the inhabitants who could get off with their lives, are arrived here. Alas! To see beautiful girls, lovely women, with their children and infants, traveling the streets without a shoe to their feet, just escaped from the flames of their dwelling! 'Tis too much!' And yet I have seen all this and more, if it were necessary to mention.
Sunday morning, September 11th.
The embargo, which was laid on all vessels at the commencement of our troubles, is taken off the Americans, and they may sail when they please. In consequence, I take the opportunity of sending this letter by Capt. Watson, who will sail on Tuesday for Philadelphia.
I shall close my account of the insurrection with a few particular transactions which have occurred the week past. Two white men, and a number of blacks have been hung, some blacks shot, and many who have been brought to town will share the same fate. On Thursday 5 white men were brought to town from Gonaives, who had been detected there spreading false alarms, with intention to plunder. Eight others, on Friday were brought in, caught in the same business; and yesterday two more were taken among the negroes, who had been assisting them in burning some habitations the night before. The punishment of these whites will, no doubt, be severe, if found guilty upon evidence.
Friday in the evening we had a heavy rain, and the Negroes, taking advantage of this circumstance, made an attempt to cross the bridge at Haut-du-Cap, where our army is encamped, but were repulsed with fixed bayonets, the troops not being able to fire because of the rain. In the morning about 20 were found dead on the spot where the action happened.
Since the beginning of the insurrection, all the American Captains have enrolled themselves and do duty every night upon the bay. Four Captains at a time and generally one man from every vessel form a respectable corps-de-garde. On Friday night last the Governor sent a very polite letter to the Commander of the American Guard, while on duty, with a request that 12 men might be spared to man a schooner for an expedition in the morning (yesterday) to L'Acul, with intention to bring off some cannon and stores deposited there, and which it was feared would fall into the hands of the Negroes. The request was granted, and the number immediately obtained from the guard then on duty, with Capt. Lillibridge as the officer. In the morning they sailed, in company with a sloop of war. They have not yet returned; and it was reported in the evening that the Negroes had got two 24 pounders mounted, which kept playing upon the sloop, and prevented their effecting the object of the expedition. I mention this only as a report; I will not assert it.
We are every day expecting succors from Jamaica. The letters of our Assembly to the Governor and Assembly of that island, requesting a supply of troops, are published in some of the papers which I send you.
At present our fears for the safety of the towns are subsided, and every exertion making to quell the insurrection, and for putting a stop to the depredations of the blacks. The volunteers have been continually upon duty, who go to the camp in rotation, and are relieved every two or three days from those in town. In general they are very much harassed by the intense heat. The free Mulattoes and Negroes are all armed by the government, and in many instances have behaved bravely against the Negroes.
In the situation of affairs at present, it is next to impossible to tell when the troubles will end. The Negroes keep themselves embodied in different places, and when attacked, they immediately fly and scatter. This method of theirs harrasses our troops in such a manner that, without effecting any thing essential, they get quite worn out, and are obliged to be immediately relieved. In fine, if I may be allowed to hazard a conjecture, it appears, that several months will elapse before the insurrection will be quelled, and it will require years to reinstate this part of the colony in the flourishing situation that it was in 3 weeks ago.
Letter from the President of the General Assembly, to the Members of the General Assembly of Jamaica.
Cape François, 24 August 1791.
GENTLEMEN,
"The measure of the misfortunes of St. Domingo is filled: In a short time this delightful country will be but a heap of ashes. Already the Planters have bedewed with their blood the land which they had fertilized with the sweat of their brow: at this moment, the flames are consuming those productions, which were the glory of the French empire. Principles, destructive of our property, have kindled a flame amongst us, and armed the hands of our own slaves. Philosophy, which is the consolation of mankind, has reduced us to despair.
"Bereft of assistance, and reduced to the last extremity, St. Domingo looks for friends and protectors in all her neighbors. We will not remind you of your interest, that is exposed to danger from the spirit of philosophy, which is the cause of our misfortunes, and which, being equally inimical to your system, would plunge you into the same misfortunes, if the crime were once completed, without hope of reparation. We will only call upon that generosity, which is the distinguishing characteristic of your nation.
"We freely call upon you for assistance; and we do it with confidence.
"Inspired with these sentiments, the General Assembly of the French port of St. Domingo have determined to depute Mr. Bugnet, one of their Members, to present you our request.
"1. He will present to you our constitutional act, which establishes our legal character of Representatives of the people of St. Domingo.
"2. His nomination.
"3. The proclamation for soliciting assistance from all the neighboring powers.
"I have the honor to be, with the most cordial and brotherly affection, gentlemen, your most obedient humble servant,
(Signed) P. de CADUSCH, President."
Extract of a letter from Charleston, dated November 21th:
"On Saturday last a plot was discovered, which may have saved some lives and some property. Seventeen French negroes intended to set fire to the town in different places, kill the whites, and probably take possession of the power magazine and the arms; but luckily one of them turned states evidence. Five have been apprehended, two hung, and the others have escaped into the country."
From the Charleston State Gazette of the 22d ultimo.
On Tuesday, the 14th inst. the Intendant received certain information of a Conspiracy of several French negroes to fire the city, and to act here as they had formerly done at S. Domingo—as the discovery did not implicate more than ten or fifteen persons, and as the information first given was not so complete as to charge all the ringleaders, the Intendant delayed taking any measures for their apprehension until the plan should be more matured, and their guilt more closely ascertained; but the plot having been communicated to persons, on whose secrecy the city magistrates could not depend, they found themselves obliged on Saturday last to apprehend a number of negroes, and among others the following, charged (together with another not yet taken) as the ring-leaders, viz.—Figaro, the property of Mr. Robinett; Jean Louis, the property of Mr. Langstaff; Figaro the younger, the property of Mr. Delaire; and Capelle. . . .
On examination they all at first positively denied their knowledge or concern in the plot; but the younger Figaro, after some time, made a partial confession, and was admitted an evidence on the part of the state. The others were on Monday brought to trial, in the City Hall, before as respectable a court and jury as we ever remember to have been convened. A number of witnesses were examined, and fully proved the guilt of the prisoners; and the court, on mature consideration, unanimously condemned Figaro, Sen. and Jean Louis, to be hung, and Capelle and Figaro the younger to be transported. The rest who were apprehended are under confinement, for further examination.
After the condemnation of Jean Louis, he turned to the two Figaros and said, "I do not blame the whites, though I suffer, they have done right, but it is you who have brought me to this trouble."
Figaro and Jean Louis were yesterday executed in pursuance of their sentence.