Saint Domingue, Research Paper Example

Disturbing Developments in the Colony of Saint Domingue

We the Concerned Citizens of Saint Domingue, a league of freed people of color in the French colony of Saint Domingue have noted with grave concern a series of highly disturbing developments that have the potential to utterly undermine the authority of the Republic and by extension a threat to our identity as loyal citizens. Consequently, I therefore seek your attention through this medium to highlight the issues and most importantly request your intervention as you speak to the powers that be in the French Republic in Paris in a bid to legitimize our case. As your majesty is fully aware, the colony of Saint Domingue is constituted of three main racial groups namely, the white colonists, black slaves and the freed people of color. Regrettably, recent developments have unjustifiably created an aura of needless paranoiac sentiments that have culminated into antagonism and brutality against the freed people of color by both white slave masters and their black slave conspirators.

Let it be known throw this letter that we the people of color are profoundly grateful to the French Republic for bestowing unto us through the National Assembly the Charter of Equality of all Men[1]. This notwithstanding, a host of cohorts with clandestine malicious intentions is resolute in their opposition to the implementation of this legislation in the colony. In the light of the phenomenal reprieve that this legislation has succeeded in engineering a tidal wave of egalitarianism amongst the people of color, our resolve not to be cowed into cowardice submission has been strengthened all the more. The result is that the colony is now adrift a sensation of arbitrary hatred and animosity between the people of color on the one hand and the slave masters and their black allies on the other hand. It is evident with the state of affairs that the black population and their white slave masters have ganged up with the sole objective of annihilating us.

Suffice to cite a case in point to prove my claims. Following the internecine wars the French Army fought against the British, Toussaint[2], the leader of the black guerrilla unit of the French Army purposefully carried out an orchestrated strategy of exterminating the population of colored people resulting the killing of over eight thousand men, women and children of color, citing disloyalty as his justification for pursuing such an anti-Semitic policy against the people of color. As of today, the level of bitterness in us so entrenched that if left unchecked can trigger counter reprisals with dire consequences that will ultimately speed up the demise of the colony.

Your majesty, this then brings me to the second point of contention that is part of the unpalatable state of affairs in our colony. We are outraged by the discovery that the misguided activities stated in the foregoing paragraph are sanctioned by the colonial powers. It is even ridiculous to know that no other person than governor Felicite Sonthonax is directly complicit in these shameless acts. Governor Felicite has been charged with the supreme mandate of enforcing the declaration of the National Assembly of France especially amongst the conservative and radical white colonialist. Naturally, the appointments committee of the National Assembly took into consideration his purported stance as an abolitionist to give him the nod to discharge this supreme mandate. In contrast, he was not only demonstrated through his actions rather than words that he clearly is a superficial abolitionist with a covert agenda to hold in contempt what the French Republic steadfastly holds in high esteem.

Besides our group concern, I have the personal feeling and indeed reasons to believe that the Governor Felicite is pursuing a hidden agenda that is glaringly against the national interest of the French Republic. There is also reason to believe that his insolence and disregard for French legislations provides the basis for a dangerous precedence of violating other French legislations with impunity. I do also personally have a feeling that left unchecked his actions have a tendency to fuel separatist tendencies within the colony. For instance, Governor Felicite Sonthonax continuous to preside over a colonial administration that is built on a foundation of insidious discriminatory legislations despite the Equality Declaration for which he was charged with the task of enforcing. There are still active laws in the colony of Saint Domingue that completely barred freed colored people from joining the assembly of whites; joining some specific professions, marrying whites; wearing specific regalia allegedly designated for white use and a host of other discriminatory legislations that are clearly alien to the letter and spirit of the French Republican legal regime[3].

It is worth stating at this point that despite all these points of contention, it should come to the notice of your majesty as you engage the French political power brokers is that we the citizens of Saint Domingue still share a lot in common and indeed have a common ground upon which our collective sense of humanity can become the fuel that will trigger our cohesion as a people with a common destiny under the banner of the French Republic. To this end, your majesty is therefore kindly implored to kindly look into the issue of speeding up the process of the abolishment of slavery given the fact that, as a system slavery is a dehumanizing practice that has outlived its usefulness. It is also the reason for the persistent violent unrest that is sweeping the entire colony. Total economic productivity has suffered since the racial tensions cropped up and indeed the violent slave rebellions have not helped matters in any way. The colony and of course the French Republic stands to benefit from the improved social cohesion that will also herald the commercial return of the commercial powerhouse of the Caribbean.

In the interest of national security, abolishing slave trade will encourage the rebellious former slaves to lay down their arms and join in the process of building a viable state with vibrant institutions. It also will consolidate the authority of the Republic in the colony as opposed to the current state of dissent that is tearing the colony apart.

Finally, the immediate withdrawal of Governor Felicite Sonthonax is an indispensable part of the overall process re-establishing mutual trust amongst the citizens of the colony because of the ability of the political institutions to serve as independent referees and arbiters for the people without any hidden parochial interests. Then and only will the realities of the Declaration of Equality enacted by the French National Assembly be given real meaning and practicality.

My sincere gratitude to your majesty as you convey these crucial troubling issues to the attention of the power structures in Paris; of course given the mutual respect enjoyed by both Spain and the French Republic the latter is more inclined to give you a listening ear.

[1] Fick, Carolyn, The Making of Haiti (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1990), p. 92

[2] Dominique Toussaint L’Ouverture is a pioneering hero of the Haitian Republic and most importantly the internal dynamics of the sociopolitical undercurrents that culminated into the infamous Haitian Revolution. See Rogozinski, Jan (2001). A Brief History of the Caribbean (New York: Livingstone Press, 2001), 56.

[3] Harry Hamilton Johnston, The Negro in the New World, 1910