Black Empire, and the probable effects of the colonial revolution. A most captivating delineation of the country is given in the first chapter, which tends to increase our concern at its sub. sequent devastations: No description that we have yet seen is adequate to the appearance, even at the present day, of a country, which requires all the aid of romance to imagine, much less to describe of fertility, which it requires but the fostering hand of man to guide to all the purposes of life, and of a climate the most salubrious among the Antilles, and in which longevity is general." In these delightful countries too," observes Robertson, "Nature seemed to assume another form; every tree and plant, and animal, was different from those of the ancient hemisphere;"-Columbus boasted of having discovered the original seat of Paradise "In these delightful vales," exclaims the Abbé Raynal, "all the sweets of spring are enjoyed, without either winter or summer. There are but two seasons in the year, and they are equally fine. The ground, always laden with fruit, and covered with flowers, realizes the delights and riches of poetical descriptions. Wherever we turn our eyes, we are enchanted with a variety of objects coloured and reflected by the clearest light. The air is temperate in the day time, and the nights are constantly cool."-" In a country of such magnitude," says Edwards, diversified with plains of vast extent, and mountains of prodigious height, is probably to be found every species of soil which nature has assigned to all the tropi cal parts of the earth. In general it is fertile in the highest degree, every where well watered, and producing almost every variety of vegetable nature and beauty for use, for food, and luxury, which the lavish hand of a bountiful providence has bestowed on the richest portion of the globe."-"The possessions of France in this noble island," he continues, "were considered as the garden of the West Indies, and for beautiful scenery, richness of soil, salubrity, and variety of climate, might justly be deemed the paradise of the new world." "What you have said," replies De Charmilly, animadverting on the preceding passage, "is nothing when it is known that the extent of the French part is but one half of that of the Spanisha division, and that this is yet more fertile than the French part, requir ing only cultivators.' The progress of the French interest in this noble island is traced from its commencement to the period of 1789, when it is said that The French establishment reached a height superior*, in St. Domingo, not only to all other colonial possessions, but to the conception of the philosopher and politician; its private luxury, and its The population was considered at about 40,000 whites, 500,000 negroe slaves, and 24,000 free people of colour; and the average exports, as stated by M. Marbois, the intendant of the colony, amounted to 4,765,1291. sterling.' U 2 public public grandeur, astonished the traveller; its accumulation of wealth surprized the mother country; and it was beheld with rapture by the neighbouring inhabitants of the islands of the Antilles. Like a rich beauty, surrounded with every delight, the politicians of Europe, sighed for her possession; but they sighed in vain; she was reserved for the foundation of a republic as extraordinary as it is serrible, whether it ultimately tend only to the ascertainment of abstract opinions, or unfold a new and august empire to the world, where it has heretofore been deemed impossible to exist.' So far is the author from regarding the Negroe race in a degrading light, that he deems them capable of the highest intellectual cultivation; and his short residence among them led him to observe traits of character, from which he is induced to augur well of their exertions for the establishment of civil liberty. If we do not entirely adopt his sanguine views, we cannot accede to the opposite notion that these people are destined for slaves, and that it is the will of Providence that they should ever be in subjection to the Whites. Yet Hayti is perhaps too small to constitute an empire absolutely independent; the European interest in the West Indies cannot view such an establishment with complacency; and it is probable, unless other revolutions favourable to its aggrandizement should occur in that quarter of the globe, that it will ultimately be forced to become an appendage of a more potent state. Though a reduction to its former situation may be impossible, it may yet be obliged to own a degree of depend ance. The revolutionary spirit in St. Domingo is said to have owed its birth to an ignorance of human nature, to a blindness to actual circumstances, and to a want of individual virtue in the colonists, who fanned the spark of revolution into a flame by the events which took place in the relations of the colony with the mother-country, on the change of its government. We shall not here review this part of the French history, nor dwell on the measures of folly and of blood by which this fertile island was at length severed from the Gallic yoke. the occurrences of the expeditions to this colony have been de tailed in our public journals, and must be fresh in the memories of our readers, we shall not copy gazettes; preferring to advert to those accounts of manners and characters which the author's visit to St. Domingo enabled him to furnish.-The state of society among the superior class is thus described: As The superior order had attained a sumptuousness of life, with all the enjoyments which dignity could obtain, or rank confer.-The interior of their houses was, in many instances, furnished with a luxe beyond that of the most voluptuous European, while no want of trans-atlantic elegance appeared; nor, amidst a general fondness for shew, shew, was the chasteness of true taste always neglected. Their etiquette extended to a degree of refinement scarcely to be conceived; and the service of their domestics, among whom were, from what cause was not ascertained, some mulattoes, was performed with more celerity than in many instances in Europe. A conscious ease, and certain gaieté de cœur, presided over every repast. Conversation had free scope, except as related to their own former circumstances, but when the defence of their country was the subject, every eye filled with fire, and every tongue shouted - Victory! The names of some, who had seceded from the black army, were the only objects that seemed to excite detestation. In many instances the writer has heard reasoning, and witnessed manners of acuteness and elegance, the relation of which would appear incredible, from those who were remembered in a state of servitude, or whose parents were in situations of abject penury; while sallies of wit, not frequently surpassed, have enlivened many an hour. It would ill become him, notwithstanding the tide of prejudice, which has always pervaded his assertions, to suppose his readers capable of gratification from the chit chat of a St. Domingo table; and it would be equally unjust to employ the opportunities afforded him by unguarded kindness, in the accumulation of fleeting anecdotes, arising from domestic privacy; he therefore contents himself with stating, that the enjoyments of life were to be found in a high degree in the capital of St. Domingo, and that their alloy did not exceed, nor perhaps always equal, that of ancient European cities. The men were in general sensible and polite, often dignified and impressive; the women frequently elegant and engaging. The intercourse of the sexes was on the most rational footing, and the different degrees of colour which remained, had lost most of that natural hostility which formerly existed. Several Americans had intermarried with ladies of colour very advantageously, and to appearance happily. They were, generally, very agreeable women, and felt no inequality in their difference of complexion or nation. Like Sappho, they could plead, (in many instances, in point of wit, sprightliness, and pathos, little inferior to the Lesbian muse, though without her peers of song) "Brown though 1 am, an Ethiopian dame Inspir'd young Perseus with a generous flame; And glossy black is pair'd with shining white." That the cottage life of the St. Domingo negroes was more comfortable than it is generally imagined to have been may be collected from an anecdote which is thus related: In one instance, the writer was introduced by a brigand of peculiar intelligence, (with whom he had frequent conferences on the military tactics of the black army) to the cottage of a black laborer, of whom an account may not be uninteresting. He had a family of thirteen children; eight of them by one woman, and the remainder by two others; the former only lived with him in the same cottage, with U 3 with his mother, who was aged and infirm; the other two, separately, at a small distance. This man was an epitome of legislature, and his family a well regulated kingdom in miniature. His cottage consisted of three irregular apartments, the first of which was his refectory, where, as often as possible, and always on jours de fetes, his subjects assembled, including on those occasions his three wives. The furni ture of this apartment was entirely of his own making, even to the smallest utensil, and with an ingenuity beyond what might be expected from perfect leisure; notwithstanding the artificer, during the process, had been obliged to attend his labor in the fields, and was a considerable time in arms. On a neat shelf, appropriated peculiarly to their use, lay a mass book, and a mutilated volume of Volney's Travels, some parts of which he understood more than his visitor. Every thing convenience required was to be found on a small scale, and the whole so compact, and clean, with such an air of properté throughout as was absolutely attractive. His own bed-room was furnished with an improved bedstead, supported by trussels, with a mattress and bedding of equal quality with the other furniture, but that of his children and mother sin passed the whole. One bedstead contained them, yet separated the male from the female, the young from the aged, and was separated or combined in an instant.-The third was his kitchen and store. house, and might also be called his laboratory, for conveniences were found for chemical experiments, though not of the most scientific kind; but every utensil for culi. nary purposes was provided in the best manner. The wife of this laborer (for he had submitted to the ceremony of marriage with the female who had borne him the most children, as is the general custom with them) was nearly as ingenious as himself, and equally intelligent. The mode he pursued in the regulation of his domestic econo my was excellent; as continence is not a virtue of the blacks, the increase of his family was not confined to his own house; yet, even in his amours he was just; and as the two mothers before-mentioned were less protected than his ostensible wife, the primary object of his consideration was to have the whole of his children under his own care. This was reconciled to all parties from the first, in so mild a way, that no distinction was perceivable but in age, while the mothers held a relationship to their domiciliated offspring similar to that of an aunt or cousin, each exerting herself for the purpose of adding to the comforts of her own child - On festive occasions, the two mothers sat alternately on the right or left of the mistress of the house, with as much etiquette as might be perceived in a more elevated station, and with the utmost harmony. The master of the family was abso lute, but with him it was in theory, not in practice, for all seemed to vie in forbearance. As soon as the children could contribute their little powers to labor, they were employed; the younger (except as regarded their strength) being subject to the inferior offices; and, singular as it may appear, on the festive occasions alluded to, they waited upon their seniors, though but by a few years, and seemed delighted in the office. Agreeable to this rule, in accordance with that reverence for age so remarkable among blacks of every condi tion, the grandmother received the affection and attention of all; and though though often crabbed. infirm, and discontented, no one seemed to consider her failings as such, but as a duty prescribed them to bear. In fact the writer considered this numerous family, as he beheld them at their frugal meal, a model for domestic life, with a proof that those jarring interests, which, in the smallest connection, as well as in the largest states, creating more embarrassment than the most adverse circumstances, or the greatest crimes, may be avoided by a generous conduct, and reciprocal kindness. He need scarcely add, happy was his humble friend, or that each individual of his family, in their separate capacities, laid up a store of happiness for themselves, and those around them.' While the author was under sentence of death as a supposed spy, waiting the final decision of Toussaint, he was confined in a kind of cage with iron bars in front: in which situation, he experienced the benevolent attentions of a female of colour, whose elegant figure Mr. R. has represented in an annexed plate; and in prose he endeavours to display the united graces of her person and mind: After lying two nights on a couch, formed of dried sugar canes, with a very slender supply of food, the prisoner had resigned himself to the vacuity of despair; he was stretched out in silent agony, when, as the night closed in, and the mirthful troops had progres sively retired, a gentle female voice, with the tenderest accents, aloused his attention. How long the benign object had been there, he could not ascertain; but, when he looked up, and beheld her, his, feelings were indescribable: she was a fine figure, rather tall, and slender, with a face most beautiful, and a form of the finest symmetry, improved by the melancholy air which the scene had given her. She was dressed in a superior style, and possessed all the elegance of European manners, improved by the most expressive car riage. She held a basket, containing the most delicate food, with the finest fruits: she entreated him to receive them silently, and to destroy any remnants, as a discovery would be fatal to her, and prejudicial to himself. He was about to reply with the ardour of grati tude, when, in an instant, she was gone! On the following evening, she returned, and endeavoured to comfort him with the most obliging expressions; and, by evincing extreme anxiety on his behalf, once more light up the illusion of hope in his breast, which he had aban-" doned, with all human prospects. for ever. The next evening she repeated her visit, and condescended to favor him with more exten sive communication. Still not a word occured to disclose her name, or situation once, indeed, she made some distant allusions to the English, which led him to imagine, she had been impressed with gratitude towards the country by some obligation. Whatever her name, or whatever her circumstances, if this slight memorial should live to reach that delightful isle, in which, as an angelic representation of mercy, she may yet stay the hand of the destroyer, it will bear to her the sincere effusions of a grateful heart, which, though U 4 bruised |