wall, when they find it necessary to call in the aid of slaves to
support the cause of slavery ; but drowning men will catch at
straws.
I t has; frequently been contended that the mind of the
negro is neither as susceptible nor as retentive of impressions
as that of Europeans ; and that we ought not,
therefore, to measure their feelings by our own. The validity
of such an opinion may very fairly be called in question, and
the point considered as yet undecided whether, among the
different varieties of the human species, where organization is
equally perfect and circumstances similar, the mental faculties
in each of them may not be capable of exerting an equal degree
of energy ? The sudden emancipation of near half a
million in St. Domingo forms a new Eera in the history of man,
which, in the course of a few years, will throw more light on
the true character of the blacks than as many centuries have
hitherto done. The enormities committed by Dessalines are
not to be considered as a criterion by which that character is
to be estimated. I f that Black power which, after suffering
every horrid calamity that perfidy and brutality could inflict,
wrested at length one of the most fertile countries in the
world out of the hands of its inhuman oppressors, and broke
the chains of Gallic tyranny, should have been able to command
its temper and act with moderation, which, had the
virtuous Toussaint escaped the fangs of Buonaparte, would
probably have been the case;—if, in the progress of its glorious
struggle for liberty, it should have been fortunate enough
to avoid those horrors which stained the Erench subversion,
(I will not call it by- the respectable name of revolution,)
how much superior would they have risen in wisdom and humanity
to their late masters, whom they have certainly not exceeded
either in atrocity or in folly ! Such a conduct, however,
could hardly be expected. The first burst of enthusiasm
from chains and dark ignorance to the all-cheering ray of
liberty, is a trying moment; it is a change pregnant wit infinite
danger. The civilized Erench have no excuse for the
many horrid enormities committed by them m the most
wanton and unprovoked manner. The savage blacks, not
insensible of the horrors which have attended their emancipation
proclaim to all the world the reasons which compelled
them So acts of cruelty. I MDes.almet, m„o-
« cent persons have perished, their blood will faU. oni his
| (Buonaparte’s) head ; because, had his barbarous brother-
I in-law, LeClerc, n e v e r l a n d e d in this island, all the white
I inhabitants would, yet have been alive, 60,000 black
I citizens fewer murdered,- and 30,000 of his armed slaves
I would not have breathed their last in this climate. It was
“ his avarice, ambition, atrocity, and treachery, that arouse
I our greatly oppressed and injured children, and separated.
“ us for ever from the mother country.
The new character, which the blocks have lately assumed
in St. Domingo, cannot fail of being contemplated with a
lively interest by their brethren in the M'est
and of greatly influencing their future conduct What.ti
event of it may turn out is at present beyond all human calculation.
The danger, however, w h i c h threatens to disturb
the peace of our colonies is not less certain, whether they as