where the French not only gave them shelter, but supplied them Surinam, he had happily placed his beloved Joanna and her This virtuous young woman departed this life, as some suspected,' by poison*, administered by the hand of jealousy and envy, on account of her prosperity, and the marks of distinction which her superior merit had so justly attracted from the respectable part of the colony. But she is no more!-Reader!-the virtuous Joanna, who so often saved my life, is no more!!!-Her adopted mother, Mrs. Godefroy, who bedewed her beauteous body with tears, ordered it to be interred with every mark of respect, under the trees where she had lived. Her lovely boy was sent to me, with a grove of orangebill of near two hundred pounds, his private property, by inheritance from his mother. Soon after which expired both his guardians. very faithful This CHARMING YOUTH, having made a most commendable progress in his education in Devon, went two West India voyages, with the highest character as a sailor; and during the Spanish troubles served with honour as a midshipman on board his Majesty's ships Southampton and Lizard, ever ready to engage in any service that the advantage of his king and country called for. But, Oh!-he also is no more, having since perished at sea off the island of Jamaica. We shall here conclude our account of this work, by only observing that, from the great variety of curious information which it affords, related in a pleasing style, and much enlivened and illustrated by the numerous plates, there can be but few readers, of laudable curiosity, to whom it will not prove highly entertaining as well as instructive. Its author appears to have been an enterprizing, ingenious, and well disposed young man; and we sincerely regret his early departure from the world, after his return to his country and his friends. * Her emancipated brother Henry underwent the same melancholy fate.' Ακτ. ART. XIII. An Historical Survey of the French Colony in the Island of St. Domingo: comprehending a short Account of its ancient Government, political State, Population, Productions, and Exports; a Narrative of the Calamities which have desolated the Country ever since the Year 1789, with some Reflections on their Causes and probable Consequences; and a Detail of the Military Transactions of the British Army in that Island to the End of 1794 By Bryan Edwards, Esq. M. P. F. R. S. &c. 4to. pp. 247. 135. Boards. Stockdale. 1797. E We need not introduce to our readers, on the present oce? sion, the gentleman to whom we are indebted for this performance-Mr. Edwards is already very advantageously known as author of the History of the British Colonies in the West Indies, of which a copious account will be found in our Reviews, vols. xiv. xv. and xvii. in the years 1794 and 1795. The work before us is well calculated to increase his reputation, by the highly important facts and observations which it contains, by the ability displayed in their arrangement, and by the strongly expressive, correct, and often beautiful language in which they are conveyed to the reader's understanding. Of the motives and circumstances which led Mr. Edwards to this undertaking, we cannot give a better account than that which the following extract from his Preface affords : Soon after I had published the History of the British Colonies in the West Indies, I conceived the design of compiling a general account of the settlements made by all the nations of Europe in that part of the New Hemisphere, but more particularly the French, whose possessions were undoubtedly the most valuable and productive of the whole Archipelago. This idea suggested itself to my mind, on surveying the materials I had collected with regard to their principal colony in St. Domingo; not doubting, as the fortune of war had placed under the British dominion all or most of the other French islands, that I should easily procure such particulars of the condition, population, and culture of each, as would enable me to complete my design, with credit to myself, and satisfaction to the Publick. I am sorry to observe, that in this expectation I have hitherto found myself disappointed. The present publication, therefore, is confined wholly to St. Domingo; concerning which, having personally visited that unhappy country soon after the revolt of the negroes in 1791, and formed connexions there, which have supplied me with regular communications ever since, I possess a mass of evidence, and important documents. My motives for going thither, are of little consequence to the Publick; but the circumstances which occasioned the voyage, the reception I met with, and the situation in which I found the wretched Inhabitants, cannot fail of being interesting to the reader; and I flatter myself that a short account of those particulars, while it confers some degree of authenticity on my labours, will not be thought an improper Introduction to my book. In the month of September 1791, when I was at Spanish Town in Jamaica, two French Gentlemen were introduced to me, who were just arrived from St. Domingo, with information that the negro slaves belonging to the French part of that island, to the number, as was believed, of 100,000 and upwards, had revolted, and were spreading death and desolation over the whole of the northern province. They reported that the governor-general, considering the situation of the colony as a common cause among the white inhabitants of all nations in the West Indies, had dispatched commissioners to the neighbouring islands, as well as to the States of North America, to request immediate assistance of troops, arms, ammunition, and provisions; and that themselves were deputed on the same errand to the Government at Jamaica: I was accordingly desired to present them to the Earl of Effingham, the commander in chief. Although the dispatches with which these gentlemen were furnished, were certainly a very sufficient introduction to his lordship, I did not hesitate to comply with their request; and it is scarcely necessary to observe, that the liberal and enlarged mind which animated every part of Lord Effingham's conduct, needed no solicitation, in a case of beneficence and humanity. Superior to national prejudice, he felt, as a man and a christian ought to feel, for the calamities of fellow men; and he saw, in its full extent, the danger to which every island in the West Indies would be exposed from such an example, if the triumph of savage anarchy over all order and government should be complete. He therefore, without hesitation, assured the commissioners that they might depend on receiving from the government of Jamaica every assistance and succour which it was in his power to give. Troops he could not offer, for he had them not; but he said he would furnish arms, ammunition, and provisions, and he promised to consult with the distinguished Officer commanding in the naval department, concerning the propriety of sending up one or more of his Majesty's ships; the commissioners having suggested that the appearance in their harbours of a few vessels of war might serve to intimidate the insurgents, and keep them at a distance, while the necessary defences and intrenchments were making, to preserve the city of Cape François from an attack. • Admiral Affleck (as from his known worth, and general character might have been expected) very cheerfully co-operated on this occasion with Lord Effingham; and immediately issued orders to the captains of the Blonde and Daphne frigates to proceed, in company with a sloop of war, forthwith to Cape François. The Centurion was soon afterwards ordered to Port au Prince. The Blonde being commanded by my amiable and lamented friend Captain William Affleck, who kindly undertook to convey the French commissioners back to St. Domingo, I was easily persuaded to accompany them thither; and some other gentlemen of Jamaica joined the party. We arrived in the harbour of Cape François in the evening of the 26th of September, and the first object which arrested our attention as we approached, was a dreadful scene of devastation by fire. The noble plain adjoining the Cape was covered with ashes, and the surrounding hills, as far as the eye could reach, every where presented to to us ruias still smoking, and houses and plantations at that moment in flames. It was a sight more terrible than the mind of any man, unaccustomed to such a scene, can easily conceive.-The inhabitants of the town being assembled on the beach, directed all their attention towards us, and we landed amidst a crowd of spectators who, with uplifted hands and streaming eyes, gave welcome to their deliverers (for such they considered us) and acclamations of vivent les Anglois resounded from every quarter. The governor of St. Domingo, at that time, was the unfortunate General Blanchelande; a marechal de camp in the French service, who has since perished on the scaffold. He did us the honour to receive us on the quay. A committee of the colonial assembly, accompanied by the governor's only son, an amiable and accomplished youth *, had before attended us on board the Blonde, and we were immediately conducted to the place of their meeting. The scene was striking and solemn. The hall was splendidly illuminated, and all the members appeared in mourning. Chairs were placed for us within the bar, and the Governor having taken his seat on the right hand of the President, the latter addressed us in an eloquent and affecting oration.' Of this speech the author gives an excellent translation, which we regret our not having room to insert. At this juncture, the French colonists in St. Domingo, however they might have been divided in political sentiments on former occasions, seemed to be softened, by the sense of common suffering, into perfect unanimity. All descriptions of persons joined in one general outcry against the National Assembly, to whose proceedings were imputed all their disasters. This opinion was indeed so widely disseminated, and so deeply rooted, as to create a very strong disposi tion in all classes of the whites, to renounce their allegiance to the mother country. The black cockade was universally subsituted in place of the tri-coloured one, and very earnest wishes were avowed in all companics, without scruple or restraint, that the British administration would send an armament to conquer the island, or rather to receive its voluntary surrender from the inhabitants. What they wished might happen, they persuaded themselves to believe was actually in contemplation; and this idea soon became so prevalent, as to place the author of this work in an awkward situation. The sanguine disposition observable in the French character, has been noticed by all who have visited them; but in this case their credulity grew to a height that was extravagant and even ridiculous. By the kindness of the Earl of Effingham, I was favoured with a letter of introduction to the Governor-general; and my reception, both by M. Blanchelande and the colonial affembly, was such as not only to excite the publick attention, but also to induce a very general belief that no common motive had brought me thither. The suggestions *This young gentleman,as well as his father, perished by the guillotine under the tyranny of Robespierre. He was massacred at Paris, on the 20th July 1794, in the twentieth year of his age.' of individuals to this purpose, became perplexing and troublesome. Assurances on my part, that I had no views beyond the gratification of curiosity, had no other effect than to call forth commendations on my prudence. This circumstance is not recorded from the vain ambition of shewing my own importance. The reader of the following pages will discover its application; and, perhaps, it may induce him to make some allowance for that confident expectation of sure and speedy success, which afterwards led to attempts, by the British arms, against this ill-fated country, with means that must otherwise have been thought at the time, as in the sequel they have unhappily proved,altogether inadequate to the object in view. • The ravages of the rebellion, during the time that I remained at Cape François, extended in all directions. Destruction every where marked the progress of the Rebels, and resistance seemed to be considered by the whites not only as unavailing in the present conjuncture, but as hopeless in future. To fill up the measure of their calamities, their Spanish neighbours in the same island, with a spirit of bigotry and hatred which is, I believe, without an example in the world, refused to lend any assistance towards suppressing a revolt, in the issue of which common reason should have informed them, that their own preservation was implicated equally with that of the French. Under these circumstances, it very naturally occurred to me to direct my enquiries towards the state of the colony previous to the revolt, and collect authentick information on the spot, concerning the primary cause, and subsequent progress, of the widely extended ruin before me. Strongly impressed with the gloomy idea, that the only memorial of this once flourishing colony would soon be found in the records of history, I was desirous that my own country and fellow-colonists, in lamenting its catastrophe, might at the same profit by so terrible an example. My means of information were too valuable to be neglected, and I determined to avail myself of them. The Governor-general furnished me with copies of all the papers and details of office that I solicited, with a politeness that augmented the favour.”— • Such were the motives that induced me to undertake this HistoLical Survey of the French part of St. Domingo, and such are the authorities from whence I have derived my information concerning those calamitous events which have brought it to ruin. Yet I will frankly confess, that, if I have any credit with the publick as an author, I am not sure this-work will add to my reputation. Every writer must rise or sink, in some degree, with the nature of his sub ject; and on this occasion, the picture which I shall exhibit, has nothing in it to delight the fancy, or to gladden the heart. The prospects before us are all dark and dismal. Here is no room for tracing the beauties of unsullied nature. Those groves of perennial verdure; those magnificent and romantick landscapes, which, in tropical regions, every where invite the eye, and oftentimes detain it, until wonder is exalted to devotion, must now give place to the miseries of war, and the horrors of pestilence; to scenes of anarchy, de solation, |