British perceptions of the St Domingo slave revolution: The nemesis of colonial power and the maturation of the anti slavery movement.

Abstract. This dissertation is an analysis of the British perspective being expressed in newspapers, abolitionist dialogue and the journals of army personnel, of the 1791 St Domingo slave rebellion, which quickly turned into a revolutionary independent state. It places these perspectives within the broader context from which they were borrowed and influenced by, such as the relationship between slave and master and the revolutionary rhetoric of the French revolution and, more informally, the revolutionary Atlantic. In particular, this dissertation compares these perspectives to the aims of the slaves, within the complex British foreign policy agenda. It is argued that that St Domingo revolution was misunderstood and misrepresented to the public, because true representations of Africans had been misguided and held at a distance. The black explosion into the white imagination was a triumph of the black revolution in terms of race relations because it questioned the dominant myth of enslaved African docility.

Introduction

Many forms of resistance and rebellion spread across the slave trading world, but none

were as prominent as Haiti in 1791, the only successful black slave rebellion in the

history of mankind. There had been others, such as in Grenada in 1795 where 7,000

black slaves paralysed the island, then under British rule, for two years. Julian Fedon

led this black state until they were finally outnumbered 10 to 1.1 Two years of failure

was too much for the General Colin Lindsay sent there to regain control, he shot

himself before the island was recaptured. Afterwards the white estates never quite

flourished as they had before. African slaves were misunderstood and ignored by the

British mainstream, and this dissertation will look at why this was.

Misconstrued perceptions of Africa as weak and needing European civilization

were prominent in the discovery of the continent.2 In reality, Europe offered Africa

nothing it did not already possess, Africa’s economy was not reliant upon trade with the

west. There existed in Africa a complex network of well developed trade routes already

1 Fryer, Peter, 1988, Black people in the British Empire London: Pluto Press2 Thornton. J, 1992, African and Africans in the Atlantic world Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 11

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and there are several cases of local kings refusing to trade in slaves, such as the King of

Benin. However, in historical study, the view of passivity was not questioned until the

1960s and 1970s by historians such as Basil Davidson3 who embraced archaeological

evidence and dropped euro-centric prejudices. This study of Africa as non passive was

further built upon by African and European historians, most prominently, CLR James

and his influential history of Toussaint L’ouverture.4

The importance of slave rebellion in the development of the anti slavery

movement has been debated ever since. Fryer emphasises the central role blacks played

in British society. Their staying power and the collateral they were forced to supply,

contributed toward Europe’s wealth, as well as their cultural influence. Fryer argues

that one in ten slave ships experienced a full rebellion; slave uprisings were the norm

rather than the exception. In contrast, historians such as David Geggus and Eric

Williams see slave rebellion as a passing concern. Williams emphasised the importance

of economic decline in the eventual demise of slavery. His work, Capitalism and

slavery,5 placed the motives of anti slavery back on the agenda, by drawing the link

between economics and moral issues, and was very controversial in a country which

prided itself on progress and improvement, a concept which had its foundations in

abolition.6 Geggus questioned how independent the Haitian revolution was when it

drew so many of its ideas from the French revolution. New inroads into the importance

of slave rebellion have been laid by historians such as James Walvin: “But what

transformed everything was the shadow of the revolution in France in 1789 and

especially the impact of the carnage and upheaval in St Domingo after 1791.” 7

3 Davidson, Basil, 1993 The black mans burden UK: Three River Press4 James, C.L.R 1938, The black Jacobins Penguin: London5 Williams, Eric 1994 Capitalism and slavery USA: North Carolina Press6 Hall, Catherine “Bringing the Empire back in” in: Boyd, Kelly + William, Rohan 2007 The Victorian studies reader Oxon: Routledge, 4137 Walvin, James, 1971, The Black Presence London: Orbach and Chambers, 87

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These studies allowed Matthew Gelien8 to focus on Caribbean slave revolts

seriously. His concern was on the primary role of various agencies in achieving slave

emancipation. He agrees with some factors such as the growth of public support,

agitation, political reform, financial difficulties and natural disasters that were frequent

in the Caribbean, but focussed on slave revolts and their impact in Britain and

specifically on the anti slavery discourse. Haiti was an inspiration to many still

enslaved Africans and many of them migrated there when they could. Its impact upon

the British media and public imagination at a time when the ruling classes were feeling

threatened by revolutionary ideas from industrial unrest and American independence

should be studied in conjunction with each other. This dissertation will study how 1791

was represented to the British public?

8 Gelien, Matthew 2006, Caribbean slave revolts USA: Louisiana State University

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I

Descriptive language of the St Domingo insurrection

The British media and individual historians were fascinated with St Domingo. Before

the black revolution in 1791, the western part of Hispaniola was a source of great

revenue for France. During the revolution, which projected the first discussions of race

politics into Europe, St Domingo was written about by army officers, historians and

politicians. They provided the main source of colonial information, in the newspapers,

pamphlets and journals they produced. Some of them had never visited the island in

their life. Why was this French colony, and the revolution it instigated, so important to

British imperial power?

The British colony of Jamaica lay just 477 kilometres west of St Domingo and news of

the enslaved African rebellion on 22 August, 1791 would first reach France through a

British newspaper, which got the news from Lord Effingham, the governor of Jamaica.

He would be the first to send aid to the planters and offer asylum to the émigrés.

Understandably, Jamaican landowners were afraid of the insurrection spreading to their

own plantations. On 11 November 1791, the Public Advertiser announced that the

“revolted Negroes of St Domingo have destroyed all the habitants for fifty miles round

the Cape.” This news was reported as a piece of information passed between the

relevant legislative bodies, without mention of the African Americans, and expressing

the King’s approval of Lord Effingham’s actions. In comparison, less than ten years

later a British newspaper would publish an account of a biography and interview,

gleaned from a French journal, of Toussaint L’ouverture. The author had “long been

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desirous of studying the domestic character of this Extraordinary man” and calls

Toussaint “successful” and the “preparer of great events.”9

In this account, the figurehead of the black rebellion is directly confronted, which is in

sharp contrast to the 1791 article. The stance and approach of the news toward St

Domingo has changed dramatically, it is almost positive. What caused this change?

John Thornton10 argues that the slave trade bought four continents into

interaction where there had been none before. It was a history integrated by the sea and

it was inevitable that this trans-continental trade would have lasting cultural impacts.

Social and political ideas moved the geographical boundaries of the Caribbean and

Americas to the background. The slave rebellion was an expression of a cultural clash,

as well as the story of the exploited. There was no other slave group who would rebel

as much as the enslaved Africans. On the shores of Africa, on slave ships, and on the

plantations both passive and active resistance emerged. The British colonial power

however, only picked up on and relayed back to the mother country those active forms

of resistance. The documentation of resistance to slavery was significant to abolition

and eventually emancipation. Abolition was a movement which cut across class

barriers, successfully connecting the country through a series of networks established

first by the Quakers then the Saints, women’s groups, religious dissenters and main

stream politicians. News of Haiti would travel across these networks to be reworked for

the public and private imagination.

An analysis of newspaper articles and pamphlets in Britain can give insight into

differing perspectives of what was thought to cause slave rebellion and how it was

perceived. A majority of the public would have seen or been aware of runaway slaves.

9 11 February 1799 Courier and Evening Gazette10 Thornton. J, 1992, African and Africans in the Atlantic world Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 10

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Articles advertising individual runaway slaves, describing birth marks, or branding

marks, clothes they were wearing and general appearance and calling for their return

would occasionally appear in mainstream media. Marcus Wood 11provides us with a

succinct analysis of how runaway slaves were portrayed. The adverts normally came

with a small picture, of a male or female run away. The female would be seated, and

the male would be in a stance of running forward, while looking backward. These

adverts give a good indication of how a rebellious slave was depicted: as docile in the

female’s case, or in fear, the only way of escaping by running for the male. Eugene D.

Genovese12 argues that the docility of the slave is the oldest and most iconic myth. The

St Domingo revolution challenged this depiction and forced the discussion of the slave

rebellion in to mainstream parliament. However, author bias would vary the responses

to 1791. For instance the creole, Robert Wedderburn, in his publication An Axe laid to

the Root, violently compared Jamaica and St Domino in 1817 “There will be more

blood spilled in Jamaica then in St Domingo”13 He used the violence of the revolution

to strike at the heart of the colonial proprietors’ fears, playing on it to change people’s

perceptions of the enslaved African. This was the first step toward changing British

perceptions of slave rebellion.

In contrast to Wedderburn’s publication, newspapers took a more complacent stance.

The Jamaican Assembly advised their London agent Stephen Fuller not to allow any

expression of danger into the British newspapers. This somewhat decreases their

reliability. However, when studying British perspectives, it is important to take into

account what kind of information the majority of the reading public had access to.

In1791, the Public advertiser mentions the British forces that were sent by Lord

Effingham:

11 Wood, M. 2000 Blind memory Manchester: Manchester university press 12 Genovese, D. Eugene, 1979 From rebellion to revolution USA: Louisiana State University Press, 613 Wedderburn, 1817 An axe laid to the root, 87

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The Government dispatches, however, from the Earl of Effingham are reported to be of the most favourable nature, namely that no danger was to be apprehended from the blacks, and that our forces were sufficiently respectable. 14

This is revealing, the British forces were respectable, and thus came under no harm.

Were the French forces, on the island before, not respectable? In light of the French

revolution and the war against Napoleon which was to follow, French forces could

certainly not be considered respectable to the British eighteenth century mindset. The

slave rebellion is consigned to a domestic disturbance between the French and her

colony. In newspapers, the slave rebellion was not a matter of the exploited against

slavery, but of unrespectable French forces who could not manage their own colony.

The Public Advertiser continues “The British Blacks prefer good order and decent

submission to anarchy and sedition”15 In descriptions of the rebellion, words such as

“anarchy” and “sedition” were used, drawing comparisons with the French revolution.

The enslaved Africans were seen as docile, even in rebellion.

In France, the question of the slave rebellion split well defined interests in the new

National Assembly. Decision making upon the affairs of St Domingo were delayed for

three days, and even a mention of the slaves would cause uproar.16 Twice the Assembly

changed their minds on passing constitutional rights to the mulattoes who had made

themselves present in the early days of the Assembly. Meanwhile, in Britain the

unrespectable behaviour of the slaves was used, in the Morning Chronicle in 1791, to

justify the use of force against the rebellious negroes. The enslaved Africans burnt

everything that reminded them of their torment; sugar cane, machinery, even their own

houses and their master’s houses. The loss, according to the Morning Chronicle

amounted to 400 million currencies. Thus they wrote “there remains no other means to

be employed, except that of force”17

14 1791, Public Advertiser 11 November 15 ibid. 16 C.L.R James 1989 Black Jacobins London: Penguin Books, 6117 1791, Morning Chronicle, 22 November

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On 19 September, 1793 the British invasion of St Domingo began. The

expedition to capture the island went out in the name of respectability and security, to

capture the great colony for British profits, but also under heavy influence from French

émigré planters, who found in Britain refuge and a chance to regain their property.18

From an article in the Morning Post in 1796, we can see how little the revolution, that

was happening in St Domingo, was really understood by the British. It was thought that

restoration of order under the British would immediately revive the slave system and its

profits. A small force was sent to emancipate the slaves from their state of anarchy. The

inhabitants were expected to submit immediately to the protection of the British: “His

Majesty did not think it proper at first to display that appearance of power which would

have announced the conqueror rather than the emancipator”19

The fleet arrived in Mole, St Nicholas, which they managed to secure. The surrender of

St Domingo had begun. It was expected that Britain would soon be in possession of St

Domingo and that it would be possible to persuade the inhabitants that being a British

subject was better than a state of “Petty independence” as the Evening Post put it

“Instead of opposition, the inhabitants wait with anxiety the arrival of our troops”20 It

was not understood by the British military that the enslaved Africans had rebelled

completely against the slave system. Even after, the word “revolution” would not be

used for some time, until Dessalines finally announced an independent Haiti on 1

January 1804. It is striking, that when referring to the rebelled Africans, they were

simply called “The Inhabitants” with no mention of their background. This refers to the

belief that the plantation was their proper place.

18 Sham Matthew. J, 2003 Emigration aboutlition and the Atlantic world in the revolutionary Era eBLJ, Article 319 1796, Morning Post and Fashionable World, April 22 20 1793 Evening Post, April 25

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Things slowly began to change, as the war in the West Indies did not go to plan.

The British had to “Abandon for a moment, and with regret, the remainder of the

colony to the ravages of Anarchy”21 Blame for the rebellion was shifted to slightly more

ideological arguments; it was the quick passage from slavery to freedom that had

caused such anarchy, announced the Star in 1796 and Toussaint was mentioned, with

his title as General. By 1796 the British had lost over 15,000 soldiers and the cost

exceeded10, 00022. It was certainly a costly war of words the papers were playing. The

expedition was what David Geggus calls “One of the forgotten catastrophes of Britain’s

imperial history”23 Why has this loss been wiped from our collective memory? Clearly,

there were difficulties of representing Black power to white audiences in 1791.

Toussaint issued several proclamations under his leadership, one of which was

mentioned in 1799 by the Lloyds Evening Post. This paper makes a comparison of

Toussaint’s proclamations and one also issued by Hedouville, ambassador of the

French National Assembly in St Domingo. Toussaint’s is only summarized:

The first [Toussaint’s] is a real Capucinade (a Monkish Sermon.) The reader might naturally take it to be a code of regulations for the troops of his holiness the pope.24

The newspaper did not know what to make of Toussaint. L’ouverture was aware, as

Fredrick Douglass the black North American orator was, of the difficulty of separating

black power with perceived black barbarity. Douglass spoke of a slave’s right to revolt

within the competing discourses of British and American narrative.25 He used the slave

ship as the central space for racial protest, because it was outside of the boundaries of

any nation. Toussaint used religion diplomatically between himself and the French

republic. Consequently, British newspapers perceived him as a missionary worker, 21 1796 Morning post and Fashionable World, April 22 22 Geggus, David 1982 Slavery, war and revolution, Oxford: Clarendon press CLR James places these figures even higher: 80,000 soldiers lost 40,000 dead and costing £700,000 by 1797.23 Geggus, David 1982 “British soldiers in Saint Domingue” in History Today Journal 32 (4) 35-29 24 1799 Lloyds Evening Post, January 2 25 Brenier, Celeste-Marie 2006 “From Fugitive slave to fugitive abolitionist” in Atlantic studies Journal 3 (2) 201-224

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heavily influenced by priestly doctrine. This shows how effective Toussaint was at

creating an image for himself that was acceptable to the British reading public, and how

the British newspapers used religion to shield the reality of the revolution from readers.

The difficulties of representing slave rebellion to British reading audiences shows us

how ingrained black docility was in the white colonialist mindset. Toussaint’s

diplomatic skills are of great strength here, but he could not control everything that was

written about the rebellion. By 1799, Toussaint had won the trust of the newspapers,

and set out to:

Destroy the disagreeable impressions which have been made on the public opinion by the calumnious reports designedly circulated in the English Journals and repeated by the French papers, of a plan of independence or criminal connivance. 26

Journals that even Toussaint was aware of, such as Bryan Edward’s influential work,

which depicted the violence of St Domingo as beyond any repair other than by

European intervention, is such an example:

These magnificent landscapes, which everywhere invite the eye, and often times detain it until wonder is exhausted to devotion, must now give place to the misery of war and the horror of pestilence. To scenes of anarchy desolation and carnage and savage men let loose from restraint. 27

Edward held a strong pro-colonial viewpoint that first had to be reconciled with

enslaved African rebellion – resulting in amelioration and gradual abolition - before

steps toward white understanding of black power and equality could be made. Control

of the impressions of the St Domingo revolution, were therefore important in swaying

public opinion and informing political decisions. How the descriptive language of the

slave rebellion changed over time is important to study, to understand how the myth of

black docility was broken, from descriptions of anarchy to acceptance of a black

26 1799 Star January 18 27 Edwards, Bryan 1797 An Historical survey of the French colony in the Island of Saint Domingo” London: John Stockdale, 63

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General in the media. What had seemed like an offshoot of the French revolution was

finally, in 1799, understood to be the formation of a Black state with a diplomatic

leader. The star in 1796 even suggested that a black monarchy would be acceptable:

Toussaint Louverture, whose male children the commission have sent to Paris, to receive an education suitable to their esteemed elevation, for it is very likely that one day they may be the kings of St Domingo. 28

A description of Toussaint’s soldiers, who the General had trained up and who would

go on to defeat three major European powers, also crept into the mainstream. They

provided a “Novel scene” for Mr Tierney in Parliament, who called the 50,000 black

soldiers “well disciplined and actuated by an indescribable enthusiasm”29

Mr Tierney had come face to face with the enthusiasm of the first revolutionary

spirit of enslaved Africans. The way the public perceived the revolution is important; to

understand how enslaved African rebellions worked in connection with the abolition

and emancipation movement to achieve its aims. Toussaint’s diplomatic skills and the

successfulness of the slave uprising in St Domingo to drive out the British in 1798

helped centre the black revolution in the British mindset and eventually make it

acceptable. Black docility was such a widespread myth that the slave rebellion in 1791

could not be understood for what it fully was, a revolution, until some years later.

28 1796 Star, November 829 1798 The Oracle and Daily Advertiser, December 12

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II

Reactions to the British Withdrawal in 1798

Accounts of Toussaint and the black soldiers in organised regiments were appearing in

the media. But how was this perceived by the British? Along with a politicised black

army, the imperial war machine was losing to the relentless climate disease yellow

fever, which came with the rains every year in Haiti. Did withdrawal facilitate a deeper

understanding in the British government of the slave insurrection that was quickly

turning into a revolution? Abolitionists inside and outside of parliamentary debate had

split after the French revolution, did General Maitland’s withdrawal unite them? How

did they take defeat or even, how was defeat dressed up?

The British had not thrown themselves into the war with St Domingo; in fact they had

stalled for months before sending troops. They arrived on Haiti’s west coast in

September 1793, sending a message to the Jamaican slaves that rebellion would not be

tolerated. It was feared that, had they not, British slaves would gain increasing

confidence to attempt marronage. This is how invasion was passed of, as a war for

security, but it had been disastrous. Its main advocate had been Mr Dundas, first Home

Secretary and later Secretary of War. However, in 1796, two years before British

withdrawal from St Domingo, Mr. Secretary Dundas admitted that there had not been a

proper enquiry into the conduct of the war in the West Indies.30 By this point, the

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situation of the British occupation in St Domingo had become desperately

embarrassing. 31 Accounts of Toussaint’s stabilization of the economy appeared in the

newspapers:

St Domingo now enjoys the most perfect tranquillity… The warehouses are filled with Coffee and Sugar… The blacks conduct themselves excellently. They are very different from the portrait which avarice and intrigue drew of them in France 32

In addition, the perception of the slaves as willing and eager to comply with the British

forces was being questioned, as Toussaint and French relations were briefly

ameliorated. The National Assembly’s French representative, Roume de St Laurent

celebrated the abolition of slavery in Port – Au – Prince with Toussaint and Rigaud, the

Mulatto leader, in a brief show of solidarity on February 4 1799.

Mr Dundas’s statement was made as impersonally as possible. It is clear he is

talking about St Domingo, but it was not directly mentioned. Inside parliament the

question of withdrawal was execrated and dreaded. Even sending aid was considered

problematic; Governor Effingham of Jamaica lamented the rebellion as a man but

rejoiced it as a British subject. He wished to send aid to St Domingo, as the Commons

had done with the Lisbon earthquake in 1755.33 His remark is telling, he felt torn in his

priorities towards the island, and could only justify his sympathy by comparing the

rebellion to a natural disaster retaining the violence of the situation while devaluing the

rebellions central aim of attacking the status quo,

The desperation of the situation in 1798 may not have been properly portrayed in the

British newspapers, as seen in chapter I. But closer analysis of the correspondences

between the Jamaican General and member of the British Home Office Hubert reveals

how fearful the British cabinet was of an independent St Domingo:

31 Geggus, David 1982 Slavery, war and revolution, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 11432 1799, Courier and Gazette, February 11 33 Geggus, David 1982 Slavery, war and revolution, Oxford: Clarendon Press

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Whatever may be the consequences of the re-establishment of the government of France in the Island of St Domingo, I think there can be no doubt, that the eventual danger from the continuation of the power of Toussaint, or a black empire, there in any hands, must be the subject of more real and well founded alarm to the Jamaica planters, than any that can be apprehended from this being restored to the authority of the mother country 34

Hubert goes on to say that Toussaint’s “black empire” is an evil that grew out of the

war, and Britain’s best interest would be its annihilation. This letter is only a direct

personal response to Haiti’s independence from a colonist’s bias, but is a good indicator

of how St Domingo struck fear in the British government, who did not understand the

full implications of the event.

David Geggus is the current leading authority on Haiti. His study into the regional areas

of the island during the uprising show how scattered and divided the slaves were.35 The

slave revolution began in the creolized North, and continued in the West and

mountainous areas. This would not have been understood by the British, who saw only

the colour of the enslaved Africans’ skin and did not understand the regional

differences which separated them. Geggus documents how white proprietors drove their

slaves to the rebellion when they started shooting them, wrongly believing all enslaved

Africans would instantly join the rebellion and want to massacre the whites.36 In reality

the rebellion took a long time to develop. Among the different schools of thought on

Haiti,37 some emphasize religion as a binding factor. Both Voodoo and Christian

worked together, as in the case of Nat Turner’s Rebellion in Jamaica 1831. While

Toussaint himself discouraged and even tried to stamp out Voodoo practices.

Furthermore, the aims of the black leaders were not always succinct. Biassou, another

34 Private letters to Lady Nougant from Hubert 1801, held in Kingston Library in H.B.L Hughes, 1944 British policy toward Haiti, 1801-1805 The Canadian Historical review 25 (4) 397-408

35 Geggus, David 1999 Slave society in the sugar plantation zone of Saint Domingo and the revolution of 1791-93 in Slavery and abolition 2 (2) 31 – 46 36 Geggus, David ,1982 Slavery, war and revolution, Oxford: Clarendon press, 8737 Geggus, David, 1983 Slave resistance studies and the Saint Domingo slave revolt: Some preliminary considerations no.4 Florida: Latin American + Caribbean centre

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powerful black leader, was notorious for his anti-white stance, not present in the tactful

Toussaint, 38 while the reasons for the slaves joining also varied.

The disparity between the slave’s actions comes down to the different slave

personalities. But this was not something that the British, neither stationed in St

Domingo nor at home, were open to understanding in 1798. Accounts of the black army

are perhaps some of the first signs of shock at the ability of the Africans – known

previously only as slaves and now commanding the respect of generals. A captain in the

British army, Marcus Rainsford, spent a while traveling through St Domingo when the

insurrection first broke out. His journal was distinctly anti-slavery and also holds many

interesting first-hand accounts of Toussaint. However, it is his description of the Black

army in training which is useful here:

Through this dreadful scene [of burnt plantations] I passed to behold a review, of the real grandeur of which I had not the least conception. There were two thousand officers out, Generals and Ensigns, all carrying arms, yet with the utmost regularity and attention to rank. Each general officer had a demi-brigade, which went through the manual exercise with a degree of expertness I had seldom before witnessed, and they performed excellently well several manoeuvres applicable to their method of fighting. At a whistle a whole brigade ran three or four hundred yards, and then, separating, threw themselves flat on the ground, changing to their backs and sides, and all the time keeping up a strong fire till recalled after this they formed again into their wonted regularity; and this manoeuvre is executed with such facility and precision, as totally to prevent cavalry from charging them in bushy and hilty countries. Indeed, such complete subordination prevailed, so much promptness and dexterity, as must astonish an European who had known any thing of their previous situation. 39

This is a positive account by a pro slaver of the ambition he saw in the black armies.

Not every British officer stationed in St Domingo perceived the situation similarly.

First hand accounts by several Generals stationed their document their reactions to the

38 C.L.R James 1983 The Black Jacobins London: Penguin books, 7839 Rainsford, Marcus 1802 A memoir of transactions that took place in St Domingo in the spring of 1799: By Capt. Rainsford .London , 10-11

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slave army. Major Brisbane was in command when Toussaint won his first victory in

Gonaives, May 6 1794 and called it “A most strange circumstance, so complicated, so

extraordinary, so mysterious as to battle all conjecture” 40 His shock shattered the myth

of slave docility as mentioned by Genovese chapter I. Lieutenant Howard was sent to St

Domingo in 1796, he also commented on the blacks’ courage and daring, but that they

were unwilling to stand and fight, and had poor marksmanship. He attributed their

courage to their lack of foresight rather than any respectable qualities. His journal is a

good example of the tactics the abolitionists used to permeate the British consciousness.

The Lieutenant recounts his reactions at hearing the crack of a whip, how he wished to

seize it and whip the master. This is a very revealing document. We can see how far the

abolition movement drew on sympathy, almost to the point of fatherly protection, for

support. 41

A perception of the slaves as weak and needing help was a popular way of

representing them to the public. It must have been shocking for the first British men to

fight against the black armies. Picture one in the appendix is an abolitionist print,

celebrating the 1833 Abolition Act. It shows the slaves thankful to the Britannia figure

who instigates the ending of the cruelty of slavery, represented by the slave driver

dropping his whip. In order for this action to occur, the slaves have to be in a position

of humble praise, subordination and, importantly, possessing no threat to Britain. As a

piece of propaganda for the abolitionists it conveys its message well, but does not

incorporate the reality of St Domingo.

When slaves were represented in battle, they were often romanticised, showing

the length to which anti-slavery ideas drew on the ideal of the noble savage, which was

40 CO 137/93, Williamson to Dundas 28 April 1794, 82, 11641 Howard, Thomas Phipps The Haitian journal of Lieutenant Howard, York Hussars, 1796-1798

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a popular enlightenment concept. Picture two in the appendix depicts this in the heroic

stance of the rebelling slaves fighting in the background of the wild country. They stand

on a level slightly raised above the European soldiers and are drawn with powerful

postures. Romanticising the situation placed the black army in a positive light and was,

as will be discussed in chapter III, a way of dealing with the violence involved.

Not everyone was taken in by the romantic ideal, however. Colonel Chalmers, inspector

General of British colonial troops, in his Remarks said Britain’s failure in St Domingo

was not to be attributed to the “Contemptible foe.”42 While it is true that the majority of

British soldiers died from yellow fever rather then in combat, Geggus argues that

British troops had stalled in their attacks after taking Port – Au – Prince, a city with a

very strong strategic point. Had they attacked while Toussaint was still calling for

forces, they may have been victorious. This decision could be seen as laziness and a

belief that the capture of the island would be easy, as the newspaper articles attest to in

chapter I, and would certainly justify the surprise many felt in seeing an organized

black regiment. As soon as Toussaint won his first victory he continued to

outmanoeuvre Maitland, who increasingly recognised the power the blacks held.43

However, denial of the withdrawal continued, shifting the blame on to yellow fever

instead of the black army. But the famous black historian C.L.R James argues that “It

was the decree of abolition, the bravery of the blacks, and the ability of their leaders

that had done it”44

General Maitland, the last British General on the island, favoured withdrawal because

he saw the foolishness of fighting a wildly courageous enemy in a country with deathly

diseases. He finally clinched the matter on May 2 1798. After defeating Napoleons’

42 Chalmers, Charles 1803 Brief remarks on the late war in St. Domingo 1802, 7243 Maitland’s letters, Public records office , war office papers WO 1/170 345, 8744 C.L.R James 1983 The Black Jacobins London: Penguin Books, 172-173

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forces in 1804, Haiti became the second independent state from Britain. Today,

however, Haiti is not associated with freedom or democracy in the ways the French

revolution or the War of American Independence are 45 and the island has one of the

highest rates of poverty, measuring eight out of ten in 2008 for uneven economic

development.46 This could have something to do with what Haiti meant to its

contemporaries in 1798: living proof of the consequences of, not just black freedom,

but black rule. The politics of race, as Robert Shilliam says “colored the hue of

modernity itself.”47 In 1791, St Domingo was used as a rallying cry in the call against

abolition: “Remember Haiti”.48 Where did the British Empire draw its confidence from

when St Domingo made colonialists realize they could not maintain the slave system

indefinitely?

This was the problem the British were faced with in 1798, withdrawing would mean

defeat to a black army. In the five years of British occupation of St Marc and Mole in St

Domingo they had only exported one third of as much produce as Martinique and one

twentieth of the amount that the British West Indies exported.49 Consequently, the

organization of the black rebellion had been downplayed in British media, it was

perceived as an erratic, anarchic event, which did not reflect the reality of organization

that the ex-slaves managed and the leadership which emerged was so shocking for the

generals stationed there. In addition, the war in the West Indies may have boosted the

abolition movement because high death rates made it unpopular among the public. The

abolition movement was the first campaign to draw on popular support,50 shown by the

45 Knight, W. Franklin The Haiti revolution and the notion of human rights in Journal of Historical society 4 (3) 391-41646 Fund For Peace 2008:http://www.fundforpeace.org/web/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=292&Itemid=452 [Internet] Accessed: 11 March 200947 Shilliam, Robert 2008 What the Haitian revolution might tell us about development, security and the politics of race in: Comparitive studies in society and history 50(3) 778-80848 C.L.R James 1983 The Black Jacobins London: Penguin Books, 4249 Geggus, David 1982 Slavery, war and revolution, Oxford: Clarendon Press50 Walvin, James, 2008 The trader the owner the slave London: Vintage

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huge amounts of petitions that were presented to parliament each time a bill was

presented, the first ever boycott movement, and the women’s groups that organized in

favour of it. Their perception of slave rebellion, while not correct, did manage to win

over popular support.

Positive accounts had finally begun to trickle through, such as Toussaint’s work

rebuilding the plantations and even a prominent French general was forced to change

his opinion: Leclerc, Napoleon’s brother-in-law wrote, just before his death on the

island, that the blacks were not what they were perceived to be in Europe “We have in

Europe a false idea of the country in which we fight and the men whom we fight

against.”51 British withdrawal from the island proved the humanity of the slaves and the

power of Toussaint. It was this which the planters feared most. The Africans proved

themselves capable of defeating European armies and the documented shock of white

generals has resonance within eighteenth century values and identities. Abolitionists

could begin grounding their arguments on a racial dialogue, but it would be another

nine years before the House of Lords accepted their form of abolition.

51 September 27, 1802. Leclerc to the first Consul: 285, C.L.R James 1983 The Black Jacobins London: Penguin books

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III

The nemesis of slavery and Abolition

In order to survive and make profits, slave systems require white power to dominate.

The mirror image of which, is what Ian Haywood calls the nemesis of slavery: the slave

rebellion.52 Slave rebellions were frequent in the Caribbean and any slave practicing

societies. In the British colonies there were revolts, among others, in Barbados in 1816,

Demerara in 1823 and Jamaica in 1831.53 “When did the Negroes in St Domingo learn

the cruelties they had practised, whence but from those on whom they had practised

them.”54

Slave rebellion haunted the planters and they lived in constant fear of it, resulting in

sterner punishments for even the smallest mistakes. The violence of slave rebellion

simply mirrored how the enslaved Africans had been treated “At which point the white

body replaced the black body as the subject of violation”55 Haywood goes on to talk of

a culture of spectacular violence that existed in the eighteenth century and greatly

influenced the romantic imagination. Slave rebellions were part of the global atrocities

that included the violence of the American war of independence and the reign of terror

during the French revolution; it became the nemesis that challenged white superiority.

52 Haywood, Ian 2006 Bloody Romanticism, spectacular violence and the politics of representation Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 15053 Geggus, David 1983 Slave resistance studies and the Saint Domingue slave revolt: Some preliminary considerations no.4. Florida: Latin American + Caribbean centre, 1454 Hansard April 2 1792 Vol: XXIX55 11, Haywood, Ian, 2006 Bloody romanticism, spectacular violence and the politics of representation UK: Palgrave Macmillan

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How did the Abolitionists grapple with this violence? Matthew Gelien56 talks of

four stages of British Abolitionist discourse after 1791. First is denial of responsibility

of the St Domingo rebellion, which Gelien saw as a passive stance. Second, interpreting

and describing the suppression of the revolts, to gain sympathy for their cause. Third,

validating slave rebellion as an instrument of anti-slavery and fourth, actively engaging

with slave rebellion to attack and intervene in the imperial system. These alternate

perceptions of St Domingo as nemesis and tool in the abolitionist cause, shows slave

rebellion was employed in arguments by both pro and anti slavers. However, only the

abolitionist argument changed over time to accommodate the Haiti rebellion. It did so

in answer to the accusation that abolitionist agitation was the sole cause of insurrection.

The abolitionist argument matured over time to accommodate the black power that was

witnessed in Haiti and win over parliamentary debates. Their arguments however, still

remained within the confines of the imperial gaze.

In A history of the abolition of the slave trade Thomas Clarkson called the bill

that was given royal ascent for abolition in 1807 a “Magna Carta” 57 for Africa. This

was based on a notion of the supremacy of the English system of law and Governance.

For black equality to be successfully accepted in Britain, it had to take on European

governance forms. The nemesis of slavery: the slave rebellion, and the autonomous

black state St Domingo was threatening to build, could only be positively supported

within Britain if it’s threat of independence was replaced with a “Magna Carta” written

by the white abolitionists. In Parliament, in 1792, Wilberforce argues:

Were they [the slaves] in a condition to enjoy these advantages [of freedom] which the advocates of the continuation of that slave trade pretend to say they are ready to allow them? Indeed he was ready to confess he thought they were

56 Gelien, Matthew, 2006 Caribbean slave revolts and the British abolition movement USA: Louisiana state press, 6057 Clarkson, Thomas 1808 History of the rise, progress & accomplishment of the abolition of the Slave Trade Vol. 1 London: L. Taylor, 23

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not in that condition and that the granting of these advantages to the unhappy slaves in the West Indies would only lead them to demand others and might produce more discord and misery and perhaps finally the destruction of the plantation 58

Wilberforce and Clarkson both argued that the absentee planters were not being wholly

truthful when they argued that their slaves were well kept, thus abolition should only be

established under abolitionist terms. This is a good example of how the power and

dominance of Empire and of slavery as a system continued, even within discussions of

abolition. Wilberforce seems to call for closer regulation of the enslaved Africans

during abolition, which shows the strength of white fear from black power, which St

Domingo had unleashed. “This led him [Wilberforce] to think upon the state of St

Domingo, which had lately been the subject of much observation. The cause furnished

us with a lesson, and we ought to reflect on it” 59

Perceptions of slave rebellion, and the way they were discussed in parliament, shows

how white imagination grappled with the alien black culture they were confronted with.

The violence of St Domingo was fresh in everyone’s minds when the parliamentary

debates continued in April 1792. Abolitionists such as Wilberforce and Clarkson

warped the reality of the St Domingo rebellion. They argued that it was the newly

imported Africans, not yet influenced by the civilising efforts of the planters, who had

caused the rebellion:

The way to alleviate their misery was to render them attached to their masters, governors and leaders. Doctrine contrary to this seemed to him only improper, but dangerous with regard to the West Indies. But if anything should remind them of their rights – These dangers would be multiplied tenfold by the importation of negroes, for those who just arrived, being less injured to must be more displeased with the West Indian system. Indeed as an author of great reputation has observed, these successive impartations were sufficient to

58 Hansard April 2 1792 London Vol: XXIX 59 ibid.

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account for all the plots and assassinations that we had heard of in the West Indies. 60

This is in contrary to the fact that often it was the long standing household servants, the

most trusted within the class of slave, who did the worst damage to property and

became leaders in the St Domingo rebellion.61 Abolitionist discussions were dominated

with attempts to suppress black power through the control of African reproduction. It

was suggested by Wilberforce, that instead of trading slaves, planters should encourage

natural reproduction amongst those already working on the plantations.62 “Brought

before the house Wilberforce’s argument of abolishing the ill treatment of slaves so

they could reproduce themselves and stop the human traffic” 63

Howard Temperly can give further insight into why parliamentary debates and

abolitionists specifically, discussed this:

What was fundamental to the whole attack on slavery was the belief that it was removable. Politics is the art of the practical. But so also are ethics practical in the sense that what is irremovable may be deplorable, inconvenient or embarrassing, but can scarcely be unethical. Before slavery could become a political issue – or even in the proper sense a moral issue- what needed to be shown was that the world could get along without it. 64

If politics and ethics in the eighteenth century were primarily about practicality and not

humanity, the abolition movement had to present an image of respectability in contrast

to the unrespectable slave rebellion. It did so by constructing a grand narrative, drawing

on enlightened ideas. Discussions of the reproductive capacity of female slaves, to

produce slaves naturally without the human trade, was the working alternative put 60 ibid.61 Edwards, Bryan 1797 An Historical survey of the French colony in the Island of Saint Domingo” London: John Stockdale documents several such stories, 3862 MJ Schwartz in Birthing a slave: Motherhood and Medicine in the Antebellum south 2004 is the first such study of how the lives of enslaved women changed again as they fought to keep their reproductive capacity, as it became more important then ever, from white doctors and white medicine.63 Microfilm Reel 4, 1798: 26 Debate in the house of Commons on the motion for the abolition of the slave trade April 364 Howard Temperly in Laurence B. Goodheart, 1995 The abolitionist means ends and motivations USA: D.C Heath & Co, 12-26

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forward by the abolitionists. Plantation owners had to have a disposable work force,

and the abolition movement had to supply it. The black state of Independence was not

an acceptable alternative to anyone yet. The abolitionists were in a contingent position

of creating a new logic of humanitarianism within the context of dominant white

power. They had not yet, in the eighteenth century, began a systematic attack on the

slave system its self, this is reflected in their contempt for the St Domingo rebellion.

The Abolitionists grand narrative called for a natural reproduction of the slave

population, turning the tables on the colonialists and providing an alternative system to

the slave trade. In doing so, Wilberforce aligned himself comfortably against the slave

rebellion. It was a view which strengthened, rather then attacked the uncivilised African

perspective that came with the British imperial gaze. Slave rebellion was seen as

unrespectable because of the violence and death reported back from St Domingo. Not

least also in the minds of the British, the greatest slavers of the era, was the loss of

profit and industry that St Domingo endured after the slaves burnt all the plantations.65

Another factor that effected British perceptions of the St Domingo slave rebellion was

the French revolution. The perception that the St Domingo rebellion was dangerous and

had taken on the Jacobin cloak was an image that abolitionist movements had to

grapple with carefully. White power had to stay clearly above black power; Wilberforce

had to master the art of practical ethics to win arguments in Parliament. Bryan

Edwards, the formidable foe of Wilberforce compared the British and French

abolitionists:

The British Anti-Slavery society in London has nothing more in view than to obtain an act of legislature for prohibiting the further introduction of African

65 Geggus, David 1982 Slavery, war and revolution, Oxford: Clarendon Press24

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slaves into the British colonies,” while the French Amis Des Noir “Loudly clamoured for general and immediate abolition. 66

The British abolition movement had become respectable while, in comparison, the

French Amis De Noir, who called for immediate abolition, were mischievous reformers

because they encouraged slave rebellion.

The discussions in parliament, however, were only one side of the abolitionist

movement. There were some, more radical than Wilberforce, who believed that the

events abroad were connected with events at home. The way enslaved African

rebellions were perceived by Thomas Perronet Thompson, a radical MP who was

associated with Jeremy Bentham, coloured his judgement of William Wilberforce and

The Saints. Thompson saw them as rouges who only aimed to modified slavery.

Though the fact that they were doing that at least, meant he supported them.

Oppression in the empire proved that the British presence was having a damaging effect rather then beneficial. And this was not to be explained with reference to the supposed inferiority of the non-whites. 67

Thompson was interested in the West Indies revolution because it provided a testing

ground. Not the sort that William Pitt had alluded to, when he argued that the British

could wait and see how the salve rebellion might weaken their enemies, the French.

Instead he used the social, economic, and racial forces that were concentrated within

the island to raise questions about the uses of imperial power. Many ruling classes in

Britain were fearful of this radical view point, because it placed the barbaric rebellious

slave in a position of power, and Wilberforce distanced himself from them. The slave

rebellion, as in France, was splitting the opponents of slavery. Nonetheless, political

discussion of race had been opened. Racial issues that the British parliament was

66 Edwards, Bryan 1797 An Historical survey of the French colony in the Island of Saint Domingo London: John Stockdale, 1867 Thompson in Turner, Michael. J 2005 “Setting the captive free British radicalism in the West Indies”, Slavery and Abolition Journal 26(1) 115-132

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suddenly confronted with included militarized black soldiers who were outside the

sympathy that parliamentary abolition could reasonably offer.

In contrast, sympathy for violations of slaves were acceptable to discuss in parliament.

This primarily included accusations of torture and families being split up when they

were sold on the slave markets. 68 Thompson saw the context of the 1791 rebellion

clearly. He understood the impact the demands of the African race would have on

European power, and was fascinated by the concept of Empire and how to rethink it.

But on the whole radical views such as this were not in the main stream and depictions

of Blacks remained of helpless slaves. The Wedgwood Plaque with its phrase: Am I not

a man/women and a brother/sister comes to mind. 69 (Appendix Picture 3)

Picture 4 in the Appendix depicts Wilberforce in a satirical print. This reminds us that

in the eighteenth-century, although St Domingo and slave rebellion were important

aspects of the debates on the slave trade, popular media and political interests would

not have bought them to the fore. Slave rebellion and indeed slavery was often treated

with silence by contemporary writers and this denial continued into Victorian times.

For example, the main trading port of Liverpool makes no mention of slavery in many

of the benefactor charities.70 In this picture Wilberforce is seen as the protagonist of the

slave rebellions. The West Indian Islands are set in the background, reducing their

importance. The symbol of fire is used to represent enslaved African rebellions.

Wilberforce is shown trumpeting the slave rebellion with his controversial Bill. This

removes the rebellion from its African origins, slave rebellion has become a response to

a white mans farcical pretences.

68 Hansard, April 2 1792 Vol: XXIX69 Wood, M. 2000 Blind memory Manchester: Manchester University Press, 20-2570 Cameron Gail and Crooke, Stan 1992 Liverpool – The capital of the slave trade Liverpool: Picton Press, 65

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The race issue is presented by the black man tying Wilberforce’s eyes, as if his

sympathy for the Negroes has blinded him from seeing the full effects of his Bill. This

implies that the Abolitionists were encouraging slave rebellion, and that sympathy for

the slaves would stop you from seeing the reality. In Parliamentary debate Bryan

Edwards constantly brought forward the issue of Wilberforce’s inexperience in matters

of the West Indies to weaken the abolitionist cause,71 further alluding to his ignorance

which the satirical print plays on. If the most prominent abolitionist was being attacked

for sympathy with the enslaved Africans, was outright rebellion the only way to attack

the slave system?

The strength that sympathy had in the abolition movement, as a perspective, has caused

some historians, such as Michael Carton72 to argue that the St Domingo salve rebellion

was detrimental to the abolition movement. It reduced feelings of sympathy in addition

to the destruction of collateral, such as the burning of plantations, and the loss of white

dominance that the planters had to endure, which caused a strong backlash against the

slaves.

In answer to this, I argue that the Eighteenth-century mindset of understanding the St

Domingo slave rebellion was more complex than this. Perceptions of the slave rebellion

were being worked through new art, such as those of William Hogarth and William

Blake, who illustrated journals on St Domingo.73 They used prints to depict the

enslaved Africans as human, to encourage sympathy and to highlight the corruption of

the slave system. These were consumed by the public and aided understanding of slave

rebellion as the organized and unified revolution that, at times, it was. They reflect how

71 Hansard April 2 1792 Vol: XXIX72 Craton, Michael 1983 Testing the chains: Resistance to slavery in the British west Indies US: Cornell University Press, 33173 Stedman, Michael Narrative of a five year expedition against the revolted Negroes of Surinam 1796 London: J. Johnson

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a new style of interpretation of society, based on humanity and equality were being

generated. They asked the audience to question, whether the products of the colonies

are more valuable then human life, depicting the negative aspects of slavery in a way

that did not denigrate the African to helpless slave. It was a completely different

European approach to the enslaved African-American.

Haywood talks about the sensibility and sublime of the Romantic Movement, which

was “Nourished by the tributary discursive streams of spectacular violence.” 74 The

rebellion in 1791 had to be grafted into romantic perceptions of violence. One of the

most common forms of representation of violence in art was through the use of a

violator, victim and spectator triangle. The spectator in the triangle would allow the

European audience a way into the scene of slave repression, what Haywood calls a

“Bloody Vignette”75

During the slave rebellion, this would have been transformed into sympathy for the

white body, and would have challenged the notion of the docile slave, increasing

European Paranoia. Clarkson fuelled this paranoia in his publication The true state of

the case respecting the insurrection at St Domingo 1792 he argued that St Domingo

was an issue between whites and blacks, and the cause of it can be attributed:

Undoubtedly toward the slave trade, in consequence of which thousands are annually poured into the island, who have been fraudulently and forcibly deprived of the rights of men. They experience discontent and feeling of resentment much further heightened by the treatment which people coming into them under such a situation must unavoidably receive 76

74 Haywood: 2006 Bloody Romanticism, spectacular violence and the politics of representation Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 1175 Haywood: 2006 Bloody Romanticism, spectacular violence and the politics of representation Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 11576 Clarkson, Thomas 1792 The true state of the case respecting the insurrection at Saint Domingo Ipswich: J. Bush, 3

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This is an attempt by Clarkson to see slavery from the enslaved Africans point of view,

while actively using slave rebellion to stir up fear among the planters. The perception of

slave rebellion is a discussion of how Africans themselves were perceived; rebellion

was their way of controlling and changing how white Europeans saw them. This

explains why Toussaint was interested in the impressions that writers and journalists

created of St Domingo, as mentioned in Chapter I. Africans could not assert themselves

or their differences in any other way.

The acceptance of slave rebellion was an ongoing struggle and quarrels over the

perception of slave rebellion reflected the changes in the world view. Thomas Perronet

Thompson saw how the struggles for reform often highlight ongoing movements that

are not definable by linear dates. In contemporary perceptions, the recent movie

“Amazing Grace”77 is one such example. In it William Wilberforce is portrayed as the

sole legatee of the abolition of the slave trade. Important figures such as Granville

sharp, Robert Wedderburn and radicals like Thomas Perronet and women such as

Elizabeth Hayrick are barely mentioned, which reduces the scope and depth of the

movement. Critics have complained that Olaudah Equiano is given only four minutes

on screen, while other important African contributors to literature on slavery, such as

Ignatius Sancho are not mentioned. In the movie Africans only ever appear as ghosts

rattling chains in front of Wilberforce. They invoke an image of helpless, passive slaves

who needs saving by a white European. There is no mention of the Army raised by

Toussaint in 1792 which defeated three European world powers and went on to declare

independence. The imperial gaze within this movie says more about the perception of

slaves and rebellion, than about the eventually emancipation of Africans.

77 Amazing Grace 2006 [DVD] Michael Apted UK: FourBoys Films29

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IV

The Haitian rebellion and a new identity

The experience of slavery for captive and owner was more than one of commerce, it

would, in some way, shape both cultures. As the only successful slave rebellion, 1791

exposed the British to the culture clash between blacks and whites that had been hidden

in the plantations from the dominant public view for so long.78 In their acts of grand and

petit marronage, slaves attempted to completely dis-associate themselves from white

culture. Similarly British newspaper denial of the violent reality of plantation life and

slave rebellion, their constant attacks on miscegenation and the bastard children it

produced, were European attempts to distance themselves from black cultural

influence. But neither of these could continue forever.

The Haiti rebellion was the first step, it was the colonial nemesis feared by the

planters for so long. It was different from previous slave revolts because the tempers

and ideals of the enslaved Africans had changed; they became organized and confident

in their outlook on what they could achieve. The black leaders saw that, in order for an

independent slave colony to hold it’s own against the European powers, it had to

Europeanize its self. This is why Toussaint was so successful. He managed, in four

years, to gain the confidence of the black’s, mulattoes and whites, continue sugar

production and thus the civic life the colony had been based on before the rebellion, but 78 Mechal Sobel in “The world they made together, Black and white values in eighteenth century Virginia” 1987 documents in detail how Black and White cultures mixed together within the slave system it’s self in America.

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without slavery79 Unfortunately his plan was thwarted by the need for revenge that

other black leaders, such as Biassou, were bent upon. But the rebellion had effectively

joined the dominant societies on equal terms by seizing the ideals of the French

revolution and applying them to the situation.

James goes on to argue that this change came about because of the slave’s

relation to production. The plantation slaves who lived and worked in gangs were

closer to a modern proletariat group than any other workers in existence at that time and

their rebellions can not be understood outside the context of the developing world

history, they fore-shadowed the proletariat and anti-colonial revolutions of the 20

century.80 The growing success of slave rebellions was matched by ideas of liberty

forming in Britain, which radical abolitionists were quick to pick up on. Anti-slavers

such as Percival Stockdale attacked the foundations of the slave structure, the planter

prejudice. He wrote to Granville sharp in 1791: “Should we not approve of their

conduct or their violence (call it what you will) if they exterminate their tyrants by fire

and sword”81

He goes on to point out that, if it had been whites oppressed by blacks, the 1791

rebellion would have been celebrated. Percival is attacking slavery by questioning how

black attempts at power were perceived by the European white identity. He substitutes

the black and white bodies, as Ian Haywood suggests the romantic imagination did, in

the culture of violence which pervaded the eighteenth century. However, in addition to

using imagination to create sympathetic bonds with the black slaves, Percival is

questioning the conduct of the white nations toward Africans through religious and

rational arguments. He justifies rebellion because the insurrection itself is proof of the 79 C.L.R James 1983 The Black Jacobins London: Penguin books, 7280 C.L.R James 1983 The Black Jacobins London: Penguin books, 6981 Stockdale, Percivale 1791 Letter from Percivale Stockdale to Granville sharp suggested to the author by the present insurrection of the negroes in Saint Domingue 1791 London: L.Pennington, 19

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humanity of slaves and 1791 was self defence against an arbitrary power. This was a

turning point; no one had yet dared to defend the actions of the slaves.

St Domingue’s development of equal rights for blacks was radical for the

eighteenth century and British reactions toward it would go on to shape their actions to

consequent slave rebellions in their own colonies. Matthew Gelien argues that Haitian

independence demanded a new look at the facts of slavery and the slave trade, it forced

abolitionists to re-think how they had been approaching slave rebellion prior to

1791.“British abolitionist conceptualizations of the St Domingue rebellion set the pace

for their later commentary on the pre-emancipation West Indian slave revolts” 82

The Negro Agency Committee was established in 1831 as a radical wing of the

abolition movement. Its purpose was to disseminate information about the slave

colonies directly to the public. Its members: Joseph Sturge, Zachary Macaulay, John

Price, George Stephen and John Crisp were disillusioned with the Anti-Slavery society

and wanted to put more pressure on parliament from the outside. They canvassed for

speakers and encouraged them to hold public debates on the topic of the slave trade.

The report of the Negro Agency Committee is a vital document for shedding light on

the public concern and interest on the topic of slavery after 1791. It also documents a

new approach to politics that mirrored the slave rebellion, by moving the topic of the

slave trade out of the sphere of acceptable white power in parliament, and into the

streets and the private domain of families and women. The agency committee was also

more successful at giving an accurate account of slavery to the British public. Its

founders were shocked at how little knowledge the general public had, and found: “An

82 Gelien, Matthew 2006 Caribbean slave revolts USA: Louisiana State University, 6432

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unusual degree of excitement upon the question of negro slavery obviously pervaded

the public mind and it naturally followed that a spirit of enquiry was awakened”83

The public awakening was often revitalized by the new approach the Agency took to

disseminate information. They advised public speakers that:

It should always be born in mind that while particular cases of cruelty and oppression, tending to throw light on colonial slavery are useful to illustrate the system, and to prove that it can not exist without such cases being of frequent occurrence, it is not expedient to bring them forward in a manner that implies exclusive reliance upon them for support of the case of abolition: For more useful though perhaps less interesting arguments are to be derived from the statistics of every colony, and the general principle of religious duty and commercial policy give a more solid foundation for appeals to the public judgement. 84

The Agency committee moved away from the spectra of violence which capitalized on

peoples’ sensibilities and romantic imagination, replacing it with statistics and rational

arguments. Members were encouraged to argue with facts and the public similarly

demanded this:

One speaker in Barnstaple had, at the end [of his talk] one audience member who applauded him, that he should favour the public with his statements in print: “Mr Wilberforce has declared he did not mean to eradicate slavery and Mr Buxton has said he should not quote or rely on specific instances of cruelty, from which he inferred that I ought to think as (he said) Mr W did, and refrain from citing facts! 85

This comment suggests the general public wanted and were beginning to demand more

detail about the slave trade, which was lacking in discussions of slavery within

parliament and in newspapers. Long lists of letter are printed in the Report of the

83 Anti slavery society 1832 Report of the Negro Agency Committee London: S.Bagster, 184 ibid, 485 Ibid, 5

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success of the public speeches on anti-slavery, recording how most filled the town halls

and churches where they were held, drawing both male and female interest.

Pro-slavery arguments: that slavery was civilising or a religious duty, were

called into question by the black rebellion and the 1798 British withdrawal. The critical

eye of the public had been opened by a demand for factual information. In details such

as the treatment of slaves, slave rebellion and their success in establishing a black

Empire, the perception of slaves in the mainstream newspapers, as anarchic and

unreasonable, was too narrow. The word slavery and its transatlantic message of

equality had already entered the radical lexicon.

Rebellions against the stamp act in 1765, the Townshend revenue act in 1767, the

British customs service in 1765-74 and against the intolerable acts in 1774 all used the

word slavery in their speeches. 86 Terms such as “Citizen of the world” and

“Cosmopolitan” were used by Thomas Pain and J. Philimore87 in positive ways to

empower people. They questioned the subversion that had been hidden from them and

in doing so questioned the relationship between the African slave and the British

Empire.

The ideal of equality for blacks, which 1791 and the Haitian independence of

1804 represented, had an impact upon British identity construction, not least in the

stepping stone that abolitionist activism provided for many women, allowing them to

enter the public realm. Many prominent female abolitionists went on to become active

in the women’s suffrage movement. Such as Mary Prince, Elizabeth Heyrick, Harriet

Beecher Stowe and Mary Wollstonecraft88 these women also had strong links with

86 Linebaugh, Peter + Rediker, Marcus 200 The Many- Headed Hydra London: Verso, 21187 ibid, 246 88 Midgley, Clair 1992 Women against slavery London: Routledge

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American abolitionists, reflecting the transatlantic movement for democracy, as

documented by Marcus Rediker and Peter Linebaugh. Rebellions were perceived by the

ruling parties as a hydra, to be slain by governments and kings. The motley cure that

made up this many headed hydra included sailors, slaves, non-conformists, Irish/Scot’s,

women, the racket of people that made up the pubs and drinking holes in London (and

its corresponding society) and the wide class of people known as mulattos, down to

their sixteenth generation. “The Friendship of Olaudah Equiano and Thomas and Lydia

Hardy proved that Atlantic combinations – African and scot, Englishwomen and

African American man – were powerful and of historic significance”89

1791 was also the year Pains’ Rights of men and Volney’ Les Ruines, ou

méditations sur les révolutions des empires were published, representing the age of

revolution and the time when the swinish multitude had become enlightened. Attitudes

of race and class were called into question and slave rebellion became another piece in

the mosaic of revolution that was believed to be rising from the west. 90 1791 was the

year Pandora’s Box was opened, as Governor of Jamaica, Lord Balcarres, would write

in 180091

The British Empire was infected with issues of Race, Nation and Empire.92

Societies, such as Eclectic society in 1848, were established that questioned whether

colonies were even beneficial to society. Identities were constructed and re-constructed

in relation to a town’s commerce, such as Birmingham, which supplied commodities

for far away places such as New Zealand, Australia and of course Africa. When

threatened by slave rebellion, black identities became more visible and had to be

89 Linebaugh, Peter + Rediker, Marcus 200 The Many- Headed Hydra London: Verso, 35290 Ibid, 34291 Ibid, 24292 Hall, Catherine “Bringing the Empire back in” in: Boyd, Kelly + Rohan Mc William 2007 The Victorian studies reader Oxon: Routledge, 414-427

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breeched. Roger Chartier93 argues that it is the space between production and

consumption where meaning is produced, and within readership of the British Empire,

the black identity which morphed from docility into violent anarchy, instigated debate.

Catharine hall is an advocate of this view, she argues:

Journalistic Representations of racial difference operated within a field which was continually being reworked. There were always different voices, sometimes juxtaposed. Racial representation was not a closed system; rather it operated in relation with historical events, but also being reconstituted in these moments. While stereotypical elements of these representations –as, for example, that of the negro as indolent – Continually reappeared, reworked in particular forms, they never stood uncontested. Representation in other words was a process, a process which was central to the construction of identities, the making of the self and other. 94

Attempting to fix a certain view point, or perception, of another, particularly as

negative and suppressing peoples’ curiosity of “the other”, is a way of subverting

people on the fringes of society and of building hierarchies. But, as we can see, the

interest in St Domingo was vast, its message travelled along the transatlantic roots

carved by the new commerce of ships and sailors, it questioned peoples identity

construction and the limits of parliamentary debate, connecting people across the

Atlantic with its ideals of equality, inspiring new art forms and new approaches to

public debate. The global aspect of the Haiti revolution and the changing ways different

segments of the population approached and understood it, is what makes it so relevant

to the present day.

“The only thing worth globalizing is dissent.”95

93 Chartier, Roger, 1989, The culture of Print UK: Polity Press94 Hall, Catherine “Bringing the Empire back in” in: Boyd, Kelly + Rohan Mc William 2007 The Victorian studies reader Oxon: Routledge, 41995 Roy, Arundhati Come September 2002, http://www.weroy.org/arundhati_quotes_globalization.shtml [Accessed at 20/03/1009]

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Conclusion

The British perception of the St Domingo slave rebellion had been misguided and

warped by two main sources of public information on the enslaved Africans:

newspapers and abolitionists, because it clashed with the eighteenth century imperial

gaze. The reasons for this are, in part, because of the nature of slavery as well as the

imperial gaze that shrouded their view. When Wilberforce began his systematic attack

against this unsystematic and some what mafia style trade, he pinned his hope highly on

bills and acts of parliament, but as Marika Sherwood96 has shown, the slave trade

continued even after 1807. It would require an attack from below, from the hewers of

wood and drawers of water,”97 an ever present steady supply of hands to the system, to

affect its demise.

Clarkson interviewed some in his search for facts about the slave trade, the

sailors. They were notoriously difficult to come buy and their lives are hard to

document, even less well documented are the lives of the slaves and it is surprising and

a testimony to their resistance, that we have the narratives and biographies, both male

and female, that enslaved Africans managed to leave behind.98 This underworld of

96 Sherwood, Marika 2007 After Abolition London: I.B Tauris & CO, 5897 Linebaugh, Peter + Rediker, Marcus 2000 The many Headed Hydra London: Verso, 3698 Olaudah Equiano 1789 The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Dover publication: UK

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undocumented resistance is what is so fascinating about resistance to the slave trade

and its lack of control at all levels of who could witness it, where, when and how. The

sailors and slaves impacted upon one another, for example, the 21 sailor mutinies that

occurred on board docked ships between 1718- 2399 was said to have been inspired by

the slaves.

St Domingo, a year before the revolution, was importing the highest number of

slaves, had the highest black: white ratio and the largest profits. But only whispers of

the violence in the colonies were audible. A documentation of the most infamous black

rebellion can emphasise the limitations of working within a system to change it. The

slaves were always on the outside of society, and were kept there by the racism that has

been documented to have emerged around 1791.100 Individual’s such as Thomas

Thompson, or Percival Stockdale were interested in the effect of the revolt and

provided an alternative perspective to it. Redefining what was acceptable and what was

radical. The slave rebellion demanded a new look at the slaves themselves. Over time

committees, such as the Negro Agency Committee, could move away from the violence

of the revolution to look at the facts, prefacing a trend in modern world views.

There were, of course, limitations to what a slave rebellion could achieve. The imperial

gaze that starred back at the slave’s, was the European blockade they were confronted

with. But Wilberforce constantly had to draw a line between his aims, and the aims of

the slaves, and this constant re-working of his stance may have bought him more time,

but left him open to attack from below. The planter class were less favourable to the

changing winds because of the delicate balance they relied upon, but they could not

99 Rediker, Marcus 1993, Between the Devil and the deep blue sea: Merchant, Seamen, and Pirates Cambridge: Cambridge University press 100 Linebaugh, Peter + Rediker, Marcus 2000 The many Headed Hydra London: Verso, 352

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control how people saw 1791, any more than they could the rebellious slaves. The

constant interplay between forces for change only served to destabilise the systems.

Thomas P Thompson was all too aware of this and his emphasis on

anachronistic analysis can help us apprehend the events of 1791. I would like to have

talked more about the female gender roles in perceptions of slave rebellion, and perhaps

looked at more personal primary sources, such as journals and diaries, in a document of

psychological history. This is my attempt to move away from cause and effect history. I

particularly like Arundhati Roy’s quote at the end, and included it because her speeches

are about personal resilience and resistance, which is not preoccupied with an

individual, nor their community, but the space in between. The perpetual problem with

history is that the future is already known, if used as a tool for documentation, history is

naïve. If, however, it is used to understand the space between an event and its impact, a

fertile ground can be laid for the future.

The British withdrawal in 1798 represented a war gone wrong and desperation

to cling to the status quo. It relied not just on the symbolic meaning of the action, but

on the journals and memoirs of the people involved. Allowing us a glimpse into the life

on the island, while the diverse reactions of the Generals tell us about their bias and

how they reported back to their contemporaries about the revolution that was ignored

by the authorities. It had been ignored because all the perceptions that had been used to

understand it had failed, being too narrow to depict the complex process of

independence and civil war that beset the country. The Haiti revolution constantly

challenged pro and anti slavery ideas of Africans and their place in the world. The

islands struggle for independence deeply impacted upon British development and

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security. Robert Shilliam believes that dealing with a politicised black army constituted

the transformation, in Britain, to a modern state.101

We celebrated the bicentennial of the slave trade in March 2007 and Tony Blair gave a

speech102. But Veve. A. Clark argues that European celebrations: Bi/ Tri and

quincentennial. And historical periodizing: B.C/A.D, medieval/modern and

modern/postmodern, excludes other cultures and traditions understanding of the

elapsing of time.103 This exclusion was directly questioned by the St Domingo slave

rebellion. For example, today the French revolution is seen as a European phenomenon.

But St Domingo and the slave trade question impacted upon its progress and should be

recognized for its trans-Atlantic influence. It was both a French colony in a struggle for

independence and an expression of a black Caribbean diaspora that has been

misrepresented in the world drama.

I Elma Jenkins declare that the above work is my own and that the material contained herein has not been substantially used in any other submission for an

academic award.

101 Shilliam, Robert 2008 What the Haitian revolution might tell us about development, security and the politics of race in: Comparitive studies in society and history 50(3) 778-808102 Blair, Tony, 2007 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1088135.ece accessed: 06/04/09103 Veve A Clark Haiti’s tragic overture (Mis)Representations of the Haitian revolution in world drama in: Heffernan, James A. 1992 Representing the French revolution Hanover, NH: University press

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British library:http://www.bl.uk/eblj/index.html

Film:

Amazing Grace 2006 [DVD] Michael Apted UK: FourBoys Films

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