should be given up; and that all English sailors in the city, as well as all other persons belonging to the English government, should be given up as prisoners." The senate of Bremen demurred to comply with a request so tyrannical, and so inimical to the freedom, privileges, and immunities of that place. In consequence of this refusal, Mortier contented himself with seizing three ships belonging to the city.

Bonaparte wishing to obtain possession of Malta, viewed the seizure of Hanover as a fair opportunity of accomplishing his purpose, by offering to restore it to the English government upon certain conditions; but the propositions were rejected with the contempt they merited. The consul, irritated at this opposition to his views, ordered all the English in Hanover, and in Piedmont, and other countries under the French yoke, to be arrested and he also issued orders, that no merchandise should be admitted into the Electorate, without a certificate from the commercial agent of the French republic, at Hamburgh, certifying that they actually were not articles of British produce and manufacture. The mouths of the Elbe and the Weser were also shut against the English.

The inveteraey of the first consul was daily augmenting against the English, he used every expedient to injure and annoy them in every quarter of the globe. Linois, a favorite naval officer of Bonaparte, had received secret instructions to sail for the East Indies, with a formidable fleet, and a large body of troops. The primary object of this expedition was to augment the military force of the French possessions in the East; as also to take precautionary measures to secure the Cape of Good Hope against any attack that might be made by the English.

It appeared to be the grand policy of Bonaparte, indeed he even was so vain glorious as to boast, that he would annihilate the ships, colonies, and commerce of Great Britain. How inveterate he acted with respect to the latter, is demonstrated by the following decree:

Paris, June 20.

The government of the republic, in consequence of the report of the minister of the interior, decrees as follows:

"1. From the date of the publication of this arrêt, there shall not be received into the ports of the republic, any colonial produce from the English colonies; nor any merchandise that comes directly, or indirectly, from England. Consequently, every kind of merchandise, or produce of English manufacture, or from the English colonies, will be confiscated.

2. Neutral vessels, bound for the ports of the republic, must be furnished with a certificate, from the commissary, or agent, for the commercial concerns of the republic at the port from whence they sailed; which certificate shall contain the name of the vessel, and that of the captain; the nature of the cargo, the number of the crew, and destination of the voyage. In this declaration, the commissary shall certify, that the vessel was laden under his own immediate inspection; and that the merchandise is not of English manufacture, and does not. proceed from England, or its colonies. A counter-part of this declaration shall be addressed to the minister of the interior, by the commissary of the republic, on the very day of the vessel's departure.

3. All captains, who, from a negligence of the necessary forms, or a change in the place of their destination, shall not be furnished with similar declarations, will be refused admittance into the ports of the republic, but on condition that they shall reload their vessels with the produce of the French manufactories, to an amount equal to the value of his cargo. The director of the customs shall send to the prefect of the department, an account of the cargo, and the goods taken in return; and having examined it, the prefect will deliver the permit to leave the port.

"4. The winisters of the interior, and of the finances, are charged with the execution of the present arrêt, which will be inserted in the bulletin of the laws.

"The first Consul,

(Signed)

"BONAPARTE."

If Bonaparte was wreaking his vengeance upon the commerce of Great Britain, the English government was employed in fitting out various expeditions against the Dutch and French colonies. In 1491, the celebrated VOL, H.-22.

discoverer of the new world, Christopher Columbus, took possession of the valuable and extensive island of St. Domingo, which he called Hispaniola, in honor of Spain. By the treaty of Ryswick, 1697, Spain agreed to resign the sovereignty of the north west part of the island to the French. When St. Domingo was yielded to France it consisted of five departments.

In 1791, in that part mostly inhabited by the French, there only remained the Cape and Port au Prince, and those two cities, in which the white planters had taken refuge, were surrounded by thousands of insurgents. The blacks had concerted a plan to destroy all the whites; they stormed a camp, in which fifty-eight planters were massacred; they compelled whomsoever they met to join them, and murdered those who refused; they forced the whites to slaughter one another, and to eat their flesh. The advanced posts of St. Domingo were. attacked, and the negroes attempted to set fire to the powder magazine; if they had succeeded in this enterprise, the whole city would have been blown up, but the plot was discovered in time to prevent the catastrophe. It was in consequence of this insurrection, that Brissot attributed the enormities committed by the blacks, to the unconquerable pride of the whites, in obstinately refusing to admit the people of colour to the enjoyment of civil rights. He observed, that they had made insurrection a necessity; nay, a duty. The liberties were divided amongst themselves; those of the country, the only true planters, were not averse to rendering justice to the mulattoes; the whites of the city wanted to domineer over both. In this insurrection one thousand two hundred families were reduced to want; one hundred and eighty plantations of coffee, cotton, and indigo, were totally destroyed; "every where destruction marked the progress of the blacks; and resistance was considered as unavailing and hopeless. From the northern provinces the rebellion spread to the west, but in that quarter it was soon quelled." +

In 1793, the French commissioners, Santhonax and Polverel, made a public declaration of emancipation for all the slaves in the colony. In the same year, a dreadful slaughter was made of the French, by another insur

+ Edwards's History of the West Indies.

rection of the blacks. The melancholy circumstances attending this event, occasioned an application to be made by some of the planters, to the British government, to place the island of St. Domingo under its protection; in consequence of which, a small detachment of British troops were sent from Jamaica, who obtained possession of Fort Jeremie, and the Mole of Cape St. Nicholas; and in 1794, the town of Port au Prince was taken by the English but the conquest obtained by the sword, was rendered non-effectual by the dreadful ravages occasioned by the yellow fever, to which dreadful scourge of humanity an immense number of the English army fell victims.

At this time the celebrated Toussaint L'Ouverture, made his appearance in arms, at the head of a numerous body of blacks; he recaptured Tiberon, and several other places, which were in the hands of the English. To oppose the designs of this enterprising chieftain, seven thousand British troops were landed at the Mole of St. Nicholas, in 1796, under the command of General Simcoe. Toussaint having obtained the sovereignty of the island, it was evacuated by the English troops, in 1798.

Hispaniola was now declared a free colony. The first consul of France was extremely jealous of the power acquired by this Haytian Prince, and was resolved to annihilate his authority, if possible. Bonaparte accordingly ordered an army of twenty thousand men to be raised, the command of which he gave to General Le Clerc, who married his sister. Le Clerc landed in the island at the close of December, 1801, and commenced his operations against Toussaint early in 1802. Toussaint, in his opposition to the English, had been ably seconded by Christophe, a General of great abilities, and who has subsequently made himself as renowned for enterprise in that country, as Bonaparte in Europe. A negociation ensued, which ended in a cessation of hostilities. A cruel act of treachery was soon after perpetrated: Toussaint, whose character was truly amiable and respectable, was seized, while he was in his plantation, and, with his wife and children, was hurried on board a French ship, and conveyed to France, where he was incarcerated in a dungeon, and soon after secretly assas

sinated. † The French, in consequence of the violation of every principle of honor, by the base kidnapping of the heroic sable chief, were viewed with the utmost abhorrence by the blacks, and another war commenced, in which the French availed themselves of the savage expedient of employing blood hounds to scour the country, and secure the refugees, who were concealed in their lurking places.‡

year

General Le Clerc died of the yellow fever, and was succeeded by the celebrated Rochambeau. The endeavors of the French to subdue the island, after numerous efforts, proved abortive; and they were at last compelled to evacuate the island at the latter end of the 1803; and so incensed were the inhabitants of St. Domingo at the French, that they were under the humiliating necessity of placing themselves under the protection of the English; and were, consequently, made prisoners of war, with their commander, Rochambeau.

Dessalines, afterwards, was crowned King of Hayti, or of St. Domingo, by the name and title of "James the First." The independence of Hayti, and the annihilation of the French power therein, was effected by the powerful arm of Great Britain, who wrested that invaluable island from the destructive clutches of the despotism of France. It had been the plan prepared by Bonaparte, to establish a colonial power in St. Domingo, and Lousiana, which would not only render it superior to the British empire in the West Indies, but also enable it to rival the commercial resources of the United States of America.

In addition to the establishment of the independence of Hispaniola, the island of Tobago was wrested from the French, as also that of St. Lucie, which were

+ The treacherous manner in which Toussaint was secured, no doubt, was owing to secret instructions given to General Le Clerc ; but it may admit of a quere, Whether Christophe himself was not accessary to it? The inordinate ambition of that Haytian Emperor, may render the idea probable. The son of Toussaint has lately visited England, and is now receiving preparatory tuition to qualify him for a missionary to preach the gospel in foreign parts.

A similar mode was adopted by Lord Balcarras, when the Maroons revolted in Jamaica.