and thy mother, that thy days may be long, is one of the first commandments of God. Will a child, who does not respect his father and his mother, liften to the advice of those who are ftrangers to him? Will he obey the laws of fociety, who has trampled upon the holieft and mildeft law of nature? Yet with what negligence do fathers and mothers educate their children, efpecially in cities! Inftead of inftructing them in religion, exacting from them refpect and obedience, and giving them ideas fuitable to their condition; inftead of teaching them to love induftry, they leave them in idleness, and ignorance of their first duties; they appear themselves to despise, and teach their children to defpife agriculture, the first, the most honourable, and moft ufeful of occupations. Scarcely are they born when we see the fame children at once decked with toys and ear-rings, and covered with filthy rags, offending the eyes of decency with their nakedness. They thus arrive at the age of twelve, without moral principles or occupation, and with no education, except a relifh for luxury and indolence; and as bad impreffions are hard to eradicate, they become bad citizens, vagabonds, and thieves'; or, if they are girls, they are prostitutes; and, be which they will, are ready to obey the impulfe of any confpirator who fhall preach to them diforder, affaffination, and plunder. Upon fuch vile fathers and mothers, upon fuch dangerous pupils, the military commanders ought to keep perpetually a watchful eye, that the hand of justice should be continually ftretched out.

The fame reproach equally applies to a great number of cultiva tors, male and female, upon the plantations. Since the revolution, ill-difpofed men have addreffed the lazy and turbulent, and faid "That liberty was the right of living in idlenefs, and doing ill with impunity, of defpifing the laws, and only following their own fancies." Such a doctrine could not but be well received by all bad fubjects, thieves, and affaffins. It is time to strike at those hardened men who perfift in fuch ideas. All the world ought to know that there are no means of living peaceable and refpected, but labour, and affiduous labour.

Such is the leffon which fathers and mothers ought to give to their children every day, and every moment of their lives.

As foon almost as a child can walk he ought to be employed about the plantations, in fome useful labour proportioned to his ftrength, instead of being fent into towns, under pretence of that education he does not receive; he comes there only to learn vices, to increafe the, rabble of vagabonds, and women of ill fame, to dif turb the repofe of his fellow-citizens by his very existence, and to end it by a capital punishment. The military commanders and the magiftrates must be inexorable to this clafs of men; they mult force them, in fpite of themfelves, to be useful to that

fociety

fociety of which they would be the fcourge without the fevereft vigilance.

Since the revolution it is evident that the war has caufed the deftruction of far more men than women; of thefe latter alfo are found a greater number in the towns, whofe only existence is founded upon libertinifm. Occupied entirely with thoughts of drefs, the effects of their proftitution; difdaining not only culture, but every other employment, they entirely refufe to do any thing ufeful. These are they who conceal all the guilty, who live upon the profits of their rapine, who excite them to robbery for the purpose of partaking the fruits of their crimes. It con cerns the honour of the magiftrates, generals, and commanders, not to leave one of thefe in the towns or fuburbs; the leaft negligence in this refpect will render them worthy of public cenfure.

Moyfe, it is true, was the foul of the late confpiracy; but he could not have completed his infamy had he not been able to find accomplices.

As to domeftics, every citizen ought only to have as many as are indispensably neceffary for his fervice. The perfons with whom they live ought to be the principal obfervers of their conduct, and to fuffer nothing in them contrary to good morals, to submission, and to order; if they are idle, they should correct them for this vice; if they are thieves, they ought to be denounced to the military commanders, to be punished according to the laws. A good fervant, animated with juftice, will do more work than four bad ones; and fince, in the new regime, all labour merits wages, fo all wages merit labour.

Such is the invariable and decided will of the government.

There is, befides, an object worthy its attention; that is, the observing of strangers who arrive in the colony. Some of them only know, from the reports of the enemies of the new order of things, the changes which have taken place, without reflecting upon the causes which have produced them, or upon the difficulties which were to overcome, that the greatest disorder that ever existed might be fucceeded by tranquillity and peace, cultivation and trade; they entertain defigns the more dangerous, as they are welcomed by all those who, founding their hopes upon difturbances, only defire pretexts. Such faults ought to be the more feverely punished, as the negligence of the public functionaries in this reIpect would enfure that confidence they require, and would caufe them to be justly regarded as the enemies of liberty.

The most facred of all inftitutions of men who live in fociety, from whence flows every good, is marriage. A good father of a family, a good husband, entirely occupied by the happiness of his. children, ought to be among them the living image of the Divinity. Thus a good government ought always to furround good families with honour, with refpect, and with veneration; it ought never 37.2

to

to repofe till it has pulled up the laft root of immorality. The: military commanders, the public functionaries, are, above all, without excufe, when they publicly give way to the fcandal of vice. Those who, having wives, keep concubines in their own houses, or those who, not being married, live publicly with a s variety of women, are unworthy to command, and will be cashiered.

As a final analysis: every man exifting in the colony owes to his fellow-citizens a good example; every military commander, every public functionary, ought accurately to fulfil his duty; they will be judged by their actions, by the good they have done, by the tranquillity and prosperity of the places they command. In a well-ordered state, idleness is the fource of every disorder, and if it is fuffered in a fingle individual, I fhall blame the military com manders, perfuaded that those who tolerate idle perfons and vagabonds, have bad defigns, and are the fecret enemies of the go

vernment.

No perfon can, under any pretence, be exempt from fome task or other, according to his faculties. Fathers and mothers, who have children and eftates, ought to go and live there, work there themselves, make their children work, watch over their labours, and, in the moment of repofe, inftruct them themselves; or by teaching them the precepts of our religion, imprefs upon them the horror of vice, explain to them the commandments of God, grave the principles of them upon their heart in an ineffaceable manner, and penetrate them with this truth, that as idleness is the mother of every vice, fo is labour the father of every virtue. It is by these means that refpectable and useful citizens will be formed, that one may expect to see this beautiful colony one of the happieft coun- i tries upon earth, and for ever keep away thofe horrible events, the recollection of which can never be effaced from our memories. In confequence I decree as follows:

Art. 1. Every commandant who, fince the late confpiracy, has had knowledge of the troubles which should have broken out, and permitted plunder or affaffination, who being able to prevent or hinder revolt, has fuffered to be broken that law which declares the life, the property, and the home of every citizen, facred and inviolable, fhall be carried before a special tribunal, and punithed according to the law of the 22d Thermidor, year 9 (August 10, 1801).

Every military commander, who, by want of forefight, or neglect, has not put a stop to diforders when committed, hall be cashiered, and punished with a year's imprisonment.

There fhall, in confequence, be made a rigorous inquiry into their conduct, and then the Governor will pronounce upon their

fate.

2. All generals commanders of the arrondiffements or quarters, who fhall for the future neglect to take all neceffary precautions to prevent feditions, but fhall fuffer the law to be violated, which declares the life, the property, and home of every citizen, facred and inviolable, fhall be carried before a special tribunal, and punished, conformable to the law of the 22d Thermidor, year 9 (Auguft 10, 1801).

3. In cafe of trouble, or indications of its breaking out, the national guard of that quarter or circle fhall be at the order of the military commanders, on their fimple requifition. Every commander who fhall not have taken the neceffary precautions for preventing trouble in their quarters, or the propagation of troubles from an adjacent quarter; every military man, either of the line or national troops, who fhall refufe to obey legal orders, fhall be punished with death.

4. Every individual, male or female, of whatever colour, who fhall be convicted of having entertained serious intentions of raïfing fedition, fhall be taken before a council of war, and punished conformable to law.

5. Every individual Creole, male or female, convicted of having entertained designs tending to disturb the public tranquillity, but who fhall not be thought worthy of death, fhall be fent to work, with a chain at his foot, for fix months.

6. Every stranger in the fituation of the article preceding, shall be fent out of the colony as a bad fubject.'

7. In every commune of the colony, where there exist municipal administrations, all the citizens, male and female, which inhabit them, whatever their qualities or condition, muft provide themfelves with cards of fafety.

This card fhall contain the name, furname, domicile, ftate, age, profeffion, and quality, age and fex, of those who bear it. It fhall be figned by the mayor and commiffary of the quarter where the perfon inhabits.

It shall be renewed every fix months, on paying a dollar, by each individual: the fums thus arifing to be applied to the communal expense.

8. It is exprefsly forbidden to the municipal administrations to give cards to any one who has not an estate or profeffion, wellknown irreproachable conduct, and certain means of existence.

All those who cannot fulfil the neceffary conditions strictly, fhall, if Creoles, be fent to till the ground, or, if ftrangers, be fent away from the colony.

9. Every mayor or officer of police, who, by negligence, or to favour vice, fhall have figned and delivered a card of fafety to an individual who is not qualified to obtain in, fhall be cashiered and imprifoned one month.

10. Fifteen days after the publication of the prefent arrêt, every perfon found without a card of fafety, if a Creole, fhall be fent to culture; if a stranger, fent out of the colony, unless he prefers ferving in the troops of the line.

11. Every domeftic, who, before leaving the houfe where he has ferved, thall not have been thought worthy a certificate of good behaviour, fhall be declared incapable of receiving a card of fatety. Any perfon, who, to favour him, fhall give him one, fhall be imprifoned one month.

12. Fifteen days after the publication of the prefent arrêt, all managers or conductors of plantations are charged to fend an exact lift of all the cultivators of every age and fex in the plantation, under pain of being imprifoned eight days.

Every conductor or manager is the principal guard of the plantation; he is declared perfonally refponfible for every kind of diforder committed there, and for the idleness and vagabondage of the cultivators.

13. A month after the publication of this arrêt, all the com manders of quarters are required to fend the lift of the cultivators of every plantation of their quarters to the commanders of circles, on pain of being cafhiered.

14. The commanders of circles are required to fend lifts of all the plantations of their circles to the generals under the orders of whom they are, without delay, under pain of disobedience.

Thefe lifts, depofited in the archives of the government, will ferve for the future as an immutable bafis for the fixing of the cultivators with refpect to the inhabitants.

15. Every manager or conductor of a plantation, where a ftranger cultivator fhall have taken refuge, is required to denounce him to the captain or commander of the fection, within twentyfour hours, under pain of eight days imprisonment.

16. Every captain or commandant of a fection, who by negligence fhall have left a strange cultivator more than three days in a plantation in his fection, fhall be cashiered.

17. Vagabond cultivators thus arrefted thall be conducted by the military to their own habitation. They shall be recommended to the peculiar infpection of the conductors or managers, and thus fhall for three months have no passport to go out of the plantation.

18. It is forbidden to any foldier to go to any plantation or pri vate house in the town. Those who wish to work, and have obtained their officers' permiffion, fhall be employed at labours for the republic, and paid according to their labour.

19. It is forbidden to any foldier to go to any plantation unless to fee his father or his mother. If he fails to return to his corps

at