A Roving Commission; Or, Through the Black Insurrection at Hayti Read online

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  A ROVING COMMISSION

  "I HAVE HEARD A GREAT DEAL OF YOU, MR. GLOVER," THE ADMIRAL SAID.]

  A ROVING COMMISSION

  OR

  _THROUGH THE BLACK INSURRECTION AT HAYTI_

  BY

  G. A. HENTY

  Author of "With Frederick the Great," "The Dash for Khartoum" "Both Sides the Border," etc.

  _WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS BY WILLIAM RAINEY, R.I._

  NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1904

  _Copyright_, 1899, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.

  PREFACE

  Horrible as were the atrocities of which the monsters of the FrenchRevolution were guilty, they paled before the fiendish outragescommitted by their black imitators in Hayti. Indeed, for some sixyears the island presented a saturnalia of massacre, attended withindescribable tortures. It may be admitted that the retaliationinflicted by the maddened whites after the first massacre was as full ofhorrors as were the outrages perpetrated by the blacks, and both wererivalled by the mulattoes when they joined in the general madness forblood. The result was ruin to all concerned. France lost one of herfairest possessions, and a wealthy race of cultivators, many belongingto the best blood of France, were annihilated or driven into povertyamong strangers. The mulattoes, many of whom were also wealthy, soonfound that the passions they had done so much to foment were toopowerful for them; their position under the blacks was far worse andmore precarious, than it had been under the whites. The negroes gained anominal liberty. Nowhere were the slaves so well treated as by theFrench colonists, and they soon discovered that, so far from profitingby the massacre of their masters and families, they were infinitelyworse off than before. They were still obliged to work to some extent tosave themselves from starvation; they had none to look to for aid in thetime of sickness and old age; hardships and fevers had swept them awaywholesale; the trade of the island dwindled almost to nothing; and atlast the condition of the negroes in Hayti has fallen to the level ofthat of the savage African tribes. Unless some strong white power shouldoccupy the island and enforce law and order, sternly repress crime, anddemand a certain amount of labour from all able-bodied men, there seemsno hope that any amelioration can take place in the present situation.

  G. A. HENTY.

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER PAGE

  I. A FIGHT WITH A BLOODHOUND 1

  II. REJOINED 21

  III. A SLAVE DEPOT 38

  IV. A SHARP FIGHT 58

  V. A PIRATE HOLD 76

  VI. THE NEGRO RISING 93

  VII. IN HIDING 112

  VIII. A TIME OF WAITING 132

  IX. AN ATTACK ON THE CAVE 152

  X. AFLOAT AGAIN 172

  XI. A FIRST COMMAND 191

  XII. A RESCUE 211

  XIII. TWO CAPTURES 232

  XIV. THE ATTACK ON PORT-AU-PRINCE 253

  XV. THE ATTACK ON PORT-AU-PRINCE 273

  XVI. TOUSSAIT L'OUVERTURE 293

  XVII. A FRENCH FRIGATE 311

  XVIII. ANOTHER ENGAGEMENT 331

  XIX. HOME 352