The political State of this Colony is approaching rapidly towards a very important Crisis. Even the nominal Power of the Agent and his Adherents is now nearly annihilated. The flying Artillery which has cost near half a Million of Dollars, and which was to have laid the flourishing Colony of Jamaica in Blood and Ashes, is disbanded. The Command of the Treasury and a control of the civil as well as military Departments has been openly assumed by the Genl: in Chief and his subordinate Officers. Every Thing announces a speedy Dissolution of those Ties, which once connected this important Colony with the Mother Country.

While I was uncertain of the real Intentions of Tousaint, I was loth to say any Thing to you about them. Now that I think I know them, it is my Duty to announce them to you. He is taking his measures slowly but securely. All connection with France will soon be broken off. If he is not disturbed he will preserve appearances a little longer. But as soon as France interferes with this colony he will throw off the mask and declare it independent. Of this very interesting Business I shall have the Honer of writing you at full Length by the first safe Conveyance.

I remain with great Respect and Esteem

The Hon: Timothy Pickering

etc: etc etc.

Dr: Sir

Your most obedt: hum: Servt.
EDWARD STEVENS

[Endorsed:] Edward Stevens Esqr. Feby. 13, 1800.

recd. March 18.

XII. STEVENS TO PICKERING."

Dear Sir

CAP FRANÇOIS March 16th. 1800.

Every Thing in this Quarter remains tranquil, notwithstanding strong Symptoms of the Crisis I announced to you have taken Place. Within these few Days all the Adherents of the Agent have been arrested and imprisoned; and the Seals put on their Effects and Papers. Among these are the Ordonnateur in Chief Dumaine; Blanchard the Receiver of the Revenues of the Colony etc: etc: etc: The Agent and his Secre

31 Words in italics in this letter and that of March 16 were in cipher. The portions omitted have no historical importance.

32 The omitted portion has no historical importance.

tary are kept close Prisoners to the goverment house. The Seals are also put on the Papers of the latter. No Persons are permitted either to enter or leave the House: nor are Papers, Money or any Kind of Effects suffer'd to be carried out. All this is by order of General Toussaint. He sent General Age" here to carry the Agent to Port au Prince but he refused to go. He immediately gave orders to take the Steps I have mentioned.

By a Courier that arrived this Evening we have Accounts that Jacmel is taken. Genl: Toussaint will of Course be here in a few Days, when I have no doubt the Business will be settled in the Manner I have long foreseen. He will not send away the Agent, because he is afraid he may intrigue against him in France. He will keep him a close Prisoner, and take all power civil and military into his own Hands.

I am informed that Mr: Wigglesworth is arrived at Port au Prince. Things continue in much the same Situation as when I write you last. The Citizens of the U. States are respected, and their Property secure. A due Degree of Harmony subsists between our naval Commanders and the Chiefs of the Colony. The Constitution is, I fancy, at the Mole; as she has not been off this Harbour for 2 Days. The Boston and Richmond are in the Bite. The General Greene, the Experiment and the Augusta are cruizing off Jacmel.

Having been just informed that this Vessel will sail in the Morning I write in great Haste, for which I beg your Excuse. I have the Honor to be with great Respect and Esteem,

The Crisis I announced to you in some of my former Letters has taken Place. The particular Agent of the french national Government has been deposed, and the General in Chief invested with the civil and military Authority over this Colony, by the unanimous Consent of its Inhabitants.

The present Conveyance being destin'd to a distant Part of the U. States, and offering rather unexpectedly, I have neither Time, nor do I think it prudent to enter into a minute Detail of the Circumstances which led to and accompanied this important Change in the Administration of Saint Domingo. I shall content myself with giving you some of the leading Facts, at present, and, by a more secure and direct Opportunity shall relate this Affair more circumstantially.

The Agent having been invited by Genl: Toussaint to join him at 33 Age or Ogé.

Port au Prince and unite his Efforts to those of the leading Chiefs in the Colony for the Suppression of the Rebellion in the South, refused to leave the Cape. In Consequence of this Refusal he was kept a close Prisoner to the Government House until the 10th: Inst:, and all the civil Authority taken out of his Hands. On the Morning of the 10th: the Municipality of the Cape received a Letter from that of Dondon, (an extensive Quarter in the Neighbourhood of Fort Dauphin), requesting them to wait upon the Agent and announce to him "that he had lost their Confidence, and that the mal-Administration of the Colony, the Dilapidation of the public Funds, and the Continuance of the War in the South were all owing to his Weakness, Treachery and Indecision.” They desired, in the most peremptory Manner, that to remedy all these Evils, he should immediately comply with the Genl. in Chief's Invitation and threaten'd, that should he refuse, they would enter the City with an armed Force and compel him. In order to give more Weight to this Command they proceeded, with the national Guard and the Gensd'armirie of the Quarter as far as the Haut du Cap, (a small Town about a League from the Cape), where they encamped, and were immediately joined by the Municipalities, national Guards etc: etc: of Petite Ance and all the different Quarters which constitute the extensive Plain of the Cape, to the Number of 5000 Men.

As soon as this Circumstance was known in Town, the Municipality, accompanied by Genl: Moyse, and all the constituted Authorities, waited upon the Agent, and invited him to go instantly to the Haut du Cap and appease the Tumult. With this Request he complied. He met the Insurgents and harangued them; but in vain. They were deaf to his Intreaties to disperse. They became more and more clamorous and were proceeding to use Violence to his Person when Genl: Moyse interfer'd and prevailed upon them to suspend their Resentment until he could know the Decision of the Genl: in Chief. To this they consented on Condition that the Agent and the Municipality should be kept there as close Prisoners until the General's Determination was known. A Deputation was immediately sent off to him, accompanied by a Letter from the Agent himself, requesting him to proceed directly to the Cape, and restore Tranquility. To this Genl: Toussaint answer'd that his military Occupations in the South left him no Time to take such a Journey, and that his Presence was not even necessary, as the Agent had it in his Power to restore Tranquility to the North immediately, by complying with the Request he formerly made to him. No sooner was this Answer known than the Multitude became outrageous. They demanded that the Agent should be instantly deprived of his office, and embarked for France and that the supreme Power should, in future, be vested in the Person of Genl: Toussaint. Addresses were sent to the latter by the Municipalities and armed Forces of the several Parts of the Colony, urging him, in the strongest Terms, to assume the Command and administer the Affairs of the Government. Their Example has been followed by the Municipality at the Cape, and by all the constituted Authorities both civil and military. On the 17th. Inst. a respectable Deputation was sent from hence with an Address signed by at least 2500 of the principal Inhabitants, expressing their Dissatisfaction with the Administration of the Agent and soliciting the Genl: in Chief to supercede him. As he is at Jacmel his Answer has not yet been received. But it is no difficult Matter to foresee how this Business

will terminate. He will accept of the unanimous Invitation of the Colony, and from that Moment it may be considered as forever separated from France. Policy, perhaps, may induce him to make no open Declaration of Independence, before he is compelled. But this apparent and temporary Attachment to the Mother Country will only ensure the Separation of the Colony more effectually.

'Tho' this Revolution is not yet compleated, every Thing remains perfectly quiet and safe at the Cape, and has done so ever sence it commenced. The different Batteries of the Town have been furnished with double Guards. The Inhabitants have been constantly under Arms, and the principal Street leading to the Country has been defended by a strong Body of the national Guards, both Day and Night. Great Alarm has, Indeed, been excited by all these Movements. Those who were ignorant of the Cause, and who have already suffered so severely from similar Commotions, have apprehended much Danger. But by those who were acquainted with the Politics of the leading Chiefs all these formidable Preparations have been viewed with Composure and without Fear.

It is not difficult to discover that all those Assemblies in the different Parts of the Colony have been planned and regulated by the leading Chiefs, and that, so far from being tumultuous or dangerous they have been perfectly under controul. Of this I shall write you more particularly in my next.

I have the Honor to remain with the most perfect Respect and Esteem

I had the Honor of transmitting you, on the 19th: inst: a short and hasty Account of the political Changes which have lately taken Place in this Colony. Things have remained much in the same State ever since. Great Tranquility has prevail'd both in the Town and thro' the Plain. The Agent has, however, been kept a close Prisoner at the Haut du Cap. He has solicited Permission from the People to join the General in Chief, and has promised to cooperate with him in all his Plans for promoting the Good of the Colony. This has been refused, and he has been told that his Request comes too late; that they have deprived him of the supreme Authority, and conferred it on the General in Chief, that they want no more Agents, and that they will not receive any, in future, even tho' they should be sent from France. Finding his Efforts to retain his Power unsuccessful, he has requested that they would embark him for France. But this also has been refused. The Fact is that they have conceived the Project of keeping him a close Prisoner until a Peace takes Place. They think his Intrigues in France would be as injurious to the Colony as his treacherous and indecisive Conduct has already proved here. In order, therefore, to

prevent him from doing Mischief they think it best to deprive him of his Power, and keep him a Prisoner.

This Morning the General in Chief had a Conference with him for two Hours at the Haut du Cap, after which he enter'd the Town. Tomorrow the important Change which has taken Place in the Goverment will be announced publickly. I shall embrace the earliest opportunity to acquaint you with the Result, and to keep you instructed with any Events that may occur.

I have had a Conversation with Genl: Toussaint since his Arrival, and he has renew'd in very strong Terms his ardent Desire to do every Thing which can preserve the existing Harmony between this Colony and the U. States, and which can prove his Attachment to our Government. This is, perhaps, the most favourable Moment that has occurred, since the Renewal of the Intercourse, to place our Commerce upon a solid and permanently advantageous Footing; and you may rest assured, Sir, that I shall omit nothing that lays in my Power to avail myself of it.

The Genl: Green and the Herald are both here, but will sail in a Day or two, the first for New-Orleans, and the latter for the South Side of the Island. Confidence is once more restored to the Inhabitants of this Town, and Commerce has assumed it's usual Course. I have the Honor to remain with great Esteem,

'Tho' the Inhabitants of the Colony had openly express'd their Wish that the General in Chief should immediately assume the Reins of Government, he thought proper to defer his Acceptance, for a few Days. The Agent was permitted to remain in the Government House, but without exercising the Functions of his Office, while all the Details of public Business were actually devolved on the General.

This Morning he solicited the Agent, thro' the Medium of the Municipalitys and constituted Authorities, to take Possession of Santo Domingo and the whole spanish Part of the Island, in conformity to the Treaty of Basle." The Agent refused. He was threatened with Imprisonment at Dondon,-The Dispatches he had prepared for the french Government were seiz'd, and an order given that no Person should either enter or leave his House. Terrified at these Proceedings he at length complied. An Arreté was immediately published declaring that the Government of Saint Domingo would take Possession of the Span34 See letters of Stephen Higginson, written in the autumn of 1799, in Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1896, I. 824-830 (Higginson's attempt to sell arms to Toussaint by means of the Herald).

35 The treaty of July 22, 1795, by which Spain ceded her portion of the island to France.

AM. HIST. REV., VOL. XVI.-7.