by the French expedition of Buonaparte under Leclerc. Malenfant means
therefore to state, that from the latter end of 1796 to 1802, a period
of six years, the planters or farmers kept possession of their estates;
that they lived upon them, and that they lived upon them peaceably, that
is, without interruption or disturbance from any one; and, finally, that
the Negroes, though they had been all set free, continued to be their
labourers. Can there be any account more favourable to our views than
this, after so sudden an emancipation.

I may appeal next to General Lacroix, who published his "Memoirs for a
History of St. Domingo," at Paris, in 1819. He informs us, that when
Santhonax, who had been recalled to France by the Government there,
returned to the colony in 1796, "_he was astonished at the state in
which he found it on his return_." This, says Lacroix[10], "was owing to
Toussaint, who, while he had succeeded in establishing perfect order and
discipline among the black troops, had succeeded also in making the
black labourers return to the plantations, there to resume the drudgery
of cultivation."

But the same author tells us, that in the next year (1797) the most
wonderful progress had been made in agriculture. He uses these
remarkable words: "_The colony_," says he[11], "_marched, as by
enchantment, towards its ancient splendour; cultivation prospered; every
day produced perceptible proofs of its progress. The city of the Cape
and the plantations of the North rose up again visibly to the eye_." Now
I am far from wishing to attribute all this wonderful improvement, this
daily visible progress in agriculture, to the mere act of the
emancipation of the slaves in St. Domingo. I know that many other
circumstances which I could specify, if I had room, contributed towards
its growth; but I must be allowed to maintain, that unless the Negroes,