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Rainsford, The Black Empire of Haiti, 1805
An historical account of the Black Empire of Hayti; Comprehending a view of the principal transactions in the revolution of Saint Domingue; With its
ancient and modern state: by Marcus Rainsford, Late Captain Third West-India Regiment, &c., &c., xxxiii+map+467+(9) pp., London, James Cundee, 1805.
(A TOC starts on p. xxi; an index after p. 467. Marcus Rainsford, 1758-1817, was a career officer in the British Army who first visited Haiti in 1799.
His was one of the earliest accounts of the slave uprising in the French colony of Saint-Domingue that began in August 1791. It goes on to describe
the subsequent warfare that at different times involved French, Spanish, and British troops; usually allied with various internal factions in Haiti. His
book includes the first known representations of Toussaint Louverture, who emerged as the principal Negro leader; engravings derived from Rainsford’s
talented sketches and careful descriptions. Also included is extensive documentation of the revolution. Rainsford provides disturbing accounts of the
brutal treatment of the slave population by their French masters, but also describes the atrocities committed on all sides in the course of the
ensuing struggle. Although the British initially tried to take advantage of the slave revolution by seizing a part of the island for themselves, they were
eventually driven out by combined French and local forces under the leadership of Toussaint-Louverture. Although sometime enemies, the British came to
respect Toussaint because of what they viewed as his chivalrous behavior during their phase of the conflict. In fact, Toussaint’s lenient behavior
toward the British was subsequently used against him by his foreign enemies, notably Napoleon Bonaparte, and his onetime allies among the local mullato
population, notably André Rigaud. In any event, shortly after the British were driven out of Saint-Domingue, their wider struggle against Napoleonic
France came to dominate their strategic thinking. They thus had every motivation to consider Tousasint an ally. Whether for that reason, or as a
reflection of his personal feelings, Rainsford’s account of the early years of the Negro Republic is quite favorable to Toussaint and his people’s struggle
for independence. Contrary to the prevailing European and American opinion at the time, he argued that an independent Haiti posed no threat to Britain
and its other Caribbean interests. Rainsford’s account was widely read in its time, and was almost i
Title:   An historical account of the black empire of Hayti : comprehending a view of the principal transactions in the revolution of Saint Domingo : with its antient and modern state / by Marcus Rainsford, Esq., late Captain Third West-India Regiment, &c. &c.
OCLC Number:   85891321
Available Volumes
NameFiche CountOnlinePaper Backup
Vol. 1YesNo