Perhaps some of my readers may suppose, that the worst consequence of suspicion, or of an imputation of contumacy, would be the having French soldiers quartered in their houses, in order to inforce discovery or compliance: a consequence certainly dreadful enough, especially to those who have wives or daughters: but unless we are treated better than Frenchmen are in like cases, torture or death may be probably superadded to that odious mode of exac tion.

The report that Toussaint was tortured to death, with a view to extort a discovery of the treasures which he was supposed to have hid in St. Domingo, and that his hapless wife shared the same fate, seems not to be improbable. By recent accounts from that island, it appears, that the suspicion of his having buried wealth to a large amount, in a spot known only to himself, or to those in his most secret confidence, certainly did prevail with the French party. But if this crime be doubtful, not so the murder, upon the same sordid principle, of M. Fedon, a white man, as well as a Frenchman, whose case may be worth attention.

General Rochambeau, finding that one of his last requisitions of money from the inhabitants of Cape François collectively, was not sufficiently productive, proceeded to assess individual merchants, at the sums of which he thought them to be still possessed; and M. Fedon, being a merchant of the first eminence of that place, was required to pay down immediately as his quota, 5000 dollars in specie. He truly pleaded inability to comply; and gave a reason somewhat similar to that which an unfortunate Englishman might allege, in the case which I wish to illustrate. His whole funds, the goods in his warehouses excepted, had been invested in bills drawn upon the French government, for public services in that colony, under the authority of the general himself, or his predecessor; which bills had been returned protested. The same had been the fate of like paper to a large amount, in the hands of other merchants in the town; by which means general distress from the want of a circulating medium, had been produced at that calamitous juncture. But though the general fact was indisputable, the particular excuse was not accepted. M. Fedon was put under arrest; and with peremptory orders to the officer who took charge of him, to shoot him at three o'clock the same day, unless the money should be previously paid.

It was in vain, that the unhappy merchant offered his keys, to ascertain that he had no money in his coffers, and in vain that he offered to redeem his life with goods, or government bills, to any

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amount. Neither his offers nor complaints were regarded; and the money not being brought forward by the appointed hour, he was led forth and actually shot on the public parade, pursuant to the general's order. His counting-house and warehouses were then taken possession of by the same tyrannic government, and, on a strict search, the cash found there amounted to about five dollars.

This transaction, which through the loud complaints of a brother of the deceased, and of his mercantile friends, is quite notorious in the West Indies, and America, and which, if I mistake not, was either mentioned, or referred to, in the official dispatches of our naval officers, employed in the reduction of the Cape, has never been disavowed by Rochambeau; and his impatience to go from this country to France on his parol, is a proof that he apprehended no punishment for so foul a murder, though the complaints of M. Fedon the brother are known to have made their way to the Thuilleries. In fact, he threatened all the merchants at the Cape, French or American, with similar treatment, and would no doubt have followed up the dreadful precedent, but fortunately, the only subse→ quent assessment which he had time to make before his expulsion from the island, did not exceed a sum, which, by making a common stock of all their resources, the merchants were able to pay.

Were it not for the rigorous and unprecedented restraints imposed upon the press, in every country under Buonaparte's power or influence, there would probably be no difficulty in citing many instances of similar oppression in Europe; and even in France itself: but the crimes of his interior government, are always perpctrated in silence, except when it becomes necessary to divulge them for some political purpose; and even then, care is taken to put every gloss upon them that state-craft can devise. Torture and death may very probably have been the secret fate of hundreds, who have been made the victims of this frightful despotism, whether upon motives of policy, avarice, or revenge.

Here, the rapacious spirit of the victors, excited by the expectation of inexhaustible spoil, and abetted by a long cherished lust of vengeance, would take its most direful range; and horrors would ensue, at the report of which our fellow vassals on the continent might stand aghast, forgetting their own sufferings, in their pity of miserable England.-Alas, those unhappy nations now bitterly repent their own supineness and folly, and regard us with envy, because we have still the power of escaping the torments, to which they are irretrievably doomed. How would they rejoice to be again as we now are, in a capacity to defend their liberties, though at the

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cost of every painful sacrifice, and every arduous effort of patriotism, which they fatally shrunk from before.

-"Quam vellent æthere in alto,

Nunc et pauperiem, et duros perferre labores!"

Let us cease in time to follow their example, that we may not be partakers of their plagues.

Sect. 7. Rigorous and merciless government that would certainly ensue.

In England, various motives would stimulate our new masters to more than their usual excesses,

Could we be fortunate enough, even in the total surrender of public and individual property, to satisfy our spoilers that no more remained behind, still rage and revenge would claim their promised prey. Has not Napoleon solemnly declared, that the last of his combined enemies, shall expiate the offence of them all, and feel the full weight of his vengeance? Has he not repeatedly held out allurements to the army destined to invade us, such as plainly imply engagements to give us up to the rapine and violence of his soldiers? When was he known to be less cruel in act than in promise, and what ground has England to expect that his barbarous nature will relent in her case alone?

It is a peculiar characteristic of this insolent conqueror, to treat every opposition to his purposes by foreign patriots, whether sovereigns, ministers, generals, or private persons, as a reproach and a crime. Does an illustrious veteran retire mortally wounded from the field, with the wreck of an army which he had gallantly commanded, his loyalty and courage are made reasons for spoiling his domains, and excluding him from the tomb of his ancestors. Does a gallant youth of high birth and early reputation, nobly perish in battle, a martyr to the cause of his country, Napoleon is too crafty to deny some praise to the soldier, but the memory of the patriot, is treated with the most vindictive censures, and insolent derision. His ebullitions of rage against that gallant officer sir Sidney Smith, and his less impotent malice toward our unfortunate countryman captain Wright, are specimens of the same spirit.

But why do I dwell on inferior instances, when deposed monarchs, nay their unhappy queens, though the graces of beauty in distress might aid the sympathy due to fallen royalty, are grossly insulted by this unfeeling man, for having dared to resist his arms. He, who punishes with death the publication of strictures on his

own unworthy conduct, by men who owed him no allegiance, fills every newspaper with his coarse abuse of sovereigns, who ought to be sufficiently protected by the respect due to long hereditary majesty, and to the grandeur of those thrones in which they lately sat; but who would find with every liberal mind a still more secure protection, in pity for their unparalleled misfortunes, and their extreme distress. It would seem as if this audacious man arrogated to himself a natural right to be lord of the human species; regarding his usurpations only as the uniting possession to a title which belonged to him before, and which it was always treason to oppose. Certain it is, that patriotism, loyalty, and courage, which other conquerors have respected in their foes, are with him unpardonable crimes.

What then has England to expect from this inexorable victor? No nation that he has yet subdued, has opposed him so obstinately and so long; and I trust the measure of our offences in this respect, is yet very far from being full. Here, too, that species of hostility which he most dreads and hates, though he employs it without scruple against his enemies, has been peculiarly copious and galling. Instead of one Palm, he will here find a thousand, who have attempted while there was yet time, to awaken their country to a due sense of his crimes, and of our danger from his pestilent ambition.

But it is needless perhaps to prove what he so freely and fre quently avows. If there be any sincerity in his language, when there is no use in dissimulation, if either his proclamations, his bulletins, his gazettes, his avowed, or unavowed, his deliberate, or hasty language, may be trusted, a deadly, acrimonious hatred to this country, is the most settled and ardent feeling of his soul. He hates us as a people; and would conquer us less even from ambition, than from anger and revenge.

It is to be feared, besides, that partly from his unwearied misrepresentations, and partly perhaps from certain errors in our own conduct, he has made this sentiment very popular in France; and that the severest treatment which, as a conquered people, we could possibly receive, would expose him to no censure at home, much less be unacceptable to the enraged " Army of England."

It would not, after all, perhaps, be possible for foreigners to govern us without a rod of iron, while the memory of our beloved liberties was recent, and custom had not yet taught us to carry our chains with patience.

A free people when conquered, and placed under an arbitrary government, must be kept in awe by a discipline peculiarly strict and severe, till their high spirit shall be subdued; like the wild nas

tive of the forest, which must be domesticated and tamed, by à severity of treatment, such as the spaniel never requires.

Above all, every open act of sedition or insubordination among such a people, must be terribly chastised. An illustration of this may be found in our own treatment of the Koromantyn negroes, or natives of the Gold Coast; as explained by Mr. Bryan Edwards, in his History of the West Indies. Among all the different nations, and tribes of Africans, whom we reduce to a slavery unknown in their native land, by making them work for life under the whips of our drivers, the Koromantyns, from their martial spirit, and perhaps from a peculiar degree of civil liberty possessed by them in their native country, are found, by far, the hardest to break in, or to season, as it is called, to the duties of West India bondage. Other negroes quietly submit, though they die by great numbers in the process; but the Koromantyns, as we learn from Mr. Edwards, are so into. lerant of the yoke, as often to escape from it by self-murder.

They are naturally, therefore, very apt to resist the master's sovereign authority; and sometimes form bold, though impotent conspiracies, or desperate revolts; and the consequence is, that the people of Jamaica and other islands, have thought it right to make, in such cases, the most dreadful examples, roasting the insurgents to death by slow fires, or hanging them up alive in irons, to perish on a gibbet.*

Edwards's History of the West Indies, vol. 2, book iv, chap. 3. The following is an account of one case of this kind, of which he was an eye-witness. "Of those who were clearly proved to have been concerned in the murders committed at Ballard's Valley, one was condemned to be burnt, and the other two to be hanged up alive in irons, and left to perish in that dreadful situation

"The wretch that was burnt, was made to sit on the ground, and his body being chained to an iron stake, the fire was applied to his feet. He uttered not a groan, and saw his legs reduced to ashes with the utmost firmness and composure. After which, one of his arms by some means getting loose, he snatched a brand from the fire that was consuming him, and flung it in the face of the executioner.

"The two that were hung up alive, were indulged, at their own request, with a hearty meal before they were suspended on the gibbet, which was erected in the parade of the town of Kingston. From that time until they expired, they never uttered the least complaint, except only of cold in the night; but diverted themselves all day long in discourse with their countrymen, who were permitted, very improperly, to surround the gibbet On the seventh day, a notion prevailed among the spectators, that one of them wished to communicate an important secret to his master my near relation, who being in St. Mary's parish, the commanding officer sent for me. I endeavoured by means of an ‘interpreter to let