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diff --git a/59533-0.txt b/59533-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f174ce --- /dev/null +++ b/59533-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3805 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59533 *** + + + + + + + + + ++-------------------------------------------------+ +|Transcriber's note: | +| | +|Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | +| | ++-------------------------------------------------+ + + +SECRET HISTORY: + +OR, + +THE HORRORS OF ST. DOMINGO, + +IN + +A SERIES OF LETTERS, + +WRITTEN BY A LADY AT CAPE FRANCOIS + +TO + +COLONEL BURR, + +LATE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, + +PRINCIPALLY DURING THE COMMAND OF + +GENERAL ROCHAMBEAU. + +PHILADELPHIA: + +PUBLISHED BY BRADFORD & INSKEEP + +R. CARR, PRINTER. + +1808. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +I am fearful of having been led into an error by my friends, when +taught by them to believe that I could write something which would +interest and please; and it was chiefly with a view to ascertain what +confidence I might place in their kind assurances on this subject, that +I collected and consented, though reluctantly, to the publication of +these letters. + +Should a less partial public give them a favourable reception, and +allow them to possess some merit, it would encourage me to endeavour to +obtain their further approbation by a little work already planned and +in some forwardness. + +THE AUTHOR. + +_Philadelphia, Nov. 30th, 1807._ + + + + +LETTER I. + + +_Cape Francois._ + +We arrived safely here, my dear friend, after a passage of forty +days, during which I suffered horribly from sea-sickness, heat and +confinement; but the society of my fellow-passengers was so agreeable +that I often forgot the inconvenience to which I was exposed. It +consisted of five or six French families who, having left St. Domingo +at the beginning of the revolution, were now returning full of joy +at the idea of again possessing the estates from which they had been +driven by their revolted slaves. Buoyed by their newly awakened hopes +they were all delightful anticipation. There is an elasticity in the +French character which repels misfortune. They have an inexhaustible +flow of spirits that bears them lightly through the ills of life. + +Towards the end of the voyage, when I was well enough to go on deck, +I was delighted with the profound tranquillity of the ocean, the +uninterrupted view, the beautiful horizon, and wished, since fate has +separated me from those I love, that I could build a dwelling on the +bosom of the waters, where, sheltered from the storms that agitate +mankind, I should be exposed to those of heaven only. But a truce to +melancholy reflections, for here I am in St. Domingo, with a new world +opening to my view. + +My sister, whose fortunes, you know, I was obliged to follow, repents +every day having so precipitately chosen a husband: it is impossible +for two creatures to be more different, and I foresee that she will be +wretched. + +On landing, we found the town a heap of ruins. A more terrible picture +of desolation cannot be imagined. Passing through streets choaked with +rubbish, we reached with difficulty a house which had escaped the +general fate. The people live in tents, or make a kind of shelter, by +laying a few boards across the half-consumed beams; for the buildings +being here of hewn stone, with walls three feet thick, only the roofs +and floors have been destroyed. But to hear of the distress which these +unfortunate people have suffered, would fill with horror the stoutest +heart, and make the most obdurate melt with pity. + +When the French fleet appeared before the mouth of the harbour, +Christophe, the Black general, who commanded at the Cape, rode through +the town, ordering all the women to leave their houses--the men had +been taken to the plain the day before, for he was going to set fire to +the place, which he did with his own hand. + +The ladies, bearing their children in their arms, or supporting the +trembling steps of their aged mothers, ascended in crowds the mountain +which rises behind the town. Climbing over rocks covered with brambles, +where no path had been ever beat, their feet were torn to pieces and +their steps marked with blood. Here they suffered all the pains of +hunger and thirst; the most terrible apprehensions for their fathers, +husbands, brothers and sons; to which was added the sight of the town +in flames: and even these horrors were increased by the explosion of +the powder magazine. Large masses of rock were detached by the shock, +which, rolling down the sides of the mountain, many of these hapless +fugitives were killed. Others still more unfortunate, had their limbs +broken or sadly bruised, whilst their wretched companions could offer +them nothing but unavailing sympathy and impotent regret. + +On the third day the negroes evacuated the place, and the fleet entered +the harbour. Two gentlemen, who had been concealed by a faithful slave, +went in a canoe to meet the admiral's vessel, and arrived in time to +prevent a dreadful catastrophe. The general, seeing numbers of people +descending the mountain, thought they were the negroes coming to oppose +his landing and was preparing to fire on them, when these gentlemen +informed him that they were the white inhabitants, and thus prevented a +mistake too shocking to be thought of. + +The men now entered from the plain and sought among the smoaking +ruins the objects of their affectionate solicitude. To paint these +heart-rending scenes of tenderness and woe, description has no powers. +The imagination itself shrinks from the task. + +Three months after this period we arrived and have now been a month +here, the town is rapidly rebuilding, but it is extremely difficult to +find a lodging. The heat is intolerable and the season so unhealthy +that the people die in incredible numbers. On the night of our arrival, +Toussaint the general in chief of the negroes, was seized at the +Gonaives and embarked for France. This event caused great rejoicing. +A short time before he was taken, he had his treasure buried in the +woods, and at the return of the negroes he employed on this expedition, +they were shot without being suffered to utter a word. + +Clara has had the yellow fever. Her husband, who certainly loves her +very much, watched her with unceasing care, and I believe, preserved +her life, to which however she attaches no value since it must be +passed with him. + +Nothing amuses her. She sighs continually for the friend of her youth +and seems to exist only in the recollection of past happiness. Her +aversion to her husband is unqualified and unconquerable. He is +vain, illiterate, talkative. A silent fool may be borne, but from a +loquacious one there is no relief. How painful must her intercourse +with him be; and how infinitely must that pain be augmented by the +idea of being his forever? Her elegant mind, stored with literary +acquirements, is lost to him. Her proud soul is afflicted at depending +on one she abhors, and at beholding her form, and you know that form +so vilely bartered. Whilst on the continent she was less sensible of +the horrors of her fate. The society of her friend gave a charm to her +life, and having married in compliance with his advice, she thought +that she would eventually be happy. But their separation has rent the +veil which concealed her heart; she finds no sympathy in the bosom of +her husband. She is alone and she is wretched. + +General Le Clerc is small, his face is interesting, but he has an +appearance of ill health. His wife, the sister of Buonaparte, lives in +a house on the mountain till there can be one in town prepared for her +reception. She is offended, and I think justly, with the ladies of the +Cape, who, from a mistaken pride, did not wait on her when she arrived, +because having lost their cloaths they could not dazzle her with their +finery. + +Having heard that there were some American ladies here she expressed a +desire to see them; Mr. V---- proposed to present us; Clara, who would +not walk a mile to see a queen, declined. But I, who walk at all times, +merely for the pleasure it affords me, went; and, considering the +labour it costs to ascend the mountain, I have a claim on the gratitude +of Madame for having undertaken it to shew her an object which she +probably expected to find in a savage state. + +She was in a room darkened by Venetian blinds, lying on her sofa, from +which she half rose to receive me. When I was seated she reclined again +on the sofa and amused general Boyer, who sat at her feet, by letting +her slipper fall continually, which he respectfully put on as often as +it fell. She is small, fair, with blue eyes and flaxen hair. Her face +is expressive of sweetness but without spirit. She has a voluptuous +mouth, and is rendered interesting by an air of languor which spreads +itself over her whole frame. She was dressed in a muslin morning gown, +with a Madras handkerchief on her head. I gave her one of the beautiful +silver medals of Washington, engraved by Reich, with which she seemed +much pleased. The conversation languished, and I soon withdrew. + +General Le Clerc had gone in the morning to fort Dauphin. + +I am always in good spirits, for every thing here charms me by its +novelty. There are a thousand pretty things to be had, new fashions and +elegant trinkets from Paris; but we have no balls, no plays, and of +what use is finery if it cannot be shewn? + +The natives of this country murmur already against the general in +chief; they say he places too much confidence in the negroes. When +Toussaint was seized he had all the black chiefs in his power, and, +by embarking them for France, he would have spread terror throughout +the Island, and the negroes would have been easily reduced, instead +of which he relies on their good faith, has them continually in his +house, at his table, and wastes the time in conference which should +be differently employed. The Creoles shake their heads and predict +much ill. Accustomed to the climate, and acquainted with the manner of +fighting the Negroes, they offer advice, which is not listened to; nor +are any of them employed, but all places of honour or emolument are +held by Europeans, who appear to regard the Island as a place to be +conquered and divided among the victors, and are consequently viewed by +the natives with a jealous eye. Indeed the professed intention of those +who have come with the army, is to make a fortune, and return to France +with all possible speed, to enjoy it. It cannot be imagined that they +will be very delicate about the means of accomplishing their purpose. + +The Cape is surrounded; at least the plain is held by the Negroes; but +the town is tranquil, and Dessalines and the other black chiefs are on +the best terms with general Le Clerc. + +We are to have a grand review next week. The militia is to be +organized, and the general is to address the troops on the field. He +has the reputation of being very eloquent, but he has shocked every +body by having ordered a superb service of plate, made of the money +intended to pay the army, while the poor soldiers, badly cloathed, and +still more badly fed, are asking alms in the street, and absolutely +dying of want. + +A beggar had never been known in this country, and to see them in +such numbers, fills the inhabitants with horror; but why should such +trifling considerations as the preservation of soldiers, prevent a +general in chief from eating out of silver dishes? + +We have neither public nor private balls, nor any amusement except now +and then a little scandal. The most current at this moment is, that +Madame Le Clerc is very kind to general Boyer, and that her husband +is not content, which in a French husband is a little extraordinary. +Perhaps the last part of the anecdote is calumny. + +Madame Le Clerc, as I learned from a gentleman who has long known her, +betrayed from her earliest youth a disposition to gallantry, and had, +when very young, some adventures of eclat in Marseilles. Her brother, +whose favourite she is, married her to general Le Clerc, to whom he +gave the command of the army intended to sail for St. Domingo, after +having given that island, as a marriage portion, to his sister. But her +reluctance to come to this country was so great, that it was almost +necessary to use force to oblige her to embark. + +She has one child, a lovely boy, three years old, of which she +appears very fond. But for a young and beautiful woman, accustomed +to the sweets of adulation, and the intoxicating delights of Paris, +certainly the transition to this country, in its present state, has +been too violent. She has no society, no amusement, and never having +imagined that she would be forced to seek an equivalent for either in +the resources of her own mind, she has made no provision for such an +unforeseen emergency. + +She hates reading, and though passionately fond of music plays on no +instrument; never having stolen time from her pleasurable pursuits to +devote to the acquisition of that divine art. She can do nothing but +dance, and to dance alone is a triste resource; therefore it cannot +be surprising if her early propensities predominate, and she listens +to the tale of love breathed by General Boyer, for never did a more +fascinating votary offer his vows at the Idalian shrine. His form +and face are models of masculine perfection; his eyes sparkle with +enthusiasm, and his voice is modulated by a sweetness of expression +which cannot be heard without emotion. Thus situated, and thus +surrounded, her youth and beauty plead for her, and those most disposed +to condemn would exclaim on beholding her: + + + "If to her share some female errors fall, + Look in her face, and you'll forget them all." + + +I suppose you'll laugh at this gossip, but 'tis the news of the day, +nothing is talked of but Madame Le Clerc, and envy and ill-nature +pursue her because she is charming and surrounded by splendor. + +I have just now been reading Madame De Stael on the passions, which she +describes very well, but I believe not precisely as she felt their +influence. I have heard an anecdote of her which I admire; a friend, +to whom she had communicated her intention of publishing her memoirs, +asked what she intended doing with the gallant part,--Oh, she replied, +je ne me peindrai qu'en buste. + + + + +LETTER II. + + +_Cape Francois._ + +What a change has taken place here since my last letter was written! +I mentioned that there was to be a grand review, and I also mentioned +that the confidence General Le Clerc placed in the negroes was highly +blamed, and justly, as he has found to his cost. + +On the day of the review, when the troops of the line and the guarde +nationale were assembled on the field, a plot was discovered, which +had been formed by the negroes in the town, to seize the arsenal and +to point the cannon of a fort, which overlooked the place of review, +on the troops; whilst Clairvaux, the mulatto general, who commanded +the advanced posts, was to join the negroes of the plain, overpower +the guards, and entering the town, complete the destruction of the +white inhabitants. The first part of the plot was discovered and +defeated. But Clairvaux made good his escape, and in the evening +attacked the post General Le Clerc had so imprudently confided to him. +The consternation was terrible. The guarde nationale, composed chiefly +of Creoles, did wonders. The American captains and sailors volunteered +their services; they fought bravely, and many of them perished. The +negroes were repulsed; but if they gained no ground they lost none, +and they occupy at present the same posts as before. The pusillanimous +General Le Clerc, shrinking from danger of which his own imprudence +had been the cause, thought only of saving himself. He sent his plate +and valuable effects on board the admiral's vessel, and was preparing +to embark secretly with his suite, but the brave admiral La Touche de +Treville sent him word that he would fire with more pleasure on those +who abandoned the town, than on those who attacked it. + +The ensuing morning presented a dreadful spectacle. Nothing was heard +but the groans of the wounded, who were carried through the streets +to their homes, and the cries of the women for their friends who were +slain. + +The general, shut up in his house, would see nobody; ashamed of the +weakness which had led to this disastrous event, and of the want of +courage he had betrayed: a fever seized him and he died in three days. + +Madame Le Clerc, who had not loved him whilst living, mourned his death +like the Ephesian matron, cut off her hair, which was very beautiful, +to put it in his coffin; refused all sustenance and all public +consolation. + +General Rochambeau, who is at Port au Prince, has been sent for by the +inhabitants of the Cape to take the command. Much good is expected from +the change, he is said to be a brave officer and an excellent man. + +Monsieur D'Or is in the interim Captain General, and unites in himself +the three principal places in the government: Prefect Colonial, +Ordonnateur, and General in Chief. + +All this bustle would be delightful if it was not attended with such +melancholy consequences. It keeps us from petrifying, of which I was in +danger. + +I have become acquainted with some Creole ladies who, having staid in +the Island during the revolution, relate their sufferings in a manner +which harrows up the soul; and dwell on the recollection of their long +lost happiness with melancholy delight. St. Domingo was formerly a +garden. Every inhabitant lived on his estate like a Sovereign ruling +his slaves with despotic sway, enjoying all that luxury could invent, +or fortune procure. + +The pleasures of the table were carried to the last degree of +refinement. Gaming knew no bounds, and libertinism, called love, was +without restraint. The Creole is generous hospitable, magnificent, +but vain, inconstant, and incapable of serious application; and in +this abode of pleasure and luxurious ease vices have reigned at which +humanity must shudder. The jealousy of the women was often terrible in +its consequences. One lady, who had a beautiful negro girl continually +about her person, thought she saw some symptoms of _tendresse_ in the +eyes of her husband, and all the furies of jealousy seized her soul. + +She ordered one of her slaves to cut off the head of the unfortunate +victim, which was instantly done. At dinner her husband said he +felt no disposition to eat, to which his wife, with the air of a +demon, replied, perhaps I can give you something that will excite +your appetite; it has at least had that effect before. She rose and +drew from a closet the head of Coomba. The husband, shocked beyond +expression, left the house and sailed immediately for France, in order +never again to behold such a monster. + +Many similar anecdotes have been related by my Creole friends; but +one of them, after having excited my warmest sympathy, made me laugh +heartily in the midst of my tears. She told me that her husband was +stabbed in her arms by a slave whom he had always treated as his +brother; that she had seen her children killed, and her house burned, +but had been herself preserved by a faithful slave, and conducted, +after incredible sufferings, and through innumerable dangers to the +Cape. The same slave, she added, and the idea seemed to console her for +every other loss, saved all my madrass handkerchiefs. + +The Creole ladies have an air of voluptuous languor which renders +them extremely interesting. Their eyes, their teeth, and their hair +are remarkably beautiful, and they have acquired from the habit of +commanding their slaves, an air of dignity which adds to their charms. +Almost too indolent to pronounce their words they speak with a drawling +accent that is very agreeable: but since they have been roused by the +pressure of misfortune many of them have displayed talents and found +resources in the energy of their own minds which it would have been +supposed impossible for them to possess. + +They have naturally a taste for music; dance with a lightness, a grace, +an elegance peculiar to themselves, and those who, having been educated +in France, unite the French vivacity to the Creole sweetness, are the +most irresistible creatures that the imagination can conceive. In the +ordinary intercourse of life they are delightful; but if I wanted a +friend on any extraordinary occasion I would not venture to rely on +their stability. + + + + +LETTER III. + + +_Cape Francois._ + +The so much desired general Rochambeau is at length here. His arrival +was announced, not by the ringing of bells, for they have none, but by +the firing of cannon. Every body, except myself went to see him land, +and I was prevented, not by want of curiosity, but by indisposition. +Nothing is heard of but the public joy. He is considered as the +guardian, as the saviour of the people. Every proprietor feels himself +already on his habitation and I have even heard some of them disputing +about the quality of the coffee they expect soon to gather; perhaps +these sanguine Creoles may find that they have reckoned without their +host. + +However, _en attendant_, the General, who it seems bears pleasure as +well as conquest in his train, gives a grand ball on Thursday next. We +are invited, and we go. + +Clara is delighted! for the first time since our arrival her eyes +brightened at receiving the invitation, and the important subject of +what colours are to be worn, what fashions adopted, is continually +discussed. Her husband, whose chief pleasure is to see her brilliant, +indulges all the extravagance of her capricious taste. She sighs for +conquest because she is a stranger to content, and will enter into +every scheme of dissipation with eagerness to forget for a moment her +internal wretchedness. She is unhappy, though surrounded by splendor, +because from the constitution of her mind she cannot derive happiness +from an object that does not interest her heart. + +My letter shall not be closed till after the ball of which I suppose +you will be glad to have a description. + +But why do you not write to me? + +I am ignorant of your pursuits and even of the place of your abode, and +though convinced that you cannot forget me, I am afflicted if I do not +receive assurances of your friendship by every vessel that arrives! + +Clara has not written, for nothing has hitherto had power to rouse +her from the lethargy into which she had sunk. Perhaps the scenes of +gaiety in which she is now going to engage may dispell the gloom which +threatened to destroy all the energy of her charming mind. Perhaps too +these scenes may be more fatal to her peace than the gloom of which I +complain, for in this miserable world we know not what to desire. The +accomplishment of our wishes is often a real misfortune. We pass our +lives in searching after happiness, and how many die without having +found it! + + +_In Continuation._ + +Well my dear friend the ball is over--that ball of which I promised you +a description. But who can describe the heat or suffocating sensations +felt in a crowd? + +The General has an agreeable face, a sweet mouth, and most enchanting +smile; but + + + "Like the sun, he shone on all alike," + + +and paid no particular attention to any object. His uniform was _a la +hussar_, and very brilliant; he wore red boots:--but his person is bad, +he is too short; a Bacchus-like figure, which accords neither with my +idea of a great General nor a great man. + +But you know one of my faults is to create objects in my imagination on +the model of my incomparable friend, and then to dislike every thing I +meet because it falls short of my expectations. + +I was disappointed at the ball, because I was confounded in the crowd, +but my disappointment was trifling compared with that felt by Clara. +Accustomed to admiration she expected to receive it on this occasion +in no moderate portion, and to find herself undistinguished was not +flattering. She did not dance, staid only an hour, and has declared +against all balls in future. But there is one announced by the Admiral +which may perhaps induce her to change her resolution. + +Madame Le Clerc has sailed for France with the body of her husband, +which was embalmed here. + +The place is tranquil. The arrival of General Rochambeau seems to have +spread terror among the negroes. I wish they were reduced to order +that I might see the so much vaunted habitations where I should repose +beneath the shade of orange groves; walk on carpets of rose leaves +and frenchipone; be fanned to sleep by silent slaves, or have my feet +tickled into extacy by the soft hand of a female attendant. + +Such were the pleasures of the Creole ladies whose time was divided +between the bath, the table, the toilette and the lover. + +What a delightful existence! thus to pass away life in the arms of +voluptuous indolence; to wander over flowery fields of unfading +verdure, or through forests of majestic palm-trees, sit by a fountain +bursting from a savage rock frequented only by the cooing dove, and +indulge in these enchanting solitudes all the reveries of an exalted +imagination. + +But the moment of enjoying these pleasures is, I fear, far distant. +The negroes have felt during ten years the blessing of liberty, for a +blessing it certainly is, however acquired, and they will not be easily +deprived of it. They have fought and vanquished the French troops, and +their strength has increased from a knowledge of the weakness of their +opposers, and the climate itself combats for them. Inured to a savage +life they lay in the woods without being injured by the sun, the dew or +the rain. A negro eats a plantain, a sour orange, the herbs and roots +of the field, and requires no cloathing, whilst this mode of living is +fatal to the European soldiers. The sun and the dew are equally fatal +to them, and they have perished in such numbers that, if reinforcements +do not arrive, it will soon be impossible to defend the town. + +The country is entirely in the hands of the negroes, and whilst their +camp abounds in provisions, every thing in town is extremely scarce and +enormously dear. + +Every evening several old Creoles, who live near us, assemble at our +house, and talk of their affairs. One of them, whose annual income +before the revolution was fifty thousand dollars, which he always +exceeded in his expenses, now lives in a miserable hut and prolongs +with the greatest difficulty his wretched existence. Yet he still +hopes for better days, in which hope they all join him. The distress +they feel has not deprived them of their gaiety. They laugh, they sing, +they join in the dance with the young girls of the neighbourhood, and +seem to forget their cares in the prospect of having them speedily +removed. + + + + +LETTER IV. + + +_Cape Francois._ + +The ball announced by the admiral exceeded all expectations and we are +still all extacy. Boats, covered with carpets, conveyed the company +from the shore to the vessel, which was anchored about half a mile +from the land, and on entering the ball room a fairy palace presented +itself to the view. The decks were floored in; a roof of canvas was +suspended over the whole length of the vessel, which reached the floor +on each side, and formed a beautiful apartment. Innumerable lustres of +chrystal and wreaths of natural flowers ornamented the ceiling; and +rose and orange-trees, in full blossom, ranged round the room, filled +the air with fragrance. The seats were elevated, and separated from the +part appropriated to dancing, by a light balustrade. A gallery for the +musicians was placed round the main-mast, and the whole presented to +the eye an elegant saloon, raised by magic in a wilderness of sweets. +Clara and myself, accompanied by her husband and Major B----, were +among the first who arrived. Never had I beheld her so interesting. A +robe of white crape shewed to advantage the contours of her elegant +person. Her arms and bosom were bare; her black hair, fastened on the +top with a brilliant comb, was ornamented by a rose which seemed to +have been thrown there by accident. + +We were presented to the admiral, who appeared struck by the figure +of Clara, and was saying some very flattering things, when a flourish +of martial music announced the arrival of the General in chief. The +admiral hastened to meet him, and they walked round the room together. + +When the dances began the general leaned against the orchestra opposite +Clara. Her eyes met his. She bent them to the ground, raised them +timidly and found those of the general fixed on her: a glow of crimson +suffused itself over her face and bosom. I observed her attentively +and knew it was the flush of triumph! She declined dancing, but when +the walses began she was led out. Those who have not seen Clara walse +know not half her charms. There is a physiognomy in her form! every +motion is full of soul. The gracefulness of her arms is unequalled, and +she is lighter than gossamer. + +The eyes of the general dwelt on her alone, and I heard him inquire of +several who she was. + +The walse finished, she walked round the room leaning on the arm of +Major B----. The general followed, and meeting her husband, asked +(pointing to Clara) if he knew the name of that lady. Madame St. Louis, +was the reply. I thought she was an American said the general. So she +is, replied St. Louis, but her husband is a Frenchman. That's true, +added the general, but they say he is a d----d jealous fool, is he +here? He has the honour of answering you, said St. Louis. The general +was embarrassed for a moment, but recovering himself said, I am not +surprised at your being jealous, for she is a charming creature. And +he continued uttering so many flattering things that St. Louis was in +the best humour imaginable. When Clara heard the story, she laughed, +and, I saw, was delighted with a conquest she now considered assured. + +When she sat down, Major B---- presented the General to her, and his +pointed attention rendered her the object of universal admiration. +He retired at midnight: the ball continued. An elegant collation was +served up, and at sunrise we returned home! + +The admiral is a very agreeable man, and I would prefer him, as a +lover, to any of his officers, though he is sixty years old. His +manners are affable and perfectly elegant; his figure graceful and +dignified, and his conversation sprightly. He joined the dance at the +request of a lady, with all the spirit of youth, and appeared to enjoy +the pleasure which his charming fête diffused. + +He told Clara that he would twine a wreath of myrtle to crown her, for +she had vanquished the General. She replied, that she would mingle it +with laurel, and lay it at his feet for having, by preserving the +Cape, given her an opportunity of making the conquest. + +Nothing is heard of but balls and parties. Monsieur D'Or gives a +concert every Thursday; the General in chief every Sunday: so that from +having had no amusement we are in danger of falling into the other +extreme, and of being satiated with pleasure. + +The Negroes remain pretty tranquil in this quarter; but at +Port-au-Prince, and in its neighbourhood, they have been very +troublesome. + +Jeremie, Les Cayes, and all that part of the island which had been +preserved, during the revolution, by the exertions of the inhabitants, +have been lost since the appearance of the French troops! + +The Creoles complain, and they have cause; for they find in the army +sent to defend them, oppressors who appear to seek their destruction. +Their houses and their negroes are put under requisition, and they are +daily exposed to new vexations. + +Some of the ancient inhabitants of the island, who had emigrated, +begin to think that their hopes were too sanguine, and that they +have returned too soon from the peaceful retreats they found on the +continent. They had supposed that the appearance of an army of thirty +thousand men would have reduced the negroes to order; but these +conquerors of Italy, unnerved by the climate, or from some other cause, +lose all their energy, and fly before the undisciplined slaves. + +Many of the Creoles, who had remained on the island during the reign of +Toussaint, regret the change, and say that they were less vexed by the +negroes than by those who have come to protect them. + +And these negroes, notwithstanding the state of brutal subjection in +which they were kept, have at length acquired a knowledge of their +own strength. More than five hundred thousand broke the yoke imposed +on them by a few thousand men of a different colour, and claimed +the rights of which they had been so cruelly deprived. Unfortunate +were those who witnessed the horrible catastrophe which accompanied +the first wild transports of freedom! Dearly have they paid for +the luxurious ease in which they revelled at the expense of these +oppressed creatures. Yet even among these slaves, self-emancipated, and +rendered furious by a desire of vengeance, examples of fidelity and +attachment to their masters have been found, which do honour to human +nature. + +For my part, I am all anxiety to return to the continent. Accustomed +from my earliest infancy to wander on the delightful banks of the +Schuylkill, to meet the keen air on Kensington bridge, and to ramble +over the fields which surround Philadelphia, I feel like a prisoner in +this little place, built on a narrow strip of land between the sea and +a mountain that rises perpendicularly behind the town. There is to be +sure an opening on one side to the plain, but the negroes are there +encamped; they keep the ground of which general Le Clerc suffered them +to take possession, and threaten daily to attack the town! + +There is no scarcity of beaux here, but the gallantry of the French +officers is fatiguing from its sameness. They think their appearance +alone sufficient to secure a conquest, and do not conceive it +necessary to give their yielding mistresses a decent excuse by paying +them a little attention. In three days a love-affair is begun and +finished and forgotten; the first is for the declaration, the second is +the day of triumph if it is deferred so long, and the third is for the +adieu. + +The Creoles do not relish the attacks made on their wives by the +officers. The husband of Clara in particular is as jealous as a Turk, +and has more than once shewn his displeasure at the pointed attentions +of the General-in-chief to his wife, which she encourages, out of +contradiction to her husband rather than from any pleasure they +afford her. The boisterous gaiety and soldier-like manners of general +Rochambeau, can have made no impression on a heart tender and delicate +as is that of Clara. But there is a vein of coquetry in her composition +which, if indulged, will eventually destroy her peace. + +A tragical event happened lately at Port-au-Prince. At a public +breakfast, given by the commandant, an officer just arrived from +France, addressing himself to a lady, called her _citoyenne_.--The +lady observed that she would never answer to that title. The stranger +replied that she ought to be proud of being so called. On which her +husband, interfering, said that his wife should never answer to +any mode of address that she found displeasing. No more passed at +that time, but before noon Monsieur C---- received a challenge: the +choice of weapons being left to him, he said that it was absolutely +indifferent: the stranger insisted on fighting with a rifle; Monsieur +C---- replied that he should have no objection to fight with a cannon: +it was however, finally settled, that the affair should be decided +with pistols; and at sun-rise next morning they met: the officer fired +without effect. Monsieur C----, with surer aim laid his antagonist +lifeless on the ground. + +On what trifles depends the destiny of man! but the Europeans are so +insolent that a few such lessons are absolutely necessary to correct +them. + +Monsieur C---- is a Creole, and belonged to the Staff of the general +who commands at Port-au-Prince, from which he has been dismissed in +consequence of this affair, which is another proof of the hatred the +French officers bear the inhabitants of this country. + +We have here a General of division, who is enriching himself by +all possible means, and with such unblushing rapacity, that he is +universally detested. He was a blacksmith before the revolution, and +his present pursuits bear some affinity to his original employment, +having taken possession of a plantation on which he makes charcoal, and +which he sells to the amount of a hundred dollars a day. A carricature +has appeared in which he is represented tying up sacks of coal. Madame +A----, his mistress, standing near him, holds up his embroidered coat +and says, "Don't soil yourself, General." + + + + +LETTER V. + + +_Cape Francois._ + +Three of your letters arriving at the same time, my dear friend, have +made me blush for my impatience, and force me to acknowledge that I +have wronged you. But your friendship is so necessary to my happiness +that the idea of losing it is insupportable. You know what clouds of +misfortune have obscured my life. An orphan without friends, without +support, separated from my sister from my infancy, and, at an age when +the heart is most alive to tenderness and affection, deprived by the +unrelenting hand of death, of him who had taught me to feel all the +transports of passion, and for whose loss I felt all its despair--Cast +on the world without an asylum, without resource, I met you:--you +raised me--soothed me--whispered peace to my lacerated breast! Ah! can +I ever forget that delightful moment when your care saved me? It was so +long since I had known sympathy or consolation that my astonished soul +knew not how to receive the enchanting visitants; fleeting as fervent +was my joy: but let me not repine! Your friendship has shed a ray of +light on my solitary way, and though removed from the influence of your +immediate presence, I exist only in the hope of seeing you again. + +In restoring me to my sister, at the moment of her marriage, you +procured for me a home not only respectable, but in which all the +charms of fashionable elegance, all the attractions of pleasure are +united. Unfortunately, Clara, amidst these intoxicating scenes of +ever-varying amusement, and attended by crowds, who offer her the +incense of adulation, is wretched, and I cannot be happy! + +You know her early habits have been different from mine; affluence +might have been thought necessary to her, yet the sensibility of her +heart rejects the futile splendour that surrounds her, and the tears +that often stain her brilliant robes, shew that they cover a bosom to +which peace is a stranger! + +The fortune of her husband was his only advantage. The friend who had +been charged with Clara from her infancy had accustomed her to enjoy +the sweets of opulence, and thought nothing more desirable than to +place her in a situation where she could still command them. Alas her +happiness has been the sacrifice of his mistaken, though well meant, +intentions. St. Louis is too sensible of the real superiority of his +wife not to set some value on that which he derives from his money, and +tears of bitterest regret often fill her eyes when contemplating the +splendor which has been so dearly purchased. Though to me he has been +invariably kind yet my heart is torn with regret at the torments which +his irascible temper inflict on his wife. They force her to seek relief +in the paths of pleasure, whilst destined by nature to embellish the +sphere of domestic felicity. + + + + +LETTER VI. + + +_Cape Francois._ + +General Rochambeau has given Clara a proof of his attention to her +wishes at once delicate and flattering. She dined with a large party +at the Government-house, where, as usual, he was entirely devoted +to her. After dinner, he led her, followed by the company, to a +saloon, that was fitting up for a dining-room. It was ornamented with +military trophies, and on every pannel was written the name of some +distinguished chief. + +On one Buonaparte, on another Frederic, on another Massena, &c. + +Clara said it was very pretty, but that Washington should also have +found a place there! + +A few days after, a grand ball was given, and, on entering the +ball-room, we saw, on a pannel facing the door, + + + Washington, Liberty, and Independence! + + +This merited a smile, and the general received a most gracious one. It +was new-year's eve. When the clock struck twelve, Clara, approaching +the general, took a rose from her bosom, saying, let me be the first to +wish you a happy new-year, and to offer you les etrennes. + +He took the rose, passed it across his lips, and put it in his bosom. + +The next morning, an officer called on her, and presented her a +pacquet in the name of the general in chief. On opening it she found a +brilliant cross, with a superb chain, accompanied by an elegant billet, +praying her acceptance of these trifles. + +Take it back, she exclaimed, I gave the general a flower, and will +accept nothing of greater value.--The officer refused, and, as the eyes +of her husband expressed no disapprobation, she kept it. + +We have since learned that it is customary to make at this season, +magnificent presents, and this accounts for the passiveness of St. +Louis on this occasion. + +Shortly after, at a breakfast given by Madame A----, Clara appeared +with her brilliant cross: the General was there. + +When they sat down to table, he offered her an apple, which she +declined accepting. Take it, said he, for on Mount Ida I would have +given it to you, and in Eden I would have taken it from you. + +She replied laughing, no, no; since you attach so much value to your +apple I certainly will not accept it, for I wish equally to avoid +discord and temptation. + +Her husband looked displeased, and withdrew as soon as possible. + +On their return home, he told her that her flirting with the General, +if carried much farther, would probably cost her too dear. She became +serious, and I foresee the approaching destruction of all domestic +tranquillity. + +Clara, proud and high spirited, will submit to no control. If her +husband reposed confidence in her she would not abuse it. But his +soul cannot raise itself to a level with that of his wife, and he will +strive in vain to reduce her to that of his own. + +He has declared that she shall go to no more balls; and she has +declared as peremptorily, that she will go where she pleases. So on the +first public occasion there will be a contest for supremacy, which will +decide forever the empire of the party that conquers. + +Their jarrings distress me beyond measure. I had hoped to find +tranquillity with my sister, but alas! she is herself a stranger to it. + +I have no pleasure but that which the recollection of your friendship +affords, which will be dear to my heart whilst that heart is conscious +of feeling or affection. + + + + +LETTER VII. + + +_Cape Francois._ + +The brigands have at length made the attack they so long threatened, +and we have been terribly alarmed. + +On Thursday last, one party approached the fort before day break, +whilst another, passing behind the barrier, which is at the entrance +of the plain, unobserved by the guard, surprised fort Belleair, which +stands on an elevation adjoining the town, and killed the officer and +twelve soldiers. The wife of the officer, who commanded that post, had +gone, the day before to stay with her husband. Herself and her child +were pierced by the same bayonet. The body of the officer lay across +the bed, as if he had died in the act of defending them. + +The negroes were advancing silently into the town, when they were +discovered by a centinel who gave the alarm. + +The troops rushed to arms. The Brigands were repulsed: but those who +had taken possession of fort Belleair made a vigorous resistance. + +St. Louis, who commands a company in the guarde nationale, was the +first on the field. It was discovered that the negroes in the town +intended to join those who attacked it from without and to kill the +women and children, who were shut up in their houses, without any one +to defend them; but the patroles of the guarde d'honneur prevented, by +their vigilance, the execution of this design. + +At nine o'clock the general sent to tell Clara that the part of the +town she lived in being very much exposed, she had better come to his +house and he would send her on board the admiral's vessel. + +She replied that it was impossible for her to go, her husband having +desired her on no account to leave the house; therefore she added, +"Here I must stay if I am sure to perish." + +The action continued at the barrier and advanced posts during the day. +The negroes, depending on their numbers, seemed determined to decide at +once the fate of the town, and we passed the day in a situation which I +cannot describe. + +In the evening the general sent an officer to tell Clara that he had +some news from her husband which he could communicate to none but +herself. + +The first idea that presented itself was, that St. Louis had been +killed. She seized my arm and without waiting to take even a veil +hurried out of the house. + +A gloomy silence reigned throughout the streets. She arrived breathless +at the government house. The general met her in the hall, took her +gravely by the hand and led her into a parlor. + +What have you to tell me? she cried, where is St. Louis? + +Calm your spirits said the general. Your agitation renders you unfit to +hear any thing! But seeing that his hesitation encreased her distress, +he said, laughing, your husband is well, has behaved gallantly, and +seems invulnerable; for though numbers have been killed and wounded at +his post, he has remained unhurt! + +Then why, she asked, have you alarmed me so unnecessarily, and made me +come here, when you knew he had desired me not to leave the house? He +will never believe my motive for coming, and I shall be killed! + +The general strove to soothe her, said that it would be highly improper +to pass the night in her house, that several ladies had embarked, and +that she must go on board, which she positively declined. + +At that moment the officer who had accompanied us, entered, and +presenting some papers to the general, they both went into another room. + +Directly after the general called Clara. She went, and I followed +her. He was alone, and looked as if he thought me an intruder, but I +continued at her side. + +The papers he held in his hand were dispatches from the camp. He told +her that St. Louis would remain out all night, and again requested her +to think of her own safety. But she would not listen to his proposal of +sending her on board; and, attended by the officer who had accompanied +us, we returned home. + +Whilst the general was talking with Clara, I examined the apartment, +which had been Madame Le Clerc's dressing-room. + +The sofas and curtains were of blue sattin with silver fringe. A door, +which stood open, led into the bedchamber. The canopy of the bed was in +the form of a shell, from which little cupids descending held back with +one hand, curtains of white sattin trimmed with gold, and pointed with +the other to a large mirror which formed the tester. On a table, in the +form of an altar, which stood near the bed, was an alabaster figure +representing silence, with a finger on its lips, and bearing in its +hand a waxen taper. + +The first thing we heard on our return was that a soldier, sent by +St. Louis, had enquired for Clara, and not finding her, had returned +immediately to the camp. + +She was distressed beyond measure, and exclaimed, "I had better go +forever, for St. Louis will kill me!" + +I endeavoured to console her, though I felt that her apprehensions were +not groundless. She passed the night in agony, and awaited the return +of her husband in the most painful agitation. + +At ten the next morning he arrived, having left his post without +orders, and thus exposed himself to all the rigours of a court-martial. + +He was trembling with rage, transported with fury, and had more the air +of a demon than a man. + +I know your conduct madam, he cried, on entering, you left the house +contrary to my desire; but I shall find means of punishing you, and of +covering with shame the monster who has sought to destroy me! + +He seized her by the arm, and dragging her into a little dressing-room +at the end of the gallery, locked her in, and, taking the key in his +pocket, went to the government house, and without waiting till the +officers in the antichamber announced him, entered the room where the +general was alone, reclining on a sofa, who arose, and approaching +him familiarly said, "St. Louis, I am glad to see you, and was just +thinking of you; but did not know that you had been relieved." + +I have not been relieved, replied St. Louis, but have left a post +where I was most unjustly placed and kept all night, to give you an +opportunity of accomplishing your infernal designs. You expected, no +doubt, that I would have shared the fate of my brave companions, which +I have escaped, and am here to tell you what every body believes but +which no body dares utter, that you are a villain!--I know to what I am +exposed in consequence of leaving my post. You are my superior, it is +true; but if you are not a coward you will wave all distinction, and +give me the satisfaction due to a gentleman you have injured. + +He then walked hastily away, before the general could recover from his +surprise. + +The officer, who had accompanied us the night before, followed and +attempted to soothe him. + +He said that he had been sent by the general to take Clara to his house +because the part of the town in which she lived was absolutely unsafe, +and that he had used a little stratagem to induce her to come, but that +she had absolutely refused staying;--that Mademoiselle, (meaning my +ladyship) had gone with her, and that he had not left her till he had +conducted her home. + +This a little softened the rage of St. Louis! He has a good opinion of +this young man, who by the bye, is a charming creature. They entered +the house together. I was alone, and joined my assurances to those of +the officer, that we had not quitted Clara an instant. + +He was now sorry for having treated her so harshly; but did not regret +the scene that had passed at the general's. + +At this moment a soldier entered, who told him that they had been +relieved directly after he had left them, and that no notice had been +taken of his departure. + +I now learned that St. Louis, with sixty men, had been placed in the +most advanced post, on the very summit of the mountain, where they +were crowded together on the point of a rock. In this disadvantageous +position, they had been attacked by the negroes; forty men were killed; +and the troops of the line, who were a little lower down, had offered +them no assistance. It being the first time that the guarde nationale +had been placed before the troops of the line the common opinion is, +that it was the general's intention to have St. Louis destroyed, as it +was by his order that he was so stationed, and kept there all night, +though the other posts had been relieved at midnight. + +St. Louis forgot his rage and his sufferings in the assurance that +Clara had not been faithless. He went to the room in which he had +confined her, threw himself at her feet, and burst into tears. + +Clara, affected by his pain, or ashamed of having so tormented him,--or +fatigued with their eternal broils, leaned over him, and mingled her +tears with his. + +When the violence of her emotion subsided, she entreated him to forgive +the inconsiderateness of her conduct, and vowed that she would never +again offend him.--But you have destroyed yourself, she continued, the +general will never pardon you: let us leave this hated country, where +tranquillity is unknown. + +After much debate, it was agreed that he should send us to +Philadelphia, and that he would follow himself as soon as he had +arranged his affairs. + +Clara keeps her room and sees nobody, her husband is in despair at +parting with her, but proposes following her immediately. + +We embark in ten days. What power shall I invoke to grant us favourable +winds? Whose protection solicit to conduct me speedily to my native +shores, and to the society of my friends? + + + + +LETTER VIII. + + +_Cape Francois._ + +We are still here, my dear friend, and my disappointment and vexation +have been so great, that ten days have passed since I have written a +single line. + +The general, thinking Clara was sent away against her will, and +determined to thwart the intentions of her husband, laid an embargo on +all the vessels in the port. + +St. Louis raved, and swore she should not leave her room till he +conducted her on board. + +To prevent all intercourse from without, he keeps her locked up in a +small room, adjoining her chamber.--Nobody, not even myself, can see +her, except in his presence; and thus all confidence is at an end +between them. + +She weeps continually, and I am afraid the torments she suffers will +destroy her health. + +St. Louis is unworthy of her: he thinks it possible to force her to +love him:--How much more would a generous confidence influence a heart +like her's! + +Many of his friends have represented to him the impropriety of his +conduct. The challenge he gave general Rochambeau filled every body +with terror, for it exposed him to certain death. To have left his post +without orders was a crime equally serious; and, if the general has +passed them both over in silence, it is supposed that his vengeance +only slumbers for a time to be more sure in its effect. + +He thinks Clara attached to the general. I know she is not! her vanity +alone has been interested. To be admired was her aim, and she knew +that, by attracting the notice of the general in chief, her end would +be accomplished. She succeeded even beyond her wishes, but it has been +a dangerous experiment; and will cost her, I fear, the small portion of +domestic _peace_ she enjoyed.--Domestic _felicity_ she never knew! I am +convinced that she has never been less happy than since her marriage! + +Nothing can be more brutal than St. Louis in his rage! The day of his +affair with the general, he threw her on the ground, and then dragged +her by the hair:--I flew to her, but his aspect so terrified me that +I was obliged to withdraw: and when his fits of tenderness return he +is as bad in the other extreme. He kneels before her, entreats her +pardon, and overwhelms her with caresses more painful to her than the +most terrible effects of his ill-humour. And then his temper is so +capricious that he cannot be counted upon a moment. I have seen him +oblige her to stay at home and pass the evening alone with him, after +she had dressed for a ball. + +This does not accord with the liberty French ladies are supposed to +enjoy. But I believe Clara is not the first wife that has been locked +up at St. Domingo, yet she excites little sympathy because she has not +the good fortune to be one of the privileged. + + +_In Continuation._ + +Certain events, which shall be related, prevented me from finishing my +letter. The same events have produced an entire change in our affairs, +and we are now fixed at St. Domingo for some time. + +The embargo is raised:--the general in chief is gone to Port-au-Prince; +all the belles of the Cape have followed him. Clara is at liberty, and +her husband content! + +As soon as we had an opportunity of conversing together, Clara related +to me occurrences which seem like scenes of romance, but I am convinced +of their reality. Under the window of the little apartment in which she +was confined, there is an old building standing in a court surrounded +by high walls. The general informed himself of the position of Clara's +chamber, and his intelligent valet, who makes love to one of her +servants, found that it would not be difficult to give her a letter, +which his dulcinea refused charging herself with. He watched the +moment of St. Louis's absence, entered the deserted court, mounted the +tottering roof, and, calling Clara to the window, gave her the letter, +glowing with the warmest professions of love, and suggesting several +schemes for her escape, one of which was, that she should embark on +board a vessel that he would indicate, and that he would agree with the +captain to put into Port-au-Prince, whither he would speedily follow +her.--Another was, to escape in the night by the same window, and go +to his house, where he would receive and protect her. But the heart of +Clara acknowledged not the empire of general Rochambeau, nor had she +even the slightest intention of listening to him. + +If her husband knew all this it would cure him, I suppose, of his +passion for locking up. But, incapable of generosity himself, he cannot +admire it in another, and would attribute her refusal of the general's +offers to any motive but the real one. + +How often has she assured me that she would prefer the most extreme +poverty to her present existence, but to abandon her husband was not to +be thought of. Yet to have abandoned him, and to have been presented +as the declared mistress of General Rochambeau, would not have been +thought a crime nor have excluded her from the best society! + +Madame G----, who has nothing but her beauty to recommend her, (and +no excess of that) lives with the admiral on board his vessel. She +is visited by every body; and no party is thought fashionable if not +graced by her presence, yet her manners are those of a poissarde and +she was very lately in the lowest and most degraded situation. But she +gives splendid entertainments: and when good cheer and gaiety invite, +nobody enquires too minutely by whom they are offered. + +Clara laughs at the security St. Louis felt when he had her locked +up. Yet in spite of bolts and bars love's messenger reached her. The +general's letters were most impassioned, for, unaccustomed to find +resistance, the difficulty his approach to Clara met added fuel to his +flame. + +You say, that in relating public affairs, or those of Clara, I forget +my own, or conceal them under this appearance of neglect. My fate +is so intimately connected with that of my sister, that every thing +concerning her must interest you, from the influence it has on myself; +and, in truth, I have no adventures. I described in a former letter, +the gallantry of the French officers, but I have not repeated the +compliments they sometimes make me, and which have been offered, +perhaps, to every woman in town before they reach my ear. But a civil +thing I heard yesterday, had so much of originality in it that it +deserves to be remembered. I was copying a beautiful drawing of the +graces, when a Frenchman I detest entered the room. Approaching the +table he said. What mademoiselle do you paint? I did not know that you +possessed that talent. Vexed at his intrusion, I asked if he knew I +possessed any talents. Certainly, he replied, every body acknowledges +that you possess that of pleasing. Then looking at the picture that lay +before me, he continued: The modesty of the graces would prevent their +attempting to draw you. Why? I asked. Because in painting you, they +would be obliged to copy themselves. + +With all this _bavardage_ receive my affectionate adieu! + + + + +LETTER IX. + + +_Cape Francois._ + +We have had some novelty here my dear friend, for general Closelle, +who commands during the absence of the general in chief, has taken a +new method to amuse the people, and courts popularity under the veil +of religion. He gives no balls, no concerts; but he has had the church +fitted up, and the fete dieu has been celebrated with great order, +magnificence and solemnity. + +At break of day the fete was announced by the firing of cannon: at +eight o'clock the procession left the church, and passed through +the principal streets, which were strewn with roses; the fronts of +the houses were decorated with green branches, formed into arches, +intermingled with wreaths of flowers. The troops under arms were placed +in double ranks on each side of the street. The procession was opened +by a number of young boys dressed in white surplices, singing a hymn +in honour of the day. They were followed by young girls, crowned with +myrtle, bearing in their hands baskets of flowers, which they strewed +on the ground as they passed along. The band of music followed, and +then the priests, bearing golden censors, in which were burning the +most exquisite perfumes, preceded by four negroes, carrying on their +shoulders a golden temple, ornamented with precious stones, and golden +angels supporting a canopy of crimson velvet, beneath which the sacred +host was exposed in a brilliant sagraria. After them marched general +Closelle, and all the officers of the civil and military departments. +The procession was closed by a number of ladies, covered with white +veils. As the temple passed along, the soldiers bent one knee to +the ground; and when it returned to the church, high mass was sung, +accompanied by military music. + +Clara and myself, attended by her everlasting beau, major B----, went +all over the town, and so fatigued our poor cavalier, that he actually +fell down; but he is fifty years old, and at least five hundred in +constitution; he has been very handsome, has still the finest eyes in +the world, is full of anecdote, and infinitely amusing. + +General Closelle is very handsome, tall, and elegantly formed, but not +at all gallant, consequently not a favourite with the ladies; and for +the same reason, a great one with the gentlemen, particularly those who +are married. Since the departure of the general in chief he has put +every thing on a new footing: the fortifications are repairing, and +block-houses are erecting all round the town. + +A few days since the negroes attacked a block-house which was nearly +finished. A detachment commanded by general Mayart, was instantly sent +out to support the guard. As he passed under my window, I told him to +hasten and gather fresh laurels. He replied, that at his return he +would lay them at my feet; but, alas! he returned no more. The negroes +were retreating when he arrived: a random shot struck him, and he fell +dead from his horse. This young man came from France about a year ago, +a simple lieutenant; he was very poor, but being powerfully protected, +advanced rapidly in the army; and, what is infinitely surprising, +thirty thousand dollars, and a great quantity of plate, were found in +his house at his death. + +Madame G----, a pretty little Parisian, who was his favourite, is +inconsolable. She faints when any body enters the room, and repeats his +name in gentle murmurs. In the evening she languishingly reposes on a +sopha placed opposite the door, and seems to invite by the gracefulness +of her attitudes, and the negligence of her dress, the whole world to +console her. + +The most distressing accounts arrive here daily from all parts of the +island. + +The general in chief is at Port-au-Prince, but he possesses no longer +the confidence of the people. He is entirely governed by his officers, +who are boys, and who think only of amusement. He gives splendid balls, +and elegant parties; but he neglects the army, and oppresses the +inhabitants. + +A black chief and his wife were made prisoners last week, and sentenced +to be shot. As they walked to the place of execution the chief seemed +deeply impressed with the horror of his approaching fate: but his wife +went cheerfully along, endeavoured to console him, and reproached his +want of courage. When they arrived on the field, in which their grave +was already dug, she refused to have her eyes bound; and turning to +the soldiers who were to execute their sentence, said "Be expeditious, +and don't make me linger." She received their fire without shrinking, +and expired without uttering a groan. Since the commencement of the +revolution she had been a very devil! Her husband commanded at St. +Marks, and being very amorously inclined, every white lady who was +unfortunate enough to attract his notice, received an order to meet +him. If she refused, she was sure of being destroyed, and if she +complied she was as sure of being killed by his wife's orders, which +were indisputable. Jealous as a tygress, she watched all the actions +of her husband; and never failed to punish the objects of his amorous +approaches, often when they were entirely innocent. + +How terrible was the situation of these unfortunate women, insulted +by the brutal passion of a negro, and certain of perishing if they +resisted or if they complied. + +This same fury in female form killed with her own hand a white man who +had been her husband's secretary. He offended her; she had him bound, +and stabbed him with a penknife till he expired! + +How often, my dear friend, do my sighs bear my wishes to your happy +country; how ardently do I desire to revisit scenes hallowed by +recollection, and rendered doubly dear by the peaceful security I there +enjoyed, contrasted with the dangers to which we are here exposed. Yet +the Creoles still hope; for + + + "Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die." + + +They think it impossible that this island can ever be abandoned to +the negroes. They build houses, rebuild those that were burned, and +seem secure in their possession. The measures of general Closelle +inspire them with confidence; and they think that if he was commander +in chief, all would go well. But when general Rochambeau was second in +command, he was a favorite with every body; and it is only since he +has attained the summit of power that he has appeared regardless of +public opinion! He is said to have the talents of a soldier, but not +those of a general. Whatever may be the fate of this country, here I +must wait with patience, of which mulish virtue I have no great share, +till some change in its affairs restores me to my own. Yet when there, +I can hope for nothing more than tranquillity. The romantic visions of +happiness I once delighted to indulge in, are fading fast away before +the exterminating touch of cold reality.-- + + + The glowing hand of hope grows cold, + And fancy lives not to be old. + + +But whilst your friendship is left me life will still have a charm. + + + + +LETTER X. + + +_Cape Francois._ + +It is not often in the tranquillity of domestic life that the poet or +the historian seek their subjects! Of this I am certain, that in the +calm that now surrounds us it will be difficult for me to find one for +my unpoetical pen. + +Clara is dull, St. Louis contented, and I pass my time heavily, +complaining of the fate which brought me here, and wishing to be +away. We go sometimes to the concerts given by monsieur d'Or, where +madame P----, a pretty little Parisian sings; and where madame +A----, accompanied by her daughter, presides with solemn dignity. +This lady, who is at present a most rigid censor of female conduct, +and not amiable either in person or manners, lived many years with +monsieur A----, who raised her from the rank of his housekeeper, to +that of his mistress. But he fell in love with another lady, whom he +was going to marry. The deserted fair one threw herself in despair +at the feet of Toussaint, with whom she had some influence, and so +forcibly represented the injustice of the proceeding, that Toussaint +ordered A---- to be confined, saying he should not be released till he +consented to marry the lady he had so long lived with. A---- resisted +some time, but at length yielded, and exchanged his prison for the +softer one of her arms. + +Before the revolution there was a convent at the Cape. The nuns in +general were very rich, and devoted themselves chiefly to the education +of young ladies: some of their pupils, I have heard, would have done +honour to a Parisian seminary. + +When religion was abolished in France, the rage for abolition, as well +as that of revolutionizing reached this place, and the nuns were driven +from the convent by Santhonax, a name which will always fill every +Frenchman's breast with horror: he caused the first destruction of +the Cape. On the arrival of general Galbo, who was sent to supercede +him, he said, "if Galbo reigns here, he shall reign over ashes," and +actually set fire to the town. The convent was not then burned; but the +society was dissolved, the habit of the order laid aside; and some of +the nuns, profiting by the license of the times, married. One of these +became the wife of a man who, during the reign of the negroes committed +crimes of the deepest die. He has not yet received the punishment due +to them; but he awaits in trembling the hour of retribution. I often +see her. She has been very handsome, but her charms are now in the +wane; she has a great deal of vivacity, and that fluency of expression +in conversing on the topics of the day, which gives to a French woman +the reputation of having _beaucoup d'esprit_. + +I know also the lady abbess, who is an excellent woman of most engaging +manners. She lives in a miserable chamber, and supports herself by her +industry. The greatest part of the community have perished; and general +Le Clerc found it more convenient to have the convent fitted up for his +own residence, than to restore it to its owners, the government house +having been entirely destroyed. + +There are also here two hospitals, neither of which have been injured, +though the town has been twice burned. The _Hopitale de la Providence_ +is an asylum for the poor, the sick and the stranger; the building +is decent: but the _Hopitale des Peres de la Charite_ is superb, +surrounded by gardens, ornamented with statues and fountains, and +finished with all the magnificence which their vast revenues enabled +its owners to command. + +The streets of the town cross each other at right angles, like those of +Philadelphia, and there are several public squares which add greatly +to the beauty of the place. In the centre of each is a fountain, +from which the water, clear as crystal, flows into marble basons. +The houses are commodious, particularly those of two stories, which +have all balconies; but the streets are narrow, and the heat would be +intolerable if it was not for the relief afforded by bathing, which is +here an universal custom, and for the sea-breezes which, rising every +afternoon, waft on their wings delicious coolness. + +The mulatto women are the hated but successful rivals of the Creole +ladies. Many of them are extremely beautiful; and, being destined from +their birth to a life of pleasure, they are taught to heighten the +power of their charms by all the aids of art, and to express in every +look and gesture all the refinements of voluptuousness. It may be said +of them, that their very feet speak. In this country that unfortunate +class of beings, so numerous in my own,--victims of seduction, devoted +to public contempt and universal scorn, is unknown. Here a false step +is very rarely made by an unmarried lady, and a married lady, who does +not make one, is as rare; yet of both there have been instances: but +the _faux pas_ of a married lady is so much a matter of course, that +she who has only one lover, and retains him long in her chains, is +considered as a model of constancy and discretion. + +To the destiny of the women of colour no infamy is attached; they +have inspired passions which have lasted through life, and are +faithful to their lovers through every vicissitude of fortune and +chance. But before the revolution their splendor, their elegance, +their influence over the men, and the fortunes lavished on them by +their infatuated lovers, so powerfully excited the jealousy of the +white ladies, that they complained to the council of the ruin their +extravagance occasioned to many families, and a decree was issued +imposing restrictions on their dress. No woman of colour was to wear +silk, which was then universally worn, nor to appear in public without +a handkerchief on her head. They determined to oppose this tyranny, +and took for that purpose a singular but effectual resolution. They +shut themselves up in their houses, and appeared no more in public. +The merchants soon felt the bad effects of this determination, and +represented so forcibly the injury the decree did to commerce, that it +was reversed, and the olive beauties triumphed. + +But the rage of the white ladies still pursued them with redoubled +fury, for what is so violent as female jealousy? The contest however +was unequal, and the influence of their detested rivals could not be +counteracted. Some of them were very rich. There is a friendliness +and simplicity in their manners which is very interesting. They are +the most caressing creatures in the world, and breathe nothing but +affection and love. One of their most enviable privileges, and which +they inherit from nature, is that their beauty is immortal--they never +fade. + +The French appear to understand less than any other people the delights +arising from an union of hearts. They seek only the gratification of +their sensual appetites. They gather the flowers, but taste not the +fruits of love. They call women the "_beau sexe_," and know them only +under the enchanting form of ministers of pleasure. They may appear +thus to those who have only eyes; by those who have hearts they will +always be considered as sacred objects of reverence and love. A man who +thinks and feels views in woman the beneficent creature who nourished +him with her milk, and watched over his helpless infancy; a consoling +being who soothes his pains and softens his sorrows by her tenderness +and even by her levity and her sports. But here female virtue is +blasted in the bud by the contagious influence of example. Every girl +sighs to be married to escape from the restraint in which she is held +whilst single, and to enjoy the unbounded liberty she so often sees +abused by her mother. A husband is necessary to give her a place in +society; but is considered of so little importance to her happiness, +that in the choice of one her inclination is very seldom consulted. +And when her heart, in spite of custom, feels the pain of being alone, +and seeks an asylum in the bosom of her husband, she too often finds +it shut against her; she is assailed by those whose only desire is to +add another trophy to their conquests, and is borne away by the torrent +of fashion and dissipation till all traces of her native simplicity +are destroyed. She joins with unblushing front, the crowd who talk of +sentiments they never feel, and who indulge in the most licentious +excesses without having the glow of passion to gild their errors. These +reflections were suggested by a most preposterous marriage, at which +I was present. A girl of fifteen was sacrificed by her grandmother +to a man of sixty, of the most disagreeable appearance and forbidding +manners. The soul of this unfortunate victim is all melting softness; +she is of the most extraordinary beauty; she is now given to the world, +and in those who surround her she will find the destroyers of her +delicacy, her simplicity, and her peace. + + + + +LETTER XI. + + +_Cape Francois._ + +To give you some idea of the despotism that reigns in this country, +I must relate an event which, though it originated with Clara, was +certainly carried farther than she either expected or desired. + +On our arrival here she engaged a young Frenchman to give her lessons +in his language, which she spoke tolerably before, but in which she +wished to acquire perfection. After he had attended her some time she +perceived that his lessons were considerably lengthened and that he +chose for his themes the most amorous and affectionate pieces. Some +observations made on the subject, drew from him a confession of the +extraordinary passion she had inspired. After laughing at his folly, +she dismissed him, and thought of him no more; but shortly after +was informed that he had circulated reports highly injurious to her. +General Rochambeau, whose ears they had reached, asked her from whence +they arose? and she related to him with great simplicity the whole +affair. The general said he should be embarked, and the next morning +he was actually sent on board an armed vessel which was to sail in +a few days. Whilst there he wrote a pathetic and elegant little +poem in which he represented himself as the victim of the general's +jealousy, who thus sought to destroy him for having interfered, and +not unsuccessfully, with his pursuits. This paper was sent to the man +with whom he had lived, and who handed it to every body. Clara was +in despair. She informed the general in chief that he had rendered +the affair, which was at first only ridiculous, seriously provoking: +in consequence of which the house of this man was surrounded by +guards, who, without giving him time to take even a change of clothes, +conducted him on board the vessel where his friend was confined; it +sailed immediately for France, and his house and store, which were +worth at least thirty thousand dollars became the prey of the officers +of the administration: but the poem was heard of no more. + + + + +LETTER XII + + +_Cape Francois._ + +The general in chief has returned from Port-au-Prince. Three days after +his arrival the Cape was blockaded by five British ships, and news was +received of war having been declared between England and France. + +Every body is in the greatest consternation, for inevitable ruin +threatens the place. The English will no doubt prevent all vessels +from entering the port, and take all that go out; at the same time the +negroes are said to be preparing another attack. + +The general brought in his train all the belles of Port-au-Prince, and +has given a ball, at which, incredible as it may appear to you, Clara +and myself appeared. When the cards of invitation were brought, St. +Louis declared that they should not be left; but major B----, who was +present, represented so forcibly the danger of irritating the general, +who has shewn some symptoms of a disposition to tyrannize, since his +return which were never remarked in him before, that he consented to +our going. When we entered the room attended by B, every eye was fixed +on Clara, who never was so lovely. Dressed in a robe ornamented with +wreaths of flowers, she joined the sweetness of Flora to the lightness +of the youngest of the graces, and the recollection of certain late +events gave an air of timidity to her looks which rendered her +enchanting. General Rochambeau, by the warmth of his manner encreased +her confusion, and fixed on her more pointedly the attention of every +beholder. He was surprized at seeing her without her husband, and +enquired what had wrought so wonderful a change? She replied that he +had found a very good representative in major B----, and that he had +acquired a little confidence in herself. She waltzed with more than +her usual grace, and the general seemed flattered by the notice she +attracted. + +Most of the ladies from Port-au-Prince are widows + + + "Who bear about the mockery of woe + To midnight dances and the public shew." + + +None of them are remarkable for their beauty or elegance. The only new +face worth looking at was a madame V----, lately arrived from France; +her hair was dressed _a la Ninon de l'Enclos_, part of it fastened on +the top of the head, the rest hanging about her neck in loose curls. + +The ball room had been newly furnished with regal splendor; all the +chairs were removed, and long sophas with large cushions offered +delightful seats. A recess at one end of the room had been fitted up _a +la Turc_; the walls were entirely concealed with large looking glasses, +which reached the ceiling; the floor was covered with carpets and the +only seats were piles of crimson sattin cushions thrown on the ground. +The lustres, veiled with green silk, gave a soft light, imitating that +of the moon, and the _ensemble_ breathed an air of tranquillity that +invited to repose after the fatigue of dancing, and offered a retreat +from the heat which it was almost impossible to resist. To this retreat +general Rochambeau led Clara. A lady was lolling in one corner, and I +entered at the same moment. He looked as if he wished us both away, but +I never attend to looks that I am resolved not to understand. + + + + +LETTER XIII. + + +_Cape Francois._ + +A few days after the ball mentioned in my last, St. Louis determined to +send Clara and myself to St. Jago de Cuba, and to follow us as soon as +possible. This measure was opposed by major B----; but Clara insisted, +and the day of our departure was fixed. The next day B---- breakfasted +with us; and as soon as we were alone, told Clara that she was wrong in +being so entirely governed by her husband. She replied, that she had +suffered much in consequence of coquetting with general Rochambeau, in +which her only intention had been to find amusement; but she was now +convinced of its being highly dangerous and improper; and that it had +been productive of much ill. She added, that she lived in continual +inquietude, and that nothing would induce her to stay in the Cape if +she could get away. + +B---- spoke of the passion of the general,--said he had seen him +that morning, and as a proof of her having been the subject of their +conversation, gave her a letter from him. Is it possible, (she +exclaimed) you in whom my husband has so much confidence? You are +a fool, replied B----, and your husband is no better: and if his +insolence to the general has not been punished it is owing to my +interference. + +Clara read the letter. It was filled with professions of admiration and +unalterable love. He begged her not to think of leaving the Cape, which +was in no danger; and further said he had taken measures to prevent +her being sent away. He requested her to write to him, but this she +positively refused. + +Towards noon a proclamation was issued ordering all the passports which +had been granted during the last three months to be returned. St. Louis +was in despair: he had intended sending Clara off without eclat, having +procured passports before, but B---- betrayed him. Yet in B---- he +has the most unbounded confidence; and suffers Clara to receive nobody +else. She walks with him when she pleases, and he never fails on such +occasions to give the general an opportunity of speaking to her. + +A few days ago we went to Picolet, to see the fort. The road to it +winds along the seashore at the foot of the mountain. The rocks are +covered with the Arabian jessamin, which grows here in the greatest +profusion. Its flexible branches form among the cliffs moving festoons +and fantastic ornaments, and its flowers whiter than snow, fill the +air with intoxicating fragrance. After having visited the fort we +were preparing to return, when we saw a troop of horsemen descending +the mountain. They came full speed. We soon discovered they were the +general and his suite; and as they followed the windings of the road, +with their uniform _a la mameluc_, and their long sabres, they appeared +like a horde of Arabs. + +The general arrived first, and jumping from his horse, told Clara that +he had left the table an hour sooner than usual to have the pleasure +of seeing her. Then, said she, looking reproachfully at B----, you +have a familiar spirit who informs you of my movements! Why not, he +replied, are you not an enchantress, and have you not employed all the +powers of magic to enslave me? You are in an error said Clara; I was +flattered by your admiration, and gratified by the attentions with +which you honoured me; but I used no art to attract the one, and am +too sensible of my own defects not to feel that I am indebted for the +other entirely to your goodness. That is too modest to be natural, +cried the general. Nobody who possesses your charms can be ignorant +of their power; nor could any one mistake the passion I have evinced +for you, for the common attention every lady receives as her due. Then +you do not believe a woman can be modest? asked Clara. Modest if you +please, but not insensible, he replied. And suffer me to observe,--Oh +no observations, I entreat, interrupted Clara; for this interview will, +I fear, occasion too many.--But tell me, how did you learn I was to be +here; and why have you left the table where you so often sacrifice +till a late hour to the rosy god, to wander among these rugged rocks +where despairing lovers alone would seek a retreat? And are you of that +number? he enquired. No, she replied: but I have not your motives for +staying at home: I was led here by curiosity; It is my first visit to +this spot. Then believe, said the general, that I came here to offer at +your feet that homage which envious fate has hitherto deprived me of +an opportunity of paying. During this conversation, he had drawn her +to a point of the rock; and the officers of his suite, surrounding me, +sought to divert my attention by all the common place compliments of +which they are so profuse. I had forgotten Clara for a moment, when, +turning, I beheld the general, who bending one knee to the ground, +seized her hand passionately, and at the same time I saw St. Louis +ascending the mountain. + +Pressing through the crowd I flew to her, saying, are you mad? Rise +general, for heaven's sake! her husband approaches! what means this +exhibition of folly? Yes I am mad, he replied, I adore your sister, +and she refuses to listen to me. My sister is married, I answered. +But, said he, she loves not her husband. At least I love no one more +than him, said Clara, trembling at the idea of having been seen by St. +Louis. Fortunately I had discovered him at the foot of the mountain, +and the road winds round its base with so many turnings that it is of +considerable length and before he arrived she was tolerably composed. + +You have deceived me, said the general. I never listened to you, she +replied. But you have read my letters.--I could not avoid receiving, +but I never answered them. Still, he observed, interrupting her, I +will hope; for your eyes cannot utter falsehood, and from them I have +received encouragement. + +At that instant St. Louis arrived; he appeared astonished at seeing +Clara so surrounded, and advancing involuntarily, as if to defend her, +took her arm. + +The general, with his usual levity, told St. Louis, that he came in +time to prevent him from running away with his wife. Then twining round +her arm a wreath of jessamin he had taken from my hand, said, with +such fetters only you should be bound! Does she find those that bind +her too heavy? asked her husband. No, replied the general, she seems +content. Then casting a look of disappointment at Clara, he mounted his +horse and rode off. + +Major B---- engaged St. Louis in a conversation on the situation of the +colony, which made him forget the dangerous one in which he had found +his wife. + +Clara, leaning on my arm, seemed oppressed by a variety of sensations, +among which indignation predominated. The security and presumption +of the general shocked her, and the recollection of having, at least +negatively encouraged him, gave an additional pang to her heart. We +returned slowly home. Our meeting with general Rochambeau was thought +accidental by St. Louis, and was taken no notice of. + + + + +LETTER XIV. + + +_Cape Francois._ + +Ah, my dear friend, where shall I find expressions to convey to you an +idea of the horror that fills my soul; how describe scenes at which I +tremble even now with terror? + +Three negroes were caught setting fire to a plantation near the town. +They were sentenced to be burnt alive; and the sentence was actually +executed. When they were tied to the stake and the fire kindled, one +of them, I understand, held his head over the smoke and was suffocated +immediately. The second made horrible contortions, and howled +dreadfully. The third, looking at him contemptuously said, Peace! do +you not know how to die? and preserved an unalterable firmness till the +devouring flames consumed him. This cruel act has been blamed by every +body, as giving a bad example to the negroes, who will not fail to +retaliate on the first prisoners they take. But it has been succeeded +by a deed which has absolutely chilled the hearts of the people. Every +one trembles for his own safety, and silent horror reigns throughout +the place. + +A young Creole, who united to the greatest elegance of person the most +polished manners and the most undaunted courage, had incurred, I know +not how, the displeasure of general Rochambeau, and had received a +hint of approaching danger, but neither knew what he had to fear, nor +how to avoid it, when he received an order to pay into the treasury, +before three o'clock, twenty thousand dollars on pain of death. This +was at ten in the morning. He thought at first it was a jest; but when +assured that the order was serious, said he would rather die than +submit to such injustice, and was conducted by a guard to prison. Some +of his friends went to the government-house to intercede for him. +Nobody was admitted. His brother exerted himself to raise the sum +required; but though their house has a great deal of property, and +government is indebted to them more than a hundred thousand dollars, +it was difficult, from the scarcity of cash, to raise so large a sum +in so short a time, and nobody thought there was any danger to be +apprehended. At half after two o'clock he was taken to the fosset, +where his grave was already dug. The captain of the guard sent to know +if there was no reprieve: and was told that there was none. He sent +again, the same answer was returned, with an order to perform his duty, +or his life would be the forfeit of his disobedience. He was a Creole, +the friend, the companion of the unfortunate Feydon. Ah! how could he +submit to be the vile instrument of tyranny? how could he sacrifice his +friend? Why did he not resign his commission on the spot, and abide by +the consequence? Approaching Feydon, he offered to bind his eyes; but +he refused, saying, No, let me witness your horrors to the last moment. +He was placed on the brink of his grave. They fired: he fell! but from +the bottom of his grave cried, I am not dead--finish me! My heart +bleeds: I knew him; and while I live, the impression this dreadful +event has made on me will never be effaced. At the moment he was killed +his brother, having collected the required sum, carried it to the +general, who took the money, and sent the young man, who was frantic +when he heard of his brother's fate, to prison. It is said a reprieve +had been granted, but had been suppressed by Nero the commandant de la +place, who is as cruel, and as much detested as was the tyrant whose +name he bears. + +A few days after, nine of the principal merchants were selected. One +hundred thousand dollars was the sum demanded from them; and they were +imprisoned till it should be found. It was then the virtuous Leaumont +approached, fearless of consequences, the retreat of the tyrant, +and obliged him to listen to the voice of truth. He represented the +impossibility of finding the sum demanded from these unfortunate men, +and entreated to have a tax laid on every individual of the place in +proportion to his property, which, after much debate was consented to. +The money was soon furnished, and the prisoners released. + +Since the death of Feydon the general appears no more in public. A +settled gloom pervades the place, and every one trembles lest he should +be the next victim of a monster from whose power there is no retreat. +St. Louis, above all, is in the greatest danger, for he has the +reputation of being rich, and, having excited the aversion of general +Rochambeau, it is not probable that he will escape without some proof +of his animosity. + +Clara is in the greatest dejection. She repents bitterly the levity +of her conduct, and is torn with anxiety for the fate of her husband. +She loves him not, it is true, but would be in despair if through her +fault the least evil befel him, and feels for the first time the danger +of awakening the passions of those who are capable of sacrificing all +considerations to gratify their wishes or revenge their disappointment. +She requested the general to give her a passport for St. Jago de Cuba. +He replied that he could only grant them to the old and ugly, and she, +not being of this description, he was obliged to refuse her; however, +after much solicitation, she obtained one for herself for me and her +servants, and we shall sail in a few days. All the women are suffered +to depart, but no man can procure a passport. Some it is true, find +means to escape in disguise, and they are fortunate, for it is much +feared that those who remain will be sacrificed. Every vessel that +sails from hence is seized and plundered by the English; but, as we are +Americans, perhaps we may pass. + +Our intention is to stay at St. Jago till St. Louis joins us. God knows +whether we shall ever see him again. With what joy I shall leave this +land of oppression! how much that joy would be increased if I was going +to the continent; but in all places, and in all countries I shall be +affectionately yours, + + + + +LETTER XV. + + +_Barracoa._ + +You will no doubt be surprised at receiving a letter from hence, but +here we are my dear friend, deprived of every thing we possessed, +in a strange country, of whose language we are ignorant, and where, +even with money, it would be impossible to procure what we have been +accustomed to consider as the necessaries of life. Yet here we have +found an asylum, and met with sympathy; not that of words, but active +and effectual sympathy, from strangers, which, perhaps, we should have +sought in vain in our own country, and among our own people. + +We embarked at the Cape, Clara, myself and six servants, in a small +schooner, which was full of women, and bound to St. Jago. As soon as +we were out of the harbour a boat from a British frigate boarded us, +condemned the vessel as French property, and, without further ceremony, +sent the passengers on board another vessel which was lying near us, +and was going to Barracoa, where we arrived in three days, after having +suffered much from want of provisions and water. Every thing belonging +to us had been left in the schooner the English made a prize of. St. +Louis, having forseen the probability of this event, had made Clara +conceal fifty doubloons in her corset. + +On our arrival at Barracoa, a Frenchman we had known at the Cape came +on board. He conducted us ashore, and procured us a room in a miserable +hut, where we passed the night on a board laid on the ground, it +being impossible to procure a mattrass. The next morning the first +consideration was clothes. There was not a pair of shoes to be found in +the place, nor any thing which we would have thought of employing for +our use if we had not been obliged by the pressure of necessity. Clara +had given a corner of our hut to a lady who, with two children, was +without a shilling. + +While we were at breakfast, which we made of chocolate, served in +little calabashes, lent us by the people of the house, a priest of most +benign aspect entered, and addressing Clara in French, which he speaks +fluently, told her that having heard of our arrival and misfortunes, +he had come to offer his services, and enquired how we had passed the +night? Clara shewed him the boards on which we had slept. He rose +instantly, and calling the mistress of the house, spoke to her angrily. +I afterwards learned that he reproached her for not having informed him +of our distress as soon as we arrived. He took his leave and returned +in half an hour with three or four negroes who brought mattrasses, and +baskets filled with fowls, and every kind of fruit the island produces. +Then, telling Clara that his sister would call on her in the evening, +and begging her to consider him as her servant, and every thing he +possessed at her disposal, he went away. In the afternoon he returned +with his sister. She is a widow. Her manners are interesting, but she +speaks no language except her own, of which not one of us understood a +word. + +Father Philip sent for the only shopkeeper in the place, who furnished +us with black silk for dresses, and some miserable linen. By the next +day we were decently equipped. We were then presented to the governor, +whose wife is divinely beautiful. Nothing can equal the lustre of her +eyes, or surpass the fascinating power of her graceful and enchanting +manners. The changes of her charming countenance express every emotion +of her soul, and she seems not to require the aid of words to be +understood. She conceived at once a fervent friendship for Clara, and +having learned our misfortunes from father Philip, insisted on our +living in her house whilst we remained at Barracoa. This point was +disputed by Donna Angelica, who said she had provided a chamber for +us in her own. But madame la Governadora was not to be thwarted; she +seized Clara by the arm, and drawing her playfully into another room, +insisted on dressing her _a la Espagnole_, which is nothing more than +a cambric _chemise_, cut very low in the bosom, an under petticoat of +linen, made very stiff with starch, and a muslin one over it, both very +short. To this is added, when they go out, a large black silk veil, +which covers the head and falls below the waist. By this dress the +beauty of the bosom, which is so carefully preserved by the French is +lost. + +Clara looked very well in this costume, but felt uncomfortable. As +Donna Jacinta would not hear of our leaving her we consented to stay; +and a chamber was prepared for us. In the evening we walked through +the town, and were surprised to see such extreme want in this abode +of hospitality. The houses are built of twigs, interwoven like basket +work, and slightly thatched with the leaves of the palm tree, with no +other floor than the earth. The inhabitants sit on the ground, and eat +altogether out of the pot in which their food is prepared. Their bed is +formed of a dried hide, and they have no clothes but what they wear, +nor ever think of procuring any till these are in rags. + +There are only three decent houses in the place, which belong to the +governor, to father Philip, and his sister; yet these good people are +happy, for they are contented. Their poverty is not rendered hideous +by the contrast of insolent pride or unfeeling luxury. They dose away +their lives in a peaceful obscurity, which if I do not envy, I cannot +despise. There are many French families here from St. Domingo; some +almost without resource; and this place offers none for talents of any +kind. It is not uncommon to hear the sound of a harp or piano from +beneath a straw built shed, or to be arrested by a celestial voice +issuing from a hut which would be supposed uninhabitable. + +Clara studies with so much application the Spanish language that she +can already hold with tolerable ease a conversation, especially with +the seignora Jacinta, whose eyes are so eloquent that it would be +impossible not to understand her. She is a native of the Havanna, was +married very young, and her husband having been appointed governor of +Barracoa, was obliged to leave the gaiety and splendour of her native +place for this deserted spot, where fashion, taste or elegance had +never been known. It has been a little enlivened since the misfortunes +of the French have forced them to seek in it a retreat. + +Jacinta has too much sensibility not to regret the change of situation; +but she never repines, and seeks to diffuse around her the cheerfulness +by which she is animated. From early prejudice she loves not the French +character. Fortunately Clara is an American; and the influence of her +enchanting qualities on the heart of her fair friend is strengthened by +the charm of novelty. + +We are waiting for a vessel to carry us to St. Jago, and its arrival, I +assure you will fill us with regret. + + + + +LETTER XVI. + + +_St. Jago de Cuba._ + +We have left Barracoa, the good father Philip, his generous sister, and +the beautiful Jacinta. Removed from them for ever, the recollection +of their goodness will accompany me through life, and a sigh for +the peaceful solitude of their retreat will often heave my breast +amid the mingled scenes of pleasure and vexation in which I shall +be again engaged. Fortunate people! who, instead of rambling about +the world, end their lives beneath the roofs where they first drew +breath. Fortunate in knowing nothing beyond their horizon; for whom +even the next town is a strange country, and who find their happiness +in contributing to that of those who surround them! The wife of the +governor could not separate herself from us. Taking from her neck a +rosary of pearls, she put it round that of Clara, pressed her in +her arms, wept on her bosom, and said she never passed a moment so +painful. She is young, her soul is all tenderness and ardour, and +Clara has filled her breast with feelings to which till now she has +been a stranger. Her husband is a good man, but without energy or +vivacity, the direct reverse of his charming wife. She can never have +awakened an attachment more lively than the calmest friendship. She +has no children, nor any being around her, whose soul is in unison +with her own. With what devotion she would love! but if a stranger to +the exquisite pleasures of that sentiment she is also ignorant of its +pains! may no destructive passion ever trouble her repose. + +She walked with us to the shore and waited on the beach till we +embarked. She shrieked with agony when she clasped Clara for the last +time to her breast, and leaning against a tree, gave unrestrained +course to her tears. + +The good father Philip accompanied us to the vessel, and staid till +the moment of our departure. He had previously sent aboard every +thing that he thought would be agreeable to us during the voyage. His +friendly soul poured itself forth in wishes for our happiness. May all +the blessings of heaven be showered on his head! + +It is Clara's fate to inspire great passions. Nobody loves her +moderately. As soon as she is known she seizes on the soul, and centres +every desire in that of pleasing her. The friendship she felt for +Jacinta, and the impression father Philip's goodness made on her, +rendered her insensible to all around her. + +The vessel was full of passengers, most of them ladies, who were +astonished at beholding such grief. One of them, a native of Jeremie, +was the first who attracted the attention of Clara. This lady, who +is very handsome, and very young, has three children of the greatest +beauty, for whom she has the most impassioned fondness, and seems to +view in them her own protracted existence. She has all the bloom of +youth, and when surrounded by her children, no picture of Venus with +the loves and graces was ever half so interesting. She is going to +join her husband at St. Jago, who I hear, is a great libertine, and +not sensible of her worth. An air of sadness dwells on her lovely +countenance, occasioned, no doubt, by his neglect and the pain of +finding a rival in every woman he meets. + +There is also on board a beautiful widow whose husband was killed by +the negroes, and who, without fortune or protection, is going to seek +at St. Jago a subsistence, by employing her talents. There is something +inconceivably interesting in these ladies. Young, beautiful, and +destitute of all resource, supporting with cheerfulness their wayward +fortune. + +But the most captivating trait in their character is their fondness for +their children! The Creole ladies, marrying very young, appear more +like the sisters than the mothers of their daughters. Unfortunately +they grow up too soon, and not unfrequently become the rivals of their +mothers. + +We are still on board, at the entrance of the harbour of St. Jago, +which is guarded by a fort, the most picturesque object I ever saw. It +is built on a rock that hangs over the sea, and the palm trees which +wave their lofty heads over its ramparts, add to its beauty. + +We are obliged to wait here till to-morrow; for this day being +the festival of a saint, all the offices are shut. No business is +transacted, and no vessel can approach the town without permission. + +This delay is painful; I am on the wing to leave the vessel, though it +is only four days since we left Barracoa.--I wish to know whether we +shall meet as much hospitality here as in that solitary place. Yet why +should I expect it? Hearts like those of father Philip and the lovely +Jacinta do not abound.--How many are there who, never having witnessed +such goodness, doubt its existence? + +We have letters to several families here, from the governor of Barracoa +and father Philip, and St. Louis has friends who have been long +established at this place. Therefore, on arriving, we shall feel at +home; perhaps too, we may find letters from the Cape;--God grant they +may contain satisfactory intelligence. + + + + +LETTER XVII. + + +_St. Jago de Cuba._ + +A month has passed, since our arrival in this place, in such a round +of visits and such a variety of amusements, that I am afraid, my +dear friend, you will think I have forgotten you. We were received +by the gentleman, to whom Clara was directed, with the most cordial +friendship. He is an ancient Chevalier de St. Louis, and retains, with +much of the formality of the court of France, at which he was raised, +all its elegance and urbanity; and having lived a number of years in +this island, he is loved and respected by all its inhabitants. + +The letters which father Philip and the governor of Barracoa gave us to +their friends, have procured us great attention. + +The people here are much the same as at Barracoa; perhaps they are +a little more civilized. There is some wealth, with much poverty. +The women have made great progress towards improvement since such +numbers of French have arrived from St. Domingo.--They are at least a +century before the men in refinement, but women are every where more +susceptible of polish than the lords of the creation. Those of this +town are not generally remarkable for their beauty. There are some, +however, who would be admired even in Philadelphia, particularly the +wife of the governor; but they are all remarkable for the smallness of +their feet, and they dress their hair with a degree of taste in which +they could not be excelled by the ladies of Paris. + +We arrived in the season of gaiety, and have been at several balls; +but their balls please me not!--Every body in the room dances a +minuet, which you may suppose is tedious enough; then follow the +country dances, which resemble the English, except that they are more +complicated and more fatiguing. + +There are in this town eleven churches, all of them splendid, and the +number of priests is incredible! Many of them may be ranked among the +most worthless members of the community. It is not at all uncommon to +see them drunk in the street, or to hear of their having committed +the most shocking excesses. Some, however, are excellent men, who do +honour to their order and to human nature. But the thickest veil of +superstition covers the land, and it is rendered more impervious by the +clouds of ignorance in which the people are enveloped! + +Clara, who speaks the language with the facility of a native, asked +some of her Spanish friends for books, but there was not one to be +found in the place. She complained some days ago of a head-ache, and a +Spanish lady gave her a ribbon, which had been bound round the head of +an image of the Virgin, telling her it was a sovereign remedy for all +pains of the head. + +The bishop is a very young man and very handsome. We see him often at +church, where we go, attracted by the music. But one abominable custom +observed there, destroys our pleasure. The women kneel on carpets, +spread on the ground, and when they are fatigued, cross their legs, and +sit Turkish fashion; whilst the men loll at their ease on sofas. From +whence this subversion of the general order? Why are the women placed +in the churches at the feet of their slaves? + +The lower classes of the people are the greatest thieves in the world, +and they steal with so much dexterity, that it is quite a science. The +windows are not glazed, but secured by wooden bars, placed very close +together. The Spaniards introduce between these bars long poles, which +have at one end a hook of iron, and thus steal every thing in the room, +even the sheets off the beds. The friars excel in this practice, and +conceal their booty in their large sleeves! + +In the best houses and most wealthy families there is a contrast of +splendour and poverty which is shocking. Their beds and furniture are +covered with a profusion of gilding and clumsy ornaments, while the +slaves, who serve in the family, and even those who are about the +persons of the ladies, are in rags and filthy to the most disgusting +degree! + +How different were the customs of St. Domingo! The slaves, who served +in the houses, were dressed with the most scrupulous neatness, and +nothing ever met the eye that could occasion an unpleasant idea. + +The Spanish women are sprightly, and devoted to intrigue. Their +assignations are usually made at church. The processions at night, +and the masses celebrated before daylight, are very favourable to the +completion of their wishes, to which also their dress is well adapted. +They wear a black silk petticoat; their head is covered with a veil of +the same colour, that falls below the waist; and, this costume being +universal, and never changed, it is difficult to distinguish one woman +from another. A man may pass his own wife in the street without knowing +her. Their attachments are merely sensual. They are equally strangers +to the delicacy of affection or that refinement of passion which can +make any sacrifice the happiness of its object may require. + +To the licentiousness of the people, more than to their extreme +poverty, may be attributed the number of children which are +continually exposed to perish in the street. Almost every morning, at +the door of one of the churches, and often at more than one, a new-born +infant is found. There is an hospital, where they are received, but +those who find them, are (if so disposed,) at liberty to keep them. +The unfortunate little beings who happen to fall into the hands of the +lower classes of the people, increase, during their childhood, the +throng of beggars, and augment, as they grow up, the number of thieves. + +The heart recoils at the barbarity of a mother who can thus abandon her +child; but the custom, here, as in China, is sanctioned by habit, and +excites no horror! + + + + +LETTER XVIII. + + +_St. Jago de Cuba._ + +We have received no news from the Cape, my dear friend, but it is +generally expected that it will be evacuated, as several parts of the +island have been already. + +This place is full of the inhabitants of that unfortunate country, +and the story of every family would offer an interesting and pathetic +subject to the pen of the novelist. + +All have been enveloped in the same terrible fate, but with different +circumstances; all have suffered, but the sufferings of each individual +derive their hue from the disposition of his mind. + +One catastrophe, which I witnessed, is dreadfully impressive! I saw +youth, beauty and affection sink to an untimely grave, without having +the power of softening the bitterness of their fate. + +Madame C----, a native of Jeremie, had been sent by her husband to +Philadelphia, at the beginning of the revolution, where she continued +several years, devoting all her time to improving the mind and +cultivating the talents of her only child, the beautiful Clarissa. + +Sometime after the arrival of the French fleet, Madame C----, and her +daughter returned to Jeremie. She had still all the charms of beauty, +all the bloom of youth. She was received by her husband with a want of +tenderness which chilled her heart, and she soon learned that he was +attached to a woman of colour on whom he lavished all his property. +This, you may suppose, was a source of mortification to Madame C----, +but she suffered in silence, and sought consolation in the bosom of her +daughter. + +When the troubles of Jeremie encreased, and it was expected every day +that it would be evacuated, Monsieur C---- resolved to remove to St. +Jago de Cuba. He sent his wife and child in one vessel, and embarked +with his mistress in another. Arriving nearly at the same time, he +took a house in the country, to which he retired with his superannuated +favourite, leaving his family in town, and in such distress that they +were often in want of bread. + +Madame C----, too delicate to expose the conduct of her husband, or to +complain, concealed from her friends her wants and her grief. + +A young Frenchman was deeply in love with her daughter, but his fortune +had been lost in the general wreck, and he had nothing to offer to the +object of his adoration except a heart glowing with tenderness. He made +Madame C---- the confidant of his affection. She was sensible of his +worth, and would willingly have made him the protector of her daughter, +had she not been struggling herself with all the horrors of poverty and +therefore thought it wrong to encourage his passion. + +He addressed himself to her father, and this father was rich! He +lavished on his mistress all the comforts and elegancies of life, +yet refused to his family the scantiest pittance! He replied to the +proposal that his daughter might marry, but that it was impossible for +him to give her a shilling. + +Clarissa heard the unfeeling sentence with calm despair. She had +just reached the age in which the affections of the heart develope +themselves. The beauty of her form was unequalled, and innocence, +candour, modesty, generosity, and heroism, were expressed with +ineffable grace in every attitude and every feature. Clarissa was +adored. Her lover was idolatrous. The woods, the dawning day, the +starry heavens, witnessed their mutual vows. The grass pressed by +her feet, the air she respired, the shade in which she reposed, were +consecrated by her presence. + +Her mother marked, with pity, the progress of their mutual passion, +which she could not forbid, for her own heart was formed for +tenderness, nor could she sanction it, seeing no probability of its +being crowned with success. But the happiness of her daughter was her +only wish, and moved by her tears, her sighs, and the ardent prayers +of her lover, she at length consented to their union. They were +married and they were happy. But alas! a few days after their marriage +a fever seized Clarissa. The distracted husband flew to her father +who refused to send her the least assistance. She languished, and her +mother and her husband hung over her in all the bitterness of anguish. +The impossibility of paying a physician prevented their calling one, +till it was too late, and, ten days after she had become a wife, she +expired. I have held this disconsolate mother to my breast, my tears +have mingled with hers: all the ties that bound her to the world are +severed, and she wishes only for the moment that will put a period to +her existence, when she fondly hopes she may be again united to her +daughter. To the husband I have never uttered a word. His sorrow is +deep and gloomy. He avoids all conversation, and an attempt to console +him would be an insult on the sacredness of his grief. He has tasted +celestial joys. He has lost the object of his love, and henceforth the +earth is for him a desert. + +For the brutal father there is no punishment. His conscience itself +inflicts none, for he expressed not the least regret when informed of +the fate of his daughter. + +But when the story became known, the detestation his conduct excited +was so violent, that the friends of Madame C---- have caused her +to be separated from him, and obliged him to allow her a separate +maintenance. Unfortunately their interest has been exerted too late. A +few weeks sooner it might have saved her daughter. + +How terrible is the fate of a woman thus dependent on a man who has +lost all sense of justice, reason, or humanity; who, regardless of his +duties, or the respect he owes society, leaves his wife to contend with +all the pains of want, and sees his child sink to an untimely grave, +without stretching forth a hand to assist the one or save the other! + + + + +LETTER XIX. + + +_St. Jago de Cuba._ + +I write continually, my dear friend, though the fate of my letters +is very uncertain. If they arrive safe they will prove that I have +not forgotten you, and that I suffer no opportunity to pass without +informing you that I exist. + +I understand that, after our departure from the Cape, the tyranny +of the general in chief encreased, and that the inhabitants were +daily exposed to new vexations. St. Louis, in particular, was the +distinguished object of his hatred. Eternally on guard at the most +dangerous posts, it was finally whispered that something, more +decidedly bad, was intended him, and he thought it was time to try to +escape from the threatening danger. Being informed of a vessel, that +was on the point of sailing, he prevailed on a fisherman to put him +outside of the fort in his boat, and wait till it came out, the captain +not daring to take him on board in the harbour. On the day appointed, +St. Louis, disguised as a fisherman, went into the boat, and, working +at the oar, they were soon beyond the fort. The vessel approached +shortly after, and St. Louis, embarking, thought himself out of danger. +As soon as they were in reach of the English ships they were boarded, +plundered and sent to Barracoa. + +St. Louis had no trunk, nor any clothes but what were on him, in which +however was concealed gold to a great amount. + +A gentleman, who left the Cape the day after him, informed us of his +escape, and of his having been sent to Barracoa, and also that, as soon +as the general had heard of his departure, he had sent three barges +after the vessel with orders to seize him, take him back, and, as soon +as he was landed, shoot him without further ceremony. + +The whole town was in the greatest consternation. The barges were well +manned and gained on the vessel, but a light wind springing up put it +soon beyond their reach, and it was even believed that the officer, who +commanded the barges, did not use all possible diligence to overtake +them. + +We were rejoiced to hear of the fortunate escape of St. Louis but felt +some anxiety at his not arriving, when lo! he appeared and gave us +himself an account of his adventures. + +He is in raptures with the governor of Barracoa, his charming wife and +the good father Philip, who, hearing that he was the husband of Clara, +shewed him the most friendly attention. He brought us from them letters +glowing with affectionate recollection. + +He talks of buying a plantation and of settling here. If he does I +shall endeavour to return to the continent, but poor Clara! she weeps +when I speak of leaving her, and when I consider the loneliness to +which she will be condemned without me, I have almost heroism enough to +sacrifice my happiness to her comfort. + +Before the arrival of St. Louis we lived in the house of the gentleman +to whose care he had recommended us. He is a widower, the most +cheerful creature in the world, but he lives in the times that +are past; all his stories are at least forty years old. He talks +continually of the mystification of Beaumarchais, and of the magic of +Cagliostro. He told me, with all the solemnity of truth, that a lady +at the court of France, who was past fifty, bought from Cagliostro, +at a great price, a liquid, a single drop of which would take off, in +appearance, ten years of age. The lady swallowed two drops, and went +to the opera with her charms renewed, and her bloom restored to the +freshness of thirty.--At her return she called her waiting woman, who +had been her nurse and was at least seventy. She was nowhere to be +found, but a little girl came skipping in. The lady, enquiring who +she was, learned that old Ursula, intending to try the effect of the +drops, had taken too large a dose, and was skipping about with all the +sprightliness of fifteen. + +Nothing enrages the old gentleman so much as to doubt the truth of what +he relates, or even to question its probability. He assured me that he +knew the lady, and that he witnessed the effect of the drops on herself +and the chambermaid. As I can discover no purpose the invention of such +a tale would answer, I listen without reply, and almost suffer myself +to be persuaded of its reality. + +Nothing can equal the unpleasantness of this town: it is built on the +declivity of a hill; the streets are not paved; and the soil, being of +white clay, the reflection is intolerable, and the heat insupportable. +The water is brought on mules, from a river three miles off, and is a +very expensive article. The women never walk, except to church, but +every evening they take the air in an open cabriolet, drawn by mules, +in which they exhibit their finery, and, not unfrequently, regale +themselves with a segar. + +Every body smokes, at all times, and in all places; and from this +villanous custom arises perhaps, the badness of their teeth, which is +universal. + +The American consul, who has lived here many years, says that the +people are much improved since he resided among them. At his arrival +there was not a gown in the place. They are now generally worn. + +This old consul is the greatest beau in the place. He gives agreeable +parties, and makes love to every body, but I believe with little +success. His very appearance would put all the loves to flight. + + + + +LETTER XX. + + +_St. Jago de Cuba._ + +The French emigrants begin to seek in their talents some resource +from the frightful poverty to which they are reduced, but meet with +very little encouragement. The people here are generally poor, and +unaccustomed to expensive pleasures. A company of comedians are +building a theatre; and some subscription balls have been given, at +which the Spanish ladies were quite eclipsed by the French belles, +notwithstanding their losses. + +Madame D----, of Jeremie, who plays and sings divinely, gave a concert, +which was very brilliant. + +The French women are certainly charming creatures in society. The +cheerfulness with which they bear misfortune, and the industry they +employ to procure themselves a subsistence, cannot be sufficiently +admired. I know ladies who from their infancy were surrounded by +slaves, anticipating their slightest wishes, now working from the dawn +of day till midnight to support themselves and their families. Nor do +they even complain, nor vaunt their industry, nor think it surprising +that they possess it. Their neatness is worthy of admiration, and their +taste gives to their attire an air of fashion which the expensive, +but ill-chosen, ornaments of the Spanish ladies cannot attain. With +one young lady I am particularly acquainted whose goodness cannot be +sufficiently admired. Ah! Eliza, how shall I describe thy sweetness, +thy fidelity, thy devotion to a suffering friend. Why am I not rich +that I could place thee in a situation where thy virtues might be +known, thy talents honoured. Alas! I never so deeply regret my own want +of power as when reflecting that I am unable to be useful to you. + +This amiable girl was left by her parents, who went to Charleston at +the beginning of the revolution, to the care of an aunt, who was very +rich, and without children. At the evacuation of Port-au-Prince, that +lady embarked for this place. Her husband died on the passage; and they +were robbed of every thing they possessed by an English privateer. The +father of Eliza wrote for them to join him in Carolina; but the ill +health of madame L---- would not suffer her to undertake the voyage, +and Eliza will not hear of leaving her, but works day and night to +procure for her aunt the comforts her situation requires. She is young, +beautiful and accomplished. She wastes her bloom over the midnight +lamp, and sacrifices her health and her rest to soothe the sufferings +of her infirm relation. Her patience and mildness are angelic. Where +will such virtues meet their reward? Certainly not in this country; and +she is held here by the ties of gratitude and affection which, to a +heart like hers, are indissoluble. + +In the misfortunes of my French friends, I see clearly exemplified the +advantages of a good education. Every talent, even if possessed in a +slight degree of perfection, may be a resource in a reverse of fortune; +and, though I liked not entirely their manner, whilst surrounded by +the festivity and splendour of the Cape, I now confess that they excite +my warmest admiration. They bear adversity with cheerfulness, and +resist it with fortitude. In the same circumstances I fear I should be +inferior to them in both. But in this country, slowly emerging from a +state of barbarism, what encouragement can be found for industry or +talents? The right of commerce was purchased by the Catalonians, who +alone exercise it, and agriculture is destroyed in consequence of the +restraints imposed on it by the government. The people are poor, and +therefore cannot possess talents whose acquisition is beyond their +reach; but they are temperate, even to a proverb, and so hospitable +that the poorest among them always find something to offer to a +stranger. At the same time they are said to be false, treacherous, and +revengeful, to the highest degree. Certainly there are here no traces +of that magnanimous spirit, which once animated the Spanish cavalier, +who was considered by the whole world as a model of constancy, +tenderness and heroism. + +They feel for the distressed, because they are poor; and are hospitable +because they know want. In every other respect this is a degenerate +race, possessing none of the qualities of the Spaniards of old except +jealousy, which is often the cause of tragical events. + +A young gentleman of this place fell in love with a beautiful girl +who rejected him because she was secretly attached to another. Her +lover was absent; and she feared to avow her passion lest his rival +might use some means to destroy him, for she knew he was cruel and +vindictive; but her lover returning, she declared her attachment, and +declined receiving the visits of him who had pretended to her hand. +A few evenings previous to that fixed on for her marriage, she was +returning from church with her mother, when at the door of her house a +man, wrapped in a large cloak, seized her arm, and plunging a dagger +in her breast, fled, leaving her lifeless on the ground. The cries of +her affrighted mother brought people to her assistance, but the blow +was directed by a secure hand; she breathed no more. Every body was +convinced that the perpetrator of this abominable act was her rejected +lover; but, as no proofs existed, the law could not interfere. Shortly +after he was found dead in the street; and probably it was the hand of +him he had driven to despair, that inflicted the punishment due to his +crime. + +Nothing is more common than such events. They excite little attention, +and are seldom enquired into. How different is this from the peaceful +security of the country in which I first drew breath, and to which I so +ardently, but I fear hopelessly, desire to return. + + + + +LETTER XXI. + + +_St. Jago de Cuba._ + +General Rochambeau, after having made a shameful capitulation with the +negroes, has evacuated the Cape. He presented his superb horses to +Dessalines, and then embarked with his suite, and all the inhabitants +who chose to follow him, intending to fight his way through the British +ships. They were, however, soon overpowered and taken. The English +admiral would not admit the general in chief into his presence. He has +been sent to Jamaica, from whence he will be transported to England. + +Many of the inhabitants of the Cape have arrived here, after having +lost every thing they possessed. Numbers have remained. After the +articles of capitulation were signed three days were allowed for the +evacuation, during which the negroes entered the town, and were so +civil and treated the inhabitants with so much kindness and respect, +that many who had embarked their effects, allured by the prospect +of making a fortune rapidly, paid great sums to have them relanded, +supposing they would be protected as they had been in the time of +Toussaint. But in less than a week they found that they had flattered +themselves with false hopes. A proclamation was issued by Dessalines, +in which every white man was declared an enemy of the _indigenes_, +as they call themselves, and their colour alone deemed sufficient to +make them hated and to devote them to destruction. The author of this +eloquent production, a white man, became himself the first sacrifice. + +The destined victims were assembled in a public square, where they were +slaughtered by the negroes with the most unexampled cruelty. One brave +man, who had often distinguished himself in the defence of the Cape, +and who had been weak enough to stay in it, seized with desperate fury +the sword of one of the negroes, and killing several, at length fell, +overpowered by numbers. A few were preserved from this day's massacre +by their slaves. Some were concealed by the American merchants, though +it was very dangerous to venture on such benevolent actions. One vessel +was searched, and several inhabitants being found on board, they were +taken and hanged. The mate of the vessel, though an American, shared +their fate. The captain saved himself by declaring that he was ignorant +of their being on board. Major B----, whom I have so often mentioned, +had also the folly to stay. One of his slaves concealed him on the day +of the massacre, and, shut up in a hogshead, he was put on board an +American vessel. After many perilous adventures he has arrived here, +and relates scenes which cannot be thought of without horror. + +The women have not yet been killed; but they are exposed to every kind +of insult, are driven from their houses, imprisoned, sent to work on +the public roads; in fine, nothing can be imagined more dreadful than +their situation. + +Two amiable girls, whom I knew, hung to the neck of their father when +the negroes seized him. They wept and entreated these monsters to spare +him; but he was torn rudely from their arms. The youngest, attempting +to follow him, received a blow on the head with a musquet which laid +her lifeless on the ground. The eldest, frantic with terror, clung to +her father, when a ruthless negro pierced her with his bayonet, and she +fell dead at his feet. The hapless father gave thanks to God that his +unfortunate children had perished before him, and had not been exposed +to lingering suffering's and a more dreadful fate. + +Some ladies have found protectors in the American merchants, who +conceal them in their stores. Some have been saved by the British +officers; but the greatest number have been driven into the streets, +and many are forced to carry on their heads baskets of cannon balls +from the arsenal to the fosset, a distance of at least three miles. + +I enquired after a most accomplished and exemplary woman, who with +three beautiful daughters remained at the Cape after the evacuation, +and I have wept at the story of their sufferings till I am unable to +relate them. + +What could have induced these infatuated people to confide in the +promises of the negroes? Yet to what will not people submit to avoid +the horrors of poverty, or allured by the hope of making a rapid +fortune. + +During the reign of Toussaint the white inhabitants had been generally +respected, and many of them, engaging in commerce, had accumulated +money which they sent to the United States, where they are now living +at their ease. Even at the arrival of the French fleet, the lives of +the people, except in a few solitary instances, had been spared. These +considerations had without doubt great weight, but alas! how soon were +their hopes blasted, and how dearly have they paid for their credulity. +Yet even these monsters, thirsting after blood, and unsated with +carnage, preserved from among the devoted victims those whose talents +could be useful to themselves. A printer and several artists have been +suffered to live, but are closely guarded, and warned that their lives +will be the forfeit of the first attempt to escape. With the sword +suspended over their heads they still cherish perhaps a secret hope of +eluding the vigilance of their savage masters. + + + + +LETTER XXII. + + +_St. Jago de Cuba._ + +Madame G----, a native of the Gonaives, having lost her husband at the +beginning of the revolution, left St. Domingo, and sought a retreat +from the horrors that ravaged that devoted island in the peaceful +obscurity of Barracoa. Three infant daughters cheered her solitude; and +she found in cultivating their minds a never failing source of delight. +Some faithful slaves who had followed her, supplied by their industry +her wants. The beauty of her person, the elegance of her manners and +the propriety of her conduct, rendered her the admiration of all +who beheld her, whilst her benevolence, which shared with the poor +the scanty pittance she possessed, made her the idol of those whose +wants she relieved. Thus she lived, contented, if not happy, till the +arrival of the French army at St. Domingo recalled its inhabitants to +their deserted homes. + +Madame G----, lured by the hope of reinstating her children in their +paternal inheritance, left Barracoa, followed by the blessings and +regret of all to whom she was known. On arriving at the Cape she found +a heap of ashes, and shuddered with horror at the dreary aspect of her +native country. But she viewed her children, recollected that on her +exertions they depended, and determined to sacrifice every thought of +comfort to their advancement. Some houses she owned in the Cape, upon +being rebuilt, promised to yield her a handsome revenue; and she passed +in anxious expectation the time during which the army kept possession +of the Cape. At length the moment of the evacuation arrived, and the +wretched Creoles were again reduced to the dreadful alternative of +perishing with want in foreign countries, or of becoming victims to +the rage of the exasperated negroes in their own. Whilst Madame G---- +hesitated, she received a letter from one of the black chiefs, who had +been a slave to her mother. He advised her not to think of leaving the +country; assured her that it was the intention of Dessalines to protect +all the white inhabitants who put confidence in him, and that herself +and her children would be particularly respected. The dread of poverty +in a strange country with three girls, the eldest of whom was only +fifteen, induced her to stay. Many others, with less reason to expect +protection, followed her example. + +When the time allowed for the evacuation had expired, the negroes +entered as masters. During the first days reigned a deceitful calm +which was followed by a dreadful storm. + +The proclamation of Dessalines, mentioned in my last letter was +published. Armed negroes entered the houses and drove the inhabitants +into the streets. The men were led to prison, the women were loaded +with chains. The unfortunate madame G----, chained to her eldest +daughter, and the two youngest chained together, thus toiled, exposed +to the sun, from earliest dawn to setting day, followed by negroes +who, on the least appearance of faintness, drove them forward with +whips. A fortnight later the general massacre took place, but the four +hopeless beings of whom I particularly write, were not led to the field +of slaughter. They were kept closely guarded, without knowing for what +fate they were reserved, expecting every moment to hear their final +sentence. They were sitting one day in mournful silence, when the door +of their prison opened, and the chief, whose letter had induced them to +stay, appeared. He saluted madame G---- with great familiarity, told +her it was to his orders she owed her life, and said he would continue +his friendship and protection if she would give him her eldest daughter +in marriage. The wretched mother caught the terrified Adelaide, who +sunk fainting into her arms. The menacing looks of the negro became +more horrible. He advanced to seize the trembling girl. Touch her not, +cried the frantic mother; death will be preferable to such protection. +Turning coldly from her he said, You shall have your choice. A few +minutes after a guard seized the mother and the two youngest daughters +and carried them out, leaving the eldest insensible on the floor. They +were borne to a gallows which had been erected before their prison, +and immediately hanged. Adelaide was then carried to the house of the +treacherous chief, who informed her of the fate of her mother, and +asked her if she would consent to become his wife? ah! no, she replied, +let me follow my mother. A fate more dreadful awaited her. The monster +gave her to his guard, who hung her by the throat on an iron hook in +the market place, where the lovely, innocent, unfortunate victim slowly +expired. + + + + +LETTER XXIII. + + +_St. Jago de Cuba._ + +I finished my last letter abruptly, my dear friend, but a good +opportunity offered of sending it, and the story of madame G---- had so +affected me that I could think of nothing else. + +St. Louis is determined to buy a plantation here, and establish himself +on it till he can return to St. Domingo. His old disease has seized +him with fresh violence, and he intends to carry his wife beyond the +reach of men. He is jealous of an interesting Spaniard who has lately +been very assiduous towards my sister; and who is, I believe, much +more dangerous than the redoubted general Rochambeau. His person is +perfectly elegant; his face beautiful; his large black eyes seem to +speak every emotion of his soul, but I believe they express only what +he pleases. Clara listens to him, and looks at him as if she was fully +sensible of his advantages, and frequently holds long conversations +with him in his own language, which, if gestures deceive not, are on +no uninteresting subject. But I hope, and would venture to assert, +that she will never, to escape from the domestic ills she suffers, +put her happiness in the power of a Spaniard. She is violent in her +attachments, and precipitate in her movements, but she cannot, will +not, be capable of committing such an unpardonable act of folly. All +idea of her going to the continent is abandoned; and when I only +breathe a hint of leaving her, she betrays such agony that I yield and +promise to stay; yet I render her little service, and destroy myself, +being wearied of this place, which has no charm after the gloss of +novelty is gone, and that has been long since worn off. + +A company of French comedians had built a theatre here, and obtained +permission from the governor to perform. They played with eclat, +and always to crowded houses. The Spaniards were delighted. The +decorations, the scenery, above all the representation of the sea, +appeared to them the effect of magic. But the charm was suddenly +dissolved by an order from the bishop to close the theatre, saying, +that it tended to corrupt the morals of the inhabitants. Nothing can +be more ridiculous, for the inhabitants of this island have long since +reached the last degree of corruption; devoted to every species of +vice, guilty of every crime, and polluted by the continued practice of +every species of debauchery. But it is supposed the order was issued to +vex the governor, with whom the bishop is at variance, and the orders +of the latter are indisputable. It is impossible for him not to know +that even the vices of the French lose much of their deformity by the +refinement that accompanies them, whilst those of his countrymen are +gross, disgusting, and monstrously flagrant. Gaming is their ruling +passion; from morning till night, from night till morning, the men are +at the gaming table. They all wear daggers, and a night very seldom +passes without being marked by an assassination, of which no notice +is taken. The women have recourse to intrigue, sipping chocolate, or +reciting prayers on their rosaries. The custom is to dine at twelve, +then to sleep till three, and this is the hour favourable to amorous +adventures. Whilst the mother, the husband or the guardian sleeps, the +lover silently approaches the window of his mistress, and in smothered +accents breathes his passion. It is not at all uncommon to see priests +so employed; nor are there more dangerous enemies to female virtue, or +domestic tranquillity, than these pretended servants of the Lord. + +I was at first shocked beyond measure, at their licentiousness, for +I had been taught to consider priests as immaculate beings; but when +I reflect that they are men, and doomed to an unnatural condition, +I pardon their aberrations, and abhor only their filth, which is +abominable. Consider how agreeable a monk must be in this hot country, +clothed in woollen, without a shirt, without stockings, and his legs +so dirty that their colour cannot be distinguished, to which is added +a long beard; and yet these creatures are favourites with women of all +ranks and all descriptions. + +There are many religious orders here, among which the Franciscan friars +are the richest, and they are also the most irregular in their conduct. +They had begun, a number of years since, to build a church, which +they were obliged to discontinue for want of funds. Shortly after our +arrival here the wife of a very rich merchant fell dangerously ill. +When her life was despaired of by the physicians, she made a vow to St. +Francis, that if she recovered, she would finish his church. The saint, +it seems, was propitious, for she was restored to health, and her +husband instantly performed the promise of his wife, which has cost him +a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The church was consecrated last +week, with great pomp and due solemnity. The lady, who is certainly +very beautiful, assisted at the ceremony, covered with diamonds, and +displaying in her dress almost regal splendour. She kneeled on the +steps of the great altar, and more than shared the adoration offered to +the saint by the admiring multitude. + +Half the money expended in this pious work would have raised thousands +of the inhabitants of this place, who are in the greatest want, to +comparative ease. But it would not if thus employed, have had such an +effect on the minds of the people; nor would the lady have had any hope +of becoming herself a saint, an honour to which she aspires, and which +she may perhaps attain. + + + + +LETTER XXIV. + + +_St. Jago de Cuba._ + +Clara and her husband are separated for ever! St. Louis is frantic, and +I am distressed beyond measure. My heart is torn with anxiety for her +fate, and I shall know no tranquillity till I hear that she is at least +content. Being acquainted with many of the circumstances which led to +this event, I pity and pardon her. As for the world, its sentence is +already pronounced, and she will be condemned by those who possess not +a thousandth part of her virtues. Her husband spares neither pains nor +expense in searching after her retreat; but, though I am absolutely +ignorant of it, I believe she is beyond his reach. His house is so +disagreeable to me, since she left it, and the wry faces made by all +our friends, seeming to involve me in the scandal occasioned by her +elopement, excite such unpleasant sensations that it will be impossible +for me to remain here. Therefore I shall leave this place immediately +with a lady who is going to establish herself in Jamaica. I have always +desired to see that island, and there I intend to stay till I have some +positive information of Clara. If she is gone to the continent I shall +follow her immediately; if she is in Cuba my friendship, my presence +will console her, and they shall not be wanting. One of my friends, +a man of intelligence and discretion, has promised to find her, if +possible, and has promised also not to betray her, for she must never +be restored to the power of her husband. Far from being an advocate for +the breach of vows so sacred as those which bound her to St. Louis, I +have always expressed with unqualified warmth, my disapprobation of the +levity of many women who had abandoned their husbands. But there are +circumstances which palliate error. Many of those which led to Clara's +elopement plead for her; but if she has sought protection with another, +if she will not accompany me, my heart renounces her, and she will no +longer have a sister. + +We sail in three days. St. Louis makes no objection to my going, and +I leave Cuba without regret, for in it I have never been happy. Write +to me at Kingston. Never was the assurance of your friendship more +necessary to my heart than at this moment. + + + + +LETTER XXV. + + +_Kingston, Jamaica._ + +We arrived at Kingston after a passage of twenty-four hours. On +entering the harbour our little vessel, as it passed near the admiral's +ship, appeared like an ant at the foot of a mountain. Nothing is more +delightful than the bustle and continual movement that strikes the eye +on entering this port. Innumerable boats are continually plying round +the vessels, offering for sale all the fruits of the season. I like the +town. There is an air of neatness in the houses which I have no where +seen since I left my own country; but the streets are detestable; none +of them are paved, and at every step you sink ankle deep in sand. + +I have found numbers of my French friends here, and among others madame +M----, who was more than gallant at the Cape, and who at St. Jago +appeared not insensible to the pleasure of being loved. She left her +sister in a fit of jealousy and went to Jamaica, hoping to captivate +some Englishman, or at least to rival him in his attachment to roast +beef and Madeira. But it seems she has been disappointed, no lover +having yet offered his homage to her robust attractions. She accuses +them of wanting taste, and hates the place and all who inhabit it. + +I have also met here my little friend Coralie, whose adventures since I +parted with her at the Cape, have been distressing and romantic. + +Her mother and herself had been persuaded to remain at the Cape, after +the evacuation, by a brother on whom they entirely depended, and +who, seduced by the hope of making a fortune, staid and shared the +melancholy fate of the white inhabitants of that place. Coralie and her +sister were concealed by an American merchant in his store, among sacks +of coffee and boxes of sugar. Their mother had been led, with the rest +of the women, to the field of slaughter. + +The benevolent man who concealed these unfortunate girls at the risk +of his life, after some weeks had elapsed, and the vigilance of the +negroes a little relaxed, entreated the captain of an English frigate +to receive them on board his vessel, to which he readily agreed. +Disguised in sailors' clothes, and carrying baskets of provisions +on their heads, they followed the captain to the sea side. As they +approached the guard placed on the wharf to examine all that embarked, +they trembled, and involuntarily drew back. But their brave protector +told them that it was too late to recede and that he would defend them +with his life. As the English were on the best terms with the negroes, +the supposed boys were suffered to pass. On entering the ship the +captain congratulated them on their escape, and Coralie, overpowered by +a variety of sensations, fainted in the arms of her generous protector. + +A few days after, they sailed for Jamaica. On entering Port Royal, +the frigate was driven against a small vessel, and so damaged it, +that it appeared to be sinking. The boat was instantly hoisted out, +and the captain of the frigate went himself to the assistance of the +sufferers. The passengers and crew jumped into the boat, and were +making off, when the screams of a female were heard from below, and it +was recollected that there was a sick lady in the cabin. The English +captain descended, brought her up in his arms, and put her in the boat. +Then, saying that the vessel was not so much injured as they imagined, +ordered some of his people to assist him in saving many things that lay +at hand. Four sailors jumped on board, and followed their commander to +the cabin, where they had scarcely descended, when the vessel suddenly +filled and sunk. They were irrecoverably lost. + +Coralie, standing on the deck of the frigate, beheld this catastrophe, +saw perish the man to whom she owed her life, and whose subsequent +kindness had won her heart. + +The lady found in the sinking vessel was her mother, who had +escaped almost miraculously from the Cape, fully persuaded that her +daughters existed no longer. The joy of their meeting was damped by +the melancholy fate of their deliverer, which has been universally +lamented. + +The scenes of barbarity, which these girls have witnessed at the +Cape, are almost incredible. The horror, however, which I felt on +hearing an account of them, has been relieved by the relation of some +more honourable to human nature. In the first days of the massacre, +when the negroes ran through the town killing all the white men they +encountered, a Frenchman was dragged from the place of his concealment +by a ruthless mulatto, who, drawing his sabre, bade him prepare to die. +The trembling victim raised a supplicating look, and the murderer, +letting fall his uplifted arm, asked if he had any money. He replied, +that he had none; but that if he would conduct him to the house of an +American merchant he might probably procure any sum he might require. +The mulatto consented, and when they entered the house, the Frenchman +with all the energy of one pleading for his life, entreated the +American to lend him a considerable sum. The gentleman he addressed +was too well acquainted with the villainy of the negroes to trust to +their word. He told the mulatto, that he would give the two thousand +dollars demanded, but not till the Frenchman was embarked in a vessel +which was going to sail in a few days for Philadelphia, and entirely +out of danger. The mulatto refused. The unfortunate Frenchman wept, and +the American kept firm. While they were disputing, a girl of colour, +who lived with the American, entered, and having learned the story, +employed all her eloquence to make the mulatto relent. She sunk at +his feet, and pressed his hands which were reeking with blood. Dear +brother, she said, spare for my sake this unfortunate man. He never +injured you; nor will you derive any advantage from his death, and by +saving him, you will acquire the sum you demand, and a claim to his +gratitude. She was beautiful; she wept, and beauty in tears has seldom +been resisted. Yet this unrelenting savage did resist; and swore, +with bitter oaths to pursue all white men with unremitting fury. The +girl, however, hung to him, repeated her solicitations, and offered +him, in addition to the sum proposed, all her trinkets, which were of +considerable value. + +The mulatto, enraged, asked if the Frenchman was any thing to her? +Nothing, she replied; I never saw him before; but to save the life of +an innocent person how trifling would appear the sacrifice I offer. +She continued her entreaties in the most caressing tone, which for +some time had no effect, when softening all at once, he said, I will +not deprive you of your trinkets, nor is it for the sum proposed that +I relent, but for you alone, for to you I feel that I can refuse +nothing. He shall be concealed, and guarded by myself till the moment +of embarking; but, when he is out of danger, you must listen to me in +your turn. + +She heard him with horror; but, dissembling, said there would be always +time enough to think of those concerns. She was then too much occupied +by the object before her. + +The American, who stood by and heard this proposal, made to one to whom +he was extremely attached, felt disposed to knock the fellow down, +but the piteous aspect of the almost expiring Frenchman withheld his +hand. He gave the mulatto a note for the money he had demanded, on the +conditions before mentioned, and the Frenchman was faithfully concealed +till the vessel was ready to sail, and then embarked. + +When he was gone, the mulatto called on the girl, and offering her the +note, told her that he had accepted it as a matter of form, but that +he now gave it to her; and reminded her of the promise she had made to +listen to his wishes. Her lover entering at that moment told him that +the vessel was then out of the harbour, and that his money was ready. +He took it, and thus being in the power of the American gentleman, +who had great weight with Dessalines, he probably thought it best to +relinquish his projects on the charming Zuline, for she heard of him no +more. + +The same girl was the means of saving many others, and the accounts I +have heard of her kindness and generosity oblige me to think of her +with unqualified admiration. + + + + +LETTER XXVI. + + +_Kingston, Jamaica._ + +I pass my time agreeably enough here, though I am obliged to stay in a +boarding house till madame L---- can be fixed in her own. A few days +ago a Spanish sloop of war was captured by a British frigate, and +brought into Jamaica. The officers were suffered to land, and came to +lodge in the house where I stay. When called to dinner I was surprized +at finding myself among a group of strangers. As the mistress of the +house never dines at table, and madame L---- was abroad, I would have +retreated, but curiosity prompted me to remain. + +The Spanish captain is an elderly man of most respectable appearance. +All the rest are young, full of spirits, and two of them remarkably +beautiful. Taking it for granted that I was French, and not imagining +I could understand their language, as soon as they were seated at +table they indulged very freely in their remarks on myself. One said +I was not pretty; another, that I was interesting; another, that I +resembled somebody he had seen before; and one elegant young man, who +sat next me, having brushed his arm against mine made in Spanish an +apology, which I appeared not to understand. He then asked me if I +spoke English? I shook my head; and he observed to his companions, +that he had never so much regretted his ignorance of the French. They +laughed; and he continued lamenting the impossibility of making himself +understood. After dinner I withdrew, and having been engaged by Coralie +to pass the evening at her house, I forgot the strangers, and thought +of them no more till the next morning at breakfast, where they were +all assembled, and where madame L---- related to me an adventure she +had met with the day before. She spoke English, and as I was answering +her my eyes met those of the young officer, and his look covered me +with confusion. Ah! he said, you speak English, and were cruel enough +to refuse holding converse with a stranger and a prisoner. I speak +so little, I replied. No, no, he cried, your accent is not foreign; +I could almost swear that it is your native language. He looked at +the others with an air of triumph; and the one who had said I was not +pretty, observed, that he was glad I did not speak Spanish; but I +understand it perfectly, I answered in the same language. + +He looked petrified; and the old captain was delighted. He made many +inquiries after his friends at Cuba, with all of whom I was acquainted. +The young officer who speaks English, is by birth an Irishman. He +entered the Spanish service at the age of fifteen; had been several +years at Lima; had returned to Europe, and was on his way to Vera Cruz +when they were taken by the English. With him my heart claimed kindred, +for in every Irishman I fancy I behold a brother and a friend. His +manners are elegant and interesting beyond expression. There is an +appearance of sadness in his face, which heightens the interest his +fine form creates; and if I had an unoccupied heart, and he a heart to +offer, I believe we should soon forget that he is a prisoner and I a +stranger! + +I have learned from him, that on his arrival at Lima, he was lodged in +the house of a gentleman who had a beautiful daughter. She was a widow, +though very young. The seclusion in which the ladies of this county +live rendered such a companion as Don Carlos doubly dangerous, and the +beauty and sweetness of Donna Angelina, made an indelible impression on +his heart. Their mutual passion was soon acknowledged; but obstacles, +which appeared insurmountable, seemed to deprive them even of hope. + +Angelina had inherited the immense fortune left by her husband, on +condition of remaining a widow. Her father was very rich, but avarice +was his ruling passion. He had sacrificed his only child at the age of +thirteen to an old man, merely because he was wealthy, and there was no +reason to expect that he would suffer her to abandon the fortune she +had so dearly acquired, and marry a man who had no inheritance but +his sword. Though these considerations cast a cloud over their mutual +prospects, they still cherished their mutual affection, and hoped that +some fortunate event would at length render them happy. The father of +Angelina never suspected the situation of his daughter's heart, and her +intercourse with Don Carlos was without restraint. Delightful moments +of visionary happiness how quickly ye passed; delivering in your flight +two victims to the gripe of despair! + +A new viceroy arrived from Spain and Angelina was obliged to appear at +a ball given to celebrate his entry into Lima. + +She danced with Don Carlos, and her beauty, eclipsing all other beauty, +attracted universal notice, but particularly that of the viceroy, who +went the next day to offer at her feet the homage of his adoration. +She received him coldly, but the father was transported with joy, +and when, a few days after, the viceroy demanded her hand, without +hesitation favoured his suit. Angelina declined, and acquainted him +with the conditions on which she inherited her husband's wealth, and +her resolution to remain a widow. He told her that his own fortune was +more than sufficient to replace that he wished her to sacrifice, but +her evident aversion raised a suspicion of other reasons than those she +avowed, and his jealous watchfulness soon discovered her attachment to +Don Carlos. He informed her father of his discovery, who, furious at +seeing his hopes of aggrandizing his family thwarted by a boy, forbad +all intercourse between them. + +The means employed by the viceroy to separate them were still more +effectual. A vessel was on the point of sailing for Spain, and Don +Carlos received orders to embark instantly to bear dispatches of +importance to the court. Resistance would have been vain. He sailed +without being permitted to see the object he had so long adored. + +When he arrived in Spain, he learned that his rival had taken every +precaution to prevent his return to Lima. Fortunately he knew the heart +of his Angelina, and felt assured that the hopes of that detested rival +would never be crowned with success; nor was he disappointed. + +She had been deprived by her father and the viceroy of the man she +loved, but their power extended no farther. There was an asylum to +which she could retreat from their tyranny; that asylum was a convent. +She entered one, took the vows, and gave her immense fortune to the +society of which she became a member. + +On the eve of entering the convent she wrote to Don Carlos, informing +him of her intention; of the impossibility of preserving herself for +him, and her determination never to belong to another. He received this +letter the day on which he sailed for Vera Cruz, and I believe, does +not regret being a prisoner, since he has found in the place of his +captivity a kind being who listens to his tale of sorrows and seeks to +pour the balm of consolation into his wounded heart. + +He amuses me continually with his stories of Lima; describing the +splendour of its palaces, the magnificence of its churches, filled with +golden saints and silver angels, and the beautiful women with which it +abounds. He tells me there can be nothing more fascinating than their +manners; nor more singular and picturesque than their dress, which +consists of a petticoat, reaching no lower than the knee, and a veil +that covers the head and waist, but through which a pretty face is +often shewn in a most bewitching manner. At the same time I perceive +that he talks on every subject with reluctance, except on that nearest +his heart; and when speaking of this, he seems animated by all the +energy of despair. + +I have heard of Clara by a person just arrived from Cuba, and have +written to her. My heart is torn with anxiety for her fate, and +will remain a stranger to repose till I receive more satisfactory +intelligence. I fear she was not born to be at ease. She lives +continually in an ideal world. Her enthusiastic imagination filled +with forms which it creates at pleasure, cherishes a romantic hope of +visionary happiness which never can be realized. + +Yet with all my fine sentiments of correctness and propriety, and +the duty of content and resignation, my heart refuses to condemn her +for having left her husband. Never was there any thing more directly +opposite than the soul of Clara, and that of the man to whom she +was united. Their tempers, their dispositions, were absolutely +incompatible. And should I abandon this poor girl to misfortune? should +I leave her to perish among strangers? ah! no, she is twined round my +heart, and I love her with more than a sister's affection. As soon as I +hear from her again, you shall be informed of my intentions. If I can +induce her to return with me to Philadelphia, in rejoining you I shall +think myself no longer unhappy. + + + + +LETTER XXVII. + + +TO CLARA. + +_Kingston, Jamaica._ + +I have received the message, sent me by Anselmo, my dear Clara, and my +joy at hearing of your welfare, made me forget for a moment, the many +causes you have given me of complaint. Yet what more have I learned +than that you exist? of all that concerns you I remain ignorant. Unkind +Clara! thus you repay my friendship! thus console me for all the +solicitude I have felt for you! To have staid with St. Louis, after +you left him, was not possible, for he did not conceal his suspicions +of my having been in your secret, nor could I find in Cuba an eligible +retreat; for all my friends were his, and all disposed to condemn you. +I accepted therefore, with pleasure, the offer made by Madame L----, +to take me with her to Jamaica. + +Write to me, my dear sister, immediately. Tell me every thing. Does not +your heart require the affectionate sympathy it has been accustomed +to receive from mine? Can you live without me?--without me who have +followed you, and love you with an affection so tender? Dearest Clara, +speak, and I will fly to you! Means shall be found to return to +Philadelphia, where, in peaceful obscurity we may live, free from the +cares which have tormented you, and filled myself with anxiety. + +Anselmo will be careful of your letter. Write fully, and remember that +you are writing to more than a sister; to a friend, who loves you, who +adores your virtues, and who pardons, while she weeps, your faults! + + + + +LETTER XXVIII. + + +TO MARY ----. + +_Bayam, 20 leagues from St. Jago._ + +I know your heart, my dear Mary! On the affection which glows for me +in that heart, I have counted for the pardon of my errors, and your +letter convinces me that I have not been deceived. You know, for you +witnessed, my domestic infelicity; yet, how many of my pains did I not +conceal, to spare you the anguish of lamenting sorrows which you could +not alleviate! + +St. Louis, after his arrival at St. Jago, had connected himself with +a company of gamesters, and with them passed all his time.--Often +returning at a late hour from the gaming table, he has treated me +with the most brutal violence,--this you never knew; nor many things +which passed in the loneliness of my chamber, where, wholly in his +power, I could only oppose to his brutality my tears and my sighs. To +his intolerable and groundless jealousy at Cape Francois you were no +stranger: it embittered my days. Since our arrival in this island it +increased. In every man that approached me he saw a rival! and the more +amiable the object, the more terrible were his apprehensions. + +He became acquainted, at some of the haunts of gaming, with Don Alonzo +de P---- and brought him to our house, but, when his visits had been +repeated two or three times, all the tortures of jealousy were awakened +in the breast of St. Louis. + +If I received this young stranger with pleasure, it was because I found +him interesting. If I avoided him it was an acknowledgement of his +power! + +He had insisted on my learning the Spanish language, yet if I spoke in +that language it was to express sentiments I sought to conceal from +him. How often, in the bitterness of anguish, have I thought that the +direst poverty would be preferable to the ease I had purchased at the +expence of my peace! but alas! the colour of my fate was fixed,--I +was united to St. Louis by bonds which I had been taught to consider +sacred, and, though my heart shuddered at the life-long tie, yet I +always recoiled with horror from the idea of breaking it.--That tie +however is broken; those bonds are dissolved! and there is no fate so +dreadful to which I would not submit, rather than have them renewed. + +Believe me when I assure you that my flight was not premeditated. It is +true, the eloquent eyes of Don Alonzo often spoke volumes, but I never +appeared to understand their language, nor did a look of encouragement +ever escape me. For some days previous to my elopement the ill humour +of St. Louis had been intolerable. My wearied soul sunk beneath the +torments I endured and death would have been preferable to such a state +of existence. The night before I left him he came home in a transport +of fury, dragged me from my bed, said it was his intention to destroy +me, and swore that he would render me horrible by rubbing aqua-fortis +in my face. This last menace deprived me of the power of utterance; +to kill me would have been a trifling evil, but to live disfigured, +perhaps blind, was an insufferable idea and roused me to madness. I +passed the night in speechless agony. The only thought I dwelt on was, +how to escape from this monster, and, at break of day, I was still +sitting, as if rendered motionless by his threats. From this stupor I +was roused by his caresses, or rather by his brutal approaches, for +he always finds my person provoking, and often, whilst pouring on my +head abuse which would seem dictated by the most violent hatred, he +has sought in my arms gratifications which should be solicited with +affection, and granted to love alone. + +You must recollect my unusual sadness that day; for well do I remember +the kind efforts you made to divert me. + +I awaited the approach of night with gloomy impatience, determined that +the dawn of day should not find me beneath that hated roof. When I +left you in the evening it was with difficulty I restrained my tears. +My heart was breaking at the idea of being separated from you, if not +forever at least for a considerable time, and the thought of the pain +my flight would occasion you almost determined me to relinquish it. + +But St. Louis was in my chamber, and his presence dispelled every idea, +except that of avoiding it forever. After seeing me undressed, he +left me, as usual, to pass the greatest part of the night abroad. His +vigilant guard, the faithful Madelaine, lay down near the door of my +apartment, and I, taking a book, appeared to read. At eleven o'clock I +knew by her breathing that she was asleep. + +Taking off my shoes, I passed her softly--opened the door that leads +into the garden, and was instantly in the street. + +The moments were precious, for I had the whole town to pass, in order +to gain the road to _Cobre_, where I intended to request an asylum of +Madame V----. + +I flew with the rapidity of lightning, nor stopped to breathe till I +had passed the town. Beginning to ascend the mountain, I paused, and +leaning against a tree, reflected for a moment on the singularity of +my situation.--Alone, at midnight, on the road to an obscure village, +whose inhabitants are regarded as little better than a horde of +banditti!--Flying from a husband, whose pursuit I dreaded more than +death; leaving behind me a sister, for whom my heart bled, but whom I +could never think of involving in my precarious fate! + +The night was calm. The town, which lies at the foot of the mountain, +was buried in profound repose. The moon-beams glittered on the waves +that were rolling in the bay, and shed their silvery lustre on the +moving branches of the palm trees. The silence was broken by the +melodious voice of a bird, who sings only at this hour, and whose +notes are said to be sweeter than those of the European nightingale. +As I ascended the mountain, the air became purer. Every tree in this +delightful region is aromatic; every breeze wafts perfumes! I had six +miles to walk, and wished to reach the village before day, yet I could +not avoid frequently stopping to enjoy the delightful calm that reigned +around me! + +I knew that, as soon as I was missed, the town would be diligently +searched for me, but of the retreat I had chosen St. Louis could have +no idea, for he was totally unacquainted with the residence of Madame +V----. To this lady I had rendered some essential services at the Cape, +which gave me a claim on her friendship. She left that place before +us, and on her arrival here, bought a little plantation in _Cobre_, +where she lives in the greatest retirement. I had heard of her by +accident, and thought it the surest retreat I could find. As the day +broke I perceived the straggling huts which compose this village, and, +approaching the most comfortable one of the group, found to my great +satisfaction, that it was inhabited by the lady I sought. She had just +risen, and was opening the door as I drew near it. Her surprise at +seeing me was so great, that she doubted for a moment the evidence of +her senses; but, seizing my hand, she led me to her chamber, where, +pressed in her arms, I felt that I had found a friend, and the tears +that flowed on her bosom were proofs of my gratefulness. + +I began to explain to her my situation. "I know it all!" she cried, +"you have escaped from your husband. My predictions are verified, +though a little later than I expected.--But where" continued she, "is +your sister?" I replied that my flight had not been premeditated, and +that you had not been apprised of it. There was no necessity for giving +her a reason for having left my husband. She had always been at a loss +to find one for my staying with him so long. The next consideration +was my toilette. I was bare-headed, without stockings:--my shoes were +torn to pieces by the ruggedness of the road, and I had no other +covering than a thin muslin morning gown. The kind friend, who received +me, supplied me with clothes, and checked her eagerness to learn the +particulars of my story till I had taken the repose I so much required. + +Towards evening she seated herself by my bedside, and I related to her +all that I had suffered since she left me at the Cape. + +But when I spoke of the threat which had determined me to the step I +had taken, she made an exclamation of horror. + +I told her that my intention was to remain concealed till the search +after me was over, and then to embark for the continent. + +She approved the project, and said, that I could be no where in greater +security than with her; for, though the village is only six miles from +town, it is as much secluded as if it was in the midst of a desert, +except at the feast of the holy Virgin which is celebrated once a year. + +The festival lasts nine days, and all the inhabitants of St. Jago come +to assist at its celebration. Unfortunately the season of the feast +was approaching, during which it would have been impossible for me to +remain concealed in the village. However, as there was still time to +consider, she bade me be tranquil, and promised to find me a retreat. +Two days after she went to town and at her return I learned that +nothing was talked of but my elopement. + +St. Louis, in the first transports of his rage, has entered a complaint +against Don Alonzo and, declaring that he had carried me off, had him +imprisoned! + +It was feared this step would be attended with ill consequences, for +this young Spaniard, being related to the bishop and some of the +most distinguished families, it was supposed the indignity of his +imprisonment would be resented by them all! + +Besides, he was entirely innocent of the charge exhibited against him, +not having had the slightest idea of my flight. + +This information filled me with alarm. I felt insecure so near the town +and entreated madame V---- to indicate a more remote and safe asylum. + +She told me that she had a friend, twenty leagues from town, to whom +she had often promised a visit; that the inconvenience of travelling +in this barbarous country, had hitherto prevented her going, but that +these considerations vanished before the idea of obliging me, and that +the pleasure of making the journey in my company would be a sufficient +inducement. + +Two days were past in procuring horses and making preparations for our +departure. In the evening we walked among the rocks, which surround the +village, and, had my heart been at ease, I should have wandered with +delight in these romantic regions. + +The place was once famous for its valuable copper mines, from which it +takes its name, but they have been long abandoned. The inhabitants, +almost all mulattos, are in the last grade of poverty, and too indolent +to make an exertion to procure themselves even the most necessary +comforts. Yet, in this abode of wretchedness, there is a magnificent +temple, dedicated to the blessed Virgin. Its ornaments and decorations +are superb. The image of the Virgin, preserved in the temple, is +said to be miraculous and performs often wonderful things. The faith +of these people in her power is implicit. The site of the temple is +picturesque, and the scenery, that surrounds it, beautiful beyond +description, standing near the summit of a mountain, at the foot of +which lies the village. You ascend to it by a winding road, and see its +white turrets, at a great distance, glittering beneath the palm trees +that gracefully wave over it. + +After passing through the miserable village and following the winding +path through craggy cliffs, over barren rocks and precipices which +the eye dares not measure, the mind almost involuntarily yields to the +belief of supernatural agency. On entering the church the image of the +Virgin, fancifully adorned and reposing on a bed of roses, appears +like the presiding genius of the place. The waxen tapers, continually +burning, the obscurity that reigns within, occasioned by the +impenetrable branches of the trees which overshadow it, and the slow +solemn tone of the organ, re-echoed by the surrounding rocks, fill the +mind with awe; and we pardon the superstitious faith of the ignorant +votaries of this holy lady, cherished as it is by every circumstance +that can tend to make it indelible! + +At the appointed time, before the dawn of day, our little cavalcade set +out. Madame V---- and myself on horseback, preceded by a guide, and +followed by a boy, leading two mules charged with provisions, and every +thing requisite for the journey. We wore large straw hats, to defend us +from the sun, with thick veils, according to the custom of the country. +Leaving Cobre behind us, we ascended the mountain. The road passed +through groves of majestic trees, intermingled with the orange and the +lime, which being in blossom, the senses were almost overpowered by +the odours which filled the air. We proceeded slowly and silently.--I +thought of you my dear sister!--My tears flowed at the idea of your +pain, and I trembled to think that I was not out of danger of being +discovered. + +About eight o'clock our guide said it was time to breakfast, and, tying +our horses, he struck a light, kindled a fire, and made chocolate. The +repast finished, we continued on our way through the same delightful +country; still breathing the purest air, but without discovering any +vestige of a human habitation. + +About noon we saw a little hut. The guide, alighting, half opened the +door, saying "May the holy virgin bless this house!" This salutation +brought out a tall sallow man, who gravely taking his segar from his +mouth, bowed ceremoniously, and bid us enter. We followed him, and saw, +sitting on an ox hide, stretched on the ground, a woman, whose ragged +garments scarcely answered the first purposes of decency. She was +suckling a squalid naked child, and two or three dirty children were +lolling about, without being disturbed by the appearance of strangers. +A hammock, suspended from the roof, was the only article of furniture +in the house. Whilst the guide was unloading the mules to prepare our +dinner, I went out to seek a seat beneath some trees; for the filth of +the house, and the appearance of its inhabitants filled me with disgust. + +To my infinite astonishment, the plains which extended behind the +house, as far as the eye could reach, were covered with innumerable +herds of cattle, and on enquiring of the guide to whom they belonged, +I learned, with no less surprise, that our host was their master. +Incredible as it may appear, this miserable looking being, whose abode +resembled the den of poverty, is the owner of countless multitudes +of cattle, and yet it was with the greatest difficulty that we could +procure a little milk. + +A small piece of ground, where he raised tobacco enough for his own +use, was the only vestige of cultivation we could discover. Nothing +like vegetables or fruit could be seen. When they kill a beef, they +skin it, and, cutting the flesh into long pieces about the thickness +of a finger, they hang it on poles to dry in the sun; and on this they +live till it is gone, and then kill another. + +Sometimes they collect a number of cattle and drive them to town, in +order to procure some of the most absolute necessaries of life. But +this seldom happens, and never till urged by the most pressing want. As +for bread, it is a luxury with which they are entirely unacquainted. +After dinner the guide, and the host, and all the family, lay down on +the ground to sleep the siesta, which, you know no consideration would +tempt a Spaniard to forget. Madame V---- walked with me under the +trees, near the house, and remarked the striking difference between +this country and St. Domingo. There, every inch of ground was in the +highest state of cultivation, and everybody was rich, here, the owners +of vast territories are in the most abject poverty. + +This she ascribed to the different genius of the people, but I +think unjustly, believing that it is entirely owing to their vicious +government. + +After our guide had taken his nap he led up the horses, and bidding +adieu to our hosts, we continued our journey. + +We passed during the afternoon several habitations similar to the one +where we dined. The same wretchedness; the same poverty exhibited +itself, surrounded by troops of cattle, who bathed in plains of the +most luxuriant pasturage. + +As the sun declined our guide began to sing a litany to the Virgin, in +which he was joined by the boy who followed us. The strain was sweet. + + + "And round a holy calm diffusing + In melancholy murmurs died away." + + +At the close of day we stopped at a hut, where the guide told us we +must pass the night, and I learned that we had come ten leagues, though +we had advanced at a snail's pace. The hut we entered was inhabited +by an old man who, retiring with the guide to an adjoining shed, left +us the house to ourselves. The couch, which invited us to repose, +was a hide laid on the ground. Madame V---- had brought sheets, and, +spreading them on the hide, I soon sunk to rest. But my slumbers were +interrupted by a most unaccountable noise, which seemed to issue from +all parts of the room, not unlike the clashing of swords; and, as I +listened to discover what it was, a shriek from Madame V---- increased +my terror. In sounds scarcely articulate, she said a large cold animal +had crept into her bosom, and in getting it out, it had seized her hand. + +Frightened to death I opened the door and called the guide, who +discovered by his laughing that he had foreseen our misfortune, and +guarded against it by suspending his hammock from the branches of a +tree. When I asked for a light to search for what had disturbed us, he +said it was nothing but land crabs, which, at this season, descend in +countless multitudes from the mountain, in order to lay their eggs on +the sea shore. + +The ground was covered with them, and paths were worn by them down the +sides of the mountain. They strike their claws together as they move +with a strange noise, and no obstacle turns them from their course. Had +they not found a passage through the house they would have gone over +it; and one finding madame V---- in his way, had crept into her bosom. +The master of the house gave his hammock to madame V----. I mounted in +that of the guide; but the curiosity excited by our visitors, rendered +it impossible for us to sleep. I asked the guide if it was common to +see them in such numbers. He said that it was; and told me that the +English having some years ago made a descent on the island, had seized +a Spaniard whom they found in a hut, and threatened to kill him if he +would not shew them the way to St. Jago, which they had always wished +to possess, but which they could not approach by sea. The terrified +Spaniard promised to comply. In the night, as they were encamped on +the mountain, waiting for daylight in order to proceed, they heard a +noise stealing through the thickets, like that of an approaching host. +They asked their prisoner what it meant? he replied, that it could +be nothing but a body of Spaniards who, apprized of their descent, +were preparing to attack them. The noise increasing on all sides, the +English, fearful of being surrounded, embarked, and in their haste +suffered the prisoner to escape, who by his address probably prevented +them from becoming masters of the island, for the pretended host was +nothing more than an army of these crabs. + +The man, I understand, received no reward; but the anniversary of this +event is still celebrated; and if the crabs have not been canonized, +they are at least spoken of with as much reverence as the sacred geese, +to which Rome owed its preservation. + +During the night their noise prevented me effectually from sleeping. +They appeared like a brown stream rolling over the surface of the +earth. Towards morning they gradually disappeared, hiding themselves in +holes during the day. + +At the first peep of dawn we set out, and arrived in the evening at +Bayam. The friend of madame V---- received us with great cordiality. +She lost her husband soon after her arrival in this country. She is +very handsome, and has an air of sadness which renders her highly +interesting. She was informed of my story, and requested me to think +myself at home in her house. + +It was determined that I should pass for a relation of her husband; and +soothed by her kindness and attentions I began to hope that beneath her +roof I should find repose. + +Madame V----, after staying with us eight days, returned to Cobre, +promising to inform herself of you, and to write me all that was +passing. She wrote me immediately that you had sailed for Jamaica: that +Don Alonzo was out of prison; that he had commenced a suit against +St. Louis for false imprisonment, and that the latter was actually +confined. Don Alonzo is powerfully supported by the bishop and all his +family, who have long been at variance with the governor, and gladly +seek this opportunity of revenging themselves. She finally told me, my +dear Mary, that she had discovered a young man who owned a small vessel +in which he goes constantly to Jamaica, and that she had entreated +him to find you, to tell you that I am well, and to charge himself +with your letter, not doubting but you would write. That kind letter I +received yesterday, and it has given me the first agreeable sensation +I have known since we parted. I am convinced of your affection for +me, but do not let that affection hurry you into imprudencies which +may perhaps betray me. Do not think of returning to St. Jago; and, +may I add, do not think of leaving Jamaica till I can join you. We +will return to the continent together, and I hope together we shall +be happy. Two or three doubloons, which I brought with me, prevent my +being dependant on the lady in whose house I am, for any thing but her +friendship. + +I was struck with the resemblance of a Spanish lady who lives near us +to Don Alonzo, and found, on enquiring, that she is his sister. She +spoke to me of her brother, but is as ignorant of his affairs as if he +dwelt in the moon. + +This place is the abode of poverty and dullness, yet the people are so +hospitable that from the little they possess they can always spare +something to offer to a stranger. And they are content with their +lot--how many reasons have I not to be so with mine! + + + + +LETTER XXIX. + + +TO MARY ----. + +_Bayam._ + +I thank you a thousand times, my dear sister, for your affectionate +letter, and for the parcel that accompanied it. I knew with what +pleasure you would share with me all you possess, and to be indebted to +you adds to my happiness. + +What you have heard of St. Louis is true. The affair of Don Alonzo +and himself was made up by the interposition of some of their mutual +friends who represented him as half mad; and somebody having spread a +report that I had sailed for the city of Santo Domingo, he embarked +immediately for that place. What he could think I should seek at Santo +Domingo, I am at a loss to imagine. + +My retreat has been discovered, and though by one who would not betray +me, yet he is the last person on earth, except St. Louis, to whom I +could have wished it to be known. + +The husband of Donna Maria, the Spanish lady whom I mentioned to you +before, had gone to St. Jago, some days previous to my arrival here. +Having, as is the universal custom, visited a gaming house, he had a +dispute with a gambler of bad reputation, and on leaving the house +received a blow with a poinard, which proved mortal. + +Such occurrences are too frequent to create much public interest, and +it is considered useless to seek the assassin. + +When the senora Maria expected the return of her husband, she heard +that he existed no longer. The news was brought by her brother. Her +house joins the one I live in. Hearing the most lamentable cries from +her chamber I ran in. Judge of my surprise at seeing Don Alonzo. His, +I believe, was not less, for abandoning his sister, he approached me; +but I was too much terrified at her situation, to attend to him. When +informed of the cause, I felt that in that moment she could not be +consoled, and I saw also that the violence of her sorrow would soon +exhaust itself. + +Don Alonzo sought an opportunity of speaking to me, which I avoided. +Learning afterwards where I lived, he so ingratiated himself with +madame St. Clair, that he received an invitation to her house, and in +that house he now passes all his time. He has been the innocent cause +of much of my suffering, yet I cannot find fault with his conduct; and +madame St. Clair, devoting much of her time to his widowed sister, I +have no means of escaping from him. He has informed me of many of the +follies of St. Louis, of the obstinacy with which he affirmed that +Don Alonzo had aided my flight, and of the means he had employed to +discover me. And why, he sometimes asks, did you not suffer me to aid +you? why did you not repose confidence in me? + +You know my dear Mary, how eloquent are his eyes! you know the +insinuating softness of his voice! Sometimes, when listening to him, I +forget for a moment all I have suffered, and almost persuade myself +that a man can be sincere. + +The governor of Bayam is an Irish Spaniard, at least he is of an Irish +family, and was born in Spain. I have become acquainted with him since +the arrival of Don Alonzo, and felt, the instant I beheld him, as if +I was in the society of an old acquaintance. His Irish vivacity is a +little tempered by Spanish gravity. He speaks English as if he had +been raised in his own country, and his mind is stored with literary +treasures. He has a handsome collection of books, which he offered me. +Judge of my delight at meeting with Shakspeare in the wilds of Cuba. + +What could have induced him to accept this sorry government I have +not yet learned, but he certainly possesses talents which merit a +more important employment, and his elegant manners would add lustre +to the most distinguished situation. He laughs heartily at his ragged +subjects, by whom however he is regarded as a father and a friend. He +says with better laws they would be the best fellows in the world; but +situated as they are, their indolence is their best security. + +We often make excursions in the beautiful environs of this place and +dine beneath the shade of the palm tree, or the tall and graceful +cocoa, which offers us in its fruit a delicious dessert, whilst the +gaiety of the governor diffuses around us an indescribable charm. + +But my dear sister, think not that I forget you in these delightful +scenes. On the contrary I long to see you, and am hastening the moment +of my departure. + +Madame St. Clair, seduced by the description I have made of our +peaceful country, and wearied of a place where she has known nothing +but misfortune, where the talents she possesses are absolutely lost, +intends going with me to Philadelphia, as soon as she can arrange her +affairs, and has consented to accompany me to Kingston, from whence we +can all sail together. You will love her, I am sure, for her kindness +to me; but, independently of that consideration, her beauty, the +graceful sweetness of her manners, and her divine voice, render it +impossible to behold or listen to her with indifference. + +The governor says, if he loses his two most amiable subjects, his +little empire will not be worth keeping. Don Alonzo + + + "Looks and sighs unutterable things," + + +and sometimes hints, in broken accents, the passion he has felt for +me since the first moment he saw me, at all which I laugh. For me, +henceforth all men are statues. I was so ill-fated as to meet that +phenomenon a jealous Frenchman, and with my wounds still bleeding, +would I put my happiness in the power of a Spaniard? Ah! no, let me +avoid the dangerous intercourse, let me fly to my sister! Why are you +so far removed from me? why did you so hastily leave the island, where +you knew I must be, and in a situation too in which your counsel, your +support is doubly necessary. + +It will be impossible for me to leave Bayam in less than a month. We +shall sail for Kingston with Anselmo. Much precaution must be used, for +I must embark from St. Jago, and if I was discovered, should certainly +be arrested by the governor, who is exasperated against me. Write to +me, my dear girl, by the return of the vessel; and believe me that I +wait with the utmost impatience for the moment that will reunite us. + + + + +LETTER XXX. + + +TO CLARA. + +_Kingston._ + +Let me entreat you, my dear sister, to leave Bayam as soon as possible. +I cannot describe the pain with which I heard of Don Alonzo being near +you. You pass hours, days with him; you talk of his eloquent eyes, +his sweet voice. Ah! fly, dearest creature, fly from the danger that +surrounds you. Listen not to that insinuating Spaniard. If you do you +are irrecoverably lost. + +Why indeed am I not near you? yet after your flight, to stay in +Cuba was impossible, and my leaving it was, I believe, one of the +principal reasons which determined St. Louis to leave it also: so far +it was fortunate. My heart always acquitted you for having taken the +resolution to abandon your home; for though, as you say, I knew not +all, I knew enough to awaken in my breast every sensation of pity. +Yet it is not sufficient that you are acquitted by a sister, who +will always be thought partial; and if you cannot conciliate general +approbation, at least endeavour to avoid meriting general censure. Who +that hears of your being at Bayam, in the house of the sister of Don +Alonzo, knowing that he had been publicly accused of having taken you +off, and learns, that as soon as the affair was hushed up in St. Jago, +that he went to Bayam, that he passes all his time in your society, +that at home and abroad he is ever at your side, who can hear all this, +and not believe that it was preconcerted? Ah! Clara, Clara, I believe +that it was not, because I love you, and cannot think you would deceive +me. But why stay a month, a week, a day, where you are? Why not come +to me when Anselmo returns? when with me, my friendship, my affection, +will soothe and console you. I will remove from your lacerated breast +the thorns which have been planted there by the hand of misfortune. +You shall forget your sorrows, and I will aid you against your own +heart, for I believe at present _that_ is your most dangerous enemy. + + + + +LETTER XXXI. + + +TO MARY ----. + +_Bayam._ + +You frighten me to death, my dear sister, with your apprehensions. You +paint my situation in terrifying colours; yet could I forsee that I +should be led into it, when alone and friendless I fled at midnight +from a house where I suffered continual torture? Did I imagine that in +Bayam I should become acquainted with Don Alonzo's sister, and that +I should meet him in her house? Sentence, I know, has been passed +against me, and that sentence will be confirmed by what has happened +subsequent to my elopement. The testimony of my own heart will be of +little avail. But will you also join against me? I cannot believe it. +Condemn me not, at least suspend all opinion till we meet, which will +be in a fortnight. To avoid the danger of passing through St. Jago, +we go by land to a place called Portici, from whence we shall embark. +The journey will be delightful. We intend making it on horseback. The +governor and Don Alonzo will accompany us. Start not at this, for it +cannot be otherwise; nor could I, by refusing his services, discover +that I thought it dangerous to accept them. + +In my anxiety to see you, every moment seems an age, yet I feel +something like regret at leaving this country. The friendliness of the +people can never be forgotten. Here, as in Barracoa, they are poor +but contented. They sip their chocolate, smoke a segar, and thrum the +guitar undisturbed by care. Often, when reviewing the events of my +past life, I wish that their calm destiny had been mine; but alas! how +different has been my fate. + +I write this letter to prepare you for my arrival. When Anselmo goes +next, I go with him; and, when I embrace my sister, I shall be happy. + + + + +LETTER XXXII. + + +_Kingston, Jamaica._ + +Clara, my dear friend, is at length arrived. I have held that truant +girl to my heart, and have forgotten whilst embracing her all the +reproaches I intended to make, and which I thought she deserved. I +cannot help loving her, though I approve not of all she does; but I +will blame her fate rather than herself, for who can behold her and +not believe that she is all goodness? who can witness the powers of +her mind and withhold their admiration? Whatever subject may engage +her attention, she seizes intuitively on what is true, and by a sort +of mental magic, arrives instantaneously at the point where, even +very good heads, only meet her after a tedious process of reasoning +and reflection. Her memory, surer than records, perpetuates every +occurrence. She accumulates knowledge while she laughs and plays: +she steals from her friends the fruits of their application, and thus +becoming possessed of their intellectual treasure, without the fatigue +of study, she surprises them with ingenious combinations of their own +materials, and with results of which they did not dream. Her heart +keeps a faithful account, not only of every word but of every look, +of every movement of her friends, prompted by kindness and affection, +and never is her society more delightful than in those moments of calm +and sublime meditation, when her genius surveys the past, or wanders +through a fanciful and novel arrangement of the future. Who that thus +knows Clara, and is sensible of her worth, can have known her husband, +and condemn her? + +It is true, Clara is said to be a coquette, but have not ladies of +superior talents and attractions, at all times and in all countries +been subject to that censure? unless indeed theirs was the rare fortune +of becoming early in life attached to a man equal or superior to +themselves! Attachments between such people last through life, and +are always new. Love continues because love has existed; interests +create interests; parental are added to conjugal affections; with the +multiplicity of domestic objects the number of domestic joys increase. +In such a situation the heart is always occupied, and always full. For +those who live in it their home is the world; their feelings, their +powers, their talents are employed. They go into society as they take a +ramble; it affords transient amusement, but becomes not a habit. Their +thoughts, their wishes dwell at home, and they are good because they +are happy. But if on the contrary a woman is disappointed in the first +object of her affections, or if separated from him she loved, fate +connects her with an inferior being, to what can it lead? You might as +well expect to confine a sprightly boy, in all the vigour of health to +sedate inaction, as to prevent talents and beauty, thus circumstanced, +from courting admiration. A feeling heart seeks for corresponding +emotions; and when a woman, like Clara, can fascinate, intoxicate, +transport, and whilst unhappy is surrounded by seductive objects, she +will become entangled, and be borne away by the rapidity of her own +sensations, happy if she can stop short on the brink of destruction. + +If Clara's husband had been in every respect worthy of her she would +have been one of the best and happiest of human beings, but her good +qualities were lost on him; and, though he might have made a very good +husband to a woman of ordinary capacity, to Clara he became a tyrant. + +Sensible of the impossibility of her leaving him, he took it for +granted that she bestowed on another those sentiments he could not +hope to awaken himself. Yet Clara never deceived him. There is in her +character a proud frankness which renders her averse to, and unfit +for intrigue. When at the Cape, she was not dazzled by splendor, +though it courted her acceptance; nor could the ill-treatment of her +husband force her to seek a refuge from it in the arms of a lover who +had the means of protecting her. At St. Jago his conduct became more +insupportable, and when at length she fled from his house, alone and +friendless, she was unseduced by love, but impelled by a repugnance +for her husband which had reached its height, and could no longer be +resisted. + +Delivered from the weight of this oppressive sentiment, she now enjoys +a delightful tranquillity, which even the thought of many approaching +struggles with difficulty and distress, cannot disturb. + +In such a situation I am more than ever necessary to my sister; and, +perhaps, it is the consciousness of this, that has given birth to many +of the sentiments expressed in this letter. + +We have learned that St. Louis sailed from the city of Santo Domingo to +France, from which I hope he may never return. + +Clara and myself will leave this for Philadelphia, in the course of the +ensuing week. There I hope we shall meet you; and if I can only infuse +into your bosom those sentiments for my sister which glow so warmly in +my own, she will find in you a friend and a protector, and we may still +be happy. + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Secret History, by Leonora Sansay + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59533 *** |