FRENCH REVOLUTION

25. Saint-Domingue. Conseil supérieur. Ordonnance concernant la liberté du commerce pour la partie du sud de Saint- Domingue . : Du neuf mai mil sept cent quatre-vingt-neuf. Extrait des registres du Conseil supérieur de Saint- Domingue. Au Port-au-Prince : Chez Bourdon, imprimeur du roi & du Conseil supérieur de Saint- Domingue, [1789].

Years of poor harvests preceded the French Revolution. While the metropole was unable to provide for itself, the French colony of Saint Domingue suffered even more so. In 1789, there was a severe lack of flour at home and abroad. The shortage in Saint Domingue aggravated an already stagnant economy. Governor of the Colony, Marie Charles du Chilleau, with the support of the colonial planters, issued this ordinance on his own authority but with the approval of the Saint Domingue Conseil Supérieur. It permits importation into Saint Domingue by U.S. and other foreign vessels of various goods, while exempting them from import duties, allowing payments in sugar or other products of the colony.

26. Nicolas-Robert, marquis de Cocherel, 1741-1826. Projet d'un decret pour les subsistances de l'isle de Saint- Domingue , par M. de Cocherel, un de ses députés. A Paris: Chez Clousier, imprimeur du Roi, rue de Sorbonne, [1789].

Du Chilleau's 27 May 1789 ordinance had the support of the Marquis de Cocherel, who, in this pamphlet argued that it be confirmed and that the National Assembly enact a decree permitting U.S.  ships to import flour into Saint Domingue and receive in payment cargoes of sugar or coffee.

27. François Barbé-Marbois. Réclamation de M. l'intendant de Saint- Domingue, enregistrée au Conseil Supérieur de cette colonie. [S.l.: s.n., 1789?].

28. Assemblée provinciale du Nord de Saint- Domingue. Arrêt de l'Assemblée provinciale de la Partie du Nord de Saint- Domingue séant au cap, contre Barbé de Marbois, ses conseils, complices & adhérens. En date du 21 Septembre 1789. [S.l.: s.n., 1789].

François Barbé-Marbois was secretary to the French legation in the United States from 1779 to 1785. His request for information on the 13 U. S. states prompted what became Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia. He strongly opposed the Saint Domingue Conseil Superieur's ordinance opening trade with the U. S., and was, in return, bitterly denounced by the Saint Domingue deputies to the Assemblée Nationale. He and his father-in-law were accused of profiteering from the crisis by diverting flour destined for the colony to the latter's warehouse in Philadelphia.

29. Replique des député des manufactures & du commerce de France à MM. les députés de S. Domingue, concernant l'approvisionnement de cette colonie. A Versailles: de l'imprimerie de Ph.-D. Pierres, premier imprimeur ordinaire du roi, rue S. Honoré, no. 23, [1789].

30. Approvisionnemens de St. Domingue. A Versailles: de l'imprimerie de Ph.-D. Pierres, premier imprimeur ordinaire du roi, rue S. Honoré. no. 23, [1789].

These two pamphlets urge that the National Assembly take no action to relieve alleged famine in Saint Domingue because French harvests are supposed to be ample and imports from the United States were therefore unnecessary. Moreover, the Approvisionnemens denies that there even exists a flour shortage or that famine is killing slaves in Saint Domingue. The author opposes any easing of restrictions on importations of U.S. flour into Saint Domingue.

31. Nicolas-Robert, marquis de Cocherel, 1741-1826. Réflexions de M. de Cocherel, député de Saint- Domingue, sur le rapport du Comité des Six. A Paris: Chez Clousier, imprimeur du roi, rue de Sorbonne, [1789 or 1790].

Nicolas-Robert Cocherel, an early supporter of liberalized trade with Saint Domingue, penned a series of sharp attacks on its critics. In this pamphlet he argues that the Saint Domingue famine is being turned into a political question by self-serving men. It includes a virulent attack on Barbé-Marbois who, Cocherel claims, is putting his personal interests ahead of public good. Citing his experience during the American War for Independence, in which no harm was done to French commercial interests by doing so, he pleads that Saint Domingue ports be opened to U.S. ships.