, replacing Mr. Juston, replacing Mr. Juston, whose resignation was accepted.

M. Dalican

, auditor-judge at the district court of

30

Pointe-à-Pitre (

), was named auditor-counsellor at the royal court of Guiana, Guiana, replacing Mr. Saint Quantin.

Mr. Baradat, lawyer, was named auditor-judge at the district court of Pointe-à-Pitre, replacing Mr. Dalican.

Mr. Tilliard, counsellor at the royal court of Pondichéry, was named royal prosecutor to the district court of Chandernagor, en remplacing Mr. Limeray-Beauchamps.

Mr. Victor-Charles Moreau, royal judge at the district court of Pondichéry, was named counsellor at the royal court of Pondichery, replacing Mr. Filliard.

Mr. Limeray-Beauchamps, royal prosecutor at the court of Chandernagor, was named royal judge at the district court of Pondichéry, replacing Mr. Nozat.

-

Mr. Abbé Roux

was named prefect apostolic at

Bourbon Island

, replacing

Abbé Pastre

, who resigned.

– Marshal Gérard was named minister of War and President of the Council, replacing Marshal Soult, who resigned.

- Mr. Mollien, Consul-General at

, was called to the consulate of the island of

.

, Consul of

in

, was called to the consulate at Havana, remplacing Mr. Guillemin, deceased.

- We learn that during this session, several deputies will question the ministers of the Navy and of Foreign Affairs on a very important matter: the decrees forbidding entry into the States of the Union and the island of

Cuba

to French citizens of color. This conversation promises to be curious, in the presence of those delegates of colonial aristocracy who are members of the chamber of deputies. We believe we can assure in advance that one of these gentlemen will remain faithful to the principles of justice and equity he has always supported. The other, the representative of

la Martinique

's aristrocracy, will also remain faithful to his principles, and in this will be in perfect agreement with the retrograde men who gave him a mandate to represent them.

31

- The king’s ordinance, dated July 22nd, states that the governors of French colonies will communicate yearly to the ministry of the Navy a list of convicts, free and enslaved, noted for their good behavior and diligence in labor, who seem susceptible to obtain a letter of pardon or commutation.

–

Mr. Ch. Dupin

’s competition in the election of a delegate for the aristocracy of

, was

Mr. Berryer

. This Legitimist deputy was supported by Messrs. Villarson, Feuardent-Desculleville, Perrinelle fils, Mauny and other men with retrograde ideas, all members of the colonial council of

.

Mr. Ch. Dupin

was named by the aristocratic party, who call the followers of Villarson et al. oligarchs.

– On the topic of

and the path taken by its government, we expect to receive authentic and positive documents that we will rush to the printing press. It is important to know where civilization, freedom and the Enlightenment stand in this Republic of men of color. Everything concerning this country is of the greatest interest to us; this is why we quote the following letter:

“To The Editor of the Courrier français.

Paris, July 22d 1831.

“Sir,

Having arrived from

three days ago, I have had the opportunity, while perusing the run for the month of June, to see inserted in your issue of the 22d an article published in the Journal du Havre on the 19th, in which a certain Mr. Grimard, at the head of the Courrier du Brésil, stated that a few days before his departure from Cap Haïtien, it was said , that that Secretary General Inginac, had been given leave, having incurred the President’s disgrace for ignoring an act of contraband recently committed for an English trading house’s profit.

Certainly, no worse motive could have been imagined to try and thus cast to the winds the news of General Inginac’s purported disgrace. But the human mind is so inventive! Nowadays, making an impression brings such joy that there would be no surprise

32

in seeing some young ship captain arriving from

announce news of General Inginac's disgrace and assign it the first motive they can think of. What is true, is that when he does leave the position he was trusted with, and which he has fulfilled with dignity, it will never be because of deeds contrary to

's' interests and glory.

I will not respond to the accusation levied against my father that he has proved the most dedicated opponent to treaties between

and

, because, as a public man, he owes explanations of his deeds only to his country; still, I cannot but point out that it would be strangely unreasonable not to realize that General Inginac only appreciates too well the benefits that peaceful and definitive relations between the

the Republic

and

would create for

not to wish for the end of negotiations that have been going for nine years, and whose solution is of such eminent interest to the prosperity of the Haitian nation.

I like to believe, Sir, that you will be so kind as to allow my letter in your esteemable newspaper.

Sincerely, etc.

D. INGINAC.””

ENGLAND. -

Lord Melbourne

was named Prime Minister, replacing lord Grey, who resigned.

- We read in the Standard:

““This being the day on which slavery is to terminate in the West Indies, a grand dinner in commemoration of the event will be given at the Freemason’s Tavern, at which the Earl of Mulgrave is to preside. Very many young persons also, we understand, have selected this day, in preference to all others, for being joined together in holy matrimony.””

- We read the following in the Sun:

““We learn that the people in several parts of the kingdom have prepared to celebrate this day as a public festival, and the intelligence has given us great satisfaction. But whether the celebration of it begin this year or the next, certain are we that the descendants of the British people will regard it as the proudest memento of England’s munificence.””

33

(SUPPLEMENT)

COLONIES FRANÇAISES.

MARTINIQUE.

We receive this letter from the town of Trinité :

““Mr. Bardel, captain of a militia company in

, encounters Mr. Igout, colonist, formerly a merchant at Trinité, who looks for trouble with him, insults him and threatens him with his stick. The reason is that Mr. Bardel was probably in a bad mood. Mr. Igout, who because of his age and infirmities can not punish this insolent provocation on his own, flees the promised blows. But Mr. Frotté, man of color and natural son of this merchant, present at the scene, cannot contain his indignation, and takes his father’s side. Should he not be blamed had he remained a cowardly, passive spectator to the outrage addressed to the white hair of the author of his days? Mr. Bardel challenges Mr. Frotté to a duel. The latter asks Mr. Eudoxie Sugnin, his friend, to agree with his opponent’s witnesses on the mode and conditions of their combat. Thanks to the firm but conciliatory intervention of Mr. Sugnin, the affair is amicably settled, with no cost to Mr. Frotté's honor. Yet, by not selling short his friend’s dignity, Mr. Sugnin incurred Mr. Bardel's, grudge, who only waited for an opportunity to satisfy it: it presented itself quickly. A review of the national guard takes place, which Mr. Sugnin does not attend. Captain Bardel issues an order for Mr. Sugnin to spend 48 hours in the police room; ; the order is approved by Commander Commissar Mr. Caffie, who also holds personal animosity against Mr. Sugnin. (We apologize that limited space does not allow us to copy in full this curious piece). Note that at least a third of the company led by Mr. Bardel was missing the review, and that only Mr. Sugnin was punished. The story above explains this selective severity. Let us add that

34

Mr. Sugnin is an ardent and devoted patriot. To the arbitrary punishment inflicted on him by Mr. Bardel's whim, was added a no less arbitrary and much more odious surplus of rigor: Mr. Sugnin having complained about the arbitrary detention, a complaint to the superior authorities of the colony was filed against him; and on the governor’s orders, he was taken by the gendarmerie of Trinité the so-called Redoute-Bouillé citadel at Fort-Royal, where he was kept in a dungeon for six days. During his detention, Mr. Sugnin, cruelly tormented by hunger, was denied food, because it had been ordered that he could not even communicate with his parents. Only thanks to the pity of the soldiers of the garrison guarding the citadel did he receive any victuals. "”

Is this not arbitrariness given free reins? Missing a review becomes an offense punishable with 48 hour detention, and then, through a superior order, six days in a dungeon! A captain takes it upon himself to declare this first sentence, and to add starvation to it! A commander approves, a governor tolerates it, what disgusting defilement! In truth, reading or hearing such things makes you think you’re dreaming, and your jaw might drop, did you not recall that such facts and many others whose account we spare our readers have occurred in one of our colonies, traditional land of arbitrariness and oppression.

Are not these facts evidence of the necessity to quickly reorganize the colonial militias? In our next issue, we will examine the issues of rights they naturally evoke.

-Saint-Pierre, June 2d.Today the proceedings in the affair of Grand'Anse. The most perfect tranquility reigns in town. Since this morning, a considerable number of soldiers have been stationed around the government palace where the assizes are taking place. Mr. Auguste Eugénie, accused in absentia in the affair of Grand’Anse, had escaped the investigations of justice by going abroad; he has just appeared in the city of Saint-Pierre. Saint-Pierre. His friends were at pains to convince him to leave the colony: they demonstrated it was not prudent for him to

35

be judged at a time when passions were so roiled; that he should better await the judgment in absentia, even if he should present himself later to be judged contradictorily. Auguste Eugénie finally decided to leave the colony again and go abroad.

GUADELOUPE.

We receive the following from la Pointe-à-Pitre :

“Arbitrariness remains the order of the day in our colony; local authorities act as if in a conquered land, allowing one to stay and exiling the other, according to their whim. At the slightest suspicion, a citizen will be hunted down, abducted, deported.

Several discussions having taken place between a young white man named Romager-the Incorrigible, and Santz, a young man of color, the mayor and director of the interior ordered Mrs. Santz to make her son leave the colony post haste, lest she wanted him arrested and deported by order of the government. Young Santz left for

. Can citizens’ freedom be flaunted ever more brazenly!”

-Basse-Terre, May 27th.- The way things are going, we can say without fear of being mistaken, that events such as those that took place in Grand-Anse (

) will happen again, and before long, either here or in

, because aristocracy demands victims, and only among us. Today more than ever, local government does not seek at all to unite the divided classes.

BOURBON.

While in

and

the colonial aristocracy removes the funds allocated to the budget for public instruction, votes for the removal of mutual schools created by the government, under

Mr. d'Argout

’s tenure at the ministry of the Navy, and demands the status quo on the condition for slaves be maintained, in

Bourbon

a colonist of the class we call aristocratic published a pamphlet entitled: Prospectus for a society of encouragement and emulation for the improvement of the fate of slaves, public instruction, agriculture and the industrial arts.

36

Mr. Henri Maingard, the author, proposes that in each quarter of

Bourbon Island

be established a society of encouragement, composed of the quarter’s electors. Its goal would be to spread primary education, the best methods of agriculture, in one word, to receive and share all notions useful to all classes of the community. Anyone who has witnessed the pleasing effect of associations can judge in advance how beneficial this one would be.

Here are a few excerpts that irresistibly demonstrate the necessity of societies of encouragement:

“"Where is public spirit on our island? We are unknown to each other; we live in isolation, our talents are buried, our virtues ignored!

What are the consequences of the absence of all that gives value and charm to social life? Every foreigner who finds fortune in this land cannot leave it soon enough; love for the homeland does not always resist the disgust of a monotonous life stripped of all that binds man to the soil.

How have we come to such a sad state? In short, we are deprived of the institutions at the source of social wellbeing. Yet what land is more apt to receive institutions of public interest than ours? Our fertile soil and its much sought-after products could easily make comfort reign among us. We have proven that we hold no deep-rooted prejudice. Our intelligent population, enlightened by the reflections European civilization broadcasts from 4000 leagues away, strides towards improvement. It knows its ills, points them out, and demands that they be remedied."”

GUIANA.

Mr. Persegol, president of the royal court of Guiana, has just received the wages of the noble independence he demonstrated in his report to the Minister of the Navy on the case of Mr. Vidal de Lingendes et Mr. Pontevès. After facing unwarranted criticism, this honorable magistrate resigned from his positions as member of the colonial council and president of the court.

37

Mr. V. Vidal de Lingendes, attorney general, replaced him in the colonial council.

SENEGAL.

the presence of English and French cruisers, the slave trade is still practiced all along the coast of Guinea. The Portuguese and the Spaniards engage in this odious traffic more than any others. Two slave traders from these nations were recently captured, but it will be very difficult to prevent cupidity from eluding the law if other governments do not sincerely second

and l'Angleterre.

ALGIERS.

The following is written about this colony:

“The tribe of Beni-Moussa, who live in the mountains, request that their neighbors relinquish the murderer of Aliben-Louié, who died from a severe injury. He most likely will not be delivered; therefore both parties are preparing for combat. In a different section, a fermentation is currently growing among the tribes in our vicinity, warning signs of which we have seen at the last market in Boufarick . The Arabs, who are independent and wary by nature, want neither to be chased after nor pressed, and every time we visit them, while we must generate confidence, we must also be backed by force, the only power they will bow to for years to come. We speak also of faraway coalitions; it is the season, but without nationality, without union, such a knot would as soon be broken as tied, and our weapons be useless to us. Besides, and despite these setbacks we encounter here and there, we have gained considerably in this regard and never since the beginning of the occupation have our affairs been better.

Trade relations between our garrison in Bougie et les Kabyles des environs. and the local Kabyles have started. They will lead to peace much faster and more safely than our weapons, and we shall do everything in our power to encourage them. The fever in Bone is already much less deadly this year than it was in previous years. Sick people in

Algiers

,

38

number barely above 1,200 and, despite the heat, this number remains below all predictions.

Construction at the Douera camp, at the Mole and in rue de la Marine is in full swing.”

We read in

le Cernéen

, a newspaper published in Port-Louis ( Mauritius) :

“"There is talk of introducing 10,000 Indians in this colony. The measure was proposed by a great economist, a man of many projects, with an Indian prince as a financial backer. Word has it that it is bound to be approved by the government and, moreover, by the Port-Louis chamber of commerce. It is also said that, just as the Spaniards once united to expel the Moors from their country, today the Moors join hands to bring Indians in our country. These Indians shall be accompanied and commanded by sepoys, chosen among the troops of the East India Company. These commanders will be allowed to wear their uniforms and other decorations, under the condition that none awaken the frightening memory of the volunteers.

The planters who will hire these Indians shall be compelled to provide them three meals a day; moreover, they will give them a wage of seven rupees a month, an amount that would seem too high, did we not consider that the inhabitants of Mauritius having to incessantly suffer the competition of Indians in the production of sugar, it must not matter to them to give seven rupees along with food, when in Bengal they give but three rupees without victuals.

the signal for disorder and laziness for negroes, in short that free labor replace forced labor by means of a reasonable salary. Within the limits of the act of Parliament, this is the goal toward which must tend all local legislative combinations, and on their relative success will depend the more or less flourishing fate of the colony, as well as the maintenance of the prices of securities and property values in the land.

Impressed by, and in fear of, this thought, free negroes take up laboring habits only with difficulty, and offer big plantations but a very precarious resource, so that some people have been considering bringing workers from India, and try again an experience already attempted unsuccessfully, it is true, but which failed so badly perhaps because it was not undertaken properly and judiciously. The main obstacle encountered, which indeed still appears very difficult to overcome, is to obtain from individuals, once transported onto our soil, that they carry out the labor commitment they contracted in their country. Experience has demonstrated that our laws in this regard are insufficient, or did not even contain dispositions that might apply. Would it be possible to establish a law that would perfectly achieve this goal and will the local authority be willing to lend itself to, and participate in its adoption? Such is, it seems to us, the preliminary question that must be asked and resolved before any prudent speculator ventures to undertake such an enterprise.

As to such a law, that might guarantee both contracting parties the faithful fulfillment of their commitments, one would have to study the subject more than we have, and especially know better the habits, mores and even prejudice of those Indian castes with which it would be proper to deal, to realize whether it is possible to establish it and make it efficient. But, if necessary, there are people here who are capable of providing the exact notions and information sufficient on this point, and it would only be a matter of consulting them. As to the assent or participation of the government, once the first point resolved favorably, as we assume it should be and already is, designed as it is to do all that might contribute to

40

périté du pays, nous ne voyons pas quelles seraient les objections qui the prosperity of the land, we cannot see what objections could stop it. We point out, however, that more than just the authority’s acquiescence and consent, its material support and active participation will also be needed. Without such certainty, we say it again, it seems unlikely that anyone should want to risk their funds in an attempt of this nature which previously, and partly for this very reason, was so unsuccessful.

We will go further and say that, were these points conceded, it would still be proper to proceed in this enterprise with all possible circumspection. Thus, it would probably be best undertaken by a company of underwriters using common funds rather than by a single individual. It would not be difficult to find a plantation which has been abandoned for lack of manpower, but where factories remain that can function without major repairs. There could be assigned the number of Indians its exploitation demands; and, neglecting none of the means dictated by a wise economy and good administration, the results obtained after some time could serve as a term of comparison and proof of the success or failure of the experiment. This idea occurs to us because we see in every country that it is by such means of association that the most difficult and most hazardous entreprises are undertaken, that would otherwise be beyond the strength of one single individual, or in which he would not want to risk sums that might jeopardize his fortune were they to fail. Thus, in India, it is through share subscription that regular communication between

Bengal

and Europe by way of steamships crossing the isthmus of Suez is being established. At the Cape, similar means are used to finance the exploration of the interior of Africa; in Sainte-Helena, a joint-stock company was founded dedicated to whaling, whales abounding in the surroundings. Everywhere industry develops through such means, and though we have but the merit of imitation, would it not be a great fault on our part to neglect it?

41

Until 1829, the local government owned 1294 slaves and 2010 apprentices. They have since freed a number of them. Wondering how many remained, we have tried to find information on this topic. But to our great surprise, we have found out that recent instructions recommend to most rigorously keep secret all administrative matters, including the most trivial. Thus the statistical details that are always provided with zeal by the governments of Europe (even Russia and Prussia) to writers and publicists, are in Mauritius more occult than the mysteries of Isis. The layman must know nothing of them: the rabble is only good for paying and remaining silent. Still, we cannot but express our surprise that when Parliament proclaims universal emancipation, the government still owns slaves. They will say such are necessary to run the different administrative services: as workers for the civil engineer, as couriers for the police. Very well, then! We are easy to please, as long as we are given some reason. Let the government keep its slaves until it can replace them with free employees.

But the apprentices! It has no use for them. Every customs collector has indentured them out to his friends, or to protegees of power, some for 14 years, others for 7. Certainly there can only be a few whose time has not expired. What then prevents them from enjoying the freedom guaranteed them by law? Oh! It is that most have been placed with government employees who find it very convenient to have good servants for 2 piasters a month. But that is illegal and unfair to these poor people. Enemies of all forms of oppression, we are not afraid to raise our voices in their favor. They all know a trade and are capable of earning a living: their masters, in receiving them, vowed to teach them. Once free, they should be no burden to society and should make a peaceful living of their industry. Should they misbehave, repressive laws exist for them and other freedmen. May they therefore be released, at the risk of letting Mr. So-and-so take expensive domestic workers in their stead."”

42

GRENADA.

A letter from Saint-Georges tells us:

“"Everyone is making preparations for the big change that must occur on the First of August. Even those who until now had shown themselves the warmest supporters of slavery, seeing their cupidity satisfied in the part they shall receive of the twenty million pounds sterling of indemnity allocated them by England, now seem delighted to no longer bear the title of slave owners."”

TORTOLA.

In this English possession, they did not wait for the date fixed by the bill to proclaim the freedom of negroes. The inhabitants, understanding all that this law contains of high morality, hastened to enforce it.

DEMERARA

In the English colonies, reason triumphs more every day over the odious and ridiculous skin prejudice. In Demerara, an establishment neighboring

French Guiana

, the bill abolishing slavery only drew the different classes of the population closer together: all distinction of color has entirely disappeared. According to the account of a traveler recently arrived in this colony, people of color, contrary to creoles, occupy liberal professions that were until now unjustly forbidden to them; they are allowed to become officers in the militias, and it seems that the English government, which without much resistance joins in the progress of civilization, will one day or the other allow them to hold public office. This equitable measure would complete the entire fusion of the two classes.

At a ball given by the governor of Demerara, a great number of ladies of color stood out by their wit and education to this same traveler. In general, in English possessions, the colored class has understood that the most efficient means for them to reach a perfect, and

43

real equality among the population in the colonies, was to indulge in the study of science and letters, and thus put themselves in a state to compete with the white class. This is a model we cannot but recommend to the attention of our brethren in the French colonies.

CUBA

Acts of piracy have been committed in the vicinity of Honduras and Nicaragua (New Spain). Two suspicious ships of Spanish make were recently spotted sailing near Carthagena, along a ship believed to be French, which they probably captured. The government of Jamaica sent a few war sloops in pursuit.

The slave trade occurs in the open in Havana, despite the dangers those who engage in it should face. Last April, a slaver having dropped sail on the West coast of Saint Domingue, some of the slaves broke their fetters, seized weapons, and after a terrible melee during which the crew was beaten, they took over the ship, which soon sunk. Those negroes who did not drown were welcome in Saint-Domingue. Five or six sailors escaped to Cuba.

CANADA

We read the following observations on Canada’s political customs in the Journal de la Marine:

“n Canada, women have the privilege to vote in elections the same as men. In the last elections, where Colonel Baley was nominated to the legislature, as there was competition between Mr. Litte et Mr. Wilkinson, no fewer than thirty-five ladies attended the hustings to cast a vote in his favor. These ladies were widows or Misses. It was noted that only one married woman voted, probably encouraged by the others. However, it often happens that the wife will vote one way and the husband the other, in the same or different elections, following the rights granted them through property. In the month of May 1832, there was a contest to the Montreal election, which lasted about

44

a month, during which two hundred and twenty-five women voted. One of the candidates was an Irishman; ninety-five ladies voted for him. The other gentleman was Mr. Stanlez-Bagg, citizen of the

États-Unis

, naturalized in Canada;a hundred and four women voted for him. The other twenty-six women who showed up did not use their political rights. On this occasion, several ladies took a party contrary to that which their husbands had embraced; the latter did not mind.”

CPROCESSION FOR THE YOUNG PAVILLON.

On July 25, we attended the funeral service for Sainte-Cour Pavillon, of

, Sainte-Cour Pavillon of Guadeloupe, a student at Henri IV high school who gave much promise. A great number of people of color attended this ceremony. The presence of a delegation of young European schoolmates of Pavillon. Un jeune camarade de Pavillon, Mr. Dorville-Jouannet, man of color, law student, uttered the following words at his friend’s grave:

“"So it is done, dear Pavillon; merciless Death has placed her frozen hand on your sixteen year-old brow. Barely did she allow an interval between your cradle and your grave. You came to

seeking the instruction that shall bring emancipation to men of color, and after a ten-year stay, as you were finishing rhetorics, as you were about to start a career whose usefulness is recognized by all, cruel Death stopped you.

Pity be upon you, unfortunate compatriot, if, as we believe, your heart beat for your brethren! If sometimes you blushed with indignation thinking of the horrible yoke that weighs upon your miserable class! It would have been so sweet for you to contribute to the renewal of your country, to make it worthy of the nineteenth century, to make it renounce the stupid and barbaric prejudice of the past! Then, you could have died; but today is too soon!

45

What words of comfort shall we have your father hear? What shall we tell your people, this aunt who could have made you forget your mother, if a mother could be forgotten? Ah! Descend a while from the abode of departed souls, and dictate for us the words that might temper their pain, for this task is beyond our powers.

Adieu! Rest in peace, dear Pavillon, and for lack of your native land, may the French earth be light upon thee!

Adieu! Adieu forever!”

BIOGRAPHY.

M. CABASSE.

Mr. Prosper Cabasse, former attorney general to the royal court of

, n'intéresse les colonies que s of interest to the colonies solely for the role he played there during the Restoration, notably in the infamous trial of the men of color from

Martinique.

Mr. Prosper Cabasse is a living example of what weakness allied to ambition can do. Without precisely possessing a vile and evil soul, with an easy and soft temperament, nevertheless this man, so eager to succeed, embraced with warmth the cause of the restored Bourbons and made himself into the humble servant of the counter-revolutionary reaction they ordered.

A small lawyer living in obscurity in Aix, he wanted to become someone; he so stridently showed off his love for this family of public enemies that had imposed foreign bayonets onto

spoke so often and so loudly of his royalism, that the small lawyer became a magistrate. Mr. Cabasse was president of the criminal court of Toulon when selected jurors condemned to death Captain Vallée, this hero who died with all the courage and composure of a martyr to freedom. Mr. Cabasse owed to this circumstance to be noticed by his superiors and noted as a zealous man who should be promoted. He also owed it, according to public opinion, the

46

shiny red ribbon he wears on his lapel. Mr. Cabasse will argue that there is a mistake and that this is not why he received this decoration. That may well be; but, as he does not deny that he was decorated after the sentencing of Vallée, public opinion greatly presumes. It is said on this topic that not long after this, one of his friends, having come across Cabasse as he wore the red ribbon, grabbed him by his lapel, and with a snarky tone greeted him with the Latin word

vale

. In 1826, this magistrate was put in direct contact with the colonies. Named attorney general to

by Minister Chabrol, Mr. Cabasse, having courted the powerful in Paris, went to Brest, Brest, where a frigate of the royal navy was waiting for him.

Mr. Bissette

,

Mr. Fabien

et

Mr. Volny

, the great propagandists, were detained in it. Mr. Cabasse was to be their accuser. They wrote an address to him in order to enlighten him and, having asked the new attorney general for a reply, he, taking already the airs of a grandee so well fitting his new position, cavalierly sent his footman to tell them he had received their letter.

After landing in

and exchanging with the most influential members of the colonial aristocracy there, the new attorney general arrived in January 1827 at the seat of his jurisdiction.

On March 27, 1827, the case of

Messrs. Bissette

,

Fabien

et

Volny

came to the royal court of

. Mr. Cabasse, supported the accusation with a long indictment written in the dragging, florid style replete with classical reminiscences so typical of mediocre lawyers, the scourge of auditors and the punishment of bad judges. To say that he did so relentlessly and passionately would be unfair. It was worse: coldly, emotionlessly, he spoke for three hours. After flattering the prejudices of the colonial aristocracy and striving to create culprits where there only were men who used their rights against bold dominators; after invoking royal ordinances two centuries old, and quoting from Moulins’s ordinance these terrible words: “whosoever posts or circulates seditious or libelous pamphlets will be hanged and strangled until dead;” and these no less horrible words from the ordinance of January 1629:

47

“

"Whosoever writes, prints, presents for sale, publishes or distributes books, pamphlets or writings libelous or insulting will be hanged and strangled until dead"

” ; he concluded mildly, contrary to the law and as if frightened by the odious consequences of his own requisitory against Mr. Bissette, requesting ten years of exile. Guilty or innocent, there was no other alternative: if guilty, the hideous application of the text of the ordinance he had invoked–death –should have been requested; if innocent, Bissette should have been acquitted. The middle ground Mr. Cabasse sought, outside of the formal provisions of the law, was invented only to bring about a conviction; it would have been too revolting to sentence a man to death for circulating what these gentlemen called a pamphlet; they would not have dared. Mr. Cabasse’s mezzo-termine allowed them to satisfy the evil passions of their

colleagues; but motivating a decision contrary to the law was going to be difficult. This is why it took the judges five hours to deliver their verdict.

No sooner was Mr. Bissette sentenced that, by one of those turns that become the character of those men who would please everyone, Mr. Cabasse paid a visit to the exile in his prison at ten in the evening, and strove to impart on him the softness of his conviction, telling him not to resent him, that he could not do better; living in France was not too hard, and he begged him to have regard for his good intentions. As one might imagine, Mr. Bissette showed very little gratitude to the attorney general for his visit, inspired as it evidently was by his fear of metropolitan opinion.

The attorney general’s conduct in this affair was full of bad faith and weakness; he went as far as to unseal letters sent from Paris to the defendants by their lawyer, letters registered to himself. The servant of the elevated classes–that is the whites–, as he called them in his indictment, he served no less civil servants who should have followed his orders. The police commissioner, Hercule-Petit-Lolo,an inept man and henchman of the aristocracy of the skin, transgressed and even tore up his orders when they went against the passions of the dominators, and the attorney general let it happen, humiliating himself in the face of this subaltern agent’s

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will. Thus the parents and friends of the inmates, despite the authorization signed by the attorney general, were several times refused entrance into the prison, because it so pleased this police commissioner not to let them inside. The just complaints made by prisoners to the attorney general about the ill treatment they received always remained unanswered. This is the way this man behaved in the exercise of his ministry, joining laziness to the spirit of injustice and servility. To cite but one fact: Mr. Bisette having requested release on bail so he could see his family and settle his affairs before leaving, governor Desrotours and even the colonist judges who had sentenced him consented to it: Mr. Cabasse alone opposed it.

On his return to France in 1829, he was named attorney general in Limoges. Then came the July Revolution. Mr. Cabasse felt tremors in his public accuser’s seat. A lover of his position before all, he addressed the new minister to be kept in it, and in support of his request, he had the inconceivable idea to produce his famous indictment as a testimony of his moderation. But the friends of the deportees from