To Shining Sea - Chapter 16
Hamilton’s Constitution for Saint-Domingue, February 21st 1799
The Unveiling of Canadian History, Volume 4.
To Shining Sea – Ireland, Haiti, and Louisiana, and the Idea of a Continental Republic, 1797 – 1804.
Part 2 – The Haitian Frontier
Chapter 16 - Alexander Hamilton’s Constitution for Saint-Domingue, February 21st 1799
Hamilton advised General Toussaint, on how to establish a government for Saint-Domingue, and General Toussaint’s avoided the British Empire’s trap for ‘so-called’ independence, while trying to avoid a disruption with France.
Philippe Andre Joseph Letombe, French Consul General to the United States
On that same day that President Adams signed into law the bill that suspended intercourse between France and the United States - that contained ‘Toussaint’s Clause’, February 9th 1799, Pickering wrote to Hamilton, to inform him that:
“the law prohibiting intercourse with the French Dominions is renewed, and extended to the 3rd of March 1800. The material variation from the former law consists in the authority given to the President to open intercourse with any part of those dominions when the safety and interest of the United States will admit of it. This authority is comprised in the 4th section, a copy of which I inclose …
The President sees the immense advantages of the commerce of that Island, and will undoubtedly give to the act as liberal a construction as will be politically expedient. Toussaint, if certain of our commerce, will, Meyer assures me, declare the whole island of St. Domingo independent; confident in his power to defend it, provided we will allow of a free commercial intercourse, by which the islanders may exchange their productions for the supplies our vessels will carry to them …
Under these circumstances, my great anxiety is, that Toussaint & his Chief (i.e. Rigaud) may fix on a practicable & efficient plan for administering the government of the Island, and settling the right of succession to the Chief command (it cannot be a republic) – and establishing a simple plan of finance that shall insure to him the means of supporting an army & the government. If you can turn your attention to this subject & favour me with your ideas of the most eligible schemes, I shall be very much obliged. To what we advise, Toussaint would listen.”
Hamilton replied that same day, to Pickering, that:
“I shall immediately reflect on the most important point & tomorrow give you the result. The provision in the law is ample. But in this, my dear Sir, as in everything else we must unite caution with decision. The United States must not be committed on the independence of St. Domingo – no guarantee, no formal treaty – nothing that can rise up in judgement. It will be enough to let Toussaint be assured verbally but explicitly that upon his declaration of independence a commercial intercourse will be opened & continue while he maintains it & gives due protection to our vessels & property. I incline to think the declaration of independence ought to precede.”
Pickering again wrote to Hamilton, on February 20th, that:
“since I wrote you on the 9th … Dr. Stevens has been appointed Consul General of St. Domingo, and will probably embark before the close of next week … I must frame Dr. Steven’s instructions in a few days, and wish to furnish him with your ideas on the points I stated. This cannot be done officially – but he will know how to use it.”
Note on Dr. Stevens: Dr. Edward Stevens was one of Hamilton’s oldest and closest friends, since having known each other as young boys. Stevens practiced medicine in Philadelphia, and was doctor to Hamilton and his wife, when they caught yellow fever in 1793. (It was believed that yellow fever was brought to Philadelphia by the 750 emigres that arrived that year from Saint-Domingue.) Stevens had been sent to Saint-Domingue in February 1798 by Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Mifflin, to try to negotiate the release of the ship ‘New Jersey’ and its cargo and crew, that had been captured by a French privateer. Although he failed in his attempt to obtain the release of the ship, Stevens had met with some officers in Toussaint’s army and uncovered a French plot to invade the southern United States from Saint-Domingue – the invasion was thwarted by General Toussaint.
The next day, on February 21st, Hamilton answered Pickering, that:
“The multiplicity of my avocations joined to imperfect health, has delayed the communication you desired respecting St Domingo ...
No regular system of Liberty will at present suit St Domingo. The Government, if independent, must be military – partaking of the feudal system. A hereditary Chief would be best but this I fear is impracticable.
Let there be then – A single Executive to hold his place for life. The person to succeed on a vacancy to be either the Officer next in command in the Island at the time of the death of the predecessor, or the person who by plurality of voices of the Commandants of Regiments shall be designated within a certain time. In the meantime, the principal military officers to administer. All the males within certain ages to be arranged in Military Corps and to be compellable to military service. This may be connected with the Tenure of Lands.
Let the supreme Judiciary authority be vested in twelve Judges to be chosen for life by the Generals or Chief Military Officers. Trial by jury in all Criminal causes not military to be established. The mode of appointing them must be regulated with reference to the general spirit of the establishment. Every law inflicting capital or other corporal punishment or levying a tax or contribution in any shape to be proposed by the Executive to an Assembly composed of the Generals & Commandants of Regiments for their sanction or rejection. All other laws to be enacted by the sole authority of the Executive.
The powers of war & treaty to be in the Executive. The Executive to be obliged to have three ministers – of finance, war & foreign affairs – whom he shall nominate to the Generals for their approbation or rejection. The Colonels & Generals when once appointed to hold their offices during good behaviour, removeable only by conviction of an infamous crime in due course of law or the sentence of a court martial cashiering them. Court Martials for trial of officers & capital offence to be not less than 12 & well guarded as to mode of appointment.
Duties of import & export, taxes on lands & buildings to constitute the chief branches of revenue.
These thoughts are very crude but perhaps they may afford some hints.”
Note: It must here be stated, to avoid all the over-inflation and over-complication by many of the issue of the Independence of Saint-Domingue, that Hamilton alone seems to have understood the reality of Saint-Domingue – that there was very little in the way of democratic institutions on which to base a representative government, and that law and order was maintained by the army; and to have understood General Toussaint, who had never proposed independence, but had rejected the British attempt to seek independence – as he did not wish to be under the protection and control of the British navy, and who had insisted that he remained loyal to France. Please remember, how many nations on earth had abolished slavery? To his knowledge, only one – France! General Toussaint was not committed to independence, he was determined to defend the freedom of his fellow former slaves – at all costs. Now, he was fighting for freedom, not for independence – he would only fight for independence if it was necessary – in order to defend their newly-won freedom.
Pickering would also write to President Adams on February 20th, on the necessity of sending needed supplies to Saint-Domingue, that:
“having been more than the other gentlemen in the way of receiving information of the real situation of General Toussaint, and this appearing to be a distressed one, from the want of pay, cloathing and provisions for his troops, who thence began to be uneasy; and as this uneasiness unassuaged by any relief might endanger his authority and the peace of the Island of St. Domingo; I felt solicitous by some means compatible with the law, to throw in a partial supply, which would enable the General to comfort and relieve the most distressed, and be a visible evidence and earnest of further & full supplies when his total suppression of privateering should enable the President of the United States to open the trade to the Island. Without this immediate supply, and proof to the sense, of the uninformed blacks – I considered a main object of the law, - the securing of a full commerce with St. Domingo – to be put in jeopardy.
In this point of view, and as calculated to dispose Toussaint immediately to put down privateering, I considered it as a political measure, necessary to ensure an important commercial intercourse – ‘a mine of gold’, as General Smith called it. To delay relief in this moderate degree might render the blacks impatient & unbelieving; especially as Toussaint must for some time past have been feeding them with promises. Greater distress may compel them to continue, or so far as it has been laid aside, to renew privateering in the hope of procuring some necessary supplies. To enable Toussaint & the Blacks to give satisfactory evidence of their future good behaviour, the former must possess the means – these are pay, cloathing and food, without which the ablest commander cannot restrain his people from aggression.”
On February 18th, President Adams sent to the Senate ‘a document which seems to be intended to be a compliance with a condition mentioned at the conclusion of my message to Congress, of the 21st of June last’ – where he had asserted that:
“I will never send another minister to France without assurances that he will be received, respected, and honored, as the representative of a great, free, powerful, and independent nation.”
[This document was the letter from Talleyrand to Pichon, that Pichon had sent to Vans Murray, and that Vans Murray had sent to President Adams in his letter of October 7th 1798.]
Showing his trust in his protégé – Vans Murray, President Adams then nominated William Vans Murray to be minister plenipotentiary of the United States to the French Republic, and that:
“if the Senate shall advise and consent to his appointment, effectual care shall be taken in his instructions that he shall not go to France without direct and unequivocal assurances from the French Government, signified by their Minister of Foreign Relations, that he shall be received in character; shall enjoy the privileges attached to his character by the law of nations; and that a minister of equal rank, title, and powers, shall be appointed to treat with him, to discuss and conclude all controversies between the two republics by a new treaty.”
The president’s reasoning can be seen in his letter to General Washington, on February 19th, (regarding a letter from Joel Barlow, apologizing for the ‘misunderstanding’ of the French Directory, that General Washington had forwarded to President Adams), that:
“I yesterday determined to nominate Mr. Murray to be Minister Plenipotentiary to the French Republic. This I ventured to do upon the strength of a letter from Talleyrand himself giving declarations in the name of Government that any Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States shall be received according to the condition at the close of my message to Congress of the 21st of June last. As there may be some reserves for chicane, however, Murray is not to remove from his station at the Hague until he shall have received formal assurances that he shall be received and treated in Character. Barlows letter had, I assure you, very little weight in determining me to this measure …
Tranquility upon just and honourable terms is undoubtedly the ardent desire of the friends of this country; and I wish the babyish and womanly blubbering for peace may not necessitate the conclusion of a treaty that will not be just nor very honourable. I don’t intend however that they shall. – There is not much sincerity in the cant about peace – Those who snivel for it now, were hot for war against Britain a few months ago; and would be now if they saw a Chance. – In elective governments, peace or war, are alike embraced by parties when they think they can employ either for electioneering purposes.”
The response of the ‘federalists’, however, is seen in a letter Pickering wrote to General Washington on February 21st, that:
“I am sure no officer about the President can be willing to share any part of the responsibility of his nomination of Mr. Murray to negotiate a treaty with the French Republic – it is solely the President’s act – and we were all thunderstruck when we heard of it. Confidence in the President is lost – the federal citizens thought the thing incredible: the Jacobins alone are pleased. The honor of the country is prostrated in the dust – God grant that its safety may not be in jeopardy.”
The Senate referred the nomination of Vans Murray to a 5-member committee. Theodore Sedgwick, a member of that committee, then wrote to Hamilton, on February 19th, that:
“this measure, important & mischievous as it is, was the result of presidential wisdom without the knowledge of, or any intimation to, any one of the administration. Had the foulest heart & the ablest head in the world, been permitted to select the most embarrassing and ruinous measure, perhaps, it would have been precisely, the one, which has been adopted. In the dilemma to which we are reduced, whether we approve or reject the nomination, evils only, certain, great, but in extent incalculable, present themselves. This would be true was Mr. Murray the ablest negotiator in christendom – but with all his virtues, he is feeble and guarded, credulous & unimpressive. I have not yet decided ultimately what I shall do. At present the nomination must be postponed.”
Hamilton replied to Sedgwick on February 21st, that:
“the step announced in your letter just received in all its circumstances would astonish, if anything from that quarter could astonish. But as it has happened, my present impression is that the measure must go into effect with the additional idea of a commission of three. The mode must be accommodated with the President. Murray is certainly not strong enough for so immensely important a mission.”
The Senate committee then met with President Adams on February 23rd, and thereafter decided that Murray’s nomination should be rejected.
But before the committee made its report, on February 25th, President Adams nominated Oliver Ellsworth, Chief Justice of the United States; Patrick Henry, late Governor of Virginia; and William Vans Murray, Minister at the Hague:
“to be envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to the French Republic, with full powers to discuss and settle, by a treaty, all controversies between the United States and France. It is not intended that the two former of these gentlemen shall embark for Europe until they shall have received from the Executive Directory assurances, signified by their Secretary of Foreign Relations, that they shall be received in character; that they shall enjoy all the prerogatives attached to that character by the law of nations; and that a minister or ministers of equal powers shall be appointed and commissioned to treat with them.”
The Senate then approved the appointments on February 27th. When Henry declined the appointment because of failing health, President Adams nominated William Davie. After the Senate adjourned on March 4th, President Adams left Philadelphia (away from the annual threat of yellow fever) to spend the next five months at his home in Quincy, Massachusetts. His cabinet would later relocate the administration to Trenton, New Jersey.
On March 19th, the armed merchant ship ‘Kingston’ set sail from Philadelphia for Saint-Domingue, with Jacob Meyer (the American consul at Le Cap Francais), Robert Ritchie (the American consul at Port-au-Prince) Edward Stevens (the American consul-general to Saint-Domingue) and with Joseph Bunel. Stevens carried with him a copy of Hamilton’s ‘practicable and efficient plan’ for Saint-Domingue’s constitution, and a letter from Pickering to General Toussaint, on behalf of President Adams.
President Adams had always been careful to never openly support Saint-Dominguen independence, maintaining that it was an internal matter for that island’s inhabitants themselves.
The Kingston also carried $60,000 and a shipment of flour, salted meats, and dry goods – meant to relieve the urgent wants of the people of Saint-Domingue, and that also helped to raise General Toussaint’s reputation among the population. Meyer, however, was apparently disgruntled at not receiving the appointment as consul general, and so, he mailed a copy of the Kingston’s cargo invoice to the Aurora newspaper; and he also spread rumors that Stevens (along with Pickering and Adams) were profiting from the transfer of these goods!
Also on the Kingston were French spies, sent by Philippe Letombe, the French Consul General, at Philadelphia. Letombe, ever suspicious of President Adam’s intentions towards France’s colonies, had been able to intercept and read General Toussaint’s messages to Bunel!
At the end of March, President Adams would receive word from Benjamin Stoddert, Secretary of the Navy, that Captain Thomas Truxton, of the USS Constellation (one of the 6 original navy frigates), engaged in battle and captured the French frigate, L’Insurgent, near the island of Nevis on February 9th – the first major naval engagement in the undeclared war with France.
Stoddert had deployed all three of the then-operating United States Navy frigates to the Caribbean Sea, to protect American commerce from the French privateers and pirates – USS Constellation based out of the British island of St. Kitts, and USS United States and USS Constitution based out of the British-controlled island of Dominica.
[next week - chapter 17 - The Secret Convention of June 13th 1799]
*************
For those who may wish to support my continuing work on ‘The Unveiling of Canadian History’, you may purchase my books, that are available as PDFs and Paperback (on Amazon) at the Canadian Patriot Review :
Volume 1 – The Approaching Conflict, 1753 – 1774.
Volume 2 – Forlorn Hope – Quebec and Nova Scotia, and the War for Independence, 1775 – 1785.
And hopefully,
Volume 3 – The Storming of Hell – the War for the Territory Northwest of Ohio, 1786 – 1796, and
Volume 4 – Ireland, Haiti, and Louisiana – the Idea of a Continental Republic, 1797 – 1804,
may also appear in print, in the near future, while I continue to work on :
Volume 5 – On the Trail of the Treasonous, 1804 - 1814.