A Saint-Dominguan Public Sphere

Erica Johnson

The Haitian Revolution raged on from 1791-1804, with

many lives lost and Enlightenment ideals of equality and

liberty pushed to their fullest extent. For whites and free

people of color, the revolution was not simply about

slavery; issues of colonial self-government and possible

secession of the colony and racial equality divided the

inhabitants of the island further. Yet, in August 1791,

thousands of organized slave insurgents rose up against

their masters and the system of slavery in Saint-Domingue.

Saint-Dominguan colonists experienced the same event in

their own unique way, and some recounted the revolution

after the fact.1 These valuable accounts have helped to

shape the way we are able to see the Haitian Revolution

today.

1 There were some exceptional narratives recorded by captives during therevolution. See Jeremy Popkin, “Facing Racial Revolution: Captivity Narratives and Identity in the Saint-Domingue Insurrection,” Eighteenth-Century Studies vol. 36, no. 4 (Summer, 2003): pp. 511-533 and Facing Racial Revolution: Eyewitness Accounts of the Haitian Insurrection (Chicago: University Chicago Press, 2007).

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Despite the recognized significance of the Haitian

Revolution for World History, there is still much not

understood compared to the other “great” revolutions of the

era and numerous primary sources remain underutilized. This

study intends to explore the implications of one newspaper

in Saint-Domingue, the Moniteur Général de la partie française de Saint-

Domingue, from November 1791 to June 1793. I argue that the

Moniteur Général opened up a public sphere within the colony

during the early years of the slave uprising. The analysis

employs a three-part process, identifying the audience,

voices of the editors and printers, and message and

implications of the newspaper through a close examination.

Like any primary source, the location, time, and editors of

this particular periodical all influence what historians can

understand from the publication. Overall, my smaller

project intends to open up an area of study for the Haitian

Revolution historiography that has yet to be explored, the

history of the press.

2

In recent years, Haitian Revolution historiography has

developed significantly.2 Although many of the authors

utilized some newspapers in drafting their narratives, they

do not examine the implications of the press itself. In

Colonialism and Science, James E. McClellan III briefly traces

the history of the press, including books, magazines, and

newspapers, in Saint-Domingue during the Old Regime.

McClellan wrote, “The press was a key institution in the

development and character of the colony.”3 However,

McClellan does not discuss the importance of the press

during the revolutionary period, since his work is specific

to the progress of all science in Saint-Domingue in the time

before the French Revolution in 1789. Not only does a

history of the press in revolutionary Saint-Domingue

2 For instance, see Martin Munro and Elizabeth Walcott-Hachshaw eds., Reinterpreting the Haitian Revolution and Its Cultural Aftershocks (Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, 2006); Gordon Brown, Toussaint’s Clause:The Founding Fathers and the Haitian Revolution (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2005); Laurent Dubois, Avengers of the News World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press, 2004), SibylleFischer, Modernity Disavowed: Haiti and Cultures of Slavery in the Age of Revolution (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2004); David Geggus, Haitian Revolutionary Studies (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 2002), and Caroyln Fick, The Making of Haiti: The Saint-Domingue Revolution from Below (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1990).3 James E. McClellan III, Colonialism and Science: Saint-Domingue in the Old Regime (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), pp. 102.

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contribute to the general Haitian Revolution historiography,

but it also engages other bodies of literature, such as that

of the Enlightenment.4 The Saint-Dominguan revolutionary

press did more than just report on the revolution; it

allowed for cultural development.

Through the Moniteur Général, Saint-Domingue developed a

public sphere, a concept first explored and defined by

historian Jürgen Habermas in the 1960s.5 During the

eighteenth century, a separation emerged between public and

private spheres within society. According to Habermas, the

public sphere was open to all citizens, who “behave[d] as a

public body” to confer “about matters of general interest.”6

4 For more on the Haitian Revolution and the Enlightenment see Michèle Duchet, Anthropologie et histoire au siècle des lumières: Buffon, Voltaire,Rousseau, Helévitius, Diderot (Paris: François Maspero, 1971); Louis Sala-Molins, Dark Side of the Light: Slavery and the French Enlightenment, John Conteh-Morgan trans. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006); Luís Madureira, “The Shadow Cast by the Enlightenment: The Haitian Revolution and the Naming of Modernity’s Other,” in Cannibal Modernities: Postcoloniality and the Avant-garde in Caribbean and Brazilian Literature (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005), pp. 131-163; and Laurent Dubois, “An Enslaved Enlightenment: Rethinking the Intellectual History of the French Atlantic,” Social History vol. 31, no.1 (February 2006): pp. 1-14.5 For information on the public sphere in Spanish Latin America see Victor M. Uribe-Uran, “The Birth of a Public Sphere in Latin America during the Age of Revolution,” Comparative Studies in Society and History vol. 42,no. 2 (April, 2000): pp. 425-457.6 Jürgen Habermas, “The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article (1964),”New German Critique no. 3 (Autumn, 1974), pp.49.

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Private individuals could express their opinions in these

discussions through newspapers. The following study will

demonstrate how the Moniteur Général made it possible for all

citizens in Saint-Domingue to participate in a public sphere

through a revolutionary newspaper. Habermas also discussed

the emergence of literary journalism in place of traditional

forms of news during the late eighteenth century. This

transformation created the need for an editorial staff and

made printers “dealer[s] in public opinion.”7 Habermas

explained, “The press remained an institution of the public

itself, effective in the manner of mediator and intensifier

of public discussion, no longer a mere organ for the

spreading of news.”8 The printers and editors of the

Moniteur Général actively encouraged citizens in Saint-Domingue

to engage in the public sphere through their daily

publication, by printing letters to the editors, responses

to the minutes of the legislative and governing bodies, and

thought-provoking questions.

7 Karl Bücher quoted in Jürgen Habermas, “The Public Sphere,” pp. 53.8 Jürgen Habermas, “The Public Sphere,” pp. 53.

5

During the end of 1791, while the slave insurrection

erupted in the Northern Province of Saint-Domingue, Cap

Français, the colony’s capital, did not have a newspaper in

print.9 The Moniteur colonial, the city’s newspaper at the

time, ceased publication on 20 August 1791, because the

printer died of unknown reasons.10 The very next night

slaves began rising up across the northern plain. By 23

August 1791, landowners fled the rural plantation lands for

Cap Français.11 Immediately, the whites on the island

blamed the French Revolution for the insurrection.

Following the uprising, Saint-Domingue’s Colonial Assembly

issued a “provisional decree, prohibiting the sale,

impression, or distribution of any pieces relative to the

politics and revolution of France.”12 Despite these

restrictions, the first issue of the Moniteur Général appeared

9 Cap Français is also referred to as Le Cap and Cap François throughoutthe primary and secondary literature. For this paper, I will use Cap Français, because that is the form utilized in Moniteur Général.10 Jeremy Popkin, “Facing Racial Revolution: Captivity Narratives and Identity in the Saint-Domingue Insurrection,” Eighteenth Century Studies, Vol.36, No. 4 (2003), pp. 530, note 16.11 Laurent Dubois, Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press, 2004), pp. 94.12 Laurent Dubois, “An enslaved Enlightenment: Rethinking the intellectual history of the French Atlantic,” Social History, vol. 31, no. 1(2006), pp. 9.

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in Cap Français on 15 November 1791, three months after the

slave insurrection began. Most likely relying on previous

experience in print culture through the book trade,

Batilliot and Company printed the Moniteur Général.13

In the 1780s, the book trade was already of great

importance and developed across the Atlantic. An ordinance

of 31 July 1777 defended the sale of all books and the

establishment of cabinets littértaires, “commercial establishments

offering newspapers, periodicals, and literary works for a

rental fee.”14 Following the death of a Monsieur Herbeau,

the Batilliot brothers took over a bookstore, cabinet

littértaire, and print shop at la place-d’armes in Cap Français,

purchasing books wholesale from metropolitan France.15 In

1790, they purchased various political works and copies of

13 Batilliot is also spelled Batillot in some sources. It is not clear if both brothers undertook printing the newspaper in Saint-Domingue. Each paper contained the business name “Batilliot le jeune et co.” It is reasonable to believe that only one of the brothers, the younger, produced the Moniteur Général.14Ordinance cited in M.L.E. Moreau de Saint-Mery, Description Topographique, physique, civile, politique et historique de la partie française de l’isle Saint-Domingue, vol. 1 (Paris: Société de l'histoire des colonies françaises, 1797), pp. 323. Definition of cabinets littétaires in Jane McLeod, “A Bookseller in Revolutionary Bordeaux,” French Historical Studies, vol. 16, no. 2 (Autumn, 1989), pp. 264.15 M.L.E. Moreau de Saint-Mery, Description Topographique, physique, civile, politique et historique de la partie française de l’isle Saint-Domingue, vol. 1 (Paris: Société del'histoire des colonies françaises, 1797), pp. 323.

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legislation of the Constituent Assembly from a trader in

Bordeaux, Jean Ducot.16 With the outbreak of the French

Revolution and instability in Saint-Domingue, the book trade

collapsed in mid-1791, causing many booksellers to file for

bankruptcy. No longer able to obtain printed materials as

easily from France and the death of the printer of the

Moniteur colonial, Batilliot and Company found an economic and

occupational opportunity and filled a necessary role in the

communicative practices of Cap Français in the fall of 1791.

In order to address the connotations of the Moniteur

Général, it is crucial to identify the population of the

islands and the voice of the publication and understand the

vantage point of both. Throughout the historiography on

Saint-Domingue, historians use specific eighteenth-century

terms to address various groups within society, such as

petits blancs (landless whites), grands blancs (landholding

whites), and affranchis (free people of color).17 It is 16 Jane McLeod, “A Bookseller in Revolutionary Bordeaux,” French Historical Studies, vol. 16, no. 2 (Autumn, 1989), pp. 271-2.17 According to Laurent Dubois in Avengers of the New World, the slaves coined these terms, and eventually the entire colony adopted the vocabulary, pp. 35. Colonists did sign contributions to the Moniteur Général with these labels attached to their names. For an example, see Moniteur Général, 28 August 1792, pp.332.

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dangerous to place such a diverse culture into rigid

categories, because particular grouping of individuals

limits any understanding of the Saint-Dominguan slave

society from a historical perspective. For instance, petits

blancs refers to all non-landholding whites, but that simple

categorization leaves little room for any other

generalizations. Non-landholding does not indicate if these

whites were wealthy or poor, skilled or unskilled, educated

or not. In addition, affranchis includes both free people of

color and mulattoes, which overlooks the unique backgrounds

of the two different groups. Despite the shortcomings of

the terminology, for a study concerning all citizens of

Saint-Domingue, they can provide some frame of reference for

readers. Therefore, I will utilize the aforementioned

categories in this article, but with extreme caution, and

should be read with similar discretion.

Unfortunately, at this point the actual numbers of the

men and women who purchased and read the Moniteur Général are

unknown. Initially, the newspaper only circulated in the

Northern Province. It is reasonable to believe that by

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evaluating the census records from the time in correlation

with the necessary education discussed above to estimate the

possible readership of the newspaper. According census

information from 1788, there were about 2700 whites and 1300

affranchis in the parish of Cap-Français.18 The majority of

the parish’s population lived in the city of Cap-Français,

so it probable that more of the white population were petits

blancs than grands blancs. Unlike metropolitan France, Paris

especially, that had hundreds of competing newspapers

printed during the revolutionary years, Cap-Français only

had one daily in print.19 Therefore, it can be suggested

that anywhere from 2000 to 4000 people read the Moniteur

Général.

Incorporating a financial element to this analysis may

narrow the number readers.

Indirect financial factors affected the audience of the

publication. Knowledge of the ever-changing legislation

18 M.L.E. Moreau de Saint-Mery, Description Topographique, physique, civile, politique et historique de la partie française de l’isle Saint-Domingue, vol. 1 (Paris: Société del'histoire des colonies françaises, 1797), pp. 511.19 Jeremy D. Popkin, Revolutionary News: The Press in France, 1789-1799 (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1990), and The Right-wing Press in France, 1792-1800 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980).

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affecting Saint-Domingue could substantially shape the

financial status of an individual. Often times, financial

status and political status were synonymous, because those

with political power were able to make decisions that

influenced the course of economics. If a colonist – black,

white, or of mixed ancestry – did not keep up with the

legislation, their world could have crumbled around them.

In many ways, the booksellers and printers of Saint-Domingue

controlled the dissemination of the laws regarding the

colonies. Prior to 1791, the Batilliot brothers purchased

multiple copies of the Décrets sur les municipalities (Decrees on the

Municipalities) from Bordeaux. Even after publishing the

first issue of the Moniteur Général, Batilliot and Company

continued to sell copies of colonial administrative

documents in their shop in Cap Français. After the book

trade collapsed, newspapers were the most viable place to

publicize new legislation. Therefore, it was financially

wise to read the Moniteur Général. Implications regarding the

culture of Saint-Domingue other than the audience emerge

from an analysis of this newspaper.

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The initial issue of the Moniteur Général contained a

prospectus filled with Enlightenment ideas. The prospectus

proclaimed the freedom of the press as the safeguard against

the terrors of despotism, citing the successes of England,

Holland, and Switzerland with this liberty. Most likely,

this choice of opening commentary directly engaged the

provisional decree of the Colonial Assembly that censored

information relating to France. In addition, the printers

asserted that Saint-Domingue needed to take part in the

newspapers, a “means so favorable to the propagation and the

communication of the philosophes.”20 The contents included

all that would be of interest in the colony, such as news

from France, the whole of Europe, the greater Caribbean, and

the United States. In addition to the cosmopolitan news,

the Moniteur Général printed edicts of the French king, decrees

and minutes of the Colonial Assembly and Intermediary

Assembly, and proclamations of the civil commissioners.

20 “Prospectus,” Le Moniteur Général de la Partie Française de Saint-Domingue, 15 November 1791. I translated the term lumiéres as philosophes, due to the context of the usage. The intellectuals of the French Enlightenment referred to themselves as les lumiéres.

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Each issue of the Moniteur Général in 1791 included a

quotation from the poet Horace in Latin, which reflects the

values of the printers and editors, and even perhaps

intimates the intended audience of the publication. The

quotation read, “He who has united the useful with the

pleasant has gained every point.”21 Only an educated

audience would be able to read and understand a quote from

Horace in Latin. The requirement of education would limit

the audience. However, during the rise of print culture of

the Enlightenment, philosophers made great Greek and Roman

authors, like Horace, accessible in the French vernacular.

For example, in 1769, Diderot wrote a three-part work

entitled D’Alembert’s Dream in French. In the third part,

“Sequel to the Preceding Conversation,” one of the

characters quotes the same words as above by Horace.22 The

availability of such works in French encouraged all literate

peoples to engage in the Enlightenment. On a cautionary

21 In Latin, the quotation reads, “Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utiledulci.” Le Moniteur Général de la Partie Française de Saint-Domingue, 15 November – 31 December 1791.22 Denis Diderot, “Suite de L’Entretien precedent,” D’Alembert’s Dream, 1769, Ian Johnston, trans., 23 March 2006, http://www.mala.bc.ca/~Johnstoi/diderot/sequel.htm (23 October 2007).

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note, it is naïve to assume that uneducated, or even

illiterate, citizens did not engage in the Enlightenment or

learn of the news printed on the island. Even with that

considered, it is likely that the development of print

culture and spread of the Enlightenment in Saint-Domingue

increased the readership of the Moniteur Général.

As indicated in the introduction, the Haitian

Revolution was not only about the issue of slavery. Whites

on the island, already divided within society during the Old

Regime, expressed their tensions, heightened by the French

Revolution, within the public sphere as well. Prior to the

slave insurrection in 1791, the petits blancs, “the most

vulnerable and consequently the most volatile element in the

white colonial regime,” responded to the equality boasted

by the French Revolution.23 As many of the grands blancs

feared, the landless whites recognized the opportunity in

the French Revolution to criticize and rise up against the

wealthy whites on the island. The voice of the petits blancs

was not subtle in the Moniteur Général; these whites used the

23 Carolyn Fick, The Making of Haiti, pp. 18.

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publication for launching some of their grievances. A clear

illustration of this is in regards to the decrees of 8 and

28 March 1790 by the National Assembly, which were

specifically about the colonies.

Known as the “Instructions” to the colonists, the

decrees of 8 and 28 March explained the organization of

colonial elections, but they did not reflect the sentiments

of all the colonists. The Constituent Assembly in France

formed a Colonial Committee, of mostly sympathizers with the

interests of the planters, to investigate representation in

Saint-Domingue.24 The resulting decree on 28 March set

forth property requirements for white voters and gave the

colonial representatives the right to prepare their own

laws, or constitution.25 The decrees demonstrated the

ignorance of the Constituent Assembly of the political

activities in Saint-Domingue. The colonists had already

held elections for an assembly in Saint Marc in February

1790, and they granted suffrage to all whites on the island,

24 Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus, Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 1789-1804: A Brief History with Documents (New York: Bedford, 2006), pp. 20.25 Dubois and Garrigus, “Decrees of March 8 and Instructions of March 28,” Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, pp. 71-2.

15

regardless of property.26 The open voting rights included

the petits blancs, promoting white solidarity on the island,

and the landless whites were enraged by the oversights of

the Constituent Assembly.

On 20 December 1791, the Moniteur Général dedicated the

entire issue to the March decrees. Members of the assembly

in Saint Marc, the Colonial Assembly, returned from Paris

earlier that month, and they presented a report on 14

December. According to minutes of the meeting of the

Colonial Assembly,

The effects that the news of the revolution operated inFrance produced in Saint-

Domingue, are succinctly and clearly detailed there [inthe report]. There was there, said this report, a lot enthusiasm, but in reflection on the colonial system, one soon sensed that the new principles of France were not convenient in the colonies.27

The minutes continue, referencing the March decrees directly

later on the same page. The members asserted that the

actions of the Constituent Assembly undermined the rights

and concerns of the colonists, especially the petits blancs.28

26 Dubois, Avengers of the New World, pp. 78.27 Le Moniteur Général, 20 December 1791, pp. 146.28 Le Moniteur Général, 20 December 1791, pp. 146.

16

Ironically, the 20 December 1791 issue failed to discuss the

motivation for the need for white solidarity , race

relations.

The rights and citizenship of the affranchis directly

motivated the solidarity of whites in Saint-Domingue. As

early as 1788, affranchis had been in Paris, allied with the

Société des Amis des Noirs (Friends of the Blacks), lobbying for

full citizenship rights for free people of color in the

colony. In October 1790, Vincent Ogé, a free person of

color, led a revolt of free coloreds in Saint-Domingue. The

whites on the island executed Ogé, but they still feared the

free people of color. The petits blancs were especially

threatened by the potential of the citizenship of the

affranchis. On 15 May 1791, the fears of whites became a

reality when the National Assembly in Paris granted rights

to free people of color. After news of violence in Saint-

Domingue between whites and the affranchis and the eruption of

the slave insurrection reached Paris, the Constituent

Assembly revoked the rights of free people of color on 24

17

September 1791.29 In addition, the September decree

reiterated the constitutional project of the Colonial

Assembly in Saint-Domingue.

Thomas Millet, secretary and vice president of the

Colonial Assembly in Saint Marc, spoke out about the 24

September decree in a letter to the editors of the Moniteur

Général on 26 November 1791. In Saint Marc in 1790, some of

the colonists proposed secession from France, but the

movement did not materialize. It appears as though Millet

formulated his own defense against those that accused him of

exceeding the limitations of the September decree in regards

to a colonial constitution. Millet claims that a M. Barnave

denounced the Colonial Assembly to him in April 1791, and

the letter to the editors served as a response to his

denunciator.30 The editors of the Moniteur Général obviously

supported Millet, because they devoted an entire page of the

publication to his cause, including a flattering preface to

Millet’s words. Batilliot and Company claimed that they

were “impressed to put it under the eyes of the public,”

29 Dubois and Garrigus, Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, pp. 25.30 Le Moniteur Général, 26 November 1791, pp. 48.

18

describing Millet as a “generous and respectable citizen,

part of the compatriots,” and believing that he wrote his

letter out of “his love of the glory and the prosperity of

the French part of Saint-Domingue.”31

On 18 July 1792, Batilliot and Company opened a

souscription patriotique (patriotic subscription) to aid in the

fight against the slave insurrection, allowing all free

citizens within the Northern Province to engage in a public

sphere. The initial advertisement for the subscription

specifically addressed the civilian population of Cap

Français, the various military personnel and militia members

in the colony, and the citizens of color of the Northern

Province. The article explained the obligation of each

group to the cause, whether it be a donation or service,

stating, “Each one will contribute according to their

means.” For instance, it pleaded that the “brave youth…go

to fight the vile brigands.” The Moniteur Général claimed the

people of color owed their “just titles” to the white

citizens of the colony; the Legislative Assembly in Paris

31 Le Moniteur Général, 26 November 1791, pp. 48.

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had just recently granted political rights to free people of

color on 4 April 1792. The newspaper expressed admiration

for the courage of the regiment of Cap Français in continued

defense of the colony. In return for contributions, the

Moniteur Général committed to printing the names of the

subscribers within its pages.32 Through the souscription

patriotique, citizens in Saint-Domingue engaged in a public

sphere by having their names and contributions printed for

the viewing of the entire colony.

The souscription patriotique received an instant response

from the citizens on the island. Beginning on 19 July 1792,

the Moniteur Général printed the names of the subscribers,

alongside the amount of their contributions. As mentioned

in the original advertisement, the printers believed all

free people were obligated to help the cause, and varied

individuals responded to the call. Among those listed was a

plantation owner, the fire chief, the Major General of the

Troupes Patriotiques (patriotic troops), and the printer of the

Provincial Assembly.33 An anonymous subscriber appeared in

32 Moniteur Général, 18 July 1792, pp. 162.33 Moniteur Général, 19 July 1792, pp. 166.

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the 20 July 1792 issue.34 The following day’s list included

a barkeeper and a cutler.35 Despite the specification of

occupations of the subscribers, the Moniteur Général did not

indicate their races. With the growing number of

participants in the subscription, a group of subscribers –

including Batilliot and an editor for the Moniteur Général,

Saint-Maurice – decided to nominate a treasurer on 23 July

1792, less than a week after its inception.36 Already, the

participants of the souscription patriotique, established by the

Moniteur Général, were funding and governing its own

involvement in the Haitian Revolution.

Unfortunately, after the first week, the subscribers

list only contained a few names each issue and the Moniteur

Général responded with discontent. On 25 July 1792, the

newspaper proposed two questions to its readers: “What

constitutes true patriotism in France? What constitutes

true patriotism in Saint-Domingue?”37 Julien Bouvier, an

entrepreneur of the hospital in Cap Français, offered his 34 Asterisks and dashes indicated the anonymous subscriber. Moniteur Général, 20 July 1792, pp. 170.35 Moniteur Général, 22 July 1792, pp. 187.36 Moniteur Général, 23 July 1792, pp. 192.37 Moniteur Général, 25 July 1792, pp. 200.

21

commentary in an issue two days later.38 He stated,

“Patriotism is the sincere attachment to one’s homeland,

with the strong will to sacrifice oneself to its

conservation and to its happiness. This attachment, or love

of one’s country, presumes a public spirit which differs

according to the people.”39 These opening remarks expressed

Bouvier’s general sentiments toward patriotism. In regards

to France and Saint-Domingue, he believed one thing

constituted true patriotism: “Obedience to the law.”40

Batilliot and Company most likely believed that Bouvier’s

column would encourage subscriptions. However, on 30 July

1792, the Moniteur Général printed more dissatisfaction. The

issue asserted, “We see with pain…that this sentiment

[patriotism] is quite sterile in the colony, since it could

report only 66 liv. in three days, for a subscription whose

scared employment should stimulate all the citizens.”41

By August 1792, Batilliot and Company was able to

distribute the Moniteur Général throughout more of the colony 38 Identity of Julien Bouvier found in Moreau de Saint-Mery, Description, pp. 437.39 Moniteur Général, 27 July 1792, pp. 206.40 Moniteur Général, 27 July 1792, pp. 207.41 Moniteur Général, 30 July 1792, pp. 219.

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and extend the souscription patriotique to more subscribers

outside of the Northern Province. Batilliot advertised in

an issue on 28 August 1792 for other publishers that would

reprint the Moniteur Général in other areas of Saint-Domingue.

Batilliot shared ownership with a businessperson, Goulay, in

Jérémie in the southern province. He also had connections

in Catineau in Saint Marc and Chaidron Port-au-Prince.42

Again, in September 1792, Batilliot advertised the newspaper

to the newly arriving troops from France. The “Notice of

the Printer” promised the soldiers “impartiality and

verity.”43 The Moniteur Général continued their printed

support of the troops throughout the duration of the

publication.

Just before the arrival of the civil commissioners,

Léger Félicité Sonthonax and Etienne Polverel, in September

1792, the Moniteur Général printed another impassioned call for

subscribers. A column, headlined “Citizens of Saint-

Domingue, of all classes and all colors,” declared “The

ingratitude and indifference [of the citizens] will thus be

42 Moniteur Général, 28 August 1792, pp. 332.43 Moniteur Général, 17 September 1792, pp. 412.

23

the price of so much sacrifice, and thus this burning

climate is only living by hearts of ice!”44 In other words,

the cold-hearted apathy of the colonists toward the

souscription patriotique cost the sacrifice of the lives of

thousands of Frenchmen in fighting the slave insurrection.

According to the article, those that subscribed did so out

of patriotism, even against the attraction of conforming to

popular opinion. In concluding, the column refers to the

legacy that would be left to the descendants of the colony,

portraying two contrasting images, apathy and action. The

newspaper claimed that those who subscribed would be

remembered for their selflessness in aiding the defenders of

the colony: “They made all the possible sacrifices, and

have arrived to reestablish the good order and peace, only

by founding the empire of virtues there!”45 Unfortunately,

the arrival of the commissioners ended any publications

regarding the souscription patriotique. However, the initial

advertisement claimed the subscription would last until the

turmoil on the island ended, and the publication of the

44 Moniteur Général, 8 September 1792, pp. 375.45 Moniteur Général, 8 September 1792, pp.375.

24

newspaper ended, with the burning of Cap Français in June

1793, before the revolution.

Despite the end of reports on the souscription patriotique,

other information printed in the Moniteur Général indicates the

continued life of the public sphere on the island. In

October 1792, some citizens in Cap Français established club

patriotique (patriotic club), specifically a chapter of the

Society of the Friends of the National Convention, and began

publishing the minutes of their sessions in the Moniteur

Général. By this time, the National Convention had declared

France a republic. The organization in Saint-Domingue

claimed it intended “to form the colonial public spirit,”

aligned with the revolution – the French Revolution – and

purged of any “aristocratic frenzy, innate in Saint-

Domingue.”46 The first order of business, after

establishing the rules for the members and meetings, was to

challenge the municipality and civil commissioners to “take

the necessary measures” to improve the conditions of the

hospitals and care for the defenders of the colony.

46 Moniteur Général, 16 October 1792, pp. 527.

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Ironically, the article concerning the new club patriotique

appeared in a column adjacent to a decree from Sonthonax to

the colony.

The final issue of the Moniteur Général, 20 June 1793,

commented on festivities held by the civil commissioners on

the previous night. The publication stated, “The mix of

colors and of the diverse classes of male and female

citizens formed a happy group that presided over the harmony

and the equality. Could this small civic party be the

sample of the general sentiment!”47 Unfortunately, the

excitement expressed by the newspaper dulled with discussion

of a “particular quarrel” and a notice to the sailors in Cap

Français to remain off land in the evening. Little did they

know, the next day Batilliot and Company would be printing

an emergency proclamation attempting to put down an attack

on the city by the sailors, led by General Galbaud, a

captive of the civil commissioners scheduled to be deported.

Saint-Maurice, editor of the Moniteur Général, recorded a

47 Moniteur Général, 20 June 1793, pp. 147.

26

detailed account of the events that followed, but it was not

printed in Saint-Domingue because the city was set aflame.

The Haitian Revolution resulted in great destruction

and thousands dead, but the gruesome details are not all

that can be taken from the history of the event. In the

case of this study, one daily newspaper opened a new world

of public discourse during a time of crisis. Peoples of all

colors and economic situations were able to express their

opinions in an unrestricted form through the freedom of the

press in Saint-Domingue. At times, differing views existed

on the same page. Despite the racial strife in the colony,

the public sphere in Saint-Domingue managed to somewhat

unify people of different colors against a common enemy.

Although the Moniteur Général only ran for two years, a great

deal of information can be learned for its study, and it was

only one amongst many newspapers printed in the colony.48

This particular newspaper represented the ideas of a certain

sect of the population in the Northern Province of Saint-

48 Supposedly, fifty different titles were in print in Saint-Domingue from 1765 to 1793, most of them after 1789. McClellan, Colonialism and Science, 98. A few titles included the Gazette de Cayes and the Gazette de St. Marc.

27

Domingue. The other two provinces in the colony – the West

and the South – had varied populations and different

circumstances during this same period. It is likely that

the pages of their newspapers differed from those of the

Moniteur Général. A study of the press in Saint-Domingue could

greatly improve historians’ understandings of the Haitian

Revolution.

28

Bibliography

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Moniteur Général de la Partie Française de Saint-Domingue (Cap-Français),Vols. 1-4,

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Moreau de Saint-Méry, Médéric-Louis-Elie. Description topographique, physique,

civile, politique et historique de la partie française de l'isle Saint DomingueVols. 1 & 2. Paris: Société de l'histoire des colonies françaises, 1797.

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Dubois, Laurent Dubois. Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian

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----. “An enslaved Enlightenment: Rethinking the intellectual history of the French Atlantic.” Social History. Vol. 31, No. 1 (2006): pp. 1-14.

---- and John D. Garrigus. Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 1789-1804: A Brief

History with Documents. New York: Bedford, 2006.

Fick, Carolyn. The Making of Haiti: The Saint-Domingue Revolution from Below.

Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1990.

29

Habermas, Jürgen. “The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article (1964).” New German

Critique. No. 3 (Autumn, 1974): pp. 49-55.

McClellan, James E. Colonialism and Science: Saint Domingue in the OldRegime.

Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.

McLeod, Jane. “A Bookseller in Revolutionary Bordeaux.” French Historical Studies.

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Popkin, Jeremy. “Facing Racial Revolution: Captivity Narratives and Identity in the

Saint-Domingue Insurrection.” Eighteenth Century Studies. Vol. 36, No. 4 (Summer 2003): Pp. 511-533.

World Wide Web

Diderot, Denis. “Suite de L’Entretien precedent.” D’Alembert’s Dream, 1769, Ian

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