They were
already in the uniform of the Parisian National Guards; and one of them
wore the cross of St. Louis. They were men of genteel appearance and modest
behaviour. They seemed to be well informed, and of a more solid cast than
those, whom I was in the habit of seeing daily in this city. The account
which they gave of themselves was this. The White People of St. Domingo,
consisting of less than ten thousand persons, had deputies then sitting in
the National Assembly. The People of Colour in the same island greatly
exceeded the Whites in number. They amounted to thirty thousand, and were
generally proprietors of lands. They were equally free by law with the
former, and paid their taxes to the mother-country in an equal proportion.
But in consequence of having sprung from slaves they had no legislative
power, and moreover were treated with great contempt. Believing that the
mother-country was going to make a change in its political constitution,
they had called a meeting on the island, and this meeting had deputed them
to repair to France, and to desire the full rights of citizens, or that the
free People of Colour might be put upon an equality with the Whites.
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