60199616-flight-to-freedom-african-runaways-and-maroons-in-the-americas

282 Flight to Freedom
But rather than critiquing the view that Duchilleau encouraged or incited
the Maroons to attack the planters, Baker simply refers to Boromé’s (1969, 55)
caution that Atwood’s interpretation cannot be taken at face value, though he
also notes that Boromé (1972, 112) seems to be ambivalent on the matter.
It is clear that Duchilleau used the Maroons as his allies and the best
recourse, in the circumstances, to fight the British. There was no love lost
between the two European powers, which had fought many bitter battles
over the Caribbean islands, and no doubt the governor and other French people
still smarted at the loss of Dominica to the British in 1759 (ratified by the
Treaty of Paris in 1763). However, caution is advised in accepting that
Duchilleau openly encouraged the destruction of the British plantations.
Certainly he may secretly have wished for that to happen, and he must have
realized that disarming the planters would make them much more vulnerable
to Maroon assaults. Atwood, of course, is not an impeccable source, for he
was once British chief judge on the island, a strong upholder of the slavery
regime and intensely hostile to the Maroons, as his book indicates. A more
careful and detailed critique of the events of this period is necessary before
we can make definitive statements about what actually happened.
It was not the last time that the French would make a play for Maroon
allies in Dominica. In 1794, shortly after the French had proclaimed the abolition
of slavery in their colonies, a French official sought to make an alliance
with Pharcell, the main Maroon leader in the island, promising him support
in the form of weaponry. However, John Orde, the British governor, neutralized
the French influence by striking a treaty with the Maroon leader, by
which he agreed to the colonial state’s recognition of his freedom and that of
the members of his household and twelve of his followers. In return, Pharcell
and his men were to scout the terrain for runaways in return for a bounty and
to assist the British more generally to preserve the internal peace and tranquillity
of the colony, especially in relation to foreign invasion (Craton 1982,
226–27). However, other Maroon groups that remained outside this arrangement
continued to create serious problems for the colonial authorities. They
rejected Governor George Robert Ainslie’s offers of amnesty and attempts at
a peaceful settlement through treaties. The governor therefore adopted brutal
and at times highly questionable measures to wipe them out, for which his
superiors in London later called him to account. In 1813 Quashie, one of the
main Maroon leaders, placed a bounty on his head (Honychurch 1975, 74,
90–91; Craton 1982, 145).