Whites in a Slave Society*Mtfdtfric-Louis-glie Moreau de Saint-MtfryThis description of the whites of Saint-Dominkye, originallypublished in 1197, forms part of a *nerd study ofthat colony by a white from another French West Indiancolony. It describes and differentiates among the variousEuropean residents and the nativeborn white8 (Creoles).'Ibis sekction shows how constant association with shvaaffected the white Creole personality, and it complement8Patterson's similar discussion from the slave point of view.M~~IUC-LOUIS~B MOREAU DE SAINT-&Y, ageneration Creole from Mnrtiniqw, was an astute observefand chronicler of evev aspect of West Indian life. Alawyer and judge in the Antilles, he was active in Pa&in both cultural and political allairs and occupied prominentpitiom, both before and after the French Rev0118-tion, as histon- litt&atew, and administrator.Material in brackets was deleted by tbe author from theh t printed edition but restored by the compilen of the1958 edition,In places where men come to dwell together over a longperiod of time, [some special system of associationemerges, witb rules governed by local conventions. h tbeabsence of extraordinary or rare events, the aystem endureswithout sensible change, because the few individualswho come to join the group and thaw who are born intoit adopt its usages; strictly speaking, it is just a family, moreor less numerous.] They seem almost completely amalmated, and members of the society at large aU share similarand easily identifiable traits. But in colonial atablishmentsrecently created by successive cmigratio~~~, the dgm of agenuine ensemble are not to be seen: instead these societi~are shapeless mixtures subject to dive* iduences;and this lack of cohesion is especially marked when a greatcolony is made up of individuda who have come there insearch of a clime distant and wholly d8ercnt from their
54 Whites in a Slave Societyown, because then each person adheres to many usagesof the country he has left behind, only slightly modifiedand adapted to the country he has come into. How muchmore is this the case when, in the newly adopted countrywhere they find themselves thrown together as by chance,the settlers are surrounded by slaves!In line with these facts, which give the customs of theAmerican colonies their particular character, I shall try toelucidate what specifically distinguishes the French settlersof Saint-Domingue.Pirates accustomed to looking for their wants amid theperils of the sea, if necessary at gun point, and Buccaneers,terrors of the forest whose inhabitants they destroyed,could not help but be ferocious and sanguinary in theirbehavior.Yet it was such men, descendants of many nationalities,whom metropolitan Speculators after the French conquestsought to tame and subordinate to their own personal interests.Absurd on the face of it, this plan could only havesucceeded through a leader of the most extraordinaryqualities. The Compagnie des lies de TAm6rique foundsuch a leader.In fact, no one more greatly influenced the customs ofthe fearless conquerors of French Saint-Domingue thand'ogeron, who succeeded in transforming them intofarmers. To instil in them the essential qualities, d'Ogeroninvoked the aid of the seductive sex, who everywheresweeten men and render them more sociable. He sent overto France for interesting girls, mostly timid orphans, totame these proud men who were used to rebellion and totransform them into sensitive husbands and virtuousfathers. In this way, Saint-Domingue acquired a nativepopulation, which began to consider it (St.-D.) their owntrue country.When these first settlers began to liberate themselvesfrom the exploitation of the commercial companies, andwhen the harassment they encountered in selling their tobaccoforced them to substitute other crops for it, theircircumstances became easier. Tranquil and contented,they saw the'u means of subsistence increase. Soon, welloffwithout being opulent, they led a life all the more enviablebecause they had not yet learned to regard luxuriesas necessities. These colonial mores long held sway evenamong the soldiers, who everywhere tend to set themselvesapart from other citizens. But here, any soldier could aspireto become a farmer. Except for the frequent tumoverof governors and the influence of political events ontheir fate, the Islanders had no reason to envy the inhabitantsof the mother country.But this peaceful happiness itself became a cause ofsignificant change. Settlers enriched through well-plannedagriculture now sought other occupations for their children.They had to be sent to France to acquire an dmtionappropriate to their future state. Those who cameback to the island brought with them tastes which couldnot be satisfied there. Sometimes they could not give uppenchants already strongly confirmed, or perhaps theywere ashamed of the simple customs of their parents.Hence, their aversion toward their biiplaa, a kind oflassitude in which they viewed themselves only as transientsin a country where they were sometimes forced to stayfor their entire lives. Hence, their unconcern for the goodand prosperity of a country from which they wished toextract only the means of living far away. Hence, the highprice paid for pleasures which were multiplied merely becausethey failed to bring satisfaction.TO this misfortune, which made most of the Colonistsaliens in the land that gave them birth, still another wasadded. Their taste for dissipation and their extravagantspending, which made them highly visible, created an exaggeratedimpression of the Colony. A country whose productioncould maintain such unrestrained luxury had tobe considered an inexhaustible mine; and the Europeans*lust for gold led them to go and seek their share of theseimmense treasures. That a deadly climate killed most ofthem deterred few, for nothing was seen but the bootybrought back by those who returned.However, the Colony seemed to satisfy much ambition,
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