A _MEMOIR_ OF TRANSACTIONS THAT TOOK PLACE IN _ST. DOMINGO,_ IN THE SPRING OF 1799; AFFORDING AN IDEA OF THE PRESENT STATE OF THAT COUNTRY THE REAL CHARACTER OF ITS BLACK GOVERNOR, =Toussaint L’ouverture,= AND THE SAFETY OF OUR WEST-INDIA ISLANDS FROM ATTACK OR REVOLT; INCLUDING _THE RESCUE OF A BRITISH OFFICER UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH_. ------- Inest sua Gratia parvis. ------- BY CAPTAIN RAINSFORD, TWENTY-FOUR YEARS AN OFFICER IN HIS MAJESTY’S ARMY. -------------- _LONDON_: PRINTED BY R. B. SCOTT. At his Office In St. Clement’s Lane, Strand. SOLD BY EDWARD LAWRENCE, IN THE STRAND, NEARLY OPPOSITE BEAUFORT BUILDINGS. 1802. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ADVERTISEMENT. -------------- Very little will be expected in the following pages when coming from the pen of a Soldier; but that little will be found to be _his own_; and this on a Subject of much doubt and importance may possibly protract its existence in an age of compilation! He is however, better satisfied to consider it as a small emanation of gratitude to a singular man, who in the possession of extraordinary power, did not use it unworthily. London, January, 6, 1802 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A MEMOIR, _ETC._ -------------- The object of public attention is ever the sport of public rumour; and truth is not infrequently affected by the fabrications of the idle and the ignorant, when men and things are misrepresented by popular prejudice. The present armament of Bonaparte against St. Domingo, and the general alarm for the safety of our colonial possessions from the powerful situation of the Brigands in that island, have occasioned much conjecture, but produced no authentic information, while on a subject of such importance it becomes a duty in those competent in any degree, to relieve the anxiety of the public mind. Had Bryan Edwards lived, we should not so long have fluctuated in uncertainty.