In the meantime the coloured men at Mirebalais, under the leadership of Pinchinat, began to arouse their brethren; and having freed nine hundred slaves, commenced forming the nucleus of an army, that, under the leadership of a very intelligent mulatto named Bauvais, gained some successes over the undisciplined forces in Port-au-Prince, commanded by an Italian adventurer, Praloto. The Royalists, who had been driven from the city by the mob, had assembled at “La Croix des Bouquets” in the plains, and to strengthen, their party entered into an alliance with the freedmen. This alarmed the inhabitants of Port-au-Prince, and they also recognised the existence of Pinchinat and his party by entering into a regular treaty with them. The Haytians, as I may call the coloured races, began now to understand that their position must depend on their own courage and conduct. When everything had been settled between the chiefs of the two parties, the Haytians returned to Port-au-Prince, and were received with every demonstration of joy; they then agreed to a plan which showed how little they cared for the liberty of others, so that they themselves obtained their rights. Among those who had fought valiantly at their side were the freed slaves previously referred to. For fear these men should incite ideas of liberty among those blacks who were still working on the estates, the coloured officers consented that they should be deported from the country. In the end they were placed as prisoners on board a pontoon in Mole St. Nicolas, and at night were for the most part butchered by unknown assassins. And Bauvais and Pinchinat, the leaders and the most intelligent of the freedmen, were those that agreed to this deportation of their brethren-in-arms who had the misfortune to be lately slaves! I doubt if the blacks ever forgot this incident. The coloured men gained little by this breach of faith, as shortly after news arrived that the French Assembly had reversed the decree of May 15, which gave equal rights to the freedmen; and then dissensions broke out, and the coloured men were again driven from Port-au-Prince with heavy loss. This was the signal for disorders throughout the whole country, and the whites and the freedmen were skirmishing in every district. Praloto and the rabble reigned supreme in Port-au-Prince, and soon made the rich merchants and shopkeepers feel the effects of their internal divisions. They set fire to the town, and during the confusion plundered the stores, and exercised their private vengeance on their enemies.