Secret History; or, the Horrors of St. Domingo: In a Series of Letters, Written by a Lady at Cape Francois, to Colonel Burr, Late Vice-President of the United States, Principally During the Command of General RochambeuSansay, Leonora
History
Secret History; or, the Horrors of St. Domingo: In a Series of Letters, Written by a Lady at Cape Francois, to Colonel Burr, Late Vice-President of the United States, Principally During the Command of General Rochambeu
Sansay, Leonora
Haiti -- History -- Revolution, 1791-1804; Haiti -- Social life and customs
Three months after this period we arrived and have now been a month
here, the town is rapidly rebuilding, but it is extremely difficult to
find a lodging. The heat is intolerable and the season so unhealthy
that the people die in incredible numbers. On the night of our arrival,
Toussaint the general in chief of the negroes, was seized at the
Gonaives and embarked for France. This event caused great rejoicing.
A short time before he was taken, he had his treasure buried in the
woods, and at the return of the negroes he employed on this expedition,
they were shot without being suffered to utter a word.
Clara has had the yellow fever. Her husband, who certainly loves her
very much, watched her with unceasing care, and I believe, preserved
her life, to which however she attaches no value since it must be
passed with him.
Nothing amuses her. She sighs continually for the friend of her youth
and seems to exist only in the recollection of past happiness. Her
aversion to her husband is unqualified and unconquerable. He is
vain, illiterate, talkative. A silent fool may be borne, but from a
loquacious one there is no relief. How painful must her intercourse
with him be; and how infinitely must that pain be augmented by the
idea of being his forever? Her elegant mind, stored with literary
acquirements, is lost to him. Her proud soul is afflicted at depending
on one she abhors, and at beholding her form, and you know that form
so vilely bartered. Whilst on the continent she was less sensible of
the horrors of her fate. The society of her friend gave a charm to her
life, and having married in compliance with his advice, she thought
that she would eventually be happy. But their separation has rent the
veil which concealed her heart; she finds no sympathy in the bosom of
her husband. She is alone and she is wretched.
General Le Clerc is small, his face is interesting, but he has an
appearance of ill health. His wife, the sister of Buonaparte, lives in
a house on the mountain till there can be one in town prepared for her
reception. She is offended, and I think justly, with the ladies of the
Cape, who, from a mistaken pride, did not wait on her when she arrived,
because having lost their cloaths they could not dazzle her with their
finery.
Having heard that there were some American ladies here she expressed a
desire to see them; Mr. V---- proposed to present us; Clara, who would
not walk a mile to see a queen, declined. But I, who walk at all times,
merely for the pleasure it affords me, went; and, considering the
labour it costs to ascend the mountain, I have a claim on the gratitude
of Madame for having undertaken it to shew her an object which she
probably expected to find in a savage state.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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