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1717-10-20

EXTRACT from the Letter of the Conseil de Marine to M. the Marquis DE CHATEAUMORANT, concerning a Hunt for marrons at the Béate, and the Sending of deserting Soldiers to the Public Works

Haitian

THE undertaking you have carried out against the fugitive nègres established on the side of the Béate, and the success it had, will perhaps serve to make desertion of the enslaved less frequent. THE CONSEIL has approved what you did on this occasion, and recommends that you be attentive to having frequent hunts made for marrons. The usage established at Saint-Domingue since 1706, of condemning deserting Soldiers to serve at the works in chains as convicts, is contrary to all the Laws of the Kingdom: the King absolutely wills that it be abolished, and that the latest Ordinance be executed to the letter; you will find copies of it enclosed; you will give some to the Officers Majors, and to each Captain: the Conseil does not approve the proposal you make to send two Galleys en fagot to Saint-Domingue with the convict crews and their rigging and apparel, it would be too great an expense.

Source  ·  p. act 01:497 Médéric Louis Élie Moreau de Saint-Méry, Loix et constitutions des colonies françoises de l'Amérique sous le Vent (Vol. 2) (1784-1790), p. act 01:497