Torbec. Commune in which Praslin lies.

“The manifesto, that declaration of war to the death upon despotism, that appeal to patriots, is the work of my inspiration; I was the first to conceive its idea and set it down on paper. It has traveled through the country, it has been hailed with acclamation by the friends of liberty and of principles. I sprang, then, into the arena with the swiftness of lightning, and the revolution was begun at Praslin, in the plain of Les Cayes (commune of Torbeck). The companions of my perils and my devotion, the consecrators of the rights of liberty, those liberators of the country, repeated with enthusiasm the magic cries I raised: ‘To arms, citizens, liberty, sovereignty of the people or death.’ The revolution proclaimed, the tocsin of despotism rang, its hirelings showed their antipathy to a change that was to give development to every intelligence and bring to nothing those pretensions whose only support was the favor of an iniquitous power. Forces were sent against us. To avoid the shedding of blood we resolved to go to Jérémie and there to establish the base of arms of the revolution.