Un peu d`histoire de la famille Escoffery

Un peu d’histoire sur la famille
Escoffery
Compilé par E. Michon 2010 ©
1
Table des matières
- P 2 La famille Escoffery
- P 7 Gloria Escoffery
- P 9 Les Blasons de la famille Scofferi
- P10 Alassio, ville de Ligurie
- P 19 Ex voto
- P 22 La République de Gênes
- P 28 La Corse
- P 29 St Domingue, une colonie française avant 1791
- P 32 La situation à St Domingue en 1791 et la naissance d’Haïti
- P 36 La Jamaïque au début du XIXème siècle
- P 40 Louis Celeste Lecesne le beau frère de John Escoffery
- P 45 Le Procès à Londres de John Escoffery et Louis Céleste Lecesne
- P 61 Apports bibliographie et credits photos
2
La Famille Escoffery
I
Au commencement connu, il y eu Jean Marie Scofferi (1754-1804) qui est né en
Corse.
Mais nous supposons que sa famille provient de la Ligurie où nous pouvons
retrouver traces du nom Scofferi à Alassio. Ce nom « Scofferi di Nizza» est associé
principalement aux familles Scoffier, Excoffier et Escoffier d’origine de la
Provence.
Le blason de la famille Scofferi comte de Castellar est le suivant :
The original Escoffery that came to Jamaica was Jean Marie Escoffier, and he came to Jamaica
from Haiti at the time of the Haitian Revolution (about 1792 to 1798)! We believe he was not
actually French as there appears to be a connection to an Italian family "Scofferi" from Genoa &
Sicily. In Jamaica, he lived in Kingston and anglicized his name to John M. Escoffery. All
Escoffery family descends from this individual. There are a LOT of Escofferys descended from the
original John Escoffery!
Perhaps he fled the first massive organized revolt of slaves in the french colony of Saint-Domingue.
He was married to Eulaslie Savary (Savarie?) . He died Christian in Jamaica (S.H) John and
Louisa Eulalie Savarie had the following child.: John Escoffery.
His tombstone is listed in Lawrence-Archer"The Monumental Inscriptions of the British West
Indies, as being buried at the Kingston Parish Church
(text from Stephen Hopwood).
3. 1795 - 1799 There was a flow of refugees and French prisoners of war from St. Domingue. The
newly-appointed Lieutenant Governor, Lord Balcarres, wrote to England that on his arrival in
Jamaica, in April, 1795, he found a vast number of French emigrants, who had recently fled from
the horrors of Saint Domingue. They were people of all ranks and colors. Many were of the French
nobility. Some of the aristocratic ladies had lost all their fortunes, but their female slaves and a few
trusty male domestics had saved their lives while endangering their own. There was a multitude of
slaves and of handicraft men of color, with great numbers of brown women. On ships anchored
near the shore there was also a large number of French prisoners of war of the most alarming
description, some of them being bands of incendiaries who were held responsible when on August 2,
1795 Montego Bay was destroyed by fire.
(text from Stephen Hopwood).
II
Puis son fils John Escoffery s’allia avec son beau-frère Louis Céleste Lecesne pour
prendre part à une révolte anti-esclavagisme en 1823 ce qui lui valu une déportation vers Haïti et
un séjour à Londres pour faire établir par la justice sa nationalité britannique étant né en
Jamaïque
A free mulatto, according to the Anglican marriage register. He was actually 3/8 black
3
Himself and John Jr's brother-in-law Louis Celeste LECESNE (also business partners as liquor
merchants in Kingston, Jamaica) were accused of hatching a plot against the government and
arrested as being foreigners and do stirring up "the people of colour" in anti-slavery sentiments.
They were deported to Haiti about 1825. At Jacmel, they were taken by a British's ship captain to
England, where an Advocate Member of Parliament , Stephen Lushington, took their case to the
British Parliament, there established they could not be deported as both young men were born in
Jamaica. There were compensated and returned to Jamaica. (text from Stephen Hopwood).
Louis Celeste Lecesne and John Escoffery were arrested on 7 October, 1823 under the Alien Act by
a warrant of the Duke of Manchester, the Governor of Jamaica. They were considered by the
Attorney General, William Burge to be of a dangerous character and to be aliens as they were
clained to be Haitians. Luckily they had time to raise a writ of Habeas Corpus in the Supreme Court
of Jamaica
III Le fils de John, John Escoffery a vécut une partie de sa jeunesse à Londres en Angleterre où il
s’est marié avec Eliza Western Evans le 16 Mai 1840 et a eu son premier enfant John Walter
Evans
Ils sont rentrés ensuite en Jamaïque où ils ont eu les 6 autres enfants
IV Nous commençons à mieux connaître la vie de la famille Escoffery en Jamaïque avec Charles
Septimus Escoffery marié avec Caroline Louisa Mattos native aussi de Jamaïque et dont
le père était notaire public ; La famille Mattos était issue des communautés juives shefarades
expulsées d’Espagne en 1492, d’abord réfugiée au Portugal et qui se retrouverons en particulier
dans les Caraïbes sur l’Ile de Curaçao et nous pensons que cette famille Mattos a probablement
ses origines à Curaçao
V
Charles Septimus et Caroline Louisa ont eu 7 enfants dont certains ont formé des familles en
Amérique du Nord dont Charles Joseph et Madeleine Rose qui se sont installés au Canada
Charles Joseph Escoffery
4
Madeleine Rose Escoffery
Et en Amérique Centrale, dont Albert Leopold et Francis Everard installés respectivement
au Nicaragua et à Panama
Albert Leopold Escoffery
Francis Evrard Escoffery
Les familles de Cyril Alexander, William Ignatus et Georges Septimus sont restés en
Jamaïque et ont formé des familles de medecins et aussi d’artistes
Cyril Alexander Escoffery William Ignatus Escoffery
VI
Georges Septimus Escoffery
Parmi les enfants de Charles Joseph installés au Canada, sa fille Marie Louise Annette Escoffery
qui s’est marié avec Thomas Clarke Scott (de la famille du Pasteur Presbytérien James Scott
venu d’Ecosse en Jamaïque au milieu du XIX ème siècle) et Lucille Ernestine Escoffery marié
avec Charles Muirhead Smith
Marie Louise Annette Escoffery
5
Thomas Clarke Scott
Lucille Ernestine Escoffery
Les enfants de Madeleine Escoffery marié avec Arnold Scott qui était l’oncle de Thomas Clarke
sont aussi restés au Canada en particulier en Ontario et à Vancouver avec les descendants de
Philip Vernon
Madeleine Escoffery
Arnold Scott
Parmi les enfants restés en Jamaïque, nous pouvons relever la fille de William Ignatus et Sylvia
Sowley en l’occurrence Gloria (1923-2002), honorée en Jamaïque en tant qu’artiste
6
GLORIA ESCOFFERY
(1923-2002)
Jamaican artist, poet, teacher art critic and journalist who retained her public spiritedness and vision
Gloria Escoffery, who has died aged 78, was an important Jamaican artist, poet, teacher, art
critic and journalist. Her work as an artist and writer evolved as part of the burgeoning Jamaican art
movement of the 1940s and 50s. Later she became - partly, but not completely, by choice - somewhat
of an outsider but retained her creativity, proud to call herself "something of a rootswoman".
For more than half a century she produced intellectually demanding literary and visual work.
Full of social satire, symbolism and mythology, her more recent work, in particular, was a celebration
of the "rootsmen", the self-taught, rural artists of her beloved island. Escoffery came from the
Jamaican professional class and was trained as a classical artist, but her work reflected rural life and
was expressive of Jamaican folk culture. Indeed, her collection of wood carvings by her friend Brother
Everald Brown, perhaps Jamaica's leading intuitive artist and a self- ordained minister of the Ethiopian
Orthodox church, and his son Joseph, held the inspiration for much of her important later work. These
carvings were reborn - like nursery animals coming alive at night - as a cast of richly tragi-comical
characters in her illustrated and privately published book of poetry, Rootsman Adam Reincarnates For
The Millennium (2000). It deserved a larger audience.
The work is typical Escoffery: a sure hand, wise and humorous, calling on all the traditions
that made her such an invigorating and inquiring artist. Always critical of her society, she was never
aloof from it - even if she sometimes felt excluded by ethnic origin and education, and then by distance
from the Kingston-based art and literary establishment.
The youngest of three children, she was born in Gayle, in the agricultural parish of St Mary,
but spent most of her childhood in Brown's Town, a market community inland from Jamaica's glittery
north coast. Her doctor father was descended from white Haitians who had fled its revolution. Her
mother's family were English and Jewish Jamaican. She was educated at St Hilda's High School,
Brown's Town, and in 1942 won the "island scholarship" and went to McGill University in Montreal,
Canada. She returned, at a time of political and artistic stirrings, and she was invited by Edna Manley,
wife of Norman Manley, leader of the People's National Party and future post-independence prime
minister, to become literary editor of the PNP's weekly, Public Opinion. She also designed sets for
Jamaica's Little Theatre.
From 1950 to 1952 she studied at London's Slade School of Art where Lucian Freud taught
and where Unity Spencer, daughter of Stanley, was a student. When Edna Manley, who became a
close friend, visited Escoffery's studio on the latter's return to Jamaica, she commented: "You really
are an artist, not just a journalist." At first, in works such as Banana Plantation Workers (1953), she
identified with Jamaica's early nationalist realists.
7
Classical in composition, these paintings drew on Cézanne and Poussin, according to David
Boxer, emeritus director of the National Gallery of Jamaica, who always promoted her work. He
included her superbly composed acrylic, The Old Woman (1955), in Jamaican Art 1922-82, the
landmark exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. Later, her work became more
experimental, dreamlike and at times surreal, full of literary allusion and often incorporating
decorative friezes. One of her most ambitious works, dating from the 1980s, was Mirage, on five
panels, celebrating her love for the land, in this case the desert landscape of the Middle East - a tribute
to her Jewish grandmother - turned into a battlefield for cultural dominance.
She had left Kingston in the late 1950s and moved to Rio Bueno where she painted, ran an art
gallery and taught in local schools. In 1967, she adopted her son, Fabian, before returning to Brown's
Town where she was to live for the rest of her life, in a cottage and studio, in the grounds of her old
family home. There, from 1975 she taught English literature to sixth formers at the Brown's Town
community college, having gained a teacher's diploma at the University of the West Indies. It was the
start of a richly creative period: apart from painting, poetry and teaching, she wrote for the Jamaica
Journal and had a weekly column in the Gleaner newspaper. She retired from teaching in 1985.
Sometimes her immensely long, engrossing letters expressed a sense of intellectual isolation, but never
of despair. They often contained vivid descriptions of mishaps. On one trip to Kingston, her portfolio,
stuffed with illustrations for a children's book, was left on top of her car. When the car drove away, the
portfolio fell off and was lost. But her energy and imagination meant that there was always more
creativity to come.
In the last few years, she had become enthralled by the computer: drawing with the mouse
and creating layouts for her poems. It offered a new way to design - always one of her passions. There
were two published collections of poems: Mother Jackson Murders The Moon (1998), and Loggerhead
(1988). The latter was dedicated to, among others, David Boxer and Edna Manley. Escoffery wrote
that these were friends who saw that "I was waving, not drowning, and waved back." Courageous,
determined, outspoken, "Miss G", as she called herself, raged against what she saw as the apathy of
Jamaican society (though few could match her energy) and its violence (she launched a campaign
against corporal punishment in schools).
In her last years, she also wrote a blueprint for the development of Brown's Town. Her public
spiritedness, generosity and vision is perhaps best encapsulated in the dreams she had for a Brown's
Town cultural centre, based around her library of 1,000 art books, in the grounds of her home. She is
survived by her son, Fabian.
8
· Gloria Blanche Escoffery, artist and poet, born December 22 1923; died April 24 2002
Polly Pattullo from the Guardian
9
Blasons possibles de la famille Scoffery
Escoffier
conti di Castellar
(Scoffier, Scofferi)
(di Nizza)
D’azzurro, allo scaglione accompagnato da tre covoni, il tutto d’oro; con il capo del
campo, sostenuto d’oro, carico di tre stelle d’argento, male ordinate
[Rabino]
"Dazur, le groupe accompagné de trois gerbes, tout en or, avec la tête du domaine, avec
l'appui de l'or, chargé de trois étoiles d'argent"
Escoffier
signori di Boione
(Excoffier, Scoffier)
(di Nizza)
D’azzurro, alla fascia, accompagnata in capo da tre gigli, ordinati in fascia, il tutto
d’oro, in punta da un cuore di rosso, cucito
[Manno]
[Rabino considera una sola famiglia i signori di Boione e i conti di Castellar,
assegnandole l'arma di questi ultimi, vedi nel seguito]
(Excoffier, Scoffier)
(da Nizza
signori di Lessolo
D’argento al decusse (d'
azzurro), accompagnato in capo e punta da due gigli, dello
stesso, ai fianchi da due rose di rosso
[Manoscritto Mella, citato da Manno]
10
Alassio
(arasca en Ligurie) est une ville italienne de 11.319 habitants [1] de la province de Savone en Ligurie.
( compilé de Wikipedia)
Alassio
Etat:
Région:
Province:
Italie
Ligurie
Savona
Coordonnées:
44°0 28.50 N
8°10 22.96 E44°0 28.50 N
8°10 22.96 E : 44 ° 0'28 .50 "N
8 ° 10'22 .96" E Coordonnées:
44 ° 0'28 .50 "N 8 ° 10'22 .96"
E
Altitude:
6m
Taille:
17,3 km ²
Population:
11.319
Densité:
653 ab. / Km ²
Fractions:
Caso, Moglio, Solva
Sq mi:
Albenga, Andora, Laigueglia,
Villanova d'Albenga
Code postal:
17021
Pref Téléphone: 0182
Code ISTAT:
11
009001
31-12-2008 (ISTAT)
Géographie physique
La ville est située sur la côte de la Riviera Ligure di Ponente entre Capo Mele et Capo Santa Croce et
est connu comme un des installations touristiques centre et le port de plaisance "Luca Ferrari". Est
d'environ 51 km de la capitale.
Le territoire de la commune a fait partie de la Communauté de Montagne Ingauna jusqu'au 1 Janvier
2009 quand, avec les règles de la réorganisation des communautés de montagne, régies par la loi
régionale n ° 24 de Juillet 4 2008 [2] et en vigueur depuis le 1 Janvier 2009, la courant a été exclu en
déléguant la même chose pour les fonctions administratives liées à l'agriculture, développement rural,
les forêts et la lutte contre les incendies de forêt.
Histoire
Alassio en 1934.
La fondation d'Alassio [3] remonte au Xe siècle sur le moment, près de l'église de Sant'Anna ai Monti,
a été construit dans le noyau et d'autres familles s'installèrent près de la colline derrière le canton
présente Madonna delle Grazie, au lieu-dit Depuis lors, comme un plâtre. Ici, vous pouvez encore voir
l'une des plus anciennes couches d'Alassio.
La rivalité dans le «siècle onzième était en possession des moines, des moines bénédictins venant de
'île Gallinara et plus tard est venu sous le contrôle d'Albenga, qui administrait la ville jusqu'à ce que le
siècle seizième.
En 1521 à la suite des raids en continu par des pirates ont été construits les premiers murs pour être
placée comme une défense du logement. Puis pénétré une partie du territoire de la République de
Gênes a participé à 1528, avec les galères dix-huit, guerre contre la France en obtenant de gènes d'une
large autonomie en particulier dans le domaine économique.
En 1540, il devint le siège local de la Podesta et la République d'entreprises favorise le commerce de
Gênes avec la France, l'Espagne, le Portugal, la Sicile, la Sardaigne et les Pays-Bas, rendant ainsi le
Alassino village de pêcheurs, un centre commercial important, comme d'autres pays côtiers de Ligurie
a été très actif collecte et le commerce du corail rouge. Il participa à la bataille de Lépante de 1571
avec une flotte entière.
En 1625 est entré en possession de la Savoie, mais bientôt retrouvé la République de Gênes. En 1797,
Napoléon Bonaparte a occupé la ville pendant la campagne d'Italie et, après la chute de la République
de Gênes, il touche le territoire de la République nouvelle ligure annexée par l'Empire français d'abord.
En 1815, il rejoint le royaume de Sardaigne, comme indiqué dans le Congrès de Vienne de 1814 pour
les autres villes de la République ligurienne, et en 1861 le royaume d'Italie.
Dans la fin du XIXe siècle, comme c'est arrivé dans d'autres villes côtières des deux côtes de la
Ligurie, est devenu un centre touristique majeur et merci de résidence à une présence visible de
vacanciers de nationalité anglaise - avec les visiteurs de la famille Hanbury, les créateurs de jardins
botaniques homonymes de Ventimiglia - qui ont contribué au développement économique national.
12
A cheval sur les années cinquante et soixante, qui coïncide avec le boom économique, il a été stations
à la mode avec Portofino et San Remo. C'est durant ces années que l'initiative du peintre Mario
Berrino Alassino née l'initiative de la paroi d'
Alassio.
Places
La légende veut que le nom provient du nom d'
Alassio Adelasia, fille de l'empereur Othon I, qui a fui
avec un écuyer nommé Aleramo du couple allaient s'installer dans les collines de Alax - maintenant
Alassio - qui donne naissance à la lignée des Aleramicis. Au blason municipal illustre la figure d'une
tour avec Adelasia les stands. Le fait est que déjà dans les siècles XIII et XIV parlait d'une Albertus
Alaska [citation nécessaire] (1236) et le territoire de Alax. Il n'est donc pas exclure l'hypothèse selon
laquelle la ville tire son nom de la noble dessus, ou que le noble dérivé d'un endroit appelé l'
Alaska,
plus tard transformée en Alassio.
[Edit] Symboles
"Venez sur fond bleu, une tour de coloré rouge, murs noirs, soit cinq de créneaux de Guelph, avec
une femme au sommet, passant de la tour elle-même, vêtu de rouge et d'hermine col avec sa main droite
serrant un sceptre lis, comptant de l'or dans le groupe. Ornements extérieur à partir de commune et
crénelés couronne »
(Descriptif manteau héraldique des armes)
La figure féminine qui apparaît dans les bras ou dépeint Adelasia Alasia - fille de l'empereur Otton I,
empereur romain germanique - qui selon la légende locale, fonda avec Aleramo Monferrato ville
d'aujourd'hui d'Alassio. La plus ancienne des armoiries, peintes à la gouache, a été découverte par les
historiens de l'Église locale et le sanctuaire de Notre-Dame de Grace dans la région homonyme.
Monuments et lieux d'intérêt
L'église paroissiale de Sant'Ambrogio.
Bâtiments religieux
13
•
Sanctuaire de Nostra Signora della Guardia. Construit dans le siècle, douzième, sur le mont
Tirasso a été partiellement remodelé dans le siècle, seizième et septième.
•
Eglise de Saint-Ambroise [4]. Datant de la «XIe siècle avec le clocher de haute cusped romaine
- gothique avec des fenêtres à meneaux et de trèfles, l'église a été reconstruite et agrandie entre
1455 et 1507. La façade de la Renaissance de 1896 conserve un portail plus ancien en ardoise
central de 1511.
•
Eglise de Sant'Anna ai Monti. L'église a été la première paroisse d'Alassio jusqu'en 1507 et le
bâtiment est l'un des premiers lieux de culte dans la région.
•
Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata. L'église est liée à un vœu fait par le peuple Alassio à
Madonna lors d'un pirate raid.
•
Eglise de Santa Maria degli Angeli. Institut salésien.
•
Eglise de la Charité.
•
Eglise Sainte-Croix à Santa Croce.
•
Église de St. Vincent Ferrer [5]. Erigé le long de l'Aurelia antique Via a été construit en 1938.
A l'intérieur, il contient trois tableaux datant du XVIIe siècle et un autel contemporain en
marbre polychrome.
•
Église de St. John the Baptist [6]. Construit dans un style moderne a été consacrée dans les
années quatre-vingt de l'e siècle XX.
Le sanctuaire de Nostra Signora della Guardia.
14
•
Église de St. Anne. Erigée en 1730 par les habitants de la Barusso Village conserve quelques
œuvres d'art du XVIIIe siècle et un crucifix en bois sculpteur Anton Maria Maragliano-dessus
de la 'autel plus grand.
•
Chiesa della Madonna della Neve. La construction de l'église à Notre-Dame des Neiges, décrit
comment la date gravée sur le portail était en 1757 par la famille de "Boggiano. L'église, située
dans le village de Chance, c'était en 1880 acheté par la famille "ramassa-t-il utilisé le petit
bâtiment comme une chapelle privée et que plus tard transformé en une église publique. Après
d'importants travaux de restauration dans les années soixante-dix du XIXe siècle a été
consacrée par le prêtre d'Alassio Mgr De Ferrari en 1975.
•
Église de l'Annunziata Santissima. Situé dans le village de Solva a été construit en 1382 et
reconstruit en 1480, le clocher a été construit plus récemment, en 1840. La façade est décorée
dans des ardoises ainsi que les secours présents sur la loggia. L'intérieur sont conservées des
fresques de la fin des Ages Orient, représentant les Sept Péchés capitaux et le '
Inferno, ainsi
que d'autres peintures et sculptures de l'siècle septième.
•
Eglise de San Sebastian dans le village de Moglio.
•
Eglise de Notre-Dame de Lorette. Situé dans la région du même nom a été construit dans la
seconde moitié du XVIe siècle avec sa cour intérieure caractéristique pavées blanc-gris datant
de 1576. Récemment restauré dispose de deux porches et à l'intérieur d'une peinture à l'huile
sur toile représentant la Madone de Lorette avec la plage arrière-plan Alassio. Il ya aussi trois
tableaux de l'école de peinture Genovese.
•
Chiesa della Madonna del Popolo du siècle neuvième.
•
Chiesa della Madonna delle Grazie, situé près de "Château" a été érigée en 1266 et
partiellement reconstruite en 1488. A ensuite été modifié à des dates ultérieures.
•
Église de San Bartolomeo est situé sur une colline rocheuse et a été construit avec vue sur le
village de cas en 1603.
•
Couvent de Saint-André du siècle neuvième.
•
Oratorio di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria, datant du siècle seizième, conserve à l'intérieur des
statues de plusieurs de bois par le sculpteur Anton Maria Maragliano.
•
Oratoire de Saint-Erasme. Situé dans le village a été construit grâce à la dépense Cuisse de
pêcheurs Alassio de corail en 1614. En face, sur la porte centrale, et placer une statue de
marbre du siècle, septième, représentant la Madonna del Popolo, une autre statue, faite de bois,
vous devez tenir dans la représentation du saint titulaire de l'Oratoire du XVIIIe siècle et de la
facture espagnole et est toujours dédiée au saint de l 'fresque au centre du plafond. Maisons
autel Nell 'le plus grand retable du peintre Giovanni Andrea De Ferrari à Gênes. Dans le
porche sous le plancher est composé de galets de mer représentant les bateaux et le thon de
1640.
•
Oratoire de Notre-Dame du Vent. Erigé par l'équipage d'Alassio au XIIIe siècle et reconstruite
plus tard d'abord dans le XV e siècle et, enfin, au XVIIe siècle, est situé le long du sentier
muletier qui mène hors du parc éolien dans les régions côtières.
•
Chapelle de San Rocco. À l'origine dédié à Notre-Dame de Consolation de la date de sa
construction - 1253 - a modifié la dénomination aujourd'hui à propos du seizième siècle. Selon
les notes historiques à travers cette désignation, après l'arrêt de Pauperum Ospitium San Rocco
», l'Eglise de la Charité. À l'intérieur il ya une pelle, un autel de marbre, l'école génoise du
siècle, septième, représentant la Vierge à l'enfant et sur les côtés des saints Sébastien et Rocco.
Autres représentations de saints sont présents dans les parois latérales.
Le Muretto d'Alassio.
•
15
Chapelle à la tombée de la mer. Appelée La chapelle est située sur un éperon rocheux sur les
ruines d'un garde de la tour antique ou Lookout. Situé à côté de la marina "Luca Ferrari" a été
béni et inauguré l '8 Septembre de 1929.
édifices civils
•
•
•
•
Palazzo Ferrero de Gubernatis Ventimiglia, datant du XVIIIe siècle a été restauré récemment,
selon des sources historiques ici ont passé la nuit de Napoléon Bonaparte pendant l'occupation
française de la fin du XVIIIe siècle.
Palazzo Brea.
Le palais Scofferi du XIXème siècle A l’intérieur est un crucifix attribué au sculpteur flamand
Jean de Boulogne, dit Giambologna.
Bonfante palais de l'e siècle septième.
Le Muretto d'Alassio
Compté parmi les plus célèbres monuments de la ville [7], tant pour le tourisme et dans les arts, il a été
jusqu'à la Seconde Guerre mondiale, juste un mur pour endiguer le jardin public Alassio. Avec
l'avènement du boom économique, un événement qui s'intéressent à la cinquante et soixante et aussi la
Ligurie, et particulièrement les villes côtières des deux côtes, le mur a commencé à être orné de tuiles
différentes de forme irrégulière.
Le premier panneau a été placé en 1951 par l'écrivain américain Ernest Hemingway, résidant dans la
ville, à laquelle on ajoute les tuiles décorées de Quartetto Cetra et Cosimo Di Ceglie. Le rite se
poursuit encore aujourd'hui, et nombreux sont les signatures de personnages célèbres - environ 500 qui ornent le mur Alassino: Michele Alboreto, Marisa Allasio, Jose Altafini, Angelillo, Maurizio
Arena, Christian Barnard, Gino Bartali, Isa et Barzizza Pippo, Pippo Baudo , Loredana Berte, Roberto
Bettega, Max Biaggi, Alfredo Binda, Mike Bongiorno, Fred Bongusto, Giampiero Boniperti, Liam
Breìady, Bubba George, Edy Campagnoli, Loris Capirossi, Ivan Capelli, Nicholas Carosio, Renato
Carosone, Adriano Celentano, Gino Cervi, Piero Clare, Walter Chiari, Bruce Reid, Jean Cocteau, Licia
Colò, Febo Conti, Fausto Coppi, Corrado, Aviero Cugat, Lucio Dalla, Charles de remplissage, Fabrizio
De Andrè, Lorella De Luca, Vittorio De Sica, Adriano De Zan, Pedro Paulo Diniz, Emilio Giuseppe
Dossena, Anita Ekberg, Sergio Endrigo, Aldo Fabrizi, Franco Fasano, Nunzio Filogamo, Salvatore
Fiume, Lucio Flauto, Dario Fo, Giorgio Gaber, Beniamino Gigli, Gilberto Govi, Giovanni Guareschi,
Grok, Thor Heyerdhal, Ezo Avitabile , Gorni Kramer, Gino Latilla, Carlo Levi, Duilio Loi, Erminio
Macario, Paoletta Magoni, l'équipe nationale championne du monde en 1982, Nino Manfredi, Nando
Martellini, David Mengacci, Milena Milani, Mina, Domenico Modugno, Sandra Mondaini, Silvio
Noto, Wanda Osiris, Adriano Panatta, Gino Paoli, Fausto Papetti, Raymond Peynet, Paola Pezzo, Nilla
Pizzi, Platinette, Jacques Prévert, Salvatore Quasimodo, Franca Rame, Bryan Johnson, Teddy Reno,
Antonio Ricci, Valentino Rossi, Antonio Rossi, Maria Teresa Ruta, Nantas Salvalaggio, Delia Scala,
Tino Scotti, Enrico Simonetti, Omar Sivori, Luisito Suarez, Tetsuya Harada, Tiberio Timperi, Achille
Togliani, Ugo Tognazzi, Alberto Tomba, Tonino Torielli, Enzo Tortora, Raf Vallone, Antonello
Venditti, Simona Ventura , Claudio Villa, Ezio Zerniani.
Bâtiments militaires
Le «tour sarrasine» ou «les jambes».
Alassio sur le territoire il ya deux tours Watch, dont la plus célèbre est le "Tour Saraceno" ou "Tour
de la cuisse. Construit par la République de Gênes au XVIe siècle, près de la mer dans la Coscia
Village, a été construite principalement pour défendre la côte de tout et les incursions fréquentes des
pirates.
16
Une grande partie d'origine plus ancienne est la tour de Vegliasco où le premier propriétaire était
Aleramo Monferrato. Représenté dans le blason montre une forme conique dont le sommet est orné
d'une couronne de trous d'homme.
Site archéologique
Au cours de la restauration de l'église de Sant'Anna ai Monti, a joué autour de la soixantaine du siècle
vingtième, ont été découverts sur la colline, ancienne voie romaine reliant Alassio et Albenga diverses
expositions archéologiques. Selon une première étude, réalisée par des historiens locaux, ces résultats
peut être datée à un plan d'urbanisme premier du dix neuvième siècle.
Notes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
^ Depuis Istat au 31/12/2008
^ Texte de la loi régionale n ° 24 du 4 Juillet, 2008
^ Les notes historiques sur le pays ont été comparés avec le site de la ville d'Alassio - Section
d'Histoire
^ Plus sur le site Internet de la paroisse de Saint-Ambroise
^ Plus sur le site de la paroisse de St. Vincent Ferrer
^ Plus sur le site de la paroisse de St. Vincent Ferrer
^ À la source et le point sur l'Muretto Alassio
^ Source du site de Feeitalia.org
Voir aussi
•
17
Sanctuaire de Nostra Signora della Guardia (Alassio)
Villa Scofferi avec la chapelle, le jardin et ses dépendances
The Scofferi Villa is located in San Bartolomeo al Mare and appears to have been from time
immemorial, owned by the Scofferi Family coming from Provence and inurbatasi in Alassio since
1346 with Jacques Scofferi.
The Villa is facing south-east, as is often the buildings are "important" of the Riviera and is
presented as one body on the side of the main facade, while the north-west and regrouped portion
rustica, probably the oldest, which overlooks what was the old barnyard of farm.
The building is composed, to the front of the entrance plaza - restored in recent times by using
existing materials in pebbles - three floors: ground floor, once used as a water mill and warehouse
- the first and second floor residential accommodation. The main facade is simple, only marked by
string-courses, fourteen are typical Genoese shutters and windows inside the first floor lead
curious custom grips with the initials CS (Scofferi Charles, who died in 1885).
Also on the apron, incorporated on the ground floor, opens a chapel dedicated to St. Joseph,
about 50 square meters in area, with vaulted ceiling, which has more than two storeys in height,
which can also be accessed from the first floor housing, through the gallery.
The room most representative of the first floor is the lounge which overlooks the landing after
the second flight of stairs, which looks like a typical salon Genovese, with slate flooring and from
which you access the gallery of the chapel.
The white walls are decorated with portraits of ancestors and Scoffera under the galleon
"Saint Nicholas" for which "Gio Antonio Scofferi and fellow Alessio enjoyed safe conduct by
Honoré Grimaldi dated XXIII in February 1563.
The area surrounding the property, once a larger, has a definite interest, particularly the
persistence of ancient artifacts in agriculture, in support of farming, already quite prosperous,
some of these artifacts are now destined for lodgings, but It should indicate the presence of ancient
water pipe that served the mill, consists of a multi-arched stone bridge, now in disuse.
Freely adapted from acts of Superintendence for Architectural Heritage and Landscape of Liguria
18
Fecit Votum, gratiam accepit
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La République de Gênes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
La conquête
Durant le bas Moyen Âge, aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles, Gênes connaît une période de prospérité
et de montée en puissance grâce à son grand commerce (soie, épices, or, pierres précieuses, alun). La
vie des institutions de la « Commune » est dominée par les rivalités entre ses quatre grandes familles,
les Fieschi, Grimaldi, Doria et Spinola.
Gênes entreprend à la fin du Xe siècle, avec Pise, de chasser les Maures de Corse et de
Sardaigne. Pendant deux siècles, les deux cités vont se disputer avec acharnement les deux îles et de
manière plus générale, le contrôle de la Mer Tyrrhénienne. Dans un premier temps, Pise a l'avantage.
Gênes et Pise, au gré des changements brusques de la politique romaine, se partagent les îles entre
leurs différents évêchés. Les Gênois sont fermement implantés dans le nord de la Sardaigne, l'extrême
sud Corse, avec Bonifacio, en Balagne, avec Calvi qu'ils fondent au XIIIe siècle et dans le cap Corse,
avec Bastia. Ils possèdent en outre l'île de Capraia en face de Bastia. Les Pisans possèdent le reste des
îles.
La grandeur
Cependant Gênes écrase la flotte de Pise (1284) lors de la plus grande bataille navale du
Moyen Âge, la bataille de la Meloria. En effet, le 6 août 1284, près de l'îlot dit de la Meloria, se
rencontrent les 88 galères d'Oberto Doria et les 103 galères de Pise commandées par le podestat
vénitien : Alberto Morosini. La victoire est totale pour Gênes. Pour Pise en revanche qui perd 5 000
tués, 9 000 prisonniers, 7 galères coulées et 29 capturées, la défaite est catastrophique. La cité perd à
tout jamais son indépendance et sa puissance.
Gênes récupère, outre le port de Livourne, alors les droits de Pise sur la Corse et sur la
Sardaigne. Droits qui lui sont très vite contestés par la papauté et le roi d'Aragon, investit roi de Corse
et de Sardaigne. La Sardaigne est abandonnée en 1320 aux Aragonais mais la Corse reste génoise
malgré de longues luttes sur terre et sur mer entre la cité et l'Aragon. Dans les années 1350, le doge de
Gênes, Jean da Murta avait reçu la soumission du peuple de Corse. Désormais, Gênes par
l'intermédiaire d'offices financiers (la Maona jusqu'en 1453 puis la banque de Saint-George jusqu'en
1561) va s'efforcer de détruire la noblesse insulaire.
Elle détruit le port de Pise, Porto Pisano. Sa puissante flotte affronte également celle de
Venise à plusieurs reprises, sans qu'aucune des deux rivales ne puisse dominer l'autre. Depuis 1270, les
deux cités de Venise et Gênes renouvelaient des trêves successives, tout en sachant l'affrontement
inévitable.
22
Les croisades apportèrent à Gênes une immense prospérité en transportant les troupes
chrétiennes outre mer. Les marins génois prirent une part considérable dans la prise de Saint-Jeand'Acre en 1191. Le commerce génois s'avéra florissant dans le Sud des royaumes latins.
En 1259, par le traité de Nymphée, les Génois obtinrent du basileus Michel VIII Paléologue
des avantages commerciaux considérables et le quartier de Galata, de l'autre côté de la Corne d'Or.
Bien vite, le comptoir de Galata attira plus de navires que Constantinople elle-même. La mer Noire
devint le domaine réservé des Génois. Ceux-ci s'assurèrent le contrôle des routes terrestres et du
Danube (maîtrise de l'estuaire du Danube et fondation de San Giorgio sur le Danube) dans le cas où la
route des détroits serait inaccessible. Cette domination sans partage malgré les tentatives de Venise et
de l'empire grec de Trébizonde s'acheva an 1481 quand la population de Caffa ouvrit la ville aux
assiégeants ottomans.
La gloire
La République de Gênes eut au XIVe siècle un véritable empire maritime en Méditerranée
et mer Noire, incluant la Corse, alors son grenier à blé, des îles grecques (Lesbos, Chios, Ikaria et
Samos), des comptoirs en Anatolie (Galata, Phocée, Scalanova, Amastris et Sinope), en Crimée
(Cherson, Cembalos, Halopsis, Yalta, Soudak, Caffa et Kertch), autour des bouches du Danube (San
Giorgio, Caladda, Licostomo, Eraclea aujourd'hui ruinée et Constanza), et ailleurs en mer Noire
(Montecastro en Moldavie, Matrida, Taman et Tana dans le khanat de la Horde d'Or autour de la mer
d'Azov). C'est une nef génoise qui rapporta involontairement de Crimée la peste noire en 1348.
Cet empire avait pour principal concurrent celui de Venise, dominant en mer Égée, sur les
marchés de Constantinople et de Trébizonde, à Chypre ; de leur côté, les Vénitiens voulaient chasser
les Génois de leurs possessions de Syrie. Gênes se rapprocha de Byzance (traité de Nymphée) tandis
que Venise se rapprochait de Pise. Les deux cités préparaient le conflit depuis 1286 et plus
particulièrement en 1294. Au printemps 1294, les navires vénitiens attaquèrent les colonies génoises
de Chypre, Famagouste puis, le 7 octobre 1294, la flotte vénitienne mit la voile vers la Cilicie. Elle
rencontra les Génois sur la côte arménienne et, cette fois, la bataille fut désastreuse pour Venise. Elle
perdit 25 navires, un nombre important de combattants dont son général Marco Basagio.
Gênes en 1493
Face à la défaite, la ville réagit en donnant ordre à tous ses armateurs d'entreprendre une
guerre de course, tandis que la cité reconstruisait une nouvelle flotte de 65 galères.
Gênes, qui a ainsi triomphé de Pise et de Venise, est alors à l'apogée de sa puissance
militaire. Cependant si elle n'a rien à craindre de Pise, alors divisée en factions, Venise était
parfaitement capable de s'opposer à nouveau à elle et, dès l'année suivante, les deux cités s'affrontent
dans une série de coups de mains jusqu'à ce que Gênes batte à nouveau Venise le 8 septembre 1298
devant Curzola, bataille remportée par Lamba Doria, frère d'Oberto Doria, vainqueur de Pise à la
Meloria. Le nouveau type de galère génoise, dites à la sensile est largement redevable de la victoire.
Bilan pour Venise : 18 navires coulés, 66 navires brûlés par les Génois qui ne peuvent les remorquer à
Gênes, 7 400 prisonniers dont Marco Polo (qui rédigera ses récits de voyage en prison à Gênes) et
23
Andrea Dandolo, fils du doge Giovanni qui préfère se tuer en se fracassant la tête à son banc que de
figurer au défiler triophal de Lamba.
Une médiation du pape et de Charles d'Anjou amène les deux cités à signer la paix de Milan
en 1299, faisant planer sur Gênes toujours en proie aux luttes entre factions, l'ombre des Visconti.
Une troisième guerre éclate, de 1350 à 1355, émaillée de victoires incertaines de part et
d'autre, jusqu'à ce qu'elles signent une paix temporaire à Byzance, en 1355, puis qu'elles concluent des
accords commerciaux en 1361. De 1372 à 1378, une nouvelle période de tensions amène
successivement une défaite vénitienne devant Pola en 1374, puis de Gênes près du cap d'Anzio en
1378. L'année suivante voit Gênes s'imposer mais, en 1379, commençait, entre les deux villes, la
guerre de Chioggia s'achevant par la défaite génoise en 1380, Venise assurant sa souveraineté sur la
Méditerranée orientale. La paix de Turin de 1381 voyait Venise remise en possession de tous ses
privilèges à Constantinople et se faisait même reconnaître le droit de commercer librement en mer
Noire. Durant cette guerre, Venise ne dut son salut qu'à la mort du général génois, Pietro Doria, tué
lors de la bataille finale et au retour opportun de Vettor Pisani et de son escadre. Pour sauver leur
patrie les Vénitiens se saignèrent autant financièrement que physiquement, induisant de profondes et
irréversibles modifications des institutions.
La chute
Mais tandis que Venise plaçait comme suprême bien, l'indépendance et l'union des citoyens,
Gênes s'offrit aux différentes puissances étrangères, Visconti, France, puis Espagne, déchirée de
l'intérieur par les luttes fratricides des différentes factions, patriciens contre plébéiens, guelfes contre
gibelins, Adorno contre Fregoso ou Campofregoso.
En 1339, Simon Boccanegra avait été acclamé premier doge de Gênes. Le doge, élu à vie
devait être plébéien et de la faction gibeline. On appelle cette période le dogat populaire. Aucun doge
ne put rester durablement en place. Chaque coup d'État entraînant la perte de l'indépendance dans un
mouvement irréversible de décomposition.
En 1390, devant la perte de ses positions commerciales en Tunisie en faveur de Venise,
Gênes organisa une expédition militaire voulant lui donner le caractère d'une nouvelle croisade au
prétexte de venger la piraterie des Barbaresques contre les chrétiens. Elle obtint l'assistance d'un corps
de seigneurs franco-anglais, dont Louis II de Bourbon prit le commandement et qui mit le siège devant
Mahdia.
Réparation faite à Louis XIV par le doge de Gênes dans la galerie des Glaces de Versailles
(par Claude Guy Hallé, château de Versailles)
Le conflit avec Venise reprend sporadiquement et une nouvelle défaite génoise amena un
nouveau traité en 1404. Gênes n'est alors plus en mesure de s'imposer. Elle est à nouveau battue en
1431.
Mais le grand adversaire de la cité n'est plus Venise, au XVe siècle, mais l'Aragon qui lui
dispute la Sardaigne (perdue dès 1320) et la Corse, et plus largement, la domination de la Méditerranée
occidentale. Mais 5 août 1435, Alphonse V est vaincu et fait prisonnier par les Génois à la bataille de
Ponza.
24
Andrea Doria en 1528, force Adorno et Fregoso à changer de nom et transforme les
institutions. Gênes est une ville particulière, marquée par les luttes intestines. C'est un port où règnent
les riches familles d'armateurs, la ville grimpe vers le ciel pour voir arriver les navires, c'est avec ses
palais à huit étages, la « New York » du Moyen Âge. Il n'y a pas de rues rectilignes à part le via
Garibaldi (Strada nuova) mais des palais, tours, véritables quartiers fortifiés des familles patriciennes
avec leurs églises et sanctuaires.
La population de la ville était tombée à 40 000 âmes en 1528.
La renaissance
Andrea Doria offre à sa cité l'indépendance. Il proclame la formation d'un unique corps
civique et veille à supprimer les luttes de faction.
Désormais la république est aristocratique. Sont nobles ou patriciens, tout homme de 18 ans
révolus dont la famille a exercé des charges politiques avant la révolte populaire de 1506. 400 nobles
sont tirés au sort et forment le grand conseil, renouvelé par quart tous les ans. Le petit conseil ou Sénat
de 100 membres est formé par tirage au sort au sein du grand conseil. La seigneurie est formé du doge,
de deux procurateurs et des gouverneurs, tous élus pour deux ans. Le pouvoir prend une forme
collégiale. Organe très puissant de contrôle des institutions, le syndicato est composé entre autres de
deux censeurs. Le doge est de rang royal, il lui est interdit de sortir de la cité pendant son mandat de 2
ans non renouvelable avant 10 années. Or on élit généralement des hommes fort âgés et seul Giacomo
Maria Brignole sera élu deux fois, en 1779 et 1795, il sera le tout dernier doge de la République.
En 1528, la commune de Gênes disparaît et devient une république, sérénissime en 1596.
Gênes perd l'île de Chios, habitée par près de 40 000 Génois en 1566. Tabarca (Tunisie) en
1744, la Corse en 1768 (vendu à la France).
La splendeur
À l’époque moderne donc, les anciennes institutions font place, en 1528, à une république
oligarchique ou aristocratique puisque tous les nobles gouvernent la République, composée de 28
alberghi, factions qui rassemblent les grandes familles de la noblesse génoise en près de 800
patriciens, telles que les Doria, Grimaldi, Fieschi, Spinola, Sauli, de Ferrari, Brignole Sale, Lomellino,
Balbi, Durazzo, Giustiniani, Pareto. Elles élisent tous les deux ans un doge de la République assisté
d'un censeur et de deux consuls. Les Génois sont les principaux banquiers de la Couronne d'Espagne,
jusqu'à la banqueroute de Philippe II. Le siècle qui s'étend de 1550 à 1650 est parfois nommé « le
siècle des Génois ».
En 1575 et 1576, se déroule la guerre civie gênoise. Au début de la république, la succession
de « nouveaux nobles » (tels les Sauli, Brignole) et d'« anciens nobles » (tel les Doria, Grimaldi,
Spinola, Centurione) fut respectée mais les « anciens nobles » accaparèrent rapidement le pouvoir. Les
« nouveaux nobles » s'enrichirent considérablement en commerçant le coton et la soie tandis que les
« anciens nobles » s'adonnaient à la banque. Après cette crise, anciens et nouveaux nobles se virent
égaux et les alberghi disparurent.
Marie.
En 1637, le doge Francesco I Maria Brignole offre la souveraineté de ses états à le vierge
Au XVIIe siècle, la république soutient deux guerres victorieuses contre la Savoie.
À cette époque Gênes est une cité splendide qui mérite à nouveau son surnom de « la
superbe », l'orgueilleuse. Van Dick, Rubens... font les portraits de son riche patriciat. La Strada nuova,
25
seule rue droite de la ville dont madame de Staël disait « la rue des rois et la reine des rue » abrite les
plus somptueux palais (palazzo rosso des Brignole-Sale, palazzo bianco des Grimaldi).
La population croît rapidement, 140 000 habitants en 1630, nécessitant la construction de la
plus impressionnante muraille d'Italie, le nouveau mur, s'étirant sur 12 km et protégeant la cité de tous
côtés. Il fut édifié entre 1626 et 1639.
Les conjurations de Vacheron et de Della Torre [modifier]
Le riche plébéien Vacheron, avec l'aide de la Savoie, tenta en 1628 d'assassiner tous les
patriciens afin de permettre une invasion victorieuse de Gênes par la Savoie. Mais il fut découvert et
exécuté avec ses complices.
Seulement, cela ne découragea pas le roi de Savoie et quelques années plus tard, Raphaël
della Torre voulut faire sauter la salle du Conseil à l'aide d'une machine infernale. Il mourut en fuite,
assassiné d'un coup de poignard à Venise..[1]
La lutte
En 1684, le doge de Gênes (Francesco Maria Imperiale) commet l'erreur de défier Louis XIV
en fournissant des galères à l'Espagne, ennemie de la France. Au même moment, il traite avec
désinvolture l'ambassadeur français François Pidou, chevalier de Saint-Olon. Sur ordre du roi, le
marquis de Seignelay, intendant de la marine, accompagné du lieutenant général des armées navales
Abraham Duquesne, organise en mai 1684 une expédition punitive. La ville subit un violent
bombardement. Le doge dut venir s'humilier à Versailles en mai 1685. Le doge se rendit à la présence
du roi, en août plein, avec un vêtement de velours, une action publicitaire adroite qui détermina le
début d'une période de grande exportation de velours de Gênes à la France. Pendant la visite, le roi,
montrant au doge le nouveau palais royal de Versailles, lui demanda quelle était la chose qui l'avait le
plus étonné pendant sa visite. Le doge répondit d'une formule lapidaire caractéristique du sarcasme
génois : « Mi chi » c'est-à-dire « Moi ici ».
Le gouvernement génois se limite désormais à assurer la sécurité et à prélever l'impôt tandis
que la haute classe dirigeante s'adonne au grand commerce et à la finance. Le blé acheté en grande
quantité et à bas prix au royaume de Naples suffit à approvisionner la cité qui ainsi ne pensent pas à
mettre en valeur la Corse où elle construit tout de mêmes routes, forts et ponts. La maitrise de la Corse
est nécessaire à la survie de Gênes, car toute nation possédant l'île serait en mesure d'exercer le blocus
de la métropole.
Ambroise Louis Garneray : Vue de Gênes (aquatinte, 1810 ca.)
Durant le XVIIe siècle, la République eut à mener plusieurs violentes guerres contre le
royaume de Savoie. Lors de la guerre de succession d'Autriche, les armées génoises tout juste
réorganisées et portées à 10 000 hommes par le général en chef, Francesco II Brignole Sale, souffrent
des défaites de la France. Gênes est dès lors occupée. En 1747 Gênes se révolte contre l'occupant
autrichien menée par un enfant nommé Ballila.
Gênes cède à titre « provisoire » sa séculaire souveraineté sur l'île de Corse en 1768.
26
En 1795, Giacomo Maria Brignole est élu, pour la seconde fois (après 1779), dernier doge de
Gênes. La République continua d'exister moralement malgré l'occupation française et au Congrès de
Vienne en 1814-1815, Antoine Brignole Sale défend vigoureusement mais sans succès l'indépendance
de la Ligurie; il est le dernier ministre de l'antique République et il poursuivra une brillante carrière
commencée au côté de Napoléon, comme ministre et maire de Gênes.
Par la Constitution dorienne de 1528, le choix du doge devait être équiprobable entre les
membres du grand conseil mais vers la fin de la République et l'augmentation du nombre de patriciens
pauvres, certains suffrages se monnayaient parfois même à vil prix.
27
Corsica
Corsica is an eruption of granite and magma 105 miles (169 kilometers) south of France
but only 56 miles (90 kilometers) west of Italy. Its craggy mountains soar to almost 9,000 feet
(2,700 meters) on one coast, while undulating beaches and vineyards line the other. Corsica's
interior is a jagged spine ribbed in both directions by a herringbone of valleys so steep and lush
that for centuries their inhabitants lived studiously apart…. In the chestnut forests of the
Castagniccia region, tiny villages and grand buildings cling to mountainsides, eternally poised to
repulse the waves of invaders that swept over Corsica for 2,000 years: Greeks, Carthaginians,
Romans, Moors, Genoese, and, finally, the French. Beaches, deserts, and alpine forests are
layered like the fromage de brebis pastry that Corsicans serve to visitors. This diversity in a 115mile-long (185-kilometer-long) outcropping of soil and rock once led an American diplomat, who
had a house there, to say, "Corsica is not an island—it's a continent."
© 2003 National Geographic Society.
28
St Domingue avant 1791
Republic of Haiti
République d'Haïti
Flag
Coat of arms
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Haiti (pronounced / he ti /; French Haïti, pronounced: [a.iti]; Haitian Creole: Ayiti), officially the
Republic of Haiti (République d'
Haïti ; Repiblik Ayiti), is a Creole- and French-speaking Caribbean
country. Along with the Dominican Republic, it occupies the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater
Antillean archipelago. Ayiti (Land of high mountains) was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name
for the mountainous western side of the island. The country's highest point is Pic la Selle, at
2,680 metres (8,793 ft). The total area of Haiti is 27,750 square kilometres (10,714 sq mi) and its
capital is Port-au-Prince.
Haiti's regional, historical, and ethnolinguistic position is unique for several reasons. It was the first
independent nation in Latin America, the first post-colonial independent Black-led nation in the world,
29
and the only nation whose independence was gained as part of a successful slave rebellion. Despite
having common cultural links with its Hispano-Caribbean neighbors, Haiti is the only predominantly
Francophone independent nation in the Americas, and one of only two (along with Canada) which
designate French as an official language; the other French-speaking areas are all overseas
départements or collectivités of France.
Haitian Revolution
Main article: Haitian Revolution
Jean Jacques Dessalines, leader of the Haitian Revolution and the first ruler of an independent Haiti.
The French Revolution contributed to social upheavals in Saint-Domingue and the French and West
Indies. Most important was the revolution of the slaves in Saint-Domingue, starting on the northern
plains in 1791. In 1792 the French government sent three commissioners with troops to try to
reestablish control. They began to build an alliance with gens de couleur, who were looking for their
rights. In 1793, France and Great Britain went to war, and British troops invaded Saint-Domingue. The
execution of Louis XVI heightened tensions in the colony. To build an alliance with the gens de
couleur and slaves, the French commissioners Sonthonax and Polverel abolished slavery in the colony.
Six months later, the National Convention endorsed abolition and extended it to all of the French
colonies.
Toussaint L'Ouverture, a former slave and leader in the slave revolt who rose in importance as a
military commander because of his many skills, achieved peace in Saint-Domingue after years of war
against both external invaders and internal dissension. He had established a disciplined, flexible army
and drove out both the Spaniards and the British invaders who threatened the colony. He restored
stability and prosperity by daring measures, including inviting the return of planters and insisting that
freed men work on plantations to renew revenues for the island. He also renewed trading ties with
Great Britain and the United States.
Haïti, une colonie française. 1625-1802
30
Denis Laurent-Ropa
L'Harmattan
En 1492, Christophe COLOMB découvre une île qu'il nommera Hispanola. Ce
nom sera vite oublié pour celui de Santo-Domingo et, pour ce qui nous intéresse,
"La partie française de Saint-Domingue"; enfin, le 1er janvier 1804, l'acte d'indépendance lui donne le nom d'Haïti qui était le sien avant Christophe COLOMB.
Entre ces deux dates, 312 ans qui commencent par le massacre des indiens, l'asservissement de milliers d'hommes, pour finir par d'autres massacres, on peut
même parler de génocide, et la destruction totale et définitive de ce
qui était le fleuron financier, économique et agroindustriel de la France sinon
de l'Europe.
Ecrire cette histoire en un seul volume n'était pas chose facile. Pas par
manque de documents, ils abondent, ainsi que les récits, les rapports en tous
genres et les parutions de toutes espèces. Denis Laurent-Ropa nous raconte
cette belle et terrible histoire en allant à l'essentiel contenu dans 341 pages
très denses, qui satisferont l'honnête homme curieux de l'histoire de son pays.
Universitaire, diplomate, journaliste, attaché culturel à Santo-Domingo de 1945
à 1958, l'auteur put, de ce fait, se rendre souvent en Haïti. Il connut donc le
régime du président MAGLOIRE; ensuite vinrent les DUVALIER... Modestement, il
intitule son ouvrage "essai historique". Il comporte quatre parties que l'on
peut comparer aux quatre mouvements d'une symphonie tragique : 1er, StDomingue, l'Haïti français, 2ème, le pouvoir colonial : le sucre
roi, 3ème, l'ordre noir pèse sur tout St-Domingue : TOUSSAINT, BONAPARTE,
4ème, l'expédition française, 1801-1803. A chaque fin de chapitre se trouvent les
références bibliographiques, où figurent évidemment ceux que l'on peut nommer
les Pères fondateurs de cette histoire (Charlevoix, Labat, Moreau de SaintMéry, Oexmelin, G. Debien, Price Mars, P. Pluchon, Schoelcher, A. Métral...),
les sources manuscrites avec, en tête, les séries CC/9a et 9b des colonies, les
papiers de St-Domingue conservés aux Manuscrits de la B.N., l'Archivo general de
Indias, etc., sans oublier les cartes et plans qui permettent de situer les
lieux de cette "Isle et Côte de St-Domingue" (ainsi dénommée dans tous les
documents, notariés entre autres) qui ne représentait qu'un tiers de SantoDomingo.
Si le récit est passionnant, il est quelques erreurs qui eussent
pu être évitées lors de la relecture. Par exemple, p. 107, MM d'OGERON et
DUCAFISE (pour DUCASSE); p. 141, Benjamin FLEURIAN (pour FLEURIAU); p. 183,
l'habitation du comte de NOEL (pour Pantaléon comte de NOE, dont l'habitation
Bréda portait le nom de sa mère et où vécut Toussaint BRÉDA avant de se nommer
LOUVERTURE) ou encore BARON LIBERTAT (pour BAYON LIBERTAT); p. 197, le
commissaire général de la marine MALOU (pour MALOUET), etc. Une
prochaine édition devrait gommer ces défauts qui agacent comme le grain de sel
superflu irrite la gencive.
Le titre mérite qu'on s'y arrête un instant. Stricto sensu, il ne me semble
pas que l'on puisse écrire "Haïti, une colonie française", même si ce nom,
Haïti, a cheminé (comment ?), ignoré, de la découverte à la révolte libératrice,
pour effacer dans la mémoire des hommes toute trace de la terre d'asservissement
qu'avait été St-Domingue.
31
Haitian Revolution
grands blancs, petits blancs, affranchis, ancien
régime's, négritude, Toussaint L'Ouverture
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relation to the memorializing of the Haitian Revolution and the emergence of D !
nationalism, and Caribbean anti-colonialism. For many British West Indians, Haiti became a powerful
symbol of black freedom and progress, demonstrating the capacity for black military success, selfliberation, and self-government, as well as some of the pitfalls of revolutionary politics. British West
Indian efforts to recast the meaning of Haiti from a self-consciously ‘black’ perspective represent both
a symbolic recuperation and an attempt to challenge the racist social structures of white colonial
's classic ground-breaking study of the Haitian Revolution
societies. . : * '
( <%) exemplifies the extensive influence of Haiti on shaping black British politics,
identity, and self-understanding in the 20th century. Later this connection would be solidified by
intellectuals who frequented ' : * 's New Beacon Books (founded in BB) and read the
publications of Bogle-L'Ouverture Press (founded in
), whose name commemorates the intimate
yet often invisible connections between the Jamaican–Haitian revolutionary tradition.
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La Jamaïque
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jamaica
Flag
Coat of arms
Jamaica (pronounced /d
me k /) is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres
(145 mi) in length and as much as 80 kilometres (50 mi) in width, amounting to 11,100 km2. It is
situated in the Caribbean Sea, about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 190 kilometres
(120 mi) west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Its indigenous Arawakan-speaking Taíno inhabitants named the island Xaymaca, meaning the "Land
of Wood and Water", or the "Land of Springs".[4][dead link]
Formerly a Spanish possession known as Santiago, it later became the British Crown colony of
Jamaica. With 2.8 million people, it is the third most populous anglophone country in North America,
after the United States and Canada. It remains a Commonwealth realm with Queen Elizabeth II as
Head of State. Kingston is the largest city in Jamaica and the country's capital.
36
History
Main article: History of Jamaica
The Arawak and Taino indigenous people originating from South America settled on the island
between 4000 and 1000 BC.[5] When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1494 there were over 200
villages ruled by caciques (chiefs of villages). The south coast of Jamaica was the most populated,
especially around the area now known as Old Harbour.[5] The Tainos were still inhabiting Jamaica
when the British took control of the island.[5] The Jamaican National Heritage Trust is attempting to
locate and document any evidence of the Taino/Arawaks.[6]
Christopher Columbus claimed Jamaica for Spain after landing there in 1494. Columbus' probable
landing point was Dry Harbour, now called Discovery Bay. St. Ann's Bay was the "Saint Gloria" of
Columbus who first sighted Jamaica at this point. One mile west of St. Ann's Bay is the site of the first
Spanish settlement on the island, Sevilla, which was abandoned in 1554 because of numerous pirate
raids.
The capital was moved to Spanish Town, now located in the parish of St. Catherine, as early as 1534.
It was then called "Villa de la Vega". Spanish Town has the oldest Cathedral in the British colonies.
The Spanish were forcibly evicted by the English at Ocho Rios in St. Ann. However, it was not until
1655 that, at Tower Isle, the English took over the last Spanish fort in Jamaica. The Spaniard Don
Cortez Arnoldo de Yassi kept Tower Hill (the site of Tower Isle) from the English for five years,
before escaping to Cuba. The site of his departure was fittingly called "Runaway Bay", which is also in
St. Ann. The name of Montego Bay, the capital of the parish of St. James, was derived from the
Spanish name manteca bahía (or Bay of Lard) for the large quantity of boar used for the lard-making
industry.[7]
37
Henry Morgan was a famous Caribbean pirate and privateer who had arrived in the West Indies as an
indentured servant, like many of the early settlers.[8]
The English Admiral William Penn (father of William Penn of Pennsylvania) and General Robert
Venables seized the island in 1655. In 1660 the population of Jamaica was about 4,500 whites and
some 1,500 blacks.[9] As early as the 1670s, blacks formed a majority of the population.[10] During
its first 200 years of British rule, Jamaica became one of the world's leading sugar-exporting, slavedependent nations, producing more than 77,000 tons of sugar annually between 1820 and 1824. After
the abolition of the slave trade (but not slavery itself) in 1807,[11] the British imported Indian and
Chinese workers as indentured servants to supplement the labour pool. Descendants of indentured
servants of Asian and Chinese origin continue to reside in Jamaica today.
By the beginning of the 19th century, Jamaica's heavy reliance on slavery resulted in blacks (Africans)
outnumbering whites (Europeans) by a ratio of almost 20 to 1. Even though England had outlawed the
importation of slaves, some were still smuggled into the colonies. The British government drew-up
laws regimenting the abolition of slavery, but they also included instructions for the improvement of
the slaves' way of life. These instructions included a ban of the use of whips in the field, a ban on the
flogging of women, notification that slaves were to be allowed religious instruction, a requirement that
slaves be given an extra free day during the week when they could sell their produce as well as a ban
of Sunday markets.
In Jamaica, however, these measures were resisted by the House of Assembly. The Assembly claimed
that the slaves were content and objected to Parliament's interference in island affairs, although many
slave owners feared possible revolts. Following a series of rebellions and changing attitudes in Great
Britain, the nation formally abolished slavery in 1834, with full emancipation from chattel slavery
declared in 1838. The population in 1834 was 371,070 of whom 15,000 were white, 5,000 free black,
40,000 ‘coloured’ or mixed race, and 311,070 slaves.[9]
In the 1800s, the British established a number of botanical gardens. These included the Castleton
Garden, set up in 1862 to replace the Bath Garden (created in 1779) which was subject to flooding.
Bath Garden was the site for planting breadfruit brought to Jamaica from the Pacific by Captain
William Bligh. Other gardens were the Cinchona Plantation founded in 1868 and the Hope Garden
founded in 1874. In 1872, Kingston became the island's capital.
38
39
Louis Celeste Lecesne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Louis Celeste Lecesne
Louis Celeste Lecesne
Born
1796 or 1798
Port au Prince or Kingston
Died
22 November 1847
London
Education
Mr Goff's school in Kingston
Occupation
Victualler
Spouse(s)
Parents
Anne Rose Escoffery
Charlotte Celeste
Louis Nicholas Lecesne
Louis Celeste Lecesne (c1798 – 22 November 1847), also known as Lewis Celeste Lecesne, was an
anti-slavery activist from the Caribbean islands.
Lecesne was on a committee to improve the rights of free men of colour.[2] He was arrested twice, and
transported for life from Jamaica with John Escoffery.[2] Their case was taken up by Dr. Stephen
Lushington. Lecesne was compensated after successfully having the case reversed by the British
government.[2][3]
Lecesne became an activist against slavery and attended the world's first anti-slavery convention.[4]
He named his son after the British Member of Parliament who had fought for his case. Lecesne was a
supporter when the 1839 Anti-Slavery Society was formed.
Disputed birth
Lecesne was the son of Charlotte Celeste and Louis Nicholas Lecesne, and was born in either Port au
Prince or Kingston in 1796 or 1798. His mother and father had arrived in Jamaica on 25 August 1798
with a child called Figge.[5] Lecesne's father was French and had left St Domingo, whilst his mother
was said to have African ancestry.[6] According to some, his mother was pregnant, Figge died and this
person was born. The Jamaican authorities believed however that this person was the child who arrived
on the brig Mary with his mother.
40
Lecesne's date of birth was given as 30 August 1798 in Kingston, but he wasn't baptised until 5 March
1814. His place and date of birth were the subject of later court cases. At these cases it was noted that
Lecesne's mother and the midwife said that he was born a few months (or days) after their arrival in
Jamaica.[5] Others disagree with this version as his mother said that when they arrived in Jamaica they
did have a two year old child but he died just after the birth of this child.
Lecesne had two younger brothers Lamorette and Louis Nicholas Lecesne. His mother was manumised
by Lescesne's father. The date of the birth was important as a later law gave privileges to children born
on the island.[5]
He was taken to Mr Goff's school for "children of colour" in 1802 when his father asked for him to be
given "the best English education". Mr Goffe signed an affidavit later to say that he thought Lecesne to
be four years old at the time but others think this a very young age to send such a child to school in
Jamaica.[5]
Others said that when Charlotte Celeste arrived she had a two year old son called Figge. They claim
Lecesne was born in Port a Prince in St Domingo "opposite the post office".
When his father made a will and died in 1816 he made Lecesne his executor. Some claim that this
means that his father knew he was 21 years of age, and therefore born before elsewhere.
Marriage
Louis Celeste Lecesne married Hannah Escoffery (born 15 November 1797 and also known as
Anette), the sister of John Escoffery.[7][8]
At least three children were born to Louis Celeste Lecesne and Hannah Escoffery in Kingston. The
first was Louise Amelia Lecesne (born 20 June 1817), followed by Elizabeth Adeline Lecesne (born
24 July 1818) and Celestine Aglaé Lecesne (19 June 1820 - 11 August 1821).[8] On 7 May 1823 Louis
Celeste Lecesne was a witness to the marriage of his wife's brother, Edward Escoffery to Marie
Montagnac in the Roman Catholic church, Kingston.[9]
Lecesne and John Escoffery came to notice as members of a committee who were intent on changing
the law such that free men "of colour" would be given free and equal rights to white people.[2]
Arrest
Louis Celeste Lecesne and John Escoffery were arrested on 7 October, 1823 under the Alien Act by a
warrant of the Duke of Manchester, the Governor of Jamaica. William Burge, the Attorney General,
considered them to be of "dangerous character"; they were also considered to be aliens, because of
claims that they were Haitian. Luckily they had time to raise a writ of Habeas Corpus in the Supreme
Court of Jamaica[10]
While Lecesne and Escoffery were held in gaol, petitions made to the Governor were rejected as it was
claimed that the signatories were all owed money by the accused. Later investigations showed that the
largest debt involved was 25 pounds. After consideration by the judges the two were released as they
were considered to be British-born despite the arguments described earlier. Chief Justice Scarlett
released them without bail as there were no charges.[2][10]
- Portrait in later life (after Burns returned (tattooed) from New Zealand).
41
Later, a member of the House of Representatives moved that a secret committee be formed to look at
this case. This man, Hector Mitchell was made the chair of this committee, comprising three others
including the Mayor of Kingston. Their investigations resulted in the forced exile of Lecesne and
Escoffery to St Domingo. It had been said that Lecesne had sold arms to an insurrection in St George
and that the two of them kept correspondence with people in Haiti for treasonable purposes.[10]
Having been separated from their families and possessions the pair had to sell their watches and with
this money and the help of British people on the island they set out for England.[10]
A young English sailor boy, Barnet Burns had been found ill in Jamaica and was cared for by Lecesne
and his family. Following the deportation of Lecesne, Burns followed Lecesne's family to London,
where he received an education under the patronage of Lecesne.[11]
England
The case of Lecesne and Escoffery was raised in the House of Commons by Stephen Lushington who
was a known abolitionist and anti-slavery campaigner. Lushington spoke to the house on 16 June
1825. This resulted in a number of publications
1. Debate in house of commons 16 June, 1825 regarding deportation of two persons of colour
Bibliographia Jamaicensis, By Institute of Jamaica Library, Frank Cundall
2. A Reply to the Speech of Dr. Lushington, in the House of Commons by Mr Barret of the House
in Jamaica, 1828[12]
There was a libel case against John Murray, not because he was the author, but because he was the
publisher of a book that libelled Lecesne and Escoffery.[6] The case was based on the fact that the
book recorded that the politicians in Jamaica considered Lecesne and Escoffery guilty of a criminal
conspiracy. This case was held in Britain in order that it should not be biased.[2] If they were guilty of
a conspiracy then under the 1818 Alien Act they could be transportation for life if they were born
elsewhere.
The book concerned was "The annals of Jamaica, Volume 2" by the Reverend George Wilson Bridges.
Bridges combined leading worship at St Annes and speaking up for the value of slavery.[13]
The libel case was successful and Lecesne was therefore innocent. Parliament ruled that they should
both be allowed to return and be given compensation.[2]
Lecesne believed in the law. In 1832, Lecesne was living in England at the Fenchurch buildings in
Fenchurch Street, London and on 26 June while walking outside his residence Lecesne was the victim
of a pickpocket, Thomas Fielder, who had stolen a handkerchief. For this crime, Fielder, aged 15, was
sentenced to transportation for life.[14]
Lecesne was on the board of the Anti-Slavery Agency in 1832 with other notable abolitionists such as
William Allen, Zachary Macaulay, Robert Forster, George Sracey and Josiah Forster[15]
Louis Celeste Lecesne and his wife had a son whilst they were in London which they christened
Stephen Lushington Macauley Lecesne. He was born on 6 March 1834 and was christened at Saint
Matthew Church, Bethnal Green, London on 25 June 1834.[16]
In July 1838, Lecesne was one of the supporters of a campaign to raise a monument to Zachary
Macaulay in Westminster Abbey.[17][18]
42
1840 Anti-Slavery Society convention
Lecesne is to the left in this painting, (above the lady in bonnet), which is of the 1840 Anti-Slavery
Convention.[4] Move your cursor to identify him or click icon to enlarge
On 17 April 1840, the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society was formed to campaign for
worldwide abolition of slavery. A short time later, the first World Anti-slavery Convention was held in
London, attracting an international participation. Lecesne attended the convention and is depicted in a
painting The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840 by Benjamin Haydon(1841).[4]
Following a bout of pneumonia, Louis Celeste Lecesne died on 22 November 1847 at his residence at
the Fenchurch buildings, Fenchurch Street in London.[1] At the end of May in 1848, The Times
announced the sale of the "superior" effects of the late L.C. Lecesne Esq including his mahogany four
poster and a six octave pianoforte.[19]
References
1. ^ a b Death Certificate, 22 November 1847, South East Sub-district in the City of London
2. ^ a b c d e f g Monthly Comments, Jamaica, Ansell Hart, Volume 5. (August 1962 – July
1964), accessed September 2009
3. ^ Seizure and Imprisonment in Jamaica— Petition of L.C.Lecesne and J.Escoffery, Hansard, 21
May 1824 vol 11 cc796-804, accessed 9 October, 2008
4. ^ a b c The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840, Benjamin Robert Haydon, 1841, National
Portrait Gallery, London, NPG599, Given by British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in 1880
5. ^ a b c d Letter to the Right Honorable Sir George Murray Relative to the Deportation of
Lecesne and Escoffery from Jamaica, William Burge, 1829, accessed 8 October, 2008
6. ^ a b Full text of "Report of the trial of Mr. John Murray : in the Court of King's Bench, at
Westminster-Hall, the 19th December, 1829, on an indictment for a libel of Messrs. Lecesne
and Escoffery, of Jamaica" , archive.org, accessed 11 October, 2008
7. ^ Various Escoffery family reports, from Anglican and Roman Catholic Registers
8. ^ a b B0089 Kingston Anglican Parish Registers VI and Burials I & II, II, p. 281, Name listed
as "Jane M." in Registrar's Copy Register.
9. ^ B0064 Roman Catholic Marriages 1802-1839, pp. 83-84.
10. ^ a b c d The Anti-slavery Reporter, Zachary Macaulay, Society for the Mitigation and Gradual
Abolition of Slavery, pp. 27-31,accessed 12 October, 2008
11. ^ Barnet Burns, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, accessed 25 January 2009
43
12. ^ A Reply to the Speech of Dr. Lushington, in the House of Commons on the state of the
people of Jamaica, by Mr Barret of the House in Jamaica, 1828
13. ^ The annals of Jamaica, Volume 2, George Wilson Bridges, Pub. John Murray (III), accessed
September 2009
14. ^ Proceedings of the Old Bailey, Thomas Fielder, Theft, pocketpicking, 5th July 1832,
Reference Number t18320705-19, www.oldbaileyonline.org, accessed 7 September 2009
15. ^ The baptist Magazine, p353, 1832, accessed 11 October 2008
16. ^ Birth record of Stephen Lecesne, FamilySearch.org, accessed 1 October 2008
17. ^ Other signatories included Stephen Lushington Macaulay Lecesne who also made a
contribution, confirming that his son was named for this Macauley.
18. ^ The Times, Tuesday 4 September 1838
19. ^ Superior Household Furniture, Linen, Glass.... , The Times, 1848, Wednesday 31 May
20. ^ a b c The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840, Benjamin Robert Haydon, 1841, National
Portrait Gallery, London, NPG599, Given by British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in 1880
21. ^ a b c d Letter to the Right Honorable Sir George Murray Relative to the Deportation of
Lecesne and Escoffery from Jamaica, William Burge, 1829, accessed 8 October, 2008
22. ^ a b Full text of "Report of the trial of Mr. John Murray : in the Court of King's Bench, at
Westminster-Hall, the 19th December, 1829, on an indictment for a libel of Messrs. Lecesne
and Escoffery, of Jamaica" , archive.org, accessed 11 October, 2008
23. ^ Various Escoffery family reports, from Anglican and Roman Catholic Registers
24. ^ a b B0089 Kingston Anglican Parish Registers VI and Burials I & II, II, p. 281, Name listed
as "Jane M." in Registrar's Copy Register.
25. ^ B0064 Roman Catholic Marriages 1802-1839, pp. 83-84.
26. ^ a b c d The Anti-slavery Reporter, Zachary Macaulay, Society for the Mitigation and Gradual
Abolition of Slavery, pp. 27-31,accessed 12 October, 2008
27. ^ Barnet Burns, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, accessed 25 January 2009
28. ^ A Reply to the Speech of Dr. Lushington, in the House of Commons on the state of the
people of Jamaica, by Mr Barret of the House in Jamaica, 1828
29. ^ The annals of Jamaica, Volume 2, George Wilson Bridges, Pub. John Murray (III), accessed
September 2009
30. ^ Proceedings of the Old Bailey, Thomas Fielder, Theft, pocketpicking, 5th July 1832,
Reference Number t18320705-19, www.oldbaileyonline.org, accessed 7 September 2009
31. ^ The baptist Magazine, p353, 1832, accessed 11 October 2008
32. ^ Birth record of Stephen Lecesne, FamilySearch.org, accessed 1 October 2008
33. ^ Other signatories included Stephen Lushington Macaulay Lecesne who also made a
contribution, confirming that his son was named for this Macauley.
34. ^ The Times, Tuesday 4 September 1838
35. ^ Superior Household Furniture, Linen, Glass.... , The Times, 1848, Wednesday 31 May
44
DEPORTATION OF MESSRS. LECESNE
AND ESCOFFERY FROM JAMAICA.
HC Deb 16 June 1825 vol 13 cc1173-205
Hansard, the Official Report of debates in Parliament
The Speaker having called on Dr. Lushington to bring forward his motion relative to the
Deportation of two persons of colour from Jamaica,
Mr. Wilmot Horton rose, and addressing the hon. and learned member across the table, inquired
what were the precise nature and objects of the motion.
Dr. Lushington said, that his object was, to move for the appointment of a select committee to
inquire into the grievance of which he complained; and he did not think that after the discussions
already had upon it, his hon. friend could have been ignorant of the course which he meant to pursue.
The hon. and learned member then proceeded with his motion. The papers for which he had moved,
had, he said, been printed some ten days ago, and he felt justified in fixing the earliest open day after
that, for the discussion of this question. It was of the first importance to our colonies in general, and to
the island of Jamaica in particular, that the most scrutinizing and impartial investigation should take
place in the case to which he was about to call the atten- 1174 tion of the House—a case which
exhibited one of the greatest outrages that could be committed on British subjects.
It was pretty generally known, that the population of Jamaica consisted of three hundred and
forty thousand blacks, thirty-six thousand free men of colour, and twenty-five thousand whites. Now
the House would be surprised to hear the nature and extent of the grievances and disabilities under
which these thirty-six thousand free men of colour laboured. Previous to the year 1813, there existed a
law to prevent any white man from leaving more than 2,000l. to a person of colour, even though that
person should be his own son. The free people of colour were not permitted to navigate their own
vessels along the coasts of the island; and they were not admitted to give evidence in courts of justice,
in cases where white persons were parties. In 1813, these particular restrictions, so repugnant to every
principle of justice, were removed; but others still remain, and are in full operation at this very time,
depriving the numerous and loyal free coloured population of Jamaica, of rights which ought to be
equally enjoyed by every free man.
Amongst the most odious and oppressive of the disabilities under which this class of his
majesty's subjects still labours, will be found, the disability to serve on juries, disqualification for
office, deprivation of the elective franchise, and the deficiency law, which excludes them from any
situation of profit or respectability on the estate of a white person. The free coloured inhabitant of
Jamaica is compelled to pay his full share of all public burthens, but he is not allowed to participate in
the benefits which others receive out of those revenues; nor does he derive the benefit he ought from
the funds allotted to Education. There is another most odious and unjust distinction, under the act of
1799, entitled the Alien act. By this act, the alien of colour may be tried by the evidence of slaves:
against a white alien such evidence is not received.
It is not in the nature of things that a large body, increasing in wealth and intelligence, should
forever submit in silence to restrictions so unjust and degrading, founded upon no other principle,
resting on no other basis, than the darkness of the colour with which the God of Nature has
distinguished their skin. With patience the most exemplary, with loyalty never 1175 impeached, they
have long endured their grievances; but that sense of injustice, which is innate in the bosom of every
human being; that feeling which stimulates all mankind to endeavour to remove evils and attain a
happier state, induced them to make another effort to acquire, for themselves and their offspring, a
larger share of the blessings of the English constitution, and to raise themselves and their class from
the degradation into which the colonial system had sunk them. And, as their object was in itself just
and laudable; so were the measures pursued for its attainment the most respectful to the colonial
authorities, and the most free from blame.
45
In the beginning of the year 1823, some of the most influential amongst their class met, and
determined to frame a Petition to be presented to the House of Assembly. The meetings necessarily
held for this purpose were not concealed from the public authorities; nor were they so numerous as to
give any just cause for alarm; nor was the conduct of those who met, reprehensible for expressing the
sense they felt of their grievances in too forcible language. Greater moderation, in similar
circumstances, was never displayed. A set of resolutions was agreed to, in which the free men of
colour expressed their sense of the disabilities under which they laboured, and prayed the House of
Assembly in Jamaica to relieve them from them.
Now, any man who reflected for a moment might see how necessary it was to justice, as well as
to the safety of the colony, to conciliate so large a portion of its population, by giving to them their fair
proportion of rights and privileges. This was a matter the more worthy of attention, when it was
considered that the coloured population was increased, not only by natural causes amongst themselves,
but also by the addition of the offspring between whites and blacks. They were allowed to serve in the
militia: they were allowed to acquire the rank of serjeant: they were inured to the climate; and
understood, to a considerable extent, the art of war. Therefore, he might justly say, that upon their
loyalty and obedience depended the safety of the island of Jamaica; and if by any ill-treatment or
unnecessary degradation they irritated that body, then would he pronounce that the safety of the island
of Jamaica was in danger. But, up to the present hour, 1176 not an imputation had been cast upon the
men of colour in that island. No charge was made against them of having evinced the slightest
appearance or insubordination, or the most distant wish to bring about rebellion. On the contrary, all
writers on the state of the colony maintained, that their loyalty and attachment to government was
unimpeached and unimpeachable. Mr. Bryan Edwards, who wrote a history of the West-Indies, and of
that island in particular, most decidedly stated, that the men of colour had, upon all occasions,
deserved well of the government. To their unshaken fidelity and active zeal when dangers were
apprehended, there could be no stronger testimony than the report of the secret committee of the House
of Assembly, on the 7th December 1824. That report concluded in the following expressive manner
:—"The committee cannot draw their report to a conclusion without bestowing its meed of praise on
the zeal and alacrity shown by the regulars in Hanover, and by the militia regiments throughout the
disturbed districts, both by the whites and free people of colour; the conduct of the latter, evinced a
warm interest in the welfare of the colony, and every way identifies them with those who are the most
zealous promoters a its internal security."
The time, too, when this encomium upon the fidelity of the free coloured population was
passed, is remarkable. The report was made at the end of 1824; it refers to the occurrences of that and
the preceding year; and to occurrences which immediately succeeded to the rejection of the petition of
the coloured class; for that petition was presented in the autumn of 1823, and the House of Assembly
then refused to adopt any measure to effectuate the wishes of the petitioners. How clearly does this
demonstrate, that the coloured class, though smarting under the rejection of their prayers, were still
animated by their wonted alacrity in defence of the state. Indeed, every reflecting man must perceive,
that upon this class depend mainly the safety and well-being of the island of Jamaica, and every
succeeding year must increase their importance, and render it still more essential to do them that
justice, which alone can render their fidelity immoveable.
But, the Assembly of Jamaica seem wholly insensible to considerations to themselves of the
last importance. They persisted in turning a deaf ear to the petitioners; and the coloured population
remain without redress. What a contrast do the colonies present to the Mother country! In England,
thank God! no such odious distinctions have obtained. English justice would never endure them. Under
English authority, a gentleman of colour has held a high civil office; and another has enjoyed military
rank, and become connected, by marriage, with the family of a member of the other House. In Jamaica,
even the humble attempt to obtain justice has entailed the consequences of crime.
Mr. Lecesne and Mr. Escoffery , the two individuals on whose behalf he now addressed the
House, had signed the petition to the House of Assembly. On this and on no other account, the two
unfortunate men, whose cause he advocated, were torn from their families, their fortunes, and their
46
friends, and sent into banishment [hear, hear!]. Those two persons had resided, from their infancy, in
the Island. This was a fact, stated in all the affidavits, and no one had presumed to deny it; and the
question agitated was this—Whether, having enjoyed the privilege of free men for many years; having
served as serjeants in the militia; having resided, one for twenty-eight years, and another for twentyfive years, in that Island, they should at once, and, as they conceived, without any assignable ground,
be banished under the provisions of the Alien act? For himself he must say, without entering into the
merits of that act, that even supposing these men to have been aliens, the present was a gross abuse of
its powers. It might be right to invest the government of Jamaica with such a power, or it might
not;but, it surely never was intended to extend its operation to persons who had resided on the Island
from their infancy, and who could not of themselves tell whether they were or were not born in that
country [hear, hear!]
This act was committed under the government of the duke of Manchester, then and still
governor of that Island. Their secret accusers were Mr. Barnes, the mayor, and Mr. Hector Mitchell,
one of the magistrates of Kingston, and both of them members of the House of Assembly. One of the
charges preferred to government against the petitioners was that they wished "to place themselves on a
footing with the white population;" and then the party accusing went on to say, that they were
dangerous individuals, that they belonged to a society, pretending to be a benevolent society, the
principles of which were obnoxious to government. Now, of these charges, there was no proof
whatever, save with respect to the existence of a benevolent society, the receipts and expenditure of
which he was in full possession of, and he was ready to lay them before the House. And, against
whom, he asked, were these charges made? Why, against the very individuals of that class who had
been described, by a committee of the House of Assembly, as persons warmly attached to the
government, and possessed of the most loyal principles [hear, hear!]. Again, it was asserted, that the
parties in question were in secret communication with St. Domingo for treasonable purposes, but no
evidence whatever was given in support of such an assertion; and yet, upon such charges it. was, that
these unfortunate men were dragged from their homes and families, and condemned to banishment
without even the form of trial.
He had already moved for all the papers upon this subject, and, were it only in justice to the
duke of Manchester, they ought to be produced. If these papers were of a nature to bear the light, why
refuse to produce them? If they could not bear the light, why act upon them in the first instance? The
character of the duke of Manchester must stand or fall by these papers. And here, he would ask, who,
were the persons thus treated? The one was the possessor of ten slaves, a man who carried on a
respectable and thriving wholesalebusiness; the other was the owner of four slaves: both were married
men and had families, and yet thus circumstanced, they were arrested without notice.—But, scarcely
had a principal performer in this transaction, Mr. Barnes the mayor of Kingston, found what was likely
to take place, than he began to feel alarmed at the consequences of his conduct, and he went so far as
to say, that if harsh measures were taken openly against the parties they might resist, and, being
married men, they would be joined by the great body of the people of colour.
But, notwithstanding this, steps were taken to arrest the accused, who were totally ignorant of
what was passing. All was silent and secret, and no opportunity of defence had been allowed. The duke
of Manchester having issued his warrant, thought it his duty to take care that no delay should take
place in its execution, and he gave a peremptory order that both Lecesne and Escoffery should be sent
out of the Island forthwith.—On the 7th of October, therefore, they were put under arrest, and the
provost marshal directed that they should be conveyed on ship board, to be transported to St.
Domingo. On the next day, they presented a petition to the duke of Manchester, enclosing what were
termed their privilege papers. These privilege papers had been thus obtained:—They had gone before
the Court in the year 1814 (nine years before this transaction), and as free people of colour, claimed,
upon proving themselves British subjects, the benefit of that act which, in the preceding year, had
removed some of the former restrictions to which free people of colour were liable.—Such was the
ordinary course in cases of the kind, and the documents could not be granted if the Court were not
unanimous. It happened that Mr. Barnes himself, one of the men who now represented them, to serve
his purposes of oppression, as aliens, was one of the magistrates by whom his privilege papers were
47
granted to Lecesne. What, on receiving these documents, did the duke of Manchester do? He referred
the petition to Mr. Hector Mitchell, and to Mr. Barnes, the mayor—the very men who had previously
accused, and even pronounced the condemnation of, the petitioners, in a letter to the secretary of the
government.
What chance was there, therefore, of any thing like a full and fair investigation? His grace had
directed Messrs. Mitchell and Barnes to confine their inquiries to the single fact, whether Lecesne and
Escoffery were or were not aliens; and if so, to report directly upon the subject.
He requested the attention of the House to the Report made upon this point. Messrs. Mitchell
and Barnes reported, that they had made all due inquiry, and had satisfied themselves that Lecesne and
Escoffery were aliens, and not British subjects; and that all the affidavits adduced on their behalf were
not worthy of credit, as not containing one word of truth, and being at variance with themselves. Let it
be remembered, however, that these affidavits, thus denounced, were the very documents upon which
the Court of King's-bench of the island afterwards proceeded, when it declared, that these parties were
entitled, as British subjects, to their discharge. The report of Messrs. Mitchell and Barnes, asserted,
that the affidavits were contradictory to each other; but he (Dr. L.), after reading the whole of them,
begged to deny that assertion most distinctly.
These gentlemen had laid great stress upon the circumstance, that. Lecesne's father, in his will,
dated the 1st of August 1816, had appointed him his sole executor, when, according to his own
account, if true, he could only have been eighteen years of age; whereas they assumed, that he must
have been twenty-one to entitle him to act as executor. This view of the subject, however, he (Dr. L.)
contended, was perfectly erroneous, as there existed no law at that period to prevent persons under
twenty-one years of age from being appointed, and from acting, as executor. And there was an obvious
reason, independently of the confidence he reposed in his son, why it must have been considered by
the father as highly expedient to name his son to that trust, in preference to any other individual;
executors in Jamaica being entitled to six per cent upon the amount of property to which they
administer. The truth was, that both these individuals had been influenced by the worst motives. He
had ascertained this beyond contradiction, and that they had persecuted these unfortunate men from
private pique, or from ancient enmity, and that in consequence, they had reported as to facts, which
they must have known were false.
The House would probably ask, how it could happen, that two persons, one a magistrate of the
island of Jamaica and a member of the Assembly, and the other mayor of Kingston and also member
of the Assembly, could so grossly betray the trust confided to them, for purposes of a nature so
degrading? As late as yesterday, he (Dr. L.) had searched and had found certain documents, which
threw considerable light upon this disgusting part of the subject. There formerly existed a pecuniary
dispute between Mr. Barnes and the father of Lecesne. The transaction related to an estate belonging to
the father of Lecesne, in the sale of which Mr. Barnes had been, a party. He had received on account of
the sum of 11,0001., for which he ought to have given credit to Lecesne; but he gave him credit, in
fact, for only 4,5001., and refused, on various pretences, to account. for the remainder. The matter was
brought before the Court of Chancery of Jamaica. The Court decided in favour of Mr. Barnes; but an
appeal being made to the privy council in England, the judgment of the inferior court was reversed,
and Mr. Barnes was sentenced to pay the full amount claimed of him. Such was the origin of the
animosity of Mr. Barnes, and such the real motive for the line of conduct he had pursued!
With respect to Mr. Mitchell, the motives of his animosity, though less apparent, were not less
real and operative. His estimation in society had suffered exceedingly from a transaction which had
occurred some time before, and which had led the Assembly, on the 4th of December 1821, to resolve,
"that the evidence he had given on the petitions regarding the Custom-house fees, should be expunged,
as libellous on the character of the House, and highly derogatory to its dignity." When, therefore, he
was applied to, as member of the Assembly for Kingston, to present to that body the petition of the
people of colour for a redress of the grievances wider which they laboured, he appears to have thought
it a fair occasion of regaining the credit and influence he had lost, by ministering to the prevailing
48
prejudices against the people of colour; and they having reason to suspect that, with an outward shew
of friendliness, he was really hostile to their cause, deemed it their duty to withdraw their petition from
his hands, and to place it in the hands of Mr. Barrett, another member in whom they thought they could
place a more implicit reliance. This was accordingly done; and it, of course, served exceedingly to
aggravate the hostile feelings of Mr. Mitchell towards the persons composing the Committee of the
people of colour. Among those, Lecesne and Escoffery presented themselves as the readiest victims of
his resentment. Their parents were foreigners who had migrated to Jamaica from St. Domingo; and
they themselves had been born soon after the arrival of their parents in the former island.—He assailed
them, therefore, on the ground of their being aliens, adding, that they were persons of dangerous
character. But for neither of these assertions did he, in the first instance, produce the shadow of proof.
On the 30th of September 1823, he made the following statement to the local government:—"Two
persons of the committee of the people of colour, seeking to be put on a footing with the whites" (this
was the real gravamen), " calling themselves Lecesne and Escoffery are natives of St. Mark's, and Port
au Prince." Again, "Lecesne was several years old when he was brought to this country. This Lecesne
is the most forward and officious person in all matters concerning the people of colour, and it would
seem they have placed their confidence in him. Escoffery is the son of an Italian Jew, and was born at
St. Mark's. The information derived from the French whites shews that these two persons keep up a
correspondence with St. Domingo. On the former occasion of the free people seeking for an extension
of privileges, it appears that Lecesne was the most forward and busy person."—He then accuses them
of belonging to a lodge of Masons, though they deny the fact, and "under pretext of a society for
charitable purposes, meeting as Masons to hatch all matters concerning their objects—in obtaining
privileges, &c.—and in respect to foreign connexions."
Now, on this vague, hearsay, unsupported statement, of Mr. Hector Mitchell, unaccompanied
by a single tittle of evidence, and without the slightest inquiry to ascertain its truth, on the 3rd of
October, the governor's secretary orders the mayor of Kingston to commit Lecesne and Escoffery to
gaol, and orders the provost marshal to send them out of the island immediately, as "Aliens, and as
persons of a dangerous description."—Is it possible to conceive any proceeding more monstrous than
this? These men were accordingly apprehended and committed to gaol, and but for an accident which
befel the ship of war that was to convey them from the island, they would have been deported, before
any time was allowed them to vindicate their rights as British subjects. They were thus enabled to
present petitions to the duke of Manchester, accompanied by proofs of their being British subjects.
These petitions were referred, as had already been stated, by his grace, to the very two men who were
their most inveterate enemies, and who were also, in fact, their accusers, Mr. Barnes and Mr. Hector
Mitchell.
Apprehending nothing from these magistrates but partiality and injustice, Lecesne and
Escoffery were induced to move the Supreme Court, for an habeas corpus. In the mean time, a
memorial was addressed by thirty respectable merchants and magistrates of Kingston, to the governor,
in favour of the two prisoners, giving them a high character for integrity and general good conduct, as
well as for loyalty. This memorial was signed, among others, by Mr. Hall, a magistrate of Kingston,
and an assistant judge of the court, who had since arrived in this country, and had given him (Dr.
Lushington) an opportunity of conversing with him on the subject of this transaction. Mr. Hall had
personally confirmed the full contents of the memorial. He had gone further; for though it was of
course painful to him to appear publicly in connection with this affair, considering that he is about to
return to Jamaica, where so much hostility exists against the people of colour, yet, a sense of justice
and duty, had induced him to run the hazard of yielding his testimony in their favour. The memorial
was signed by five other magistrates, one of them Mr. Hyslop, a member of the House of Assembly,
and it vouched for Lecesne and Escoffery, not only that they were British-born subjects, but that they
were free from the slightest imputation of misconduct. It was a fact worthy of notice, that this
memorial was signed, among others, by the very provost marshal to whom the warrant of the duke of
Manchester for their deportation had been directed. This memorial, his grace stated, had been
presented principally by creditors of the parties accused, who, of course, had a strong interest that they
should not be sent out of the island. The fact was, however, in direct opposition to this assertion; for
only five persons out of thirty who had signed it were creditors.
49
The memorial represented, that all that was dear to these individuals, as well as all that they
possessed in the world, was in the island of Jamaica; and that their integrity had gained them
considerable credit among the merchants and traders. Mr. Hall had informed him (Dr. Lushington),
that he had given them credit, and that he would do so again, to any extent that could reasonably be
required by persons in their station. No attention was paid by the duke of Manchester to this memorial,
though so respectably signed. It produced no strict investigation, no careful inquiry; but it was treated
as utterly unworthy of notice.
The case was at length brought before the Supreme Court, by the motion made for a writ of
habeas corpus; and after due examination, Lecesne and Escoffery were discharged. The affidavits on
the part of Lecesne, were from eighteen persons, in order to show that he was a British subject by
birth, and among them that of his mother, who certainly must have known where her son was
produced, and of the nurse who attended her during her confinement; that of his God-father, his halfbrother, and his schoolmaster, besides the production of the baptismal register. These testimonies the
Court had considered sufficiently conclusive; but since that date, he (Dr. L.) had been put in
possession of a document of much importance to prove that Lecesne was born in Jamaica, namely, the
original bill of the accoucheur who delivered his mother. This individual was now dead; but the paper
had been properly verified.—On behalf of Escoffery, ten affidavits were brought forward to the same
tenor, while there appeared literally nothing against him. The affidavits which were produced on the
other side, and which are now before the House, will be found to contain the most glaring
contradictions, the most palpable fabrications, the grossest falsehoods.
But, the falsehood of these affidavits was not the only point to be considered, but how they
came to be taken. They evidently originated in private animosity, or were obtained by undue influence
and terror. Among them, perhaps the most remarkable, was that of Mr. James Stewart Innes, the
inspector of aliens in Jamaica, who swore, that the individuals did not disclose that they were naturalborn subjects of the king of Great Britain, until several days after their being confined in gaol. What
was the indisputable fact? They were arrested and committed, on the 7th of October, and on the very
next day, the 8th of October, they presented their petition, and made their claim to the duke of
Manchester as British-born subjects. It was enough to make the blood boil to see persons in official
situations, though of an inferior kind, thus lending themselves to such base purposes, and committing
the most deliberate, decided, and indisputable perjury.
Again, Mr. Hector Mitchell, in his affidavit, had confined himself, from beginning to end, to
mere hearsay, so that it was not necessary to trouble the House regarding it, but it is singular that he
should state, "that he has known about West-street, Lewis Celeste Lecesne, since the year 1804 to the
best of his recollection and belief, by reason of having frequent occasion to go to the shop of Lewis
Nicholas Lecesne, the reputed father of Lewis Celeste Lecesne." Now, the facts are, that Lecesne the
elder, in 1804, lived in the country, and never came to live in West-street until the year 1812 or 1813;
and until 1807 or 1808, Lecesne the son, was an inmate of Mr. James Goffe, with whom he was at
school.
Another individual whose affidavit was procured against Lecesne by Innes, is a woman called
Eleanor Hinds; who states, that he came to Jamaica "in the London ship Mary, captain Cheese"
together who the mother of Lecesne, and that she then saw Lecesne on board the same ship, a child of
about two years of age. However, on examining the records of the police office, which will be found in
pages 14 and 15 of the papers, it appears, that Lecesne's mother arrived in Jamaica in the schooner
Dauphin, captain Lajaille; and that, consequently, the statement of Hinds is altogether false.
A Frenchman, also, of the name of Villegraine, who gave his testimony against Lecesne and
Escoffery, stands convicted of the grossest falsehood. He states that he knew Lecesne to be born at
Port au Prince; though by a reference to the records before alluded to, it will be found, that he swore,
on his arrival in Jamaica, that he had lived for the three years preceding his departure from St.
Domingo, at Jeremie, a distance of near two hundred miles from Port au Prince. How is it possible he
could have personally known the birth of Lecesne at the latter place? This man, Villegraine, is also
50
accused, on the oath of two witnesses, of having taken pains to suborn evidence against Lecesne; and
though he had the opportunity of repelling this charge on oath, he does not venture to do so.
Upon the whole case, and after due examination of the evidence, the judges of the court of
King's-bench of Jamaica, consisting of Messrs. Scarlett, Mills, and West, had ordered the discharge of
Lecesne and Escoffery, on the 25th of October 1823; at which time they offered bail to any amount,
but the chief justice said that "as there was no charge against them, no bail could be required."
What, then, were the subsequent proceedings of the prosecutors of these individuals? Mr.
Hector Mitchell moved the House of Assembly, that a secret committee should be appointed to inquire
into some conspiracy which he alleged to exist in the island. He was named the chairman: Mr. Barnes
was another member, and the two advocates, who had acted for the Crown in the trial of Lecesne and
Escoffery's case, were likewise chosen to sit upon it.
When this body proceeded to its labours, strange as it might seem, they neither examined the
parties themselves, nor called a single witness on their behalf, nor even gave them the slightest
intimation that they were implicated in the inquiry. To those who, in this country, were accustomed to
the pure administration of justice, such proceedings, by which it seemed that even the forms of justice
were neglected and contemned, were absolutely disgusting:—The Secret Committee made its report in
the following form:— The Secret Committee, in submitting the preceding documents to his grace the
governor, beg at the same time to express their unanimous opinion, that the evidence which has been
adduced before it, has most distinctly established, that three persons by the name of Lecesne,
Escoffery, and Valmore, are natives of St. Domingo; and that they are considered persons of most
dangerous description to remain in this colony, from the very active and prominent part which they
have severally taken in the communications which are proved to have existed between this Island and
St. Domingo.
Now, let this report be compared with that which was made in the succeeding session by the
same assembly, and in which the very highest commendation is pronounced on the loyalty and fidelity
of the coloured class, without hinting at a single exception, and it will be seen that both statements
cannot possibly be true. Indeed, the latter report on the character, conduct, and intentions of the people
of colour, completely falsifies the former.—The hon. and learned member went on to state, that the
council took the secret report into consideration on the 28th November: in consequence of which, a
warrant was issued by the duke of Manchester, for instantly putting Lecesne and Escoffery on board
ship, and conveying them to St. Domingo. This order was not merely executed, but executed with the
utmost severity, and even cruelty. And here he begged leave to ask, on what principle of law or justice
it was, after the judgment of the court of King's-bench—after the discharge of the parties, claiming its
protection as British subjects on that ground—the examination of a secret committee, and the
consultation of councils and governors, was to overthrow a solemn decision of an established court of
Judicature? He left it to the hon. gentleman opposite to make out a case, if he could, to justify such a
course.
It was alleged as a palliation, that Lecesne and Escoffery being free persons of colour, could
not be trial in Jamaica upon slave evidence; but there was no pretence for this excuse, supposing them
to be aliens, since the law of the island was, that "an alien of colour being free, may be tried,
condemned, and executed, upon slave evidence."—There was, therefore, no pretence for deporting
them, as they might, if any real charge had existed against them, and if they really were aliens, as was
so confidently alleged, have been brought to justice upon the lowest species of testimony.
Looking through the whole of the documents, it was clear that there did not exist the slighest
imputation against Escoffery; but against Lecesne some curious charges were brought forward. A man
of the name of Jean Baptiste Corberand had given evidence, after Lecesne's deportation, that Lecesne
had furnished arms to the insurgents of St. George's; but it was afterwards clearly proved, that the
testimony of this man did not deserve the smallest credence. Here he could not avoid adverting, for a
moment, to the trials which had taken place in Jamaica of slaves accused of insurrectionary
51
conspiracies, and he believed that history did not furnish more flagrant instances of the violation of all
the recognised principles of law and justice, than were furnished by those trials. In one case, .the wife
was the witness on whose testimony the husband was condemned to die; in another, a father was
hanged on the vague statement of his son, a mere youth, whose testimony, even had it been true, would
not have substantiated the very slightest .charge of criminality against him in a British court of justice.
It was quite appalling to contemplate the facility with which convictions were procured, and the
rapidity with which the convicts were executed, scarcely three days elapsing between the accusation
and the gallows. In some of those trials the slave Corberand, the sole witness who had charged
Lecesne with supplying arms, acted a conspicuous part, and many individuals were executed on his
testimony, and that of another slave, Charles Mack, both of whom had been promised their freedom in
return for their discoveries. No question, however, now existed, that their evidence had been a tissue of
contradictions, and of the most barefaced perjuries. A conviction to this effect, it might be now shown,
prevailed generally in Jamaica itself, and indeed, so clear was the guilt of these witnesses, that they
had been committed to gaol, whence Corberand effected his escape, but was afterwards retaken, and
recommitted; and in the secret report of the Assembly of December, 1824, they were both denounced
as dangerous persons, and the duke of Manchester had been addressed to send them out of the colony.
Yet this man's assertion was the only evidence against Lecesne, as far as related to the supply of arms.
As a confirmation that Lecesne and Escoffery were in connexion with St. Domingo, another
witness, captain Maclean, swore that "he had heard," that when sent there, they were received with the
greatest kindness, and that money had been given them by the public, authorities. The real fact,
nevertheless, was, as appeared on unexceptionable testimony, that they were in a state of destitution on
their landing in Jacmel, from whence they were directed to proceed to Port au Prince, to be examined
before president Boyer, who dismissed them on the fortuitous production of a piece of a Jamaica
newspaper, which one of them fortunately discovered in his trunk; and which contained the resolution
of the secret committee, recommending their deportation. The president ordered this paper, in which
Lecesne and Escoffery were accused of being his agents in Jamaica, to be translated and: published
with comments in the Haytian Gazette of January 1824, to warrant the public authorities in allowing
Lecesne and Escoffery to remain. That they were in a state of the utmost poverty there, could not be
doubted: they sold their watches and other trinkets; and such was their condition on their passage to
England, that captain Chalmers, who brought them over, was obliged to give them some clothes. The
assertions of captain Maclean are directly rebutted by the affidavit of this captain Chalmers, whose
kindness and humanity to them, cannot be sufficiently acknowledged. The late captain Dawkins who
commanded the brig Helicon, which conveyed these men to St. Domingo, although in consequence of
instructions received from the government, he had refused them the liberty of even sending a letter to
their families, afterwards treated them with great kindness and humanity, and it was to his
recommendation of them to Mr. Frith, a British merchant at Jacmel, that they were indebted for all the
attention and hospitality shewn to them by that gentleman and other British merchants resident in
Hayti, from whom, and in no degree from the Haytian government, they derived whatever pecuniary
assistance they received.
But the animosity of Mr. Hector Mitchell did not end with the deportation of his victims. After
they had been thus illegally torn from their families and their country, and forced into exile, he
continued his unrelenting persecution of them. Their business, by which they had hitherto supported
their families in comfort, was ruined; and, in this emergency, the wife of Lecesne was left to depend,
as her only resource, on the weekly earnings of two slaves whom she hired out, as the means of
providing the necessaries of life for herself and her children. Discovering this, what did Mr. Hector
Mitchell do? He had one of them, named Pierre, arrested without the shadow of a charge against him,
and confined in a Cell. While there, Hector Mitchell caused him to be brought into his own presence,
and used every possible method of inducement, by tempting promises anti by threats, to prevail with
him to furnish information which might tend to criminate his master, and to substantiate the story
which it is believed that he himself had taught the negro Corberand to give as evidence against
Lecesne. The offer of large pecuniary rewards and of Freedom, and intimidation, were in their turn
employed to induce him to yield to Hector Mitchell's wicked purposes; and as a punishment for
steadily resisting all those efforts to convert him into an instrument of vengeance against his master,
52
the poor slave was subjected to incarceration in a dungeon appropriated to condemned felons, in which
he remained for seven months, till his health was ruined and his limbs were scarcely capable of
supporting him. He was then discharged by proclamation, no charge whatever having ever been made
against him. Slaves in Jamaica may, by law, be imprisoned for six months without any charge being
made against them. If, in that time, no charge should be made, they are then, at the first court which is
held after the expiration of the six months, discharged by proclamation.
Mr. Mitchell having soon found, that the could make nothing of Pierre, had his brother and
fellow slave, named Sanon, taken up, and the same methods of bribery, intimidation, and coercion,
were resorted to in his case, and with similarsuccess. Sanon was kept in confinement, though not so
closely as his brother, for ten months. During the whole of this long imprisonment, Lecesne's wife and
family were deprived of the means of subsistence they would have derived from the labour of Pierre
and Sanon, and were in consequence reduced to the greatest indigence and distress. One of these
individuals, Pierre, was now in this country. He (Dr. L.) had seen him; he had himself examined him:
he was now ready to appear at the bar of that House, and he would venture to say, that no man could
hear him, without being convinced of the veracity of his statements.
He would put it to the House, whether this was not, front the beginning to the end, a very
serious business, in which every principle of justice and humanity had been grossly violated.
It also happened, that one of these men, Lecesne, had, some years before, taken a poor Irish
sailor boy, whom he found in the streets suffering under a fever, into his house, where he was
protected and cured. This boy, who was now grown up, had been anxious to accompany his benefactor
in his exile, but was prevented from following him on board the vessel in which he was sent away
from the Island. He had since, however, worked his passage to England in order to join him. He (Dr.
L.) would not wish for a better witness than this youth; he was possessed of remarkable talents, and
was ready to undergo any examination or cross-examination to which he might be subjected.
He was therefore prepared, not only by documentary but oral evidence, to prove the whole of
his case. He had spared no trouble in arriving at the truth. lie had carefully examined and re-examined
every document. He had seen the individuals whose cause he advocated not less than thirty times, and
he declared, upon his honour, that he had not stated a single word to the House which he did not in his
conscience believe to be true, and which he did not also believe he could establish in evidence to the
satisfaction of the House.
It was with great pain he felt it his bounden duty to state, that the blame of this transaction
must, in a very considerable degree, fall upon the duke of Manchester. He could not help here
adverting to the first letter which the duke had sent to lord Bathurst on this subject, and which entirely
sinks the material circumstance, that these men whom he had deported as aliens, had been proved, in
the Supreme Court of the Island, to have been British-born subjects. Why was this fact concealed? And
why did the duke lend himself to the untrue assertion that the affidavits which stated them to be born
in Jamaica were furnished by their creditors, when not one of those who made them was a creditor of
either of those exiled persons.
The duke of Manchester, he feared, had not merely acted under the advice and by the
inducement of others, but he had made himself a party in this case. He begged to call the attention of
the House most particularly to the language of the noble duke in this memorable despatch, in which he
declared, that he should not have felt it necessary to trouble the Colonial Secretary with any details on
this subject, if he had not understood that an intention existed to make some representation to his
lordship on the subject.—What! not think it necessary to give some explanation or justification of his
conduct, when the prospects of these individuals had been ruined and blasted for ever, without having
committed any offence which could be justly imputed to them! This was, indeed, most extraordinary.
But, besides this, the duke of Manchester had applied to Mr. Burge, the Attorney-general of
Jamaica, who had framed for him a defence, founded upon documents which had nothing whatever to
53
do with the merits of the case. The report of the Attorney-general of Jamaica was conceived in terms,
and dealt in assertions, to which he (Dr. L.) could have hardly conceived it possible that any man of
integrity or impartiality would have dared to resort, much less any lawyer of reputation.—The
assertion, that there were insuperable difficulties in ascertaining the facts of this case, because one
class of witnesses would not, and the slaves could not give evidence, was utterly false; for he had
shewn clearly, that slave evidence might have been received against aliens of colour, had they really
been so as was alleged. The assertion of Mr. Burge, that the individuals who made affidavits in favour
of Lecesne and Escoffery before the Grand Court, " have since placed themselves beyond the reach of
justice by withdrawing from the Island," has no foundation whatever in fact; every one of those
persons, if still alive, being now in the Island of Jamaica.
In conclusion, he implored the serious attention of that House, to one of the most atrocious
violations of justice, which had ever been brought under its consideration. Parliament could never be
better employed, than in affording redress to petitioners, who, like those who now brought their
wrongs before the House, were suffering from a gross at use of power, and an utter disregard for all the
principles of justice. Upon the part which the House took on this occasion, the attachment of the free
coloured population of Jamaica to the constitution and government of this country, and the vital
interests of Jamaica itself, might, in no slight degree, depend. The hon. and learned member concluded
by moving,— That a Select. Committee be appointed to examine into the Deportation of Lewis
Lecesne and John Escoffery, from Jamaica; and to report their observations thereupon to the House.
Mr. Wilmot Horton said:—Sir, although a great part of the observations of my hon. and learned
friend who has just sat down, relate to judicial proceedings, which have taken place in the island of
Jamaica, and refer to points of law which other persons would be infinitely more competent to discuss,
yet, as the House cannot fail to expect some explanation from me upon the present occasion, and more
especially with respect to the conduct of the duke of Manchester, upon which the hon, and learned
gentleman has made severe reflections, I shall proceed to examine the course of arguments which he
has employed.
But, in the first place, I must be permitted to express my astonishment, that my hon. and
learned friend should have totally omitted all mention of the fact of his having had a conversation with
me upon this subject, in which conversation, he was told, in the most unequivocal manner, that the
merits of this case did not rest on the papers which had been laid on the table of the House, but that
there was other evidence on which the case mainly did rest, which the noble lord, at the head of the
Colonial Department, could not, consistently with his official duties, with reference to the
circumstances under which this evidence was transmitted to him, consent to lay upon the table of the
House; and my hon. and learned friend will remember, that, so far from protesting against all
investigation of the subject, a distinct intimation was conveyed to him, that there would be no
objection in principle to the appointment of a Secret Committee, for the purpose of examining all the
circumstances of this very complicated case, and of considering what course it might be most
expedient to adopt. The House will therefore at once perceive that, not being relieved from the
necessity of submitting an imperfect case on the defence side of this question, I am called, under
circumstances of extreme disadvantage, to meet the hon. and learned gentleman, who has stated such
an infinite variety of matter, with the utmost expressed confidence of his own accuracy, and in the
contradiction of which, I am precluded from availing myself' of that main part of the case, which, of
necessity, has not yet been brought under the cognizance of the House.
The evidence in this case, as it appears in the papers published, is unquestionably of a
contradictory nature and character: but this evidence does not extend to the merits of the case. I should
have no hesitation in admitting, that if it be proved that the facts of the case have been in any degree
intentionally falsified, with the view of establishing the alienage of the parties, or still more for the
purpose of proving them, though innocent, guilty of a treasonable conspiracy, the most serious
injustice has been done towards them; but, I can have no difficulty, even as at present circumstanced,
in supplying the arguments that appear to me to be conclusive in defence of the conduct of the duke of
Manchester. In officially directing the deportation of these parties under the Alien act, he was
54
supported by the unanimous opinion of his council and of the Secret Committee of the House of
Assembly. The hon. and learned gentleman has attempted to impugn the character of individuals of
that committee. He must be fully aware that it is necessary that such insinuations should be changed
into proof, before the evidence of such a committee should be considered as of no authority. The
Attorney-general of Jamaica, an individual respecting whom the hon. and learned gentleman has used
very strong language, but whose character, I believe, stands as high as that of any man, strongly and
urgently insisted on the necessity of the measure of removing these aliens from the country, founding
his justification of that opinion upon the evidence presented before the Secret Committee, and of
which evidence, as I have already explained, the House are in entire ignorance.
With respect to the alienage of the parties, it is true that they had sued out a writ of habeas
corpus, and that, upon the affidavits presented on one side and on the other, they had been discharged
under that writ: but still, notwithstanding the tendency of the evidence upon that occasion justified the
decision in favour of their English birth, if it can be shown that that evidence was false, and if the fact
be that they were aliens, no violation of law has taken place in directing their removal, notwithstanding
the previous decision of a court of justice: for that court of justice could only decide on the evidence
before them; and if it should ultimately be shewn, that additional evidence, of an unimpeachable
nature, has been subsequently produced before the Secret Committee, substantiating their alienage, the
Governor in council would not necessarily be bound by the opinion of the court of justice, founded on
evidence less perfect and comprehensive. But, under any circumstances, the duke of Manchester was
called upon to act upon such unanimous recommendation. He could derive from no source, any reason
to influence him to a contrary course, and, though officially responsible for an act of executive
authority, even if the proof of alienage were insufficient, he would be morally absolved from
indiscretion in the decision which he had made.
The hon. and learned gentleman, in the beginning of his speech, spoke strongly with respect to
the condition of the free coloured people of Jamaica. This is not the opportunity for discussing, in the
abstract, the subject of the privileges withheld from that class;—but, although the free coloured people
of that island were under certain disqualifications, that circumstance did not absolve them from their
allegiance to the government. The point upon which the case mainly rests is, whether a conspiracy
against the government did actually exist, and whether the petitioners were parties to that
conspiracy:—and upon that question the House are at present disqualified from forming any
conclusive judgment, from the necessity of withholding the evidence (to which I have already alluded)
which was produced before the Secret Committee; and upon which evidence the unanimous
recommendation of the Secret Committee is mainly to be justified;—and therefore, whatever
contradictions may or may not exist in the evidence which has been laid upon the table, it is necessary
that the House should suspend its. opinion, and hold its judgment in abeyance upon the whole case,
until that whole case may come before them.
It is a matter of too great notoriety to admit of denial, that at the period preceding the removal
of these aliens, a great degree of alarm prevailed in Jamaica, and the strong language used by the free
people of colour in the island was calculated to justify the apprehensions that were entertained. The
principal Committee of the free people of colour addressed a letter on the 14th of July 1823, signed by
Mr. Simpson their chairman, and Mr. Scholar their secretary, to Mr. Wilson, in London; and in that
letter they say, with reference to the operation of the law of Jamaica, "Our long endurance of such
grievous oppression, while evincing our unwillingness to adopt coercive measures, proves also our
loyalty and devotion to the British crown and government; for, what else could induce submission to a
system so tyrannical as that we labour under, and which, possessing as we do, a great physical
superiority, we might, by one energetic effort, overthrow and destroy?" The House must not estimate
the effect of intimidation, which such language is calculated to produce, by any analogies that our own
country can furnish. The agitation in the mind of the negro population throughout the West Indies is
also a fact too notorious to admit of contradiction; and the existence of a conspiracy at a time when
such language was employed, could not be a matter of surprise to any person who knows the nature of
the elements of society in that country, and the danger to which their physical inferiority must
55
necessarily reduce the white population, if treason and rebellion be not checked in the moment of their
earliest developement.
The duke of Manchester, therefore, felt himself under the influence of an overpowering public
necessity, to direct the measure of the removal of these aliens, whose presence in the opinion of the
Attorney-general, of the Council, of the Secret Committee, of the Assembly of the island, and of a
great majority of the resident planters, was dangerous to the safety and well-being of the community;
and who is there, who in fairness would withhold their support of the duke of Manchester upon this
occasion, when hey consider the responsibility which he would have incurred if, in opposition to this
unanimity of feeling and impression upon the subject, he had refused to accept their suggestion, and if
the breaking out of a treasonable conspiracy had been the consequence of such refusal?
There are many parts of the case brought forward by my hon. and learned friend, to which I am
unwilling to advert, that I may not be involved in any premature argument upon the merits of the case,
as they affect the decision and recommendation of the Secret Committee. I contend, that, upon that
part of the case, the House are at present incompetent to form a correct judgment, and on that ground, I
justify my omission in not replying to the general accusations of my hon. and learned friend. But, there
are one two points on which I cannot refrain from observation. The hon. and learned gentleman speaks
of the unshaken consistency which appears in all the memorials that have been presented by these
petitioners; yet it will be observed that in their first petition to the House of Commons they denied ever
having had any intercourse or connexion with Hayti, or any other country except Great Britain. Now
they admit the fact of correspondence, but attempt to justify that correspondence, which, in the first
instance, they had solemnly denied, and which is in direct violation of the existing laws of Jamaica, by
pleading, as an excuse, that it was of a commercial nature, and by stating, that others, from whom
more attention to the laws of the country might have been expected, had been employed in the same
illicit trade.
The hon. and learned gentleman has inculpated, in the most grave and serious manner, the
character of an individual, Mr. Hector Mitchell, who unquestionably took a prominent part in these
transactions, which he was called upon in his public duty to take. Of that gentleman I have no personal
knowledge, but all that I have heard of him is in favour of his character and of his honour, and would
not permit me to suppose that the hon. and learned gentleman can be justified in his accusation against
him. If Mr. Hector Mitchell were really guilty of the atrocities laid to his charge, by the hon, and
learned gentleman, God forbid that I should say one word in his justification, but, to believe he was so
guilty, would be to believe that all the persons whose duty it was to watch over the administration of
justice in Jamaica, had neglected their duty in a most extraordinary and culpable manner. It is on these
grounds that I think I have a right to call upon the House to suspend their judgment with respect to the
conduct and character of this gentleman, until he himself has been furnished with the opportunity of
defence.
The hon. and learned gentleman laid great stress upon the petitioners having obtained their "
Privilege Papers," as a fact which sewed that their birth in the island of Jamaica could never have been
a matter of doubt. I have the authority of the Attorney-general of Jamaica, in disproof of this inference,
who distinctly states, that privilege papers are granted without difficulty to parties, without any
necessity of proof as to their having been born in the island, and who cites the acknowledged practice
of the corporation of the city of Kingston, and their authority for the explanation in confirmation of
this statement. It would appear, that after the passing of the Privilege act, from the general desire to
render its operation as extensive as possible, the corporation have been in the habit of granting
certificates without any inquiry into the places of birth of the persons applying for them, and very
frequently to persons who were known to be aliens.
Under these circumstances, Sir, I cannot consent to concur in any censure, direct or implied,
upon the conduct of the duke of Manchester, which upon grounds so limited as those which are now
before the House, it may be attempted to pass upon him. If the proposition of a Secret Committee
which was made to the hon. and learned gentleman had been acceded to, there would have been no
56
necessity for that suspension of judgment, for which, under existing circumstances, I think I have a
right to call on the part of this House. I shall therefore not think it necessary to detain them any longer,
and leave it to the House, without hesitation, to decide, whether the statement of the hon. and learned
member has established any thing like criminality against the duke of Manchester and the government
of Jamaica.
Mr Scarlett said, that he should be very unwilling to support the motion, if be conceived that it
implied any blame on the duke of Manchester; but this was not either the intended object or the
necessary result of his hon. and learned friend's proposal. It appeared probable to him, however, that
the duke of Manchester had been misled in this transaction, either by an incorrect statement of facts, or
by the persons whose duty it was to advise him; and he understood the arguments of his hon. and
learned friend to apply rather to those individuals than to the duke personally, who could not be
supposed to be actuated by any thing but a desire to do justice in the administration of the trust reposed
in him.
The honourable under Secretary for the colonies had alluded to certain documents not before
the House; from which he alleged, it would appear, that the transportation of the individuals in
question was fully justified by evidence and information obtained subsequently to their being
discharged by the Supreme Court, but that it was not expedient at present to submit these documents to
the House. This was certainly a sufficient ground for suspending any final judgment upon the conduct
of any of the parties to the transaction; but not, in his opinion, a sufficient ground to resist further
inquiry. He was bound for the present to suppose, upon the statement of the hon. gentleman, that the
documents in his possession, upon the face of them, warranted that statement. But, he could not help
observing, that there were some circumstances in the papers and the evidence now produced to the
House, which tended to throw a strong suspicion on the source from which his Grace had derived the
additional testimony contained in the documents which were for the present withheld.
He had done, upon the present occasion, what he very seldom did with regard to the
voluminous papers upon the table of that House—he had read attentively the affidavits on both sides,
exhibited in the Supreme Court, upon the discussion of the habeas corpus. He had been induced the
more particularly to do so, because a near relation of his own—to whose learning, capacity, and
integrity, he was glad of this Opportunity of bearing testimony—was the presiding judge in that court.
He would undertake, by a very few observations upon these affidavits, to satisfy the House, that the
Court could not have done otherwise than discharge the prisoners; and would, at the same time, point
out the circumstances in the evidence which had left a strong impression on his mind against the
integrity of the parties who had originally caused the petitioners to be imprisoned, and from whom,
probably, the subsequent information in the unproduced documents bad been derived. Previous to the
application for the habeas corpus, it appeared, by the papers on the table, that some proceeding had
taken place, probably for the information of the governor, upon the question of Lecesne's place of
birth. In these proceedings, the strongest evidence against him was contained in an affidavit of his halfsister, Lucille Lecesne, who swore that he was born at Port-au-Prince. This affidavit was made the
ninth day of October, 1823. Now, the rule to shew cause why a habeas corpus should not issue, was
granted on the 17th of the same month. In support of which were produced, amongst others, the
affidavits of four persons, Harvey, Charlotte Lecesne, Rose Mandrew, and Wilson; sworn the eleventh
of October, for the purpose of proving that Lucille Lecesne the half-sister, both before and after she
had made her affidavit of the 9th, had stated her perfect knowledge that her brother was born in
Kingston, that she had on the seventh declared her intention to make an affidavit to that effect on his
behalf, but that on the ninth and tenth, she had refused; alleging, that she had been prevailed on by
three white persons to swear against him, and particularly by the persuasions of a Mr. Villegraine; who
told her, that if her brother was shipped off, as he would be in consequence of her affidavit, she would
become intitled to one half of her father's property; and threatened, besides, if she did not make this
affidavit, that she should herself be imprisoned and put into irons. Now, although the Court had, in the
first instance., granted only a rule to show cause, and thereby given a full opportunity, both to this
woman and to Mr. Villegraine, to contradict these four affidavits, yet no affidavit was produced by
either of them to deny or explain the very serious matters alleged against them. And this was the more
57
remarkable, because it appeared that Villegraine was a white man, that he had made an affidavit
against Lecesne, swearing very concisely that he was born at Port-au-Prince, but without any
circumstances, and leaving it doubtful whether he swore to his own knowledge or by information. The
House must see, that these grave imputations upon the principal witness on one side of the question,
remaining unrefuted after a full opportunity for refutation from the 17th to the 25th day of October,
when the habeas corpus was finally granted, could not fail to have a decisive influence upon the
judgment of the Court, even if the remaining part of the evidence had been more doubtful than it
appeared to be. There were, undoubtedly, contradictions; but the preponderance, independently of the
circumstances he had mentioned, was greatly in favour of the petitioners' claim to be native subjects.
The observations of the Attorney-general of the island on this subject were somewhat singular;
for he expressed his astonishment that the Court had, in their decision, not paid more attention to the
affidavits of persons of the character of Mr. Mitchell, a magistrate, and or Mr. Innes, a police officer;
as if it were the practice or the duty of judges to be influenced by their notions of the character of
witnesses who made affidavits, instead of the facts which those affidavits contained. While this
imputation against Mr. Villegraine, of having suborned a witness to commit perjury against the
petitioners, remained, the hon. and learned gentleman said, he must suspect whatever came from the
same source. Whatever objection there might exist to the production of the subsequent it evidence as to
the conspiracy, there could be no mischief whatever in publishing that—if there was any—which
related to the birth of the petitioners. If that evidence was not submitted to the House, then he would
say, that Lecesne and Escoffery were the most oppressed of men. They had been not only forced to
quit their occupations, and to abandon the means of their subsistence, but transported from the country
in which they claimed the right of nativity, after the unimpeached and unimpeachable judgment of a
Court of competent jurisdiction in their favour. They had no other tribunal left to which they could
appeal but the House of Commons; and he thought that House would not do its duty—would not act in
its usual character of defender of the oppressed—if they did not call for the production of the evidence.
But, he begged to be distinctly under stood, that he did not call for the evidence, or vote for
inquiry, with any object to criminate the duke of Manchester. He had, on the contrary, a decided
objection to making the functions of that House subservient to the production of evidence, to be
afterwards used by private parties in a court of justice. And he was willing and desirous, that the
condition on which the petitioners should be allowed to seek for such redress as might result from an
inquiry by that House, should be, a pledge of their forbearance to make use of any of the evidence that
might be laid before the House, in support of any actions they might be advised to bring, or had
already brought, against his Grace. But, when he considered the very peculiar state of society in the
colonies, he thought it was impossible far the House to pay too much attention to appeals of a
description like the present, The population, of which the petitioners formed a part, was of great
importance to the West Indies. It was, he believed rapidly increasing both in numbers and intelligence;
and, in his opinion, was likely to form a very important security against the most dreadful of all
revolutions that could affect the colonies. At the same time, it was not to be supposed that the white
population could speedily be brought to view the importance of the people of mixed colour in that
light. The prejudices which had, for so many generations, led them to consider the blacks as an inferior
race, naturally extended to all who had a mixture of African blood in their veins.
He was far from meaning this as a reproach to the whites. He considered it as a feeling
necessarily resulting from the state of society in which they found themselves, and to be treated, not
with reproach or contumely, but with the greatest caution and delicacy. Whilst that feeling existed,
there was a natural jealousy of any approach of the people of colour to an equality of rights with them.
He had reason to believe, that the footing on which the people of colour in Jamaica were now placed,
had been obtained for them by great prudence and judgment its the conciliation of that feeling, and that
many of the white inhabitants still retain a great portion of the doubt and hesitation with which they
had assented to the privileges of the people of colour. If the least cause of alarm occurred—if the
slightest suspicion were awakened — of any tiling like revolt or disaffection amongst the slaves—it
was too easy, in the fear of so overwhelming a calamity, to confound the means of defence with the
causes of danger, and to view the most innocent actions of a distrusted party as indications of
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conspiracy and guilt. He thought it possible, and he meant to say no more, that the petitioners might
have been the victims of this apprehension, and that the ruin of the individuals upon pretexts too slight
to bear examination, was the result of a prejudice against the class to which they belonged. if this were
so, in his judgment, it became the more incumbent on that House to show to the free people of colour
that they were not driven to seek redress for their wrongs by force, but might expect it from the
wisdom and justice of the House, if denied to them by the fears or the prejudices of the whites. He
therefore trusted, that, for the safety of the colony, for the honour of the House of Commons, and in
justice to these two unfortunate men, the motion of his hon. and learned friend would be unanimously
agreed to.
Mr. Secretary Canning said, that, under all the circumstances, however he might have been
disposed to prefer the course suggested by his hon. friend, the under secretary for the colonies, he
should not now oppose the appointment of a select committee. The short question upon the present
charge, as it applied to the conduct of the duke of Manchester, was, whether the duke had or had not
treated British subjects as aliens only could lawfully be treated: that was a simple question, and one
easily capable of proof, but one which certainly was neither proved nor disproved by the evidence
already before the House. In one admission, however, all parties must agree; namely, that when the
duke of Manchester came forward, offering to wave the privilege which his absence gave him, and
submit to clear his conduct by a trial at law, he did entitle himself, so long as the question was
pending, to the suspension of every thing like severe or unkind judgment against him. It was a strong
presumption, not only that his grace had conducted himself with propriety, but that it was his own
conscientious belief that his conduct would bear investigation. Had he made this proposal at the
commencement of the business, it would have entitled him to this favourable construction; but much
more was he entitled to it, when he made this proposal, after knowing the impression which had been
made, the exaggerations which had gone abroad, respecting the case of these individuals in this
country, and after he had reviewed, in consequence, all his own proceedings, and had closely
examined the conduct of every officer concerned in the transaction. The hon. and learned member for
Peterborough had observed, that if the duke of Manchester had done wrong, he had probably been
misled. In this opinion he entirely concurred; but it was yet to be shown that the duke, in what he had
done, had exceeded his authority: and that he himself entertained no apprehension. as to the result of
his conduct, was at least to be presumed from the readiness with which he courted inquiry into it. The
main feature in the case then came to be considered—namely, what there had been in the conduct of
other persons apart from that of the duke of Manchester, which afforded ground for complaint; and,
upon that point he was free to say, that government had at least so far thought there was ground for
investigation, that the commissioners in the West Indies had received instructions (and in about a
month hence they would be in Jamaica) to examine into all the circumstances, and transmit home a
report generally upon the transaction. Under these circumstances, he was certainly not disposed to
maintain the proposition that no further inquiry was called for. He admitted the it was, and that it ought
to be had; but both the offer made by the duke of Manchester and the course of justice required that
they should be separated, and no involved one with the other. The inquiry into the other parts of the
case could not co-exist with the inquiry into the conduct of the duke of Manchester. He was prepared
to admit the necessity of inquiry; but it was morally impossible, at that late period of the session, that it
could then be gone into and brought to determination. When he considered the distance of the place,
and the voluminous mass of evidence collected in the progress of the inquiry, he thought that the hon.
and learned gentleman must himself admit, that to go into an inquiry at that period could not lead to
any beneficial result. He would recommend that advantage should be taken of the interval between the
close of the present session and the beginning of the next, to obtain the report of the commissioners,
and to procure further evidence. He should have no sort of objection to enter into the inquiry early next
session, and to allow that inquiry to be as ample and complete as the hon. and learned gentleman could
wish. Enough had already transpired to excite a public feeling against the duke of Manchester; and he
thought it was not fair to aggravate this prejudice by entering into an inquiry which could not be
brought to a satisfactory conclusion. On the one hand, the government had more evidence to procure;
and on the other, the hon. and learned gentleman, who had already obtained so much evidence, and
who shewed no want of a zealous disposition to obtain evidence, would have an opportunity of making
59
his case more complete, so that both sides would come to the discussion at the beginning of the next
session better prepared fully to elucidate the matter
Mr Brougham rose, to request his hon. and learned friend to accede to the proposition of the
right hon. Secretary opposite, which he thought, the state of the session considered, was the best
calculated to obtain the ends of substantial justice. As the evidence stood, the transaction was a most
iniquitous one. These three points would have to be made out: first, that there had been proof that the
complainants were aliens; secondly, that there had been the sedition imputed; and thirdly, that there
had been ground for sending them away without being heard in their defence. Now, as the case stood,
it was nonsense to talk of conflicting evidence; the proof of the birth was as clear as could be desired.
What might arise out of the papers further to be produced, he could not judge; but the matter stood as
he described it at present. With reference to the postponement of the Committee, he would further
observe, that it was only just to take the case of the individuals into the consideration of the House.
They were highly respectable men; they had been ruined by their banishment; and had hitherto been
supported by the contributions of some benevolent individuals; but certainly, as this delay was to take
place, some means existence ought to be afforded them by parliament.
Mr Grossett deprecated the idea of adjourning the inquiry for another year; but if such were the
wish of the House, he would not be positive in opposing it. This, however, he would say, that it was
the duty of the House to provide for the maintenance of the complainants during that time, as they
were totally without funds, and supported by the charity of friends.
Mr Grossett said, he took a different view of the case from the gentlemen opposite. He thought
these persons might be guilty, and he denied that they were entitled to be provided for.
Mr. W Smith hoped the House would support these injured individuals, without any reference
to the view just thrown out by the hon. member.
Mr. Browgham reminded the hon. member, that all his statements were derived from private
letters, and that all the evidence which had been brought before the House by his hon. and learned
friend had been taken on oath.
Sir C. Forbes thought this a case of greater oppression than any he had ever heard of in the East
Indies.
Dr. Lushilgton then replied, and animadverted with great warmth on a pamphlet, published by
an hon. member (Mr. Grossett), stigmatizing the character of the unfortunate petitioners in the most
unwarrantable manner. He had read that pamphlet with the utmost disgust, and with contempt the most
unmitigated. He would accede to the proposal of the right hon. Secretary for postponement, but he
called upon the House, in the mean time, to consider the destitute condition of the parties; and he relied
upon the right hon. Secretary, for the institution of a full, entire, and free inquiry, in the next session,
and to facilitate his exertions to obtain justice for the parties concerned.
The motion was then, with the leave of the House, withdrawn
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Apports Bibliographiques et crédits photographiques
− Généalogie initialisée par Charles Alexander Escoffery
− Textes sur Jean Marie et John Escoffery de Stephen Hopwwod
− Article sur Gloria Escoffery par Polly Pattullo du Guardian
− Les articles sur Alassio, la République de Gêne, St Domingue et la Jamaïque par
Wikipedia
− La Villa Scofferi proposée par le sîte liguria.beniculturali.it
− Le texe sur les ex-votos par Province of Savona - Via Sormano, 12 - 17100 SAVONA
− L'article sur la Corse par National Geographic
− Les articles sur Haïti par Denis Laurent-Ropa et le sîte www.jrank.org/cultures/
− L'article sur Louis Céleste Lecesne par Wikipedia
− Hansard, the Official Report of debates in Parliament sur le cas Lecesne Escoffery
− Les Photos de la famille Escoffery provenant des albums de famille de Marie Louise
Escoffery à Toronto
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