that period alone when the Temple of War may be closed. "The principles you have always acted upon, and which you have had the courage to communicate to the generals in the periods of barbarism, when even our breath was construed into a meaning, and might bring the heads of the most innocent to the seaffold, these principles have been the electric flame which has caused the commotion that has been so strongly felt, and which has carried away every thing with it, to the moment when Jean Jaques Dessalines, our common oppressor, ceased to live. Vengeance has had its operation, and now the army only waits for your presence to concur in the formation of the social compact which should unite us-of a constitution, in which every citizen shall at length find security for his person, and the sacred right of property, emanating from the general will; not like that misshapen act which we have trodden under our feet, made in the silence of the cabinet, without the knowledge of those most interested in it, and calculated only to flatter the caprice of a single individual, and even in the letter of it contrary to every principle of liberty, Thus long abused, we have sworn not to separate till we have seen the new constitutional act proclaimedthat act by which we ought to be governed-until we have approved of it, and sworn to obey it; and until, conformably to the usages of ancient warriors, we have publicly acknowledged you for the head of our government, and borne you upon our shields. "Satisfy, general, the impatience brave soldiers, of the whole nation assembled, who are admirers of your virtues, and to which nothing is wanting, at these moments of joy, but your presence. "Head-quarters, Port-au-Prince, Proclamation of the Provisionary "An horrible tyranny, exercised a long time upon the people and the army, has at length exasperated ail minds, and excited them, by a movement worthy the motive that produced it, to rise in a mass, in order to oppose a powerful boundary against the torrent that threatened them. "A plot, framed in silence and reflection, was upon the point of execution; men capable of thinkingthose men capable of making the sublime principles of true liberty finally triumphant-men who were even the defenders of that liberty, were to disappear for ever. A rapid step towards its total subversion had already appalled the most indifferent; every thing seemed to announce, that we were approaching the moment when we were to see all the former scenes of horror and proscription renewed; those dungeons, gibbets, faggots, drownings, of which we were the sorrowful and unhappy victims under the iniquitous govern ments of Rochambeau, the Darbois, the Ferrands, Bergers, &c. &c. "Less affected by the happiness of his people, than greedy to amass riches, the chief of the government unjustly despoiled thousands of families of their property, and who are at this moment reduced to the utmost misery, under the apparent 'pretext that they could not justify the the titles to their property, but, in fact, to augment his own domains. Is it not incontestible, after enjoying an estate ten, twenty, or thirty years, that one ought to be admitted as the real proprietor? Dessalines was not ignorant of this: but had persuaded himself, that even his fellow-citizens had lost their titles in the late disturbances. He wished to avail himself of this to satisfy his cupidity. Some little farmers were hurried away from their dwellings, and sent, without regard to age or sex, to the plantations to which they formerly belonged. If any particular situation, or any view of the general interest, could authorise that measure which appears to have been adopted by preceding governments, at least it would have been but justice to have granted an indemnification to those against whom it was exercised. "Commerce, the source of plenty and prosperity to states, languished in apathy under this ignorant man, the chief causes of which were the vexations and the horrors exercised upon strangers. Cargoes violently seized, bargains broken as soon as they were contracted, banished far from our ports the ships of all countries. The assassination of Thomas Thuat, an English merchant, who had long resided in this country, where he was respected on account of his blameless conduct and his virtues, excited general indignation; and why was he murdered? Thomas Thuat was rich; this was his sole crime. The Haytian merchants were not better treated. The advantages which it was affected to allow them, were only calculated upon the profits which it was expected to exIract from them. ment, in his last tour, disorganized the army. His cruel avarice suggested to him the idea to transfer the troops of one corps to another, for the purpose of bringing them nearer to their native place, in order that they should require no subsistence, although he exacted from them the most assiduous service. The soldier was deprived of his pay, of his subsistence, and appeared every where almost naked; while the public treasure furnished, in profusion, annual stipends of 20,000 dollars to each of his mistresses, of which he kept twenty at least, to support their boundless extravagance, which was both a disgrace to the government and an insult to the general misery. "The Jews were not more respected. A constitution was framed by order of the emperor, solely for the advancement of his private interests, dictated by caprice and ignorance, put into form by his secretaries, and published in the name of the generals of the army, who not only never approved or signed this misshapen and ridiculous document, but never had the least knowledge of it until it was published and promul gated. The regulating laws, formed without plan or combination, and rather with the intention of satisfy ing a passion than regulating the interests of the inhabitants, wère always violated and trodden under foot by the monarch himself. No protecting statute shielded the people from the barbarity of the sovereign; his supreme pleasure sent a citizen to death, and none of his friends or relatives could tell why. No restraint, in fact, arrested the ferociousness of this tyger thirsting for the blood of his fellows; no representation had any effect upon his savage heart, not even the entreaties U u 4 of of his amiable wife, whose excellent qualities we all admire. "The ministers, whose duties were defined by the constitution, if that act can be so named, could never exercise it for the happiness of the people. Their plans and representations were always laughed at, and rejected with disdain; their zeal for the public good in general, and that of the army in particular, was always, of course, rendered ineffectual. "Cultivation, that first branch of public and private wealth, was not encouraged, and the orders of the chief only tended to diminish the number of unhappy planters. Was it wise, in fact, to snatch from cultivation the hands which promoted it, for the purpose of unnecessarily augmenting the number of troops, who were neither paid, cloathed, nor subsisted, while the army was before on a respectable footing? "Such crimes, such enormities, such vexations, could no longer remain unpunished. The people and the army, tired of the odious yoke which he imposed upon them, have re-assumed their courage and their energy, and, by one great spontaneous effort, have broken it. Yes, we have burst our chains. Soldiers, you will be paid and clothed. La. bourers, you will be protected. Proprietors, you will be secured in the possession of your estates. A wise constitution will shortly fix the rights and the duties of all. "Until the moment shall arrive when we shall be able to establish it, we declare, that concord, brotherhood, and friendly intercourse, being the foundations of our union, we will never lay down our arms before we shall have struck down the tree of our slavery and debasement, and placed at the head of the govern ment a man whose courage and vir- GERIN, Address of Kosciusko to the Poles. "Brave Countrymen, "The din of arms with which Poland once more resounds, summons Kosciusko to join you. They are not barbarians hungering for pillage, who now advance into your plains. They do not resemble those ferocious men who came to divide your territory, and to insult your weakness, after having fattened on your misfortunes and your blood. On the contrary, you will, by their valour and their triumphs, by that thunder-bearing eagle which hovers in their front, recognize the approach of those unconquerable legions, whose victories have rendered the four quarters of the world illustrious-who have in one campaign extinguished the united power of two vast empires-and who have in one week levelled with the dust a throne raised by an age of successes, the great work of Frederick, shaded by all the laurels of his old generals. Thus has it been willed by the destiny of Napoleon, who creates or destroys kings, who overthrows hostile armies with the rapidity of lightning, and who can, by the force of his arm, and the conceptions of his genius, elevate those nations which bend you. bend under the yoke of an atrocious policy. Poles, there are thousands among you who have followed the first general of Europe through the defiles of Italy. Your battalions are already united with the army of the brave. Now Napoleon marches to His eye observes you. He leads into the heart of Poland those Frenchmen, among whom we have found a second country; who have collected the wrecks of our own legions in their camps; who have treated us as brothers; who have covered our misfortunes with their laurels; those French generals, among whom your Kosciusko has ceased to consider himself proscribed; before whom he could raise, with a sentiment of consolation, and perhaps of pride, his head, which, though humbled by defeat, never has been dishonoured; and among whom he has been permitted to cherish the love of his country, and the hope of its future freedom. "Dear countrymen, you who, banished from your paternal soil, have still remained Poles in a foreign land, and you who, on the contrary, though rendered foreigners in the midst of Poland, have still remained faithful to your country and your brethren, I summon you all to arise -the time of your deliverance is come! the great nation is beside you -Napoleon beholds you, Kosciusko calls to you. Look around you, and see how Europe, shaken to her ancient foundations, is hastening at the call of genius to re-construct the social edifice, and to immortalize the nineteenth century by new creations and new claims to future glory. Behold how the yoke of the tyrant of the seas, of the enemy of the repose of Europe, is breaking on every side. The people of all countries are elevating themselves under the authority of governments constituted by law. Oppressed nations are every where advancing to their independence. Poles! what more is necessary to be said to animate you, to induce you to become again yourselves? Doubtless, you are still the children of the hero who delivered Europe from the Mussulman yoke; your hearts are still inflamed with that ardour which formerly made your enemies at once esteem and dread you. Though your territory has been divided, are you not still united by blood, by language, by misfortune, and by all that is dear among men? If Poland has been effaced from the political map, she still exists entire in the hearts of her children. If without the help of France, without any support but a consciousness of our own rights, and our valour, we were able to make fortune balance between us and the three empires which united to oppress us, what doubt can you have of triumphing, when the conqueror of the triple alliance has passed your fron◄ tiers-when the man of destiny directs his views towards you? Do not you observe the armies of your enemies tremble at his approach? See you not the shades of the heroes who died in combating for you, press around him, and implore his vengeance? Listen to their sighs; listen to the voice of your country, which calls upon you to restore her ancient glory and independence.Poles! escaped by a miracle from the steel of your assassins, and the chains of your tyrants, I collected and carried with me the last sighs of my expiring country. Now, full of confidence, I breathe my last wishes among you. Soon shall I tread again on that dear paternal land which my arm arm has defended, which my blood has dyed, and which, when I behold again, I shall salute with kisses, and bathe with my tears. Unfortunate friends, whom I was prevented from following to the grave-dear, brave countrymen, whom I was compelled to leave under the yoke of an usurper,— I have lived only in the hope of avenging you I come to break your chains. Sacred remains of my country, I salute you with a holy enthusiasm; I rejoin you, never more to part. I shall shew myself worthy of the great man, whose arm is raised to protect us, and worthy of the people, who answer to my call. I shall assist in emancipating my country, and in establishing its future prosperity on stable bases. But if I shall find that the dear name of our country is with you now only an empty sound, I shall then escape from the common shame, and from my own misfortunes, by burying my self under the noble ruins of Poland. But it cannot be so. The glorious day of Poland redawns-fate has not conducted Napoleon and his invincible troops to the banks of the Vistula without an object. We are under the ægis of that monarch, who overcomes difficulties by prodigies. The re-establishment of Poland is a deed too glorious not to have been reserved by the Eternal Director of all things for him to achieve. (Signed) Paris, Nov. 1, 1806.” "Kosciusko. that period of our hostile situation, Prussia still formed a barrier between us and the French, who tyrannized over various parts of Germany. But, soon after, the fire of war blazed out in Prussia also; after various disasters and important losses on her part, our own dominions on the frontiers are now threatened by the flame. To Russians, accustomed to love the glory of their country, and to sacrifice every thing to it, it is unnecessary to explain how unavoidable these events have made the present war. Honour unsheathed our sword for the protection of our allies; how much more justly must it be drawn for the defence of our own safety! Before these events could approach our froutiers, we took, at an early period, every measure to be ready to meet them. Having, in good time, ordered our army to move beyond the frontier, we have now commissioned our general field marshal Kamenskoy to command it, and to act against the enemy with all the forces intrusted to him. We are assured, that all our faithful subjects will join us in fervent prayers to the Almighty, who directs the fate of states and the issue of battles, that he may take our righteous cause under his all-powerful protection; that his victorious strength and blessing may direct the Russian armies employed in repelling the general foe of Europe. We are confident that our faithful subjects of the government on the frontier will, in the present circumstances particular Proclamation issued by the Emperor ly, redouble the proofs of their al of Russia. "Alexander, Emperor, &c. "Our manifesto of the 30th of August (see vol. XLVIII. p. 798.) declared the situation of our affairs with the French government. At tachment, and their zeal for the common good; and that, unshaken by fear or delusive promises, they will tread with firmness the same path in which, under the protection of the laws and of a mild government they |