NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. NOTE A. ON THE COLOURED POPULATION. Coloured population means sometimes the collective mass of blacks and of coloured men; but we more frequently understand by the words, coloured population, coloured caste, coloured people, coloured men, those who are neither black nor white; we also give them the general denomination of the mixed races. The collective or particular acceptation of coloured population derives its signification from the phrase in which it is used. M. Moreau de Saint-Méry, in developing the system of Franklin, has classed under general heads the different shades which the mixed population of colour present. He supposes that man altogether forms 128 shades, which are white among the whites, and black among the blacks. Setting out from this principle, he proves that we are so much nearer to or farther from the one colour or the other, as we either approach or remove from the number 64, which is their middle term. According to this system, every man who has not eight shades of white, is considered black. Proceeding from this colour towards white, we distinguish nine principal stocks, which have again varieties among them, according as they retain more or less shades of the one colour or of the other. The Sacatra Approaches nearest to the negro, is produced in three different ways, and can have from eight to sixteen shades white, and from 112 to 120 shades black. ............ The offspring of the sacatra and the negress has Y The Griffe Is the result of five combinations, and can have from 24 to 32 shades white, and 96 or 104 black. The offspring of the marabou and the female sacatra, has .... The offspring of the negro and the female mulatto...... The Marabou WHITE. 32 32 24 ... 24 ... BLACK. 96 Has in his five combinations, from 40 to 48 shades white, and from 80 to 88 black. ......... WHITE. BLACK. ...... The offspring of the male and female marabou has The Mulatto, ...... 888888 In his twelve combinations, varies from 56 to 70 shades white, and keeps from 58 to 72 of them black. Thus, there is a mulatto such as to approach nearer to the white than any other, by 14 parts. The offspring of the quarteron and the female sacatra has.. 70 The Quarteron. 58 ... 60 ... 64 64 ... ...... 64 64 64 64 ... 64 His twenty combinations give from 71 to 96 shades white, and from 32 The offspring of the white man and the female mulatto has 96 92 The offspring of the métif and the female mulatto ... The offspring of the white man and the female griffe The offspring of the mamelouc and the The offspring of the white man and the female sacatra... The Métif. WHITE. 87 86 84 80 79 49 We find in his six combinations from 104 to 112 shades white, and consequently, from 16 to 24 shades black. WHITE. 112 The offspring of the white man and the female quarteron 112 The offspring of the quarteron and the female métif 104 ... The Meamelouc. The five ways in which he is produced, stand in the relation of 116 to 120 parts white, by 8 to 16 parts black. The offspring of the white man and the female métif has 120 The Quarteron. His four combinations vary from 122 to 124 shades white, and from 4 to 6 shades black. The offspring of the white man and the female mamelouc The offspring of the sang-mêlé and the female mamelouc 123 Sang-mêlé Is produced in four ways; and varies from 125 to 127 parts white, and from 1 to 3 black. The offspring of the white man and the female of the The offspring of the white man and quarteron... The offspring of the sang-mêlé and the female quar- 122 3 The sang-mêlé, by continuing its union with the whites, at last passes into white colour. According to the aforesaid system, whoever reaches the 8th degree, finds that he has 8191 white parts to one black part, which is really no difference, because numbers of individuals of southern Europe, in Spain, in Provence, in Italy, in Turkey, and in Hungary, have in their blood more than 164th part black. Doctor Franklin was the first to conceive this system, which shows the infinite power and goodness of the Creator; thus the species always reforming itself by varieties, is renewed at the end of a score of generations, without retaining any of the organic elements which would debase it. Philosophy has made use of this observation in order to make us comprehend the nothingness of hereditary pride. This pride makes us believe that in spite of nature we retain the pure blood of our ancestors to the sixteenth generation, whereas we have only a small portion of it. It is a good or an evil, infinitely divided in the common existence of our race.- -Translated from Pamphile de Lacroix. NOTE B. The immediate causes of the insurrection are given by Gustave d'Alaux in the Revue des Deux Mondes, vol. viii. Nouvelle Pèriode, pp. 776 seq. "The planters took the initiative in the revolution. Not less devoid of foresight than the aristocracy of the mother country, they warmly accepted and patronised the ideas which gave birth to 1789. The enfeeblement of the monarchical authority, was for them the relaxation of a system which excluded them from the high colonial positions, and forced their pride and their habitual despotism to bend before the discretionary power of the agents of the mother country. Civic equality was the complete assimilation of the colony to France, the free exercise of the means of action which their immense riches seemed to secure them. Without waiting for the authority of the government, the colonists formed themselves into parochial and pro |