This rare decree presents an under-reported aspect of the Haitian Revolution: the fate of those who had fled the violence often to Martinique, the United States, or even back to France.
This document states that these people were allowed to return to their homes providing that they were able to show a certificate from the municipality where they were living at the time, stating that they always behaved with civility, and that their reason for leaving wasn’t simply to avoid the tyrannical and arbitrary acts that the counter-revolutionaries exercised against them [éviter les actes tyranniques & arbitraires que les contre-révolutionnaires exerçoient contr’eux].
Very much a war-time decree, it encourages those who return to form voluntary national guards or to temporarily enlist in, and contribute toward, the land and sea operations undertaken by the Republican army.
It was signed on 21 June, 1793. Just weeks later, on 29 August, Revolutionary Commissioner, Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, announced the abolition of slavery in Saint-Domingue’s northern province.
OCLC locates copies of Paris and Metz imprints at Cornell, Hamilton, Minnesota, NYPL, and Bibliotheque Sainte-Geneve. Auction records list a single copy in 1989.
Not in Ryckebusch.