DUPORT (L. François), minister of justice et al.

Loi Relative aux Colonies.

FRANCE GRANTS AN AMNESTY FOR THE "AUTEURS DES TROUBLES"

Letterpress broadside measuring 465 by 390mm. Woodcut device, text in two columns. Untrimmed, old folds but very good indeed. Rochefort, J.-B. Bonhomme, n.d, but, 1791.

£2,750.00

The consequences of the Haitian Revolution were felt immediately in France. The prospect of losing Saint-Domingue, the most prosperous of all the French colonies, would’ve been a disaster at any time, let alone during France’s own revolution.

This law, decreed on 28 September, a month after the revolution had broken out grants an amnesty to those implicated in the unrest in Saint-Domingue. Such were the concerns that it also extended to those living in Martinique. Indeed, Martinique’s colonial assembly was briefly suspended.

Here the law states that for anyone who stops their involvement with the revolution will be granted an “aminstie Générale en faveur des hommes de guerre” and that a proclamation will be published in each of the Caribbean colonies asking back anyone who had moved away, inviting all citizens to live in harmony, and (ambitiously) to forget the past “oubli du passé.”

It’s likely that this particular broadside was printed and displayed in French port towns to spread word among the maritime community who would have dealings with the colonies.

Not on OCLC. This is not to be confused with a separate, but related law issued on the same day in the traditional four-page quarto format.

Stock No.
247341