endent, and making the following declaration, viz.:--

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness."

This was an insurrection on a great scale; and as the insurgents
were _white_ men, and were successful, they were, of course, right.
Says Jefferson, in 1814, "What an incomprehensible machine is man!
who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment, and death itself,
in vindication of his own liberty; and the next moment be deaf to all
those motives, whose power supported him through his trials, and
inflict on his fellow-man a bondage, _one hour of which is fraught
with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to
oppose."_

The insurrection of the people of France against their king, which
is generally called the French revolution, is with all its horrors
too well known to require notice.

The scenes of St. Domingo next claim our attention. The incidents
are given in the language of an author, whose name I do not recollect.

When the French Revolution, which decreed equality of rights to all
citizens, had taken place, the _free people of color_ of St. Domingo,
many of whom were persons of large property and liberal education,
petitioned the General Assembly that they might enjoy the same
political privileges as the whites. At length, in March, 1790, the
subject of the petition was discussed, when the Assembly adopted a
decree concerning it. The decree, however, was worded so ambiguously,
that the two parties in St. Domingo--the _whites_ and the _people of
color_--interpreted each in their own favor. This difference of
interpretation gave rise to animosities between them, which were
augmented by political party spirit, according as they were
royalists, or partisans of the French revolution, so that
disturbances took place, and blood was shed.

In the year 1791, the people of color petitioned the Assembly again,
but principally for an explanation of the decree in question.

On the 15th of May, the subject was taken into consideration, and
the result was another decree in more explicit terms, which
determined that the people of color in all the French islands were
entitled to all the rights of citizens, provided they were born of
_free parents on both sides._ The news of this decree no sooner
arrived at the Cape, than it produce an