Category Archives: Translations

The Translations

KOPI LÈT M. DU CHILLEAU POU M. DE LA LUZERNE, 28 MAS 1789. Nº 35

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Nan yon lèt adrese a Minis Lamarin Fransè a, César-Henri de la Luzerne, Marie-Charles du Chilleau, Gouvènè Jeneral Sendomeng lan, anonse plan l pou prezante yon òdonans ofisyèl ki ta pral pèmèt Sendomeng enpòte legalman farin ki soti Ozetazini. Lwa komès ki te favorize komèsan nasyon an nan defavè plantè kolonyal l yo te yon doleyans depi lontan nan Karayib la. Gouvènman franse a te bay yon soulajman lè l te elimine tarif nan tout pò yo nan lane 1780 ; men farin te rete yon monopòl nasyonal. Kriz grenn alimantè nan lane 1788 jiska 1789 la te anflame kesyon sa a.

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REPORT FOR Mr. PIERRE LESENS, ship Captain, presently in the city of Les Cayes, called before the Judge of the Admiralty Court of said city, on the date of the 7th of last February.

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This is an excerpt from a civil case against Pierre Lesens, the captain of the slave ship La Furieuse. Apart from the charges against Lesens, this report chronicles portions of the Middle Passage where captives were transported as slaves to various trading posts only to finally land in the colony of Saint-Domingue.

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REKÈT DEPITE ZILE SENDOMENG YO TE PREZANTE DEVAN MANM ETA JENERAL WAYÒM NAN, NAN 8 JEN 1789. 

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Tandiske depi lontan zile Sendomeng te konsidere tankou l te fè pati lanpi fransè a, nan lane 1789, 10 depite kolonyal sendomeng yo te santi yo separe avek metwopòl kolonyal la. Franchman, anpil kolon te gen dezi pou yo pran endepandans yo de metwopòl la. Men, endepandans sa t ap sinyifi Lafrans ta pral sikonbe Sendomeng anba tarif dwan ak taks ki pi rèd pou tout pwodwi ki empòte nan koloni a. Depite kolonyal yo fè pati de pwopryetè tè ki pi pisan nan Sendomeng tou, sa ki te bay yo privilèj pou yo fè dappiyanp sou enterè popilè pou yon ekonomi pi janm.

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Copy of the Report Presented to the King by M. le Comte de La Luzerne and Approved by His Majesty, March 7, 1788

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This report nominates and appoints M. le Marquis du Chilleau as Governor of the island of Saint-Domingue. Much like the Arrêt du roi [Judgment from the State Council of the King ], this document presents one of the few moments where King Louis XVI directly intervenes in events surrounding the grain disputes of 1789.

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Judgment from the State Council of the King, September 10, 1786

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In this royal decree, which modifies a similar decree issued in August 1784, the French government sought to introduce more slaves to the windward colonies of Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Lucia, and Tobago; encourage the importation of raw Saint Lucian sugar; and provide an influx of slaves to the Southern ports of Les Cayes-Saint-Louis to make up for a lack of sufficient labor. Showing the interconnectedness and interdependence of the colonies in the French Caribbean, this pamphlet also reveals how certain regions and islands received less attention than the more economically viable regions of Saint-Domingue like Le Cap and Port-au-Prince.

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