The battle lasted nearly two days. During this
time the arsenal was taken and plundered, and some thousands were killed
in the streets, and more than half the town was burnt. The
commissioners, who were spectators of this horrible scene, and who had
done all they could to restore peace, escaped unhurt, but they were left
upon a heap of ruins, and with but little more power than the authority
which their commission gave them. They had only about a thousand troops
left in the place. They determined, therefore, under these
circumstances, to call in the Negro Slaves in the neighbourhood to their
assistance. They issued a proclamation in consequence, by which _they
promised to give freedom to all the Blacks who were willing to range
themselves under the banners of the Republic_. This was the first
proclamation made by public authority for emancipating slaves in St.
Domingo. It is usually called the Proclamation of Santhonax, though both
commissioners had a hand in it; and sometimes, in allusion to the place
where it was issued (the Cape), the Proclamation of the North. The
result of it was, that a considerable number of slaves came in and were
enfranchised.
Soon after this transaction Polverel left his colleague Santhonax at the
Cape, and went in his capacity of commissioner to Port au Prince, the
capital of the West. Here he found every thing quiet, and cultivation in
a flourishing state. From Port au Prince he visited Les Cayes, the
capital of the South.
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