They were already in the uniform of the Parisian National Guards; and
one of them wore the cross of St. Louis. They were men of genteel
appearance and modest behaviour. They seemed to be well informed, and of
a more solid cast than those whom I was in the habit of seeing daily in
this city. The account which they gave of themselves was this. The white
people of St. Domingo consisting of less than ten thousand persons, had
deputies then sitting in the National Assembly. The people of colour in
the same island greatly exceeded the whites in number. They amounted to
thirty thousand, and were generally proprietors of lands. They were
equally free by law with the former, and paid their taxes to the
mother-country in an equal proportion. But in consequence of having
sprung from slaves they had no legislative power, and moreover were
treated with great contempt. Believing that the mother-country was going
to make a change in its political constitution, they had called a
meeting on the island, and this meeting had deputed them to repair to
France, and to desire the full rights of citizens, or that the free
people of colour might be put upon an equality with the whites. They
(the deputies) had come in consequence.
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