Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: March 16, 2021 at 6:37:39 PM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Atlantic]: Kleiser on Cormack, 'Patriots, > Royalists, and Terrorists in the West Indies: The French Revolution in > Martinique and Guadeloupe, 1789-1802' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > William S. Cormack. Patriots, Royalists, and Terrorists in the West > Indies: The French Revolution in Martinique and Guadeloupe, > 1789-1802. Toronto Toronto University Press, 2019. 392 pp. $70.00 > (cloth), ISBN 978-1-4875-0395-6. > > Reviewed by Grant Kleiser (Columbia University) > Published on H-Atlantic (March, 2021) > Commissioned by Bryan Rindfleisch > > The French Revolutionary Script in Martinique and Guadeloupe, > 1789-1802 > > Those in the United States who are anxious about media > misinformation, racial and class tensions, and insurrection might > take some comfort in reading William S. Cormack's _Patriots, > Royalists, and Terrorists in the West Indies: The French Revolution > in Martinique and Guadeloupe, 1789-1802. _For however tumultuous and > divided the United States is today, Cormack's book shows that > late-eighteenth-century Guadeloupe and Martinique were even more so. > _Patriots, Royalists, and Terrorists in the West Indies_ offers a > detailed study of these two French colonies, the so-called Windward > Islands or Îles du Vent, during the chaos of the French > Revolutionary and early Napoleonic periods. Whereas previous > scholarship on French colonial experience has focused mostly on > Saint-Domingue and the Haitian Revolution, Cormack illuminates > Martinique and Guadeloupe's neglected histories, which Cormack posits > "should be seen as part of the larger story of the French Revolution" > (p. 263). And whereas recent studies have emphasized colonial agency > and influences within the French Revolution and upon Enlightenment > ideology, Cormack demonstrates that France still wielded tremendous > influence on the colonial Windward Islands. > > Specifically, Cormack argues that France's revolutionary ideas, > language, political culture, and news provided "a script for > revolutionary action in the Windward Islands" that "helped shape > developments in the colonies" (pp. 3, 9). Examining newspapers, > correspondence, travelers' accounts, official announcements, and > metropolitan decrees through many years in French, Guadeloupean, and > Martinican archives, Cormack argues that this "revolutionary script" > did not translate perfectly and unadulterated across the Atlantic > Ocean. Instead, various groups in these colonies revised, > interpreted, and sought to monopolize the news, rumors, and ideas > coming from France for their own benefit. At the same time, these > metropolitan influences helped shatter the colonial status quo and > explode existing tensions into outright violent rebellions on both > islands. The revolutionary impulses from France undermined royal > governors' authority while unleashing bitter conflict between white > colonial factions (such as the _grands Blancs _who were mostly > wealthy planters that tangled with the _petits Blancs _among whom > were minor merchants, overseers, clerks, artisans, soldiers, and > sailors). French revolutionary news also developed the aspirations of > free people of color (the _gens de couleur_) to agitate for civic > equality and political rights within the colonies. Finally, the > "revolutionary script" helped prompt many enslaved people of African > descent to seize the revolutionary opportunity to liberate > themselves, often by use of deadly force. These many threads of the > French Revolution altogether illustrate the importance of the > circulation, dissemination, and control of metropolitan news, rumors, > and ideas in Martinique and Guadeloupe. These dynamics resulted in > complex class and racial conflicts, the profound ambiguity of the > French Revolution in these colonies, and the Windward Islands' > overall weakness in the face of invading British forces. > > Cormack's elaboration of all these points follows in chronological > format. His work is mostly a narrative and social history that tracks > change over time and offers readers an incredible amount of detail > for a largely unfamiliar topic. Each chapter focuses on a distinct > phase of the Windward Islands' revolutionary experience. Cormack > balances the revolutionary events in both Guadeloupe and Martinique > jointly until chapter 7 ("Reign of Terror: Victor Hugues's Regime in > Guadeloupe, 1794-1798") when Martinique succumbed to British > occupation from 1794-1802 while Guadeloupe successfully resisted it. > Naturally, the first chapter--"The Windward Islands on the Eve of > Revolution"--sets the stage for the revolutionary changes of the > 1790s and 1800s by providing the background to French colonization > and society in the Windward Islands. One of the most important points > that Cormack states early on is that while the Caribbean colonies > produced copious amounts of wealth mainly in the form of lucrative > sugar production, these overseas possessions were "neither secure nor > stable" (p. 12). The stability of Martinique and Guadeloupe suffered > throughout the eighteenth century under the constant threat of war, > foreign invasion, planter resentment of colonial trading restrictions > and lack of colonial autonomy, and contests between _grands Blancs_ > and _petits Blancs_ over taxation and representation in colonial > assemblies. On top of such tensions, the g_ens de couleurs_ > consistently sought means to assert opportunities for civic equality > with free whites, in addition to the furtive and overt resistance > efforts by the enslaved (roughly 80 percent of the colonial > population) and a small yet nonetheless vocal call by metropolitan > liberals for the abolition of slavery. By 1789, then, Cormack argues, > all of these tensions only needed "the communication of new political > forms, radical concepts, and subversive language from France" to "set > them ablaze" (p. 38). > > The next five chapters detail the complex and rapid progression of > such tensions between 1789 and 1794, which produced varied forms of > violence, rebellion, and political change. Overall, Cormack does an > excellent job supporting his argument about the importance of the > "revolutionary script" being used to precipitate and direct various > actions by multiple groups in Guadeloupe and Martinique. For > instance, in 1789, enslaved people in Martinique launched a > large-scale revolt because they believed, incorrectly, that King > Louis XVI had granted them their freedom yet their masters had > refused to enforce this decree (chapter 2, p. 40). Meanwhile, the > p_etits Blancs_ (who eventually styled themselves as "patriots") wore > the revolutionary tricolor cockade and challenged the authority of > colonial governors by demanding the convocation of general assemblies > in both Martinique and Guadeloupe (chapter 2, p. 47). In response, > the g_rands Blancs _asserted they rather than the p_etits Blancs_ > spoke for the nation and were the source of legitimate authority, > which Cormak asserts "was an essential characteristic of the > revolutionary script from France" (chapter 3, p. 94). Such > developments culminated in Martinique's civil war between these two > white factions. And when French troops arrived to restore order and > metropolitan control, they instead introduced a more moderate > revolutionary script from France that emphasized political liberty > and civic equality, especially for the g_ens de couleur _(chapter 4, > p. 96). Such actions incensed both the p_etits Blancs_ and g_rands > Blancs_ in Martinique and Guadeloupe who felt threatened by racial > equality, worrying that such developments might soon lead to the > abolition of slavery. As a consequence, these _grands Blancs_ > launched a royalist counterrevolution against French metropolitan > authority (chapter 5, p. 123). Soon after, metropolitan officials > launched propaganda campaigns to discredit such royalists' claims to > legitimacy, in effect controlling and disseminating news from Europe > to discredit rumors of counterrevolution, while patriots continued to > rely on the rhetoric of popular sovereignty to attack executive > authority (chapter 6, p. 155). While all these events between 1789 > and 1794 are too numerous and complex to enumerate in this review, > Cormack argues that they all shared a common thread related to the > introduction and reinterpretation of metropolitan influences, ideas, > and news that helped inspire and shape these colonial revolutionary > proceedings. > > The diverging point in the narrative comes in the year 1794. While > the British captured both Martinique and Guadeloupe, in this year > Victor Hugues (one of the civil commissioners from France) quickly > retook Guadeloupe. Hughes brought with him the radical revolution > from France, including the dreaded guillotine, revolutionary Terror, > and a reliance on (in this case black) _sans-culottes_ to maintain > power. Most radically, Hughes enacted the 1794 decree of universal > liberation, thereby temporarily ending slavery in Guadeloupe. His > regime in Guadeloupe thus "represented the extension of the Jacobin > Terror in the Windward Islands" before news of the Thermidorian > Reaction enabled his white enemies to denounce him as a tyrant (p. > 188). Meanwhile, as described in chapter 8, planters in Martinique > supported the British occupiers who reestablished Old Regime law, > maintained slavery, and blocked news from Guadeloupe and France that > might threaten the planter-dominated colonial status quo. > > Cormack wraps up his narrative with the 1802 Peace of Amiens between > Britain and France, which handed Martinique back to the French. > France's new leader, Napoleon Bonaparte, quickly reversed the radical > revolution in Guadeloupe and reestablished slavery in the Windward > Islands. Napoleon was successful here, unlike his failed campaign to > roll back emancipation in Saint-Domingue, since he was supported by > the several classes of planters as well as many French officials who > had previously subscribed to more radical notions of emancipation and > equality. > > Throughout his work, Cormack deftly charts the many class and racial > conflicts in the Windward Islands and how they evolved over the > course of the French Revolution, which rival in complexity those of > Saint-Domingue. But while the book is impressive in detail, there are > several points of clarification needed. Given that "terrorist" > appears in Cormack's title, it would have been helpful had the author > defined what he means exactly by this term early on in his work. It > is only immediately obvious that he is referring to the Jacobin > Terror in chapter 7. "Terrorist" holds specific meanings in > particular places and times, and Cormack could have avoided some > confusion or misinterpretation by being more straightforward about > his use of the label. Additionally, while Cormack does mention > several times that news from Saint-Domingue affected dynamics in the > Windward Islands and vice versa, he absolutely prioritizes > connections between Guadeloupe and Martinique and metropolitan > France. While perhaps too much for Cormack to have taken on, > _Patriots, Royalists, and Terrorists in the West Indies _thus at > least opens a potential avenue of future research to examine links > between Saint-Domingue and the Windward Islands. For instance, did > Martinique planters take inspiration from _grand Blancs_ in > Saint-Domingue who allied with invading British forces at roughly the > same time (see pp. 164-173)? Was communication from the metropole > more common and more influential than intracolonial conversations, > especially given the fact that France had such a hard time sending > information across the Atlantic for much of the colonial period?[1] > Future investigation will be useful to address such lingering > questions. > > While the relative importance of intracolonial versus transatlantic > communications might be examined further by future historians, > Cormack has forcefully and unequivocally demonstrated that > metropolitan France's revolutionary script had a tremendous impact on > the turbulent history of Martinique and Guadeloupe from 1789 to 1802. > As he suggests, Cormack's method will prove useful to examine to what > degree modern colonial insurgents (including ones fighting in > twentieth-century wars of decolonization) built off or adapted the > "revolutionary script" of the metropole (p. 262). He provides clarity > to an understudied and complex topic, mixing his argument with clear > enumeration of what happened and by whom, similar to what Laurent > Dubois' _Avengers of the New World _accomplished for the Haitian > Revolution.[2] Indispensable for historians of Martinique and > Guadeloupe, this work will also serve as important reading for > scholars of the French Caribbean, French Revolution, and so-called > French "First Empire." > > Citation: Grant Kleiser. Review of Cormack, William S., _Patriots, > Royalists, and Terrorists in the West Indies: The French Revolution > in Martinique and Guadeloupe, 1789-1802_. H-Atlantic, H-Net Reviews. > March, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56258 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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