The French Revolution is an event one can understand. Its aims were noble: liberté, égalité, fraternité. But the Reign of Terror (5 September 1793 – 28 July 1794) seems incomprehensible. It was a period of unparalleled savagery that ended on 27 July 1794. The following day, 28 July 1794, Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just (25 August 1767 – 28 July 1794) were guillotined. Saint-Just was the main instigator in the excesses of the Terror, or its “Angel of Death.”
Contradictions
Yet, it is during this horrible period of the French Revolution that slavery was abolished. (See Maximilien de Robespierre, Wikipedia)
On the 4th of February 1794 under the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre, the French Convention voted for the abolition of slavery.
In his Black Count, Tom Reiss[i] writes that
“[t]he story of General Dumas brilliantly illuminates the first true age of emancipation: a single decade during which the French Revolution not only sought to end slavery and discrimination based on skin color but also broke down the ghetto walls and offered Jews full civil and political rights, ending a near-universal discrimination that had persisted since ancient times. (Reiss, p. 11)”
But, in chapter 13 of The Black Count, entitled “The Bottom of the Revolution” (pp. 175-187), Reiss also tells about the “Terror.”
The Death of Henri de La Rochejacquelein (aged 26), by Alexandre Bloch(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The War in the Vendée: la Chouannerie
General Dumas was called upon to suppress the royalist uprisings in the west of France: the Vendée. (See War in the Vendée, Wikipedia). According to Tom Reiss, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, now called Alex Dumas, “risked his career to oppose the bloodshed he saw all around him.” Later, a pro-royalist wrote that Dumas was one of those rare generals who were “always ready bravely to sell their lives on the battleground, but resolved to break their swords than consent to the role of executioners” (Reiss, pp. 11-12).
These royalist uprisings are called “chouanneries,” after Jean Chouan (Jean Cottereau’snom de guerre). They started during the Revolution, but continued beyond 1799. Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was sent to the Vendée in 1794 but he proved a “generous republican.” (Reiss, p. 12) and was called “Mr Humanity” (Reiss, pp. 146-159).
The chouanneries killed nearly 600,000 Royalists.
Honoré de Balzac & Victor Hugo
French novelist Honoré de Balzac (20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) wrote Les Chouans, in 1829, one of two novels that brought him “to the brink of success,”[ii] and Victor Hugo (26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) wrote Ninety-Three(Quatrevingt-treize) in 1874.[iii] These are extraordinary books.
Robespierre abolished slavery, but, ironically, once he stood on the top rung of the ladder, he gave himself permission to kill those he had the power to kill. He in fact acted like a slave owner. However, when it hit bottom, the Revolution also ended. It hit bottom on 9 Thermidor Year II (27 July 1794). It had exhausted itself and there was no one left to kill. During the “Reign of Terror,” 16,594 were executed by guillotine, and 25,000, in summary executions all over France.
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In closing, I should tell you that the 1833 translation of The Slave-King (simply click on the title), from Victor Hugo’s Bug-Jargal, is online. A more recent translation is available, but it is not online.
“The novel follows a friendship between the enslaved African prince of the title and a French military officer named Leopold d’Auverney during the tumultuous early years of the Haitian Revolution.” (See Bug-Jargal, Wikipedia.)
Moreover, Toussaint Louverture’s story was told by C. L. R. James in his 1989 The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution.
Sources:
Balzac: Les Chouans is a Project Gutenberg publication [EBook #1921] EN
Hugo: Quatre-vingt-treize is a pdf publication FR (on the French Revolution, the Terror)
“Engraving depicting the exterior of Exeter Hall, reproduced on a 1905 postcard.” (Caption and photo credit: Wikipedia)[i]
The 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention, was held in Exeter Hall, a Masonic Hall. In fact, Exeter Hall is a synonym for the Anti-Slavery Society.
Quakers played an important role in the abolition of slavery. One of their leaders was French-born American Anthony Benezet (Antoine Bénézet). However, the Age of Enlightenment saw a rebirth of Freemasonry whose members took very seriously what would become the motto of France: liberté, égalité, fraternité (liberty, equality, brotherhood [fraternity]).
Prince Hall (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
However, African-Americans could not join Masonry, except that Prince Hall (1735 – 1807) was allowed to establish Prince Hall Masonry during the eighteenth century. Yet, Freemasonry played an important role in the abolition of slavery, but it should be noted that although Freemasonry flourished during the Age of Enlightenment (the 17th and 18th centuries), Masonic Lodges did not and do not always consider other Lodges as “regular.” For instance, one condition of membership is a belief in a supreme being and scripture. Given this condition, current French Masonic lodges are not considered legitimate.[ii] (See Freemasonry, Wikipedia)
Eighteenth-Century Masonry
Ignatius Sancho
However, as mentioned above, eighteenth-century Masonry shared the ideals of abolitionism. For instance, John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu KG, KB, PC (1690 – 5 July 1749, made sure Ignatius Sancho was educated, and the Montagu family always protected Sancho. John Montagu was a Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England. Montagu family always protected Sancho. John Montagu was a Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England. Moreover, Blacks and mulattoes[iii] have been active abolitionists and Freemasons, including Joseph Boulogne, chevalier de Saint-George, the “Black Mozart,” Europe’s finest swordsman, not to mention an accomplished equestrian.
The struggle to abolish slavery is linked with the Enlightenment which subjugated tradition to the ruleof reason and promoted tolerance. Yet, a large number of French slave owners were cruel.
Joseph Boulogne, chevalier de Saint-George
Famed mulatto Joseph Boulogne, chevalier de Saint George, (spelled Saint-Georges by Tom Reiss and Gabriel Banat*) the “Black Mozart,” was a Freemason. He was a friend of George IV, a future king of England and a Freemason.
Moreover, Saint-George (c. 1745 – 1799) was the conductor of the largest orchestra of his era, the Loge Olympique, founded by French Freemasons and, among French Freemasons, Joseph Boulogne, the “Black Mozart” himself.
In fact, Joseph Boulogne, was “the first person of African descent to join a Masonic Lodge in France. He was initiated in Paris to ‘Les 9 Sœurs,’ [The 9 Sisters] a Lodge belonging to the Grand Orient of France.” (See The Chevalier de Saint-George, Wikipedia.) He premiered, as conductor, Joseph Haydn’s “Paris Symphonies” at the Loge Olympique. Coincidentally, Joseph Haydn (31 March 1732 – 31 May 1809) was also a Freemason, as was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Moreover, in 1791, Joseph Boulogne (c. 1745 – 1799) was appointed colonel of the the “Black Legion,” or Légion franche des Américains et du Midi. The “Black Legion,” or Saint-George Legion, was comprised mainly of men of color with 800 infantry and 200 cavalry personnel. Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, who was trained as a fencer by Joseph Boulogne at La Boëssière‘s Academy, would be Joseph Boulogne’s second-in-command. For more information, please click on Joseph Boulogne.
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas[iii]
As for Thomas-Alexandre, Alexandre Dumas père‘s father, nicknamed “le diable noir” (the “Black Devil”), he joined the Queen’s Dragoons as a mere private and under the name (nom de guerre) Alexandre Dumas in 1786. I believe he was a Freemason but cannot confirm that he was.
In 1775, Antoine sold the four children born to him and Marie-Cessette Dumas to pay for his return trip to France. The children were probably sold à réméré, or “conditionally, with the right of redemption” (Reiss’ wording, p. 55), but Thomas-Alexandre is the only one of the four children Antoine redeemed. According to Alexandre Dumas, père, the author of The Count of Monte-Cristo and The Three Musketeers, his grandmother, Marie-Cessette, died of dysentery in 1772. (See Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, Wikipedia.)
Haitian Revolution, Battle of Vertières (18 November 1803) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Toussaint Bréda, probably born on All Saint’s Day, la Toussaint, had been a free man of color since 1776 or 1777 and he owned property in Saint-Domingue. Initially, Toussaint was an ally of the Spaniards in Santo Dominguo, but he changed allegiance when France abolished slavery under Robespierre on 4 February 1794. Toussaint Bréda, who became Toussaint Louverture or L’Ouverture (the opening), during the Haitian Revolution, was of African descent. He was not a mulatto. He spoke French and French créole, but did not acquire a good knowledge of written French.
By 1801, Haiti was unofficially free. However, Napoleon sent his brother-in-law Charles Leclercto the island. Toussaint was betrayed, arrested and deported to France, where he was imprisoned, at Fort-de-Joux, and died in 1803.
Before leaving Saint-Domingue, Toussaint said, prophetically:
“In overthrowing me you have cut down in Saint Domingue only the trunk of the tree of liberty; it will spring up again from the roots, for they are many and they are deep.” (See Toussaint Louverture, Wikipedia.)
On 18 November 1803, during the “second” Haitian Revolution, Jean-Jacques Dessalines defeated General de Rochambeau at the Battle of Vertières. Napoleon’s army had been weakened. It had lost two-thirds of its men to yellow fever. Haiti was proclaimed the Republic of Haiti on 1 January 1804. Dessalines named himself Emperor. The Haitian Revolution has been associated with the French Revolution. Authority was being questioned, which entailed enslavement.
Free Women of Color with their Children and Servants, oil painting by Agostino Brunias, Dominica, c. 1764-1796 (Photo and caption credit: Wikipedia)
The Enlightenment: liberté, égalité, fraternité
The objectives of Freemasonry were in fact the objectives of the Enlightenment. As I mentioned above, they are summed up by the French motto: liberté, égalité,fraternité. Tom Reiss writes that
French Enlightenment philosophers liked to use slavery as a symbol of human, and particularly political oppression. ‘Man is born free but is everywhere in chains,’ wrote Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the The SocialContract in 1762. (p. 60)
But to be more precise, eighteenth-century Freemasonry recognized an aristocracy of the mind rather than an accidental aristocracy, i.e. a mere accident of birth. However, aristocrats and American Presidents, beginning with George Washington, wasted no time in applying for membership in an aristocracy above aristocracy. They joined composers such as Joseph Haydn and the “White Mozart,” the composer of the all-but-MasonicZauberflöte (K. 620) (The Magic Flute). (See The Magic Flute, Wikipedia)
In other words, eighteenth-century Freemasonry sought equality for both the “White Mozart,” who could never have married an aristocrat, and the “Black Mozart,” who could never have married a white woman. Freemasonry played an important role in the abolition of Slavery, but so did other elements and other groups, such as France’s Société des amis des Noirs (the Society of the Friends of the Blacks), the salons, cafés, etc.
However, I would agree with Mozart biographer Maynard Solomon (born January 5, 1930) who writes that “Mozart’s position within the Masonic movement … lay with the rationalist, Enlightenment-inspired membership, as opposed to those members oriented toward mysticism and the occult.” (See Mozart, Early Life, Wikipedia.)
French Colonialism: The Code Noir
However, despite a number of massacres, French colonialism was less harsh on slaves than colonialism in other parts of the world. The Code Noir, promulgated in 1685 by Louis XIV, prohibited the abuse of slaves. In 1691, records of an incident read as follows:
“‘The King has been informed that two negroes from Martinique crossed on the ship the Oiseau,’ reads the laconic record of the incident in the Royal Naval Ministry. ‘[His Majesty] has not judged it apropos to return them to the isles, their liberty being acquired by the laws of the kingdom concerning slaves, as soon as they touch the Soil.’ The slaves were free.” (Reiss, pp. 61-62)
Would that Louis had acted as magnanimously with respect to the Huguenots, French Calvinist protestants. He didn’t. The Edict of Nantes, an edict of tolerance issued on 13 April 1598, was revoked in 1685. They were brutally persecuted.
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In short, I can’t help thinking that the lumièresthemselves (Voltaire, Diderot, both of whom were Freemasons, and other major figures associated with the French Enlightenment) shuddered in their grave when the guillotine severed the head of Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and scientist Antoine Lavoisier. The French Revolution went way too far.
Carmontelle‘s watercolour (1763) of Leopold Mozart with Wolfgang Amadeus and Maria Anna. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Alexandre Dumas, père (24 July 1802 at Villers-Cotterêts – 5 December 1870, at Puy, near Dieppe), the legitimate son of Marie-Louise Labouret;
Alexandre Dumas, fils (Paris 27 July 1824 – 27 November 1895), the illegitimate son of Marie-Laure-Catherine Labay, a dressmaker.
[i]The 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention was held in Exeter Hall, a Masonic Hall. In fact, Exeter Hall is a synonym for the Anti-Slavery Society.
[ii]At the moment, the Grand Orient de France is not considered as “regular” because its members have ceased to recognize a “supreme being.” (See Frédéric Desmons, Wikipedia.)
[iii] Tom Reiss, The Black Count: glory, revolution, betrayal, and the real Count of Monte Cristo (New York: Crown Publishers, 2012).
The “White Mozart” (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791)
The Magic Flute (Queen of Night Aria)
Diana Damrau as Queen of Night
Dorothea Röschmann as Pamina
Royal Opera House
Colin Davis, conductor
Alexandre Dumas, père (24 July 1802 at Villers-Cotterêts – 5 December 1870, at Puy, near Dieppe), the legitimate son of Marie-Louise Labouret;
Alexandre Dumas, fils (Paris 27 July 1824 – 27 November 1895) the illegitimate son of Marie-Laure-Catherine Labay, a dressmaker.
The List
The above list is quite impressive. The descendants of French marquis Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, a colonel andgénéral commissaire in the artillery of the colony, include a famous general who played a significant role in Napoleon’s early military victories, between 1795 and 1799, the Directoire FR period of French history, or the first Republic.
Not only was Thomas-Alexandre a general but he was:
“the highest-ranking person of color of all time in a continental European army [and he is] the first person of color in the French military to become brigadier general, the first to become divisional general, and the first to become general-in-chief of a French army.” (See Thomas-Alexandre Dumas , Wikipedia.)
In fact, “Dumas [Thomas Alexandre] shared the status of the highest-ranking black officer in the Western world only with Toussaint Louverture (who in May 1797 became the second black general-in-chief in the French military) until 1975[.]” (See Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, Wikipedia.)
However, Thomas-Alexandre lived at a very difficulty time in the history of France, Revolutionary France. So did Joseph Boulogne, chevalier de Saint-George, the “black Mozart,” a swordsman, an equestrian and Thomas-Alexandre’s life-long friend. They were members of the aristocracy, yet could ill-afford to oppose the notion of equality promoted in Revolutionary France. The two were mulattos, born to freed slaves in the Carribeans: Saint-Domingue (the current Haiti) with respect to Thomas-Alexandre (25 March 1762,- 26 February 1806) and Guadeloupe, in the case of Joseph Boulogne, chevalier de Saint-George (approximately 1745 – 1799).
Aristocrats: Thomas A. Dumas & Saint-George
Both would be in the military during Revolutionary France and would do so as aristocrats. Just how Joseph Boulogne became an aristocrat is not entirely clear in my mind. His father Georges Bologne was ennobled in 1757 and, after completing his studies, Joseph Boulogne was appointed Gendarme de la Garde du Roi (Gendarme of the King’s Guard). In fact, Georges Bologne may have been the descendant of Italian aristocrats, but Joseph was born out-of-wedlock.
Marie-Cessette Dumas
Be that as it may, Thomas-Alexandre, was born to an aristocrat, marquis Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie. Antoine had joined his brother Charles, in Saint-Domingue, but he disappeared probably to escape his creditors. He took three slaves with him and started to live under a pseudonym: Alexandre Delisle. He sold his three slaves so he could buy a small sugar plantation at Jérémie, Saint-Domingue and then purchased “for an exorbitant price,” black slave Marie-Césette (Dumas).
Marie-Césette was not a mulâtresse.[i] It appears she was from Gabón and is the mother of three children: two sons and a daughter or two daughters and a son, by Antoine. Sources differ. But a fourth child, a daughter, was also born to Marie-Césette, or Cessette[ii] before she was bought.
Antoine’s Family Sold à réméré
Thomas-Alexandre and his sisters were sold, with an option to be bought back or the “right of redemption.” This sort of transaction was called à réméré. Antoine-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie became rich as a slave-trader and also sold various properties in France. He therefore repurchased Thomas-Alexandre who lived in France.
The name Dumas means “from the farm,” but the name could be Dûma,[iii]a name originating from an ethnic group called Fang. Thomas-Alexandre adopted his mother’s surname and it became the name of his very famous son, Alexandre Dumas, père (father) and grandson, Alexandre Dumas, fils (son). Both were very popular writers who were elected to the Académie française.
The most famous Dumas, Alexandre Dumas, père had three illegimate children, one of whom is Alexandre Dumas, fils, born to Marie-Laure-Catherine Labay, a dressmaker. Dumas, fils, was an illegitimate child. He is the author of La Dame aux Camélias, or The Lady of the Camellias.
Antoine Returns to France
Alexandre Dumas, père, by Nadar(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Antoine was presumed dead and his brother Charles had returned to France, playing Marquis. However, Antoine also returned to France and reclaimed his real identity, that of Antoine Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie. That story was fictionalized as The Count of Monte-Cristo(1944), by Dumas, père and his ghost writer Auguste Maquet. Auguste Maquet also co-wrote The Three Musketeers(1844). Getting money out of Saint-Domingue was difficult and therefore perfect material for Dumas, père, a passionate writer. The Three Musketeersfeatures d’Artagnan who arrested Nicolas Fouquet.
“D’Artagnan, Athos, Aramis, and Porthos” by Maurice Leloir (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Saint-George and Thomas-Alexandre connection
La Boëssière’s Academy
It would appear that marquis Antoine Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie returned to France in c. 1775 and died at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in 1786, just short of the French Revolution (1789 – 1796). He had bought back his son Thomas-Alexandre who met the above-mentioned mulatto and aristocrat Joseph Boulogne, chevalier de Saint-George (25 December 1745 – 10 June 1799) when both studied under fencing master La Boëssière, at La Boëssière’s Academy. That friendship ended with the death of Saint-George who did not find employment after the Revolution and was weakened by a two-year stay in a jail. He may have died of gangrene.
Along with Saint-George, Thomas-Alexandre was an illustrious man of colour in Europe. Thomas-Alexandre entered the military in 1786, at the age of 24. By the age of 31, Dumas was in command of 53,000 troops as the General-in-Chief of the French Army of the Alps. According to Wikipedia, “Dumas’ strategic victory in opening the high Alps passes enabled the French to initiate their Second Italian Campaign against the Austrian Empire.” (See Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, Wikipedia)
Thomas-Alexandre’s Demise
Thomas-Alexandre also served in Egypt where he had a verbal disagreement with Napoleon Bonaparte himself. He therefore left on an unsafe ship and was taken prisoner in the Kingdom of Naples and thrown in a dungeon where he was imprisoned from 1799 to 1802.
When he was released, Thomas-Alexandre “was partially paralyzed, almost blind in one eye, had been deaf in one ear but recovered; his physique was broken.”A broken gentleman, Thomas-Alexandre, fathered Alexandre Dumas, père (born 1802)on his return to Villers-Cotterêts. However, Thomas-Alexandre was sick and he was poor, and Napoleon Bonaparte did not help him. He died of a stomach cancer in February of 1806.
Conclusion
The Dumas story is a success story. Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie had a gifted and prominent son, and equally accomplished grandson and great-grandson. In fact, there would be more prominent descendants of Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie and Marie-Cessette Dumas. However, our mulatto heroes, the Chevalier de Saint-George and Thomas-Alexandre Dumas were victims. One was the victim of the French Revolution, the other, Thomas-Alexandre, the victim of a heartless Napoleon Bonaparte. Bonaparte did not have a conscience.
To a person who found fault with his lineage, Alexandre Dumas, père said:
My father was a mulatto, my grandfather was a Negro, and my great-grandfather a monkey. You see, Sir, my family starts where yours ends. [iv]
[ii] Reports vary concerning Marie Céseste or Cessette. Some biographers and historians claim she was of mixed ancestry. Some also claim she was not married to Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie. Antoine Alexandre did sell his family à réméré, i.e. with an option to buy then back but he did not claim Marie-Cessette back. It may be that she had died of dysentery c 1772 to 1774.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
