by Tom Reiss
41 Saint-Domingue fashion: Charlier and Coates, p. 343; Fouchard, p. 96; David M. Powers, “The French Musical Theater: Maintaining Control in Caribbean Colonies in the Eighteenth Century,” p. 230.
42 Opera and theater: Fouchard, pp. 95–96; Powers, p. 230.
43 Minette and Lise: Powers, p. 238.
44 “the barbarity of their origin”: “Mémoire concernant l’établissement d’un spectacle à Saint-Pierre de la Martinique,” 1780, AN, quoted in David M. Powers, “The French Musical Theater,” p. 232.
45 In the 1970s sociologists doing research in Haiti: Marlyn Walton Wilmeth and J. Richard Wilmeth, “Theatrical Elements in Voodoo.”
46 “We expressly forbid”: “Règlement provisoire des Administrateurs, concernant le Luxe des Gens de Couleur” (February 2, 1779), Moreau de Saint-Méry, pp. 855–56.
47 ban on “white” names: “Règlement des Administrateurs concernant les Gens de couleur libres” (June 24 and July 16, 1779), Moreau de Saint-Méry, pp. 448–50.
48 three mixed-race siblings: M. de Chauvinault to the Count de Maulde, June 3, 1776, CGH; agreement between Dumas and his father’s widow, Marie Retou, November 22, 1786, AN LX465. Cessette’s daughters Jeannette and Marie-Rose are mentioned.
49 “I remember hearing my father”: MM, pp. 14–15.
50 Dumas’s skills: Dumas himself says that in his “class” (i.e., social class), writing was not something that would be worked on or easily encouraged: Dumas to the Committee of Public Safety, January 4, 1794, SHD 3B9.
51 “as one learns in those new countries”: Ernest d’Hauterive, Un soldat de la Révolution, p. 12.
CHAPTER 3: NORMAN CONQUEST
1 Charles buying his plantation: Record of property acquisition by Charles de la Pailleterie, March 3, 1755, ADPC 10J26.
2 Charles’s gout: M. Tardivy to Marie-Anne de Maulde, June 26, 1773, ADPC 10J26; M. Leroux to Marie-Anne de Maulde, July 8, 1773, ADPC 10J26.
3 Charles’s administrators: M. Monjal and M. Papillon are mentioned in the articles of association for a company in which Charles is an associate, January 16, 1760, ADPC 10J26; see also Charles de la Pailleterie to M. Monjal, June 4, 1761, ADPC 10J26.
4 Charles leaving Saint-Domingue with his wife and daughter: As of July 1753, we know that Charles was in Saint-Domingue, where he writes his will (July 3, 1753, ADPC 10J26). In March 1755, Charles was in France (see property acquisition record, ADPC 10J26).
5 Charles in La Pailleterie mansion in the early 1750s: Robert Landru, À propos d’Alexandre Dumas, p. 35; Gilles Henry, Les Dumas, pp. 23–24; Réginald Hamel, Dumas—insolite, p. 19.
6 Charles sending money to his parents: Receipt for 7,000 livres from Jeanne and Alexandre de la Pailleterie to Charles de la Pailleterie, June 29, 1757, ADPC 10J34.
7 “hit and bit a witness”: Henry, pp. 19–20.
8 “not knowing whether their older brother existed”: Count de Maulde, legal claim, November 30, 1778, ADPC 10J35.
9 Charles in La Pailleterie castle: Charles de la Pailleterie to M. Monjal, June 4, 1761, ADPC, 10J26 (mentions that Charles lived at the Pailleterie castle).
10 Louis’s inheritance: Count de Maulde, legal claim, November 30, 1778, ADPC 10J35.
11 Charles’s connections at Versailles: Without his connections, the company he started in 1760 could not have existed. See articles of association, January 16, 1760, ADPC 10J26, and M. Bulande to M. Papillon, March 7, 1760, ADPC 10J26b.
12 the Marquis de Mirabeau: Mirabeau provided guarantees when Charles bought a property. See legal decision in the dispute between Charles de la Pailleterie and M. Petit des Landes, October 17, 1761, ADPC 10J35.
13 Charles’s loans: The Marquis de Mirabeau provided guarantees when Charles bought a property. (Legal decision in dispute between Charles de la Pailleterie and M. Petit des Landes, October 17, 1761, ADPC 10J35.)
14 havoc on colonial shipping: Benjamin Rand, Selections Illustrating Economic History Since the Seven Years’ War, p. 98; Lucien Guillou, André Vanderheyde, courtier lorientais, et ses opérations (1756–1765), pp. 13–38.
15 demand for slaves during the war: Edouard Delobette, Ces Messieurs du Havre: Négociants, commissionnaires et armateurs de 1680 à 1830, p. 1607.
16 “white sugar of the highest quality”: M. Bulande to M. Papillon, March 7, 1760, ADPC 10J26b.
17 Charles formed a partnership: Articles of association for a company in which Charles is an associate, January 16, 1760, ADPC 10J26.
18 Charles in London: ADPC, 10J34, dossier A, cited in Delobette, p. 1608.
19 Charles in slave trading: Landru, p. 37; Henry, p. 30; Delobette, p. 1608.
20 “pieces of India”: Henry, p. 30.
21 Foäche’s slave-trading ships: Réginald Hamel, Dumas—insolite, p. 172, cited in Delobette, p. 1370.
22 Foäche brothers lending money to the king: Christiane Maubant, “Le ‘traité’ de traite de Stanislas Foäche, du Havre.”
23 Charles’s ship: ADPC 10Jc, Chartrier de la Buissière, 26 c: “Achats de nègres: armement de la Douce Marianne, 1763” and 34 a: “Affaire du navire négrier la Douce Marianne, 1763–1764.”
24 Charles’s ship: the Douce Marianne: ADPC 10J26c and 10J34a.
25 Douce Marianne to Sierra Leone: Delobette, pp. 695–96, citing ADPC, 10J34, dossier A.
26 “300 captives”: Agreement between Charles and the London banker Pierre Simond, in Delobette, pp. 695–96, citing ADPC 10J34, dossier A.
27 mutiny on the ship: ADPC 10J26 and 10J81 cited in Delobette, p. 590; Landru, pp. 40–42, and Henry, pp. 38–40.
28 Charles has more debt: Delobette, pp. 1201, 1239–40, 1607–8, citing ADM E 2373.
29 “demanding, unjust”: Foäche & Cie in Cap Français to Veuve Foäche & Fils in Le Havre, June 25, 1774, ADSM 4055, 1 Mi 664 R-2, quoted by Delobette, p. 1370.
30 “His plantations could produce”: Delobette, p. 4783, citing M. Bégouën Demeaux, p. 48.
31 wedding of Charles’s daughter: Gazette de France, April 18, 1764, p. 128, and May 4, 1764, p. 144.
32 Marie-Anne’s dowry: Marriage contract between Marie-Anne de la Pailleterie et Léon de Maulde, April 2, 1800, ADPC 10J35.
33 cream of French society: Landru, p. 46; Henry, p. 37.
34 Mirabeau as angry creditor: Legal decision, dispute between Charles de la Pailleterie and M. Petit des Landes, October 17, 1761, ADPC 10J35.
35 Charles’s slave trading: ADPC 10J26c and 10J34a.
36 “All your creditors”: Maulde to Charles, in Henry, p. 44.
37 Charles back in Saint-Domingue: M. Leroux to the Count de Maulde, July 8, 1773, ADPC 10J26.
38 Charles managing his properties: Landru, p. 49; Henry, p. 44.
39 “houses, stables”: M. Tardivy to Marie-Anne de Maulde, June 26, 1773, ADPC 10J26.
40 Charles dies: Many letters to the Maulde couple, including: M. Cabeuil to the Count de Maulde, July 16, 1773, ADPC 10J26; M. Leroux to the Count de Maulde, July 8, 1773, ADPC 10J26.
41 “M. de la Pailleterie just died”: Bégouën Demeaux, p. 48 (quoted by Delobette, p. 4783).
42 Louis involved in a scandal: Henry, p. 47.
43 Louis dies: Fernand Gaudu, “Les Davy de la Pailleterie, seigneurs de Bielleville-en-Caux,” p. 48, citing Louis’s burial certificate, Registres paroissiaux, Saint-Léger de Fécamp, ASM.
44 Reading court documents: Count de Maulde, legal claim, November 30, 1778, ADPC 10J35.
45 the Pailleteries’ creditors: Landru, p. 55; Henry, p. 49.
46 “possessions are deteriorated”: M. Cabeuil to the Count de Maulde, July 16, 1773, ADPC 10J26.
47 Maulde plans to sell the château: Official document about Mme de Maulde’s inheritance from her husband, April 2, 1800, ADPC 10J35.
48 December 1775: The exact date is not known. Count de Maulde, legal claim, November 30, 1778, ADPC 10J35; Abbé Bourgeois to the Count de Maulde, December 11, 1775, CGH (mentions the return of M. de la Pailleterie).
49 “Antoine Delisle”:
M. de Chauvinault to the Count de Maulde, June 3, 1776, CGH; Count de Maulde, legal claim, November 30, 1778, Archives ADPC 10J35.
50 Antoine at the inn: Landru, p. 61; Henry, p. 50.
51 “I am Alexandre Antoine”: Ibid.
52 Antoine convincing the Abbé: Henry, pp. 50–51.
53 “December 11, 1775”: Ibid., p. 51.
54 Mademoiselle Marie Retou: Judgment in the dispute between Marie Retou and Thomas Rethoré/Retoré, November 22, 1786, AN LX465.
55 1776 agreement between Antoine and the Mauldes: Count de Maulde, legal claim, November 30, 1778, ADPC 10J35.
56 Chauvinault’s findings about Antoine (including quotations): M. de Chauvinault to the Count de Maulde, June 3, 1776, CGH.
57 Future legal documents: Marriage certificate, November 28, 1792, MAD Safe; marriage contract, also November 28, 1792, ADA 304E268.
58 “wife, to whom he had”: MM, p. 15.
59 Thomas-Alexandre’s arrival: The Abbé Bourgeois to the Count de Maulde, June 3, 1776, ADPC 10J34d.
60 “the slave Alexandre”: Landru, p. 65.
61 Thomas sold in Port-au-Prince: M. de Chauvinault to the Count de Maulde, June 3, 1776, CGH.
62 Antoine buys Thomas back: Ibid.
63 Abbé Bourgeois about Thomas: Abbé Bourgeois to the Count de Maulde, June 3, 1776, CGH.
64 “Monsieur and dear lord”: Ibid.
65 legal battle: Count de Maulde, legal claim, November 30, 1778, ADPC 10J35.
66 Antoine sells his properties: Document recording Antoine de la Pailleterie’s sale of the properties that the Count de Maulde is buying back, ADPC 10J35.
67 “Never has fortune”: Landru, p. 64.
68 “Thomas Retoré”: Baptism certificate, Lisieux, September 5, 1777, CGH.
69 other people in Saint-Domingue with the name Retoré: Ministère des finances, État détaillé des liquidations opérées à l’époque du Ier janvier 1829 par la Commission chargée de répartir l’indemnité attribuée aux anciens colons de Saint-Domingue, Vol. 4 (Paris, 1829), p. 498–99.
70 Saint-Germain-en-Laye: François Boulet, Leçon d’histoire de France, pp. 95, 110–12.
71 rue de l’Aigle d’Or: Marriage contract between Marie Retou and Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, February 13, 1786, CGH.
72 Davy coat of arms: Testimony about the Davy family, 1770, BNF NAF 24641; François-Alexandre Aubert de La Chesnaye Des Bois, Dictionnaire généalogique, héraldique, chronologique et historique, Vol. 4, p. 546.
73 La Boëssière academy: Henry Daressy, ed., Archives des maîtres-d’armes de Paris (Paris, 1888), pp. 169–70.
74 Antoine recognizing his son: Alexandre’s parents are identified in his marriage certificate (abstract of the registry with the certificate of the marriage between Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie and Marie-Louise Labouret, November 28, 1792, MAD Safe).
75 Count Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie: Gaudu, p. 46; Hauterive, p. 13.
CHAPTER 4: “THERE ARE NO SLAVES IN FRANCE”
1 Antoine selling Thomas-Alexandre: M. de Chauvinault to the Count de Maulde, June 3, 1776, CGH and Sentence dated November 22, 1786; judgment in the dispute between Marie Retou and Thomas Rethoré/Retoré, AN LX465.
2 aristocrats’ education: Daniel Roche, France in the Enlightenment, p. 651; Olivier Bernier, Pleasure and Privilege: Daily Life in France, Naples, and America, 1770–1790, p. 143.
3 Dumas’s physical abilities: Ernest d’Hauterive, Un soldat de la Révolution: Le Général Alexandre Dumas (1762–1806), p. 12; Hippolyte Parigot, Alexandre Dumas Père, p. 9.
4 Dumas meets Saint-Georges at the academy: MM, p. 15; Hauterive, p. 13; Paul Thiébault, The Memoirs of Baron Thiébault, trans. Arthur John Butler, Vol. 1 (1896), p. 52.
5 his skin was light: Gabriel Banat, The Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Virtuoso of the Sword and the Bow, p. 83.
6 Saint-Georges’s fight with the Italian: Ibid., pp. 95–96.
7 Saint-Georges was born: Erick Noël, “Saint-Georges: Un chevalier de sang mêlé dans la société des lumières,” pp. 160–63; J.-C. Prod’homme, “Le chevalier de Saint-Georges, escrimeur et musicien,” pp. 38–41; La Boëssière (fils), Traité de l’art des armes à l’usage des professeurs et des amateurs, pp. xv–xvi; Jean Fougeroux de Campigneulles, Histoire des duels anciens et modernes, Vol. 1, p. 318; Pierre Bardin, Joseph de Saint Georges, le Chevalier Noir, p. 59; Banat, pp. 25, 36–40.
8 Saint-Georges’s father: Fougeroux de Campigneulles, p. 318 (“fermier-général”); Prod’homme, pp. 38–41 (“contrôleur général” and planter); Noël, pp. 132–35.
9 Saint-Georges’s mother: Fougeroux de Campigneulles, p. 318; Prod’homme, pp. 38–41.
10 title of “chevalier”: Erick Noël, Être noir en France au XVIIIe siecle, p. 159; Banat, p. 70.
11 Marie-Antoinette as patron: Banat, pp. 150–53, 158.
12 “is the most accomplished man in Europe”: Ibid., p. 232.
13 letter of protest: Roger de Beauvoir, Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, p. 405.
14 “very rich young man”: Thiébault, Mémoires du général baron Thiébault, Vol. 1, p. 193.
15 “Man is born free”: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Du contrat social, ou principes du droit politique, p. 4.
16 French parlements: Roland Mousnier, The Institutions of France under the Absolute Monarchy, 1598–1789: Society and the State, Vol. 1, p. 256.
17 Parlement of Paris: Encyclopédie méthodique: Jurisprudence, Vol. 6, p. 384; Sue Peabody, “There Are No Slaves in France”: The Political Culture of Race and Slavery in the Ancien Regime, p. 5.
18 jurisdiction of Parlement of Paris: Peabody, p. 5.
19 Somerset decision: Seymour Drescher, Abolition: A History of Slavery and Antislavery, pp. 99–105; Mark S. Weiner, Black Trials: Citizenship from the Beginnings of Slavery to the End of Caste, pp. 70–88.
20 “The King has been informed”: Peabody, p. 12.
21 “not found any ordinance”: Lucien Peytraud, L’Esclavage aux Antilles françaises avant 1789, d’après des documents inédits des archives coloniales, Vol. 2, p. 376, quoted in Peabody, p. 13.
22 “England was too pure”: Prince Hoare, ed., Memoirs of Granville Sharp, p. 77; Weiner, p. 361.
23 “Rule, Britannia!”: Helen Kendrich Johnson, Our Familiar Songs and Those Who Made Them: Three Hundred Standard Songs of the English-Speaking Race (1909), p. 577.
24 “The law takes no notice”: Smith v. Brown and Cooper, 2 Salkeld 666 (1706), in Peabody, p. 5.
25 1715 Nantes slavery case: Ibid., pp. 15–16.
26 Nantes as main transit port for slaves: Robert Harms, The Diligent: Worlds of the Slave Trade, p. 15.
27 Edict of October 1716: “Edit du roi, concernant Règlement au Sujet des Esclaves Negres qui seront amenés en France,” October 1716, in M. de Boug, Recueil des édits, déclarations, lettres patentes, arrêts du conseil d’état et du conseil souverain d’Alsace, Vol. 1 (1657–1725) (1775), pp. 483–84.
28 “If the masters fail”: Edict of October 1716, Article V.
29 refused to register the law: Peabody, p. 22.
30 “the God of the Christians”: Ibid.
31 Jean Boucaux case: Peabody, pp. 24–40; Léo Elisabeth, La société martiniquaise aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, 1664–1789, p. 338.
32 marry only with owners’ permission: Edict of October 1716, Article VII.
33 “the object of Verdelin’s hatred”: Jean Mallet, Mémoire pour Jean Bocaux, p. 5.
34 Gauls and Franks: Mallet, pp. 2–3.
35 etymology of franc: Auguste Scheler, Dictionnaire d’etymologie française d’après les résultats de la science moderne, p. 143.
36 “The custom is such”: Peabody, p. 29.
37 Dred Scott: Dred Scott v. Sandford, U.S. 393 (1857).
38 “French, because he was born”: Peabody, p. 36.
39 an Anglo-American courtroom: Since America was a series of colonies, not directly analogous with England or France
, it is hard to say what would have happened in England in a similar case. But the British colonies all had anti-miscegenation laws in place. Interracial marriage was outlawed in Maryland in 1661 (Kevin R. Johnson, Mixed Race America and the Law: A Reader, p. 11), in Virginia in 1691 (John Van Houten Dippel, Race to the Frontier: “White Flight” and Westward Expansion, p. 32), in Massachussetts in 1705 (first colony in New England), in North Carolina in 1741, and so forth. The attitude was not unique to North America. “In 1644 the Antigua Assembly passed a law forbidding ‘Carnall Coppullation between Christian and Heathen,’ the latter being defined as Negro or Indian,” writes Karen Woods Weierman in One Nation, One Blood, p. 45.
40 “whoever sets foot”: Peabody, p. 36.
41 “the infinite riches”: Ibid., p. 34.
42 4,200 livres in back pay, plus court costs and damages: Ibid., p. 36.
43 “terminate this affair”: Maurepas to M. Le Clerc du Brillet, April 25, 1739, cited in ibid., p. 40.
44 “the greater part of the negroes”: “Déclaration du Roi, Concernant les Esclaves Nègres des Colonies, qui interprête l’Edit du mois d’Octobre 1716.”
45 “confiscated for the profit of the King”: Peabody, p. 38.
46 new flood of freedom suits: Ibid., p. 55.
47 “Servitude, like a destructive volcano”: Alexandre Ledru-Rollin, Journal du palais, Vol. 1 (1840), p. 635.
48 “The introduction of too many blacks”: Guillaume Poncet de la Grave, quoted by Pierre Boulle, Race et esclavage dans la France de l’Ancien Régime, p. 90.
49 compulsory registration: Peabody, p. 74.
50 “disfigured” by mixed blood: Ibid.
51 “No one has ever deployed”: La Boëssière (fils), quoted in Banat, p. 67.
52 “La Boëssière’s mulatto” incident: Banat, pp. 68–70.
53 “a perpetual series of hits”: Ibid., p. 70.
54 gen d’armes: Banat, p. 74; Lucien Mouillard, Les régiments sous Louis XV; Charles Magnin, Histoire des marionnettes en Europe: Depuis l’antiquité jusqu’a nos jours, p. 61.
55 1762 ordinance: Ordonnances (de l’amirauté de France) … (Des 31 mars et 5 avril 1762) (Paris, 1762).