ss of Jeremie (19th
September), and a few days later at that important stronghold, Mole St.
Nicholas, then blockaded on land by the blacks. An attempt by the
Republicans at the capital, Port-au-Prince, to send an expedition for
the recapture of Mole St. Nicholas was thwarted; and late in the year
1793 five other towns accepted British protection. The rapid recovery of
prosperity in the district forming the lower jaw of the griffin-like
head of Hayti is seen in the official exports from the port of Grand
Anse at its tip. During the quarter 20th September to 31st December 1793
it sent the following quantities to British ports, chiefly Kingston in
Jamaica: Coffee, 644,751 lb.; Sugar, 91,593 lb.; Cotton, 56,339 lb.;
Cocoa, 66,944 lb. Even larger quantities of coffee were exported to
foreign ports.[373] In 1796 the produce of Hayti was valued at
L1,500,000; the colony employed more than 400 ships.[374] Was not this a
land for which some risks might be encountered?

Meanwhile the Spaniards from their part of the island had overrun
certain districts, especially those to the north of Port-au-Prince. In
particular, they for a time occupied the port of Gonaives, about midway
between the capital and Mole St. Nicholas, a step almost as threatening
to the British forces as to the French Republicans. It is hard to fathom
the designs of the Spaniards at this time. Their pride, their hereditary
claims to the whole of the Indies, and their nearness to this splendid
prize, all urged them on to an effort from which lack of men, ships and
money, and the hatred of the French and the blacks to their sway should
have warned them off. Seeing also that the French colonists had
officially handed over their possession to Great Britain, Spain should
have come to some understanding with her Ally before invading what was
now in effect British territory. She did not do so; and subsequent
events proved that her King and statesmen harboured deep resentment
against the transfer, and sought to thwart it by underhand means. For
the present, however, their inroad into the north-central districts
dealt one more blow to the power of the French Jacobins and their black
friends. These last were formidable only when the quest was plunder.
Even the iron will of their ablest leader, Toussaint l'Ouverture, could
infuse no steadiness into the swarthy levies, which, roving almost at
will in the mountainous interior, were wellnigh as dangerous to the
Republicans as t