#2426: Is Poincy refering to the "Swiss" (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Gillespie, Richard <rgillespie@towson.edu>

Is it possible that Poincy is referring to the "Swiss?" 

In 1771 a group of maroons (including both blacks and mulattos) aided the
mulattos in Port-au-Prince in their effort to gain the rights of
citizenship. After the struggle, which the mulattos won, the whites and the
mulattos were in agreement that the Swiss - so-called because of their
ferocity in battle - should not be allowed to return to the mountains
because of the fear that they would inspire the black slaves to rebel. Some
of the coalition argued that the Swiss should be killed, but others argued
for mercy and the council decided to ship them to a vacant beach in Mexico
where they could establish a new life - away from Saint-Domingue. However,
the ship's captain took them to Jamaica and tried to sell them to the
English. The Governor of Jamaica refuse to accept them because he feared
their influence on English slaves, and sent them back to Port-au-Prince.
This time the white dominated council had the Swiss executed, except for
twenty which they sent back to the mountains in effort to fan the enmity
between black and mulatto.

I think the source of the event is Madiou, but it could be Pauleus Sannon.

The story is woven into my novel, PAPA TOUSSAINT, especially in a
confrontation between Toussaint and Louis Jacques Beauvais in Chapter 13,
"The War of Knives."

Dick Gillespie 



Poincy relates the following historical event:
"At one point when they, whites and mulattos, were celebrating
their unification, the mulattos disarmed the slaves, removed them
from Ayiti and dumped them in some other islands in the Caribbean.
They did not want them to get any idea and build on their fighting
skills to reverse the slavery system one day."

Please tell me more about this, what were the personalities involved,
what islands were involved, and just what is the historical record on
this?  I would much appreciate if you could enlighten me some more
on this event.