Octavo bifolium (ca. 25 x 19.5 cm or 9 ¾ x 7 ½ in). 2 pp. Brown ink on creamy laid paper with printed letterhead “Le Préfet Colonial de l’île de Saint-Domingue.” Written in a secretarial hand with Magnytot’s signature and annotations. Paper slightly age-toned, fold marks, minor creases on extremities, but overall a very good manuscript.

A letter from the colonial prefect of Saint-Domingue, Louis Taupin de Magnytot, to a French government agent, Pons, in Caracas, Venezuela. Saint-Domingue was a French colony (1659-1803) in what is now modern-day Haiti, with Magnytot as the colonial prefect between 8 March 1803 and 14 November 1803. The letter was written amidst the blockade of Saint-Domingue (18 June – 6 December 1803), where British naval forces blockaded the ports of Cap-Français (now Cap-Haïtien) and Môle-Saint-Nicholas of the French colony during the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). Cap-Français surrendered to the British on 6 December 1803, two months after this letter was written. As a result of the blockade, French rule in Saint-Domingue collapsed as their forces were outnumbered by those of the Haitian revolutionaries, and Haiti declared its independence on 1 January 1804.

Magnytot writes that the Captain General (Donatien de Rochambeau, 1755-1813) has secured a loan, but that the biggest precautions (“les plus grandes précautions”) must be taken to keep it safe from “English rapacity” (“la rapacité angloise”). He continues with a plan he and Rochambeau have devised: a “Cm Roos” will convert the money into gold, get a passport designating himself as a merchant, and return to “Santo Domingo.”

Overall, an important original letter providing insight on activities of the French during the blockade of Saint-Domingue, shortly before the end of French rule and the independence of Haiti.

A transcript of a letter from Magnytot and Rochambeau to James Madison (1751-1836), the then US Secretary of State, dated 23 August 1803 and asking about a loan to aid Saint-Domingue during the blockade can be found in the US National Archives (see more).

Excerpt from the letter (spelling original):
“C’est avec le plus vif interet, citoyen, que j’ai pris lecture de votre letter du 26 fructidor dernier. Le [Cm?] Roos, comme vous me l’announcez, a donc reussi a se faire payer une certaine somme, en numéraire sur l’emprunt. Cette nouvelle, attendû notre position, m’a cause un bien sensible plaisir ainsi qu’au capitaine général. Mais cet argent n’est pas encore sauvé dela rapacité angloise et nous devons prendre les plus grandes précautions pour nous en assurer la possession. Voilà le que le capitaine général et moi avons bru devoir arrêter à cet égard. Le [Cm?] Roos convertera la somme en or, prendra un passeport dans lequel il sera designé comme negociant et se rendra a Santo Domingo par la Voïe des St. Thomas. Veuillez remettre au [Cm?] Roos la letter ci jointe du capitaine général; elle contient des orders et des instructions sur la marche qu’il a à tenir.”