JEAN LOUIS DUBROCA (1757-1835). JEAN-JACQUES DESSALINES (Saint-Domingue, 1758 - Haiti, 1806)."Life

JEAN LOUIS DUBROCA (1757-1835). JEAN-JACQUES DESSALINES (Saint-Domingue, 1758 - Haiti, 1806).
"Life of J.J. Dessalines, chief of the blacks of Saint-Domingue.
Translated from French.
DuBroca, Jean-Louis, author.
Publisher: Juan López Cancelada in the office of Mariano de Zuniga y Ontiveros, Mexico City, 1806.
Rear cover.
Stamp of the Pan American Public Library.
With frontispiece and nine plates.
Measurements: 20.5 x 14.5 cm.
The engravers of the plates are José Simón de Larrea and Manuel López López, and they consist of portraits of the leaders of the famous slave revolt led by Jena-Jacques Dessalines, together with some scenes of the atrocities committed. The rebellion against French rule in Haiti (Saint-Domingue) is described in great detail, somewhat skewed by the French approach to this revolt, but in keeping with the grim events that took place. Jean-Jacques Dessalines fought alongside L'Ouverture for Haiti's freedom, and became the new nation's first emperor: his bloodthirsty ways were notorious even in his day. The engravers depict his subjects as virtual caricatures of themselves, with oversized lips and noses and bulging eyes, and engaging in brutal atrocities, while the whites take on more human forms. The plates are exclusive to this edition and appear nowhere else, and are of high quality. Emperor Maximilian owned a copy of this book. Dubroca, the author, wrote a similarly disparaging biography of Toussaint L'Ouverture. The publisher, Juan López Cancelada, was a Spanish-born émigré who became a well-known polemicist and political agitator in Mexico: it is possible that he published this book as a warning about what might happen in Mexico with its huge "caste" population. First Mexican edition and first with plates.
Jean-Jacques Dessalines (Saint-Domingue, 1758 - Port-République, Haiti, 1806) was a leader of the Haitian Revolution who proclaimed the country's independence on 1 January 1804 and became its first ruler. In 1804 he proclaimed himself emperor under the name of Jacques I. A former slave, he took part in the slave revolts in the French colony of Saint Domingue. In the service of Toussaint L'Ouverture, he reached the rank of general and when the latter was deposed by French troops sent by Napoleon to reconquer the island, he was appointed to lead the troops in the south. However, after Toussaint was arrested and sent to France and with the arrival of news of the reestablishment of slavery in other French colonies, Dessalines organised a mutiny against the French forces in October 1802, which he confronted in a bloody struggle. He finally defeated the French at the Battle of Vertières in 1803 and drove them from the island. He ordered the extermination of the remaining white minority in the country, which resulted in the deaths of between 3000 and 5000 people during the period between February and April 1804.4 In September 1804, he proclaimed himself emperor and was officially crowned on 8 October in the city of Le Cap. Between 1801 and 1805, the Haitian army made bloody raids on the eastern part of the island, with fierce troops commanded by General Jean Jacques Dessalines. The Haitian military troops led by Dessalines, who became Emperor, did the most damage to the eastern part of the island in its history. They sacked and burned the towns of Monte Plata, La Vega, Cotuí, San Francisco de Macorís, San José de las Matas and Montecristi.