Subsidies to improve the trade of enslaved African people and sugar in the West Indies

France: Louis XVI (1774-1792).

Arrêt du Conseil d'État du Roi, […] concernant les primes accordées à l'introduction des Noirs de traite françoise aux Isles du Vent, à Cayenne & aux Cayes, dans la partie du Sud Saint-Domingue, ainsi que la liberté provisoire de l’exportation à l’étranger des sucres bruts de l’île de Sainte-Lucie. Du 2 juillet 1789.

[colophon:] Versailles, de l’Imprimerie Royale, 1789.

4°. 3, [1 blank] p. With a woodcut vignette at head of title.

Sewn.

First and only edition of a broadside concerning the trade of enslaved people and sugar in the French American colonies.
The French West Indian slave trade had primarily shifted towards Saint-Domingue since 1763, surpassing other islands in wealth. In an attempt to redirect it towards these other islands, the Council of State, through a decree on June 3, 1783, allowed foreign vessels arriving directly from the African coast to dock in the main port of each of the following French American places: Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint-Christophe, Sainte-Lucie, Tobago, Les Cayes (in the southern part of Saint-Domingue) and Cayenne. The vessels had to carry at least 180 enslaved people and to sell them there, paying 100 livres in duty per head. This rule would last until August 1, 1786, but just before that deadline two decrees of the Council of State were introduced to extend it until August 1, 1789, but with reduced duty tariffs. The broadside we offer here shares news of another extension until August 1, 1790 and also grants free international trade of sugar from the island Sainte-Lucie (Saint-Lucia).

Condition: in very good condition.

Literature: Lucien Pierre Peytraud, L’esclavage aux Antilles françaises avant 1789. Hachette, 1897, pp. 35-76.