Martinique, Oct. 6.
The disturbances in this island are so far from having abated, that they seem daily to gain additional force. The French General, after the and endeavoured to bring over a part of the military to his side, against the people : He began with subalterns, several of whom took a certain oath of attachment which he administered to them ; but when he came to the Major, that officer declined, saying he had already engaged himself on the side of the people. Incensed at this reply, he reviled him in very opprobrious terms, and at last laid his cane upon him !
Frustrated in his attempts upon the infantry, he made his next application to the regiment of artillery, but with as little success. They informed him, that themselves and Culverins were stationed there for the protection of the people, and for them only should be used.
Driven to the last shift, his distress suggested the sorry expedient of having recourse to the people of colour, who here form a considerable corps. By a small dose of flattery these people, so readily to be caught by a little seeming attention, promised to stand by him ; and did so, as long as they usually stand firm to any thing–that is, till their fears for their own persons became an object of more weighty concern–they then abandoned him.
The humiliating familiarities to which he descended to this motley rabble, were truly disgusting. He embraced them; called them his enfans and cher amis, and practised all the dirty condescensions, which those only who are conversant in the praise-worthy art of cajoling, can form any conception of.
The effect of this conduct was, as might be expected, insolence–one of this banditti presumed to strike a grenadier–this incensed both the military and the peopl–the consequence was, their doughty leader was laid hold of, when his trusty defenders left him to his fate. He wa sput into confinement, and had the pleasure of beholding from the windows of his prison, him whom he had inspired with the insolent temerity to strike White, suspended on a gibbet.
The inhabitants of St. Pierre then assembled to confer on the measures to be taken on this occasion, when ten deputies were chosen to bring the deposed Commander to that part of the island for trial, and twelve Judges were chosen to preside at that very important tribunal.
Thus stood matters on Thursday last, at which time a rumour prevailed that the Marquis de Bouillee had suffered death by the extraordinary and ingenious method of being put between two planks and severed in pieces by a cross-cut saw.
Citation: Glasgow Advertiser (Glasgow, United Kingdom), 18 December 1789, available at the Scissors and Paste Database, http://www.scissorsandpaste.net/45.