Slaves were given the right to complain about abuses against them, and severe punishments were provided for masters and managers convicted of murdering slaves.50 The masters of Saint-Domingue and some merchants in France publicly attacked the new regulations. One merchant who owned property in Saint-Domingue argued that they would make the work of plantation managers impossible. "How can we contain the negroes if they can accuse whites?" he asked. "To believe the accusations of the slaves is to open the door to revolt and arm them against the whites." He saw in the royal decrees a sinister goal, that of "emancipating the negroes and placing the whites in chains." An officer in the colony who admitted that slavery was "terrible" nevertheless wrote that the decrees were an attack on "the sacred right of property." By placing their work regime and discipline under the control of people "other than their masters," the decrees put a "dagger in the hands of the slaves." The court in Le Cap refused to register the ordinance, setting off a battle between the local administrators and Versailles that led to a 1787 royal edict shutting down the rebellious court and transferring its powers to Port-au-Prince.

Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ …, loc. 63