Victor Hugues
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2008-03-16T21:49:00Z
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'''Victor Hugues''' ([[1761]]—[[1826]]) was a [[France|French]] politician and [[French colonial empires|colonial administrator]] during the [[French Revolution]], who governed [[Guadeloupe]] from 1794 to 1798, [[Abolitionism|emancipating]] the island's [[African slave trade|slaves]] under orders from the [[National Convention]].
==Early life and appointment==
Hugues was born in [[Marseille]] and was a [[French colonial empires|colonist]] in [[Saint-Domingue]] in the late 1780s and early 1790s. He returned to France and became an official in [[La Rochelle]] through his activity in the local [[Jacobin Club]]. After the emancipation decrees of [[Léger-Félicité Sonthonax]] and [[Étienne Polverel]] during the [[Haitian Revolution]], the National Convention declared the end of slavery in all French territories in February 1794, and named Hugues civil [[commissioner]] to Guadeloupe.
==Conflicts with Great Britain and the United States==
The island was under [[British Empire|British]] control when he arrived in the [[Caribbean]], as [[Plantation economy|planters]] and other [[House of Bourbon|Royalists]] had called in France's rival as a way of rejecting revolutionary events. But by rallying slaves and ''[[gens de couleur]]'', Hugues was able to retake the island. He ruled for four years before being recalled to France. During that time, he purged the island of counter-revolutionaries, using a [[guillotine]] brought from France, and also worked to create a viable post-slavery regime, in which the islands farms and plantations still functioned. Hugues is perhaps best known for authorizing [[privateers]] to attack shipping through the Caribbean, which brought great wealth to the island but also was part of the tensions between France and the [[United States]] (known as the ''[[Quasi-War]]'' in American history). With an army composed of [[White (people)|White]], [[Mulatto]] and ex-slave soldiers, Hugues worked to export the revolution to neighboring islands, including [[Dominica]], [[Saint Martin (island)|Saint-Martin]], la [[Grenada|Grenade]], [[Saint Vincent (island)|Saint-Vincent]] and [[Saint Lucia]].
==Guiana==
In 1799, Hugues was envoyed to [[French Guiana]] by the [[French Consulate]], where he was responsible for legislating [[unfree labour]], and then slavery itself. He remained an administrator under the early years [[First French Empire|First Empire]], but was forced out by a provincial maneuver of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], when [[Portugal]] invaded the colony.
Upon his return, he was prosecuted for [[treason]] and [[Conspiracy (political)|conspiracy]] with the enemy. [[Acquittal|Acquitted]] in 1814, he returned to Guiana in 1817, served as governor and then stayed on as a mere citizen. He later left for France, and died in [[Bordeaux]].
== See also==
[[Explosion in a Cathedral]]
[[Category:1761 births|Hugues, Victor]]
[[Category:1826 deaths|Hugues, Victor]]
[[Category:First French Empire|Hugues, Victor]]
[[Category:French abolitionists|Hugues, Victor]]
[[Category:History of French Guiana|Hugues, Victor]]
[[Category:History of Guadeloupe|Hugues, Victor]]
[[Category:Military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars|Hugues, Victor]]
[[Category:People from Marseille|Hugues, Victor]]
[[Category:People of the Quasi-War|Hughes, Victor]]
[[fr:Victor Hugues]]
[[it:Victor Hugues]]