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Déportation et naufrage de J. J. Aymé, ex-Législateur, suivis du tableau de vie et de mort des déportés, à son départ de la Guyane, avec quelques observations sur cette colonie et sur les nègres

Narrative of the Deportation to Cayenne, and Shipwreck on the Coast of Scotland, of J. J. Aimé, written by himself. With observations on the present state of that colony, etc. (London: J. Wright, 1800). English Deportations-Reise, Flucht und Schiffbruch des Exdeputirten J.J. Aymé. Mit der Beschreibung vom Leben und Tode der übringen Deportirten auf Cayenne. Nebst Bemerkungen über diese Kolonie und daselbst befindlichen Neger. (Leipzig: 1801). German.

Bibliothèque Nationale de France. British Library.

Deportation Shipwreck French Guiana Cayenne Colonies Revolution Abolition Slavery

Jean-Jacques Aymé was a politician during the French revolution, who was arrested in the coup d'état of 18 fructidor (4 September 1797), and sentenced to deportation to French Guiana, in South America. This travel narrative tells the story of Aymé's arrest, journey across the Atlantic, captivity in Guiana, escape, and shipwreck. It gives a description of the black population of the colony (174-88) - former slaves who had been emancipated in 1794. Aymé describes subsequent attempts to tie these former slaves to plantations as "a middle ground between liberty and slavery" (183). Although he claims to be opposed to slavery in principle, he concludes that "the freedom of the blacks is absolutely incompatible with the prosperity of the colonies" (187).