Philippe-Rose Roume de Saint-Laurent

Philippe-Rose Roume de Saint-Laurent (also Roume ) arrived in Saint-Domingue on November 29, 1791 as a French Commissioner with some experience. He replaced Gen. Gabriel Hédouville, who had done his best to work against -- and utlimately to defeat -- Toussaint. (Williams) A native of Grenada, Roume had been a commissioner in Tobago and a key figure in the development of Trinidad. (Beard and Quesnels)

When he arrived in Saint-Domingue, Roume "announced to the Assembly (in Le Cap) that [the Commissioners] were expecting the imminent arrival of a large body of trained troops." He knew full well this wasn't true, or wasn't likely. (Parkinson, p. 60) Roume returned to Saint-Domingue in 1796, along with Léger Félicité Sonthonax and Julien Raimond. (Parkinson, p. 103)

Korngold writes about an occasion when Toussaint witnessed Roume being locked in a chicken shack by a mob; "[Toussaint was] ...apparently ignorant of the indignity inflicted upon the representative of the French Republic. His ignorance lasted nine days then he allowed himself to be informed and professed to be greatly shocked." (Korngold p. 189)

Roume was expelled from Saint-Domingue by Toussaint Louverture at the end of 1800.

Roume and Jean-Paul Marat

Roume de Saint-Laurent did use his influence in Spain, to obtain the directorship of the Academy of Sciences in Madrid for Jean-Paul Marat, a leading figure of the French Revolution. (Belfort Bax chapter III)

See Also

• The Expulsion of Commissioner Roume - letter by Toussaint Louverture (1800).
• Portrait of Toussaint by N.E. Maurin Toussaint Louverture portrait after a lost drawing of Toussaint in possession of the French envoy Philippe Rose Roume de Saint-Laurent.

References

• Beard, J. R. (John Relly) (1863). Toussaint L'Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography. Chapel Hill, NC: Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH. Online Publication
• Belfort Bax, Ernest. (1900) Jean-Paul Marat, The People’s Friend. London: Grant Richards. (Available online at www.marxists.org)
• Korngold, Ralph (1944). Citizen Toussaint. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. LCCN 44007566.
• Parkinson, Wenda (1978). This Gilded African. London: Quartet Books. ISBN 0-7043-2187-4
• The Quesnel Family. "The Quesnels of Herbert Street." http://www.quesnels.com/history.htm
• Williams, Kevin. http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=630