#1805!

[dontbestingybaby]

“An article published in Haiti's Political and Commercial Gazette presciently analyzed the broader significance of the changes U.S.-Haitian trade relations underwent under Jefferson. The author of the article wrote that the United States would one day ‘occupy a distinguished rank among the masters of the sea.’ Foreseeing the inevitable decline of France and England, the writer warned, ‘The same thing will befall the powers that are presently dominant; they will undergo an unmistakable decline, while the United States will assume the rank to which it is destined. But this era will become deadly for the Caribbean. It will simply change masters. It will come under the yoke of the United States.’ As for ongoing U.S. slavery, ‘in the states of the south, [it] is a fire that smolders under the ashes, the eventual explosion of which will one day make tremble the hardened and deaf masters who still maintain it, despite the prudent advice of their fellow citizens of the north.’ Like Boisrond-Tonnerre, who observed that the ‘key to liberty’ for the still enslaved across the Americas could be found ‘in their own hands,’ the writer from the Gazette prophesied that one day ‘some audacious avengers will reclaim with interest their natural rights that have been violated.’ While most Haitians believed that France was their greatest enemy, this article asked the Haitian people not to ignore or dismiss the serious danger next door in North America: 

[France's] attempts will come crashing down like the waves of the sea at the foot of the rock of our independence, and from the mountains our rescue squad will descend upon them. But a more hidden danger, and one far less apparent, because it is still distant for now, threatens us anyway. It will not be from Europe that our ills must come, if we are to ever experience them; it will be from the continent of the United States: their proximity, the constant comings and goings of their citizens in our ports, the ambitions that they will bring with them, if our government does not restrict them, must open our eyes to the plots that they may one day attempt against us. 

“The writer did not seek ‘to place a cloud over the conduct of the Americans, nor do I think at all that, either the present government or the individuals who are linked to it through commercial relations with that country, have thus far had any plans to dominate us, nor to meditate on our enslavement.’ Yet, he said, ‘it is no less true that the possibility of such a combination could arise from a concurrence of circumstances, if ever the United States were to erect itself to become a maritime power.’ [42]

“Imperial rage followed the publication of this astonishingly prescient article. Dessalines ordered Christophe to discover the identity of the author and to have him sent to Marchand/Dessalines immediately. Dessalines worried that openly and publicly criticizing the United States might propel the trade embargo being debated on the floors of Congress. [43] Christophe soon learned from the empire's printer, Pierre Roux, that the author was Joseph Rouanez, the official English translator in the empire and editor of the Gazette. [44] Dessalines must not have punished the newspaperman too harshly. Rouanez continued to work as editor of the Gazette; and despite Dessalines's evident displeasure, events on the ground made it difficult to deny the new geopolitical threat Rouanez outlined.”

from The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe by Marlene L. Daut

Additional citation: "Du Cap," Gazette politique et commerciale d'Haïti, Oct. 17, 1805, 175. 41.

[ltwilliammowett]

Two paintings by David Brackman (1932-2008) of HMS Victory at Trafalgar as she breaks the line first view from ahead and second from astern, both signed and dated 2005

[chic-a-gigot]

Journal des Dames et des Modes, Costume Parisien, 14 février 1805, An 13 (618): Habit de Cour. Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Netherlands

Court suit: frak trimmed with flower pattern, knee breeches, shirt with pleated jabot and cuffs. White stockings. Hat under the arm, (decorative) sword on the left side, flat shoes with square buckles. The print is part of the fashion magazine Journal des Dames et des Modes, published by Pierre de la Mésangère, Paris, 1797-1839.

[artschoolglasses]

White Cotton Round Gown, British, 1797-1805

From the Victoria & Albert Museum

[lookingbackatfashionhistory]

• Open robe (dating to about 1790, converted to a round gown).

Date: 1800-1805

Designer/Maker: William Kilburn

Place of origin: England

Medium: Block-printed cotton

[fashionsfromhistory]

Parasol

c.1805

Europe

LACMA (Accession Number: M.67.8.123)

[nemfrog]

Dissection of a horse, showing the nervous system. Coloured engraving by J. Pass after Harguinier, 1805.

Wellcome Collection

[without-ado]

Be My Valentine l IC 1805 l Adam Jensen

[vox-anglosphere]

Nelson's Flagship

[sictransitgloriamvndi]

The Ruins of Netley Abbey (1805/etching) - James Storer

[quiltofstars]

The Heart Nebula, Sh2-190 // Matt Schumacher

[schoethe]

Sie, liebster Goethe, sollten jetzt den nächsten Winter in Italien zubringen. Solange Schiller lebte, hätte ich Sie nie recht ernstlich einladen mögen. Sie besaßen sich gegenseitig, keiner von Ihnen hätte für eine lange Trennung Ersatz gefunden. Jetzt, da dies Band zerrissen ist, sollten Sie auf eine Zeit ein schöneres Land, und die Umbegbungen suchen, die Ihnen schon aus dem Andenken her so wert sind.

— Wilhelm von Humboldt an Goethe, 05.06.1805

[ltwilliammowett]

Trafalgar 7pm, by Auguste Ballin (1842-1909)

The aftermath of battle - an ugly storm is brewing as HMS Euryalus prepares to take Royal Sovereign in tow...

[questionableadvice]

~ The Pocumtuc Housewife; a guide to domestic cookery, as it is practiced in the Connecticut Valley….especially adapted to the use of young wives who come from outside places and are not conversant with the ways of the Valley, and of female orphans who have not had a mother’s training, by Several Ladies, 1805

Oops.

[artschoolglasses]

Embroidered muslin dress, France, 1805-10

From the Victoria & Albert Museum

[john-laurens]

Yeah I read old man yaoi (affectionate historical letters exchanged between men in their 50s)