The Whip

The use of whips on plantations was authorised by the Code Noir, but as abuses were reported, its use was gradually restricted in the colonies. In 1786, it was limited by royal decree to 50 strokes. In Guadeloupe, however, an ordinance issued in 1810 under English rule limited the number of strokes to 29.

Art 33 and 34: masters are allowed to chain and beat slaves who are at fault, but it is forbidden to mutilate them or kill them.

According to Victor Schoelcher, “the whip is an integral part of the colonial regime; the whip is its principal agent; the whip is its soul (…) If we wanted to symbolise the colonies as they still are, we’d have to bundle a sugar cane with a commander’s whip”.

To receive punishment, slaves were usually tied to stakes on the ground – thus the expression “4 stakes” – or to a ladder. A mixture of lemon and chilli pepper is often applied to their wounds to supposedly accelerate healing. Men, women and children can be punished in this way. However, the “small whip” or “rigeoise”, a kind of whip bent in half to form a riding crop, is supposed to be reserved for children. The failure to respect this “humanitarian rule” was the subject of heated debate at the Vallentin trial.

The Length of the Whip

On the second day of the hearing, Réville, Sébastien’s 13-year-old son, appears in court. He is asked a direct question, and his answer is no less direct.

President.
Were you ever punished?

Réville.
Yes, by Louis, the commander, two or three times, by order of M. Vallentin, because I had let the cattle fodder the plantations. He beat me standing up with his whip; I could only walk on all fours to get to my mother’s hut. My father sometimes beat me too, but it was with guava vines.

Mr. Jammes, Assessor.
It can’t be the full length of the whip that this child was beaten with. That would be awful. Usually the commander makes a “rigeoise” out of his whip, when he chastises the little negroes.

President.
Was it with the large whip that you were whipped?

Réville.
When I was beaten lying down, it was with the half-whip. But when I was beaten standing up, it was the full length of the whip. I bled in a lot. My mother washed the wounds with cassava water.

Réville doesn’t back down; he sticks to his statements, which cause great emotion. Why? Because the length of the whip with which he was beaten was not regulatory.

Vallentin:

Réville was often maroon. I was forced to correct him, to prevent him from becoming a bad subject. I often had him chastised in front of the small Negroes, but never with the long whip.

So, it’s perfectly acceptable to whip a child in front of other children, but not with the long whip. It’s crucial to know for certain, so the President orders the child to be examined immediately by Doctor Bouchet.

Président.
It’s important to know whether the punishment inflicted on this child was excessive, and to verify whether the stigmata it has left are such as to justify the truth of his assertions. By virtue of our discretionary power, we order that he be visited by the reporting physician, in the council chamber.

Vallentin.
There are traces of these punishments, but it should be noted that, in this family, the slightest scratch leaves indelible marks.

Imagine Réville being led straight away into a room, stripped naked and examined from all angles by Doctor Bouchet, under the gaze of Vallentin’s lawyer. Imagine this so-called doctor examining the scars on the teenager’s body, traces of a long history of torment – he’s 13 years old, and has been whipped since he was at least 7 !

A quarter of an hour later, the doctor comes back and delivers the results of his “expertise”.

President.
Mr. Doctor, have you noticed any traces of whippings on the body of the Réville child? If there are any, could you tell the Court when the cause can be traced back to?

Dr. Bouchet.
I noticed ten lashes on the child’s bottom. These blows may have been given one or two years ago at the most. The scar is initially white, due to the pigmentum that exists between the epidermis and the dermis. Every day, in Pointe-à-Pitre, I see whippings and rigeoise blows administered; but the severity of the blows cannot be determined by the volume of the scars. Scar volume is the result of the development of fibrous tissue in Negroes. If the child I’ve just visited has retained traces of the lashes he received, this phenomenon is inherent to his constitution; and I find proof of this in the vesicatory applied to him some time ago, which left prominent marks.

Q : Do you think that the lashes you noticed were proportionate to the child’s strength?

Dr. Bouchet.
Yes, sir, the whip and the rigoise produce the same wounds. The rigeoise would be more dangerous than the whip.

Q : Do you think that after receiving the strokes you noticed, this child was forced to walk on all fours?

Dr. Bouchet.
No, sir, I’ve never seen lashes cut into the flesh. The legislator wanted them to be applied to the buttocks, because in this area, the cellular tissue forms a sort of fat mattress. Muscles are never cut. Very rarely, the skin is divided in all its depth; muscle contraction has taken place. Excessive punishment can only occur when the application of the whip is harmful to the child’s health; for example, when it causes fever or illness.

When the law allows the master to inflict a punishment on his slave that the master believes he has deserved, it’s not for nothing.

We are left appalled at such statements, but the sentences that follow bring us back to the reality of the situation: Dr. Bouchet is also a slave owner, and disposes of them with the same inhumanity, the same quiet sadism as Vallentin.

Dr. Bouchet.

I own a little Negro who’s a bad subject; he’s almost always maroon. I put a croc on his neck and a chain on his legs. Every time he was caught, he broke his leg chain, ran away and sometimes had to be fetched from the rooftops. I had him given a severe beating: he walked without difficulty after receiving it. The punishment left him with only small wounds, which healed perfectly, because my Negro’s cellular tissue is not organized in the same way as that of the young Negro I’ve just examined.