On 8 June 1794, "Esperance" arrived in Jacmel, Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), from France with the official proclamation of the abolition of slavery, which Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, as one of the Civil Commissioners of Saint-Domingue, had already unilaterally declared for the French colony the year before amid a slave rebellion and attacks from British and Spanish forces. Ironically, "Esperance" also brought the news to the Civil Commissioners that the National Convention had impeached them on 16 July 1793 and ordered them to return promptly to France.