^< .S^Ji^>. >, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4 A f/ ^ .6' 1.0 1.25 ^¥4 150 "" ^ 2.5 1^ 12.2 I 1.1 f.-^l ^ 1^ 2.0 1.8 M. Ill 1.6 Va 0% # / M ^/W/ V Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80 (716) 872-4503 "V- CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques iV > Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The toth The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. D D D D D n D Q D D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur Covers damaged/ Couverture endommag^a Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurde et/ou pellicul^e Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes gdographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Relid avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ Lareliure serr^e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intirieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouties lors dune restauration apparaissent dans ie texte, mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont pas it6 film^es. L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mithode normale de filmage sont indiquds ci-dessous. I I Coloured pages/ D Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommag^es □ Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurdes et/ou pellicul^es Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d6color6es, tachetdes ou piqu^es □ Pages detached/ Pages d6tach6es The poss of th filmi Origi begii the! sion, othe first slon, or ill Showthrough/ Transparence I I Quality of print varies/ Quality indgaie de I'impression Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du matdriel supplementaire □ Only edition available/ Seuie Edition disponible The shall TINl whic Map diffe entir begli right requ met^ n Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t6 film6es d nouveau de facon d obtenir la meilleure image possible. ^/ Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppl^mentaires: Pagination as follows : [311]- 367 p. Wrinkled pages may film slightly out of focus. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film4 au taux de reduction indiqu6 ci-dessous. 10X 14Y i«y r>v ocv 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here hes been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: Library of the Public Archives of Canada L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grAce A la g6n6rosit6 do: La bibliothdque des Archives publiques du Canada The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last pttge with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol ^^> (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol y (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettet6 de l'exemplaire fiimd, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la cojverture en papier est imprimie sont film6s en commen9ant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film6s en comme^^ant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernlAre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles cuivants apparaltra sur la dernidrd image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbolo — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, at^ many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre fiimis A des taux de reduction (^iff^rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, it est f ilm6 A partir de I'angle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagreriimas suivants illustrent la methods. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 THJ THE HISTORY OF Coussaint Eouberture* ^4 •!s ! A NEW EDITION, WITH A DEDICATION TO HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY THE EMPEROR OF ALL THE RUSSIAS. 1814. if -Tt * si m TV HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY, ALEXANDER, EMPEROR OF ALL THE RUSSL4S. SiKEj In republishing at this period d.e Life of Toussaint Louverture I am mduced to ded.ca.e it to yo.r Imperial Majesty, by feeT„« wh.c. tho.e who know how to apprec:,te true elevatfon o*^^ S ter cannot fail to understand. *-"««£ Christian Patriot, and Hero. He was a devout worshipper of hi God, and a successful defender of his invaded country. He was the victorious enemy, at once, and the contrast of Napoleon Buo- naparte, whose arms he repelled, and whose pride he humbled not more by the strength of his military genius, than by the moral influence of his amiable and virtuous character: by W manv ties, dien, of kindred merit and generous sympathy must he not be endeared to the magnanimous Liberator of Europe I In nothing, however, will your Imparial Majesty more sympa- thize with the brave Toussaint, than in his attachment to the Treat cause in which he fell^the cause, not of his country only, but of hisjace; not merely of St. Domuigo, but of the African con- How would it have cheered the gloom of that soHtarv H„n.^« ill Which thi, great man rewgned hi. gallant spirit, had he'bwn 313 assured that an arm more powerful than his own would shortly vindicate on his oppressor the rights of sufFerihg humanity I But could he also have foreseen that with that arm would be found a heart, the seat of every generous affection, a soul ennobled by every elevated sentiment, the unhappy hero would perhaps have lost the remembrance of all his sorrows, while he indulged the animating hope now cherished by every friend to the sacred cause — the hope that Alexander, the great and the good, having been guided by Providence to restore freedom, justice, and peace, to one continent, may, through his powerful influence, soon dispense the same blessings to another. I have the honor. Sire, to be, with profound respect, Your Imperial Majesty** most humble and obedient Servant, THE AUTHOR, ADVERTISEMENT. The History of Toussaint Louverture was published in 180S soon after the recommencement of the war with France, with a view chiefly to its probable influence on the minds of the lower classes of the English readers. It was designed to counteract the false impressions which many of them had received of the character of Buonaparte ; to exhibit him, not as friendly, but irreconcileably hostile, to the freedom of the laboring poor, and to enlist their best feelings against that dangerous enemy of their country, as a monster of perfidy, cruelty, and baseness. ^ The style was therefore accommodated, as much as possible. to their understandings and taste ; but nothing was asserted in it as fact, which the Author did not believe to be substantially true. Subsequent information has indeed induced him to doubt the correctness of a few subordinate circumstances stated in this little narrative : such as the place in which the illustrious African was seized by the order of Leclerc, and the manner of the crime : but with these exceptions, the relation is, as he believes, strictly con- sonant to fact; and its truth can be in a great measure demon- strated by a careful comparison of the French official accounts with each oUier, or by more authentic documents. He has, therefore, thought it expedient not to alter the original form of the work, except by omitting many familiar expressions and allusions which might offend the taste of his polite readers • *na oome passages and terms, wliich, in the altered state of our 315 relations with France, could not now be used without impro- priety. With these corrections, the Author has been induced again to offer this work to the notice of the public, under a persuasion that its subject will excite new interest, when the obdurate resolution of France to renew her Slave Trade, excites the afflicting expec- tation of another attempt to reduce St. Domingo to its former state of slavery. That in this attempt the amiable and respectable Monarch who now fills the throne of France has not contemplated a renewal of the horrors by which the former expedition was cha- racterized, it is but justice to his character to suppose. There is, however, too much reason to fear, that by whatever delusion it may have been prompted, that odious enterprise h; '>een resolved on : and in assisting the public to judge of the probable conse- quences, the present publication may perhaps not be without its use. THE HISTORY or TOUSSAINT LOUVEETURE* It is not certain where Toussaint was bom. Some say he was n tlZf^tn : '"k '^ '°i ^'' ^'^ ''""^ ^^^^ » ^^' *»^^'« "e no slaves n^ that country, but what are made such for the purpose of being •old to traders. I mchne to think the honor of giving birth to thS great man belongs to St. Domingo, but will not stip to give my IT)Ta ?»,^^tP°'"» •« "°^ °f '""ch consequence ; it is agreed on all hands that he was m a state of slavery, and that he owed Z freedom to the revolution, which took Jlace in that island Tn the We have no distinct account of the conduct of Toussaint while Jle TnH ;, "'^ ''^'\ '°"''"^^ '^'' ^' ^'^ '^^^' ^onJ hum! Die, and mdustnous, because it is certain that he was a favorite with h,s master, which without possessing those good qualities! especially the two latter, i„ a high degree/no slave^could^ssibly . aT. f tK " f"" ^''"y """'" '^^' ^^ ^*« ^ g°od husband, and a good father-, for u appears that he had. in opposition ti the relaxed system of morality prevalent in that country, early joined himself to one woman, by whom he had severa/childr^C the Objects of h,s tender affection ; and we shall find that the mother contmucd to hve with him when they were both advanced in years Wd to share with h.m all the dangers -and hardships of war, down to the time when he fell into the hf nds of hi., tr.nrh.rn..e .«'\rl^?. enemies, and was sent to perish in one of Buonaparte's dungeon^^ 317 Toussaint, by the uncommon kindness of his master, or as som* say, by his own unassisted pains, k-arncd to road and -Jvrite ; and it appears from his letters and other writings, as well as from his wise conduct, that he made good use of these talents. He proba- bly owed to them, in a great measure, the power which he after- wards obtained over the minds of his poor ignorant countrymen 9 and this, when we find to what good purposes he used his power, will seem an instance of God's gracious Providence ; for not one Negro slave in ten thousand has the same advantage. This great man was also prepared ior public life by a good quality more important than all others put together : he was a de- vout man, and a sincere disciple of Christ. His vile oppressors have called this good man's religion hypo- crisy i but it is not to those impious men who profess themselves Mahometans in Turkish countries, that we shall trust for the cha- racters of Christians. They were bound to revile his noble heart before they basely destroyed him, and they had no course left to take with his known piety, butto give it that odious name. Tous- saint had nothing to gain but the favor of God, by openly giving him glory ; for his Negroes had been taught little religion, and the people of France who had sided with them, were for the most part sworn foes to Christianity. Though we do not know much of Toussaint's private life before the war, I suppose it was spent in a pious, as well as a moral way. It is not likely that he became religious all at once when he became a soldier. He worshipped God no doubt in private and in church, when able to go there j and as he added to faith, uprightness, and purity of life, he was chosen by Providence to be a leader and deliverer of his brethren. «* Him -jcho honors me,'* says the Al- mighty, « / will honor." It is happy for any people, when such persons arc raised to public stations. In every place *.^v. true staunch friends of liberty, and of the poor, must be sought i.jc among those who fear God. Toussaint had certainly passed the age of forty, and was pro- bably at least forty-eight, when the great revolution took place in St. Domingo. It is too well known that much bloodshed attended that change. The white people first provoked a quarrel with the Mulattoes and free blacks, and in a bloody civil war that followed between those parties, the slaves threw off the yoke of private bondage. It is no part of my plan to »ferite the history of the revolution in St. Pomingo, or of the wars tliat iollowed it. I know nothing that is to be learnt from the civil wars of that island, but what every weli-informed man knows already ; I mean the dreadful effects of West India slavery upon the minds, both of the master No. Vni. ram. Vol. IV. md Ae •lave. I will only obicrve, that if the wurs were carried on m a verv barbarous u.,y. the white colonists were not at all behind the blacks m cruelty j and what is more, first set then, the example of u. It .s truly shocking to hear of the horrid manner in which those white savage-, put their prisoners to death, t the beginning of the war. ' The bitterest enemies of Toussaint have confessed that he had no share in these crimes. This has never been denied by his ene- miesj and to show how clear his innocence is, I will here quoie the words of an author who in one of his bitterest defamers. Slon- •leur Dubroca, who was employed by Buonaparte's government to •lander the unfortunate Toussaint, in a libel called his Life, pub- iished at Paris whUe they were offering rewards for his head at St. Uommgo, thus writes : " Far from taking any part in the move- ments that preceded the insurrection of the Negroes, he seemed determmed to keep aloof from all the intrigue and violence of the times ; and certain it is, that history has not to reproach him with AqI^m'V'^^u"^ '" '^f. ""^'''"^'^ °^ '^^ ^^'^^" People in August i7Bl. Ihisunwdhng justice ought to have been extended to the whole term of the wars in which he afterwards engaged, du- -Hng which not a single act of cruelty can be alleged against him. Toussaint first rose to notice when the fury of the strucrele .between master and slave was over i and his first labors were to , ' It would swell this pamphlet to a bulk too laree, and too cosily, were T fJO.general togive quutanons in proof of the facts related; but a chiae likr .this seems to cull for an authority ; I therefore cite as an instance 5f such ^^'%*y an account given by an eye witness, the late Mr. Bryan Edward. 'Two of these unhappy nun suflertd in this manner under the window of the authors lodgings at Ca,>e Franyois, on the 28th of Sept. U9i " ,:i he author then describes the breaking of two Negroes alive u Don the wheel ; the JYench mob would not suffer the executioner to put the torUired • yrc-tches out of tl,cir pain as usual, by a blow upon the stomach ; but arter he ha.1 shown that mercy to tf.e hr.t, forced bun t-. stop when he was pro- peedmg to disi>atch U.e second. *• The misemble wretch with liis broken Juubb doubled up, waa put on a cart wheel," &c:. " At the end of 40 minute* ,_some English seamen, who were spectators of the tragedy, stranded hira' IL'^'Tut'uf'^'' ^'V''^ ''P"^*^"^'' (many of them per8ons%f fas" ion, who beheld the scene from U.e windows of Uieir upper apartment sVit .Rrieves me to say, that they looj^ed on with the most perfect compoMire ,,und sangfroid. Son.e ol the ladies, as I was ol.l, even ridiculed S a good deal of unseemly mirth, the sympathy shown by the English at th« suftenngs of the wretched criminaJ.."_Edwards' Hist, of St.Son?iol^ chap. VI Note on page 73. ^uu.«ugo, • hit is proper U> remark here, that Mr. Edwards was himself a West Indian and a great enemy to Negro freedom and the aboliUon of Uic alave.trade. "". pwyrvc*'^ i^ic of Tuussamt, p. 5. 319 protect the white people, who were now in their turn the feeble and oppressed party, from the revenge of his brethren. During the first troubles of the island, our hero appears to have remained Huietly at home in his master's service. Perhaps he expected a peaceable change of the state of his brethren from the French Convention ; or perhaps he was too pious and humane to join in the means by which the rest broke the galling chains of their pri- vate bondage, though he might see no other way of deliverance. Certain it is, that he was no enemy to the grand cause of general freedom \ as might be proved, not only from the great sacnficea he has since m;: le to it, but from the confidence that was soon after reposed in him by the Negroes at large. It is . robable that he was led to remain so long inactive in the war, not only from the mildness and piety of his disposition, but from aiFection and gratitude to his master ; and that these motives bt;ing generally known, helped, as virtue will always do in the main, to gain him confidence and support when he entered on public life. By the word master we are not here to understand his ow^er, who, as usual with West India planters, lived in Europe ; but the overseer or bailifF of the estate, whose name, I think, was Bayou de Libertas. By this gentleman, he was treated with kindness, and was, a little before the time we are speaking of, raised to a post of no small dignity. My readers may be inclined to smile, but I can assure them that field Negroes would have no feeling less serioui than envy, on hearing that Toussaint was actually promoted to the place of postilion. On our hero's first rising to power among the Negroes, hp gave to this master one very pleasing earnest of his iuture character^ which it would be wrong to pass over in silence. The white peo- ple, especially the planters, were so odious, both from their for* mer tyranny, and the blood they had cruelly shed in the struggle to preserve their power, tliat the Negroes, when they gained the ascendant, were disposed to give them no quarter, and happy, were those at^^ong them who could escape from the island, though it were to go with their families into a foreign country without any. means of subsistence. The master of Toussaint, now his master no more, was one of the unfortunate planters who, not having escaped in good time, was on the point of falling into the hands of the enraged Negroes, and would in that event certainly have been put to death j but his former kindness to Toussaint was not forgotten. Our hero, at the great risk of bringing the vengeance, of the multitude on his own head, delivered his unhappy master privately out of their hands, and sent him on board a ship bound for America, then lying in the harbour. Nor was this all ', he wat not seat away without the means of subsistence •, for thii brave 320 and generous Negro found means to put on board secretly for his use a great many hogsheads of sugar, in order to support him in his exile till the same grateful hatids should be able to send him a larger supply. Let this story redden the cheeks of those, who are wicked and foolish enough to say that Negroes have no gratitude. Small is the debt of gratitude which their best treatment under the iron yoke of "West India slavery can create ; but i noble mind will not scrupulously weigh the claims of gratitude or mercy. Toussaint looked less at the wrong of keeping him in a brutal slavery, than to the kindness which had lightened his chain : and M. Layou was happy enough to find in a freed Negro, a higher pitch of vir- tue than is often to be found among the natives of Europe. This great man was not long in pubUc life, before he became the chief leader of the Blacks. In their war with the planters they had many other generals, and some of great note, such as Bwssou, BouJcmanty and Jean Frangois, all Negroes, and very brave ones. These were famous before Toussaint's name was heard of, but he soon put them all down ; not in the Jacobin way, by cuttmg their heads off, or sending them prisoners to a distant and pestilent country, but as a tall stately tree puts down the weeds and brush- wood in its growth, by fairly rising above, and casting a shadow over them. He soon found no equal, witliout having once de- stroyed a superior or a rival. Toussaint seems to have risen by degrees till he came to the chief command, by the growing love and esteem of the people, founded on h's good quahties, which unfolded themselves more and more as his power increased. He did not flatter the common people, or encourage them in their crimes, like Boukmant, Btassotty and the rest of their leaders. These chiefs, who were always urging them to revenge and slaughter, and telling them, perhaps, that their freedom was in danger so long as a White Man was suffered to live in the island, appeared at first to be their truest friends \ but Toussaint, who was always trying to teach them mercy, industry, and order, was ultimately found to be the man they could best depend upon ; and happy had it been for them had they always followed liis councils. This great man had uncommon gifts both of body and mind : i will mention some of them, and that I may be sure to do him no more than justice, they shall be taken mostly from the words of his enemies. Let us hear, for instance, the evidence of one of Buonaparte's hireUnc^ writers, before nnnti^A a* kov:*!.* »..k::»u>j _ ..:i_ j -i_ surd book to defame our hero in Paris, while the Consul was try- S21 ing to hunt him down in St. Domingo. Mark how much malice itself is obliged to confess in his favor. «< This celebrated Negro is of the middle stature ; he has a fine eye, and his glances are rapid and penetrating ; extremely sober by habit, his activity in the prosecution of his enterprises is incessant. He is an excellent horseman, and travels, on occasion, with incon- ceivable rapidity, arriving frequently at the end of his journey alone, or almost unattended ; his aid-de-camps and his domestics being unable to follow him in journeys which are often of 50 or 60 leagues. He sleeps generally in his clothes, and gives very little time either to repose or to his meals. All his acaons are covered with such a profound veil oj hypocrisyt that all who approach him are betrayed into an opinion of the purity of his intentions." The Marquis d'Hermona, that intelligent and distinguished Spanish officer, (who had served with our hero, and knew him intimately,) said of him : *^ If a heavenly being' 'were to descend upon earth, he could not inhabit ah. t more apparently good than that of Toussaint Loiiverture." I do not copy the abuse that is mixed up with this praise, nor the idle and absurd charges brought agdnst him by the same writer.* We must not stop to answer the slanderers of Toussaint, for we shall scarcely have time enough even for the best and short- est answer to them, the record of his noble actions. The same libeller acknowledges, that in appearance at least, piety is a ruling feature in the character of Toussaint. He reproaches him with being always attended by priests, and having had no less than three confessors. I wish France had no worse priests than those who shared with this good chief all the perils and hardships of war on the mountains of St. Domingo, in order that they might soften and mend the characters of a new people by the powerful influ- ence of religion. But Toussaint's religion, the French atheists tell us, was all hypocrisy ; so were his humanity, his moderation, his loyalty to the king, and afterwards, when the Convention had decreed free- dom to his race, his fidelity to the Republic ! Nay, his zeal for the cause of liberty itself, was all merely pretence and hypocri^.' The strange vileness of Toussaint's hypocrisy consisted in this, that he all along was good in deeds as well as words. So deep was Toussaint's hypocrisy, that the great Consul himself, though si messenger from Heaven, « sent upon earth (as he tells us) fo 1 'VU'iB «vr»roocion in ihn nrifrlnnl l«i much of impiety to be qiiutcd. * Dubroca. much strons'Tt but it savours too 322 ■nstdrf brdei; equality, and justice," was nosslv derolv.^ i, i- for h. gave the highest praise, to our hero^own tolhl v ^^™i tot,„g a price upon his'^head, and onlyCndout hisr ^'^"^ when resolved upon p„„i„g him ,o deL The truA \l^T} all the many virtues of Toussaint, his probity was the mil'- ^■ guished. It was quite a proverb 3mouzomoZ„K^ most distm- omedon war ag.inst him, and amonl "he Thi^ inT'l ^^° '°''? St Dommgcthat Toussaint neuriJeZ^a^^ '"''''"'""" "' There cannot be a better proof that he possessed »n^ A i. this fame, than the reliance which wis nl^T ^ deserved the nicest cases by those « J t„, I- "^ u ™ •"' P™n"ses in falsehood would hive C fitil ,„! l""- ^"' =""' '° '^''°" '«» the exiled French ^ta^stV mere ams'd'r™" '"'', "'=" return from North Lerica, and Z other places of ll?''' '" receivmg his promise to protect them. It is Jn.^n n ■«"' "" that not one of them ever found L..Z ■ u- ^ "y *''" ""lown, »uch confidence ""'' '" '"^ "»''''« '» ■■'•■p™t of how f" ToLs:i;u"rfs:::?ed t" • °'?'',"'']^^ "■" »"- '<> 'How how good a grace the Kt ^ ^"""P'" "' E"""* '=«•>, and with Iti weil\„;Vn t^^rhe SeTlnl""r"''™.''''P~^''X- Maitland. the British commander! fef \r*lt'\ '^™"^' was to be evacuated by our trwm T,T ' ^ """^ *« '='"■"' the end of the war. On tl ror^.' u '" """''" "«>""' to Maitland a. his head <,uaLr ' andTeVnLr' 'h-=" ^^""^' some points personallj with him bef^: olr oo' s'f'I '° ^l' returned the v,s,t at Toussainf. camp in the coun ' " '"''^"■''• So well was his character known, that .h?K 7', not scruple to go to him with on^two „ ,ht,l; 'i' ^'"T' ^'"^ It was at a considerable distance frnm V "^ndants, though to pass through a county uTl^fTeiroerwh""/* . "'' *■' '''' been his mortal enemies The cL\w3 ' r° ?■''' "^V '^"''y public, however, did not think so wcnortT;!,"' '''' FT'^ «^- ous chief. It is verv natural fl ■ i j ''°'""' "' 'his virtu- mankind, and the jJcobin L? T^"^ """ '" *'"'' ^adly of bloody aid trea heroi wL worthts'lTK"^""^ "'™ '"""'^ hold h,m cheap if found oT^oS 7.T' '" *""" P"''^'"/ Commf.slo",tr.™hZhr,tiItiiu^:V ""^T J--, the French portunity ,0 make ht' riLn nl.e'^Sorfv;:^::/ ° f"* """ loussaintjbegcinjrhim a«!Kp«,.! . '"^reiore wrote a letter to 323 »?arning him not to tj . .umself into the Negro general's power 5 but the known charat v of Toussaint made the British general still rely upon his honor : besides, the good of his Majesty's ser- vice required at that period, that confidence should be placed in this great man, though even at some risk ; and General Maitland , therefore bravely and wisely determined to proceed. When they arrived at Toussaint's head quarters, he was not to be seen. Our general was desired to wait, and after much delay the Negro chief still did not appear. General Maitland's mind ; began to misgive him, as was natural upon a reception seemingly so uncivil, and so conformable to the warning he had received. But at length Toussaint entered the room with two letters open in his hand: "There, general," (said the upright chief,) "read these before we talk together j the one is a letter just received from Roumey and the other my answer. I would not come to you, till I had written my answer to him j that you may see how safe you are with me, and how incapable I am of baseness." General Maitland read the letters, and found the one an artful attempt to excite Toussaint to seize his guest, as an act of duty to the Re- public i the other, a noble and indignant refusal. « VV hat, said Toussaint, " have I not passed my word to the British general i How then can you suppose that I will cover myself with dishonor, by breaking it ? His reliance on my good faith leads him to put himself in my power, and I should.be for ever infamous, were I to act as you advise. I am faithfully devoted to the Republic, but will not serve it at the expense of my conscience and my honor. It is not strange that with such virtues, and such talents, our, h^ro should win the hearts of the Negroes, and soon become their, favorite leader. He did so to such a degree, that their first, famous chiefs were soon forgot ; and except Rtgaud, a brave and; active Mulatto, leader in the south of the island, we afterwards, heard nothing of any general of the Blacks but Toussaint Louver-, ture. Risaud was also a very able man ; but not a man ot prin-, ciple, like Toussaint : he however pretended to be a much more, zealous friend of freedoir. t^.n the other leaders i and distin- guished himself by his rage against the planters and the English. ^ By dint of his violence, he passed for a devoted friend of .the causei^^ and long kept himself at the head of a large party, whom he per-, suaded that Toussaint was not so trust- worthy as himself ; but he. was at last forced to yield to that great man's superior merit, and was driven from the island, because while there, he was con-, tinually disturbing the public peace. ^ _ ^ u»^...«-« ^u- When Toussaint first rose to power, tne ^^f %""\-^i;;"^ Blacks aud their formtr owners w:iiicnd?d, and the trench Lorn- 324 missloners, who then, attempted to covern thp Td.^j i ■edged .ho :..ed„™of the nVoc, S"p" o^L ' o"tit™r But another civil war arose, and was nrri^H «,. '"/tamtam it. between the party of the delhro^tdXrcH I tgT a^! fc/Sir toord"r- . '" /^'^ '^'' ^^^^°^^^' - ^^" =^« ^eWht People took different sides anions themselves anrl w,.r« u *^^?P'^» equally divided. ^ "lemseivos, and were perhaps about Toussaint, who knew that his brethren owed the Conv^nfJnn no Aanks for their freedom, was naturally found on the saT de with loyalty, generosity, and religion ; and by the aid of Lt courage and talents, the cause of royalty was soon is\ri,?^nK . ' St Domingo, as it had proved uns^ccJssful fn^E opT" Fo^'hls great services m this war, he received from tJie kin^of Snain a admitted a kn.ght of the ancient Military Orders of that countrv? so at least his enemies assert. country i But events arose, which made it impossible for Toussaint as a w..e man and a true patriot, longer toVefuse his adherence^o the existing government of France! The c.usp nf IT u u • for their object, however friendly to French royalty, ^certainW adverse to Negro freedom ; and it was less for the sake of ^^^7 .ng the sceptre of France to the Bourbons, than t Aat of .ecove " ing the .rcn sceptres of their own plantations, that most of XJl iiion desired to have the British flag flyine it St nZ 1 .if were staunch royalists then for tho^lTi: „t *"? m"fe,~.& now staunch friea. s to a Corsican mum^r -rl • ■ . and saw that he must eithVlate^Xwitl^r F« ,^01'' missioners or engage himself on the same side with forelr^' Ws "ce"F:r".he^'".'T *''° -'" '^""^ f"""" * Sy of X" to .W J c^^wrrhet^T' T"'''"' ">«- iracItnow,edge''the a^Zritj; o^^ Conlt"''' '^™'"'"'''' -<» in hi, plans fo^ the public goodty teTlly alfwtitdTesro^^ persons in authority in the mother r^^nt^- ^'CKedness ot the The Committers, Directors, and oi'e'r succesaive Rulers of 325 France from time to time, sent commissioners to the island ; and these men were as fond of plunder and confiscation in the West Indies, as tlieir masters were in Europe. Every man who had property to forfeit, was sure to be cried down as a traitor. But happily in St. Domingo there was such a mind to check them a& that of the generous Toussaint. This great man conducted him- self with so much prudence, as, without giving offence to the French government, to make its commissioners mere cyphers. He suffered nobody to injure or insult them, and obliged every one to treat their office with respect, and yet left them no power, because he found they would only use it for purposes of cruelty and mis- chief. He protected the planters from the commissioners, and both from the natural jealousy of the Negroes. The French government more than once recalled its commision- ers, and sent out new ones j but the case was still the same. There were among them very able men, but Toussaint was an overmatch for them all. They were obliged to leave in his abler hands all the actual power, and to lean on him for protection. More tlian once his power and credit wirh the Negroes saved these men from destruction. General Laveaux in particular once clearly owed his life to our hero, and publicly acknowledged the debt. Laveaux was at that time commander-in-chief for France ; and the Negroes of Cape Francois, suspecting him of a plot against their freedom, rose against him, threw him mto prison, and were preparing to put him to death, when Toussaint, with a band of faithful followers, marched into the town and delivered him out of their hands. General Laveaux was on this occasion so struck with the conduct and talents of Toussaint, that he did not scruple to de- clare, in a public letter, his resolution to take no measure in future in the goverimient of the island, without that great man's advice and consent. The French government could not but see that its authority in the colony depended wholly on the will of this noblo African, yet was long foolish enough to attempt to govern there by other agents, till at length, in Marclj 1797, they sent him a commission, declaring him general in chief of the armies of St. Domingo. This commission he held under the express confirmation of Buonaparte, till Leclerc, fatally for France, and for himself, was sent out to supersede and betray this faithful servant of the republic. It was a great mercy to many unfortunate white people who re- mained on the island, that a man like Toussaint possessed the chief power. He protected them from being massacred, and restored them to the property of which they had been deprived. When he found himself strong enough, and so well known to his followers 326 tt not to be afraid of slander, he even invited the bani=hed planter* to retnrn from America, and other places to which they had fled There was one kind of property, however, for which our hero ^.rl^ '. ^ r '^.'' '''^ P'""^^''^ ^^^« ^^st"red to their InAlll Ik "" m """^ ^' ""^^^stood, Uiat they were allowed to buy. «nd sell their Negroes as formerly. * .Kn^u *""' '^!^ '^^- ^'^'° "'^'^^ '^'"'^ '* reasonable, that the master* should work their poor laborers as much, whip them as m ch! has h^n ^^^'",^^(•"'^' '' V^^y thought fit. In these opinions there has been a wide difference between him and the Chief Consul ; and the difference has cost Toussaint his life, and France the islaiKl of Ot. IJommgo. Our hero however acted up to these sentiment and therefore obliged the planters to put sucf of the^form Xe^ as chose to work for them, on the footing of hired servants. And here I must notice the greatest difficulty which Toussaint- had to struggle wth in his labors for the public good. The cruel JelrJTh"''^"',"^ t"'"^' "^^"^^"y "^^"^^ ^he poor negroel regard the.r agricultural work with incurable dislike!^ Tousiint took unwearied pains to remove this difficulty, and to restore the tallage of the soil, upon which, under God, he knew that the h"n! piness of every country chiefly depends. To this end, he eL couraged the laborers by giving them a third part of the crops ^r their wages i a large compensation, in a country where sugir and coffee are the due f productions. He also made laws to Restrain dleness, and oblige people to labor upon fair terms for their oZ Ifa generil ' '"^ " '^"'" ''^'' ^' '"^^^ "^'^ °^ »»i ' P°^^" Some people have found fault with him, because he did not HT.^n^ !k'T ^uT ^°' '?;^' P^^'P^^"' '''''^'^ of the military; but m truth he had no civJ power to employ. People in this happy land are apt to forget, that laws, and magislrates, and public happiness, with the utmost possible regard to the liberty of the subject, are blessings that grow with the oak, and not with the mushroom. Human wisdom can no more .nake them on a sudden, or renew them in a moment when madly destroyed, than 1 oussamt and his Negroes, they had every thing which belongs to Civil life to learn. In their former state they could know nothing Vl It ; tor a slave nia nn omm*... . ..L- I .1. r 1 • ..." law, and the overseer is both judge and jury : tlie driver ia botk 327 constable and beadle, as well as carman to the human cattle. During the war, there was no place for any but military institu- tions } and Toussaint therefore, when it was necessary to enforce laws for the public good, had no officers of civil justice to whom he could resort. It is true that, for these reasons, he was obliged so far to disgrace the idle and disorderly Negroes, as to put them upon the same footing with the present free French republicans. The only differ- ence between his government in this respect and Buonaparte's was, that Toussaint had no dungeons, no sickly deserts of exile, nor any other organ of injustice or oppression. He put the idle vagrant, and the deserter, upon the same footing j and they were equally liable to be punished after a fair trial by a court martial ; but so mild were his punishments, that the severest one for a laborer was the being obliged to enlist as a soldier. There is one great branch of Toussaint's services to Franc?, upon which an Englishman cannot like to enlarge. It is too well known what great pains we long took during the last war, to conquer St. Domingo, How much money, as well as how many valuable lives, the attempt cost us, it would not be easy lO compute. There is nothing in the conduct of our brave soldiers in that field, but what does them honor, yet I choose to be silent as to that un- happy attempt, and shall only say, that Toussaint, through the whole of the long contest with our army, acted so as to win the admiration of his enemies, as well as the praise of his ungrateful country. Here I shall beg leave again to quote from the words of the Consul's champion, Dubroca. " His coftduct, during the warmth the Englishi was brilliant and without stain^ and that epoch of his life would be truly great y if the services he rendered the republic at tliat time had not been like all that preceded^ subservient to his onion ambition!* That a defender of the Consul durst venture to speak of ambition as a crime, is strange, but perhaps the only guilty am- bition, in Buonaparte's judgment, is that which aims to promote liberty and social happiness. I pass to the evacuation of the towns and forts of the island by his majesty's troops. Here the French assassins of Toussaint make their chief stand against him. " He suffered the English to escape," say they, « on too easy terms, and his conduct upon this occasion was treachery to the republic." How happens it that Toussaint's treachery was not found out in France a little sooner ? The terms of the convention between our commanders and him were no secret ; and yet down to the mo- ment of General Leclerc's attack upon this brave man in the field* I I 328 '7d" r-;' ^Ii^:J''"^' 8-""-" « one of i. „„, faithfu. point of T^uW , ract''""o ,:r;':' 'T'"" ?"" *■» honoUhe\^li^n^^^^^ "'-'» ^nd restored to comer ^ '^'' ^^'''^'^ ^^ ^'^> y^-^" ^'/'o/« «// M/«^, After composing encomiums like tliese, and even Drinf;n.r .K« against him on accolr„f T ^ ""''^'Mhave lately brought jfaitland, Tnd he con" utio^l mT' T"'"'"'' *i"> General DomingowithX^coZntof J. 1^' "forwards framed for St. though'^it wouldbe e „ to sCl^n'^'r^ ""^ P™P'= > f°' &o^mgoa'nTor^;atr:S;^^^^^^^^^ dow/to theVriod o?I,ec,erc-Xvaln '''"'' "«"'"" *"" ''""' Yet as to the constitution, I bei>- Icavo fr. n,u . r .i f.om,he same official letter of Buonaparte J "^^y/f"';" ,"''"' 'Mycu „ere place,!, .urromdcd on Ts^dcTh /n'L f""'"""' out the mother couiUru brim, «/,/, ,„ ■'' '^""'""> ""dwith. 1 he restoring the public worshin nf rr.A a knew to be tlie corner stones of .nXl.rJll''^'''^ ^^"^^ .^^ • Dispatches of Lcdcrc of February 9. Monitcur of March 0,, ,300 329 in his attempts to reform abuses ; especially to set the Idle to work, and by these and other means to improve the culture of the soil, and encourage that foreign commerce, which is so necessary to a West India island. It is truly wonderful to think how much toil he must have gone through, even in the little we know of his public labors j for he had still, from the pcrverseness of Rigaud's party, a new insurrection to quell, and had to obtain possession of the Spanish part of that large island lately ceded to France, which the Spanish governor, upon various pretences, and perhaps by the secret request of the French government, long withheld. But at length the.genius and activity of our hero triumphed overall obstacles; and before peace was concluded between this country and France, every part of St. Domingo was in quiet submission to his authority, and rapidly im- proving in wealth and happiness under his wise administration. So rapid was the progress of agriculture, that it was a fact, though Tiot believed at the time in England, that the island already produced, or promised to yield in the next crop, one third part at least of as large returns of sugar and coffee as it had ever given in its most prosperous days. This, considering all the ravages of a ten years' war, and the great scarcity of all necessary supplies from abroad, is very surprising, yet has since clearly appeared to be true. But what V IS of far more consequence, this great and growing produce was obtahied without the miseries, the weakness, or dan- gers of West India slavery. Men were obliged to work, but it was in a moderate manner, for fair wages ; and they were for the most part at liberty to choose their own master. The plantation Negroes M'ere therefore in general, contented, healthful, and happy. A still more happy effect had arisen from the new state of things ; a blessing of the greatest importance to France, if she had not been mad enough to take the wicked measures of which I shall soon have to speak ; and not to France only, but to Africa, and to hu- man nature. The effect I speak or was, a lai'ge increase in the rising generation of Negroes^ instead of that dreadful falling off which is always found in a colony of Slaves. •' My readers may be surprised at this fact, especially if they have ever met with any of those false and idle accounts which have been published, to persuade us that the loss of life among the island Negroes does not arise from oppression. « What !" it may be said, « can the young and infant Negroes of St. Domingo have Increased by natural means since the revolution, in spite of perpet- ual war, foreign and civil, of frequent massacres, and of all the TVc5iti.\j mIr^i li t i^jv I t\. ■> TvlstViiit ^ltniii»H ^.TT\^it^- jvtttv, i ' »» t v iiiiivtt vi'*^** that hapless and devoted Island ? How can this be, when in Ja- maica, and other West India Islands, in the midst of peace anrf 330 plenty the same race of people are alway.idcclir.ingm number* so that population can only be kept up by the Slave 'Lae ?" ^ I leave the defenders of slavery and the Slave Trade to answer the quesfon. I will only offer foV their help the opinion of a n/r' «>n whose judgment and impartiality they ^.ll rea^dily admi ^ TrZhc7 "" ^T''''' ^^^'""^^' ^°""^^'y Minister of the r '. Malouet published a book last year at Parir.. in which he it ^mpts to justify the Consul for reinslaving thi Negroes in tt West Indies ; yet thus he writes of the state of Negro^opulation NUM«P»T"^''^ "^"-"^ ACCOUNTS ANNOUNCE A MUCH GREATER X^r«n?c. ''''''''''^ ^^'^ "5^ MORTALITY AMONG THE LITTLE WH^rM ., 7"'''' ''"^^^ """^^ ""^'^^^ '^'"'^ REVOLUTION; WITH r m fr'""'' ■^'^ "^"^ ABSOLUTE REST WHICH WOMEN BIG |VITH CHILD ENJOY, AND TO A LESS DEGREE OF LABOR ON THE FART OP THE NEGROES."» Such, then, were the happy prospects at St. Domingo, when the p^ace with England unchained the French navy, and left th. Con- whj!!L i;"fi^ *"" ''7^ 'u. '^' "^'^ ^"^^^ '^' '"^^^ scourge with Which his fierce and ambitious temper had long afflicted the old. As soon as peace was concluded with England, the French Con- vLrTw^K ' ^""' '? St Domingo, commanded by Admiral Villaret, with an army of at least 20,000 men. At the head of the army was placed General Leclerc, tlie Consul's b other-in-law, assisted by several Generals of great note, particularly Rocham- b^au, well known m the West Indies for his attachment to the cause of slavery. In this expedition the main object of Buonaparte was to wrest from the Negroes their newly-acquired freedom,\nd w« K""/?r '° '^''' ^'''"T"' ''''' °^ ''''''''^' i ^"d «o confident was he of the attainment of this object, that lie sent over his bro- whLT""" ""aI '' ^^^'^^"^^nt, that he might pluck the laurels, which It seemed destined to acquire. The consul did not however reJy on force alone for the accomplishment of his purpose. He- was aware of the importance of securing the co-operation of Tous- •aint, and was determined if possible to win him over. As our hero, however, had already the principal authority in St. Domingo, and had long bet-n commander in chief and governor there, by commission from the government of France, Buonaparte trJ'rv^l*[l*"'^ ""*""'"'' "I" ^°" '■"".'^ account for there being, on the con. cSi^. Sh;.n"";'!^'^' ""'''■ V^' r'^SeH of di.easef:,.sual in sL tolonu., hod been added, not a man fit to bear amis could have been left. ducUoo*,^7.l2.^''*'^''"'" '^"* ■^^'^'''"^' *"^ J^* ColoxVi^s, Toiue IV. Intr»- 331 felt that the honor* and rewards he had to oiTcr, might perhaps not be a suHicient irice to the Negro general, for treachery to his brethren. He i>.erefore devised an expedient more likely to en- snare this groat man's feolings •, and ths was to put his two be- loved sons on board the Hect, as hostages for the lather's conduct. These youths had been sent by Toussaint to France for their edu- cation, lie had trusted then-* to French honor and gratitude*, and it would move the coldest hearts to read the letter in which he anx* iously recommended them to the care and protection of the govern- ment. At every line one might imagine the fond father's teart dropping on the paper i nor is its piety loss striking than its tender- ness, for the chief request made in the letter was that they might be brought up in the fear of God, and the knowledge of religion. Unfortunate Toussaint ! Tittle did he then know to what keeping he consigned them ! To take these youths from tlieir studies, and send them out to inveigle their fatlier, was the project of Napoleon. He has no children, or his heart, cold and hard though it is, might have checked him in so vile a purpose. To feel its baseness fully, a fact should be known, which is true beyond all reach of doubt, though this is not the place for its proof, that if Toussaint had yielded to the temptation, it would have been immediately fatal to him j the fixed design in that case was to tear him in a few days from ihese dear- bought children, and put him to death. The Consul had fully re- solved, that when he should have got the chiefs of the free Negroes in the West Indies into his power, either by force or fraud, they »hould not live to oppose his tyranny in future } witness his treat- ment of Pelage, the Toussaint of Guadaloupe, who joined the Frer'.ch General Richepanse, and by prodigies of valor at the head of his black troops, reduced the island to submission, relying upon the solemn promises of the Consul to maintain the general freedom of the blacks ; yet his reward was to be seized by surprise, with all his brave oflicers, and either sold as slaves for the Spanish mines in Peru, or, as is more probable, drowned at sea. Certain it is, they were carried by shiploads to sea, stowed like sheep in a pen, and heard of no more. But the history of the Consul's un- parallelled wickedness at Guadaloupe may be the subject of a sep* arate book. Strong though Buonaparte's hopes were, of succeedmg by thesf virtuous m«ans at St. Domingo, and making of Toussaint, first 9 vile instrument of his tyranny, and afterwards its certain victim, he was resolved to have other expedients in reserve. He took extreme pains, therefore, and with too much success, to take the Negro chief unawares, so that if found faithful, and clear-sigiiteu in the cause of freedpmj be might be the more easily crushed hf arns. 332 To rhi« e d, ffi« Consul loudly profcMSCtl for our hefo and In* NcKToes, f^^ 'tn a a(linir.ifu)j., gratitude, and esteem, mtoIc him iurrrs fuU ^ „^ ,cs and pici/iis.-j, and confinned the commission ofcc«»Maandcr inv 'of which he held under the luit and former govemmenrs of Frauce. Far from avowing himself an enemy to rhe liberty of ihc Negroes, this hypocrite pr<1 ended to be as fond tit It as i ussamt InmscH He went so far as to lay before ono of th* pgtblic bodies in France, affor the peace, and to publish in his gazetwij « r'an which he pretenderf to have formed for the government of . he French colonics, in wii.ch he solemnly declared, that the trccdom of tiic Negroes should be maintained in every colony wherein it then existed i and excused himself for not im- mediately putting on the same footing, the slaves of Martinique and other places just restored to him by the peace, on account of the gi-oat and unavoidable evils of sucli a sudden revolution. " li leottld cost too much" said this matchless impostor, « to humanitu /" To the same deceitful ends, he kept on foot that law of the republic, by which the Negroes were all solemnly declared to be tree French citizens. Nor did he revoke tliis solemn law, confirmed by his own constitution, and paid for by the West India Negroes by the most essential services to the republic, till full three months after he had publicly avowed to the British admiral at 'amaica, that his expedition was sent out to restore the old system of bondage, and had begun accordingly to murder the Negroes by thousands and ten thousands, in hot blood, and in cold, for not submitting to become slaves again, at his own imperious bidding. Toussaint, then, was the more easily deceived, by supposing that in addition to every principle of honor, justice, gratitude and mercy, that can bind a nation, he had some security in the laws of the republic, and in the Consul's own constitution, as confirmed by his solemn oath. But, lest the news of the great armaments that were preparing, should, in %^ite of all this, put the Negro chief on his guard, means were found to deceive him grossly, both as to the amount of the force, and its destination. We are not yet informed w> ii artft were used for this purpose : but certain ; is, that Toussaint *«v- pected only such a squadron and such a body of troop >; ?lifc French government might naturally send in time of peace, for the use of a loyal colony. He supposed them to come only with friendly views and by proclamation enjoined the Negroes to receive them v 'K affection, confidence, and respect. He made no preparation w^'af\ > • w uJtncCy not even so much as to give the necessary orde v i: hi' . ubordiiiate generals who commanded on tjjc tOwJiS on tlf- ; ., t. Such a t kiitagc had rhe Coiisul from his frauds \ as if on j>urpcse to show in tlie event, how impossible it is 333 to bring bick froe men to c.irt-^lup slavery, and to maWo the folly of the |)urpo9e, as glaring, if pn ole, as its baseness. While Toussaint was working ni„'ht and diy for the goo 1 of France, by restoring with all his might the tillage of her richest colony, the French fleet and army were stealing over the sea to destroy him and his useful labors. They at kiigth arrived, and it might be supposed perhaps that the first step of G.'rieral Leclerc was to send notice of his arrival to the 1 wful governor ol the isl;ind, wiiom he was sent to succeed, and deniat' 1 peaceable pos- session of the town and forts in which he meant to quarter his forces. No such thing. General Leclerc went to work exactly lik^ an invading enemy in time of war, though he had the modesty aff( -wards tu complain, that he was not received as a friend The m aiein he saw the coast of St. Domini^o. he broke his force in three divisions, which fell like a sky-rocket, as nearly as possible at the same time, on the three principal towns of the island. Nothing could be better contrived. At Fort Duuphin, where General Rochambeau arrived with the first division of the army before the two others could get round ^o their points of attack, the troops were instantly landed. No su n- mons was sent to give the poor wondering colonists a chance cf saving their lives by submission. The troops were drawn up in battle array, on the beach. The Negroes ran down in crowds Uj behold so strange a sight, and before they had any notice of what w:i2 designed against them, they were charged with the bayonet and routed with the loss of many innocent lives. So horrible a proceeding might not be believed, if it came from any other authors than th6 butchers themselves. It is true the Negroes are said to have called out " no white men," but if so, it only confirms the cruelty of so abrupt a proceeding : during ten years they had seen no white soldiers but enemies, bent on their destruc- tion. It is true also, that General Rochambeau says, he made " sigtis qf/raternUy to the blacks before he attacked them ; but these poor creatures were no doubt as much at a loss for the meaning of such pantomime mummery as of the invasion itself. The most ignorant inhabitants of Europe indeed know too well now what it signifies ; but the Negroes, not having seen this Jacobin free-masonry before, could not know that signs of fraternity were sure forerunners of a massacre, till the bayonet reformed their ignorance. While by such means possession was obtained of Fort Dauphin, the main body of the fleet and army under Villaret and Leclerc were hastening round to the Cape. They arrived the next day, and instantly prepared to land and take possession of the town ; but Christopher the black gcnernl, who commanded at thi? import- No. VIII. Pani. Vol. IV. Z 334 ant p6st, having hcatd no doubt of the massacre at Fort DaupKIn bravely and loyally refused to sufl'er them to enter th^ harbour until he should receive orders from Toussaint. I say « loyally " for Touirsaint, who was his lawful superior, was absent in the interior country, and Christophe only demanded time to send to him and receive his commands. His rulFian enemies have railed at him for this, but every good olhccr will approve his conduct. Indeed they were so conscious that the refusal was proper, as to endeavour to excuse their own violence by a palpable lie. They pretended to suspect that Toussaint was really in or near the town, and that his absence was only a pretence to gain time, iliough the contrary i>. manifest from what it afterwards stated in their own gazettes. Tne truth is, they resolved to profit by Toussaint's absence, and therefore landed the troops by force, under cover of the ships, at the expense not only of many lives, but of the destruction of the town. They have violently abused the brave and faithful Christophe for setting fire to this place, which, in his feeble and unprepared state, deserted as he was by all the white inhabitants, it was impos- sible for him to defend. But he had repeatedly warned the inva- ders that he should fmd it his duty thus to act, if they persisted in forcing a landing, without giving him time to send to his com» mandcr-in-chief j and what reasonable man or good soldier will blame him for keeping his word .? What I was lie to leave these good quarters behind him for lawless invaders to lodge themselves m, and thereby the better effect their perfidious and bloody designs ? In the way they acted tliey were entitled to the same reception in St. Domingo, as I trust they would meet in England ; and were it necessary to burn Dover to prevent French invaders from fixing in it, I hope no English governor would scruple to kindle the fire. Another act, indeed, was half charged upon Christophe, which nothing could have excused. It was said in the first French ac- counts, that he had threatened to massacre the white inhabitants j and the Consul's gazette left it, with the usual fair dealing of that paper, to be supposed that this threat had been carried into effect. But the only voice which has been a'lowrd to speak from the bloody stage of St. Domingo, that of the French government itself, has since fully cleared the Negro chief from this suspicion. The inhabitants, to the amount of 2000, were tarried off indeed as hos- tages, but not a man was put to death. This is particularly worthy of remark, as it will soon be seen how opposite was the conduct of tnP rrpnt-Vt nri-nt' fVio rvniw o^..»^»^ '.^ 4-Ul^ . .. _.. 1 .. — uri- 'r* .- .J ^.,, ..,.„j jjj^^j^^-3 ^jj .j^jg waij ut itu5i wiiiic X UU5- saint commanded. Yes 1 by the French generals tjiemsclves, who avow that from S35 the bcginnlnnr of this war they gave no quarter, it Ts recorded t« their own deathless infamy, that not a white man, among the many who upon this occasion fell into the hands of the Negroes, found an enemy hke the hero of Jaffa. « No person was Jcilled at the Cape.'*' " More t/ian 2000 inhabitmits of the Cape^ who were in the most distant mornesy have returned."' Such are their very •words. During three months these men must have been in the power of the Negro chiefs : and during the same period General Leclerc, « the virtuous Leclerc" as his brother-in-law stiles him., had been putting Toussaint's §oldiers to death in cold blood, as often as they fell into his hands. Time will not admit the detail of the proceedings in the other parts of the island ; it is enough that they were of the same com- plexion with those which have been already noticed, and that every- where the French refused to give the chance of saving bloodshed, by allowing the astonished Negro olncers time to send for orders to their commander-in-chief. Every-where they demanded instant possession of the forts, ar.d every-wliere punished the proper refu- sal by as much murder as they were able to commit. As all these places were exposed to the cannon of the ships, and were quite unprepared for defence, the French succeeded so far as to oblige the Negro troops to retire, but not till after some brave resistance. All this while, for the whole was done in about forty-eight hours, Toussaint was in an inland part of the Island, at too great a distance from the coast to give any timely assistance or orders at either of the points of attack. The time was now come to try the force of corruption upon the mind of this African patriot. The first game had been played with success up to the Consul's wishes, except that Cape Fran9ois had been burnt. The chief posts on the sea had been surprised and taken according to his merciless orders ; the next point, therefore, was to win over Toussaint, if possible, now that lie could be treated with safely \ for to attempt it sooner, would have been to put the important advantage of surprise at the hazard of his virtue. Accordingly an ambassador was sent to him from the smoking ruins of Cape Francois, and the man chosen for the errand was Coisnon^ the tutor of his sons. This man, as low in morals, as from his office we may suppose he was high in learning, was probably sent from France for the purpose of this vile attempt, on the father of his pupils. I doubt not he had his lesson from the lips of the Consul himself. With, ' Account ill Paris gazettes of 1st Germiiiai, (March 22.) Luudua uews- pai't«rs of .\] arch 'iQ. J.eclerc'sofJitiullctter ofiNIuy Gth, in wliith ;»e gives an account of the jprcleuded surrender of To\issaiut. 11 336 • him were sent the two youths, the one, I believe, ubout seventeen, the other probably iifteen, years old, who both had been separated seven or eight years from their affectionate parents, and were now doubtless much improved, not only in stature, but every other point of appearance that could rejoice the eye of a father, Igno* rant as the poor lads were of public affairs, they had been taught that it was for their father's good to comply with the wishes of the Chief Consul j and Buonaparte himself had talkcd'with and caressed them at Paris, in order to impress that opinion on their minds. With these innocent decoys in his train, and with letters both from GoiK-ral Lcclerc and th Consul, full of the most high flown compliments to Toussaint, and the most tempting offers of honors, wealth, and power, Coisnon set out from the C.ipe, and proceeded to the place of our hero's usual abode. His cruel orders were to let the boys see and embrace their father and mother, but not to let them remain : If the father should agree to sell himself, and betray the cause of freedom, he was to be required to come to the Cape to receive the commands of Leclerc, and become his lieutenant-general ; but if he should be -found proof against cor- ruption and deceit, the boys were to be torn from his arms, and brought back again as hostages. If nothing else could move him, the fears and agonies of a parent's breast might, it was hoped, be effectual to bend his stubborn virtue. « But how," some of my readers may be ready to ask, « was Coisnon to be able to bring them back against Toussaint's inclina- tion ? What force had he to employ against the Negro chief in the country ?" I answer, a force which his base cneniies well knew the sure effect of on his noble mind, the force of honor. A safe conduct was obtained from Toussaint, or his lieutenant-general ; and the sacred faith of a soldier, whose word had never been broken, was origaged for the return both of the envoy and his pupils. That vile tool of the Consul proceeded with the boys to Tous- saint's house in the Country, which was a long day's journey from the Cape •, but on their arrival, the father was not at home, hii urgent public duties having called him to a distant part of the island, where he was probably endeavouring to collect his scattered troops, and to make a stand against the invaders. The mother, however, the faithful wife of toussaint, was there ; and let my readers judge with wh.it transport:, of tender joy she caught her dear long-absent children to her bosom. The hard-hearted Coisnon himself says, " J7iis good "jooinan manifested all the scnti- >».,../. ^f*!,^ ...--i i\.^i: j/. -.. m ntittts ty tfiv r:iOiijcr::T!^ nnsiiicr, • See Coiiuuti's report to the Frcncb nnuistcr, London paper? of April, 3J7 It was no liard task for tl^e envoy to delude this tender parent. He professed to her, as he had declared to all the Negroes hs met with on his journey, (so he has not scrupled to confess under his own hand,) that the Consul had no deiignvjhatevcr against their freedom, but wished only for peace, and a due submission to the authority of the Republic. The fond mother was ready to believe ail he said. She avacitly v/ishcd that it might be true, and that her beloved husband, with hi% superior knowledge and judgment, might see cause to confide in these pleasing assurances. The envoy has, unluckily for the cause of his employers, made it clearly appear in his account of this embassy, that if Toussaint had any object beyond the freedom of himself and his brethren, it was unknown to, and uns^ispected by the wife of his bosom. She instantly sent oiF an express to him to let him know that a messenger from the Consul was come, with the offer of peace, liberty, and their children. _ Toussaint was so far distant, that with all his wonderful speed m riding, he did not arrive at Ewmy (that was the place of this in- teresting home,) till the following night. Ah ! what pangs of suspense, what successions of hope and fear, must have wrung the heart of the poor mother in the interval ! But her beloved husband at last arrives, and rushes into the arms of hii children. For a while the hero forgets that he is any thing but a father. He presses first the elder boy, then the younger to his heart, then locks them both in a long embrace. Next he steps back for a moment to gaze on their features and their persons. Isaac, the elder, is so much grown that he Is almost as tall as his father : ln» face begins to wear a manly air, and Toussaint recals m him the same imajie that sometimes met his youthful eyes when he bathed in the clear lake among the mountains. The younger is not yet so near to manhood, but his softer features are not less endearing. The father sees again the playful urchin that used to climb upon his knees, and the very expression that won his heart in the object of his first affection. Again he catches both the youths to his bosom, and his tears drop fast upon their cheeks. Let not my readers suppose this account is founded wholly on coniecture. Even the cold-blooded Coisnon himself thus far in effect draws back the curtain, and opens the first scene of the tracedv in which he was an actor. The miscreant seems to value himself upon his firmness in pursuing his game, unmoved by so effecting a scene i for thus he writes of it to his employers « Fhe father and the two som threw themselves into each others arms. I sa'.v them shed tears, and wishing to taKf, advantagf of a PERIOD WHICH I conceived TO BE FAVORABLE, I Stqppedjtm at the moment xvhen he stretched out Ins arms to mc, drc. TI : iiUV. 338 striking IS the picture here presented ! A virtuous and amiable hero IS at the crisis of his fate; a fond father is pouring out the tears of manly sensibility over his long absent children. He stretches out his arms with an emotion of ill-placed gratitude to the tutor of their youth, when the same tutor, bent upon seducing him to his infamy and ruin, craftily seizes this moment as the most favorable for his treacherous designs ! Nature has tender sympa- thies which even the cruel cannot well resist. 'There are situations 111 which even a rufhan cannot well avoid beinj; turned by pity from his purpose. But these agents of the atheistical Consul seem to be pity-proof in all cases. " () tl'.cv ;irp villains cv'ry man of tluMn, " I'itic;! tti slth and Miiiic—to stab tlioliabe " That siuilo^ upon tlicni ! . " Coisnon, retiring from the embrace of Toussaint, assails him in u set speech with persuasions to submit to the Consul,^and to betray the cause of freedom. He does not perhaps desire him in plain terms to permit slavery to be restored ; on the contrary, protests that there is no such design j but Toussaint knew too well the mean- ing of such professions •, and that his discerning mind on this point should be so imposed upon, after what had happened, could hardly be expected either by the envoy or his masters. Such speeches, if used to Toussaint himself, were probably meant only to save his credit, and give him the means of deceiving his followers. He was in effect desired to come to the Cape, and bring over his troops to johi the French standard. On this condition lie was as- sured of " respect, honors, fortune," the office of « lieutenant- general of the island," all in short that the gratitude of the repub- lic could offer, or his ov/n heart desire. On the other hand, if he should refuse to submit, the most dreadful horrors pnd mise- ries of war are denounced against him and his followers. The im- placable vengeance of the great nation is threatened j and the elo- quent envoy docs not omit to point out to him how hopeless must be all his efforts to resist the armies which have conquered Europe, and which now will have no enemy to contend against, but the rebels of St. Domingo. Above all, he is desired to reflect upon the fate that awaits the hostage youths, so beloved, and so worthy of his affection. « You must submit," said Coisnon, « or my orders are to carry my pupils back to the Cape. You will not, I know, cover yourself with infamy by breaking faith and violating a safe conduct. Behold, then, the tears of your wife i and con- sider, tliat upon your decision depends whether the boys shall re- iiiAiu to gladden her heari and yours, or be torn from you botJi r 339 for ever." ' The orator concludes by putting into the hero's hands the letters of the captain-general and the Consul. Isaac next addressed his afflicted father ui a speech which h.s tutor had no doubt assisted him in preparing. He related how kindlv he was received by the Consul, and what high esteem and regard that chief c,f the republic professed for Toussaint Louver- ture and his family. 'Vho younger brother added something which he hpd been tautht to the same effect ; and both, with artless eloquence of their own, tried to win their father to a purpose, of the true nature and consequence of which they had no suspicion. Need we doubt that the distressed mother added her earnest entreaties to theirs ? . . i r During these heart-rending assaults on the virtue and firmness of Toussaint, the hero, checking his tears, and eyeing his children with glances of agonized emotion, maintams a profound silence. « Heafken to your children," cries Coisnon, - confide in their innocence ; they will tell you nothing but truth. Aga^ the te Jrs of the mother and her boys, and their sobbmg entreaties, pour anguish into the hero's bosom. He sti 1 remains S The conflict of passions and principles within him may be seen in his expressive features, and in his eager glistening eye. But Ws tongue does not attempt to give utterance to feelings for which laneuase is too weak. Awful moment for the African ac.K hesitate? perhaps he did. It is too much for hu- man virtue not to stagger in such a conflict It is honor enough not to be subdued. But why do I speak oi human vtrtueP The strength of Toussaint flowed from a higher fountain j and I doubt not that at this trying moment he thought of the heroism of the Prnqq and was strengthened from above. Ssnon .Iw the struggle, he eyed it with a hell-bom pleasure, and was readv in his heart to cry out « victory,' when the lUus- ?riouT AfrS suddenly composed his agitated visage, gently d.s- J^^eaLfhimself^^^^^^^ L grasp of his wife and children, took the : 1? f into'n inner chamb'er, and gave him a dignihed refu^a cc Take back my children," said he, « since it must be so. I w ill be faithful to my brethren and my God Can any trait that History has recorded of the patriot or tne hero be pit in competition with this;noble sacrifice to pubhc duty CoiTnon, finding lie could not carry his point, wished at least » „,i«r=tnnf} •!«; -rWm^ thc csact language of this con- ' [ ilc!.ivo not to lie nndcrstood as ^,.vm, t_u ^^_^_ ^,,.„,.^?iv Tivow'od in. or ll)^t;i:K"U i:^ eit»>"5" cspv "^z^ i:zt^ni:z::'cz;.^^i^,''r^, -^ o>'« offi-,i p.p«s. 340 to draw our h.ro mto a negociation with general Leclerc ; and ou.sa,nt. always humane and fond of peace, was willingto treat upon any terms by wh.ch » the horrible fater as ho himfelf truly called u. which was mtended for his brethren, might be avoided wuljoutthe m>scrK.s of war. He. therefore, readily agreed to la f„ 'f i'- ^""'5' ''?' ^y '^^y'"^ *° ^'"^'^ i^ -' Enneryfor again seeing Ins boys. It was two in the morning when he ar- rived there, and at four he mounted his horse again, and et off at full speed for his c:imp. ^ of Crulv-ir'' t''' '""' ^'^ J'^P^^ched a Frenchman of the name ot Granville, wl;o was the tutor to his younger children, with a letter for the capta.r.-.eneral ; and this man, whom Coisnon is a.ixious to prove as great a rogue as himself, overtook his brother tutor and the two poor hostage youths on their way to the Cape On the parting between the mother and her children, as it af- forded no room to display his own talents at negociation, the en- voy has been prudently silent; but such of my readers as have feehng hearts w.ll be able to paint it it, some degree for themselves. loussamts letter was of such a nature that it produced a reply from general Leclerc, and a further correspondence took pUce between these opposite leaders during several days, a truce beinc allowed for the purpose, which L.clerc expected, as he tell* us, would have ended m a peace. r » o,. It would be most desirable to have recourse to the letters that passed on this occasion; but Leclerc and the Consul have not thought nt to publish any of them ; and as to Toussaint he had not the means of publication ; for when his enemies took the towns his printing presses all fell into their hands; and, then, not a letter was suffered to pass from the island, or any news fronv thence to be told, without leave from the Consul or his generals. We must be content therefore with such inteUigence as they have thought fit to give us. ' I'he treaty at length broke off, and we are told it was in conse- quence of a discovery manifestly made in Toussaint's letters, thit he was a hypocrite, and only treated in order to gain time What was tiie nature of his demands the French government did not think proptM- to state. In the absence of all information on this he.ul 1 will take leaye to suppose that the liberty of the common people, with ?ome security fcr that blessing, were the points in dispute, as they were the only things they would not yield, and were ,11 that Toussaint souglit to obtain. The only light which Leclerc r, real or pretended dispatches give to assist our Puesses roMK-cling ih- „..ture of this negociation, is reflected from his reason for puttmg an end to it. « My crders," says he, «< are n . 341 immcdialchj to restore prosperih) and abundance'' Now it must be pr.'SumcHl that the only means proposed for effecthig this mu'vi- cle was the cart whip ; ami that Toussaiiit would have objected to no orhcr means of making the island prosper, his former conduct sutiK-iontly proves. '1 he truce being ended, war was most furiously renewed agamst Toussaint and his adherents in every quarter of the island j and that grneral and Ciirisrophe were, by proclamation, declared to be «» out of the protection of the law." General Led re took, liowever, other steps far more efFectual to him in the war than this ferocious proscription of the chiefs. He saw that it was easier to dupe the poor laborers, than to de- ceive men who had been accustomed to govern j he knew that the poor in all countries are apt to be discontented with their rulers, wlien thny feel the public evils, which a war, necessary even for the. r own sikes, must always produce-, and he also knew, that the laboring Negroes, who were there called cullivaforSt had ui general been loth to submit to necessary industry, and were but half content with roussiini for putting, by his laws, a curb upon kllenoss and vice. He therefore concluded, that it would not be im- possible to make a breach between the upright chief and the culti- vators i or, at least, to make the latter mere bye-standers m the ^'With this view, he, in the first place, forbore to attempt any change in the state of the laboring Negroes in the places occupied by h s troops. Though he had many of their old masters in his train, to whom the Consul had vowed that he would restore their slaves, and put the cart-wliip soon again in their hands, Leclerc did not suffer one of them to go upon his own estate ; or only allowed thorn to go to confirm the new order of things, and treat the laborers as free men. Not a whip was to be seen or heard for some time on any account. But he went much further. He pub- lished in his own name, and the Consul's name, solemn declara- tions, that the freedom of all the people of St. Domingo should be held sacred. In the same papers he taxe-^ ^^t^!^ '"^'r^'h /^nlu h TvJr revved. The authority of the republic, which had "i truth Wn HUnu^ed would have been more firmly estabhshed by ITarlv sue e " o'f ZtLh army, and for any other purpose but re^^or ; fhLd and intolerable slavery, would have been ea - ily maintained. General LecUrc was, as we have seen, master ot the colony, and Toussaint seemingly ruined, by the n^iddie oi March ii"t^;e last year, when the very «--sses of the^^^^^^^^^^ Gen- eral proved fatal to him, by inspiring a rash ^^'^^^^f ^/^f^^ *"^^^^^^^ him suddenly dismiss that cunning and hypocrisy from which he had hitherto derived his duel success. _ honor he sl^ould obtain , *«V^'%T obL^ct' of ^^^^^^^ ther-in-kw obliged him to make this change, the moment ue ^t;^a;^::':ive l. was urged to -h .shn.. ^erta«^ it . ,. Lnch ^neral thoiiglit it was ^^m. to^ptl^ ^slc. ^^^ ,he month oi March, .\^ ;^. ^^"^'^^'^^^J,^ ;,, j^Mshed an order, probably about the nuddle of th.t monU^^ ^ F^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ fxpresslu rcsturuig w uiv- ^-.c.c.:. ..- ,, - .• Segroes bdongw^ to their estates. 346' 1 He worthy General seems here to have driven harder than the planters themselves desired, or at least than they thought to be safe i for about the same time, it was necessary to take strontr measures to compel such of them as were in the island to live un- on the.r own estates ;a.d a writer of their party, in a letter from Port-au-Prmce, of March 2l.th, in speaking of this order with praise, yot shows his doubts of its being practicable : « Orders have ju.t been received which will probably re-establish agriculture in our plains and mountains, // tJmf are capable of heitw executed Iropnctors, m- then- attornies, are restored to their anctent author- ttij our the Negro cui/ivators."' If even tlic planters were unprepared for this bold measure, judge what a thunder-clap it was to the astonished cultivators • Ihe proclamations were not yet five weeks old, by which thev were promised the full enjoyment of their freedom, upon the sacred words of the same Captain General, and of the Consul himself. How amazed, then, must they have been at the impudence, as well as baseness, ot these dissemblers ! > « wtu ^ But they ought chicliy to have blamed their own folly, and their ingratitude to the brave 'loussaint. In vain }ud that wise and faithful leader said to them : «« Distrust the whites, they will be- tray you if they can •, their desire evidently manifested is the re- storation of slavery; their proclamations are only formed to de- ceive the friends of liberty ; do every thing to avert the horrid yoke with which we are threatened.- They had not listened in time to these truths-they had taken the word of the French inva- ders rj^ther than that of their faithful cliicf. They had foolishly thought «« We have nothing to do with the quarrel ; we shall have to work in the same way, wliicli ever party conquers." Thev now saw their mistake too late. ^ The Negro troops who had joined their invaders, no doubt were also alarmed at this step of the French General. It was a breach ot faith with them also; for they had expressly come in under the proc amations which promised freedom not to themselves only, but to all their brethren. They could not be so blind as not to see. that equal treachery, and a fate as hon id, was in store for them- selves; but they durst not immediately revolt, for tluy had been prudentlif broken into small bodies, placed at a distniu - from each other, and mixed with the white troops ; and had al-o, by the dis- charge upon various pretences of great numbers from each of their corps, been greatly reduced in strength; ut tlie same time they were closely watched by the European French. I }^- ^[^''\^^\>> .f«.»"rtiai, Paris, pendant 1 annrc iao2, No. 550. pan;e 521, roussuinl's Letter to Domaire, published iu tJie Moniteu II into th« LoudoM papers of May 2C, lUO'^. .Sec the letter at lar-e belo r, and copied 353 w, page 347 If West IiulU slavery were not, in its nature, n thousand time* worse than any thing > .Ulecl ulaverv in Europe, the Negroes thu« betrayeil and divided, and dispirited Lev, no doubt, were, would probably have submitted, at least for a while, till a fairer opportu- nity of resistance should oflcr. But men who have been delivered from tlut " hornide yokei' will risk and sutler every thing, rather than receive it again Toussaint well knew this, and therefore saw at once his means of victory, in this imprudent wickedness of his enemies. Instead of conimuing his flight among the mountains, he turned sliort towards the north coast of the island, where a very extensive and fertile plain surrounds Cape Francois, and where there was m consequence, the j^reatest nutnber of cultivators. He summoned them to arms, and they were not now, as before, deaf to his voice. They rose in a mass around him, hailing him as their deliverer and guardian argel. These new troops were badly armed, or rather, for the most part, not armed at all, except with hoes, and a kind of cutlass, which is used in the West ladies, for trimming the green fences. But their numbers and /eal enabled their brave leader to surmount all difficulties. He poured Uko a torrent over the whole plain of the north, evcry-where seizing the French posts, and driving their divisions before h m, till they found refuge within the fortifica- tions of Cape Fran9ois. , , .1 Toussaint had no battering artillery ; yet he surrounded the town, made several sharp attacks upon it up to the very mouths ot the cannon, and would certainly have taken the place, had not the fleet been lying in the harbour. The French were obliged to iana the marines, and 1200 seamen from the fleet, to raise riew batte- ries, and to haul the ships close in shore, where their broadsides micrht play upon the besiegers. Yet, after all, the place must have vieklcd to the intrepid Toussiilnt and his husbandmen, if General Hardy, with a grand division of the French army from the south, had not advanced by forced marches, and thrown himself nito the town. The Captain-General himself was obliged to follow by sea, quitting all his conquests in the south, after having marched back all his victorious detachments, from the interior to the coast. It is truly wonderful to consider, in how short a time these great reverses were efFected. About the middle of March, the French were at the summit of their successes and confidence •, yet by the 9th of April, they were reduced to such extremity, that J^eclcrc, besieged at the Cape, and hardly able to mai.itam himself there was upon the point of retreating by sea, to the Spamsh part ot the ^ fcannot detain my reader? so long as would be necessary, were 548 4 mi T to relate all the reverses and disasters which the French sustained in various quarters of the island, fram their rash attempt to restore the cart-whip slavery. The Negroes were now, cvcry-where, be- come as hostile to them, as they were disposed to be friendly before. But at (he Cape, the chief struggle was maintained, and the deep- est miseries, felt. The fever began now to fight for the Negroes, and that capita! became a mere pest-house ; thougli till this reverse of fortune, the French troops had been remarkably healthy. Power- ful remforcements airived from France, but all to no purpose; Touss.iint still pressed the siege ; and all that the large garrison could do, was to defend themselves with'n the wails and trenches. General Lccierc now felt and bitterly lamented his error. He had too soon dropped the mask, and saw that, unless some new means of deceit cculd be found, all was lost j and yet with all the ignorance of the cultivators, and all their dislike to the hardships of war, it scorned very diflicult to delude them again. It was too l.ite to deny that there had been a design to restore slavery ; but it was perhaps possible, as Leclerc supposed, to make the Negroes believe that the Consul, and he himself, h"d been deceived as to the true state of the colony ; and that con, meed by disasters, how vain the late attempt was^ he had repented of, and abandoned the purpose. The Negroes did not know that Buona- parte was too proud, and too fond of despotism, ever to give up the plan he had lormed against their freedom ; therefore they might reasonably expect, that what his brother-in-law, the Captain- General, stipulated, the Consul would ratify and confirm. It se< nied, tlierefore, on the whole, not' impossible, that artful profes?'ons of a change of mea-^ures, and new promises to maintain Ireedom, might gain credit, and a treaty be patched up with his black enemies, so as to give him a new opportunity of dividing the people from their military leaders, and getting the latter into his povycr -, after which he was resolved they should hear no more again of the cart-whip, till he had made surer work, by destroying Toussaint and his adherents. With these righteous views, General Leclerc framed a procla- mation which is a perfect master-piece of cunning and imposture., Without expressly acknowledging the injustice of his past measures, or his design against freedom, and even without ceasing to speak of the first resistance of the armed Negroes, as rebellious, he artfully began this paper -vith an implied apology for his late attempts, on the score of his ignorance of the colony, and of the character of the people, lie dexterously passed over his own orders for ihe resiorati; n of slavery, and trear^jd what Jiad been notoriously done to that end, as arising from the delay of forming a free government, for w liich the war had not left him a sufHcicnt 349 time •, as if the known attempts to bring back the cart-whip had been -i natural and necesaary consequence of the want of such positive regulations to the contrary, as he was too busy to make till now. . r t,' 1 He next affected to frame a constitution for the island, of .which libertif and equality to all the inhabitants, without distinction of color., it'fls to be the basis. This, he added, should not be definitive, till approved by the French government •, but the condition was so worded, that it might be applied cither to the basis of liberty and equality, or to a most unmeaning plan, of organization as he called it, which was to be founded upon that basis. In addition to this important concession, he, by the same instru- ment, called an asseml>ly of representatives of the island, who were to be appointed without distinction of color, to consuh and advise for the general good -, and the powers of this assembly were as carefully limited, as if the impostor had really designed to esta- blish such a form of government. He knew that the Negroes had not political knowledge enough to care about such limitations; all they would value or understand was the acknowledgment of their freedom, and the admission of Negroes to a share in the government; yet the captain^general s caution as to the powers ot the assembly would serve to convince them of his sincerity. This vile production was dated the 25th of April, and immediately after sent into the camp of the Negroes, and to every part of the island ; and the stratagem had all the immediate effects its base author could have desired. The Negroes, at large, were naturally weary of the war ; they were still cut off from the chief ports, and foreigners were afraid to attempt to trade with them, and consequently they were depri- ved of all the necessaries and comforts of life, with which com- merce used to supply them. The cultivators also were, by their new duties as soldiers, not only exposed to extreme dangers and hardships, but separated from their wives and children, and no longer able to till their provision- grounds for the support of their families. -i i u They saw no speedy end to these and other evils, but by a peace; for reinforcements were da'ly arriving from France, and they could have no hope, while that was the case, of being able to finish the war, by expelling the invaders from the fortified towns and harbours on the coast. For freedom only could they be willing to fight and to suffer such hardships ; and if freedom y,,p,si .,ov/ fiincerelw offered, what more could they desire ? " Whilst the ignorant multitude thus reasoned and felt, the en- lightened Toussaint probably saw the matter in a different view. No. VIII. rm. Vol. IV. 2 h 350 he knew the craft of his enemirs, and feared perhaps that these offers, like the first, were only snares for himself and his brethren. But it is easier in such cases for a true patriot to form right opinions, than to prevail on tlie people to follow tncm ; even his faithful second in command, Christophe, probably was inclined to the side of peace ; and perhaps the army of cultivators under that general s command, were clamorous with him, to persuade him to come into their own wish, and embrace the ofi'cred terms. The French government, in its public accounts, pretended that Christophe deserted his commander-in-chief, and by making his own submission, obliged Toussaint to follow the example; but this was just as true, as that both these Negro chiefs begged their lives of Leclerc, and surrendered as pardoned rebels, which, as we sliall presently see, was the birc-faced pretence of the Consul on this occasion, in order to hide their triumph and his own disgrace. This slander on the brave Christophe was invented to make the pretended submission of our hero, at a time when he was known to be victorious, appear less monstrously unnatural, and incredible, than every thinking man must have seen that gross pretext to be. If any truth were mixed up with the many falsehoods in those impudent accouirts, tlic fact probably was, that both Christophey and Dessalifirsy the Negro general next in authority, were dupes to Leclerc's flagitious contrivance, and desirous of peace, and that their persuasions and wishes determined our hero to treat with the French general, contrary to his own better judgment. Howev. r this may have been, certain it is, the proclamation soon answered the desired end ; and that prior to the 8th of May, 1802, a peace was concluded with our hero, and all the generals and troops under his command ; in which the whole people of St. Domingo concurred. Thus were the fruits of victory suddenly snatched out of the hands of Toussaint, and thus only were the French invaders deli- vered for a while from that fate, which their wickedness richly deserved. My readers may perh.-ps remember the misrepresentations of the Consul, to which I have now just alluded. When the news of this peace first reached Europe, liuonaparte had the hardihood to call it he suhmission of Toussaint and his generals. He published a letter in the Mnn'teur, to which ho put the name of (General Lf^clcrc, and in which he actually went so far as to represent Tous- saint coming in a ma^n'T with a rope about his neck, begging for pur/lon as a guiltv rebel ; and General Leclerc is made even to rcfus'j for a Iomj^ t.mv to let him so escape hanging. There is a boldness in the Consul's impostures, which clearly xm- H 351 point out their author ; for no other man would have assurance enough to devise them. Leclerc certainly would not, for the sake of his own credit, have written such self-contradictory absurdities as that pretended letter contained •, his character indeed was somewhat unfairly compro- mised, by the publication two or three days afterwards, of the proclamation just mentioned ; and also of a letter from Leclerc to Toussaint, from the Captain-general's own Gazette, at Cape Fran- cois ; for these papers both gave the lie to every sentence m the pretended official dispatches, and showed to all Europe, that Leclerc himself, instead of the Negro chief, had been obliged to submit and make concessions. The letter of Leclerc to this hardly-pardoned rebel, contams the following passages :— « low, Gencraly and your troops^ will be employed and treated like the rest of my army. With regard to yourself, you desire repose, and you deserve it. After a man has siL^taincdfor several years the burthen ofthegovernmefit of St. Do- viingo,! apprehend he needs re^wse. I leave you at liberty to retire to which ever of your habitations you please. I rely so much on the attachment you bear to the colony of St. Domingo, as to believe that you will employ the moment of leisure which you may have in your retreat, in communicating to me ymr views respecting the means to be taken to make agriculture and commerce again fonsh. Js soon as a list and statement of the troops under General Dcssalines arc transmitted to me, I will communicate to you my instructions as to the positions they are to take."' How condescending this style in the great General Leclerc, towards a convict just saved at his own humble and repeated petition from the guillotine ! How gracious in a conqueror thus to leave his vanquished enemy in command over his own rebellious troops, and over the army of Dessalines, another pardoned rebel I In most countries perhaps, it is too true that the accounts given of distant events in the time of war are not always framed ^ylth a ftrict regard to truth ; but never probably before, in the history of the world, did any government disgrace itself by falsehoods so gross as Buonaparte published upon this occasion. Two things, very honorable to our hero's character, we learn from this letter of General Leclerc. First, it appears that Tous- saint, who, even before he had conquered, was offered « rank, honors, fortune," all that the Consul could bestow, asked no favor for himself when in a condition to dictate his own terms. He obtains all he asked, and that all, is retirement. Secondly, we hnd ■ S..C tliis letter copied from the French Gazettes in the Li.ndon ncw?})a. pers ot .luae 19. to'liiiitittmii* II 3.52 that Ills retirement to private life was his own choice^ and not, as the Coiwul shamelessly pretended, a thing prescribed to him by Leclert. It wns a virtuous choice, and, notwithstanding tlie event, a wise one. Perfidy might have surprised him anywhere, but it was by retirement only, that after what was past, he could avoid the risk of incurring suspicion, even with a government not disposed to h" perfidious. Constrained, in all probability by the general wish, to tnake a peace which he saw would be insecure, he took the course which was, under such circumstances, the least dangerous for himself and for the public. If the Captain-general meant well, if would leave no motive, if ill, no decent pretext, for the violation of the treaty. In these list measures of Toussaint, we find therefore, as in all the rest of his illustrious career, a rare union of wisdom, dignity, and virtue. As our hero here sheathes his sword for ever, let me stop to wipe from it a stain, which the venom of his murderers has drop- ped on it. There is, in spite of slander, no just ground to believe that one drop of blood not shed fairly in the field, and in the heat of action, ever tarnished the glory of Toussaint. There is even positive evidence to prove his innocence of any such crime, though he has had no means of making his own de- fence ; and though the rufTians who stifled his voice, have been for the most part his only historians. • , r In order to establish these truths, I must here depart a httle from the plan of this little work, and offer a few remarks which will detain my readers longer than I could wish •, for the character of our hero, and that of his ei.emies too, are deeply involved in the truth or fals'-hood of those foul accusations, which charge him and his troops with massacring their prisoners. First, I would observe, that no massacre or other cruelty has be^m charged against Toussaint and his Negroes, but by their bar- birous and treacherous eneni'.c: •, and that these were driven to m k- such charges, wht- ther irue or false, in order to justify their own acknowledged conduct in giving no quarter. As to the rumors brought from the islmd by foreigners, these were only- French assertions at second hand; for no foreigner has reported th i? h'' saw ?.nv n'as«acre. or other atrocity, committed by the Nv'groes." Their enemies were the only people with whom the merchants, *nd mariners who visited the island, hud any inter- 353 course, or from whom they could obtain any information ; and as these visitors often saw Negroes, who were brought in prisoners, put to death in cold blood, it was necessary for the murderers to charge the party of the sufferers with hke conduct, in order to lessen the horror which strangers could not but teel and express at such proceedings. It is clear, also, that the accounts, brought by such people to America and other places, were for the m(^st part false i because they in general differ from, and tar surp.-ss in ex- travagance the stories, which the French generals or the Consul have published in Europe on the same subject ; and the latter cer- tainly would not have concealed or lessened any crimes oi those persecuted enemies, which had really been committed. Secondly, these charges not only rest upon the testimony ot enemies, and of cruel enemies, who were driven to make them, whether true or false, for the sake of their own characters, but of enemies, who, in addition to such grounds of distrust, have forteited all claim to belief in any case, from habits of the grossest false- hood. It might be clearly shown that the letters, or pretended letters of Leclerc and Villaret, in which these charges against tae Negroes are contained, are in all other respects false, almost trom beginning to end j so that, if these charges are true, they are almost the only truths contained in those long letters. Now if enmity and hatred, and self-interest and falsehood, m a witness, are not enough to overthrow his testimony, I know not how a false accusation can ever be rejected on account ot the bad- ness of the authority upon which it stands. The defence of Toussaint, however, need not rest here-, tor, thirdly, we have his former good character and huinane conduct to rely upon, and these ought in reason to protect him against the belief of a charge of cruelty, if it rested even upon much better evidence than the bare words of Buonaparte and Leclerc. It is not likely that he, who had often, as his enemies confess, prevented massacres and murders in former wars, even at the hazard oi his interest with the Negroes, and of his life itselt, should m his last war be-nn to commit such crimes ; and that too against the most powerful enemy he had ever had to deal with, and whose vengeance it would seem hardly possible that he should be able finally to '^''Fourthly, and this demands particular attention, if Toussaint was really guilty of the charges wnich his opprwsors have brought against hiin, i/wi/ had in {heir hands mich better poofs oj his guit than their axon assertions, and jjei have not produced those vroop. Th(«v repeatedly makemcnt on ol" theii- havir. • poss.-ssiOii ot ictto',^ written by Toussaint to th. inferior Negru Generals and others, which, as they assert, contain full proofs oi his barbarous and wiokeil dispoiiition and conduct. 55-i ••*?* Leclcrc, for instance, in his letter of March gth, thus writes, or •is represented to have written :—« The cruelty ami barbarity of Toussaint are without ex^trnph—ihe letfcrs Wf' '/lave found in his ^"f^gagc* or which h,,ve been ddivm'ed up to m by the Blacks 'who have abandoned hi. partij^ characterise a soul equally hi/pocritical mnd atrocious.''"' Admiral ViHarct, in his letter by the same conveyance, says, in speaking of Toussaint and Christophe, <" Their intercepted corre- spondence proves, that the general and absolute orders of those san- Suinurj/ chiefs, tir/r, to massacre the •whites, and to set Jire to all the plantatiofiSy upon the first appearance oj a French squadron:"- In the same dispatch, tlie Admiral mentions other letters of Tous- saint. addressed to the commander of Cape Nichola Mole, which were found at the capture of that station. Now where are all these letters ? "Why are they not laid before the public, to support the accusation and the abuse so anxiously la- vished upon their author ? Villaret and Leclerc pretend to appeal to them, but do not produce them, nor venture even to quote their language. They send them to the Consul,' and he acts in the same way ; he appeals to the letters also, and he also suppresses their contents. Can any thing more be wanting to satisfy a thinking man, that these letters, if produced, would be in truth, evidences, not of the guilt of the writer, but of his innocence of the foul charges in question ? One, however, and one only, of Toussaint's letters, have the Consul and his agents selected as fit to meet the public eye ; and this, for the reader's better satisfaction, I shall here copy from their own "gazette. Toussaint Louverfure, General of St. Domingo, to Citizen Dom- age. General of Brigade, Commander in Chief of the District oJ Jcremie. My dear General — I send to you my Aid-de-camp, Chaney, wlio \i the bearer of the present dispatch, and will communicate to you my sentiments. As the place of Jeremie is rendered very strong by its natural advantages, you will maintain yourself in it, and defend it with the courage which I know you possess. Distrust the whites ; they • f^tlerc's Diputches of March 9. Loudon Newspapers of May 2 S fh Laplume. rthis'lettk so far is Toussaint from directing j;-J^;;^^^^^^^^^ m the most urgent case, his severest orders are only to burn the places w" ich coSld not be defended ; which as I ^-^h-dy ob, served on behalf of Christophe, is clearly a ^^^^ ^ "I "^^"^^ . ° <;«, foiice against an invading enemy. In the war our hero had to sua- t^n it was a measure peculiarly just and necessary, because he had ;" hi Aumarto V^ ^«' ^^"^^ '^^^'y ^^^ '^' inconvenience* wh c^Eur^^^^^ troops would feel from the climate;, and to leave diem the shelter of the towns, or even of the buildings on the es- tateT, woull, by lessening their exposure to the sun and rain have re e eTthom in some measure from that important ^j-dvanUge Here let me remark by the way, that the ^^^^^^J^"^^ f^; proaches which theConsul has thrown upon the N g « ^^id^^^^^^ Ls defensive measure of burning, and the great pai.s winch he las taken to fix upon Toussaint ^he bjMUg chie au hoi o d^^^^ fair exercise of the right of war, afford, of ^^sel petty sro-^ proof that there was nothitig truly to alk-o . against him, of a really cruel or unwarraiitaaie riMv., ..'^.^^ui.^ i^m'r from 3j6 er$, or it would not have been the only one picked out by his ene- mies, for publication. It was a false assertion, therefore, and a calumny, that they had intercepted letters from our hero, directing massacres. It was cijually false that they had found any such let- ters directing the burning oi the towns as soon as the Fitnch Jlect should appiiar. 'I'he falsehood of both charges might be further inferred, if ne- ces^ary, from the fact admitted by his enemies, that no such orders were any where executed. They do not pretend that either massa- cre or burning took place any where, on the appearance of the fleet. Even Cape Frant^ois was not burnt till two days after the fleet's appearance, and till the town could be defended no longer. Here surely I might safely rest Toussaint's defence against these slanders > but it has pleased Providence to make his innocence manifest in a great variety of ways, and to confound, in a striking manner, the efforts of malice and calunmy to impeach it, as if to display a particular regard for the character of this distinguished patriot, and devout servant of God. The incautious confessions of his enemies have given, in mosi points, the direct lie to their own accusations. I here beg my readers to refer to what was said in defence of Christophe, in page 333, and to the important passages there ex- tracted from the French gazettes. The official accounts accused Toussaint indirectly, and the pri- vate ones, industriously circulated in France, positively charged him, with having massacred, through the means of that Lieutenant General, all the White inhabitants of the Cape. Villaret, as we have just seen, boldly affirms, to countenance this fabrication, that the orders in writing were to massacre all the White people upon the first appearance of the fleet ; and as it appeared that the White mhabitants of the Cape were actually carried off, it was doubtless meant to he understood, as it actually was understooti and believed in this country, that they were carried off to be slaughtered. Yet what was the event ? Three months after, all these inhah- ttants are found to be alive y and are restored by Tumsaint to their homes xvhen he made peace utith Leclerc. All the intermediate time, they had been in the power of the Negro chief ; they had been witli him on the mountains during the whole of Iiis retreat, yet not a man of them was missing. At the time of the invasion, it was in like manner announced, that the Negro troop* at Port-au-Prince had carried away with them, in their retreat from that place, a great number of Whites, among Wuom was Citizen Saucs, Aid-dC'Camp of the trench aen' •ral, Boudet, ^ f m 357 That these prisoners were massacred was not indeed expressly said in tlv c Ticial U-tter, but nubody could read that and the suc- cwding gov rnment accounts, without comludinp; that ndt one of them had been left alive. Non-olFicial accouui.s went further, and expressly represented them all as having been massacred. General Leclerc afterwards says, or rather was made by his brother-in-law to say, " I can find no terms to express the ferocity of Tonss.iint. lie has massacred more than 10,000 inhabitants, Blacks, \vhites, and Mulattoes. JVc collalcd in our several expeditions nearlt/ lijOOO' persotis, men, women, and ehildren, 'johom he intended to massacre,^ After these positive assertions of the Consul, (whom I verily be- lieve to be the original inventor of all these charges in the pretend- ed dispatches) can it be denied, that the authors meant it to be be- lieved, that the Negro chief had put all his prisoners to death ? Yet ii would doubtless appear, had there been any opportunity for such a truth to escape, that the prisoners made at Port-au- Prince, like those of the Cape, were all h.umanely preserved. I infer this in particular from the fact, that Citizen Sabes, the Aid- de-camp, though carried off among them, to be murdered on the ilk of February y is achialhj brought on the stage alive hj Buojia- jarie on the Isl of April folloviing. It was then found convenient to bring him to life again, that he might be the bearer of one of Toussaint's pretended supplications for pardon. Now who can believe Uvat he alone, one of the hated White invaders, would have been spared, if the iimocent inhabitants of Port-au-Prince, who were carried off in his company, had all been murdered ? The Consul himself, shallow and careless though he has been in these inventions, foresaw that the production of Citizen Sabes would in this view be inconsistent with his past calumnies, and therefore made an attempt, though an absurd one, to reconcile the fcafety of this citizen with his former fictions. Leclerc is repre- Bented as thus speaking of Sabes*s escape ; — '« He was always carried by the B.aeks with them from morne to viorue, and from wood to wood, an:l xvas twenti/ times upon the 'point of being put to death. The detail of the massacres of' which he was witness, make one shudder." How Sabes came to escape these massacres, though twenty times on the point of death, is left entirely to conjecture. This futile attempt to support a ilctected falsehood is obviously the spawn of the sanic gross invention, which rescued from Tous- ' It is fither 8,000 or 3,000: the Newspaper I copy from is not dearly le *ih!e on this part, and I have not lime tn search lor another. "^ " <)tHtiul Letter oi March yili. Luudun iScwtpaptrs otMaj^ 2C. 3j8 yJl Stint in the course ef several expeditions, 8,000 men, women, and children, intended to be massacred. To drng his victims about with him in his flight from some ftrange want of power to get rid of them by assassination, was, it teems, Toussaint's ordinary fortune and employment. Whilst hd and his armed Negroes were hunted from morne to morne, and found it hard enough to save their own lives, they chose to en- cumber themselves with citizen Sabes, during near two months, and with 8,000 other citizens, for a time not specified, determined all the while to put them to death, and in the mean time providing for them at an eipcnse that could ill be aflbrdcd. Such are the detected falsehoods, and such the fla^iant inconsis- tencies, in these charges against the humane and brave Toussaint. He has had no trial, not even before a tribunal of his enemies \ he has had no means of defending himself at the bar of the public ; his voice has been stifled by the strong arm of despotism } not a pen in St. Domingo or France, but those of hij slanderers and mur- derers, has been allowed to record or remark upon his conduct, and yet it has pleased God to provide the means of clearing hit fair fame, to the credit of his Christian principles, and to the dis- grace of his infidel oppressors. His innocence stands established upon every ground that could have been demanded or wished for, with the fairest and most in- dulgent means of defence; and upon many different grounds, each of which would have been sinjjlv suiFicient. We should be bound to acquit him, were it only from the bad character of his perjured accusers, from their enmity, and the self-interest which, urged the accusation. Their suppression of evidence which, if guilty, would have proved him so, is a still stronger answer to their hostile tes- tiniOiiy ; and his former character, were the question doubtful, should decide it in his favor. But in addition to all tliis, we have proof of his innocence in the very evidence selected by malice against him. To crown all, we have for the falsehood of much of the charge the confessions of the accusers themselves ; and all the rest of tlieir story, when examined, is found to be not only vague and unsupported, but unnatural, inconsistent, and absurd. Can any honest man, then, refuse to say that of massacre or inhumanity of any kind, Toussaint was not guilty ? And now that this Christian hero is justified from these feeble though bold-fated slanders, let us look for a moment at the con- duct of his enemies. Here my readers will be spared the trouble of reasoning— they have only to read, and I have only to copy, the confessions, or rather the boasts of the rulhans themselves. «« Being attacked by the rebels, he killed sixty-eight, and made 359 forty.five prisoners, among whom was the chief of this division of |he i-fHels. He was instantly shot." ' . „t ■, • i i i « General Hardy siurotinded on the Coupe a VInde six hundred yi'^roeft WHO RECEIVED NO QUARTER." * ^ »* General Salines possessed himself of one of the enemy s tamps, with baggage, and put two hundred men io the SWORD."* M • o o TU^ " The enemy threw himself upon the Antibomtt, &c. &c. ine •wKi^rcHEs xvire put to the siiord." * r r^ a ^ xy '« The enemy took the resolution of evacuatmgl.a Cr^te a ficr- rot they were overwhelmed by our troops, who gave them no quarter." ' , » • . It is needless to go further with such extracts. It is unneces- sary also to judge of what horrors remain untold, when these mis- creants, firhiing for an object as contrary to justice and gratitude as to their own solemn promises, avowed such conduct early m the war. , . ^^„ It was necessary that these barbarous commanders, or the Con- sul fur them, should wish to involve the brave and hun ane J ois- saint in the shame of equal enormities. For my own part, 1 can iustify him upon none but his own Christian prmc.ples, for ab- itauiing from all retaliation. Had he been an inlidel like them- selves, he might, consistently with worldly honor, and worldly humanity, have put all t^eir adherents to the sword, and the mas- sacres they falsely impute to him, could, if real, not have been complaims in Mcir mouths, without effrontery matchless as their *' A't a period subsequent to the death of Toussaint, the conduct ©f these ferocious invaders was such, that, if detailed, it m«ght al- jnost efface from the remembrance of my readers the cold-blooded massacres already noticed . Not merely prisoners of war, but hun- dreds and thousands of unoffending fellow-creatures, whom the sa- vage Europeans themselves called innocent, have been daily and nightly suffocated and drowned for the sole purpose of rooting out their hapless race. As to prisoners of war, simple death has been thought far too mild a fate for them. If report may be trusted, they have been treated in a way so horrid, beyond all exan^ple in this bad world, that though I believe the dreadful rumor, for the aake of our common natures I will not ropeat it. • Villarci's Ofllc uil U ttrr -f \Tavch ^. I -n-I'm Papers of Ap,-il 19, 1802. » L-chnc's Oliiriul L. tier ul M.iicl. '2-1. l.ondou i apers ot Mav '2U. I JSuural Vill.^eS'unicia! Letter of April 8. London Papers of May 360 Let us now proccetl to tlie last act of the illustrious life of Toussuiiit. I shall write it with shame as well as indignation ; for I am a white mui, and a native of Europe. 'Ihe hero had ret iicl to his peaceful family mansion at Gonalvcs, which is on the soutli west coast of St. Domingo, at a little dis- tance from St. Marcs. He had there a little estate which was c.illod by his own surname, Louverturc, and where he perhaps hopitl long to enjoy the peace and leisure to which he had for ten years been a stranger, and to indulge his warm attections in the society of his beloved wife and their surviving children. ihe two promising youths, of whom I spoke hi a former part of th:s history, were probably now no more, and h.id left a melan. choly bhink in the family circle. I suspect that they had either perished in the war, or been put to death by the /twitane and wr- tuoitt Lrdete, to punish the crimes of their father. I wpuld not willingly h'.y to the charge of that bad man, who it now gone to his dreadful account, any sin of which he is not guilty ; 1 therefore do not assert as a certain fact that the yountj men were murdered. ' ^ Toussaint, however, was a Christian, and therefore he was, no doubt, beginning to taste with tliankfulncss therf^amily blessings that remained to him, without repining for those which it had oleased God to take away. But Providence had new trials at hand, for the patience of this distinguished servant. On a sudden, at midnight, the Creole frigate, supported by the Hero, a 74 gun ship, both dispatched on purpose by Lecle\c fronj the Cape, stootl in towards; the Calm Heacli, near Gonaives. Boats, with troops, immediately after landed, and surrounded • It IS saul liV C'oi>non, wlin.,. niirrnlirp was formcrlv quoted, that the lads were mui liatk lo liieir latlK.r, and .ictaincd liy linn," at llic end of the triiitlos> nc'4o.i:iii.)U in Itl.niitrv. Itut I'oriliH hh o^gtMle^o^ily, so unlike all tin- otliT roiiduct ot J.rtlen . v.c liav«.' oidy the wt^ul of liis, own a^i-nt; and il so hajijiens that we hear ul the hostjt^e vouths no more. If they had been with liuir f.iiher tliey would have heen'arr) •^tcd, and sent away like the rest, as \se >hdil prc-enlly ; »ur »l is ( xpressly stated, ihul the whole fa)iii;> was M-'iil to liaiue; \t'. ihi \\\u; with two thihhru ouiv, was iKitirtd iu tne I ix-ik h p i|.tTs ; lli<-e vNcr«! not sjKiken of as the yoniij; men so well known m Fraiue; and it is f:crlain thai Toussaint had o!l (rcl.ildrtii old eu<)ui:h lo be under a tutor's care in the isiaud of .St. Do- mingo, iit tht; tunr ot I lit invasitiJi. Ttitrt ha-. Vint i: heeu a rnuiur ihrou:li Aiiieiira of the voum'j; 'l'ou->uiulH hcinj at the I r-url ot ar. iiisurrecion, laii ii pruve i! :i!;t ti.JH fitet. U>r lie is naiutd l»v li,:H:h ivri:<>r», ai huviiii' ukcu a 1- ,;d iii the ]j>r i''v«!uti'ju. 365 as possible -, and his mutes managed so well, tliat it Was for some time a matter of guess and of jarring reports in France, in whut place this interesting prisoner was confined. He was con- veyed in a close carriage, and under a strong escort of cavalry, to the remote castle of Joux, in the neighbourhood of Mount Jura. Here he \ras confined a long time, in a way the strictness of which may be supposed, from the darkness which prevailed as to his fate, while multitudes were curious to know it. We may conclude that none but his keepers were permitted to see or con- verse with him, with the exception only of a single Negro atten- dant, who was as closely confined as his master. This treatment I admit might not entirely flow from the Con- sul's cruelty and malice. His policy had doubtless a great share in it } for even in France, it was not convenient tliat the tale of Toussaint should be told. From the time of this great man's arrest to that of his death, Lcclerc and the Consul took very remarkable care that his voice should not be heard by any body but his gaolers ; and these, I doubt not, were forbidden, on pain of death, to hear any thing that their prisoner might wish to dis- close. "^"'J same eiFectual care seems to have been taken to stop the^m ■ of all his family and friends. We may, therefore, reasonably suspect that Toussaint, and those in his confidence, had some dreadful secrets to tell, though it is no easy matter to guess what could have been revealed, to make his opprcssorg more de- testable than they already were, upon tlie facts tlicy were unable to conceal. The afflicted wife and family of our Hero were not Imprisoned with less closeness than himself. Curiosity was, no doubt, busy about them ; and yet I have been able to obtain no account of them, public or private, from the time of their detention on ship- board at Brest, which was about the 11th of July, to the 11th of September following. The Parts papers of the latter date have the following paragraph : « A corvette from Brest with the wife, two children, a niece, and the servants of Toussaint, arrived on the 3d instant at Bayonne." It is probable that to this period, they continued closely confined in the ship which brought them from the West Indies j but for what end they were removed to Bayonne, or how the tyranny of the Consul afterwards disposed of them, I have not been able to lea'-n. Nearly twelve months have since elapsed ; and had the fate oi this interesting family been generally known in France, we should, doubtless, have heard of It in England. Their voice has been hushed j they have disappeared; and, from the character of their oppressor, we may guess at the means. Toussaint himself, whom we left in tlie castle of Joux, may be No. VIII. Pftm. Vol. IV. 2 B 366 upposed to have already glutted the Consul's jealousy and venge- sncc. There he lay, robbed of power, of greatness, of freedoni of his family and friends, and as far as malice could effect, of hi« fair fame itself. Denied a trial, debarred from all other means of proving or asserting his innocence, unable either to resist or com- plain, he was left to pine in solitude and silence, while his enemy was able to ab .,se and slander him at pleasure, without contradic- tion or reproof. What more could the Tyrant desire ? Buonaparte's revenge, however, and his envious spite against true greatness of character, were not yet appeased. A faithful servant had hitherto been suffered to attend this op- pressed Hero, at the expense of sharing his imprisonment ; and it was no doubt reported to the Consul that this little indulgence soothed, in some degree, a heart which he was resolved, if possible, to break. This consolation, therefore, was next torn from him— the poor Negro was divided from his beloved master, and sent under a strong guard to a prison at Dijon, where his silence was, no doubt, made for ever secure, by some of the Consul's merciful methods. The despot, no doubt, expected that these and othet severities would speedily save him the shame of cutting off his illustrious victim by a direct assassination. But Toussaiut had consolation and support still remaining, of which tyranny could not deprive him. The God whom he had worshipped continuadly, was still with him, and though it was not his holy will to send deliverance in this life, the spirit of his servant was strengthened, and kept from impatience and despair. The Consul's inflexible cruelty, therefore, had further measures to take. From the castle of Joux, where perhaps Buonaparte had not a cell or a keeper bad enough for his final purpose, the brave Toussaint was removed at the approach of winter to Besaufon, and there placed in his last abode, a cold, damp, and gloomy dun- geon. Let my readers imagine the horrors of such a prison to an African who had arrived at the age of fifty years, or more, in a climate like that of the West Indies, where warmth and free air are never wanting, not even in gaols, and where the cheerful beam* of the sun are only too bright and contim. I. We know, tliat with all the warmth which fires and good clothing can give to Negroes in this climate, the stoutest of them suffer severely by the winter. But it was for these very reasons that the merciless Consul chose for Toussaint his last place of confinement. The floor' of ' Thee iiarticulnrs the antlior has learnt from a very respectable and in- tflliSfiU ^'t-iitlvinan who spcni Rome lime in Fni'ire, last winter, and oU»' tuaicd hii intnrui:vtioa froiu tic Lesi uuiUorities that tlic cabc would aiiord» 367 the dungeon was actually coveredwith water •, an d wc n£ed net doubt that the poor victim was deprived of every means that might help to sustain his declining health during the severity of the win- ter. The new method adopted with Toussaint could not fail of final success. The strength however of the sufferer's constitution, added to his patience and religious tranquillity, made the murder a very tedious work. His death was not announced in the French papers till the 27th of April last j so that he held out under all the sufferings of the last winter ; and it is doubted whether the Consul was not obliged to have recourse, at last, to poison or some other violent means. Some people entertain a notion that this great man is still living. If he be. Providence has wonderfully pre- served him, and probably for some glorious end } but as the ac- count of his death, shameful as it was to the Consul, was permitted to be published in France, and has not been contradicted there, I fear it is too true that this foul murder is finished ; and has added unspeakable guih and infamy to the former crimes of his bppressor. Here, then, we must drop the curtain on the great, the good, the pious, and the generous Toussaint, leaving him to reap the fruits of his virtues in that happier world, « Where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest." Were an epitaph wanted for this wonderful man, we might find a fair, though not a full one in the words of his murderer — « Call- ed hf his talents to the chief command in St. Domingo, he preserved the Island to France during a long and arduous foreign war, in which she could do nothing to support him. He destroyed civil war, put an end to the persecutions of ferocious men, and restored to honor the religion and wdrship of God, from whom all things come. »»i The man of whom all this was said, perished, as we have seen, undfjr the merciless oppression of him who said it. Are you anx- ious to know how his murderer will perish ? you shall know from the same pen, how this man of blood, this sworn foe to hypocrisy, prophesies on that point. « Having been called by the order of Him from whom all things emanate, to bring back to the earth, justice, order, and equality, I shall hear my last knell sound without emotion."'' » See the first Part, page 2'^ * Speech ofBuoiiaimrleiu answer to a compliraentary Address. lu the Londou Pupf-rs of August 9; 18pi, Inserted