THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL ENDOWED BY THE DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 00019210630 This book is due at the WALTER R. DAVIS LIBRARY on the last date stamped under "Date Due." If not on hold it may be renewed by bringing it to the library. DATE DUE RET. DATE DUE RET. J2E£ - s DEC W^-ZUO: ®SV ■ - GEC — RSR2T 1 7 2002 MAL2±_2flD! ; ANQ 6?l SS4 u /|n)>) — "», OCT 2 SOT Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://archive.org/details/lifeoftoussaintlbear THE LIFE TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE. Ill TOUSSAHsT CAPTURED BY STRATAGEM. THE LIFE TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE. Cfjc yrgro Patriot of f^agti. By THE RE A'. JOHN R. BEARD. D.D. MEMBER OF THE III3TORICO-TUEOLOG1CAL SOCIETY OF LF.ir=I<\ ETC :0T5<-.IST , . x/ y/ LOGICAL SOCIETY OF tEIJSUjT*' -*!_-» •**^ Miilj numerous (Errgruinugs. LONDON: INGRAM, COOKE, AND CO. jdncZ 5b?d hy all Booksellers. MDCCCLHI. X s , PEEFACE. The life which is described in the following pages has both a permanent interest and a permanent value. But the efforts which are now made to effect the abolition of slavery in the United States of America, seem to render the present moment specially fit for the appearance of a memoir of Toussadtt L'Ouverture. A hope of affording some aid to the sacred cause of freedom, specially as involved in the extinction of slavery, and in the removal of the prejudices on which servitude mainly depends, has induced the author to prepare the present work for the press. If apology for such a publication were required, it might be found in the fact that no detailed life of Toussaest s L'Ouverture is accessible to the English reader, for the only memoir of him which exists in our language has long been out of print. The sources of information on this subject are found chiefly in the French language. To several of these the author acknow- ledges deep obligation. The tone taken on the subject of negro freedom in Hayti, by PREFACE. recent -writers in two French reviews, is partial and unjust. Possibly this may be attributable to a mulatto pen. The blacks have no authors; their cause, consequently, has not yet been pleaded. In the authorities we possess on the subject, either French or mulatto interests, for the most part, predominate. Specially predo minant are mulatto interests and prejudices, in the recently published Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture, by Sadtt Remt, a mulatto : this writer obviously values his caste more than his country or his kind. CONTENTS. BOOK THE FIKST. FBOM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE STBTJGGLE FOE LIBEETY IN HAYTI TO THE FULL ESTABLISHMENT OF TOUSSAINT l'oUVEE- tube's POWEE. CHAPTER I. Description of Hayti — ita name, mountains, rivers, climate, productions, and chief cities and towns . . .... . . p. 1 CHAPTER II. Columbus discovers Hayti — Tinder bis successors the Spanish colony extirpates the natives — The Buccaneers lay in the West the basis of a French colony — its growth and prosperity ... . .10 CHAPTER III. The diverse elements of the population of Hayti — The blacks, the whites, the mulattoes — Immorality and servitude ...... 16 CHAPTER IV. Family, birtb, and education of Toussaint L'Ouverture — His promotions in servitude — His marriage — Reads Raynal, and begins to think him- self the providentially appointed liberator of his brethren . . .23 CHAPTER V. Toussaint's presumed scriptural studies — The Mosaic code — Christian principles adverse to slavery — Christ, Paul, the Epistle to Philemon . 36 CHAPTER VI. Immediate causes of the rising of the blacks — Dissensions of the planters " — Spread of anti-slavery opinions in Europe — The outbreak of the first French Revolution — Negro insurrection, Toussaint protects his master and mistress, and their property 32 Till CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII.* Continued collision of the planters, the mulattoes, and the negroes — The planters willing to receive English aid — The negroes espouse the cause of Louis XVI. — Arrival of Commissioners from France — Nego- tiations — Resumption of hostilities — Toussaint gains influence . p. GO CHAPTER VIII. France equalizes mnlattoes and negroes with the whites — The decapitation of Louis XVI. throws the negroes into the arms of Spain — They are afraid of the Revolutionary Republicans — Strife of French political parties in Hayti — Conflagration of the Cape — Proclamation of liberty for the negroes produces little effect — Toussaint captures Dondon — Commemoration of the fall of the Bastille — Displeasure of the planters — Rigaud 09 CHAPTER IX. Toussaint becomes master of a central post — Is not seduced by offers of negro emancipation, nor of bribes to himself — Repels the English, who invade the island — Adds the epithet L'Ouverture to his name — Aban- dons the Spaniards, and seeks freedom through French alliance . . 78 CHAPTER X. Toussaint L'Ouverture defeats the Spanish partisans — By extraordinary- exertions raises and disciplines troops, forms armies, lays out cam- paigns, executes the most daring exploits, and defeats the English, who evacuate the island — Toussaint is commander-in-chief . . .87 CHAPTER XI. Toussaint L'Ouverture composes agitation and brings back prosperity — is opposed by the Commissioner Hedouville, who flies to France — Appeals in self-justification to the Directory in Paris . . . .97 CHAPTER XII. Civil War in the south between Toussaint L'Ouverture and Rigaud — Siege and capture of Jacmel ......... 108 CHAPTER XIII. Toussaint endeavours to suppress the slave trade in Saint Domingo, and thereby incurs the displeasure of Roume, the representative of France — He overcomes Rigaud — Bonaparte, now first consul, sends commis- sioners to the island — End of the war in the south .... US CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER XIV. Toussaint L'Ouverture inaugurates a better future — Publishes a general amnesty — Declares his task accomplished in putting an end to civil strife and establishing peace on a sound basis — Takes possession of Spanish Hayti, and stops the slave trade — Welcomes back the old colouists — Restores agriculture — Recalls prosperity — Studies personal appearance on public occasions — Simplicity of his life and manners — Wis audiences and receptions — Is held in general respect . . p. 12G CHAPTER XV. Tonssaint L'Ouverture takes measures for the perpetuation of the happy condition of Hayti, specially by publishing the draft of a constitution, in which he is named governor for life, and the great doctrine of Free Trade is explicitly proclaimed 139 BOOK THE SECOKD. from: the fitting out of the expedition by bonapabte against saint dojiingo to the submission of toussaint l'ouveetube. CHAPTER I. Peace of Amiens — Bonaparte contemplates the restoration of Slavery in Saint Domingo — Excitement caused by reports to that effect in the Island — Views of Toussaint L'Ouverture on the point . . . 14G CHAPTER II. Bonaparte cannot be tnrned from undertaking an expedition against Tous- saint — Resolves on the enterprise chiefly to get rid of his republican associates in arms — Restores slavery and the slave-trade — Excepts Hayti from the decree — Misleads Toussaint's sons — Despatches an armament under Leclerc ......... 152 CHAPTER III. Leclerc obtains possession of the chief positions in the Island, and yet is not master thereof — By arms and by treachery he establishes himself at the Cape, at Fort Daupbin, at Saint Domingo, and at Port-au-Prince —Toussaint L'Ouverture depends on his mountain strongholds . 1G0 CHAPTER IV. General Leclerc opens a negotiation with Toussaint L'Ouverture by means of his two sons, Isaac and Placide — The negotiation ends in nothing — The French commander-in-chief outlaws Touissant, and prepares for a campaign 170 CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. General Leclerc advances against Toussaint with 25,000 men, in three divisions, intending to overwhelm bim near Gonaives — The plan is disconcerted by a check given by Toussaint to General Rochambeau, in the ravine Couleuvre ..-.•..•.•. . p. 181 CHAPTER VI. Toussaint L'Ouverture prepares Crete-a-Pierrot as a point of resistance against Leclerc, who, mustering his forces, besieges the redoubt, which, after the bravest defence, is evacuated by the blacks .... 188 CHAPTER VII. Shattered condition of the French army — Dark prospects of Toussaint— Leclerc opens negotiations for peace; wins over Christophe and Dessa- liues — Offers to recognise Toussaint as governor-general — Receives his submission on condition of preserving universal freedom — L'Ouverture in the quiet of his home 198 BOOK THE THIRD. FB05I THE BAYAGES OF THE YELLOW FETEE IN HATTI UNTIL THE DEPOSITION AND DEATH OF ITS LIBEEATOE. CHPATER I. Leclerc's uneasy position in Saint Domingo from insufficiency of food, from the existence in his army of large bodies of blacks, and especially from a most destructive fever . . . • . . . . . 213 CHAPTER II. Bonaparte and Leclerc conspire to effect the arrest of Toussaint L'Ouver- ture, wbo is treacherously seized, sent to France, and confined in the Castle of Joux — Partial risings in consequence .... 220 CHAPTER III. Leclerc tries to rule by creating jealousy and division — Ill-treats the men of colour — Disarms the blacks — An insurrection ensues and gains head until it wrests from the hands of the general nearly all his pos- sessions — Leclerc dies — Bonaparte resolves to send a new army to Saint Domingo 237 CHAPTER IV. Bochambeau assumes the command — His character, voluptuousness, tyranny, and cruelty — Receives large reinforcements — Institutes a system of terror — The insurrection becomes general and irresistible — the French are driven out of the island . . . ...... 250 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER V. Toussaint L'Ouverture in the Jura Mountains — Appeals in vain to the first consul, who brings about bis death by starvation — Outline of his career and character .......... p. 2G7 BOOK THE FOURTH. FBOH THE EVACUATION OF HATTI BY THE FBENCH TO THE PRESENT TIME. CHAPTER I. Dessolines promises safety to the whites, but bitterly persecutes them — Becomes Emperor of Hayti — Sanctions a wise constitution ; yields to vice and folly; and is dethroned and slain ...... 2S4 CHAPTER II. Fend between mulatto and negro blood, occasioning strife and political conflicts — Cbristophe president and sovereign in the nortb — Petion president in the south — The two districts are united under Boyer — Riche — Soulouque, the present emperor ...... 305 • • CHAPTER III. Conclusion ..... ....... 317 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 321 ILLUSTRATIONS. TOUSSATNT CAPTURED BY STRATAGEM Frontitpicce. TOUSSATNT POUND DEAD BY HIS GAOLER Vignette. MAP OP HAYTI OR ST. DOMINGO page 1. SLAVE TRADE ON THE COAST OP AFRICA 17 TOUSSATNT READING THE ABBE RAYNAL's WORK 30 CAPE ST. FRANCOIS 53 TOUSSATNT PARTING PROM HIS "WIPE AND CHILDREN 231 REVENGE OP THE FRENCH ON THE BLACKS 252 i THE LIFE OF TOUSSAINT L'OUTERTUEE. BOOK I. FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE STRUGGLE FOE LIBERTY IN HAYTI TO THE FULL ESTABLISHMENT OF TOUSSAINT l'ouverture's POWER. CHAPTER I. Description of Havti — its name, mountains, rivers, climate, productions, and chief cities and towns. I AM about to sketch the history and character of one of those extraordinary men, whom Providence, from time to time, raises np for the accomplishment of great, benign, and far-reaching re- sults. I am about to supply the clearest evidence that there is no insuperable bander between the light and the dark-coloured tribes of our common human species. I am about to exhibit, in a series of indisputable facts, a proof that the much misunderstood and down- trodden negro race are capable of the loftiest virtues, and the most heroic efforts. I am about to present a tacit parallel between white men and dark men, in which the latter will appear to no disadvantage. Neither eulogy, however, nor disparagement is my aim, but the simple love of justice. It is a history — not an argument — that I purpose to set forth. In prosecuting the nar- rative, I shall have to conduct the reader through scenes of aggres- sion, resistance, outrage, revenge, bloodshed, and cruelty, that grieve and wound the heart, and exciting the deepest pity for B r '1 THE LIFE OF the sufferers, raise irrepressible indignation against ambition, injustice, and tyranny — the scourges of the world, and specially the sources of complicated and horrible calamities to the natives of Africa. The western portion of the North Atlantic Ocean is separated from the Caribbean Sea on the south, and the Gulf of Mexico on the north, by a succession of islands which, under the name of the West India Isles, seem to unite in a broken and waving line, the two great peninsulas of South and North America. Of these islands, which, under the general title of the Antilles, are divided into several groups, the largest and the most important are, Porto Rico on the east, Cuba on the west, and St. Domingo between the two, with Jamaica lying off the western extremity of the latter. Situated between the seventeenth and twentieth degree of north latitude, and the sixty-eighth and seventy-fifth degree of west longitude, SaintDomingo stretches from east to west about 390 miles, with an average breadth, from north to south, of 100 miles, and comprises about 29,000 square miles, or 18,816,000 square acres ; — being four times as large as Jamaica, and nearly equal in extent to Ireland. Its original name, and that by which it is now generally known, Hayti — which, in the Caribbean tongue, signifies a land of mou7itains — is truly descriptive of its surface and general appearance. From a central point, which near the middle of the island rises to the height of some 6,000 feet above the level of the sea, branches, having parallel ranges on the north and on the south, run through the whole length of the island, — giving it somewhat the shape and aspect of a huge tortoise. The mountain ridges for the most part extend to the sea, above which they stand in lofty precipices, forming numerous head- lands and promontories ; or, retiring before the ocean, give place to ample and commodious bays. Of these bays or harbours, three deserve mention ; not only for their extraordinary natural capa- bilities, but for the frequency with which two of them, at least, will appear in these pages. On the north-west of Hayti, is the Bay of Samana, with its deep recesses and curving shores, ter- minating in Cape Samana on the north, and Cape Raphael on the south. At the opposite end of the country, is the raagnifi- TOUSSAIXT LOUVEETHRE. 3 V cent harbour called the Bay Port an Prince, enclosing the long and rocky isle Gonave — on the north of -which is the channel St. Marc, and on the south the channel Gonave. Important as is the part which this harbour sustains in the history of the land, scarcely, if at all less important, is the bay which has Cape Francois for its ■western point, and Grange for its eastern, com- prising on the latter side the minor, but -well-sheltered Bay of Mancenille ; and in the former, the large roadstead of Cape Francois. The mountains r unnin g east and "west break asunder, and sink down, so as to form three spacious valleys, which are watered by the three principal rivers. The Eiver Youna, having its sources in Mount La Vega, in the north-east of the island, and receiving many tributaries from the north and the south, issues in the Bay * of Samana. The Grand Yaque, rising on the western side of the Watershed — of which La Vega may be considered as the dividing line, — flows through the lengthened plain of St. Jago, until it reaches the sea in the Bay of Mancenille. * The chief river is the Artibonite, on the west, which, having its ultimate springs in the central group of mountains, waters the valleys of St. Thomas, of Banica, of Goave ; and turning suddenly to the north, along the western side of the mountains of Cahos, falls into the ocean a ft little south of the Bay of Gonaives, after a long and winding course. While these rivers run from east to west and west to east, innumerable streams flow in a northern and southern direc- tion, proceeding at right angles from the branches of the great trunk. Hayti is a well- watered land ; especially is it so in the west, where several lakes and tarns adorn and enrich the country. The more eastern districts are rugged as well as lofty, but the other parts are beautifully diversified with romantic glens, prolific vales, and rank savannahs. Though so mountain- ous, the surface is overspread with vegetation, the highest summits being crowned with forests. Placed within the tropics, Hayti has a hot yet humid climate, with a temperature of very great variations — so that while in the deep valleys the sun is almost intolerable, on the loftiest mountains of the interior, a B 2 4 THE LIFE OP fire is often necessary to comfort. The ardour of the sun is on the coast moderated by the sea and land breezes, which blow in succession Heavy rains fall in the months of May and June. Hurricanes are less frequent in Hayti than the rest of the Antilles. The climate, however, is liable to great and sudden changes, which bringing storm, tempest, and sunshine, with the intensity of tropical lands, now alarm and now enervate the natives, and often prove veiy injurious to Europeans. On so rich a soil human life is easily supported, and the inducements to the labours of industry are neither numerous nor strong. Yet, in auspicious periods of its history, Hayti has been made abundantly productive. At the time when the hero and patriot whose career we have to describe first appeared on the scene, the island was divided between two European powers ; the east was possessed by the Spaniards, the west and south by the French. It is with the latter portion that this history is mostly concerned. Of the Spanish possessions, therefore, it may suffice to direct attention to two principal cities. The oldest European city is Santo Domingo, which had the honour of giving a name to the whole island. It was founded by Bartholomew, the brother of Colum- bus, who is said to have so called it in honour of his father, who bore that name. Santo Domingo stands in the south-eastern part of the island, at the north of the River Ozama. Santiago holds a fine position in the plain of that name, near the northern end of a line passing somewhere about the middle of the island. The French colony was divided into three provinces — that of the north, that of the west, and that of the south. At the beginning of the French Revolution of 1789, these provinces were trans- formed into three corresponding departments. The three pro- vinces, or departments, were subdivided into twelve districts, each bearing the name of its cliief city. The twelve districts were — in the north, the Cape, or Cap Francois, Fort Dauphin, Port-de-Paix, M61e Saint Nicholas ; in the west, Port-au-Prince, Leogane, Saint Marc, Petit Goave ; and in the south, Jeremie, Cape Tiburon, Cayes and St. Louis. The district of the Cape TOUSSAETT L OCTERTURE. O comprised the Cape, La Plaine-du-Nord, just above the Cape, Linionade, between the two ; AcuL west of the Cape, and on the coast, Sainte Suzanne ; with Morin, La Grande Riviere, Dondon, Marmelade,Limbe, PortMargot, Plaisance, and Borgne — thirteen parishes. The district Fort Dauphin, in the east of the northern department, comprised Fort Dauphin itself, Ouanaminthe, on the south of it, Valliere, Terrier Rouge, and Trou — five parishes. The district of the Port-de-Paix comprised, Port-de-Paix, Petit- Sainfc-Louis, Jean RabeL and Gros Morne — four parishes. The district of the Mole Saint Nicholas comprised Saint Nicholas and Bombarde, two parishes. There were thus four-and-twenty parishes in the northern department. The district Port-au- Prince comprised, Port-au-Prince, Croix-des-Bosquets, on the north, Arcahaye on the north-west, and Mirebalais on the north- east — four parishes. The district of Leogane was identical with the parish of the same name. The district of Saint Marc com- prised, Saint Marc, Petite Riviere, Gonalves — three parishes. The district of Petit-Goave comprised Petit Goave, Grand Goave, Baynet, Jacmel, and Cayes-Jacmel — five parishes. Fourteen parishes made up the western province. The district Jeremie comprised Jeremie and Cap Dame- Marie — two parishes. The district of Tiburon comprised Cape Tiburon and Coteaux — two parishes. The district of Caves comprised Caves and Torbeck — two parishes. The district of Saint Louis comprised, Saint Louis, Anse-Veau, Fond-Cavaillon and Acquin — five parishes. There were eleven parishes in the south. Number of parishes in the north, . . 24 in the west, . . 14 in the south, . . 11 Total number of parishes, . . 49 The study of the map will show that these, the districts under the dominion of France, covered only the west of the island. As, however, they contained the chief centres of civilization, and the THE LIFE OF chief places which occur in this history, our end is answered by the geographical details now given. The appearance of the island from the ocean is thus described by an eye-witness: — " The bold outlines of the mountains, which in many places approached to within twenty miles of the shore, and the numerous stupendous cliffs which beetled over it, casting their shadows to a great distance in the deep, — the dark retreat- ing bays, particularly that of Sam ana, and extensive plains opening inland between the lofty cloud-covered hills, or running for uncounted leagues by the sea side, covered with trees and ' bushes, but affording no glimpse of a human habitation, — pre- Si sented a picture of gloom and grandeur, calculated deeply to > impress the mind; such a picture as dense solitude, unenlivened „— • by a single trace of civilization, is ever apt to produce. "Where, 5 we inquired of ourselves, are the people of this country] Where CS its cultivation? Are the ancient Indian possessors of the soil all — - extinct, and their cruel conquerors and successors entombed with ^ them in a common grave? For hundreds of miles, as we swept along its shores, we saw no living thing, but bow and then a mariner in a solitary skiff, or birds of the land and ocean sailing in the air, as if to show us that nature had not wholly lost its animation, and sunk into the sleep of death."* The interior of Hayti, however, lacks neither inhabitants nor natural beauty. The mount ains rise in bold and varying outline against the brilliant skies, and in almost every part form a back- ground of great and impressive effect. Broken by deep ravines, and appearing in bare and rugged precipices, they present a con- tinued variety of imposing objects which sometimes rise into the sublime. The valleys and plains are rich at once in verdure and beauty, while from elevated spots you may enjoy the sight of the great centres of civilization, Cap-Prancais, Port-de-Paix, Saint-Marc, Port-au-Prince, &c, busy in the various pursuits of city and commercial life. Alas ! that scenes so attractive should, at the time our narrative commences, have been disturbed and * " Brief Notes on Hayti," by John Candler. London, 1842. toussadtt louverture. i made repulsive by the forced labour of myriads of human beings occupied on the numerous plantations, which, but for greed, and oppression, and cruelty, would themselves have multiplied the natural charms of the island. 'The wealth of Hayti comes from its soil. It is an essentially agricultural country. Cereal products are not cultivated ; but maize or Indian corn grows there ; and rice flourishes in the savannahs. The negro lives on manioc chiefly, and obtains other breadstufis from the United States and from Canada. There are, however, other substances which supply him with food when com fails — such as bananas, yams, and potatoes. Plantation- tillage is the chief occupation. This culture embraces sugar, coffee, cotton, indigo, and cotton. In 1789, the French portion of the island contained 793 sugar plantations, 3,117 coffee plan- tations, 789 cotton plantations, and 182 establishments for making rum, besides other minor factories and workshops. In 1791, very large capitals were employed in carrying on these cultivations ; the capitals were sunk partly in slaves and partly in implements of husbandry ; in the cultivation of sugar there was employed a capital of above fifty millions of livres ;* forty- six millions in coffee, and twenty-one millions in cotton ; and in 1776, there was employed a capital of sixty-three millions in the cultivation of indigo. The total value of the plantations was immense, as may be learnt from the fact, that the value of the products of the French portion was estimated, In 1767 at 75,000,000 francs. „ 1774 „ 82,000,000 „ „ 1776 „ 95,148,500 „ „ 1789 „ 175,990,000 „ The last value is the highest. The sum represents the supreme pressure of servitude, and is consequently a measure of the injury done to the black dwellers in Saint Domingo. Already, in 1801, the value fell to 65,352,039 — in other words, the slave-masters * A lrrre, or franc, is worth about ten pence of our money. 8 THE LIFE OP were, at the end of two years, punished for their injustice and tyranny by the immediate loss of nearly two-thirds of their pro- perty; so uncertain is the tenure of ill-gotten gain. Among the territorial riches of Hayti, its beasts of burden and oxen must take a high position. In 1789, the soil supported 57,782 horses ; 48,823 mule3, and 247,612 horned cattle. Hayti possesses an abundant source of opulence in its numer- ous forests, which produce various kinds of precious wood em- ployed in making and decorating furniture and articles of taste. In the year 1791, goods were exported from Hayti to France to the value of 133,534,423 francs — that is, above five millions sterling. The entire value of the territorial riches of the chief plantations, including slaves, amounted to no less a sum than 991,893,334 francs. Curious is it in the statistical table issued by authority, whence we learn these particulars, to see " negroes and animals employed in husbandry" put into the same class. Observe, too, the items. The value of the " negroes old and new, large and small" is set down at 758,333,334 francs, while the other animals are worth only 5,226,667 francs. "We thus learn, that three-fourths of the wealth of the planters consisted in their slaves. Such was the stake which was at issue in the struggle for freedom of which we are about to speak. , The population of Hayti was, in the year 1 824, accounted to amount to 935,335 individuals. This is not a large number for so fertile a land. But it has been questioned whether more than 700,000 dwelt on the soil. Doubtless, the wars which have suc- cessively agitated the country for more than half a century, have greatly thinned the population. There has, however, been a con- stant immigration into Hayti from neighbouring islands, and even from the continent of America. Of the total number of inhabitants just given, there were, in 1824, In the Kingdom of Henry I. (Christophe) 367,721 In the Republic, under Petion . . . . 506,146 In the old Spanish District 61,468 935,335 TOUSSAENT LOUVERTURE. This mass, viewed in regard to origin, was divided thus : — Negroes 819,000 Men of mixed blood . . . 105,000 Red Indians ..... 1,500 Whites 500 Foreigners 10,000 936,000 The small number of whites was occasioned by the strict- enforcement of the law which declared, " No white of any nation whatever shall set his foot on this territory, in the quality of a master or proprietor." The language prevalent in the west and north is the French ; that generally used in the East is the Spanish. Neither is spoken in purity. Not only has the French the ordinary grammatical faults which belong to the uneducated, but out of the peculiar formation of the negro oigans of speech, the peculiar relations in which they have stood in social and political life, as well as the nature of the climate and the products' of the soil, a Haytian patois has been formed which can scarcely be under- stood by Frenchmen exclusively accustomed to then- pure mother tongue. And while the educated classes speak and write what in courtesy may be called classic French, the few authors whom the island has produced do not appear capable of imitating, if they are capable of appreciating, the purity, ease, point, and flow which characterize the best French prose writers. The religion of Hayti is the Roman Catholic. This form of religion is established by law. Under former governments other systems were tolerated. At present the spirit of exclu- siveness predominates. The religion of Rome exists among the people in a corrupt state, nor are the highest functionaries free from a gross superstition, which takes much of its force from old African traditions and observances, as well as from the peculiar susceptibilities of the negro temperament. As soon as the native chiefs began to obtain political power in their struggle for free- 10 THE LIFE OF dom, they practically recognised the importance of general edu- cation, well knowing that only by raising the slaves into men could they accomplish their task and perpetuate their power. Accordingly educational institutions have, from time to time, been set up in different parts of the island. These establish- ments have received favour and encouragement according to the spirit of the government of the day. At present they receive a support less liberal than that which is bestowed on the army. The ensuing narrative will show the various forms of govern- ment which have established themselves in Hayti since the yoke of the planters and of France was broken. "With a tendency to exaggeration, which is a marked feature in the negro character, the present ruler, not content with the title of president or with even that of king, enjoys the high-sounding dignity of emperor. CHAPTER IT. Columbus discovers Hayti — under his successors, the Spanish colony extirpate the natives — The Buccaneers lay in the west the basis of the French colony — its growth and prosperity. "We owe the discovery of Hayti to Columbus. When on his first voyage he had left the Leucayan islands, he, on the fifth of December, 1492, came in sight of Hayti, which at first he re- garded as the Continent. Having, under the shelter of a bay, cast anchor at the western extremity of the island, and named the spot Saint Nicholas, in honour of the saint of the day, he sent men to explore the country. These, on their return, made to Columbus a report, which was the more attractive, because they had found in the new country resemblances to their native land. A similar impression having been made on Columbus, TOUSSAINT L'OUTERTURE. II especially by the songs -which he heard in the air, and by fishes ■which had been caught on the coast, he named the island Espag- nola, (Hispaniola,) or Little Spain. Forthwith on his arrival, Columbus began to inquire for gold; the answers which he received, induced him to direct his course towards the south- On his way, he entered a port which he called "Valparaiso, now Port-de-Paix ; and in this and a second visit occupied and named other spots, taking possession of the country on behalf of his patrons Ferdinand and Isabella, sovereigns of Spain. The return of Columbus to Europe, after his first voyage, was accompanied by triumphs and marvels which directed the attention of the civilised world to the newly-discovered countries; and, exciting ambition and cupidity, originated the movement which precipi- tated Europeans on the American shores, and not only occasioned, there oppression and cruelty, but introduced with African blood worse than African slavery, big with evils the most multiform and the most terrible. At the time of its discovery, Hayti was occupied by — if we may trust the reports — a million of inhabitants, of the Caribbean race: they were dark in colour, short and small in person, and simple in their modes of life. Amid the abundance of nature, they easily gained a subsistence, and passed their many leisure hours either in unthinking repose, or in dances, enlivened by drums and varied with songs. Polygamy was not only practised but sanctioned. A petty sovereign is said to have had a harem of twc-and-thirty wives. Standing but a few degrees above barbarism, the natives were under the do mini on of five petty kings or chiefs, called Caciques, who possessed absolute power; and were subject to the yet more rigorous sway of priests orButios, to whom superstition lent an influence which was the greater because it included the resources of the physician as well as those of the enchanter. Under a repulsive exterior, the Haytians, however, acknowledged a supreme power — the Author of all things, and entertained a dim idea of a future life, involving rewards and punishments correspondent to their low moral condi- tion and gross conceptions. 12 THE LIFE OF On the arrival of Columbus, the natives, alarmed, withdrew into their dense forests. Gradually won back, they became familiarized with the new-comers, of whose ulterior designs they were utterly ignorant. With their assistance, Columbus erected, near Cap Francois, a small fortress which he designated ISavidad, (nativity,) from the day of the nativity, (December 25th,) on which it was completed. In this, the first edifice built by Europeans on the "Western Hemisphere, he placed a garrison of eight-and-thirty men. When (on the 27th of October, 1493) he returned, he found the settlement in ruins, and learned that his men, impelled by the thirst for gold, had made their way to the mountains of Cibao, reported to contain mineral treasures. He erected another stronghold on the east of Cape Monte Christo. There, under the name of Isabella, arose the first city founded by the Spaniards, who thence went forth in quest of the much- coveted precious ore. Meanwhile the new colony had serious difiiculties to struggle with. Barely were they saved from the devastations of a famine. Their acts of injustice drove the natives into open assault, which it required the skill and bravery of Columbus to overcome. His recall to Europe set all things in confusion. Restrained in some degree by his moderation and humanity, the natives on his departure rose against his brother and representative, Bartholomew ; and receiving support from another of his officers, namely, Rolando Ximenes, they aspired to recover the dominion of the island. They failed in their under- taking, the rather that Bai - tholomew knew how to gain for himself the advantage of a judicious and benevolent course. The love of a young Spaniard, named Diaz, for the daughter of a native chief, led Bartholomew to the mouth of the river Ozama. Finding the locality veiy superior, he built a citadel and founded a city there, which, under the name of Santo Domingo, he made his head quarters, intending it to be the capital of the country. Meanwhile Ximenes, at Fort Isabella, carried on his opposition to the Government. Colum bus's return to the island in 1498 did not bring back the traitor to his duty. Meanwhile, in Spain a storm had broken forth against Columbus, which occasioned TOUSSADTT L'oUVERTtTRE. 13 "his recall in 1499. The discoverer of the new world, was put in chains and thrown into prison by his successor, Bovadillo. With the departure of Columbus, the spirit of the Spanish rule underwent a total change. The natives, whom he and his brother had treated as subjects, were by Bovadillo treated as slaves. Thousands of their best men were sent to extract gold from the mines, and when they rapidly perished in labours too severe for them, the loss was constantly made wp by new supplies. In 1501, Bovadillo was recalled. His successor, Ovando, was- equally unmerciful. On the death of Queen Isabella and Columbus, the Haytians lost the only persons who cared to mitigate their lot. Then all consideration towards them dis- appeared. They were employed in the most exhausting toil, they were misused in every manner; torn from the bosom of their families, they were driven into the remotest parts of the island, unprovided with even the bare necessaries of life. In 1506, a royal decree consigned the remainder as slaves to the adventurers, and Ovando failed not to carry the unchristian and inhuman ordinance into full effect, especially in regard to those who were at work in the mines, four of which were very produc - tive. A rising which took place in 1502, had no other result than to rivet the chains under which the natives groaned and perished. Another in 1503, brought Anacoana, a native queen, to the scaffold. In 1507, the number of the Haytians had by toil, hunger, and the sword, been reduced from a million down to sixty thousand persons. Of little service was it that about this time, Pedro d'Atenza introduced the sugar-cane from the Canaries, or that Gonzalez, having set up the first sugar-mill, gave an impulse to agriculture ; there were no hands to cany on the works, for the master laboured not, and the slave was beneath the sod. Ovando made an effort to procure labourers from the Leucayan isles. Forty thousand of these victims were transported to Hayti ; they also sank under the labour. In-151 1, there were only fourteen thousand red men left on the island ; and they disappeared more and more in spite of the exertions for their preservation made by the noble Las Casas. In 1519, a young 14 THE LIFE OF Cacique put himself at the head of the few remaining Haytians, and after a bloody war of thirteen years' duration, extorted for himself and followers a small territory on the north-east of Saint Domingo, where their descendants are said to remain to the present day. Greatly did the island suffer by the loss of its native popu- lation ; the working of the gold mines ceased, or was carried on to a small extent, and with, inconsiderable results ; agriculture proceeded only here and there, and with tardy steps; the -colony declined constantly more and more on every side. The metropolis alone ■withstood the prevalent causes of decay, for it had become a commercial entrepot between the old world and the new. Its prosperity, however, "was, in 1586, seriously shaken by the English commander, Francis Blake, who, having seized the city, did not quit it until he had laid one half in ruins. A still greater calamity impended. The reputed riches of the new world, and the wide spaces of open sea which its discovery made known, invited thither maritime adventurers from the coasts of Europe. Men of degraded character and boundless daring, finding it diflicult to procure a subsistence by piracy and contraband trade in their old eastern haunts, now, from the newly-awakened spirit of maritime enterprise, frequented, if not scoured by the vessels of England, Holland and France, hurried away with fresh hopes into the western ocean, and swarmed wherever plunder seemed likely to reward their reckless hardihood Of these, known in history as the buccaneers, a party took possession (1630) of the isle of Tortuga, which lies off the north- west of Hayti. "With this, as a centre of operation, they carried on ceaseless depredations against Hayti, the coasts of ■which they disturbed and plundered, putting an eud to its trade and occupying its capital. The court of Madrid, being roused in self-defence, sent a fleet to Tortuga,, who, taking pos- session of the island, destroyed whatever of the buccaneers they could find ; but the success only made the pirates more wary and more enterprising. When the fleet had quitted Tortuga, TOUSSAETT l'oUVEHTURE. 15 they again, in 1638, made themselves masters there, and after fortifying the island and establishing a sort of constitution, made it a centre of piratical resources and aggressions, whence they at their pleasure sallied forth to plunder and destroy ships of all nations, wr eaking their vengeance chiefly on such as came from Spain. In tim e, however, these corsairs met with due punishment at the hands of civilised nations. . A remnant of the buccaneers, of French extraction, effected a settlement on the south-western shores of Hayti, the possession of which they successfully maintained against Spain, the then recognised mistress of the island. In their new possessions they applied to the tillage of the land ; but becoming aware of the difficulty of maintaining their hold without assistance, they ap- plied to France. Their claim was heard In 1661, Dageron was sent to Hayti, with authority to take its government into his hands, and accordingly effected there, in 1665, a regularly constituted settlement. At this time the Spanish colony, which was scattered over the east of the island, consisted only ot fourteen thousand free men, white and black, with the same number of slaves : two thousand maroons, moreover, prowled about the interior, and were in constant hostility with the colonists. As yet, the French colony in the west was very weak. Its chief centre was in Tortuga. It had other settlements at Port de Pais, Port Margot, and Leogane. "When Dageron came to Hayti with the title of governor, the Spaniards became more attentive to what went on in the west of the island. They pro- ceeded to attack the French settlements, but with results so unsatisfactory, that the new French governor, Pouancey, drove them from all their positions in the west. His successor, Cussy, who took the helm in 1685, was less successful. The Spaniards made head against him, and the French power was nearly anni- hilated. In 1691, France made another effort. The new governor, Ducasse, restored her dominion, and in the peace of Ryswick, Spain found itself obliged to cede to France the western half of Hayti. With characteristic enterprise and ap- 16 THE LIFE OP plication, the French soon caused their coloiiy to surpass the Spanish portion in the elements of social "well-being; and in the long peace which followed the wars of the Spanish succession, Saint-Domingue, (so the French called their part of the island,) became the most important colony which France possessed in the "West Indies. It suffered, indeed, from Law's swindling operations, and from other causes, but on the whole it made great and rapid progress until the outbreak of the first revolu- tionary troubles in the mother country. Side by side with the advance of agriculture, opulence spread on all sides, and poured untold treasures into France. In a similar proportion the population expanded, so that in 1790, there were in the western half of the island 555,825 inhabi- tants, of whom only 27,717 were white men, and 21,800 free men of colour, while the slaves amounted to 495.528. CHAPTER III. Tlie diverse elements of the population of Hayti — The blacks, the 'whites, the mulattoes; immorality and servitude. The large black population of Hayti was of African origin. Having been stolen from their native land, they were trans- planted in the island to become beasts of burden to their masters. The infamous slave-trade was then at its height. Nations and individuals who stood at the head of the civilised world, and prided themselves in the name of Christian, were not ashamed to traffic in the bodies and the souls of their fellow- men. Three hundred vessels, employed every year in that de- testable traffic, spread robbery, conflagration, and carnage over the coasts and the lands of Africa. Eighty thousand men, women and children, torn from their homes, were loaded with chains, and thrown into the holds of the ships, a prey to deso- SLAVE TRADE OS THE COAST OF AFRICA. TOUSSATNT l'OUVEETURE. If lation and despair. In vain had the laws and usages of Africa, less unjust and cruel than those of Christian countries, forbidden the sale of men born in slavery, permitting the outrage only in the case of persons taken in war, or such as had lost their liberty by debt or crime. Cupidity created an ever-growing demand ; the price of human flesh rose in the market ; the re- quired supply followed. The African princes, smitten with the love of lucre, disregarded the established limitations, and for their own bad purposes multiplied the causes which entailed the loss of liberty. Proceeding from a less to a greater wrong, they "undertook wars expressly for the purpose of gaining captives for the slave mart, and when still the demand went on increas- ing, they became wholesale robbers of men, and seized a village, or scoured a district. From the coasts the devastation spread into the interior. A regularly organised system came into ope- ration, which constantly sent to the sea-shore thousands of inno- cent and unfortunate creatures to whom death would have been a happy lot. In the year 177S, not fewer than one hundred thousand of its black inhabitants were forcibly and cruelly car- ried away from Africa. Driven on board the ships which waited their arrival, these poor wretches, who had been accustomed to live in freedom and roam at large, were thrust into a space scarcely large enough to receive their coffin. If a storm arose the ports were closed as a measure of safety. The precaution shut out light and air. Then who can say what torments the negroes underwent ? Thousands perished by suffocation — happily, even at the cost of life, de- livered from their frightful agonies. Death, however, brought loss to their masters, and therefore it was warded off when possible by inflictions which, in stimulating the frame, kept the vital energy in action. And when it was found that grief an degradation proved almost as deadly as bad air and no air at all, the victims were forced to dance and were insulted with music. If on the ceasing of the tempest and the temporary dis- appearance of the plague, things resumed their ordinary course, lust and brutality outraged mothers and daughters unscrupu- lously, preferring as victims the young and the innocent. "When c IS THE LIFE OF any were overcome by incurable disease, they -were thrown into the ocean while yet alive, as worthless and unsaleable articles. In shipwreck, the living cargo of human beings were ruthlessly abandoned. Fifteen thousand, it has been calculated, — fifteen thousand corpses every year scattered in the ocean, the greater part of which were thrown on the shores of the two hemi- spheres, marked the bloody and deadly track of the hateful slave-trade. Hayti every year opened its markets to twenty thousand slaves. A degradation awaited them on the threshold of servi- tude. "With a burning iron they stamped on the breast of each slave, women as well as men, the name of their master, and that of the plantation where they were to toil There the new- comer found everything strange, — the skies, the country, the language, the labour, the mode of life, the visage of his master, — all was strange. Taking their place among their companions in misfortune, they heard speak only of what they endured, and saw the marks of the punishments they had received. Among 1 the old hands,' few had reached advanced years ; and of the new ones, many died of grief. The high spirit of the men was bowed down. For the two first years the women were not sel- dom struck with sterility. In earlier times the proprietors had not wanted humanity, but riches had corrupted their hearts now; and giving themselves up to ease and voluptuousness, they thought of their slaves only as sources of income whence the ut- most was to be drawn. It is not meant that the slaves of the French Haytian planters were worse treated than other slaves. Their condition, on the whole, was slightly better. But the inherent evils of slavery are very baneful and very numerous. Those evils prevailed in Hayti. The slave is helpless, ignorant, morally low, and almost morally dead — reduced as nearly as may be to a tool, a mere labouring machine, yet endued with strong emotions and burning passions. The master is all-powerful, self- willed, capricious, greedy of gain, and given to pleasure. In such a social condition vice and misery must abound ; wherever such a social condition has existed, vice and misery have abounded. TOUSSAETT l'oUVEETUKE. 19 The evils consequent on slavery are not lessened by the in- coming of one or two stray rays of light. If the slave becomes conscious of his condition, and aware of the injustice under •which he suffers, if he obtains but a faint idea of these things; and if the master learns that a desire for liberty ha3 arisen in the slave's mind, or that free men are asserting anti-slavery doctrines, then a new element of evil is added to those which before were only too powerful. Hope on one side, and distrust and fear on the other, create uneasiness and disturbance, which may end in commotion, convulsion, cruelty, and blood. In the agitation of the public mind of the world, which preceded the first French Revolution, such feelings could not be excluded from any community on earth : they entered the plantations of Hayti, and they aided in pre- paring the terrific struggle, which, through alarm, agitation, and slaughter, issued in the independence of the island. The white population was made up of diverse, and in a measure conflicting elements. There were first the colonists or planters. Of these, some lived in the colony, others lived in France ; the former, either by themselves or by means of stewards, superintended the plantations, and consumed the pro- duce in sensual gratifications; the latter, deriving immense revenues directly or indirectly from their colonial estates, squan- dered their princely fortunes in the pleasures and vices of the less moral society of Paris. Possessed of opulence, these men generally were agitated with ambition, and sought office and titles as the only good things on earth left them to pursue. If debarred from entering the ranks of the French nobility, they could aspire to official distinction in Hayti, and in reality held the government of the colony very much in their own hands, partly in virtue of their property, partly in virtue of their influ- ence with the French court. There were other men of European origin in the island. Some were servants of the government, others members of the army ; both lived estranged from the population which they combined to oppress. Below these were lespetits blancs, (the small whites,) men of inferior station, who conducted various kinds of business in the towns and who, despised by white men more elevated in c 2 20 THE LIFE OF station, repaid themselves by contemning the black population, on the sweat of "whose brows they depended for a livelihood. Contempt is always most intense and baneful between classes that are nearest each other. From the mixture of black blood and white blood arose a new class, designated men of colour. On the part of the planters, passion and lust were subject to no outward restraint, and rarely owned any strong inward control. African women sometimes possess seductive attractions. If in any case these were employed to mitigate the penalties of servitude, the blame must chiefly be imputed to the degraded condition in which the sys- tem held them ; and if when they had obtained power over their paramours, they, in pride and jealousy, inflicted on them humiliating punishments, they did but serve as effectual minis- ters of well-merited retribution. Content to live in a state of concubinage, the proprietors could not expect the peaceful and refining satisfactions of a home ; and alas ! only too readily took the consequences of their licentious course in imperious mis- tresses, and illegitimate offspring. But vice is its own avenger. From the blood sprung from this mixed and impure source, came the chief cause of the troubles and ruin of the planters. Some of the men of colour were proprietors of rich possessions ; but neither their wealth, nor the virtues by which they had acquired it, could procure for them social estimation. Their prosperity excited the envy of the whites in the lower classes. Though emancipated by law from the domination of individuals, the free men of colour were considered as a sort of public property, and as such, were exposed to the caprices of all the whites. Even before the law they stood on unequal ground. At the age of thirty they were compelled to serve three years in a militia, in- stituted against the Maroon negroes; they were subject to a special impost for the reparation of the roads ; they were ex- pressly shut out from all public offices, and from the more honourable professions and pursuits of private life. "When they arrived at the gate of a city, they were required to alight from their horse ; they were disqualified for sitting at a white man's table, for frequenting the same school, for occupying the same TOUSSATNT l'OUVERTURE. 21. place at church, for having the same name, for being interred in the same cemetery, for receiving the succession of his property. Thus the son was unable to take his food at his father's board, kneel beside his father in his devotions, bear his father's uame, lie in his father's tomb, succeed to his father's property, — to such an extent were the rights and affections of nature reversed and confounded. The disqualification pursued its victims, until during six consecutive generations the white blood had become purified from its original stain. Among the men of colour existed every various shade. Some had as fair a complexion as ordinary Europeans j with others, the hue was nearly as sable as that of the pure negro blood. The mulatto, offspring of a white man and a negress, formed the first degree of colour. The child of a white man by a mulatto woman, was called a quarteroon, — the second degree: from a white father and a quarteroon mother, was born the male tierce- roon, — the third degree: the union of a white man with a female tierceroon, produced the metif, — the fourth degree of colour. The remaining varieties, if named, are barely distinguish- able.* Lamentable is it to think that the troubles we are about to describe, and which might be designated the icar of the shin, should have flowed from diversities so slight, variable, evanescent, and every way so inconsiderable. It would almost seem as if human passions only needed an excuse, and as if the slightest excuse would serve as a pretext and a cover for their riotous excesses. On their side, the men of colour, labouring under the sense of then- personal and social injuries, tolerated, if they did not encourage in themselves, low and vindictive passions. Their pride of blood was the more intense, the less they possessed of the coveted and privileged colour. Haughty and disdainful towards the blacks, whom they despised, they were scornful toward the petits blancs, whom they hated, and jealous and turbu- lent toward the planters, whom they feared. "With blood white enough to make them hopeful and aspiring, they possessed riches * See note A at the end. 22 THE LIFE OF and social influence enough to make them formidable. By their alliance with their fathers they were tempted to seek for every thing which was denied them in consequence of the hue and condition of their mothers. The mulattoes, therefore, were a hot-bed of dissatisfaction, and a furnace of turbulence. Aware by their education of the new ideas which were fermenting in Europe and in the United States, they were also ever on the watch to seize opportunities to avenge their wrongs, and to turn every incident to account for improving their social condition. Unable to endure the dominion of their white parents, they were indig nan t at the bare thought of the ascendancy of the negroes; and while they plotted against the former, were the open, bitter, and irreconcileable foes of the latter. If the planters repelled the claims of the negroes' friends, least of all could emancipation be obtained by or with the aid of the mulattoes. Such in general was the condition of society in Hayti, when the first movements of the great conflict began. On that land of servitude there were on all sides masters living in pleasure and luxury, women skilled in the arts of seduction, children aban- doned by their fathers or becoming their cruellest enemies, slaves worn down by toil, sorrow and regrets, or lacerated and mangled by punishments. Suicide, abortion, poisoning, revolts and con- flagration, — all the vices and crimes which slavery engenders, became more and more frequent. Thirty slaves freed themselves together from their wretchedness the same day, and the same hour; meanwhile thirty thousand whites, freemen, lived in the midst of twenty thousand emancipated men of colour, and five hundred thousand slaves. Thus the advantage of numbers and of physical strength was on the side of the oppressed. TOUSSAIKT l'oUVEHTURE. 23 CHAPTER IV. Family, birth and education of Toussaint L'Ouverture — His promotions in servitude, bis marriage ; reads Eaynal. and begins to think himself the pro- videntially-appointed liberator of his oppressed brethren. Ik the midst of these conflicting passions and threatening disorders, there was a character quietly forming, which was to do more than all others, first to gain the mastery of them, and then to conduct them to issues of a favourable nature. This superior mind gathered its strength and matured its purposes in a class of Haytian society where least of all ordinary men would have looked for it. "Who could suppose that the liberator of the slaves of Hayti, and the great type and pattern of negro excellence, existed and toiled in one of the despised gangs that pined away on the plantations of the island ? The appearance of a hero of negro blood was ardently to be wished, as affording the best proof of negro capability. By what other than a negro hand could it be expected that the blow would be struck which should show to the world that Africans could not only enjoy but gain personal and social freedom? To the more deep-sighted, the progress of events and the inevitable tendencies of society had darkly indicated the coming of a negro liberator. The presentiment found expres- sion in the words of the philosophic Abbe RaynaL who, in some sort, predicted that a vindicator of negro wrongs would ere long arise out of the bosom of the negro race. That prediction had its fulfilment in Toussaint L'Ouverture. Toussaint was a negro. We wish emphatically to mark the fact that he was wholly without white blood. "Whatever he was, and whatever he did, he achieved all in virtue of qualities which in kind are co mm on to the African race. Though of negro extraction, Toussaint, if we may believe family traditions, was not of common origin. His great grand father is reported to have been an African king. "Whatever position his ancestors 24 THE LIFE OP held, certain it is that Toussaint had in his soul higher qualities than noble or royal descent can guarantee. The Arradas were a powerful tribe of negroes, eminent for mental resources, and of an indomitable will who occupied a part of "Western Africa. In a plundering expedition undertaken by a neighbouring tribe, a son of the chief of the Arradas was made captive. His name was Gaou-Guinou. Sold to slave- dealers, he was conveyed to Hayti, and became the property of the Count de Breda, who owned a sugar manufactory some two mil es from Cap Francois. More fortunate than most of his race in their servitude, he found among his fellow-slaves fellow?- countrymen by whom he was recognised, and from whom he received tokens of the respect which they judged due to his rank. The Count de Breda was a humane man ; as such he took care to entrust his slaves to none but humane superin- tendants. At the time the plantation of the Count de Breda was directed by M. Bayou de Libertas, a Frenchman of mild character, who, contrary to the general practice, studied his employer's interests without overloading his hands with immo- derate labour. "Under him Gaou-Guinou was less unhappy than his compa- nions in misfortune. It is not known that his master was aware of his superior position in his native country, but facts stated by Isaac, one of Toussaint L'Ouverture's sons, make the supposition not improbable. His grandfather, he reports, enjoyed full liberty on the states of his proprietor. He was also allowed to employ five slaves to cultivate a portion of land which had been assigned to him. He became a member of the Catholic Church, the religion of the rulers of "Western Hayti, and married a woman who was not only virtuous but beautiful The husband and the wife died nearly at the same time, leaving five male children and three female. The eldest of his sons was Toussaint- L'Ouverture. These particulars illustrative of the superiority of Toussaint's family, are neither without interest nor without importance. If, strictly speaking, virtues are not transmissible, virtuous ten- dencies, and certainly intellectual aptitudes, may pass from TOUSSAINT L'OUTERTURE. 25 parents to children. And the facts now narrated may serve to show how it was that Toussaint was not sunk in that mental stagnation and moral depravity of which slavery is commonly the parent. As might be expected, the exact day and year of Toussaint 's "birth are not known. It is said to have been the 20 th of May, 1743. What is of more importance is that he lived fifty years of his life in slavery before he became prominent as the vindi- cator of his brethren's rights. In that long space he had full time to become acquainted with their sufferings as well as their capabilities, and to form such deliberate resolutions as, when the time for action came, should not be likely to fail of effect. Yet does it seem a late period in a man's life for so great an under- taking ; nor could any one endowed with inferior powers have approached to the accomplishment of the task. Throughout his arduous and perilous career, Toussaint L'Ouverture found great support himself, and exerted great influence over others, in virtue of his deep and pervading sense of religion. We might almost declare that from that source he derived more power than from all others. The foundation of his religious sentiments was laid in his childhood. There lived in the neighbourhood of the Gaou-Guinou family a black esteemed for the purity and probity of his character, and who was not devoid of knowledge. His name was Pierre Bap- tiste. He was acquainted with French, and had a smattering of Latin, as well as some notions of Geometry. For his education he was indebted to the goodness of one of those missionaries who, in preaching the morality of a Divine religion, enlighten and enlarge the minds of their disciples. Pierre Baptiste became the godfather of Toussaint. Holding that relation to the child, he thought it his duty to co mm unicate to him the instructions and impressions he had received from his own religious teacher. Continuing to speak his native African tongue, which was used in his family, Toussaint acquired from his godfather some ac- quaintance with the French, and aided by the services of the Catholic Church, made a few steps in the knowledge of the Latin. With a love of country which ancestral recollections 26 THE LIFE OP and domestic intimacies cherished, he took pleasure in reverting to the traditional histories of the land of his sires. From these Pierre-Baptiste laboured to direct his young mind and. heart to loftier and purer examples consecrated in the records of the Christian church. This course of instruction was of greater value than any skill in the outward processes which are too commonly identified with education. The young negro, however, seems to have made some progress in the arts of reading, writing, and drawing. A scholar, in the higher sense of the term, he never became ; and at an advanced period of life, when his knowledge was great and various, he regarded the instruction which he received in boyhood as very inconsiderable. Undoubtedly, in the pure and noble inspirations of his moral nature, Toussaint had in- structors far more rich in knowledge and impulse than any pedagogue could have been. Yet in his youth were the founda- tions laid in external learning of value to the man, the general, and the legislator. It is true, that in the composition of his letters and addresses, he enjoyed the assistance of a cultivated secretary. Nevertheless, if the form was another's, the thought was his own; nor would he allow a document to pass from his hands, until, by repeated perusals and numerous corrections, he had brought the general tenour, and each particular expression, into conformity with his own thoughts and his own purpose. Nor is there required anything more than an attentive reading of his extant compositions, to be assured of the superior mental powers with which he was endowed. In his mature years, and in the days of his great conflict, Toussaint possessed an iron frame and a stout arm. Capable of almost any amount of labour and endurance, he was terrible in battle, and rarely struck without deadly effect. Yet in his child- hood he was weak and infirm to such a degree, that for a long time his parents doubted of being able to preserve his existence. So delicate was his constitution that he received the descrip- tive appellation of Fatras-Baton, which might be rendered in English by Little Lath. But with increase of years the stripling hardened and strengthened his frame by the severest labours TOUSSAIXT I/OUVERTURE. 27 and the most violent exercises. At the age of twelve he sur- passed all his equals in the plantation in bodily feats. Who so swift in hunting? who so clever to swim across a foaming torrent? who so skilf ul to back a horse in full speed, and direct him at his will? The spirit of the man was already working in the boy. The duty of the young slaves was definite and uniform. They were entrusted with the care of the flocks and herds. As a solitary and moral occupation, a shepherd's life gives time and opportunity for tranquil meditation. By nature Fatras-Baton was given to thought. His reflective and taciturn disposition found appropriate nutriment on the rich uplands and under the brilliant skies of the land of his birth. Accustomed to think much more than he spoke, he acquired not only self-controL but also the power of concentrated reflection and concise speech, which, late in life, was one of his most marked and most ser- viceable characteristics. Pastoral occupations are favourable to an acquaintance with vegetable products. Toussaint's father, like other Afri cans, was familiar with the healing virtues of many plants. These the old man explained to his son, whose knowledge expanded in the monotonous routine of his daily task. Thus did he obtain a rude familiarity with simples, of which he afterwards made a practical application. In this period, when the youth was passing into the man, and when, as with all thoughtful persons, the mind becomes sensitively alive to things to come as well as to things present, Toussaint may have formed the first dim con- ception of the misery of servitude, and the need of a liberator._ At present he lived with his fellow-sufferers in those narrow, low, and foul huts where regard to decency was impossible ; he heard the twang of the driver's whip, and saw the blood stream- ing from the negro's body; he witnessed the separation of parents and children, and was made aware, by too many proofs, that in slavery neither home nor religion could accomplish its purposes. Not impossibly, then, it was at this time that he first discerned the image of a distant duty rising before his mind's eye; and as the future liberator unquestionably lay in 2S THE LIFE OP his soul, the latent thought may at times have started forth, and for a moment occupied his consciousness. The means, indeed, do not exist by which we may certainly ascertain when he conceived the idea of becoming the avenger of his people's wrongs; but several intimations point to an early period in his life. His good conduct in his pastoral engagements pro- cured for him an advancement. Bayou de Libertas, convinced of his diligence and fidelity, made him his coachman. This was an office of importance in the eyes of the slaves; certainly it was one which brought some comfort and some means of self- improvement. Though Toussaint became every day more and more aware that he was a slave, and experienced many of the evils of his condition, yet, with the aid of reh'gion, he avoided a mur- muring spirit, and wisely employed his opportunities to make the best of the position in which he had been born, without, how- ever, yielding to the degrading notion that his hardships were irremediable. Sustained by a sense of duty which was even stronger than his hope of improving his condition, he performed his daily task in a composed if not a contented spirit, and so, constantly, won the confidence of the overseer. The result was his promotion to a place of trust. He was made steward of the implements employed in sugar-making. Arrived at adult age, Toussaint began to think of marriage. His race at large he saw living in concubinage. As a religious man he was forbidden by his conscience to enter into such a relation. As a humane man he shrunk from the numerous evils which he knew concubinage entailed. Whom should he choose? Already had he risen above the silly preferences of form and feature. Reabty he wanted, and the only real good in a wife, he was assured, lay in good sense, good feeling, and good manners. These qualities he found in a widow well skilled in husbandly, a house-slave in the plantation. The kind-hearted and industrious Suzan became his lawful wife according to " God's holy ordinance and the law of the land." By a man of colour Suzan had had a son, named Placide. Obeying the generous impulses of his heart, Toussaint adopted the youth, TOUSSADJT L'OUVEKTURE. 29 •who ever retained the most lively sense of gratitude towards his benefactor. Toussaint "was now a happy man, considering his condition as a slave — the husband of a slave— a very happy mam His position gave him privileges, and he had a heart to enjoy them. TTis leisure hours he employed in cultivating a garden, which he was allowed to call his own. In those pleasing engagements he ■was not without a companion. "We went," he said to a traveller "we went to labour in the fields, my wife and I, hand in hand Scarcely were we conscious of the fatigues of the day. Heaven always blessed our toil. Not only we swam in abundance, but we had the pleasure of giving food to blacks who needed it. On the Sabbath and on festival days we went to church — my wife, my parents, and myself. Returning .to our cottage, after a pleasant meal, we passed the remainder of the day as a family, and we closed it by prayer, in which all took part." Thus can religion convert a desert into a garden, and make a slave's cabin the abode of the purest happiness on earth. Bent as Toussaint was on the improvement of his condition, he yet did not employ the personal property which ensued from his own and his wife's thrift, in purchasing his liberty, and elevating himself and family into the higher class of men of colour. His reasons for remaining a slave are not recorded. He may have felt no attractions towards a class whose superiority was more nominal than real. He may have resolved to remain in a class whose emancipation he hoped some day to achieve. The virtues of his character procured for Toussaint universal respect. He was esteemed and loved even by the free blacks. The great planters held him in consideration. His intellectual faculties ripened under the effects of his intercourse with free and white men. As he grew in mind and became large of heart, he more and more was puzzled and distressed with the institution of slavery ; he could in no way understand how the hue of the skin should put so great a social and personal distance between men whom God, he saw, had made essentially the same, and whom he knew to be useful if not indispensable to each 30 THE LITE OF other. Naturally he asked himself what others had thought and said of slavery. He had heard passages recited from RaynaL* He procured the -work. And now he found how much is in- volved in the simple art of reading. Toussaint could read,— Toussaint did read. He read passages similar to what follows, and he became the vindicator of negro freedom : — "Scarcely had domestic liberty revived in Europe, when it was entombed in America. The Spaniard, whom the waves first threw on the shores of the New World, believed himself under no obligation to its inhabitants, for they had not his colour, or his customs, or his religion. He saw in them only his instruments, and he loaded them with chains. Those feeble men, unused to toil, soon perished from the vapours of the mines, and other occupations almost as baneful Then arose a demand for slaves from Africa. Their numbers increased in proportion as cultivation extended. The Portuguese, the Dutch, the English, the French, the Danes — all nations, whether free or in serfdom, remorselessly sought an augmentation of fortune in the sweat, in the blood, in the despair of these poor wretches ; — what a frightful system ! " Liberty is every one's own property. There are three kinds of liberty — natural liberty, civil liberty, political liberty; that is to say, the liberty of the man, the liberty of the citizen, and the liberty of the community. Natural, liberty is the right which nature has given to every one to dispose of himself ac- cording to his own will. Civil liberty is the right which society ought to guarantee to every citizen to do all that is not contrary to the laws. Political liberty is the condition of a people which has not alienated its own sovereignty, and which makes its own laws, or which is in part associated in its legislation. " The first of these liberties is, next to reason, the distinctive characteristic of man. "We subdue and enchain the brute, because it has no notion of justice or injustice — no idea of great- ness and degradation. But in me liberty is the principle of my * Historre Ptflosopliique et Politique des Etablissemcns et du Commerce des Europeens dans les Deux Indes. par G. T. Bnynal. Genera, 1780. TOUSSAINT READING THE ABBE KAYXAl/s "VTORK. TOUSSADfT l'oUVEHTURE. 31 vices and my virtues. It is only the free man who can say, I will, or, / will not; and who can, consequently, be "worthy of praise and blame. "Without liberty, or the possession of one's own body and the enjoyment of one's own mind, there is neither husband, father, relation nor friend; we have no country, no fellow-citizen, no God. The slave, an instrument in the hands of wickedness, is below the dog which the Spaniard let loose against the American; for conscience, which the dog lacks, remains with the man. He who basely resigns his liberty, de- votes himself to remorse and to the greatest misery that a sensible and thinking creature can experience. If there is no power under heaven that can change my organisation, and con- vert me into a brute, there is none that can dispose of my liberty. God is my Father and not my master. I am his child, not his slave. How, then, could I accord to political power that which I refuse to Divine omnipotence? " These are immovable and eternal truths — the foundation of all morality, the basis of all government ; will they be contested ? yes ! and it will be a barbarous and sordid avarice which will commit the audacious homicide. Cast your eye on that ship- owner, who, bent over his desk, regulates, with pen in hand, the number of crimes which he may commit on the coast of Guinea; who, at his leisure, examines what number of muskets will be needed to obtain a negro, what number of chains to hold him bound on board his vessel, what number of whips to make him work : who coolly calculates how much will cost him each drop of the blood with which his slave will water his plantation ; who discusses whether the negress will give more or less to his estate by the labours of her feeble hands than by the dangers of child-birth. You shudder? — ah! if there existed a religion which tolerated, which authorized, if only by its silence, horrors like these ; if, occupied with idle or contentious questions, it did not ceaselessly thunder against the authors or the instruments of this tyranny; if it made it a crime for the slave to break his chains ; if it suffered in its bosom the unjust judge who con- demned the fugitive to death ; — if this religion existed, would it not be necessary that its altars should be broken down and left 32 THE LIFE OF in ruins? "Who are you who will dare to justify crimes against my independence, on the ground that you are the stronger] What ! he who makes me a slave not guilty? He makes use of his rights ? What, then, are those rights ? "Who has given them a character sacred enough to put my rights to silence? I hold from nature the right of self-defence; she has not given you the right to attack me. If you think yourself authorized to oppress me because you are stronger and more alert than I, do not com- plain when, after my hand becomes vigorous, it shall plant a dagger in your heart ; do not complain when you shall feel in your veins that death which I shall have mingled with your food. Now I am the stronger and the more alert, it is your turn to be the victim ; expiate the crime of having been an oppressor. " 'But,' it is said, 'slavery has been generally established in all countries and in all ages.' True; — but what consequence is it what other nations have done in other ages? Ought the appeal to be to customs or to conscience? Is it interest, blindness, bar- barity, or reason and justice, that we ought to listen to? If the universality of a practice proved its innocence, the apology of usurpations, conquests, and oppression of all kinds would irrefut- ably be completed. " ' But the ancients,' you say, ' thought themselves mas- ters of the lives of their slaves; we, having become more humane, dispose only of their liberty and their labour.' It is true, the progress of knowledge has on this important point given light to modern legislators. All codes, without an excep- tion, have taken precautions to guard the life of even the man who pines away in servitude. They have put his existence under the protection of the magistrate. But has this, the most sacred of social institutions, ever had its due force ? Is not America peopled with colonists who, usurping sovereign rights, inflict death on the unfortunate victims of their avarice ? But suppose the law observed, would the slave materially gain thereby? Does not the master who employs my strength, dispose of my life, which depends on the voluntary and moderate use of my faculties ? What is existence for him who has no property in it? I cannot kill my slave, but I may cause his blood to flow drop by drop under the driver's whip; I may overwhelm, him with toussaett l'ouverture. 33 labours, privations, and pains ; I may on all sides attack and slowly undermine the resources of his life ; I may stifle by slow punishments the wretched embryo that a negress bears in her womb. It might be said that the laws protect the slave against a speedy death, only to leave to my cruelty the right of killing him in the course of time. In truth, the right of slavery is the right to commit crimes of all kinds. '•' ' But the negroes are a sort of men born for slavery : they are of narrow minds, mischievous, deceitful; they themselves own the superiority of our intelligence, and almost recognise the justice of our dominion.' . " The negroes are of narrow minds because slavery destroys all the springs of the soul. They are mischievous, — not mischievous enough with you. They are deceitful, because they owe' no fidelity to their tyrants. They acknowledge the superiority of our intelligence, because we have perpetuated their ignorance ; the justice of our dominion, because we have abused their weak- ness. In the impossibility of maintaining our superiority by force, a criminal policy has had recourse to guile. You have almost got so far as to persuade them that they are an excep- tional race, born for subjection and dependence, for labour and punishment. You have neglected nothing to degrade those un- happy creatures, and you reproach them with being vile. " ' But these negroes were born slaves.' — Whom will you cause to believe that a man can be the property of a sovereign? a son the property of a father ? a woman the property of a husband ? a domestic the property of a master 1 a negro the property of a planter? The contempt with which you treat them falls back upon yourself. You have no ground of self-respect but what is common to you with them. A common Father, an immortal soul, a future life — here is your true glory, and here is their glory. " ' But the government itself authorizes the sale of slaves.' — "Whence this right ? However absolute the magistrate, is he tho proprietor of the subjects of his empire? Has he any other au- thority than such as he derives from the citizens? And can any nation give the privilege of disposing of its liberty? " ' But the slave sold himself of his own accord.' — If he belongs D 34 THE LIFE OP to himself he has the right to dispose of himself If he is master of his life, why should he not be master of his liberty ? Man has not the right to sell himself, because he has not the right to accede to whatever an unjust, violent, and depraved master may exact from him. He belongs to his first master — God, by whom he has never been emancipated. He who sells himself enters into an illusory agreement with his purchaser; for thereby he loses all his value. At the moment when he receives the pricey both he and the money become the property of the buyer; The very act of selling. yourself, vitiates the bargain. He who sells him- self is a fooL not a slave. " ' But those slaves were taken in war r and. but for us would have been, slaughtered.' i " ' But for you would there have been fighting? Are not the dissensions of those tribes your work? Did you not carry to them murderous arms? Did you not give them the blind desire to employ them? And why did you not allow the conqueror to use his victory as he pleased? Why become his. accomplice? " ' But they were criminals condemned to death or slavery in their own country.' Are you, then, Africa's executioners. Be- sides, who were their judges? Do you not know that under a despotism there is only one criminal — the despot himself? The subject of a despot, like the slave, is in a condition contrary to nature. Whatever contributes to retain man in that condition, is a crime against his person. Every hand which binds man to the tyranny of a single person, is the hand of an enemy. Do you wish fco know who are the authors and accomplices of this violence? Those who are around it. The tyrant can do nothing by himself. ' : ' But they are happier in America than they were in Africa.' Why, then, do they continually sigh for their native land? Why do they resume their liberty as soon as they can? Why do they prefer deserts and the society of wild beasts, to a state which ap- pears to you so agreeable? Why does their despair induce them to put an end to themselves, or to poison you? Why do their wives so often procure abortion? When you tell us of the hap- piness of your slaves, you Lie to yourselves, and you deceive us. It is the height of extravagance to attempt to transform so barbarous an act into an act of humanity. toussazstt l'ouverture. 35 " ' But in Europe as in America the people are slaves. The sole advantage which we have over the negroes is the power of breaking one chain to fall under another.' Too true. Most nations are oppressed. Scarcely is there a country in which a man can flatter himself with being master of his person, of disposing of his inheritance at his will, of enjoying peaceably the fruits of his industry. But as morality and wise polity shall make progress, men will recover their rights. Why, in waiting for the happy day, should there be miserable races to whom you refuse even the consoling and honourable name of free men; from whom you snatch even the hope of obtaining it, notwithstanding the changeableness of events? No, whatever may be said, the condition of those unfortunate beings is not the same as ours. " The last argument employed to justify slavery says, that ' slavery is the only way of conducting the negroes to eternal blessedness by means of Christian baptism.' " Mild and loving Jesus ! could you have foreseen that your benign maxims would be employed to justify so much horror ? If the Christian religion thus authorized avarice in governments, it would be necessary for ever to proscribe its dogmas. In order to overturn the edifice of slavery, to what tribunal shall we carry the cause of humanity? Kings, refuse the seal of your authority to the infamous traffic which converts men into beasts. But what do I say? Let us look somewhere else. If self-interest alone prevails with nations and their masters, there is another power. Nature speaks in louder tones than philosophy or self-interest. Already are there established two colonies of fugitive negroes, whom treaties and power protect from assault. Those light- nings announce the thunder. A courageous chief only is wanted. Where is he? that great man whom Nature owes to her vexed, oppressed, and tormented children. Where is he ? He will appear, doubt it not; he will come forth, and raise the sacred standard of liberty. This venerable signal will gather around him the companions of his misfortune. More impetuous than the torrents, they will everywhere leave the indelible traces of their just resentment Everywhere people will bless the name D 2 36 THE LIFE OF of the hero, who shall have re-established the rights of the human race ; everywhere will they raise trophies in his honour."* These eloquent words must have produced a deep and per- vading impression on a mind so susceptible as that of Toussaint. Here reason and feeling were harmonized into one awful appeal. Here philosophy joined with common sense and common justice,, to proclaim negro wrongs, and to call for a negro vindicator. That call Toussaint heard; he heard its voice in his inmost soul ; he heard it there first in low reverberations ; he heard it there at last in sounds of thunder. Dwelling on those principles, pondering those words, consulting his own heart, and reflecting on his own condition, he came in time to feel that lie was the man here designated, and that in the designation there was a call from Providence which he dared not disregard. But the time was not yet. Conviction must wait on opportunity. Besides, Toussaint was a religious man. Religion was his highest law. In one sense religion was his only law, for it comprehended every other form of law. What said religion] Read again, noble black; read with your own eyes ; read the Bible for yourself and by yourself. Yes, if you will, consult the priest ; but in retiring from the confessional, let Raynal's words echo in your ears, and fear lest you betray Christianity, even while striving to learn and obey its law. CHAPTER V. Toussaint' s presumed scriptural studies — The Mosaic code — Christian principles adverse to slavery — Christ, Paul, the Epistle to Philemon. It is not to be supposed that Toussaint read the sacred Scrip- tures with a critical eye. Unversed in the science of Biblical interpretation, he could do no more than receive such impressions as certain great outstanding facts were fitted to produce. Nor, * Vol. iii. p. 193 — 205. Some parts which breathe too much the spirit of revenge have been softened or omitted in the translation. TOUSSAIXT l'ouvertcbe. 37 however valuable for its own purposes a scientific acquaintance with the Divine Word may be, did he need more than he and every other sensible person could gather from the general tenour and prominent aims of the Bible. There might even be par- ticular passages which he was unable to comprehend in the harmony of scriptural truth, and a religious disputant might have found no great difficulty in presenting to his mind considerations wearing on the surface an appearance adverse to his general con- victions. But those convictions would rest on such broad and deep foundations, and occupy in his mind so large a space ; they would in themselves be so full, and so vivid, and so far-reaching, that as he reflected on them more and more, and they thus became an integral element in his mind, he could in no way doubt that slavery was disallowed by the Bible, and was adverse to the genius, the aims, and the operation of the GospeL Slavery, it is true, he found in the Scriptures. But how? 3STot as an institution of Divine origin. Moses found slavery in common practice; and unable to abolish it, did his best to miti- gate its evils. And the system of servitude which he left rather than sanctioned, involved none of those atrocities which make American slavery so offensive and so banefuL The aim and tendency of slavery among the Hebrews, was the improve- ment of such as were under the yoke. Being of foreign extrac- tion for the most part, slaves were permitted to enter ' the com- monwealth of Israel,' by undergoing the distinctive rite of circumcision. (Gen. xvii. 23, 27.) Thus raised from a slave into a Hebrew, the slave had before him a brightening future, and could share in the privilege, and partake of the advantages, of worshipping the Creator of heaven and earth. Like England, Canaan was a land of refuge for slaves. The moment they touched that sacred soil they were free. Fugitive slaves could in no wise be delivered up to their masters, nor might they be reduced into bondage by Israelites. They chose their own resi- dence, and followed their own pursuits. (Deut. xxiii. 16, et seq.) Expressly was it forbidden that a Hebrew should sell himself to a fellow- Hebrew as a bond-servant, and if one Hebrew hired himself to another Hebrew, he with his children obtained 38 THE LIFE OF his liberty unconditionally at the end of six years at the farthest, or at the jubilee next ensuing after his service began. (Lev. xxv. 39, 40.) And he might be redeemed at an earlier day by either himself or a relative. (Lev. xxv. 48, 49.) Even thieves, who, when detected, -were, in consequence of not being able to make compensation, put into servitude to Israelites, benefited by the laws regarding emancipation. As it was not permitted to send back or enslave a fugitive slave of foreign blood, so was it unlaw- ful to sell a Hebrew to a foreign master. (Exod. xxL 7 — 1 1.) These facts are the more striking, when we take into account the general practice of the slave trade in the ancient Eastern world. Egypt, which lay on the borders of Palestine, was a great slave mart. The long sea-board of Palestine afforded peculiar facilities for the detestable traffic. Streams of wealth would have poured into the land, had Israel encouraged the trade. The temptation was great But religion was too strong for cupidity, and the people of God disallowed the commerce in human flesh generally, and modified their prescriptive usages so as to abate the evils and diminish the observance of slavery in their own territories. Among the mitigations of their lot guaranteed to slaves by Moses were the following: — 1. Entire rest from labour every seventh day. (Exod. xx. 10.) Noble recognition of man's religious nature and religious wants! 2. Immunity from deadly or cruel punishments. If a servant lost an eye or a tooth from a blow given by his master, he was thereon rendered free ; if a slave died under a master's hand, the master underwent due retribu- tion. (Exod. xxi. 20, et seq.) When advocates of slavery as it is in the United States cite in argument the Mosaic institutions, they would do well to give special attention to these merciful regulations. 3. Slaves were to join the Hebrew family in their rejoicings on occasions of religious festivity. (Deut. xii. 12, 18; xvi 11, 14.) 4. Slaves recovered their freedom in the year of jubilee, and the bondman was not to go away with empty hands : " Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy flour, and out of thy winepress." The reason assigned is forcible; " Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in TOUSSAINT l/oUVEETFRE. 39 the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee. (Dent, xv.. 13 et seq.; compare Exod. xxi. 2 — 4.) 5. A servant might not wish, to leave his master's house ; having been treated -well, he had formed attachments and become one of the famil y:: "If, therefore, he shall plainly say, I love my master, I -will not go out free, then shall his master bring him unto the judges;" and his ■will being ascertained by a judicial investigation, he was permitted to remain in his own freely-chosen condition of domestic servi- tude. (Exod. xxL 5, 6.) 6. A Hebre-w bondsman -was allowed to acquire and .hold property, with -which he might purchase his freedom. (Lev. xxv. 49.) 7. If a master had no sons, a Hebrew- slave might aspire to his daughters hand. (1 Chron. iL, 35.)* On reviewing the features of the Mosaic slave code, could Tous- 6aint for a moment identify its provisions with the Code Noir of Loui3 XTV., or with the system practised in Hayti? The con- trast was too evident. When did Toussaint see a slave, in some happy year of jubilee, going forth from bondage with a liberal supply from his master's flock, his master's barn, and his master's wine- cellar? Did he foimsRlf ever even think of asking for the hand, not of his master s daughter, but of his master's steward's daughter? Did he ever witness even a slave-driver punished for cruelly treating a slave? Could he point to a neighbouring land whose very air gave a slave his freedom the moment he breathed it? Did Spanish Hayti refuse to deliver up fugitive slaves to French Hayti, and did French Hayti refuse to deliver up fugitive slaves to Spanish Hayti? But, it is objected, Christianity finding slavery in existence, did not proscribe it. Christianity did more than proscribe slavery — it undermined slavery ; and wherever it prevailed in deed rather than profession, it brought slavery to the ground. The objection, if rightly stated, is this, and not hing more — namely, that the -original promulgators of the Gospel did not commence an active and open crusade against slavery. The reason is, that they had an object before them higher than any immediate good. They waged no war ag ainst Roman despotism. They left, even on * Consult, under the word bondage, " The People's Dictionary of the T3ible," 2 vols. 8vo., third Edition, by the author. 40 THE LIFE OF their native hills, the degenerate family of Herod in undisturbed possession of power. Their mission "was not to remodel in- stitutions, but to reform society. Their work was not to reap a premature and perishing harvest, but to sow the seed of quickening principles and imperishable sympathies. Disregard- ing thrones, principalities, and dominions, they went forth to preach the word of a new individual life, well aware that the acorn, in due time, would become an oak. Nor were their efforts nugatory. Within three centuries slavery was abolished in the Roman empire. And at this moment — such is the ex- tensive and ever-living power of the Gospel — slavery, throughout the world, is tottering to its fall. But chiefly, when he meditated on the words and the objects of the Saviour of the world, did Toussaint feel how incompatible slavery was with Christianity. Had he not, in those impressive words, "where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty," (2 Cor. iii. 1 7,) found the enunciation of a great Christian princi- ple, and the announcement of a great Christian power, which must of necessity, as it was designed, break asunder every outward bond and emancipate every slave on earth? And in what terms did the Lord himself announce his mission? Toussaint, in thought, made one of his auditors in that small synagogue at Nazareth, where the Redeemer of men astounded his townsfolk and relatives by declaring, in words of the widest import, as he ushered in the grand spiritual jubilee, and so gave to all the subjects of His new kingdom liberty of body in giving them liberty of soul : " The Spirit of Jehovah is upon me, be- cause He hath anointed me to preach glad tidings to the poor, He hath sent me to declare deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind ; to set at liberty those that are oppressed ; to proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah." " To-day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." (Luke iv. 18, et seq.) Unmis- takable must Toussaint have found the import of these words. The great year of jubilee had come — the slave was free — slavery was abolished; not only that corporeal slavery which Moses tolerated, but the heavier slavery ; which man, in conse- quence of sin, endured; — slavery of soul and, consequently, slavery of body was abrogated and destroyed. The blow TOUSSALST I/OUVERTCRE. 41 ■was struck, and the dark edifice would inevitably fall. How could Toussaint hear from the lips of Christ himself that he came expressly to deliver the captive, and set the oppressed at liberty, without feeling that if he yielded to the grand thought •which already swelled his breast, and became the liberator of the negro race, he would thereby be not a follower only, but a fellow-worker with " the Lord from heaven I" How could he learn, on infallible authority, that God ; who had '•' made of one blood all nations," (Acts xvii. 26,) had, in his Son, opened and proclaimed the year of universal jubilee, and therefore, inau- gurated the period of universal emancipation ; and yet, "with his convictions and sympathies, iail to conclude that on him too had, by the hand of Providence, been devolved a share in the truly religious task of liberating and upraising a cruelly oppressed and deeply injured tribe? If from the Master, Toussaint turned to the greatest of his disciples, and asked Paul what, on this point, were the principles of the religion of Jesus, he learned that while the apostle urged no one in actual circumstances to hurry from the condition in "which he was born, and judged that it "was better to endure wrong than prematurely, and to the peril of the cause of Christ, disturb existing relations, and thereby convulse society already fearfully agitated, yet he recognised as equally members of the Christian church, and accessible to the same rights, immunities, and privileges, the bond and the free; (2 Cor. xii. 13;) and viewing the whole of human kind as divided into these two classes — in their high relations to God and Christ and each other, declared that all outward distinctions had ceased, and must practically, in time, come to an end, for that there "was no longer bond or free, any more than Barbarian or Scythian, but all were "one in Christ Jesus." (Gal. iii. 28; CoL iiL 11.) What! could the glowing terms in -which the apostle — returning again and again to the subject, as if his soul ■was on fire "with the thought — sets forth not only the equality of all the tribes of earth, but their essential unity ; — could those terms be heard by the Roman slave in the primitive church, and not make his bosom swell and glow with the idea that he too ■was a man, that he too "was free, that he too was comprehended 42 THE LIFE OF in "the redemption which was in Christ Jesus?" And that idea once deep in his bosom, the rupture of his material bonds was merely an affair of time. Men, who know that they are men, cannot long be held in bondaga Conscious children of God will not be slaves to selfish and brutal men. Those who feel that they have been purchased by Christ, the Son of God, may indeed " bide their time," but cannot be permanently held in the degrading and polluting condition of slavery. Yes, wisely for your own "bad purposes, do ye, slave masters, keep the light of divine truth from your unhappy victims, or permit them to see it only through the discolouring medium of a ministration which stoops to make a gain of godliness ; wisely for your own purposes do ye keep the Bible a sealed book on your plantations, or set hirelings to pervert its glorious and emancipating tidings; for otherwise your dominion would be shorter than in God's providence it is intended to be. But the day cometh; "the Lord is at hand." You point me to the conduct of Paul? You tell me that Paul sent back Onesimus into slavery? You ask me if Toussaint in his scriptural studies comprised the Epistle to Philemon? and you triumphantly intimate that, by that ex- ample, his emancipating ardour ought to have been checked. I reply that the Epistle to Philemon is a plea against slavery; that if Toussaint comprehended what he read, he would thereby be greatly confirmed and built up in his righteous and most Christian purposes ; and that if your own eyes were only free from the scales of prejudice and mistaken self-interest, they too would discern, in that letter, principles which are utterly incon- sistent with the continuance of the abominable system of which you are the supporters. The Epistle of Paul to Philemon is the most pregnant of com- positions. Never was so much meaning compressed into so few words. And then, how weighty the topics. How much of doctrine is there in those few verses; how much of history. And the doctrine and the history are so presented, that while you cannot deny the history, you are encouraged to receive the doctrine. The letter is a series of implications ; — implied facts, TOUSSAIST I/OUTERTURE. 43 implied principles, implied duties, implied changes and triumphs, set forth in all the unconscious simplicity of a private and con- fidential communication, so as to conciliate attention and win belief I hold this short Epistle to be of itself an antidote to scepticism and a confutation of slavery. The letter, I have intimated, is a series of implications. It is also a group of pictures. First mark that fugitive slave hurrying from Colossee, in Asia Minor, down to the shores of the Mediter- ranean sea. What a fell expression of countenance he has, as of one who, if well-endowed by nature, had been made bad by ser- vitude, and who had had loDg and varied practice in misdoing. How stealthy are bis steps, how clownish, yet how timid his manner ! Ever and anon he casts back bis anxious eyes as if he feared pursuit, and from the face of every one whom he en- counters, he turns away, as if he dreaded to be recognised. At last, reaching the sea, he hastens on ship-board, and conc ealin g himself in the most secret part of the vessel, effects his escape, and is carried to Rome, — that city which the greatest of ancient historians has described as the common sink of the world.* Let a few years pass, and you may see the same person on his way back from Rome to Asia Minor and Colossse. No longer do his movements betray fear. No longer does his countenance betoken ferocity. His steps are equable and firm. His manner discloses self-respect. He is returning with as much composure as determination, and on his way he receives and returns greet- ings with gentleness and confidence, as if he feared none, and wished to be friendly with all And now that he is again on ship-board, mark how pure and refined is the expression of his face, how manly his whole bearing, as, no longer shunning the light, he walks up and down the deck, and has a good word for every one. Is this indeed the same person? It is Onesimus, the runaway slave. And he is going back to his master of his own accord. Yes, hundreds of miles does he travel on foot and * Tac. Ann. sr. 44. Quo caacta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt, cele- branturque. • 44 THE LIFE OF by sea in order to return into bondage. Observe, be is unac- companied, be is unmanacled; not by force, but by bis own free will, is be led back to bis proprietor Pbilemon in Colossi. Whence tbese cbanges 1 In order to understand tbem, you must form to yourselves anotber picture. Tbere, in a small bouse in tbat narrow and secluded street of Rome, you bebold an aged man, bound witb a chain to that pretorian soldier, under whose custody he is night and day. That aged man is Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ ; there, in that corrupt and guilty city, to answer, at the peril of his life, for daring to offer the Gospel to his countrymen in Jerusalem. Mean in person, and rude in speech, be has nevertheless preached Christ crucified with great success to the citizens. But he is oppressed with infirmities. His numerous sufferings, his long journeys, his ceaseless labours, have reduced him to that state of bodily endurance. And glad and thankful is he for humane attentions and ministries of Christian love. In that sacred work Onesimus has been engaged. Found by Paul, — and found, it may be, when the fugitive was in sickness, — be was taken to the apostle's own abode, and there cared for in mind as well as in body, until he came to possess both the ability and the will to make a return in kind to his apostoUc benefactor. The reciprocation of kind offices begat mutual attachment. Learning to love the preacher, Onesimus learned also to love and to ■espouse his doctrine. Now, therefore, is he a Christian, — a mem- ber of Christ's spiritual body, and a sharer with Paul himsebf in "the bberty wherewith Christ hath made him free." (Gal v. 1.) So intimate do the two friends become, tbat the elder regards the younger as his ' : son," while the younger, loving and respecting the elder as his father, is as ready to obey as he is glad to serve him. But mark, as they sit there in that humble apartment, earnestly conversing witb each other, mark the cloud that has fallen on the countenance of Onesimus. It is heavy and deep. In a moment it has disappeared. " You must return to Philemon." These are the words which darkened that face. " Return into chains'? horrible." Shortly afterwards Onesimus is on the road. They are great changes with which we have to do in this group of events. At the time of the publication of the Gospel, TOUSSAENT L'OUVERTURE. 45 slavery was universal. Philemon, a prominent and zealous member of the church at Colossre, held a slave by name Onesimus. Having served his master badly, Onesimus ran away. But now of his own free will he is go Log back into bondage. This is the first great change. Ah, how many a footstep must he set between Rome and Colossie, and for every footstep there was an act of the will. Every act of the will said, "return to servitude.'* Yet the will never faltered, and the slave's own feet brought him into the house of Philemon. But what reception might he meet with therel There would be the jeers and jibes of fellow slaves to endure. There were past neglects and misdeeds to atone for. There was an injured and an offended master to encounter. Nevertheless, of his own accord, Onesimus returns. At the first appearance, this would appear the height of folly. Masters held the power of life and death over their slaves. Onesimus had everything to fear. On what does he rely? Has he no safe- guard? He has a few lines written by a poor decrepid man hundreds of miles distant. Is that all ? That is all. But it is enough; Onesimus knows that it is enough. What a wonder- working power is writing ! We have read of charms, magical forms, and incantations; we have read of them, and of the powers they were said to possess. But even their fancied efficacy has in it nothing surpassing the efficacy of these few Greek characters written by Paul and borne by Onesimus. Guards, prisons, and chains — they are of less potency than words. Onesimus eluded the former, and goes back under the influence of the latter. These words, a token of the apostle's will, conduct Onesimus back and protect him from the natural consequences of Phile- mon's wrath. Such is the sovereignty of thought. A morsel — so to say — of Paul's mind, acts with supreme control beyond lands and seas. But the return indicates another great change. If, now, Onesimus sets his face towards the east, it is because his heart is changed. In a change of the affections, is found the cause of that change of his will. This is, indeed, a great change — a fugi- tive slave willingly goes back to bondage. There is no compul- sion : there can be no compulsion. No spies, no catchpoles are 46 THE LIFE OF at work. No law in Rome compels the emperor to apprehend and restore to the Colossians any of their slaves that might seek shelter in the metropolis of the world Though slavery then prevailed throughout society, legislation had not reached the height of wickedness which compels the freeman to he a police- officer to the slaveholder. In safety, and perhaps in prosperity, might Onesimus have remained in Rome. But no! a power stronger than the imperial power itself, sends him hack. Go he must, go he will, and go he does. Why] he must put that right which he left wrong ; he had injured his master, he must make him compensation. And though in the matter of right, Onesimus belonged to himself and not to Philemon, yet, as the law recog- nised the institution of slavery, and every Christian ought to avoid even the appearance of evil so would Onesimus return to Philemon in order to adjust their relations one with another. Those relations had assumed a new aspect. The two persons who had known each other only as master and slave, were now in Christ " brothers beloved" And as Christians, they recognised a higher law than the world's — a law which rendered slavery impossible, but which also commanded each to do unto others as he would be done unto. Relying on the former, and acting on the latter, hoping to be set at liberty, yet believing it his duty to give Philemon an opportunity of declaring his emancipation,. Onesimus has set his feet within his master's home. This, I repeat, is indeed a great change. The fugitive is the returning slave, because the slave has become a Christian. And the Christian so highly values moral obligations, that in the thought of his duties he almost forgets his rights, and at least is as regard- ful of the legal claims of his master, as he is of his own natural and indefeasible privileges. Onesimus, I have intimated, regarded the legal claims of Phile- mon. There is no evidence that either 0nesimu3 or Paul recog- nised any other claim. It was the general practice of the first disciples to pay obedience to the then existing civil laws. This respect for existing institutions, however, was merely outward and temporary. Having its origin in prudential consi- deration, it came to an end as soon as duty could safely supersede TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE. 47 expediency. Meanwhile, it implied at the bottom a disallowal of existing evils, and a determination to take the most effectual course for their abatement and removal. Tolerating slavery because it wished to take safe steps for rendering slavery impos- sible, it in reality hated the abomination of property in man's body and souk and was ever silently at work to convert the slave into a mfl.n J and so to break the yoke and set the captive free. That this was the view under which Paul acted, is obvious from the language he employs in his Letter to Philemon : — In that Letter there is first the distinct assertion, of a right. It is the right of Paul to claim the freedom of Onesimus. On what was that right founded? On Christ. PauL Philemon, and Onesimus were in Christ partners, they were sharers of a common Gospel, such is the meaning of the term " partner," employed by Paul in the 17th verse. As having, in common, "the redemp- tion that was in Christ Jesus," they were alike free. Onesimus, as a Christian, was as free as Philemon, and both were equally free with PauL Onesimus, in consequence, had a c laim to be pronounced free. And that claim Paul was at full liberty to urge on Philemon. I make this statement on the authority of the apostle's own words, as they are found in the Sth verse of the epistle ; "though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient." This, the English version, very imperfectly repre- sents the original. " Convenient," is a most inadequate expres- sion, at least in the sense in which it is now understood. Con- venient with us signifies that which is easy and pleasant, rather than that -which is obligatory; that which is suitable to the occa- sion, rather than conformable to the everlasting laws of right. The Greek word used by Paul, however, denotes that which is fit and proper, and in the third chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians, v. 1 8, it is rendered by the English term. Jit. " Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is jit in the Lord." That, in this injunction, the apostle spoke of duty, of Christian obligation, and not of any temporary expediency, is clear from the corresponding passage in his Letter to the Ephe- sians, v. 22, where he says, " Wives, submit yourselves unto your 48 THE LIFE OF own husbands as unto the Lord." It is, then, an obligation, a Christian obligation, which Paul had the right to urge on Phile- mon. And this right he intimates he might freely urge. It was a manifest right; a right about which there could be no dispute between Christians; a right which the apostle was justified in urging boldly, nay, very boldly; for thus, when exactly translated, do his words run — "having much boldness in Christ, to enjoin on thee that which is proper." Observe the term "enjoin," — it is duties that are enjoined, not expediency. The act as described in the Greek (iiri-aoaeir) is the act of a superior — of a general who gives a command, of a governor who issues a decree. The im- perial power of duty it was, which was in the writer's mind. As an inspired expounder of Christian rights and duties, Paul declares that he might, with full freedom of speech, require Philemon to declare Onesimus free. But he would take a milder — perhaps, for his purpose, a more effectual course; the assertion of rights sometimes revolts the wrong-doer. Certainly it would be more considerate, more kind, more Christian-like, to give Phile- mon the opportunity of doing what was right of his own accord, from his own sense of justice, from his own recognition of Christian principles ; and therefore — to use Paul's own words — "yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee," (v. 9,) " for without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly." (v. 14.) " No; do you by your own act pronounce his freedom, not as if constrained by duty enforced by me, but as prompted by Christian principle and Christian love, abounding in your own heart." Besides this uncpiestionable right which is not disallowed, but kindly thrown into the background, there is also in the Epistle the pleading of a claim grounded on the implication of a right. The claim is that of Onesimus who has a right to freedom. That claim and that right are now rather implied and inti- mated than declared. There is a sort of tacit appeal to princi- ples recognised in common by the three persons concerned. Those principles are Christian principles. They are quietly put forth in the words, " Receive him for ever, not now as a servant, toussacjt l'ouvertitre. 49 but above a servant, — a brother beloved." Observe here hew- adroitly Christian principles are insinuated. " Not now as a servant, but a brother." The original is yet more forcible — " no longer as a servant." No ! no longer ; the slave is a slave no more; in becoming a Christian, he has become a man; and your relation as •well as his is changed; no more master as he is no more slave. So are both brothers. The same great fact is intimated in the words " for ever," " that thou shouldest receive him for ever." The bond which binds beloved brethren is not liable to be disturbed by quarrels or broken by flight; it is durable, it is everlasting, it is as permanent as life, as long as eternity. And those who are linked together by spiritual bonds are not masters and slaves, but citizens of the commonwealth of God, and joint-heirs with the saints in light. A higher relation has come and dissolved the lower, as the sun melts the snow on the mountains; " above a slave, a brother." And mark with what emphasis the apostle adds to this claim of brotherhood ; " a brother beloved," " beloved specially to me," yea, " how much more unto thee]" What, this fugitive slave exceedingly loved by his injured master ? Yes, " both in the flesh and in the Lord ;" — in the flesh, because in the Lord, the slave loved because in be- coming a Christian he had become a man, and because in his new relation, and in its moral consequences, Onesimus, slave by law as he still was, possessed the highest title to Philemon's regard. Surely these are views which dissolve slavery as with the breath of the mouth of the Lord. And with views such as these, Paul doubtless had the firmest confidence that Philemon would set Onesimus free. Free indeed Onesimus was in the court of conscience with both Paul and Philemon. It only remained for the latter to pronounce him free. How then has it •come to pass that advocates for slavery have ventured to plead the example of the apostle Paul, saying, " Did not Paul send Onesimus back into slavery?" No! he sent him back to claim and to receive his freedom. It is time, however, that the apostle, like " a wise master builder," was careful to avoid giving offence to Philemon, and did his best by gentle and soothing words to conciliate his favour. Slavery advocates have mistaken this E 50 THE LIFE OF Christian consideration for the concession of a right. But in the consideration the right is virtually denied, what occasion for consideration 'was there if the right was admitted? We are considerate of the feelings of others when we im- peach their claims, not when we concede them. In truth, Paul well knew that Philemon had the law on his side, and though Paul had a confidence that Philemon would not throw Onesimus back into chains, he could not be absolutely sure that the Christian would prevail over the slave-master, therefore he resolved to deal with the utmost delicacy with Philemon. He must avoid giving him pain. He must avoid arousing his prejudices. He must make the past calm, in order that the present might be bright ; consequently, he puts that as an act of kindness on the part of Philemon which he might have required of him as a duty. " Onesimus," he in effect says, " Onesimus is free, for he is a Christian man ; Onesimus is free, for he is beyond your reach, and desirous am I to retain his ser- vices, for of value are they to me; but without your mind I would do nothing ; let his emancipation be your own good act : better were it so than that of necessity you should be com- pelled to forego his labour. I send him to you, therefore, in order that as a Christian you may perform your duty, and that as a man you may have the credit of declaring a fellow-man no longer a slave. Over past injuries throw the veil of Christian love. If you hesitate to forgive them, set them down to my account. I will assume the obligation. You are, you know, deeply in my debt, for your religion you owe to me ; nay, your very self; what you are I have made you. "Well, then, draw up a statement of debtor and creditor, — on the one side put what you owe me, on the other, put what Onesimus owes you. The totals shall balance each other, though your obligations are far greater than min e. And that the rather, because as being my son in Christ, you are bound to do more than repay me ; you are bound to give me joy of you in the Lord, to let me have the pleasure of witnessing how Christian principles prevail in your life, — but I say no more, I need say no more. Having confi- dence in thy obedience, I have written unto thee, knowing also TOUSSADTT l'ouyerture. 51 that thou wilt do more than I say." (21.) Yes, there is the ground on which Paul acted. He had confidence that Phile- mon would obey his injunction, — an injunction all the more imperative on a good man and a brother, because rather intimated than obtruded, and because surrounded with all the courtesy of that Christian charity which thinketh no evil, and hopeth all things. Whether duty was regarded by Philemon in its bare and severe aspect, or in the claims of brotherly love, or in the claims of that special love and gratitude which Philemon owed to Paul, alike in each case, and by the united force of all, Philemon, Paul was assured, would feel himself under the most sacred obligations to perform a formal act of emancipation on behalf of Onesimus. Send Onesimus back into slavery 1 ? Paul sent him back into the warm embrace of a brother's love. He had confidence in that brother, because he was a brother. He believed that that brother would do even more than Christian duty required. Yes, he was of opinion that Philemon would not only emancipate Onesimus, but treat him as "a brother beloved." The example of Paul and Philemon ? yes ! would that -it were followed. Plead it, ye advocates of slavery ; plead it, and do more than plead it, make it the model of your own conduct. To what is it that ye send back the slave? Not to a loving brother, but to a hard taskmaster; not to a happy home, but a dungeon and stripes; not to Christian freedom, but to heathen bondage and brutish toil, licentiousness, and degradation. The epistle of Paid to Philemon, then, is a plea on behalf of emancipation, on behalf of human rights, on behalf of Christian, and as Christian, so civil and personal freedom. The gospel unbars prison doors, and strikes off the slave's chains. "The spirit of the Lord," swells the frame and bursts the bonds, as with Samson, when he threw off the Philistine cords, "and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands were melted from off his hands." (Judg. xv. 14.) "With true Christianity, bondage is incompatible; the two can- e2 52 THE LIFE OF not co-exist. The one destroys the other; the one displaces the other as much and as effectually as the light disperses the dark- ness and occupies its place. If, then, the spirit of Christ is in our hearts, we are friends of liberty, — liberty of all kinds, and for " all orders and degrees of men ;" liberty for the slave, liberty for the citizen, liberty for "wife, children, and domestic. O the glorious liberty of the sons of God ! the divine citizenship of the kingdom of heaven ! In the great spiritual commonwealth of Christ is the communion of saints instead of the interchange of injustice ; the sweet harmo- nies of Christian love instead of the harsh wranglings of rival claims ; the gentle ministries of mutual aid, instead of arbitrary requirements and grudging services. Oh ! when shall that king- dom come? come everywhere? This question Toussaint asked himself. The latter end of his life gives the reply of his heart. Satisfied by his religious studies that slavery was incompatible with the Gospel, he resolved to do what in him lay to annihilate slavery in his own vicinity. But the work was too important to be rashly under- taken, and Paul's prudence, and the prudence of the primitive church at large, taught him that patience and discretion were virtuous as well as desirable. He would therefore wait his opportunity. True, years passed away, and mature life threat- ened to wane. Yet, in so arduous and perilous a task, where one failure was irretrievable ruin, even long delay was preferable to precipitation. CHAPTER VI. Immediate causes of the rising of the blacks — Dissensions of the planters — Spread of anti-slavery opinions in Europe — The outbreak of the first French lie volution — ilulatto war — !Negro insurrection — Toussaint protects his master and mistress, and their property. While Toussaint was pursuing a course of reading and meditation which was to conduct him in its issue to great achievements, the volcano of insurrection and mutual slaughter was preparing around ■ - ■>:■- a ;■■■■' ' : ■ , ' ■ ; • «s«r<£3ffi " , ; -.."if 1 - " ! t 1 v 4 ''i TOUSSAINT L'OUYEKTUKE. 53 him, the premonitions of ■which he was too sagacious not to discern. Hayti was prosperous. The masters daily grew more opulent on the produce of their plantations. The war of American indepen- dence made Hayti into a great commercial entrepot, and largely augmented its wealth. Could the actual condition of the colony have been maintained, its riches would have continued to increase — and with its riches its voluptuousness. But already that very wealth had sown the seeds of disorder. The larger planters were too opulent and too powerful to be at peace with each other. There existed a rivalry between the two chief cities — the Cape and the Port-au-Prince. This rivalry was made more intense when, in 1787, the Superior Council of the Cape was suppressed, and its power transferred to the Council of Port-au-Prince, under the general designation of "the Superior Council of St. Domingo." Dissensions ensued, in which the west and the south soon took part. Appeal was made to France. The government Listened, but gave no remedy. Recourse was had to indirect influence. Deputies were sent to Paris. Their activity called forth oppo- sition on the part of the colonial proprietors who habitually resided in that metropolis ; and they, carried away by the fashion of the hour, formed, for the furtherance of their views, a club called the Club Massaic — from the name of the hotel where the members assembled. Thus organized, they proceeded to with- stand the deputies from Hayti — and specially strove to prevent their obtaining a hearing before the States General. The pro- gress of events, however, creating a common alarm, the club united with the deputies in seeking the establishment of a Colo- nial Assembly. In this question, there was a new source of dis- agreement. "What should be its constitution ? Who should be its members 1 How should its members be elected 1 These debateable points occasioned long and disquieting discussions. The north and the west came again into collision, and the island was torn by discord. The great proprietors set the ex- ample of division and innovation. At no period could such an example have been more unseasonable. Throughout Europe there had spread and waxed strong a spirit of humanity, which denounced slavery and sought its abolition. In England and in 54 THE LIFE OF France that generous spirit acquired immense social power. Then those philanthropists who acquired for themselves perpetual fame in proclaiming the rights of the slave, and procuring the aboli- tion of the slave trade, Price, Priestly, Sharp, Clarkson, Wilber- force, began their generous and noble efforts. The society of " The Friends of the Blacks" was formed, and the stronghold of slavery was assailed in a manner which announced the certainty of its downfall. Could the desire of these eminent men have prevailed, the con- test would have been left exclusively to mental and moral resources. But the fermentation of the public mind in France, moved in its very depths by centuries of civil and ecclesiastical misrule and profligacy, provoked an appeal to the most violent of human passions and the most dreadful of human appliances. The oath of the Tennis Court and the taking of the Bastile com- menced the battle of liberty against despotism. The announce- ment of these events in Hayti produced the greatest agitation. The existing discontents received fresh impulse. The planters hailed the revolution as a precursor of the independence of the colony. The officers of the government encouraged the dream of a counter-revolution The petits blancs, intoxicated with en- thusiastic sympathy, cheered and sustained the Parisian mobs, and hoped to pursue a similar course in the island. While the several classes of the whites were thus distracted, the mulattoes experienced the general excitement the more because they were watching their opportunity for self- liberation. As to the negroes, they in general pursued their wonted round of toil apparently, and for the most part really, indifferent to the social commotion. Certainly, among the agitated parties, no one thought of their emancipation. The factions were intent only on their several interests. The colonists wanted at least an increase of their power. The men of colour sought to raise themselves to an equality with the colonists. If these selfish views required a covering, the veil was found in the claim of sameness of privi- leges for all free men. The black was too much despised to be thought of by the colonial combatants. T0USSAI2JT l'oUVERTUEE. 55 The first marked effort was made by the mulattoes, and so the first contest was a contest for the attainment of mulatto interests. A deputation of men of colour was sent to Paris. Eager to pro- mote the views of their caste, they presented six millions of francs for the service of the state, and offered the fifth of their property in mortgage of the national debt. They asked in return that they should in all things be put on a footing of equality with the whites, whom they alleged they equalled in number, and with whom they partook all the territorial and commercial wealth of the colony. The president of the Assembly replied, that " No part of the French nation should in vain claim rights at the hands of the representatives of the French people." At the same time there took place in the Assembly a dis- cussion respecting the servitude of the blacks. The entire nation seemed to have made the question its own ; and a dis- tinguished member of the legislature uttered these bold and disinterested words : " I am one of the greatest proprietors of St. Domingo ; but I declare to you, that were I to loose all I possess there, I would make the sacrifice rather than disown the principles which justice and humanity have consecrated ; I declare for both the admission into the administrative assemblies (of the colony) of men of colour, and the liberation of the blacks." This famous declaration made by Lameth produced an immense effect ; it astounded the great planters, and filled them with distrust and hatred against the men of colour. That adverse feeling mani- fested itself in the execution at the Cape of the mulatto Lacombe, whose only crime was the affixing of his signature to a petition, in which he claimed the rights of man. The mulattoes of Petit Goave had addressed to the electoral assembly of the west of Hayti a petition in which they humbly requested, not equality of rights, but merely some improvements in their condition. Those who had put their names to the entreaty were all apprehended, and the person who drew it up, Ferrand de Baudiere, though reputed a just and wise man, and though he had been high in office, was, with only the forms of a trial, hurried into the hands of the executioner, in spite of the efforts made to save him by 5Q THE LIFE OF the colonial government. "While these and other displays of hope on the one side and jealousy and fear on the other, were taking- place, a decree of the French Legislature (8th of March, 1790) arrived in the colony, which, founded on broad principles of justice, gave the men of colour the right to enter the colonial assemblies. The Haytian representatives, just constituted under the orders of Louis XYI., and assembled at Saint-Marc, with the title of '• General Assembly," before they proceeded to any other business, formally declared that all the whites would die rather than share political rights with " a bastard and degenerate race." More- over, they proclaimed themselves the sole legal and legitimate representatives of the colony, and disallowed the authority of the Governor-General, whose power emanated from the French go- vernment, merely consenting to submit their decrees for the royal sanction. By these and similar steps, the tendency of which was to concentrate all power in the hands of a portion of the resident planters, two authorities were set in operation, for the usurpations of the General Assembly compelled the Governor and the Superior Council of Port-au-Prince, in union with the Provincial Assembly of the North, to take measures of self-defence, and to maintain their position. A bitter contest ensued. During the progress of these collisions, a new element of con- fusion intervened. Vincent Oge, a man of colour, son of a wealthy butcher at the Cape, whom the mulattoes had sent to Paris, as one of their deputies, landed at Cap Francois, October 17th, 1790, under the name of Poissac, with the title of lieu- tenant-colonel, and the order of the Lion, which he had pur- chased of the prince of Limbourg ; and having visited his mother, who lived in handsome style at Dondon, marched, in alliance with Chavanne, a man of his own caste, at the head of two hun- dred men to La Grande Puviere, in the department of the north. From the camp which he established there, he sent to the president of the Assembly of that department the following letter : — TOUSSADTT l'oUYEUTUHE. 57 " VINCENT OGE TO THE MEMBERS COMPOSING THE PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CAPE. " GENTLEMEN, "A prejudice too long maintained, is about to fall. I am charged with a commission doubtless very honourable to my- self. I require you to promulgate throughout the colony the instructions of the National Assembly of the 8th of March, "which gives without distinction to all free citizens the right of admission to all offices and functions. My pretensions are just 7 and I hope you will pay due regard to them. I shall not call the plantations to rise ; that means would be unworthy of me. " Learn to appreciate the merit of a man whose intention is pure. When I solicited from the National Assembly a decree which I obtained in favour of the American colonists, formerly known under the injurious epithet of " men of mixed blood," I did not include in my claims the condition of the negroes who live in servitude. You and our adversaries have misrepresented my steps in order to bring me into discredit with honourable men. No, no, gentlemen ! we have put forth a claim only on be- half of a class of freemen, who, for two centuries, have been under the yoke of oppression. "We require the execution of the decree of the 8th of March. We insist on its promulgation, and we shall not cease to repeat to our friends that our adversaries are unjust, and that they know not how to make their interests com- patible with ours. Before employing my means, I make use of mildness ; but if, contrary to my expectation, you do not satisfy my demand, I am not answerable for the disorder into which my just vengeance may carry me." Oge was attacked by a force of six hundred men. The attack he repelled. The colonists sent another body of fifteen hundred men against him. Oge was defeated and fled. He took refuge in the Spanish territories. His surrender was demanded from the Spanish authorities. Being delivered up, he was put on his trial. That trial, famous in the annals of Hayti, lasted two months. At last Oge and his lieutenant, Chevanne, were con- demned to be broken abve on the wheel, and their goods to be 58 THE LIFE OP confiscated to the king. The sentence was immediately put into execution. Nevertheless the mulatto war -was not brought to an end. On the contrary, the desire of ascendancy and the thirst for revenge became every day more and more intense. Informed of the revolutionary proceedings of the Assembly of St. 3Iarc, the authorities in the mother country declared -what it had done null and void, divested its members of their authority, required a new election of deputies in their place, and sent two regiments of the line to carry their ordinances into execution. The mulattoes were enthusiastic with joy. The colonists re- pelled with indignation the thought of receiving men of colour as co-legislators with themselves. New risings took place, new conflicts ensued. The passions every day burned more fiercely, and while the mulattoes cherished boundless hopes, the whites, overflowing with indignation, put themselves in open revolt against the mother country, denying its prerogatives, and refusing the civic oath. In the midst of these thickening dis- orders, the planters resident in France were invited to return, and assist in vindicating the civil independence of the island. Then was it that the mulattoes appealed to the slaves. Terrible was the result. The slaves awoke as if from an ominous dream. Under one of their class, named Bookman, a man of Herculean strength, who knew not what danger was, the negroes on the night of August 21st, 1791, arose in the terrific power of brute force. Gaining immediate success, they rapidly increased in numbers, and grew hot with fury. They fell on the plantations, slaughtered their proprietors, and destroyed the property. Such progress did the insurrection make, that on the 26th, the third of the habitations of the Northern Department were in ashes. In a week from its commencement the storm had swept over the whole plain of the north, from east to west, and from the moun- tains to the sea. Those rich houses, those superb factories were in ruins. Conflagration raged everywhere. The mountains, covered with smoke and burning fragments, borne upwards by the wind, looked like volcanoes. The atmosphere, as if on fire, resembled a furnace. Everywhere were seen signs of devasta- tion — demolished edifices, smouldering embers, scattered and toussadtt i/ouvebture. 59 broken furniture, plate, and other precious articles overlooked by the marauders ; the soil running with blood, dead bodies heaped the one on the other, mangled and mutilated, a prey to voracious birds and beasts.* In proceedings so horrible, Toussaint could take no part. Faithful to his owner, he, during a whole month, protected the plantation, at the head of the negroes, whom he greatly contributed to keep in obedience, and prevented the insurgents from setting the fields of sugar-cane on fire. While all the whites were flying for their lives, and hurrying to find a shelter in the towns, Madame Bayou de Libertas, protected by Toussaint, remained in her own abode. The superintendent himself, who was in camp at Haut-du-Cap, not far from his plantation, safely ventured near every day, in order to keep up the vigilance of the slaves. His safety he owed to Toussaint, who, with inexpressible joy, saw Bayou among the negroes at a moment when a white skin insured instant death. Happy the slave-owner who, in such a crisis, has in his gang one who, like Toussaint, is a man and a Christian indeed. Having exerted every power to protect his mistress, assist his master, and defend the property, and seeing the insurrection becoming constantly more formidable, exhausted also by fatigue, Toussaint at length induced Madame de Bayou, whose life he knew was in danger, to quit Breda, and proceed to the Cape. In the absence of her husband he got the carriage ready, loaded it with articles of value, placed his mistress therein, and confided her to the care of his younger brother Paul Nor was this the only service rendered to the family by their noble slave. One of the first uses which he made of the influence he acquired was to enable them to emigrate. While every white man and all he possessed were devoted to destruction, Bayou, with his family and a rich cargo, left Hayti and settled in the United States. * See Xote B, at the end. 60 THE IJFE OF CHAPTER TIL Continued collision of the planters, the mulattoes, and the negroes — The planters willing to receive English aid — The negroes espouse the cause of Louis XVI. — Arrival of Commissioners from France — Negotiations — Resumption of hostilities — Toussaint gains influence. The direful efficiency with -which the negroes had devastated the country, indicated the presence among them of a skill superior to any they could possess. That skill was supplied hy mulattoes, who organized the destroying hands and directed their movements. The " bastard and degenerate" race thus struck a deadly blow at their criminal parents. During the progress of these furious excesses, a new general assembly of planters opened its sessions, under the title of "Colonial Assembly." Its first act was an act of rebellion. Refusing to apply to France for aid, and having taken measures of self-defence, it sought protection from England. These were the terms it employed in a letter addressed to the governor of Jamaica : — Au Cap Francais, August 21th, 1791. " The General Assembly of the French part of St. Domingo, deeply affected by the calamities which desolate Saint Domingo, has resolved to send a deputation to your Excellency, in order to place before you a picture of the misfortunes which have fallen on this beautiful island ; fire lays waste our possessions, the hands of our negroes in arms are already dyed with the blood of our brethren. Very prompt assistance is necessary to save the wreck of our fortunes — already half-destroyed ; and confined within the towns, we look for your aid." "Without awaiting a reply, the General A ssembly adopted the round English hat as the uniform of its troops, and substituted the black cockade for the French national colours. TOUSS AIN'T LOUVERTURE. 61 The reply of the ' Governor, Lord Effingham, did not come up to the expectations of the planters; he merely sent five hundred muskets, with some ammunition, and commanded a vessel of fifty guns to cruise off the western coast. Meanwhile the black insurgents, after augmenting their num- bers by force as well as persuasion, placed themselves under the standard of royalty ; they gave themselves the name of " The King's Own," and their leader, Jean-Frangois, assumed the title of High-Admiral, while his second in command became Generalissimo of the conquered territories. Summoned to yield by Blanchelande, Governor of French Hayti, they replied, — " Sir, — We have never thought of failing in the duty and respect which we owe to the representative of the person of the King, nor even to any of his servants whatever; we have proofs of the fact in our hands ; but do you, who are a just man as well as a general, pay us a visit ; behold this land which we have watered with our sweat — or rather, with our blood, — those edi- fices which we have raised, aud that in the hope of a just reward ! Have we obtained it 1 The King — the whole world — has bewailed our lot, and broken our chains ; while, on our part, we, humble victims, were ready for anything, not wishing to aban- don our masters. What do we say 1 We are mistaken ; those who, next to God, should have proved our fathers, have been tyrants, monsters unworthy of the fruits of our labours : and do you, brave general, desire that as sheep we should throw our- selves into the jaws of the wolf] "No ! it is too late. God, who fights for the innocent, is our guide; he will never abandon us. Accordingly, this is our motto — Death or Victory ! In order to prove to you, excellent sir, that we are not so cruel as you may think, we, with all our souls, wish for peace, — but on condition that all the whites, whether of the plain or of the mountains, shall quit the Cape without a single exception ; let them carry with them their gold and their jewels, we seek only liberty, — dear and precious object ! This, general, is our profession of faith ; and this profession we will maintain to the last drop of 62 THE LIFE OP our blood. "We do not lack powder and cannons. Therefore, liberty or death ! God grant that "we may obtain freedom with- out the effusion of blood ! Then all our desires will be accom- plished ; and believe it has cost our feelings very much to have taken this course. Victory or death for freedom !" This assumption of the part of Louis XYT. astounded and perplexed the planters. The fact, however, was only too plain. By means of the Spaniards of Hayti, the counter-revolutionary party in France gave secret support to the insurgents, if they did not also call them forth : and in order to impart feasibility and vigour to the movement, they gave out that the king's Life had been put in danger by the whites, because he had resolved to emancipate the blacks. Strange reversals ! While the colonists hoisted English colours, their slaves exhibited the white flag, with the words on one side Long live Vie king ; and, on the other, The ancient system of government. The insurrection proceeded ; the negroes carried their arms from place to place, and subduing all the open country, reduced the colonists to the defensive. As the contest went on, horrors multiplied. The planters hung on trees and hedges the dead bodies of their black prisoners ; the insurgents formed around their camp an enclosure marked by the bleeding heads of those who fell under their hands. The fury of the negroes was sti- mulated by unworthy priests ; but even religion was powerless when it endeavoured to place a barrier against tumultuous passion. A priest was hung on the spot for the crime of trying to protect innocent women from brutal violation. The superior discipline at the command of the colonists, how- ever, began to prevail. The negroes were checked, and driven back. Their bands were directed by three chiefs, Jean-Francois, Biassou, and Jeannot. Jean-Francois belonged to a colonist of the name of Papillon. A young creole of good exterior, he had not been able to bear the yoke of slavery, though he had no special cause of complaint against his master ; he had, long before the revolution, obtained his liberty. Flying from the plantation, he joined the maroons, TOUSSATNT l'OUVERTURE. 63 or black fugitives, "who "wandered at large in the refuge of the mountains. He was naturally of a mild disposition, and inclined to clemency. If his career was stained by cruelties, the crime must be imputed to perfidious councils. Of no great courage, and little enterprise, he owed his command to his intellectual superiority. Biassou belonged to the religious body designated " The Fathers of Charity." A contrast, in every respect, to Jean- Francois, he was fiery, rash, wrathful, and vindictive. Always in action, always on horseback, very suspicious, and very aspiring, he usurped the lead which the apathy of his principal almost let fall into his hands. Jean Frangois loved luxury, fine clothes, and grand equipages ; Biassou was given to women and drink. Jeannot, a slave of the plantation of M. Bullet, was small and slender in person, and of boundless activity. Perfidious of soul, his aspect was frightful and revolting. Capable of the great- est crimes, he was inaccessible to regret and remorse. Having sworn implacable hatred against the whites, he thrilled with rage when he saw them; and his greatest pleasure was to bathe his hands in their blood. On his master's estate, the chief theatre of his crimes, he was sure, after committing a massacre, to gather up in his hands the blood which flowed on all sides, and carrying it to his mouth, was heard to exclaim — "Oh, my friends, how sweet — how good — this white blood ! let us take full draughts ; let us swear irreconcilable revenge against our oppressors ; peace with them, never — so help me God !" Like cruel men in general, Jeannot was as cowardly as he was faithless. Yet was he daring in attack; and when danger pressed, his fear or his fury drove his troops to a resistance proof against attack, or compelled them to snatch a victory by cutting off every way of retreat. Such were the men under whom Toussaint now found himself. ~No longer able to choose the moment for commencing his bene- volent enterprise, he was hurried into the eddying torrent by the swelling streams of popular fanaticism. His fidelity to his pro- prietors making him an object of suspicion and a butt for negro attack, he was, even in self-defence, obliged to fall into the ranks of the raging insurgents. Generally known as much for his 64 THE LIFE OF intelligence as his moderation, lie was the less likely to be spared ; but dragged into the rebellion against his better feelings and his judgment, he was regarded with distrust. "Withheld, in conse- quence, from the military post for which his talents fitted him, he was commanded to employ his medical skill in t akin g care of the wounded. Quietly and usefully employed in an office which was agreeable to his feelings, he, at a distance from the conflict, turned his naturally reflective mind to the study of the personal qualities of his chiefs, and so acquired an acquaintance with their weaknesses, which greatly aided him in at length attaining supreme command. That post he reached without disgracing himself by blood or pillage, in a contest in which examples of both crowded on his sight. He was by nature retiring and given to seclusion, but in Francois Lafitte, whom he had long known, and whom he now found among the insurgents, he had one companion with whom similarity of ideas and feelings made intercourse both pleasant and profitable. It may well be sup- posed that these two men, united in the bonds of goodness and philanthropy, often deplored together the horrible excesses which they witnessed or of which they heard. As, however, the insurrection passed on — and specially when defeat made its conduct difficult, the leaders found it imperative to bring forward all men of superior talent. No longer, there- fore, was Toussaint permitted to pursue his medical occupations. Taken out of comparative privacy, he was made aide-de-camp to Biassou. A grotesque spectacle did that negro army, or rather those negro bands, present. The slaves were ridiculously attired in the spoils of their masters. The cavalry were mounted on lumbering horses and mules, worn down by labour and fatigue. The horse- man was armed with a musket almost as dangerous to himself as to his foe. The infantry were all but naked, and destitute of experience ; their weapons were sticks pointed with iron, broken or blunted swords, pieces of iron hoop, and some wretched guns and pistols. Notwithstanding the alarm they inspired, the troops were almost without ammunition. Jean Francois, decorated with ribbons and orders which he had plundered in the sack of TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTTTRE. G5 the abodes of the proprietors, gave himself out for a chevalier of the order of Saint Louis, besides taking to himself the titles of admiral and generalissimo. Biassou and Jeannot were brigadiers, a title which was fixed on Toussaint : the rest were marshals, commanders, generals, colonels, and some condescended to be captains. At a later period, Biassou, on having a disagreement with Jean Francois, assumed the pompous title of viceroy of the conquered countries. Only an iron discipline could maintain any order in such a body of men. The soldiers had sought liberty, and for the moment found the severest bondage. Dis- obedience was punished with severity, in the more flagrant instances with decapitation- Yet some regard was shown to the lights of property, for the stealer of cattle was lianged. The leaders of the insurrection feared each other. Jeannot's cruelties were held in abomination by Toussaint. Jean Fran- cois, by whom Jeannot was dreaded, resolved to disembarrass himself of the monster. Seizing his opportunity, he caused him to be apprehended. Tried by a summary process, Jeannot was sentenced to be shot. In this moment of peril, the wretch who had shed so much blood, and who had gloated over the sufferings of his victims, proved how cowardly a soul he had. He threw himself on his knees before Jean Francois, supplicated pardon, offered to purchase life by becoming his slave ; and when the priest came up to offer him spiritual aid, he took him into his arms, pressing body to body, and was only by violence torn from him, to be dragged to execution. The whites, although they had gained advantages in the war, were scarcely less than the blacks agitated with mutual dissen- sions. "While they lost time and energy in discord, the men of colour assumed a formidable position under one of their caste, named Beauvais. The movement had an excuse in the cruelties which the colonists perpetrated at the Cape, where seventeen mulattoes had been put to death without even the forms of a trial, and where daily fugitive slaves, even the most faithful, were, on seeking an asylum in the city, forthwith hanged, after having escaped the dangers of being massacred on their road by some of the white scouts who scoured the neighbourhood. P 66 THE LIFE OP On every side the grossest injustice prevailed ; crime was re- paid with crime ; veDgeance followed vengeance ; the civilised master degraded him self no less than the neglected slave ; between the two stood the mulatto, the enemy of both, and pre- pared to sacrifice either for his own aggrandisement. The ease with which the mulatto betrayed the rights of the negro may be exemplified in the case of a number of men deno- minated tlve Swiss. In the ranks of the men of colour were three hundred slaves, who received the title of " the Swiss, " from the resemblance which their service bore to that of the Swiss under the French monarchy. Used by the men of colour in their warfare against the whites, they were . surrendered by the former at the demand of the latter the moment fortune began to frown on the mulatto cause. Consisting of men of colour as well as negroes, they were thrown on the coast of Jamaica. Driven thence, they either perished in the ocean or on the inhospitable shores of their birth, presenting in their sufferings and destruc- tion a proof of the inhumanity of the whites and the perfidy of the mulattoes. Disorder continued to increase. It would be a tedious as well as painful task to recount the misdeeds that were done on all sides, at the Cape by the colonists, at La Grande Riviere by the negroes, and in the west by the mulattoes. The leaders of the blacks began to feel that they had in hand a hopeless cause. The liberation of the negro population was not possible in the presence of two powerful enemies, the planters and their descend- ants. Consequently they were not disinclined to negotiate. At this juncture, there arrived in Hayti, thr ee commissio ners^ sent by the mother country on a mission of peace. These were Roume, Mirbeck, and St. Leg er. jloume, a Creole of Grenada, had been a "councillor in that island, and afterwards a commissioner at Tobago. Under a simple and modest exterior, he possessed much knowledge ; of a phlegmatic disposition, he would have been inaccessible to the attacks of the factious, had not his ordinary fickleness called forth their efforts. Mirbeck, a cele- brated advocate in the council of state, where he had pleaded many causes for the colonists, was haughty and inflexible. St. TOUSSAINT l'OUVERTTjRE. 67 Leger, had long lived as a physician in Tobago, where he pos- sessed slaves. The first object of these three men, was to appease the civil war which wasted the west, and to stop the hurricane which covered the north with ruins. They wisely be^an by causing the gallows of the planters at the Cape to be demolished. The news of their arrival induced the masters of the slaves to open a negotiation. Eaynal and Duplessy, the first a free mulatto, the second a free negro, being admitted to an audience by the Colonial Assembly, received for answer the following : — " Emissaries of the revolted negroes, the assembly established on the law and by the law, cannot correspond with people armed against the law — against all laws : the assembly might extend grace to guilty men if, being repentant, they had returned to their duty. Nothing would please its members better than to be in a condition to recognise those who, contrary to their wilL have been hurried into guilt. "We know how to measure out favours as well as justice. Withdraw!" ""With- draw" to men who came with the olive-branch in their hands ! The deputies did withdraw — indignation burning in their hearts, and curses murmured from their lips. They made their way through the spectators with a haughty brow, and when that crowd tried to hoot them down, they hastened to register a new outrage in the book of vengeance. On the arrival of the deputies at La Grande Riviere, the army of the population came together. Eveiy one had fondly dreamt of union. What was the disappointment ! When Eaynal and Duplessy related the disdainful manner in which they had been treated, cries of vexation and rage rent the air. Biassou, unable to restrain his passion, ordered all the whites detained in the camp, to be put to death. The necessary preparations were made ; when Toussaint — always humane — intervened, calmed his chief, and saved the lives of the intended victims. Such is the ascendancy of goodness. Such is the power of that rapid, animated, and picturesque eloquence which Toussaint possessed, and which, on very many other occasions, he employed for mer- ciful results of a similar kind. We subjoin an instance. Biassou one day received from the Cape a proclamation intended to win f2 €8 THE LIFE OF tack the slaves. The insurgent chief determined to publish it. Causing his soldiers to take their arms, he ordered the procla- mation to be read aloud. Instantly there arose the awful cry of " Death to the whites." Toussaint shuddered, rushed forward, again read the proclamation, with a commentary of his own. The result was, that the desire for vengeance sank in those rude breasts, tears stole down their cheeks, and the prisoners were saved. Such a conquest is one of the highest achievements of humanity. A conference took place. There were present, the co mmissi oners, and Bullet, a representative of the Colonial Assembly. Jean Francois, leaving Biassou at La Grande Riviere, hastened to La Petite Anse, in the vicinity of the Cape, to take part in the conference. He was followed by a considerable troop of cavalry. Full of confidence in the representatives of the king, he proceeded to alight from his horse, when Bullet, seizing the bridle, struck him with his riding-whip. Jean Francois might have taken instant revenge ; he simply withdrew to his soldiers. Who was the greater] St. Leger saw the evil effects this brutal act might occasion, and, unattended, advanced towards Jean Francois. This act of confidence restored a friendly feeling. A peaceful arrangement was entered into, involving the emancipa- tion of fifty persons, an exchange of prisoners, and the return of the slaves to their labours. Jean Francois required the libera- tion of his wife, who lay in the prisons of the Cape. Thei-e is no reason to believe that the request was complied with. But the insurgent, faithful to his word, the next day dismissed his pri- soners, employing in the benevolent office the mild Toussaint, and his equally mild friend, Lafitte. Peace seemed at hand. Alas! it was very distant. The colonists, displeased with the pacific tendencies of the commis- sioners, endeavoured to set aside their powers, and required their obedience. The mulattoes suffered disadvantages, but could not be put down. The negroes resumed their devastations. On every side was disorder, slaughter, and ruin. The pride and obstinacy of the planters rendered accommodation impossible ; their weakness exposed the colony to carnage the most frightful, and depredations the most extensive. Meanwhile, Jean Francois TOUSSATNT l'ouvertuee. 69 and Biassou were each too powerful and too ambitious to act cordially together. They came to an open quarrel, and drew off their several forces into two camps. "Toussaint, now the prin- cipal aide-de-camp of Biassou, brought on himself the enmity of his rival, Jean Francois, though hitherto he had succeeded in keeping on good terms with both. The hostile feeling seems to have been called forth by Toussaint's intellectual pree min ence. However, Toussaint, disregarding the dissensions of the generals, quietly and efficiently discharged his duties, and gradually gaining the esteem of the army, laid the foundations of the great influ- ence which he was one day to exert on behalf of negro inde- pendence. He alone wept when he saw the hope of peace vanish. e alone remained unsullied by crime, while Jean Francois and Biassou not only committed ravages and massacre, but even sold into slavery to the Spaniards many of the very men for whose liberty they pretended to be fighting, and who were their companions in arms. CHAPTER Till. France makes the mulattoes and negroes equal to the whites — The decapitation of Louis XVT. throws the slaves into the arms of Spain — They are afraid of the revolutionary republicans — Strife of French political parties in Hayti — Conflagration of the Cape — Proclamation of hberty for the negroes produces little effect — Toussaint captures Dondon — Commemoration of the fall of the Bastille — Displeasure of the planters — Eigaud. Such was the condition of affairs when there was brought to Hayti a decree of the Legislative Assembly which, among other things, declared that the men of colour and free negroes should be admitted to vote in all the parochial assemblies to be convened in order to elect a new general assembly and municipal corpora- tions. The decree was supported by commissioners, of whom Sonthonax was at the head. It was, however, impossible to givs it immediate effect. The contest proceeded. The mulattoes 70 THE LIFE OF overcome, joined the colonists against the blacks. The blacks defeated, took shelter in the mountains, and constantly renewed their predatory "warfare. A fresh cause of complication added to the troubles of the island; Louis XVL had been beheaded- Then the slaves gave up all thought of peace. Naturally inclined to a monarchy, they renounced the revolutionary government, and passed over into the service of Charles IV., king of Spain. Jean Francois received the title of Lieutenant-General in that monarch's army; Biassou became one of his brigadiers; and Toussaint was honoured with the same mark of confidence. A medal, bearing the effigy of Charles, was decreed to them. Under this powerful protection, the insurgents became more formidable than ever. France, in the midst of her own troubles, did not cease to cast an eye, from time to time, on her distracted colony. She dispatched General Galbaud to take the command in Hayti. Disembarking at the Cape, (May 6, 1793,) he proceeded to assume the executive power. But the French commission already in the island, triumphant in the west and in the south, had everywhere esta- blished mulatto in place of white commanders. Returning on the 7th of June to the Cape with a detachment of freed men, commanded by Chanlatte, the commissioners directed Galbaud to re-embark. Unwillingly he obeyed. His brother, a man of ability, remained in the city, and agitated the minds of the people against the commissioners. The vessels in the harbour were loaded with prisoners sent thither by the Government. Breaking their chains, they, to the number of one thousand two hundred, effected a landing. Their bands increasing as they proceeded, they directed their course to the Government house, inhabited by the com mis sioners. The approaches to it were defended by men of colour. The National Guards and mounted volunteers joined the partizans of Galbaud. The troops of the line remained in their quarters, not knowing, in the strife of authorities, which was legitimate. Fighting took place in the streets, the fury of which was stopped only by night. The next day hostilities were resumed. At length the troops of the line declared for the commissioners. Nevertheless, their party seemed TOUSSAEiT L'OUVEETURE- 71 to lose ground. Then the prisons were thrown open, and the chains of the blacks were broken. Spreading themselves abroad, these captives showed themselves worthy of the liberty they had just received. Pierrot and Macaya, two black chiefs of the in- surgent negroes on the hills of the Cape, being invited, came with their fierce associates to take part in the carnage. Galbaud was defeated. With a few of his followers he regained his ships. His brother remained in the hands of the commissioners. He himself, with more than ten thousand refugees of all hues, set sail for the United States. The city, " the Paris of the Antilles," as the colonist enthusiastically termed Cape Town, was in flames, and on every side presented the shocking tokens of pillage, slaughter, and conflagration. Truly did the flames of the French revolution set on fire the world. The strifes of political par- tizanship which raged in Paris, were transplanted to Hayti where they raged with all the heat of a tropical climate and all the animosity of a civil war. As if to aid in wearing down the forces of the planters, white men, who should have healed grievances and restored tranquillity, came from the mother country only to call forth new enmities, and add new brands to the burning. These collisions among men of white blood, went far to remove and destroy the veil of irrestige and fear with which under centuries of domination, they were regarded by the blacks. It was now found that the planters were no more than men; very ordinary men ; men of low passions ; intensely selfish men ; men who fell beneath the black man's sword; nay, men who could not keep their hands from each other ; men who themselves destroyed the property which the negroes produced. These were pregnant and dangerous lessons. Yes, the blacks are on the road to freedom, and the whites are their guides and helpers. The commission retired from the burning city into the neigh- bouring highlands, where a camp was formed to protect the Cape from the irruption of the insurgents. Having no longer any confidence in the whites, all of whom they suspected of anti- revolutionary sympathies, and seeking new defenders of the cause of republicanism, they, on the 22nd of June, proclaimed the freedom of all slaves who should enrol themselves for the 73 THE LIFE OF sacred cause of the republic. Pierrot, ■who commanded for Biassou, at Port Francois, not far from the Cape, was the first to respond to the proclamation; he, with his band, came to place himself at the disposal of the commission. While yet the conflagration was not extinguished, pestilence and famine fell on the miserable inhabitants of Cape Town. A yet more dreadful enemy impended. The ferocity and ravages of the blacks alarmed the commissioners themselves. Perplexed as to the means of staying the fury of these dangerous allies, they put forth a proclamation, in which they said, " That those who had recently been set free could not be good citizens unless they were closely bound to their country by the touching ties of husband and father, and that, consequently, they were each in- vested with the right of bestowing liberty on their wives and their children." Admirable resolution ! But has it come soon enough 1 Why will men delay justice until justice itself is of little or no avail? The blacks, degraded by life-long bondage, saw in these words only a recognition of their entire freedom ; in other terms, only an authority to do what they pleased. But a small number of them responded to these efforts for their social improvement. The blame lay chiefly with white men, who caballed and plotted among the blacks in order to make them effective in maint ainin g the cause of royalty. Thus did the black chiefs, Jean Francois and Biassou, reply to the offer of the commission : — " We cannot conform to the will of the nation, because, from the beginning of the world, we have executed only the will of a king : we have lost the king of France, but we are esteemed by the king of Spain, who bestows on us rewards, and ceases not to give us succour; consequently we are unable to acknowledge you, the commissioners, before you have found a king." To this declaration of their intentions the negroes remained true. The expedient had failed. Hostilities became more bitter than ever. In this refusal of the privileges tendered by the republican commissioners, Toussaint took his share of responsibility. Doubtless he partook of the monarchical prepossessions of his TOUSSAINT l'oUVEKTURE. 73 associates. Royalty he considered as the sole sufficient pledge of liberty. He both feared and distrusted republicans, of whose excesses in Europe he had read so much. He may have regarded the tardy concession of freedom as a subterfuge, and not unreasonably may he have suspected the danger that the negroes would be sacrificed in the collisions of the white factions. Uncertain too, was it, whether the co mmis sioners would be able to maintain themselves in power, and should the planters gain the upper hand, they would easily deal with their slaves, then no longer enrolled and under discipline, but scattered over the land, indulging in the intoxication of recent freedom. Besides, he had taken a part ; he was a soldier of the king of Spain, and had more to hope for from his interest in that quarter, than could be gained by rushing into the arms of the feeble commis- sioners. Toussaint had already made his apprenticeship in warfare. "With his superior knowledge and ability, and with his resolute yet silent will, he had readily fought his way into a foremost posi- tion, and won both confidence and distinction. The insurgents held strong places in the mountains which rise to the south of the Cape, in the neighbourhood of La Grande Riviere, Dondon, Marmelade, &c. Thither the commissioners directed then- hos- tilities. The whole district was subject to the insurrection, except Marmelade. Thither Brandicourt, the government's commander, deter min ed to retire. But there was in his councils a traitor, Pacot, who was in correspondence with the enemy. Under his influence it had been resolved that the retreat should take place during the day-time. Informed of the arrangement, Toussaint laid his ambuscades. Next morning, the army began its march. Planel, lieutenant of grenadiers, commanded the advanced guard. As he proceeded he was encountered with the cry, " Who goes there V " France," was his reply. " Then let your general come and speak to ours — no harm shall befal him," answered one of Toussaint's officers, who, with a company of men, was posted there. Brandicourt, who was in the centre of his forces, on learning the confusion that had arisen, hastened 74 THE LIFE OF to the spot, leaving the command to Pacot. Having recon- noitred the enemy, he ordered an attack. Forthwith, he was on all sides entreated to have an interview with Toussaint, whose humanity, it was urged, was well known. Besides, he had left behind a hundred invalids — how much better to recommend them to Toussaint's care. Brandicourt yielded to the represent- ations, went forward, and was immediately seized. He and his officers were disarmed, bound and conducted to Toussaint's camp. The blacks are beginning to show that under an able leader they know how to make themselves respected. But the French generals soldiers yet stood in their ranks, armed, and ready for battle. " "Write," said Toussaint to Brandicourt, " and com- mand your forces to yield." Taking the pen, Brandicourt in tears wrote that, being a prisoner, he left Pacot to follow the course which prudence might seem to dictate. " jNo," added Toussaint, tearing the paper, " I must have from you an express order to Pacot, to lay down his arms." The order was sent. On receiving it, Pacot read the command to his officers, and added, " Do what you like ; for myself, I surrender." The column yielded without delay. Brandicourt, being sent to Porto Pico, died there of grief and vexation. Yes, here is the man, and the hour is coming. It is with difficulty that I bring myself to the utterance of commendation on merely warlike deeds. Having a deep aver- sion to war, I shrink from any approach to a eulogy of anything connected therewith. But if war is ever respectable, it is surely when it is employed as a means of liberating thousands of oppressed men from hopeless bondage. In the hands of Tous- saint, arms were the instruments of freedom; the only instru- ments that could have been made use of. Nor was it an unim- portant iesson which he had to teach, and did well teach, in proving to white men and to the world, that negro blood did not exclude its possessors from the highest renown which can attend military skill and achievements. In the victory which Tous- saint had so easily gained over a French general of no mean repute, there appears great ability in military combinations, as well as extraordinary promptitude and determination. These TOUSSAINT l'oUVEKTURE. 75 are qualities which make a great soldier, and these qualities "were in an eminent degree possessed by Toussaint. By this achievement Dondon fell into the hands of the insurgents. Dondon was the centre of the country. Possessed ot it, Toussaint had almost a free passage into the western depart- ment, while already the negro forces were triumphant in the north. At this position of affairs, the commissioners at the Cape not unnaturally grew alarmed Revolving the means at their disposal, they determined to celebrate the fourth anni- versary of the capture of the Bastille, in order to revive the republican enthusiasm, and thereby gain power for renewed efforts against the insurgents. Is the reader struck with the inconsistency of their conduct 1 Yes, these friends of liberty are seeking arms against liberty. Bebeving that the fall of the Bastille was the fall of tyranny in France, they dehberately turn the event to account in order to buttress up oppression in HaytL Bepubbcans ye may be, lovers of freedom ye are not, any more than those, your brothel's and descendants, who recently put down liberty in Borne with re- publican bayonets, and under repubhcan colours. Hypocrisy was added to inconsistency ; the qualities are not unlike. Amid the festivities which were designed to aid in the subjugation of the revolted negroes, these words were spoken by the commis- sioner Polverel : " The oppressed were Africans whom kings and their satellites sent to purchase, at their own hearths, of kings who had not the right to sell them into perpetual slavery in America. The oppressed were descendants of the Africans who, even when they had recovered their Liberty, were accounted un- worthy of the rights of man. The oppressors are all the kings who traffic in the life and Hberty of men of all countries and all colours. The oppressors are all the traitors and brigands who wish to restore royalty and slavery." This effusion of indignation against " kings and their satel- lites" lacked one word If '■' repubbcans" had been added, the description would have been more correct. The statement is illustrated by the fact that Sonthonax, another of the commis- sioners, in a speech delivered on the occasion, characterised the 76 THE LIFE OF insurgents as " a mass of vagabonds and idlers who will neither cultivate the land nor defend the cultivators," and whom it was -a primary duty to reduce and compel to resume their toils. The treacherous favours offered to the blacks by the commis- sion, had offended and alienated the skin aristocracy. At the town of J6remie, in the extreme north-west of the southern depart- ment, the planters had even formed an encampment hostile to the civil authority. They had, moreover, driven from the towns of the district the men of colour who had taken refuge in Les Cayes on the southern side of the same tongue of land. Son- ihonax having proc laim ed liberty for all the slaves, sent Andrew Bigaud to carry his orders into execution, and to restore the mulattoes to their homes. Advancing from Petit Trou, (June 17th,) on reaching the plantation of Desrivaux, near Jeremie, Pugaud found himself stopped by an entrenchment defended by five hundred men and five pieces of cannon. Consulting only his ardour and the object of his mission, he hastened to attack the fortification. At the head of three columns he three times mounted to the assault ; three times was he driven back. After fighting for four hours and losing several brave officers, he retreated, and at the head of fifty men protected himself in the midst of the greatest perils. Retiring to Petit Trou he received reinforcements and enrolled slaves. The last act made him a special object of hatred to the planters, who, disregarding the means, resolved to effect his destruction. Having crossed the country to Les Cayes, he took part in a repetition of the festivi- ties which had been celebrated at the Cape. Whites, blacks, and mulattoes exchanged tokens of friendship and manifested a com- mon joy. In the midst of scenes which promised lasting amity, he was fallen upon by Bandollet, commander of the white National Guard, and barely escaped through a shower of bullets, by extraordinary courage and activity. This disgraceful attempt at assassination excited general abhorrence, and added impulse and vigour to the negro cause. Rigaud, who, next to Toussaint, was destined to play the chief part in this internecine conflict, was a mulatto in the true sense of the term ; he was, that is to say, the son of a white man and TOUSSAINT l'oUVEBTXJRE. 77 a black woman. Educated at Bordeaux, -where lie had gone through a pretty good course of instruction, and learned the trade of a goldsmith,. and having served in Savannah and Guadeloupe, he entered the militia in Les Cayes, his native place. While pursuing his business, which colonial prejudices regarded as too good for a mulatto, he was called into active service by the in- surrection. Rigaud had in his soul the elements of a great man. In Hindostan he would have founded an empire. In Hayti he scarcely rose above a banditti chief ; yet did he know how to make hims elf formidable. Of a m a r tial aspect, his countenance was terrible in combat; yet after the excitement was over, it was mild and engaging. In the progress of the war of liberation he raised, organized, and commanded a legion, called " The South- ern Legion of Equality," which proved the finest and the most effective of the troops formed in Hayti. Aware, in his own ex- perience, of the value of knowledge, he took pains to have his soldiers instructed. "If — to cite the words of a native of Hayti — "if in the south of the isle the traveller meets even now (1850) with aged Africans who possess the elements of classical instruction, he may salute them ; they are Rigaud's legionaries. Admirable for good sense, they have a lofty spirit, above the pre- judices of colour ; with them, the white man, the midatto, and the black man are sons of the same father. I thank Heaven that the epoch of my visit to the district allowed me to shake hands -with these relics of the glory of my country, those old negroes whose excellence of heart and aptitude of mien Europe is igno- rant of, and whose descendants lie under the obligation of justi- fying the hopes of the friends of equality."* » Yie de Toussaint I/Ouverture, par Saint-Eemv. Paris, 1850, p. 83. 78 THE LIFE OF CHAPTER IX Toussaint becomes master of a central post — Is not seduced by offers of negro emancipation, nor of bribes to himself — Repels the English, who invade the island; adds L'Ouverture to his name, abandons the Spaniards, and seeks freedom through French alliance. After the conquest of Dondon, Toussaint rushed on Marme- lade, which was co mman ded by Vernet, a mulatto of a feeble and distrustful mini Having under his orders a legion com- posed of negroes recently liberated, as well disciplined as the battalions of Toussaint, he, in his timidity, importuned the com- mission to send him succours. On the 20th of July, 1795, Pol- verel wrote him these lines : " We do not think you a traitor, but you show not the courage of a republican; if you do not feel strength enough to die rather than yield, say so frankly; we can easily find citizens who make no account of death, when the honour of their country is at stake." On the morning of the 27th, Toussaint having formed con- nexions in the place, made an attack on Marmelade. By the evening, opposition was overcome. Yernet, its commander, joined his fortunes with those of Toussaint, whose niece he after- wards married, and rising to the rank of general, died under the reign of the Haytian king Christophe. Meanwhile the Lieu- tenant-Colonel Desfournaux was advancing from Port-au-Prince against Saint Michel, in the hope of effecting a division in favour of the French civil authority. The republican troops suffered a complete defeat. Desfournaux himself received several wounds. Encouraged by the victory, Toussaint advanced and captured Enneiy. Thence he wrote to the inhabitants of G-onai'ves, lying ■on the western shore, to induce them to surrender. A rising en masse was attempted, and failed. The heads of the population hastened to take flight by sea. But Toussaint had not been able sufficiently to protect his TOUSSAcrr l'ouverture. 79 rear. Hearing that Chanlatte was advancing from Plaisance against him, he judged it prudent to retreat. Driven back to Marmelade, he employed himself in efforts to abate the evils of the war. Recalling the planters who had taken refuge in the Spanish territories, he restored to them the possession of their estates, and so prevented the destitution which the conflict threatened to produce. These varieties of success brought no settlement. If the com- missioners gained an advantage here, a defeat there counter- vailed its effect. Once more would they try an appeal to the love of liberty. Accordingly Sonthonax proclaimed at the Cape universal freedom. Polverel repeated the proclamation at Port- au-Prince. ' Symbolic ceremonies were celebrated on these occa- sions, which were repeated in various places in which the authority of the commission still prevailed. The consequent en- thusiasm was not without some effect. But Toussaint was not easy to be deceived. The destinies of the republic were, he knew, uncertain. The faith of its representatives in Hayti was worse than doubtful. The colonists would be neither gained nor overcome by an understanding with the civil commissioners. He had, therefore, no course before him, but to continue faithful to the king of Spain. His actual position was the only position he could hold consistently with his hope of ever achieving the inde- pendence of his caste. For the complications of the contest he was not answerable. If, therefore, he now had to defend the cause of the blacks against blacks themselves, he had no option but to submit to the painful necessity. Never, perhaps, did a conflict present more heterogeneous combinations, or more regrettable collisions. The white republi- cans of France were arrayed against the white colonists of Hayti, whom they were sent to succour. The black man's hand was raised against his brother. The mulatto, enemy and friend of both, was by both distrusted and destroyed. Constituted autho- rities were in hostility. Bands of injured men seeking redress assailed each other. Spanish royalty fostered colonial insurrec- tion. The forces of the country were exhausted in the mutual and ever-recurring strife. "Without unity, and without result, 80 THE LIFE OP the war raged on every side, uniform only in the universal ravages which it inflicted. This ruinous complication was to be yet more complicated. Discord threw on the wasted shores of Hayti another brand. "We have already seen the planters make overtures to Eng- land. Tn their dissatisfaction with France, they renewed their application. The Court of St. James instructed "Williamson, governor of Jamaica, to lend the required assistance. In this appeal, the proprietors of La Grande Anse sent to the governor a treaty, which was accepted. Among the points agreed on was that the island should pass into the hands of Britain, and that its representative should have full power to regulate and govern the island with a view to its restoration to tranquillity. From the tenour of this article, and from the express words of others, the object of the colonists was to turn the power of Great Britain to account, in order to effect that in which they themselves had failed — the humiliation of the mulattoes, and the subjugation of the blacks. "With a view to the occupation of Hayti, Governor "Williams, in September, 1793, sent an armed force under Colonel WTiitelocke, which disembarked at Jeremie, on the 9th of the month, and on the 22nd, the harbour of Saint ^Nicholas was put into the possession of the English, who, in consequence, held two important positions in Hayti, the latter at the extremity of the northern, the other near the extremity of the southern tongue of its western end. "While the military chiefs of the mulattoes, stood aloof, many of the men of colour, not being soldiers, threw themselves into the arms of the British ; and Saint Marc, Leogane, Le Grand Goave, and many towns of the south, adopted the con- ditions of La Grande Anse. While little more than the Cape and Port-au-Prince remained in the power of the commissioners, an English fleet anchored in the harbour of the last-mentioned city, and demanded its surrender. This armament received an increase shortly after- wards. As usual, dissension and treason were at work among the forces of the authorities. With their aid, the English effected a landing, and took up a position. The commissioners fled to Jacmel. There they learned that a decree had been passed TOUSSAETT l'OUVEBTURE. SI against them by the national convention in Paris. They sub- mitted, and were received as prisoners on board L'Esp6rance. During the interval, Port-au-Prince became the scene of new horrors. The emigrant Berenger, at the head of a legion, took possession of the town, and seizing Port-Joseph, where the whites had taken refuge who could not find room on board the vessels in the harbour, he caused them to come forth one by one, and, as they appeared, he threw them headlong from the rampart into the fosse, saying, u Republican, leap down the Tarpeian rock." Thus perished two-and-thirty persons, and but for the orders of the English general, not one would have been spared. England had not invaded the French part of Hayti without having an understanding with Spain* By the convention be- tween the two parties, it was agreed on that England should establish its protection over the west and the south, and that Spain shoidd extend its dominion from the east to the extremity of the north. Accordingly, while the English invaded the west and the south, the Spanish invited the Creoles of the north, who had left the colony, to return and take possession of their pro- perties. On the faith of the promises made to them, two hun- dred colonists quitted the United States, and entered their homes at Fort Dauphin. Shortly after, Jean Francois, at the head of a body of negroes, encamped under the walls of that place. Resistance was not offered, in the persuasion that they came only to second the operations of the Spaniards. The next day, after the celebration of mass, those blacks mingled with Spaniards, having formed themselves into bands, traversed the streets, and slaughtered every Frenchman they met with, as " enemies of the saints and of kings," — to use the words by which they were encouraged to the butchery by the priests. The mas- sacre was general ; only fourteen persons escaped. Meanwhile Rigaud, aided by Petion and other mulatto chiefs, attacked the English, and, taking from them Leogane and Tiburon, blockaded them in La Grande Anse. Finding the enemy formidable, Whitelocke endeavoured to bribe Rigaud and Laveaux, then provisional governor of the colony, into ac- quiescence, if not submission. The former simply rejected the G 82 THE LIFE OP offer ; the latter replied, " Your being my enemy does not give you the right to put on me a personal insult ; as an individual I demand satisfaction for the injury you have done me." Laveaux, believing the Cape indefensible, took up his position at Port-de-Paix, -which he fortified, and under its walls braved all the efforts of the English ; while they, on their side, occu- pying the harbour of Saint Nicholas, commanded all the ap- proaches to the city by sea. The Spaniards, masters of nearly all the north, pressed Port- de-Paix by land, and cut off the supplies of provisions, so that the place underwent the privations of a siege. " For more than six months," wrote Laveaux, under date May 24th, " we have been reduced to six ounces of bread a day, officers as well as men ; but from the 1 3th of this month, we have none whatever, the sick only excepted. If we bad powder, we should have been consoled ; our misery is truly great ; officers and soldiers expe- rience tbe greatest privations. We have in our magazines neither shoes, nor shirts, nor clothes, nor soap, nor tobacco. The majority of the soldiers mount guard barefooted, like the Africans. "We have not even a flint to give the men. Notwith- standing, be assured that we will never surrender, if, indeed, we shall ever capitulate ; be assured, too, that after us the enemy will not find the slightest trace of Port-de-Paix. Sooner than be made prisoners, when the balls shall have destroyed every- thing here, and we have no longer anything to defend, we will retire, and flying from mountain to mountain, we will fight in- cessantly until aid comes from France." Bravery and determination worthy of a better cause ! The hope of aid from France proved chimerical, yet the notion helped to keep the soldiers in the line of duty. Pebef, indeed, came to them, but it was from an unexpected quarter. Miserably wasthisunfortunate island torn asunder by Spaniards, French, English, mulattoes, and the blacks ; by monarchists, by republicans, by sceptics, by Romanists, by false friends and true friends of negro emancipation. A lamentable illustration of the diversity of these rival interests was presented at Saint Marc. The same day three flags balanced and negatived each other under toussactt l'ouverture. 83 the influence of political breezes. Four cockades symbolized four different sets of opinions : here -were whites who wore the black cockade ; there other whites who wore the white cockade; while the uiulattoes wore the red cockade ; and some soldiers wore the tri-coloured cockade. About this time may be dated the final change which the name of Toussaint underwent by receiving the addition of I/'Ouverture. L'Ouverture is a French word which signifies ike opening. The surname is said to have been given as indica- tive of the opening which Toussaint had made for himself in the ranks and the possessions of the enemy. If this was its origin, the name is appropriate- Though not always successful, he rushed on his foes with an impetus which mowed down opposition. "With poetic licence, Lamartine, in his drama, makes the designation — derived, according to him, from LAurore, Day-break — to have been given to Toussaint by a monk, who thus intimated to him that he was to be the morning-star of a new era in Hayti. Un jour, un capucin, un de ces pauvres peres, Colporteurs de la foi, dont les noirs sont les fceres, En Tenant visiter l'atelier de Jacmel, S'arreta devant moi com me un autre Samuel. Quel est ton nom ? Toussaint. Pauvre mangeur d'igname, C'est le nom de ton corps ; maifi le nom de ton ame, C'est Aurore, dit-il. mon pere, et de quoi ? Du jour que Dieu prepare et qui se leve en toi ! Et les noirs ignorants, depuis cette avenrure, En corrompant ce nom m'appellent L'Ouverture.* A third explanation has been given. According to Pamphile de Lacroix,t Toussaint assumed the epithet, in order to announce to his people that he was about to open the door to them of a better future. In this view his name became a token of his object. That object he was too prudent to make known in the early period of his efforts. Now, however, might he make the announcement without serious risk. The event justified his conduct. That event would be aided forward by the name. The * "Toussaint I/Ouverture," Poem Dramatique, par A. De L amar tine. Act ii., scene 2. t "Memoires de Saint Dominique," vol. i. p. 303. G 2 84 THE LIFE OP opening was before the negroes. Whenever they saw Toussaint, they were reminded of the opening ; whenever they pronounced his name, they were encouraged to advance toward the opening. There was the door ; they had only to be bold and enter in to the desired temple of freedom. Toussaint L'Ouverture had returned to his mountain strong- hold, Marmalade, where he fixed his head-quarters. From that place as a centre, he surveyed the whole island, which to a great extent he now held under his domination. Already the shepherd-boy had become a potentate. It was a time not only for repose, but for the endearments of home. From the time of his entering the service of Spain, he had removed his wife from the theatre of war. He himself conducted her to the mountain fastness of St. Miguel ; and for seven months he had not been able to pay her a visit. . Kind-hearted as he was, how must he have been moved, when now, after unexpected triumphs, he found his wife and children in safety. . His entrance into the place was an ovation. The commander, in a truly Spanish fashion, ordered, among other tokens of rejoicing, bull- fights, in honour of the victor. Toussaint L'Ouverture had gained the esteem as well as the confidence of his Spanish masters. Impressed with his respect for religion, as well as the general probity of his character, the Marquis Hermona, under whose orders he was, exclaimed, on seeing him take the commu- nion : — " No, God cannot, in this lower world, visit a purer soul." Thus esteemed by the Spaniards, feared by the English, dreaded by the French, hated by the planters, and reverenced by the negroes, Toussaint L'Ouverture felt that a crisis had come in his public Ufe, which required the calmest consideration and the soundest judgment. His achievements, his personal influ- ence, and the condition of the conflicting parties, combined to show him the opening door, if only he had wisdom and strength to take the right path. What was that path ? The colonists were all but deprived of power for harm. The mulattoes had no organization. The English held only a point or two of the country. From the colonists and the. men of colour little, very littlej was to be feared or hoped. The negroes had learnt the TOUSSATNT? i/oUVERTTTRE. 85 secret of their power. This result, if no other satisfactory result, had ensued from the conflict. On them might Toussaint L'Ouverture now place great reliance. If they were uot already good soldiers, they had performed great things, and gaye pro- mise of soon being able both to deserve and achieve independence. But was their emancipation to be gained through Spain ? Spain was powerful in Hayti ; was its power likely to conduce to the opening 1 On the contrary, Spain was opposed to emancipation. Her power, then, was power adverse to the great object of Toussaint L'Ouverture's life. What did fidelity to that object demand ? Before the question could be answered, another element of thought had to be weighed. France in Hayti was in a miserable condition. Should she be crushed? If she was crushed, the alternative lay between the slave-dominion of England and the slave-dominion of Spain. But though France was depressed, could she be crushed? Her arms were trium- phant in Europe, and a strong effort to rescue her favourite colony might reasonably be expected. The present depression was such as to call for gratitude towards any effectual helper. The possible continuance of the depression gave assurance of the probability that, even in opposition to France, still more in con- junction with France, the independence of the negroes — if not the independence of the island — might be achieved. Why, then, not seek " the opening" in union with France ? The dis- position implied in the question was confirmed by a recent decree of the French legislature (Feb. 4, 1794) which, declaring Hayti an integral part of France, confirmed and proclaimed the freedom of all the slaves. This was a very grave act; an act of the mother country, not a mere device of a local commissioner; this was a deliberate and solemn recognition of the very object of Toussaint's life, not a trick in war for the very purpose of frustrating that object. And this step was taken when, to some extent, the days of French republican weakness had given place to days of strength, and when the name of republican France had begun to become a terror in the world. Hence, many things pointed to a coalition with France — her weakness, her power, her liberality. Alliance, too, with her seemed the 86 THE LIFE OF natural course. Independence by her, with her, and eventu- ally — if it might be — without her, involved the introduction of no foreign element into the Haytian world ; no new language, no strange customs and unacceptable manners. A French colony would still remain essentially French. Old usages would remain in honour; old observances would not be trampled on; old associations would not be disregarded or broken up. Espe- cially would religion remain uninjured and unchanged Hayti was a Catholic island, and France was a Catholic country. Toussaint L'Ouverture, too, was a sincere Catholic. Religious considerations, always powerful with him, seem to have re- ceived special attention, and had special weight in this juncture. The Abbe de la Haie was his adviser. The same clerg yman went between him and Laveaux. At length, a distinct offer was made by the French commander. Toussaint L'Ouverture accepted tlie opening. In this important step, he was doubtless influenced by a con- sideration derived from his actual position. He was surrounded by violent men. He was, in some sort, under the control of violent men. Certainly, he was intimately allied with men of colour by whom, or with whom, negro emancipation could not be wrought out. Of these facts he, about this time, was made painfully aware. His superior in co mman d, Jean Frangois, quarrelled with Biassou Over the latter, Toussaint, as the former knew, possessed great influence. Choosing to implicate Toussaint in the quarrel, Jean Francois committed him to prison. By Biassou, he was delivered. The hazard had been great. He who could incarcerate might slay. A second peril of the kind was not to be thought of ; therefore, the great, the final step must be taken. Having adopted precautions for the safety of his family, he made his military arrangements with skill, and carried them into effect with success. He then proclaimed universal liberty in all the districts under his influence. On the 4th of May, he pulled down the Spanish and hoisted the French flag wherever he was in power. Fright and confusion prevailed among the Spaniards. Joy agitated the bosoms of the negroes. Nearly all the north returned to their allegiance to France. TOUSSATNT I/OUTERTURE. 87 CHAPTER X. Toussaint defeats the Spanish partizans — By extraordinary exertions raises and disciplines troops, forms armies, lays out campaigns, executes the most daring exploits, and defeats the English, who evacuate the island — Toussaint ia Commander-in-chief. Toussaint: L'Ouvektuee's accession to the cause of Prance was followed by brilliant exploits. Rigaud suddenly fell on Leogane, which had been surrendered to the English, and with a very in- considerable loss carried the place, though it had been strongly fortified. AmoDg the booty were twenty thousand pounds of powder, eight of which he sent to Laveaux, who, with his fellow- combatants in Port-de-Paix, hailed the capture of Leogane with shouts of delight. Toussaint now came into collision with Jean Francois, his former commander. He took from that Spanish ally all his posts, and drove him westward into La Montaigne Noire. Haste nin g into the valley of the Axtibonite, Toussaint attacked the English, and, capturing several towns, fell on Saint Marc, the seat of the English power. Sitting down to besiege the city, he got pos- session of two important posts. In one of these, Morne-Diamant, he raised a battery which riddled the place. Then, while aiding the men to mount a gun, he crushed his left hand. He was compelled to resign the conduct of the attack to others. The consequence was injurious. Besides, his forces were insuffi- ciently provided with ammunition. He was forced to retire. This partial failure occasioned perfidy in some of his forces, to which he himself nearly fell a victim. Thus, while he had to maintain an open warfare against Spain and England, he had also to guard against the treachery which those powers did not disdain to set in motion among his own adherents. Retiring, as was his custom, to the mountain fastnesses, of which Marmelade may be considered as the centre, he collected 88 THE LIFE OP forces, and on the 9th of October, 1794, quitted that place at the head of nearly five thousand men, and after some minor suc- cesses, carried San Miguel by storm. This exploit raised him high in the estimation of the French commanders. Laveaux and Rigaud united in their eulogies of the skill and prowess he had manifested. An interview took place between Laveaux and Toussaint at Dondon. This was the first time they had seen each other. Toussaint presented to the general-in-chief his principal officers ; Dessalines, commander of San Miguel, Dumenil, commander of Plaisance, Desrouleaux, Clerveaux, Maurepas, &c, commanders of battalions. Toussaint L'Ouverture had already become a great power. "Very considerable influence did he exert in this conference of French authorities. Raised to this eminence, and now seeing " the opening" in clear outline before him, Toussaint was indefatigable. Such was the rapidity of his movements, and at so many different places was he seen near the same moment, that he seemed, especially in the eyes of the ignorant negroes, as if he was superior to time and space. Specially was he found at every post of imminent dan- ger. His energy and his prowess made him the idol of his troops. They also caused him to be dreaded by Ins enemies. He was no longer a leader of insurgents, but a commander of an army. He gave over marauding expeditions to lay out and con- duct a campaign. His immediate aim was to drive the English out of the island, and for that purpose, to make himself master of the port of Saint Marc. Coming down from the mountains with this view, he found that the English commander, Brisbane, had advanced into the interior of the valley of the Artibonite, and, taking Les "Verettes, had compelled his troops to retire. One small position alone held out against Brisbane. Toussaint determined to make one of those efforts which he so well knew how to direct, and by which he sometimes effected at a blow very great re- sults. Starting forward in the night early in December, with a band of three hundred cavalry, he by ambuscade and sudden attack, drove the enemy back in disgrace. TOUSSAINT l'oUVERTTJRE. 89 As yet, however, he had not strength enough to hold the valley of the Artibonite, especially as Jean Francois, with his Spanish sympathies, was impending over it in order to assist the English He withdrew towards the north. Before he left La Petite Riviere for Gonaives, which is in that direction, he gave a proof of the humanity by which he was actuated. In the vil- lage of La Petite Riviere, there were children and women of different colours who were destitute of the means of subsistence. Two sisters of charity who had come hither from the quarters occupied by the English, ministered to others even in their own need. At the command of L'Ouverture bread was day by day supplied to these sufferers, and to the most wretched of them money also was distributed. Returning with almost the speed of lightning to Marmelade, he set about organising a sufficient force to clear the district of La Grande Riviere and its heights, which He above Saint Marc, of the bands of Jean Francois. Setting in movement four columus, he quitted Dondon in the centre of the forces on the 31st of December. In four days he took and destroyed twenty- eight positions. That of Earmby. situated on a frightful preci- pice, and defended by three pieces of cannon, besides fire-arms, was carried by the mere force of resolute bravery. Had his plan been carried into effect in all points, the insurrection would have been suppressed. It failed in one point ; and so gave a passage to Jean Francois, who, passing through it with superior forces, surrounded Toussaint L'Ouverture. Disappointed, that brave man cut a way through his enemies, and after establishing a cordon of great extent, returned to his stronghold, Dondon, on the 7th of January, 1795. The cordon of the west, which Ouverture commanded, had for its eastern extremity La Grande Riviere, in the centre of the department of the north, and for its western limit La Saline, in the plain of the Artibonite, in the department of the west, and extending above ninety leagues, comprised the following import- ant posts : Saint Raphael, Saint Miguel, Dondon, Marme- lade, and Gonaives. This vast space of country Toussaint L'Ouverture defended for a long time against the English, the 90 THE LITE OF Spanish, and against French emigrants, with troops badly armed, badly disciplined, and little accustomed to military manoeuvres. This single fact is evidence of his prodigious activity and sur- passing talent. He had, indeed, under him officers of activity. But genius was demanded in his difficult and perilous position, and genius Toussaint himself alone possessed. Not only had he to survey and sustain the whole, but each particular part re- quired his presence as well as his thoughts. At every threat- ened point must Toussaint himself be, and at every threatened point Toussaint was. Constantly in motion, he and his horse seemed alm ost one compound being. In the midst of active movements he had to satisfy the daily demands of a. voluminous correspondence, which he always dictated with his own lips. Very needful too, was it that he should do his utmost to en- courage the cultivation of the lands, lest provisions should fail his troops, or famine try the fidelity of the people. Nor was the maintenance of discipline in hands such as his an easy office or a slight labour. He accomplished the task, however, by a general course of consideration and mildness as well as by stern severity toward the disobedient. Meanwhile the king of Spain ceded to France all his- posses- sions and rights in Hayti. The cession inflamed the hopes of the English government, who, resolving to try a last effort, sent, under General Howe, an army of three thousand men, together with a fleet under Admiral Parker. Laveaux had fallen into peril. Instigated by jealousy, Rigaud and Villate, another man of colour, arrested General Laveaux and threw him into prison. This attempt to set up a mulatto domination was overcome by Toussaint. Grateful for the service, Laveaux appointed Toussaint his second in the government of the island of Hayti, and in the proclamation which he thereupon issued, declared him to be that Spartacus, foretold by Raynal, whose destiny it was to avenge the outrages inflicted on all his race; and whom he set forth as the vindicator of the constituted authorities, adding that in future nothing should be attempted except in concert with him, and by his councils. This associ- ation of Toussaint in the government sensibly amended the dis- T0U3SAEST L'OUVERTURE. 91 position of the blacks, who now began to have some confidence in their white superiors, and in consequence were, in large num- bers, prepared to obey. Sonthonax having overcome his enemies in France, returned to Hayti, at the head of a commission of which Roume was the other important member. The commissioners found the colony in a condition approaching to prosperity. Instead of profiting by the favourable dispositions that prevailed, and the special good feeling with which he was received, Sonthonax pre- ferred stirring men's passions afresh. He had formed the project of bringing the men of colour under subjection by the power of the law. In order to effect his purpose, he, ostensibly to reward Toussaint L'Ouverture for the conduct he had pur- sued in the recent troubles, appointed that distinguished man general of division. These measures irritated Rigaud, the cham- pion of the mulattoes, who saw, with extreme jealousy, the black chief elevated to a rank superior to his own. Obeyed over almost all the south, Rigaud was deaf to overtures made to him on the part of the commissioners, and in discon- tent withdrew to Tiburon. Touissant L'Ouverture was not a man to lose time. Aware of the reinforcements the English had received, he hastened to the seat of war in the west, and having driven back Colonel Bris- bane, who had invaded La Petite Riviere, he pushed forward to Saline, near Gonaives, which the English had set on fire, and on the shore near which they had effected a landing. The English were on the point of advancing, when Toussaint appeared. Putting himself at the head of the cavalry, he fell on the English at Guildive, and directing the charge in his own person, he compelled them to re-embark in confusion, with the loss of their standards, their baggage, and their cannon. Toussaint received injuries in the conflict, but Brisbane was mortally wounded. The victorious soldiers, having their muskets crowned with laurels, were received in Gonaives in the midst of the accla- mations of the people. The influence of Toussaint L'Ouverture grew every day. Almost at will, he drew the negroes round his banners, and 92 THE LIFE OF reduced them into discipline. He also detached from the English colours bands which they had taken into their pay. Applying himself to matters connected with the general adminis- tration of the colony, he put on a firm footing the prosperity which had begun to appear. He applied his power specially to the restoration of the culture of the soil ; wisely declaring, that the liberty of the blacks could be consolidated only by the prosperity of agriculture. This important averment, spreading among the black chiefs, awoke in them the desire to acquire and to conserve property. "While the English had great difficulty to struggle against the French arms in the west, they were vigorously pressed by Desfourneaux in the north. Four columns surrounded the heights of Valliere, where the enemy, with the aid of some detach- ments, kept up what they called " La Vendee of Saint Domingo." Henry Christophe, afterwards King of Hayti, powerfully con- tributed to the success of this expedition. In the south, Rigaud assumed the offensive. Having strongly fortified Les Cayes, he marched to attack Port-au-Prince. He met with a resistance so vigorous, so brave, and so well-conducted that any but a very superior man must have perished. In a sally made by Colonel Markham, at the head of a thousand men, his outposts were carried, and his head- quart era plundered. The rout was becoming general, when Fiigaud, though urged to save his life by flight, leaped on his horse, and rallying fifty men, threw himself on the English occupied in pillage, and put many of them to the sword. The plunder was recovered, and Markham, forced to beat a retreat, fell pierced with balls. L'Ouverture, not slow in sustaining the efforts of Piigaud, sat down before Saint Marc with ten thousand men. Thrice did he assail the town in vain. After prodigies of valour, he was compelled to retire. Unwilling to derive no advantage from his exertions, Toussaint determined to rescue Mirebalais out of the hands of the Spaniards, by whom it was held. At his voice, the population rose in a mass, and, with his assistance, made him master of the district. toussaixt l'ouverture. 93 Mirebalais was a most important post. Lying in the moun- tains on the north-east corner of the western department, the district so called consisted of gorges, steeps, and narrow passes, which made almost every part of it a Thermopylae. The village of Saint Louis, also called by the name of the district, commands an immense extent of level coiintry. Favourable to animal life in general, the country abounds in superior horses. A skilful commander, possessed of Mirebalais, therefore, might almost defy attack, and at his pleasure sally forth to wage war in almost any part of the island. The English, aware of the importance of this position, resolved to get it into their hands. They succeeded in the bold under- taking. The loss was too heavy to be endured. L'Ouverture, as soon as other duties permitted, made arrangements for the recovery of Mirebalais. He was not in time, however, to prevent the occupants from covering it with fortifications. The command of the district had been entrusted to a French emigrant, the Count de Bruges, whose forces amounted to two thousand English troops of the line, besides a numerous militia. On the 24th of March, 1797, Toussaint L'Ouverture, by means of his lieutenant, Morney, intercepted the high road leading into the country, and encamping at Block -haus du Gros Figuier, repelled Montalembert, who was advancing into Mirebalais with seven hundred men and two pieces of artillery. The next day, Tous- saint drove the English from all their possessions, and completing the investment of the village, ordered, on the south, the attack of the forts. With such unity of operation, and such impetu- osity of assault was the attack made, that the whole was carried. Conflagration completed what the fire-arms left unsubdued. Toussaint L'Ouverture passed from eminence to eminence, and surveyed his troops victorious on all sides. A yet more pleasing sight to him was that which he had when he set at liberty two hundred prisoners of all hues who were suffering under a degrading punishment, and who every moment expected a horrible death from the flames which were approaching the place of their detention. 94 THE LIFE OF Pursuing his advantages, L'Ouverture, in a campaign of four- teen days, totally defeated the English, and Drought under obedi- ence the entire province. Among his spoils were eleven pieces of cannon, -with their ammuni tion, and two hundred prisoners. As his recompence, Toussaint L'Ouverture received from Son- thonax the appointment of commander-in-chief of the army of Saint Domingo, vacant by the departure of Laveaux. The conquering hero was installed at the Cape in the presence of the garrison, composed of black troops, and the remains of the white troops. These are the words which he employed on the occa- sion : — " Citizen Commissioners, I accept the eminent rank to which you have jnst raised me, only in the hope of more surely succeeding in entirely extirpating the enemies of Saint Domingo, of contributing to its speedy restoration to prosperity, and of securing the happiness of its inhabitants. If to fulfil the diffi- cult task which it imposes, it sufficed to wish the good of the island, and to effect it, in all that depends on me, I hope that, with the aid of the Divine Being, I shall succeed ; the tyrants are cast down on the earth ; they will no more defile the places where the standard of liberty and equality ought to float alone, and where the sacred rights of man ought to be recognised. " Officers and soldiers, if there is a compensation in the severe labours which I am about to enter on, I shall find it in the satis- faction of commanding brave soldiers. Let the sacred fire of liberty animate us, and let us never take repose until we have prostrated the foe." Lofty now was the position of Toussaint L'Ouverture. Glad was his heart. His joy did not arise from his own personal elevation. It is true that he had created an army which could beat European troops, and expel them from even the strongholds of Hayti. It is true that in his deeds and warlike achievements he had equalled the great captains of ancient and modern times. But he had not fought for his own aggrandisement; he had done all with a view to an ultimate object. And now that object seemed within his reach. The emancipation of his race was accomplished, therefore did Toussaint rejoice. "The opening" TOUSSAI>T L'OUVEETUSE. 95 was made; "what remained to be done was detail. Alas ! such "were the appearances, but the appearances proved delusions. The achievement just set forth gave the final blow to the ■war. No longer could the English do more than maintain a desultory conflict with scarcely any hope of final success, what- ever temporary advantages they might gain. "When all but relieved from a foreign enemy, the French authorities began to disagree among themselves. The particulars are too tedious to- be repeated. From the colony appeals were made to the legis- lature in Paris. The commissioner Sonthonax, fearing impeach- ment, requested to be sent home as a deputy from the colony. If at first sincere, he seems afterwards to have vacillated. Tous- saint, however, convinced that his absence would be conducive to the restoration of harmony and the effective prosecution of hostilities, took measures that his request should not fail of effect. But Toussaint, victorious and powerful in the colony, had reason to fear the result of intrigues and plots against himself in the mother country. As a pledge of his honour and a token of con- fidence, he sent his two sons to France for their education. On their part the English, suffering greatly from the climate, and making no progress towards the subjugation of the island, employed the utmost of their power to seduce the hostile leaders. Having with little satisfaction to themselves attempted to secure the mulatto interest, they made the bold attempt of seducing Toussaint L'Ouverture himself. Little knowing the character of the man with whom they dealt, they offered as the price of his subserviency the title of King of Hayti. The incQrruption of Tous sain t on the occasion was the more remarkable and worthy, as General Hedouville, sent after the departure of Sonthonax as the representative of France, treated him with less consideration than was deserved by the man to whom that country owed the restoration of its colony. Toussaint had, indeed, become too powerful perhaps for France, certainly for its deputy Hedouville. In his anxiety to disembarrass himself of the black chief, that general, by means of his creatures, tried to induce him to embark for the mother country, in order to 9Q THE LIFE OP plead his cause and maintain his interests. Pointing with his hand to a sapling which grew near — " I will go," he said, " when that branch shall form a vessel of sufficient size to carry me thither." During these unhappy divisions, the English had been losing ground. "Worn down and dispirited, they at length began to take decided steps for the evacuation of the island. In the negotiations and measures which this involved, the polemics and distrusts of the French authorities displayed but too strongly their evil effects. Port-au-Prince, however, was surrendered by the English, who shortly afterwards found it prudent to place the Mole Saint-Nicholas in the hands of the French. Dis- satisfied with the stipulations made by Hedouville, Toussaint repaired to Saint-Marc, and took into his own hands the settle- ment of the terms of capitulation. Not yet wholly without hope of winning over to English views their most formidable opponent, the English by their representative, General Maitland, rendered the highest honours to Toussaint L'Ouverture. The attempt met with deserved failure. Toussaint could see tlirough the covered designs of his old foes. He had no faith that the freedom of his race would ensue from English domination ; and he knew that their equality before the law had been recognised by France. Faithful to his great idea and final design, he remained superior to the blandishments of English wealth and adulation. After enduring so many fatigues and acquiring so much glory, L'Ouverture retired into the interior of the Arti- bonite, and took up his abode on the estate called Deschaux, which was situated in the mountains. There he flattered himself with the hope of some repose, and there, keeping an eye over the great centres of social movement, he could at any moment, like the eagle, descend to any part where his presence was required. TOTTSSADCT l'oUVERTTJRE. 97 CHAPTER XI. Toassaint L'Ouverrure composes agitation, and brings back prosperity — Is opposed by the Commissioner, Hedouville, who flies to France — Appeals, in self-justification, to the Directory in Paris. Having reached the co mmandin g position which he held, Tous- sainc L'Ouverture, with a true patriotism and a wise benevo- lence, applied himself to the difficult task of healing the wounds of his country. The first task was to induce the planters to resume possession of their estates, and re-commence the tillage of the soil. This he effected in part by persuasion, in part by gentle compulsion; numerous detachments of infantry, traversing the cities, collected together the scattered owners and conducted them to the plantations. The conduct of the troops employed in the service was as worthy of notice as the obedience of the agriculturists; for, observing the strictest discipline, they showed the greatest respect to property, and conducted them- selves towards all with becoming moderation and mildness. The control over these rude natures which this temperance implied, was the result of the discipline instituted by Toussaint, and of the love and the fear which his name inspired. Among his aignal triumphs this was, perhaps, the most signal. Not by blacks only, but by whites, was this extraordinary man obeyed. Obedience seciired Toussaint's protection. Regardless of the colour of the skin, he received with favour, and treated with confidence, and promoted with readiness, all whom he had valid reasons for believing sincerely bent on advancing the public good. Disdaining to govern by the rivalry of classes, he aimed to serve the whole, by the means and with the aid of each. Emigrant or Creole, black or white, men were treated by him as men ; being placed in the posts for which they were fitted, whether military or civiL If there was a difference in his conduct towards dependents, that difference was not in favour of white men. The injured, he rightly judged, had the first claim to his atten- H 98 THE LIFE OF tion. Generally, however, his administration was impartial, severely impartial. It scarcely need be added that he grew in universal estimation. Respected by men in general, his influence became immense, and even the fear or distrust which was secretly nourished against him by some, was an acknowledgment of his power. Under Toussaint's benign sway, parties began to melt away, and heart-burnings to cease. An unqualified amnesty, which he proclaimed, tranquillized men's minds, and reconciled them to the existing state of things. Nor did the victorious general forget the All-powerful Arm to which he knew that he owed his triumph, and by whose aid only, he was equally assured, he could finish the work he had begun and so far accomplished. But the governor disapproved of L'Ouverture's policy. Whether from a difference of view, or from suspecting Toussaint of ambitious designs, Hedouville, though a professed Republican, characterized his administration as " too mild and too full of results." Never having behaved towards the negro captain with cordiality, he now conveyed to Toussaint's ears words of open complaint and covert blame. Toussaint was not to be turned from a course which he had deliberately adopted, and found to be most beneficial Afraid lest H6douville's power would interrupt that course, or abate its good, he issued proclamations to his troops — his chief basis of reliance — in order to confirm them in their obedience by the strongest of ties, namely, the religious ties to which their susceptible and impulsive natures made them peculiarly sensible. "This," said he, "is the path which we must all follow, in order to draw down upon us the blessing of the Lord. I hope you will never depart from it, and that you will punctually execute what follows : — " The heads of regiments are required to see that the troops join in prayer morning and evening, as far as the service will permit. "At the earliest review, the Generals Commanding- in-chief, will cause high mass to be celebrated and a Te Deum to be sung in all the places of their several districts, as an expression toussaint l'otjverttjre. 99 of gratitude to Heaven for having vouchsafed to direct our last campai