LETTER XIII.

Republic of Hayti.

THE WAR RENEWED--“LIBERTY OR DEATH”--EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH--THE AURORA OF PEACE--JEAN JACQUES DESSALINES, FIRST EMPEROR OF HAYTI--PRINCIPAL EVENTS UP TO PRESENT DATE--GEFFRARD AND EDUCATION--POSSIBLE FUTURE.

“This is the moral of all human tales: ’Tis but the same rehearsal of the past-- First freedom, and then glory.” --CHILDE HAROLD.

The violent and perfidious measures to which Le Clerc had resorted produced an effect diametrically opposed to that which he intended. On the distant mountains, particularly toward the Spanish division, innumerable hosts of blacks had taken up their residence and assumed a species of lawless violence. They ridiculed every idea of a surrender to the Europeans, notwithstanding the compromise which had been made with Toussaint and Christophe. Even among those who had submitted, the sudden seizure of their brave leader and about one hundred of his enlightened associates, of whose fate they could receive no satisfactory account, but who was supposed to have been murdered by Le Clerc, produced a spirit of indignation which was poured forth in execrations portending an approaching storm.

Le Clerc, seated on his painful eminence, saw in a great measure the danger of his situation, and endeavored to counteract the impending evil. But death at this moment was lessening the number of his troops, and sickness disabling the survivors from performing the common duties of their stations.

Dessalines, whose talents and valor, recognized by his countrymen, had caused him to be appointed to act as General-in-Chief, resolved not to dally with his faithless foes as Toussaint had done, but to bring this ferocious war to a speedy and decisive issue. Impressed with this resolution, he drew a considerable force into the plain of Cape François, with a design to attack the city. Rochambeau, perceiving his movements, exerted himself to strengthen the fortifications of the city, after which he determined to risk a general engagement.

Both parties were as well prepared for the event as circumstances would admit. The attack was begun by the French with the utmost resolution, and from the violence of the onset the troops of Dessalines gave way for a moment, and a considerable number fell prisoners into the hands of the French. But the power and courage of the blacks soon returned. The French were repulsed; and as a body of them were marching to strengthen one of the wings of their army, they were unexpectedly surrounded by the blacks, made prisoners of war, and driven in triumph to their camp.

With these vicissitudes terminated the day. At night the French general, to the disgrace of Europe, ordered the black prisoners to be put to death. The order was executed with circumstances of peculiar barbarity. Some perished on the spot; others were mutilated in their limbs, legs, and vital parts, and left in that horrible condition to disturb with their shrieks and groans the silence of the night.

But Rochambeau had to deal with a very different man from Toussaint--a man whose motto was, “_Never to retaliate_;” for under cover of the same inauspicious night Dessalines deliberately selected the officers from among his prisoners, then added a number of privates, and gibbeted them all together in a place most exposed to the French army.

Nor did the revenge of the black soldiers terminate even here. Burning with indignation against the men whose conduct had stimulated them to such inhuman deeds, they rushed down upon the French the ensuing morning, destroyed the camp, made a terrible slaughter, and compelled the flying fugitives to take refuge under the walls of Cape François. From this period the French were unable to face their opponents in the open field, and the victorious Dessalines immediately took steps to crush them in the city.

To add to the calamities of the French commander, the war between England and France was again renewed during this period of his distress. Unfortunately, however, he remained uninstructed by past experience, and his cruelty seemed to increase with the desperation of his circumstances. Pent up in the city, from which his forces durst not venture in a body, he contrived to detach small parties with bloodhounds to hunt down a few straggling negroes, who wandered through the woods unconscious of the impending danger. These when taken were seized with brutal triumph, and thrown to the dogs to be devoured alive.

Amid scenes and horrors as infamous as these, Le Clerc was summoned by the fever to appear before a higher tribunal to give an account of his deeds of darkness. He died on the 1st of November, after having been driven from Tortuga, his previous place of abode. Madame Le Clerc was present at the awful scene; then, departing with the body for Europe, bade a final farewell to a region which had promised her happiness, but paid her with anguish and mortification.

It was in the month of July that an English squadron, not fully apprised of the condition of the French army, made its appearance off the cape. This circumstance completely overwhelmed the besieged commander, who, while the blacks were fiercely crowding upon him, was perfectly conscious of his vulnerable condition as exposed to the British. He therefore opened a communication with the latter to learn what terms of capitulation he had to expect in case a proposition of that kind should be made. The terms required by the British being dreadfully severe, Rochambeau lost no time in strengthening the works towards the sea as well as towards the land, having every thing to fear from both quarters.

Meanwhile the victorious blacks continued to pour in reinforcements upon the plains of the cape. A powerful body now descended upon the French, and, having passed the outer lines and several blockhouses, prepared to storm the city in thirty-six hours.

Rochambeau, from a persuasion that all would be put to the sword, proceeded before it was too late to offer articles of capitulation, which, to the honor of Dessalines, by foregoing the desire of revenge, were accepted, granting the French ten days to evacuate the city--“an instance of forbearance and magnanimity,” says Rainsford, “of which there are not many examples in ancient or modern history.”

The articles of capitulation which Rochambeau had entered into were communicated by Dessalines to the British commodore. The latter, therefore, awaited the expiration of the appointed time to mark the important event. When the time had elapsed, Commodore Loring, perceiving no movement of the French towards evacuation, sent a letter to General Dessalines to inquire if any alteration had taken place subsequent to his last communication, and if not, to request him to send some pilots on board to conduct his squadron into the harbor to take possession of the French shipping. To this letter he received the following characteristic reply:--

“LIBERTY OR DEATH!

“HEAD-QUARTERS, _Nov. 27, 1803_.

“_The Commander-in-Chief of the Native Army to Commodore Loring, etc., etc._:

“SIR:--I acknowledge the receipt of your letter, and you may be assured that my disposition toward you and against General Rochambeau is invariable.

“I shall take possession of the cape to-morrow morning at the head of my army. It is a matter of great regret to me that I cannot send you the pilots which you require. I presume that you will have no occasion for them, as I shall compel the French vessels to quit the road, and you will do with them what you shall think proper.

“I have the honor to be, etc., etc.,

“DESSALINES.”

Scarcely had Commodore Loring entered the harbor on the morning of the 30th, before he was met by an officer of the French troops then going in quest of the English to request them to take possession of the ships in the name of His Britannic Majesty. This, he observed, was the only method left by which they could be saved from inevitable destruction, as the black general was at that moment preparing to fire upon them with red-hot shot, and the wind, blowing directly into the mouth of the harbor, prevented their departure.

The whole of the French troops and shipping, including seventeen merchant vessels and about 8,000 soldiers and seamen, thus falling into the hands of the British, were conveyed to England, arriving at Portsmouth, on the 3rd of February, 1804, from whence the troops were taken into the interior and paroled as prisoners of war.

Thus ended this visionary expedition through which Napoleon and Le Clerc flattered themselves and the country that the inhabitants of Hayti were to be again reduced to slavery; and thus, by the unrelenting determination of Dessalines, were the fearful thunderbolts of war made to recoil on the heads of those who hurled them.

THE AURORA OF PEACE.

The “Aurora of Peace” which Dessalines and his colleagues had predicted, was now ushered in. On the 14th of May following Dessalines departed from the cape, determined, like his unfortunate predecessor Toussaint, to make a tour through the island, to note the manners which prevailed, and to observe how far the regulations he had already introduced were enforced, and what beneficial effects had resulted from their adoption.

During this journey the people, animated by the presence of their victorious chief, resolved to exalt him to the dignity of emperor. Whether any intrigue had been used on this occasion by Dessalines, or that the offer was a pure emanation of gratitude originating with the people, it is impossible to say. This much, however, is certain, that the proposal was accepted without any reluctance, and in due time he was enthroned as _Jean Jacques Dessalines, the first emperor of Hayti_. This was at Port au Prince, on the 8th of October.

After the imposing ceremonies which necessarily attended the imperial coronation, the people, not forgetful of Him who had guided them through this arduous struggle in defence of those rights with which He had originally endowed them, marched to the church, where a Te Deum was sung to commemorate the important transactions of this memorable day. From this place of solemnity the whole procession returned in the order in which they came to the government house; after which a grand illumination took place in all parts of the city, amid the roaring of cannon and every demonstration of joy that both language and action could possibly express.

In tracing the narrative of this remarkable revolution, we have purposely omitted the invasion of the British from 1793 to 1798. Suffice it to say, that after a profuse waste of blood and treasure during five years, Great Britain was constrained to withdraw the remnant of her troops, acknowledge the independence of the island as a neutral power, and relinquish forever all pretensions to Hayti.

Such, then, is a brief outline of the principal features in the history of this new-born empire, as recorded by Edwards, Rainsford, and Coke, and as given me from the lips of veterans yet upon the soil. The principal changes since are briefly these:

The reign of the emperor Dessalines was short and turbulent, and his designs against the mulattoes cost him his life. After the death of Dessalines, (in 1807,) General Christophe was made chief magistrate, and in 1811 he crowned himself King Henri I. Meanwhile the mulattoes having cause to distrust him also, elected General Petion, a companion of Rigaud, to preside in the south-west, which he did with great leniency and to the entire satisfaction of his constituents, by many of whom he is still affectionately remembered. He died in 1818. Christophe shot himself in 1820. In 1822, Boyer, who had been elected President, united the whole island under his government.

And this brings the chain of events up to those mentioned in our review of the history of the Spanish part of the island, to which the reader can refer for a statement of the principal changes from that time to the present.

Under President Geffrard the country is highly prosperous, such confidence being placed in the government that its paper currency is preferred by the people to silver coin.

Under Protestant influences, also, several large schools, in which hundreds of young girls and boys are being educated, promise in due time to present to the world a virtuous female offspring of these heroic revolutionists, adorned by all the graces attending the use of both the French and English languages, and a body of youths skilled at once in commerce, and in the sciences of government, the sword, the anvil, and the plow.

The president desires the immigration hither of young men and ladies who are capable of teaching French, “and also to undertake,” he says, “the courses of our lyceums. In this case they would find employment immediately.”

* * * * *

It is difficult to believe these fields of natural beauty, embellished with all the decorations of art, have at any time presented to earth and heaven such spectacles of horror as to cause even Europe, accustomed as it is to blood and fire, to stand aghast, and which will serve Americans as a finger-board of terror so long as slavery there exists. The torch of conflagration and the sword of destruction have marched in fearful union through the land, and covered the hills and plains with desolation. Tyranny, scorn, and retaliating vengeance have displayed their utmost rage, and in the end have given birth to an empire which has not only hurled its thunderbolts on its assailants, but at this moment bids defiance to the world.

In the days of imperial Rome it was the custom of Cicero and his haughty contemporaries to sneer at the wretchedness and barbarity of the Britons, just as Americans speak of Haytiens to-day; yet when we reflect how analogous the history of the seven-hilled city and that of the United States promises to be, that Hayti may yet become the counterpart of England, head-quarters of a colored American nationality, and supreme mistress of the Caribbean sea, she can well afford to leave

“Things of the future to fate.”