Part 3

General Laveaux saw that this was the man, and through the Priest La Haye made advances to him. Toussaint is wise and he is wary, he keeps his own counsel—he consults not Jean François, who had once cast him into prison, nor Biassou, nor the Marquis Hermona. As usual, he performs his duties; as usual, he partakes of the communion; as usual, his troops look to him, and Hermona said “there exists on earth no purer soul.”[33] He has placed his wife and children in safety—he has ordered his affairs—his horse stands saddled and bridled: then, tearing off his epaulettes, he casts them at the feet of the Spanish officers, flings himself on his horse and rides like the wind out of the camp. The Spaniards are for a moment paralyzed—they pursue him; but neither hoof nor pistol can reach him. Toussaint is not to be caught. On the 4th of May (1794), he pulls down the Spanish and hoists the French colors. Marmalade, Plaisance, Ennery, Dondon, Acul and Limbé submit to him. Confusion and fear prevail among the Spaniards. Joy exalts the negroes. Laveaux is saved, and the colony not yet lost to France. Toussaint is a power in the State—the negroes everywhere respond to the sound of his voice—they look to him as their hero, defender, guide, and guard.

Did he deceive or sacrifice them? The mulattoes and whites have called him treacherous, ambitious and unscrupulous. It is easy to do so, and so to account for the power and success of this singular man—but the explanation is not satisfactory. No brave man will seek for a base motive, even in his enemy, when a noble one is patent and suffices better. Toussaint’s talent, courage, and honor were inspired by the lofty hope of redeeming his race; and the negroes, fanatic in their hatred of slavery, became invincible. The electric spark which fired his soul fired theirs. Great is he who spends his blood and his life, fighting for liberty—but base is the man who kills and destroys for fame or plunder.

Toussaint sets himself to his work. The whole province of the North soon falls into his hands, and he drives the Spanish ally, Jean François, westward along La Montaigne Noire. Then he hastens into the rich valley of the Artibonite, attacks and beats back the English, and besieges the strong fortress of St. Marc; but neither forces nor ammunition are sufficient and he retires to the mountain fastnesses of Marmalade to recruit his troops. On the 9th of October (1794), he carries the fortress of San Miguel by storm. Laveaux and Rigaud cannot withhold their admiration at his skill and prowess. His horse and he are as one. This black centaur carries success at his saddlebow. His troops love and admire, while his enemies fear him.

Toussaint determines to drive away the English, and he falls with fury upon General Brisbane in the Artibonite, and compels him to retreat. But Jean François hung over him in the heights of La Grande Rivière. Again he retires to Dondon and organizes his forces to repel the Spaniards—in four days he takes and destroys twenty-eight positions—but Jean François with a superior force threatens his rear, while the English are in front: again he is baffled; he returns to Dondon. Toussaint is no longer the leader of marauding bands, but the head of an army. His troops are mostly raw and ignorant, badly clothed, armed, and fed, but they trust in him and have courage. He seeks for efficient officers, and finds Dessalines, Desroulaux, Maurepas, Clervaux, Christophe and Lamartinière: these he must command with discretion—his troops he must provide with arms, ammunition and food—he must watch the forces of the Spaniards, the movements of the English—intrigues abroad and treachery at home: henceforth he must organize campaigns. He has now little time for the pleasures of sense—the enjoyment of books—the rest of home. Rarely can he snatch an hour for his wife and children from the life of ceaseless care. But does he, then, sigh for the hut and the bananas and the careless slavery of M. Bayou? Human nature is one; no one would have changed the life of a man, every faculty in action, for the repose of a dog: not the black Toussaint.

The treaty of Basle had secured the cession of the whole Spanish part of the island to France. Jean François was, therefore, at liberty to retire to Spain, to enjoy his honors. There remained but the English now to distract the plans of Toussaint and the French. One more disturbing element yet existed. The mulattoes felt themselves superior to the blacks, and the rightful successors to the whites, in the honors and government of the island. Jealous of Toussaint and the favors shown the blacks, headed by Villate, they rose against Laveaux, the governor at the Cape, and threw him into prison; his danger was extreme.[34] Toussaint descends on the town with ten thousand blacks and saves him. Laveaux appointed him his lieutenant, second in command in the island, and declared that he was the “Spartacus” foretold by Raynal, who should avenge the sufferings of his race.[35] Confidence grew now, between the blacks and the whites, and Lacroix, who is no way friendly to the blacks, admits that “if St. Domingo still carried the colors of France, it was solely owing to an old negro who seemed to bear a commission from Heaven.”[36] The French continued to send commissioners (Santhonax among them), but Toussaint was the moving mind; and when Laveaux, having been elected delegate to the Assembly, sailed for France, Santhonax finally appointed him Commander-in-chief.[37]

This history will, for a short time, be more simple. Toussaint has filled the “Opening;” he is “Louverture.” A strong hand and a clear head, though black, direct the affairs of the island. Daily he gains strength, and the confidence of the negroes. They flock to his army—they listen and obey his words. Christophe, in the North, had encouraged cultivation. Toussaint throws his powerful influence into the work—his maxim, “that the liberty of the blacks can never be solid without agriculture,”[38] passes from mouth to mouth among the negroes, and rouses in them the desire for lands and wealth—for the _first time_ now possible. He wishes that Cap and the towns along the North should be rebuilt. It is done; they rise from their ashes. All hopes are centered in the General-in-chief: HE can restore peace and prosperity: he alone.[39]

The English now were sore bested. The French pressed them in the West; Desfourneaux in the North; Rigaud in the South; Christophe had carried the heights of Vallière, the Vendée of St. Domingo. Louverture again attempts to take St. Marc: thrice he storms it, thrice he deserves success; but again he fails to clutch this strong fortress. He turns now to Mirebelais, an interior Thermopylæ, strongly fortified by the English: his lieutenant, Mornay, intercepted Montalembert, who was advancing with 700 men and two pieces of artillery. The next day he drives in all the English troops, invests the village of St. Louis, carries the forts by assault, and in fourteen days totally defeats the English, taking 200 prisoners, eleven pieces of cannon, and military stores. The efforts of the English are nearly at an end—weak and weary, their strength is spent. Whitlocke, Williamson, Whyte, Horneck, Brisbane, and Markham, have tried to subdue these rebels and to wrest the colony from France: they have bitten a file. Millions of pounds have been wasted; Brisbane and Markham are killed; thousands of soldiers slain; the yellow fever, too, has done its work. Poor fellows! The “bloody ichor” has been bloody tears. “Condemned to fall without a conflict, and to die without renown!”[40] If the ghosts of the dead hover about us, as some love to think, heavy must be the air of St. Domingo—pale shades of black and white still carrying on their conflict, or sighing over the past.

General Maitland at last decided to leave the island, and between him and Toussaint there went on a struggle of diplomacy; but Louverture was more than his equal: he accepted his honors, but refused his bribes. They made terms, and Maitland evacuated Port au Prince and St. Nicholas. One incident illustrates General Maitland’s confidence in Toussaint. Before the disembarkation of his troops, he determined to return Louverture’s visit. He proceeded to his camp, through a country full of negroes, with but three attendants. On his way he heard that Roume, the French commissioner, had advised Toussaint to seize him; but he proceeded, and when he reached the camp, after waiting a short time, Toussaint entered, and, handing him two letters, (Roume’s and his reply), said: “Read; I could not see you till I had written, so that you could see that I am incapable of baseness.”[41]

Gen. Lacroix has written that he saw, in the archives at Port au Prince, the offers made to Toussaint, securing him in the power and kingship of the island, and liberty to his race, with a sufficient naval force on the part of England, provided he would renounce France and form a commercial treaty with England.[42] The event leads one to regret that Toussaint’s ambition was not superior to his loyalty to France.

During these proceedings with the English, Santhonax had departed for France, partly at his own request, partly because he was in the way of Toussaint’s plans for the restoration of the island. With him, Toussaint sent his two sons to receive some education in France, and to show, as his letter stated, “his confidence in the Directory * * * at a time when complaints were busy against him:” he said, “there exist no longer any internal agitations; and I hold myself responsible for the submission to order and duty of the blacks—my brethren,” etc.

Rochambeau and Santhonax had both found that Toussaint’s power was superior to theirs. The planters and the mulattoes in Paris were ever busy against him: he had much to fear. But the Directory sustained him, and sent Gen. Hedouville (who at once betrayed his distrust) to watch and control him. This was not an easy thing to do, for Louverture knew more than they all about St. Domingo.

FOOTNOTES:

[33] LACROIX, vol. i., p. 301.

[34] _Biog. Universelle_, T. L.

[35] _Quarterly Rev._, No. 42.

[36] The Commissioner Polverel exclaimed: “Comment! mais cet homme fait ouverture partout!” Everywhere he opens his way.

[37] BROWN, vol. i., p. 294.

[38] LACROIX, vol. i., p. 324.

[39] BROWN, vol. i., p. 205. _Quarterly Review_, No. 42. BEARD’S _Life_, p. 92.

[40] RAINSFORD. MOSELEY’S ACCOUNT _in Tropical Diseases_. BRYAN EDWARDS.

[41] _Quarterly Review_, No. 42.

[42] _Biog. Universelle_, T. L. LACROIX, vol. i., p. 346.

X.

Peace was at last come to this distracted island. The Halcyon bird, rocked by the gentle billows, could now hatch its young, and men might pray that the new births would be harbingers of prosperity.

Toussaint rests in the bosom of his family on the estate Deschaux, among the mountains of the Artibonite. He knows himself to be the first man in St. Domingo; the people everywhere accept him as such. This “old negro with a commission from Heaven”—the “maggot rolled in linen,” as some of Hedouville’s followers called him—this “chattel,” prized at 500 dollars, has come to strange places. His praises, even, are chanted in the “Conseil des Anciens,” and Europe wonders about this black.[43] In the face of the example of civilized nations and the orders of the Directory, he proclaims an amnesty for all political offenders—and keeps it! He invites whites and blacks to return to their pursuits; he orders Te Deum to be sung in the churches, and that all officers shall have morning and evening prayers read to their respective corps. Of course his enemies said this was hypocrisy.[44]

The sword is sheathed, and Toussaint applies his whole powers to the restoration of confidence and industry. The country is traversed by parties of black troops, engaged in restoring the whites, the owners (when they could be found), to their estates, and the blacks to their labors. Hedouville proclaimed the expulsion of those who had taken part against France, the confiscation of their estates and universal liberty to the blacks. Toussaint pronounces an amnesty, and places the slaves at an apprenticeship of five years, giving them a share of the productions. The blacks obey him rather than Hedouville, and the whites are lost in wonder. Many who, in the evening, had looked upon him as a brigand, in the morning knew him as their beneficent deliverer.

The negroes were stimulated to exertion, by the prospect of wealth and manhood, and were sustained in it by the determination of Louverture: no man but the drunkard is wholly indifferent to worldly good. His justice and moderation taught the whites to confide in him, and his wisdom, strength, and heroism, rendered him potent with the blacks.[45] His soldiers were subject to an iron discipline—each officer was supreme, but let him beware lest he be unjust or cruel. Lacroix, who was an eye-witness, says:—“It was strange to see naked Africans giving an example of the strictest discipline, and making a campaign with nothing to eat but bananas and a little maize.” Property was respected and life was safe, while Toussaint guided these naked blacks. One class only was discontented—the mulattoes. They could not forgive the blacks for taking the preëminence, and, brave as he was, Rigaud was not superior to envy. Hedouville, deeply mortified at Toussaint’s superiority, plotted mischief with the mulattoes; uneasiness prevailed, and insurrection again lifted its head. The whites attempted to disarm the blacks under Gen. Moyse, at Fort Dauphin. The tidings spread, and over the plain of Cap François the negroes were roused. Toussaint appeared at Cap, and all again became quiet. Hedouville hastily embarked for France—but he threw from the deck of his ship the apple of discord to the shore. He issued his proclamation, charging that Toussaint was sold to the English, and he gave to Rigaud authority over the South. Toussaint now expressed his wish to retire from power, and his quarters were thronged with deputations, whites, yellows, and blacks, praying him to continue their protector and father. Two kings cannot sit on the same throne: Louverture was the hero of the blacks, Rigaud the chief of the mulattoes—both were superior men. Roume, the remaining French commissioner, entered into the large plans of Toussaint, and pronounced him “a philosopher, a legislator, a general, and a good citizen.” Rigaud, in a sullen humor, departed for the South; there the mulattoes flocked to his standard, and enrolled with them many of the blacks. The idea of black supremacy was hateful to them; the FACT was intolerable, and occasions were not wanting, so the war—a war of races—once more broke out. It is not necessary to dwell upon it—it was one of terrible and bloody ferocity: no man asked or received quarter; on both sides, hecatombs of victims were sacrificed. The vindictiveness of Rigaud was surpassed by the ferocity of Dessalines, and through 1798 and ’99 this destruction continued—the fields could not be tilled, and gaunt famine stalked over the South. The energy and perseverance of Toussaint were too much for the skill and desperation of Rigaud. He was reduced, step by step; undone, he staggered to his fall, and at last, with Petion, sailed for France.

On the 1st of August, 1800, Toussaint makes his triumphal entry into Aux Cayes. The mob shouts, of course, for the mob worships success, and the mulattoes are at his feet—one word of his, and they are exterminated. Toussaint is either merciful, or he is wise, or he is very crafty. He assembles them together, he ascends the pulpit, firm, sad, perhaps severe. What might those firm lips not express? He says:—“I have published a proclamation—‘Forgive us our transgressions as we forgive those who transgress against us.’ I have ordered all citizens to return to their parishes, to enjoy the benefits of this general amnesty. Citizens, not less generous than myself, let your most precious moments be employed in causing the past to be forgotten; let all my fellow-citizens swear never to recall the past; let them receive their misled brethren with open arms, and let them, in future, be on their guard against the traps of bad men.”[46] Peace now is possible—his task is done! Alas, his task is not ended! During the confusion, a brisk slave trade had sprung up in the eastern end of the island. At the city of St. Domingo, vessel after vessel sailed with a living freight, to the English islands and elsewhere, stolen, captured, and sold from St. Domingo. Toussaint determines that such an anomaly shall not exist, and that the Spanish towns, secured to France by the treaty of Basle, shall be given up. Napoleon having assumed the powers of first consul, had confirmed Toussaint in his position. He now remonstrates with commissioner Roume, upon the continuance of the outrageous traffic. Roume was indifferent, perhaps guilty of complicity; and Toussaint sets about this new work. He marches a body of troops into the Spanish end of the island, and, in January, enters the ancient city of St. Domingo, and hoists the French colors upon its ramparts. In February, he announces the pacification of the colony.

The star of Louverture has culminated; from the Bay of Samana on the East to Cape Tiburon on the West his power is everywhere acknowledged and established—a French colony, but controlled by a black, the only man who can order the incoherent elements.

Through ten long years, war has desolated this island: distracted counsels have discovered small wisdom: the French had no other idea than to retain it as a rich colony for France, and to strip its breasts of soft down for her luxurious head. The mulattoes wished to share in the spoil. The blacks had an indistinct but obstinate aversion to being plucked at all! This took shape in the brain of Toussaint Louverture: founded, as this idea was, upon the profoundest instincts of human nature, it could not be driven out of these men, not even by whips or bayonets. Toussaint knows what ought to be done, and he alone knows how to do it.

He declares, that no State can be prosperous, but with agriculture as its material basis.

That men of _all colors_ must be secure in their lives, and in the enjoyment of the products of their own labor.

That good morals and measures are necessary to the State.

That churches and schools must be restored and sustained.

That, to preserve their liberties, the blacks of St. Domingo must be ready to defend them with arms in their hands.

FOOTNOTES:

[43] _Biog. Universelle_, T. L.

[44] LACROIX thinks so, vol. i., p. 350.

[45] RAINSFORD, p. 228. LACROIX, vol. i., p. 348.

[46] Proclamation, BEARD, p. 128.

XI.

Generals Christophe, Dessalines, and Moyse, his nephew, were appointed to the command of the troops (in three departments), and to the superintendence of the labors of agriculture. The mulatto Clervaux commanded in the Spanish portion. The whites were invited to resume their estates, allowing a proportion of the proceeds to the laborers; and, where the owners had disappeared, the estates were worked by the State, the same proportion, one-fourth or one-third, being allowed the cultivators—industry was everywhere encouraged, idleness rigorously suppressed. In so fruitful a land the results were like enchantment. The hoe replaced the sword—prosperity smiled upon the neglected fields—the songs of labor were heard on every hand—contented and hopeful negroes thronged the path of Toussaint.[47] Vessels under the flag of the United States crowded the ports—the whites looked to him as their deliverer and protector—whites, blacks and mulattoes were appointed to offices of trust—the duties of morality and religion were enforced—the decencies and refinements and arts of life were cultivated—the drama revived—men of science and learning were encouraged.[48] There is abundant evidence, from friends and enemies, to prove that, under a system of justly paid labor, the island was rapidly advancing to a degree of prosperity which it had never reached.[49] Time and a just, firm hand, like that of Toussaint, only were necessary to steady the new State, and to solve the problem of the capability of the blacks. So far the white race has degenerated in the enervating and seductive air of the tropics. The capacity of the blacks to develop there is an interesting question, not yet settled.

Toussaint is now proud of his color. He says:—“I value myself for being black.”[50] He has reason. His public levees are marked by the strictest propriety, and his private parties are not stupider than those of white men. In the midst of luxury this “old negro” practices his simple tastes, only indulging in splendor upon state occasions. Unlike most men, he does not, with success in his hand, deserve to forfeit it. Luxury and sloth do not beguile him, for he knows that stability alone is success. His activity is untiring—his correspondence exhausts five secretaries—he trusts to the eye of the master and his vigilance is everywhere. He works! for his soul is steel and his body iron. Relays of fast-pacing horses are stationed at proper points; on these he rides, outstripping all but his two trumpeters. Fifty leagues, without stopping, it is said he rode.[51] The whole energies of his life are devoted to the realizing of a great idea—_the liberty and elevation of the blacks_. Neither he nor any sagacious man doubts that he is the chief to secure these, if they are yet to be. He says:—“I have taken my flight in the region of eagles; when I alight it must be on a rock, and that rock must be a constitutional government, of which I shall be the head so long as I shall be among men.”[52]

This is clearly the next step: government must be firmly established and order consolidated.

France had decreed the liberty of all its subjects, whites, blacks, and mulattoes. It had authorized the election and action of the colonial Assemblies; the island was, therefore, legally capable of self-government: the only question was, how far it was dependent upon France?

Toussaint calls together a council, for the consideration of the question of a constitution. It was headed by Borgella, once mayor of Port au Prince, and composed of eight whites and one mulatto, and no blacks, not even Louverture himself.

In May (1800) they presented him a carefully-prepared draft, which he approved.[53] Assuming that slavery was abolished and could never more exist in St. Domingo, it made no distinction in the political rights of citizens—it established the Roman Catholic religion as that of the State—it required that agriculture should be especially encouraged—it declared _commerce free_ (this was in 1800)—it entrusted the executive to a governor appointed for five years.

“In consideration of the important services rendered the colony by General Toussaint Louverture, he is appointed Governor for life, with power to choose his successor.”

This constitution was provisionally established, and a copy forwarded to “Citizen Buonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic,” by General Vincent, July 16th, 1800. Toussaint wrote:—“I hasten to lay it before you for your approbation and for the sanction of the government I serve.” On the island it was made public and accepted with solemn formalities and universal joy. The blacks were not only ready but enthusiastic in their obedience to Toussaint Louverture.

The “old negro” had proved his commission to be from heaven, and Lacroix’s phrase had become a fact.

FOOTNOTES:

[47] _Biog. Universelle_. T. L. RAINSFORD, p. 240. LACROIX, vol. i., pp. 324, 397.

[48] RAINSFORD, p. 222. LACROIX, BROWN, BEARD, _Quarterly Rev._, No. 42.

[49] LACROIX said:—“Under his system ten blacks would do more than twenty slaves.”

[50] LACROIX, vol. i., p. 404.

[51] IB., vol. i, p. 407.

[52] BEARD, p. 141.

[53] LACROIX, vol. ii., p. 22.

XII.