in the aggregate an effective force of twenty-five thousand men. Not considering this army sufficient to repel the attack of the British, the Commissioners resorted to the desperate step of proclaiming the total abolition of negro slavery; the consequence of which was, that upwards of one hundred thousand blacks fled to the mountains, and possessed themselves of the natural fastnesses of the interior; and a desperate band of thirty or forty thousand armed negroes and persons of colour ravaged the whole of the northern districts, more intent on plunder than in opposing the progress of the English forces, who, after several skirmishes, became masters of the western coast of the island.

On the capture of Port-au-Prince by the English, the republican commissioners retired towards the mountains, with about two thousand persons in their train, and a large booty; but finding the people of colour and the blacks in possession of the heights, under the mulatto general Rigaud, and a negro of the name of Toussaint L'Ouverture, they took the first opportunity of escaping from a colony, of which their conduct had completed the ruin. General Lacroix is pleased to say, that the agents of the cabinet of St. James's, well versed in the scale of venality, and acting treacherously towards France, offered a bribe of three million livres to Rigaud, the chief of the mulattoes, while they offered only one hundred and fifty thousand to the Count de Laveaux, governor of the colony, because he was a white man, and the whites were cutting each other's throats. Colonel Whitelocke did, we believe, offer the French general five thousand pounds to surrender Port de Paix, which he rejected with becoming indignation.

It should be mentioned to the credit of this incorruptible chief, that he was the first to discover, and duly appreciate the admirable talents of that extraordinary character, Toussaint L'Ouverture, who, after being a slave for nearly fifty years, became the governor and captain-general of the whole colony, which, by his excellent measures, was brought to a state of prosperity little inferior to that which it enjoyed previously to the revolution.

As our object is to exemplify the character of the negroes, rather than to detail the history of St. Domingo, we shall be excused for dwelling a little on that of Toussaint L'Ouverture. He was born in a state of slavery in or about the year 1745, on the plantation of the Count de Noé. His early life was marked by a sedateness and patience of temper, which nothing could ruffle or disturb, and by a peculiar benevolence towards children and the brute creation. At the age of twenty-five, he attached himself to one negro woman, by whom he had several children, and whom he treated with the most affectionate tenderness and regard. By the kindness of the bailiff of the plantation, M. Bayou de Libertas, as some say, but by his

own

own unassisted efforts according to others, he learned to read and write, and made some progress in arithmetic. These acquirements being noticed by M. Bayou, he took him from the field, and made him his postilion. Toussaint was not ungrateful for his kindness. When the insurrection of the negroes broke out in 1791, he refused, for some time, to join in the revolt: the plantation, however, was about to be ravaged by the infuriated blacks, and Toussaint immediately set about the means of rescuing his master from the impending destruction. He procured a passage for him to North America, embarking at the same time a considerable quantity of sugar to support him in his exile; he then joined his countrymen in arms, and by possessing some little knowledge of simples, was constituted physician to the forces of the king under Jean François. After this he became aide-de-camp, then colonel, next brigadier general, to which rank he was elevated by the governor Laveaux, for his services in reducing the blacks to order, and recovering from the Spaniards the northern parts of the island; and for his successful opposition to the British army. In an insurrection under Villate, a mulatto, Laveaux had been seized and thrown into prison at the Cape. Toussaint, on hearing this, immediately appeared at the head of ten thousand blacks, and released him from his perilous situation; for this, Laveaux appointed him his lieutenant-governor, and declared that for the future he would be guided solely by his advice. 'It is this black,' said he, this Spartacus, predicted by Raynal, who is destined to avenge the outrages committed against his whole race.' From this moment, the condition and the conduct of the blacks were sensibly changed for the better, and the most perfect order and discipline established among them; and it is even admitted by de Lacroix, who is not particularly friendly to the blacks,' that if St. Domingo still carried the colours of France, it must be allowed it was solely owing to an old negro, who seemed to bear a commission from heaven to reunite its dilacerated members.'

The French continued to send out commissioners, but Toussaint directed all their movements, and on the return of General Laveaux' to France, the Commissioner Santhonax was prevailed on to nominate him Commander-in-Chief. General Rochambeau, who had been sent out in this capacity, finding himself a mere cipher, began to complain; upon which Toussaint ordered him on board a corvette in the roads, and sent him home; and nearly at the same time he got rid of Santhonax, by making him the bearer of dispatches to the Directory. Aware, however, that the reports of these persons could not fail to make an unfavourable impression on the French government, he sent two of his sons to be educated in France, to prove (as he said) his confidence in the Directory, by placing his children in their power, at a moment when the com

plaints

plaints made against him, however groundless, might render his sincerity doubtful.

It was impossible however for the Directory to behold, without jealousy, the rapid career of this extraordinary man, and General Hedouville was sent out to observe his conduct and restrain his ambition. Toussaint, at the first interview, affected to complain of the burden of his command; on which the captain of the ship, meaning to pay him a compliment, observed, how much it would flatter him, after having brought out General Hedouville, to carry back General Toussaint L'Ouverture.' Your ship, sir,' replied Toussaint hastily, is not large enough for a man like me.' One of Hedouville's staff having hinted to him that he ought to retire to France, and end the rest of his days in repose, That (said he) is what I intend, as soon as this (pointing to a small shrub) shall be large enough to construct a vessel to take me there,' In short, this general, like Rochambeau, soon found that Toussaint was every thing in the colony, and himself nothing; he therefore determined at once to quit it. There still remained two men of whom it was necessary to get rid in order to insure the general tranquillity; these were the mulatto generals Rigaud and Petion. Jealous of Toussaint and of the increasing power of the blacks, they headed au insurrection of the people of colour against his authority, and carried on for some time a civil war: but when Buonaparte, now become First Consul, had sent out the confirmation of Toussaint as Commander-in-Chief, the adherents of the mulatto chiefs deserted their cause, and the two leaders embarked for France. The most dangerous and troublesome of his opponents, however, were the English, whose departure he hastened by his consummate skill in diplomacy. General Maitland, on finding the reduction of the island to be utterly hopeless, and that one reinforcement after another wasted away by fatigue, sickness, and desultory skirmishes with the blacks, availed himself of the bridge of gold,' which Toussaint made for his little army, and signed a treaty for the evacuation of all the posts which he held. The negro chief then paid him a visit, and was received with military honours. After partaking of a grand entertainment, he was presented by General Maitland, in the name of His Majesty, with a splendid service of plate, and put him in possession of the government-house which had been built and furnished by the English.

General Maitland, previous to the disembarkation of the troops, returned the visit at Toussaint's camp; and such was his confidence in the integrity of his character, that he proceeded through a considerable extent of country full of armed negroes, with only three attendants. Roume, the French commissioner, wrote a letter to Toussaint on this occasion, advising him to seize his guest as an

act

act of duty to the republic: on the route, General Maitland was secretly informed of Roume's treachery, but in full reliance on the honour of Toussaint, he determined to proceed. On arriving at head-quarters he was desired to wait. It was some time before Toussaint made his appearance; at length, however, he entered the room with two open letters in his hand. There, general,' said he, 'before we talk together, read these; one is a letter from the Freuch commissary the other is my answer. I could not see you till I had written my reply that you might be satisfied how safe you were with me, and how incapable I am of baseness.'

General Lacroix bears testimony to the order and regularity established in the island among all ranks by the influence and example of this singular man; the duties of morality and religion were strictly enforced, and the decencies of civilized life sedulously studied. His public levees were conducted with the utmost decorum, and his private parties might vie with the best regulated societies of Paris. Surrounded by the officers of his guards, all magnificently dressed, and living in the utmost profusion, he preserved the strictest sobriety: a few cakes, bananas, or batatas, with a glass of water, were his ordinary food. He was particularly attentive to the means of reforming the loose and licentious manners of the females; and would suffer none of the white ladies to come to his court with the neck uncovered. He once threw his handkerchief over the bosom of a young girl, observing in an angry tone to her, that modesty should be the portion of her sex.' His maxim was that women should always appear in public as if they were going to church.

Never, says Lacroix, was an European army subjected to a more severe discipline than that which was observed by the troops of Toussaint. Every officer of rank in it commanded with a pistol in his hand, and had the power of life and death over his subalterns. He set about the restoring of the public finances with wonderful address. The ancient proprietors of estates had almost wholly disappeared, and frequently all trace was lost of the direct or collateral successor to them. In such cases he established a sort of co-proprietorship, by which the cultivators received a certain portion of the produce, and the rest was appropriated to the public revenue. By this device, the negroes were induced to return cheerfully to the labours of the field, and to submit to regulations under the black officers, more severe (says Lacroix) than those of their ancient masters. Under the new system the colony advanced as if by enchantment towards its ancient splendour; cultivation was extended with such rapidity, that every day made its progress perceptible. All appeared to be happy, and regarded Toussaint as their guardian angel. In making a tour of the island, he was hailed by the ne

groes

groes with universal joy. Nor was he less a favourite of the whites, whose confidence he studied to gain, and who were always invited to his private parties.

The general enthusiasm which he had excited was sufficient to inspire vanity into the strongest mind; and he had some excuse for saying that he was the Buonaparte of St. Domingo,' and that 'the colony could not exist without him.' It is said that no one left his presence dissatisfied, though his request was not granted. Sometimes a negro, or a man of colour, would ask to be appointed a magistrate or a judge, You shall,' he would say, 'because I presume you understand Latin- No, general.' How! wish to be a magistrate without knowing Latin!' and then he would pour forth such a torrent of Latin words which he had got by heart out of his psalter, that the black candidate retired with the satisfaction of believing that he might have obtained his object had he understood the language, and the conviction that the general was a portentous scholar.

Such was the man to whom the island was indebted for its prosperity; which, however, was unfortunately not of long continuance. No sooner was the peace of Amiens definitively settled, than Buonaparte, urged on the one hand by the expelled planters, and on the other by mercantile speculators, and probably more strongly than either by his own ambition, which could not suffer a rival, though the Atlantic rolled between them, determined on the recovery of the colony, the reinstatement of the former proprietors, and the subjugation of the emancipated slaves.

On the arrival in the bay of Samana of the French fleet, having on board twenty-five thousand men, the flower of the French army, under the command of General Le Clerc, the brother-inlaw of Buonaparte, Toussaint hastened to the spot to reconnoitre its movements. Having never before seen so numerous a fleet, 'We shall all perish,' said he to his officers; all France is come to St. Domingo.' The division under Rochambeau having effected a landing at Fort Dauphin, the negroes who had assembled in crowds to behold the strange sight, were charged with the bayonet, and numbers of them killed on the spot; but the main body of the fleet and army, on preparing to land at Cape François, received a message from General Christophe, prohibitory of any disembarkation of troops without the orders of his commander-inchief. Le Clerc, on this, sent a letter to Christophe, with mingled expressions of conciliation and menace, to which Christophe replied, with great firmness and moderation, that he was responsible for his conduct only to the governor and commander-in-chief, Toussaint L'Ouverture; that if he attempted to carry his threats into execution, he should know how to resist as became a general offi

cer;