On the western coast of Africa, a tribe called the Arradas are said to be superior to most of the other tribes in intelligence and strength of will. The son of their chief, named Gaou-Guinou, was seized by a prowling band of slave-traders, one day when he was out hunting. He was packed in the hold of a European ship, with a multitude of other unfortunate victims, and carried to the island of Hayti to be sold. This is one of the largest of the West India Islands, and lies between Cuba and Porto Rico. It was first discovered by Spaniards, who found it inhabited by mild-tempered Indians, leading a very simple and happy life. These natives called their island Hayti, which in their language signified a Land of Mountains. A lofty ridge of mountains runs across it, and gives it a solemn, dreary appearance, when seen in the distance. But it is a very beautiful and fertile island. The high, rocky precipices, piled one above another, look down on broad flowery plains, flowing with water, and loaded with tropical fruits. When the Spaniards established a colony there, they introduced the cultivation of sugar, cotton, and coffee, to supply the markets of Europe. They compelled the native Indians to work so hard, and treated them so badly, that the poor creatures died off very fast. Then they sent men in ships to Africa to steal negroes to work for them. They founded a city in the eastern part of the island, and named it St. Domingo; and the whole island came to be called by that name by European nations.

The French afterward took possession of the western part of the island. Their principal city was named Cap FranÇois, which means French Cape. The African prince Gaou-Guinou was sold in the market of that city. He was more fortunate than slaves generally are. He was bought by the manager of a sugar plantation belonging to a French nobleman, named the Count de Breda. He was kind-hearted, and was very careful to employ none but humane men to take charge of his laborers. The condition of the young African was also less desolate than it would have been, by reason of his finding on the Breda estate several members of the Arradas tribe, who, like him, had been stolen from their homes. They at once recognized him as the son of their king, and treated him with the utmost respect. In process of time he married a black slave, who is said to have been handsome and virtuous. They joined the Roman Catholic Church, which was the established religion of France and the French islands. Of their eight children, the oldest, born in 1743, one hundred and twenty-two years ago, was named Toussaint. The day of his birth is not certainly known. It has been said to have been on the 20th of May. But, from his name, it seems more likely that it was on the 1st of November. In Catholic countries, almost every day of the year is set apart to the worship of some saint; and a child born on the day of any particular saint is very apt to receive his name from that day. The first of November is a festival of the church, called All Saints' Day; and Toussaint, in the French language, means All Saints.

In the neighborhood of Gaou-Guinou lived a very honest, religious old black man, named Pierre Baptiste. He had been in the service of Jesuit missionaries, and had there learned to read and write, also a little of geometry. By help of the Catholic Prayer-Book he learned some prayers in Latin, and found out their meaning in French. This man stood godfather for Toussaint at his baptism, and as the boy grew older it was his pleasure to teach him what little he himself knew. The language of the Arradas tribe was always spoken in the family of Gaou-Guinou, but from his godfather Toussaint learned to speak tolerably good French, which was the language of the whites in the western part of St. Domingo. It is said that Gaou-Guinou was allowed to cultivate a little patch of ground for his family, and that some of his fellow-slaves were permitted to assist him occasionally. This indulgence indicates that he stood well in his master's opinion. But, in common with other slaves, it is probable that he and his wife toiled early and late in the fields or the sugar-house, and that their family were huddled together in a hut too small to allow of their observing the laws of cleanliness or modesty.

For several years Toussaint was so feeble and slender that his parents called him by a name which signified "The Little Lath." But he gained strength as he grew older; and by the time he was twelve years old he could beat all the boys in running, jumping, and leaping.

It was the business of young slaves to tend the flocks and herds. They generally neglected and abused the creatures under their care, because they themselves were accustomed to hard treatment. But Toussaint was of a kindly disposition, and there was less violence on his master's plantation than elsewhere. It was remarked in the neighborhood that he differed from other boys in his careful and gentle treatment of the animals under his care. He was naturally a silent and thoughtful child, and probably this tendency was increased by being much alone, watching the browsing cattle in the stillness of the great valleys. Perhaps also the presence of the mountains and the sky made him feel serious and solemn. His pious godfather told him legends of Catholic saints, which he had heard among the missionaries. All these things combined to give him a religious turn of mind, even in his boyhood. From his own father he learned a great deal about Africa and the customs that prevailed in the tribe of his grandfather, King of the Arradas; also the medicinal qualities of many plants, which afterward proved very useful to him. Nothing is recorded of the moral and intellectual character of his father; but Toussaint always respected him highly, and when he was himself an old man he spoke of him as a good parent, who had trained him well by lessons of honor and virtue.

Toussaint Breda, as he was called, from the name of the estate on which he worked, early acquired a reputation for intelligence, sobriety, and industry. The Manager of the estate, M. Bayou de Libertas, was so much pleased with his conduct and manners that he made him his coachman, a situation much coveted by the slaves, as being more easy and pleasant than most of their tasks. His kindness to animals fitted him for the care of horses, and he was found as faithful in this new business as he had been while he was herds-boy. He was afterward promoted to an office of greater trust, being made steward of the sugar-house.

Having arrived at manhood, he began to want a home of his own. Most of the slaves took up together without any form of marriage, that being one of the bad customs which grows out of Slavery. But Toussaint was religious, and it would have troubled his conscience to live in that bad way. He had become attached to a widow named Suzan, who had one little son called Placide. She was not handsome, but he loved her for her good sense, good temper, and modest manners. They were married according to the ceremonies of the Catholic Church. He adopted her little boy, and brought him up as tenderly as he did his own children. The Manager allowed him a small patch of ground for vegetables, and all the hours they could snatch from plantation labors he and his wife devoted to the cultivation of their little garden. M. Bayou de Libertas was such a humane and considerate man that life in his service seems to have been as happy as the condition of slaves can be. Long afterward, Toussaint, speaking of this period of his life, said: "My wife and I went hand in hand to labor in the fields. We were scarcely conscious of the fatigues of the day. Heaven always blessed our toil. We had abundance for ourselves, and the pleasure of giving to other blacks who needed it. On Sundays and festival days my wife, my parents, and myself went to church. Returning to our cottage we had a pleasant meal, passed the remainder of the day in family intercourse, and closed it by prayer, in which all took part."

Thus contented in his humble station, and faithfully performing its duties, he gained the respect and confidence of both blacks and whites. Many of the slaves in the French colonies were cruelly treated, as is always the case wherever Slavery exists. Toussaint could not avoid seeing a great deal of wrong and suffering inflicted on people of his color, and he was doubtless grateful to God that his lot was so much better than theirs. But he was too intelligent and thoughtful not to question in his own mind why either he or they should be held in bondage merely on account of the complexion which it had pleased God to give them. He was fond of reading, and M. Bayou de Libertas, contrary to the usual custom, allowed him the use of his books. He read one volume at a time, and tried to understand it thoroughly. He devoted every spare moment to it, and while he was at work he was busily thinking over what he had read. It took complete possession of his soul for the time, and he would repeat extracts from it to his companions for weeks after. In this earnest way he read several books of ancient history, biography, and morals, and a number of military books. There was a French author, called the AbbÉ Raynal, who was much opposed to Slavery. In some way or other, one of his books fell into the hands of Toussaint Breda, and made a deep impression on him. It contained the following sentence: "What shall be done to overthrow Slavery? Self-interest alone governs kings and nations. We must look elsewhere. A courageous chief is all the negroes need. Where is he? Where is that great man whom Nature owes to her vexed, oppressed, and tormented children? He will doubtless appear. He will come forth and raise the sacred standard of Liberty. This venerable signal will gather round him his companions in misfortune. More impetuous than the torrents, they will everywhere leave the indelible traces of their just resentment. Everywhere people will bless the name of the hero who shall have re-established the rights of the human race."

When the AbbÉ Raynal wrote those prophetic words, he did not foresee that they would meet the eye of the very man he called for; and the humble slave, when he read them, did not hear in them the voice of his own destiny.

While he was diligently toiling for his humane masters, and seizing every opportunity to increase his small stock of knowledge, the island of St. Domingo was growing very rich by agriculture and commerce. The planters acquired enormous wealth, built splendid houses, and lived in luxury, laziness, and dissipation, upon the toil of the poor unpaid negroes. Twenty thousand slaves were imported from Africa every year, to make up the deficiency of those who were killed by excessive toil and cruel treatment. These new victims, men and women, had the name of their purchaser branded on their breast-bones with red-hot iron.

But men never violate the laws of God without suffering the consequences, sooner or later. Slavery was producing its natural fruits of tyranny and hatred, cruelty and despair. The reports of barbarity on one side and suffering on the other attracted attention in Europe; and benevolent and just men began to speak and write against Slavery as a wicked and dangerous institution. The AbbÉ Gregoire, a humane Bishop of the Catholic Church, introduced the agitating question into the French Assembly, a body similar to our Congress. He also formed a society called Les Amis de Noirs, which means "The Friends of the Blacks." Of course, this was very vexatious to slaveholders in the French colonies. They knew very well that if the facts of Slavery were made known, every good man would cry out against it. Political parties were formed in St. Domingo. Some of the planters wanted to secede from France, and set up an independent government. Others wanted to increase their political power by having a Colonial Assembly established in the island, by means of which they could mainly manage their own concerns as they chose. For this purpose they sent deputies to France. But their request gave rise to the question who should have the right to be members of such an Assembly; and, for the following reasons, that question was very annoying to the haughty slaveholders of St. Domingo.

In the United States of America, slaveholders made a law that "the child shall follow the condition of the mother"; consequently, every child of a slave-woman was born a slave, however light its complexion might be. This was a very convenient arrangement for white fathers, who wanted to sell their own children. In the French colonies, the law was, "the child shall follow the condition of its father." The consequence was, that all the children the planters of St. Domingo had by their slaves were born free. This was, of course, a numerous class. In fact, their numbers were two thirds as great as those of the whites. There were at that time in St. Domingo thirty thousand whites, twenty thousand free mulattoes, and five hundred thousand black slaves. Not unfrequently the white planters sent their mulatto children to France to be educated like gentlemen. Many of them acquired great wealth and held numerous slaves. But they were a class by themselves. However rich and educated they might be, they were kept trampled down in a degraded and irritating position, merely on account of their color. They despised the negro slaves, from whom they had descended on the mother's side; and they in their turn were despised by the whites, whose children they were, because their color connected them with the enslaved race. They were not allowed to be doctors, lawyers, or priests; they could hold no public office; they could not inherit the name or the property of their fathers; they could not attend school with white boys, or sit at a white man's table, or occupy the same portion of a church with him, or be buried in the same graveyard. They were continually insulted by whites, but if they dared to give a blow in return, the penalty was to have the right hand cut off. This class of free mulattoes claimed that, being numerous and wealthy, and the payers of taxes, they had a right to send representatives to the Colonial Assembly to look after their interests. They had the more hopes of gaining this point, because a great Revolution was then going on in France, and the friends of liberty and equality were daily growing stronger there. When the white planters sent deputies to France, the mulattoes sent deputies also, with a present of more than a million of dollars, and an offer to mortgage a fifth part of all their property toward the payment of the French national debt. All they asked in return was that the law should put them on an equality with white men. Being slaveholders, they manifested the same selfishness that white slaveholders did. They declared that they asked redress of grievances only for oppressed freemen; that they had no wish to change the condition of the negroes, who were slaves.

This petition was drawn up in 1790, and sent to Paris by a wealthy colored man named OgÉ. It excited lively discussion in the National Assembly of France. One of the members, named Lamoth, who owned large estates in St. Domingo, said: "I am one of the largest proprietors in that island; but I would lose all that I possess there rather than disown principles which justice and humanity have consecrated. I am not only in favor of admitting men of color into the Colonial Assemblies, but I also go for the emancipation of the negro slaves." After animated discussion, the reply received by the mulatto deputies from the President of the Assembly was: "No portion of the French nation shall in vain claim its rights from the representatives of the French people."

When the white planters of St. Domingo heard of this, they were filled with wrath. In one place, a mulatto named Lacombe, whose only crime was that he had signed the petition, was seized and hung. In another place, the mob seized a highly respected old white magistrate and cut off his head, because he had drafted for the mulattoes a very moderate petition, begging to be released from some of the hardships under which they had so long suffered. When the colored deputy OgÉ returned from France and demanded that mulattoes should have the rights of citizenship, which had been decreed to them by the French Assembly, soldiers were sent to seize him, and he was sentenced to have all his limbs broken on a wheel, and then to have his head cut off.

Besides the classes of which I have spoken there was another class in St. Domingo called petit blancs, which means small whites. They were so called to distinguish them from the large landed proprietors. They occupied a position not unlike that of the class known as "poor whites" in the slaveholding portion of the United States. They were ready instruments to carry out the vengeance of the infuriated planters. They seized every opportunity to insult the free mulattoes, and to inflict cruelty and outrage on the negro slaves. They went about as patrols, traversing the plantations, and bursting into negro huts at all times of night, under the pretence that they were plotting insurrection. The poor ignorant slaves did not understand what all this mobbing and murdering was for; but finding themselves so much suspected and abused without cause, they became weary of their lives. Many committed suicide, others tried to poison their tormentors. At Port au Prince an attempt was made to get up an insurrection. Fifty slaves, suspected of being connected with it, were beheaded, and their heads, stuck on poles, were set up by the hedges in a row.

While the fire was thus kindling under their feet the white planters came out in open defiance of the French government, and refused to take the oath of allegiance. They called on the English for aid, and offered to make the island over to Great Britain. The mulattoes were filled with dismay, for the French government was their only hope. They had hitherto kept aloof from the negroes; but now, seeing the necessity of curbing the power of the white planters, at all hazards, they instigated the already exasperated slaves to seize this favorable moment of commotion and rise against their masters. They did rise, on the 22d of August, 1791. All at once the sky was red with the reflection of burning houses and cane-fields. The cruelties which they had witnessed or suffered, they now, in their turn, inflicted on white men, women, and children. It was a horrible scene.

Toussaint was working as usual on the Breda estate, when he heard that the planters had called in the aid of the English, and that four thousand negroes had risen in insurrection. He exerted his great influence with his fellow-slaves to prevent the destruction of houses and cane-fields on the Breda estate. For a month, he kept the insurgents at bay, while he helped M. Bayou de Libertas to convey a cargo of sugar on board a Baltimore ship, for the support of his family, and aided his mistress to collect such articles of value as could conveniently be carried away. Then he secretly conveyed them to the same ship; and it was an inexpressible relief to his heart when he saw them sailing away, bound for the shores of the United States.

The armed negroes increased in numbers, and marshalled themselves under an intelligent leader named Jean FranÇois. When the French governor in St. Domingo called upon them to lay down their arms, their leaders replied for them: "We have never thought of failing in the respect and duty we owe to the representatives of the King of France. The king has bewailed our lot and broken our chains. But those who should have proved fathers to us have been tyrants, monsters, unworthy the fruits of our labors. Do you ask the sheep to throw themselves into the jaws of the wolf? To prove to you, excellent sir, that we are not so cruel as you may think, we assure you that we wish for peace with all our souls; but on condition that all the whites, without a single exception, leave the Cape. Let them carry with them their gold and their jewels. All we seek is our liberty. God grant that we may obtain it without shedding of blood. Believe us, it has cost our feelings very much to have taken this course. But victory, or death for freedom, is our profession of faith; and we will maintain it to the last drop of our blood."

The negroes were mistaken in supposing that Louis XVI., king of France, had broken their chains, or that the king's party, called Royalists, were trying to do anything for their freedom. It was the revolutionary party in France, called Republicans, who had declared themselves in favor of emancipating the negro slaves, and giving the free mulattoes their civil rights. The main body of the negroes had been kept in the lowest ignorance, and of course could not understand the state of political parties. The world was ringing with French doctrines of liberty and equality, to be applied to men of all colors; and they could not help hearing something of what was so universally talked of. The Spaniards in the eastern part of St. Domingo were allies of the French king, and they wanted the negroes to help them fight the French planters, who were in rebellion against the king. In order to give them a strong motive for doing so, they told them that Louis XVI. had been cast into prison in France, and that they were going to kill him, because he wanted to emancipate the slaves in his colonies. They readily believed that it was so, because they saw their masters in arms against the king. Therefore they called their regiments "The King's Own," and carried flags on which were inscribed, "Long live the King," "The Ancient System of Government."

The slaveholders mounted the English cockade, and entered into alliance with Great Britain, while their revolted slaves joined the Spanish. The war raged horribly on both sides. Jean FranÇois was of a gentle disposition, and disposed to be merciful; but the two other leaders of the negroes, named Jeannot and Biassou, were monsters of revenge and cruelty. The bleeding heads of white men surrounded their camps, and the bodies of black men hung on trees round the camps of the planters.

This state of things shocked the soul of Toussaint Breda. Much as he desired the freedom of his own race, he was reluctant to join an enterprise marked by so many cruelties. Conscience forbade him to enlist on the side of the slaveholders, and he would gladly have remained neutral; but he found that men of his own color were suspicious of him, because he had adhered so faithfully to M. Bayou de Libertas. He joined the black insurgents; but, resolved not to take part in their barbarities, he occupied himself with healing the wounded,—an office for which he was well qualified by his tender disposition and knowledge of medicinal plants.

After a while, however, the negroes were compelled to retreat before the superior discipline of the white troops; and feeling greatly the need of intelligent officers, they insisted upon making Toussaint aide-de-camp to Biassou, under the title of Brigadier. He desired, above all things, that hostilities should cease, that the negroes should return to their work, and that the planters should consent to cease from oppressing them. A very little justice and kindness would have pacified the revolted slaves; but the slaveholders were so full of rage and pride, that if a slave attempted to return to his master, however sincere he might be, he was instantly put to death. Three commissioners came from France to try to negotiate a peace between the contending parties. The blacks sent deputies to the Colonial Assembly to help the French commissioners in this good work; but the planters treated their overtures with haughtiness and contempt.

It is said that Toussaint wept when he saw the hopes of peace vanish. It was plain that his people must resist their tyrants, or be forever hopelessly crushed. He was then fifty years old, in the prime of his bodily and mental strength. By becoming a leader he felt that he might protect the ignorant masses, and restrain those who were disposed to cruelty. Perhaps he remembered the prediction of the AbbÉ Raynal, and thought that he was the appointed deliverer,—a second Moses, sent by God to bring his people out of bondage. From that time henceforth he made it the business of his life to conquer freedom for his race; but never in a bloodthirsty spirit.

Biassou was so enraged by the contemptuous manner in which their deputies had been treated, that he gave orders to put to death all the white prisoners in their camps. But Toussaint remonstrated, and succeeded in saving their lives. His superior intelligence gave him great influence, and he always exerted it on the side of humanity. He also manifested extraordinary courage and sagacity in the very difficult position in which he was placed. He was surrounded by conflicting parties, fighting against each other, agreeing only in one thing, and that was hostility to the negroes; all of them ready to make the fairest promises, and to break them as soon as they had gained their object. France was in a state of revolutionary confusion, and rumors were very contradictory. One thing was certain,—their former masters were fighting against the king of France; and instinct led them to take the other side. Toussaint deemed it wisest to keep under the protection of their Spanish allies, and fight with them for the king's party. By a succession of battles, he gained possession of several districts in the mountains, where he entrenched his forces strongly, and tried to bring them under regular military discipline. He was very strict, and allowed no disobedience of orders. He forbade his soldiers to go about plundering, or revenging past injuries. His motto was, "No Retaliation,"—a noble, Christian motto, totally disregarded by men whose opportunities for enlightened education were a thousand times greater than his. When he felt himself secure in the mountain districts, he invited the white planters of that region to return and cultivate the estates which they had abandoned in their terror. He promised them that their persons and property should be protected; and he faithfully kept his word. In his language and in his actions he was always saying to the whites, "Why will you force us to fight? I cherish no revenge against you. All I want is the freedom of my race." His energy and ingenuity in availing himself of every resource and supplying every deficiency were truly wonderful. On one occasion a map was greatly needed, in order to plan some important campaign, and no map could be procured. Toussaint, having made diligent inquiries of various persons well acquainted with the portion of country to be traversed, employed himself in making a map. By help of the little geometry taught him by his godfather, he projected a map, and marked down the important towns, mountains, and rivers, with the distances between them.

No trait in the character of Toussaint Breda was stronger than his domestic affections. He was devotedly attached to his wife and children, and he had not seen them for seven months. At last an interval of quiet enabled him to visit the Spanish part of the island, whither he had sent them for security. The Spanish authorities, in acknowledgment of his services, received him with the greatest distinction. Toussaint thanked them, but humbly ascribed his successes to a superintending Providence. Always strict in religious observances, he went to the church to offer prayers. His general, the Spanish Marquis Hermona, seeing him kneel to partake of the communion, said: "In this lower world God visits no purer soul than his."

But the Spaniards had no regard for the rights and welfare of the negroes. They used them while they had need of their help, and were ready to oppress them when it served their own interests. News came from France that the Republican party were triumphant, and that the king had been beheaded. The Spanish had nothing further to gain by adhering to the defeated Royalist party. Accordingly, Spain and Great Britain entered into a league to divide the island of St. Domingo between them, and restore Slavery. On the contrary, the Republican party in France, assembled in convention at Paris, February, 1794, proclaimed freedom to the slaves in all the French colonies; and as the government was now in their hands, there was no doubt of their having power to protect those they had emancipated. Under these circumstances, there was but one course for Toussaint to take. He left the Spanish and joined the French forces, by whom he was received with acclamation. His rude bands of untaught negroes had now become a well-disciplined army. They were proud of their commander, and almost worshipped him. Under his guidance, they performed wonders, proving themselves equal to any troops in the world. Toussaint was on horseback night and day. It seemed as if he never slept. Wherever he was needed, he suddenly appeared; and as he seemed to be wanted in twenty places at once, his followers thought he had some powers of witchcraft to help him. But the witchcraft consisted in his superior intelligence, his remarkable activity, his iron constitution, and his iron will. His heart was never of iron. In the midst of constant warfare he paid careful attention to the raising of crops; and if women and children, black or white, were suffering with hunger, he caused them to be supplied with food. He and his brave officers and troops everywhere drove the English before them. The French general Laveaux appointed him second to himself in command; and, in his proclamation to that effect, he declared: "This is the man whom the AbbÉ Raynal foretold would rise to be the liberator of his oppressed race."

One day, when he had gained some important advantage, a white officer exclaimed, "General Toussaint makes an opening everywhere." His black troops heard the words, and feeling that he had made an opening for them, from the dungeon of Slavery to the sunlight of Freedom, they shouted, "L'Ouverture," "L'Ouverture"; which, being translated into English, means The Opening. From that day henceforth he was called Toussaint l'Ouverture.

The English general Maitland, finding him so formidable, wished to have a conference with him to negotiate terms of accommodation. The request was granted; and such was his confidence in the black chieftain that he went to his camp with only three attendants, through miles of country full of armed negroes. One of the French officers wrote to General Toussaint that it would be an excellent opportunity to take the English commander prisoner. General Maitland was informed of this while he was on his way; but he said, "I will trust General Toussaint. He never breaks his promise." When he arrived, General Toussaint handed him two letters, saying, "There is a letter I have received, advising me to detain you as prisoner; and there is my reply. I wish you to read them before we proceed to business, that you may know I am incapable of such a base action." The answer he had written was, "I have promised this Englishman my protection, and he shall have it."

The English, seeing little prospect of conquering him by force, or outwitting him by stratagem, tried to bribe him to their interest. They offered to make him king of St. Domingo, to establish him with a sufficient naval force, and give freedom to the blacks, if he would come over to their side. But the English still held slaves in the neighboring islands, while the French had proclaimed emancipation in all their colonies. He felt grateful to the Republican government of France, and he resolved to stand by it. The only crown he coveted was the freedom of his race. He pursued the English vigorously, till he drove them from the island. Yet he had no desire to harm them, any further than was inevitable for the protection of his people. An English naval officer, named Rainsford, being driven on the coast of St. Domingo by a violent storm, was arrested as a spy. A court-martial was held, at which General Christophe presided, in the absence of General Toussaint. Rainsford was convicted, and sentenced to die. He was put into a dungeon to wait till the sentence was signed by General Toussaint. The women of the island pitied the stranger, and often sent him fruit and sweetmeats. When Toussaint returned, he examined into the case, and said: "The trial appears to have been fair, and the sentence just, according to the rules of war. But why should we execute this stranger? He is alone, and can do us no harm. His death would break his mother's heart. Let us have compassion on her. Let us send him home, that he may tell the English what sort of people we are, and advise them not to attempt to reduce us to Slavery."

Having cleared the island of foreign enemies, Toussaint exerted all his abilities to restore prosperity. He discharged the greater part of the regular troops, and sent them to till the soil. At that time, men were afraid to trust to immediate, unconditional emancipation; they had not then learned by experiment that it is the wisest policy, as well as the truest justice. Toussaint feared that when the former slaves were disbanded from the army they would sink into laziness and vice, and thus cause the name of freedom to be evil spoken of. Therefore, with the view of guarding public morals, he instituted a kind of apprenticeship. He ordained that they should work five years for their masters, on condition of receiving one fourth of the produce, out of which the cost of their subsistence was to be defrayed. Regulations were made by which the laborers became a sort of proprietors of the soil; but I do not know what were the terms. He did everything to encourage agriculture, and tried to impress on the minds of the blacks that the permanence of their freedom depended in a great measure upon their becoming owners and cultivators of land. He proclaimed a general amnesty to men of all colors and all parties, even to those who had fought with the English against their own country. He invited the return of all fugitives who were willing to become good citizens, and by public discourses and proclamations promised them pardon for the past and protection for the future. Before any important measure was carried into execution, he summoned all the people to church, where, after prayers were offered, he discoursed to them upon the prospects of the republic, and what he considered essential to its future peace and prosperity. He ordered prayers to be said night and morning at the head of the regiments. The discipline of the army was so strict, that some accused him of severity. But the soldiers almost idolized him, which I think they would not have done, if he had not proved to them that he was just as well as strict. After such a long period of foreign and civil war, it required a very firm and judicious hand to restore order and security. His troops, once lawless and savage, had become perfectly orderly under his regulations. They committed no thefts on the plantations and no pillage in the cities. He opened to all nations an unrestricted commerce with St. Domingo; and he has the honor of being the first ruler in the world who introduced a system of free trade. In the distribution of offices, he sought out the men that were best fitted, without regard to complexion. In many things he seemed to favor the whites more than the blacks; probably from his extreme fear of not being impartial; perhaps also because he knew the whites distrusted him and needed to be conciliated, while people of his own color had entire confidence in him. But the most obstinate prejudices gradually gave way before the wisdom and uprightness of his government. White planters, who had been accustomed to talk of him as a revolted slave and a lawless brigand, began to acknowledge that he was a conscientious man and a wise legislator. A general feeling of security prevailed, activity in business was restored, and wealth began to flow in through its former channels.

But, with all his prudence and efforts at universal conciliation, he could not at once heal the old animosities that had so long rankled in the breasts of men. Some of the returned French planters resumed their old habits of haughtiness and contempt toward the negroes. Some of the proprietors, both white and black, in their haste to grow rich, overworked their laborers; and, in addition to these causes of irritation, it was whispered round that the whites were influencing the French government to restore Slavery. In one of the northern districts a proposition was made to disband the black troops. This excited suspicion, and they rose in rebellion. Buildings were fired, and three hundred whites slaughtered. Toussaint hastened to the scene of action, and by assurances and threats quelled the tumult. The command of that district was in the hands of General Moyse, the son of Toussaint's brother Paul. He disliked the system of conciliation pursued toward the whites, and had expressed his opinions in terms less respectful than was proper toward a man of his uncle's age and character. The agricultural returns from his district had been smaller than from other portions of the island; and when Toussaint remonstrated with him for neglecting that department, he replied: "Whatever my old uncle may see fit to do, I cannot consent to be the executioner of my race, by causing them to be worked to death. All your orders are given in the name of France. But to serve France is to serve the interests of the whites; and I shall never love the whites till they give me back the eye I lost in battle." When the insurrection broke out in his district, the relatives of the slaughtered whites complained to General Toussaint that his nephew had not taken any efficient measures to put down the riot; and the black insurgents excused themselves by saying General Moyse approved of their rising. A court-martial was held, and General Moyse and several of the ringleaders were condemned to be shot. The execution of this sentence excited a good deal of ill-feeling toward Toussaint. He was loudly accused of favoring the whites more than he did his own color; and to this day it is remembered against him in the island. It certainly is the harshest action recorded of Toussaint l'Ouverture. But it must be remembered that he had invited the whites to come back, and had given them promises of protection, because he thought the peace and prosperity of the island could best be promoted in that way; and having done so, it was his duty to see that their lives and property were protected. Moreover, he knew that the freedom of his race depended upon their good behavior after they were emancipated, and that insurrections would furnish the French government with a pretext for reducing them to Slavery again. If he punished any of the ringleaders with death, he could not, without partiality, pardon his own nephew, who had been condemned by the same court-martial. In this matter it is fair to judge Toussaint by his general character, and that leaves no room to doubt that severity was painful to him, and that when he resorted to it he was actuated by motives for the public good.

That he could forgive offences against himself was shown by his treatment of the mulattoes, who made trouble in the island about the same time. They had never been pleased to see one of the black slaves, whom they had always despised, placed in a situation which made him so much superior to any of themselves. They manifested their dissatisfaction in a variety of ways. They did their utmost to increase the feeling that he showed partiality to the whites. In several instances attempts were made to take his life. At one time, the plume in his military cap was shot away. On another occasion, balls passed through his carriage, and his coachman was killed; but he happened to be riding off on horseback in another direction. This hostile feeling led the mulattoes into an extensive conspiracy to excite rebellion against his government. Toussaint was forewarned of it, and the attempt was put down. Eleven of the leaders were carried to the Cape and imprisoned. Toussaint called a meeting of the civil and military authorities, and ordered the building to be surrounded by black troops while the mulatto prisoners were brought in under guard. They looked extremely dejected, expecting nothing but death. But he announced to them that, deeming the forgiveness of injuries a Christian duty, he pardoned what they had attempted to do against him. He gave them money to defray their travelling expenses, told them they were at liberty to return to their homes, and gave orders that they should be protected on the way. As he passed out of the building, they showered blessings on his head, and the air was filled with shouts of "Long live Toussaint l'Ouverture."

These outbreakings of old hatreds were local and short-lived. The confidence in Toussaint's goodness and ability was almost universal; and his popularity was so great with all classes, that he might have made himself emperor, if he would. But through all the changes in France he had been faithful to the French government; and now to the habit of loyalty was added gratitude to that government for having proclaimed freedom to his race. Next to the emancipation of his people, he sought to serve the interests of France. Personal ambition never tempted him from the path of duty. When the affairs of the colony seemed to be arranged on a secure basis, he manifested willingness to resign the authority which he had used with so much wisdom and impartiality. He published a proclamation, in which he said:—

"Penetrated with that which is set forth in our Lord's Prayer, 'forgive us our transgressions, as we forgive those who transgress against us,' I have granted a general amnesty. Fellow-citizens, not less generous than myself, endeavor to have the past forgotten. Receive misled brethren with open arms, and let them in the future be on their guard against the snares of bad men. Civil and military authorities, my task is accomplished. It now belongs to you to take care that harmony is no more disturbed. Allow no one to reproach those who went astray, but have now returned to their duty. But, notwithstanding my proclamation of amnesty, watch bad men closely, and do not spare them if they excite disturbance. A sense of honor should guide you all. A true, confiding peace is necessary to the prosperity of the country. It must be your work to establish such a peace. Take no rest until you have accomplished it."

The people refused to accept the resignation of their "friend and benefactor," as they styled him. He replied: "If I undertake the administration of civil affairs, I must have a solid rock to stand on; and that rock must be a constitutional government." Feeling the necessity of laws and regulations suited to the altered state of the country, he called a meeting of deputies from all the districts to draft a constitution. Of these nine deputies eight were white and one a mulatto. They were selected for their learning and ability. Very likely Toussaint's habitual caution led him to choose men from the two classes that had been hostile to him, that there might be no pretext for saying he used his popularity with the blacks to carry any measure he wished.

Among other things, this constitution provided that Slavery should never more exist in St. Domingo; that all who were born there were free citizens of the French republic. It also provided that offices were to be distributed according to virtue and ability, without regard to color. The island was to be ruled by one governor, appointed for five years, with a proviso that the term might be prolonged as a reward for good conduct. But "in consideration of the important services rendered to the country by General Toussaint l'Ouverture," he was named governor for life, with power to appoint his successor. This was early in the summer of 1800. The constitution, approved by Toussaint and published, was accepted by the people with solemn formalities and demonstrations of joy. This new colonial government was to go into operation provisionally, until it should receive the sanction of the authorities in France.

General Napoleon Bonaparte was then at the head of the French government, under the title of First Consul. Governor Toussaint wrote to him, that, in the absence of laws, after the revolution in St. Domingo, it had been deemed best to draft a constitution. He added: "I hasten to lay it before you for your approbation, and for the sanction of the government which I serve. All classes of citizens here have welcomed it with joy, which will be renewed when it is sent back with the sanction of the French government."

Some writers have accused Toussaint of personal ambition because he consented to be governor for life. He himself said it was because circumstances had given him influence, which he could exert to unite a divided people; and that he deemed changes of administration might be injurious until the new order of things had become more settled.

He assumed all the outward style that had been considered befitting the rank of governor and commander-in-chief. He had an elegant carriage and a number of handsome horses. When he rode out, he was followed by attendants in brilliant military dress, and he himself wore a rich uniform. On stated days, he gave reception-parties, to which magistrates, military officers, distinguished strangers, and influential citizens were invited. There was a good deal of splendor in the dresses on such occasions; but he always appeared in the simple undress uniform of a general officer. At these parties, whites, blacks, and mulattoes mingled together with mutual politeness, and it is said that the style of manners was easy and elegant. All rose when the Governor entered, and none seated themselves until he was seated. This was a strange experience for a black man, who was formerly a slave; and it had been brought about, under the blessing of God, solely by the strength and excellence of his own character. All prejudices gave way before his uncommon intelligence, well-tried virtues, and courteous dignity of manner.

Every evening he gave free audience to all the people who chose to call. His dress was such as the landed proprietors usually wore. However weary he might be, he made the circuit of the rooms, and said something to each one on the subjects most likely to interest them. He talked with mothers about their children, and urged upon them the great importance of giving them religious instruction. Not unfrequently he examined the children in their catechisms, and gave a few words of fatherly advice to the young folks.

He has been accused of vanity for assuming so much pomp in his equipage and gentility in his dress. Doubtless he had some vanity. No human being is free from it. But I believe very few men, of any color, could have passed through such extraordinary changes as he did, and preserved their balance so well. In the style he assumed he was probably somewhat influenced by motives of policy. He was obliged to receive many distinguished French gentlemen, and he knew they attached great importance to dress and equipage. The blacks also were fond of splendor, and it gratified them to see their great chieftain appear in princely style. The free mulattoes, who despised his mean birth, would have spared no ridicule if he had been neglectful of outward appearances; and in his peculiar situation it was important to command respect in every way. His person also needed every borrowed advantage that it could obtain. His figure was short and slim, and his features were homely, though his bright, penetrating eyes gave his face an expression of animation and intelligence. With these disadvantages, and a deficiency of education, betrayed by imperfect grammar, it is wonderful how he swayed assemblies of men whenever he addressed them. The secret lay in his great earnestness. Whatever he said, he said it with his whole soul, and therefore it took possession of the souls of others.

Though he paid so much attention to external show in public, his own personal habits were extremely simple and frugal. There was a large public house at the Cape, called The Hotel of the Republic, frequented by whites and blacks, officers and privates. Toussaint l'Ouverture often took a seat at the table in any chair that happened to be vacant. If any one rose to offer him a higher seat, he would bow courteously, and reply, "Distinctions are to be observed only on public occasions." His food consisted of vegetable preparations, and he drank water only. He had a wonderful capacity of doing without sleep. During the years that so many public cares devolved upon him, it is said he rarely slept more than two hours out of the twenty-four. He thought more than he spoke, and what he said was uttered in few words. Surrounded as he was by inquisitive and treacherous people, this habit of reserve was of great use to him. Enemies accused him of being deceitful. The charge was probably grounded on the fact that he knew how to keep his own secrets; for there are many proofs that he was in reality honest and sincere. It is singular how he escaped the contagion of impurity which always pollutes society where Slavery exists. But his respect and affection for his wife was very constant, and he was always clean in his manners and his language. A colored lady appeared at one of his reception-parties dressed very low at the neck, according to the prevailing Parisian fashion. When he had greeted her, he placed a handkerchief on her shoulders, and said in a low voice, "Modesty is the greatest ornament of woman."

His ability and energy as a statesman were even more remarkable than his courage and skill as a military leader. He was getting old, and he was covered with the scars of wounds received in many battles; but he travelled about with wonderful rapidity, inspecting everything with his own eyes, and personally examining into the conduct of magistrates and officers. Often, after riding some distance in a carriage, he would mount a swift horse and ride off in another direction, while the coach went on. In this way, he would make his appearance suddenly at places where he was not expected, and ascertain how things went on in his absence. It was a common practice with him to traverse from one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles a day. After giving his evening audience to the people, he sat up late into the night answering letters, of which he received not less than a hundred daily. He dictated to five secretaries at once, so long that he tired them all; and he examined every letter when finished, that he might be sure his dictation had not been misunderstood.

The eastern part of the island had been ceded to the French by treaty, but had never been given up by the Spanish, who still held slaves there. Complaints were brought to General Toussaint that the Spaniards kidnapped both blacks and mulattoes from the western part of the island, where all were free, and carried them off to sell them to slave-traders. Resolved to destroy Slavery, root and branch, throughout the island, in January, 1801, he marched into the Spanish territory at the head of ten thousand soldiers. The Spanish blacks were desirous to come under French dominion, in order to secure their freedom, and the whites offered but slight resistance. Having taken possession of the territory in the name of the French republic, he issued a proclamation, in which he declared that all past offences should be forgotten, and that the welfare and happiness of Spaniards and Frenchmen should be equally protected. He then assembled his troops in the churches and caused prayers of thanksgiving to be offered for the success of their enterprise, almost without bloodshed. Most of the wealthy Spanish slaveholders made arrangements to depart to Cuba and other neighboring islands. But the main body of the people received General Toussaint with the greatest distinction. As he passed through the principal towns, he was everywhere greeted with thunder of artillery, ringing of bells, and loud acclamations of the populace.

Under his wise and watchful administration all classes were protected, and all parts of the country became prosperous. The desolations occasioned by so many years of warfare were rapidly repaired. Churches were rebuilt, schools established, waste lands brought under cultivation, and distances shortened by new and excellent roads. The French commissioner Roume was struck with admiration of his plans, and pronounced him to be "a philosopher, a legislator, a general, and a good citizen." The Frenchman, Lavoque, who was well acquainted with him and the condition of the people, said to Bonaparte, "Sire, let things remain as they are in St. Domingo. It is the happiest spot in your dominions." The historian Lacroix, though prejudiced against blacks, wrote, "That the island was preserved to the French government was solely owing to an old negro, who seemed to bear a commission from Heaven." Strangers who visited St. Domingo expressed their surprise to see cities rising from their ashes, fields waving with harvests, and the harbors filled with ships. Planters, who had fled with their families to various parts of the world heard such good accounts of the activity of business, and the security of property, that many of them so far overcame their repugnance to be governed by a negro as to ask permission to return. This was easily obtained, and they were received by the Governor without anything on his part which they might deem offensive familiarity, but with a dignified courtesy which prevented familiarity, or airs of condescension, on their side. He had annually sent some token of remembrance to M. Bayou de Libertas, then residing in the United States. He now wrote to invite him to return to St. Domingo. The invitation was gladly accepted. When he arrived, he was received with marked kindness, but with dignified reserve. Governor Toussaint evidently did not wish bystanders to be reminded of the former relation that existed between them as overseer and slave. "Return to the plantation," said he, "and take care of the interests of the good old master. See that the blacks do their duty. Be firm, but just. You will thus advance your own prosperity, and at the same time increase the prosperity of the colony."

This return of the old slaveholders excited some uneasiness among the black laborers. But Toussaint, who often spoke to them in simple parables, sprinkled a few grains of rice into a vessel of shot, and shook it. "See," said he, "how few grains of white there are among the black."

At that time General Napoleon Bonaparte had become very famous by his victories, and had recently been made ruler of France. There were many points of resemblance between his career and that of the hero of St. Domingo; and it was a common thing for people to say, "Napoleon is the First of the Whites, and Toussaint l'Ouverture is the First of the Blacks." If General Toussaint had known the real character of Napoleon, he would not have felt flattered by being compared with such a selfish, tyrannical, and treacherous man. But, like the rest of the world, he was dazzled by his brilliant reputation, and felt that it was a great honor to him to be called the "The Black Napoleon." The vainest thing that is recorded of him is that on one of his official letters to Bonaparte he wrote, "To the First of the Whites, from the First of the Blacks." It was a departure from his usual habits of dignity, and was also poor policy; for Bonaparte had been rendered vain by his great success, and he was under the influence of aristocratic planters from St. Domingo, who would have regarded it as a great insult to couple their names with a negro. General Toussaint soon had reason to suspect he had been mistaken in the character of the famous man, whom he had so much admired. He wrote several deferential letters to Bonaparte, on official business; but the First Consul never condescended to make any reply. It was soon rumored abroad that proprietors of estates in St. Domingo, residing in France, were urging him to send an army to St. Domingo to reduce the blacks again to Slavery. Governor Toussaint could not believe that the French government would be persuaded to break the solemn promises it had made to the colony. But when he sent General Vincent to Paris to obtain Bonaparte's sanction to the new constitution, the wicked scheme was found to be making rapid progress. In vain General Vincent remonstrated against it as a measure cruel and dangerous. In vain he represented the contented, happy, and prosperous state of the island. In vain did many wise and good men in Paris urge that such a step would be unjust in itself and very disgraceful to France. The First Consul turned a deaf ear to all but the haughty old planters from St. Domingo. The Legislative Assembly in France, though still talking loudly about liberty and the rights of man, were not ashamed to propose the restoration of Slavery and the slave-trade in the colonies; and the wicked measure was carried by a vote of two hundred and twelve against sixty-five. In May, 1801, Bonaparte issued a decree to that effect. But he afterwards considered it prudent to announce that the islands of St. Domingo and Guadaloupe were to be excepted.

When this news reached St. Domingo, the people were excited and alarmed. They asked each other anxiously, "How long shall we be excepted?" On that point no assurances were given, and all suspected that the French government was dealing with them hypocritically and treacherously. The soul of Toussaint was on fire. If the names of the men who voted for the restoration of Slavery were mentioned in his presence, his eyes flashed and his whole frame shook with indignation. He published a proclamation, in which he counselled obedience to the mother country, unless circumstances should make it evident that resistance was unavoidable. In private, he said to his friends: "I took up arms for the freedom of my color. France proclaimed it, and she has no right to nullify it. Our liberty is no longer in her hands; it is in our own. We will defend it, or perish."

General Toussaint had sent his two eldest sons to Paris to be educated. As a part of the plan of deception, General Bonaparte invited the young men to visit him. He spoke of their father as a great man, who had rendered very important services to France. He told them he was going to send his brother-in-law, General Le Clerc, with troops to St. Domingo; but he assured them it was not for any hostile purpose; it was merely to add to the defence of the island. He wished them to go with General Le Clerc and tell their father that he intended him all protection, glory, and honor. The next day Bonaparte's Minister of Marine invited the young men to a sumptuous dinner, and at parting presented each with a splendid military uniform. The inexperienced youths were completely dazzled and deceived.

In January, 1802, General Le Clerc sailed with sixty ships and thirty thousand of Bonaparte's experienced troops. When Governor Toussaint received tidings that a French fleet was in sight, he galloped to the coast they were approaching, to take a view of them. He was dismayed, and for a moment discouraged. He exclaimed, "All France has come to enslave St. Domingo. We must perish." He had no vessels, and not more than sixteen thousand men under arms. But his native energy soon returned. The people manifested a determination to die rather than be enslaved again. He resolved to attempt no attack on the French, but to act wholly on the defensive. Le Clerc's army attacked Fort Liberty, killed half the garrison, and forced a landing on the island. Toussaint entrenched himself in a position where he could harass the invaders; and the peaceful, prosperous island again smoked with fire and blood. Le Clerc, still aiming to accomplish Bonaparte's designs by hypocrisy, scattered proclamations among the blacks of St. Domingo, representing that Toussaint kept them in a kind of Slavery on the plantations, but that the French had come to set them wholly free. This did not excite the rebellion which he intended to provoke, but it sowed the seeds of doubt and discontent in the minds of some. At the same time that he was playing this treacherous game, he sent Toussaint's two sons to their father, accompanied by their French tutor, to deliver a letter from the First Consul, which ought to have been sent three months before. The letter was very complimentary to General Toussaint; but it objected to the constitution that had been formed, and spoke in a very general way about the liberty which France granted to all nations under her control. It counselled submission to General Le Clerc, and threatened punishment for disobedience. The tone of the letter, though apparently peaceful and friendly, excited distrust in the mind of General Toussaint, which was increased by the fact that the letter had been so long kept from him. Knowing the strength of his domestic affections, orders had been given that if he surrendered, his sons should remain with him, but if he refused they were to return to the French camp as hostages. Though his heart yearned toward his children, from whom he had been so long separated, he said to their tutor: "Three months after date you bring me a letter which promises peace, while the action of General Le Clerc is war. I had established order and justice here; now all is confusion and misery. Take back my sons. I cannot receive them as the price of my surrender. Tell General Le Clerc hostilities will cease on our part when he stops the progress of his invading army." His sons told him how kindly they had been treated by Bonaparte, and what promises he had made concerning St. Domingo,—promises which had been repeated in the proclamation brought by General Le Clerc. Toussaint had had too severe an experience to be easily deceived by fair words. He replied: "My sons, you are no longer children. You are old enough to decide for yourselves. If you wish to be on the side of France, you are free to do so. Stay with me, or return to General Le Clerc, whichever you choose. Either way, I shall love you always." Isaac, his oldest son, had been so deceived by flattery and promises, that he declared his wish to return to the French camp, feeling very sure that his father would be convinced that Bonaparte was their best friend. But Placide, his step-son, said: "My father, I will remain with you. I dread the restoration of Slavery, and I am fearful about the future of St. Domingo." Who can tell what a pang went through the father's heart when he embraced Isaac and bade him farewell?

General Le Clerc was very angry when he found that his overtures were distrusted. He swore that he would seize Toussaint before he took his boots off. He forthwith issued a proclamation declaring him to be an outlaw. When General Toussaint read it to his soldiers, they cried out with one accord, "We will die with you." He said to his officers: "When the rainy season comes, sickness will rid us of our enemies. Till then there is nothing before us but flame and slaughter." Orders were given to fire the towns as the French army approached, and to deal destruction upon them in every way. He gathered his army together at the entrance of the mountains, and, aided by his brave generals Christophe and Dessalines, kept up active skirmishing with the enemy. Horrible things were done on both sides. The Bay of Mancenille was red with the blood of negro prisoners slaughtered by the French. The blacks, infuriated by revenge and dread of Slavery, killed white men, women, and children without mercy. General Dessalines was of a savage temper, and incited his troops to the most ferocious deeds.

But the natural kindliness of the negro character was manifested on many occasions, even in the midst of this horrible excitement. In many cases they guided their old masters to hiding-places in the mountains or forests, and secretly conveyed them food.

Toussaint, with only a plank to sleep on and a cloak to cover him, was constantly occupied with planning attacks and ambuscades, and preaching on Sundays, exhorting the people, with fiery eloquence, to remember that the cause of Liberty was the cause of God. General Le Clerc, meanwhile, was disappointed to find so many difficulties in the way of his wicked project. His troops wilted under the increasing heat of the climate, and began to murmur. He issued proclamations, promising, in the most solemn manner, that the freedom of all classes in St. Domingo should be respected. These assurances induced several black regiments to go over to the French. Toussaint's brother Paul, and two of his ablest generals, Bellair and Maurepas, did the same. Still the Commander-in-Chief, aided by Christophe and Dessalines, kept up a stout resistance. But news came that fresh troops were coming from France, and Christophe and Dessalines had an interview with General Le Clerc, in which, by fair promises, he succeeded in gaining them over to the French side. A messenger was then sent to ask for a conference with General Toussaint. Solemn assurances were repeated that the freedom of the blacks should be protected; and a proposition was made that he should be colleague with General Le Clerc in the government of the island, and that his officers should retain their rank in the army. With reinforcements coming from France, and with his best generals gained over, Toussaint had no longer hopes of defeating the invaders, though he might send out skirmishers to annoy them. He had too little faith in the promises of General Le Clerc to consent to take an oath of office under him. He therefore replied: "I might remain a brigand in the mountains, and harass you with perpetual warfare, so far as your power to prevent it is concerned. But I disdain fighting for mere bloodshed; and, in obedience to the orders of the First Consul, I yield to you. For myself, I wish to live in retirement; but I accept your favorable terms for the people and the army."

With four hundred armed horsemen he set out for the Cape, to hold the proposed conference with General Le Clerc. On the way, the people, thinking peace was secured without the sacrifice of their freedom, hailed him as their benefactor. Girls strewed flowers in his path, and mothers held up their children to bless him. General Le Clerc received him with a salute of artillery, and made a speech in which he highly complimented his bravery, magnanimity, and good faith, and expressed a hope that, though he chose to live in retirement, he would continue to assist the government of the island by his wise counsels. In the presence of the troops on both sides, he took an oath on the cross to protect the freedom of St. Domingo. With the same solemn formalities, General Toussaint promised that the treaty of peace should be faithfully observed.

The next day, he explained fully to his officers and soldiers what were the terms of the treaty, and impressed upon their minds that such a promise could not be violated without committing the sin of perjury. He thanked them all for the courage and devotedness they had shown under his command, embraced his officers, and bade them an affectionate farewell. They shed tears, and expressed the greatest reluctance to part with him; but he told them that such a course would best conduce to public tranquillity. The soldiers were inconsolable. They followed him, calling out in the saddest tones, "Have you deserted us?" He replied: "No, my children. Do not be uneasy. Your officers are all under arms, and at their posts."

Twelve years had passed since he was working on the Breda estate, and seeing houses and cane-fields on fire in every direction, had said to his wife, "The slaves have risen." Since that time, his life had been one scene of excitement, danger, ceaseless exertion, and overwhelming responsibility. He had been commander-in-chief of the armies of St. Domingo during five years, and governor of the island about one year. Now, with a heart full of anxiety for his people, but cheered by hopes of domestic happiness, he retired, far from the scene of his official splendor, to Ennery, a beautiful valley among the mountains. Surrounded by his family, he busied himself with clearing up the land and cultivating oranges, bananas, and coffee. The people round about often came to him for advice, and he freely assisted his neighbors in making repairs and improvements. Strangers often visited him, and when he rode abroad he was greeted with every demonstration of respect.

General Le Clerc, meanwhile, was attacked by a new and terrible enemy. His troops, unused to the climate, were cut down by yellow fever, as a mower cuts grass. In this situation, had Toussaint excited the blacks against them, they might have been exterminated; but he had sworn to observe the treaty, and he was never known to break his word. The kind-hearted negroes, in many cases, took pity on the suffering French soldiers; they carried them many little comforts, and even took them into their houses, and nursed them tenderly.

Meanwhile, General Le Clerc's difficulties increased. His troops were dying fast under the influence of the hot season; provisions were getting scarce; he wanted to disband the negro troops that had joined him, but they were wide awake and suspicious on the subject of Slavery, and he dared not propose to disarm them. He was so treacherous himself that he could not believe in the sincerity of others. He was always suspecting that Toussaint would again take command of the blacks and attack the remnant of his army while it was enfeebled by disease. Bonaparte also felt that the popularity of Toussaint stood much in the way of his accomplishing the design of restoring Slavery. It was desirable to get him out of the way upon some pretext. The French officers made him the object of a series of petty insults, and wantonly destroyed the fruit on his grounds. By these means they hoped to provoke him to excite an insurrection, that they might have an excuse for arresting him. His friends warned him that these continual insults and depredations foreboded mischief, and that he ought not to submit to them. He replied, "It is a sacred duty to expose life when the freedom of one's country is in peril; but to rouse the people to save one's own life is inglorious."

Finding private remonstrances of no use, he reported to the French head-quarters that he and his neighbors were much annoyed by the conduct of the French troops, and that the people in the valley were made very uneasy by their rude manners and their depredations on property. He received a very polite answer from General Brunet, inviting him to come to his house to confer with him on that and other matters connected with the public tranquillity. The letter closed with these words: "You will not find all the pleasures I would wish to welcome you with, but you will find the frankness of an honorable man, who desires nothing but the happiness of the colony, and your own happiness. If Madame Toussaint, with whom it would give me the greatest pleasure to become acquainted, could accompany you, I should be gratified. If she has occasion for horses, I will send her mine. Never, General, will you find a more sincere friend than myself."

Toussaint, who was sincerely desirous to preserve the public peace, and who was too honest to suspect treachery under such a friendly form, went to General Brunet's head-quarters, with a few attendants, on the 10th of June, 1802. He was received with the greatest respect and cordiality. His host consulted with him concerning the interests of the colony; and they examined maps together till toward evening, when General Brunet left the room. An officer with twenty armed men entered, saying: "The Captain-General has ordered me to arrest you. Your attendants are overpowered. If you resist, you are a dead man." Toussaint's first impulse was to defend himself; but seeing it would be useless against such numbers, he resigned himself to his hard fate, saying, "Heaven will avenge my cause."

His papers were seized, his house rifled and burned, his wife and children captured, and at midnight they were all carried on board the French ship Hero, without being allowed to take even a change of clothing. His wrists were chained, he was locked in a cabin guarded by soldiers with fixed bayonets, and not permitted to hold any communication with his family. As the vessel sailed away from St. Domingo, Toussaint, gazing on the outline of its mountains for the last time, said, "They have cut down the tree of Liberty; but the roots are many and deep, and it will sprout again."

Toussaint l'Ouverture was even then incapable of imagining the base designs against him. He supposed that he had been accused of something, and was to be carried to France for trial. Conscious of uniform fidelity to the French government, he felt no uneasiness as to the result, though the treachery and violence with which he had been treated in return for his great services made him very sad. Arrived on the shores of France, he was removed to another vessel, and allowed only a few moments to say farewell to his wife and children. They embraced him with tears, and begged him to remember them, who had always loved him so dearly.

From the vessel, instead of being carried to Paris for trial, as he expected, he was hurried into a carriage, and, followed by a strong guard, was carried to the dismal Castle of Joux, near the borders of Switzerland. That ancient castle stands among the mountains of Jura, on the summit of a solid rock five hundred feet high. He was placed in a deep, dark dungeon, from the walls of which the water dripped continually. This was in August, 1802. But though it was summer elsewhere, it was damp and cold in Toussaint's dreary cell. The keeper was allowed about four shillings a day to provide food for him; and one faithful servant, who had accompanied the family from St. Domingo, was allowed to remain with him.

His spirits were kept up for some time with the daily expectation of being summoned to attend his trial. But time passed on, and he could obtain no tidings from the French government, or from his family. In a letter to General Bonaparte, beseeching him to let him know of what he was accused, and to grant him a trial, he wrote:—

"I have served my country with honor, fidelity, and integrity. All who know me will do me the justice to acknowledge this. At the time of the revolution, I spent all I had in the service of my country. I purchased but one small estate, on which to establish my wife and family. I neglected nothing for the welfare of St. Domingo. I made it my duty and pleasure to develop all the resources of that beautiful colony. Since I entered the service of the republic I have not claimed a penny of my salary. I have taken money from the treasury only for public use. If I was wrong in forming a constitution, it was through my great desire to do good, and thinking it would please the government under which I served. I have had the misfortune to incur your displeasure; but I am strong in the consciousness of integrity and fidelity; and I dare affirm that among all the servants of the state no one is more honest than myself."

This letter is still in existence, and some of the words are blotted out by tears that fell while the noble captive was writing it. Bonaparte paid no attention to this manly appeal. After weary waiting, Toussaint wrote again:—

"First Consul, it is a misfortune to me that I am not known to you. If you had thoroughly known me while I was in St. Domingo, you would have done me more justice. I am not learned; I am ignorant: but my heart is good. My father showed me the road to virtue and honor, and I am very strong in my conscience in that matter. If I had not been so devoted to the French government I should not be here. All my life I have been in active service, and now I am a miserable prisoner, without power to do anything, sunk in grief, and with health impaired. I ask you for my freedom, that I may labor for the support of my family. For my venerable father, now a hundred and five years old, who is blind, and needs my assistance; for my dearly loved wife, who, separated from me, cannot, I fear, endure the afflictions that overwhelm her; and for my cherished family, who have made the happiness of my life. I call on your greatness. Let your heart be softened by my misfortunes."

This touching appeal met with the same fate as the first. Bonaparte even had the meanness to forbid the prisoner's wearing an officer's uniform. When he asked for a change of clothing, the cast-off suit of a soldier and a pair of old boots were sent him. There seemed to be a deliberate system of heaping contempt upon him. The daily sum allowed for his food was diminished, and the cold winds of autumn began to howl round his dungeon. They doubtless thought that so old a man, accustomed to tropical warmth, and the devotion of a loving family, would die under the combined influence of solitude, cold, and scanty food. But his iron constitution withstood the severe test. The next step was to deprive him of his faithful servant, Mars Plaisir. Seeing him weep bitterly, Toussaint said to him: "Would I could console thee under this cruel separation. Be assured I shall never forget thy faithful services. Carry my last farewell to my wife and family."

The farewell never reached them. Mars Plaisir was lodged in another prison, lest he should tell of the slow murder that was going on in the Castle of Joux. Toussaint's supply of food was gradually diminished, till he had barely enough to keep him alive,—merely a little meal daily, which he had to prepare for himself in an earthen jug. The walls sparkled with frost, and the floor was slippery with ice, except immediately around his little fire. Thus he passed through a most miserable winter. He was thin as a skeleton; but still he did not die. As a last resort, the governor of the castle went away and took the keys of the dungeon with him. He was gone three days; and when he returned, Toussaint was lying stiff and cold on his heap of straw. Doctors were called in to examine him, and they certified that he died of apoplexy. This was in April, 1803, after he had been more than eight months in that horrid dungeon, and when he was a little more than sixty years old. The body was buried in the chapel under the castle. It was given out to the world that the deceased prisoner was a revolted slave, who had been guilty of every species of robbery and cruelty; and that he had been thrown into prison for plotting to deliver the island of St. Domingo into the hands of the English.

When the family of Toussaint l'Ouverture were informed of his death, they were overwhelmed with grief, though they had no idea of the horrid circumstances connected with it. The two oldest sons tried to escape from France, but were seized and imprisoned. The French government feared the consequences of their returning to St. Domingo. The youngest son soon after died of consumption. Madame Toussaint sank under the weight of her great afflictions. Her health became very feeble, and at times her mind wandered. When the power of Bonaparte was overthrown, and a new government introduced into France, a pension was granted for her support, and her two sons were released from prison. She died in their arms in 1816.

There was great consternation in St. Domingo when it was known that Toussaint l'Ouverture had been kidnapped and carried off. There was an attempt at mutiny among the black soldiers; but the leaders were shot by the French, and the spirit of insurrection was put down for a time. No tidings could be obtained from Toussaint, and after a while he was generally believed to be dead. But his prediction was fulfilled. The tree of Liberty, that had been cut down, did sprout again. Bonaparte sent new troops to St. Domingo to supply the place of those cut off by yellow fever. The French officers frequently subjected black soldiers to the lash, a punishment which had never been inflicted upon them since the days of Slavery. An active slave-trade was carried on with the other French colonies, where Slavery had been restored, and people were frequently smuggled away from St. Domingo and sold. The mulattoes found out that people of their color were sold, as well as blacks. They had formerly acted against their mothers' race, not because they were worse than other men, but because they had the same human nature that other men have. Being free born, and many of them educated and wealthy, and slaveholders also, they despised the blacks, who had always been slaves; but when Slavery touched people of their own color, they were ready to act with the negroes against the whites. Toussaint's generals, though they still held their old rank in the army, grew more and more distrustful of the French. When General Christophe accepted an invitation to dine with General Le Clerc, he ordered his troops to be in readiness for a sudden blow. The French officer who sat next him at table urged him to drink a great deal of wine; but Christophe was on his guard, and kept his wits about him. At last he repulsed the offer of wine with great rudeness, whereupon Le Clerc summoned his guard to be in readiness, and began to accuse Toussaint of treachery to the whites. "Treachery!" exclaimed the indignant Christophe. "Have you not broken oaths and treaties, and violated the sacred rights of hospitality? Those whose blood flows for our liberty are rewarded with prison, banishment, death. Friends, soldiers, heroes of our mountains, are no longer around me. Toussaint, the pride of our race, the terror of our enemies, whose genius led us from Slavery to Liberty, who adorned peace with lovely virtues, whose glory fills the world, was put in irons, like the vilest criminal!"

General Le Clerc deemed it prudent to preserve outward composure, for General Christophe had informed him that troops were in readiness to protect him. But notwithstanding many ominous symptoms of discontent among the blacks and mulattoes, he blindly persevered in carrying out the cruel policy of Bonaparte. Shiploads of slaves were brought into St. Domingo and openly sold. Then came a decree authorizing slaveholders to resume their old authority over the blacks. Bitterly did Toussaint's officers regret having trusted to the promises of the French authorities. The consciousness of having been deceived made the fire of freedom burn all the more fiercely in their souls. The blacks were everywhere ready to die rather than be slaves again. In November, 1803, General Christophe published a document in which he said:—

"The independence of St. Domingo is proclaimed. Toward men who do us justice we will act as brothers. But we have sworn not to listen with clemency to any one who speaks to us of Slavery. We will be inexorable, perhaps even cruel, toward those who come from Europe to bring among us death and servitude. No sacrifice is too costly, and all means are lawful, when men find that freedom, the greatest of all blessings, is to be wrested from them."

The closing scenes of the revolution were too horrible to be described. General Rochambeau, who commanded the French army after the death of General Le Clerc, was a tyrannical and cruel tool of the slaveholders. Everywhere colored men were seized and executed without forms of law. Maurepas, who had been one of Toussaint's most distinguished generals, was seized on suspicion of favoring insurrection. His epaulets were nailed to his shoulders with spikes, he was suspended from the yard-arm of a vessel, while his wife and children, and four hundred of his black soldiers, were thrown over to the sharks before his eyes. The trees were hung with the corpses of negroes. Some were torn to pieces by bloodhounds trained for the purpose; some were burnt alive. Sixteen of Toussaint's bravest generals were chained by the neck to the rocks of an uninhabited island, and left there to perish. Most of these victims were firm in the midst of their tortures, and died with the precious word Freedom on their lips. A mother, whose daughters were going to be executed, said to them: "Be thankful. You will not live to be the mothers of slaves."

I am happy to record that all the whites were not destitute of feeling. Some sea-captains, who were ordered to take negroes out to sea and drown them, contrived to aid their escape to the mountains, or landed them on other shores.

The blacks, driven to desperation, became as cruel as their oppressors. They visited upon white men, women, and children all the barbarities they had seen and suffered. The wife of General Paul, brother of Toussaint, was dragged from her peaceful home, and drowned by French soldiers. This murder made him perfectly crazy with revenge. Though naturally of a mild disposition, he thenceforth had no mercy on anybody of white complexion. His old father, Gaou-Guinou, who survived Toussaint about a year, was filled with the same spirit, and the last words he uttered were a malediction on the whites. The spirit of the infernal regions raged throughout all classes, and it was all owing to the wickedness of Slavery.

On the last day of November, 1803, little more than a year after the abduction of Toussaint, the French were driven from the island, never more to return. The colony, which might have been a source of wealth to them, if Toussaint had been allowed to carry out his plans, was lost to France forever. St. Domingo became independent, under its old name of Hayti; and General Christophe, who was as able as Toussaint, but more ambitious, was proclaimed emperor. A law was passed, and still remains in force, that no white man should own a foot of soil on the island. But white Americans and Europeans reside there, and transact various kinds of business under the protection of equal laws.

Perhaps it sometimes seemed to Toussaint, in the loneliness of his dungeon, as if all his great sacrifices and efforts for his oppressed race had been in vain. But they were not in vain. God raised him up to do a great work, which he faithfully performed; and his spirit is still "marching on." Slavery becomes more and more odious in the civilized world, and nation after nation abolishes it. Fifty years after the death of Toussaint all the slaves in the French colonies were emancipated. How his spirit must rejoice to look on the West Indies now!

In 1850 the grave of Toussaint l'Ouverture was discovered by some engineers at work on the Castle of Joux. His skull was placed on a shelf in the dungeon where he died, and is shown to travellers who visit the place.

For a long while great injustice was done to the memory of Toussaint l'Ouverture, and also to the blacks who fought so fiercely in resistance of Slavery; for the histories of St. Domingo were written by prejudiced French writers, or by equally prejudiced mulattoes. But at last the truth is made known. Candid, well-informed persons now acknowledge that the blacks of St. Domingo sinned cruelly because they were cruelly sinned against; and Toussaint l'Ouverture, seen in the light of his own actions, is acknowledged to be one of the greatest and best men the world has ever produced. A very distinguished English poet, named Wordsworth, has written an admirable sonnet to his memory. The celebrated Harriet Martineau, of England, has made him the hero of a beautiful novel. Wendell Phillips, one of the most eloquent speakers in the United States, has eulogized his memory in a noble lecture, delivered in various parts of the country, before thousands and thousands of hearers. And James Redpath has recently published in Boston a biography of Toussaint l'Ouverture, truthfully portraying the pure and great soul of that martyred hero.

Well may the Freedmen of the United States take pride in Toussaint l'Ouverture, as the man who made an opening of freedom for their oppressed race, and by the greatness of his character and achievements proved the capabilities of Black Men.

It is better to be a lean freeman than a fat slave.—A Proverb in Hayti.