St. Domingo, its revolution and its hero, Toussaint Louverture.

HEROES ARE HISTORIC MEN.
AN HISTORICAL DISCOURSE CONDENSED FOR THE NEW YORK LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, FEBRUARY 26, 1855.
BY C. W. ELLIOTT.
Printed for the uses of the Committee.
NEW YORK: J. A. DIX, PUBLISHER, 10 PARK PLACE. 1855.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by C. W. ELLIOTT, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.
HOLMAN & GRAY, STEREOTYPERS AND PRINTERS, Corner Centre and White Streets, N. Y.
I have thought that a short life of Toussaint Louverture might be desirable for two purposes:—one is, that it may, in some degree, weaken that bitter prejudice of color, which denies the blacks the rights of citizens—which drives them away from the Communion-table—and will not let them enter an omnibus, nor, if it can prevent it, into Heaven.
The other is, that it may encourage the blacks to deserve respect and honor—as he did—by growing industrious, and rich, and intelligent, and brave, and noble, and strong, and so prove their manhood against all infidels, north and south—in the Church and out of it.
It should be borne in mind, that Toussaint was a negro, and that he was not more ashamed of being black than he should be of being white.
Columbus called the Island of St. Domingo “The Paradise of God.” The beauty of its valleys, the wildness of its mountains, the tropical luxuriance of its plains, confirm his opinion. But the Spaniards who followed him cared not for beauty or fruitfulness; they were hungrier then than now for gold, and plunged into the bosom of the beautiful island for that: a million of the simple natives was sacrificed without mercy or care, to discover and dig the yellow metal. Las Casas only was moved to pity, and he said, “Might not the grosser and hardier African be made to take these burdens, and spare this destruction of the mild Indians?”
The returns per negro were greater in St. Domingo than in Jamaica, owing to one or both of these causes: 1st, that the land was more fruitful; or, 2d, that the men were harder worked.