“If so ordained, Henri. We must wait till it be so. My present clear duty is to cultivate peace, and the friendship of the whites. They must have their due from us, from Bonaparte himself, to the youngest infant in Cap. You may trust me, however, that from the hour that there is a whisper about slavery in the lightest of Bonaparte’s dreams, I will consent to be called by whatever name can best defend our race.”
“It will be too late then,” said Dessalines. “Why wait till Bonaparte tells you his dreams? We know, without being told, that all the dreams of all whites are of our slavery.”
“You are wrong, Jacques. That is no more true of all whites, than it is true of all blacks that they hate the whites as you do.”
“You will find too late that I am not wrong,” said Jacques. “Remember, in the day of our ruin, that my timely advice to you was to send for your sons from Paris, and then avow yourself King of Saint Domingo—or of Hayti, if you like that name better. To me that name tells of another coloured race, whom the whites wantonly oppressed and destroyed. One cannot traverse the island without hearing the ghosts of those poor Indians, from every wood and every hill, calling to us for vengeance on their conquerors.”
“Take care how you heed those voices, Dessalines,” said Christophe. “They are not the voices of the gentle Indians that you hear; for the whites who injured them are long ago gone to judgment.”
“And if they were still in the midst of us,” said Toussaint, “vengeance is not ours. Jacques knows that my maxim in the field—my order, which may not be transgressed—is, No retaliation! I will have the same rule obeyed in my council-chamber, as we all, I trust, observe it in our prayers. Jacques, you have not now to learn my principle and my command—no retaliation. Have you ever known it infringed, since the hour when you found me at Breda, and made me your chief?”
“Never.”
“Nor shall you while I am obeyed. If the hour for defence comes we shall be ready. Till then we owe allegiance.”
“You will find it too late,” Dessalines said, once more.
“The Assembly,” said Toussaint to Raymond, “will withdraw their proposition regarding my being President of this island. I have all needful power as Commander-in-chief of the colony.”