“It is fortunate, then, for all parties,” said he, “that future struggles are avoided. We are friends. Let it go abroad through the whole island that we are friends.”
Toussaint made no reply. Leclerc continued—
“You, General, and your troops, will be employed and treated like the rest of my army. With regard to yourself, you desire repose.”—Looking round, he repeated the words emphatically. “You desire repose: and you deserve it. After a man has sustained for several years the government of Saint Domingo, I apprehend he needs repose. I leave you at liberty to retire to which of your estates you please. I rely so much on the attachment you bear the colony of Saint Domingo, as to believe you will employ what moments of leisure you may have during your retreat, in communicating to me your ideas respecting the means proper to be taken to cause agriculture and commerce again to flourish. Respecting your forces, and those of General Christophe, I hold full information. As soon as a list and statement of the troops under General Dessalines are transmitted to me, I will communicate my instructions as to the positions they are to take.”
“I will send a messenger from my guard to General Dessalines, this day,” said Toussaint. “I shall be passing near his post, on my way to my house at Pongaudin; and he shall have your message.”
“This day?” said Leclerc, in a tone of some constraint. “Will you not spend this day with us?”
“I cannot,” replied Toussaint. “I must be gone to my home.”
As soon as it was believed that he was fairly out of hearing, the acts of the morning were proclaimed throughout Cap Français as the pardon of Generals Toussaint and Christophe. This proclamation was afterwards published, by Leclerc’s orders, in the Gazette du Cap, where it was read by Toussaint in his study at Pongaudin.
“See!” said he, pointing out the paragraph to Pascal, with a smile. “This is the way of men with each other. See the complacency with which one man pardons another for the most necessary, or the best deed of his life!”
During a halt on the road to Pongaudin, Isaac and Aimée appeared. Aimée was tearful, but her face was happy. So were her words.
“Oh, father!” she said, “who could have hoped, after what has happened, that all would so soon be well!”