which Bonaparte sent against the island, under the command of Le Clerc. This expedition, fruitless as it was in respect of its general object, proved fatal to the negro chieftain.
Toussaint was noted for private virtues; among the rest, warm affection for his family. Le Clerc brought out from France Toussaint's two sons, with their preceptor, whose orders were to carry his pupils to their father, and make use of them to work on his tenderness, and induce him to abandon his countrymen. If he yielded, he was to be made second in command to Le Clerc; if he refused, his children were to be reserved as hostages of his fidelity to the French. Notwithstanding the greatness of the sacrifice demanded of him, Toussaint remained faithful to his brethren. We pass over the details of the war, which at length, ended in a treaty of peace concluded by Toussaint, Dessalines and Christophe, against their better judgment, but in consequence of the effect of Le Clerc's professions upon their simple followers, who were induced to lay down their arms. Toussaint retired to his plantation, relying upon the solemn assurances of Le Clerc, that his person and property should be held sacred. Notwithstanding these assurances, he was treacherously seized in the night, hurried on board a ship of war, and conveyed to Brest. He was conducted first to close prison in Chateaux de Joux, and from thence to Besançon, where he was plunged into a cold, wet, subterranean prison, which soon proved fatal to a constitution used only to the warm skies and free air of the West Indies. He languished through the winter of 1802-1803; and his death, which happened in April, 1803, raised a cry of indignation against the government, which had chosen this dastardly method of destroying one of the best and bravest of the negro race.
Toussaint L'Ouverture is thus spoken of by Vincent, in his Reflections on the state of St. Domingo: "Toussaint L'Ouverture is the most active and indefatigable man, of whom it is possible to form an idea. He is always present wherever difficulty or danger makes his presence necessary. His great sobriety,—the power of living without repose,—the facility with which he resumes the affairs of the cabinet, after the most tiresome excursions,—of answering daily a hundred letters,—and of habitually tiring five secretaries—render him so superior to all around him, that their respect and submission almost amount to fanaticism. It is certain no
man in modern times has obtained such an influence over a mass of ignorant people, as General Toussaint possesses over his brethren of St. Domingo. He is endowed with a prodigious memory. He is a good father and a good husband."
Toussaint re-established religious worship in St. Domingo; and on account of his zeal in this respect, a certain class of men called him, in derision, the Capuchin.
With the genius and energy of Bonaparte, General Toussaint is said to have possessed the same political duplicity, and far-sighted cunning. These are qualities which almost inevitably grew out of the peculiar circumstances in which they were placed, and the obstacles with which they were obliged to contend.
Wordsworth addressed the following sonnet to Toussaint L'Ouverture:
"Toussaint, thou most unhappy man of men!
Whether the whistling rustic tends his plough
Within thy hearing, or thou liest now
Buried in some deep dungeon's earless den;—
Oh, miserable chieftain! where and when
Wilt thou find patience? Yet die not; do thou
Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow:
Though fallen thyself, never to rise again,
Live, and take comfort. Thou hast left behind
Powers that will work for thee; air, earth and skies;
There's not a breathing of the common wind
That will forget thee; thou hast great allies.
Thy friends are exultations, agonies,
And love, and man's unconquerable mind."
Godwin, in his admirable Lectures on Colonial Slavery, says: "Can the West India islands, since their first discovery by Columbus, boast a single name which deserves comparison with that of Toussaint L'Ouverture?"
If we are willing to see and believe, we have full opportunity to convince ourselves that the colored population are highly susceptible of cultivation. St. Domingo produces black legislators, scholars, and gentlemen. The very negroes who had been slaves, formed a constitution that would do credit to paler-faced statesmen—Americans may well blush at its consistent republicanism.