A correspondence was opened with Toussaint in which the captain-general promised to acknowledge the liberty of the blacks, and the equality of all, if he would yield. Overcome by the persuasions of his generals, and the blacks who surrounded him, and who were sick and tired of the shedding of blood, Toussaint gave in his adhesion to the French authorities. This was the great error of his life.
The loss that the French army had sustained during the war, was great. Fifteen thousand of their best troops, and some of their bravest generals, had fallen before the arms of these Negroes, whom they despised.
Soon after Toussaint gave in his adhesion, the yellow fever broke out in the French army, and carried off nearly all of the remaining great men,—more than seven hundred medical men, besides twenty-two thousand sailors and soldiers. Among these were fifteen hundred officers. It was at this time that Toussaint might have renewed the war with great success. But he was a man of his word, and would not take the advantage of the sad condition of the French army.
Although peace reigned, Le Clerc was still afraid of Toussaint; and by the advice of Napoleon, the black general was arrested, together with his family, and sent to France.
The great chief of St. Domingo had scarcely been conveyed on board the ship Creole, and she out of the harbor, ere Rigaud, the mulatto general who had accompanied Le Clerc to St. Domingo, was arrested, put in chains, and sent to France.
The seizure of Toussaint and Rigaud caused suspicion and alarm among both blacks and mulattoes, and that induced them to raise again the flag of insurrection, in which the two proscribed classes were united.
Twenty thousand fresh troops arrived from France, but they were not destined to see Le Clerc, for the yellow fever had taken him off. In the mountains were many barbarous and wild blacks, who had escaped from slavery soon after being brought from the coast of Africa. One of these bands of savages were commanded by Lamour de Rance, an adroit, stern, savage man, half naked, with epaulettes tied to his bare shoulders for his only token of authority. This man had been brought from the coast of Africa, and sold as a slave in Port au Prince. On being ordered one day to saddle his master’s horse, he did so; then mounted the animal, fled to the mountains, and ever after made these fearful regions his home. Lamour passed from mountain to mountain with something of the ease of the birds of his own native land. Toussaint, Christophe, and Dessalines, had each in their turn pursued him, but in vain. His mode of fighting was in keeping with his dress. This savage, united with others like himself, became complete master of the wilds of St. Domingo. They came forth from their mountain homes, and made war on the whites wherever they found them. Le Clerc was now dead, and Rochambeau, who succeeded him in the government of St. Domingo, sent to Cuba to get bloodhounds, with which to hunt down the blacks in the mountains.
In personal appearance, Rochambeau was short and stout, with a deformed body, but of robust constitution; his manner was hard and severe, though he had a propensity to voluptuousness. He lacked neither ability nor experience in war. In his youth, he had, under the eyes of his illustrious father, served the cause of freedom in the United States; and while on duty in the slave portion of our government, formed a low idea of the blacks, which followed him even to St. Domingo.
The planters therefore hailed with joy Rochambeau as a successor to Le Clerc; and when the bloodhounds which he had sent to Cuba for arrived, cannon were fired, and demonstrations of joy were shown in various ways.
Even the women, wives of the planters, went to the sea-side, met the animals, and put garlands about their necks, and some kissed and caressed the dogs.[37]