raised again the black population of the northern district in arms, and actually attacked the town of the Cape. It was not however to be expected that a fortified town would surrender to the first attack, and though the French kept the strong towns, the blacks were again masters of the country in the northern district, and a faint gleam of hope appeared still to remain; but the divisions from Havre and Flushing arrived in the mean time, bringing a reinforcement of 5500 veterans.

66

Toussaint being then unable to keep the field, was obliged once more to retire to his strong positions in the interior, with as many of his partizans as he could persuade to follow him, All hope was now lost: Dessalines was at length overpowered in the south, and obliged to submit. Christophe seeing that all was lost, was obliged also to negotiate with Leclerc for his personal safety, and at length, when almost surrounded by French colums, he reluctantly surrendered, and the army which he commanded was united to the French army. Toussaint then informed Leclerc that he saw he was now waging a war without any hope of success, and consequently without any object; but that, notwithstanding the force of the French army, he was still strong enough to ravage and destroy the country, and sell dearly a life that had once been useful to France." Leclerc confessed that those observations made a serious impression on his mind; he therefore received his submission and promised pardon. On this promise Toussaint, in obedience to the orders of Leclerc, repaired alone to the Cape, from whence he was sent to a plantation at Gonaive, and Dessalines to St.

ed, in passing the different events of it in review, it must be admitted that the blacks fought with a great deal of courage, and that their principal generals displayed very considerable military talents. Maurepas in the north, and Dessalines in the south, completely outgeneraled Debelle and Boudet, and did not submit till the main body of the French army had been marched against them. Christophe was acknowledged by the French to have conducted himself with great bravery in his different battles with general Hardy; and Toussaint added to his former military fame, not only by his able choice of positions, but by that bold stroke by which, after his defeat, he endeavoured to recover the northern part of the island, and had very nearly succeeded in the attempt: had this blow succeeded, it would have been considered a most masterly piece of generalship; its failure appeared to be solely owing to the sudden arrival of the reinforcement of 5500 troops from France to the feeble garrison of the Cape. Although this attempt was not crowned with success, it equally showed in Toussaint a great mind, firm in its purpose, not to be cast down by ill success, and knowing perfectly well how to take advantage of any circumstances which fortune might throw in his way. From the very obstinate resistance made by Maurepas in the north, and Dessalines in the south, it seems extremely probable, that if Clervaux and Laplume had been faithful to the trust reposed in them by Toussaint, the campaign would have terminated in favour of the blacks; if Toussaint had been enabled to defend his positions but for thirty days longer, the season

would

would be past for the operations of the French army, who could not pretend to make a summer campaign in the interior of St. Domingo. Fortune however declared against him; and all Europe knows, and history will record to future ages, to the eternal disgrace of Bonaparté and his government, that the promise of pardon so solemnly given was violated, and that, under pretence of a conspiracy, Toussaint was arrested and sent over to Brest, where it was first intended to bring him to a mock trial; but afterwards it was judged more expedient to send him to a prison in the interior of France, from which he never was released, but was in a few months after he arrived in France reported to be dead. The manner of his death the French government have never thought it was necessary to explain, and therefore it is much more than matter of suspicion, it is almost clear, that he was murdered in his prison by the orders of Bonaparte.

His countrymen in St. Domingo were justly exasperated at this treachery to their former chief, and saw with pleasure the ravages which the climate and the yellow fever made in the French army. The moment that army was weakened by disease, they again burst out into insurrection under their old leaders. Christophe threw aside the rank which Leclerc had given him in the

French army, to join in the cause of his country. A long war succeeded, marked by more atrocities than any which has occurred in modern times. TheFrench,bent on the extermination of the blacks, invented new methods for their destruction. Thousands of them were thrown into the sea, or, as the French term it, deportes en mer; many were suffocated with the fumes of burning brimstone, and the most ingenious tortures were practised upon them. The blacks, in retaliation, put to death all the whites who fell into their hands, but it does not appear that they tortured their prisoners as their enemies had done. The fate of that island was quite doubtful in the end of the year 1802. On the issue of this war perhaps depends not only the future state of the West Indies, but perhaps of Africa, to which the negro race will always look up with affection as to their mother country. If a civilized nation of blacks can exist in St. Domingo, that nation must have a trade and intercourse with Africa, superior to that which any European nation can have; but it would be romantic speculation to suppose that the light which Europe has thrown upon St. Domingo may be reflected back into the very heart of their native soil, and compensate at some future day for all the injuries that the race of blacks have hitherto endured from their white brethren.

CHAP.

vember 1901, Lacrosse suffered himself to be surprised in visiting some out-posts, and was forced on board a neutral vessel then lying at anchor at Point a Pitre. This vessel (a Dane) sailed for Copenhagen immediately, but was intercepted by an English cruiser, from the captain of whom the French governor demanded and obtained protection. Fortune, so far favourable, did not now desert him: he was carried into Dominica, where tidings had arrived of the preliminaries of peace having been signed between Great Britain and France in the preceding October. Here he was joined by Lascallier, the colonial prefect, and Coster, the commissary of justice, who had just arrived from France. Together with these functionaries he immediately issued (dated 3d of December 1801) a manifesto against the usurped authority at Guadaloupe, containing, among other things, a prohibition against all governments to supply that rebellious usurpation with arms, ammunition, or provisions, under the severest penalties.

In the interval, Pelagie was to all intents and purposes the sovereign of the island, in which he exercised uncontrolled jurisdiction: in places of trust and consequence he placed mulattoes, and entirely subverted the form of government established by his predecessor. The army and the municipalities were dispersed or disorganized, and the miserable white inhabitants found themselves entirely . at his mercy.

In the mean time it should seem that the English colonial government were disposed to act in concert with the French for the reduction of the insurgents. A British frigate assisted in blockading Point a Pitre, and no sort of communication was suf

fered to be carried on with the island; and the tidings of peace and the sailing of the Brest fleet for the West Indies, which became now universally known, filled the insurgents and their chief with apprehension and dismay. It was probable that to these circumstances the white plant ers and inhabitants owed their safety; nor did the general massacre of them, which was apprehended, take place, although individuals in various parts of the island were occasionally sacrificed to the spirit of revenge or caprice of their new masters.

But the period of this short lived revolution was now arrived. The French force destined for Guadaloupe, under admiral Bouvet and general Richepanse, appeared off the island about the beginning of May ; they had taken the prefect Lescalier on board at Desirade, and every preparation was made to take Point a Pitre by assault. On the 7th of May, the debarkation was effected at Gosier without resistance. Military dispositions, apparently ably planned, were made to get possession of the forts Victoire and Union, in order to cut off the communication of the negroes, who were in possession of them, from the interior; and the main body, with the general Richepanse, marched for the town of Point a Pitre. Here, however, all was submission; the quays were lined with inhabitants of every description, who welcomed the troops with the exhilarating sounds of Vive la Republique! Vive Bonaparté ! On taking possession of the Place de la Victoire, Pelagie presented himself, and not only tendered his own obedience, but offered to ensure the submission of the whole island. General Richepanse ordered him, as

a test

a test of his sincerity, immediately to relieve the different forts and redoubts which he commanded, with the troops from France, which he readily undertook to do, and to assemble all his troops in the evening to await the orders of the general. In these promises, however, he was too confident and sanguine of the extent of his power to falfil them. At Fort Victoire, a chief of the name of Ignace made a show of resistance, which was easily overcome by the French detachment sent to take possession of it; and though Pelagie was faithful to his word, and appeared himself, with many of his followers, in the evening at the place of rendezvous, yet was he obliged to confess that some of his officers and numbers of his troops were missing. Indeed, through the darkness of the night, which now had gained upon the negotiating partics, armed bodies of negroes were seen hovering around with arms in their hands, and in manifest determination to resist. Under these circumstances, Richepanse thought it prudent to embark those who had assembled on board the fleet, under the pretence of their force being necessary in his expedition to Basse Terre. It was not till the 20th, at noon, that he reached that part of the island, and where the opposition experienced was considerable. Under a heavy fire, the army landed near the mouth of the river Duplessis, but without sustaining much loss, and penetrated that day to the right bank of the river des Peres. On the next morning the position of the rebels on the left bank was attacked and forced at day-break, in less than ten minutes. Part however of the insurgents throw themselves into Fort St. Charles, a part gained the Morne on the right

of the attacking army, and the rest dispersed in every direction. It was not till the 31st that general Richepanse, now joined by general Sensia (whom he had left behind at Point a Pitre), was able to open, after incredible labour, a battery of thirty pieces of cannon against the fort, which was evacuated the next day (the 1st of June) by the rebels, who it should seem, from some disobedience of the general's orders in posting troops so as to cut them off, retreated with little loss. The army was immediately ordered to pursue the flying negroes in every direction, and they never after succeeded in being able to assemble in force. In these different affairs the loss of killed and wounded to the French army was about 500.

On the 8th of July, general Richepanse assures his government that the army had completely succeeded in the reduction of the island, having had, he adds, "little else to do than to pursue and exterminate the remnant of the rebels, insensible to persuasion and incorrigible in their determination not to return to their duty; it is only the death of these wretches that can put a stop to conflagration and the murder of the whites:" and he concludes by saying,

"that he thinks it fortunate that they opposed the French arms in the beginning, as this gave an opportunity of thus getting rid of then!"-a sentiment that reflects equal honour on the humanity of the writer, and the French military character.

No further attempt was made to disturb the tranquillity of the colony for the remainder of the year; agriculture and commerce began gradually to revive; and as the island had not suffered much during the war,

little