The Present State of Hayti (Saint Domingo) with Remarks on its Agriculture, Commerce, Laws, Religion, Finances, and Population

The principal exertions of the French troops commenced in the plains of the north, just after the truce had expired, and about the 20th of February, by an attack on Plaisance, which place having surrendered, the black commander and his soldiers, consisting of five hundred infantry and cavalry, joined the French standard. Marmalade followed, having been defended a short time by Christophe, who was at last obliged to retreat, in consequence of the treachery of one of his officers who had surrendered an important position on his line, and had followed the example of the commander at Plaisance.

In the neighbourhood of Port Paix, the French troops, under Humbert, sustained a check; and on the 20th of February the troops under General Debelle were obliged to retire, after having sustained some loss.

The division of General Boudet having landed at Port au Prince, left that city, and proceeded against La Croix des Bouquets, where the celebrated Dessalines had taken up a position; but on the approach of the French force he set fire to the place, and the next day, by a most extraordinary and rapid movement across the mountains, appeared before Leogane, to which place he also set fire, notwithstanding the resistance offered by a French frigate which lay in sight, and which had been sent thither to insure its safety. The movements of this chief were the most surprising; one day he was found in the plains of the Cul de Sac, acting with the most determined bravery, and committing dreadful ravages in the face of the French army; and the next, he was found in the plains of Leogane committing similar excesses, avoiding, in both, coming in contact with the enemy in the open field. Bush fighting, and setting fire to the plantations, to impede the advance of the enemy and destroy their provisions, was his only aim, and in this he seems to have been unusually fortunate and successful.

One of the black chiefs, La Plume, who had retreated before Generals Desfourneaux and Hardy from the vicinity of Plaisance, surrendered, with all his troops, to General Boudet, which compensated for the losses which the French had sustained, and was a serious, if not a fatal, blow to the negro cause.

On the 24th of February, General Rochambeau fell in with Toussaint, who had under him about three thousand men, and had taken up a strong position in the Ravine à Couleuvre. The attack was commenced by Rochambeau, and met with great skill and courage by the negro general and his troops, and a most sanguinary conflict ensued. The blacks fought with the most determined bravery, and the French made the greatest efforts to exceed them; and at last, after having lost eight hundred of his men, who were left dead in the field, Toussaint thought it prudent to retreat, and take up his position on the banks of La Petite Rivière. There could not have been more military skill shewn than was displayed by the respective commanders in this battle. The slaughter was immense, and the loss of the French, it was conjectured, exceeded that of the negroes; but the latter had no public journals to announce their triumphs, whilst the former had the benefit of gazettes and proclamations to extol their successes, and to magnify the disasters of their opponents. It is certain that after the action Rochambeau could not advance, and the black general was in some measure justified in claiming the victory, as well as some merit for taking up another position, particularly as Le Clerc was advancing to cut him off with a large force; and which seems true enough, for he took up a line in the vicinity of Gonaives, with his advance upon the road of St. Marc.

Whatever opinion is entertained of the result of the battle, its consequences were certainly injurious to his cause; his retreat was demonstrative of discomfiture, and such a feeling existed among his troops, as well as among those of his other divisions. Under the influence of this feeling, and the allurements of the French generals, who held out the most engaging promises, desertions became frequent, and in one instance the conduct of the black general Maurepas, who commanded the district of St. Marc, and who, at the moment that Le Clerc was engaged in making preparations to compel him to retire from it, surrendered with his force, consisting of two thousand men, proved quite decisive of the fate of the contest.

Declining to enter into a further detail of the operations in the field, as they consisted chiefly of irregular warfare, and presented nothing of importance, I shall merely make a few observations on the conduct of the respective chiefs who commanded, and their measures to defeat each other’s design.

I think it must be admitted to be indisputable that the greatest success was in favour of the French, and that although some partial advantages were gained by the blacks, yet they seemed to have no ultimate chance of prolonging the contest. It is true that Toussaint, Christophe, and Dessalines held strong positions, and that it would take a considerable time to dislodge them, as well as cause a great sacrifice of human lives. Le Clerc therefore resorted to every device likely to gain over the black troops, and the most successful one was, his promotion of many of those who had previously joined him, and the practice of an unusual degree of mildness towards the remainder, by which he so much exalted himself in the estimation of the whole, that the negroes undertook to allure their brethren to their standard, holding out to them advantages similar to those which they had themselves gained. This stratagem succeeding in a very extensive degree, he was joined by a great number of the troops of the black chiefs, and a great many laid down their arms, so that in a short period Toussaint was left with scarcely any adherents, except those few planters who suspected the designs of the French, and correctly dived into the intentions of the French general. These remained firm to him for a time, but when one reverse was followed up by another, and when there was not a visible chance of any further efforts being likely to succeed, and when his retirement seemed inevitable, most of these deserted him, and made their submission to the French commander, leaving Toussaint to contend against a variety of difficulties, and to surmount obstacles sufficient to have reduced the proudest and noblest spirit to a state of the greatest despair. But even at this trying period Toussaint’s fortitude never forsook him. He foresaw that his enemy before long would find that they had to contend with greater obstacles than any which his resistance could present; nor was he mistaken; for in a short time, Le Clerc, elated by his successful movements, began to develope the designs with which he was instructed, and thinking that he had completely discomfited the whole of the forces of the black generals, or, at all events, that he had so dispersed their followers that they could not again appear before him, he set about executing the great object of the expedition – that of restoring the planters who had accompanied him to their hereditary estates, and of placing the negroes once more under their control, reviving their ancient property in them, and pledging the French government to resist all future attempts that might be made to disturb them.

It is impossible to portray the indignation which this impolitic and base act of Le Clerc so universally excited. The very planters themselves, apprehensive of the consequences which so unwise and so hasty a proceeding was likely to produce, declined to avail themselves of an offer, the impracticability of enforcing which seemed to them to be certain. They were convinced that no good could result from it; but circumstances of the most painful and dangerous nature were more likely to arise, were the general to attempt putting his plans into execution.

The poor deluded and credulous cultivators, who had been allured by the promises of their enemy, now saw their error, and without a moment’s delay began to consult their own safety, to devise means to evade the orders of the French commander, and join their brethren who still adhered to the negro general; and finally to aid in defeating such outrageous proceedings by the most energetic and the most effectual plan which they had the means of concerting.

Such of the negro troops, also, as had joined the French under the perfidious pledges of the commander-in-chief, began to feel considerable anxiety lest they should be forced to share the fate which seemed to impend over their black brethren in general. To revolt, however, appeared almost impossible; they were not concentrated at any one point, but seemed to have been placed in small detached bodies, and were so completely under the control and surveillance of the French that desertion was difficult, and in most instances not to be effected without detection, when they were subjected to the most cruel punishment.

Toussaint now saw that his predictions were realized, and that the time had arrived when the scale of success would turn in his favour, and with that promptitude which accompanied all his resolutions and all his plans of operations, he seized the favourable moment, and with the most extraordinary celerity formed a junction with Christophe, when they proceeded towards the north, calling upon the cultivators on their way to join their cause, and to revenge the base and unprecedented conduct of the French general. From all quarters the cultivators flocked to their standard, and in a few days their force became somewhat imposing; and although they were armed with such weapons only as could have been found on the plantations, and had but a short supply of musquetry, still they moved on by forced marches with the most surprising rapidity, driving their enemy from one post to another, without meeting with the least opposition, until they appeared before Cape François, which being defended by a strong force, and covered by the fleet in the harbour, was saved from the fate which awaited it.

Le Clerc, now shut up in the besieged city of Cape François, was reduced to the greatest extremities, and he began to devise means for evacuating the place, and taking up some position within the Spanish territory; but a strong reinforcement which arrived from France somewhat revived his hopes, although he knew further offensive measures would not be advisable. The city too, from the number of people within its walls, began to exhibit symptoms of a pestilential nature, and the alarm became most distressing; inhabitants and troops alike became martyrs to its ravages, and every thing indicated the most wretched termination of the siege. Beginning therefore to feel the evil consequences of his premature and precipitant as well as nefarious conduct, he began to consult with his officers upon some plan which might have the effect of putting a stop to the further prosecution of the impending struggle: he saw the error he had committed, and it was necessary that he should recover the position he held, before he gave his ill-advised and perfidious orders for the reestablishment of slavery. To accomplish this, the captain-general had recourse again to cunning and delusion, and to every species of trick and artifice which his inventive mind could suggest: but it was a work of no ordinary difficulty to restore confidence, and impress the simple cultivators with an idea of sincerity, after having been guilty of the most atrocious acts of treachery and deceit. Something, however, it was imperative to try, and the usual measure of proclamation was immediately decided upon as likely to produce the desired effect.

This proclamation contains the old specious declaration of “Liberty and Equality to all the inhabitants of Saint Domingo, without regard to colour,” and the most abject apology for his conduct in the late contest, with an assurance that his future intentions were of the most friendly kind, and that he ardently desired to reconcile conflicting opinions, appease internal discord, restore peace to all classes of people, and place the colony in the most flourishing and prosperous condition. In this proclamation a great deal was also said about a constitution that should be acceptable to the people, the basis of which was the old term “Liberty and Equality,” providing however, it appears, for the acceptation of it by the French government, as a measure of precaution.

It may easily be conjectured that such submissive expressions of regard and solicitude for the people would be likely to accomplish the Frenchman’s purpose, and that the negro population, in their rude state of ignorance, would not be able to discover or penetrate into the designs at which he aimed. That this was the case with the proclamation of the captain-general, is most evident, for that class of the people, on its being declared to them by the emissaries of the French that the reestablishment of slavery was not contemplated, and that the French government merely aimed at the sovereignty over the island, became clamourous for arrangements, whilst the cultivators who had encountered much fatigue and inconvenience, and who had been deprived of those comforts which peace and repose presented, were equally anxious for some understanding by which a further prosecution of the war would be avoided. All classes seemed to concur in one point, that the only object for which contention and resistance to the French was justifiable, was the preservation of that liberty which the representatives of the French government declared to them in 1793, and which declaration had been confirmed by the national assembly of France.

This proclamation, issued by Le Clerc on the 25th of April, 1802, confirming, as they conceived, their liberty, they did not consider that there remained further cause for a continuation of the struggle, for the question of sovereignty was not one which gave them any concern.

To the wishes of the great body of the people Toussaint reluctantly submitted, and Dessalines gave his decided opinion that no negotiations should be entered into, except for the purpose of receiving a proposal for the evacuation of the colony by the French forces. Both these chiefs doubted the sincerity of the French general, and believed that his propositions were only intended to cover more vigorous efforts to crush them hereafter. In the mean time Christophe found it prudent, from some symptoms of defection among his troops, to open a negotiation with Le Clerc, and officers were appointed for that purpose, when the former demanded a general amnesty and preservation of his own rank and property, as well as that of all his compatriots: the same to extend also to Toussaint and Dessalines. To this Le Clerc, after some deliberation, but with no good will, acceded, and the arrangements were accordingly concluded.

Toussaint and Dessalines, after having reflected for a short time on their respective situations, and standing almost alone against the prevailing wish of the people, consented to the terms which had been granted to Christophe as a matter both of experiment and expediency, and thus for the present ended the contest, which for the extent of it may have been justly described as the most cruel and sanguinary in the annals of warfare. By this peace the island of St. Domingo is admitted to be under the sovereignty of France.

The peace being concluded, the cultivators and proprietors returned to their homes, and recommenced their labours in the soil, in the pleasing hope of being permitted to remain in the bosom of their families, enjoying all those comforts of which the horrors of war had so long denied them. The three negro chiefs, Toussaint, Dessalines, and Christophe retired to their respective plantations, after having been assured by Le Clerc, with every mark of sincerity, that their persons and property should be held sacred, and that instructions should be transmitted to them, upon which they were to act in their future military commands. In their retreat, however, it appears that Dessalines and Christophe were far from feeling confident of their own safety; they consequently did not slumber in their retirement; and being greatly apprehensive of the consequences of the experiment into which they had been led, they waited, with no little anxiety, the result of it.

Credulous, and relying on the captain-general’s honour, from the confidence which he had inspired, Toussaint thought of little but the enjoyment of repose in the bosom of his family. At his estate in the vicinity of Gonaives, he took up his abode, surrounded by his faithful wife and endearing children (with the exception of his two sons who had been detained as hostages, and of whose fate no intelligence was ever received), there to indulge in the sweets of domestic life, after the toils and the cares of a protracted civil war, in which he had borne the most conspicuous part, and shared in all its extraordinary vicissitudes and all its heart-rending scenes of death and destruction. But his retirement was invaded – the snare was laid for him by the perfidious Le Clerc, and in the moment of sleep, unconscious and unsuspecting, he was surrounded by some troops sent for the purpose, torn from his bed in the dead of night, torn from his faithful wife and beloved children, and hurried on board a frigate, there to remain until preparations were made for sending him to France. It was useless and unavailing to make any resistance, or to exclaim against such treachery and inhumanity: he submitted to his fate, and left it to his countrymen to avenge his wrongs. He only asked for the protection and security of his family, but they became also the objects of suspicion, and were subsequently hurried on board the same vessel with their father. They were all sent to France, and their tragical end became the subject of general horror and indignation throughout Europe. Le Clerc, to soften the barbarity and atrocity of this act, gave it out that Toussaint was plotting against the French, and was aiming, in conjunction with his other officers, to seize the first unguarded moment in which they might be caught, to break the peace, and to renew the combat with redoubled vigour and determination.

Thus terminated the career of Toussaint. His end will ever blacken the pages of French history, and leave such a stain on the character of its government that no lapse of time can efface. History cannot produce a more base and unjustifiable act of violence; and it is to be hoped, for the sake of humanity, its perpetrators will meet with that just execration which so much perfidy and treachery deserves.

CHAPTER VI

The period from the seizure of Toussaint to the final expulsion of the French, by Dessalines, in 1803. – State of cultivation. – Commerce declined – and observations on the population. – Its extent

The dispute between the people of the island and the French had now assumed a different character, for it could no longer be designated a contest between the revolted slaves of a colony and their government, but a civil war, originating in an attempt of oppression on the part of that government, over those inhabitants whom it had thought proper to declare to be, “free and equal before God, and before the republic.” A conflict, I say, emanating from the basest act of duplicity, and from the most unexampled breach of faith and confidence that has been heard of in modern times; a conflict which, in the sequel, proved the destruction of its authors, and the expulsion of the French from all property in St. Domingo. Our minds must be totally divested of all those impressions which the rebellion of the slaves at first created; and we must view the future operations of the contending parties abstractedly, and not as having any connexion with past events.

Whatever might have been the instructions given to the captain-general Le Clerc by his master, that officer seems to have acted with a degree of precipitancy that must be condemned. Had the French ruler been ever so confident in the success of an enterprise as the one in which he had engaged, as a soldier and as a general who had commanded in a series of campaigns, he must have left something to the discretion of the officer whom he had appointed to conduct it, and not have insisted on an implicit obedience to instructions that could only have been given from a vague knowledge of the scene on which such enterprise was to be carried into effect. The success of most offensive operations depends in a great measure on the local information which a commanding officer acquires on his arrival at the point at which such operations are to commence; and a great deal, therefore, must, I imagine, be left to his judgment and discretion, without fettering him with instructions from which he cannot deviate, however injudicious and inefficient they may become, from the local obstacles with which he has to contend. Bonaparte himself, I believe, never acted but as circumstances pointed out, paying but little attention to the directions which, from time to time, he received from the executive government of France. I think it, therefore, not unfair to draw from this the inference that, on sending out his brother-in-law, Le Clerc, to command the expedition to St. Domingo, he vested in him the power to act as circumstances might require, and as prudence and discretion might dictate.

After the outrage which he committed on the unfortunate Toussaint and his family, the captain-general began to deliberate on the organization of a new form of government, and about the end of June, 1802, he issued his regulations for that purpose; but he had forgotten that the treacherous conduct, of which he had so recently been guilty, remained unrevenged, and that the people would not submit to it with impunity, but resort to measures of retaliation until they had satiated themselves for the atrocious deed. These regulations had certainly nothing in them new; they were merely those of Toussaint, re-modelled as it were, but they were prematurely issued, for they only tended to inflame the more, and to hasten that crisis which began to threaten the French cause in the colony.

No sooner was the cruel seizure of Toussaint known, than Dessalines, Christophe, and Clerveaux flew to arms, collected their scattered forces, called the cultivators and others to join their standard, to revenge the outrage committed on their chief, and to defend themselves against the designs of the French general. In a few days, they found themselves at the head of a large body of troops, armed and well equipped, and determined on a most desperate struggle for liberty, and either to expel the French or perish in the attempt. The French troops, on the other hand, were hourly diminishing by various diseases incident to the climate. The officers were dying daily, and others sunk into an irrecoverable despondency; and a disaffected spirit had manifested itself amongst them, through which not only the privates and subaltern officers deserted their standards, but even generals followed the example. The scenes of carnage and destruction which took place are said to have shocked humanity, and the atrocities of the French exceeded so much the executions of their black opponents, that the latter seem to have entitled themselves to the character of being merciful when compared with the tortures inflicted by the former.

The circumstance of the introduction of bloodhounds I have heard spoken of by some who were engaged in the war, and they have all declared that many of the statements of the cruelties said to have been committed by them were unfounded. They were brought it is true, but the blacks were prepared for them; and although in some instances in which they were tried they tore some persons, and absolutely devoured a child or two, yet they were found to be ineffectual for the object for which they were intended, as they were shot in great numbers, so that at last they had but few to use, and those which were left were rendered useless, from the negroes having been always prepared to meet them. I do not mean by this that it at all lessened the enormity of such an act, on the part of the French, because it was not successful; on the contrary, the ferocity of it stands unmitigated, although it proved abortive.

In the plains of the Cape, and in the city, the massacres by the French were beyond the powers of description; and the least that can be said of the conduct of the agents of the French government is, that they must have been bereft of all feelings of humanity, that they were of the worst and most debased of the dregs of the French people, and unworthy to become the associates of even the untutored savage. The latter may plead nature for his savage propensities, but the former has nothing to offer to lessen the magnitude of his crimes, or to efface the recollection of his unheard-of cruelties.