A few words more, and the life is told. The deed of treachery
vibrated through the island. Charles Bellair and Sanssouci
at once seized their arms and headed the risings, but these
were not universal. The negroes were astounded; they wanted
leaders:—Christophe and Dessalines were yet loyal to the French,
but the insurrection spread surely and certainly, and other
leaders appeared; treachery produced fear—fear cruelty—cruelty
revenge—revenge horror!—The ravages of the fever were now excelled
by the ravages of the war—Charles Bellair and his heroic wife were
betrayed and shot by black troops, forced to the deed. Maurepas, one
of the first to join the French, was suspected, seized:—epaulettes
were spiked to his shoulders; he was mocked, his wife and children
were tortured and thrown to the sharks before his eyes—death was the
end of all.
Slavery had been reëstablished in Guadaloupe. A shipload of
refractories was brought to St. Domingo and sold; and Le Clerc
had published an order, directing the proprietors to resume their
authority over their slaves.[65] These things produced their proper
results: Petion left the French, Clervaux followed, then Christophe,
then Dessalines.
In the night of Nov. 1, 1802, died General Le Clerc, in fever and
agony; regrets could not deliver his soul. Rochambeau succeeded to
the command of a debauched and demoralized army, and an exasperated
colony. He believed only in fear and terror[66]—and he tried them,
with due consequences. What were they?—Desperation. Before the end
of the year 1803[67] he was forced to eat the blood-hounds which had
been brought from Cuba to hunt the blacks, and he and his fragments
of troops were driven into the sea to become the prey of English
cruisers.
On the 22d of Nov., 1803, Christophe, Dessalines and Clervaux
proclaimed the independence of St. Domingo, and restored its name of
Hayti.
French dominion and negro slavery were ended in the beautiful island,
though the fear of them distracted it till 1820. General Buonaparte
could not reëstablish it, and General Pierce, formerly of New
Hampshire, now of Washington and hereafter of Alabama, will probably
fail.