_St. Domingo--The Negroes split into parties under different
Chiefs--Toussaint L'Ouverture the most distinguished of
these--Appoints a Consular Government--France sends an Expedition
against St. Domingo, under General Leclerc, in December
1801--Toussaint submits--He is sent to France, where he dies--The
French are assaulted by the Negroes--Leclerc is succeeded by
Rochambeau--The French finally obliged to capitulate to an English
squadron--Buonaparte's scheme to consolidate his power--The
Consular Guard augmented--Legion of Honour--Opposition formed
against the Consular Government--Application to the Count de
Provence (Louis XVIII.)_
When the treaty of Amiens appeared to have restored peace to Europe, one
of Buonaparte's first enterprises was to attempt the recovery of the
French possessions in the large, rich, and valuable colony of St.
Domingo, the disasters of which island form a terrible episode in the
history of the war.
The convulsions of the French Revolution had reached St. Domingo, and,
catching like fire to combustibles, had bred a violent feud between the
white people in the island, and the mulattoes, the latter of whom
demanded to be admitted into the privileges and immunities of the
former; the newly established rights of men, as they alleged, having no
reference to the distinction of colour. While the whites and the people
of colour were thus engaged in a civil war, the negro slaves, the most
oppressed and most numerous class of the population, rose against both
parties, and rendered the whole island one scene of bloodshed and
conflagration. The few planters who remained invited the support of the
British arms, which easily effected a temporary conquest. But the
European soldiery perished so fast through the influence of the climate,
that, in 1798, the English were glad to abandon an island which had
proved the grave of so many of her best and bravest, who had fallen
without a wound, and void of renown.
[Sidenote: TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE.]
The negroes, left to themselves, divided into different parties, who
submitted to the authority of chiefs more or less independent of each
other, many of whom displayed considerable talent. Of these, the
principal leader was Toussaint L'Ouverture, who, after waging war like a
savage, appears to have used the power which victory procured him with
much political skill. Although himself a negro, he had the sagacity to
perceive how important it was for the civilisation of his subjects, that
they should not be deprived of the opportunities of knowledge, and
examples of industry, afforded them by the white people. He, therefore,
protected and encouraged the latter, and established, as an equitable
regulation, that the blacks, now freemen, should nevertheless continue
to labour the plantations of the white colonists, while the produce of
the estate should be divided in certain proportions betwixt the white
proprietor and the sable cultivator.
The least transgressions of these regulations he punished with African
ferocity. On one occasion, a white female, the owner of a plantation,
had been murdered by the negroes by whom it was laboured, and who had
formerly been her slaves. Toussaint marched to the spot at the head of a
party of his horse-guards, collected the negroes belonging to the
plantation, and surrounded them with his black cavalry, who, after a
very brief inquiry, received orders to charge and cut them to pieces; of
which order our informant witnessed the execution. His unrelenting
rigour, joined to his natural sagacity, soon raised Toussaint to the
chief command of the island; and he availed himself of the maritime
peace, to consolidate his authority by establishing a constitution on
the model most lately approved of in France, which being that of the
year Eight, consisted of a consular government. Toussaint failed not, of
course, to assume the supreme government to himself, with power to name
his successor. The whole was a parody on the procedure of Buonaparte,
which, doubtless, the latter was not highly pleased with;[27] for there
are many cases in which an imitation by others, of the conduct we
ourselves have held, is a matter not of compliment, but of the most
severe satire. The constitution of St. Domingo was instantly put in
force, although, with an ostensible deference to France, the sanction of
her Government had been ceremoniously required. It was evident that the
African, though not unwilling to acknowledge some nominal degree of
sovereignty on the part of France, was determined to retain in his own
hands the effective government of the colony. But this in no respect
consisted with the plans of Buonaparte, who was impatient to restore to
France those possessions of which the British naval superiority had so
long deprived her--colonies, shipping, and commerce.[28]
A powerful expedition was fitted out at the harbours of Brest, L'Orient,
and Rochefort, destined to restore St. Domingo in full subjection to the
French empire. The fleet amounted to thirty-four ships bearing forty
guns and upwards, with more than twenty frigates and smaller armed
vessels. They had on board above twenty thousand men, and General
Leclerc, the brother-in-law of the first consul, was named
commander-in-chief of the expedition, having a staff composed of
officers of acknowledged skill and bravery.
It is said that Buonaparte had the art to employ a considerable
proportion of the troops which composed the late army of the Rhine, in
this distant expedition to an insalubrious climate.[29] But he would not
permit it to be supposed, that there was the least danger; and he
exercised an act of family authority on the subject, to prove that such
were his real sentiments. His sister, the beautiful Pauline, afterwards
the wife of Prince Borghese, showed the utmost reluctance to accompany
her present husband, General Leclerc, upon the expedition, and only went
on board when actually compelled to do so by the positive orders of the
first consul, who, although she was his favourite sister, was yet
better contented that she should share the general risk, than, by
remaining behind, leave it to be inferred that he himself augured a
disastrous conclusion to the expedition.
The armament set sail on the 14th of December, 1801, while an English
squadron of observation, uncertain of their purpose, waited upon and
watched their progress to the West Indies. The French fleet presented
themselves before Cape François, on the 29th of January, 1802.
Toussaint, summoned to surrender, seemed at first inclined to come to an
agreement, terrified probably by the great force of the expedition,
which time and the climate could alone afford the negroes any chance of
resisting. A letter was delivered to him from the first consul,
expressing esteem for his person; and General Leclerc offered him the
most favourable terms, together with the situation of
lieutenant-governor. Ultimately, however, Toussaint could not make up
his mind to trust the French, and he determined upon resistance, which
he managed with considerable skill. Nevertheless, the well-concerted
military operations of the whites soon overpowered for the present the
resistance of Toussaint and his followers. Chief after chief
surrendered, and submitted themselves to General Leclerc. At length,
Toussaint L'Ouverture himself seems to have despaired of being able to
make further or more effectual resistance. He made his formal
submission, and received and accepted Leclerc's pardon, under the
condition that he should retire to a plantation at Gonaives, and never
leave it without permission of the commander-in-chief.
[Sidenote: DEATH OF TOUSSAINT.]
The French had not long had possession of the colony, ere they
discovered, or supposed they had discovered, symptoms of a conspiracy
amongst the negroes, and Toussaint was, on very slight grounds, accused
as encouraging a revolt. Under this allegation, the only proof of which
was a letter, capable of an innocent interpretation, the unfortunate
chief was seized upon, with his whole family, and put on board of a
vessel bound to France. Nothing official was ever learned concerning his
fate, farther than that he was imprisoned in the Castle of Joux, in
Franche Compté, where the unhappy African fell a victim to the severity
of an Alpine climate,[30] to which he was unaccustomed, and the
privations of a close confinement. The deed has been often quoted and
referred to as one of the worst actions of Buonaparte, who ought, if not
in justice, in generosity at least, to have had compassion on the man,
whose fortunes bore, in many respects, a strong similarity to his own.
It afforded but too strong a proof, that though humanity was often in
Napoleon's mouth, and sometimes displayed in his actions, yet its maxims
were seldom found sufficient to protect those whom he disliked or
feared, from the fate which tyranny most willingly assigns to its
victims, that of being silently removed from the living world, and
enclosed in their prison as in a tomb, from which no complaints can be
heard, and where they are to await the slow approach of death, like men
who are literally buried alive.
The perfidy with which the French had conducted themselves towards
Toussaint, was visited by early vengeance. That scourge of Europeans,
the yellow fever, broke out among their troops, and in an incredible
short space of time, swept off General Leclerc,[31] with many of his
best officers and bravest soldiers. The negroes, incensed at the conduct
of the governor towards Toussaint, and encouraged by the sickly
condition of the French army, rose upon them in every quarter. A species
of war ensued, of which we are thankful it is not our task to trace the
deplorable and ghastly particulars. The cruelty which was perhaps to be
expected in the savage Africans, just broke loose from the bondage of
slavery, communicated itself to the civilized French. If the former tore
out their prisoners' eyes with cork-screws, the latter drowned their
captives by hundreds, which imitation of Carrier's republican baptism
they called "deportation into the sea." On other occasions, numerous
bodies of negroes were confined in hulks, and there smothered to death
with the fumes of lighted sulphur. The issue of this hellish warfare
was, that the cruelty of the French enraged, instead of terrifying their
savage antagonists; and at length, that the numbers of the former,
diminished by disease and constant skirmishing, became unequal to the
defence even of the garrison towns of the island, much more so to the
task of reconquering it. General Rochambeau, who succeeded Leclerc as
commander-in-chief, was finally obliged to save the poor wreck of that
fine army, by submitting at discretion to an English squadron, 1st
December 1803. Thus was the richest colony in the West Indies finally
lost to France.[32] Remaining entirely in the possession of the black
population, St. Domingo will show, in process of time, how far the
natives of Africa, having European civilisation within their reach, are
capable of forming a state, governed by the usual rules of polity.
[Sidenote: COURT OF THE TUILERIES.]
While Buonaparte made these strong efforts for repossessing France in
this fine colony, it was not to be supposed that he was neglecting the
establishment of his own power upon a more firm basis. His present
situation was--like every other in life--considerably short of what he
could have desired, though so infinitely superior to all that his most
unreasonable wishes could at one time have aspired to. He had all the
real power of royalty, and, since the settlement of his authority for
life, he had daily assumed more of the pomp and circumstance with which
sovereignty is usually invested. The Tuileries were once more surrounded
with guards without, and filled by levees within. The ceremonial of a
court was revived, and Buonaparte, judging of mankind with accuracy,
neglected no minute observance by which the princes of the earth are
wont to enforce their authority. Still there remained much to be done.
He held the sovereignty only in the nature of a life-rent. He could,
indeed, dispose of it by will, but the last wills even of kings have
been frequently set aside; and, at any rate, the privilege comes short
of that belonging to an hereditary crown, which descends, by the right
of blood, from one possessor to another, so that, in one sense, it may
be said to confer on the dynasty a species of immortality. Buonaparte
knew also the virtue of names. The title of chief consul did not
necessarily infer sovereign rights--it might signify every thing, or it
might signify nothing--in common language, it inferred alike one of the
annual executive governors of the Roman Republic, whose _fasces_ swayed
the world, or the petty resident who presides over commercial affairs in
a foreign seaport. There were no precise ideas of power or rights
necessarily and unalienably connected with it. Besides, Buonaparte had
other objections to his present title of dignity. The title of first
consul implied, that there were two others,--far, indeed, from being
co-ordinate with Napoleon, but yet who occupied a higher rank on the
steps of the throne, and approached his person more nearly than he could
have desired. Again, the word reminded the hearer, even by the new mode
of its application, that it belonged to a government of recent
establishment, and of revolutionary origin, and Napoleon did not wish to
present such ideas to the public mind; since that which was but lately
erected might be easily destroyed, and that which last arose out of the
revolutionary cauldron might, like the phantoms which had preceded it,
give place in its turn to an apparition more potent. Policy seemed to
recommend to him, to have recourse to the ancient model which Europe had
been long accustomed to reverence; to adopt the form of government best
known and longest established through the greater part of the world;
and, assuming the title and rights of a monarch, to take his place among
the ancient and recognised authorities of Europe.
It was necessary to proceed with the utmost caution in this innovation,
which, whenever accomplished, must necessarily involve the French people
in the notable inconsistency, of having murdered the descendant of their
old princes, committed a thousand crimes, and suffered under a mass of
misery, merely because they were resolved not to permit the existence of
that crown, which was now to be placed on the head of a soldier of
fortune. Before, therefore, he could venture on this bold measure, in
which, were it but for very shame's sake, he must be certain of great
opposition, Buonaparte endeavoured, by every means in his power, to
strengthen himself in his government.
The army was carefully new-modelled, so as to make it as much as
possible his own; and the French soldiers, who regarded the power of
Buonaparte as the fruit of their own victories, were in general devoted
to his cause, notwithstanding the fame of Moreau, to whom a certain part
of their number still adhered. The consular guard, a highly privileged
body of select forces, was augmented to the number of six thousand men.
These formidable legions, which included troops of every species of
arms, had been gradually formed and increased upon the plan of the corps
of guides which Buonaparte introduced during the first Italian
campaigns, for immediate attendance on his person and for preventing
such accidents as once or twice had like to have befallen him, by
unexpected encounters with flying parties of the enemy. But the guards,
as now increased in numbers, had a duty much more extended. They were
chosen men, taught to consider themselves as superior to the rest of the
army, and enjoying advantages in pay and privileges. When the other
troops were subject to privations, care was taken that the guards should
experience as little of them as possible, and that by every possible
exertion they should be kept in the highest degree of readiness for
action. They were only employed upon service of the utmost importance,
and seldom in the beginning of an engagement, when they remained in
reserve under the eye of Napoleon himself. It was usually by means of
his guard that the final and decisive exertion was made which marked
Buonaparte's tactics, and so often achieved victory at the very crisis
when it seemed inclining to the enemy. Regarding themselves as
considerably superior to the other soldiers, and accustomed also to be
under Napoleon's immediate command, his guards were devotedly attached
to him; and a body of troops of such high character might be considered
as a formidable bulwark around the throne which he meditated ascending.
[Sidenote: LEGION OF HONOUR.]
The attachment of these chosen legions, and of his soldiers in general,
formed the foundation of Buonaparte's power, who, of all sovereigns that
ever mounted to authority, might be said to reign by dint of victory and
of his sword. But he surrounded himself by another species of partisans.
The Legion of Honour was destined to form a distinct and particular
class of privileged individuals, whom, by honours and bounties bestowed
on them, he resolved to bind to his own interest.
This institution, which attained considerable political importance,
originated in the custom which Napoleon had early introduced, of
conferring on soldiers, of whatever rank, a sword, fusee, or other
military weapon, in the name of the state, as acknowledging and
commemorating some act of peculiar gallantry. The influence of such
public rewards was of course very great. They encouraged those who had
received them to make every effort to preserve the character which they
had thus gained, while they awakened the emulation of hundreds and
thousands who desired similar marks of distinction. Buonaparte now
formed the project of embodying the persons who had merited such rewards
into an association, similar in many respects to those orders, or
brotherhoods of chivalry, with which, during the middle ages, the feudal
sovereigns of Europe surrounded themselves, and which subsist to this
day, though in a changed and modified form. These, however, have been
uniformly created on the feudal principles, and the honour they confer
limited, or supposed to be limited, to persons of some rank and
condition: but the scheme of Buonaparte was to extend this species of
honourable distinction through all ranks, in the quality proper to each,
as medals to be distributed among various classes of the community are
struck upon metals of different value, but are all stamped with the same
dye.[33] The outlines of the institution were these:--
The Legion of Honour was to consist of a great council of administration
and fifteen cohorts, each of which was to have its own separate
headquarters, in some distinguished town of the Republic. The council of
administration was to consist of the three consuls, and four other
members; a senator, namely, a member of the Legislative Body, a member
of the Tribunate, and one of the Council of State, each to be chosen by
the body to which he belonged. The order might be acquired by
distinguished merit, either of a civil or a military nature; and various
rules were laid down for the mode of selecting the members. The first
consul was, in right of his office, captain-general of the legion, and
president of the council of administration. Every cohort was to consist
of seven grand officers, twenty commanders, thirty subaltern officers,
and three hundred and fifty legionaries. Their nomination was for life,
and their appointments considerable. The grand officers enjoyed a yearly
pension of 5000 francs; the commanders, 2500; the officers, 1000 francs;
the privates, or legionaries, 250. They were to swear upon their honour
to defend the government of France, and maintain the inviolability of
her empire; to combat, by every lawful means, against the
re-establishment of the feudal institutions; and to concur in
maintaining the principles of liberty and equality.
Notwithstanding these last words, containing, when properly understood,
the highest political and moral truth, but employed in France originally
to cover the most abominable cruelties, and used more lately as mere
words of course, the friends of liberty were not to be blinded,
regarding the purpose of this new institution. Their number was now much
limited; but amidst their weakness they had listened to the lessons of
prudence and experience, and abandoning these high-swoln, illusory, and
absurd pretensions, which had created such general disturbance, seem to
have set themselves seriously, and at the same time moderately to work,
to protect the cause of practical and useful freedom, by such resistance
as the constitution still permitted them to offer, by means of the
Tribunate and the Legislative Body.
[Sidenote: OPPOSITION TO THE GOVERNMENT.]
Among the statesmen who associated to form an Opposition, which, on the
principle of the constitutional Opposition of England, were to act
towards the executive government rather as to an erring friend, whom
they desired to put right, than as an enemy, whom they meant to destroy,
were Benjamin Constant, early distinguished by talent and eloquence,
Chenier, author of the hymn of the Marseilloise, Savoye-Rollin,
Chauvelin, and others, among whose names that of Carnot was most
distinguished. These statesmen had learned apparently, that it is better
in human affairs to aim at that minor degree of good which is
practicable, than to aspire to a perfection which is unattainable. In
the opinion of most of them, the government of Buonaparte was a
necessary evil, without which, or something of the same strength, to
control the factions by which she was torn to pieces, France must have
continued to be a prey to a succession of such anarchical governments as
had already almost ruined her. They, therefore, entertained none of the
usual views of conspirators. They considered the country as in the
condition of a wounded warrior, compelled for a short time to lay aside
her privileges, as he his armour; but they hoped, when France had
renewed her strength and spirit by an interval of repose, they might see
her, under better auspices than before, renew and assert her claims to
be free from military law. Meantime, they held it their duty,
professing, at the same time, the highest respect to the government and
its head, the first consul, to keep alive as far as was permitted the
spirit of the country, and oppose the encroachments of its ruler. They
were not long allowed to follow the practical and useful path which they
had sketched out; but the French debates were never so decently or
respectably conducted as during this period.
The opposition, as they may be called, had not objected to the
reappointment of Buonaparte to the Consulate for life. Probably they
were reluctant to have the appearance of giving him personal offence,
were aware they would be too feebly supported, and were sensible, that
struggling for a point which could not be attained, was unlikely to lead
to any good practical results. The institution of the Legion of Honour
offered a better chance to try their new opposition tactics.
Rœderer, the orator by whom the measure was proposed to the
Tribunate, endeavoured to place it in the most favourable light. It was
founded, he said, upon the eighty-seventh article of the Constitutional
Declaration, which provided that national recompenses should be
conferred on those soldiers who had distinguished themselves in their
country's service. He represented the proposed order as a moral
institution, calculated to raise to the highest the patriotism and
gallantry of the French people. It was a coin, he said, of a value
different from, and far more precious than that which was issued from
the treasury--a treasure of a quality which could not be debased, and of
a quantity which was inexhaustible, since the mine consisted in the
national sense of honour.
To this specious argument, it was replied by Rollin and others, that the
law was of a nature dangerous to public liberty. It was an abuse, they
said, of the constitutional article, on which it was alleged to be
founded, since it exhausted at once, by the creation of a numerous
corps, the stock of rewards which the article referred to held in frugal
reserve, to recompense great actions as they should occur. If everything
was given to remunerate merits which had been already ascertained, what
stock, it was asked, remained for compensating future actions of
gallantry, excepting the chance of a tardy admission into the corps as
vacancies should occur? But especially it was pleaded, that the
establishment of a military body, distinguished by high privileges and
considerable pay, yet distinct and differing from all the other national
forces, was a direct violation of the sacred principles of equality.
Some reprobated the intermixture of the civil officers of the state in a
military institution. Others were of opinion that the oath proposed to
be taken was superfluous, if not ridiculous; since, how could the
members of the Legion of Honour be more bound to serve the state, or
watch over the constitution, than any other citizens; or, in what manner
was it proposed they should exert themselves for that purpose? Other
arguments were urged; but that which all felt to be the most cogent, was
rather understood than even hinted at. This was the immense additional
strength which the first consul must attain, by having at his command
the distribution of the new honours, and being thus enabled to form a
body of satellites entirely dependent upon himself, and carefully
selected from the bravest and ablest within the realm.
The institution of the Legion of Honour was at length carried in the
Tribunate, by a majority of fifty-six voices over thirty-eight, and
sanctioned in the Legislative Body by one hundred and sixty-six over an
hundred and ten. The strong divisions of the opposition on this trying
question, showed high spirit in those who composed that party; but they
were placed in a situation so insulated and separated from the public,
so utterly deprived of all constitutional guarantees for the protection
of freedom, that their resistance, however honourable to themselves, was
totally ineffectual, and without advantage to the nation.[34]
[Sidenote: PROPOSITION TO LOUIS XVIII.]
Meanwhile, Buonaparte was deeply engaged in intrigues of a different
character, by means of which he hoped to place the sovereign authority
which he had acquired, on a footing less anomalous, and more
corresponding with that of the other monarchs in Europe, than it was at
present. For this purpose an overture was made by the Prussian minister
Haugwitz, through the medium of M. de Meyer, President of the Regency of
Warsaw, proposing to the Comte de Provence (since Louis XVIII.,) that he
should resign his rights to the crown of France to the successful
general who occupied the throne, in which case the exiled princes were
to be invested with dominions in Italy, and restored to a brilliant
existence. The answer of Louis was marked at once by moderation, sense,
and that firmness of character which corresponded with his illustrious
birth and high pretensions. "I do not confound Monsieur Buonaparte,"
said the exiled monarch, "with those who have preceded him; I esteem his
bravery and military talents; I owe him good-will for many acts of his
government, for the good which is done to my people I will always esteem
done to me. But he is mistaken if he thinks that my rights can be made
the subjects of bargain and composition. The very step he is now
adopting would go to establish them, could they be otherwise called in
question. I know not what may be the designs of God for myself and my
family, but I am not ignorant of the duties imposed on me by the rank in
which it was his pleasure I should be born. As a Christian, I will
fulfil those duties to my last breath. As a descendant of Saint Louis, I
will know by his example how to respect myself, even were I in fetters.
As the successor of Francis the First, I will at least have it to say
with him, 'We have lost all excepting our honour!'"
Such is the account which has been uniformly given by the Princes of the
House of Bourbon, concerning this communication, which is said to have
taken place on the 26th February, 1803.[35] Buonaparte has, indeed,
denied that he was accessory to any such transaction, and has said truly
enough, that an endeavour to acquire an interest in the Bourbon's title
by compromise, would have been an admission on his part that his own,
flowing, as he alleged, from the people, was imperfect, and needed
repairs. Therefore, he denied having taken any step which could, in its
consequences, have inferred such an admission.
But, in the first place, it is not to be supposed that such a treaty
would have been published by the Bourbon family, unless it had been
proposed by Meyer; and it is equally unlikely that either Haugwitz or
Meyer would have ventured on such a negotiation, excepting at the
instigation of Buonaparte, who alone could make good the terms proposed
on the one side, or derive advantage from the concessions stipulated on
the other. Secondly, without stopping to inquire how far the title which
Buonaparte pretended to the supreme authority, was of a character
incapable of being improved by a cession of the Comte de Provence's
rights in his favour, it would still have continued an object of great
political consequence to have obtained a surrender of the claims of the
House of Bourbon, which were even yet acknowledged by a very
considerable party within the kingdom. It was, therefore, worth while to
venture upon a negotiation which might have had the most important
results, although, when it proved fruitless, we can see strong reasons
for Napoleon concealing and disowning his accession to a step, which
might be construed as implying some sense of deficiency of his own
title, and some degree of recognition of that of the exiled prince.
It may be remarked, that, up to this period, Napoleon had manifested no
particular spleen towards the family of Bourbon. On the contrary, he had
treated their followers with lenity, and spoken with decency of their
own claims. But the rejection of the treaty with _Monsieur_ Buonaparte,
however moderately worded, has been reasonably supposed to have had a
deep effect on his mind, and may have been one remote cause of a
tragedy, for which it is impossible to find an adequate one--the murder,
namely, of the Duke d'Enghien. But, before we approach this melancholy
part of Napoleon's history, it is proper to trace the events which
succeeded the renewal of the war.
FOOTNOTES:
[27] "To give an idea of the indignation which the first consul must
have felt, it may suffice to mention, that Toussaint not only assumed
authority over the colony during his life, but invested himself with the
right of naming his successor; and pretended to hold his authority, not
from the mother-country, but from a _soi-disant_ colonial assembly which
he had created."--NAPOLEON, _Montholon_, tom. i., p. 203.
[28] "The party of the colonists was very powerful in Paris: public
opinion required the possession of St. Domingo. On the other hand, the
first consul was not sorry to dissipate the apprehensions of the
English, by sending 15,000 men to St. Domingo. These 15,000 men would
have succeeded, had it not been for the yellow fever. If Toussaint,
Dessalines, and Christophe had chosen to submit, they would have secured
their liberty, rank, and fortune, as well as those of the people of
their colour; the freedom of the blacks would have been securely
confirmed."--NAPOLEON, _Montholon_, tom. ii., p. 218.
[29] "The first consul ardently seized the happy opportunity of sending
away a great number of officers, formed in the school of Moreau, whose
reputation pained him, and whose influence with the army, if not a
subject of alarm, was at least to him one of restraint and inquietude.
'Well,' said Buonaparte to me one day, 'your Jacobins malignantly say,
that they are the soldiers and friends of Moreau whom I am sending to
perish at St. Domingo; they are grumbling maniacs; let them talk
on.'"--FOUCHÉ, tom. i., p. 217.
[30] Anxiety, age, and a climate too severe for his constitution, soon
put an end to his days. He died on April 27, 1803, after a captivity of
ten months. His mysterious fate excited great interest--witness the
noble sonnet of Wordsworth:--
"TOUSSAINT! the most unhappy man of men!
Whether the all-cheering sun be free to shed
His beams around thee, or thou rest thy head
Pillow'd in some dark dungeon's noisome den--
O, 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."
[31] "Leclerc was an officer of the first merit, equally skilful in the
labours of the cabinet and in the manœuvres of the field of battle:
he had served in the campaigns of 1796 and 1797 as adjutant-general to
Napoleon; and in that of 1799 as a general of division under Moreau. He
commanded at the battle of Freisingen, where he defeated the Archduke
Ferdinand; he led into Spain an army of observation, of 20,000 men,
intended to act against Portugal; finally, in this expedition of St.
Domingo, he displayed great talent and activity."--NAPOLEON, tom. i., p.
211.
[32] "I have to reproach myself with the attempt made upon the colony
during the Consulship. The design of reducing it by force was a great
error. I ought to have been satisfied with governing it through the
medium of Toussaint."--NAPOLEON, _Las Cases_, tom. iv., p. 171.
[33] "If the Legion of Honour were not the recompense of _civil_ as well
as _military_ services, it would cease to be the _Legion of Honour_. It
would be a strange piece of presumption, indeed, in the military to
pretend that honours should be paid to them only. Soldiers who knew not
how to read or write, were proud of bearing, in recompense for the blood
they had shed, the same decoration as was given to distinguished talents
in civil life; and, on the other hand, the latter attached a greater
value to this reward of their labours, because it was the decoration of
the brave. The Legion of Honour was the property of every one who was an
honour to his country, stood at the head of his profession, and
contributed to the national prosperity and glory."--NAPOLEON,
_Montholon_, tom. ii., p. 145.
[34] Montgaillard, tom. v., p. 573.
[35] Montgaillard, tom. v., p. 5.