Toussaint L'Ouverture:
A Biography and Autobiography:
Electronic Edition.

Beard, J. R. (John Relly), 1800-1876

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CONTENTS

BOOK I

FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY IN HAYTI TO THE FULL ESTABLISHMENT OF TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE'S POWER.

  • CHAPTER I
    Description of Hayti--Its name, mountains, rivers, climate, productions, and chief cities and towns . . . . .

  • CHAPTER II
    Columbus discovers Hayti--Under his successors, the Spanish colony extirpate the natives--The Buccaneers lay in the West the basis of the French colony--Its growth and prosperity . . . . .

  • CHAPTER III
    The diverse elements of the population of Hayti--The blacks, the whites, the mulattoes; immorality and servitude . . . . .

  • CHAPTER IV
    Family, birth, and education of Toussaint L'Ouverture--His promotions in servitude--His marriage--Reads Raynal, and begins to think himself the providentially-appointed liberator of his oppressed brethren . . . . .

  • CHAPTER V
    Immediate causes of the rising of the blacks--Dissensions of the planters--Spread of anti-slavery opinions in Europe--The outbreak of the first French Revolution--Mulatto war--Negro insurrection--Toussaint protects his master and mistress, and their property . . . . .

  • CHAPTER VI
    Continued collision of the planters, the mulattoes, and the negroes--The planters willing to receive English aid--The negroes espouse the cause of Louis XVI.--Arrival of Commissioners from France--Negotiations--Resumption of hostilities--Toussaint gains influence . . . . .

  • CHAPTER VII
    France equalizes mulattoes and negroes with the whites--The decapitation of Louis XVI. throws the negroes into the arms of Spain--They are afraid of the Revolutionary Republicans--Strife of French political parties in Hayti--Conflagration of the Cape--Proclamation of liberty for the negroes produces little effect--Toussaint captures Dondon--Commemoration of the fall of the Bastille--Displeasure of the planters--Rigaud . . . . .

  • CHAPTER VIII
    Toussaint becomes master of a central post--Is not seduced by offers of negro emancipation, nor of bribes to himself--Repels the English, who invade the island; adds L'Ouverture to his name; abandons the Spaniards, and seeks freedom through French alliance . . . . .

  • CHAPTER IX
    Toussaint defeats the Spanish partisans--By extraordinary exertions, raises and disciplines troops, forms armies, lays out campaigns, executes the most daring exploits, and defeats the English, who evacuate the island--Toussaint is Commander-in-chief . . . . .

  • CHAPTER X
    Toussaint L'Ouverture composes agitation, and brings back prosperity--Is opposed by the Commissioner, Hédouville, who flies to France--Appeals, in self-justification, to the Directory in Paris . . . . .

  • CHAPTER XI
    Civil war in the South between Toussaint L'Ouverture and Rigaud--Siege and Capture of Jacmel . . . . .

  • CHAPTER XII
    Toussaint endeavors to suppress the slave-trade in Santo-Domingo, and thereby incurs the displeasure of Roume, the representative of France--He overcomes Rigaud--Bonaparte, now First Consul, sends Commissioners to the island--End of the war in the South . . . . .

  • CHAPTER XIII
    Toussaint L'Ouverture inaugurates a better future--Publishes a general amnesty--Declares his task accomplished in putting an end to civil strife, and establishing peace on a sound basis--Takes possession of Spanish Hayti, and stops the slave-trade--Welcomes back the old colonists--Restores agriculture--Recalls prosperity--Studies personal appearance on public occasions--Simplicity of his life and manners--His audiences and receptions--Is held in general respect . . . . .

  • CHAPTER XIV
    Toussaint L'Ouverture takes measures for the perpetuation of the happy condition of Hayti, specially by publishing the draft of a Constitution in which he is named governor for life, and the great doctrine of Free-trade is explicitly proclaimed. . . . . .

BOOK II

FROM THE FITTING OUT OF THE EXPEDITION BY BONAPARTE AGAINST SAINT DOMINGO TO THE SUBMISSION OF TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE.

  • CHAPTER I
    Peace of Amiens--Bonaparte contemplates the subjugation of Saint Domingo, and the restoration of slavery--Excitement caused by report to that effect in the island--Views of Toussaint L'Ouverture on the point. . . . . .

  • CHAPTER II
    Bonaparte cannot be turned from undertaking an expedition against Toussaint--Resolves on the enterprise in order chiefly to get rid of his republican associates in arms--Restores slavery and the slave-trade--Excepts Hayti from the decree--Misleads Toussaint's sons--Despatches an armament under Leclerc . . . . .

  • CHAPTER III
    Leclerc obtains possession of the chief positions in the island, and yet is not master thereof--By arms and by treachery he establishes himself at the Cape, at Fort Dauphin, at Saint Domingo, and at Port-au-Prince--Toussaint L'Ouverture depends on his mountain strongholds . . . . .

  • CHAPTER IV
    General Leclerc opens a negotiation with Toussaint L'Ouverture by means of his two sons, Isaac and Placide--The negotiation ends in nothing--The French Commander-in-chief outlaws Toussaint, and prepares for a campaign . . . . .

  • CHAPTER V
    General Leclerc advances against Toussaint with 25,000 men in three divisions, intending to overwhelm him near Gonaïves--The plan is disconcerted by a check given by Toussaint to General Rochambeau in the Ravine Couleuvre. . . . . .

  • CHAPTER VI
    Toussaint L'Ouverture prepares Crête-à-Pierrot as a point of resistance against Leclerc, who, mustering his forces, besieges the redoubt, which, after the bravest defence, is evacuated by the blacks . . . . .

  • CHAPTER VII
    Shattered condition of the French army--Dark prospects of Toussaint--Leclerc opens negotiations for peace--Wins over Christophe and Dessalines--Offers to recognize Toussaint as Governor-General--Receives his submission on condition of preserving universal freedom--L'Ouverture in the quiet of his home . . . . .

BOOK III

FROM THE RAVAGES OF THE YELLOW FEVER IN HAYTI UNTIL THE DEPOSITION AND DEATH OF ITS LIBERATOR.

  • CHAPTER I
    Leclerc's uneasy position in Saint Domingo from insufficiency of food, from the existence in his army of large bodies of blacks, and especially from a most destructive fever . . . . .

  • CHAPTER II
    Bonaparte and Leclerc conspire to effect the arrest of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who is treacherously seized, sent to France, and confined in the Chateau de Joux; partial risings in consequence. . . . . .

  • CHAPTER III
    Leclerc tries to rule by creating jealousy and division--Ill-treats the men of color--Disarms the blacks--An insurrection ensues, and gains head, until it wrests from the violent hands of the General nearly all his possessions--Leclerc dies--Bonaparte resolves to send a new army to Saint Domingo . . . . .

  • CHAPTER IV
    Rochambeau assumes the command--His character--Voluptuousness, tyranny, and cruelty--Receives large reinforcements--Institutes a system of terror--The insurrection becomes general and irresistible--The French are driven out of the island . . . . .

  • CHAPTER V
    Toussaint L'Ouverture, a prisoner in the Jura Mountains, appeals in vain to the First Consul, who brings about his death by starvation--Outline of his career and character. (The end of Dr. Beard's Biography) . . . . .

BOOK IV

  • Memoir of the Life of General Toussaint L'Ouverture, written by himself, in the Chateau de Joux, in a letter to Napoleon Bonaparte . . . . .

NOTES AND TESTIMONIES.

  • I. Proclamation by King Christophe . . . . .

  • II. Note by Harriet Martineau, including a description of a visit to the Chateau de Joux, and the Sonnet on Toussaint L'Ouverture by Wordsworth . . . . .

  • III. A visit to the Chateau de Joux by John Bigelow, containing interesting documentary evidence relative to Toussaint's imprisonment therein . . . . .

  • IV. The Poem on Toussaint L'Ouverture by John Greenleaf Whittier . . . . .

  • V. Peroration of Wendell Phillip's Oration on Toussaint L'Ouverture . . . . .

ILLUSTRATIONS.