Miscellany

The French, having bv bribery obtained the defection of the leading nrgro chieftain, and by power compelled Touissant to nbnndon tho contest, look possession of the whole island, and for n time ef undisturbed the eminently wise government which Touissant had eslnblislied, and ur.der nhich the island had been rapidly advancing in wealth and genera] prosperity. It was thonght prudent gradually to re-rivet the fetters of slaveryvupon thoselimbs which had for a few short months exulted in the delights of freedom. Siill, it wns knnwn thal a smothered volcano of indignation atid despair was henving benenth their iniquitous usjrpatioB, nnd that the slaves would embrace the first opportunity to regair. that freedom for which they had already so profusely bied. Napoleon, therefore, who was never deficiënt in sagacity, thought it expedient to remove from the island all the prominent chieftains, that in the event ot another rising the blacks should have no individual of note to !ead them. In accordance with this plan, Le Clerc received directions from Napoleon to confer upon all the negro chiefs the same rank in the French army, which they had held in their own, and to send them to France to be employed in the grent slruggle which wasthen agitating Europe. Vo flattery or bribes, however, could draw Touissant from the profound retirement of hts farm at Ennery. There, mourning over the prostrated hopes of his mee, and surroutided by his own peculiary uffectionate fumüy nnd his fuithful servnn;s, he tried lo forget his griefs in the culture of the eoi!. Two moiiths rnpidly passed away.w'nen the yellow fever b ke out in grent violencein the crowded eneampments of the French ; and befo re Ihis foc, more resistless than bulléis or bnyonets, they feil by ihousands. Hope again begati to revive in the bosoms of the blacks, and more and more disiincl'y 'hroughout the isl.ind were manilfsted the indications of discontent. The French, who had been fighiing the botiles of Freedom in Europe, and of Slavery in St. Domingo, made cowards by a guiltv conscienee, dreaded the uprisingof au avenging arm. Touissant was the man whotn above all men they feared ; and they resolved by some means to remove him from the island, where his nfluence was boundless. A letter which he had written to one of his friends was intpreepted, in which, alluding to the ravages of the yellow fever, he says, "at length Providence has come to our succor." Eagerlv ihis expression was seized upon as cvidence of trensnn against the governtrent of France. Though he was quietly residing on his estáte, in the faith of the most solemn treaty, hs was perfiriiously arrested, under an invitalion of professed hosiiitality to visit the French Gmeral, and was sent a prisoner to France. In a drenry defile of the Jura mountains, between Fi'ance and Swilzerland, there is situated the costellated fortressof of Joux. lis gloomy towers nnd battlctnents, fromtheir rocky elevntion?, frown down upon one of the wiïdest scènes of nature. Ilere, in a cold, wet, subterrnnean dungeon, this noble man Im'guished for a íw months of woe, and died ; leaving the stigma of eternal infamy upon the gnvernment which could thus destroy one of the greutest nnd the best of the human race. Touissant was a man of the utmost purity of moráis, and probably of sincere piety. Tho treatment he received roused nn universal cry of inc'ignntion throughout Europe against the French Government ; and not a few make pilgriinages of veneration to the interesting scène of his imprisonment and death. His memory hallows the spot, and the lapse of time will but give additiona! lustre to his name. VVhüe such events were in progress, it was increasingly eident ihat the slanders, though conquered, were not subdued. The inhuman re-establishment ol slavery in Guadaloupe, where [he slaves had also by a successful insurrection thrown oiï their chains, and the barbarous murder of twplve hundred of the noblest of the A frican race, by deliberutely drowning them, sent a thrill ot" rage and despair throughout the whole length and breadth of St. Do:ningo. The spirit of insurrection was every where manifested, and the French, with merciless cruelty, in vain attempted to extinguish it in blood. Simultaneously, insinctively.alinost without conceit, on eery hill-side and in every valley, the islanders ngain arose, and thnugh without leaders and without arms, hurled themselves upon the execrated invaders. The 6nthusiasm became universal, and the slaves. in the frenzy of their determinaiion to relinquish life rather than liben, almost crurted death in :he conflict. Christophe, Üessaünes, Clervaux and nlhers of the Africnn Generala who had joined the French arrnie-, but wlio !ind nut ns yet been removed to France, animated by the ünexpected change in afiairs, again joined their brelhren in the froni of battle, in the struggle for freedom. The change in the prospecta of ihe two parties wns truly a great one. The ravages of wnr artd of ihe yellow fever, i a lew months, reduced apparently irresistible iiosts which had invaded the island, to fifteen thousand men. Of these, five ihousand were in the hospitals, and they were dying at ihe rate of several hundrpds a dny. It wns indeed apparent, to use the lnngunge of Touissant, "lh;it Providence had at length come to iheir aid." Of nenrly forty thousand troops who had landed on the islnnd, on ihe infnmous mission of perpetuating slavery, buteighi thousand remained capab'e of hearing arms. New hope inspired the bosoms of the Haytiens. They feit that God had come as their ally in their heroic struggle. Le Clerc was compelled to concpntrate his forces, anJ retire before the foes who, flushed with hope, were swarming around him. And as he wns rapidly retreatirgto Cape Town, assailed on every point by the islanders, he was seized by ihe yellow fever, and the victim of disappoinlment, mortification and remorse, soon died. His best officers had alreaJy fallen before the pestilence, and were reposing around him in the silence of the grave. The army was now plunged in the deepest si ate of dejection. Rochambeau, amnn of great energy, but of merciless cruelty, assumed the cornmand, and by deeds of violence and lIood, exasperaled, instead of intimidating, these humble, vet bold advocates of human rights. The mulaüoes., whom Le Clerc liad conciünted, roused by acts of oppression on the part of Rochambeau, now unitfd, heart and soul, with their more sables brethren. Animated by si.cces.-i, Chrisiophe nnd Dessalincs, on the night of the 17th of February, 1803, venturrd upon the bold enterprise of a midoight atlack upon the French within ihedefensesof Cape Town. They succeeded in (Japturing Fort Belair, anl all ihe garrison were put to the sword. And it was only by the most desperaie eff rls on the part of ihe French Öeneral and his dwindling troops, that tlie attack on the body or the town wns repelled. A reinforcement of 1,200 fresh Iroops arriVed fromFrnnce, and with tliis new force the French ventured from beliind their entrenchmenls, lo repel Iheir be-e.gers. Tho islanders were prepared to receive ihem, nnd wilh heroic courng? they fought and conquered. The French Were routed with great slaughter, and driven back behind their walls. Just nl this time there was a roptureof ihe treaty of Amiens, and hostilitie were p-enewed belween FranCe nnd EnglanH. TheBritisli Cruisersimmediately sUiplied the is!anders with nrms nnd ammunilion, and ihey pressed upon the invaderswiih resistless energy. The Cause of the Freneh was now hopeless. Their dying army was now stiuggling for existence, in Port au Pnnce and Cape Town, beseiged by the viclorioUs insurgents. Lavalette, who had coinmand of the forces of the French in Port nu Prince, was com pelled 10 capilula'e to Dessalines, and surrendering his sword to the African chieftain, succeeded in eluding lh British cruisers, and escapedj overWhelmed with merited shame, to Havana. Rochnmbeau mainlained himself for some Urne in Cape Town, wilh Ihe most determined hravery; bul cut off from all supplies by land and sea, he also was obliged to surrender nt discretion, and was carried with his discomfitted tronps, as prisoners of war to Jamaica. The Viscount of Noailles,who re mained, with the last litlle fragment of I this onco-iinposing army, upon the island, endeavorcd to escape the vigilance of the English cruisers under Cahe colors, but a. tempest drove him upon the rocks of Cuba, and in the battle of ihe elf menls, and overwhelmed by ihe thunders of heaven's artillery, he and his party perishod ; "as if it had been ordained Ihat no part of that ill-faied expedition should escape 'Jestruction," Such was the termination of this most infamous attempt to rivet the chains of slavery upon those who only demanded their inaliemble uiith right. It is seldom that history has recorded so disastrous au issue of an enterprise, commenced with such power, and pursued with such energy. Of the mighty host which Failed from the harbor of Toulon so triuniphanlly and confider.tly, for the subjugaiion of the islnnd, hardly seven thousend ever regained their native land. It is difficull for any one lo refrain from sympathising with the heroic Pander?, in their struggle for liberly. I had rathrr die thnn bc a slave," is a noble sentiment, by whoinsoever t may be uttered. And f the soldirrs of France were asharned of their degrading Pmployrnent in fighting the baitlesof slavery, vb&t will be the emotions n thu bosoms of the freemeh of America, when ihey sliall be called to soil their hands in the attempt to re-rivet the chains of the bondman. It will be well for our country to foree'e the ei!, and to transform cnemies into friends, by conferring thnt right which, socner or later, if withheld, will be demanded amidst the most fearful scènes of conflagra tion and blood.