DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70266#0235
ACCOUNT OF TOUSSAINT l/oUVERTURE.
205
Toussaint had no battering artillery; yet he surrounded
the town, made several sharp attacks upon it up to the very
mouths of the cannon, and would certainly have taken the
place, had not the fleet been lying in the harbour. The
French were obliged to land the marines, and 1200 seamen
from the fleet, to raise new batteries, and to haul the ships
close in shore, where their broadsides might play upon the
besiegers. Yet, after all, the place must have yielded to the
intrepid Toussaint and his husbandmen, if General Hardy,
with a grand division of the French army from the south,
had not advanced by forced marches, and thrown himself
into the town. The Captain-general himself was obliged
to follow by sea, quitting all his conquests in the south, after
having marched back all his victorious detachments, from
the interior to the coast.
It is truly wonderful to consider, in how short a time these
great reverses were effected. About the middle of March,
the French were at the summit of their successes and confi-
dence ; yet by the 9th of April, they were reduced to such
extremity, that Leclerc, besieged at the Cape, and hardly
able to maintain himself there, was upon the point of re-
treating by sea, to the Spanish part of the island.
The French general perceiving his error, framed a cunning
proclamation, dated April 25, which was sent into the camp
of the negroes, and to every part of the island. This deceit-
ful production had the desired effect, and early in the month
of May, a peace was concluded with our hero, and all the
generals and troops under his command.
Toussaint had retired to his peaceful family mansion at
Gonaives, which is on the south-west coast of St. Do-
mingo, at a little distance from St. Marcs. He had there a
little estate, which was called by his own surname, L’Ou-
verture, and where he probably hoped long to enjoy that
domestic peace, to which he had been ten years a stranger.
The two promising youths, who had been under the tuition
205
Toussaint had no battering artillery; yet he surrounded
the town, made several sharp attacks upon it up to the very
mouths of the cannon, and would certainly have taken the
place, had not the fleet been lying in the harbour. The
French were obliged to land the marines, and 1200 seamen
from the fleet, to raise new batteries, and to haul the ships
close in shore, where their broadsides might play upon the
besiegers. Yet, after all, the place must have yielded to the
intrepid Toussaint and his husbandmen, if General Hardy,
with a grand division of the French army from the south,
had not advanced by forced marches, and thrown himself
into the town. The Captain-general himself was obliged
to follow by sea, quitting all his conquests in the south, after
having marched back all his victorious detachments, from
the interior to the coast.
It is truly wonderful to consider, in how short a time these
great reverses were effected. About the middle of March,
the French were at the summit of their successes and confi-
dence ; yet by the 9th of April, they were reduced to such
extremity, that Leclerc, besieged at the Cape, and hardly
able to maintain himself there, was upon the point of re-
treating by sea, to the Spanish part of the island.
The French general perceiving his error, framed a cunning
proclamation, dated April 25, which was sent into the camp
of the negroes, and to every part of the island. This deceit-
ful production had the desired effect, and early in the month
of May, a peace was concluded with our hero, and all the
generals and troops under his command.
Toussaint had retired to his peaceful family mansion at
Gonaives, which is on the south-west coast of St. Do-
mingo, at a little distance from St. Marcs. He had there a
little estate, which was called by his own surname, L’Ou-
verture, and where he probably hoped long to enjoy that
domestic peace, to which he had been ten years a stranger.
The two promising youths, who had been under the tuition