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Toussaint Louverture, In the Name of Dignity. A Look at the Trajectory of the Precursor of Independence of Haiti

Salim Lamrani
Cet article est une traduction de :
Toussaint Louverture, au nom de la dignité. Regard sur la trajectoire du précurseur de l’indépendance d’Haïti [fr]
Autre(s) traduction(s) de cet article :
Toussaint Louverture, en nombre de la dignidad. Mirada sobre la historia del precursor de la independencia de Haití [es]

Résumés

Né esclave, Toussaint Louverture, après avoir conquis son affranchissement, mena la révolte des siens contre l’oppression des chaînes et la violence coloniale de l’Empire français, réaffirmant par la voie des armes le droit inaliénable des humains à la liberté. Ralliant l’appel de la Révolution française, il libéra Saint-Domingue de la présence espagnole et anglaise et offrit à son peuple une constitution de progrès. Trahi par l’Empereur Bonaparte qui faillit à sa parole, et refusa d’accepter le cours de l’histoire, Louverture fut embastillé dans une sombre geôle du Jura où il acheva son existence dédiée à la sauvegarde de la dignité des humbles. Il légua néanmoins au continent nouveau l’exemple de l’émancipation acquise par la lutte, faisant d’Haïti la première nation indépendante d’Amérique latine.

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Texte intégral

Introduction

  • 1 Max Gallo, Les Romains : Spartacus, la révolte des esclaves, Paris, Fayard, 2006.

1Since Spartacus’s revolt in 73 BC against the oppression of slavery in ancient Rome, no enslaved people had successfully risen against the yoke of chains. In 1791, Toussaint Louverture, faithful to the principle according to which the natural rights of human beings were inalienable, took up the torch of the struggle for emancipation, just like the legendary Roman gladiator, thus claiming black people’s right to freedom.1

2The insurgency of the exploited broke the chains of colonial enslavement and paved the way for the independence of Haiti, the first New World nation to win its freedom. The decisive influence of Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian people in the independence of Latin America is still not fully appreciated. The black slaves of Santo Domingo, by waging a bitter struggle against the French oppressors, showed the path of liberation to the subjugated peoples of the continent and changed the course of history.

3What was the trajectory of the Haitian national hero? How did he manage to overthrow the slave system, thus conquering the freedom of his people? How did he become the nation’s first organizer?

4Toussaint Louverture, revolted from an early age by the slavery he suffered in his own flesh, led the revolt of the downtrodden and opposed the colonial violence of the French Empire. Le Premier des Noirs then joined the Emancipatory Revolution led by Maximilien Robespierre, reunified the island by driving out the Spaniards and the English and organized the nation by endowing it with an ambitious Constitution. Betrayed by Napoleon Bonaparte, who stubbornly refused to accept the destiny of the first nation in Latin America to win its independence, Toussaint Louverture ended his days in a dungeon in Jura, far from the land he liberated, bequeathing to the New -World the example of the dignity won through struggle. Indeed, the Haitian Revolution, mother of all Latin American Revolutions, paved the way for the emancipation of the peoples of the continent from European colonial rule.

1. Toussaint before the Haitian Revolution

  • 2 Jean-Louis Donnadieu & Philippe Girard, « Nouveaux documents sur la vie de Toussaint Louverture », (...)

5François-Dominique Toussaint was born a slave on May 20, 1743 in the Bréda plantation under the reign of Louis XV, in Haut-du-Cap, in the north of the island of Saint-Domingue, into a family of five children whose ancestors were torn from the African land of Benin. The island was then the richest colony in France, thanks to the sugar production which was the flagship crop of the time, the white gold of the 18th century. Like his brothers and sisters, he was employed as a servant and coachman by his master Bayon de Libertat, then steward of the property belonging to the Count of Noah, which spared him the exploitation, punctuated by lashes, which was meted out in the sugar cane fields. Nevertheless, he observed with indignation and helplessness the fate of his people, worn out by the weight of servitude. They fell one after another from exhaustion, suffered the cruelty of the masters, or were swept away by diseases. The life expectancy of a slave at that time was 37 years. Those who tried to escape their fate were ruthlessly hunted down and punished. Indeed, they were maimed in one arm following their first attempt to escape, in one leg the second time, and were murdered after their third capture. The colonists thus sowed terror among the black populations.2

  • 3 Jacques de Cauna, « Dessalines, esclave de Toussaint ? », Outre-Mers : Revue d’Histoire, June 2012, (...)

6In 1776, Toussaint Bréda, as he was called, obtained his emancipation and escaped the slavery which afflicted the vast majority of black inhabitants. Enjoying a relative freedom, he dedicated himself to agriculture and took charge of a small property maintained by 13 slaves, one of them – Jean-Jacques Dessalines – would become his loyal lieutenant and make history in Haiti.3

  • 4 Revue de la Révolution française, « Plan pour la conquête de Saint-Domingue (1806) », , Volume 8, 1 (...)

7Toussaint was also a man of remarkable intelligence, of a rich and varied culture, who had drawn on the ideas of the great thinkers of the Enlightenment. In 1789, when the French Revolution broke out, led by the business-owning bourgeoisie who held economic power in their hands and aspired to obtain political power, the island, made up of 30,000 whites and 40,000 mixed race people, enjoyed a notable prosperity thanks to the exploitation of some 550,000 slaves. The colony of Saint-Domingue was made up of four categories: the big colonists who owned most of the wealth resulting from the enslavement of the black people, the small landowners and workers called the “little white people”, the mixed-race people who were free, but exploited by the wealthy, and the black slaves who were fated to live a miserable existence. The emancipatory message of the French Revolution carried by the voice of Maximilien Robespierre, moral and political guide of the process of social transformation, irrigated the consciences of all inhabitants of the colonies. The exploited then questioned established privileges and denounced social hierarchies, claiming their right to liberty and equality.4

2. The slave revolt of 1791 and the emergence of Toussaint Louverture

  • 5 Victor Schoelcher, Conférence sur Toussaint Louverture, général en chef de l’armée de Saint-Domingu (...)

8On August 14, 1791, under the aegis of Dutty Boukman, George Biassou and Jean-François Papillon, the slaves of the North, revolted by their living conditions and pushed by the revolutionary impetus from metropolitan France, went into insurrection against colonial oppression during the Bois Caïman ceremony, the founding act of the Haitian Revolution. Toussaint, then 48 years old, joined the insurgents as a doctor, thanks to his homeopathic knowledge. His intelligence, natural authority and bravery in battle enabled him to quickly become Biassou’s first lieutenant and obtain the rank of colonel.5

  • 6 Saint-Rémy, Vie de Toussaint Louverture, Paris, Hoquet, 1850, p. 112.

9His new rank thus led him to spend time with royalists opposed to the revolutionary process in France and officers loyal to Louis XVI. With foresight, he quickly profited from these contacts by learning from them the principles of the art of war, which allowed him to train soldiers capable of competing with the best colonial troops. His courage on the battlefield and his ability to breach enemy lines earned him the nickname “L’ouverture” (The Opening).6

  • 7 Jean Fouchard, Les marrons de la liberté, Paris, Editions de l’Ecole, 1972, p. 551.

10In 1793, Spain, which occupied the other half of the island (later Dominican Republic), went to war against France, following the execution of Louis XVI, a member – like the Spanish king Charles IV – of the Bourbon dynasty. Madrid then supported the Haitian insurgents and offered them to join its ranks and lead the fight against the colonial metropolis. Toussaint Louverture and his men accepted the offer for tactical reasons and forged an alliance of convenience against a common enemy. In fact, slavery was also rife on the Spanish side and would not be abolished until 1844, when the Dominican Republic won independence. On August 29, 1793, he launched an appeal to the people and proposed to his companions a new destiny: “I want freedom and equality to reign in Santo Domingo. I work to make them exist. Unite, brothers, and fight with me for the same cause. Uproot the tree of slavery with me”.7

3. At the service of the French Revolution

11On February 4, 1794, faced with the insurrection in Santo Domingo, the French Republic decided to abolish slavery, convinced of the moral, historical and political necessity of such an act. Maximilien Robespierre, member of the society of “Friends of the Blacks” at the Jacobins, had campaigned as early as 1791 against the colonial enslavement of peoples of color. In a speech to the Constituent Assembly of May 13, 1791, the Incorruptible denounced the slave trade:

As soon as in one of your decrees, you will have pronounced the word “slaves”, you will have pronounced both your own dishonor and the overthrow of your Constitution.

  • 8 Maximilien Robespierre, Discours contre l’esclavage, 13 May 1791.

[…] If I could suspect that, among the adversaries of the colored men, there was to be found some secret enemy of liberty and of the Constitution, I would believe that an attempt was made to find a means of attacking always with success your decrees to weaken your principles, so that one day we can tell you when it will be the direct interest of the metropolis: you constantly allege to us the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the principles of liberty, and you believed in it so little that you constitutionally decreed slavery. The supreme interest of the nation and the colonies is that you remain free and that you do not overthrow with your own hands the foundations of freedom. Perish the colonies, if it will cost you your happiness, your glory, your freedom. I repeat: perish the colonies, [even if] the colonists want, by threats, to force us to decree what best suits their interests. I declare on behalf of the Assembly, on behalf of those members of this Assembly who do not want to overthrow the Constitution, on behalf of the entire nation that wants to be free, that we will not sacrifice to the deputies of the colonies, nor the nation, neither the colonies, nor the whole of humanity.8

  • 9 Marcel Dorigny (dir.), Léger-Félicité Sonthonax. La première abolition de l’esclavage. La Révolutio (...)

12When France officially decreed the abolition of slavery, it created nearly a million French citizens in all of its colonies. Governor General Etienne Lavaux, in charge of the island, then contacted Toussaint Louverture in order to convince him to join the ranks of the French Revolution. A few months earlier, Félicité-Léger Sonthonax, Civil Commissioner of the Republic, had decided to unilaterally decree the abolition of slavery in the northern province of Santo Domingo in order to put an end to the insurgent revolt. Thus, in May 1794, the Haitian leader, who had already freed himself from the authority of Biassou, decided to abandon the Spanish army and ally with the French, convinced that the freedom of the black people was henceforth on the side of the Republic.9

  • 10 Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du Général Toussaint Louverture, Paris, Pagnerre, 1853, p. 93-94.

13A seasoned leader with perfect knowledge of the terrain, a fighter respected by his men and feared by his adversaries, at the head of a disciplined army of 4,000 men, Toussaint Louverture was an ally of choice. General Lavaux, who had to deal with resistant settlers, seditious royalists, Spanish and English soldiers, was aware of the black leader’s contribution to the Republican cause. He decided to appoint him brigadier general and restore peace in the North. Thanks to the dedication of his men, and paying the price in blood himself with no less than seventeen war wounds, Toussaint Louverture regained control of the region, neutralizing the English, routing the insurgent bands of his former allies and forcing the Spaniards to leave French territory. A year later, in 1795, the defeated Spain surrendered and signed a peace treaty with France, relinquishing its sovereignty over Santo Domingo.10

  • 11 Gragnon-Lacoste, Toussaint Louverture, Général en chef de l’armée de Saint-Domingue, surnommé le Pr (...)

14Toussaint Louverture's rise was meteoric. In 1796, he became lieutenant governor of Santo Domingo and general-in-chief of the army in 1797. In 1798, cornered by the forces of the general-in-chief, the English finally abandoned their last strongholds and signed a general evacuation agreement in exchange for a business partnership. The Council of Five Hundred, one of the two legislative assemblies of the Directory from 1795 to 1799, equivalent to the National Assembly of today, then decided to appoint him “Benefactor of Santo Domingo”, thanks to the support of the Governor Lavaux, elected deputy and who befriended Toussaint Louverture. The black chief thus became the emblematic and undisputed leader of the people of the island and in particular of the exploited who saw in him the hope of a definitive emancipation and the symbol of their aspiration to a decent life.11

4. The North / South war

  • 12 Alain Yacou (dir.), Saint-Domingue espagnol et la révolution nègre d’Haïti, Paris, Editions Karthal (...)

15Faced with the popularity of Toussaint Louverture and worried about his influence, the French government – the Directory – decided in April 1798 to send General Hédouville to observe the situation in Saint-Domingue. The North was then controlled by Toussaint Louverture and was made up of a predominantly black population. The mainly mixed-race South was under the control of General André Rigaux, himself from a powerful mixed-race family.12

  • 13 Ibid., p. 239-41.

16To contain the influence of the two leaders, the representative of the Directory hatched a plan to create a conflict between them. He asked Toussaint Louverture to arrest Rigaux, who was accused of being responsible for serious disturbances in the south of the island. Sagaciously, the Benefactor of Santo Domingo quickly understood the Directory’s divisive strategy and did not fall into the trap. He expressed his refusal to the general, reminding him of Rigaux’s decisive assistance in the defense of the Republic and in the fight against the English.13

  • 14 Thomas Madiou fils, Histoire d’Haïti, Port-au-Prince, Imprimerie Courtois, 1847, Volume 1, p. 252.

17Toussaint Louverture approached Rigaux to tell him about the conspiracy scaffolded by the French government against them. He then suggested that he put aside any differences and forge an alliance against Hédouville in the name of the interest of the people of Santo Domingo. The salvation of the island hinged on the union of the opposing forces. But, refusing to seize the hand extended by the leader of the North, Rigaud decided instead to ally with Hédouville to eliminate Toussaint Louverture.14

  • 15 Victor Schoelcher, Colonies étrangères et Haït. Résultats de l’émancipation anglaise, Paris, Pagner (...)

18As a prudent and wise man, Toussaint Louverture discovered the disloyalty of the southern chief. He concluded that conflict was inevitable. The island leader was aware that the outbreak of hostilities was only a matter of time. At the end of 1798, he made the decision to expel Hédouville who had never ceased to conspire in the country. The latter, as a final act of sedition, incited Rigaux to enter into rebellion against the central military power of Santo Domingo led by Toussaint Louverture: “I release you from obedience to the general of the army of Santo Domingo. You will be in charge of the whole southern part”.15

  • 16 Thomas Madiou fils, Histoire d’Haïti, Volume 1, op. cit., p. 252.

19Believing himself to have the support of the Directory, Rigaud launched an offensive in order to eliminate his opponent and establish his domination on the island. On June 9, 1799, he seized Petit Goâve, initiating a fratricidal and bloody war. A large part of the mixed-race officers of Toussaint Louverture’s army deserted the ranks to join Rigaud. As a strategist, Toussaint Louverture replied by taking control of Jacmel, an important point in the South, in January 1800, following a siege of several months. Cornered on all sides by the Louverturist forces, Rigaud and his inner circle were forced to give up the fight and take refuge in France.16

5. The unification of the island and the establishment of power

  • 17 Conjonction, Bulletin de l’Institut français d’Haïti, n°211, p. 28.

20The Spanish part of the island became French on July 22, 1795 with the signing of the Treaty of Basel. But the Republic, which devoted all its forces to the advent of the Revolution and its upheavals emanating from the Thermidorian betrayal and the assassination of Robespierre, had not yet taken possession of the territory. It was still under the control of a Spanish governor. On January 26, 1801, Toussaint Louverture then decided to proceed with territorial unification and, through his efforts, succeeded in establishing civil peace on the island. The settlers who fled as a result of the Louverturist Revolution were encouraged to return and help in the development of the island.17

21The Central Assembly of Santo Domingo, under the authority of Toussaint Louverture, adopted a constitution on July 2, 1801 which granted significant autonomy to the island, thus emancipating it from the tutelage of France without, however, definitively breaking the links with the colonial power. It was based on article 91 of the French Constitution of 1799 which stipulated that “the regime of the French colonies [was] determined by special laws”. Toussaint Louverture was then appointed governor for life of Santo Domingo.18

22The Constitution of 1801 was a work of progress. Article 3 put an end to slavery: “There can be no slaves in this territory, servitude is abolished forever. All men are born there, live and die free and French”. Santo Domingo thus became the first territory in the New World to abolish slavery. Article 4 proclaimed the elimination of obstacles erected by the segregationist system in the labor market: “Every man, whatever his color, is eligible for all jobs”. Finally, article 5 enshrined equality between all the inhabitants of the island: “There is no other distinction than that of virtues and talents, and other superiority than that which the law gives in exercise of a public function. The law is the same for everyone, whether it punishes or it protects”. The Central Assembly, if it did not have the legislative initiative, had the power to adopt or reject legislative proposals made by the governor. The decisions of the courts were sovereign and did not depend on the executive power, which could not pronounce any amnesty. The rule of law was proclaimed there with the prohibition of any arrest not motivated by law and not carried out by a sworn official (article 64).19

  • 20 Charles Malo, Histoire d’Haïti (île de Saint-Domingue) depuis sa découverte jusqu’en 1824, Paris, L (...)

23Toussaint Louverture, loyal to the French Republic, submitted the Constitution to Napoleon Bonaparte, in power since the coup d’Etat of 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799). During this time, he advocated reconciliation between all ethnic groups, calling for concord to all islanders in order to build a prosperous future for Santo Domingo. When the governor learned that his adopted nephew, Major General Moses, was behaving like a despot and oppressing the white and mixed population, endangering the precarious balance of the new society, the latter was executed.20

  • 21 Napoléon Bonaparte, Mémoires de Napoléon, Paris, Bibliothèque historique et militaire, 1842, Volume (...)

24The Black Spartacus – the nickname earned through his struggle for freedom – devoted himself to building the island and developing its economy, in order to provide its inhabitants with a dignified existence. The emphasis was on agriculture and infrastructure building. Schools sprang up all over the territory to empower the inhabitants through education. All of these measures were carried out with a firm hand and there was little room for protests and discontent. Deviations were sanctioned with authority, sometimes in a cruel and excessive manner, especially in the countryside. Napoleon Bonaparte himself recognized the quality of “the work order established by Toussaint, which was already crowned with happy success”.21

6. Bonaparte’s expedition against Santo Domingo

  • 22 Dumas Malone, Jefferson, the President, First Terme 1801-1805, Little, Brown, 1970, p. 252.
  • 23 Napoléon Bonaparte, Correspondance de Napoléon 1er, “Au Citoyen Talleyrand”, 13 November 1801, n°58 (...)

25Napoleon Bonaparte, by his coup d’Etat of 18 Brumaire, had annihilated the Republic and dug the tomb of the values of the Revolution. The war against Great Britain, which had resumed in 1798 when the united European monarchies attacked France, ended with the signing of the Treaty of Amiens in October 1801. Surrounded by a caste of landowners nostalgic for the colonial era, the consul Bonaparte decided to send his brother-in-law, General Victor-Emmanuel Leclerc, at the head of imposing troops to crush the Revolution of Santo Domingo. In an act of denial of revolutionary ideals, cemented in the first maxim of the Republic which affirmed that “men are born and remain free and equal in law”, the First Consul decided to reestablish slavery for 500,000 inhabitants. Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, enthusiastically supported the initiative: “Nothing would be easier for us than to provide your army and your fleet with everything you need, and thus reduce Toussaint to starvation”.22 In a letter to Talleyrand, his Minister of Foreign Affairs, dated November 13, 1801, Bonaparte informed him of his decision “to annihilate the black government in Saint-Domingue”.23 An expedition of 23,000 men hardened by the Napoleonic wars then left France on December 14, 1801 to seize the island and eliminate Toussaint Louverture.

  • 24 Napoléon Bonaparte, « Courrier au Général Toussaint Louverture », 18 November 1801, Société de l’Hi (...)
  • 25 Beaubrun Ardouin, Etudes sur l’histoire d’Haïti, Paris, Dezobry & Magdelaine lib. Editeurs, 1853, V (...)

26In the letter sent to Toussaint Louverture, Napoleon informed him of his intention to regain control of the island, reminding him of the forces present: “We are sending Citizen Leclerc, our brother-in-law, as captain-general, as first magistrate of the colony. He is accompanied by sufficient forces to ensure respect for the sovereignty of the French people”.24 The response from the Governor of Santo Domingo was courteous. The representative of France would be received with “respect for filial piety”. But he reminded him that the freedom won by struggle would be defended with the same pugnacity: “I am a soldier, I do not fear men; I fear only God; if it is necessary to die, I will die like a soldier of honor who has nothing to be ashamed of”.25

  • 26 Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du Général Toussaint Louverture, op.cit., p. 40.
  • 27 Ibid.

27On February 5, 1802, General Leclerc landed in Cape Town as a conqueror and demanded from the city commander, Henri Christophe, an outright surrender without which “the wrath of the Republic will devour him as fire devours your dried-up canes”.26 Far from intimidating Toussaint Louverture’s officer, he transmitted the following message to the invader: ‘So we are taken for slaves; go tell General Leclerc that the Europeans will only walk here on a heap of ashes, and that the earth will burn them”. He then announced the outbreak of a resistance operation: ‘The proclamations you bring exude despotism and tyranny. I will make my soldiers take an oath to support freedom at the risk of their lives”.27

  • 28 Thomas Madiou, Histoire d’Haïti, Tome II, 1799-1803, Port-au-Prince, Editions Henri Deschamps, 1989 (...)

28On receipt of the letter from General Christophe, the Leclerc expeditionary issued an ultimatum to the black officer: ‘I warn you that if today you have not handed over to me the forts Poclet and Bel-Air and all the batteries from the coast, tomorrow at daybreak, fifteen thousand men will be disembarked”.28 The Haitian commander did not allow himself to be impressed and reiterated his loyalty “to Governor-General Toussaint-Louverture, my immediate leader, from whom I hold the powers with which I am invested”. He informed him that he only received orders from his governor:

  • 29 Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du Général Toussaint Louverture, op. cit., p 41.

Until his response has reached me, I cannot allow you to disembark. If you have the strength with which you threaten me, I will lend you all the resistance which characterizes a general; and if the fate of arms is favorable to you, you will not enter Cape Town until it is reduced to ashes, and even on these ashes, I will still fight you ...29

  • 30 Ibid., p. 46.

29The next day, General Leclerc bombarded the city, killing women and children. General Christophe then proceeded to evacuate the city and, true to his promise, reduced it to ashes. When Toussaint Louverture learned that Bonapartiste General Rochambeau had massacred the soldiers of Fort-Liberté on February 4, he sent him a letter containing an oath: “I will fight to the death to avenge [...] these brave soldiers”.30 The Liberator called for resistance to all his men, urging them to fight to the ultimate consequences.

30Bonaparte decided to send Toussaint Louverture’s two children, Placide and Isaac, who had been studying in France since 1796, accompanied by their tutor Coisnon, then director of the colonial high school, to send a personal letter to their father. When Coisnon informed him of the favorable intentions of the First Consul towards him, the black leader expressed his surprise:

  • 31 Ibid., p. 51.

If the intentions of the government were peaceful and good towards me and towards those who had contributed to the happiness which the colony enjoyed, General Leclerc had surely not followed or carried out the orders which he had received, since he had landed on the island like an enemy […]. From the conduct of this general, I could not trust him at all.31

  • 32 Ibid., p. 110, 112.
  • 33 Ibid., p. 113.

31General Leclerc “wreaked havoc, death and desolation” in his path, while he had promised in his proclamation “to bring peace and happiness”.32 Generals Rochambeau, Kerverseau and Desfourneaux behaved like “the most bitter tyrants of the freedom of blacks and men of color”. Rochambeau even became “the destroyer of colored men and blacks”.33

32In a letter sent to Bonaparte in February 1802, Toussaint Louverture expressed his indignation. He first asserted his authority by reminding him that Leclerc’s appointment as captain-general was “not recognized by the Constitution of Santo Domingo”. The forces sent “are spreading bloodshed and devastation everywhere”. “By what right do we want to exterminate, with iron and fire, a coarse but innocent people?”, he asked. Was it the desire for independence? “Why not? The United States of America did as we did; and with the assistance of the French government, they succeeded in consolidating their freedom”. Was it his authority? “The high position I occupy is not my choice; compelling circumstances have placed me there against my will”. He then recalled the realities of the island:

  • 34 Débarquement de la flotte française à Saint-Domingue, Paris, Tiger, no date, p. 25-29.

I saw this unhappy island in the grip of the fury of the factions. My reputation, my color, gave me some influence over the people who live there; and I was, almost unanimously, called to authority. I stifled sedition, appeased revolt, restored tranquility; I caused good order to succeed anarchy; finally, I gave the people peace and a constitution. Citizen Consul, are your claims based on more legitimate titles? If the people do not have here all the freedom found under other governments, the cause must be sought in their way of life, in their ignorance and in the barbarism inseparable from slavery. The government that I established could alone suit the unfortunate people barely freed from the oppressive yoke; it leaves, in several places, a price for despotism, we cannot deny it; but is the constitution of France, that most enlightened part of Europe, entirely free from these drawbacks? If thirty million French people find, as I hear them say, their happiness and their security in the Revolution of 18 Brumaire, I should not be envied the love and confidence of the poor blacks, my compatriots. Posterity will decide whether we have been obeyed out of affection, apathy, or fear.34

33Far from presenting himself as a subordinate, Toussaint Louverture imposed an equal relationship to the First Consul, rejected his attempts to corrupt him and assumed his conduct and his acts as leader of Saint-Domingue:

  • 35 Ibid.

You ask me if I want consideration, honors, wealth. Probably yes; but I don’t want to get them from you. My consideration depends on the respect of my compatriots, my honors on their attachment, my fortune on their loyalty. Do people tell me about my personal growth in the hope of committing myself to betraying the cause I have embraced? You should learn to judge others for yourself. If the monarch who knows how to have rights to the throne on which you are seated, commanded you to descend from it, what would you say? ... The power that I possess is as legitimately acquired as yours; and the unanimous voice of the people of Santo Domingo can alone force me to abandon it. It is not cemented by blood. The cruel men whose persecutions I have stopped have recognized my mercy. While I removed certain turbulent spirits from this island who sought to fuel the fire of civil war, their crime was first found in a competent court, and finally confessed by themselves.35

34After having tried in vain to bribe the officers under the orders of Toussaint Louverture, in the face of resistance from the people of Saint-Domingue, General Leclerc finally decided to send him a mediator. The Patriot expressed his circumspection:

  • 36 Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du Général Toussaint Louverture, op. cit., p. 113.

The general only announced his mission to me when he landed everywhere with an armed force. He stormed Fort-Dauphin and gunned down Saint-Marc. I must not forget that I carry a sword. What is the motive for declaring a war on me that is as unjust as it is impolitic? Is it because I have delivered my country from the scourge of the stranger? Because I established order and justice? If General Leclerc frankly desires peace, let him stop the march of his troops.36

  • 37 Ibid.

35Then, underlining his “greatest suspicions about the purity of intentions” of General Leclerc, he added: “How to trust a man who brought with him a large army and vessels carrying and disembarking troops at all points of the colony without warning the first leader”.37

36Indeed, Napoleon Bonaparte himself recognized Toussaint Louverture as being the only Liberator of Saint-Domingue:

  • 38 Napoléon Ier, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, Paris, Henri Plon & J. Dumaine, 1866, Volume 7, p. 32 (...)

We take pleasure in recognizing and proclaiming the services you have rendered to the French people. If his flag flies over Santo Domingo, it is to you and to the brave blacks that he owes it. Called by your talents and the force of circumstances to the first command, you destroyed the civil war, put a brake on the persecutions of a few madmen ... The circumstances in which you found yourself, surrounded on all sides by enemies, with the Metropolis not being able to help you or feed you, had made legitimate the articles of your constitution which could no longer be so; but today you will be the first to pay homage to the sovereignty of the nation which counts you among its most illustrious citizens, by the services which you rendered to it and by the talents and the strength of character with which nature has gifted you.38

37If in the official mail the expression of gratitude for the services rendered to the Republic was notable, in reality, Bonaparte, instead of treating Toussaint Louverture with the consideration due to his merits, dispatched 23,000 of his best soldiers to pass the shackles on him and regain possession of the island.

  • 39 Antoine Marie Thérèse Métral & Isaac Toussaint Louverture, Histoire de l’expédition des Français à (...)

38Faced with the French invasion, Toussaint Louverture sounded the alarm bell throughout the island and urged the black people to resist the oppressor. He deployed all his talents and multiplied his efforts to counter the attacks of the Napoleonic troops. He waged a guerrilla war against the colonial oppressor, applying the scorched earth policy. His men, galvanized by the leader’s example of self-sacrifice, put up fierce resistance.39

7. The betrayal of Napoleon Bonaparte

  • 40 Ibid., p. 274-275.
  • 41 Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du Général Toussaint Louverture, op. cit., p. 71.
  • 42 Antoine Marie Thérèse Métral & Isaac Toussaint Louverture, Histoire de l’expédition des Français à (...)

39Faced with the tenacity of the inhabitants, overwhelmed by the climate and disease, General Leclerc proposed an end to hostilities.40 To save human lives, Toussaint accepted the pact on condition that it was a dignified and honorable peace. “The public interest demanded that I make great sacrifices,” he wrote in his memoir.41 The agreement was concluded on the following bases: freedom for all citizens of the island and retention of their rank and function for all civil and military officers. For his part, the black leader would keep his staff and choose his place of residence.42

  • 43 Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du Général Toussaint Louverture, op. cit., p.73.
  • 44 Ibid., p. 72.
  • 45 Ibid., p. 74.
  • 46 Ibid., p. 74.

40The peace agreement was concluded and Toussaint Louverture decided to withdraw to Ennery.43 But the promises were not kept. Thus, Generals Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Charles Belair, who were to retain their respective commands in Saint-Marc and Arcahaye, were dismissed from their posts.44 Aware of the popularity of the leader of Saint-Domingue, General Leclerc dispatched a troop of 500 soldiers to the small town where Toussaint Louverture had chosen to live, in order to monitor him.45 The latter was lucid about the situation and was not fooled by the fate that awaited him: “The next day, I received a visit from Commandant of Ennery in this house, and I noticed very well that this soldier, far from paying me an honest visit, had only come to my house to recognize my home and the avenues, in order to have more facility to capture me, when he will be given the order”.46

41Louverture suffered daily humiliations from the colonial army, which went to his properties to destroy his crops. “While General Leclerc [had] given his word of honor and promised the protection from the French government,” his dignity was flouted by the representatives of the First Consul. Toussaint Louverture recalled this painful episode:

  • 47 Ibid., p. 75.

Every day, I experienced only new looting and new annoyances. The soldiers coming to my house were in such numbers that I did not even dare have them arrested. In vain, I took my complaints to the commander, I received no satisfaction. I finally made up my mind, although General Leclerc had not done me the honor of responding to the first two letters I had written to him on this subject, to write him a third one. […] I received no more response to this one than to the previous ones.47

42 Bonaparte then decided that his presence on the island was too dangerous and decided to proceed with his arrest. Violating the agreement reached, General Leclerc, on the orders of the Consul, charged General Brunet, military commander of the Ennery zone, with the operation. On June 7, 1802, the latter invited Toussaint Louverture with all his family to his home under the pretext of discussing the various problems encountered. He assured him of his best dispositions towards him and even vilified the “unfortunate slanderers” who accused the black leader of fomenting sedition. “Your feelings only tend to bring order and tranquility to the neighborhood you live in,” Brunet wrote in the letter. The rest of the letter deserves to be quoted in outline:

We have, my dear general, arrangements to make together which cannot be written down, but which an hour-long conference would terminate; if I had not been overworked, with painstaking hassle, today I would have been the bearer of my answer; but not being able these days to go out, do it yourself; if you are recovered from your indisposition, let it be tomorrow; when it comes to doing good, it should never be delayed. You will not find in my country house all the amenities that I would have liked to meet to receive you there; but you will find there the frankness of a gallant man who makes no other wishes than for the prosperity of the colony and your personal happiness.

If Mrs. Toussaint, whom I very much want to get to know, wanted to be part of the trip, I would be happy. If she needs horses, I’ll send mine to her.

  • 48 Ibid., p.80.

I tell you, General, you will never find a sincerer friend than me. Trust in the Captain General, friendship for all that is subordinate and you will enjoy peace of mind.48

  • 49 Ibid., p. 81.

43Accompanied by two officers, Toussaint Louverture decided to go to General Brunet. On his arrival, after the customary greetings, he was taken to a room where the Bonapartist representative was waiting for him. The latter, claiming an emergency, left the room. The result was told in the memories of the Haitian leader: “No sooner had he left than an aide-de-camp of General Leclerc entered accompanied by a very large number of grenadiers, who surrounded me, seized me, tied me up like a criminal and led me aboard the frigate La Créole. I demanded the word of General Brunet and the promises he had made to me, but uselessly; I never saw him again”.49

  • 50 Ibid., p. 83.

44After having arrested Toussaint Louverture, General Brunet, the same who would sign the surrender of Paris in 1814, subjected “the greatest vexations to his family”, proceeded to his arrest and looted the property before setting it on fire. On June 11, 1802, together with his wife and two sons, he was embarked for Brest. But far from resigning himself, he issued this prophetic warning: “In overthrowing me, only the trunk of the tree of black liberty was cut down in Santo Domingo; it will grow back because its roots are deep and numerous”.50

8. In the jails of Jura

  • 51 Ibid., p. 84.
  • 52 Ibid., p. 85.

45When he arrived in France in August 1802, Toussaint Louverture was stranded in the port of Brest for more than two months without leaving the boat. “After such treatment, can I not rightly ask where are the effects of the promises which were made to me by General Leclerc on his word of honor, as well as the protection of the French government?”, he wondered.51 “No doubt I owe this treatment to my color; but my color ... has my color prevented me from serving my homeland with zeal and fidelity?”, he pointed out.52 He added the following:

  • 53 Ibid., p. 85.

Was it necessary to employ a hundred riflemen to arrest my wife and children on their property, without respect and without regard to sex, age and rank; without humanity and without charity? Was it necessary to shoot on the houses, on my family, and have all my properties looted and ransacked? No. My wife, my children, my family do not bear any responsibility. They had no accountability to the government; they didn’t even have the right to have them arrested.53

  • 54 Ibid., p. 86.

46Toussaint Louverture was separated from his family and taken, without trial, to Fort de Joux in Jura. “I was sent to France naked as a worm; my property and papers were seized; the most atrocious calumnies have been spread on my account,” he wrote bitterly.54 Confined in a cell, Bonaparte forced him to take off his general’s uniform and put on a recluse’s uniform, thus humiliating the venerable 59-year-old fighter. Louverture did not withstand the rigors of winter and his conditions of detention for long. On April 7, 1803, he died of illness in the castle jails.

9. Revolt of the Louverturist people and Haitian independence

  • 55 Napoléon Bonaparte, Loi relative à la traite des Noirs et au régime des colonies, 30 Floréal, Year (...)

47On May 20, 1802, despite his promises, Bonaparte issued the decree restoring slavery in the colonies, becoming the only head of state in French history to have reduced his own citizens to servitude. He also proceeded with the careful elimination of officers loyal to the Precursor. The people, loyal to the rebellious legacy left by Louverture, rose up in arms against the Napoleonic arbitration. Generals Henri Christophe and Jean-Jacques Dessalines went underground and unleashed insurrection throughout the island. The colonial army, besieged on all sides by revolutionaries, suffocated by the yellow fever that swept away General Leclerc on November 2, 1802, was forced to withdraw to its last two bastions in Port-au-Prince and Cape Town.55

  • 56 Pierre Pluchon, Haïti, république Caraïbe, L’Ecole des Loisirs, 1974, p. 43-44.

48In October 1803, Dessalines, general-in-chief of the revolutionaries, reconquered Port-au-Prince. The colonial army led by General Rochambeau was forced to withdraw to Cape Town. Besieged once again, deprived of food, Rochambeau had to capitulate on November 19, 1803, following the battle of Vertières, near Cap-Français. He returned to France at the head of some 10,000 remaining survivors out of a total troop of 45,000 soldiers. A month and a half later, on January 1, 1804, the revolutionaries proclaimed the independence of Haiti and brought General Dessalines, lieutenant of Toussaint, born a slave, to the head of the new nation.56

49In his memoirs, Napoleon Bonaparte admitted his fault:

  • 57 Comte de Las Cases, Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène, Paris, Ernest Bourdin Editeur, 1842, Volume 1, p. 68 (...)

I have to blame myself for an attempt on this colony during the consulate; it was a great mistake to want to subdue it by force; I had to content myself with ruling it through Toussaint. [...] One of the greatest follies that I have done and which I blame myself for was to send an army to Santo Domingo. I should have seen that it was impossible to succeed in the project I had designed. I made a mistake, and I am guilty of foresight, not to have recognized the independence of Santo Domingo and the government of the colored men.57

  • 58 Charles X, “Ordonnance du Roi”, 17 avril 1825 in Antoine Marie Thérèse Métral & Isaac Toussaint Lou (...)
  • 59 Victor Schoelcher, Colonies étrangères et Haïti. Résultats de l’émancipation anglaise, Paris, Pagne (...)

50In 1825, the France of King Louis-Philippe recognized the independence of the Republic of Haiti, not without having forced it to pay the sum of 150 million gold francs to compensate the former colonists who had exploited the land and the people. of Santo Domingo for generations.58 Abolitionist Victor Shoelcher eloquently denounced this extortion: “To impose compensation on slaves victors of their masters is to make them pay money for what they have already paid with their blood”.59 Haiti took nearly a century to pay this ransom, to the detriment of its own development.

51Aimé Césaire summarized the legacy of Le Premier des Noirs in the struggle of peoples for their emancipation:

  • 60 Aimé Césaire, Cahier à d’un retour à son pays natal, (1947), Paris, Présence africaine, 1983, p. 24 (...)

When Toussaint Louverture came, it was to take the declaration of human rights literally, it was to show that there is no pariah race; that there is no marginal country; that there are no exceptional people. It was to embody and particularize a principle; as much to say to vivify it. […]. This assigns him his place, his true place. Toussaint Louverture’s fight was this fight for the transformation of formal law into real law, the fight for the recognition of man and that is why he joined and included the revolt of the black slaves of Santo Domingo in the history of universal civilization.60

Conclusion

52Toussaint Louverture, moral guide of the Haitian people, spoke out against the colonial and racial oppression that afflicted his people. A supporter of harmony among all the inhabitants of Santo Domingo, he took up arms for the emancipation of the oppressed. If he was implacable with his opponents in the name of the reason of state, he fought slavery in the name of the universal and inalienable principle of equality among all men. Uniting around him the exploited torn from their African homeland, fighting the armies of three empires, he claimed the right of the black people to emancipate themselves from exploitation and enjoy a better destiny.

53By breaking the chains of the colonial yoke through armed struggle and founding a nation, Toussaint Louverture and the black people of Haiti indicated to the rest of Latin America the path to follow to end European domination over the lands of the New World. At no other time in human history have slaves built a homeland. “The man-nation”, as Alphonse de Lamartine called him, to this day symbolizes the aspiration of the oppressed to enjoy their natural rights and to live in dignity.

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Ardouin, B. (1853). Etudes sur l’histoire d’Haïti, Paris, Dezobry & Magdelaine lib. Editeurs, volume 4.

Napoléon Ier (1866). Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, Paris, Henri Plon & J. Dumaine, volume 7.

Bonaparte, N. (1861). Correspondance de Napoléon 1er, “Au Citoyen Talleyrand”, 13 novembre 1801, n°5863, volume 7, Paris, Plon/Dumaine, 1861.

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Débarquement de la flotte française à Saint-Domingue, Paris, Tiger, no date.

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Notes

1 Max Gallo, Les Romains : Spartacus, la révolte des esclaves, Paris, Fayard, 2006.

2 Jean-Louis Donnadieu & Philippe Girard, « Nouveaux documents sur la vie de Toussaint Louverture », Bulletin de la Société d’Histoire de la Guadeloupe, n°166-167, September 2013, December-January-April 2014, p. 118.

3 Jacques de Cauna, « Dessalines, esclave de Toussaint ? », Outre-Mers : Revue d’Histoire, June 2012, 319-322. https://www.persee.fr/doc/outre_1631-0438_2012_num_99_374_4936 (Accessed 11 March 2019).

4 Revue de la Révolution française, « Plan pour la conquête de Saint-Domingue (1806) », , Volume 8, 1886, p. 91.

5 Victor Schoelcher, Conférence sur Toussaint Louverture, général en chef de l’armée de Saint-Domingue, Pointe-à-Pitre, Editions Panorama, 1966, p. 9.

6 Saint-Rémy, Vie de Toussaint Louverture, Paris, Hoquet, 1850, p. 112.

7 Jean Fouchard, Les marrons de la liberté, Paris, Editions de l’Ecole, 1972, p. 551.

8 Maximilien Robespierre, Discours contre l’esclavage, 13 May 1791.

9 Marcel Dorigny (dir.), Léger-Félicité Sonthonax. La première abolition de l’esclavage. La Révolution française et la Révolution de Saint-Domingue, Paris, Société française d’histoire d’Outre-Mer et Association pour l’étude de la colonisation européenne, 2005 (1st edition, 1997).

10 Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du Général Toussaint Louverture, Paris, Pagnerre, 1853, p. 93-94.

11 Gragnon-Lacoste, Toussaint Louverture, Général en chef de l’armée de Saint-Domingue, surnommé le Premier des Noirs, Paris, Durand & Pedone-Lauriel, Bordeaux, Feret et Fils, 1877, p. 176.

12 Alain Yacou (dir.), Saint-Domingue espagnol et la révolution nègre d’Haïti, Paris, Editions Karthala, 2007, p. 239.

13 Ibid., p. 239-41.

14 Thomas Madiou fils, Histoire d’Haïti, Port-au-Prince, Imprimerie Courtois, 1847, Volume 1, p. 252.

15 Victor Schoelcher, Colonies étrangères et Haït. Résultats de l’émancipation anglaise, Paris, Pagnerre Editeur, 1843, Volume 2, p. 123.

16 Thomas Madiou fils, Histoire d’Haïti, Volume 1, op. cit., p. 252.

17 Conjonction, Bulletin de l’Institut français d’Haïti, n°211, p. 28.

18 Conseil Constitutionnel, Constitution du 22 Frimaire An VIII. https://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/les-constitutions-dans-l-histoire/constitution-du-22-frimaire-an-viii (Accessed 4 May 2019).

19 République d’Haïti, Constitution du 3 juillet 1801, Université de Perpignan. http://mjp.univ-perp.fr/constit/ht1801.htm (Accessed 4 May 2019).

20 Charles Malo, Histoire d’Haïti (île de Saint-Domingue) depuis sa découverte jusqu’en 1824, Paris, Louis Janet & Ponthieu, 1825, p. 461.

21 Napoléon Bonaparte, Mémoires de Napoléon, Paris, Bibliothèque historique et militaire, 1842, Volume 6, p. 326.

22 Dumas Malone, Jefferson, the President, First Terme 1801-1805, Little, Brown, 1970, p. 252.

23 Napoléon Bonaparte, Correspondance de Napoléon 1er, “Au Citoyen Talleyrand”, 13 November 1801, n°5863, Volume 7, Paris, Plon/Dumaine, 1861, p. 320.

24 Napoléon Bonaparte, « Courrier au Général Toussaint Louverture », 18 November 1801, Société de l’Histoire des colonies françaises, Lettres du Général Leclerc, Commandant en Chef de l’Armée de Saint-Domingue en 1802, Paris, 1937, p. 307. https://www.persee.fr/doc/sfhom_1961-8166_1937_edc_6_1 (Accessed 4 May 2019).

25 Beaubrun Ardouin, Etudes sur l’histoire d’Haïti, Paris, Dezobry & Magdelaine lib. Editeurs, 1853, Volume 4, p. 476.

26 Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du Général Toussaint Louverture, op.cit., p. 40.

27 Ibid.

28 Thomas Madiou, Histoire d’Haïti, Tome II, 1799-1803, Port-au-Prince, Editions Henri Deschamps, 1989, p. 171.

29 Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du Général Toussaint Louverture, op. cit., p 41.

30 Ibid., p. 46.

31 Ibid., p. 51.

32 Ibid., p. 110, 112.

33 Ibid., p. 113.

34 Débarquement de la flotte française à Saint-Domingue, Paris, Tiger, no date, p. 25-29.

35 Ibid.

36 Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du Général Toussaint Louverture, op. cit., p. 113.

37 Ibid.

38 Napoléon Ier, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, Paris, Henri Plon & J. Dumaine, 1866, Volume 7, p. 322.

39 Antoine Marie Thérèse Métral & Isaac Toussaint Louverture, Histoire de l’expédition des Français à Saint-Domingue, Paris, Fanjat Ainé Libraire-Editeur & Antoine Augustin Renouard, 1825, p. 243-51.

40 Ibid., p. 274-275.

41 Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du Général Toussaint Louverture, op. cit., p. 71.

42 Antoine Marie Thérèse Métral & Isaac Toussaint Louverture, Histoire de l’expédition des Français à Saint-Domingue, op. cit., p. 281-82.

43 Toussaint Louverture, Mémoires du Général Toussaint Louverture, op. cit., p.73.

44 Ibid., p. 72.

45 Ibid., p. 74.

46 Ibid., p. 74.

47 Ibid., p. 75.

48 Ibid., p.80.

49 Ibid., p. 81.

50 Ibid., p. 83.

51 Ibid., p. 84.

52 Ibid., p. 85.

53 Ibid., p. 85.

54 Ibid., p. 86.

55 Napoléon Bonaparte, Loi relative à la traite des Noirs et au régime des colonies, 30 Floréal, Year X, 20 May 1802, in Université de Perpignan. http://mjp.univ-perp.fr/france/1802esclavage.htm (Accessed 4 May 2019).

56 Pierre Pluchon, Haïti, république Caraïbe, L’Ecole des Loisirs, 1974, p. 43-44.

57 Comte de Las Cases, Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène, Paris, Ernest Bourdin Editeur, 1842, Volume 1, p. 687.

58 Charles X, “Ordonnance du Roi”, 17 avril 1825 in Antoine Marie Thérèse Métral & Isaac Toussaint Louverture, op. cit., p. 341-42.

59 Victor Schoelcher, Colonies étrangères et Haïti. Résultats de l’émancipation anglaise, Paris, Pagnerre Editeurs, 1843, Volume 2, p. 167.

60 Aimé Césaire, Cahier à d’un retour à son pays natal, (1947), Paris, Présence africaine, 1983, p. 24.

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Salim Lamrani, « Toussaint Louverture, In the Name of Dignity. A Look at the Trajectory of the Precursor of Independence of Haiti »Études caribéennes [En ligne], 48 | Avril 2021, mis en ligne le 30 avril 2021, consulté le 29 mars 2024. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/etudescaribeennes/22675 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/etudescaribeennes.22675

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