show us how they lived,-and, better still, how they thought, and, better still, how they loved, and hoped, and rejoiced, and feared,-perhaps the foundations upon which we may ascend to generalizations upon the whole conditions, character, and prospects of man, may then be laid. When the proud Celt or Saxon, or some upstart mongrel Yankee, talks of the inferiority of the Africau race, how well does the finger of analytic biography point to a score of illustrious names darting forth in the very teeth of the bloodhounds who would hunt down the whole of the human family whose skin differs from their own. Toussaint L'Ouverture, in whose veins not a drop of other than African blood flowed-the Washington of Hayti; it is to that baseness we mainly owe the ignorance of the life of this extraordinary man. The results of his powerful intellect, undoubted courage, and generous philanthropy, could not be hid; but the same tyranny which meanly murdered him in a European dungeon, blotted out all the best sources of information, as to the means by which he accomplished them. But the facts which are derived through this very enemy, unsmothered by avalanches of abuse, are quite sufficient for our purpose.

"Toussaint was born on the plantation Noe, managed by M. Bayou de Libertas. His early

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years are said to be marked by an extraordinary evenness of temper, and an enthusiastic benevolence towards, and wonderful control over, the brute animals, which it was his business to tend. Though his master's name ought to have ensured him full opportunity to cultivate his mind, he seems to have been indebted to his own unaided and clandestine efforts for his education. French writer reproaches M. Bayou de Libertas for his culpable negligence in not being aware that his slave had learned to read till he was familiar with the writings of the Abbe Raynal. His master, however, lived to see good reasons for not repenting of any kindness bestowed upon this slave. Toussaint did not join the Negroes when they rose, in 1791, till he had seen his master and family safely embarked for the United States, with liberal supplies. He then devoted himself to the cause of his brethren with such zeal, activity, and talents, that he ultimately secured from them the most cordial and universal obedience, and a respect little short of adoration.

"Complete emancipation was offered by the French commissioners to all who would take up arms against the British invaders, in 1793. It was with their characteristic energy and perseverance, that the British attempted to wrest this opulent colony from their old rivals, and re-establish the peace of that despotism which they considered

essential to the safety of their own West Indian possessions. And it was to the energy and superior military skill of Toussaint that his countrymen owed the preservation of their newly-acquired liberty. The British were not compelled to retire, till he was made general-in-chief and governor of the colony.

"After the expulsion of the foreign foe, Toussaint applied himself to the arts of peace not less successfully than he had done to those of war. We are assured by the most respectable French authorities, who were themselves planters and eyewitnesses, that the colony, under his government, 'marched, as if by enchantment, towards its ancient splendour.' The colony,' says another writer, flourished under Toussaint. The whites lived happily, and in peace, upon their estates, and the negroes continued to work for them.' No one, who has not weighed the difficulties that lay before him, can duly appreciate the honours which thsse facts throw upon the character of Toussaint. The field of his operations was a country desolated by seven years of fierce and complicated civil war, in which all the bad passions of human nature had burst into the wildest madness that oppression could drive them to, and had been urged on in the work of destruction by the most powerful foreign influence. Worse materials for the estab

lishment of peace, industry, and good government, could not well be imagined. Yet, Toussaint not only succeeded in governing the couutry, but he succeeded in attaching to himself all the parties and castes into which its distracted inhabitants were divided. It was this very success which, doubtless, stirred up against him the wrath of Napoleon, leading to the suspicion, which was contrary to fact, that it was the design to make the country independent of France.

"The disgraceful expedition under Le Clerc is said to have been urged upon Bonaparte by the whites, who were dissatisfied with the loss of their slaves; but these whites, it would seem, were chiefly those who had fled to France. Those who remained on the island till Toussaint rose to the government, were mostly satisfied with the system of free labour, which, under his administration, was more profitable than the old slavery. On this point we have the best testimony that could be wished. The historian who was employed to lull the French people, salve the wounded fame and pride of Bonaparte for the defeat of Le Clerc and Rochambeau, and drown the cries of the widows and orphans of sixty thousand Frenchmen, assigns the disaffections of the whites in the colony itself, as one great reason of the failure. He says-' It would seem to be the natural course to organise

into a national guard the inhabitants who were found in the towns, on the arrival of the army; but there was not a man in whom any confidence could be placed. The majority of the inhabitants of the towns loved the government of Toussaint, because he had gorged them with riches.' Again, in excusing Rochambeau for the same failure to avail himself of the aid of the colonial whites, he says, 'It may be said for him that he could not, any more than Captain-General Le Clerc, put confidence in the whites, the majority of the inhabitants of the towns mourning, I repeat it, for the regime of Toussaint, which had enriched them.'

"Toussaint is represented by those who knew him well, and had no reason to overrate his powers or his virtues, as a man of deep sagacity and untiring activity; veracious to a proverb; humane and affectionate; extremely temperate, and remarkably exalted above the vanity which prejudice affirms to be characteristic of his race. He slept little, ate sparingly, drank nothing but water, and habitually tired five secretaries in the transaction of his official business. In war, he conquered by the foresight of his combinations, and the celerity of his movements. In peace, he repressed opposition, by listening to complaints, and making it the interest of all parties to uphold the law. The same author, to whom we have already referred, in