42 Life of Toussaint 



were not very scrupulous as to (ho 

 treatment of their victims. They con- 

 sequently inflicted on their captives 

 cruelties sufficiently severe to revenge, 

 in some degree, their Ibrnicr injuries.* 

 1'iie French, also, had not forgotten 

 tlieir ing-enuity in the infliction of tor- 

 ture; and seemed, if possible, to have 

 improved upon their old accustomed 

 method. They made a pxaetice, when 

 tlicy captured a black officer, of nail- 

 ing his epaulettes to his shoulders ; 

 and, after allowing these unfortunate 

 men a sufficient time to sutler under 

 tlieir torments, they generally put a 

 period to their lives and their miseries 

 together by nailing their caps to their 

 heads. The j)rivate men were not 

 deemed worthy of these distinctions, 

 but were tortured to death in various 

 other ways. The most common mode 

 was to broil them alive over a slow fire, 

 or to consume them gradually, by 

 commencing at their feet, and burning 

 upwards. In addition to these, whole 

 ship-loads were taken outside the har- 

 bour, and there drowned ; and, when 

 they were not thus dispatched by 

 wholesale, four or 6\e were sewed up 

 in a sack, and so thrown overboard. 

 "In this terrible war (we arc told, t) 

 human blood was poured forth in tor- 

 rents. It was computcii that within 

 two mouths after the commencement 

 of the revolt upwards of two thousand 

 white persons were massacred; that 

 one hundred and eighty sugar-plan- 

 tations, and about nine hundred cof- 

 fee, cotton, and indigo, estates were 

 destroyed ; and twelve hundred fami- 

 lies reduced from extreme opulence to 

 such a state of misery, as to depend 

 altogether for their clothing and sus- 

 tenance on public and private charity. 

 Of the insurgents, it was reckoned that 

 upwards of ten thousand had perished 



• It is right to mention, that the crnel- 

 ties practised by the rebels on the fiiet 

 bursting of their chains, were only perpe- 

 trated when despair luid fnrj- alone influ- 

 enced their actions. N otv. ithstanding the 

 more elaborate and cold-blooded atroci- 

 ties of the French, the Haytians soon be- 

 gan to distinguish their enemies, and to 

 shew compassion upon the helpless women 

 and children of the planteis who fell into 

 their hands. At tlie conclusion of tlie 

 war they evinced much moderation, and 

 suffered many of the French to embark on- 

 board a British squadron. 



t History of the Island of St. Domingo, 

 from its first Discovery by Columbus to 

 the present period ; London 1818, p, 119. 



L'Ouverture, [Feb. I, 



by the sword and b\ famine, and some 

 hundreds by the hand of the exe- 

 cutioner." 



A revolt, commencing with such 

 inveterate hostility on both sides, was 

 not likely to terminate cither tanicly 

 or speedily. The advantages gained 

 by the blacks, although at first compa- 

 ratively unimportant, served to encou- 

 rage them to attempt nobler things ; 

 and, under the able guidance of Jean 

 Francois and Beasson, they soon 

 succeeded in taking possession of tlic 

 cai)ital of the island, having previously 

 obtained from the French commis- 

 sioners the unconditional emancipa- 

 tion of all the slaves in the colony. 

 The capture of Cape Franqois was 

 attended with all the savage fury 

 which might be expected from a body 

 of negroes, over whom their leaders 

 had no control. A dreadful butchery 

 ensued; and this once flourishing and 

 wealthy city was reduced to nearly 

 one entire mass of smoking ruins.* 

 More than two days were devoted to 

 the work of pillage and destruction ; 

 and the blacks ceased to plunder and 

 destroy, — not that they were influ- 

 enced so to do by any " compunctious 

 visitings" of mercy, but because they 

 Lad actually carried their ravages to 

 tie very uttermost extent. They had, 

 in fact, left none unspared who pos- 

 sessed any transferable property, or 

 wlio were remembered to have exer- 

 cised more than an ordinary portion 

 of oppression over their slaves and 

 servants. 



During these commotions numeron$ 

 emigrations took jilace from St. Do- 

 mingo to the neighbouring islands; 

 and not less than ten thousand persons 

 were supposed to have passed over to 

 America. The principal planters, how- 

 ever, fled to England; and, after a 

 great deal of perseverance, succeeded 

 in procuring the aid of the British mi- 

 nistry, by whom arrangements were 

 made for taking possession of such 

 parts of St. Domingo as should be 

 willing to put themselves under their 



• Scarcely any town ever tell so com- 

 pletely a victim to revolutionary fury as 

 Cape Fran(;ois. Not a house or churcli 

 escaped conflagration, and the ruins still 

 denote their former splendor. The re- 

 mains of the catiiedral are among the most 

 striking objects ; they occupy one side nf 

 a large square, at tlie head of which the 

 king's palace now stands. It was in this 

 square that the nnmberless inhuman exe- 

 cutions of negroes took place duriiig the 

 war. 



protection, 



