120 
OUVERTURE. 
trial friends of Touffaint to be arrefted, and fent to the 
different fliips of the fquadron : none of them were ever 
heard of afterwards ; and it is fuppofed that they were 
thrown overboard. Touffaint, on the paffage, was kept 
a clofe prifoner, and feparated from his wife and family; 
and, on the, arrival of the fhip at Breft, he was merely al¬ 
lowed to fee them once, and take leave of them for ever. 
He was conducted to the caftle of Joux in Normandy, 
with a fingle negro to attend on him ; his wife and chil¬ 
dren were conveyed to Bayonne, and nothing more was 
ever heard of either. On the approach of winter, Touf¬ 
faint was fubfequently removed to Befangon, and there 
immured in a cbld, damp, gloomy dungeon, which be¬ 
came, as doubtlefs was intended, his fepulchre, the floor 
being adtually covered with water. Thus did this great 
and good man perifh, by the foul machinations of that 
remorfelefs tyrant, who, inftead of expiating his number- 
lefs cruelties in a living fepulchre, like that to which he 
consigned the negro chief, is now merely kept from doing 
more mifchief, by a mild banifliment to the falubrious and 
romantic heights of St. Helena. 
We ill all now avail ourfelves of fotne late publications, 
to complete the hillory of St. Domingo, or Hifpaniola, 
or Hayti, up to the prefent day. It has been feen, under 
the article Hispaniola, vol. x. p. 204. that Deflalines, 
who fucceeded Touffaint in the command of the army, 
had the good fortune totally to expel the French from the 
ifland, and to become himfelf “ Emperor of Hayti,” in 
1804. We have alfo noticed the death of this tranfatlan- 
tic Robefpierre ; and that the government of the ifland 
was difputed by two chiefs, Chriftophe a negro, and 
Petion a mulatto. The blacks, always jealous of the 
men of colour, attacked Petion, who, with his people, 
narrowly efcaped into the fouthern and weftern diftridts, 
where a new conrtitution was prepared ; and, on the 27th 
of December, 1806, Petion was proclaimed prefident of 
the republic of Hayti. A civil war now fprang up be¬ 
tween the partifans of the two chiefs ; till at length, by a 
fort of tacit agreement, the mulatto prefident fixed him¬ 
felf in the fouth and weft, while Chriftophe eftablifhed 
himfelf in the north, where, on the 2d of June, 1811, the 
royal crown was placed on his head, and he was pro¬ 
claimed Henry I. king of Hayti. 
The kingdom is feparated from the republic by an un¬ 
inhabited line of ten leagues in depth. The rich plains 
of the Boucaflin, and the coverts through which the line 
pafies, are at prefent thick forefts, which, by the force of 
vegetation, grow every day more and more impenetrable. 
Petion, the prefident of the republic of Hayti, a native 
mulatto of St. Domingo, was educated at the military 
academy of Paris, where he diftinguifhed himfelf as a 
man of very confiderable talents, but of fhy and referved 
manners. His difpofition, however, was gentle and con¬ 
ciliatory ; and fuch was the confidence of his own cafte in 
his ability and integrity, that, almoft without exertion, 
he had not only the merit of keeping together, and thus 
faving, the remains of the people of colour, but of efta- 
blifhing, with about ten or twelve thoufand of that 
cafte, a complete controul over a population of 250,000 
blacks ; more, it is faid, by the feafonable application of 
the two fafcinating words, liberty and equality, than by 
the introdudrion of them into real practice. The death 
of Petion, which took place in 1818, was univerfally la¬ 
mented ; and his funeral was attended by almoft the whole 
population of Port-au-Prince, all exclaiming that they 
had loft a father and a friend; and when his fucceffor, 
general Boyer, pronounced his funeral oration, the whole 
multitude burft into tears. An Englifh merchant, refid- 
ing at Port-au-Prince, fays, “ I have been on intimate 
terms with Petion for years, and a more virtuous and 
amiable man I never knew. He is the idol of the people, 
and their confidence in him is unbounded.” It was fup¬ 
pofed that he was a Frenchman in his heart, and would 
betray that part.of the ifland over which he ruled to the 
emiflaries of Louis; but his conduit, on that occafion, 
fhewed his fincerity. The moment he heard of the mif- 
fton, he caufed every preparation to be made for fetting 
fire to all the houfes on the coaft, and torches to be placed 
in all the arfenals ready to be lighted. “ If,” fays the 
Englifh merchant above alluded to, “ a fuggeftion is 
whifpered at the government-houfe as to the policy of the 
meafure, the anfwer is, Look at Mofcow.” It would ap¬ 
pear, if Lacroix be correct, that be juft died in time to 
lave his reputation j that, difgufted with the things of 
this world, he had fallen into an abfolute apathy, and no 
longer poflefied that a&ivity of mind fo neceftary for the 
founder and the director of a political fyftem ; that, finding 
he could not advance the fabric he had reared according 
to his philanthropic view's, annoyed at the idea of bfing 
fixed to a fpot of the earth where the furrounding mafs 
was fo barbarous as not to comprehend thofe view's, he 
launched forth into the imaginary world of Plato ; and, 
in the aberration of his faculties, had neverthelefs pre- 
ferved a fufficient degree of firmnefs to fuffer himfelf to 
die of hunger. 
Chriftophe, now Henry I. king of Hayti, was born a 
Have in that ifland of the Weft Indies from which he 
takes his name, and was ftill a flave in St. Domingo in the 
year 1791. The early friend and the faithful adherent of 
Touftaint, he bore a confiderable refemblance to him in 
chara&er. His military talents were very refpeftable, 
and his courage unlhaken ; his difpofition humane and 
benevolent. In the exercife of all the focial virtues he 
has been eminently diftinguifhed ; he is a good hufband, 
a good father, a fteady friend, and ftrift in the obfervance 
of all the duties of religion and morality. Contrary to 
the common cuftom among his black countrymen, he at¬ 
tached himfelf in early life to one woman, whom he never 
forfook; and that woman is now queen of Hayti, beloved 
by all ranks and conditions. Henry is faid to pofiefs a 
propriety and dignity of manner feldom attained by an 
uneducated man. Gifted with ftrong natural talents, he 
foon acquired the habit both of fpeaking and writing w ell. 
His proclamations, faid to be generally dictated by him¬ 
felf, are cornpofitions of which the moft civilized cabinets 
of Europe might not be afhamed. Of his good faith and 
moderation, the Britifh merchants relident under his pro¬ 
tection have had frequent and ample proofs. His colour 
and features are completely negro; but his countenance 
is reprefented as very intelligent, agreeable, and expreftive. 
In perfon and appearance, he is laid to bear a ftrong re¬ 
femblance to our late venerable fovereign ; and the re- 
fpeCt felt for him by the Britifh merchants is not, on that 
account, diminifhed : his common drefs, which is that of 
the Windfor uniform, but without lace or ftar, adds to 
the likenefs. When commander-in-chief of Cape Fran¬ 
cois, he ufed to give public dinners, to which the officers 
of the Britifh navy were frequently invited ; and on thefe 
occafions his converfation was in the Englifh language, in 
which he exprefles himfelf with great eafe. At the^head 
of all his public inftitutions lie is ambitious to place Eng- 
liftimen, profefting his cordiardetbftation of every thing 
French. Dr. Stuart has the care of his military hofpital, 
which is conftantly vifited by the king, who goes round 
daily and talks with the patients, moft of whom he knows 
by name and character: to fom.e he gives good advice, 
others be fcolds, and with others he laughs and jefts, and 
they all appear happy to fe.e him. His good-humoured 
difpofition is manifefted by the number of orphans, chil¬ 
dren of deceafed officers, whom he keeps in his palace, 
and whom he buffers to run about him and feel his pocket 
for bons-hons, which he carries with him for the gratifica¬ 
tion of the little urchins. 
The two governments; under the fuperintendance of 
the negro king and the mulatto prefident, have proceeded 
in very different ways, and without any common princi¬ 
ple, in the progrefs of civilization, the cultivation of 
their refpeftive territories, and the general improvement 
of the people. Petion, the late prefident, endeavoured 
to adhere to the revolutionary government of France, 
