History of Hayti. 
l 7 
of things was necessarily the assertion of more general rights; 
and the insurrection of the slaves soon swept away all the insti¬ 
tutions of the past. Slavery disappeared forever from the face 
of the country, and a decree of the National Convention legalized 
that universal liberty which had already become triumphant. 
The colonists, from the commencement of the crisis, had par¬ 
tially pronounced in favor of deserting the cause of the Mother 
Country. 
A few of the principal insurgent chiefs, especially Toussaint 
Louverture, soon began to think of independence. Their hatred 
of a past which they held in abhorrence prevented their alliance 
with any of the new parties. They passed from one flag to 
the very opposite one. Others, like Rigaud, devoted them¬ 
selves to republican France; but the majority of them fought 
vigorously against the English, at that time the supporters of 
the slaveholders. In vain did Spain and England maintain 
the cause of the old regime. The newly freed, seconded by the 
energy of Sonthouax, member of the Convention, triumphed in 
the cause of liberty. In order to baffle the designs of 
independence entertained by Toussaint Louverture, and to 
establish the former state of things, Napoleon, First Consul, 
sent to St. Domingo an army composed of the soldiers of the 
Pyramids, Marengo, and Hohenlinden. One hundred and fifty 
millions of francs, and twenty thousand men of his best troops 
were swallowed up- in this expedition, — one of the most terri¬ 
ble lessons ever read to this great man. The only gain accruing 
to him from this enterprise was the capture of Toussaint Louver¬ 
ture, (who was taken by treachery f) and the shame of the death 
of this celebrated chief, who perished of misery and cold in the 
Castle of Joux. 
At the head of the valiant soldiers who had been fighting for 
ten years for their liberty, the most distinguished chiefs weie 
Dessalines, Petion, and Christophe. This time, it was no longer 
against servitude only that they unfurled their banner, it was 
