spite of all efforts to the contrary, continued until the mulattoes carried their point, which was to secure a full recognition of their citizenship under the decrees, and until at last, both they and the. whites alike appealed to the blacks. In the fierce strife which followed, all parties seemed to vie with one another in practicing the most fearful cruelties, and it was these atrocities, surrounding death with every conceivable terror and suffering, that constituted the far-famed "Horrors of the Negro Insurrection in San Domingo" The state of things led commissioners Southanax and Polverel, who had been sent from France with full powers for restoring order, to proclaim general emancipation in 1793. Their proclamations were confirmed by the National Legislative Assembly at Paris and extended to all the French colonies February 4, 1794, so that legalized slavery ceased in Haiti after this latter date, though for some time before that, it had in reality ceased, inasmuch as everywhere the negroes were in arms.

Toussaint l'Ouverture, one of the self-emancipated blacks, who, with Jean Francois, Biasson, and other black leaders, had gone to the Spaniards in the eastern part, came back when he heard of the emancipation, and flung his sword into the balance in favor of France, which was then at war with Spain and England. Toussaint at once developed extraordinary military genius. He speedily drove the English out of all their strongholds in the north, and quickly restored comparative order. He made himself felt everywhere and in everything in the island, and soon became practically the sole governing power there. He was generous and humane, and his great character still shines out on the pages of history as the one illustrious figure which gives relief from the pain of those dark days and trying times. Order having been restored, he devoted himself to reorganization, in which he displayed quite as much genius as he had exhibited in the field. The wheels of peaceful industry were again set in motion. The old planters returned to their plantations under the guarantee of a

word that never was broken, and the fields once more smiled with flower and harvest. In the course of this work of reorganization, he had, in May, 1801, promulgated a constitution which conferred special powers on him, but which was, however, distinctly made subject to the approval of the mother country.

It seems to have been this constitution which aroused Napoleon's suspicion of Toussaint's possible ambition, and induced him to lend ear to the incessant and impassioned appeals of some of the planters who considered themselves ruined by the negro insurrection. It was after the treaty of Amiens, and France was at peace with the world. Napoleon had failed to establish a contributary tropical colony in the east, so that, for weeks, the great arbiter of Europe was absorbed in gathering information about Haiti. "Why," said he, "why should this rich colony, alone free in the midst of slavery, be left to form a possible alliance with England?" After planning in every detail with as much care and skill as he afterwards planned for the invasion of Russia, he decided to send and did send to Haiti the famous expedition of 1802, which arrived at the harbor of Cape Haitien on the 12th of February of that year. It was an imposing force of 30,000 men and 40 vessels, under the command of Napoleon's brother-in-law, Gen. Leclerc. The avowed object of the expedition was to restore slavery. Napoleon first employed all the skill of artful persuasion of which he was such a consummate master to win Toussaint over to his plans. He wrote him letters with his own hand, holding out glittering flatteries and promises. But the great black stood firm, and at once resolved to resist to the last extremity this attempt to reduce freedmen to slavery. So hostilities were inaugurated with vigor on both sides. It was characterized by unspeakable atrocities, the blacks insisting on fighting Leclerc with his own weapons, exacting an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. They were ably led by Toussaint, Christophe, and Dessalines, and fought with the bravery of desperation.

New forces came from Europe. The French fleet and army were so distributed that all the important points were attacked simultaneously. Some of Toussaint's ablest lieutenants were won over to Leclerc, who never ceased to use blandishment and intrigue, and finally, Toussaint was induced to lay down his arms under the most solemn guarantees. Leclerc seemed now about to attain the object of his mission, but when the blacks saw their chiefs perfidiously dealt with, Toussaint, Rigaud, and others being entrapped and sent away to imprisonment and probable death under inclement skies beyond the seas, they again flew to arms under those of their old leaders who, like Dessalines and Christophe, were still left to them. The yellow fever came to their aid, decimating the ranks of the French. Leclerc tried to repair his losses by bringing in more fresh troops from Europe, but it was all in vain. The blacks stood like a stone wall, and were still ably directed. Leclerc himself fell a victim to the dread fever. Rochambeau succeeded him, but, pressed on all sides by the brave blacks fighting against impending reënslavement, and his ranks thinned by the ravages of disease, he was glad to abandon the contest in December, 1803.

It is estimated that this attempt of Napoleon to reënslave "the rebel blacks of San Domingo," as he was wont to style them, cost him not less than 55,000 European troops and more than 200,000,000 francs.

Haiti was now freed from the presence of the foreign invader, and on the 1st of January, 1804, Dessalines promulgated the Declaration of Haitian Independence, which through many vicissitudes, trials, and menaces from the great powers, has ever since been firmly maintained. After having been proclaimed Governor-General for life, Dessalines issued on the same day a proclamation in which he foreshadowed his bloodthirsty policy of exterminating the French subjects still remaining in the country. Dessalines, who had been proclaimed Emperor, was assassinated in November, 1806, and subsequently, a new constitution, modeled somewhat after that of

the United States, was adopted. It limited the powers of the executive and established the principle of religious freedom from which Haiti has never departed, but it excluded white men from citizenship and ownership of landed property, a restriction which is still in effect in Haiti, but not in San Domingo. Christophe refused the Presidency under this Constitution, and set up a government of his own in the north. He created it into a kingdom, and styled himself Henri I, King of Haiti. His reign was marvelous for the material prosperity which he developed. He introduced the Protestant religion and the English language into the schools. On a lofty mountain top, near Cape Haitien, he built a citadel and not far from it, the palace of Sans Souci, which must for all time be regarded as a marvel of human achievement, but he was cruel and arbitrary in the extreme.

Meantime, Pétion has accepted the Presidency under the new constitution, but Christophe kept up an unceasing war with him during his whole administration, which ended with his death in 1818. Christophe committed suicide in 1820. Boyer succeeded Pétion, and immediately after Christophe's suicide, took possession of the kingdom in the name of the Republic. Boyer's term of office covered twenty-five years. During this period, the whole island came under one rule. England recognized the independence of Haiti in 1825, and France made full recognition in 1838, on condition that there should be paid to her an enormous and burdensome indemnity, which has been fully discharged. From the overthrow of Boyer, in 1843, Haitians date an era in their history; it is the dark and deadly era of revolution.

Altogether, Haiti has, during her 88 years of independence, had 17 chiefs of state. The United States during the same period have had 21. A glance at the lives of the Haitian chiefs of state, after they came to power, is suggestive of the tendency of things hitherto in that country, as well as of a singular phase of human vicissitudes. Toussaint L'Ouverture died a prisoner in the castle