joined the Spaniards to return. Toussaint and his followers accepted the invitation, returned, and were enrolled in the army under the commissioners. Fresh troops arrived from France, who were no sooner in the Island than they separated-some siding with the planters, and others with the commissioners. The white republicans of the Mother Country were arrayed against the white republicans of St. Domingo, whom they were sent out to assist. The blacks and the mulattoes were at war with each other; old and young of both sexes, and of all colors, were put to the sword, while the fury of the flames swept from plantation to plantation, and from town to town.

CHAPTER XIII.

SUCCESS OF TOUSSAINT.

DURING these sad commotions, Toussaint, by his superior knowledge of the character of his race, his humanity, generosity, and courage, had gained the confidence of all whom he had under his command. The rapidity with which he travelled from post to post astonished every one. By his genius and surpassing activity, Toussaint levied fresh forces, rasied the reputation of the army, and drove the English and Spanish from the Island.

The boiling caldron of the revolution during its progress, had thrown upon its surface several new military men, whose names became household words in St. Domingo. First of these, after Toussaint, was Christophe, a man of pure African origin, though a native of New Grenada. On being set free at the age of fifteen, he came to St. Domingo, where he resided until the commencement of the revolution. He had an eye full of fire, and a braver man never lived. Toussaint early discovered his good qualities, and made him his lieutenant, from which he soon rose to be a general of division.

As a military man, Christophe was considered far superior to Toussaint; and his tall, slim figure, dressed in the uniform of a general, was hailed with enthusiasm wherever he appeared.

Next to Christophe was Dessalines. No one who took part in the St. Domingo revolution has been so severely censured as this chief. At the commencement of the difficulties, Dessalines was the slave of a house carpenter, with whom he had learned the trade. He was a small man, of muscular frame, and of a dingy black. He had a haughty and ferocious look. Hunger, thirst, fatigue, and loss of sleep he seemed made to endure, as if by peculiarity of constitution. Dessalines was not a native of either of the West India Islands, for the marks upon his arms and breast, and the deep furrows and incisions on his face, pointed out the coast of Africa as his birth-place. Inured by exposure and toil to a hard life, his frame possessed a wonderful power of endurance. By his activity and singular fierceness on the field of battle, he first attracted the attention of Toussaint, who placed him amongst his guides and attendants, and subsequently advanced him rapidly through several grades, to the dignity of third in command. A more courageous man never appeared upon the battle-field. What is most strange in the history of Dessalines is, that he was a savage, a slave, a soldier, a general, and died when an emperor.

Among the mulattoes were several valiant chiefs. The ablest of these was Rigaud, the son of a wealthy planter. Having been educated at Paris, his manner was polished and his language elegant. Had he been

born in Asia, Rigaud would have governed an empire, for he had all the elements of a great man.

In religion he was the very opposite of Toussaint. An admirer of Voltaire and Rousseau, he had made their works his study. A long residence in Paris had enabled him to become acquainted with many of the followers of these two distinguished philosophers.

He had seen two hundred thousand persons following the bones of Voltaire, when removed to the Pantheon; and, in his admiration for the great writer, had confounded liberty with infidelity.

Rigaud was the first amongst the mulattoes, and had sided with the planters in their warfare against the blacks. But the growing influence of this chief early spread fear in the ranks of the whites, which seen and felt by the mulattoes everywhere.

In military science, horsemanship, and activity. Rigaud was the first man on the Island, of any color, Toussaint bears the following testimony to the great skill of the mulatto general: "I know Rigaud well. He leaps from his horse when at full gallop, and he puts all his force in his arm when he strikes a blow.`` He was boundless in resources as he was brave and daring. High-tempered and irritable, he at times. appeared haughty. The charmed power that he held over the men of his color can scarcely be described. At the breaking out of the revolution, he headed the mulattoes in his native town, and soon drew around him a formidable body of men. Rigaud's legion was considered to be by far the best drilled and most reliable in battle of all the troops raised on the Island.

The mulattoes were now urging their claims to

citizenship and political enfranchisement, by arming themselves in defence of their rights; the activity and talent of their great leader, Rigaud, had been the guidance and support of their enterprise. He was hated by the whites in the same degree as they feared his influence with his race.

The unyielding nature of his character, which gave firmness and consistency to his policy while controling the interest of his brethren, made him dear to them.

Intrigue and craftiness could avail nothing against the designs of one who was ever upon the watch, and who had the means of counteracting all secret attempts against him; and open force in the field could not be successful in destroying a chieftain whose power was often felt, but whose person was seldom seen.

Thus to accomplish a design which had long been in contemplation, the whites of Aux Cayes were now secretly preparing a mine for Rigaud,-which, though it was covered with flowers, and to be sprung by the hand of professed friendship, it was thought would prove a sure and efficacious method of ridding them of such an opponent, and destroying the pretensions of the mulattoes forever.

It was proposed that the anniversary of the destruction of the Bastile should be celebrated in the town by both whites and mulattoes, in union and gratitude. A civic procession marched to the church, where the Te Deum was chanted and an oration pronounced by citizen Delpech. The Place d'Armes was crowded with tables of refreshments, at which both whites and mulattoes seated themselves. But beneath this scem