Toussaint was also preoccupied by the forcible abduction of black citizens from Saint Domingue by slave-traffickers: in September 1801.... notably a resident of Cap called Bonhomme, who had been sold in Charleston, South Carolina. He called upon port authorities....to ensure that ships leaving the colony were not carrying men destined to a life of slavery [in the US]
Why am I surprised at awful behaviour of colonial states?
‘I have taken my flight from the region of eagles; I must be prudent in returning to earth: I can alight only upon a rock, and this rock should be the edifice of the constitution, which will guarantee my power as long as I remain among mortals.‘
Sometimes think it's a shame flowery 19thC language isn't in use anymore!
[Colonial authorities suggested] a grand invitation to visit Paris to celebrate [Toussaint's] achievements and also ‘enlighten the French government with his suggestions about the future of the colony‘ [they] believed that spending time in the capital of the world would have a miraculous effect on Toussaint: ‘within a month‘ of his stay, he would be ‘fully cured of all his schemes for colonial autonomy‘
!!!
The irony was that, far from giving Toussaint any support in his fight against the insurrection, the British were gleefully undermining him by strengthening Rigaud‘s hand, on the classic imperial principle that their interests would best be served by a Saint-Domingue which was divided by civil war. As Admiral Parker put it: ‘for as long as Rigaud and Toussaint are carrying on the contest, no great danger can be apprehended from either‘.
I love that this book includes images of the original correspondence.
Toussaint developed the habit of attacking the British during thunderstorms, especially severe ones, which could be spectacular in Saint- Domingue. Howard described one such event, which lasted six hours, as 'one of the grandest effects of Horror I have ever experienced'; this association of thunderstorms with potential attacks clearly provoked dread among enemy troops.
Photo from Unsplash
Toussaint's library was well stocked with the classics of the historical republican tradition of war, which included Herodotus' History of the Wars of the Persians against the Greeks, Vegetius' Scriptores de re militari, Caesar's Commentaries, d'Orléans' History of Revolutions in England and Spain and the inescapable Lives of Plutarch.
Toussaint admired Laveaux, in short, for his ‘exceptional love of black people‘. He wore a plume the French general sent him on his hat, as a gesture of friendship and respect but also for personal protection: a wonderful example of how Toussaint could readily combine European symbolism and local magical traditions (the plume was widely used in vodou rituals).
"The procolonial Constituent Assembly was replaced by a more progressive legislature, which in April 1792 promulgated a decree abolishing all racial discrimination in the colonies: it had taken the French Revolution nearly three years to arrive at this basic point. "
The limits of liberté, egalité, fraternité...
It is worth noting that the main language Toussaint spoke, and used... was kreyol. One... memorialist who heard him speak noted how precise, but also how vivid and colourful his expression was. In its combination of French, African and indigenous motifs and its capacity for ambiguity, irony and wit, the language was a perfect reflection of the cultural forces which shaped Toussaint‘s personality and intellect.
Well yes, it would....
"...Even more dramatically, notarial documents show that after his liberation from servitude he owned at least one slave, and rented a coffee plantation with thirteen slaves from his son-in-law, Philippe-Jasmin Désir, between 1779 and 1781.67 These revelations have opened the way for a new raft of questions about Toussaint‘s pre-revolutionary status and the sincerity of his later opposition to slavery.
“There were no Sundays for his tongue”
It‘s been a while since I‘ve read any nonfiction, so why not return to it with my favourite thing in the world.
Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture | 
