Show TOUSSAINT ll 11 L OVERTURE AND AN THE REPUBLIC OF HAYTI AT THE khz middle of the chain of islands composing the west indies lies fies one of large size which was discovered by columbus on the ath of december 1492 and called by him in honor of his adopted country Hi or little spain this name however was afterwards abandoned and the island was called st domingo from the name of its principal town latterly this second appellation has likewise dropped out of use and the island wv bears the name of hayti a void ard signifying mountainous by raich chich name it was called by its original inhabitants before the visit dixit of columbus we are told by james jame A fronde the eminent english historian that Hi st domingo or hayti is not only one of the largest but that it is also one of the most beautiful and productive islands in the west indies it is about miles in length and varies in breadth from 60 to miles it presents great diversity of scenery lofty mountains deep valleys and extensive plains or sa clothed with thea luxuriant vegetation of tropical climate the ait xa on an the plains is warm and laden with the perfume oi flowers and tie sadden changes from drouth to rain ram though trying to european constitution sti ution is ia favorable to the growth of the rich products of the soil in the latter part of bf 1629 the western portion of this island became a french colony and to use the words of a great french writer friter it bloomed and blossomed like a rose in ra june from 1776 to 1789 it contained many magnificent man s sons ons and vill villas of pretty but simple architecture along the borders of the sea while public buildings hospitals aqueducts fountains and baths ien rendered dered life and healthy all the comforts of the old world had been transported into the new in 1789 the population of the colony was negro gwo gavery prevailed in st domingo as well as in all the other colonies of the new world and to supply the demand for labor the blacks were imported from africa afria a into the colony at the rate of per year and thus at the time at which we are now writing about there them iras bras a black population oi A between and and about white inhabitants and ana stol there was a third class of PM persons ous known as the people of color there were something like of these people of color in the colopy colony this third class clam arose of the white and to babek graceb in the year 1685 XIV a code noie 9 or black code wa which job cau con bained a number of the hudsin hamane ie al I 1 n ne groes in e A till he were wen I 1 miseries mise na lust system W I 1 y airi i s sated gated A 1 I and i 5 E s 3 at tamed dinst in dm n in eftim of IM chib p k iron hron civil ing or of d YX of i sep Q ie aelyas ni der t 7 7 prin p bev t eye div the artia ln jre g COW alas losen immia Z r JE i P g U effig about six thousand did so but the great majOri majority tV fled to the hills amellin swelling the army of the two negro chiefs francois and biassou and luxuriating in the new found liberty which they had so suddenly acquired it was at this moment of utter confusion and disorganization y when british french mulattoes and blacks were all mixed up and intermingled in a bewildering war which was not a foreign war nor a civil war neither was it a war of races but it was wed a composition of all three we will repeat it it was at this very moment that toussaint I 1 L overture appeared upon the stage toussaint I 1 V overture was waa undoubtedly the greatest negro that has ever appeared above the horizon this thia extraordinary genius was born in st domingo on the plantation of the count de noe a few miles distant from cape francois irl in the year 1743 his father and mother were african slaves ou on the counts estate his father it is said wa the second son of giov gainor king of a powerful african tribe but bat he being taken prisoner by a hostile people was sold as a slave to some white merchants who carried him to st domingo where he was purchased by the count de noe in the course of time the kings son married a young woman who also belonged to the count and by h her er he had eight children five sons and three daughters toussaint was the eldest of all the children he grew upon the plantation with the rest of the slave children the count also had a slave by the name of pierre baptiste who had acquired a great deal of information from coming in m contact with the whites and we are told that pierre baptiste 11 gave toussaint instruction in reading writing arithmetic a little latin and an idea of geometry Tous saints qualifications soon awn gained him promotion he was made the coachman of M bayou the overseer of the tb count dei denoe noe a situation as high as a negro could hope to fill in this and in other still higher situations to which he was subsequently advanced his hii conduct was always irreproachable so that while he gained the confidence of his master every negro on the plantation held him in respect it is said laid that toussaint was wasps pos hessed with a very patient te temper amper 0 and that he was always kind to brute atala animals and it is further said that he was greatly to one female whom he had chosen for his wife in person be was above the middle size with a striking countenance and a robust constitution ution which was capable of enduring a great amount of fatigue his head was large and well shaped and he could work for many hours anthont nt hont requiring but a very little sleep to be |