slaves to seize this favorable moment of commotion and rise against their masters. They did rise, on the 22d of August, 1791. All at once the sky was red with the reflection of burning houses and cane-fields. The cruelties which they had witnessed or suffered, they now, in their turn, inflicted on white men, women, and children. It was a horrible scene. Toussaint was working as usual on the Breda estate, when he heard that the planters had called in the aid[44] of the English, and that four thousand negroes had risen in insurrection. He exerted his great influence with his fellow-slaves to prevent the destruction of houses and cane-fields on the Breda estate. For a month, he kept the insurgents at bay, while he helped M. Bayou de Libertas to convey a cargo of sugar on board a Baltimore ship, for the support of his family, and aided his mistress to collect such articles of value as could conveniently be carried away. Then he secretly conveyed them to the same ship; and it was an inexpressible relief to his heart when he saw them sailing away, bound for the shores of the United States. [44] The armed negroes increased in numbers, and marshalled themselves under an intelligent leader named Jean François. When the French governor in St. Domingo called upon them to lay down their arms, their leaders replied for them: "We have never thought of failing in the respect and duty we owe to the representatives of the King of France. The king has bewailed our lot and broken our chains. But those who should have proved fathers to us have been tyrants, monsters, unworthy the fruits of our labors. Do you ask the sheep to throw themselves into the jaws of the wolf? To prove to you, excellent sir, that we are not so cruel as you may think, we assure you that we wish for peace with all our souls; but on condition that all the whites, without a single exception, leave the Cape. Let them carry with them their gold and their jewels. All we seek is our liberty. God grant that we may obtain it without shedding of blood. Believe us, it has cost our feelings very much to have taken this course. But victory, or death for freedom, is our profession of faith; and we will maintain it to the last drop of our blood." [45] [45] The negroes were mistaken in supposing that Louis XVI., king of France, had broken their chains, or that the king's party, called Royalists, were trying to do anything for their freedom. It was the revolutionary party in France, called Republicans, who had declared
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