planters should consent to cease from oppressing them. A very little justice and kindness would have pacified the revolted slaves; but the slaveholders were so full of rage and pride, that if a slave attempted to return to his master, however sincere he might be, he was instantly put to death. Three commissioners came from France to try to negotiate a peace between the contending parties. The blacks sent deputies to the Colonial Assembly to help the French commissioners in this good work; but the planters treated their overtures with haughtiness and contempt.

It is said that Toussaint wept when he saw the hopes[47] of peace vanish. It was plain that his people must resist their tyrants, or be forever hopelessly crushed. He was then fifty years old, in the prime of his bodily and mental strength. By becoming a leader he felt that he might protect the ignorant masses, and restrain those who were disposed to cruelty. Perhaps he remembered the prediction of the Abbé Raynal, and thought that he was the appointed deliverer,—a second Moses, sent by God to bring his people out of bondage. From that time henceforth he made it the business of his life to conquer freedom for his race; but never in a bloodthirsty spirit.

[47]

Biassou was so enraged by the contemptuous manner in which their deputies had been treated, that he gave orders to put to death all the white prisoners in their camps. But Toussaint remonstrated, and succeeded in saving their lives. His superior intelligence gave him great influence, and he always exerted it on the side of humanity. He also manifested extraordinary courage and sagacity in the very difficult position in which he was placed. He was surrounded by conflicting parties, fighting against each other, agreeing only in one thing, and that was hostility to the negroes; all of them ready to make the fairest promises, and to break them as soon as they had gained their object. France was in a state of revolutionary confusion, and rumors were very contradictory. One thing was certain,—their former masters were fighting against the king of France; and instinct led them to take the other side. Toussaint deemed it wisest to keep under the protection of their Spanish allies, and fight with them for the king's party. By a succession of battles, he gained possession of several districts in the mountains, where he entrenched his forces strongly, and tried to bring them under regular military discipline.[48] He was very strict, and allowed no disobedience of orders. He forbade his soldiers to go about plundering, or revenging past injuries. His motto was, "No Retaliation,"—a noble, Christian motto, 

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