Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/85

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Louverture, Rigaud, etc., Appointed Brig.-Generals
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made by him Toussaint acted with great caution. He would not shoot the French colonists and emigrants, but would send them to Laveaux, who had to take the responsibility of putting them to death. In this way he began to befriend the whites.

Throughout all the time that war was being waged, Toussaint never allowed the cultivation of the land to be neglected. With money raised from the products of the soil he was able to buy arms and ammunition from the United States. Rigaud in the South, and Beauvais in the West, also encouraged agriculture; Cayes and Jacmel could in this way entertain an active commercial intercourse with the United States.

The officers to whose care was intrusted the defense of Saint-Domingue had only their own resources upon which to rely. France was in so critical a condition that there was no probability of her sending any help to the colony, which was even without any news from the mother country. The English, on the other hand, received reinforcements in April, 1795. Considerably strengthened by the assistance of the Spaniards and the arrival of the new soldiers, they extended their authority to Mirebalais, Las Cahobas, and Banica. Before long, however, they were destined to be deprived of the support of their allies. On July 22, 1795, the Treaty of Bale was signed and Spain gave up the whole Spanish portion of Saint-Domingue to France.

At about the same time, on July 23, the National Convention adopted a decree stating that the army of Saint-Domingue had well deserved of the country, and appointing Laveaux major-general and Villate, Toussaint Louverture, Beauvais, and Rigaud brigadier-generals. This good news was brought to Saint-Domingue by the sloop of war Venus, which anchored at Cap-Français the 14th of October, 1795. Laveaux, who up to that time had been residing at Port-de-Paix, returned to Cap-Français, which Villate had so valiantly defended against the English and the Spaniards. Taking advantage of the Treaty of Bale, the Governor of Saint-