with him. By that means, my innocence, and all I have done for the republic, will be seen."
Toussaint was not even aware of Le Clerc's death. Finding that the humanity of Colomier, the governor of the castle, would not allow the prisoner to starve fast enough, Napoleon ordered the keeper to a distance; and on his return, Toussaint was dead.
Thus in the beginning of April, in the year 1803, died Toussaint L'Ouverture, a grandson of an African king. He passed the greater number of his days in slavery, and rose to be a soldier, a general, a governor, and to-*day lives in the hearts of the people of his native isle. Endowed by nature with high qualities of mind, he owed his elevation to his own energies and his devotion to the welfare and freedom of his race. His habits were thoughtful, and, like most men of energetic temperaments, he crowded much into what he said.
So profound and original were his opinions, that they have been successively drawn upon by all the chiefs of St. Domingo since his era, and still without loss of adaptation to the circumstances of the country. His thoughts were copious and full of vigor; and what he could express well in his native patois, he found tame and unsatisfactory in the French language, which he was obliged to employ in the details of his official business.
He would never sign what he did not fully understand, obliging two or three secretaries to re-word the document, until they had succeeded in furnishing the particular phrase expressive of his meaning. While at the height of his power, and when all around him were furnished with every comfort, and his officers living
