CHAPTER XXI.
INSURRECTION, AND DEATH OF CHRISTOPHE.
Christophe, who now might be denominated the
Caligula of the blacks, was every day adding to the discontent
and terror of his subjects. His soldiers were
treated with extreme severity for every real or fancied
fault, and they sought for nothing so earnestly as for an
occasion to abandon his service, and gain an asylum
within the territories of his rival; or to attempt, what
they scarcely dared to meditate, the dethronement of a
tyrant who caused them to pass their lives in wretchedness.
Christophe possessed a knowledge of this disaffection
entertained towards him, and instead of seeking
to assure and perpetuate the allegiance of his army, to
the bayonets of which he was indebted for his power,
his vengeance became every day more watchful and
more terrible, until his conduct exceeded in cruelty
even that which had already spread hatred and misery
throughout the nation. Christophe determined to rule
through the inspirement of fear alone, and he practised
no arts of conciliation to preserve to his interests those
even who were necessary to the maintenance of his
power.
