they are that are there.
There are the troops of the Rhine--troops that have conquered a fairer
river than our Artibonite, storming the castles on her steeps, and
crowning themselves from her vineyards. There are the troops of the
Alps--troops that have soared above the eagle, and stormed the clouds,
and plucked the ice-king by the beard upon his throne. There are the
troops of Italy--troops that have trodden the old Roman ways, and fought
over again the old Roman wars--that have drunk of the Tiber, and once
more conquered the armies of the Danube. There are the troops of
Egypt--troops that have heard the war-cry of the desert tribes, and
encamped in the shadow of the pyramids."

"Yet he is not afraid," said Henri to himself, as he watched the
countenance of his friend.

"All these," continued Toussaint, "all these are brought hither against
a poor, depressed, insulted, ignorant race--brought as conquerors, eager
for the spoil before a blow is struck. They come to disembarrass our
paradise of us, as they would clear a fragrant and fruitful wood of apes
and reptiles. And if they find that it takes longer than they suppose
to crush and disperse us, France has more thousands ready to come and
help. The labourer will leave his plough at a word, and the
vine-dresser his harvest, and the artisan his shop--France will pour out
the youth of all her villages, to seize upon the delights of the
tropics, and the wealth of the savages, as they are represented by the
emigrants who will not take me for a friend, but eat their own hearts
far away, with hatred and jealousy. All France is coming to Saint
Domingo!"

"But--" interposed Christophe.

"But, Henri," interrupted his friend, laying his hand on his shoulder,
"not all France, with her troops of the Rhine, of the Alps, of the Nile,
nor with all Europe to help her, can extinguish the soul of Africa.
That soul, when once the soul of a man, and no longer that of a slave,
can overthrow the pyramids and the Alps themselves, sooner than be again
crushed down into slavery."

"With God's help," said Christophe, crossing himself.

"With God's help," repeated Toussaint. "See here," he continued, taking
up a handful of earth from the broken ground on which they stood, "see
here what God has done! See, here are shells from the depth of yonder
ocean, lying on the mountain-top. Cannot He who thus uprears the dust
of His ocean floor, and lifts it above the clouds, create the soci