the days to come, when August itself is
past. The influence of myself or my successor will be injured by my
having, even apparently, yielded to the invaders. My power over our
people's minds will be immeasurably greater, if I shall have
consistently refused to tolerate the foe, from the moment of their first
hostile act to the end of the struggle. Am I not right?"

"That character of consistency will be purchased at a price too dear;--
at the cost of your characteristic of mercy, Toussaint--of reverence for
human life. You will be ranked with Dessalines, if you keep up, for
four months, the disturbance and devastation of war, when every one
knows that your end will be as certainly gained after these four months
have been spent in peace. What a grief it would be to see you changed
in all eyes from the adored L'Ouverture to Toussaint the bandit! Pardon
my freedom."

"I required it of you, my friend; so do not speak of pardon. We are
agreed that the moral influence of my conduct is the main consideration,
as the destruction of the French army is certain, sooner or later--our
independence secure, if we so will it. If we remain in the mountains,
cutting off in detail the grasp which France shall attempt to lay on any
part of our territory or our system; training our people, meantime, for
another campaign, if France should attempt another; replenishing
gradually our stores with perpetual small captures from the enemy,
allowing them no asylum, discountenancing their presence, in every
possible way--we shall be taking the shortest, and therefore the most
merciful method of convincing the French and the blacks at once that
their empire here is at an end, and slavery henceforth impossible for
the negroes of Saint Domingo. But, if I make a peace or truce, how dim
and perplexed will be the impression of my conduct! I cannot hold
office, civil or military, under the French. Henri, you would not have
me do so!"

"Certainly not. Till August, retire to your estate, that every office
in the colony may thereafter be in your hand."

"If I co-operate with the French, even in the faintest appearance, my
moral influence will be all on their side, and a second year of warfare
will find us farther from peace or independence than the first. If I
act, more or less, for the blacks, Leclerc will send me to France as a
traitor. If I do nothing, neither party will believe in my doing
nothing: each will suspect me of secret dealings