ue_.

The French possessions beyond the seas had never shrunk to a smaller
area than in the closing years of the late war with England. The fact
was confessed by the First Consul in his letter of October 7th, 1801,
to Decres, the Minister for the Navy and the Colonies: "Our
possessions beyond the sea, which are now in our power, are limited to
Saint Domingo, Guadeloupe, the Isle of France (Mauritius), the Isle of
Bourbon, Senegal, and Guiana." After rendering this involuntary homage
to the prowess of the British navy, Bonaparte proceeded to describe
the first measures for the organization of these colonies: for not
until March 25th, 1802, when the definitive treaty of peace was
signed, could the others be regained by France.

* * * * *

First in importance came the re-establishment of French authority in
the large and fertile island of Hayti, or St. Domingo. It needs an
effort of the imagination for the modern reader to realize the immense
importance of the West Indian islands at the beginning of the
century, whose close found them depressed and half bankrupt. At the
earlier date, when the name Australia was unknown, and the
half-starved settlement in and around Sydney represented the sole
wealth of that isle of continent; when the Cape of Good Hope was
looked on only as a port of call; when the United States numbered less
than five and a half million souls, and the waters of the Mississippi
rolled in unsullied majesty past a few petty Spanish stations--the
plantations of the West Indies seemed the unfailing mine of colonial
industry and commerce. Under the _ancien regime_, the trade of the
French portion of San Domingo is reported to have represented more
than half of her oceanic commerce. But during the Revolution the
prosperity of that colony reeled under a terrible blow.

The hasty proclamation of equality between whites and blacks by the
French revolutionists, and the refusal of the planters to recognize
that decree as binding, led to a terrible servile revolt, which
desolated the whole of the colony. Those merciless strifes had,
however, somewhat abated under the organizing power of a man, in whom
the black race seemed to have vindicated its claims to political
capacity. Toussaint l'Ouverture had come to the front by sheer
sagacity and force of character. By a deft mixture of force and
clemency, he imposed order on the vapouring crowds of negroes: he
restored the French part of