the island to comparative order and
prosperity; and with an army of 20,000 men he occupied the Spanish
portion. In this, as in other matters, he appeared to act as the
mandatory of France; but he looked to the time when France, beset by
European wars, would tacitly acknowledge his independence. In May,
1801, he made a constitution for the island, and declared himself
governor for life, with power to appoint his successor. This mimicry
of the consular office, and the open vaunt that he was the "Bonaparte
of the Antilles," incensed Bonaparte; and the haste with which, on
the day after the Preliminaries of London, he prepared to overthrow
this contemptible rival, tells its own tale.

Yet Corsican hatred was tempered with Corsican guile. Toussaint had
requested that the Haytians should be under the protection of their
former mistress. Protection was the last thing that Bonaparte desired;
but he deemed it politic to flatter the black chieftain with
assurances of his personal esteem and gratitude for the "great
services which you have rendered to the French people. If its flag
floats over St. Domingo it is due to you and your brave blacks"--a
reference to Toussaint's successful resistance to English attempts at
landing. There were, it is true, some points in the new Haytian
constitution which contravened the sovereign rights of France, but
these were pardonable in the difficult circumstances which had pressed
on Toussaint: he was now, however, invited to amend them so as to
recognize the complete sovereignty of the motherland and the authority
of General Leclerc, whom Bonaparte sent out as captain-general of the
island. To this officer, the husband of Pauline Bonaparte, the First
Consul wrote on the same day that there was reported to be much
ferment in the island against Toussaint, that the obstacles to be
overcome would therefore be much less formidable than had been feared,
provided that activity and firmness were used. In his references to
the burning topic of slavery, the First Consul showed a similar
reserve. The French Republic having abolished it, he could not, as
yet, openly restore an institution flagrantly opposed to the Rights of
Man. Ostensibly therefore he figured as the champion of emancipation,
assuring the Haytians in his proclamation of November 8th, 1801, that
they were all free and all equal in the sight of God and of the
French Republic: "If you are told, 'These forces are destined to
snatch your liberty