e French attack. Leclerc's army swept across the
desolated belt with an ardour that was redoubled by the sight of the
mangled remains of white people strewn amidst the negro encampments,
and stormed Toussaint's chief stronghold at Crete-a-Pierrot. The
dictator and his factious lieutenants thereupon surrendered (May 8th,
1802), on condition of their official rank being respected--a
stipulation which both sides must have regarded as unreal and
impossible. The French then pressed on to secure the subjection of the
whole island before the advent of the unhealthy season, which
Toussaint eagerly awaited. It now set in with unusual virulence; and
in a few days the conquerors found their force reduced to 12,000
effectives. Suspecting Toussaint's designs, Leclerc seized him. He was
empowered to do so by Bonaparte's orders of March 16th, 1802:

"Follow your instructions exactly, and as soon as you have done
with Toussaint, Christopher, Dessalines, and the chief brigands,
and the masses of the blacks are disarmed, send to the continent
all the blacks and the half-castes who have taken part in the civil
troubles."

Toussaint was hurried off to France, where he died a year later from
the hardships to which he was exposed at the fort of Joux among the
Juras.

Long before the cold of a French winter claimed the life of Toussaint,
his antagonist fell a victim to the sweltering heats of the tropics.
On November 2nd, 1802, Leclerc succumbed to the unhealthy climate and
to his ceaseless anxieties. In the Notes dictated at St. Helena,
Napoleon submitted Leclerc's memory to some strictures for his
indiscretion in regard to the proposed restoration of slavery. The
official letters of that officer expose the injustice of the charge.
The facts are these. After the seeming submission of St. Domingo, the
First Consul caused a decree to be secretly passed at Paris (May 20th,
1802), which prepared to re-establish slavery in the West Indies; but
Decres warned Leclerc that it was not for the present to be applied to
St. Domingo unless it seemed to be opportune. Knowing how fatal any
such proclamation would be, Leclerc suppressed the decree; but General
Richepanse, who was now governor of the island of Guadeloupe, not only
issued the decree, but proceeded to enforce it with rigour. It was
this which caused the last and most desperate revolts of the blacks,
fatal alike to French domination and to Leclerc's life. His success