l•c written by General Leclere,) in which Toussnint was described as having sued tor pardon ns a rebel, in the most abject terms, and after much hesitation, Leclerc consented to forgive him and let him live! That this is one of Buonaparte's palpable impostures, can immediately be proved l»y Lcclerc's own gazette, published at Cape Francois, in which is the following letter toToussaint: "You, General, and your troops, will be employed and treated as the rest of my army. With regard to yourself, you desire repose, and you deserve it. After a man has sustained for several yenrfi the burthen of the government of St. Domingo, I apprehend that he needs repose. 1 leave you at liberty to retire to which ever of your habitations you please. I rely so much on, your attachment to the colony of St. Domingo, as to believe that you will employ the moments of leisure, which you may have in your retreat, in communicating to me your views respecting the means to be taken to make agriculture and commerce again flourish. . ," We need not remark that General Leclerc would have written in a very different style to a man, who would have begged his life in the abject manner, that, Buonaparte had described in the fabricated letter inserted in the Moniteur, and bearing Leclorc's name. The Negro chief availed himself of Lcclerc's permission, and retired at Gonaives, on the South West coast of St. Domingoj there, with his faithful wife
and
and two young children, * he hoped to end his days in tranquillity: but Buonaparte is too cruel, too implacable a foe, to permit any man who has once opposed him, to live in peace, if it he in his power to molest him. In consequence of his orders, General Leclcrc, who was himself a most detestable tyrant, sent a ship of the line and a frigate to Gonahcs; a strong detachment of troops landed in the dead of the night, and surrounded the house of the unfortunate Toussaint. Brunet and one of Leclerc's aides-de-camp, entered the room where he slept, and hurried him, his wife, and children, on board the Creole frigate; they were then put on board the Hero, a 74 gun ship, which immediately sailed for France. Nothing surely can exceed such a detestable treachery; but a short time before, a regular peace had been concluded between Toussaint and Lcclerc; he had been permitted by the French general to retire where he chose, and the most solemn assurances had' been made to him, that he should be suffered to end his days in tranquilhty and retirement; instead of that, he was torn from his peaceful abode, sent to France, and treated with
* His two sons, who were sent to St. Domingo by Buonaparte, and nut under the care of Coisnon, have never been heard of! Probably Buonaparte could inform the world of their fate!
the
the most refined cruelty; even on board the ship, he was seldom suffered to converse with his afflicted family; but the dreadful moment was approaching, and he was doomed to experience the ferocity of Buonaparte's revenge. As soon. as he arrived at Brest, he was torn For Ever from his fond and affectionate wife, and from his darling children; he was then conveyed in a close carriage, and with as much secrecy as possible, to the castle of Joux, near Mount Jura ; he was there imprisoned, with only one Negro for his attendant; at the approach of wmter, his faithful servant was taken from him, and Toussaint, though in a bad state of health, was removed to Besancon, and placed in a dreary dungeon! The treatment which he experienced in that horrid abode, surpasses all description. Whether from the noxious vapours of his gloomy cell; whether from the extreme anxiety of his mind; or more probably, from certain means, which are very well known to the" Hero of Jaffa," the miserable, but virtuous Toussaint, ended his days in April last. It is difficult to say where the modern " Attila" has sent the unhappy wife, children, and niece of Toussaint; the French papers say, that, they arrived at Bayonne on the 3d of September. From this short, butauthentick, statement of Buonaparte's treatment of Pelage and Toussaint, our readers will be conr vinced, that, our assertion is not exaggerated, when
wa
we maintain, "that Buonaparte not only surpasses considerably, all the Roman Emperors, in treachery, irreligion, and wanton barbarity; but that he has sacrificed more innocent beings, and has been guilty of greater crimes than Roberspierre himself!," Had Toussaint been in the power of Roberspierre, he would have been guillotined, and probably his wife would have undergone the same fate; instead of that, Buonaparte tore him from his wife and children, immured him in a damp and unwholesome dungeon, where for several months, he suffered incredible miseries, and when Buonaparte deemed it sonvenient, poor Toussaint wan removed from this world! Surely if he had put Toussaint to death at his arrival in France, he would have acted more humanely; hut Buonaparte's sanguinary disposition induced him to choose the slowest and most barbarous punishment; and Toussaint, who ought to have received rewards and honours from Buonaparte, experienced all the horrors of a dreadful confinement, and perished miserably!
We have now to notice Buonaparte's conduct after the " treaty of Amiens," and it will be perceived, that, when he mitde peace, he had no other view, but to recruit his armies, and put himself in a condition to violate the most sacred engagements, whenever an opportunity offered which might appear &'. vourable. Tbe court of St. James anxious to prove
its
its sincerity, and its determination to adhere scrupulously to every article of the treaty, immediately gave orders that all the conquests which had been made during the war, and which, according to the stipulations of the treaty of peace, were to be ceded to France and Holland, should be evacuated as soon as possible; very differently did Buonaparte act. Piedmont was added to France, and the First Consul was appoiuted President of the Italian Republick. By one of the articles of the treaty of peace, Holland had been recognized an independent nation, notwithstanding which, Buonaparte ruled that unhappy country more despotically than ever: he compelled the Dutch to furnish ships and stores for the Fuench expedition, and to clothe and feed French armies. Switzerland was conquered, devastated, and enslaved, by a powerful French army, and the once happy Swiss were obliged to accept a form of government, framed at Paris, by the virtuous men who compose the Consul's administration.
Not satisfied with such unjustifiable transactions, totally opposite to the stipulations of the treaty of peace, Buonaparte had the audacity of endeavouring, to circumscribe the " liberty of the press In Great BRITAIN I" He complained in bitter terms of the little respect with which some of our news-papers and periodical publications treated him, and though he allowed one of his favourites (Colonel Scbastiani,)
to
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