I love thee with a brother's love, I feel my pulses thrill, To mark thy spirit soar above The cloud of human ill. My heart hath leaped to answer thine, As leaps the warrior's at the shine And flash of kindred swords! They tell me thou art rash and vain, That thou art striving but to gain 20 1832. TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE. Toussaint L'Ouverture, the black chieftain of Hayti, was a slave on the plantation 'de Libertas,' belonging to M. Bayou. When the rising of the negroes took place, in 1791, Toussaint refused to join them until he had aided M. Bayou and. his family to escape to Baltimore. The white man had discovered in Toussaint many noble qualities, and had instructed him in some of the 25 first branches of education; and the preservation of his life was owing to the negro's gratitude for this kindness. In 1797, Toussaint L'Ouverture was appointed, by the French government, General-in-Chief of the armies of St. Domingo, and, as such, signed the Convention with General Maitland for the evacuation of the island by the British. From this period until 1801 the island, under the government of Toussaint, was happy, tranquil, and prosperous. The miserable attempt of Napoleon to re-establish slavery in St. Domingo, although it failed of its intended object, proved fatal to the negro chieftain. Treacherously seized by Leclerc, he was hurried on board a vessel by night, and conveyed to France, where he was confined in a cold subterranean dungeon, at Besançon, where, in April, 1803, he died. The treatment of Toussaint finds a parallel only in the murder of the Duke D'Enghien. It was the remark of Godwin, in his Lectures, that the West India Islands, since their first discovery by Columbus, could not boast of a single name which deserves comparison with that of Toussaint L'Ouverture, 19 "T WAS night. The tranquil moonlight smile With which Heaven dreams of Earth, shed down Its beauty on the Indian isle, On broad green field and white-walled town; And inland waste of rock and wood, 5 15 Tree, vine, and flower in shadow met: 10 Fair island of the Western Sea! 20 30 Regardless of thy glorious clime, Around, beneath, above; 35 40 45 50 55 It told of hate, full, deep, and strong, 60 65 70 The shame and hate, which liken well Earth's garden to the nether hellHad found in nature's self a tongue, On which the gathered horror hung; As if from cliff, and stream, and glen Burst on the startled ears of men That voice which rises unto God, Solemn and stern,-the cry of blood! It ceased, and all was still once more, Save ocean chafing on his shore, The sighing of the wind between The broad banana's leaves of green, 25 Or bough by restless plumage shook, Or murmuring voice of mountain brook. Brief was the silence. Once again Pealed to the skies that frantic yell, 75 Toussaint l'Ouverture Of mild Religion's heavenly ray 287 Glowed on the heavens a fiery stain, 80 Yes, dark-souled chieftain ! if the light 86 90 With more than spaniel dread, 95 Then, injured Afric! for the shame 130 For justice in His own good time; 135 Let not the favored white man name 140 Broadly around him, made the same? As if the High and Holy One 100 Could smile on deeds of murder done! As if a human sacrifice Where then was he whose fiery zeal Is raining down in fire and blood, Has gathered, drop by drop, its flood,— Why strikes he not, the foremost one, III Where murder's sternest deeds are done? He stood the aged palms beneath, That shadowed o'er his humble door, Listening, with half-suspended breath, 115 To the wild sounds of fear and death, Toussaint L'Ouverture! What marvel that his heart beat high! Were purer in His holy eyes, 150 Sternly, amidst his household band, And one was weeping in his sight, The sweetest flower of all the isle, As a tall Negro hastened nigh, 160 165 120 'Ha! stand or die!' The white man's eye His steady musket gleamed along, 170 126 190 For all the wrongs his race have borne, Far out, in peace, the white man's sail 195 Casting aside the weary weight And fetters of its low estate, In that strong majesty of soul 225 Which knows no color, tongue, or clime, Which still hath spurned the base control Of tyrants through all time! Far other hands than mine may wreathe The laurel round thy brow of death, 230 And speak thy praise, as one whose word 235 A thousand fiery spirits stirred, 1833. THE SLAVE-SHIPS. 240 245 "That fatal, that perfidious bark, 205 Built i' the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark.' MILTON'S Lycidas. Along the bright horizon's verge, O'er which the curse of servile war Rolled its red torrent, surge on surge; And he, the Negro champion, where "The French ship Le Rodeur, with a crew of twenty-two men, and with one hundred and sixty negro slaves, sailed from Bonny, in Africa, April, 1819. On approaching the line, a terrible malady broke out, an obstinate disease of the eyes,contagious, and altogether beyond the resources of medicine. It was aggravated by the scarcity of water among the slaves (only half a wineglass per day being allowed to an individual), and by the extreme impurity of the air in which they breathed. By the advice of the physician, they were brought upon deck occasionally; but some of the poor wretches, locking themselves in each other's arms, leaped overboard, in the hope, And men shall learn to speak of thee 220 which so universally prevails among them, of As one of earth's great spirits, born In servitude, and nursed in scorn, being swiftly transported to their own homes in Africa, To check this, the captain ordered |