Summary

James opens with a foreshadowing sentence: “The defeat of Toussaint in the War of Independence and his imprisonment and death in Europe are universally looked upon as a tragedy” (289). James again mentions that Toussaint’s reverence for the French Revolution both made him what he is and ruined him.

Bonaparte drafted plans for the island, beginning with breaking the military power of the blacks by destroying all blacks above the rank of captain. The army and blacks on the island were torn between fighting for and against Toussaint. Leclerc used Toussaint’s two sons as hostages to get a meeting with Toussaint; James cites from Leclerc’s letters to Napoleon showing that he was only playing with Toussaint. At the time, though outnumbered, Toussaint’s army was the more impassioned than the French: “the liberty and equality [they claimed...