The blacks
rebelled; the French rescinded the decree of 1791 and, changing their
minds again, re-affirmed it. The blacks began murdering and plundering
the whites, and many planters emigrated to Jamaica and the United
States. That most extraordinary man, Toussaint l'Ouverture, a pure
negro, who had been born a slave, re-established some form of order in
Haiti until Napoleon, when the preliminary articles of the Peace of
Amiens had been signed between Britain and France, hit upon the idea
of employing his soldiers in Haiti, and sent out his brother-in-law,
General Le Clerc, with 25,000 French soldiers to re-conquer the
island. It was a most ill-fated expedition; the soldiers could not
withstand the climate, and died like flies; France losing, from first
to last, no less than 40,000 men from yellow fever. In 1802, Le Clerc,
who seems to have been a great scoundrel, died, and in 1804 Haiti
declared her independence.
After the Peace of Amiens the French Government were exceedingly
anxious to secure the cooperation of British troops from Jamaica,
seasoned to the climate, in restoring order in Haiti, and even offered
to cede them such portions of Haiti as were willing to come under the
British flag. During the ten months of General Le Clerc's
administration of Haiti he was perpetually sending envoys to General
Nugent in Jamaica, and continually offering him presents.
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