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By Root 2398 0

was speaking, Placide noticed that, while several of Toussaint’s staff officers were filtering in to stand in grave silence around the walls of the room, Isaac had slipped out. It was not long, however, before he returned, fully dressed now in the elegant uniform Napoleon had given him at the Tuileries, complete with pistols and sword. His entrance produced a little murmur, and Placide was aware for the first time of his own appearance: his nightshirt loose at the throat with its tail half in and half out of his crookedly buttoned trousers. He felt his mother draw in her breath and shift her weight on the sofa beside him, and he reached to take her hand.

Isaac stopped before Toussaint, and with a half-bow presented a small gold box in his two hands.

“Mon père, I am charged by the First Consul of France to bring this token to you.”

Toussaint took the box onto his knee. He unfastened the catch and pushed up the lid, then unfurled a square of tricolor silk to reveal a letter. He ran his thumb under the fold to break the seal. After scanning a line or two, he refolded the paper and looked, smiling openly, up at Isaac.

“Come, sit by me, my son, and let me hear it from your lips.”

With his left hand he drew Isaac down to the sofa beside him, and at the same time he took Placide’s hand in his right. Isaac looked quickly around the room, and as Coisnon smiled and nodded, he spread the letter on his knee and began to read.

To Citizen Toussaint Louverture, General in Chief of the Army of Saint Domingue

Citizen General,

The peace with England and all the other European powers which has just seated the Republic in the first place of power and grandeur, allows at the same time for the government to occupy itself with the colony of Saint Domingue. We send to you the citizen-general Leclerc, our brother-in-law, in the capacity of Captain-General as well as First Magistrate of the colony. He is accompanied by a force suitable to assure that the sovereignty of the French people is respected. It is in these circumstances that we are pleased to hope that you are going to prove to us, and to all of France, the sincerity of the sentiments that you have constantly expressed in all the letters which you have writtento us. We have conceived an esteem for you, and we are pleased to recognize and to proclaim the great services which you have rendered to the French people; if her flag flies over Saint Domingue, it is to you and the brave blacks that it is owed.

As he moved into this section of the letter, Isaac’s voice grew warmer and stronger. Unconsciously he detached his hand from Toussaint’s and began using it to make oratorical gestures.

Summoned by your talent and the force of circumstances to the highest command, you have done away with the civil war, put a brake on the persecution of various ferocious men, returned honor to religion and the cult of God, from whom everything emanates.

The constitution which you have made, while including many good things, also contains some which are contrary to the sovereignty of the French people, of which Saint Domingue forms a portion. The circumstances in which you have found yourself, surrounded by enemieson all sides, without the Metropole being able to help you or supplyyou, once rendered legitimate the articles of that constitution which otherwise might not have been; but today when circumstances are so happily changed, you will be the first to render homage to the sovereignty of the nation which counts you among the number of its most illustrious citizens, for the services you have rendered it, and for the talents and the force of character with which nature has gifted you.

Isaac coughed lightly, and cleared his throat. He read with an air of puzzlement now, his voice softer and less assured. His free hand settled on the couch, and Toussaint covered it lightly with his own. Now he seemed to be listening more attentively than before. In Placide’s eyes, the whole room seemed to warp and bend toward Isaac’s face and hands and the paper that they held.

Any different conduct would be irreconcilable