TOUSSAINT, Fitaxgois DoltrmcluE, surnamed L'OUVERTURE, was b. at Buda, in St. Domingo in 1743. His father and mother were both African slaves. When the French revolution broke out, it found him in the position of coachman to a M. de Libertat, who appears also to have employed him as a sort of sub-manager of an estate for which he was himself the factor. In 1791 the French convention passed the memorable decree, by which the rights of French citizens were given to people of color. In the revolu tionary strife which followed in St. Domingo, Toussaint was, for the next three years, conspicuous for his adherence to the cause of royalty and Catholicism; but the decree of Feb. 4, 1794, which declared all slaves free, won him over to the side of the French republic. He joined their commander, Laveaux, by whom he was made a gen. of division. In 1793, in the midst of the troubles, the British had landed a force and taken partial possession of the island. Against them Toussaint now proved himself an able and indefatigable enemy, bringing the whole of the nothern division of the island under the dominion of the French republic. In 1795, in consequence of a conspiracy of three mulatto generals, Laveaux was arrested at Cape Town ;•butToussaint, assembling his negroes, and uniting himself to the French force, quickly effected the release of the governor. The gratitude of Laveaux was very great; and, in 1776, the commissioners of the directory appointed Toussaint chief of the army of St. Domingo. Shortly after
this event, gen. Maitland, the British commander, surrendered to him all the strong places which he had hitherto held in the island, This was followed in 1801 by the sub mission of the Spanish forts. The whole of St. Domingo was then under the rule of Toussaint. His sway was vigorous and upright; and the agriculture and trade of the island both flourished under him. He was now at the summit of his prosperity, lie assumed great state, though still retaining habits of personal simplicity. But a more powerful despot now found himself at leisure to interfere in the affairs of the island. During the peace of Amiens, Napoleon Bonaparte issued a proclamation re-establishing slavery iu St. Domingo. This was met by a counter-proclamation by Toussaint, issued on Dec. 18,1801, in which, while professing obedience, he showed plainly that he meant resistance. A squadron of 54 sail of the line, under gen. Le Clerc, very soon made its appearance to enforce the edict of the first consul. 'foussaint was obliged to retire, was proclaimed an outlaw, and, agreeing to surrender, was received with military honors. lle was afterward treacherously arrested, and sent to Paris, where, after 10 months of rigorous imprisonment, he died on April 27, 1803.—See Vie de Toussaint l'Ouvertuve by St. Remy (Par., 1850); and The Life of Toussaint, by Dr. Beard (Load., 1853).