Toussaint L'Ouverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines: The History and Legacy of the Haitian Revolution’s Most Famous Leaders by Charles River Editors

Author:Charles River Editors
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Charles River Editors
Published: 2020-08-25T16:00:00+00:00

A depiction of Biassou

To date, the fighting had tended to be concentrated in the wealthy and established north of the island, the heartland of the grands blancs, but by November, a separate rebellion of gens de couleur erupted in the south and west of the colony, the traditional enclaves of the landed and wealthy non-whites. They began to press for their particular objectives of social, political and economic equality.

In the meanwhile, despite its best efforts, the leadership of the rebel army could not sustain an open-ended campaign without suffering starvation and desertion. No meaningful logistical capacity existed, and the propensity of the rebels to wantonly destroy the very productive facilities needed to supply them did nothing at all to help. The rebellion would have been successful if it had achieved victory quickly, but it did not, and now it was effectively bogged down in a siege. Towards the end of November 1791, sensing an opportunity, three commissioners appointed by the metropolitan government in France arrived on the island to open negotiations. Word circulated that a large French expeditionary force was anchored just over the horizon, and in a state of disarray and depletion, neither Jean François Papillon nor Georges Biassou had any faith that the rebel army could survive. They accepted the terms of peace in exchange for the French government’s pardon and an agreement that the rebel slaves would return to their plantations on the understanding that they would not be punished.

This was an extraordinary capitulation, news of which circulated as it was under discussion, and it came to the utter dismay of the rebels. A key member of the rebel delegation, of course, was Toussaint, the only literate member, and it would certainly appear that he was party to this understanding. Ultimately, however, negotiations floundered on the intransigence and unwillingness of the local grans blancs to have anything to do with a negotiated settlement, as they were surely aware in any case that the rebellion was collapsing under its own weight. Negotiations thus ended, and the commissioners returned to France.

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