The Spanish
authorities of Santo Domingo made overtures to negro leaders of whom a
number entered the Spanish army as officers of high rank, among them
Toussaint, an intelligent ex-slave who later assumed the surname of
l'Ouverture and who showed remarkable military and administrative
qualities. The French government sent commissioners to the colony,
whose tactless handling of a difficult situation fanned the flames of
civil war. The English attacked the colony, captured Port-au-Prince,
and enlisted the aid of the revolted slaves in overrunning the
surrounding country. When they besieged Port-de-Paix the French
commander sent secret emissaries to Spanish Santo Domingo and induced
Toussaint to desert from the Spanish ranks and with his negro
followers help to drive out the English. Killing the Spanish soldiers
he found in his way, Toussaint went to fight the English, with such
success that in 1797 he was made general-in-chief of all the French
troops. The English, decimated by disease, were obliged to leave in
1798 and sign a treaty of peace with Toussaint by which the island was
recognized as an independent and neutral state during their war with
France.
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