Toussaint Breda, Moise breda, jean jacques Dessalines

           Joseph, why have you chosen these three? not Maurepas, Charles Belair or Christophe or the others?
According to Hedrouville, these three represented an immediate threat to the global order of the time. Their stance against slavery was religiously absolute and could not be territorially contained. The freedom, ideas, and power those blacks possessed in the colony were considered like a poisonous, deadly virus, a form of terminal cancer in the body system of slavery. So it was an utmost priority to eradicate it from existence or at minimum to contain it.

          Napoleon was a champion of slavery, the "rights of man" "les Doits de lHomme " did not apply to the African race he exclaimed. In Mai 1802 Slavery was reintroduced in the French colonies. The french kept that a secret from Haiti. But when they pass a special law to disarm the cultivators of the northern plains, all hell broke loose. Toussaint's plan came to affect. Toussaint was dying in the dungeons of Fort de Joux, but his prophesy came true. He had constantly warned them over, over, and over gain, he had armed the entire population and train them in guerilla tactics. He bought over a million muskets canons and ammunitions from the British and Americans. This is why he kept the Hedrouville and his agents out of the negotiations with the British. Amercan agents from the Government of John Adams were coming to Haiti every month. millions and millions of francs were transferred to America and theBritish as well. It must be noted that American president Thomas Jefferson ended the relationship with the Haitians. When asked why he answer that the blacks everywhere are slaves by nature..... That did not seat well with Dessaline. Dessaline had plans to arm African slaves in the Us  and elsewhere. Initial contacts were established. Please read the writings of African America Historiann Author Professor Dr Gerald Horne.

Back to our story.

     What was reserved for Toussaint: life internment in the dungeons of Fort de Joux, was also reserved for these other two foremost black generals.  The French General was correct in targeting those three.


    In fact, Toussaint was the elder master. Moise and Dessalines were his young apprenticed, principal lieutenants, He personally molded them. Moise was in his late teens and Dessalines was in his twenties when Toussaint was forming his army in December 1791. Moise was the special confidant, heir apparent and he was the right hand who did the clean work in the light and Dessalines was the obedient left hand who did the dirty work in the shadows. For Dessalines was regarded as a bossale, a savage. Regardless, the left arm is an indispensable part of the body as the right is. 

Now to continue the commissionaire's mission.

      To start off his mission, before departing to Haiti, General of Division Gabriel conte d'Hedrouville consulted at length all the previous commissionaires who in one way or another failed to succeed in the same mission.  They all had the exact same facial expressions as they told the same story. They looked at Hedrouville with their heads tilted, eyebrows raised, foreheads lined with creases, eyes wide open, and both arms extended, showing their bear palms, as they described all the unfortunate events that have marred their missions. . It was not that Toussaint arrested them and put them on a boat and sent them back to France, Toussaint was a servant of France, and the commisionaires, all had the power to dismiss or fire him at will from that service. The fact of the matter was, that unforeseen, uncontrollable events manifested as if out of the blue in different parts of the colony. And unforeseen situations appeared in dynamic ways in their personal space and entourage and threatened their very lives and safety, leaving them totally exhausted and overwhelmed. There was nothing left for them to do but run out the there as fast as they could. Each commissionaire case was different and similar at the same time if you know what I mean. Toussaint thou inferior in ways of formal Western education or Western culture, had the tact and advantage to see and manipulate the unforeseens, and at times outright created them on his own. He was a master of the unseens on the battlefield as well. That is how he got the name "Louverutre" meaning the "Opener". Confronting and opposite generals nicknamed him that. In our modern times sometimes you hear powerful governments applying a state's action surname "false flags" to heat up national sentiments, to start unjustified wars, to steal other nation's resources or to justify or hide genocidal crimes. Toussaint was a master of that but he used false flags in reverse, to avert or discourage the use of force.

           Hedrouville did not underestimate the magnitude of his mission, which was to cut down Toussainst's growing power and eliminate it if he could. In order to do that he would have to reduce the negro army to  5 thousand troops, and replace the officer corp with his own. All the islands of the Caribbean at the time had around 1000 to 3000 troops each. Jamaica in the year 1800 only had 1500 to 2000.  Cuba only 1600. Now you began to understand the kind of danger Toussaint represented? He had more than 20,000 men of the line and disciplined. Auxiliary units, armed cultivators in the plains, and armed maroons in the mountains totaling another 40,000. How would Hedrouville succeed without a large army? Now, you also have to understand what Haiti was at the time. It was the richest colony in the new world, much more richer than the United States, Mexico, Bresil or any other country in the continent. You understand? Toussaint was a super heavy weight, for he had just totally rooted one of the largest colonial army Great Britain ever assembled. 40, 000 dead soldiers and in the process of evacuating 20,000 and negotiating the surrendering of all their held territories to Toussaint. 

    It is in the midst of this negotiation Hedrouville appeared on the scene. As a precaution, the little squadron, three warships, that carried Hedrouville and his experts and officers arrived on the other side of the island, in Santo Domingo on March 27th, 1798. The treaty of Balse in 1795 had seceded the Spanish half now Dominican Republic from Spain to France. The old Spanish colonial order was still there, governing but they were secondary to a few French representatives that were their overseers.

To be continued.

.