who were then free, _had done their part as labourers_, both by working
regularly and industriously, and by obeying the directions of their
superintendants or masters, the colony could never have gone on, as
relates to cultivation, with the rapidity described.

The next witness to whom I shall appeal, is the estimable General
Vincent, who lives now at Paris, though at an advanced age. Vincent was
a colonel, and afterwards a general of brigade of artillery in St.
Domingo. He was stationed there during the time both of Santhonax and
Toussaint. He was also a proprietor of estates in the island. He was the
man who planned the renovation of its agriculture after the abolition of
slavery, and one of the great instruments in bringing it to the
perfection mentioned by Lacroix. In the year 1801, he was called upon by
Toussaint to repair to Paris, to lay before the Directory the new
constitution, which had been agreed upon in St. Domingo. He obeyed the
summons. It happened, that he arrived in France just at the moment of
the peace of Amiens; here he found, to his inexpressible surprise and
grief, that Buonaparte was preparing an immense armament, to be
commanded by Leclerc, for the purpose of _restoring slavery in St.
Domingo_. He lost no time in seeing the First Consul, and he had the
courage to say at this interview what, perhaps, no other man in France
would have dared to say at this particular moment. He remonstrated
against the expedition; he told him to his face, that though the army
destined for this purpose was composed of the brilliant conquerors of
Europe, it could do nothing in the Antilles. It would most assuredly be
destroyed by the climate of St. Domingo, even though it should be
doubtful, whether it would not be destroyed by the Blacks. He stated, as
another argument against the expedition, that it was totally
unnecessary, and therefore criminal; for that every thing _was going on
well_ in St. Domingo. _The proprietors were in peaceable possession of