178 TEmr LIFE OF

word that the past should be sunk in oblivion; that he,
should be treated with the greatest distinction; and th
complied with the request, he should that moment be p
the first lieutenant of the Captain-General of the colony.
clerc finished his epistle by stating that, though he had
instructions not to discontinue warlike operations if be
it necessary to commence them, yet, in the hope of a'
understanding, he would cond,,Ieend to a armistice of.
days, but, that delay over, he would, by a proclamation,d
Toussaint an enemy of the Frenc.h nation, and put him
the pale of the law.
 The allurement was too weak; the threat was im
 Duty with Toussaint was superior to every other consider
 fie could be neither bought nor intimidated. Irritated by
 ultimatum he resolved to employ all his energies for the
 tenance of the liberties he had achieved. Yet hal he no'
 to involve his sons in the issue. He, thereibre, after annou
 to them his final resolution, declared that hbq letl them freNi
 choose between France and their either; that he did not b
 their attachment to the mother country ; but that his
 stood between him and France; that he could not compro
 the destinies of his color by placing himself at the mercy of 
 expedition, in which figured several white generals, as well
 Rigaud, Pation, Boyer, Chanlatte, and others, all his pe
 enemile ; that the ord,-r not to cease from fighting to nego
 showed that France had more confidence in its arms than
 its rights; that a confidence of such a nature indicated
 despotism of mere force; and that if no prac tical regard
 paid to the rights of the blacks while they bad some po
 what would their condition be when he and his should
 powerless ?
 His sons threw themselves into his armq, imploring him
 yield. Their tears and their cares ,s Iiaikld to move h
 Remaining inflexible, he merely repeated, My children, ma
 your choice; whatever it is, I shall always love you."
 length his own son Isaac, detaching himself from his fath