TOUSSAINT L'OUYERTURE.


which was at Port-Republicain; another portion, which was in
one of my houses, has also been seized since my arrest. Why
have they not sent me with this correspondence to give an
an-ount of umi movements? They have taken forcible posses-
Sion of my papers in order to charge me with crimes which I
 have n.:\,:r ,.ommitred; but I have nothing to fear; this corres-
 pondJnce is sufficient to. justify me. They have sent me to
 F'idri.r d. -triute of everything; they have seized my property
 an,] my panp-rs, arnd have spread atrocious calumnies concern-
 ing m.-. Is it not like cutting off a man's legs and telling him
 to walk ?t Is it not like cutting out a man's tongue and telling
Shim to talk ? Is it not burying a man alive?
 In regard to the Constitution, the subject of one charge
 again-t me: Hlaving driven from the colony the enemies of the
 Republic, calmed the I t:tions and united all parties; perreiv-
 ing, afler I had Itken povse*'ion of St. Domingo. that the Gov-
 ernment mad- no laws Ibr th.: colony, and feeling the neces-
 sity of poLce: regulations Ibr the security and tranquillity of the
 people. I calledd an assembly of wife and learned men, composed
 of deputies from all the communities, to conduct this business.
 When this assembly m.t, I represented to its members that
 they had an arduous and responsible task before them; that they
 we'e to make lawI adapted to the country, advantageous to the
 Government, and beneficial to all, Ihws suited to the localities,
 to the cliarac.tkr and ,:utoms of' the inhabitants. The Constitu-
 tion must be submitted for the sanction of the Government, which
 alone had the right to adopt or reject it. Therefore, as soon as
 the Constitution was decided upon and its laws fixed, I sent the
 whole, by a member of the assembly, to the Government, to ob-
 tain its sanction. The error; or tahlt whi,:h this Constitution
 may coutjin cannot therelire be imputed to me. At the time of
 Lerlere's arrival, I had heard nothing from the Government
 upon this subject. Why to-day do they seek to make a crime
 of that which is no crime? Why put truth for falsehood,'
 and tfai-hood for truth ? Why put darkness for light and
 fight tfr dark nes ?