V^ " STOTSSAINT L' OUV TURE. 325 the greater part of my teeth, and loosened the rest. In short, I received upon different occasions seventeen wounds, whose honorable scars still remain. Gen. Laveaux witunesed many of my engagements; he is too honorable not to do me justice: ask him it I ever hesitated to endanger my life, when the good of my country and the triumph of the Republic required it. If I were to record the various services which I have ren- dered the Government, I should need many volumes, and even then should not finish them; and, as a reward for all these set- vices, I have been arbitrarily arrested at St. Domingo, bound, and put on board ship like a criminal, without regard for my rank, without the least consideration. Is this the recompense due my labors ? Should my conduct lead me to expect such treatment ? I was once rich. At the time of the revolution, I was worth six hundred and forty-eight thousand fran s. I spent it in the service of my country. I purchased but one small estate upon which to establish my wife and family. To-day, notwithstand- ing my disinterestedness, they seek to cover me with oppro- brium and infamy; I am made the most unhappy of men; my liberty is taken from me; I am separated from all that I hold dearest in the world,-from a venerable father, a hundred and fire years old, who needs my assistance, from a dearly- loved wife, who, I fear, separated from me, cannot endure the afflictions which overwhelm her, and from a cherished family, who made the happiness of my life. On my arrival in France I wrote to the First Consul and to the Minister of Marine, giving them an account of my situa- tion, and asking their a-sintance for my family and myself. Undoubtedly. they felt the ju-ti:-c of my request, and gave orders that what I asked should be furnished me. Bat, instead of this, I have received the old hallfworn dress of a soldier, and shoes in the same condition. Did I need this humiliation added to my misfortune ? When I left the ship, I was put into a carriage. I hoped then That I was to be taken before a tribunal to give an account of 28