Toussaint is now proud of his color. He says:—“I value myself for being black.”[50] He has reason. His public levees are marked by the strictest propriety, and his private parties are not stupider than those of white men. In the midst of luxury this “old negro” practices his simple tastes, only indulging in splendor upon state occasions. Unlike most men, he does not, with success in his hand, deserve to forfeit it. Luxury and sloth do not beguile him, for he knows that stability alone is success. His activity is untiring—his correspondence exhausts five secretaries—he trusts to the eye of the master and his vigilance is everywhere. He works! for his soul is steel and his body iron. Relays of fast-pacing horses are stationed at proper points; on these he rides, outstripping all but his two trumpeters. Fifty leagues, without stopping, it is said he rode.[51] The whole energies of his life are devoted to the realizing of a great idea—_the liberty and elevation of the blacks_. Neither he nor any sagacious man doubts that he is the chief to secure these, if they are yet to be. He says:—“I have taken my flight in the region of eagles; when I alight it must be on a rock, and that rock must be a constitutional government, of which I shall be the head so long as I shall be among men.”[52] This is clearly the next step: government must be firmly established and order consolidated. France had decreed the liberty of all its subjects, whites, blacks, and mulattoes. It had authorized the election and action of the colonial Assemblies; the island was, therefore, legally capable of self-government: the only question was, how far it was dependent upon France? Toussaint calls together a council, for the consideration of the question of a constitution. It was headed by Borgella, once mayor of Port au Prince, and composed of eight whites and one mulatto, and no blacks, not even Louverture himself. In May (1800) they presented him a carefully-prepared draft, which he approved.[53] Assuming that slavery was abolished and could never more exist in St. Domingo, it made no distinction in the political rights of citizens—it established the Roman Catholic religion as that of the State—it required that agriculture should be especially encouraged—it declared _commerce free_ (this was in 1800)—it entrusted the executive to a governor appointed for five years. “In consideration of the important services rendered the colony by General Toussaint Louverture, he is appointed Governor for life, with power to choose his successor.”