Le Clerc now wished to meet Toussaint: he, wishing to beget confidence with confidence, comes down from the mountains to Cap, and is received everywhere with acclamations and tears. Four hundred horsemen came with him, and with drawn sabers sat in the court-yard while the interview continued. Le Clerc received Toussaint with honors—he had found him quite another than a “Chief of Banditti,” as he had once written to Napoleon. He now treated him with marked distinction. He lauded the good faith and magnanimity of Napoleon; spoke of the happiness now about to dawn on the island, and asked his coöperation. Toussaint spoke with regret of the strange fact, that he should have been forced to take up arms against France. He said:—“Had _explanation_ preceded your arrival, or after arrival had you waited to explain to me your _pacific_ mission, you would have served equally well France and St. Domingo.” Le Clerc replied:—“Let us forget the past—all shall be repaired.” He asked:—“Where would you have got arms to carry on the war?” Toussaint replied:—“I would have taken yours.” He could not have said better if he had been a white man or a Roman. Le Clerc renewed his oaths solemnly and in the presence of a large body of people, blacks and whites. Toussaint could then do no more: he retired to his estate at Ennery, determined to await the event. FOOTNOTES: [61] Letter of Christophe, BEARD’S _Life_, p. 205. RAINSFORD, p. 312. XVIII. Twelve years have passed since at the door of his slave home Toussaint stood with his wife and his small children, and, as the fires reddened the sky, with prophetic fear said, “the slaves have risen!” Three score years are upon the head of the “old negro,” and once more he is to enjoy the repose of home and the satisfaction of his family. He has seen great things in those twelve years—he is to see more. To his present affairs he gives himself with interest; his coffee and orange groves flourish under his eye, briars and cactus thickets vanish, the rich juices of nature are turned to delights. In his district he is the one upon whom all eyes rest, to whom all come for counsel and assistance—everywhere he is equal to the demand, and he is visited by strangers and by natives—for he is _the_ man of St. Domingo. Does he fear nothing? If he is too wise not to fear evil would proceed from pride, he is also too wise to urge pride into evil by distrust and reproaches. That he has small faith in the wisdom of the planters, who had so signally shown that they had none, or in the ultimate honor of the French, it is easy to believe. He knew that neither the French nor the planters would rule the island for the good of the blacks, and therefore that their rule must be short. But he had the oaths of Le Clerc, and he is the man to wait the proof.