Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1863-08-08

Toussaint L'Ovsrture.

TouSOa10t LOvertuIe.
The following interesting historical sketch
is taken at length from an address of Wendell
Phillips, delivered in New York March 1lth,
1868:
LADIES AMI GENTLEMEN: have been re-
quested to offer you sketch, made some
years since, Of one Of the most remarkable men
Of the last generation, the great St. Domingo
chief, Toussaipt LOuverture, an unmixed
negro, with no drop Of white blood in his
veins. Ny sketch Is At once biography and
an argument-a biography, Of course very
brief. Of negro soldier and statesman, which
offer you as an argument In behalf of the
race from which he sprung. am about to
compare and weight races inded, I am en-.
gagged tonight in what you will think the
absurd effort to convince you that the negro
race, instead Of being that object Of pity or
contempt which we usually consider it. is en-
titled. Judged by the facts ofhistory. to a place
close by the side Of the Saxon. Now, races
love to be judged in two ways-by the great
men they produce, and by the average merit
of the masses of the race. We Saxons
are proud Of Bacon, Shakespeare. Hampder,
Hancock. Washington, the stars we have lent
to the galaxy Of history; and then we turn
with equal pride to the average merit Of Sax
on blood, since it streamed from it's German
home. So, again. there are three tests by
which races love to be tried. The first. the
basis of all, is courage-the element which
says here and today. "This continent is
mine, from the Lakes to the Gulf: let him
beware who seek to divide it!" (Cheers.)
And the second is the recognition that force
is doubled by purpose; liberty regulated by
law is the secret Of Saxon progress. And
tho third element is persistency, endurance;
first purpose, then death or success. Of
these three elements is made that Saxon
pluck which has place our race in the van Of
modern civilization.
In the hour you lend me tonight. I attempt
the Quixotic effort to convince you that the
negro blood, instead Of standing at the bottom
of the list, is entitle, if judged either by its
great men or it's masses, either by its courage,
it's purpose, or it's endurance, to place as
near ours as any other blood known in history.
And. for the purpose of my argument, I take
an island, St. Domingo, about the size Of
South Carolina, tho third spot in America
upon which Columbus placed his foot. Charm
ed by the magni6cence of it's scenery and fer
tility of it's soil, he gave it the fondest of all
Names Hispaniola Little Spain. His success.
or, more pious. rebaptized it from st. Domi-
ME. St. Domingo; and when the blacks, in
1906, drove our white blood from it's surface.
they drove our names with us, and gave it
the old name, Hayti, the land of mountains.
1t was originally tenanted by fllibusters,
French and Spanish, Of the early commercial
epoch. the pirates Of that day as Of ours.
The Spanish took the eastern two-thirds, the
French the western third Of the island, and
they gradually settled into colonies. The
French, to which my story belongs, became
the pet colony Of the mother land. Guarded
by peculiar privileges, enriched by the scions
of wealthy houses, aided by the unmatched
fertility Of the soil, it soon was the richest
gem in the Bourbon crown; and at the period
to which call your attention, about the era
of our Constitution, 1882 its wealth was al.
most incredible The efficiency Of the whole
race rivaled that of the Sybarits of antiquity.
while the splendor of their private life out
shone Versailles, and their luxury found No
mate but in the mad prodigality Of the Cesars,
At this time. the island held about 10000
whites, 10000 or 10000 mulattoes, and 500.-
900 slaves The mvlattoes, as with us. were
children Of the Shareholders, but unlike US.
the French STAKEHOLDER never forgot his child
by bondwoman. He gave him everything
but his name wealth, rich plantations. gangs
of slaves sent him to Paris for his education,
summoned the best culture of France for the
instruction Of his daughters, so that in 1890
the mulatto race held ons-third Of the real
estate and one quarter Of the personal estate
of the island. But. though educated aud
rich. he bowed under the same yoke as with
us. Subject to special taxes, be could hold
no public Office, and, If convicted Of any crime,
was punished with double severity. His son
might not sit on the same seat At school with
white boy; he might not enter a church
where white man was worshiping; he must,
If he reached town on horseback, dsmount
and lead his horse by the bride; and when
he died, even his dust could not rest in the
same soil with white body. s'
Il was over such 4 population-the white
man melted in sensuality, the mulatto feeling
all the more keenly his degradation from the
very wealth aud culture that he enjoyed, the
slave. sullen and Indifferent. needing not the
quarrels or the changes Of the upper air-it
was over this population that there burst. in
1889, the thunderstorm of the French Revo-
luton. The first words that reached the
island were the motto Of the Jacobin Club
" Liberty. Equality" The white man heard
them aghast He had read Of the street: Of
| Paris running in blood. The slave heard them
with indifference it was quarrel in the up
Der air, which did not concern him. The
inulatto heard them with . welcome which no
dread Of other classes could qusi'. Hastily
gathered into conventions, they sent to Paris
Committee Of the whole body; laid at the
foot Of the National Convention the free gift