Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1863-08-15
Toussaint L'Overture,

APPROVED, March ., 1905.
Toussaint L'0verture.
The following interesting historical sketch
is taken at length from an address of Wendell
Phillips, delivered in New York City, March
II, 1868: ..-.-....-
(Conclxded.)
This was the work of seven years. Let us
pause moment, and find something to mea-
sure him by. Yon remember that Macauly
says, comparing Cromwell with Napoleon,
that Cromwell showed the greater military
genius, If we consider that he never saw an
army until he was forty, while Napoleon was
educated from boy in the best military
schools in Europe. Cromwell manufactured
his own army; Napoleon at the age of twen-
ty-sevcn was placed at the head of the best
troops Europe ever saw. They were both sue
ccssfnl; but, says Macauly, with such disad-
vantagcs, the Englishman showed the greater
genius. Whether you allow the Inference or
not you will at least grant that it is a fair
mode of measurement. Apply it to Tous-
saint. Cromwell never saw an army till he
was forty; this man never saw a soldier till
he was fifty. Cromwell manufactured his
own army-out or what 7 Englishmen-thc
best blood in Europe, Out Of the middle
class of Englishmen, the best blood of the
island. And with it he conquered what
Englishmen-their equals. This man manu-.
facturcd his army out of what Out Of what
YOU call the despicable race of negroes,
debascd, demoralizcd by two hundred years
of slavery, 100000 of them imported into the
island within four years, unable to speak a
dialect intcllyible even to each other. Yet
out OF this mixed, and, as you say, despicable
mass, he forged ,liunderbolt. and hurled it
at what! At the proudest blood in Europe,
and sent him home conquered (cherrs); at
them warekke blood in Europe, the French.
and put him under his feet; at the pluckiest
blood in Europe. and they skulked home to
Jamaica. (Applause.) Now if Cromwell was
a general. at least this man was soldier.
know it was small territory; it was not as
large as the continent but it was as large as
that Aitica, which, with Athens for capital.
has filled the earth with its fame for two thou
sand years. We measure genius by quality,
not by quantity.
Furiher-Cromwell was only a soldier !;
his fame stops there. Not one line in the
statnc book of Britain can be traced to Crom-
well; not one step in the social life of Eng and
finds its motive power in his brain. The
state he founded went down with him to his
grave. But this man no sooner put his hand
on the helm of state than tho ship steadied
with IN upright keel. and he began to evince
Il siatcsmanship as marvellous as his military
genius. History says that the most states
manke rct Of Napoleon was his proclamation
living that the indlblr loyalty Of a native
born heart is always sufficient basis on which
to found an Empire, he said: Frenchmrn.
come home. l pardon the crimes Of the
last twelve years; blot out its parties; l
found nv throne on the hearts of all French
men," and twelve years of unmingled success
shows how wisely he Judged. That was in
1902. In 1890 this negro made proclainn-
ton; it runs thus "Sons Of st. Domingo,
come home. We never meant to take your
houses or your lands. The negro only asked
that liberty which God gave him. Your
houses wait for you your lands arc ready ;
come and cultivate them;" and from Madrid
and Paris. from Baltimore and New Orleans.
the emigrant planters crowed home to enjoy
their estates, under the pledged word that
was never broken. and the right arm that was
never shortened, of a victorious slave.
Again, Carlyle has said: "The natural
king ia ono who melts all wills into his own. -
At this moment he turned 10 his armies
poor, il.clad and half starved-and said to
them: Go back and work on these estates
you have conquered; for an empire can be
founded only on order and industry. and you
can learn these virtues only there. And
they went. The French Admiral, who witness
sed the scene. said that in week his army
melted back into peasants.
1t was 1900. The world waited fifty years
before. in ls46, Robert Peel dared to venture.
as matter OF practical statesmanshiP. the
theory of frea trade. Adam Smith tlieorized.
the French statesman dreamed. but no man at
the head Of affairs had ever dared to risk It as
a practical measure. Europe waited till lS46
before the most practical intellect in the world
the English adopted the great economic for.
mula of unirttered trade. But in 1900 this
black, with tho instinct of craftsmanship,
said To the Committee who were drafting for
him Constitution: Put at the head Of the
Chapter of Commercc that tho ports of St.
Domingo are open to the trade Of the
world" With lofty indifference to race, SIT.
perior to all envy or prejudice, Tonssaint bad
formed this Committee Of eight white proprie-
tors and one mulatto-not soldier Or negro
on the list, although Haytian history proves
that. with the exception Of Rigunrd' the rarest
genius has always been shown by pure negroes
Again, il was 1900, at time when Eng
land was poisoned on every page of her stat
ute book with religious intolerance. when a
man could not enter the House Of Commons
without taking an Episcopal communion.
when every Stats in the Union except Rhode
Island was ell of Al,o intans sasf r.,lirous biz.