Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/98

88 fraught with great danger for the authority of France. Consequently, no means were to be spared in order to divide them and to provoke bitter enmity against each other, which could only end in strife. For the time being, Toussaint, by gaining Rigaud's favor, isolated Sonthonax entirely. He also took the precaution of surrounding himself with officers on whose fidelity he could rely.

J. J. Dessalines was in command at Saint Michel, Moise at Dondon, Clervaux at Gonaives, Henri Christophe at Petite-Rivière. Sonthonax did not even take the trouble of keeping on good terms with General Desfourneaux, whose support, however, might prove useful to him. The latter had displeased him, therefore he decided to get rid of him. To bring about this result he had recourse to Toussaint, who had the greatest interest in the removal of the only officer of equal rank with him. The black general arrived at Cap-Français on the 15th of May, 1797; at night Desfourneaux was arrested and carried on board. Henceforth Toussaint was the only major-general residing in the colony. On the 3d of May Sonthonax appointed him Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Saint-Domingue. Yet Toussaint had not helped to annihilate Villate's influence in the North; neither had he succeeded in turning Laveaux out of Saint-Domingue, with the idea of becoming subordinate to Sonthonax. Invested with the highest military authority, his ambition was to succeed Sonthonax as he had already succeeded Laveaux. Meanwhile, he felt the necessity of increasing his prestige; so he started on a campaign against the English. He was successful in expelling them from Vérettes and Mirebalais, but he failed in his attack against Saint-Marc.

In the South, Rigaud, true to France in spite of the decree adopted by Sonthonax, had also renewed hostilities against the English. He could not storm Les Irois, but he succeeded in destroying Dalmarie. The English tried once more to win him over to their cause. Writing