expedition under Leclerc reached the island about the end of 1801.

To oppose the strong army of Napoleon's veterans, men who had been trained
to victory under his own eye, Toussaint had a force of blacks little more
than half as strong. As he looked at the soldiers disembarking from the
ships in the Bay of Samana he exclaimed in dismay, "We are lost! All
France is coming to invade our poor island!"

The French made landings at several of the ports of Hayti, driving back
their defenders. The city of San Domingo, held by Toussaint's brother,
Paul, was taken. Cristophe, a daring negro who was to figure high in the
subsequent history of the island, commanded at Cape Haytien, and when
Leclerc summoned him to surrender, replied, "Go tell your general that the
French shall march here only over ashes, and that the ground shall burn
beneath their feet." This was not bombast, for when he found further
defence impossible, he set fire to the city and retreated to the
mountains, taking with him two thousand white prisoners. Grief and despair
filled the soul of Toussaint when, marching to the relief of Cristophe, he
saw the roads filled with fugitives and the city in ashes.

But though the French became masters of the ports, the army of the blacks
maintained itself in the mountain fastnesses, in which Toussaint defied
all the efforts of his foes. After Leclerc had lost heavily, and began to
despair of subduing his able opponent by force of arms, he had recourse to
strategy. He had brought with him Toussaint's two sons. Napoleon had
interviewed these boys before their departure from France, saying to them,
"Your father is a great man, and has rendered good service to France. Tell
him I say so, and bid him not to believe I have any hostile intention
against the island. The troops I send are not designed to fight the
natives, but to increase their strength, and the man I have appointed to
command is my own brother-in-law."

Leclerc sent these boys to Toussaint, with the demand that he should
submit or send his children back as hostages. An affecting interview took
place between the boys and their father, and when they repeated to him
Napoleon's words, he was at first inclined to yield, but fuller
consideration induced him to refuse.

"I cannot accept your terms," he said. "The First Consul offers me peace,
but his general no sooner arrives than he begins a fierce war. No; my
country demands my first consideration. Take back my sons