This etext was produced by David Widger
By CONSTANT
1895
The First Consul left Boulogne to return to Paris, in order to be presentat the marriage of one of his sisters. Prince Camille Borghese,descendant of the noblest family of Rome, had already arrived at Paristo—marry Madame Pauline Bonaparte, widow of General Leclerc, who haddied of yellow fever in San Domingo. I recollect having seen thisunfortunate general at the residence of the First Consul some time beforehis departure on the ill-starred expedition which cost him his life, andFrance the loss of many brave soldiers and much treasure. GeneralLeclerc, whose name is now almost forgotten, or held in light esteem, wasa kind and good man. He was passionately in love with his wife, whosegiddiness, to put it mildly, afflicted him sorely, and threw him into adeep and habitual melancholy painful to witness. Princess Pauline (whowas then far from being a princess) had married him willingly, and of herown choice; but this did not prevent her tormenting her husband by herinnumerable caprices, and repeating to him a hundred times a day that hewas indeed a fortunate man to marry the sister of the First Consul. I amsure that with his simple tastes and quiet disposition General Leclercwould have preferred less distinction and more peace. The First Consulrequired his sister to accompany her husband to San Domingo. She wasforced to obey, and to leave Paris, where she swayed the scepter offashion, and eclipsed all other women by her elegance and coquetry, aswell as by her incomparable beauty, to brave a dangerous climate, and theferocious companions of Christophe and Dessalines. At the end of theyear 1801 the admiral's ship, The Ocean, sailed from Brest, carrying tothe Cape (San Domingo) General Leclerc, his wife, and their son. Afterher arrival at the Cape, the conduct of Madame Leclerc was beyond praise.On more than one occasion, but especially that which I shall now attemptto describe, she displayed a courage worthy of her name and the positionof her husband. I obtained these details from an eye-witness whom I hadknown at Paris in the service of Princess Pauline.
The day of the great insurrection of the blacks in September, 1802, thebands of Christophe and Dessalines, composed of more than twelve thousandnegroes, exasperated by their hatred against the whites, and thecertainty that if they yielded no quarter would be given, made an assaulton the town of the Cape, which was defended by only one thousandsoldiers; for only this small number remained of the large army which hadsailed from Brest a year before, in brilliant spirits and full of hope.This handful of brave men, the most of them weakened by fever, led by thegeneral-in-chief of the expedition, who was even then suffering from themalady which caused his death, repulsed by unheard of efforts and heroicvalor the repeated attacks of the blacks.
During this combat, in which the determination, if not the number andstrength, was equal on both sides, Madame Leclerc, with her son, wasunder the guard of a devoted friend who had subject to his orders only aweak company of artillery, which still occupied the house where herhusband had fixed his residence, at the foot of the low hills whichbordered the coast. The general-in-chief, fearing lest this residencemight be surprised by a party of the enemy, and being unable to foreseethe issue of the struggle which he was maintaining on the heights of theCape, and against which the blacks made their most fu