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Dubroca, 1802 (Eng. transla.,) Life of Toussaint Louverture
The life of Toussaint Louverture, chief of the French rebels in St. Do-mingue; To which are added interesting notes respecting several persons who
have acted distinguished parts in St. Domingo: by M. (Louis) Dubroca, 76p, London, pr. by C. Whittingham for H.D. Symonds, 1802. (Lacks TOC & index.
Translated from the original French edition of 1802. The Cornell University Library paper copy of this English edition scanned by LLMC had 21 printouts
from microfilm used as fill-in pages. To improve OCRing, and for ease of reading on line, LLMC has reversed the black/white fields on those images to
make the print “read” black. This text was first published during the secret imprisonment of Toussaint Louverture (T-L) by Napoleon at Fort de Joux in
the French Alps, well before his death in April 1803. That this work may have been an officially sponsored “hatchet job” could be inferred from its
detailed excuses for the Directory’s {i.e. Napoleon’s} previous role in paying T-L public honors, and from the fact that an English translation was
rushed into print to counter pro-T-L sentiment in England and the United States. French officialdom appears to have launched a preemptive defense against
possible outrage upon T-L’s death. The tone throughout is heavily racist, with emphasis upon T-L’s alleged cultural insufficiencies, inbred brutality,
and barbarous instincts. The existence of numerous testimonials from officials of several nations to his basic humanity and kindness is attributed to
cunning duplicity on the part of T-L in shaping his public image. All of his accomplishments are ascribed to the assistance of others. Numerous
instances are presented in which T-L is portrayed as rapacious, cruel and blood-thirsty. Which makes it somewhat ironic that, in seeking to show that his
main achievement, the feat that won for T-L the generalship of French forces in Saint Domingue, the expulsion of English invaders from the colony, was
secretly treasonous, Dubroca is reduced to the claim that in accepting the English surrender T-L acted far too chivalrously. The principal underlying
appeal of the text is to white audiences who, in an era of near universal slavery, lived in perpetual fear of similar slave rebellion in their own
countries. T-L himself is regularly described as “the Negro Chief,” “the ferocious African,” or finally “this perfidious African.” This negative thrust
is somewhat contradicted by the book’s original title, repeated in this translation, which styled T-L
Title:   The life of Toussaint Louverture, chief of the French rebels in St. Domingo : to which are added, interesting notes respecting several persons who have acted distinguished parts in St. Domingo / by M. Dubroca ; translated from the French.
OCLC Number:   872284330
Available Volumes
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Vol. 1YesNo