HAITI UNDER NAPOLEON.

North Otago Times, Volume CVII, Issue 17748, 17 March 1927, Page 3

HAITI UNDER NAPOLEON.

TOUSBAIXT THE IMMORTAL. i In a coruer oi a uark ar.d negiectcd crypt in Rome, it was skited recsntly, there lay a hali'-caeu cofhn. It c-on-tained the body of Pauliue Ronnparte priuee?s, sLvier of ihe greai Napoleon, who died in. j82C. On© or two privi/ leged people wero lcoking ciu'iouaiy at all that is lefi- of a verv heaut.ful woman, passing hev by and talkir.g roftly. The mere msation of Pauline'? nanie sets the clock back over a liundred years, savs a London paper. A lovelv woman, sne danced her v;a? through a, tsrrlble epoch and shared in the glory of the chief tyrant oi Europe,. When this girl from Ajaccio was seven teen sbe married cna of hei brother's staff officers — Gensral Leclerc. Wittv, bsaatifn/ Paulino fiitted in and cut of rlint- society, the darling oi many, and fcore her brother's domineering ways chesrfnlly enough. Whai &hs thcught wher.i Napoleon ordered Leelere out to Haiti is not recorded, but she went with him. and there the sliadow of her dancing tiguve rell acrcss the lives of a little people fighting fear ful odds in the cause of liberty. Faulina would have been simply astonnded had someon© said that a hundred year 3 after her death she would be aimost forgotten, and that oue of those islanders. a,pcor negro, would be- numbered -among th© immortals. > The hero was Toussaint, the African slave who becam© the liberafor of the oppressed people of Haiti. White was i t'h& soul of Toussaint, white with iaeas of justioe and goodness, white with suffering. He 'conceived a ccheme oi constitutional, go-vernment for his people, who lived under the French flag, and he sent it to Napoleon. The people of Haiti. oiiginally Negrces imported from Africa into sfavery, had early in the years of the French Revo I lution been granted their liberty. and | Toussaint was anxiousi to mako strong i the buiwark of his country's peac© Hia | schem© of govfcrhment aroused NaI poleon's secret fear that there was i going to be in Haiti a flian stronger | than ■ kimself. I Napoleon 's reply was to taho awc.y ; the liberties or Haiti and put the pcor j Africans back into a state of slavery, ! To enforee this edict and suppress the j inevitabi© revolt he sent out the pretty \ Pauline's husband with 35,000 men | There was war, deadly and bitter, there i was agony in Haiti, but the General's : wi'fe found means of amusing herself. ! She had the gayest parties, and the ; officers thought they were fortunate in ) having among them a brilliant and I beautiful woman whose gospel. always j was "let us dance to-day, for to-mor-i row we die." | Th© morrow came. and Fauiine did ! not die. Thousand of Gthers did. for | yellow fever came to Haiti, and thore I v/ho had not fallen hy the sword wero | devoured by pestilence. Napoleon 's ; sister did not mind very .much. Toussaint liad been taken prisoner by an act of foulest treachery, sent to Paris and throwjs into a dungeon. An other morrow came, and agam Pauline did not die, but her husband did, _ with iwerw'helming suddenness. Pauline ,took his body home to Paris, bursting in on Napoleon with her story of all that was left of th© expedition to quell Haiti 25,000 men dead in battle and from plague, 8000 in hospifcal; only 2000 left whole, and Haixi still an unconquered land. w A year later Pauline was dancing again in Rome She was then a princess. wife of Camillo Borgliese. Fovtr months before her marriage poor Toussaint had died among the rats in the dungeon where Napoleon had flung him. _ It is very probable that Pauline did not even know that her famous brother had; caused the death of this brave man. She went her wav, creating many scandals. living her lile in accordance with her whims and desires, and sh© was only 4.5 when she died.