the night of August 21, 1791, the revolution which was destined to free the blacks of Hayti began. It was, really, the culmination of a series of political

struggles which had been waged with fury between the government of France, the white planters, ano the mulattoes who thought that they were entitled to

equal political privileges with the whites. This point was bitterly contested by the whites of the colony, until the mulattoes succeeded in inciting the blacks to murder and pillage. Toussaint took no part in the murderous proceedings of this night, and did not leave the plantation until he had safely provided for all the whites thereon, whom he afterwards had conveyed to Baltimore. He was always opposed to a general massacre of the whites, and throughout his career, as a commander, exerted his influence to preserve their lives. Upon entering military life his promotion was rapid, as he possessed all the requisites of a great commander and leader. Having risen to a generalship, because of his many successes, France acknowledged his rank and tendered to him a commission as commander-in-chief of the armies of San Domingo, in 1797. There followed three years of unparalleled prosperity, during which time L'Ouverture's ability as a statesman and ruler was shown to great advantage. Napoleon, how

ever, became jealous of L'Ouverture's power, and the old troubles in Hayti being renewed, they declared their independence in 1801. Napoleon sent large armies to the island, but they all failed to conquer the brave band of blacks under their indomitable leader, Toussaint. Finally, they resorted to stratagem. They pretended to make peace, after which Toussaint was invited on one occasion to dine on

board a French man-of-war, and there he was captured, sent to France, confined in a dark, damp dungeon, and allowed to die of hunger. He died in 1803, heroically proclaiming that though the French might murder him, the tree of liberty would still grow in San Domingo; how unlike Napoleon, the author of Toussaint's torture, who ended his existence in writing and fretting on the island of St. Helena, in similar confinement, a just retribution, it seems, in atonement for the wrong he had done L'Ouverture!

"His life lay in thought and in action rather than in words. Self-contained, he was also self-sufficing. Though he disdained not the advice of others, he was, in the main, his own council-board. With an intense concentration of vitality in his own soul, he threw into his outer life a power and an energy which armed one man with the power of thousands, and made him great alike in command of others and in command of himself. He was created for government by the hand of nature. That strength of soul and self reliance which made him fit to rule, also gave him subjects for his sway. Hence it was, that he could not remain in the herd of his fellowslaves. Rise he must, and rise he did; first to humble offices, then to the command of a regiment, and then to the command of the armies of San Domingo.'

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR IN NORTH CAROLINA.

BY THE HON. JOHN S. LEARY.

In the Revolutionary War there were enlisted as soldiers in the American army quite a number of colored men who served faithfully and fought gallantly for the cause of American Independence. Among others who enlisted from North Carolina, were Louie Revels, John Lomax, Thomas Bell, Charles Hood and John Pettiford. All of these surviving the contest drew, as long as they lived, a pension from the United States Government. When the Congress of freemen (freeholders) assembled at Halifax, and on the 18th day of December, 1776, ratified a Constitution for North Carolina, the elective franchise was extended to every freeman residing in the State who was twenty-one years of age and had paid a public tax. Under the provisions of this Constitution all free colored persons living in

North Carolina who were twenty-one years of age

and had paid a public tax, claimed and exercised the.

right to vote until the year 1835, a period of more than a half century, when the Convention which assembled that year, acting on the principle that might makes right, adopted an amended Constitution which barred them of that right. Having been barred of the right to vote by the provisions of the Constitution of 1835, in the year 1838 the question as to whether they were or were not citizens coming before the State Supreme Court, the following extract from the opinion of the Court, delivered by Gaston, Judge, will show that the Court decided that they were citizens:

"Whatever distinctions may have existed in the Roman law between citizens and free inhabitants, they are unknown to our institutions. Before our Revolution, all free persons born within the dominion of the King of Great Britain, whatever their color or complexion, were native-born British subjects-those born out of his allegiance were aliens. Slavery did not exist in England, but it did exist in the British Colonies. Slaves were not, in legal parlance, persons, but property. The moment the incapacity or disqualification—of slavery was removed, they became persons, and were then either British subjects or not British subjects according as they were or were not born within the allegiance of the British King. Upon the close of the Revolution, no other change took place in the law of North