Francois Dominique Toussaint, surnamed l'OU-veetuee, a Haytian general, born near Cap Francois in 1743, died in the dungeon of Joux, France, April 27, 1803. His parents were both slaves, and of pure negro blood. He was a coachman, and afterward held a post of trust in connection with 'the sugar manufactory of the estate to which he belonged. He had learned to read and write from a fellow slave, and after his promotion he read considerably. He remained apparently contented with his lot till 1791, when the mulattoes appealed to the negroes for help in enforcing their rights; and even then, though many of the blacks rose in insurrection, Toussaint incurred the hostility of his race by remaining quiet. But after securing the escape of the director of the estate and his family, he joined the negro army. Toussaint, at first employed in a medical capacity, was soon appointed a brigadier general. When news came of the beheading of Louis XVI. the black leaders accepted the aid of Spain, and repelled the offers of the French convention.

Toussaint soon captured the entire army of Brandicourt, the general of the whites, without bloodshed, and occupied several important military posts, among them Gonaives. The English, having in 1793 invaded the island, took Port-au-Prince, while the French, the Spaniards, the mulattoes, and the blacks were all contending with each other. At this juncture Toussaint, who was already in effect the commander-in-chief of the black forces, became convinced that the only hope for Hayti lay in declaring for France, whose national legislature, while making Hayti an integral part of France, had proclaimed also the freedom of the slaves. He therefore declared his fealty to the republie, and applied himself so energetically to bring all parties to the same conclusion that Laveaux, the French commander, exclaimed: Mais cet homme fait ouverture partout; and from this time he received his surname of "L'Ouverture " (the opening). He formed a junction with Laveaux, and, though the Spanish and English forces united against him, he drove the English from nearly all their strong positions, took 28 Spanish batteries in four days, maintained a long line of defences against the allied enemy, who possessed twice his force, rescued Laveaux, and finally closed the campaign by receiving the capitulation of the entire English force besieged at St. Marc (1797), and the abandonment of the effort by the Spanish to conquer the W. portion of the island.

Toussaint, who had been appointed commander-in-chief of St. Domingo in 1796 by Sonthonax, the French commissioner, soon restored order and industry to the island, though opposed to Hedouville, the new commissioner. Hedouville, finding himself without influence, fled to France to make complaint of the negro chieftain, who sent to the directory a statement of the true position of affairs. The French directory justified Toussaint and censured Hedouville. But the latter, on the eve of leaving Hayti, had sown the seeds of discord between Rigaud, the mulatto leader, and Toussaint, and, by finally setting the former free from his obligations to the latter, had prepared the foundations of a new civil war; and for nearly the whole of the year 1799 the war between the blacks and the mixed race raged fiercely. Toussaint captured Jacmel, subdued the mulatto insurrection, and on Nov. 26, 1800, assumed the government, amenable for his administration to the French directory alone; and in January, 1801, the whole island became subject to his sway. He invited the steward of his old master's estate and other well disposed white colonists back to the island.

He assumed great state in his public appearance, being richly attired and surrounded by a guard of 1,500 to 1,800 men, all in brilliant uniforms and admirably mounted; but in private life he was plain and temperate. At the very beginning of his administration Toussaint selected an administrative council of nine, of whom eight were white proprietors and one a mulatto. A constitution was drawn up by the council, in which he was named president for life, and free trade was established. This constitution he sent with a letter to Bonaparte, then first consul, whose reply was: "He is a revolted slave whom wo must punish; the honor of Franco is outraged." An act was passed restoring the French colonies to their condition previous to 1789. In a subsequent decree by Bonaparte St. Domingo or Hayti was excepted - an exception, as the event proved, intended to be only temporary. Gen. Leclerc, the husband of Pauline, Bonaparte's sister, was sent out with a force'of 30,000 men and 66 war vessels. The expedition arrived on the coast of Hayti in January, 1802. Among those in command in it were Rigaud, Petion, and Boyer, all enemies of Toussaint. "Without a declaration of war Leclerc attempted to enter Cap Francois with his force, and Christophe, who was in command there, rather than surrender, burned the city.

Finding unexpected resistance at all points, Leclerc sent Toussaint's sons, who had been educated in France, and whom he had brought with him, to their father, with a letter from Bonaparte and another from himself, couched in terms of mingled flattery and menace. The negotiation was ineffectual. Leclerc then declared Toussaint and his generals outlaws, and a sanguinary conflict ensued, in which one third of the French troops were killed or wounded; and though they possessed the seaports, yet the blacks from their mountain fastnesses were destroying them in detail. Finding it impossible to conquer the island in this way, Leclerc sought to win over the negro generals, and succeeded with Christophe and those under him, including Dessalines. He next made his propositions to Toussaint, offering as conditions of peace to respect the liberty of the people, and confirming this by the most solemn oaths to leave the government of the island in Toussaint's hands, and to employ the officers of his army according to their rank, while for himself he would only hold the office of delegate from France by Toussaint's side.

Toussaint accepted his offers, and a treaty of peace was concluded May 1. He avowed however his own determination to leave public life, and retired to his estate near Ennery. But Leclerc had determined upon his destruction. At his direction Gen. Brunet on June 7 sent him an apparently cordial letter, asking for an interview of an hour in relation to some arrangements for providing for the black troops, inviting him to bring his wife with him, and closing with assuring him of the sincerity of his friendship. Toussaint went to Gonaives, and after a short conversation Brunet left the room, when an armed force entered and seized Toussaint, and at midnight put him on board a French frigate, with his family. On their arrival at Brest he was separated from his family, whom he was never allowed to see again. On Aug. 17 he reached Paris under guard, and was at once confined in the Temple, whence he was transferred, without trial and without any explanation of the cause of his arrest, to the dungeons of the castle of Joux, in the department of Doubs. Here, deprived of all society, subjected to the intense cold with insufficient clothing, and with too little food to sustain life, he appealed repeatedly but in vain for a trial; and as well as his failing strength would allow, he began his defence, which was transmitted to Bonaparte, but elicited no reply.

Finally the governor-of the castle went away for four days and left Toussaint without food or drink. On his return he was dead, and the rats had gnawed his feet. An autopsy was held, and his death was said to have been caused by apoplexy. - Lives of Toussaint have been written, among others, by Saint-Remy (Paris, 1850), the Rev. John R." Beard, D. D. (London, 1853), Hannah Lee (Boston, 1854), 0. W. Elliott (New York, 1855), and J. Red-path (Boston, 1863).