In connection with these general facts of African improvement, there are a few particular details which deserve special notice. One of these is, that from the midst of this race, various individuals have arisen who, on many accounts, merit consideration. If I had time, I could mention the names of scores of negroes who have achieved fame and celebrity: philanthropists like Howard; scholars, classical and mental; scientific men—one, a Doctor of Philosophy in a German university; distinguished painters and artists; officers, well known iu Europe;[1] and one—a statesman, a general, and a hero, now a historical character, who was the father of his country, and achieved her liberties; one of the ablest commanders of the age; a man for whom the highest notes of minstrelsy have been struck, around whose name and history all the attractions of romance have hung. I mean the great and mighty chief of Hayti, Toussaint L'Ouverture.[2]
- ↑ Eustace, a Negro of the Island of St. Domingo, was an eminent philanthropist: he devoted all his means to providing for the sick and needy, nursing and sheltering orphans, and apprenticing destitute youth. He lived and labored only to make others happy. In 1832, the National Institute of France awarded him the sum of 1,000 dollars. Job Ben Solomon; Antony William Amo, (of the Universities of Halle and Wittenburg,) Doctor of Philosophy; Ignatius Sancho, and Francis Williams; ranked high as scholars: Annibal was a Lieutenant-General in the Russian Army; Ltslet Groffroy was an officer of artillery in the Isle of France.
- ↑ Lamartine and Miss Martineau have both made Toussaint the hero of one of their works; and most readers are acquainted with the fine sonnet of Wordsworth, which I cannot resist repeating:
"Toussaint, the most unhappy man of men!
Whether the whistling rustic tend his plough
Within thy hearing, or thy head be now
Pillowed in some deep dungeon's earless den;—
O miserable Chieftain! where and when
Wilt thou find patience! Yet die not; do thou
Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow:
Though fallen thyself, never to rise again,
Live, and take comfort. Thou hast left behind
Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies—
There's not a breathing of the common wind
That will forget thee; thou hast great allies;
Thy friends are exultations, agonies,
And love, and man's unconquerable mind!"
