1804, April: (The Compassion of Claire-Heureuse and the Final Treachery): Pétion saved many French in the West, including Mme Campan, a Frenchwoman who had s…

1804, April: (The Compassion of Claire-Heureuse and the Final Treachery): Pétion saved many French in the West, including Mme Campan, a Frenchwoman who had shared his household, demonstrating that not all revolutionary leaders embraced the extermination order with equal fervor. Dessalines’s wife, Claire-Heureuse, whose compassion and gentleness were widely noted, interceded tirelessly on behalf of survivors whenever her influence could reach. One final act of calculated treachery remained after the main killing had subsided: Dessalines proclaimed that vengeance was complete and called on survivors in hiding to emerge under safe-conduct. Those who trusted this guarantee and revealed themselves were killed without mercy, extinguishing the last remnants of French presence on Haitian soil. Dessalines sealed his revenge with a proclamation composed by Chanlatte and published on April 28, 1804, declaring war to the death against all tyrants and vowing that no colonist or European would ever again set foot on the island as master or proprietor.