1806, May–September: (The Gathering Storm and the Emperor’s Final Warnings): The inner circle of the imperial secretariat — the noir intriguer Mentor Laurent…

1806, May–September: (The Gathering Storm and the Emperor’s Final Warnings): The inner circle of the imperial secretariat — the noir intriguer Mentor Laurent, the extremist doctrinaires Boisrond and Chanlatte, and Vastey, whose first concern in auditing government accounts was the sack of gold pieces he received before pronouncing all in order — had become universally detested by the generals who held real power in the provinces. Dessalines, whose suspicions never slept, sensed the growing alienation but did not act, though at different times he considered killing one or another or all of them. In May 1806, when Geffrard suddenly died, the rumor of poison ran through the South and West, prompting Dessalines to merely grunt: “When God took Geffrard, He was in more of a hurry than I.” August brought further bad news from the South, where the name of Dessalines already spelled hatred and fear; hearing reports of wholesale peculation and disaffection, the Emperor went in person to Les Cayes and presided grimly until mid-September. On his way back, at Petit-Goâve, Dessalines warned Lamarre, one of his most loyal adherents: “Lamarre, be ready to march into the South — if the people there don’t rise after what I’ve done to them, they’re not human.”