Barrière-Bouteille. The authorities of Le Cap meet Toussaint there.

On 21 November (2 Frimaire) it was learned at Le Cap that he would arrive there the following day. At four in the morning of the 22nd the general call was beaten; the national guard and the troops of the line, a force of 4,000 men, drew up in the rue Française. At six o’clock the authorities set out from the town hall and went to the Barrière-Bouteille to receive him. He was only a league from the town. They took their places on both sides of a triumphal arch under which he was to pass. A crowd of young girls had been charged with throwing wreaths to him as soon as he appeared. Suddenly the multitude caught sight of him among his officers. The enthusiasm was such that the order of the ceremony was forgotten; men, women and children rushed forward to meet him. He is pressed on every side; nothing is heard but cries of Long live Toussaint Louverture; a great number of citizens, drunk with joy, ask to embrace him. He got down from his horse, crossed this delirious crowd and made his way toward the national palace. Then the wife of Citizen Allier, one of the high officials of the colony, a white lady of rare beauty, placed herself in his path and, amid an immense throng, addressed to him, as the spokeswoman of the ladies of Le Cap, the following verses:….