Santo Domingo. Kerverseau’s frigates appear; the Spaniards seize a fort and are thrown into the sea by Daut.

During this interval the frigates Fraternité and Précieuse, under the orders of Captain Bernard of the navy, carrying a thousand men for landing under the command of General Kerverseau, had appeared before Santo Domingo on 3 February (13 pluviôse). The French general sent a flag of truce, in the name of the French Republic, to Paul Louverture, who commanded the department of the Ingaño for Toussaint. The 10th demi-brigade, of which Jean-Philippe Daut was colonel, and a battalion of the 7th formed the garrison of the town. Paul Louverture received the envoy with courtesy and magnificence. The envoy informed him that General Kerverseau had been sent by the First Consul to take possession of Santo Domingo, and that the new governor was Captain-General Leclerc, commander in chief of the French army. Paul Louverture, a weak man and open to seduction, nevertheless answered that he would send couriers to the governor and would act on the instructions he received from him. The envoy returned to Kerverseau and informed him of the dispositions of Paul, who seemed determined to submit only if he received the order from Toussaint Louverture. The formidable batteries of the coast threatened to sink the two frigates if they did not stand off; they made for the open sea. The bishop of Santo Domingo, Monseigneur Mauvieille, who had been sent to that city by the Directory, as we have seen, and who was entirely devoted to the interests of his country, had been using every kind of intrigue, ever since he learned of the appearance of a French fleet at Samaná, to rouse the population to take up arms against the garrison and so favor the landing of the French. He had made such use of his ecclesiastical influence, a magical influence over the religious and fanatical minds of the Spaniards, above all by inflaming the imagination of the women, that he had succeeded in arming three hundred citizens, most of them former nobles, humiliated at having to bear the authority of a chief who had once been enslaved. In the night of 9 February Mauvieille let Kerverseau, whose frigates were tacking within sight of Santo Domingo, know that if he attempted a landing the whole city would rise against the garrison and support his operations. All the citizens had in fact declared themselves loudly against Toussaint Louverture. In the middle of the night of 20 pluviôse (9 February) the three hundred Spaniards surprised a fort of the city on the seashore and took it from 12 soldiers of the 10th. At the same moment Kerverseau was loading his launches with soldiers and striving to reach the shore; but the sea was so stormy and the breakers so furious that the French could not approach the iron-bound coast that lines the mouth of the Ozama. At daybreak Jean-Philippe Daut, at the head of the 10th, assaulted the fortification, carried it at the point of the bayonet and drove out the Spaniards, who were hurled into the sea, where they drowned in great numbers. The fugitives spread through the countryside, stirring the peaceful laborers to revolt, crucifix in hand, in the name of the Eternal. On 11 February (22 pluviôse), during the night, the Spaniards seized a post outside the city and entrenched themselves in it; Paul Louverture marched against them, gave them battle and put them to utter rout. *