Haut-du-Cap and Vertières. Christophe met Leclerc and submitted; his 800 men swore fidelity to France

Leclerc answered him in a letter of 4 Floréal (24 April) that he must not doubt the benevolent views of the French government toward the inhabitants of Saint-Domingue, and that the government was at that very moment at work on a code that would assure liberty to the Black people forever. He urged him to trust his word, if he did not wish to be regarded as the enemy of the French name, and to come to an interview he offered him at the Haut-du-Cap. He gave him his word of honor that, should they fail to reach a final understanding, he would be free to go and put himself once more at the head of his troops; he ended his letter by telling him that his refusal to deliver Toussaint Louverture had only added to the high idea he had formed of his character. What could be more perfidious and more cowardly than this proposal made by Leclerc to the Indigenous general? How low the captain-general sinks in his reply, when he tells Christophe, who had rejected this infamous proposal with a noble indignation full of dignity, that his refusal added still more to the high idea he had of his character! How shameful it is for the corrupter to be compelled to flatter the man who has rejected his corrupting proposals with horror.

On 5 Floréal (25 April) Christophe consented to an interview at the Haut-du-Cap. On the following day he left his headquarters at Les Cardinaux and arrived at eleven in the morning at the place appointed for the interview. There he met General Leclerc, who gave him the most flattering welcome, received his submission and kept him in his rank of brigadier general. After a short conversation with the captain-general he went on to La Grande-Rivière, then to La Marmelade, where Toussaint had his headquarters. He did not find the former governor there, for he was organizing the militia of that district at Ennery. He saw him arrive afterward, having waited for him nearly a whole day.