Gonaïves. The generals debate the fate of the whites at the Government Palace.

On the evening of 1 January 1804 the generals gathered at the Government Palace discussed the general massacre of the whites, which the proclamation read on the altar of the homeland had, so to speak, commanded. The most ardent of the senior officers proposed to their colleagues that they exterminate the French in their respective arrondissements on their return. There were heated discussions; no agreement could be reached on the means of making the French disappear: some wanted them slaughtered, others deported. Among the latter were noted Generals Jean-Louis François, Férou and Geffrard and Adjutant General Bonnet. But as they were parting, the Boisrond-Tonnerres, the Chareron, the Diaquois, the Bazelais and the other officers of Dessalines’s staff declared that the governor general would know how to save a second time the people whose national existence was still threatened, and that he would find them, his devoted servants, ever faithful to their oath. During the discussion Christophe and Pétion, keeping apart, had not expressed their opinions.