The road to Marchand. Martial Besse ordered to guard the town, palace and imperial family; troops to be rationed there

On 21 October he wrote to Vernet, whom he called his dear comrade, “that he had received the details he had sent him of the unhappy attempt that had been made on the person of His Majesty the Emperor, and that the uncertainty in which he found himself was truly disquieting.” Christophe really did not know whether Dessalines had been a victim, who the true chiefs of the insurrection had been since the entry of the army of the South into Port-au-Prince, or what their new plans and projects were. General Martial Besse, who was on the Labarre plantation at L’Arcahaie with the colonel of the 4th, Jean-Louis Longuevalle, had written to him that he had learned that the Emperor was being held at Port-au-Prince and was to remain there until he had subscribed to certain conditions, which those who had given him this news did not know or pretended not to know. Until official news reached him, Christophe kept order in the North and had the demi-brigades paid and clothed before thinking of leaving Le Cap. There was enough money in the treasury of that town to pay the troops for four months. He ordered General Martial Besse to return to Marchand, to keep order there, to guard that town, and to give all his care to the munitions, to the palace and particularly to the imperial family. He wrote to the Minister of Finance to clothe the troops and to put them on a ration of one escalin a day (twelve sous) as soon as they returned to Marchand, and to see that persons and property were respected; he also commended to him the Empress and her children.