Rigaud reached Port-au-Prince to justify himself before Hédouville, and Toussaint and Rigaud met for the first time.

Toussaint granted, in the various towns he had just occupied, safety to those who had been unable to follow the English, and amnesty besides to all who had borne arms against the Republic; he even maintained them in rank and dignity. This was to violate the laws of the mother country. So the enemies of the rights of man, who had taken refuge in Cuba, in Jamaica and in the United States, hastened to return to the ports of the West and of the Artibonite. Hédouville concealed his displeasure: Toussaint was in return feted by the whites of Port-au-Prince. He had spent several weeks in that city when Rigaud arrived there, on 25 messidor (13 July) (1).

Rigaud, whom Sonthonax had depicted in France as hostile to the mother country, felt spontaneously the need of going to justify himself before Hédouville. He had not yet crossed the Pont-de-Miragoâne when the whites, who had so great an interest in his ruin, spread the rumor that he was about to be arrested. But strong in his conscience, he continued on his way, escorted by a few dragoons of the 3rd squadron of the South, commanded by Renaud Desruisseaux. It was the first time that Toussaint and Rigaud met.