human
I wish, said Paul,
gpt
You speak like a white, Paul. The whites say of me, `How should a poor negro postillion govern a colony?' You must do as I do--show that a negro can govern.
human
But Heaven made you for a ruler.
gpt
Who thought so while I was yet a slave? As for you--I know not what you can do till you have tried; nor do you. I own that you are not the man I should have appointed, if I had had a choice among all kinds of men.
human
Then look around for some other.
gpt
There is no other, on the whole, so little unfit as you. Henri must remain in the field while Rigaud is in arms. Jacques--
human
Ay, Dessalines--and he might have a court--such a wife as he would carry.
gpt
Dessalines must not govern a city of whites. He hates the whites. His passion of hatred would grow with power; and the Spaniards would be wretched. They are now under my protection. I must give them a governor who cannot hate; and therefore I send you. Your love of our people and of me, my brother, will rouse you to exertion and self-denial. For the rest you shall have able counsellors on the spot. For your private guidance, I shall be ever at your call. Confide wholly in me, and your appeal shall never be unanswered.
human
You shall be governor, then. I will wear the robes, and your head shall do the work. I will amuse the inhabitants with water-parties, and you--
gpt
No more of this! said Toussaint, somewhat sternly.
human
It seems that you are unwilling to do your part of the great duty of our age and our race. Heaven has appointed you the opportunity of showing that blacks are men--fit to govern as to serve;--and you would rather sleep in the sunshine than listen to the message from the sky. My own brother does what he can to deepen the brand on the forehead of the negro!
gpt
I am ashamed, brother, said Paul,
human
I am not like you; but yet I will do what I can. I will go to-morrow, and try whether I can toil as you do. There is one thing I can do which Henri, and Jacques, and even you, cannot;--I can speak Spanish.
gpt
You have discovered one of your qualifications, dear Paul. You will find more. Will you take Moyse with you?
human
Let it be a proof that I can deny myself, that I leave my son with you. Moyse is passionate.
gpt
I know it,
human
He governs both his love and his hatred before you, while with me he indulges them. He must remain with you, in order to command his passions. He inherited them from me; and I must thus far help him to master them. You are all-powerful with him. I have no power.
gpt
You mean that Genifrede and I together are all-powerful with him. I believe it is so.
human
To you, then, I commit him. Moyse is henceforth your son.
gpt
As Genifrede is your daughter, Paul. If I die before the peace of the island is secured, there are two duties which I assign to you--to support the spirit of the blacks, and to take my Genifrede for your daughter. The rest of my family love each other, and the world we live in. She loves only Moyse.
human
She is henceforth my child. But when will you marry them?
gpt
When Moyse shall have done some act to distinguish himself--for which he shall not want opportunity. I have a higher duty than that to my family--it is my duty to call out all the powers of every black. Moyse must therefore prove what he can do, before he can marry his love. For him, however, this is an easy condition.
human
I doubt not you are right, brother; but it is well for me that the days of my love are past.
gpt
Not so, Paul. The honour of your race must now be your love. For this you must show what you can do.