elle appartient ; mais pourquoi n’en est-il point ainsi? C’est que, il faut le dire,
nous avons méconnu notre mission.^155Earlier this editor also points out that the newly established relations between France andHaiti, as guaranteed by this treaty, is the one bright spot in an otherwise miserable year. The
subtle incitements against Boyer’s regime frame a poem which, in calling for an awakening to
national consciousness in an uncompromising leader like Dessalines, indeed works to introduce
an element of Haitian identity which many believed had been suppressed under Boyer’s
practices. All the while conveying national unity in both poems, it is, at the same time,
Dessalines’ undeniable slave and African identity which is also remembered:
Quand cet aigle africain paru sur nos compagnes [...]
A voir l’aigle promis que longtemps il rêva,
D’un seul cri, d’un seul bond, l’esclave se leva
Et surprenant l’impie au milieu de ses fêtes
Rompit son joug de fer contre ses milles têtes. (11, 16-19)As in Ardouin’s poem, Dessalines’ mythical heroism is linked to the formidable actionsof the slaves, especially since these verses could also give the reading that the slave was formerly
Dessalines himself. In continuing to reflect on the differences between Toussaint and
Dessalines, the choice for Dessalines once more proves paramount. Historian David Geggus
points out that Toussaint Louverture, born Toussaint Bréda, was part of the “slave elite’ on the
large Bréda plantation, that is to say a coachman who was permitted and encouraged to pursue
literacy.^156 Freed around the age of thirty, he became part of the free-colored class and
temporarily owned and rented his own slaves. While Toussaint was able to speak, read, and
write fluently in French, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, on the other hand, who had been a field slave
until he joined the revolutionary forces, spoke only Creole, was illiterate, and, according to
(^155) L’Union le 3 janvier 1839.
(^156) Geggus 16.