Lundi, 23 Février, 2015
Verse of the Day: Mais Dieu est
riche en bonté. Aussi, à cause du grand amour dont il nous a aimés, alors que
nous étions spirituellement morts à cause de nos fautes, il nous a fait revivre
les uns et les autres avec le Christ. --- C'est par la grâce que vous êtes sauvés.
» Éphésiens 2.4-5
Quote of the Day: “To mock philosophy is really to philosophize.”—Blaise
Pascal
«Se moquer de la
philosophie, c’est vraiment philosopher.»—Blaise Pascal
French Fun Fact:
France was originally named Lutetia. (confessedtravelholic.com)
What’s Really
Happening Over Here:
Weather – Cloudy,
Precip. 10%
Temperature – 51⁰F,
high of 54⁰
News – France
uses new laws to ban would-be jihadists (thelocal.fr)
More News – http://www.europe1.fr/international
A Day In the Life:
The weekend always goes by so fast! It’s hard to believe
that I only have about 7 weeks left here in France. This weekend I spent most
of my time in bed with a pretty bad / weird stomach ache (I’m good now!). That
being said, I did get to Skype my parents, and it was good to see their faces
again!
Most of you know that I eat a lot, but this morning I woke
up with a different kind of stomach ache: I was still full from dinner last night! I went to a crêperie
with my host dad for dinner, and he suggested I get this thing called the “Trouffad”
(not sure about the spelling). It was potatoes and cheese and ham and it was
one of the best things I’ve tasted in my entire life. It would have been a
perfect experience had it not been for dessert – a crêpe which I was really excited about
eating until I took my first bite and gagged on a mouthful of crêpe that would
have been perfectly fine had it not been soaked in something disgusting and
definitely alcoholic. So I just ate the mountain of whipped cream on top which
I was cool with.
I also had another prayer answered this weekend – I have a
place to stay now (for good). The LORD has definitely blessed my campaign to
this point, and I’m very excited to see what He has planned for the remainder
of my trip, as my online classes finish in two weeks and I’ll finally actually
be able to go mobile with my mission.
“The Slave Who
Defeated Napoleon”
During this final week of Black History Month, I wanted to
pay homage to an African who made an impact on Europe herself. As a leader, he not
only convinced his people to stand up to the great Emporer Napoleon himself,
but he also inspired them to believe that they could win. And they did.
Napoleon was one of the greatest
generals who ever lived. But at the end of the 18th century a self-educated
slave with no military training drove Napoleon out of Haiti and led his country
to independence.
The remarkable leader of this slave
revolt was Toussaint Breda (later called Toussaint L'Ouverture, and sometimes
the “black Napoleon”). Slave revolts from this time normally ended in
executions and failure – this story is the exception.
It began in 1791 in the French
colony of Saint Dominique (later Haiti). Though born a slave in Saint
Dominique, Toussaint learned of Africa from his father, who had been born a
free man there. He learned that he was more than a slave, that he was a man
with brains and dignity. He was fortunate in having a liberal master who had
him trained as a house servant and allowed him to learn to read and write. Toussaint
took full advantage of this, reading every book he could get his hands on. He
particularly admired the writings of the
French Enlightenment philosophers, who
spoke of individual rights and equality.
 |
| Toussaint L'Ouverture |
In 1789 the French Revolution
rocked France. The sugar plantations of Saint Dominique, though far away, would
never be the same. Spurred on by such Enlightenment thinkers as Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, the early moderate revolutionaries considered seriously the question
of slavery. Those moderate revolutionaries were not willing to end slavery but
they did apply the "Rights of Man" to all Frenchmen, including free
blacks and mulattoes (those of mixed race). Plantation owners in the colonies
were furious and fought the measure. Finally the revolutionaries gave in and
retracted the measure in 1791.
The news of this betrayal triggered
mass slave revolts in Saint Dominique, and Toussaint became the leader of the
slave rebellion. He became known as Toussaint L'Ouverture (the one who finds an
opening) and brilliantly led his rag-tag slave army. He successfully fought the
French (who helped by succumbing to yellow fever in large numbers) as well as
invading Spanish and British.
By 1793, the revolution in France
was in the hands of the Jacobins, the most radical of the revolutionary groups.
This group, led by Maximilian Robespierre, was responsible for the Reign of
Terror, a campaign to rid France of “enemies of the revolution.” Though the Jacobins
brought indiscriminate death to France, they were also idealists who wanted to
take the revolution as far as it could go. So they again considered the issue
of “equality” and voted to end slavery in the French colonies, including what
was now known as Haiti.
There was jubilation among the
blacks in Haiti, and Toussaint agreed to help the French army eject the British
and Spanish. Toussaint proved to be a brilliant general, winning 7 battles in 7
days. He became a defacto governor of the colony.
In France the Jacobins lost power.
People finally tired of blood flowing in the streets and sent Maximilian
Robespierre, the leader of the Jacobins, to the guillotine, ending the Reign of
Terror. A reaction set in. The French people wanted to get back to business.
More moderate leaders came and went, eventually replaced by Napoleon, who ruled
France with dictatorial powers. He responded to the pleas of the plantation
owners by
reinstating slavery in the French colonies, once again plunging Haiti
into war.
 |
| Napoleon Bonaparte |
By 1803 Napoleon was ready to get
Haiti off his back: he and Toussaint agreed to terms of peace. Napoleon agreed
to recognize Haitian independence and Toussaint agreed to retire from public
life. A few months later, the French invited Toussaint to come to a negotiating
meeting will full safe conduct. When he arrived, the French (at Napoleon's
orders) betrayed the safe conduct and arrested him, putting him on a ship
headed for France. Napoleon ordered that Toussaint be placed in a prison
dungeon in the mountains, and murdered by means of cold, starvation, and
neglect. Toussaint died in prison, but others carried on the fight for freedom.
Six months later, Napoleon decided
to give up his possessions in the New World. He was busy in Europe and these
far-away possessions were more trouble than they were worth. He abandoned Haiti
to independence and sold the French territory in North America to the United
States (the Louisiana purchase).
Years later, in exile at St.
Helena, when asked about his dishonorable treatment of Toussaint, Napoleon
merely remarked, "What could the death of one wretched Negro mean to
me?"
(The above indented information Part
of Liberte, Egalite and
Fraternite: The French Revolution, a HistoryWiz exhibit, copyright
1998-2008 HistoryWiz)
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