Comte de Lavaux

General Étienne Maynard Bizefranc, Comte de Laveaux (1751-1828) - commander of the French forces under Commissioners Sonthonax, et al, later to become Governor-General of Saint-Domingue. "A man who was not only a brave soldier, but possessed a disarmingly attractive personality and that quality known as charm. He was unusually sensitive, a man who was to become one of the greatest friends that Toussaint would ever have..." Proud and honorable, he refused a considerable bribe from Colonel Whitelocke with particular zest. (Parkinson, p. 74) He spoke "perfect punctilious French." (Parkinson, p. 102)

"Laveaux felt a natural affinity towards the Negro; he had no sentimentality born of guilt, he just liked the black race." (Parkinson, p. 81) He and Toussaint Louverture developed a close friendship.

The mulattos, jealous of Toussaint's influence over Laveaux and humiliated by his exposure of Jean Baptiste Villatte's corruption and disloyalty, plotted to remove the governor. They seized him on March 20, 1796 and threw him in jail for five days before Toussaint effected his release. Parkinson writes that he was elderly at this point, but he would have been only 45; possibly he had a weak constitution as he was apparently quite shaken by the ordeal. (Parkinson, pp. 99-101)

Laveaux was gently nudged out of the country by Toussaint on the pretext of Laveaux' value as Saint-Domingue's representative to the French Chamber of Deputies and to the Senate. (Parkinson, pp. 104-105)

References

• Parkinson, Wenda (1978). This Gilded African. London: Quartet Books. ISBN 0-7043-2187-4