The Haitian Trilogy: Plays: Henri Christophe, Drums and Colours, and The Haytian Earth (18 page)

Let us tell you, monsieur, that that expression is a fallacy.

Remember it was the people who demanded Barabbas.

ANTON

This is the philosophic corruption of power.

CALIXTE-BREDA

Anton, you are a guest.

LECLERC

It is a fact, nevertheless, despite your enthusiasm,

The people have always chosen their particular demon.

They created their Caesar as they created Napoleon.

But you have been reading Rousseau and Montesquieu,

They are romantics overcome by the odours of the mob.

ANTON
(
Impatiently
)

This is Caesarism.

DE ROUVRAY

                                Anton, it’s discussion.

ANTON

That is monarchy. And you, a republican.

LECLERC

You sound angry, young man. I am a cynic who worships order.

I doubt such things exist as liberty or good marriages.

Don’t you consider yourself superior to your uncle’s Negroes?

ANTON
(
Controlling himself.
)

Monsieur, you are a general, and your industry is death,

But there is a new spirit that walks over the earth.

LECLERC

I know, I was part of it.
Liberté, égalité, fraternité.

And what has this turned into but democratic despotism?

CALIXTE-BREDA
(
Smiling.
)

Then you believe in the monarchy? Or are you testing our allegiance?

LECLERC

Show me a good man and I will show you a good nation.

Do you know what will happen if your revolution succeeds?

There will not be liberty but mere patterns of revenge.

The history of man is founded on human nature, and

We cannot exorcise the guilt of original sin.

DE ROUVRAY

Does the First Consul know what opinions you hold, General?

LECLERC

What does it matter? I am an excellent general,

And then I am fortunate, my wife is Caesar’s sister.

And here in good time, she arrives with a new province.

(
Enter
PAULINE LECLERC
with young officer.
)

PAULINE

Now I shall not say anything dull or unpredictable

But that I forgot all about it, or say I remembered

How monotonous the conversation of generals can be;

I have a haphazard memory, and so all is forgiven.

This is Lieutenant Foujade; my husband, General Leclerc;

Your commander, General de Rouvray; Madame de Rouvray.

This is Monsieur Calixte. Oh, this is so absurd,

(
Before
ANTON
)

And this …

CALIXTE-BREDA

My nephew, madame. Monsieur Anton Calixte.

PAULINE

Oh yes, yes indeed. Can I have a drink with you?

Lieutenant Foujade is an authority on Haiti.

We toured a few estates, including yours, Monsieur Calixte.

He knows all about factories, we toured the compounds,

So if I reek a little of the
parfum d’Afrique,

Endure it gently. There seems to have been trouble.

CALIXTE-BREDA

It is normal, they shake the chains a little.

LIEUTENANT FOUJADE

It seemed worse than that, monsieur.

                                                        A few seem to have escaped.

CALIXTE-BREDA

                                           There are ways of retrieving them,

It is an industrial hazard. There are dogs, you observe.

PAULINE

How was dinner, Madame de Rouvray? I am so sorry, forgive me?

MADAME DE ROUVRAY

Not at all.

LIEUTENANT FOUJADE

If you will excuse me, messieurs, madame.

Please accept my apologies, sir, but we were delayed.

LECLERC

C’est normal.

(
Exit
LIEUTENANT FOUJADE
.)

Now, if Monsieur Calixte will accompany us.

We can talk out these problems with a tour of the garden

And leave your eloquent nephew to chat with the ladies.

Nothing is more monotonous than the small talk of soldiers.

You say, then, de Rouvray, that the most efficient generals,

For want of a better term, are this fellow Boukmann,

Dessalines, and … the other … what’s his name?

DE ROUVRAY

Christophe … Monsieur Calixte knows all about this also.

He has helped me enormously, he knows the country thoroughly …

I hate mountain country, you never finish a war …

(
Exit
GENERALS
and
CALIXTE-BREDA
.)

PAULINE

Then are you packed and ready for Paris, madame?

MADAME DE ROUVRAY

Yes, but I feel so archaic, so dated in the fashion.

I trust Haiti will not bore you, it is different from Paris.

There is little to do that one can call civilised.

It is rich, but vulgar, as you may well have observed.

PAULINE

Oh, one creates one’s pleasures to suit every country.

But what does one do that is different from Paris?

I have grown so tired of false dukes and society.

MADAME DE ROUVRAY

What does one do in fact that is not imitation?

Perhaps Anton could tell us. Men have all the liberties.

ANTON

Is madame in search of something exciting and different?

PAULINE

It begins to sound exciting before you even describe it.

ANTON

Then I must have another glass before I proceed.

But as a general’s wife, I am sure you have seen much.

Industrial hazard, as my uncle observed …

MADAME DE ROUVRAY

                                                                     Anton is still sullen,

He has just lost an argument to your husband.

PAULINE

Do not mind my husband, he is cynical and dispassionate.

But tell us, monsieur.

ANTON

                                       Well, quite recently, madame,

We have devised a spectacle of epic proportions.

(
Pauses, studies their faces.
)

There is a place in the city, designed like an arena,

Half shadow in the afternoon, say, on some boring Sunday—

Sunday afternoons are the same in every part of the world—

Where a carnivorous spectacle is gaining popularity.

MADAME DE ROUVRAY
(
Agitatedly
)

Anton, please. Madame Leclerc did not mean that.

ANTON

The Negroes, you know, are punished in public.

They are led into his arena, as in a public circus,

And then, with some brief ceremony, the theatre commences …

MADAME DE ROUVRAY

If you will excuse me, I must finish my packing.

It is getting late, and there are things I must do.

Good night, madame; good night, Anton.

(
She exits.
)

PAULINE

                                                           You were saying, monsieur?

ANTON

The most popular scene in this comic spectacle:

Gunpowder is poured into noses, ears, and mouths.

Then the actors are fixed into farcical positions,

Then the powder is lit, and the victims are exploded.

(
Laughs.
)

Of course, no one is permitted to act his role twice.

Is that sufficient?

PAULINE

                               If you have finished.

ANTON

Do not miss the meaning, there are other diversions,

For there is this ballet of putting them into holes.

PAULINE

Holes?

ANTON

             
Des grands trous, comme ça.

They are buried in the ground to their necks in these holes.

They are then smeared with honey and the ants erode them.

There is some species of ant that can strip human flesh;

Then often there are dogs, which are trained for that purpose.

That is our theatre, but it is rather repetitious.

PAULINE

It is not worse than war. Have you watched it yourself?

ANTON
(
Sits.
)

That is why I can describe it, I am torn apart also.

My head is reeling, and I feel very drunk. It is horrible.

PAULINE

Then why do you watch it?

ANTON

                                             Why, madame? I will tell you why.

Because I am torn to pieces with them, I am myself a division.

By the fact that I am half African and half French,

I must become both spectator and victim. It is amusing.

Don’t you understand what I am telling you, madame?

I am not the nephew of Monsieur Armand Calixte; I am

His son, illegitimate; all society knows this, but

It is not said directly.

PAULINE

Who is your mother, then?

ANTON

She was a slave of his mansion.

He recognised her in darkness, in that republic

And that act in which complexions do not matter.

What do I do? Many years ago, I was tempted to admit it,

To be what I am and not be ashamed, a Haitian.

Then I saw our two delegates to the French General Assembly,

Ogé and Chavannes, broken on the wheel in public.

I do not know why I am telling you all this.

PAULINE

You are upset, monsieur; come and sit down a little.

And you do not understand why you are telling me this?

ANTON

Should I speak the truth to you, Madame Leclerc?

PAULINE

Yes, it is still the best thing, to follow one’s impulses,

To avoid hurting others and destroying one’s sanity.

ANTON

Look, we own an excellent coachman, his name is Toussaint,

He is a Negro of a most remarkable docility.

I know he loves my father, he loves me as his son,

But since such cruelty and this new liberty of man

Have made Haiti a crisis in the history of this age,

I have seen his black face tormented with division,

Between duty to his people and the love of our family.

How am I better than Toussaint, greater than his anguish?

Compared to him I am nothing. Do you know what I should do?

I should hate all this elegance, to sit among the slaves,

Be mocked for an ape, be torn apart by dogs,

Than to be choked to death with these silks …

(
He struggles with his collar.
)

PAULINE

                                                             Anton, please, please …

(
Pause.
)

Is that all you wish to tell me?

ANTON

You know it is not all. How can that be all?

(
Pause.
)

Since the first night I saw you, the centre of attention

In the glittering ballroom at Madame de Rouvray’s mansion,

Barricaded by lieutenants, and then once again tonight,

White and lovely as the moon, and equally remote,

My body trembled at the minute of your entrance.

(
GENERAL LECLERC
appears on the balcony above.
)

PAULINE

You talk too much, Anton.

ANTON

                                                I must talk of these things.

PAULINE

No, let them go; as women do, take life as it comes.

ANTON

And yes, and this destroys me, I try to understand things,

But it is sad, it is sad, the whole thing is sad.

It is sad to see belief contradicted by necessity,

It is sad to see new countries making old mistakes.

One could hope from the past the present would be simple,

But it is sad to see only the repetition of desire.

PAULINE
(
Taking his head to her bosom.
)

It is like the first years of love, understanding is hard …

There now, let me kiss you; forget the hate of this world.

Learn to love one person and your view will be mellowed.

(
They kiss.
LECLERC
descends, unseen.
)

TOUSSAINT
(
Enters.
)

Monsieur Anton.
Ton père te demande.

ANTON

This is our coachman, Toussaint. What is it?

LECLERC
(
Emerging.
)

It appears there is some trouble again on his estate,

The slaves are burning the canes, you can see the glow.

There behind the mountains. He is rather anxious, he wants

You to help him with a hunt. I’ll lend him soldiers.

ANTON

I cannot help him, sir.
Dîtes lui ma kai venir Toussaint

I am not going. I shall walk back to the estate.
Allez.

TOUSSAINT

Monsieur Anton …

ANTON

                                     
Allez, allez.
I am not hunting tonight.

                                     (
Exit
TOUSSAINT
.)