The Haitian Trilogy: Plays: Henri Christophe, Drums and Colours, and The Haytian Earth
Page 13
Yet your garden is cool, and the view is excellent.
DE ROUVRAY
You will find it almost wintry later, in the mountains.
You can imagine what terrain it is for a revolt.
I have very little sentiment in surrendering my command.
LECLERC
And you, Madame de Rouvray?
MADAME DE ROUVRAY
You know wives, General Leclerc.
This is what I shall miss, the supervision of my gardens,
I hope Madame Pauline will look after these lilies.
Monsieur Calixte, I know, will understand my misery,
Being himself the paragon of planters.
CALIXTE-BREDA
I can understand, madame.
I comprehend completely your devotion to lilies.
MADAME DE ROUVRAY
And since Madame Pauline is absent, General,
Perhaps you can tell us of the situation in Paris.
DE ROUVRAY
She probably means the fashions, but, my dear Emilie,
General Leclerc is more proficient at uprooting rebellions
Than in describing Paris couture and the qualities of flowers.
LECLERC
It has altered considerably since the birth of the republic.
But Calixte’s nephew has returned, full of enthusiasm,
So perhaps Monsieur Anton—it is Anton, is it not, monsieur?
Perhaps this silent gentleman is the best one to ask.
MADAME DE ROUVRAY
Haiti has also altered. Things are terribly unsettled.
Is there much similarity, in your opinion, Anton?
(ANTON moves away.)
CALIXTE-BREDA
When Anton drinks too much wine, as he did here at dinner,
The boy falls into an unshakeable melancholy.
MADAME DE ROUVRAY
Do you think Madame Leclerc may have met with an accident?
It is dangerous to be riding these roads at night alone.
LECLERC (Smiles.)
My wife is not alone. I think she should be safe.
DE ROUVRAY
You see there is always the danger of runaway slaves;
Then, there are serpents …
MADAME DE ROUVRAY
And so many other dangers, monsieur.
There are hazards much more subtle in a colonial society.
CALIXTE-BREDA (Laughs.)
I resent that word, excuse me, “colonial.”
MADAME DE ROUVRAY (Fanning.)
Oh, quite innumerable hazards.
The danger, though concealed of a mixed aristocracy,
The ambushes that wait for one under glittering candles,
The serpents in the smiles of the most charming hostess,
Arrows of eyebrows, and artilleries of slander
Behind the barricades of those fluttering fans …
LECLERC
You don’t like the word “colonial”?
This, I presume, then, is the birth of a nation?
Generals who were slaves, each one a black Spartacus.
You know, Napoleon calls them gilded Africans.
DE ROUVRAY
They are becoming quite formal in their conduct of this war.
LECLERC (Impatiently)
This is not a war, de Rouvray, it is a large-scale civic action.
I am employed to subjugate a province of France.
ANTON
Do not be so sure,
One must never underrate the authority of the people.
CALIXTE-BREDA
Slaves are not people, they are intelligent animals.
MADAME DE ROUVRAY
Gentlemen, please, let us not lose our tempers.
ANTON
Madame, I am simply saying this is not a revolt.
LECLERC
So at last we grow eloquent. You say the will of the people.
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.)
It is not far, I know a path through the fields.
LECLERC
Do you think that you are in any condition to walk?
I can lend you a horse if you insist on returning.
ANTON
No, I am going alone. I thank you. Good night, good night, madame.
(He exits.)
LECLERC
A remarkable young man, very stubborn, very passionate.
PAULINE
I presume that you saw us kissing from the balcony.
LECLERC
We retain our understanding, I am your brother’s general,
And you remain his ambassador for foreign affairs.
(They go off. Glare of fire—drums. Lights fade out.)
Scene 10
Night. ANTON, drunk in the canefields, walking alone. A glare in the sky.
ANTON (Singing.)
Oh, the moon may be a silver coin,
And the sun is a sovereign light.
(He stops, laughs.)
The moon, the moon, it was that remarkable metaphor of the moon that startled her. Anton, you are a fool. She slaughters men as her husband does battalions … Well, she has uprooted me also. You are drunk and a fool. Oh, let me thank my fool of a father, Monsieur Armand Calixte, otherwise how should I have met her? Ah well, I have done this before, only I will not hunt men like animals, I am not a hunter of men. What was that sound? It seems as if the whole country is on fire. I think I must be lost. Think, if I were not of this complexion now, she and that fat Madame de Rouvray and her stupid husband would have been amused to see me exploded with saltpetre, ripped by hounds. Ha. Life is ironic …