Louis-Pantaléon de Noé
In Victor Hugo's novel Bug-Jargal, many details allow the identification of the two main characters as Louis-Pantaléon de Noé and Toussaint Louverture.
His mother likely gave birth in the "big house" of the Bréda plantation in Haut-du-Cap, owned by his grandparents, in Cap-Français, in the French colony of Saint-Domingue.
She was the daughter of Pantaléon I de Bréda, who left her a plantation located in the Limbé district, west of Cap-Français, where about fifty slaves worked.
[3] The newborn Louis-Pantaléon was entrusted to the care of a black slave nurse, Madeleine, whom we know from a gift he made to her forty-seven years later, in 1775, when she had become free through manumission.
[6] As the War of the Austrian Succession began at the end of 1740, young Louis-Pantaléon experienced his first combat during the Battle of Dettingen on June 27, 1743, a French defeat during which he was slightly wounded.
[10] In 1769, he obtained permission to leave his regiment, entrusting it to Lieutenant Colonel La Motte-Geffrard, to focus on his private affairs in the colony of Saint-Domingue, where he arrived in the second half of the year.
[19][20] The tradition that reports Toussaint as the slave of Louis-Pantaléon de Noé is incorrect, as he did not own the Bréda plantation at that time; it belonged to his uncle.
The allure of the metropolis, the boredom of a monotonous life, and the constant fear of a possible revolt by the slaves on their plantation, who outnumbered the whites by far, likely explained this decision.
The Chevalier d'Héricourt returned to Saint-Domingue two months later, realizing that this purchase turned out to be a bad deal, and, upset, parted ways with Mosneron de Launay at Les Manquets.
[24] The Chevalier d'Héricourt took charge of the direction of the sugar plantation at Les Manquets but fell ill and died on August 25, 1779.
[29] It seems that it was in Count de Noé's plantation at Les Manquets that the Saint-Domingue slave revolt began on the night of August 22-23, 1791.
The marriage contract was signed at the chateau of L'Isle-de-Noé on January 24, 1776, and the ceremony took place two weeks later, on February 10, 1776, in the village church.
[37] In the spring of 1789, unlike other members of his family, Count de Noé did not participate in the local meetings of the Gascon nobility that drafted the grievances.
Unlike many of his relatives and allies, he did not participate in the club at the Hôtel de Massiac, a society of wealthy colonists who fought against the rights of the Black population.
[39] In 1791, after the flight to Varennes and the arrest of the king, Louis-Pantaléon de Noé emigrated from France, leaving his wife, the rightful owner of the chateau, at L'Isle-de-Noé.
On April 6, 1799, Count de Noé sent a letter to the new strongman of Saint-Domingue, Toussaint Louverture, a former slave from the Bréda plantation.
The former slave-owner begged the former slave to send him money, citing their good relations and his difficult financial situation[42]:"What I have just learned, my dear Toussaint, about the services you have rendered to Mr. Bayon, our former attorney, confirms me in the opinion I had already formed of you, based on the recent public acts of your conduct.
Without this dreadful Revolution, my intention was to go with my children and peacefully end my days on my plantations, where my greatest joy would have been to make happy all those who depended on me, as you know well that myself and my relatives, we did during our stay in the colony.
I fear that this plan may never be executed; however, it could still happen; if, as I like to persuade myself, you want to use your power and means to restore my plantations and those of my relatives, whom you have known, and to send me in this country where I currently reside, the assistance that is necessary for my subsistence, and for the preservation of my life, and that of my children.
P. S.: The children of my sister, the Countess of Polastron, as well as my cousin, the Count of Butler, former owners of the Bréda plantations, are in the same unfortunate situation as myself, having also been stripped of their fortune.
[45] The familiar tone used by Count de Noé and his frankness about his hatred of the Revolution indicate that he knew Toussaint Louverture well.
His expressed desire to return to Saint-Domingue is hardly credible but allows him to recall the emancipation of slaves he had carried out during his previous stay.
It is probably because he played a role in Toussaint Louverture's emancipation that Count de Noé can entertain some hope of a positive response from him.
[46] It seems that Toussaint Louverture, who resumed the sugar plantation at Les Manquets, responded favorably to Count de Noé's request, whose family then cultivated the memory of the Haitian general.
[48] On July 9, 1802, Louis-Pantaléon de Noé decided to return to France, taking advantage of the amnesty for émigrés and officially rallying to the Consulate.
Napoleon Bonaparte ordered Charles Leclerc, the general captain of the expedition to Saint-Domingue, "to restore to citizen Pantaléon-Louis Noé the Manquets plantation".
Despite the pension of 3,000 francs received by Count de Noé as a brigadier general, debts remained unpaid, leading to the sale of the entire castle in 1809.
After an official visit to Tarbes, where Louis-Pantaléon de Noé commanded the guard of honor, Napoleon decided to double his pension, which thus increased to 6,000 francs.
[57] The Mirande Museum preserves a gaïac cane, an exotic hardwood, attributed to Toussaint Louverture and offered to the Noé family.
[47][60] Victor Hugo drew inspiration from this in his novel Bug-Jargal, portraying two characters that many details identify as Louis-Pantaléon de Noé and Toussaint Louverture.
