Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue had been a French colony since 1697, and, as of late, had revolted against France. Napoleon willed to restore French authority there, and so organised an expedition. At its head, he put General Leclerc; appointing him Governor-General of the island. Leclerc, Dermide, and Pauline embarked for the colony from Brest on 14 December 1801. Leclerc's fleet totalled 74 ships. The gubernatorial family occupied the flagship, l'Océan. After a forty-five day journey, the fleet arrived in Le Cap harbour. The Governor-General ordered the renegade, local General Christophe, who had at command a force of 5,000 soldiers, to resign Le Cap to French authority. Leclerc, after all attempts at conciliation failed, attacked the town under cover of darkness. Christophe responded by razing Le Cap to the ground. Pauline, meanwhile, was left aboard the flagship with their son. According to Leclerc, in a letter dated 5 March to Napoleon, "The disastrous events in the midst of which she found herself wore her down to the point of making her ill." Leclerc succeeded in requisitioning the capitulation of the rebel leader, Toussaint L'ouverture, in May.
However, celebrations were dampened by the advent of Yellow fever season. 25 generals and 25,000 soldiers were slain. Leclerc had initially guaranteed that slavery, abolished by the Jacobin republic in 1794, would stay proscribed, however, the inhabitants caught wind of its re-establishment in another French-conlony, neighbouring Guadeloupe, in July. The French government had in fact wiped slavery off the roster in May. As a result, the indigenous folk planned an insurrection for 16 September. Black troops in Leclerc's army defected to their old commanders, and the Governor-General had a mere 2,000 men at hand against the rebels' 10,000. Leclerc, dreading for Pauline's safety, gave express orders to Jacques de Norvin, a seargant, to bundle Pauline out of Saint-Domingue at a moment's notice. Fortunately for the gubernatorial couple, these measures proved unfounded when Leclerc triumphed over the insurgents.
The climate was taking its toll on Pauline's health. She could no longer walk and was compelled to a "reclining position" for several hours a day. Both herself and Dermide suffered from spells of Yellow fever. She did, however, find time to take numerous lovers, including several of her husband's soldiers, and developing a reputation for "Bacchanalian promiscuity."
Leclerc attempted to coerce Pauline to Paris in August. She consented, however, on one condition, "He must give me 100,000 francs." When the Governor-General wasn't forthcoming with the sum, she elected to stay; commenting that unlike in Paris, "Here, I reign like Josephine ; I hold first place."
To occupy herself, she compiled a collection of local flora, and established a menagerie, inhabited by native animals.
On 22 October 1802, Leclerc fell ill with yellow fever. Nevertheless, a doctor from the military hospital in Le Cap pronounced otherwise, a fever, "caused by the bodily and mental hardships that the general had suffered." In fact, biographer Flora Fraser concludes that his symptoms were consistent with those of yellow fever. On 1 November, he expired. Seven days later, Pauline, Dermide, and Leclerc's remains were hastily ferried back to mainland France.
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