"They're using the Frenchmen." A British general reeking of alcohol spoke loudly in Georgiana's "drawing room" in Sèvres. "Toussaint Louverture only controls the north; his hold over the south and west is insufficient. He has placed his own officers among the French, allowing him to use the whites' hands to suppress the opposition."
Georgiana looked at the crumpled map of Saint-Domingue on the table. It might have been picked up from some ruin; it was filthy and old, and the words on it were nearly illegible.
The speaker was General Maitland, who had once led an expedition to Saint-Domingue. Because Toussaint Louverture had received American support, he had been forced to sign a peace treaty with Toussaint Louverture and withdraw his troops. After idling at home for several years, he had been invited out again today.
"The Poles refuse to participate in the suppression," the Earl of Malmesbury said from the side. "They have not mutinied; they simply refuse to obey the expeditionary commander's orders."
"Did you tell him?" Georgiana asked.
The Earl of Malmesbury did not answer her question, seemingly acquiescing by default.
"So what exactly do they want?" she asked, raising her voice.
"Independence, just like the Americans." General Maitland spat.
"Watch your conduct," the Earl of Malmesbury warned General Maitland.
"So this is your true intention." Georgiana laughed. "Sharing intelligence?"
"We have a common enemy," the Earl of Malmesbury said with a smile.
"Who?"
"No, slavery. We can sign trade agreements with every country that bans the slave trade."
Georgiana suddenly realized something. The Saracens still permitted slavery, and the Mamluks were all slaves.
France's steel industry was fragmented and lacked Britain's scale. With profits to be made from sugar and steel, the interests of the textile industry had been abandoned.
At this moment, Napoleon Bonaparte must