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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lafayette, by Martha Foote Crow
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Lafayette
+
+
+Author: Martha Foote Crow
+
+
+
+Release Date: January 11, 2009  [eBook #27777]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAFAYETTE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Jen Haines, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
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+
+
+
+
+
+True Stories Of Great Americans
+
+LAFAYETTE
+
+[Illustration: Publisher's Logo]
+
+The MacMillan Company
+New York . Boston . Chicago . Dallas
+Atlanta . San Francisco
+
+MacMillan & Co., Limited
+London . Bombay . Calcutta
+Melbourne
+
+The MacMillan Co. of Canada, Ltd.
+Toronto
+
+[Illustration: PORTAIT OF LAFAYETTE.
+From an authentic portrait.
+This shows Lafayette as a youthful general.]
+
+
+LAFAYETTE
+
+by
+
+MARTHA FOOTE CROW
+
+
+    And what gave he to us?
+    He gave his starry youth,
+    His quick, audacious sword,
+    His name, his crested plume.
+    And what gave we?
+    We gave--a nation's heart!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York
+The MacMillan Company
+1918
+
+All rights reserved
+
+Copyright, 1916,
+by The MacMillan Company.
+
+Set up and electrotyped. Published May, 1916.
+Reprinted October, 1917.
+
+Norwood Press
+J.S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.
+Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+      CHAPTER I                                PAGE
+      A BOY OF THE FRENCH NOBILITY                1
+
+      CHAPTER II
+      COLLEGE AND COURT                          10
+
+      CHAPTER III
+      A BOY'S IDEALS                             21
+
+      CHAPTER IV
+      THE GREAT INSPIRATION                      27
+
+      CHAPTER V
+      FIRST DAYS IN AMERICA                      42
+
+      CHAPTER VI
+      LAFAYETTE AT THE BRANDYWINE                52
+
+      CHAPTER VII
+      A SUCCESSFUL FAILURE                       62
+
+      CHAPTER VIII
+      LAFAYETTE AT MONMOUTH                      73
+
+      CHAPTER IX
+      THE RETURN TO FRANCE                       86
+
+      CHAPTER X
+      LAFAYETTE IN VIRGINIA                     100
+
+      CHAPTER XI
+      THE TWO REDOUBTS                          111
+
+      CHAPTER XII
+      THE SURRENDER OF YORKTOWN                 119
+
+      CHAPTER XIII
+      LIONIZED BY TWO WORLDS                    128
+
+      CHAPTER XIV
+      GATHERING CLOUDS                          137
+
+      CHAPTER XV
+      LAFAYETTE IN PRISON                       144
+
+      CHAPTER XVI
+      AN ATTEMPTED RESCUE                       154
+
+      CHAPTER XVII
+      A WELCOME RELEASE                         171
+
+      CHAPTER XVIII
+      A TRIUMPHAL TOUR                          179
+
+      CHAPTER XIX
+      LAST DAYS OF LAFAYETTE                    193
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+      PORTRAIT OF LAFAYETTE           _Frontispiece_
+
+      FACING PAGE THE COUNCIL AT HOPEWELL        78
+
+      THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS               126
+
+      FRANCIS KINLOCH HUGER                     160
+
+      A CARRIAGE IN WHICH LAFAYETTE RODE        186
+
+      THE CHILDREN'S STATUE OF LAFAYETTE        196
+
+
+
+
+LAFAYETTE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A BOY OF THE FRENCH NOBILITY
+
+
+Among the rugged Auvergne Mountains, in the southern part of France,
+stands a castle that is severe and almost grim in its aspect. Two bare
+round towers flank the building on the right and on the left. Rows of
+lofty French windows are built across the upper part of the front, and
+the small, ungenerous doorway below has a line of portholes on either
+side that suggest a thought of warlike days gone by.
+
+This castle, built in the fourteenth century, is called the Chateau de
+Chaviniac de Lafayette. Though it was burned to the ground in 1701, it
+was rebuilt as nearly like the earlier structure as possible; hence it
+represents, as it stands, the chivalrous days of the crusading period
+and so forms a fitting birthplace for a hero. In this half-military
+chateau was born one of the most valiant champions of liberty that
+any country has ever produced--the Marquis de Lafayette.
+
+The climate of the Haute-Loire--the highlands of Auvergne--is harsh;
+it has been called the French Siberia. There are upland moors like
+deserts across which sweep fierce winds, where the golden broom and
+the purple heather--flowers of the barren heights--are all that will
+flourish. There are, indeed, secluded valleys filled with muskmallows
+and bracken, but these are often visited by wild tempests, and sudden
+floods may make the whole region dreary and dangerous.
+
+In Lafayette's time the violence of the elements was not the only
+thing to be dreaded. When the children wandered too near the edge of
+the forest, they might catch sight of a wild boar nozzling about for
+mushrooms under the dead oak leaves; and if it had been a severe
+winter, it was quite within possibility that wolves or hyenas might
+come from their hiding places in the rocky recesses of the mountains
+and lurk hungrily near the villages.
+
+The family living in the old chateau was one whose records could be
+traced to the year one thousand, when a certain man by the name of
+Motier acquired an estate called Villa Faya, and thereafter he became
+known as Motier de la Fayette. In 1240 Pons Motier married the noble
+Alix Brun de Champetieres; and from their line descended the famous
+Lafayettes known to all Americans. Other Auvergne estates were added
+to the Chaviniac acres as the years went by, some with old castles
+high up in the mountains behind Chaviniac, and all these were
+inherited by the father of America's famous champion.
+
+Lafayette's father was a notable warrior, as _his_ father had
+been--and his--and his--away back to the days of the Crusades. Pons
+Motier de la Fayette fought at Acre; Jean Motier de la Fayette fell at
+Poitiers. There were marshals who bore the banner in many a combat of
+olden times when the life of the country was at stake. It was a
+Lafayette who won the battle at Beauge in 1421, when the English Duke
+of Clarence was defeated and his country was compelled to resign hope
+of a complete conquest of France. Among other men who bore the name,
+there were military governors of towns and cities, aids to kings in
+war, captains and seneschals. Many of them spent their lives in camps
+and on battlefields. One of them saw thirty years of active service;
+another found that after thirty-eight years of military life he had
+been present at no less than sixty-five sieges besides taking part in
+many pitched battles. Lafayette's grandfather was wounded in three
+battles; and his uncle, Jacques Roch Motier, was killed in battle at
+the age of twenty-three.
+
+During the summer before Lafayette's birth, his father, the young
+chevalier and colonel, not then twenty-five, had been living quietly
+in the Chateau Chaviniac. But a great conflict was going on--the Seven
+Years' War was being waged. He heard the call of his country and he
+felt it his duty to respond.
+
+There was a sad parting from his beautiful young wife; then he dashed
+down the steep, rocky roadway from the chateau to the village, and so
+galloped away--over the plains, through fords and defiles, toward the
+German border--never to return.
+
+Lafayette's ancestors on his mother's side were equally distinguished
+for military spirit. His mother was the daughter of the Comte de la
+Riviere, lieutenant general and captain of the second company of the
+King's Musketeers.
+
+But this "hero of two worlds" inherited something more than military
+spirit. The ancestors from which he descended formed a line of true
+gentlefolk. For hundreds of years they had been renowned throughout
+the region of their Auvergne estates for lofty character and a kindly
+attitude toward their humble peasant neighbors. It was only natural
+that this most famous representative of the line should become a
+valiant champion of justice and freedom.
+
+This great man was destined to have as many adventures as any boy of
+to-day could wish for. To recount them all would require not one book,
+but a dozen. Think of a lad of nineteen being a general in our
+Revolutionary War, and the trusted friend and helper of Washington!
+Lafayette was present at the surrender of Cornwallis, boyishly happy
+at the achievements of the American soldiery, and taking especial
+pride in his own American regiment. This period was followed by a
+worthy career in France, but for five years--from his thirty-fifth
+year to his fortieth--he was unjustly imprisoned in a grim old
+Austrian fortress. At the age of sixty-seven he made a wonderful tour
+through our country, being received with ceremonies and rejoicings
+wherever he went; for every one remembered with deep gratitude what
+this charming, courteous, elderly man had done for us in his youth. He
+lived to the ripe age of seventy-seven, surrounded by children and
+grandchildren, and interested in the work of the world up to the very
+last.
+
+The birth of Lafayette is recorded in the yellow and timeworn parish
+register of Chaviniac. This ancient document states that on September
+6, 1757, was born that "very high and very puissant gentleman
+Monseigneur Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert Dumotier de Lafayette,
+the lawful son of the very high and the very puissant Monseigneur
+Michel-Louis-Christophe-Roch-Gilbert Dumotier, Marquis de Lafayette,
+Baron de Wissac, Seigneur de Saint-Romain and other places, and of the
+very high and very puissant lady Madame Marie-Louise-Julie de la
+Riviere."
+
+But it was only on official documents that Lafayette's full name,
+terrifying in its length, was used. Reduced to republican simplicity,
+the Marquis de Lafayette's name was Gilbert Motier, although he was
+always proud of the military title, "General," bestowed on him by our
+country. To tell the truth, imposing names meant little to this friend
+of liberty, who was a true republican at heart and who, during the
+French Revolution, voluntarily resigned all the titles of nobility he
+had inherited.
+
+During his earliest childhood Lafayette was somewhat delicate. The
+child first opened his eyes in a sorrowful home at the old Chateau
+Chaviniac, for word had come, only a month before, that Lafayette's
+father had been killed at the battle of Minden, leaving the young
+mother a widow. The boy, however, grew in strength with the years.
+Naturally, all was done that could be done to keep him in health. At
+any rate, either through those mountain winds, or in spite of them, he
+developed a constitution so vigorous as to withstand the many strains
+he was to undergo in the course of his long and adventurous life.
+
+The supreme characteristic of the man showed early in the boy when, at
+only eight years of age, he became possessed of an unselfish impulse
+to go out and perform a feat which for one so young would have been
+heroic. It was reported in the castle that a dangerous hyena was
+prowling about in the vicinity of the estate, terrifying everybody.
+The boy's sympathy was roused, and, from the moment he first heard of
+it, his greatest longing was to meet the cruel creature and have it
+out with him.
+
+It is not recorded that the eight-year-old boy ever met that wild
+animal face to face, and it is well for the world that he did not. He
+was preserved to stand up against other and more significant spoilers
+of the world's welfare.
+
+His education was begun under the care of his mother, assisted by his
+grandmother, a woman of unusually strong character; these, together
+with two aunts, formed a group whose memory was tenderly revered by
+Lafayette to the end of his life.
+
+The boy Lafayette cared a great deal for hunting. Writing back to a
+cousin at home after he had been sent to Paris to school, he told her
+that what he would most like to hear about when she wrote to him would
+be the great events of the hunting season. His cousin, it appears, had
+written him an account of a hunt in the neighborhood, but she had not
+written enough about it to satisfy his desire. Why did she not give
+details? he asked. He reproachfully added that if he had been writing
+to her of a new-fashioned cap, he would have taken compass in hand and
+described it with mathematical accuracy. This she should have done
+concerning the great hunt if she had really wished to give him
+pleasure!
+
+This fortunate boy could select any career he liked; courtier, lawyer,
+politician, writer, soldier--whatever he chose. Never came opportunity
+more richly laden to the doorway of any youth.
+
+He chose to be a soldier. The double-barred doors of iron, the lofty,
+protected windows, the military pictures on the walls of his home--all
+spoke to the Chaviniac child of warfare and conflict. There was the
+portrait of his father in cuirass and helmet. There were far-away
+ancestors in glistening armor and laced jackets. There was also the
+military portrait of that Gilbert Motier de Lafayette who was marshal
+in the time of Charles VII, and whose motto "Cur non" (Why not?) was
+chosen by Lafayette for his own when he started on his first voyage.
+The instinct for warfare, for the organization of armies, for struggle
+and conquest, were strong in him, and were fostered and nourished by
+every impression of his boyhood's home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+COLLEGE AND COURT
+
+
+In the year 1768 the boy Lafayette, then eleven years old, left his
+mountain home and went to Paris, where he was placed by his mother in
+the College du Plessis, a school for boys of the nobility.
+
+The arrangements for the student in a French college at that time were
+simple. A room scarcely wider than a cell was assigned to each boy. It
+was locked at night; but holes were cut in the door so that the fresh
+air might come in. This, at least, was the theory. Practically,
+however, the little cell must have been very stuffy, for the windows
+in the halls were shut tight in order that the health of the pupils
+might not be injured by currents of damp air from outside.
+
+Special attention was given to diet, care being taken that the boys
+should not eat any uncooked fruit lest it should injure them. Parents
+might come to visit their children, but they were not allowed to pass
+beyond the threshold--a familiar chat on home matters might interfere
+with the studious mood of the scholars.
+
+What were the studies of this young aristocrat?
+
+First and foremost, heraldry. From earliest days his tutors had
+instilled into him the idea that the study of the coats of arms of
+reigning and noble families, together with all that they stood for,
+was first in importance.
+
+Then the young student must dance, write, and draw. He must be able to
+converse wittily and with apt repartee. Fencing and vaulting were
+considered essential, as well as riding with grace and skill and
+knowing all about the management of the horse.
+
+As far as books were concerned, the Latin masters--Caesar, Sallust,
+Virgil, Terence, Cicero--were carefully studied. The boys were obliged
+to translate from Latin into French and from French into Latin.
+Occasionally this training proved useful. It is related that one of
+the French soldiers who came to New England and who could not speak
+English resorted to Latin and found to his joy that the inhabitant of
+Connecticut, from whom he wished to purchase supplies for his
+regiment, could be communicated with by that obsolete medium; and what
+would Lafayette have done when imprisoned in an Austrian dungeon if he
+had not been able to converse with his official jailers in the Latin
+tongue!
+
+In historical studies the greatest attention was given to wars and
+treaties and acquisitions of territory. The royal families of his
+native country and of neighboring kingdoms were made familiar. History
+was taught as if it were a record of battles only. Swords and coats of
+mail decorated the mantelpieces in the school and the latest methods
+of warfare were studied.
+
+In addition to all these military matters, a great deal of attention
+must have been given to acquiring the power of clear and forcible
+expression in the French language. While Lafayette can never be
+included among the great orators of the world, he possessed a
+wonderfully pellucid and concise diction. He was a voluminous writer.
+If all the letters he sent across the ocean from America could be
+recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic, there would be enough to
+make several large volumes. Sometimes he dispatched as many as thirty
+letters at one time. He sent them by way of Spain, by way of Holland,
+or by any other roundabout route that offered promise of final
+delivery. But privateersmen frequently captured the boats that carried
+them, and very often the letter-bags were dropped overboard. Still
+another circumstance deprived the world of many of his writings. When
+revolutionists took possession of the Lafayette home in Chaviniac,
+they sought in every nook and cranny to find evidence that they would
+have been glad to use against these representatives of the nobility.
+Madame de Lafayette had carefully stuffed all the letters she could
+find into the maw of the immense old range in the castle kitchen.
+Other treasures were buried in the garden, there to rot before they
+could be found again.
+
+Of the extant writings of Lafayette there are six volumes in French,
+made up of letters and miscellaneous papers, many of them on weighty
+subjects, while numerous letters of Lafayette are to be found among
+the correspondence of George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin
+Franklin, and other statesmen and generals of Revolutionary days.
+
+Of the English language Lafayette's knowledge was mainly gained during
+the six long weeks of his first voyage to America. And what he
+acquired he at once put into practice. He learned the language from
+books, and from good books. As a result his English, both spoken and
+written, had a special polish.
+
+At the College du Plessis Lafayette was an industrious student. All
+his life he regarded time as a gift of which the best use was to be
+made, and, according to his own expression, he was "not at liberty to
+lose it himself, and still less to be the occasion of the loss of it
+to others." Therefore he would not, unless it was absolutely
+unavoidable, be unpunctual to engagements, or keep people waiting his
+pleasure. As a boy in college he never had to be urged to study;
+neither was he in any way an unmanageable boy. In spite of the
+intensity of his nature, he never deserved to be chastised.
+
+It should be understood that corporal chastisement was the rule in the
+schools of that time. In the year 1789 one simple-hearted old
+school-master solemnly reported that during the fifty years of his
+experience as teacher he administered nine hundred thousand canings,
+twenty thousand beatings, one hundred thousand slaps, and twenty
+thousand switchings. Among smaller items he mentions ten thousand
+fillips and a million and a quarter raps and hits. He hurled a Bible,
+a catechism, or a singing-book at some hapless child twelve thousand
+times, and caused seven hundred to kneel on peas as a punishment. Then
+he punished eight hundred thousand for not learning their lessons and
+seventy-six thousand for not learning their Bible verses. So much for
+one teacher a half century before Lafayette's day! And people still
+talk and write about "the good old times"!
+
+The surroundings of Lafayette during his youth must have been of a
+kind to develop strength of character. He was to be one of the
+historical personages against whom scandalmongers have not been able
+to unearth a mass of detraction. His close companions during army days
+testified that they never heard him swear or use gross language of any
+kind. As Edward Everett in his great eulogy said, from Lafayette's
+home, his ancestry, his education, his aristocratic marriage, and his
+college life, he "escaped unhurt."
+
+Lafayette's mother took up her residence in Paris in order to be near
+her son. She allowed herself to be presented at court that she might
+be in touch with what was going on and give her boy all the aid
+possible. She saw to it that her uncle should place him in the army
+lists that he might secure the advantage of early promotion.
+
+After a while the tall boy was entered in the regiment of the Black
+Musketeers, and it became a favorite occupation of his to watch the
+picturesque reviews of those highly trained soldiers. This entertainment
+was for holidays, however, and did not interfere with his studies.
+
+It was not for very many years that Lafayette was to profit by his
+highborn mother's devoted care and foresight. In 1770, when her son
+was only thirteen years old, she died in Paris. In a painting on the
+walls of the chateau to-day the face of that aristocratic lady shines
+out in its delicate beauty. A pointed bodice of cardinal-colored
+velvet folds the slender form and loose sleeves cover the arms. In the
+romantic fashion of the pre-revolutionary period, the arm is held out
+in a dramatic gesture, and one tiny, jeweled hand clasps the
+shepherd's crook, the consecrated symbol of the story-book lady of
+that period.
+
+About the time of her death, one of her uncles passed away, leaving to
+the young student at the College du Plessis a large and valuable
+estate. This placed Lafayette in a very advantageous position so far
+as worldly matters were concerned. His fortune being now princely, his
+record at college without blemish, his rank unexceptionable among the
+titles of nobility, he was quickly mentioned as an eligible partner in
+marriage for a young daughter of one of the most influential families
+in France,--a family that lived, said one American observer, in the
+splendor and magnificence of a viceroy, which was little inferior to
+that of a king. This daughter was named, in the grand fashion of the
+French nobility, Marie-Adrienne-Francoise de Noailles. In her family
+she was called simply Adrienne.
+
+Adrienne de Noailles was not old enough to give promise of the
+greatness of character of which she later showed herself possessed;
+but, as it proved, Lafayette found that in her he had a companion who
+was indeed to be his good genius. She became the object of the
+unwavering devotion of his whole life; and she responded with an
+affection that was without limit; she gave a quick and perfect
+understanding to all his projects and his ideals; she followed his
+career with an utterly unselfish zeal; and when heavy sorrows came,
+her courage and her cleverness were Lafayette's resource. Her name
+should appear among those of the world's heroines.
+
+At the time of the proposed alliance, Lafayette was fourteen; the
+suggested fiancee was scarcely twelve. Her mother, the Duchess d'Ayen,
+a woman of great efficiency and of lofty character, knew that the
+Marquis de Lafayette was almost alone in the world, with no one to
+guide him in his further education or to lend aid in advancing his
+career. Moreover, she held that to have so large a fortune was rather
+a disadvantage than otherwise, since it might be a help or a
+hindrance, according to the wisdom of the owner, and she rightly saw
+that the allurements of the Paris of 1770 to an unprotected youth of
+fortune would be almost irresistible. She therefore refused to allow a
+daughter of hers to accept the proposal. For several months she
+withheld her consent, but at last she relented, on consideration that
+the young people should wait for two years before the marriage should
+take place. This admirable mother, who had carefully educated and
+trained her daughters, now took the further education of Lafayette
+into her care; she soon became very fond of him and cherished him as
+tenderly as if he had been her own son.
+
+The marriage took place in Paris on the 11th of April, 1774. It was an
+affair of great splendor. There were many grand banquets; there were
+visits of ceremony, with new and elaborate toilettes for each visit;
+there were numberless beautiful presents, the families represented and
+their many connections vying with each other in the richness and
+fineness of their gifts. Diamonds and jewels in settings of quaint
+design were among them, and besides all these there were the ancestral
+jewels of Julie de la Riviere, the mother of Lafayette, to be
+received by the new bride, and by her handed down to her descendants.
+
+The arrangement was that the wedded pair should make their home with
+the mother of the bride, the young husband paying eight thousand
+livres a year as his share of the expense. The sumptuous home was the
+family mansion of the Noailles family; it was situated in the rue St.
+Honore, not far from the palace of the Tuileries, at the corner where
+the rue d'Alger has now been cut through. The Hotel de Noailles it was
+called, and it was so large that to an observer of to-day it would
+appear more like a splendid hotel than like a private residence. When,
+a few years after Lafayette's wedding, John Adams was representing the
+United States in Paris, and was entertained in this palatial home, he
+was so amazed that he could not find words in English or in French to
+describe the elegance and the richness of the residence. In it were
+suites of rooms for several families, for troops of guests, and for
+vast retinues of servants. The building measured from six hundred to
+seven hundred feet from end to end. There were splendid halls and
+galleries and arcades. Toward the street the facade was plain but the
+interior was decorated with astonishing richness. The inner rooms
+faced on a garden so large that a small hunt could be carried on
+within it, with fox, horses, and hounds, all in full cry. Magnificent
+trees waved their branches above the great garden, and rabbits
+burrowed below.
+
+Here was a delightful place for a few people to pursue beautiful
+lives. John Adams made a note of the fact that the Noailles family
+held so many offices under the king that they received no less than
+eighteen million livres (more than three and a half million dollars)
+income each year. It must be remembered that the streets of Paris
+about this time were crowded with a rabble of beggars. But of this the
+dwellers in such magical palaces and parks saw but little and thought
+less.
+
+Conditions such as these give a hint of the causes that led to the
+French Revolution and explain in some degree why thoughts of liberty,
+fraternity, and equality were haunting the minds of the youth of
+France, and, to some of the more open-minded among them, suggesting
+dreams of noble exploit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A BOY'S IDEALS
+
+
+By this time Lafayette was a tall, slender young fellow, of commanding
+height, and with a look of piercing and imperative sincerity in his
+clear, hazel eyes. His hair was red--some one in the family used to
+call him "the big boy with red hair"; but hero worshipers need have no
+misgivings about this characteristic, nor feel that they must
+apologize for it as a defect. Lafayette said of himself that he was an
+awkward boy. It may be that the youth who was rapidly growing to a
+height of "five feet eleven" may have felt, as most boys do at that
+age, as if he were all hands and feet. But that Lafayette was really
+awkward--it is unthinkable! Not one single lady of all the beauties in
+France and America, who handed it down to her descendants that she
+"once danced with Lafayette," ever mentioned the fact that her partner
+lacked any element of grace, while many speak of the ease of manner
+and address of the distinguished man. One friend of Lafayette's early
+days reports that he was too tall to make a distinguished appearance
+on horseback or to dance with special grace; but this was said in a
+period when the dancing-master's art was the ideal of social conduct.
+Those who did not know Lafayette very well at this time thought him
+cold and serious and stiff. Perhaps he was shy; yet beneath that calm
+exterior seethed a volcano of emotion of which no casual onlooker
+dreamed.
+
+Lafayette was fortunate in having a cousin, the Count de Segur, who
+understood him and who realized that under that surface of gravity was
+hidden, as he said, "a spirit the most active, a character the most
+firm, a soul the most burning with passionate fervor."
+
+After his marriage Lafayette continued his studies at the College du
+Plessis, and later he spent a year at the military academy at
+Versailles, that his education as an officer might be complete.
+
+In the summer his inclinations led him to make various journeys to the
+fortified city of Metz, where the regiment "de Noailles" was in garrison
+under the charge of the Prince de Poix who was a brother-in-law of
+Adrienne, Lafayette's wife. On his way back from one of these visits he
+stayed at Chaillot for a time and there was inoculated for smallpox.
+This preventive method was a medical novelty at that time. To submit to
+the experiment showed a great freedom from prejudice on the part of the
+youth. The Duchess d'Ayen had once suffered from the ravages of this
+disease, so she could safely stay with the now adored son-in-law through
+this disagreeable period of seclusion.
+
+Soon after this the youthful Marquis de Lafayette and his shy girl
+bride were presented at court. The benevolent king, Louis XVI, was
+then reigning. The queen, Marie Antoinette, was the head of a social
+life that was elaborately formal and splendid. Marie Antoinette
+herself was young and light-hearted, and was at this time without
+fears from misadventure at the hands of the state or from any personal
+enemies. The king had thousands of servants and attendants in his
+military and personal households. A court scene was a display of knots
+of ribbon, lace ruffles, yellow and pink and sky-blue satin coats,
+shoes with glittering buckles, red-painted heels, and jeweled
+trimmings. Fountains threw their spray aloft, and thousands of candles
+flung radiance broadcast. Said Chateaubriand, "No one has seen
+anything who has not seen the pomp of Versailles." And no one dreamed
+that the end was nearing, or realized that no nation can live when
+the great mass of the people are made to toil, suffer, and die, in
+order that a favored few may have luxuries and amusement.
+
+Into this Vanity Fair the young Marquis de Lafayette was now plunged. The
+grand world flowed to the feet of the Marquis and Marchioness de Lafayette.
+More than that, the queen at once took the tall, distinguished-looking
+young chevalier into the circle of her special friends. The circle included
+some who were to follow Lafayette in his adventure to the New World in aid
+of American independence, and some who were to follow in another long
+procession equally adventurous and as likely to be fatal--the Revolution
+in their own country. During the Terror some of them, including their
+beautiful and well-meaning queen, were to lose their lives. Of any such
+danger as this, these young nobles, in the present state of seemingly
+joyous and abundant prosperity, were farthest from dreaming.
+
+On the whole, however, court life did not have much charm for
+Lafayette. It was a part of the duty of the Marquis and Marchioness de
+Lafayette to take part in the plays and merrymakings that centered
+about a queen who loved amusement only too well. But Lafayette could
+not throw his whole heart into the frivolity of the social sphere in
+which he was now moving. There were features of life at court that he
+could not tolerate. His knee would not crook; he already knew, as
+Everett said, that he was not born "to loiter in an antechamber."
+
+It was liberty itself--the revolt against tyranny in every realm of
+life--that interested him from the first. Lafayette was against
+whatever stood for tyranny, against whatever appeared to be an
+institution that could foster despotism. He believed that the
+well-being of society would be advanced by giving the utmost freedom
+to all, high and low, educated and uneducated. He saw a world in
+chains only waiting for some hero to come along and strike off the
+fetters.
+
+Where did Lafayette, a born aristocrat, get these ideas? Certainly not
+from the peasants as they knelt beside the road when he, their
+prospective liege lord, rode by. He was brought up to believe that it
+was the sacred privilege of the ruling class to throw largesse to the
+poor, who stood aside, waiting and expectant, to receive the gifts.
+
+It is hard to say where Lafayette imbibed his love of freedom. One
+might as well ask where that "wild yeast in the air" comes from that
+used to make the bread rise without "emptins." There was a "wild
+yeast in the air" in the France of 1760 and 1770, and all the young
+people of that country, whether highborn or lowborn, were feeling the
+ferment.
+
+If Lafayette had pursued the course that his circumstances urged, he
+would soon have crystallized into a narrow, subservient character,
+without purpose or ideals. By all the standards of his time, he would be
+thought to be throwing away his life if he should take steps to alienate
+himself from the glittering, laughing, sympathetic friends who stood
+about him at court. All advancement for him appeared to be in line with
+the influences there. But if he had done this, if he had followed the
+star of court preferment, he would have remained only one of many highly
+polished nonentities--and would have lost his head at last. By throwing
+away his life, by choosing the way of self-sacrifice, he won the whole
+world; by throwing away his world, the natural world of compliance and
+ease about him, he won a world, nay, two worlds. He became what Mirabeau
+named him, the "hero of two worlds."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE GREAT INSPIRATION
+
+
+In the summer of 1775 Lafayette was stationed at the French garrison
+of Metz, where the Prince de Poix commanded the regiment "de
+Noailles." While he was there the Duke of Gloucester, brother of
+George III, king of England, came to that city and was present at a
+dinner given in his honor at the house of the governor of the
+garrison, the Count de Broglie. This count was a person of great
+sympathy and discernment. He had been observing the tall, red-haired
+boy of quiet, assured manner and few words, who represented so
+distinguished a family and gave so great promise for a future career.
+Eighteen years before he had seen this boy's father fall in battle, so
+he had a special interest in him. He now included young Lafayette
+among the guests at the dinner.
+
+It appears that the Duke of Gloucester had just received letters from
+England telling about the revolt of the American colonies against the
+British government--about their prejudice in the little matter of a
+tax on tea, and about the strong measures to be taken by the English
+ministry to crush the rebellion. As the Duke of Gloucester was not on
+very good terms with his brother, King George, he told the story with
+somewhat vindictive glee.
+
+This was probably the first that Lafayette had heard of American
+independence. Instantly his sympathy was touched to the quick. All the
+warlike and chivalric sentiments that he had inherited, all that had
+been carefully instilled by family tradition and by education, rose at
+once to the highest intensity. To the long and eager conversations
+that followed the news brought by the guest of the evening, Lafayette
+eagerly listened, and afterwards requested the duke to explain the
+situation more fully. His curiosity was deeply excited, his heart was
+at once enlisted. The idea of a people fighting against oppression
+stirred his imagination. From what he learned from the duke, the cause
+appealed to his sense of justice; it seemed the noblest that could be
+offered to the judgment of man. Before he left the table he had
+determined in his own mind to go to America and offer himself to the
+people who were struggling for freedom and independence.
+
+From that moment his purpose was fixed. To realize his design he must
+go at once to Paris. Arriving there, he confided his plan to his two
+friends, the Viscount de Noailles and the Count de Segur, inviting
+them to share his project. Noailles had just turned nineteen, and
+Segur was twenty-two; Lafayette was eighteen. But the youngest
+differed from the others in one respect; he had already come into his
+fortune, and controlled an income of about two thousand livres, an
+amount that in purchasing power represented a fortune such as few
+young men in any country or at any time have commanded. The others
+could contribute nothing to Lafayette's plans but cordial sympathy.
+They did indeed go so far as to consult their parents, expressing
+their desire to join in Lafayette's chivalrous adventure, but their
+parents promptly and emphatically refused consent.
+
+The surprise of the Noailles family can be imagined when they heard
+that the quiet, reserved youth had suddenly decided to cross the sea
+and take up the fragile cause of a few colonists revolting against a
+great monarchy. It was not long before all came to admit that the soul
+of the big boy had in it a goodness and a valor that nothing could
+daunt.
+
+Many, however, who heard about the project Lafayette entertained felt
+a new admiration for the spirited boy. One of these smartly said that
+if Madame de Lafayette's father, the Duc d'Ayen, could have the heart
+to thwart such a son-in-law, he ought never to hope to marry off his
+remaining daughters! It made no difference to this lordly family that
+the tidings of the American revolt were echoing through Europe and
+awakening emotions that those monarchies had never experienced before;
+nor did they notice that the young nobility of France were feeling the
+thrill of a call to serve in a new cause. They were blind to those
+signs of the times; and no one dared to speak of them to the Duke
+d'Ayen, for he, with the other ruling members of the family, violently
+opposed Lafayette's plan.
+
+While these things were going on, word came that those audacious
+colonists had carried their project so far as to issue a Declaration
+of Independence of the British government and to set up for themselves
+as a nation. The Noailles family were amazed, but they could not
+change their point of view.
+
+Not being able to unravel all the threads of destiny that were enmeshing
+him, Lafayette was working in the dark, only knowing that he wanted to
+go, and that he could not bring himself to give up the project. He knew
+also that he must depend solely upon himself. Then there came into his
+mind the motto that he had since boyhood seen upon the shield of one of
+his famous ancestors in the castle at Chaviniac--"Cur non," Why not? He
+adopted this motto for his own and placed it as a device upon his coat of
+arms, that it might be an encouragement to himself as well as an answer
+to the objections of others.
+
+Lafayette consulted his commander and relative, the Count de Broglie.
+He on his part did all he could to dissuade the lad; he pointed out
+that the scheme was Utopian; he showed up its great hazards; he said
+that there was no advantage to be had in going to the aid of those
+insignificant rebels--that there was no glory to be gained. Lafayette
+listened respectfully and said that he hoped his relative would not
+betray his confidence; for, as soon as he could arrange it, go to
+America he would! The Count de Broglie promised not to reveal his
+secret, but he added:
+
+"I have seen your uncle die in the wars of Italy; I witnessed your
+father's death at the battle of Minden; and I will not be accessory to
+the ruin of the only remaining branch of the family."
+
+These things made no impression upon the determination of the young
+hero, and the Count de Broglie was in despair. When he finally found,
+however, that the boy's determination was fixed, he entered into his
+plans with almost paternal tenderness. Though he would give him no
+aid, he introduced him to the Baron de Kalb who was also seeking an
+opportunity to go to America, and he thought his age and experience
+would be of value to the young adventurer.
+
+This Baron de Kalb was an officer in the French army with the rank of
+lieutenant colonel. He was a man of fifty-five, who had served in the
+Seven Years' War and who had been employed by the French government
+ten years before to go secretly to the American colonies in order to
+discover how they stood on the question of their relations with
+England.
+
+At that time there was a representative of the colonies in Paris to
+whom all who felt an interest in American liberty had recourse. This
+man was Silas Deane. To him Lafayette secretly went.
+
+"When I presented to Mr. Deane my boyish face," said Lafayette later
+in life, "I dwelt more (for I was scarcely nineteen years of age) upon
+my ardor in the cause than on my experience."
+
+Naturally, for he had had no experience whatever. But he could speak
+of the effect that his going would have upon France, since because of
+his family and connections notice would surely be taken of his action.
+This might influence other young men and might win favor for the
+colonies in their struggle. Silas Deane was quick to see this and to
+draw up an agreement which he asked Lafayette to sign. It was as
+follows:
+
+"The wish that the Marquis de Lafayette has shown to serve in the army
+of the United States of North America and the interest that he takes
+in the justice of their cause, making him wish for opportunities to
+distinguish himself in the war, and to make himself useful to them as
+much as in him lies; but not being able to obtain the consent of his
+family to serve in a foreign country and to cross the ocean, except on
+the condition that he should go as a general officer, I have believed
+that I could not serve my country and my superiors better than by
+granting to him, in the name of the very honorable Congress, the rank
+of Major-General, which I beg the States to confirm and ratify and to
+send forward his commission to enable him to take and hold rank
+counting from to-day, with the general officers of the same grade. His
+high birth, his connections, the great dignities held by his family at
+this court, his disinterestedness, and, above all, his zeal for the
+freedom of our colonies, have alone been able to induce me to make
+this promise of the said rank of Major-General, in the name of the
+United States. In witness of which I have signed these presents, done
+at Paris, this seventh of October, seventeen hundred and seventy-six."
+
+To this startling document the undaunted boy affixed the following:
+
+"To the above conditions I agree, and promise to start when and how
+Mr. Deane shall judge it proper, to serve the said States with all
+possible zeal, with no allowance nor private salary, reserving to
+myself only the right to return to Europe whenever my family or my
+king shall recall me; done at Paris this seventh day of October, 1776.
+
+(signed) "THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE."
+
+About this time Dr. Benjamin Franklin was added to the group of
+American envoys. He was an instant success in the Parisian world. With
+his baggy coat, his coonskin cap, and his one-eyed spectacles,
+Franklin was the admired of all the grand ladies of the court, while
+his ability to "bottle lightning" was a favorite topic for discussion.
+The queen favored Franklin and the American cause; the king also; but
+neither dared to say so openly lest the spies of England, France's
+hereditary enemy, should find it out. Lafayette was obliged to
+preserve the utmost secrecy in making his arrangements and to secure
+the interviews in such a way that no one would suspect what he was
+planning.
+
+Unfortunately, bad news began to come from America. The disasters of
+Long Island and White Plains had befallen, and the English army was
+being reenforced by regiments of Hessians. This news destroyed what
+credit the colonies had in France. No one now had any hope for their
+endeavors, and no one could be found who would consider fitting out a
+vessel for Lafayette and his friends.
+
+The American envoys thought it no more than right to tell this to the
+eager Lafayette and to try to dissuade him from his project to go to
+America. To this end they sent him word to come for another secret
+conference. He did so, and the envoys explained to him the discouraging
+situation.
+
+One of the points wherein this young Lafayette approached nearest to
+greatness was in the way he could face some black disaster, and, with
+an absolutely quenchless spirit and the most adroit cleverness, turn
+the disaster into an advantage. This happened when Lafayette went to
+see these envoys. He received the news with a brow of unruffled calm.
+He thanked Mr. Deane for his kindness in trying to save him from
+disaster. Then he added: "Until now, Sir, you have only seen my ardor
+in your cause; I may now prove to be really useful. I shall myself
+purchase a ship to carry out your officers. We must show our
+confidence in the future of the cause, and it is especially in the
+hour of danger that I wish to share your fortunes."
+
+This reply cast another light upon the circumstances. The American
+envoys regarded the enthusiasm of the young nobleman with approbation;
+the plan was pressed forward, preparations were made to find a vessel,
+to buy it, and fit it out. All this had to be done secretly, as the
+eagerness of Lafayette called for haste.
+
+Meantime, a plan had been made for Lafayette to go on a visit to
+England with his relative, the Prince de Poix. It would be better not
+to interfere with the arrangement already made, it was thought; though
+Lafayette was impatient to carry out his plan for embarking, he wisely
+agreed to visit England first. In this plan Mr. Deane and Dr. Franklin
+concurred.
+
+Lafayette made the journey with the Prince de Poix, and for three
+weeks had a busy time, being richly entertained and observing English
+life. He was in a rather delicate situation, for he was now a guest
+among a people with whom in one respect he could not sympathize and
+toward whom he entertained a hostile feeling. But in all he did he
+carefully drew the line between the honor of the guest and the
+attitude of the diplomatist. Though he went to a dance at the house of
+Lord Germain, minister of the English colonies, and at that of Lord
+Rawdon, who had but just come from New York, and though he made the
+acquaintance of the Clinton whom he was soon to meet on opposing sides
+of the battle line at Monmouth, he chivalrously denied himself the
+pleasure and profit of inspecting the fortifications and seaports
+where ships were being fitted out to fight the American rebels. More
+than that; he openly avowed his feelings about the hazardous and
+plucky attempt of the colonies to free themselves from England; and he
+frankly expressed his joy when news of their success at Trenton was
+received. This very spirit of independence in the young French noble
+made him all the more a favorite among the English who, together with
+their king, did not in the least dream that the foolish rebels across
+the sea could accomplish anything by their fantastic revolt.
+
+Among other acquaintances made in England at this time was one
+Fitzpatrick, whose life was to be strangely mingled with Lafayette's
+in later days. Fighting on opposite sides of the conflict in America,
+they were yet to meet cordially between battles, and Lafayette was to
+send letters in Fitzpatrick's care to his wife in France--letters in
+which he took pains to inclose no matters relating to the war, since
+that would have been unsportsmanlike; still later, owing to a tragic
+concurrence of events, this even-minded and generous Englishman was to
+make persistent appeals to the English government to take measures to
+free Lafayette from a hateful imprisonment in an Austrian stronghold,
+gallant appeals, made, alas, in vain!
+
+As soon as Lafayette could conveniently withdraw from his English
+hosts he did so, and hurried back to Paris, where he kept himself as
+much out of sight as possible until the final preparations for the
+voyage were completed. At last all was ready and Lafayette reached
+Bordeaux where the boat was waiting. Here swift messengers overtook
+him to say that his plans were known at Versailles. Lafayette set
+sail, but he went only as far as Los Pasajos, a small port on the
+north coast of Spain. Here letters of importance awaited the young
+enthusiast, impassioned appeals from his family and commands from his
+king. The sovereign forbade his subject to proceed to the American
+continent under pain of punishment for disobedience; instead, he must
+repair to Marseilles and there await further orders.
+
+Lafayette knew what this meant. His father-in-law was about to go to
+Italy and would pass Marseilles on the way. Lafayette was to be made
+to go with him on an expedition where he knew he would be monotonously
+employed, with no prospect of exercising his energies in any congenial
+project. He was not without many proofs as to what might happen to him
+if he disobeyed these orders and risked the displeasure of the king.
+The Bastille was still standing and the royal power was absolute!
+
+Letters from his wife also made a strong appeal. A little child now
+brightened their home; yet the young husband and father must have
+reflected that his own father had left a young and beautiful wife;
+that the young soldier had torn himself away from his home and bride
+in Chaviniac, following the lure of arms, and had, but a few weeks
+before his own son's birth, rushed off to the battlefield where he ran
+the risk of returning no more. Why should not the son take the same
+risk and leave all for a great cause? To be sure, the father lost in
+the venture, but perhaps the son would not. It was in the Lafayette
+blood to seek for hazard and adventure. Cur non? Why not?
+
+He was convinced that he would do no harm to any one but himself by
+following out his purpose, and he decided not to risk further
+interference from family or ministry. To get away safely he adopted a
+ruse. He started out as if to go to Marseilles; but costuming himself as
+a courier, he proceeded instead toward Los Pasajos, where his ship and
+friends were awaiting him. The masquerade was successful until he reached
+St. Jean de Luz where a hairbreadth escape was in store for him. Here
+certain officers were watching for Lafayette. The clever daughter of an
+innkeeper recognized him as the young nobleman who had passed some days
+before on the way to Bordeaux. A sign from Lafayette was enough to keep
+her from making known her discovery, and he slept, unrecognized, on the
+straw in the stable, while one of his fellow-adventurers played the part
+of passenger. This is why it has been said that but for the clever wit of
+an innkeeper's daughter, Lafayette might have languished for the next few
+years in the Bastille instead of spending them gloriously in aiding us to
+gain our independence.
+
+Lafayette reached Los Pasajos in safety. From the picturesque cliffs
+back of the harbor he saw his ship, _La Victoire_--name of good
+omen!--lying at anchor. There was the happy meeting of friends who
+were to share his adventures and successes in the New World, and on
+the 20th of April, 1777, they sailed forth on their voyage.
+
+Two letters followed the enthusiastic fugitive. One was from Silas
+Deane, who testified to the American Congress that a young French
+nobleman of exalted family connections and great wealth had started
+for America in order to serve in the American army. He affirmed that
+those who censured his act as imprudent still applauded his spirit;
+and he assured Congress that any respect shown Lafayette in America
+would be appreciated by his powerful relations, by the court, and by
+the whole French nation.
+
+The other letter was a royal mandate calling upon the American
+Congress to refuse all employment whatsoever to the young Marquis de
+Lafayette. The first letter traveled fast; the second missive was
+subjected to intentional delays and did not reach its destination
+until Lafayette had been made an officer in the American army.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+FIRST DAYS IN AMERICA
+
+
+"Here one day follows another, and what is worse, they are all alike.
+Nothing but sky and nothing but water; and to-morrow it will be just
+the same."
+
+So wrote the restless Lafayette when he had been four weeks on the
+ship. The time had thus far been spent, after a sharp affliction of
+seasickness, in studying books on military science, and on the natural
+features of the country he was approaching.
+
+In time land-birds were seen, and he sat down to write to Adrienne a
+fifteen-hundred-word letter which should be sent back by the first
+returning ship.
+
+"It is from very far that I am writing to you, dear heart," he began,
+"and to this cruel separation is added the still more dreadful
+uncertainty of the time when I shall hear from you again. I hope,
+however, that it is not far distant, for, of all the many causes that
+make me long to get ashore again, there is nothing that increases my
+impatience like this."
+
+The thought of his little daughter Henriette comes forward again and
+again. "Henriette is so delightful that she has made me in love with
+all little girls," he wrote.
+
+Never did a more gallant company set sail than these young noblemen of
+France who were following a course across the sea only a little more
+northerly than that which Columbus first traced, and with something of
+the same high hazard that inspired the great discoverer. Their names
+should be remembered by a people that profited by their bravery.
+Besides the Baron de Kalb, with his fifty-five years, and the Viscount
+de Maury (who rode out of Bordeaux as a grand gentleman while the
+disguised Lafayette went before as courier), there was Major de Gimat,
+first aid-de-camp to Lafayette and always his special favorite, who
+gave up his horse to his young commander, thereby saving his life at
+the battle of Brandywine, and who was wounded in an attack on a
+redoubt at Yorktown. Then there was Captain de la Colombe who, after
+the close of the war in America, pursued closely the fortunes of
+Lafayette, following him even into prison. There was Colonel de
+Valfort who, in later years, became an Instructor of Napoleon; and
+Major de Buysson who was at the battle of Camden and brought word of
+the eleven wounds that were needed to cause the death of the intrepid
+Baron de Kalb. The list included still other names of members of noble
+families in France.
+
+Something was indeed happening to the youth of France in 1750 and
+1760. A restless ardor, a love of adventure, a love of glory, together
+with the bewitchment of that beautiful word "liberty," were among the
+motives that inspired their actions. They went into the military
+service at fourteen or even earlier, and were colonels of regiments at
+twenty-two or twenty-four. They were "sick for breathing and exploit."
+
+An amusing story is told of one of these adventurous boys. He got into
+a quarrel with a school-mate about the real positions of the Athenians
+and Persians at the battle of Plataea. He even made a small wager on it
+and then set out to find whether he had been right or not. He actually
+went on foot to Marseilles and from there sailed as cabin-boy to
+Greece, Alexandria, and Constantinople. There a French ambassador
+caught the young investigator and sent him home! Before he was
+twenty-four, however, he was in America, covering himself with glory
+at Germantown and at Red Bank. This was the kind of youths they were;
+and many thrilling stories could be told about the lives of these
+gallant young Frenchmen.
+
+And how young they were! More than a hundred of the French officers
+who came to America to serve in the Revolution were in the early
+twenties. There were a few seasoned old warriors, of course, but the
+majority of them were young. Such were the companions-in-arms of
+Lafayette, himself still in his teens.
+
+Lafayette's voyage was not without adventure. He had a heavy ship with
+but two inferior cannon and a few guns--he could not have escaped from
+the smallest privateer. But should they be attacked, he resolved to
+blow up the ship rather than surrender. When they had gone some forty
+leagues, they met a small ship. The captain turned pale; but the crew
+were now much attached to Lafayette and had great confidence in him,
+and the officers were numerous. They made a show of resistance; but it
+proved to be only a friendly American ship.
+
+As they proceeded on their way, Lafayette noticed that the captain was
+not keeping the boat due west. He commanded that the point aimed for
+should be Charleston, South Carolina. The man was evidently turning
+southward toward the West Indies, this being the sea-crossing lane at
+that time. Lafayette soon found out that the captain had smuggled
+aboard a cargo which he intended to sell in a southern port. Only by
+promising to pay the captain the large sum he would have made by that
+bargain did Lafayette succeed in getting him to sail directly to the
+coast of the colonies.
+
+After a seven weeks' voyage the coast was near. Unfortunately, it
+swarmed with hostile English vessels, but after sailing for several
+days along the shore, Lafayette met with an extraordinary piece of
+good fortune. A sudden gale of wind blew away the frigates for a short
+time, and his vessel passed without encountering either friend or foe.
+
+They were now near Charleston; but in order to reach the harbor they were
+obliged to go ashore in the ship's yawl to inquire their way and if
+possible to find a pilot. Lafayette took with him in the small boat the
+Baron de Kalb, Mr. Price, an American, the Chevalier de Buysson, and some
+of the other officers, together with seven men to row. Night came on as
+they were making toward a light they saw on shore. At last a voice called
+out to them. They answered, telling who they were and asking for a
+night's shelter. They were cordially invited to come ashore and into a
+house, where they were received with great hospitality by the owner.
+They found themselves in the summer residence of Major Benjamin Huger
+(pronounced as if spelled Eugee), member of a notable Carolina family
+having French Huguenot antecedents, who, when he learned the purpose of
+the visitors, did everything in his power to make them comfortable and to
+further them on their way.
+
+It was one of the curious coincidences that make up so large a part of
+the story of Lafayette's life that the first family to meet him on his
+arrival in this country had in its circle a small child who, when he
+grew up, was to take upon himself the dangerous task of rescuing
+Lafayette from the prison in which he was unjustly immured. That story
+will be told in its proper place.
+
+Lafayette was soon in Charleston, making preparations for the long
+journey to Philadelphia, where Congress was in session at that time.
+He was charmed with everything he found.
+
+The Chevalier de Buysson has left us a description of the uncomfortable
+journey to Philadelphia. The procession was as follows: first came one of
+Lafayette's companions in hussar uniform; next, Lafayette's carriage--a
+clumsy contrivance which was a sort of covered sofa on four springs; at
+the side one of his servants rode as a squire. The Baron de Kalb
+occupied the carriage with Lafayette. Two colonels, Lafayette's
+counselors, rode in a second carriage; the third was for the aids, the
+fourth for the luggage, and the rear was brought up by a negro on
+horseback. By the time they had traveled four days, the bad roads had
+reduced the carriages to splinters, the horses gave out, and buying
+others took all the ready money. After that the party traveled on foot,
+often sleeping in the woods. They were almost dead with hunger; they were
+exhausted with the heat; several were suffering from fever. After thirty
+days of this discouraging travel, they at last reached Philadelphia.
+
+No campaign in Europe, declared de Buysson, could have been more
+difficult than this journey; but, he said, they were encouraged by the
+bright prospects of the reception they would surely have when they
+reached Philadelphia. All were animated by the same spirit, he said,
+and added, "The enthusiasm of Lafayette would have incited all the
+rest of us if any one had been less courageous than he."
+
+But the reception of these wayworn strangers at the seat of government
+proved to be rather dubious. It appeared that at this time Congress
+was being bothered by many applications from foreigners who demanded
+high rank in the American army. The Committee of Foreign Affairs,
+being practical men of business, looked askance at men who traveled
+three thousand miles to help an unknown people; they did not wholly
+believe in the disinterested motives of the strangers; and they
+allowed Lafayette and his French officers to trail from office to
+office, presenting their credentials to inattentive ears.
+
+Finally that sense of power which always buoyed Lafayette's spirit in
+critical moments came to his rescue. He determined to gain a hearing.
+He wrote to Congress a letter in which he said:
+
+"After the sacrifices that I have made in this cause, I have the right
+to ask two favors at your hands; one is that I may serve without pay,
+at my own expense; and the other is that I may be allowed to serve at
+first as a volunteer."
+
+Congress was clear-sighted enough to recognize in this letter a spirit
+quite different from that which had seemed to actuate some of the
+foreign aspirants for glory. And by this time they had received an
+informing letter from Silas Deane; so they hastened to pass a
+resolution (on July 31, 1777) accepting Lafayette's services and "in
+consideration of his zeal, illustrious family, and connections," they
+bestowed on him the rank of Major General in the Army of the United
+States.
+
+The second letter with its royal command from Louis XVI might now
+follow, but it could have no effect. Lafayette was definitely
+committed to the American cause to which, as he said in his answer to
+Congress, the feelings of his heart had engaged him; a cause whose
+import concerned the honor, virtue, and universal happiness of
+mankind, as well as being one that drew from him the warmest affection
+for a nation who, by its resistance of tyranny, exhibited to the
+universe so fine an example of justice and courage.
+
+Lafayette's letter to Congress asked that he might be placed as near
+to General Washington as possible and serve under his command.
+
+A day or two after this a military dinner was given in Philadelphia
+which was attended by General Washington. Lafayette also was invited.
+That was Lafayette's first introduction to Washington. Lafayette had
+admired Washington almost from the time he first heard his name. To
+the young Frenchman, the occasion was momentous. He now saw before him
+a man whose face was somewhat grave and serious yet not stern. On the
+contrary, it was softened by a most gracious and amiable smile. He
+observed that the General was affable in manner and that he conversed
+with his officers familiarly and gayly. General Washington, with his
+customary prudence, looked closely at the nineteen-year-old volunteer,
+and wondered whether the stuff was to be found in that slight figure
+and intent gaze that would make a helper of value to the colonies, one
+whose judgment and loyalty could be relied upon. It must be that his
+decision was favorable to the youth, for after the dinner he drew him
+aside and conversed with him in the friendliest way. He spoke with him
+of his plans and aspirations, showed that he appreciated Lafayette's
+sacrifices, and that he realized the greatness of the effort he had
+made in order to bring aid to the colonies. Then Washington invited
+him to become one of his military family, which offer Lafayette
+accepted with the same frankness with which it was made.
+
+Perhaps Lafayette was in a mood to be pleased, for in spite of the
+assailing mosquitoes at night and the many difficulties he had to
+overcome, everything he saw in America gave him great satisfaction.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+LAFAYETTE AT THE BRANDYWINE
+
+
+When Lafayette joined the army at Washington's headquarters, a few
+miles north of Philadelphia, he was very much surprised by what he
+saw. Instead of the ample proportions and regular system of European
+encampments, with the glitter and finish of their appointments;
+instead of feather-trimmed hats and violet-colored facings, with
+marching and countermarching in the precision and grace of a minuet,
+he saw a small army of eleven thousand men, poorly clad, with nothing
+that could by the utmost courtesy be called a uniform, and woefully
+lacking in knowledge of military tactics.
+
+But Lafayette had on his rose-colored spectacles. The pitiful
+condition of the American soldiers awakened nothing but sympathy in
+his heart--never any contempt. In spite of their disadvantages, he
+perceived that they had in them the making of fine soldiers, and that
+they were being led by zealous officers.
+
+Lafayette, now a major general in the American army, attended the
+councils of war and stood by Washington when he reviewed the troops.
+When the General took occasion to speak rather apologetically of the
+deficiencies in his little army, suggesting that Lafayette must feel
+the difference between these untrained soldiers and those he was
+accustomed to see, Lafayette had the self-possession and tact to
+answer that he had come to America to learn, not to teach. This answer
+charmed Washington and endeared the young French officer to the whole
+army.
+
+Washington, having heard that an English fleet was coming up
+Chesapeake Bay, moved south to meet the portentous army that he knew
+would promptly be debarked. On their way south the American troops had
+to pass through the city of Philadelphia. In view of the dark
+forebodings that the approach of the English was causing in the minds
+of the people, Washington was desirous that the soldiers should make
+as fine an appearance as possible in passing through the city, and
+made special regulations for that day. The army was to march in one
+column through the city; the order of divisions was stated; each
+officer without exception was to keep his post with a certain space
+between, no more and no less; each brigadier was to appoint patrols
+to arrest stragglers from the camp and all others of the army who did
+not obey this order; the drums and fifes of each brigade were to be
+collected in the center of it, and a tune for the quickstep was to be
+played; but it must be played with such moderation that the men could
+keep step to it with ease.
+
+An army that needed admonitions like these could still awaken
+enthusiasm from spectators. The austere commander in chief looked very
+handsome as he passed; the slim, eager-eyed French major general rode
+at his side; every window shone with curious and admiring eyes and the
+sidewalks were crowded with applauding citizens. The men could not
+help catching the spirit of the occasion; each soldier stuck a sprig
+of green in his hat to make up as far as possible for the lack of fine
+uniforms and military brilliancy.
+
+They were on their way to the place which was to be the scene of the
+battle of Brandywine, one of the most disastrous defeats of the
+Revolution. At the head of Chesapeake Bay the English had landed a
+large and finely equipped army, and from that point they threatened
+Philadelphia. Washington, with an inferior and poorly furnished force,
+placed his army in form to receive the attack at the Birmingham
+meetinghouse near Chad's Ford on Brandywine Creek, a point about
+fifty miles south of Philadelphia.
+
+Lafayette accompanied General Washington to the battle. His rank of
+major general gave him no command. Practically, he was a volunteer.
+But when he saw that the American troops were in danger of defeat
+before the superior English force, he asked to be allowed to go to the
+front. He plunged into the midst of the panic that followed the
+failure of the American line to stand up before the galling fire of
+the well-trained British soldiers. The retreat was rapidly becoming a
+panic. At this point Lafayette sprang from his horse and rushed in
+among the soldiers; by starting forward in the very face of the enemy
+and calling the disorganized men to follow, he did all in his power to
+induce the men to form and make a stand. It was impossible. The odds
+were too great against the Americans. Lafayette and the other generals
+waited until the British were within twenty yards of them before they
+retired.
+
+But at the height of the confusion, when Lafayette was too excited to
+notice it, a musket ball struck his left leg just below the knee. Of
+this he was unconscious until one of the generals called his attention
+to the fact that blood was running over the top of his boot. Lafayette
+was helped to remount his horse by his faithful aid, Major de Gimat,
+and insisted on remaining with the troops until the loss of blood made
+him too weak to go further. Then he stopped long enough to have a
+bandage placed on his leg.
+
+Night was coming on. The American troops were going pellmell up the
+road toward Chester. There was horrible confusion, and darkness was
+coming on. At a bridge just south of Chester, the American soldiers
+were at the point of complete disorganization. Seeing the great need
+for some decisive mind to bring order out of this chaos, Lafayette
+made a stand and placed guards along the road. Finally Washington came
+up and made Lafayette give himself into the hands of the surgeons. At
+midnight Washington wrote to Congress, and in his letter he praised
+the bravery of the young French soldier. Lafayette had passed his
+twentieth birthday but four days before.
+
+General Washington was happy to have this French officer proved by
+test of battle and to find his favorable judgment more than warranted.
+He showed the most tender solicitude for his young friend and gave him
+into the care of the surgeons with instructions to do all in their
+power for him, and to treat him as if he were his own son.
+
+Lafayette's spirits were not in the least dashed. When the doctors
+gathered round to stanch the blood, expressing their apprehensions for
+his safety, he looked at the wound and pluckily exclaimed,
+
+"Never mind, gentlemen; I would not take fifteen hundred guineas for
+that."
+
+It was partly this buoyant, merry spirit that made Lafayette win all
+hearts. To the army he was now no stranger. His broken English was
+becoming more and more understandable. But words were not necessary;
+the look in his eyes said that he was a fearless and sincere man; that
+he had not come to this country to "show off," but from a true love
+for the principles for which he had offered his sword. Never was there
+a more complete adoption than that of Lafayette by the American army.
+
+Lafayette's first care on reaching Philadelphia was to write to
+Adrienne lest she should receive exaggerated news concerning his
+wound.
+
+"It was a mere trifle," he wrote. "All I fear is that you should not
+have received my letter. As General Howe is giving in the meantime
+rather pompous details of his American exploits to the king his
+master, if he should write word that I am wounded, he may also write
+word that I am killed, which would not cost him anything; but I hope
+that my friends, and you especially, will not give faith to reports of
+those persons who last year dared to publish that General Washington
+and all the general officers of his army, being in a boat together,
+had been upset and every individual drowned."
+
+Years afterwards when Lafayette, then an elderly man, revisited our
+country, he referred to his wound in these gracious words: "The honor
+to have mingled my blood with that of many other American soldiers on
+the heights of the Brandywine has been to me a source of pride and
+delight."
+
+After a few days it was thought wise to take the wounded Lafayette to
+a quieter place. So Henry Laurens, the President of Congress, who
+happened to be passing on his way to York, Pennsylvania, whither
+Congress had removed, took him in his traveling carriage to Bethlehem,
+where dwelt a community of Moravians, in whose gentle care Lafayette
+was left for the four wearisome weeks of convalescence.
+
+"Be perfectly at ease about me," he wrote Adrienne. "All the faculty
+in America are engaged in my service. I have a friend who has spoken
+to them in such a manner that I am certain of being well attended to;
+that friend is General Washington. This excellent man, whose talents
+and virtues I admired, and whom I have learned to revere as I have
+come to know him better, has now become my intimate friend; his
+affectionate interest in me instantly won my heart. I am established
+in his house and we live together like two attached brothers with
+mutual confidence and cordiality."
+
+Again Lafayette writes: "Our General is a man formed in truth for this
+revolution, which could not have been accomplished without him. I see
+him more intimately than any other man, and I see that he is worthy of
+the adoration of his country.... His name will be revered in every age
+by all true lovers of liberty and humanity."
+
+At last Lafayette was well enough to go into service again. He
+requested permission this time to join General Greene who was making
+an expedition into New Jersey in the hope of crippling the force of
+Lord Cornwallis. Lafayette was given command of a detachment of three
+hundred men, and with these he reconnoitered a situation Lord
+Cornwallis was holding at Gloucester opposite Philadelphia. Here he
+came so near to the English that he could plainly see them carrying
+provisions across the river to aid in the projected taking of the
+city, and he so heedlessly exposed himself to danger that he might
+easily have been shot or imprisoned if the English had been alert. By
+urgent entreaty he was called back. After gaining this information, he
+met a detachment of Hessians in the service of the British army, and
+though they numbered more than his own detachment, he succeeded in
+driving them back. In the management of this enterprise he showed
+great skill, both in the vigor of his attack and in the caution of his
+return. He took twenty prisoners. General Greene, in reporting to
+Washington, said that Lafayette seemed determined to be found in the
+way of danger.
+
+General Washington was now convinced that the titled volunteer could
+be trusted with a command. He wrote to Congress as follows:
+
+"It is my opinion that the command of troops in that state cannot be in
+better hands than the Marquis's. He possesses uncommon military talents;
+is of a quick and sound judgment; persevering and enterprising, without
+rashness; and besides these, he is of a conciliating temper and perfectly
+sober,--which are qualities that rarely combine in the same person. And
+were I to add that some men will gain as much experience in the course of
+three or four years as some others will in ten or a dozen, you cannot
+deny the fact and attack me on that ground."
+
+On this recommendation, Lafayette was appointed to the command of a
+division composed entirely of Virginians. Needless to say he was
+overjoyed; for though the division was weak in point of numbers, and
+in a state of destitution as to clothing, he was promised cloth for
+uniforms and he hoped to have recruits of whom he could make soldiers.
+
+When Lafayette enlisted in the American army, he was not to lack for
+companionship. John Laurens had come from his study of history and
+military tactics at Geneva and, leaving his young wife and child
+behind, even as Lafayette had done, had rushed home to serve his
+country in her need. Alexander Hamilton was now both military aid and
+trusted adviser and secretary to General Washington. These three young
+men, all boys at the same time in different quarters of the globe, had
+come together while still in early youth and were entering into the
+great work of the American Revolution.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A SUCCESSFUL FAILURE
+
+
+It was on the 20th of December that Lafayette received the joyful news
+of the birth of a second daughter. She was named Anastasie. The whole
+camp shared in the happiness of the young father. In fact, the affairs
+of the young hero interested everybody so much that there was indeed
+some danger that he would be spoiled. And he certainly would have been
+but for the balance of good judgment and mental poise that offset
+youthful rashness and vanity.
+
+At about the same time, in a long letter to his father-in-law, he
+explained the course of action he had marked out for himself. He said:
+"I read, I study, I examine, I listen, I reflect; and the result of
+all is the endeavor at forming an opinion into which I infuse as much
+common sense as possible. I will not talk much, for fear of saying
+foolish things; for I am not disposed to abuse the confidence which
+the Americans have kindly placed in me."
+
+This was Lafayette's real spirit and his secret counsel to himself;
+and we can but wonder that a young man so impetuous, so enthusiastic,
+one who had had the courage to start out on this hazardous enterprise,
+should have combined with those qualities so cool and steady a
+judgment and so rigid a self-control. But it was just this combination
+of qualities that led Lafayette on to his successes.
+
+There was, however, severe discipline in store for him. His strength
+of purpose was to be put to a sharp test. This came about in two ways:
+first, in the stern ordeal of the winter at Valley Forge, and
+afterwards in the expedition into the wilderness north of Albany.
+
+Everybody knows what the hardships of the American army were in those
+dark days of the Revolution, the winter of 1777-78. Washington had
+suffered defeat and disaster; but he, like his faithful followers, was
+of the temper that could not be depressed. At Valley Forge the men
+built a city of wooden huts, and these afforded at least a shelter
+from the storms, though they were scarcely better than dungeons. Their
+sufferings were terrible. They were inadequately clothed; many had
+neither coats, hats, shirts, nor shoes; they were in want of food;
+illness followed. Many had to have feet or legs amputated because of
+the effects of freezing. Lafayette had to see all this, and to him
+their patient endurance seemed nothing short of miraculous.
+
+He even tried to make merry a little over their sad situation, and
+over the nearness of the British army, for he wrote to his wife, "I
+cannot tell whether it will be convenient for General Howe to make us
+a visit in our new settlement; but we shall try to receive him with
+proper consideration if he does."
+
+For the moment the American cause was under a cloud. Should Lafayette
+return to France now? If he did, this would have been the interpretation
+of his act--he had lost faith in the American undertaking. This belief
+would have been heralded throughout the British army and would soon have
+been echoed in France. Lafayette did not wish to shoulder the
+responsibility of the effect his withdrawal might have on the hopes of
+help from French sympathy and French resources, and on the determination
+of other recruits who might come over and bring aid. He decided to remain
+with Washington and the American army and share whatever fate might be
+theirs. So Lafayette courageously remained. Accustomed to a life of
+luxury, he nevertheless adapted himself at once to the melancholy
+conditions at Valley Forge.
+
+There was a strange surprise awaiting Lafayette when he came to know
+the American situation more intimately. Before he left Europe, his
+sincere mind had clothed the cause of liberty in this country in the
+most rosy colors. He thought that here almost every man was a lover of
+liberty who would rather die free than live a slave. Before leaving
+France he thought that all good Americans were united in one mind, and
+that confidence in the commander in chief was universal and unbounded;
+he now believed that if Washington were lost to America, the
+Revolution would not survive six months. He found that there were open
+dissensions in Congress; that there were parties who hated one
+another; people were criticizing without knowing anything about war
+methods; and there were many small jealousies. All this disheartened
+him greatly; he felt that it would be disastrous if slavery, dishonor,
+ruin, and the unhappiness of a whole world should result from trifling
+differences between a few jealous-minded men.
+
+After a time the disaffected ones in the army tried to win Lafayette
+from his close allegiance to Washington. They entertained him with
+ideas of glory and shining projects--a clever way to entice him into
+their schemes. Deceived for a time, he received their proffers of
+friendship and their flattering compliments, but when he noted that
+some of them were able to speak slightingly and even disrespectfully
+of the commander in chief, he dashed the temptation away with absolute
+contempt.
+
+Filled with the desire to ward off all possible peril from an influence
+which he knew would disrupt the American cause, he impetuously started in
+to help. He sought an interview with Washington, but not finding an early
+opportunity for this, he wrote him a long and noble letter which has been
+preserved. In it he said:
+
+"I am now fixed to your fate, and I shall follow it and sustain it by
+my sword as by all means in my power. You will pardon my importunity
+in favor of the sentiment which dictated it. Youth and friendship make
+me, perhaps, too warm, but I feel the greatest concern at all that has
+happened for some time since."
+
+In answer to this impulsive and true-hearted letter, General Washington
+wrote one of the most distinctive and characteristic of all the hundreds
+of letters of his that are preserved. He said:
+
+"Your letter of yesterday conveyed to me fresh proof of that
+friendship and attachment which I have happily experienced since the
+first of our acquaintance and for which I entertain sentiments of the
+purest affection. It will ever constitute part of my happiness to know
+that I stand well in your opinion because I am satisfied that you can
+have no views to answer by throwing out false colors, and that you
+possess a mind too exalted to condescend to low arts and intrigues to
+acquire a reputation."
+
+It must have been welcome to the harassed heart of the man who stood
+at the head of so great a cause to receive the proofs of this young
+man's friendship and of his absolutely loyal support. Washington
+closed the letter with these gracious and inspiriting words:
+
+"Happy, thrice happy, would it have been for this army, and for the
+cause we are embarked in, if the same generous spirit had pervaded all
+the actors in it.... But we must not, in so great a contest, expect to
+meet with nothing but sunshine. I have no doubt that everything
+happens for the best, that we shall triumph over all our misfortunes,
+and in the end be happy; when, my dear Marquis, if you will give me
+your company in Virginia, we will laugh at our past difficulties and
+the folly of others; and I will endeavor, by every civility in my
+power, to show you how much and how sincerely I am your affectionate
+and obedient servant."
+
+The political conspiracy developed into what is known in history as
+the "Cabal." Thwarted in their attempt to draw into their interests
+the man whose importance to them, as representing in an unofficial way
+the French influence in America, was fully appreciated, they hatched a
+scheme that should remove him from the side and from the influence of
+Washington. This scheme consisted of a project on paper to send an
+expedition into Canada, in order to win the people there to join the
+American revolt, if possible to do so, by persuasion or by force. The
+plan had many features that appealed to Lafayette.
+
+The conspirators of the Cabal had carried a measure in Congress to
+give Lafayette the promise of an independent command, and the
+commission for this was inclosed to General Washington. He handed it
+to the major general, who had so lately joined the army as a
+volunteer, with the simple words, "I would rather they had selected
+you for this than any other man."
+
+But Lafayette loyally put aside the tempting prospect of winning
+personal glory in the Old World and the New by this expedition, and
+declined to receive any commission from Congress that would make him
+independent of Washington. He would serve only as a subordinate of the
+commander in chief, as one detailed for special duties. He wished to
+be called "General and Commander of the Northern Army," not commander
+in chief. Congress accepted the condition.
+
+It was in this way, then, that Lafayette received the title of
+"General," a distinction that he valued more than that of Marquis, and
+that to the end of his days he preferred above all other titles.
+
+With characteristic enthusiasm Lafayette proceeded to York, where
+Congress was then assembled, and where the members of the conspiracy
+were living in comfort that contrasted curiously with the conditions
+surrounding General Washington at Valley Forge. At a dinner given
+while Lafayette was there, the northern expedition and Lafayette's
+brilliant prospects were made themes of praise. But Lafayette missed
+one name from the list of toasts; at the end of the dinner he arose
+and, calling attention to the omission, he proposed the name of the
+commander in chief. In silence the men drank the toast; they had
+learned by this time that the young French noble was made of
+unmanageable material.
+
+With a heart, however, for any fate, Lafayette started on the long,
+wearisome journey northward. There were rivers deep and swift to
+cross; the roads were bad and the wintry storms made them worse.
+Floating ice crowded the fords. Rain and hail and snow and slush made
+up a disheartening monotony.
+
+It certainly was dismal. On his way north the young general was made
+happy, however, by receiving a "sweet parcel of letters," telling him
+that his family were very well and that they were keeping in loving
+remembrance the man who was called in France, "The American Enthusiast."
+This warmed his heart as he plodded northward through the storm.
+
+On Lafayette's arrival at Albany, he found that none of the promises
+made to him as to supplies, available men, money, and other necessary
+equipment had been kept; and the judgment of advisers who knew the
+difficulties of a northern excursion in the depth of winter was
+against the expedition. Lafayette was exasperated and wrote frantic
+letters to Washington, to Congress, and to Henry Laurens.
+
+But it was of no avail. The expedition had to be given up. Lafayette
+remained at Albany during the months of February and March, giving his
+personal credit to pay many of the men and to satisfy other demands,
+and taking up various duties and projects. For one thing, he went up
+the Mohawk River to attend a large council of the Iroquois Indians.
+This was Lafayette's first official contact with the red men, and he
+at once manifested a friendship for them and an understanding of
+their nature that won their hearts. He sent one of his French
+engineers to build a fort for the Oneidas, and he was present at a
+grand treaty ceremony. A band of Iroquois braves followed Lafayette
+southward and later formed part of a division under his command.
+
+It was a discomfited but not a despairing young warrior who returned
+in April to Valley Forge. But joy was before him. The Cabal had
+vanished before the storm of loyalty to Washington that gathered when
+the conspiracy was discovered. Moreover, Lafayette received from
+Congress a testimonial, saying that they entertained a high sense of
+his prudence, his activity, and his zeal, and they believed that
+nothing would have been wanting on his part, or on the part of the
+officers who accompanied him, to give the expedition the utmost
+possible effect, if Congress had not thought it impracticable to
+prosecute it further. Better still, on the 2d of May came the great
+news that a treaty of commerce and alliance had been signed between
+France and the United States of America.
+
+This event caused a wild wave of joy to spread over the whole country.
+This treaty assured the permanence of the United States as a nation.
+To be sure, the war with England must still be carried on, but now
+that France was an ally they would have more hope and courage.
+
+In the doleful camp at Valley Forge there was the sincerest gratification
+and delight. A national salute of thirteen cannon was ordered; a
+thanksgiving sermon was preached; a fine dinner was served for the
+officers, and the table was made more delightful by the presence of Mrs.
+Washington, Lady Stirling, Mrs. Greene, and other wives and daughters of
+generals.
+
+Lafayette took part in these scenes of rejoicing, but there was a
+reason why, underneath it all, his heart was heavy. Almost with the
+letters announcing the joyous news of the treaty, came others telling
+him of the death, in October, 1777, of his little daughter Henriette,
+of whom he had said that he hoped their relationship would be more
+that of friends than of parent and child. This happiness was not to be
+theirs. Lafayette now thought that he had never realized before what
+it meant to be so far away from his home. The thought of Henriette and
+of the grief of Adrienne, which he was not able by his presence to
+help assuage, was with him every moment of the day; but even while his
+heart was heavy with grief, he felt that he must attend and bear his
+part in the public rejoicings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+LAFAYETTE AT MONMOUTH
+
+
+The alliance with France put a new color upon every phase of the American
+contest. If, for instance, a French fleet should be already on its way
+across the Atlantic, and should enter Chesapeake Bay and threaten
+Philadelphia, the English would have to evacuate that city and retire to
+New York, risking the danger of being intercepted on the way by
+Washington's army. In view of such a possibility as this, the commander
+in chief of the American army held a council of war in which it was
+decided that they were not strong enough to risk a decisive engagement.
+It was, however, highly important that exact information should be gained
+as to the movements of the British around Philadelphia. In order that
+this might be accomplished, General Washington detached a group of
+soldiery from among the most able and valued of his army, and put them
+under Lafayette, with instructions to proceed into the country between
+the Delaware and Schuylkill, and there interrupt communications with
+Philadelphia, obstruct the incursions of the enemy's parties, and obtain
+intelligence of their motives and designs.
+
+Lafayette was overjoyed at being chosen for so important a charge; and
+on the 24th of May, 1778, he started out with about twenty-two hundred
+men. His force included the band of Iroquois warriors who had come
+from Albany to follow his fortunes, and who, because of their
+knowledge of forest-craft, were invaluable as scouts. The British
+could command about four times as many soldiers as had been assigned
+to Lafayette, but their intention was to keep the American force out
+of their way and, if possible, to avoid a direct encounter.
+
+For his camp Lafayette selected a piece of rising ground near the
+eleventh milestone north of Philadelphia, where there was a church, a
+grave-yard, and a few stone houses that might afford some protection
+in case of attack, and where four country roads led out to the four
+points of the compass. The place was called Barren Hill--name of
+ill-omen! But the fate of the day proved not altogether unfortunate
+for the young and intrepid commander.
+
+Naturally, the people in Philadelphia had heard of the approach of the
+young French noble whose fame had been ringing in their ears, and they
+prepared to go out and engage him--capture him, if possible. At that
+time they were indulging in a grand, week-long festival, with
+masquerades, dancing, and fireworks; and in anticipation of the quick
+capture of the young French hero, a special party was invited for the
+next evening at which the guests were promised the pleasure of meeting
+the distinguished prisoner.
+
+Lafayette had chosen his position in a region he had carefully
+examined. But the English were able to send bodies of troops up all
+the traveled approaches to the hill. While Lafayette was planning to
+send a spy to Philadelphia to find out, as Washington had directed,
+what preparations were there being made, the cry suddenly arose in his
+camp that they were being surrounded. It was a terrible moment. But
+Lafayette had this great quality--the power of being self-possessed
+under sudden danger. He did not lose his head, and he instantly
+thought of a plan of escape.
+
+There was a dilapidated road that his keen eye had detected leading
+along beneath a high bank which protected it from observation. He
+directed the main body of his men to pass down that old road, while a
+small number were commanded to make a pretense of a demonstration near
+the church; others were to show some false heads of columns along the
+edge of the forest by the stone houses. These were withdrawn as the
+main body of soldiers disappeared down the hidden road and began to
+dot the surface of the river with their bobbing heads as they swam
+across. Lafayette and his loyal aid-de-camp, Major de Gimat, brought
+up the rear with the remainder of the men, whom they transferred
+across the river without loss. Then they formed on the farther bank
+and determined to contest the ford if the British followed. But the
+British had marched up the hill from the two opposite sides, simply
+meeting each other at the top; they then marched down again and did
+not seem to be in any mind to pursue their enemy further.
+
+The only real encounter of that serio-comic day's adventures took
+place between the band of Iroquois and a company of Hessians in the
+pay of the British. The Indians were concealed in the brush at the
+side of the road when the Hessians, with waving black plumes in their
+tall hats and mounted on spirited horses, came along. The Indians rose
+as if from under the ground, giving their war whoop as they sprang.
+The horses, unused to this form of war cry, started back and fled far
+and wide; and the Indians, never having seen soldiers so accoutered,
+were as frightened as if confronted by evil spirits, and swiftly made
+good their escape from the impending "bad medicine."
+
+The British carried their chagrin with them back to Philadelphia, and
+the diners were disappointed in their guest of honor. Next morning
+Lafayette returned to the top of Barren Hill, thence marched back to
+Valley Forge, and there relieved the anxiety of General Washington who
+had feared for his safety.
+
+But the incident of Barren Hill, while it was not in any way an engagement,
+must be looked upon as a serious matter after all, for it gave Lafayette
+an opportunity to show that he was cool and self-possessed in a critical
+moment, and that he was clever and resourceful in finding ways to extricate
+himself from difficulties--both essential qualities in one who is to be
+trusted with great enterprises.
+
+In about a month the anticipated event took place--the British
+evacuated Philadelphia; and, with a baggage-train eleven miles long,
+started northward with the intention of joining forces with the army
+at New York.
+
+The question now was whether the army under General Washington should
+leave Valley Forge and with their inferior force make an attempt to
+intercept the British and bring on a battle. Several councils of war
+were held; one of special importance at Hopewell, a place north of
+Valley Forge, where the project of preparing for attack was earnestly
+favored by Lafayette, together with General Greene and Colonel
+Alexander Hamilton, but violently (and unaccountably at that time)
+opposed by General Lee. This council has been made the subject of one
+of the reliefs on the celebrated Monmouth Battle Monument. In this
+design Washington is represented as standing by the table in the
+center of the group, while Lafayette is spreading the map before the
+council and urging them to make a strong demonstration against the
+British, even if it should bring on a battle.
+
+The various generals sit about the table and each expresses in his
+attitude what his feelings are in this crisis. Steuben and Duportail
+(at the extreme left) evidently agree with Lafayette, and eagerly
+press for compliance with his plan. General Patterson (seated at the
+table) is of the same mind, and so is the true-hearted Greene (seated
+at the right of Patterson). Brave Colonel Scammel (between Washington
+and Lafayette), Washington's Adjutant General, carefully notes the
+opinion of each for the guidance of his chief. Back in the shadow sits
+the treacherous General Lee, who looks sulky and is evidently planning
+mischief. The homely rooftree covers a critical scene in the history
+of the Revolution.
+
+    [Illustration: _From a photograph by Norman L. Coe & Son._
+    THE COUNCIL AT HOPEWELL.
+    This bas-relief, by the sculptor J.E. Kelly, appears on
+    the Monmouth Battle Monument. It shows a conference of
+    Washington and his generals. Lafayette is shown standing
+    opposite to Washington.]
+
+Finally, Washington turned to General Wayne (behind Greene) and said,
+
+"Well, General, what would _you_ do?"
+
+"Fight, Sir!" crisply replied the ardent and indomitable Wayne--an
+answer that pleased alike the commander in chief and the young
+volunteer major general, to whom it seemed an intolerable insult that
+a hostile army should be allowed to march through one's own country
+unchallenged.
+
+General Lee was determined that the British should be allowed to pass
+through New Jersey without molestation. His sympathies were afterwards
+found to have been entirely with the British. At any rate, Washington
+did not follow his advice. He sent out men to fell trees in the
+enemy's path, to burn bridges before them, and to harass them as much
+as possible; and he forwarded detachments of such size that he needed
+a major general to take command of that branch of his army. The
+position was offered first to General Lee. He refused to take it.
+General Washington was then free to offer it to Lafayette, who
+accepted it with delight.
+
+As these plans were being matured, General Lee suddenly changed his
+mind and announced that he would take command of the advance force;
+and he appealed to Lafayette's generosity to allow him to do so, even
+after having once given his refusal. Lafayette unselfishly resigned
+the command. It is the opinion of historians that the outcome of the
+battle of Monmouth would have been very different if the American side
+had been left in the capable hands of the young Lafayette.
+
+The battle of Monmouth, which took place on the 28th of June, was
+widely scattered in its action over a hot and sandy plain. The outcome
+was that General Lee first brought his troops face to face with the
+enemy, and then, instead of leading on to the attack, gave the order
+for retreat. Afterwards, in the court-martial of Lee, it was made
+evident that the movement of the troops as ordered by Lee would have
+left Lafayette and his detachment abandoned in an extremely exposed
+position on the open plain, the troops that should have supported him
+having been withdrawn by Lee's orders and directed to retreat.
+Lafayette and the other generals felt great bitterness on that day
+because they had been swept into battle but had not been allowed to
+strike a blow.
+
+Everybody knows how Washington rode up, and when he saw the retreat,
+how he indignantly reproved General Lee and commanded the battalions
+to turn back and form in position for battle. Lafayette was in command
+of a division stationed at the second line under Lord Stirling who
+sustained the left wing; they were now placed on an eminence behind a
+morass and there played the batteries to such good effect that they
+were able to check the advance of the British. This halt gave
+Washington time to place his army to advantage. The British were
+driven from a strong position they had taken, and before dark the
+American troops had turned the British back. That night they lay upon
+the field in bright moonlight, and while Washington and Lafayette
+discussed the possible outcome of the next day, the British were
+silently withdrawing from the Monmouth plains. The next morning all
+had disappeared except some forty of their wounded. At Sandy Hook,
+where the British army crossed to New York, it was learned that they
+had lost about two thousand men by desertions and by losses at
+Monmouth. Many of the soldiers on both sides had died from the extreme
+heat on that 28th of June.
+
+During the battle Lafayette was master of himself. Almost fifty years
+later, Colonel Willett related that in the hottest of the fight he
+saw Lafayette ride up to one of the officers and, in a voice cool,
+steady, and slow, and with as much deliberation as if nothing exciting
+prevailed, say,
+
+"General, the enemy is making an attempt to cut off our right wing;
+march to his assistance with all your force."
+
+So saying he galloped off. Colonel Willett remembered that he was
+exceedingly well mounted, though plainly dressed, and "very sedate in
+his air for a Frenchman."
+
+A number of situations arose soon after this in which Lafayette found
+himself of great use. The French fleet under Count d'Estaing appeared
+near Delaware Bay and sailed up the coast. Washington was at White
+Plains. The British held New York. It was thought that the French
+fleet could accomplish much by going to Newport and there cooperating
+with the land forces. Lafayette was given a detachment and commanded
+to proceed to Providence where he was to stand ready to give all
+possible aid.
+
+But he was doomed to still another disappointment. The French fleet
+arrived off Point Judith near Newport; visits of ceremony were
+exchanged by the French and American generals; preparations were made;
+but through misunderstandings, the plans never worked out to an
+actual engagement. Before anything was accomplished, a severe storm
+overtook the fleet, and it withdrew to Boston for necessary repairs.
+
+During this trying time, Lafayette was a trusted resource to
+Washington, who devoutly wished to reconcile all differences and to
+bring peace out of dissension. For this Lafayette had peculiar
+qualities, as he understood the character of both the French and the
+Americans, and believed absolutely in the good intentions of the
+officers on both sides. Twice he rode to Boston and back again to help
+in settling some difficulty, making on one of those occasions a
+journey of seventy miles, at night, in six and a half hours--a feat
+paralleled only by Sheridan's famous ride to Winchester.
+
+But the fleet sailed away, bearing many disappointments with it,
+though much good had been done by its coming; it meant that the
+American cause had received definite encouragement from France.
+
+It was now October of 1778 and autumn weather was closing the campaign
+of the year. The sending of the French fleet to our shores had been
+virtually a declaration that a state of war existed between France and
+England, and the thought that this might develop into an actual war in
+which Lafayette, after his practical experience and training in the
+Continental army, could take part and win glory, inclined him strongly
+at this point to return to his native land. Permission was given to
+him to do this. The proper farewells, official and private, were made,
+and Lafayette started on his way to Boston where he was to embark.
+
+But the strain of the summer's excitement and overwork had been too
+much for Lafayette, and at Fishkill he was taken ill with a violent
+fever which prostrated him for some weeks. The greatest concern was
+felt for his life; the soldiers' love for him was shown by their great
+solicitude, and General Washington called upon him every day.
+
+Lafayette slowly recovered and finally resumed his journey to Boston,
+where he went on board the _Alliance_ which the government had given
+him to take him to France. At the moment of sailing he sent a letter
+to General Washington, in which he said:
+
+"Farewell, my dear General. I hope your French friends will ever be
+dear to you. I hope I shall soon see you again and tell you myself
+with what emotions I now leave the land you inhabit, and with what
+affection and respect I shall ever be your sincere friend."
+
+They set sail for Havre on the 11th of January, 1779. The voyage was
+not to be without adventure. They sailed into the teeth of a terrible
+three days' storm. Lafayette, as usual, was very seasick, and, as
+usual, was much discouraged thereby. For a time glory and fame had no
+charms for him! He declared he was surely going where he had wished to
+send all the English--namely, to the bottom of the sea!
+
+Still worse was to follow. No sooner was the storm over than another
+danger loomed up. The ship's crew included a number of renegade
+English sailors who conspired to mutiny, to overwhelm the officers,
+and to kill the crew and passengers. By including in their confidence
+an American sailor, whom they mistook for an Irishman, their plot came
+to naught. Lafayette summoned the whole crew, put thirty-three
+mutineers in chains, and thus saved himself from capture and the ship
+from being towed into a British port as a prize. Shortly after this
+Lafayette brought the frigate into the harbor of Brest, where he had
+the pleasure of seeing, for the first time, the American flag receive
+the national salute as the symbol of an acknowledged sister nation in
+alliance with his native country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE RETURN TO FRANCE
+
+
+When Lafayette learned of the birth of his little daughter Anastasie,
+whom he now ardently desired to see, he wrote to his wife:
+
+"What expressions can my tenderness find sufficiently strong for our
+dear Anastasie? You will find them in your own heart, and in mine,
+which is equally open to you.... That poor little child must supply
+all that we have lost."
+
+Letters like this would give great consolation to Madame de Lafayette,
+but alas, they came at long intervals, since many of her husband's
+long epistles never reached her. Therefore Adrienne felt his absence
+the more keenly, while rumors and exaggerated reports from America
+made her days an agony. When, however, he returned to France in
+February, 1779, her happiness was beyond all expression.
+
+Adrienne's joy was increased by the fact that while her rash young
+husband had left his native land under a cloud, because it was
+understood that he did so against the command of the king, his return
+was that of a conqueror, triumphant and in favor.
+
+He was not allowed, however, wholly to forget his formal error. His
+appeal to Adrienne for forgiveness for his absence was one that he had to
+make to others. His father-in-law testified in a letter that, so far as
+he was concerned, the recreant might be freely forgiven. Adrienne was
+only too willing to receive the one who had left her to go on a mission
+to the other side of the world; but what about the king whose command not
+to leave the shores of France he had practically disobeyed? Many a man
+had been shut up in the Bastille because of a much smaller offense.
+
+Lafayette was brought to the court at Versailles by his relative, the
+Prince de Poix. The king received him and graciously accorded a
+punishment. He was to suffer imprisonment for the space of _one
+week_--his prison to be the grand residence of his father-in-law, the
+Hotel de Noailles! After that his pardon was to be freely granted by
+his Majesty, with this warning--that he should avoid public places for
+a time lest the people should manifest their admiration for his
+disobedient conduct by their applause.
+
+The king's warning was not indeed without reason. But there was no use
+in trying to keep the impressionable French people from worshiping a
+hero after their hearts had been captured by him. The gallantry and
+the human-heartedness of Lafayette, as well as the ideals he
+held--ideals that were becoming more and more captivating to the fancy
+and to the reason of the French nation--contributed to make him the
+favorite of the hour. A passage from a certain play never failed to
+receive enthusiastic applause from the audiences because it was held
+by all to be susceptible of direct application to Lafayette; and this
+passage the queen copied in her own hand because she thought of him
+when she read it. It dwelt upon the union of mature and youthful
+qualities in a character, and ran as follows:
+
+              "Why talk of youth
+    When all the ripe experience of the old
+    Dwells with him? In his schemes profound and cool
+    He acts with wise precaution, and reserves
+    For times of action, his impetuous fire.
+    To guard the camp, to scale the 'leaguered wall,
+    Or dare the hottest of the fight, are toils
+    That suit the impetuous bearing of his youth;
+    Yet like the gray-haired veteran he can shun
+    The field of peril. Still before my eyes
+    I place his bright example, for I love
+    His lofty courage, and his prudent thought;
+    Gifted like him, a warrior has no age."
+
+The queen's copy of this passage was given to Madame de Campan, the
+revered teacher of the young ladies of the court, and it met the fate
+of being burned on the very day Marie Antoinette's sad life came to an
+end at the hands of the executioner during the height of the Terror.
+
+The queen had shown her interest in Lafayette's arrival by arranging
+to have an interview with the young hero when he was making his first
+visit to Versailles. At her suggestion Lafayette was now advanced by
+the king to be commander of an important regiment in the army of
+France, the king's own Dragoons. He was stationed at Saintes and
+afterwards at St. Jean-d'Angely, near Rochefort, where the regiment
+was conveniently quartered to be ready in case a project for the
+invasion of England by way of the British Channel should be carried
+out. Such a plan was under consideration, and Lafayette looked forward
+with delight to the prospect of action against the country which he
+considered the ancient foe of France.
+
+But, to Lafayette's great grief, the plot to invade England failed;
+and he was now free to return to Paris and Versailles. The failure of
+the British plan also made it rather easier for the minds of
+prominent officials to look toward taking some further part in the
+American struggle. To aid this Lafayette gladly applied himself; for
+while loyal always to his own nation, and standing ready at any point
+to leave all to serve France, he had not for a moment forgotten the
+needs of his adopted country across the Atlantic. In fact, when he
+reached home, he had not waited for his one week's punishment to be
+over before beginning to create interest in the cause for which he had
+risked his life. Benjamin Franklin, then ambassador to the court of
+France from the United States, was promptly allowed, under pretense of
+calling upon Lafayette's father-in-law, to visit Lafayette himself.
+
+There was a constant stream of callers coming to see and congratulate
+him, and never was there one among them who was permitted to
+misunderstand the fact that Lafayette wished to move heaven and earth
+to secure help for the Continental army in its struggle for freedom.
+He found himself, in a more important sense than ever before, the tie
+between France and America, for he enjoyed the confidence of both
+countries.
+
+To Washington he wrote: "If there is anything in France concerning
+which not only as a soldier but as a politician, or in any other
+capacity, I can employ my exertions to the advantage of the United
+States, I hope it is unnecessary to say that I shall seize the
+opportunity and bless the day which shall render me useful to those
+whom I love with all the ardor and frankness of my heart."
+
+General Washington, on his part, wrote to Lafayette in this wise:
+
+"It gives me infinite pleasure to hear from your sovereign of the joy
+that your safe arrival in France has diffused among your friends....
+Your forward zeal in the cause of liberty, your singular attachment to
+this infant world, your ardent and persevering efforts not only in
+America, but since your return to France, to serve the United States,
+your polite attentions to Americans, and your strict and uniform
+friendship for me, have ripened the first impressions of esteem and
+attachment which I imbibed for you into such perfect love and
+gratitude, as neither time nor absence can impair. This will warrant
+my assuring you that whether in the character of an officer at the
+head of a corps of gallant Frenchmen if circumstances should require
+this, whether as major-general commanding a division of the American
+army, or whether, after our swords and spears have given place to the
+plowshare and pruning-hook, I see you as a private gentleman, a friend
+and companion, I shall welcome you with all the warmth of friendship
+to Columbia's shores; and in the latter case, to my rural cottage,
+where homely fare and a cordial reception shall be substituted for
+delicacies and costly living. This, from past experience, I know you
+can submit to; and if the lovely partner of your happiness will
+consent to participate with us in such rural entertainments and
+amusements, I can undertake on behalf of Mrs. Washington that she will
+do all in her power to make Virginia agreeable to the Marchioness. My
+inclination and endeavors to do this cannot be doubted, when I assure
+you that I love everybody that is dear to you."
+
+Such a visit as this the Marchioness was never to pay. And we can not
+blame her if, during her husband's brief visits, she felt like
+complaining that he absorbed himself in the interests of the American
+cause or was always planning fresh enterprises. But though she was now
+only nineteen years old, she was proving herself the high-minded woman
+who could sympathize entirely with her husband's ideals, and who could
+consider him dedicated to a great cause; therefore she could
+cheerfully lay aside merely selfish wishes. No one ever heard a
+complaint from her absolutely loyal lips. In December, 1779, the
+family was made happy by the birth of a son, to whom, in honor of his
+illustrious friend, Lafayette gave the name of George Washington.
+
+Lafayette had many testimonials from his friends in the United States
+showing their appreciation of his efforts for them; and among them was
+one of special import. It consisted of a sword richly ornamented, with
+a handle of solid gold, sent to him by the American Congress. To
+Franklin was intrusted the pleasant task of providing this rich gift.
+It was made in Paris and was engraved with representations of the
+actions in which Lafayette had taken part, together with his coat of
+arms, his chosen motto "Cur non?" and other emblematic designs
+selected by Franklin; and Franklin's grandson had the honor of
+conveying to Lafayette this testimonial of a nation's appreciation.
+
+"By the help of the exquisite artists of France," graciously wrote
+Franklin in an accompanying letter, "I find it easy to express
+everything but the sense we have of your worth."
+
+Lafayette may have been in a fair way to be spoiled, but if he was he
+had a happy way of concealing it. He answered, "In some of the devices
+I cannot help finding too honorable a reward for those slight services
+which, in concert with my fellow-soldiers, and under the god-like
+American hero's orders, I had the good fortune to render."
+
+This beautiful sword was in the course of time to meet with ill luck.
+When Revolutionists rifled the Chateau de Chaviniac, it was buried for
+safe-keeping and remained thus hidden for many years. Long afterwards
+Lafayette's son, George Washington Lafayette, grown to young manhood,
+unearthed the treasure and found that the blade was totally rusted
+away. Lafayette then had the happy thought of adjusting to this handle
+of pure gold the blade of a sword that had been made out of bolts and
+bars taken from the Bastille. Thus the associations of both worlds and
+of two struggles for freedom were united in one historic sword.
+
+There came a time when Lafayette felt himself warranted in presenting
+a Memoir to the Cabinet on the subject of giving direct relief to
+America. His plan, from a military standpoint, was masterly, and it
+produced so favorable an impression that it was accepted; and it soon
+became known to those worthy to be in the secret that France would
+send to America a reinforcement of six ships and six thousand men of
+the regular infantry. To this was added a loan of three million
+livres, and later still, through the appeals of Franklin, another loan
+of the same amount was supplied. The Count de Rochambeau, a trained
+soldier, was chosen to command the land forces and the Count de Ternay
+was to be admiral of the fleet. Lafayette was sent ahead to announce
+this happy news and to make preparations for the arrival of the
+expedition.
+
+Wearing the uniform of an American officer, Lafayette took his leave
+of the king; and on the 4th of March, 1780, he sailed on the frigate
+_Hermione_. He reached Boston harbor on the 28th of April, 1780, after
+an absence of fifteen months. When word swept through the city that a
+ship was coming in with Lafayette on board, the people crowded to the
+wharf to welcome the returning French friend of America. This was the
+beginning of civic processions in Lafayette's honor. They cheered him
+from the ship's side to the residence of Governor Hancock where
+addresses were listened to and congratulations exchanged. He called
+upon the Legislature then in session, and in the evening viewed the
+illuminations in his honor. Lafayette gave a dinner on board the ship
+to which he invited a large number of officials--the president of the
+Massachusetts Council, members of the legislature, the consul of
+France, and other men of dignity. The frigate was gayly decorated with
+the flags of many nations. Thirteen toasts were drunk--the number
+thirteen cannot have been an unlucky number in those days!--and after
+the toast to Washington the great guns boomed seventeen times.
+
+As rapidly as possible Lafayette rode to Washington's headquarters at
+Morristown, New Jersey, and made his happy announcement to the General
+himself. He then pressed on to Philadelphia to present to Congress the
+communication from the French government. He bore also a letter from
+Washington, in which the commander in chief introduced Lafayette as
+one who had "signally distinguished himself in the service of this
+country," and who, during the time that he had been in France, had
+"uniformly manifested the same zeal in our affairs which animated his
+conduct while he was among us"; who had been "on all occasions an
+essential friend to America."
+
+The greatest possible effort was now made to equip the Continental
+army, but the resources of the country had already been grievously
+overtaxed. Washington had hardly been able to keep his army together
+at all. Half of his six thousand men were unfit for duty. They had
+sometimes had no bread for six days; sometimes for two or three days
+they would have neither meat nor bread. The commander clearly realized
+that an army reduced to nothing, without provisions or any of the
+necessary means to carry on a war, needed not a little help only--it
+needed a great deal.
+
+When, on the 2d of May, the French fleet finally set sail, delays had
+reduced the number of soldiers and the amount of supplies. The English
+by this time had realized what was happening, and they carefully
+blockaded the second division of the squadron in the harbor of Brest;
+and when the first division reached Newport, the English cleverly
+surrounded the harbor with their ships, thus "bottling up" the French
+and rendering them inactive and useless. In this way the great good
+that was expected from the French expedition came to naught.
+
+During all this trying time, Lafayette acted the part of a single-minded
+friend of both the French and the American armies. He was sent by
+Washington to Newport to confer with the French generals, and later he
+was present at a joint meeting of the great French and American generals
+which was held at Hartford, Connecticut. Lafayette rode from one army to
+the other, holding conferences and putting important decisions into
+writing, or dictating the results of conversations. Many of these
+documents have been preserved in French or American state archives.
+
+Whatever time he could get apart from these labors he spent in
+training the battalion that had been assigned to him. This was a
+detachment of light infantry, selected from the best of the army. He
+took great pride in training these men, sent to France for black and
+white plumes for their caps, and tried to make them present as good an
+appearance as possible. The Marquis de Chastellux, who visited his
+camp on the Ramapo River, has left a delightful description of this
+visit in which he spoke of the fine appearance of the troops as their
+young commander had drawn them up on a height near his own station.
+Here, said Chastellux, Lafayette received his guest with more pride
+than if he had been entertaining at his estates in Auvergne. "Happy
+his country," said Chastellux, "if she employs his services; happier
+still if she has no use for them!"
+
+It was during this autumn that Benedict Arnold made what Lafayette
+called that "horrid compact with the enemy"--an event that amazed and
+distressed him beyond any words. Lafayette was with Washington when
+the plot was discovered. He was also a member of the board to try the
+British spy, Andre. His attitude toward Andre was very different from
+that toward Benedict Arnold. Andre, he said, conducted himself in a
+manner so frank, so noble, and so delicate, that he could not help
+feeling infinite sorrow for him.
+
+The winter of 1780-81 was the darkest period of the war. But it was to
+be followed by a happier season, one in which Lafayette was at last to
+have as large a share of action as his heart could wish.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+LAFAYETTE IN VIRGINIA
+
+
+The British still held the city of New York. General Washington's army
+sat in their impregnable camps on the Hudson and along the Delaware,
+where he could reach out a hand to New England on the east, and to
+Philadelphia on the south, at the same time threatening now and then
+the stronghold of the British. Meantime an active campaign was being
+carried on in the states south of Virginia. At the battle of
+Charleston the brave General Lincoln and his gallant army were
+compelled by the British to lay down their arms and give themselves up
+as prisoners of war without the usual courtesies. The ceremony of
+surrender was particularly galling. Forbidden by their conquerors to
+play a British or a Hessian air, they marched to the joyous melody of
+"Yankee Doodle," their colors cased, and their hearts rebellious. The
+battle of Camden was another defeat for the Americans. On that
+disastrous day fell the companion of Lafayette's first voyage, the
+Baron de Kalb, who died bravely after receiving no less than eleven
+wounds. Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander in the south, thought
+that defeats like these would finish the question for that part of the
+country, so he gave out proclamations of amnesty to the tractable and
+built scaffolds to hang the unsubmissive. But the south was not to be
+so easily subdued. The British met with defeat at King's Mountain, and
+in October, 1780, General Greene was sent to push the southern
+campaign more vigorously.
+
+One result of these southern disasters was to make the importance of
+Virginia increasingly evident as a base for operations in the
+Carolinas. Cornwallis saw this and he determined to reduce that state,
+to cut off the southern army from its base, and thus to control the
+approaches to the heart of the country. Accordingly, in January, 1781,
+he sent Benedict Arnold, who had been made a brigadier general in the
+British army, with a strong force, and with two trusted British
+colonels, to conduct a campaign in that state.
+
+If the British commander in chief had wished to fill the men of the
+Continental army with a fire that would make them unconquerable, this was
+the way to do it, and this was the man against whom they most desired to
+fight. On the other hand, General Washington chose a leader for the
+defense who was so well beloved by his men, and who was himself filled
+with so fiery an enthusiasm for the cause, that this alone would have
+been enough to bring into effect all the strength of those drained and
+exhausted men and to energize them for prodigies of valor. This leader
+was Lafayette. In February, 1781, he was commissioned to go against
+Arnold.
+
+Lafayette was glad to be trusted with a command and overjoyed at the
+prospect of action. But he still believed that the great final blow
+was to be struck at New York and he was most reluctant to be separated
+from Washington with whom he intensely longed to be when the great
+climax came. However, he obeyed orders with perfect alacrity and
+planned for a swift march in order to intercept any efforts on the
+part of Arnold to obtain access to the various storehouses and river
+crossings in Virginia. Leaving under guard his tents, artillery, and
+everything that could be spared, with orders to follow as rapidly as
+possible, he marched his men through heavy rains and over bad roads.
+
+The Virginia campaign, says a French historian, is to be ranked among
+the classic tales of all time; and in this campaign the young
+Lafayette was the most notable leader. It was on the 6th of April,
+1781, that General Washington wrote to Lafayette, giving him full
+instructions, which led him into the midst of active service.
+
+Lafayette's detachment included men from New Jersey, from New
+Hampshire, and from other New England states. Among them were some of
+the men who had been willing to take their lives in their hands and
+follow their young leader on the hazardous expedition into Canada.
+Although the men had no idea at this time what was before them, they
+were now going to follow Lafayette to the glory that he so ardently
+desired.
+
+But in spite of the splendid spirit of the troops, Lafayette found
+that they were in sore need of encouragement. They saw that they were
+not going toward the grand final attack; they were not used to the
+blind obedience exacted from trained European troops; and they did not
+understand this discouraging southward move.
+
+Fearing that the summer would be wasted, Lafayette thought of a device
+to strengthen the tie between himself and his detachment. He wrote it
+down in the order of the day that they were about to start out on an
+expedition that would tax all a soldier's powers, and in which there
+would be abundant dangers and difficulties. The enemy, he said, was
+far superior to them in numbers, thoroughly despised them, and was
+determined to conquer them. He added that no soldier should accompany
+him who was inclined to abandon him; nor was it necessary that any one
+should desert; for any man could, if he desired, have a pass and be
+sent to join his regiment in winter quarters.
+
+This method of approach had more than the desired effect. Lafayette
+soon wrote to Washington: "Our men are in high spirits. Their honor
+was interested, and murmurs as well as desertions are entirely out of
+fashion."
+
+Soon after the advent of Lafayette in the Virginia field, he came into
+contact with Benedict Arnold in a very curious way. The commander of
+the opposing British forces had died, and Arnold took his place. About
+that time Arnold sent a message under a flag of truce to Lafayette.
+When Lafayette learned that the letter which was brought in was from
+the traitor, he returned it unopened, sending a verbal message stating
+that with Benedict Arnold he would hold no communication whatever.
+Later he sent a formal letter to the officer that had brought the
+flag, in which he declined all correspondence with Arnold, but added
+with the utmost courtesy that "in case any other British officer
+should honour him with a letter, he would always be happy to give the
+officers every testimony of esteem."
+
+The subject of the letter from Arnold was an exchange of prisoners, a
+matter that interested him extremely, as he well knew that Lafayette
+could hardly have pleased the American people better than by
+presenting Benedict Arnold to them a prisoner. We know that Arnold's
+mind dwelt on this aspect of his sad situation from the fact that he
+once quizzed a captured American to find out what the Americans would
+do with him if they took him prisoner. The soldier audaciously replied
+that they would "cut off the leg that had been wounded in the
+country's service and hang the rest of him!" Lafayette's action in
+regard to the letter from Arnold was very gratifying to Washington; he
+said that in nothing had Lafayette pleased him more than in refusing
+to hold communication with Benedict Arnold.
+
+Soon after this Arnold was transferred to New York, and Cornwallis
+came forward with reenforcements, declaring that he would now "proceed
+to dislodge Lafayette from Richmond." The struggle between the young
+French officer (not yet twenty-four years old) in his first attempt
+at carrying on an independent campaign, and the veteran British
+commander with years of service behind him, was now taken up with more
+spirit than ever before. It was the crisis of the Revolution. If the
+Continental army could only hold out a little longer, it might be
+possible, by adroit advance and diplomatic retreat, to avoid unequal
+battles until the foe was worn out or until some favorable opportunity
+should arise for a direct attack. Cornwallis, of course, despised his
+exhausted enemy. A letter from him was intercepted and brought into
+the American camp; in the letter he said, "The Boy cannot escape me!"
+Lafayette's face must have been set in very grim lines when he read
+that letter.
+
+Technically, Lafayette had been taking orders from General Greene whose
+command was in the south and included Virginia. But on the 18th of May,
+Lafayette was ordered to take the entire command in Virginia and to send
+all reports directly to General Washington. "The Boy's" letters to
+Colonel Hamilton show that he fully recognized the gravity of affairs,
+the responsibility of his position, and the dangers of his own
+over-enthusiastic spirit. The British command of the adjacent waters, the
+superiority of their cavalry, and the great disproportion in the forces
+of the two armies, gave the enemy such advantages that Lafayette dared
+not venture to engage the British. The British generals thoroughly
+understood what they called Lafayette's "gasconading disposition," and
+they relied upon it to work woe to his plans and to contribute to their
+own glory. His prudence disappointed them as much as it satisfied
+Washington who had said of Lafayette, "This noble soldier combines all
+the military fire of youth with an unusual maturity of judgment."
+Lafayette desired to be worthy of this high praise.
+
+On April 29, Lafayette and his light infantry reached Richmond in time
+to prevent its capture and to protect the supplies that had been
+concentrated there. In the battle at Green Spring his bravery led him
+once more to plunge into the thick of the fight, losing his horse
+(some reports say two horses) which was shot under him or by his side.
+
+In Wayne's official report on that battle he said that "Lafayette was
+frequently requested to keep at a greater distance, but his native
+bravery rendered him deaf to the admonition."
+
+He compelled the admiration of his opponents by his skill in defensive
+maneuvers. The "Boy" obeyed his commander in chief, and he succeeded
+in misleading his foe, for Cornwallis believed that the American force
+was larger than it actually was; he also believed that he could break
+down the loyalty of the inhabitants of Pennsylvania and of Virginia.
+In both these points he was direfully mistaken. But Lafayette had high
+respect for Cornwallis as a general. "His Lordship plays so well," he
+complained, "that no blunder can be hoped from him to recover a bad
+step of ours."
+
+Finally, reenforcements did come to Lafayette. In despair the American
+Congress sent a special messenger express to Paris to bear one more
+urgent appeal for help. Washington wrote, "We are at the end of our
+tether; ... now or never our deliverance must come."
+
+Impetuous young John Laurens was chosen to be this Ambassador
+Extraordinary to France. Laurens was greatly admired and loved by
+Lafayette and he recommended him to the affections of his noble
+relatives in Paris. At the moment Laurens's father was being held a
+prisoner by the British in the Tower of London--a fact that no doubt
+quickened the zeal of the son. At all events, he was successful in his
+mission. The French fleet in the West Indies was ordered to the United
+States and the king himself became surety for several millions of
+livres in addition to what had already been sent to our aid.
+
+The time was coming when Lafayette could begin to move the British
+army before him little by little down the York River toward Yorktown,
+a method of procedure that now became, as the British reports
+described it, the "constant and good policy of the enemy." On the 24th
+of September, 1781, Cornwallis proceeded to occupy Yorktown and to
+strengthen it against attack.
+
+The city of Yorktown is situated near the entrance to Chesapeake Bay.
+At that place two rivers enter the bay, the York and the James, and
+upon a conspicuous bluff on the northern side of the neck of land
+between them stood this small town.
+
+Cornwallis began at once to prepare the place for assault. Around the
+village he built a series of fortifications consisting of seven redoubts
+and six batteries on the land side, and these he connected by
+intrenchments. He placed a line of batteries on the river bank to command
+the channel, and he established outworks to impede the approach of the
+enemy. Lafayette saw all this and rejoiced, for he believed that
+Cornwallis was at last where he most desired to have him--in a place
+where he would be open to attack, and with some hope of success. All the
+country around Yorktown was now familiar to Lafayette. He knew every
+inch of the land, the river, the morass, and the commanding hill. "Should
+a fleet come in at this moment, affairs would take a very happy turn," he
+wrote joyfully to General Washington.
+
+On the 30th of August the French fleet, under the Count de Grasse,
+with twenty-eight ships of the line, appeared in the waters of
+Chesapeake Bay; a few days later the Marquis de Saint Simon, field
+marshal in the French army, debarked a large reenforcement of French
+troops; and on the 4th of September Lafayette moved nearer to Yorktown
+and took a position with the troops he could bring together,--his own
+light infantry, the militia, and the reenforcements at Williamsburg, a
+town in the vicinity of the British position.
+
+Nothing now remained but the arrival of General Washington himself to
+take charge of the whole enterprise, and Lafayette's happiness was
+complete when, on the 14th of September, he resigned his command into
+the hands of his revered General.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE TWO REDOUBTS
+
+
+It is September, 1781. The "Boy" has not been caught. He is encamped
+at Williamsburg, and looks toward his powerful enemy who is surrounded
+by well-devised intrenchments at Yorktown, twelve miles down the
+river.
+
+The American and French troops, fifteen or sixteen thousand in number,
+arrived and took their places. General Washington was in supreme
+command. America had never before seen such an army. The Americans had
+done their utmost. That part of the French army that had come down
+from Connecticut with Rochambeau had astonished the people of
+Philadelphia as they marched through the city by the brilliancy of
+their rose-and-violet-faced uniforms, and by the display of their
+graceful and accurate military movements. Now they were to have an
+opportunity to show whether their warlike spirit was expressed chiefly
+in ruffles and tinsel trimmings, or whether they could win fame by
+more solid qualities.
+
+On the 29th of September the combined American and French armies moved
+southward to a point about four miles from the town. There they
+divided into two columns and the Americans defiled to the right, the
+French to the left. They then proceeded to arrange themselves around
+the town in an irregular semicircle that extended from the river bank
+at the west to the shore on the southeast, a distance of about two
+miles. Toward the southern side were ranged the various American
+regiments under Baron Steuben and General Wayne; and next to these
+stood what was called the Light Infantry corps under Lafayette. He had
+ventured to suggest to General Washington that he wished his division
+might be composed of the troops that had been with him through the
+fatigues and dangers of the Virginia campaign; this, he said, would be
+the greatest reward he could have for the services he might have
+rendered, as he had now the strongest attachment for those troops.
+Still another division stood at the extreme right. This was under the
+command of General Lincoln, who had been forced, through no fault of
+his own, to surrender to the British at Charleston.
+
+The approaches to Yorktown were easy; there were means of shelter
+everywhere, and the American army at once began preparations for the
+siege.
+
+At last the men finished the construction of two parallels. They were
+now within three hundred yards of the British defenses. General
+Washington then placed his siege guns in position. It was the first
+week in October, 1781. On the sixth the siege began.
+
+Every point in this dramatic history has been made the subject of
+story or poem, and naturally some legendary quality would after a time
+irradiate the incidents. Thus some writers affirm that General
+Washington gave the order for the first shot, and some say that it was
+Lafayette. The story is this. Before signing the order, General
+Washington turned to Thomas Nelson who was both governor of Virginia
+and a general in the army, and inquired,
+
+"At what object shall this gun be fired?"
+
+Pointing to his own dwelling where the roof appeared above the trees of
+Yorktown, and where it was understood Cornwallis had his headquarters,
+General Nelson answered,
+
+"There is my house; aim at that!"
+
+The story is that Washington turned to the gunner and said,
+
+"For every shot you cause to hit that house, I will give you five
+guineas."
+
+From the 6th to the 10th of October, the fire from the allied
+American and French army increased daily in vigor. On the 11th the
+second parallel was completed and entered, and the besieging line was
+thus tightened and strengthened. Within their intrenchments the
+British were watching for reenforcements that were fated never to
+come.
+
+On the 14th of October it was found that the British held two redoubts
+whose guns were inconveniently active, and the Americans believed they
+must be silenced. The redoubts had been built on two small hills on
+the American right, in a difficult region where rocky cuts alternated
+with swampy depressions. These two hills were called "Number Nine" and
+"Number Ten"; "Number Ten" was also called "Rock Redoubt." These
+redoubts were about three hundred yards in front of the British
+garrison, and Washington decided after consultation that they were of
+sufficient importance to take by storm.
+
+Accordingly the order was given. The reduction of Redoubt Number Nine
+was intrusted to a group of French grenadiers and chasseurs. Rock
+Redoubt stood nearest the river; this was assigned to Lafayette with
+his American regiments.
+
+Important among the men under General Lafayette's command was
+Lieutenant Colonel de Gimat, the French aid who had always been so
+faithful a follower of Lafayette; he commanded a body of men from
+Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Then there was Lieutenant Colonel
+Alexander Hamilton, the young American to whom Lafayette was
+personally so warmly attached, who afterwards was to become one of the
+most distinguished servants of the new nation, and who was to meet so
+strange and sad an end after his great work was done.
+
+When Hamilton heard a rumor that General Washington was intending to
+give to a certain Colonel Barber the opportunity to lead the attack,
+his spirit was immediately aroused. Without a moment's delay he
+hastened to headquarters and warmly urged his right to the honorable
+and dangerous task. He gained his point and returned in a state of
+exuberant satisfaction, exclaiming to his major, "We have it! We have
+it!" So Lafayette assigned Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton to
+lead the advance corps, to be assisted by Colonel de Gimat. In all
+there were four hundred men under Lafayette for this storming
+adventure.
+
+It was eight o'clock on the evening of October 14. The storming of the
+two redoubts had been carefully planned even down to the least
+details; but so energetic was the work of the men, so dashing was
+their valor, that when the time really came, the attack lasted but a
+few minutes.
+
+Lafayette's redoubt was taken in a mere flash of time--in less than
+ten minutes, some close observers said; others made it eight minutes.
+The six shells, the signal agreed upon, were fired. The men started
+the march. Rock Redoubt loomed before them in the thick dusk of
+twilight. They advanced in good order with their bayonets fixed and in
+utter silence, as they had been commanded. But when the first volley
+of musketry came down from the top of the redoubt, they broke their
+silence and huzzaed with all their power. Then they rushed forward,
+charging with their bayonets as they ran, and in almost no time they
+were within the redoubt, with the defending officer and forty-five men
+their prisoners. Not a shot had been fired; and so swift was the
+action that few of the Americans were lost.
+
+The not ungenerous rivalry between the groups of men who took the two
+redoubts is one of the most picturesque incidents of the American
+Revolution. If it had not been for the fact that the French detachment
+had paused to have the abatis cut through in regular order, they would
+probably have been in their redoubt before the Americans under
+Lafayette were in theirs; for when they were once on the height, they
+occupied but six minutes in making themselves masters of their redoubt
+and in manning it again for action.
+
+One move follows another quickly at such a time, and when Lafayette
+had entered his redoubt, he looked over the parapet and saw that the
+men on the other height were still struggling for the possession of
+theirs. It happened that a certain General Viomesnil had expressed a
+doubt as to the efficiency of the American troops, therefore Lafayette
+welcomed this opportunity to show their valor. He instantly sent an
+aid to announce to General Viomesnil, with a flourish of compliments,
+that the American troops were in possession of their redoubt and to
+say that if M. le Baron de Viomesnil desired any help, the Marquis de
+Lafayette would have great pleasure in assisting him! The Major sent
+word,
+
+"Tell the Marquis that I am not in mine, but that I will be in five
+minutes."
+
+This promise was made good by the brave and energetic French troops.
+Perhaps never before had the space of two minutes been of so much
+importance in the honor of two nations.
+
+General Washington who, in his eagerness to see this important action,
+had ridden near,--too near to please his officers and surgeons,--had
+closely watched the storming of the redoubts. When they were taken and
+the guns had been instantly whirled about to face the enemy, he turned
+to Generals Knox and Lincoln who stood near and said with emphasis,
+
+"The work is done, and well done."
+
+Then he mounted his horse and rode back to headquarters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE SURRENDER OF YORKTOWN
+
+
+At the siege of Yorktown much of the gallantry and glory of war was to
+be seen; but there was another side as well. The dwelling houses in
+ruin, the sufferings of the wounded men, the surgical operations, the
+amputations, the groans and sighs and homesickness, the dying gasps,
+the bodies of slain horses lying in the way--these also are war.
+
+In Yorktown itself many houses were in flames. A sortie had been
+attempted and had failed. British reenforcements had not come.
+Supplies were giving out. The outlook seemed hopeless. The men fought
+without spirit. An attempt was made to escape by sea. It also failed.
+A violent storm drove the boats back to shore. The idea of surrender
+was entertained.
+
+Consequently, on the 17th of October, General Cornwallis sent a note
+to General Washington asking for a cessation of hostilities for
+twenty-four hours, to settle terms for the surrender of Yorktown.
+Washington allowed two hours instead of twenty-four. Why waste any
+more time?
+
+Interviews were immediately held, and a treaty of capitulation was
+framed.
+
+When it was known that the British had yielded, a wave of the wildest
+joy spread through the American and French camps--and through the
+whole country as well. Messengers rode at top speed to Philadelphia to
+carry the good news. Congress was sitting there at the time. The rider
+came in at midnight. At one o'clock the watchers called "All's well,"
+as usual, but added,
+
+"_Cornwallis is taken!_"
+
+Windows were opened and heads thrust out. The streets soon filled with
+rejoicing people. What Lafayette called "a good noisy feu de joie"
+followed.
+
+The third article in the document of capitulation stated that the
+British troops should be required to march out to the place appointed
+in front of the posts, at two o'clock precisely, with shouldered arms,
+colors cased, and drums beating a British or a German march. They were
+then to ground their arms and return to their encampments. The same
+afternoon the works at Gloucester on the opposite side of the river
+were to be given up, the infantry to file out as prescribed for the
+garrison at York, and the cavalry to go forth with their swords drawn
+and their trumpets sounding.
+
+Over all this there had been a sharp discussion. The British wished to
+receive the "honors of war," that is, to go out with colors flying and
+drums beating; and the courteous Washington was inclined to grant this
+request. But Lafayette remembered the requirements the British had
+made at the defeat at Charleston. They had compelled the men to march
+out with colors cased, and had forbidden them to play a British or a
+Hessian air; and he thought that in fair retaliation the British army
+should now give up their arms in the manner required by them on that
+occasion. He suggested, however, one original variation,--that they
+should be not forbidden but _required_ to march to a British or a
+German air. Colonel Laurens was in accord with this. He had served at
+Charleston under General Lincoln, and he was only too glad to remind
+the British commissioners that it had been so arranged and required of
+the American troops after that defeat.
+
+"The article remains or I cease to be a commissioner," the young man
+said firmly. The high-spirited Laurens could but remember that at that
+very moment his own father was still imprisoned in the Tower of
+London.
+
+The condition remained; and at noon on the 19th of October the
+capitulation was signed. At one o'clock possession was taken of the
+enemies' works, and at two the garrison marched out.
+
+A field about a mile and a half south of Yorktown was chosen for the
+ceremony. The scene was brilliant and spectacular. All the American
+soldiers were drawn up in a line on one side of the road and the
+French stood opposite with General Rochambeau, their commander in
+chief, leading their line. General Washington, mounted on his horse
+and attended by his aids, was at the head. Washington was ardently
+admired by all the French officers and they must have envied him his
+magnificent appearance in this fortunate hour. That fearless and
+austere commander, who had shared the sufferings and privations of his
+men in the dark night of Valley Forge, now rejoiced with them in the
+hour of accomplishment.
+
+The French made a splendid appearance with their uniforms of bright
+colors and contrasting trimmings. Nearly all had the conventional
+three-cornered Revolutionary cap of blue; and the trousers were
+prevailingly of a lemon or canary yellow. Glittering orders were
+flashing on many uniforms, their banners were embroidered with golden
+lilies; each noble had his servants arrayed in silver-laced livery,
+and the French bands of many fifes, horns, and cymbals, played such
+music as was never heard before.
+
+The American soldiers, who had inherited no traditions of either the
+glory or the disasters of warfare, could not compare with the
+foreigners in their full-dress display. But in every heart among them
+there was a feeling that richly compensated for the lack of feathers
+and facings. Whether shopkeeper or farmer or mighty hunter from the
+interior who stood in that line, the tide of united nationality ran
+higher in his heart than ever before. And every last man among them
+was one degree happier by having the dashing young French Major
+General, their beloved "Marquis," on the American side of the
+procession instead of in the foreign line. The "Boy" that Cornwallis
+was so certain he could catch was splendid that day in the perfection
+of military form. He sat, as always, very perfectly on his horse and
+he had the grace to be proud of the company in which he stood. As to
+his own regiment of Light Infantry, he had always been fond of
+decorating them with finery. They appeared now in dark leather leggins
+and white trousers; their blue coats had white facings and white
+cuffs; and a blue feather stood up in front of the cap and waved over
+the crown. This was the regulation uniform for them, but perhaps,
+having just gone through the severities of their Virginia campaign,
+they were not able to "live up" to their fine clothes. However,
+nothing mattered on that great day.
+
+A vast concourse of American spectators was present to witness the
+surrender, but their desire to see Lord Cornwallis was not gratified. He
+pleaded indisposition and appointed General O'Hara in his place. As this
+general approached the group of commanding officers, the bands added
+their music. By the stipulation, they had been commanded to play an
+English or a Hessian march, but they were too proud to select one of
+their dignified national airs. Instead, they gave the tune of an English
+folk song of hoary age, known from time immemorial as "Derry Down," but
+now called "The World Turned Upside Down," a title the British bandmaster
+no doubt considered appropriate to the circumstances.
+
+But the dignity of the occasion required that they should now observe
+the proprieties, for there was a wonderful pageant to be viewed, and
+all felt the great import of the hour.
+
+The conquered army advanced between the two long lines of French and
+American soldiers. General O'Hara led the procession, riding slowly and
+proudly. As he approached General Washington, he removed his hat and
+apologized for the absence of General Cornwallis. General Washington
+received the apology and indicated that he had appointed General Lincoln,
+as the conquered commander of Charleston, to do the honors of the day and
+to receive the arms of the conquered. The moment was historic.
+
+In one of the halls at Yale University stands a celebrated picture,
+painted by Trumbull, which gives a vivid impression of the brilliancy
+and importance of the occasion. In this picture General Washington, in
+an attitude of great dignity, is placed in the center of the scene.
+Near him stands General Lincoln who is being richly rewarded for his
+bitter defeat at Charleston. His hand is held out to receive the sword
+which the representative of General Cornwallis is passing to him.
+
+At the left of the picture are seen the French officers. Rochambeau is
+at the back and a little separated from the rest, and the others in
+the line are the counts, marquises, and barons who were officers in
+the French army.
+
+General Lafayette, the American, was on the American side, not far
+from his beloved General Washington. The one nearest to the commander
+in chief is General (or Governor) Thomas Nelson, the one who had
+suggested that his own house roof be aimed at in the beginning of the
+siege; the next is Lafayette; then Baron Steuben; the others are
+representative commanders from various states.
+
+The ceremony that followed this climax was most impressive. General
+Lincoln received the sword of Cornwallis, and at once handed it back
+to General O'Hara. The several regiments came forward to deliver their
+colors. Twenty-eight British captains, each bearing a flag folded in a
+case, were drawn up in a line opposite the twenty-eight American
+sergeants who were stationed to receive the flags. Ensign Wilson, then
+but eighteen years old, the youngest commissioned officer in the
+American army, was chosen to conduct this ceremony and to hand the
+colors on to the American sergeants. Lafayette looked down from his
+place in the line of mounted American officers and felt that his most
+ardent hopes were now fulfilled, and that his motto, "Cur non," had
+brought him only the best of fortune.
+
+The day after the ceremony of surrender was the Sabbath, and General
+Washington ordered that divine service should be held in all the
+regiments and that Thanksgiving should be the theme. The next day he
+gave a dinner to which the general officers of the three armies were
+invited. Lafayette could not restrain his admiration for Cornwallis
+for his gallant and appropriate conduct upon all these rather
+embarrassing occasions.
+
+    [Illustration: _Photograph from Wm. H. Rau, Philadelphia._
+    THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS.
+    From the painting by Colonel John Trumbull, the soldier-artist
+    of the Revolution.]
+
+If, however, he had possessed the gift of prophecy, he might have
+looked forward but one short century to the centennial of Yorktown,
+when the flags of the United States and of Great Britain would be run
+up together on the site of this historic surrender. Then he would have
+seen British and American officers stand together with bared heads and
+in brotherly friendliness, while salutes were fired and cheers rent
+the air.
+
+Looking still further, he would have seen the day when the people of
+France would unite with their one-time foe in various endeavors both
+peaceful and warlike. A strange planet is this, for the shifting of
+national loyalties and the rending and intertwining of bonds of union!
+If history could make the human race amenable to receiving any
+instruction whatever, we should learn that war never yet decided any
+problem that could not have been better settled in some other way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+LIONIZED BY TWO WORLDS
+
+
+Three days after the surrender, the 22d of October, Lafayette was on
+board the _Ville de Paris_ in Chesapeake Bay. It was believed that the
+surrender of Cornwallis would be practically conclusive as to the
+matter at issue between England and the United States. Lafayette
+therefore felt a sweep of thoughts toward home. Congress gave him
+leave of absence. The _Alliance_ was again placed at his disposal and
+awaited him in Boston harbor.
+
+An adoring France received him on his arrival. He had been the hero of
+the New World; he now became the hero of the Old. The king of France gave
+him audience; when he arrived the queen sent her carriage to bring
+Adrienne, who at the moment happened to be at some royal fete, as swiftly
+as possible to the Noailles mansion. Balls were given in his honor. He
+was presented with laurel at the opera. The king made him a field
+marshal, his commission to date from the day of Cornwallis's surrender,
+and he was invited by Richelieu to a dinner where all the field marshals
+of France were present, and where the health of Washington was drunk with
+words so full of reverent admiration that they did Lafayette's heart
+good.
+
+About this time a traveled American gentleman, Ledyard by name, was
+staying in Paris and commented on the popularity of the returned
+American hero. He said:
+
+"I took a walk to Paris this morning and saw the Marquis de Lafayette.
+He is a good man, this same Marquis. I esteem him. I even love him,
+and so we all do, except a few, who worship him.... If I find in my
+travels a mountain as much elevated above other mountains as he is
+above ordinary men, I will name it Lafayette."
+
+The meeting of Lafayette with Adrienne cannot be described. He had now
+proved the value of his love of freedom, and she was filled with pride
+in the acknowledgment he received on all sides. The family reunion was
+perfect. He wrote to Washington, "My daughter and your George have
+grown so much that I find I am much older than I thought." He had
+reached the advanced age of twenty-four!
+
+Lafayette was at once concerned with the concluding negotiations for
+peace between England and the United States. To hasten these and to
+carry on further military plans, France united with Spain in a
+projected expedition against the English possessions in the West
+Indies. For this purpose Lafayette, in December, 1782, went to Cadiz
+as chief of staff, where an armament of sixty ships and twenty-four
+thousand men were assembling. But while waiting for the final orders
+to sail, a swift courier brought the news to Cadiz that the treaty of
+peace had, on the 20th of January, 1783, been finally signed at Paris.
+Lafayette wished to be the one to carry this news to America, but he
+was told that his presence at the negotiations at Madrid was necessary
+to their success, and therefore he had to forego the pleasure of being
+the personal messenger of the good news. Instead, he was allowed to
+borrow from the fleet a ship which he sent, as swiftly as possible, to
+the land of his heart. The ship lent him was _Le Triomphe_, well named
+for this message, and this was the first ship to bring the news of the
+Peace to our shores.
+
+His work in Spain being successfully accomplished, he returned to
+Paris by swift posts, which means that he went in a carriage, with
+relays of good horses; and by driving day and night, over the
+mountains and through the valleys, following ancient Roman roads and
+crossing through many historic sites and cities, he covered the wide
+distance between the capital of Spain and that of France.
+
+The war being over, Washington, as every one knows, retired to his
+estate at Mount Vernon, an act incomprehensible to some, but fully
+understood by his "adopted son," Lafayette, who wrote:
+
+"Your return to a private station is called the finishing stroke of an
+unparalleled character. Never did a man exist who stands so honorably
+in the opinion of mankind, and your name if possible will become
+greater to posterity. Everything that is great and everything that is
+good were never hitherto united in one man; never did that man live
+whom the soldier, statesman, patriot, and philosopher could equally
+admire; and never was a revolution brought about which, in all its
+motives, its conduct, its consequences, could so well immortalize its
+glorious chief. I am proud of you, my dear General; your glory makes
+me feel as if it were my own; and while the world is gaping upon you,
+I am pleased to think and to tell that the qualities of your heart do
+render you still more valuable than anything you have done."
+
+From Mount Vernon, where the wearied and peace-loving warrior was
+very glad to be, Washington, in February, 1784, wrote to Lafayette:
+
+"At length, my dear Marquis, I am become a private citizen on the
+banks of the Potomac, and under the shadow of my own vine and
+fig-tree, free from the bustle of the camp, and the busy scenes of
+public life, I am pleasing myself with those tranquil enjoyments of
+which the soldier who is ever in pursuit of fame; the statesman whose
+watchful days and sleepless nights are spent in devising schemes to
+promote the welfare of his own, perhaps the ruin of other countries,
+as if this globe was insufficient for us all; the courtier who is
+always watching the countenance of his prince in hopes of catching a
+gracious smile, can have but little conception."
+
+He then goes on to give a brief history of recent events--the
+evacuation of New York, the American troops entering that city in good
+order, and New York finally freed from the British flag. He regretfully
+declined the pressing invitation of Lafayette to come to Paris, and
+again invited him and Madame de Lafayette to pay a visit at Mount
+Vernon. The correspondents appear to have thought of each other
+frequently, though separated by the wide seas. Later, Lafayette had
+joyous news to impart, for he wrote to Washington:
+
+"I want to tell you that Madame de Lafayette and my three children are
+well, and that all of us in the family join to present their dutiful
+affectionate compliments to Mrs. Washington and yourself. Tell her
+that I hope soon to thank her for a dish of tea at Mount Vernon. Yes,
+my dear General, before the month of June is over, you will see a
+vessel coming up the Potomac and out of that vessel will your friend
+jump, with a panting heart and all the feelings of perfect happiness."
+
+During Lafayette's visit to America in 1784 the people had an
+opportunity to show their gratitude to one who had freely given his
+services to them in their day of need. In New York he was received
+with the greatest enthusiasm by the whole people, including his
+affectionate companions in arms. From here on he listened to the
+ringing of bells and the resounding of huzzas by day and saw lavish
+illuminations in his honor by night. A visit of ten days at Mount
+Vernon gave great pleasure to Washington as well as to Lafayette. In
+Boston his coming was celebrated at the stump of the Liberty Tree that
+the British had cut down during their occupation of the city. Many
+speeches were made during this journey, and Lafayette showed himself
+tactful in adapting his words to the occasion. His tact was prompted
+by a sincere liking for all people, a benevolent feeling toward the
+whole world. This was the foundation of much that was attractive and
+useful in his character.
+
+During this journey Lafayette went as far north as Portsmouth and as
+far south as Yorktown. The various great battlefields of the campaign
+of 1781 each received a visit in the company of Washington and of
+other companions in arms. The different states vied with one another
+in giving his name to their towns and villages--a custom that has
+continued to this day. The state of Virginia placed a bust of
+Lafayette in the capitol at Richmond; another was presented to the
+city of Paris by the minister of the United States, and was received
+with great pomp at the Hotel de Ville, or city hall. Three states,
+Maryland, Connecticut, and Virginia, conferred on him the right of
+citizenship for himself and his children, an enactment that later
+became national; and so Lafayette became an American citizen in legal
+form as well as in spirit. How little did he think that this right
+would become so precious a boon to him and would be so sorely needed!
+
+The bust in the Hotel de Ville was destroyed at the time of the Terror;
+and the day came soon after when nearly all that remained to the "Hero
+of Two Worlds" was a certificate of citizenship in a country to which he
+was not native, while the owner of the certificate, because of his
+principles, was hurried from prison to prison. In 1784 he was riding on
+the high tide of success and popularity, but tragic days were soon to
+come in the life of America's loyal friend.
+
+Lafayette took his farewell of Congress at Trenton, New Jersey, where
+it was then in session. The scene was dignified and affecting. It was
+at the close of this ceremony that Lafayette pronounced that wish--one
+might call it a prayer--which has been so often quoted.
+
+"May this immense Temple of Freedom ever stand a lesson to oppressors,
+an example to the oppressed, and a sanctuary for the rights of
+mankind! And may these happy United States attain that complete
+splendor and prosperity which will illustrate the blessings of their
+government, and in ages to come rejoice the departed souls of their
+founders."
+
+Following his return from America at this time, Lafayette made a long
+tour through Germany and Austria. His purpose was to improve himself,
+he said, by the inspection of famous fields of battle, by conversation
+with the greatest generals, and by the sight of well-trained troops.
+He visited Frederick the Great who, in the eyes of the exquisite
+Frenchman, presented a most untidy appearance in a dirty uniform
+covered over with Spanish snuff. He saw him review thirty-one
+battalions and seventy-five squadrons, thirty thousand men in all, and
+he admired the "perfectly regular machine wound up for forty years" by
+which they clicked off their movements. At the table of Frederick,
+Lafayette ate, at one time, with Cornwallis on one side and the son of
+the king of England on the other; on which occasion the Prussian
+despot indelicately amused himself by plying the young soldier with
+questions about American affairs. One wonders if in all his travels
+Lafayette caught any glimpse on the horizon of a certain grim fortress
+wherein, because of his hatred of despots like Frederick, fate decreed
+that he was to be immured for five long years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+GATHERING CLOUDS
+
+
+The great storm of the French Revolution was now to appear on the
+horizon, climb to its height, and break in terror over France. During
+these years, from 1784 to 1792, Lafayette was for most of the time in
+Paris where he took part in events of great importance and in such a
+way as to command respect from those who sympathized with his liberal
+ideas and to win detraction from devotees of monarchial systems.
+
+At first, however, no one dreamed what the future held for France.
+Lafayette busied himself in doing what he could to further the affairs
+of the United States, turning his attention to commercial questions
+such as he had never supposed would interest him. Whale-oil, for
+instance, became a favorite subject with him; his services on behalf
+of that American industry were acknowledged by the seagoing people of
+Nantucket who sent him a gigantic, five-hundred-pound cheese, the
+product of scores of farms, as a testimonial of their appreciation.
+
+A cause that interested him intensely was slavery. His views on this
+subject he summed up in 1786 in a letter to John Adams:
+
+"In the cause of my black brethren I feel myself warmly interested, and
+most decidedly side, so far as respects them, against the white part of
+mankind. Whatever be the complexion of the enslaved, it does not, in my
+opinion, alter the complexion of the crime which the enslaver commits, a
+crime much blacker than any African face. It is to me a matter of great
+anxiety and concern, to find that this trade is sometimes carried on
+under the flag of liberty, our dear and noble stripes, to which virtue
+and glory have been constant standard-bearers."
+
+Lafayette not only had a lofty sentiment about the condition of the
+slaves, but he put his theory into practice by buying at great expense
+an estate in Cayenne, or French Guiana, with a large number of slaves
+whom he put under a system of education, with the intention of making
+them free as soon as they were fitted for economic independence.
+Madame de Lafayette interested herself in the management of this
+estate; she provided pastors and teachers to go to Cayenne as
+missionaries and educators.
+
+The experiment was going on well when the Revolution broke over
+France. Then it was doomed. While Lafayette was languishing in the
+dungeon at Olmuetz, one of his great anxieties was for his Cayenne
+charge. He would have been even more unhappy if he had known that when
+the revolutionists took possession of his property, they caused that
+estate to be sold, together with all the slaves, who thus went back
+into slavery--a great inconsistency in those same revolutionists who
+imagined they were working for liberty and enfranchisement!
+
+During this time Lafayette had two great interests: one, a public life
+marked by increasing premonitions of national danger; the other, at
+Chaviniac where his family stayed and where he was instituting all
+sorts of reforms on his own estate and in the village of Chaviniac,
+and working steadily for the welfare of the people who were dependent
+upon him. He founded an annual fair and a weekly market day. He built
+roads at his own expense. In the village he established a resident
+physician whose services the poor could have at any time without cost
+to themselves. He founded a weaving business and a school to teach the
+art. The agricultural advancement of America had interested him, so he
+brought a man from England to teach new methods to his farmers. New
+implements were imported and new breeds of cattle were introduced. In
+every way he brought enlightenment and betterment.
+
+Meantime a spirit was rising that was soon to sweep not only over
+Paris but through all the provinces of France. Lafayette saw this
+storm coming. One day, in 1789, he was walking in the grand gallery of
+the Chateau de Chaviniac with a gentleman of the neighborhood. They
+spoke together of what the emancipation of the peasant would mean to
+the people of the Auvergne region. At that moment a group of peasants
+from his estate came in to offer Lafayette some nosegays and cheeses.
+They presented these gifts on bended knees, in an attitude of deep
+submission and respect.
+
+"There," said the neighbor, "see how little disposed these peasants
+are to receive your boasted emancipation; depend upon it, they think
+very little on the matter."
+
+"Well, well," replied Lafayette, "a few years hence we shall see who
+was right."
+
+They did! The time was not far distant when the peasants of Auvergne,
+as well as the rabble of Paris, went singing:
+
+    Ah! ca ira, ca ira, ca ira!
+    Celui qui s'eleve, on l'abaissera,
+    Et qui s'abaisse, on l'elevera.
+
+Significant events followed, and on every important occasion Lafayette
+bore a part. He was a member of the Assembly of Notables, and he led a
+minority of the nobility who demanded the calling of the States General,
+a representative assembly. He presented his famous composition, the
+Declaration of Rights, modeled on Jefferson's Declaration of Independence.
+He was made by acclamation Colonel General of the new National Guard
+and gave them the white cockade. He represented the people on the great
+day of the oath of loyalty to the new constitution. For a time he was
+riding on the top wave of popularity.
+
+Lafayette believed in freedom for all people and to every man his
+rights. But he thought that France was not yet ready for the form of
+government that was succeeding in America. For France he believed the
+constitutional monarchy to be the best. He thought--and every one now
+thinks--that Louis XVI was a man of good intentions, and he believed
+these good intentions would show that monarch what was for the welfare
+and happiness of the people. Therefore he defended the king and the
+royal family as a part of the form of government that was the best
+for France. The newly adopted constitution appeared to him to be the
+just expression of royal authority.
+
+In his blind optimism Lafayette could not believe but that his ideas
+would in the end have their proper weight. He stood with the nobility,
+resting proudly on their good intentions, and facing a brute force
+newly awakened by the tocsin of liberty. To this unreasoning instinct,
+liberty meant nothing but license. The result of putting this license
+into power meant anarchy.
+
+Now came Lafayette's time of difficulty. He was accused of conniving
+at the attempt of the king and queen to escape. Afterwards the queen
+in her trial testified that Lafayette had known nothing whatever of
+the project. Lafayette was also blamed for the death of Foulon, a
+minister who was hanged, beheaded, and dragged through the streets by
+the mob. The fact was that he did all in his power to control the mob
+that caused Foulon's death. They accused him of firing on the mob.
+That he did, in defense of the life of the king--first standing before
+the cannon to give his life if need be. He was accused of being too
+liberal and of being too aristocratic. He was burned between the two
+fires. The people seemed determined not to understand him. They said
+that if Lafayette truly loved the people it was but another evidence
+that his soul was plebeian--his simplicity of manner and unstudied
+grace of speech were but further proofs thereof. Brutality and
+lawlessness, veiled under the name of patriotism, could hardly do less
+than hate an incorruptible man like Lafayette who was outspoken in his
+beliefs.
+
+A coalition of European powers stood ready to invade France and place
+the monarchy again on a secure basis. Lafayette was at the head of one
+of three armies sent to withstand the forces of the coalition, but his
+own soldiers were secretly in sympathy with the revolutionary frenzy.
+
+The end came when Lafayette defied the Jacobin party, and they in turn
+declared him a traitor and put a price on his head. But even at that
+late day, if there had been in France any number of men who possessed
+Lafayette's calmness, self-control, and generous spirit, the state
+might still have been saved from tumult and degradation. As it was,
+France turned its face away from its best light and hope, and
+Lafayette was, as Carlyle picturesquely said, "hooted forth over the
+borders into Cimmerian night." He put his army into the best order
+possible, and with a company of devoted officers and followers started
+for a neutral country.
+
+Meantime in Paris the feet of the people were at the threshold of the
+Terror.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+LAFAYETTE IN PRISON
+
+
+Lafayette attempted to cross the frontier on his way to America when he
+was intercepted and taken prisoner. This was at Rochefort, on neutral
+territory. The arrest of peaceful citizens on their way through neutral
+territory to a neutral country was treason to all international covenant
+and courtesy; evidently, the phrase "international courtesy" had not
+then been coined; but the act has been abhorred by unprejudiced military
+men the world over.
+
+The party were taken to Namur, thence to Wesel, where some were
+released; later, three remained to be imprisoned in Magdeburg. Lafayette
+is reported to have owned as his highest ambition that his name should
+be a terror to all kings and monarchs. If he made this remark, his wish
+was fulfilled; for at a meeting of a committee of the Coalition it was
+agreed that the "existence of Lafayette was incompatible with the safety
+of the governments of Europe."
+
+Following this decision, in May, 1794, the king of Prussia gave him into
+the keeping of the Emperor of Austria, and the dangerous prisoner,
+together with three of the officers who were with him when arrested,
+Latour-Maubourg, Bureaux-de-Pusy, and Lameth, were promptly carried to
+the strong fortress of Olmuetz, high up in the gloomy Carpathian
+Mountains. Lameth nearly died and therefore was released, but the other
+two remained, not, however, being allowed to see or to communicate with
+their distinguished companion.
+
+Lafayette had no apologies to make for the step he had taken. Indeed,
+he had great hopes that he would escape from his captors. Friends were
+finding means to communicate with him and plots were forming in the
+undercurrents of correspondence.
+
+But on the whole he much preferred to take his liberty than to have it
+granted to him. If indeed liberty were granted, it would be with
+conditions "like those made by a lower class of brigands in the corner
+of a thicket," and the discussion would in all probability result in a
+shutting on him of quadruple doors.
+
+He "much preferred to take his liberty than to have it granted to
+him." Accordingly plans were made. In one letter he calls for a good
+chart, arms, a passport, a wig, some drugs to insure a quiet night's
+sleep to the jailors, with instructions as to the dose to be given,
+and an itinerary for the route, with dangerous places indicated in it.
+They must know the exact time horses were to be ready, and the exact
+house where they were to stand. He was in buoyant spirits.
+
+"Although a sojourn of fourteen months in the prisons of their Majesties
+has not contributed to my health," he wrote, "still I have a strong
+constitution and my early habits of life, added to the recollection of
+my fetters, will enable me to make a very rapid journey."
+
+Finishing one of these letters, he says, "I hear them opening my first
+locks [the outer doors] and must stop writing." Latour-Maubourg adds a
+passage in his own hand. He begs for a piece of sealing wax and emphasizes
+that Lafayette must surely be rescued, whether the others are or not.
+
+The prisoners looked out for those who were helping them to escape;
+these helpers were to be protected from suspicion. To do this they put
+a manikin with a nightcap on in Lafayette's bed, dug a channel under
+the chimney, and left a coat in the passage well smudged with soot.
+
+Why none of these plans worked is not known. Lafayette was carted on
+to Neisse, but the plotting still went on. At last the grim and
+impregnable fortress of Olmuetz received the three prisoners. Here he
+could receive no letters; he could read no paper; he was harshly told
+that he should never again know anything of what was going on in the
+outside world; that he was now a complete nonentity, a being known
+only by a number, and that no person in Europe knew where he was nor
+ever should know until his death.
+
+Lafayette's misery was turned to a still darker hue by the fact that
+he felt the gravest alarm for the welfare of Madame de Lafayette. As
+he was being carted from prison to prison, on his way eastward toward
+that final destination in the mountain fortress, the news that was
+smuggled to him by secret and mysterious bearers was not of a kind to
+bring peace to his mind. He heard of the extremes to which the
+revolutionary frenzy was carrying the Parisian people; he heard that
+the king and queen and various members of their family had been
+proscribed, denounced, and sentenced to death by a committee miscalled
+a "Committee of Public Safety," and that the nobility were being
+ruthlessly sacrificed. Saddest of all this for him was the news that
+his wife, that woman of heroic character, of marvelous spiritual
+charm, and of liberal and philanthropic mind, had been imprisoned and
+was in danger of perishing on the scaffold. This word--and nothing
+more! The darkness of life behind walls seven feet thick was not
+lightened for many a long month by any further news in regard to
+Adrienne. The thoughts of Lafayette in his prison were as sad as can
+be imagined.
+
+As months and years passed on, Lafayette may be forgiven if he
+sometimes thought that he had been wholly forgotten. But it was not
+so. It was not an easy matter to liberate a man whose very existence
+was a menace to every throne. The kings had him completely in their
+power--they wished to keep him out of sight.
+
+It goes without saying that to President Washington the imprisonment
+of his young friend, to whom he was bound by strong and vital bonds of
+gratitude and friendship, was a source of genuine anguish. But what
+could he do? As Lafayette said, America was far away and the politics
+of Europe were tortuous. In them Washington had no part and no
+influence; and he could not go to war for he had no equipment for any
+such exploit.
+
+He did, however, put in train many schemes designed to influence others
+to aid his loyal friend. He used the greatest secrecy; the correspondence
+as it is preserved refers only to "our friend" and to "the one you
+know," so that if the letters were lost, no one could possibly divine
+what was being done. The President sent letters to the representatives of
+the United States in both France and England, commanding that informal
+solicitations for the release of that friend of America should be made,
+and that these were to be followed by formal ones if necessary. He wrote
+to the king of Prussia, urging the release of his dear friend as an act
+of justice as well as a personal favor to himself; and to the Emperor of
+Austria, begging that Lafayette might be allowed to come to America. The
+letter has that thorough goodness and that amplitude of dignity that were
+characteristics of Washington.
+
+                               "PHILADELPHIA, 15 May, 1796.
+
+    "TO THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY:
+
+    "It will readily occur to your Majesty that occasions
+    may sometimes exist, on which official considerations
+    would constrain the chief of a nation to be silent and
+    passive, in relation to objects which affect his
+    sensibility, and claim his interposition as a man.
+    Finding myself precisely in this situation at present, I
+    take the liberty of writing this private letter to your
+    Majesty, being persuaded that my motives will also be my
+    apology for it.
+
+    "In common with the people of this country, I retain a
+    strong and cordial sense of the services rendered to
+    them by the Marquis de Lafayette; and my friendship for
+    him has been constant and sincere. It is natural,
+    therefore, that I should sympathize with him and his
+    family in their misfortunes, and endeavor to mitigate
+    the calamities which they experience; among which, his
+    present confinement is not the least distressing.
+
+    "I forbear to enlarge on this delicate subject. Permit
+    me only to submit to your Majesty's consideration
+    whether his long imprisonment and the confiscation of
+    his estates, and the indigence and dispersement of his
+    family, and the painful anxieties incident to all these
+    circumstances, do not form an assemblage of sufferings
+    which recommend him to the mediation of humanity? Allow
+    me, Sir, to be its organ on this occasion; and to
+    entreat that he may be permitted to come to this
+    country, on such conditions and under such restrictions
+    as your Majesty may think fit to prescribe.
+
+    "As it is a maxim with me not to ask what under similar
+    circumstances I would not grant, your Majesty will do me
+    the justice to believe that this request appears to me
+    to correspond with those great principles of magnanimity
+    and wisdom, which form the basis of sound policy and
+    durable glory.
+
+    "May the Almighty and merciful Sovereign of the universe
+    keep your Majesty under his protection and guidance!"
+
+Little by little the place where Lafayette was imprisoned became known
+to a few, and public sentiment was aroused to the point of bringing up
+the matter before the British Parliament. It was a certain General
+Fitzpatrick who, strange to say, had met Lafayette in London before he
+went to America, and again between battles when they were ranged on
+opposite sides of the Revolution, who now brought up the question.
+Twice he made a motion in favor of acting for the release of
+Lafayette. Fitzpatrick was the kind of man who could not bear to
+entertain the idea that there should exist "in any corner of British
+soil, in any English heart, conceptions so narrow as to wish to see
+the illustrious pupil of Washington perishing in a dungeon on account
+of his political principles." General Fitzpatrick's motion was
+seconded by General Tarleton, who had fought Lafayette through the
+length and breadth of Virginia. Pitt and Burke spoke against it.
+
+Lord Grey said that if asked what would be gained by furthering the
+release of Lafayette, he would reply that "we should exculpate
+ourselves from the suspicion of being accomplices in the foulest wrong
+that ever disgraced humanity." The question was put to vote and stood
+forty-six yeas and one hundred and fifty-three nays. Such was the
+composition of the British Parliament at that time.
+
+The next year Fitzpatrick renewed his efforts for Lafayette and
+proposed another motion. In an eloquent speech which should make his
+name honored for all time, he reviewed the former debate and paid a
+wonderful tribute to the character of Madame de Lafayette. The
+discussion that followed dwelt mainly on the question whether
+Lafayette was to be considered as a subject of the emperor or as a
+prisoner of war. The vote stood, yeas fifty, nays one hundred and
+thirty-two. Evidently the British Parliament had not made any great
+advance in the intervening year.
+
+Meantime secret plans were being made to rescue Lafayette. The
+beautiful Angelica Schuyler Church, daughter of the American general,
+Philip Schuyler, was then in London; her husband, John Barker Church,
+had fought under Lafayette, and was now in the British Parliament.
+Mrs. Church was the sister-in-law of Alexander Hamilton, one of
+Lafayette's dearest friends among his young companions-in-arms, and
+she was in touch with a group of French emigres. In fact, she was the
+center of a little volcano of feeling for the exile.
+
+This secret circle kept up a constant communication with Mr. Pinckney
+and Mr. Jay. Mrs. Church wrote to Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State
+in the United States, and to many others, begging, pleading for help.
+For Lafayette, whom she had known in New York, her heart was
+constantly bleeding.
+
+Proceeding from a mysterious writer who signed his name "Eleutherios,"
+spirited articles soon began to appear in the English newspapers, and
+thus constantly fed a flame of feeling. All sorts of fears for Lafayette
+were entertained. "I see him in a dungeon," wrote one; "I see him in
+Siberia; I see him poisoned; I see him during what remains of his life
+torn by the uncertainty of the fate of all that he loves."
+
+Soon after this the name of a Hanoverian doctor begins to appear in
+the documents preserved. This Dr. Bollman had carried one exploit
+through successfully, bringing out of Paris during the Terror a
+certain French emigre and conveying him to London in safety. Bollman
+was to be engaged by the London group to start out and see what could
+be done for Lafayette. This scheme resulted in a great adventure in
+which an American youth figured nobly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+AN ATTEMPTED RESCUE
+
+
+The hope that potentates and governments might take up the cause of
+Lafayette began to fail and other plans were made. Chivalric dreams of
+going to seek the place where he was confined and effect what seemed the
+impossible--a personal rescue--began to haunt the minds of daring youths.
+A letter is on record from a young man who wrote to Washington to ask if
+he might not have permission to go and seek Lafayette, and, if possible,
+conduct him and his family to America. Washington told him that all was
+being done that could be done, and that personal attempts would only
+result in failure. But there was another enterprising soul who did not
+wait for permission--he acted upon his own initiative. The story of that
+splendid young American must now be told.
+
+Francis Kinloch Huger was the first child that Lafayette saw after he
+landed in America. It will be remembered that the little company of
+adventurers first touched shore on the country estate of Major
+Benjamin Huger, at Prospect Hill, near Charleston, South Carolina.
+Here Lafayette was received hospitably and sent on in his host's
+carriage to Charleston.
+
+The child Francis was then five years old and was the young representative
+of a remarkable family of Huguenot extraction. The first Daniel Huger
+came from Loudon, France, soon after the Edict of Nantes, and his
+descendants to-day number six thousand; among them are found a large
+number of distinguished names. Five Huger brothers held important
+positions in Revolutionary times. Three served in the war; Brigadier
+General Isaac Huger was second in command to General Greene at Guilford
+Court House; Lieutenant Colonel Frank Huger was promoted from Moultrie's
+Regiment to be Quartermaster General of the Southern Army of the
+Revolution; and Major Benjamin Huger, Lafayette's host and the father of
+the child Francis, was killed in 1780 before the lines at Charleston. Of
+the other two brothers in this remarkable family group, Daniel was one of
+Governor Rutledge's Privy Council and later a member of Congress, and
+John was on the Council of Safety and Secretary of State.
+
+The boy Francis thus came from a stock of stalwart men. He was eight
+years old when his father was killed at Charleston. The pity of it was
+driven into his young soul when the ignominy of that defeat was
+accomplished.
+
+Immediately after that event young Huger was sent to England to
+acquire a medical education. Later he, as the custom was, went on his
+travels and to hear lectures at great seats of learning. But the
+passion for chivalric action that was inspiring youth everywhere he
+could not quell. He dreamed of finding Lafayette.
+
+Meantime, American, English, and French friends of the illustrious
+prisoner were busy in London, and they had commissioned the "Hanoverian
+doctor," known as Dr. Bollman, to make a search for him. This man made
+careful preparations. He traveled in a leisurely way through Germany in
+the guise of a wealthy and philanthropic physician. He let it be known
+that he was a sort of follower of Cagliostro, a notorious Italian whose
+ideas were popular at the time. He treated the poor free of charge and
+he showed a special interest in prisoners.
+
+At last he reached Olmuetz, a journey at that time something like going
+from New York to Nome. He made acquaintance with the attending physician
+of the garrison and was invited to dinner. He in return asked the
+surgeon to dine with him at his inn. The dinner was sumptuous. M. de
+Colombe, who tells this part of the story, says that the wine was
+especially excellent. No one could distrust a simple-hearted doctor, an
+unselfish student of mankind, and especially one who ordered such
+delicious wine! In time, conversation turned upon prisoners of note. It
+was rumored, hinted the artful and ingenious doctor, that there was such
+an one at Olmuetz. Could this be true? It was even so, the unsuspecting
+surgeon admitted; the great Lafayette was under his close care. The
+doctor inquired for Lafayette's health and was told that it was fairly
+good. Dr. Bollman ventured to send his compliments to the prisoner with
+a message that he had lately left Lafayette's friends in England. The
+unsuspecting surgeon carried the innocent message.
+
+On another occasion he brought word that Lafayette would like to know
+who those friends were. The doctor tried to speak the names, but could
+not pronounce them so that the Austrian could understand them. He felt
+in his pocket for a bit of paper (which he had carefully placed there
+beforehand) and on it wrote the names which he sent to Lafayette.
+These words also were written on the paper:
+
+"If you read this with as much care as did your friend at Magdeburg,
+you will receive equal satisfaction."
+
+The reference was to a prisoner at Magdeburg who received a book which
+contained messages written on the flyleaves in lemon juice. He held
+the book to the fire and by doing this the written words came out in
+brown lines and could be read. Lafayette took the hint, and discovered
+the message written with this invisible ink on the bit of paper. After
+this Bollman was allowed to lend Lafayette a book to read. It came
+back with lemon-juice messages on its margins. Lafayette wrote that he
+was sometimes allowed to drive, and as he was unknown to Bollman, he
+suggested a signal by which he could be recognized. He said that his
+lieutenant was a sheepish dolt, and that his corporal was covetous,
+treacherous, and cowardly. He added that the rides were allowed for
+the sake of his health. It appears that the government did not wish to
+arouse the frenzy of indignation that would follow if Lafayette were
+allowed to die in prison, so he was occasionally taken out to ride a
+league or even two from the fortress gate. If a rescuer and a trusty
+helper should appear, they could surely effect the escape. Lafayette
+would agree to frighten the cowardly little corporal himself; they
+need not provide a sword for him, for he would take the corporal's. An
+extra horse, one or two horses along the road--it could easily be
+done. It was a bold plan, but the bolder the plan, the more unexpected
+it was, and the better chance of success. Every day he would watch for
+them along the road.
+
+After securing this definite information, the doctor retired to Vienna
+to make further plans.
+
+This account may be in some respects the later elaboration of a story
+many times retold. But it sounds probable. At any rate, in some such
+way Dr. Bollman gained communication with Lafayette's cell, and
+brought the welcome news that friends were working for him. Then they
+projected a plan.
+
+The story is again taken up in a coffeehouse in Vienna where Bollman
+is accustomed to go. Lafayette has suggested an assistant, and Bollman
+realizes that he can do nothing without one. Therefore he is looking
+about to find one who shall have spirit and fitness for the work. We
+see him now at the supper table, eagerly conversing with a certain
+young American, like himself a medical student on his travels.
+Curiously enough, it is Francis Kinloch Huger, now twenty-one years
+old. They talk of America. Bollman, with elaborate inadvertence,
+touches on the personality of Lafayette. The young man relates his
+childish memory of the arrival of that enthusiastic youth when he
+first came ashore at his father's South Carolina country place.
+Bollman tests Huger in various ways and makes up his mind that this is
+the best possible person to help him. He broaches the subject. Young
+Huger is only too ready--this very enterprise has been his dearest
+thought and his dream. The danger does not daunt him. "He did not let
+the grass grow under his feet," said his daughter years later, "but
+accepted at once."
+
+It was not, however, purely romantic sentiment with him; he did not
+accede on the impulse of a moment. "I felt it to be my duty to give him
+all the aid in my power," said Colonel Huger to Josiah Quincy many years
+later. And though he may not have been conscious of it at the time,
+there was still another reason, for he admitted, long afterwards, "I
+simply considered myself the representative of the young men of America
+and acted accordingly."
+
+The story may here be taken up almost in the words of Colonel Huger's
+daughter who wrote it down exactly as her father related it.
+
+    [Illustration: FRANCIS KINLOCH HUGER.
+    This bas-relief, by the sculptor R. Tait McKenzie, shows the
+    brave young American who, with Dr. Bollman, attempted to
+    rescue Lafayette from the great fortress of Olmuetz.]
+
+In October, 1794, they set out from Vienna in a light traveling carriage
+and with two riding horses, one of them being strong enough to carry two
+persons if necessary. They intended to appear in the characters of a
+young Englishman and his traveling tutor, and they were provided with
+passes for the long journey. With assumed carelessness they proceeded
+toward Olmuetz. The gentlemen were generally riding, while their servants
+and the baggage were in the carriage. They went to the same inn where
+Dr. Bollman had stayed on his former visit. Here they remained two days,
+while they secretly sent a note to Lafayette and received his answer.
+They paid their bill at the inn, sent their carriage on ahead to a
+village called Hoff, and directed their servants to await them there.
+
+Now Bollman and Huger are riding leisurely along the level plain that
+surrounds the fortress. The huge, dark prison looms in the distance.
+Every portion of the wide plain is visible to the sentinels at the
+gates, and within reach of the cannon on the walls. It is market day
+and many persons are passing back and forth. The two foreign travelers
+look in every direction for the carriage which may bring Lafayette.
+Both are eager for his coming.
+
+At last they notice a small phaeton being driven slowly along. In the
+carriage they see a prisoner in a blue greatcoat with an officer
+beside him and an armed soldier riding behind. They spur on, and, as
+they pass, the prisoner gives the sign agreed upon. He raises his hat
+and wipes his forehead. The feelings excited by the assurance that
+this was indeed Lafayette, Huger never to his dying day forgot. The
+riders look as indifferent as possible, bow slightly, and pass on.
+
+The phaeton stops at the side of the road and Lafayette alights. He
+draws the officer toward a footpath that runs along the highroad at
+that point, and appears to be leaning on the officer as if scarcely
+able to walk.
+
+"This must be the time," cries Bollman.
+
+"He signs to us," says Huger in great excitement.
+
+The two young men put spurs to their horses and dash up together. As
+they approach, Lafayette seizes the officer's sword. A struggle
+follows. Bollman leaps from his horse and throws the bridle to Huger.
+But the flash of the drawn sword has frightened the horse; he dashes
+aside and gallops away. Huger dismounts, passes his arm through his
+bridle, and he and Bollman seize the soldier and tear his hands from
+Lafayette's throat. The soldier runs toward the town, shouting and
+waving his cap to call the attention of the sentinels.
+
+What was to be done? They had now but one horse. The alarm had been
+given. Not a minute could be lost.
+
+Huger gave his horse to Lafayette and told him hurriedly to go to
+Hoff, the rendezvous agreed upon. Lafayette mounted the horse and
+started out. But he could not bear to leave his two rescuers in such a
+plight, so he came back to ask if he could not do something for them.
+
+"No, no!" they cried. "Go to Hoff! Go to Hoff!" they repeated. "We
+will follow."
+
+Now if they had said this in French, if they had said "Allez a Hoff,"
+Lafayette would have understood the direction. But not knowing the
+name of this near-by village, he misunderstood. He thought the English
+words meant only "Go off!" A fatal misunderstanding!
+
+Huger and Bollman soon released their officer and both mounted the
+remaining horse. He was not used to "carrying double." The insulted
+creature set his feet in a ditch and threw them both. Bollman was
+stunned. Huger lifted him up and then started off to recover the
+horse. On the way he was thinking what course he should take in this
+critical and dangerous juncture.
+
+When he came back he had decided. He said that Bollman should take the
+horse and follow Lafayette, for Bollman knew German and could give
+more help than he could. Alarm guns were beginning to be fired from
+the battlements, and trains of soldiers were seen issuing from the
+gates; but these portentous signs did not influence him. Bollman was
+persuaded; he mounted, put spurs to his horse, and was soon out of
+sight. Young America stood alone on this wide, dangerous plain; the
+shadow of that ominous fortress fell gloomily on its border. The
+guards came down. Between two rows of fixed bayonets Huger passed into
+the fortress.
+
+The bold plan was doomed to complete failure! Lafayette rode twenty
+miles; but the blood on his greatcoat awakened suspicion; he was
+arrested and carried back to Olmuetz where a heavier and gloomier
+imprisonment awaited him.
+
+The same fate awaited Bollman; but Lafayette's despair was the deeper
+because he feared that his brave rescuers had been executed for their
+gallant attempt in his behalf.
+
+The imprisonment accorded to the intrepid young American was as vile
+and cruel as any devised in the Dark Ages. He was put in a cell almost
+underground, with but one small slit near the top to let in a little
+light. A low bench and some straw formed the furnishings, while two
+chains linked him at ankle and wrist to the ceiling. To make things a
+trifle more cheerful for him, they showed him a prisoner in a cell
+which was only a walled hole in the ground! The prisoner had been
+there for many years and his name and residence were now utterly
+forgotten. The jailers also exhibited their expert method of swift
+decapitation and acted out the method with a large two-bladed sword.
+Daily questionings of a cruel kind were used in order to force him to
+confess the truth--or rather what they wished to believe was the
+truth--that he had been the agent of a widespread plot. He stated that
+it was no man's plot but his own. They threatened torture, but he did
+not flinch or change his statement.
+
+At last the officers were convinced that there had been no concerted
+plot. They then softened the rigors of Huger's imprisonment, gave him
+a cell with a window where a star could sometimes be seen, and
+lengthened his chains so that he could take as many as three whole
+steps. After a time he managed to get into communication with Bollman
+who was in the room above. With a knotted handkerchief Bollman lowered
+a little ink in a walnut shell from his window, together with a scrap
+of dingy paper. Huger then wrote a letter of a few lines only to
+General Thomas Pinckney, then American Minister at London. His
+entreaty was to let his mother know that he was still alive; also to
+let Lafayette's friends know that he would certainly have escaped but
+that he had been recognized as an Olmuetz prisoner in a small town
+where he changed his horse; and that he had already mounted a fresh
+one when stopped. Huger's letter ended with the words, "Don't forget
+us. F.K.H. Olmuetz, Jan. 5th, 1795." By bribery and cajolery they
+started this letter off.
+
+Suffice it to say at present that, through the intervention of General
+Pinckney, the two young men were finally released and made their way
+swiftly out of the country. It was well that they hurried, for the
+emperor decided they had been released too soon and sent an edict for
+their rearrest. They had, however, by that time crossed the line and
+were out of his domain.
+
+After a short stay in London, Huger started for America. The passengers
+on his ship discussed the story of Lafayette's attempted rescue through
+the entire six weeks of the voyage, and they never dreamed that their
+quiet young fellow-passenger was one of the rescuers until he received
+an ovation on landing. This is related by the only member of the Huger
+family living to-day (1916) who heard the story of the attempted rescue
+from the lips of "Colonel Frank" himself, as the family affectionately
+call him. She says that Colonel Frank was the most silent of men. He was
+the kind that _do_ more than they _talk_.
+
+When Huger reached Philadelphia, he called at once on President
+Washington and told him of the effort he had made. The President said
+that he had followed the whole course of events with the greatest
+solicitude and had wished that it might have met with the success it
+deserved.
+
+In time Colonel Huger married the second daughter of General Thomas
+Pinckney who had effected his release from Olmuetz and under whom he
+fought in the war of 1812; he had eleven children and made his home on
+a large estate in the highlands of South Carolina. When Congress
+presented Lafayette with an extensive section of land, he asked Huger
+to share it with him. Colonel Huger thanked him for the generous
+offer, but sturdily announced that he himself was able to provide for
+his daughters and that his sons should look out for themselves. His
+faith in his sons was justified, for they made good their father's
+opinion of their ability. Among his children and grandchildren were
+many who not only amassed goodly fortunes but held honored positions
+in public and military affairs.
+
+When Lafayette made his memorable visit to America in 1824, he said
+that the one man in the country whom he most wished to see was the one
+who when a youth had attempted to rescue him from Olmuetz. Colonel
+Huger had a corresponding desire to see Lafayette. On the General's
+arrival he started north at once, reached New York, and sought out the
+lodgings of Lafayette early in the morning, in order that their first
+meeting might be entirely without interruption. No account of that
+meeting has ever been made public, but the rescuer and his champion
+were together most of the time during that patriotic journey. Josiah
+Quincy once had the privilege of driving Colonel Huger in his coach
+through the suburbs of Boston and of calling with him upon many
+distinguished personages. Huger charmed and delighted every one.
+Josiah Quincy said that he had that "charm of a high-bred southerner
+which wrought with such peculiar fascination upon those inheriting
+Puritan blood." Besides his attractive personality, there was the
+romantic association with the attempted rescue. Scott's novels were
+then in the full blossom of popularity; but there was no hero in all
+those brave tales whose adventures appeared more chivalrous and
+thrilling.
+
+To be sure, the effort at rescue had resulted in failure. Lafayette
+remained in prison. But it was known where he was, and, what was
+better, word had been conveyed to him that he was not forgotten. Yet
+the conditions of his imprisonment were now more severe than before,
+and his mind must have suffered intensely from being thrown back upon
+itself after that one hour's prospect of liberty.
+
+On the way from Wesel to Magdeburg Lafayette had had a moment's
+conversation with a stranger who told him something of what was
+happening in Paris, and of the lawlessness and carnage of the Reign of
+Terror. Lafayette saw to what lengths an unregulated mob might go,
+even when originally inspired by a noble passion for liberty. He heard
+of the death of Louis XVI, and called it an assassination. He realized
+that these things were being done in France by the people in whom he
+had so blindly, so persistently, believed. He was deeply disappointed.
+Yet he did not quite lose faith. The cause of the people was still
+sacred to him; they might destroy for him whatever charm there had
+been in what he called the "delicious sensation of the smile of the
+multitude"; but his belief in the ultimate outcome for democratic
+government, as the best form of government for the whole world,
+remained unchanged.
+
+And in the prison at Olmuetz he celebrated our great holiday, the
+Fourth of July, as usual.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+A WELCOME RELEASE
+
+
+More than a year had passed after the attempt at rescue when one day
+Lafayette heard the big keys turning in the several locks, one after
+another, that barred his cell, and in a moment his wife and two
+daughters stood before his amazed eyes! Could this be true, or was it
+a vision?
+
+It will be remembered that shortly after Lafayette's arrest he had
+heard that Madame de Lafayette was imprisoned and was in danger of
+perishing on the scaffold. A year later the news was smuggled to him
+that she was still alive. But what had been happening to her and to
+his three children during all these dismal years?
+
+Through the instrumentality of James Monroe, the ambassador to France
+from the United States,--the only foreign power that in the days of
+the French Revolution would send its representative,--Madame de
+Lafayette was liberated from an imprisonment that tried her soul, even
+as Olmuetz had proved and tested the spirit of her husband. Through
+all those tragic months Adrienne showed herself a woman of high and
+unswerving courage.
+
+Now, indeed, was the American citizenship of her husband--and it had
+included his family also--of value to her. Madame de Lafayette's first
+letter to Mr. Monroe shows this. This dignified letter is preserved in
+the manuscript department of the New York Public Library and is here
+printed for the first time:
+
+"Having learned that a minister of the United States has recently
+arrived in France, who has been sent by his government and invested
+with powers representing a people in whose interests I have some
+rights that are dear to my heart, I have felt that such misfortunes as
+I have not already suffered were no longer to be feared for me, that
+the most unjust of captivities was about to be at an end, and that my
+sufferings accompanied by irreproachable conduct towards the
+principles and towards the laws of my country, cause me to have
+confidence in the name of this protecting nation at a moment when the
+voice of justice is once more heard, and when the National Convention
+is undertaking to deliver such patriots as have been unjustly
+imprisoned. I have begun to hope that the wishes of my heart shall be
+fulfilled--that I may be returned to my children. For ten months I
+have been taken away from them. From the very moment of their birth
+they have heard that they have a second country, and they have the
+right to hope that they will be protected by it."
+
+Through the official authority of Mr. Monroe, Madame de Lafayette was
+given money and passports. When Washington first heard of her plight,
+he sent her a reverent letter inclosing a thousand dollars, and he was
+unceasing in his correspondence with representatives in France and
+England for herself as well as for Lafayette. She sent her son, George
+Washington de Lafayette, to his illustrious namesake in America, and
+as "Madame Motier, of Hartford, Connecticut," she, with her two young
+daughters, made her way to Hamburg where, instead of taking ship for
+America, she took carriage across the wide spaces of Germany and
+Austria. Here she gained an audience with the emperor, and bowing at
+his feet asked permission to go to the fortress of Olmuetz and stay
+with her husband until he was set free.
+
+"Your request is granted," he said; "but as for Lafayette--I cannot
+free him; my hands are tied." Exactly what it was that had "tied the
+hands" of the great potentate has never been revealed.
+
+Her petition being granted, Madame de Lafayette continued her journey.
+Two days more and she and her daughters were with her husband.
+
+The day of their meeting was spent in trying to bear the joy of the
+reunion. Not until the daughters were sent to their cell did she tell
+Lafayette of the sad things that had happened. Her mother, her
+grandmother, and her sister had, with many friends and relatives, been
+led to the scaffold. These and many other facts of tragic interest to
+the man so long deprived of any word from outside his prison were
+shared with Lafayette.
+
+It may go without saying that Lafayette's prison days were now far
+easier to bear, except that to see Madame de Lafayette grow more and
+more broken in health as days went on, in their close, unlighted, and
+malodorous cells, must have caused an added sorrow. After a time she
+was obliged to ask the emperor to allow her to go to Vienna for
+medical attendance. He granted the request, but with the proviso that
+she should never return. Then she decided to remain with her husband,
+even at the risk of her life.
+
+Shall the miseries of their prison life be dwelt upon? Their jailers
+were the coarsest of human beings. They surpassed in brutality the
+slave drivers of Constantinople. The food, which the family bought
+for themselves, was coarse and miserably cooked. Tobacco floated in
+the coffee. Lafayette's clothes were in tatters. When his shoes had
+been soled fifteen times and resented the indignity any further, his
+daughter Anastasie took it upon herself to make shoes for him out of
+an old coat.
+
+Lafayette's dingy cell was, however, now brightened by companionship
+and by inspiring conversation. Even work was going on, for Madame de
+Lafayette prepared a life of her mother while she was at Olmuetz. It
+was written with a toothpick and a little lampblack on the margins of
+a copy of Buffon which she succeeded in obtaining. One of the
+daughters amused the family by making pencil sketches; one of the
+burly old turnkey, with his sword, candle, and keys, and his hair in a
+comical queue behind, amused the family very much and was carried with
+them when they left their dismal abode.
+
+Before the desolate prison of Olmuetz fades from our view, let one
+laurel wreath be placed upon the head of young Felix Pontonnier,
+sixteen years old when he became the servant of Lafayette, whom he
+faithfully followed into prison. He was with Lafayette when he was
+arrested and was bidden to look after his master's belongings; so he
+was separated from him for several days. This gave him an excellent
+opportunity to escape, but he refused to take advantage of it. Of his
+own accord he joined Lafayette once more, and during the whole long
+season of his captivity he gave ample proof of his devotion. He
+possessed a rare inventive genius and was constantly on the alert to
+devise means for making the prisoners comfortable and to find out ways
+for carrying on secret correspondence. He invented a special language
+known only to himself and to the prisoners, and also a unique
+gesture-language. He whistled notes like a captive bird; with varied
+modulations he conveyed to the prisoners whatever news he could ferret
+out. Prison life proved to be bad for him, and his health was several
+times endangered. For a fancied offense he was once confined in total
+darkness for three months. But none of his sufferings dashed his gay
+spirits. He was constantly sustained by a buoyant cheer, and his
+wonderful devotion should win him a place among heroes. After the five
+years of captivity were over, Lafayette made Felix the manager of his
+farm at La Grange. He filled this position with success and probity.
+
+It was through the fiat of Napoleon Bonaparte that the removal of
+Lafayette from Olmuetz was made possible. Bonaparte was influenced by a
+long-sighted policy; he desired to win to himself the man of so unique
+a personality. He was also spurred on by various writers and
+diplomats, by representatives of the French Directory, and by
+Brigadier General Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke, who was for a time
+governor of Vienna and who won the title of "the incorruptible" from
+Napoleon. President Washington's dignified and effective letter to the
+Emperor of Austria is believed to have left its mark; and in a
+thousand ways public opinion had awakened to the ignominy of leaving
+such a man as Lafayette in prison. Lafayette disliked to be indebted
+to anybody but himself for an escape from his dungeon; but he
+willingly admitted that he owed much to his devoted wife whose many
+letters imploring help for her husband were among the causes that
+unlocked the double-barred doors of Olmuetz.
+
+When finally released, Lafayette was taken in a carriage from Olmuetz
+to Dresden, thence by way of Dresden, Leipzig, and Halle to Hamburg,
+where the American consul received him. So wearied was Madame de
+Lafayette that she made the journey with the greatest difficulty, and
+a voyage to America at that time was out of the question. The family,
+therefore, took refuge in an obscure town in Holland, since there was
+no other European country where the monarchy would be safe if it
+conferred the right of residence upon any man who bore the name of
+Lafayette.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+A TRIUMPHAL TOUR
+
+
+For some years events did not shape themselves so that Lafayette could
+return to Paris. That he, in 1799, was considering the possibility of
+a voyage to America is shown by a letter written in that year to his
+"deliverer," Francis Kinloch Huger, which his descendant of the same
+name has kindly allowed to be printed here. It was sent from Vianen in
+Holland, and introduces his fellow-prisoner, M. Bureaux-de-Pusy, who
+was seeking a home in the United States.
+
+                                       VIANEN, 17th April, 1799.
+    MY DEAR HUGER:
+
+    Here is one of my companions in captivity, Bureaux Pusy,
+    an Olmuetz prisoner, and at these sounds my heart vibrates
+    with the sentiments of love, gratitude, admiration, which
+    forever bind and devote me to you! How I envy the
+    happiness he is going to enjoy! How I long, my dear and
+    noble friend, to fold you in my arms! Pusy will relate to
+    you the circumstances which hitherto have kept me on this
+    side of the Atlantic--even now the illness of my wife,
+    and the necessity of her having been a few weeks in France
+    before I set out, prevent me from embarking with Pusy and
+    his amiable family. But in the course of the summer I
+    shall look over to you and with inexpressible delight I
+    shall be welcomed by my beloved deliverer. No answer from
+    you has yet come to me. We are expecting every day my
+    friend McHenry's nephew--perhaps I may be blessed with a
+    letter from you!
+
+    I need not recommend to you Bureaux Pusy. The conspicuous
+    and honorable part he has acted in the French Revolution,
+    his sufferings during our imprisonment--you but too well
+    know what it is--are sufficient introductions to your
+    great and good heart. He is one of the most accomplished
+    men that can do honour to the country where he is born,
+    and to the country where he wishes to become a citizen. He
+    is my excellent friend. Every service, every mark of
+    affection he can receive from you and your friends, I am
+    happily authorized to depend upon.
+
+    My son is gone to Paris. My wife and my two daughters, who
+    love you as a brother, present you with the sincere,
+    grateful expressions of their friendship. The last word
+    George told me at his setting out was not to forget him in
+    my letter to you. He will accompany me to America.
+
+    Adieu, my dear Huger, I shall to the last moment of my
+    life be wholly
+
+                                           Yours,
+                                              LAFAYETTE.
+
+The wish to revisit the land of his adoption was strong, but many
+years were to pass before it could be carried out. He was forty years
+old when he was liberated from Olmuetz, and he was sixty-seven when he
+paid his last visit to our shores.
+
+He little dreamed of the reception he was to find, for the whole
+American people were waiting to greet, with heart and soul, the man who,
+in his youth, had taken so noble a part in their struggle for freedom.
+He reached New York on the 16th of August, 1824. He came with modest
+expectation of some honorable attentions--nothing more. On the _Cadmus_
+he asked a fellow-traveler about the cost of stopping at American hotels
+and of traveling in steamboats and by stage; of this his secretary, M.
+Levasseur, made exact note. He came to visit the interesting scenes of
+his youth and to enjoy a reunion with a few surviving friends and
+compatriots. Instead, he found a whole country arising with one vast
+impulse to do him honor. It was not mere formality; it was a burst of
+whole-souled welcome from an entire nation. So astonished was he, so
+overcome, to find a great demonstration awaiting him, where he had
+expected to land quietly and to engage private lodgings, that his eyes
+overflowed with tears.
+
+The harbor of New York was entered on a Sunday. He was asked to accept
+a sumptuous entertainment on Staten Island till Monday, when he could
+be received by the city with more honor. On that day citizens and
+officers, together with old Revolutionary veterans, attended him. Amid
+the shouting of two hundred thousand voices he reached the Battery.
+The band played "See the Conquering Hero Comes," the "Marseillaise,"
+and "Hail, Columbia." Lafayette had never dreamed of such a reception
+or of such sweeps of applause. The simple-hearted loyalty of the
+American people had a chance to show itself, and their enthusiasm knew
+no bounds. Lafayette's face beamed with joy. Four white horses bore
+him to the City Hall, while his son, George Washington Lafayette, his
+secretary, M. Levasseur (who wrote an account of the whole journey of
+1824), and the official committee followed in carriages. The mayor
+addressed the city's guest; and Lafayette's reply was the first of
+many hundred appropriate and graceful speeches made by him during the
+journey. There were many ceremonies; school children threw garlands of
+flowers in his way; corner stones were laid by him; squares were
+renamed for "General Lafayette" (as he assured everybody he preferred
+to be called by that title), and societies made him and his son
+honorary members for life.
+
+Hundreds of invitations to visit different cities poured in. The whole
+country must be traveled over to satisfy the eagerness of a grateful
+nation. Are republics ungrateful? That can never be said of our own
+republic after Lafayette's visit to the United States in 1824.
+
+He set out for Boston by way of New Haven, New London, and Providence.
+All along the way the farmers ran out from the fields, shouting
+welcomes to the cavalcade, and children stood by the roadside decked
+with ribbons on which the picture of Lafayette was printed. Always a
+barouche with four white horses was provided to carry him from point
+to point. It was not a bit of vanity on the part of Lafayette that he
+was ever seen behind these steeds of snowy white. President Washington
+had set the fashion. His fine carriage-horses he caused to be covered
+with a white paste on Saturday nights and the next morning to be
+smoothed down till they shone like silver. It was a wonderful sight
+when that majestic man was driven to church--the prancing horses, the
+outriders, and all. And when Lafayette came, nothing was too good for
+him! The towns sent out the whitest horses harnessed to the best
+coaches procurable,--cream color, canary color, or claret color,--for
+the hero to be brought into town or sped upon his way departing.
+Returning to New York by way of the Connecticut River and the Sound,
+he found again a series of dinners and toasts, as well as a ball held
+in Castle Garden, the like of which, in splendor and display, had
+never before been thought of in this New World.
+
+Lafayette left the festivity before it was ever in order to take the
+boat, at two in the morning, to go up the Hudson River. He arose at
+six to show his son and his secretary the place where Andre was
+captured. As soon as the fog lifted, he described, in the most
+enthusiastic manner, the Revolutionary events which he had seen.
+
+At West Point there was a grand banquet. One of the speakers alluded
+to the fact that at Valley Forge, when the soldiers were going
+barefooted, Lafayette provided them with shoes from his own resources,
+and then proposed this toast:
+
+"To the noble Frenchman who placed the Army of the Revolution on a new
+and better footing!"
+
+At the review of the cadets, Generals Scott and Brown, in full
+uniform, with tall plumes in their hats, stood by General Lafayette.
+The three, each towering nearly six feet in height, made a magnificent
+tableau, declares one record of the day.
+
+Returning from the Hudson River excursion, the party went southward,
+visiting Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. With ceremonies of
+great dignity Congress received Lafayette, and later voted him a
+present of two hundred thousand dollars, together with a whole
+township anywhere he might choose in the unappropriated lands of the
+country.
+
+Among other places visited was Yorktown, where the party attended a
+brilliant celebration. The marks of battle were still to be seen on
+many houses, and broken shells and various implements of war were
+found scattered about. An arch had been built where Lafayette stormed
+the redoubt, and on it were inscribed the names of Lafayette,
+Hamilton, and Laurens. Some British candles were discovered in the
+corner of a cellar, and these were burned to the sockets while the old
+soldiers told tales of the surrender of Yorktown.
+
+The party visited other places connected with the campaign in
+Virginia. Lafayette called on ex-President Jefferson at Monticello,
+his stately home near Charlottesville, Virginia, and was conducted by
+Jefferson to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
+
+Charleston was the next stopping-place; this was the home of the Huger
+family. Here were more combinations of "Yankee Doodle" and the
+"Marseillaise," more laying of corner stones, more deputations, more
+dinners, more public balls. It is not difficult to understand how it
+happened that, in the last half of the nineteenth century, there were
+so many old ladies living who could boast of having danced with
+Lafayette in their youth.
+
+Proceeding on their way by boat and carriage, the company came to
+Savannah, and thence moved across Georgia and Alabama, down the river to
+the Gulf of Mexico, along the shore to the mouth of the Mississippi, and
+up the "grand riviere" to St. Louis. "Vive Lafayette" was the universal
+cry all the way.
+
+All the cities vied with each other in doing honor to the nation's
+guest. At Pittsburg, for instance, a bedroom was prepared for the
+distinguished visitor in a hall that had been a Masonic lodge room. The
+ceiling was arched, and the sun, moon, and stars were painted upon it.
+The bed prepared for Lafayette was a vast "four-poster" of mahogany, on
+whose posts were inscribed the names of Revolutionary heroes. Above the
+canopy a large gilt eagle spread its wings and waved a streamer on which
+were written the names of Washington and Lafayette. In this city, as
+everywhere, Lafayette was shown everything notable, including all the
+foundries and factories.
+
+As usual, the hero left the city in a coach shining with the freshest
+paint, and drawn by four white steeds.
+
+    [Illustration: A CARRIAGE IN WHICH LAFAYETTE RODE.
+    This interesting relic is now in Cooperstown, New York.
+    The picture shows it being used in a present-day pageant,
+    filled with boys and girls in colonial costumes. (See page 187.)]
+
+At Buffalo, after a visit to Niagara, they embarked on the newly-built
+Erie Canal. Then followed a part of the journey that was much enjoyed
+by Lafayette--the beautiful country of central New York. He was
+charmed with this bit of travel after the long distances between towns
+in the western region.
+
+Syracuse was the next stopping-place. The carriage in which Lafayette
+traveled into that City of Sixty Hills was kept for many decades as a
+precious treasure. Not many years ago it was in a barn back of one of
+the houses on James Street in that city. Now, however, after wandering
+from place to place and taking part in various pageants, it may be
+seen in the celebrated village of Cooperstown, where the young folks,
+when they attire themselves in Revolutionary costume, may ride as
+bride or coachman, as shown in the picture.
+
+Lafayette reached the "Village of Syracuse" at six o'clock in the
+morning. The people had been watching all night for the arrival of the
+illustrious guest and were still watching when the colors of the
+illuminations were melting into those of sunrise. The guest of honor
+had been in his carriage all night and must have been weary, but he
+gayly asserted that the splendid supper that had been prepared the
+night before made an excellent breakfast, and he spent the three
+hours allotted to that "village" in shaking hands with the hundreds of
+people whose desire to see him had kept them waiting all night.
+
+At nine o'clock he bade good-by to his friends of a day and embarked
+upon the packet boat of the canal, while the air resounded with good
+wishes for his voyage. Through Rome they passed by night in an
+illumination that turned darkness into daylight, and at every place
+they received deputations from the city just ahead of the one where
+they were. There were cannon to welcome and cannon to bid farewell. At
+Utica three Oneida chiefs demanded an interview on the score of having
+been Lafayette's helpers in 1778. They were very old but still
+remarkably energetic. Lafayette begged them to accept certain gifts of
+silver, and they went away happy.
+
+The traveling was now hastened in order that General Lafayette might
+reach Boston by the Fourth of July, 1825, and take part in laying the
+corner stone of Bunker Hill Monument. This event in our national
+history has been described by Josiah Quincy in his "Figures of the
+Past" and by many others. It was a great national celebration, and a
+general meeting of Revolutionary comrades, one of whom wore the same
+coat he had worn at the battle of Bunker Hill, almost half a century
+before, and could point to nine bullet-holes in its texture. Daniel
+Webster delivered his grand oration. All Boston was on the alert.
+There were a thousand tents on the Common, and a dinner to which
+twelve hundred persons sat down. General Lafayette gave a reception to
+the ladies of the city. Then there was a ball--with the usual honor
+bestowed. Everybody was proud and happy to have General Lafayette as a
+national guest on that great day.
+
+One more incident must be related. In July of 1825 the people of
+Brooklyn were erecting an Apprentices' Free Library Building at the
+corner of Cranberry and Henry streets, later incorporated in the
+Brooklyn Institute, and they wished Lafayette to assist in laying the
+corner stone. He was brought to Brooklyn in great state, riding in a
+canary-colored coach drawn by four snow-white horses. The streets were
+crammed with people. Among them were many citizens and their wives, some
+old Revolutionary veterans, troops of Brooklyn children, and a number of
+negroes who had been freed by the recent New York Emancipation Acts.
+
+Through the closely packed masses of people the carriage of the noble
+Frenchman was slowly driven, the antics of the impatient horses
+attracting the attention of the small boy as much as the illustrious
+visitor himself. As they came near the stand where the ceremony was to
+take place, Lafayette saw that various gentlemen were carefully
+lifting some little children over the rough places where soil from
+excavations and piles of cut stone had been heaped, and were helping
+them to safe places where they could see and hear. He at once alighted
+from the carriage and came forward to assist in this work.
+
+Without suspecting it in the least, he was making another historic
+minute; for one of the boys he was thus to lift over a hard spot was a
+five-year-old child who afterwards became known to the world as Walt
+Whitman. Lafayette pressed the boy to his heart as he passed him along
+and affectionately kissed his cheek. Thus a champion of liberty from
+the Old World and one from the New were linked in this little act of
+helpfulness. When he was an old man, Whitman still treasured the
+reminiscence as one of indescribable preciousness.
+
+"I remember Lafayette's looks quite well," he said; "tall, brown, not
+handsome in the face, but of fine figure, and the pattern of
+good-nature, health, manliness, and human attraction."
+
+Through nearly all of this long and exciting journey, Lafayette was
+accompanied by Colonel Francis Kinloch Huger, by his secretary, and by
+his son, George Washington Lafayette, then a man full grown. The
+latter was almost overcome by the warmth of his father's reception.
+Writing to a friend at home, after having been in America but twenty
+days, he said:
+
+"Ever since we have been here my father has been the hero, and we the
+spectators, of the most imposing, beautiful, and affecting sights; the
+most majestic population in the world welcoming a man with common
+accord and conducting him in triumph throughout a journey of two
+hundred leagues. Women wept with joy on seeing him, and children
+risked being crushed to get near to a man whom their fathers kept
+pointing out to them as one of those who contributed the most in
+procuring them their happiness and independence. This is what it has
+been reserved to us to see. I am knocked off my feet--excuse the
+expression--by the emotions of all kinds that I experience."
+
+Lafayette has been accused of being a spoiled hero. In a moment of
+asperity Jefferson had alluded to Lafayette's love of approbation. If,
+indeed, Lafayette did yield to that always imminent human frailty, and
+if Olmuetz had not been able to eradicate or subdue it, the itinerary
+of 1824 must have been to him a period of torture. He must have
+suffered from satiety to an unbearable degree, for praise and
+admiration were poured out by a grateful people to an extent not
+easily imagined. To keep up a fiction is the most wearying thing in
+the world. The only refreshing and vivifying thing is to be absolutely
+sincere. This it must be believed Lafayette was. His simple attitude
+toward the land of his adoption was shown in a letter to President
+Monroe in which he bade farewell to a nation where "in every man,
+woman, and child of a population of twelve million I have found a
+loving, indeed an enthusiastic, friend."
+
+It did as much good to the American people as it did to Lafayette to
+take part in this great tide of gratitude and devotion. A vast,
+swelling emotion is unifying and it is strengthening. Our people made
+a great stride toward nationalization when Lafayette came to let us,
+as a people, throw our heart at his feet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+LAST DAYS OF LAFAYETTE
+
+
+Mingled with the joys of Lafayette's visit to the United States in
+1824 there was one profound sorrow; he no longer saw here the great
+man to whom he had given such whole-hearted devotion. President
+Washington died in 1799; and one of the most affecting moments of all
+the journey of 1824 was when General Lafayette and his son, George
+Washington Lafayette, stood together by the tomb of the man whom both
+regarded as a father.
+
+On the centennial anniversary of the birth of Washington, in 1832, the
+27th Regiment State Artillery of New York sent Lafayette a magnificent
+commemorative medal. In acknowledgment of this gift Lafayette wrote to
+the Committee, calling the gift "a new testimony of that persevering
+affection which has been, during nearly sixty years, the pride and
+delight of my life to be the happy object. The only merit on my part
+which it does not exceed is to be found in the warmth of my gratitude
+and the patriotic devotion that binds to the United States the loving
+heart of an adopted son. The honor was enhanced by the occasion--the
+birthday of the matchless Washington, of whom it is the most gratifying
+circumstance to have been the beloved and faithful disciple."
+
+This attitude Lafayette never failed to hold. The relation between the
+two men was from beginning to end honorable to both in the highest
+degree. It was one of the great friendships of history.
+
+In one respect the private tastes of Washington and Lafayette were
+similar; both dearly loved a farm. No one can visit Mount Vernon
+without feeling the presence there of a lover of growing things. From
+this productive place fine hams and bacon were forwarded to Lafayette
+and his family in France and were there eaten with the keenest relish.
+Fine birds were also sent--ducks, pheasants, and red partridges. In
+return Lafayette dispatched by request some special breeds of wolf
+hounds and a pair of jackasses; also, strange trees and plants,
+together with varied gifts such as Paris only could devise. The
+visitor to Mount Vernon finds in the family dining room Lafayette's
+ornamental clock and rose jars, and his mahogany chair in Mrs.
+Washington's sitting room. The key to the Bastille, which he sent in
+1789, is shown under a glass cover on the wall by the staircase in the
+entrance hall, and a model of that ancient fortress of tyranny, made
+from a block of stone from the renowned French prison, sent over in
+1793, stands in happy irony in the banquet hall. A bedchamber on the
+second floor is pointed out as the room in which Lafayette slept. It
+still bears his name.
+
+After Lafayette returned to France, he lived for years in semi-exile on
+an estate known as La Grange, that Madame de Lafayette had inherited. It
+lay about forty miles east of Paris, in a beautiful country covered with
+peach orchards and vineyards. At the time it was, from an agricultural
+point of view, in a sadly neglected condition; and it was not by any
+means the least of the achievements of Lafayette that he turned his hand
+cleverly to the great task of developing this estate into a really
+productive farm, and succeeded. Beginning with a single plow--for he was
+too poor at first to buy numerous appliances--he gradually developed the
+estate into a valuable property. After a time he supplied himself with
+fine breeds of cattle, sheep, and pigs; indeed, specimens of various
+kinds from all zones of the earth were sent him by his friends the
+American shipmasters, who, it must be remembered, appreciated the
+ardent efforts he had made to establish American commerce. To
+Washington, who was a good farmer as well as a good President, every
+detail of these labors would have been interesting if he had been
+living.
+
+In patriarchal happiness Lafayette carried on the estate of eight
+hundred French acres, with all its industries, in a perfect system. In
+a fine old mansion built in the days of Louis IX, Lafayette lived with
+his two daughters and their families under an efficient household
+system. Sometimes twelve cousins, brothers and sisters, would be there
+together. The combined family formed a perfect little academy of its
+own; and just to live at La Grange was an education in itself. The
+walls were covered with pictures and memorabilia, to know which would
+mean to understand European and American history for a century past. A
+picture of Washington had the place of honor. The Declaration of
+Independence and the Declaration of Rights were hung side by side. A
+miniature of Francis Kinloch Huger in a frame of massive gold was
+among the treasures. Dress swords, gifts of many kinds, symbols of
+honors, and rich historical records decorated the whole house. Even
+the name of the estate, La Grange, was American, for it was so called
+in honor of the Manhattan Island home of his friend Alexander
+Hamilton.
+
+    [Illustration: THE CHILDREN'S STATUE OF LAFAYETTE.
+    This spirited statue, by the sculptor Paul Wayland Bartlett,
+    was a gift to France from five millions of American school
+    children. (See page 201.)]
+
+There was one room in the chateau at La Grange that was more sacred
+than any other; it was the room in which Madame de Lafayette had died.
+This chamber was never entered except on the anniversary of her death,
+and then by her husband alone, who cherished her memory tenderly and
+faithfully as long as he lived.
+
+Many wonderful visitors came to La Grange, and in later years to the
+Paris home of the Lafayettes. There were Irish guests to tell tales of
+romance; there were Poles to plead the cause of their country;
+misguided American Indians were sometimes stranded there; Arabs from
+Algeria; negro officers in uniform from the French West Indies--all
+people who had the passion for freedom in their hearts naturally and
+inevitably gravitated to Lafayette. His house was a modern Babel, for
+all languages of the world were spoken there.
+
+And Americans! So many Americans came along the Rosay Road that little
+boys learned the trick of meeting any foreign-looking persons who
+spoke bad French, and announced themselves as guides of all the
+"Messieurs Americains"; they would capture the portmanteau, swing it
+up to a strong shoulder, and then set out for the chateau at the
+regular jog trot of a well-trained porter.
+
+One of these American guests was the grandson of General Nathanael
+Greene with whom Lafayette had had cordial relations during the
+Virginia campaign. In the year 1828 this grandson visited La Grange
+and wrote an account full of delightful, intimate touches, which was
+printed in the _Atlantic Monthly_ in 1861. Of Lafayette himself he
+said:
+
+"In person he was tall and strongly built, with broad shoulders, large
+limbs, and a general air of strength.... He had more dignity of
+bearing than any man I ever saw. And it was not merely the dignity of
+self-possession, which early familiarity with society and early habits
+of command may give even to an ordinary man, but that elevation of
+manner which springs from an habitual elevation of thought, bearing
+witness to the purity of its source, as a clear eye and ruddy cheek
+bear witness to the purity of the air you daily breathe. In some
+respects he was the mercurial Frenchman to the last day of his life;
+yet his general bearing, that comes oftenest to my memory, was of calm
+earnestness, tempered and mellowed by quick sympathies."
+
+The death of Lafayette, on the 20th of May, 1834, set the bells
+a-tolling in many lands, but in none was the mourning more sincere
+than in our own. Members of Congress were commanded to wear the badge
+of sorrow for thirty days, and thousands of the people joined them in
+this outward expression of the sincere grief of their hearts.
+
+His services to his own country and to ours were many and valuable.
+But his personal example of character, integrity, and constancy was
+even more to us and to the world than his distinct services. What he
+_was_ endeared him to us, even more than the things he did. He gave
+his whole soul in youth to his world-wide dream of freedom--freedom
+under a constitution guaranteeing it, through public order, to every
+human being. He found himself in a world where monarchical government
+seemed the destiny and habit of mankind. He thought it a bad
+habit--one that ought to be broken. Sincerely and passionately
+believing this, he was willing to die in the service of any people who
+were ready to make the struggle against the existing national
+traditions. He made mistakes; he made the mistake of trusting Louis
+Philippe. In doing this he had with him the whole French people. But
+let it be said on the other hand that he did not make the mistake of
+trusting Bonaparte, whose blandishments he resisted during the whole
+passage of that meteor. And he was making no mistake when, to the
+very end of his life, he remained true to his love for the land he had
+aided in his youth. His visions did not all come true in exactly the
+shape he devised, but to the last he retained a glorious confidence
+that they would ultimately be realized in full.
+
+Lafayette was absolutely fearless. He had physical bravery; he was
+equally indomitable in moral and intellectual realms. He had the power
+of courage. He could decide quickly and then stand by the decision to
+the bitter end. The essence of his bold, adventurous youth is
+expressed in the motto he then chose, "Cur non." But the confirmed and
+tried spirit of his full manhood is more truly set forth in another
+motto: "Fais ce que dois, advienne que pourra." "Do what you ought,
+let come what may."
+
+For a man so possessed by a great, world-wide idea, so fearless, so
+constant, it is quite fitting that monuments should be erected and
+that his birthday should be celebrated. Probably there is no man in
+all history who has had so many cities, counties, townships,
+boulevards, arcades, mountains, villages, and hamlets named for him,
+in a country to which he was not native-born, as has the Frenchman
+Lafayette in the United States of America. Also, many notable statues
+of Lafayette stand in city squares and halls of art, both in our
+country and in his own. Among them there is one special statue in
+which the young people of America have a peculiar interest. On the
+19th of October, 1898, five millions of American school children
+contributed to a Lafayette Monument Fund. With this sum a bronze
+statue was made and presented to the French Republic. Mr. Paul Wayland
+Bartlett was the sculptor intrusted with this work. The statue was
+completed in 1908 and placed in a court of the Louvre in Paris. It was
+originally intended that the statue of Bonaparte should occupy the
+center of that beautiful court, but it is the statue of Lafayette that
+stands there--the "Boy" Cornwallis could not catch, the man Napoleon
+could not intimidate. No one can tell us just how Lafayette's statue
+happened to be assigned the place intended for Napoleon's; but however
+it was, the fact is a luminous example of how a man who loved people
+only to master and subjugate them did not reach the heart of the world
+so directly as the man who loved human beings for their own sakes and
+to do them good.
+
+
+Printed in the United States of America.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The following pages contain advertisements of Macmillan books by the
+same author.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+TRUE STORIES OF GREAT AMERICANS
+
+"_Should be read by every boy and girl._"
+
+
+This important new series of brief and vivid biographies will give to
+the young mind an intimate picture of the greatest Americans who have
+helped to make American history. In each instance the author has been
+chosen either because he is particularly interested in the subject of
+the biography, or is connected with him by blood ties and possessed,
+therefore, of valuable facts. Only those, however, who have shown that
+they have an appreciation of what makes really good juvenile
+literature have been entrusted with a volume. In each case they have
+written with a child's point of view in mind, those events being
+emphasized which are calculated to appeal to the younger reader,
+making a full and well-balanced narrative, yet always authentic.
+
+"Most admirable in their construction and purpose. The volumes are
+interesting and attractive in appearance, graphic in style, and
+wonderfully inspiring in subject matter, reaching an enviable mark in
+juvenile literature."--_Philadelphia Public Ledger_.
+
+"Far away from the 'dry as dust' type of biography."--_San Francisco
+Bulletin._
+
+"Simply and attractively told.... Especially interesting to
+children."--_Christian Advocate._
+
+"An excellent series."--_New York Sun._
+
+See the following pages for descriptions of the individual books of
+this series.
+
+
+_The Lives of National Heroes Told in a New Way for Children_
+
+EACH VOLUME ILLUSTRATED, $.50
+
+
+    Christopher Columbus      By Mildred Stapley
+
+Mildred Stapley has consulted new and recently discovered sources of
+contemporary information, and the history of Columbus' voyages is
+revised and corrected, though the romance and excitement still glow
+through the record of his achievements, and his fame as a daring
+navigator remains an example of courage and unequalled valor.
+
+
+    Captain John Smith        By Rossiter Johnson
+
+The adventurous Captain who founded Virginia lived the life of a
+typical hero of romance--Soldier of Fortune in America, Europe, Asia,
+and Africa, pirate, slave, and friend of princes. He was an able
+executive and a man of energy and capacity.
+
+
+    William Penn              By Rupert S. Holland
+
+The life of William Penn is of especial interest and value because the
+events of his career are closely related to American and English
+history at a time when America was separating herself from her parent
+country and shaping her destiny as an independent Republic.
+
+
+    Benjamin Franklin         By E. Lawrence Dudley
+
+As a statesman, diplomat, scientist, philosopher, and man of letters,
+Benjamin Franklin was the foremost American of his time. The story of
+his life is an inspiring and stimulating narrative, with all the
+fascination and interest of Colonial and Revolutionary America.
+
+
+_New Illustrated Biographies for Young People_
+
+EACH VOLUME ILLUSTRATED, $.50
+
+
+    Thomas A. Edison          By Francis Rolt-Wheeler
+
+Thomas Alva Edison is the typical American. From boyhood to ripest
+manhood he has been keen to see an opportunity, and quick to turn that
+opportunity to a practical use. His genius is peculiar because it is
+so American.
+
+
+    Robert Fulton             By Alice C. Sutcliffe
+
+The life of Robert Fulton makes good reading. The story of his belief
+in and work upon a submarine and his journeys to France and England to
+lay his plans before the British Government--his steamboat, and the
+years of study and labor which went toward perfecting it--his
+paintings--his travels in foreign lands in days when American
+travellers were few--combine to make one of the most interesting and
+inspiring books of the series.
+
+
+    Robert E. Lee             By Bradley Gilman
+
+Robert E. Lee ranks with the greatest of all English-speaking military
+leaders. Bradley Gilman has told the story of his life so as to reveal
+the greatness and true personality of a man "who has left an enduring
+memory of the highest idealism."
+
+
+    Davy Crockett             By William C. Sprague
+
+No fictitious tale of perils and adventures could surpass the true
+story of Davy Crockett, pioneer. His life and adventures are closely
+bound up with the greatest events of American history.
+
+
+    Nathan Hale               By Jean Christie Root
+
+There is hardly another story in the whole range of American history
+which contains so much of inspiration and splendid heroism as that of
+Nathan Hale.
+
+"There is more than the work of a gifted biographer here. There is a
+message."--_New York World._
+
+
+    U.S. Grant                By F.E. Lovell Coombs
+
+There is but little fiction which can compare in interest with the
+true story of Ulysses S. Grant. Mr. Coombs has told it admirably.
+
+
+    Abraham Lincoln           By Daniel E. Wheeler
+
+Another view of the greatest product of American democracy. The
+inspiring story of the great war President told with spirit in a new
+way.
+
+
+    NEW VOLUMES
+
+    Daniel Boone              By Lucile Gulliver
+
+    La Salle                  By Louise S. Hasbrouck
+
+    Lafayette                 By Martha F. Crow
+
+
+    THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
+    Publishers      64-66 Fifth Avenue      New York
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+List of Illustrations and Illustration Captions have been made
+consistent to each other as follows.
+
+"Portrait of Lafayette"--Caption has been extended from "Lafayette".
+
+"A Carriage in which Lafayette Rode" entry in the List of
+Illustrations has been extended from "Lafayette's Carriage".
+
+On page 109 "Yorktown was now familar to Lafayette" has been corrected
+to "Yorktown was now familiar to Lafayette".
+
+In the song quoted on page 141 the last line "Et qui s'abaisse, on
+l'evera." has been changed to "Et qui s'abaisse, on l'elevera."
+
+All other spelling, punctuation, grammatical and typesetting errors
+have been left as they were in the original book.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAFAYETTE***
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