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diff --git a/27777.txt b/27777.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3e64880 --- /dev/null +++ b/27777.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5062 @@ +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) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 27777-h.htm or 27777-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/7/7/27777/27777-h/27777-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/7/7/27777/27777-h.zip) + + + + + +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*** + + +******* This file should be named 27777.txt or 27777.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/7/7/27777 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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