[FROM THE PORTRAIT GALLERY OF EMINENT MEN AND WOMEN.] THE LIFE OF LA FAYETTE THE KNIGHT OF JJBERTY IN TWO WOULDS AND TWO CENTUKIES. BY LYDIA HOYT FAKMER. AUTHOR OF "THE BOYS' BOOK OF FAMOUS RULERS," " GIRLS' BOOK OF FAMOUS QUEENS," "A STORY BOOK OP SCIENCE," "THE PRINCE OF THE FLAMING STAR," ETC. NEW YOEK: THOMAS Y. CROWELL cSc CO., 13 AsTOR Place. Copyrifiht, By Thomas Y. Orowell & Co. 1888. TtPOGRAPHY by J. W. CUSHING & Co., BOSTON. r DEDICATED TO JH2 J^ustianti. PREFACE. rriHE life of the General Marquis de La Fayette -^ is intimately connected with the two most important epochs in the history of both France and America. His name binds together these nations by indissoluble bonds of sympathy ; and Washington and La Fayette will forever be found side by side in the annals of history. As a large portion of the material presented in this volume has been gathered from French works never before translated and which are now out of print, and also from original files of newspapers, and various manuscripts written by members of the La Fayette family, a more complete life of General La Fayette is here offered than has before appeared, either in this country or in Europe. THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. La Fayette's Early Life . , 1 — ^-I. His Arrival in America. — Battle of Bran- dy-wine 18 ' — rn. Scenes of the American Revolution ... 58 -*!¥. La Fayette's Diplomatic Measures in France AND Spain, in Behalf of America .... 99 V. La Fayette elected a Member of the Nota- bles • 127 VI. La Fayette's Efforts in Defence of King AND Constitution 158 VII. ViRGiNiE La Fayette's Account of her Father's and Mother's Imprisonment . . 191 VIII. Dreadful Scenes of the French Revolution 216 IX. La Fayette liberated from the Prison at Olmutz 258 X. La Fayette presented to the Premier Con- sul 288 — XI. La Fayette's Visit to America 315 XII. Enthusiastic Reception of the Marquis in THE United States 339 XIII. La Fayette elected to the Chamber of Deputies 365 XIV. Revolution of 1830 397 XV. La Fayette's Character and Family Life 427 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Portrait of La Fayette Frontispiece Birthplace of La Fayette 6 Baron de Kalb 10 Louis XVI 12 Marie Antoinette 14 Washington 24 Benjamin Franklin 26 Count de Rochambeau 74 Lord Cornwallis 82 Count de Grasse 92 La Fayette's Room at Moi nt Vernon 110 Frederick II 114 Assembly of the Notables 132 " Go and tell your master " 140 The Crowd arm Themselves at the Invalides .... 142 View of the Bastile 144 The Crowd Shout, " To Versailles ! " . 148 The King comes to the Hotel de Ville 158 Key of the Bastile 160 Festival in the Champs de Mars 164 The King accepting the Constitution 172 The Mob invade the Tuileries 180 Princess Elizabeth 182 Frederick William II., King of Prussia 186 Francis I., Emperor of Austria , 186 X LI8T OF ILLUS'MRATIONS. PAGE Return of the Royal Family to Pakis . . . c » » . 194 Before the Revolutionary Tribunal . , » „ .. . . . 210 Sentenced to the Guillotine 220 Madame de Stael 240 Execution of Louis XVI 250 Alexander Hamilton 262 Directeur Sieyes 266 Napoleon 268 Joseph Bonaparte , 292 Charles James Fox 296 General Jackson 332 Bust of La Fayette 380 Louis Philippe 398 Entrance to Chateau La Grange 431 Chateau La Grange 433 Corporal of the Prison at Olmutz 436 Vase presented by Midshipmen of the "Brandywine" . 437 Cane presented by Commodore Taylor 438 Clock belonging to La Fayette 438 Seals belonging to La Fayette 439 Roman Standard presented by City of Lyons .... 439 Medal presented by Electors of Meaux ...... 440 Ring given by Grandson of Washington 440 Washington's Decoration of the Cincinnati 441 Pin presented by Franklin's Granddaughter .... 442 Ring containing Hair and Portrait of Jeremy Bentham . 442 Crystal Box containing Mementos of Riego 442 Round Wooden Box 443 Sword presented by Ninth Regiment Artillery . . . 444 Sword presented by Congress 445 Vase presented by the National Guard 449 La Fayette's Death Chamber 470 La Fayette's Tomb 472 THE LIFE OF LA FAYETTE. 3>»^C CHAPTER I. Liberty's Knight — V Homme des Deux Mondes — Ancestry of La Fayette — His Birth and Early Years — Youthful Enthusiasm — College Life — Introduction to the French Court — Vast Inheri- tance — A Page to the Queen — Member of the Mousqiietaires du Roi — Promoted a Commissioned Officer — Personal Appear- ance — Early Marriage — His Wife's Family — Stationed at Metz — News of the American Revolution — Influence on La Fayette — His Resolve — Opposition — Visit to London — Return to Paris — Secret Preparations — Sovereign Displeasure — Hasty Flight — Aboard the Victor)/ — Letters to his Wife. " The love of liberty with life is given, And life itself the inferior gift of Heaven." — Dryden. " For Freedom's battle once begun, Bequeath'd by bleeding sire to son, Though baffled oft, is ever Avon." — Byron. LA FAYETTE was not only the Knight of Liberty in two worlds and in two centuries, but was also the champion of law and order. Other men have fought for freedom ; but few men in history have so truly and broadly comprehended the indissoluble tie which must ever bind liberty to law, if the shackles of oppression be unloosed, and the equal rights of men become the watchwords of national peace and prosperity. 2 THE LIFE OF LA FAYETTE, The battle of Miiiden, in 1758, Avas fought, and a young and valiant French marquis saeritieed his life upon that battle-field. He was the lirst Marquis de La Fayette. At that time his son, Marie- Jean-Paul-Eoeh- Yves-Gilbert de Motier La Fayette, lay in his cradle, an infant of seven months old. The warlike mantle of the father fell upon the son. But gentler spirits than Stem War hovered over his pillow. Gleaming-eyed Liberty said, "I will make him my champion"; and mild-eyed Law bent over the cradle and smoothed the baby brow, murmuring. "I will make him love peace and order." Thus War, Liberty, and Law christened the fatherless child, and to the long list of titled names which already Aveighted his infant forehead, they added yet another, of nobler rank than all; for they placed there, in let- ters of gioAving light, the unriA^alled title, Knight of Liberty. The name of La Fayette Avas distinguished as far back as the fourteenth century. '' The founder of the family AA^as a Marshal de La Fayette, Avho defeated the English at the battle of Bauge shortly before the time of Jeanne d'Arc, — a success which raised the hopes of the Dauphin, AA^ho afterAA^ards recovered the French throne. " In the seventeenth century tAvo noble and illustrious Avomen bore the ancient name. One of these ladies Avas Louise de La Fayette, maid of honor to Queen Anne of Austria, whose son, Louis XIII. , fell so deeply in loA^e with the young lady that he proposed to establish her in his country house at Versailles, a royal shooting-box built before the time of the great chateau. Alarmed at the infatuation of the king, and seeing no Avay of resist- ing the royal commands saA^e by devoting herself to Heaven, Louise de La Fayette retired to the CouA^ent of the Visitation, and at once took the voavs. She died THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY. 3 at the age of fifty, as Mere Angeliqite^ abbess of Chaillot, a convent she had founded. "Her brother, Count La Fayette, married, in 1655, Marie Madeline Pioche de hi Vergne, an intimate friend of Madame de Sevigne, and authoress of the 'Princesse de Cleves,' a classical romance of the old school, still read by lovers of the literature of the Renaissance. " The wife of the renowned General La Fayette, whom he married in 1774, when he was sixteen and she a year younger, was Marie Adrienne Frangoise, second daughter of the Duke d'Ayen, and granddaughter of Mareschal de Noailles. After three years of happy married life, he left her shortly before the birth of their second child, to hasten to the aid of the American colonies. The infant born during her father's absence became Madame Charles de Lat our-Maubourg. ' ' In 1881, in the Paris Figaro appeared the following account of the descendants of General La Fayette : "His only son, George Washington La Fayette, married, in 1802, Mademoiselle Desture de Thacy, and had five chil- dren. The eldest, Oscar, died in 1881. His wife, a rela- tive of M. de Pusy, one of the prisoners at Olmiitz, had died after one year of married life, and he never married again. The second son, Edmond, the present head of the house, is now sixty-two, and a bachelor. " The daughters are Madame Adolphe Perier (her hus- band was a nephew of C'asimir P6rier), Madame Bureaux de Pusy, and Madame Gustave de Beaumont. Mesdames Pusy and Beaumont are still living. The former has a son, an ofiicer of merit, and two daughters. M. Paul de Beaumont, son of Madame Gustave de Beaumont, was a cabinet minister under M. Daufaure. Madame Perier left daughters, one of whom married M. de Sahune. "• Madame Charles de Latour-Maubour"-, who was born 4 THE LIFE OF LA FAYETTE, whilst her father, G-eneral La Fayette, was serving in America, had two daughters, Madame de Brigode and Madame de Perron. General Perron, husband of the latter lady, was a Piedmontese, and a president of the Council oif Ministers in Piedmont. He was killed at the battle of Novara. "La Fayette's other daughter, Madame de Lasteyrie, was named Virginie. She was the comfort and staff of her father's age. She married, in 1800, the Marquis Louis de Lasteyrie, who served with the army for some years, but being wounded, retired to the Chateau of La Grange, between Fontainbleau and Paris, — a place which became the happy home of the entire La Fayette family. There lived the general and the family of Charles de Latour-Maubourg ; and thither, too, after a time, came George Washington La Fayette and his children. "The Marquis de Lasteyrie, who died before General La Fayette, left four children. Of these are Madame Charles de Pemusat, whose husband is the son of the distinguished lady whose ' Memoirs ' have been recently given to the world ; and Madame de Corcelle, wife of a former ambassador to Rome. M. Jules de Lasteyrie, the only son, was made a senator. He married a lady of the English branch of the House of Eohan-Chabot. His only son holds an office at present at Abbeville. The third and youngest daughter of the Marquis de Lasteyrie married M. d'Assailly, and is mother of two sons: one, councillor-general of the Deux-Sevres ; the other, a captain of Chasseurs. " The connections of the La Fayette family are distin- guished and numerous. Through the De Grammonts, they are allied to the Count de Merode, senator from the Department of the Doubs ; to his brother, who held high office under Pius IX.; and to Anna, Countess of THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY. 5 Montalembert. The family of Segnr is also related to the La Fayette family." Beranger called La Fayette ' ' L' Homme cles deux mondes'' (the man of two worlds), and he might also have added, the man of two centuries. Europe and America have both united to do him homage, and the glorious independence which he aided in securing in one century, he lived to behold in the next, realizing greater permanency and prosperity than even his fond- est dreams had dared to hope for. The American Republic held him in grateful remem- brance as a Revolutionary Hero ; while France venerated his memory as the Friend and Protector of the People. High on the lists of chivalry the name of La Fayette glows with undying lustre ; but as the defender of the oppressed and the protector of the weak, he is the Peo- ple's Hero. While his remains were being carried to the tomb, sur- rounded by an escort of the National Guard, a poor man, with tattered clothing and tottering steps, endeavored to press his way through the crowd and place himself in the funeral procession directly behind the bier. One of the Guard, obstructing his passage, said to him, " You see that none but the family are admitted here." "We all belong to his family," replied the old man, with a voice choked Avith emotion and eyes full of tears; "we all belong to his family, for he loved us all as his children." Immediately the rauKs of the National Guard fell rev- erently backward, and a way was quickly opened for the old peasant, and he walked to the cemetery directly behind the remains of him whose self-sacrificing devo- tion had won for him this beautiful testimony of love and honor ; and in the name of humanity and brotherly THE LIFE OF RA FAYETTE, kindness, this old man — unconsciously — laid upon the tomb of La Fayette the most precious memorial whieli could be offered to his memory. In the Chateau of Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne, the Marquis de La Fayette was l)orn and passed the first seven or eight years of his life. He was so frail a child that for some years the indications were strong that he would enjoy only a brief career. Being fatherless, his education was the care of his mother, who faithfully performed her sacred duties. A faint tinge of health began gradually to glow in his cheeks, his attenuated frame showed some signs of vigor, and the presage of an early death became less foreboding. While his body had been so frail, however, his mind had made rapid progress. To a friend he said in after years : " You ask me at what period I first experienced \\\j ardent love for liberty and glorj^ I recollect no time of life anterior to my enthu- siasm for anecdotes of glorious deeds, and to my projects of travelling over the world to acquire fame. At eight years of age my heart beat when I heard of a wolf that had done some injury, and caused still more alarm in our neighborhood, and the hope of meeting it Avas the object of all my walks. When I arrived at college, nothing ever interrupted my studies except my ardent wish to study without restraint. I never deserved to be chastised, but, in spite of my usual gentleness, it Avould have been dangerous to attempt to do so. I recollect with pleasure that, when I was to describe in rhetoric a perfect courser, I sacrificed the hope of obtaining a prize, and described the one which, on perceiving the whip, threw his rider. '' Eepublican anecdotes always delighted me, and when my new connections wished to obtain for me a place at CHATEAU OF CHAVANIAC. — LAFAYETTE S BIRTHPLACE. THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY. 7 court, I did not hesitate displeasing tlieni to preserve my independence." At the age of twelve years La Fayette was entered at the college of Louis le Grand, in Paris, where he zealously pursued his studies. In Latin and Greek classics he be- came especially proficient. Owing to his high rank his literary pursuits were subject to frequent interruptions, for he early gained the attention of royalty, and the gay French court was very alluring to a youth passionately fond of brilliant society. However, his love for study and his enthusiasm for the military calling prevented his becoming a courtier. By the death of his mother in 1770, and of his grandfather a short time after, he became possessed of great wealth, which, being entirely at his own control, surrounded him with a crowd of fawning flatterers. At the age of fifteen he became a page to Queen Marie Antoinette, and was enrolled a member of the Mousquetaires du Roi^ the body-guard of the king, which was composed solely of the descendants of the most highly titled families in France. Through the influence of the queen, he was promoted to the rank of a commissioned officer in this corps. Speaking of which, he said "that his military services only interrupted his studies on review days." At the age of sixteen La Fayette was married to the Comtesse de Noailles, daughter of the Duke d'Ayen. Madame de La Fayette herself gives the following ac- count of her somewhat strange wooing. " I was scarcely twelve years old, when M. de La Fay- ette was proposed to my mother for one of us. He him- self was only fourteen. His extreme youth, no parents to guide him, — having lost all his near relatives, and hav- ing no one in whom he could repose confidence, — a large fortune already in his possession, which my mother looked 8 THE LIFE OF TTA FAYETTE, upon as a dangerous gift — all these considerations made her at first refuse him, notwithstanding the good opinion she had acquired of his personal qualities. She persisted several months in her refusal ; but my father was not dis- couraged, and as one of his friends observed to him that my mother had gone too far ever to change her mind, he did justice to her straightforwardness in the midst of his anger against her, 'You do not know Madame d'Ayen,' he said; 'however far she may have gone, you will see that she will give way like a child if you prove to her that she is in the wrong ; but, on the other hand, she will never yield if she does not see her mistake.' ''Accordingly, when she was told that her daughter would not leave her during the first years of her mar- riage, and that it would only be celebrated at the end of two years, after M. de La Eayette had finished his edu- cation, she accepted him whom she cherished ever after as the most tenderly beloved son, whom she valued from the first moment that she became acquainted with him, and who alone could have sustained the strength of my heart after having lost her. " It was some time after my mother's consent that I was spoken to of M. de La Fayette, towards whom I was already attracted by feeble forerunners of that deep and tender affection which every day has united us more and more in the midst of all the vicissitudes of this life, in the midst of the blessings and misfortunes which have filled it for the last twenty-four years. " With what pleasures I learned that, for more than a year, my mother had looked upon him and loved him as a son ! She told me all the good she had heard with regard to him, all she thought of him herself, and I saw that he already felt for hgr that filial affection which was to l)e the blessing of my life. She tried to calm THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY. 9 my poor weak brain, wliicli was over-excited by the im- portance of the coming event. She taught me to pray — she prayed herself — for the blessings of Heaven on my future happiness. As I had the happiness of remain- ing with her, my only feelings were those of deep emo- tion. I was then fourteen and a half." La Fayette's wife brought to him a fortune, which, to- gether with his own inheritance, gave him a yearly reve- nue of ^37,500. The young marquis is thus described a.t this time : " He was then a handsome young man, of commanding figure and pleasing features, notwithstanding his deep red hair. His forehead, though receding, was fine ; his eyes clear hazel, and his mouth and chin delicately formed, exhibiting beauty rather than strength. The expression of his countenance was strongly indicative of a generous and gallant spirit, with an air of conscious greatness. " His manners were frank and amiable, his movements light and graceful. Formed, both by nature and educa- tion, to be the ornament of a court, and already distin- guished by his varied and attractive qualities in the circle of his noble acquaintance, his free principles were neither withered by the sunshine of royalty, nor weakened by flattery and temptation. He dressed in a costume then worn by a gentleman who affected not the extreme of fashion, nor the reverse. His bearing was elegant, full of vivacity, and his conversational powers were of a high order, and their activity varied much with his moods, sometimes mild and winning, and again ardent and enthusiastic." In the summer of 1776 La Fayette, as an oflicer of the French army, was stationed on military duty in the cita- del of Metz. At this time he was little over eighteen 10 THE LIFE OF LA FAYETTE, years of age. Tlirougli the Duke of Gloucester, a brother of the king of England, La Fayette first learned of the struggles in America. The Duke of Gloucester had been exiled from the court of Great Britain on ac- count of his impolitic marriage, and was then at Metz. The duke was constantly receiving reports of the Ameri- can struggle for independence, and he openly described the plans of the British ministry to crush this uprising of the colonists. La Fayette's fiery ardor in the cause of liberty was quickened at the news of the oppressed Americans, fighting with such vast odds against them, bravely defying the most powerful nation on the globe. La Fayette immediately resigned his position at Metz, and hastened to Paris, determined to devote his life and fortune to the aid of the courageous band of patriots who had just declared their independence. Knowing the opposition he would meet from family, friends, and the government, he made his preparations with the greatest secrecy, not even revealing his inten- tions to his wife, to whom he was most devoted. His heaven-born principles of liberty could no longer be kept in check by inaction, and he was ready to sacrifice every personal interest in life to the cause of oppressed hu- manity. After having partially completed his arrangements. La Fayette disclosed his scheme to his relative the Count de Broglie. The count was bitterly opposed to the un- dertaking, and pictured to La Fayette all the difficulties and dangers of the enterprise. " Your uncle perished in the wars in Italy," said he ; " your father fell in the bat- tle of Minden ; and now I will not be accessory to the ruin of the only remaining branch of the family." But nothing could quencli the ardor of the dauntless La Favette. He found in the Baron de Kalb a kindred ,.