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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
FRIENDS OF AMERICAN LIBERTY 
 
 LAFAYETTE 
 
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 Biographical Stories of Great Americans 
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 George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, 
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FRANCE AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 
 
 LAFAYETTE 
 
 THE FRIEND OF AMERICAN LIBERTY 
 
 ALMA HOLMAN BURTON 
 
 Author of " The Story of Our Country," " Four American Patriots " etc. 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 James Baldwin, Ph.D. 
 
 WERNER SCHOOL BOOK COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK CHICAGO BOSTON 
 
lv'U7 
 
 Copyright, 1S9S, 
 By Werner School Book Company 
 
 -■OCOPf PS RECEIVED" 
 
 •-•id COPY 
 
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INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The story of the Marquis de Lafayette forms one of the 
 most interesting chapters in the history of human liberty. 
 To understand clearly the nature of Lafayette's services, 
 both to America and to the whole world, we must first 
 think of the conditions of life at the beginning of his 
 career, and then contrast them with those which now 
 prevail. One hundred and forty years ago, when Lafayette 
 was a child, the world was not so pleasant a place to live 
 in as it is in our own time. Even in the most enlight- 
 ened countries of Europe, the majority of the people were 
 downtrodden and oppressed. Men had scarcely so much as 
 heard of liberty. Outside of England and her colonies, the 
 idea of popular freedom was unknown. 
 
 This idea, as you may have learned elsewhere, seems to 
 have been a sort of birthright of the Anglo-Saxon race. Ever 
 since the barons of England forced King John to grant them 
 a charter of rights, the peoples of that race have defended 
 and cherished it. Like a spark of fire in the midst of gen- 
 eral gloom, it has oftentimes been almost extinguished; and 
 yet, no matter how its enemies have tried to stamp it out, 
 it has survived and been rekindled. 
 
 The American colonists, because this idea of liberty was 
 
 7 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 implanted in their hearts, rebelled against the tyranny of 
 George III., and boldly demanded their rights as freebom 
 Englishmen. Frenchmen, at that time, would not have done 
 this. They would have tamely submitted to . every form of 
 oppression, not yet having learned that the common people 
 have certain rights which even kings must respect. Indeed, 
 at the very time that the American patriots were refusing to 
 obey the unjust laws of their English rulers, the common 
 people of France were suffering from, oppressions ten times as 
 great; and yet they had no thought of resistance, but sub- 
 mitted silently, as creatures whose only duty was to obey their 
 masters. At the very time that our forefathers were resisting 
 the payment of the tax on tea, the common people of France 
 were paying all the taxes for the support of the French king 
 and his nobles. 
 
 So burdensome were these taxes that they consumed the 
 greater part of every man's earnings. The people had no 
 voice in the management of public affairs, nor had they any 
 rights save to toil unceasingly for those who had set them- 
 selves over them. Every year thousands of persons died of 
 starvation, because the earnings of labor, instead of providing 
 food for the laborers, were taken for taxes. Meanwhile, the 
 nobles, or privileged classes, who owned all the land, were 
 living in ease and luxury; they did no work of any kind; 
 they paid no taxes; they seemed to live for no purpose but to 
 gratify their own pleasures and do honor to the king. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 Such was the condition of France at the time Lafayette 
 was preparing to aid the cause of liberty in America. Do 
 you ask why he did not first help the oppressed in his own 
 country? They were not yet ready to be profited by such 
 assistance. The time was not ripe for any movement against 
 the tyranny of the king and his court. To the downtrodden 
 people of France, liberty seemed a thing so impossible that 
 they had not even so much as dreamed of contending for it. 
 
 Lafayette was not one of the people — he was a member 
 of the nobility, and we should naturally expect to find him 
 arrayed on the side of the oppressor rather than on that of 
 the oppressed. But here his patriotism seems all the more 
 praiseworthy because it was wholly unselfish. What could he 
 expect to gain by befriending the American colonists ? They 
 could not even offer him a salary as an officer in the con- 
 tinental army. Did he hope to win fame by great achieve- 
 ments in war ? There were in Europe other and more promising 
 fields for the display of military genius. In only one way can 
 we account for his ardor in behalf of American liberty, and 
 that is by saying that he was imbued with the true spirit of 
 freedom, and was, therefore, a friend to all mankind. He 
 thought that he saw in America the first opportunity to do 
 good by striking a blow at oppression. The results were 
 greater than any one could have dreamed. Without his aid it 
 is hardly possible that our revolution would have succeeded; 
 without it, the American colonies might have still remained 
 
lo INTRODUCTION. 
 
 under the control of Great Britain. But his friendship for 
 American liberty turned the tide and made the history of the 
 nineteenth century very different from what it would other\^nse 
 have been. The success of the American cause aroused the 
 long-oppressed people of France to a sense of their rights and 
 urged them to a similar resistance to tyranny. Thus, through 
 lending aid to the colonists, Lafayette found the surest means 
 of doing service for his own countrymen, and the people of 
 two continents thereby became his debtors. 
 
 What has been the final result of these uprisings for 
 liberty ? The spirit of freedom has extended its blessed influ- 
 ence over the whole globe, and to-day there is hardly a 
 country under the sun from which tyranny and oppression 
 have not been banished. The right of every man to life, 
 liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is no longer disputed; for 
 men everj^where have learned the true meaning of liberty and 
 have acquired the courage to stand up fearlessly in its 
 defense. 
 
 To the great leaders, statesmen, and warriors, through 
 whom American independence was won, the whole world 
 owes a debt of gratitude. And, while every American citi- 
 zen takes pleasure in commemorating the deeds of Washing- 
 ton, our greatest patriot, let the place next to him in our 
 affections be reser\^ed for that brave friend of American liberty, 
 the Marquis de Lafayette. 
 
 James Baldwin. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 Introduction ...... 7 
 
 I. The Colonies in North America . . 15 
 
 II. The Young Marquis .... 20 
 
 III. The Courtier 25 
 
 IV. The Dinner Party ..... 28 
 V. The Departure for America . . -32 
 
 VI. Washington's Aide-de-camp ... 37 
 
 VII. Louis XVI. Promises a Fleet . . -44 
 
 VIII. The Furlough 46 
 
 IX. The Victory at Yorktown . . .51 
 
 X. A Visit to Mount Vernon ... 56 
 
 XI. The National Assembly . . . -59 
 
 XII. The French Revolution ... 61 
 
 XIII. An Exile and in Prison . . . .68 
 
 XIV. The Man of Two Worlds ... 73 
 XV. The Last Days of a Patriot . . .80 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Portrait of Lafayette 
 
 Map of Our Country in 1750 
 
 George III. 
 
 Chateau de Chavaniac 
 
 Louis XVI. 
 
 A British Soldier 
 
 Baron De Kalb . 
 
 Silas Deane . . .^ . 
 
 George Washington . 
 
 Alexander Hamilton . 
 
 Washington at Valley Forge 
 
 Benjamin Franklin 
 
 Lafayette's Sword 
 
 Benedict Arnold . 
 
 General Anthony Wayne 
 
 Lord Cornwallis . 
 
 Mount Vernon . 
 
 Frederick the Great . 
 
 Thomas Jefferson 
 
 The Bastille 
 
 Marie Antoinette 
 
 James Monroe 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte 
 
 La Grange . 
 
 Statue of Lafayette 
 
 John Adams 
 
 Bunker Hill Monument 
 
 Daniel Webster 
 
 Louis Philippe 
 
 Lafayette's Grave 
 
 Liberty Enlightening the World 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fro7itispiece 
 
 15 
 
 18 
 20 
 26 
 31 
 34 
 35 
 39 
 40 
 43 
 45 
 50 
 52 
 53 
 54 
 56 
 58 
 62 
 
 64 
 66 
 70 
 
 71 
 
 72 
 
 74 
 76 
 77 
 78 
 82 
 83 
 
MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 I. — The Colonies in North America. 
 
 One hundred and fifty years ago North America was 
 claimed by three kingdoms of Europe. Spain claimed 
 Florida, Mexico, and the country west of the Rocky 
 
 ^=^P^-_ 
 
 OUR COUNTRY IN I750. 
 15 
 
i6 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 Mountains; France claimed Canada and the vast region 
 between the Rocky Mountains and the Alleghanies; 
 and England claimed a wide strip of land extending 
 from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Florida, and running 
 straight through the territories of France and Spain, as 
 far west as the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 Now Spain did not fear England's pretensions in the 
 least. The Pacific slope was an unknown region beyond 
 the Rocky Mountains, and no one dreamed that an Eng- 
 lishman would ever cross the trackless wilderness and 
 climb those dizzy heights. But France knew very well 
 that whenever the thirteen colonies along the Atlantic 
 coast became densely settled, the English would try to 
 seize the fertile valley of the Ohio. And so, while 
 English colonists were cultivating farms and building 
 towns east of the Alleghany Mountains, French soldiers 
 were setting up a strong line of forts west of them. 
 
 At last, some English traders ventured across the 
 mountains. They built rude huts, and were laying the 
 foundations of a fort, where the city of Pittsburg now 
 stands, when a company of French soldiers attacked 
 them and drove them away. 
 
 "Such impudence must be punished immediately," 
 
THE COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA. 17 
 
 said the English ; and General Braddock, with an army of 
 British regulars, was sent to recover the fort. He met 
 with sore defeat at the hands of the French and Indians, 
 and but for George Washington, a young lieutenant of 
 Virginia, the army would have been wholly destroyed. 
 
 Thus a long war began between England and France. 
 The English conquered Canada, and because Spain had 
 helped France in some European wars, they also seized 
 the Spanish island of Cuba. 
 
 In 1763, envoys from France, England, and Spain 
 met at Paris to sign a treaty of peace. They were very 
 polite to one another, and took a great deal of snuff, after 
 the fashion of the time ; but, for all that, each envoy was 
 determined to get the best terms for his king that he could. 
 
 In the end, the map of the New "World was greatly 
 altered. England had exchanged Cuba for Florida, 
 while France had ceded Canada and the country between 
 the Mississippi River and the Alleghany Mountains 
 to England, and all west of the Mississippi to Spain. 
 
 This treaty of Paris gave to England and Spain 
 the exclusive ownership of North America. There was 
 not a foot of the land which the French could call their 
 own. 
 
i8 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 The king of France grieved over the loss of his 
 possessions. He said he hoped the thirteen colonies 
 would prove so unruly that the English king would 
 wish the French back in Canada to help keep them in 
 subjection. 
 
 Now, if George III. of England had proved to be 
 a good and worthy king, perhaps this hope would never 
 have been realized. At the begin- 
 ning of his reign, his colonies were 
 prosperous and contented. They cele- 
 brated his birthdays, set up his 
 statues in public parks, and offered 
 ^^ prayers for the members of the royal 
 family. But, after a time, he began 
 
 GEORGE III. 
 
 to oppress them by levying unjust 
 taxes, and when they refused to pay the taxes he sent 
 an army to punish them. 
 
 The Americans then resolved to fight for their 
 rights. In 1775, delegates from the thirteen colonies 
 met at Philadelphia in a Continental Congress. They 
 called for troops and elected George Washington com- 
 mander-in-chief of the army. 
 
 Of course, all the monarchs in Europe were anxious 
 
THE COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA. 19 
 
 to see how this quarrel , between George III. and his 
 colonies would end. The French king was more 
 interested than any other. Some people said he would 
 equip a fleet to aid the Americans; yet he was in no 
 haste to adopt such a bold policy as that. 
 
 "It would not be wise," he said, "to try to assist 
 those who are too weak to assist themselves;" and he 
 waited to see what George Washington, at the head 
 of the Continental troops, would do. 
 
 But one of his courtiers, the Marquis de Lafayette, 
 was not willing to stand idly waiting while the Amer- 
 icans were fighting for their liberties. He said to 
 his friends: "Let us join these patriots in their 
 struggle against the tyranny of an unjust king. We 
 may be defeated; but we shall have the satisfaction 
 of knowing that we have fought on the side of justice 
 and the right. ' ' 
 
 In the following pages you may read of some 
 of the events in the life of this young French 
 nobleman, who helped to secure the independence 
 of the American Colonies, and afterwards laid 
 the first cornerstone of the present republic of 
 France. 
 
20 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 11. — The Young Marquis. 
 
 The chateau of Chavaniac was in the province of 
 Auvergne, in the south part of France. It was a lofty 
 castle, with towers and narrow windows from which 
 
 %^^^''':i''=jzr^'^ 
 
 CHATEAU DE CHAVANIAC, LAFAYETTE'S BIRTHPLACE. 
 
 cannon once frowned down upon besieging foes. 
 There was a deep moat around it, with a bridge 
 which was drawn up in time of war, so that no man, 
 on horseback or on foot, could pass in at the gate with- 
 out permission of the guard. 
 
 Low hills, crowned with vine3^ards, stood near the 
 
THE YOUNG MARQUIS. 21 
 
 castle, and beyond the hills stretched mountains 
 whose peaks seemed to pierce the sky. In all France 
 there was not a more charming spot than Chavaniac; 
 and among all the nobles of the court there was no 
 braver man than its master, the Marquis de Lafayette. 
 
 Sometimes the king left the pleasures of his palace 
 to spend a day at this castle ; and whenever the young 
 marquis and his beautiful bride went to Paris, they 
 were treated with the greatest respect. ' 
 
 One day, the drawbridge was let down over the 
 moat, and the gallant marquis rode away to the war 
 in Germany. After taking part in several engage- 
 ments, he was shot through the heart in a skirmish 
 at Minden. His comrades buried him on the field. 
 The drums were muffled, the band played a funeral 
 dirge, and three rounds of musketry announced that 
 the hero's body had been lowered into the grave. 
 
 When swift couriers carried the news of his death to 
 Chavaniac, the sorrow of his family and friends was 
 most grievous to see. The castle was like a tomb; 
 the rooms were darkened; and the servants, clad in 
 black, went about on tiptoe, scarcely daring to whisper 
 to one another. 
 
22 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 In the midst of this mourning, on September 6, 
 1757, the only son of the dead marquis was born. 
 
 The little orphan was carried to the chapel and 
 christened Marie Jean Paul Roche Yves Gilbert Motier 
 de Lafayette. That seemed a very long name, indeed, 
 for the tiny baby lying so quietly in the good priest's 
 arms; but it was the custom in France to remember 
 distinguished ancestors at a christening, and there 
 were so many of these that the loving mother really 
 thought the name should be longer than it was. She 
 said that his everyday name should be Gilbert. 
 
 When Gilbert was old enough, she walked with 
 him instead of leaving him to the care of servants. 
 Sometimes they climbed a high hill to see the sun set 
 over the towers of the chateau. Then she told him 
 how the de Lafayette s, long before Columbus discovered 
 America, had driven the Arabs from France, and how 
 they had helped to banish the English kings from 
 France, and how his own father had died for the glory 
 of France. 
 
 Sometimes, as they walked through the halls of the 
 castle, she showed him the coats-of-mail which his 
 ancestors had worn, and she told him about the swords 
 
THE YOUNG MARQUIS. 23 
 
 and banners and other trophies which the de Lafayettes 
 had won in battle. 
 
 "I would not have yon less brave than they, my 
 son," she would say. 
 
 The boy longed for the time to come when he 
 might show his mother how very brave he was. He 
 grew tall and strong, and carried himself like a prince. 
 He wanted to be worthy of his great ancestors. 
 
 The year he was eight, there was much excitement 
 about a wolf which prowled in the forest, killing the 
 sheep in the pastures and frightening the peasants 
 nearly out of their wits. Gilbert made this wolf the 
 object of all his walks. He would persuade his mother 
 to sit in some shady spot while he should go a little 
 way into the forest. 
 
 "I will return in an instant, dear mamma," he 
 always said; and, lest he might alarm her, he walked 
 quite slowly until a turn in the road hid him from 
 view. Then he marched quickly into the dark 
 wood. 
 
 He did this for many days, seeing only frisking 
 squirrels and harmless rabbits. But one morning, as 
 he sped along a narrow path, his eyes wide open and 
 
24 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 his ears alert to catch every sound, he heard a cracking 
 in the underbrnsh. 
 
 The wolf was coming! He was sure of it. His 
 mind was made up in an instant. He would spring 
 forward quicker than lightning, and blind it with 
 his coat, while with his arms he would choke it to 
 death. 
 
 "It will struggle hard," he thought. "Its feet 
 will scratch me; but I shall not mind, and, when all is 
 over, I shall drag it to the feet of mamma, and she 
 will know, and the peasants will know, that I can rid 
 the country of these pests. ' ' 
 
 He stood listening. His breath came fast. Again 
 he heard the breaking of the bushes. "I ought first to 
 surprise the beast by coming up on it quickly," he 
 whispered. 
 
 He tore off his coat, and held it firmly as he hurried 
 on. Soon he saw the shaggy hide, and the great eyes 
 shining through the thicket. He leaped forward with 
 outstretched coat, and — what do you think? — he clasped 
 in his arms a calf that had strayed from the barnyard! 
 
 It was a rude shock to the boy. He returned to 
 his mother, who was already alarmed at his absence, 
 
THE COURTIER. 25 
 
 and confessed that he had tried to kill the wolf but had 
 found only a calf. 
 
 "Ah, you were brave, my son," she said; "I am 
 quite sure that you would have ended the days of that 
 terrible wolf had he but given you the chance." 
 
 III. — The Courtier. 
 
 When Gilbert was twelve years old, he was sent 
 to school at Paris. His teachers knew how the king 
 had loved his father, and they were very kind, although 
 they did not always give him his own way. 
 
 Once, when a prize was offered for the best essay 
 on "A Perfect Horse," he tried to excel. He described 
 a beautiful animal. Its eyes were large and intelli- 
 gent, and its nostrils trembled with desire to speed 
 away at the first word of its rider ; but when the master, 
 instead of speaking gently, raised a whip to strike it, 
 the horse threw him to the ground. 
 
 The teacher said that a perfect horse should have 
 been better trained, and gave the prize to a boy whose 
 horse endured the lash of an unjust master. 
 
26 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 "I'd rather lose the prize than describe a horse 
 that would tamely submit to injustice," wrote Gilbert 
 to his mother. 
 
 He received many letters from his mother telling 
 him how she loved him and how sure she was that he 
 
 would always do his duty. 
 
 One week no letter came ; 
 but, instead, the family car- 
 riage drew up at the gate of 
 the school. The coachman 
 and footman on the box 
 looked very sad, and his old 
 nurse sat within, crying. She 
 told him his mother was so 
 ill that he must hasten home. 
 His dear mother died. A 
 few weeks later, his grandfather also died, and he was 
 left sole master of Chavaniac. He was called the 
 *'Marquis de Lafayette," and the peasants knelt humbly 
 by the roadside whenever he passed. The king soon 
 sent for him to appear at court, and, when he saw 
 what a fine, manly fellow the young marquis was, he 
 made him a page to the queen. 
 
THE COURTIER. 27 
 
 A few years later, Lafayette became a member of 
 the Royal Guards, and, just about that time, he married 
 the daughter of a powerful duke. 
 
 When the old king of France died in 1774, Louis 
 XVL and Marie Antoinette were crowned with much 
 pomp. The young queen was beautiful and gay. 
 The king loved her so dearly that he tried in every 
 way to make her happy. If she wearied of one palace, 
 he called his courtiers together, and, on horseback and 
 in carriages and sedan chairs, they went to another. 
 
 His favorite palace was at Versailles, a few miles 
 from Paris. It was in a splendid park, where fountains 
 played and birds sang all day long. 
 
 One room in this palace was so large that hun- 
 dreds of people could dance together in it; and its 
 walls were lined with mirrors in which the lords and 
 ladies might see themselves as they smiled and bowed 
 and danced. 
 
 The queen once gave a masquerade ball in this 
 mirror room. The Marquis de Lafayette was there, 
 with his wife. He was dressed in a coat-of-mail 
 which his great-great-grandfather had worn in a war 
 with the Turks. 
 
28 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 He was tall, and his face was very pleasant, with 
 its hig-h forehead and clear brown eyes. As he walked 
 down the long room, his wife said to herself: "He is 
 just like a knight of the olden time!" She smiled 
 when she saw him glance into the mirrors. She thought 
 he was a little vain of his good looks. 
 
 But the young marquis hardly noticed himself. 
 He was gazing at the shining armor and wondering if 
 he would ever have a chance to fight in a just cause, 
 as his great-great-grandfather had done. 
 
 IV. — The Dinner Party. 
 
 The Marquis de Lafayette soon tired of the idle 
 life at Versailles, and, in 1776, when he was just nine- 
 teen years old, he went to Metz, a town then in France, 
 as captain of an artillery company. 
 
 He was a born soldier. He loved to hear the 
 boom of cannon and the rattle of muskets on the drill 
 ground. The very first time he called off orders to 
 his men, he felt that, if he were only in battle, he 
 could add some glory to his already famous name. 
 
THE DINNER PARTY . 29 
 
 But he said to himself: "Kings make war for 
 conquest. I wish that I might enlist my arms for a 
 more worthy object." 
 
 That same year an English nobleman, the royal 
 Duke of Gloucester, chanced to visit Metz. He had dis- 
 pleased his brother, King George HL, and for that 
 reason had been banished from England. 
 
 The commandant of the garrison gave a dinner- 
 party in honor of the royal guest. 
 
 Lafayette and the other French officers were in 
 full uniform; but the Duke of Gloucester was the 
 most splendid of all who sat about the table. There 
 was much laughing and drinking of toasts and speech- 
 making, until a guard announced that a messenger was 
 at the door with despatches for his royal highness. 
 
 "Ah, news from England!" exclaimed the duke. 
 
 "Show the man in," ordered the commandant. 
 
 A courier, with dust on his garments, entered the 
 room, and, bowing low, delivered a bundle of letters. 
 
 "I beg your Highness to read without ceremony," 
 said the commandant. 
 
 The duke glanced over the papers for some time 
 in silence. He looked grave. At last, he said: "My 
 
30 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 courier has brought despatches about our colonies in 
 America. ' ' 
 
 "Ah," said one; "are the colonies acting badly?" 
 "Yes, they demand to vote their own taxes." 
 "How absurd! Why, the people in France do not 
 vote their own taxes. ' ' 
 
 "You must know," said the duke, "that many years 
 ago, one of the kings of England gave a charter to our 
 people which granted them the right to impose their 
 own taxes. They now elect representatives to a par- 
 liament, where they decide how much money should be 
 used by the government. Sometimes, when the king 
 asks for more money than he really needs, they refuse 
 to increase the taxes ; but they are usually quite willing 
 to pay whatever he asks. ' ' 
 
 "What do these Americans complain of, then?" 
 asked Lafayette. 
 
 "Taxation without representation," answered the 
 duke. "They insist that, as loyal subjects, they should 
 be allowed either to send representatives to our Parlia- 
 ment, or to have a Parliament of their own. Neither 
 privilege has been granted. Our Parliament imposes 
 taxes on them, and, when they refuse to pay the 
 
THE DINNER PARTY. 
 
 31 
 
 taxes, the king sends an army to force them to do so. 
 These despatches inform me that the rebels have 
 driven our troops out of a town called Boston, and that 
 delegates from the thirteen colonies have met at another 
 town called Philadelphia and adopted a declaration of 
 independence." 
 
 "The rabble!" cried one of the French 
 officers. 
 
 "Your fine troops will soon crush the 
 rascals," cried another. 
 
 "My brother, the king, is stubborn," 
 said the duke, with a smile. "He ban- 
 ished me, gentlemen, because I disobeyed 
 him. He will conquer these disobedient 
 colonies; but, since our common people are not will- 
 ing to fight their cousins, he has hired Hessians from 
 Germany to help our soldiers." 
 
 "What, your highness!" exclaimed Lafayette, who 
 could hardly believe that he had heard aright. 
 
 "Yes, many thousand Hessians are now on their 
 way across the sea. ' * 
 
 Lafayette thought it was cruel for a king to send 
 a foreign army against his own subjects ; but he remem- 
 
 A BRITISH 
 SOLDIER. 
 
32 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 bered that the English king was the duke's brother, 
 and he said nothing in reply. 
 
 "I am not so sure, gentlemen," said the duke, 
 after a pause; "I am not so sure but the Americans 
 are in the right. They are fighting as freeborn 
 Englishmen." 
 
 "The Americans are in the right," said Lafayette 
 to himself; and, while the other officers were making 
 merry about many things, he was silent. As soon as 
 he could do so, he excused himself from the table. 
 He hastened to his room and locked the door. 
 
 *'This is, indeed, the hour I have sought," he 
 murmured. 
 
 He sat down to think, and then he arose and paced 
 the floor until it was almost morning. When, at last, 
 he threw himself on the bed to sleep, he had resoWed 
 to leave the pleasures of rank and fortune, and even to 
 separate, for a time, from the wife he loved, that he 
 might use his sword in the defense of liberty. 
 
 V. — The Departure for America. 
 As soon as the young captain of artillery could get 
 leave of absence from duty at Metz, he hastened to 
 
THE DEPARTURE FOR AMERICA. 33 
 
 Paris. Here he found everybody talking of England's 
 war with her colonies. 
 
 Now, the French people hardly knew whether Bos- 
 ton was the name of a town or of a whole state ; but they 
 were so delighted because the haughty English generals 
 had been defeated there that they had "Boston" whist, 
 and "Boston" tea, and "Boston" snuff. 
 
 Lafayette sought out some American agents who 
 were buying arms secretly, and the more he heard 
 about the unjust taxes, the more determined he was 
 to help the patriots resist them. 
 
 His father-in-law opposed his plans; but, to 
 strengthen his resolution, Lafayette adopted the 
 motto, ''C7ir nonf* which means "Why not?" ''Ctir 
 fioii?" he said, when he saw his wife in tears. 
 ''Cur nonf he would say again, when his baby girl 
 stretched out her tiny arms as if to hold him back. 
 With Baron de Kalb, an officer who had been in 
 America, he organized a Boston club, to talk about 
 raising an army. 
 
 When Louis XVL heard this, he was displeased. 
 He said that if any French noblemen joined the rebels 
 it might cause England to declare war against France. 
 
34 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 Late in the fall, news came of a battle on Long 
 Island, in which the patriots were badly defeated. 
 
 "You see," said the king; "those Americans are 
 only a mob. They will soon be disarmed;" and he 
 forbade the meetings of the Boston club. 
 
 ''Cur no7i?'' said Lafayette; 
 and the meetings were held 
 secretly. 
 
 About this time, the Ameri- 
 can Congress sent Silas Deane, 
 of Connecticut, to France, to 
 seek aid; and Lafayette asked 
 De Kalb to go with him to 
 visit the envoy. When the 
 two men met, they shook hands; but, as neither under- 
 stood the language of the other, they said nothing. 
 
 De Kalb, who could speak both English and French, 
 told Silas Deane that the Marquis de Lafayette wished 
 to join the American army. 
 
 "We have no money to pay our officers," said 
 Deane. 
 
 "I will serve without money," repeated De Kalb 
 after Lafayette. 
 
 BARON DE KALB. 
 
THE DEPARTURE FOR AMERICA. 35 
 
 "We have no ship to carry you and your men," said 
 Deane. 
 
 *'I will buy a ship," was the answer. 
 
 Still, the American hesitated to accept the services 
 of such a boyish-looking officer. 
 
 Then the modest Lafayette 
 would have blushed if he had 
 understood what his friend said 
 in his behalf. De Kalb told of 
 his wealth and rank, and explained 
 what a powerful ally he might be- 
 
 SILAS DEANE. 
 
 come. 
 
 In the end, Silas Deane gave Lafayette a contract 
 to sign, in which Lafayette, promised to serve in the 
 army of the United States whenever he was wanted. 
 
 When the venerable Benjamin Franklin came to 
 Paris, Lafayette was among the first to greet him. He 
 was enchanted with- the famous philosopher, whose 
 simple manners and plain dress befitted well the herald 
 of a republic. 
 
 "Now, indeed, is our time of need," said Franklin. 
 
 Lafayette waited to hear no more. He bought a 
 ship, and ordered it to be equipped for the long voyage. 
 
2,6 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 While the ship was being made ready, he visited 
 England, where his tincle was the French ambassador. 
 George III. feared that Louis XVI. would aid the 
 Americans in their rebellion, and tried to be friendly 
 to France. Lafayette was treated with distinction 
 at court. 
 
 He met some English officers who were just ready 
 to start for America, and was invited to Portsmouth 
 to see the ships set sail with troops; but he refused 
 to go. 
 
 '*! cannot be a hypocrite," he said to himself; **I 
 shall soon have my own ship launched for America." 
 
 While at Lord Rawdon's, who had just returned 
 from New York, he heard how General Washington, 
 on a Christmas night (1776), had captured the Hessians 
 at Trenton. He expressed such delight over the news 
 as to arouse suspicion, and, when he found that his 
 movements were watched, he returned to Paris secretly. 
 
 The ship was not yet ready. Meantime, George III. 
 heard about his plans, and wrote to Louis XVI. 
 against the expedition; but, when the letter reached 
 Paris, Lafayette, with De Kalb and eleven other offi- 
 cers, had already set out on his journey. 
 
WASHINGTON'S AIDE-DE-CAMP. 37 
 
 King Louis sent messengers in pursuit, and then 
 Lafayette disguised himself as a courier, and galloped 
 ahead of his friends to order the relays of horses. 
 In one town, during a wait of three hours, he lay 
 concealed in the straw of a stable. In another town, 
 when he was recognized by the innkeeper's daughter, 
 he made her a sign to be silent just as the pursuers rode 
 up to the door, and she sent them away by a different 
 road. 
 
 At last, he reached Pasages, on the Spanish coast, 
 where his good ship Victory was anchored. And, 
 when the king's messengers arrived at the edge of 
 the water, all covered with the dust of their swift pur- 
 suit, the sails were already spread, and the Marquis de 
 Lafayette was on his way to America, 
 
 VI. — Washington's Aide-de-Camp. 
 
 The voyage across the ocean was stormy and long. 
 Lafayette spent most of the time trying to learn to 
 speak English. 
 
 The Victory cast anchor near Charleston, South 
 
38 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 Carolina, and the party landed about midnight. As 
 Lafayette and De Kalb stood on the beach, they clasped 
 each other's hands, and, looking up to the stars, 
 vowed they would conquer for liberty or die on foreign 
 soil. 
 
 They found shelter at a farmhouse, and, on the 
 following day, proceeded to Charleston. Here Lafay- 
 ette purchased carriages and horses to ride nine hun- 
 dred miles to Philadelphia, where the Continental 
 Congress was in session. When the carriages broke 
 down because of the bad roads, the officers mounted 
 the horses and continued their journey. 
 
 Lafayette could not talk much with the people 
 whom he met, but he soon saw that America was quite 
 different from France. There were no beggars lying 
 by the roadside; the farmers did not kneel when fine 
 carriages passed, and one man really seemed to be just 
 about as respectable as another. 
 
 "I am more determined than ever," he said to De 
 Kalb, "to help these people preserve the liberties they 
 have enjoyed." 
 
 He reached Philadelphia on July 27, 1777. 
 
 Now, King Louis had directed Franklin to write 
 
WASHINGTON'S AIDE-DE-CAMP. 39 
 
 to the Congress requesting it not to give Lafayette a 
 commission in the army; but the shrewd envoy had 
 taken no pains to hurry his letter, and, as it had not 
 been received, Lafayette was given the rank of major 
 general. 
 
 The outlook for the Americans was not very 
 encouraging. Washington had 
 retreated from New York, and 
 the British general. Sir William 
 Howe, was preparing to attack 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 Lafayette first met Washing- 
 ton in the Quaker City, and knew 
 him at once by his noble face. 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 He had a talk with the comman- 
 der, who took him to inspect some fortifications, and 
 invited him to cross the Delaware to see his 
 army. 
 
 When Lafayette arrived at the camp in New Jersey, 
 the troops were on the drill-ground. Many of them 
 were ragged and barefooted. Even the officers lacked 
 suitable uniforms, and the guns were of all shapes and 
 sizes. 
 
40 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 "We should be embarrassed at thus showing our- 
 selves to a French officer," said Washington. 
 
 "Ah!" replied Lafayette, with tears in his eyes; 
 "men who fight for liberty against such odds will be 
 sure to win." 
 
 Washington was so pleased with the modest zeal of 
 the young marquis that he made him one of his aides- 
 de-camp. Lafayette was then just 
 twenty years old. 
 
 Another aide of about his 
 age was Alexander Hamilton. 
 Hamilton spoke French almost 
 as well as Lafayette, and the two 
 officers became devoted friends. 
 ALEXANDER HAMILTON, General Howe sailed up Chesa- 
 
 peake Bay, and, landing, marched to attack Philadel- 
 phia. Washington, with his army, went to meet him, 
 and there was a terrible battle near Brandywine Creek. 
 Lafayette was in the thickest of the fight until he 
 was forced to fall back on account of having received 
 a musket ball in the calf of his leg. 
 
 "Take care of the marquis as though he were my 
 own son," said Washington to the surgeon. 
 
WASHINGTON'S AIDE-DE-CAMP. 41 
 
 The Americans were badly defeated at Brandy- 
 wine, because the British were better disciplined, and 
 had superior arms. Washington retreated, and Phila- 
 delphia was taken. 
 
 His wound confined Lafayette to his bed for six 
 weeks. During this period of idleness he spent much 
 of the time -writing letters to his wife. 
 
 "Now that you are the wife of an American gen- 
 eral," he wrote, "I must give you a lesson. People 
 in France will say, 'They have been beaten.' You 
 must answer, *It is true; but with two armies, equal 
 in number and on level ground, old soldiers always 
 have an advantage over new ones ; besides, the Ameri- 
 cans inflicted a greater loss than they sustained.* 
 
 "Then people will say, 'That's all very well, but 
 Philadelphia, the capital of the colonies, is taken.* 
 You will reply, politely, 'You are foolish; Phila- 
 delphia is a poor city, open to the enemy on all sides. ' ' ' 
 
 The devoted little wife repeated these words 
 at court, and thus helped the American cause in 
 France. 
 
 When Lafayette was again able to mount a horse, 
 he led an expedition against a post of the Hessians 
 
42 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 with such skill that he was given command of the 
 Virginia militia. 
 
 After some battles around Philadelphia, Washington 
 made his winter quarters at Valley Forge, about twenty- 
 miles away; and, while the British were enjoying 
 themselves in the best houses of the Quaker City, the 
 Americans suffered great privations in tents and rude 
 cabins. 
 
 This was in the winter of 1777. The weather was 
 very severe. Some of the soldiers were without shoes, 
 and their feet bled as they walked over the frozen 
 ground; yet, all through the stormy days, the little 
 army drilled and worked on the fortifications, while, 
 at night, those without blankets sat around the camp 
 fires to keep from freezing to death. Lafayette, who 
 had been used to luxuries all his life, willingly shared 
 these hardships, and went limping about from tent to 
 tent with a pleasant word for everybody. 
 
 Meantime, a British general. Sir John Burgoyne, 
 having attempted to invade New York from Canada, 
 was forced to surrender his whole army to General 
 Gates, at Saratoga. 
 
 "You see," said some of the American generals. 
 
WASHINGTON'S AIDE-DE-CAMP. 43 
 
 who were jealous of Washington, "the army in the 
 North is successful; but just look at the army in the 
 South! It has lost Philadelphia, and is only freezing 
 to death at Valley Forge. " 
 
 WASHINGTON AT VALLEY FORGE. 
 
 These jealous generals plotted to remove Wash- 
 ington from command, and tried in every way to induce 
 Lafayette to favor their evil designs. One night, they 
 invited him to a dinner. After toasts were offered in 
 honor of several officers, Lafayette was grieved to 
 
44 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 note that the name of Washington had been omitted. 
 He arose to his feet. 
 sj ** Gentlemen," he cried, "I drink to the health of 
 
 George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Amer- 
 ican armies!" 
 
 The toast was honored in silence. The treacherous 
 men saw plainly enough that the Marquis de Lafayette 
 would never join in a plot against his general. 
 
 VII. — Louis XVI. Promises a Fleet. 
 
 Now, all this time, Benjamin Franklin was at 
 Paris, working for the colonies. He found that very 
 many of the French people wanted to aid in the war 
 against England. 
 
 The noblemen said: *' England robbed us of our 
 colonies, we should now seek revenge." 
 
 The manufacturers and shopkeepers said: "England 
 never allowed the Americans to buy goods directly from 
 us, and, if we help them win their liberty, we shall 
 get most of their trade." 
 
 The wretched peasants did not understand what 
 
LOUIS XVI. PROMISES A FLEET. 
 
 45 
 
 liberty meant, but they knew all about unjust taxes, 
 and were glad the Americans were refusing to pay them. 
 
 But the French king hesitated to send his armies 
 across the sea. He did not believe that the Americans 
 were strong enough to win a 
 single great battle. 
 
 "As for helping King 
 George's subjects set up a 
 republic," he said, "that 
 would be a dangerous experi- 
 ment which my own subjects 
 might wish to try. ' ' 
 
 Franklin despaired of se- 
 curing aid from France. One 
 day, as he sat alone, won- 
 dering what plan he must next pursue, an American 
 courier arrived from Boston. Franklin met him at the 
 door. 
 
 "Sir," he asked, without waiting for the man to 
 speak, "is Philadelphia captured?" 
 
 ' ' It is, sir, ' ' answered the courier. 
 
 Franklin turned sadly away. All seemed lost. 
 
 "But, sir, I have better news than that!" exclaimed 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
46 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 the courier, and he showed despatches from Congress 
 which told of the battle of Saratoga, and of Burgoyne's 
 surrender of six thousand men. 
 
 Franklin was overjoyed, and hastened to court with 
 the news. 
 
 "Really," said the king to himself, "this is the 
 time to give John Bull a fine dose of bitters; these 
 rebels may yet become a great nation." And so he 
 acknowledged the independence of the United States, 
 and promised to send a fleet to America. 
 
 VIII. — The Furlough. 
 
 Lafayette was delighted when he learned that his 
 king had recognized the independence of the United 
 States and had concluded a treaty of alliance. 
 
 The event was celebrated on a May day with a 
 grand parade at Valley Forge. There was a salute of 
 thirteen cannon, followed by a volley of musketry, and 
 then the army, drawn tip in two lines, shouted: "Long 
 live the king of France!" and gave loud huzzas for the 
 new American States. 
 
• THE FURLOUGH. 47 
 
 A few days later, Lafayette had occasion to show 
 his skill. It happened in this way : 
 
 Washington had sent him, with two thousand 
 men, to occupy Barren Hill, half-way between Valley 
 Forge and Philadelphia, and he was directed to fall on 
 the rear of the British if they should attempt to leave 
 the city. He had hardly chosen the camp, near a stone 
 church, with the Schuylkill River on one side and a 
 wood on the other, when spies reported his arrival. 
 The British general, who was attending a grand military 
 ball at Philadelphia, laughed aloud at the news. 
 
 ''Ha, ha! He, he!" he laughed. ''That will 
 make a fine close for our dance." And he went about, 
 saying to the ladies: "I invite you to my house on 
 to-morrow night to meet the Marquis de Lafayette." 
 
 Before daylight, nine thousand red-coats were on 
 the march. One division was sent round by a circuitous 
 route to cut off retreat to Valley Forge, while two 
 other divisions approached Barren Hill. 
 
 "The little French boy is in a trap," chuckled the 
 British general, as he pushed his way through the mists 
 of the early dawn. 
 
 Meantime, scouts brought word to the camp that 
 
48 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 the ''Bloody Backs" were coming. The patriots were 
 in a panic. They ran hither and thither, crying, "All 
 is lost! We cannot escape!" 
 
 Lafayette perceived the danger; but he calmed their 
 fears with a jaunty air, and smilingly said: "We will 
 now lead the British a livelier dance than they had last 
 night!" 
 
 He had studied the ground and discovered a ford 
 which the enemy knew nothing about. He laid his 
 plans well. He boldly advanced a few columns as if to 
 give battle, and, while the red-coats were preparing to 
 attack them, he hurried the rest of the army across the 
 ford; then he quietly withdrew those who were in the 
 pretended line of battle, and, when the British charged 
 up Barren Hill from opposite sides, they only met one 
 another! 
 
 The affair was so very ludicrous that, when the nine 
 thousand marched back to Philadelphia, they were the 
 sport of everybody. 
 
 The British general, hearing that King Louis was 
 sending over a fleet, abandoned the Quaker City. 
 Washington pursued him across New Jersey, and there 
 was a hard-fought battle at Monmouth. In this battle, 
 
THE FURLOUGH. 49 
 
 Lafayette bore himself heroically all day long, and, when 
 night came, with the victory undecided, he slept on the 
 field by the side of Washington. 
 
 The enemy retreated to New York, and Washing- 
 ton stretched his lines from Morristown, New Jersey, 
 to West Point, on the Hudson. 
 
 While the patriots thus kept watch of New York, 
 Lafayette was granted a furlough. It was thought 
 that he might obtain more aid from France. When 
 he reached Paris, he was placed under arrest; for 
 King Louis had once promised the English ambassador 
 to put the bold young- marquis in prison if he should 
 ever return. 
 
 And what do you think his prison was? 
 
 It was the house of his own family, and the chains 
 that were bound tightly around his neck were the arms 
 of his loving wife. 
 
 He was forbidden to enter the king's presence 
 for a week as penance for having disobeyed royal 
 orders; but, at the end of that time, he was again 
 restored to his old place of honor. It is said that the 
 queen and every lady of the court kissed him on both 
 cheeks. 
 
50 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE*. 
 
 Lafayette turned this whirlwind of favor to the 
 advantage of the patriots. He said that no European 
 army would suffer the tenth part of what the American 
 troops did, and boldly declared that the cost 
 of a single royal ball would equip the whole 
 army. 
 
 He talked much about Washington. 
 "Do you know, Doctor," said the queen 
 one day to Franklin, "that Lafayette has 
 really made me in love with your General 
 Washington? What a man he must be!" 
 
 When, at last, Lafayette was ready to 
 return to America, he went in the uniform 
 of an American general to bid the king 
 good-bye. At his side hung a sword, with 
 handle of gold and blade of steel, engraved 
 with his arms and his motto, Ciir noii? It 
 had been presented to him by Franklin in 
 the name of the American Congress. 
 
 When he landed at Boston, the bells of the 
 churches rang a welcome, while the citizens marched 
 in line to escort him to General Hancock's house on 
 Beacon Hill. 
 
 LAFA- 
 YETTE'S 
 SWORD. 
 
THE VICTORY AT YORKTOWN. 51 
 
 As soon as he could do so, Lafayette went to army 
 headquarters on the Hudson. ^ There Washington 
 greeted him as if he had been his own son; but he 
 looked anxious and sad. 
 
 "Alas, my boy," he said, '* there is bad news for 
 you. We have been defeated in the South. Our con- 
 tinental money is so counterfeited by the enemy that 
 it is almost worthless, and our sick and starving sol- 
 diers are without supplies." 
 
 '*Ah ! " cried Lafayette, with a joyous laugh, "I 
 have remembered my general during my absence.- 
 There are six thousand land troops, under Rochambeau, 
 now on the way, and money, and clothing, and arms." 
 
 IX. — The Victory at Yorktown. 
 
 Not long after Lafayette's return, he went with 
 Washington to inspect the fortifications at West Point. 
 While they were there, Washington discovered that 
 Benedict Arnold, the commander of the fort, had been 
 bribed to betray it to the British. 
 
 West Point was saved; but Arnold, the traitor, 
 
52 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 escaped to a British ship, and enlisted in the service of 
 the enemy. This was in September, 1780. 
 
 A few months later, Arnold led a British army into 
 Virginia, and Lafayette was ordered 
 south to attack him. 
 
 "Look before you leap," were 
 Washington's parting words. 
 
 Lafayette remembered the warn- 
 ing, and moved forward with caution. 
 At Baltimore, he borrowed ten 
 thousand dollars from some merchants to supply his 
 men with shoes and hats, and to buy the linen which 
 the women of the city made into summer garments. 
 
 Then he marched to Richmond, Virginia. Arnold 
 soon sent a letter to the camp about an exchange of 
 prisoners. Lafayette said to the messenger: "I will 
 answer the letter of any British officer; but I will not 
 even read a letter from Benedict Arnold, the traitor." 
 
 A few days later, the British general, Cornwallis, 
 took command of Arnold's troops. 
 
 "The Frenchman cannot escape me!" he said. 
 The youthful major general warily avoided an 
 engagement with Cornwallis. He joined his forces 
 
THE VICTORY AT YORKTOWN. 53 
 
 with those of Anthony Wayne, and followed the British 
 at a distance. 
 
 Some of the best young- men of Virginia and Mary- 
 land had hesitated to take up arms 
 against the king; but, when they 
 saw the skill and courage of this 
 stranger, they mounted their own 
 horses and joined his ranks. Thus 
 Lafayette's army kept daily increas- 
 
 l^gf- GENERAL ANTHONY 
 
 WAYNE. 
 
 Now, just at this time, all Europe 
 was awaiting events on two rivers in America. The 
 Hudson, in the North, lay between Clinton and Wash- 
 ington ; and the James, in the South, held on its banks 
 the opposing armies of Cornwallis and Lafayette. 
 
 *' Whose army will conquer?" was a question which 
 King George and King Louis anxiously asked. 
 
 It was not long before they had an answer. 
 
 Cornwallis threw tip fortifications at Yorktown, 
 and moved his camp there. Then, Washington and 
 Lafayette agreed to unite their armies to attack 
 him. 
 
 Soon a French fleet, under Count de Grasse, moved 
 
54 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 up Chesapeake Bay, and anchored before Yorktown, 
 Lafayette and Wayne marched nearer and nearer, 
 until Cornwallis was surrounded by land and 
 sea. 
 
 De Grasse urged Lafayette to make the attack at 
 once. It was a temptation for the 
 young major general. He knew 
 that Europe would ring with his 
 name if he should win the victory 
 alone; but, when he thought of 
 the patient commander in the 
 North, who had borne the bur- 
 dens of the long war, he said to 
 De Grasse: "No, if we strike the 
 enemy now, our losses will be too great. I shall await 
 the arrival of Washington, To him alone should belong 
 the honor of giving Cornwallis this final blow." 
 
 Meanwhile, Washington left the Hudson. Rocham- 
 beau, with the French troops, joined him, and together 
 they marched to the South. When the united armies, 
 under the command of Washington, stood in front 
 of Yorktown, Lafayette's division was the first to storm 
 the redoubts. 
 
 LORD CORNWALLIS. 
 
THE VICTORY AT YORKTOWN. 55 
 
 Cornwallis surrendered October 19, 1781; this ended 
 the war, and America was free. 
 
 Lafayette received a leave of absence to return to 
 France. When he reached Versailles and found that his 
 wife was attending a ball at the palace, he sent her a 
 message. The tidings of his arrival ended the dancing. 
 Everybody stopped to tell everybody else that the Mar- 
 quis de Lafayette had returned from America; and the 
 queen called her own carriage to accompany the happy 
 wife home. 
 
 Honors were showered on the hero ; but he modestly 
 declared that most of the credit of victory belonged to 
 Washington. Whenever he dined with the French 
 officers, he proposed a toast to the health of Washing, 
 ton, and when his son was born, he named him George 
 Washington. After the treaty of peace between Eng- 
 land and America had been signed, he wrote to Wash- 
 ington: "As for you, my dear general, who can truly 
 say that all this is your work, what must be your 
 feelings ! ' ' 
 
 Later, he wrote: ''The eternal honor in which 
 my descendants will glory will be to have had an 
 ancestor among your soldiers." 
 
56 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 X. — A Visit to Mount Vernon. 
 
 In 1784, Lafayette visited Washington at Mount 
 Vernon. The two friends spent ma,ny happy daj^s 
 together. They rode after the hounds, or walked on 
 
 the banks of the Poto- 
 mac River, or sat in the 
 library musing over the 
 battles they had fought 
 for liberty. They talked 
 much about the thirteen 
 new states, which had 
 
 .^-"iii' 
 
 MOUNT VERNON. 
 
 not yet formed a permanent union. 
 
 "There are three things I wish," said Lafayette; 
 "first, that France and America form an alliance; second, 
 that the thirteen colonies be united under one govern- 
 ment; and third, that the slaves in the colonies 
 be freed." 
 
 Washington agreed with Lafayette about all these 
 measures. The two visited the battlefields of the 
 South, and lingered at the grave of De Kalb, who had 
 fallen at Camden, in South Carolina. 
 
 When, at last, Lafayette started north to resign 
 
A VISIT TO MOUNT VERNON. 57 
 
 his commission, Washington accompanied him as far 
 as Annapolis. On returning to Mount Vernon, he 
 hastened to write: "In the moment of our separation 
 and every hour since, I have felt all that love, respect 
 and attachment for 3^ou with which length of years 
 and your merits have inspired me. I often asked 
 myself, as our carriages separated, whether that was 
 the last sight I ever should have of you." 
 
 It was, indeed, the last time they met on earth. 
 Lafayette returned home. He was kept busy for years 
 by important events, and when he again visited America 
 the noble Washington was in his grave. 
 
 Perhaps the best service of Lafayette to our country 
 was the good name he gave it in Europe. He also did 
 what he could to improve our trade by finding new 
 markets for our products. 
 
 The fishermen of Nantucket were so grateful for 
 his help in the whaling industry that they held a public 
 meeting. Every man present promised two milkings 
 from his cow to make a cheese. Barrels of milk were 
 accordingly collected, and a great round cheese, weighing 
 five hundred pounds, was made ; and one day it arrived 
 at Chavaniac, not a whit the less fragrant for its long 
 
58 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 voyage across the sea. The planters of Virginia were 
 so much pleased with Lafayette's efforts in behalf of 
 the tobacco trade, that they ordered Houdon, the sculp- 
 tor, to make two marble busts of him. One was placed 
 in the capitol at Richmond, and 
 the other was presented to the 
 city of Paris. 
 
 Now, the kings of Europe 
 did not like the new ideas about 
 liberty which had spread over the 
 world after the American revo- 
 lution. Frederick the Great, of 
 Priissia, invited the Marquis de 
 Lafayette to his court for a visit. In one of their 
 talks, King Frederick said: "By and by, the United 
 States will return to the good old system of monarchy." 
 "Never, sire, never," replied Lafayette; "neither 
 monarchy nor aristocracy can ever exist in America." 
 
 "Sir," said Frederick, with a penetrating look, "I 
 knew a young man who, after he had visited countries 
 where liberty and equality reigned, conceived the idea 
 of establishing the same system in his own country. Do 
 you know what -happened to him?" 
 
 FREDERICK THE GREAT, 
 
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. 59 
 
 "No, sire." 
 "He was hanged." 
 
 Lafayette looked up with a calm smile ; but he did 
 not betray to the anxious king what his thoughts were. 
 
 XL — The National Assembly. 
 
 It was, indeed, time for the monarchs of Europe 
 to be concerned about the safety of their thrones. 
 Nowhere was the danger greater than in France. 
 
 While King Louis had been helping King George's 
 subjects, his own subjects were suffering. They were 
 grievously taxed to support the splendor of the king 
 and his nobles. Whole counties were reduced to 
 starvation, and thousands of wretched creatures wan- 
 dered over the kingdom, begging or robbing as they 
 went. 
 
 Louis XVI. saw little of all this misery. He was 
 happy himself, and he wondered why everybody else 
 was not happy. If he chanced to see a pallid face 
 through the window of his coach, he said: "That poor 
 fellow is ill." 
 
6o STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 No one spoiled his drive by telling him the man 
 was hungry. 
 
 The thoughtless king kept asking his ministers for 
 more money, until they told him the treasury was 
 empty. Then the taxes were increased. The people 
 began to hear how the Americans had won the right 
 to vote their own taxes. They asked one another why 
 the French might not have that right too. It really 
 began to look as if there might be a revolution in 
 France. 
 
 When Lafayette returned from his visit to Mount 
 Vernon, he advised the king to call an assembly of the 
 nobles to decide what should be done. The assembly 
 was summoned. Lafayette was one of its members. 
 He declared that there must be less extravagance at 
 court instead of more taxes on the workingmen. 
 
 "Citizens ought to be allowed to vote their own 
 taxes," he said. "Let us call a national assembly 
 with the common people represented in it." 
 
 "What!" cried the other nobles, "would you dare 
 to put that request in writing for the king to read?" 
 
 "I dare do anything that may broaden the liber- 
 ties of my fellowmen," replied the patriot. 
 
 n 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 6i 
 
 He wrote a petition asking that his majesty permit 
 the people of France to elect representatives to help 
 make the laws. He was the only one who was bold 
 enough to sign the paper. 
 
 *'The marquis will be sent to the Bastille," whis- 
 pered the nobles to one another, and they expected 
 to see him seized by the guards. 
 
 King Louis did not send Lafayette to prison; but 
 he gave no heed to the petition. 
 
 Things went from bad to worse until at length 
 the king consented to summon a national assembly 
 to meet at Versailles. 
 
 Lafayette represented the nobles of his province 
 and took his seat on May i, 1789. It was just one 
 day after the inauguration of Washington as President 
 of the United States. 
 
 XII. — The French Revolution. 
 
 The members of the National Assembly marched 
 in a body to the Church of Saint Louis for prayers. 
 The representative's of the common people walked 
 
62 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 first, dressed in black; then the noblemen came, in 
 silk and velvet and lace with gold chains about their 
 necks; and last of all came the king and the highest 
 officials of the court. 
 
 It was a magnificent pageant, attended with the 
 clang of trumpets and the chant of 
 priests. The streets were crowded 
 with sight-seers, among whom was 
 Thomas Jefferson, the American 
 minister to France. 
 
 Now, the men in black had 
 come from all parts of the kingdom 
 to right the wrongs of the people; 
 yet at the first meeting they heard of nothing but the 
 king's need of more money. 
 
 They grew desperate, at last, and boldly declared 
 that there must be better laws. The king listened 
 in silence; then he put on his gold-laced hat; the 
 nobles did the same, and then — what do you think? 
 — the men in black put on their caps! 
 
 The king was amazed, and the nobles stared at 
 one another in astonishment; for the common people 
 had never before dared to wear caps in the presence 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 63 
 
 of royalty. But the men in black did not stop at 
 that. They held a meeting among- themselves and 
 resolved not to return to their homes until the king 
 had signed a written constitution for the government 
 of France. 
 
 Lafayette drew up a Declaration of Rights. It 
 was something like one which the American Congress 
 had sent to George III. Louis XVI. agreed to make 
 reforms. Perhaps he tried to do so; but he really 
 did not know how to change the old order of 
 things. 
 
 While there were bread riots around the public 
 buildings in Paris, he gave a grand ball at Versailles. 
 Some one hurried to tell the hungry people about it. 
 
 ''Louis mocks at our misery!" they cried. 
 
 And the very next day they stormed the Bastille. 
 They broke down the great doors and set the prisoners 
 free, and then they battered the massive walls to the 
 ground. King Louis was afraid to leave his palace at 
 Versailles. 
 
 Electors met in the Hotel de Ville, or City Hall. 
 They declared there must be a commander of a national 
 guard to keep order in Paris, and when one of them 
 
64 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 pointed to the bust of Lafayette which Virginia had 
 presented, he was elected by a unanimous vote. 
 
 The mobs grew wilder in spite of all the new 
 guard could do. Once when they were raising a 
 
 THE BASTILLE. 
 
 gallows upon which to hang a harmless priest, there 
 seemed no way to quell their fury. 
 
 Lafayette sprang to a platform. Just then his 
 little boy came to the place with his teacher. He 
 seized the child and held him high up. 
 
 "Gentlemen," he said, **I have the honor 
 to present to you my son, George Washington 
 Lafayette ! ' ' 
 
 The name of the American patriot acted like 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 65 
 
 magic upon the crowds below. Cheers rent the air, 
 and, in the confusion, the poor priest escaped. 
 
 As winter came on, food became scarcer than ever. 
 Yet the court at Versailles was feasting. Some one 
 said that when the queen heard the people had no 
 bread, she laughingly asked: *'Why don't they eat 
 cake then?" and that a nobleman said: "Nay, let 
 them eat grass!" 
 
 The rage of the mobs increased. Lafayette 
 stationed the National Guard on the road to Versailles 
 to prevent them from going there. But one day a 
 fish-woman beat a drum. The ragged and hungry 
 people ran together, and soon thousands were on 
 their way to Versailles. 
 
 "Bread! Bread!" they cried. 
 
 The guard gave way. The mad creatures reached 
 the palace. They killed the Swiss guards at the 
 doors and ran their pikes into the queen's empty bed. 
 
 Lafayette had followed swiftly with the National 
 Guard. He drove the intruders from the palace, and 
 talked to them until they seemed more calm. 
 
 Then he led Louis to the balcony above them. 
 
 "Long live the king!" they shouted. 
 
66 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 ''Come," said Lafayette to Marie Antoinette. She 
 appeared with the little prince and the princess. 
 
 "Not the children!" "Not the children!" they 
 cried; for they did not wish the innocent to suffer. 
 
 The terrified queen sent 
 the children within. She 
 stood on the balcony alone. 
 She expected instant death. 
 Lafayette stepped for- 
 ward. He bowed low and 
 kissed her hand. The people 
 again forgot their anger. 
 
 "Long live the queen!" 
 "Long live the general!" they shouted as they beat 
 their pikes together. 
 
 "Perhaps things would mend if their majesties 
 left this costly palace," said a grimy blacksmith to a 
 thin-visaged tailor. 
 
 "They must go to Paris!" screamed the tailor. 
 "On to Paris!" was the cry from a thousand 
 throats. 
 
 The royal family was forced into a carriage. It 
 was a strange procession that went back into the great 
 
 QUEEN MARIE ANTOINETTE. 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 67 
 
 city. Lafayette and the guard rode on each side of 
 the splendid carriage, but, before and behind, marched 
 men and women with wild eyes and unkempt hair. 
 Some held on their pikes the pillaged loaves of bread, 
 and others the bloody heads of the Swiss guards, while 
 the fish-woman led the van with her drum. 
 
 At last, their majesties were safe in the palace at 
 Paris. Lafayette had rescued them from death; yet 
 he was firm in his devotion to the liberties of the 
 people. He said to the National Assembly: "If the 
 king will sign a constitution for the just government of 
 France, I shall defend him; if he refuses to sign, I will 
 fight him." 
 
 Soon after this Louis signed a constitution which 
 was much like that of England. On July 14, 1790, 
 the anniversary of the fall of the Bastille, the French 
 celebrated the beginning of their freedom. In an 
 open field where thousands of the people had assem- 
 bled, the king and the members of the new assembly 
 pledged to support the constitution. 
 
 When Lafayette ascended the steps to take the 
 oath, in the name of the army, there was loud applause; 
 and, as he rode at the head of the National Guard in 
 
68 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 the parade which followed the solemn ceremony, all 
 eyes were fixed on him. 
 
 In his joy at what seemed to be the end of 
 tyranny in his native land, he sent to Washington the 
 key to the fallen Bastille, where men had once been 
 imprisoned for life without trial by jury. To-day, 
 you may see the great iron key among the historic 
 treasures of Mount Vernon. 
 
 XIII. — An Exile and in Prison. 
 
 The French people had not yet learned the first 
 lesson in self-government. The constitutional mon- 
 archy soon failed. Mobs imprisoned the royal family 
 and set fire to the houses of the nobles. 
 
 Lafayette was grieved over these events. He had 
 led the enslaved people toward liberty, but as soon as 
 they were free they had outrun their guide. Because 
 he would not join them in their excesses, they called 
 him an aristocrat and threatened him with death. 
 
 He fled from Paris and wrote to his wife to join 
 him in England. "Let us go to America," he said, 
 
AN EXILE AND IN PRISON. 69 
 
 "and establish ourselves there. Some day, when the 
 storm is over, I may yet serve France." 
 
 But the monarchs of Europe said: "This Marquis 
 de Lafayette, who brought these outrageous ideas of 
 liberty from America, must be silenced." 
 
 He was arrested on the frontier and imprisoned 
 in Prussia for a year. Then he was sent to a dungeon 
 at Olmutz in Austria. He had wretched food. His 
 clothes rotted with dampness. His bed was a pile of 
 straw. Yet when he was told he might be free if he 
 would betray the military strength of France, he 
 refused to leave his cell. He expected to die in his chains. 
 
 One morning he heard a rattle of keys and bars. 
 He arose from his straw and saw his wife and two 
 daughters enter beneath the crossed swords of the 
 guards. The joy was too great. He fell in a swoon. 
 When he recovered his senses, he tenderly embraced 
 his loved ones. 
 
 "And where is my little George?" he asked. 
 
 "He is at Mount Vernon with Washington," 
 replied his wife. 
 
 "God be praised for such a friend in our hour of 
 need," exclaimed the now happy father. 
 
70 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 When he was strong enough to bear it, the Mar- 
 quise told him what had happened at Paris. It was a 
 sad story. 
 
 The king and queen had been beheaded; her 
 own grandmother, mother, and sister, with thousands 
 of others, had been led to the scaf- 
 fold during a reign of terror. She 
 herself had been in prison until 
 released through the efforts of 
 James Monroe, the new American 
 minister to France. After many 
 trials she had obtained permission 
 
 JAMES MONROE. 
 
 to share his captivity. 
 
 The devoted wife remained at Olmutz. 
 
 Meanwhile, Washington, Jefferson and other 
 friends appealed to the Austrian emperor to set the 
 patriot free. 
 
 "It is impossible," replied the despot. "Lafay- 
 ette's existence is a menace to the kingdoms of 
 Europe. ' ' 
 
 When, at last. Napoleon Bonaparte, at the head 
 of his French troops, defeated the allied powers, who 
 were trying to place another king upon the throne of 
 
AN EXILE AND IN PRISON. 
 
 71 
 
 France, he refused to sign a treaty of peace until all 
 the French prisoners were surrendered. 
 
 Lafayette was liberated. He went to Hamburg, 
 in Germany, with his wife and daughters. His son 
 returned from America, and 
 the united family lived for a 
 time in exile. 
 
 When Napoleon became 
 First Consul of France, he 
 pledged himself to restore 
 the constitution for which 
 Lafayette had struggled so 
 long. The patriot then re- 
 turned to his native land. 
 Most of his property at Cha- 
 vaniac had been confiscated, and he made his home 
 at La Grange, in the province of La Brie. 
 
 Formerly the peasants on his estates had knelt when 
 he passed. The revolution had changed all that; but 
 when he taught them self-respect, they showed respect 
 for others without servility. 
 
 The Americans did not forget Lafayette in his 
 retirement. In 1805, President Jefferson offered to 
 
 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 
 
72 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 appoint him governor of Louisiana; but his wife's 
 
 health was too feeble to permit of the long voyage. 
 
 Two years later the noble wife died. At her 
 
 own request she was buried in that part of the 
 
 LA GRANGE, HOME OF LAFAYETTE. 
 
 cemetery of Picpus which is called the "cemetery of 
 the beheaded," because there lay the bodies of her 
 relatives who had fallen victims to the mobs. 
 
 Napoleon did not keep his pledges to obey the 
 constitution. He made himself emperor of France. 
 
THE MAN OF TWO WORLDS. 7^ 
 
 After a time he was exiled by the allied powers of 
 Europe, and Louis XVIIL was placed on the 
 throne. 
 
 Lafayette was a member of the National 
 Assembly for several years, trying always to preserve 
 the liberties of the people. Then he retired to La 
 Grange, where he expected to live quietly with his 
 children for the rest of his days. 
 
 XIV. — The Man of Two Worlds. 
 
 In 1824, in accordance with a resolution of Con- 
 gress, President James Monroe invited Lafayette to 
 visit the United States. He gladly accepted the 
 invitation, and set out on his journey with his son 
 George Washington and a private secretary. 
 
 "It has been thirty years since I last saw the 
 people of America," he said to himself. "I miist be 
 prepared to meet indifferent glances; for most of my 
 friends have long since passed away." 
 
 He expected to land quietly in New York and 
 
74 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 secure private lodgings; but when he arrived he 
 found that he was the nation's guest. 
 
 The city was having a holiday in his honor. 
 Thousands stood on the wharves 
 to greet him, while cannon 
 roared and banners waved. 
 
 "Welcome, Lafayette ! " 
 was inscribed on the arches 
 beneath which he passed, and 
 his portrait, stamped on blue 
 ribbon, was everywhere to be 
 seen. 
 
 Lafayette now understood 
 that he had not been forgot- 
 ten, and his eyes overflowed 
 with tears. 
 
 As he went about from 
 city to city, he aroused the 
 greatest enthusiasm. 
 
 He limped a little as he 
 walked. The people said it was because of the 
 wound he had received at Brandywine, and their 
 gratitude seemed without bounds. In one public pro- 
 
 STATUE OF LAFAYETTE, 
 UNION SQUARE, N. Y. 
 
THE MAN OF TWO WORLDS. 75 
 
 cession was the model of a ship with his youthful 
 pledge: "I will purchase and equip a vessel at my 
 own expense." 
 
 In another a chorus of white-robed girls sang: 
 
 "We bow not the neck and we bend not the knee, 
 But our hearts, Lafayette, we surrender to thee. ' * 
 
 It all seemed like the close of a fairy story where 
 the armed knight, who had once rushed to the rescue 
 of young America in distress, returned again after 
 many years to behold her golden days of prosperity. 
 
 The thirteen small colonies had become twenty- 
 four united states; the population had grown from 
 three millions to twelve millions; towns had become 
 cities; forests had been transformed into farms; and 
 the ships, which sailed on every sea, carried the 
 products of soil and loom and forge to the markets 
 of the world. 
 
 When, from the well-filled public treasury. Con- 
 gress presented two hundred thousand dollars to the 
 hero, he received the gift with touching words of 
 gratitude; but when the legislatures of Virginia, 
 Maryland, and other states began to vote large sums 
 
76 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 of money for him, he firmly refused to accept of 
 tlieir generosity. 
 
 He stood at the tombs of Washington, Hamilton, 
 Franklin, and other soldiers and statesmen who had 
 
 helped to establish liberty, 
 and he visited Jefferson and 
 John Adams, whose totter- 
 ing footsteps had almost 
 reached the grave, to learn 
 from their lips the story of 
 the new republic. 
 
 On June 17, 1825, the 
 anniversary of the battle of 
 Bunker Hill, Lafayette as- 
 sisted in laying the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill 
 monument. 
 
 Many thousand people came to Boston to witness 
 the ceremonies. During an eloquent address, Daniel 
 Webster turned to the French patriot. "Fortunate, 
 fortunate man!" he exclaimed; "you were connected 
 with both hemispheres and with two generations! 
 Heaven saw fit that the electric spark of liberty 
 should be conducted through you from the New World 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
THE MAN OF TWO WORLDS. 
 
 77 
 
 to the Old, and we, who are now here to perform this 
 duty of patriotism, have all of us long ago received it 
 from our fathers to cherish your name and your 
 virtues. 
 
 "Those who survived the 
 battle of Bunker Hill are 
 now around you. Some of 
 them you have known in the 
 trying scenes of war. Behold 
 them now stretch forth their 
 feeble arms to embrace you! 
 Behold, they raise their trem- 
 bling voices to invoke the 
 blessings of God on you and . 
 yours forever!" 
 
 On July 4th, Lafayette was at New York and 
 listened to the reading of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence. Well did he remember the dinner party at 
 Metz, nearly fifty years before, where he had first heard 
 about this Declaration of Independence. And as he 
 sat upon a high platform and looked down upon the 
 thousands before him, he smiled in content, for he 
 thought he saw in their happy faces the fulfilment of 
 
 BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. 
 
78 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 his youthful dreams. Yet a few weeks later he began 
 to fear for the safety of the Republic. 
 
 There was a tremendous uproar during- a political 
 campaign for the election of the next President. At 
 the taverns, on busy streets and lonely roads, in every 
 nook and cranny of the country, 
 people disputed about whether An- 
 drew Jackson, Henry Clay, John 
 Quincy Adams, or William H. Craw- 
 ford would make the best President. 
 Public opinion was so divided 
 DANIEL 'WEBSTER. ^j^^^ whcu clcctlon day came no 
 candidate received a majority of votes. The French- 
 man thought that there really seemed no way to settle 
 the result except with pistols and swords. 
 
 He did not know much about the laws of the 
 United States. But he soon learned what a great 
 instrument of good government our Constitution 
 is. 
 
 The Constitution provides that when no candidate 
 has received a majority of the electoral votes, the 
 three highest names on the list must come before the 
 House of Representatives. 
 
THE MAN OF TWO WORLDS. 79 
 
 When, at last, John Quincy Adams was chosen by 
 the House, all factions accepted the verdict. 
 
 "Ah!" exclaimed Lafayette, "this is, indeed, a 
 wonderful nation. It is built on a solid foundation, 
 and cannot fall. ' ' 
 
 The more he traveled in the United States, the 
 more he was impressed with the greatness of its 
 future. When he sailed up the Mississippi and the 
 Ohio and saw the rude cabins on their banks, he 
 said: "These are the beginnings of cities." 
 
 When he drove over the National Pike Road or 
 made a voyage on the new Erie Canal, he said: 
 "These are the beginnings of yet greater highways 
 which will one day unite" — Do you think he said the 
 Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean? No, he did 
 not say that, because in 1825 the Mexicans claimed 
 most of the territory west of the Rocky Mountains, 
 He said — "which will one day unite all sections of the 
 country. ' ' 
 
 Lafayette spent more than a year with his friends. 
 When his visit was over, he embarked in a new 
 American frigate, the Brandyzvine^ and the prayers 
 of millions followed him as he sailed away for the 
 
8o STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 last time from our shores. So much honor had been 
 shown this guest of the nation that, for many years 
 after, if any one received special attention, he was said 
 to be "Lafayetted." 
 
 Nor was the hero forgotten in his absence. Old 
 places in the East and new places in . the West and 
 South remembered him until, to-day, there are over 
 ninety towns and counties in the United States whose 
 names recall him or the home of his old age. 
 
 The boys and girls who are so fortunate as to live 
 at La Grange, or Lafayette, or Fayetteville, or 
 Fayette Hill, or any other Fayette, must surely think 
 often of the gallant young French marquis who came 
 to the rescue of our thirteen struggling colonies. 
 
 XV. — The Last Days of a Patriot. 
 
 When Lafayette arrived in France he was received 
 with open arms by his countrymen. They called him 
 the protector of their Constitution. And, indeed, just 
 at that time the French Constitution needed pro- 
 tection. 
 
THE LAST DAYS OF A PATRIOT. 8i 
 
 During Lafayette's absence Louis XVIIL had died 
 and Charles X. had come to the throne. King Charles 
 was determined to restore the old order of things. 
 He destroyed the liberty of the press, dissolved the 
 National Assembly, and chose his favorites as ministers. 
 
 The members of the Assembly met again of their 
 own accord, and declared they would resist these 
 unconstitutional measures. Then the people of Paris 
 rushed together. They barricaded the streets, defeated 
 the royal troops, and drove the king from the city. 
 
 Lafayette might have been elected President, but 
 he refused to accept the office; for he knew very well 
 that the French people were not ready for a republic. 
 He desired a constitutional monarchy like that of 
 England. He visited Louis Philippe, the Duke of 
 Orleans. This prince had traveled in the United 
 States and England, and understood what a govern- 
 ment "by the people, for the people" meant. 
 
 *'You know," said Lafayette to the duke, "that I 
 regard the Constitution of the United States as the 
 most perfect that has ever existed." 
 
 "I think as you do," replied his highness; "it is 
 impossible to have passed two years in America and 
 
82 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 not be of that opinion. Bnt do you believe that the 
 French people are ready for that?" 
 
 "No, they are only ready for a throne surrounded 
 with republican institutions." 
 "Such is my belief," 
 said the duke. 
 
 Soon after this the Na- 
 tional Assembly met in the 
 Hotel de Ville. The Duke 
 of Orleans was there. He 
 pledged himself to receive 
 the crown, not by right of 
 birth, but as the free gift 
 of the people. 
 Lafayette led him to an open window and 
 embraced him. 
 
 "Long live the Duke of Orleans!" shouted the 
 people who had assembled below to greet him. 
 
 Not long after, he was crowned King of France 
 by the Assembly. 
 
 * ' Long live King Louis Philippe ! ' ' cried every one. 
 
 Lafayette felt that he had at last won his long 
 
 fight for the constitutional liberty of his beloved 
 
 LOUIS PHILIPPE. 
 
THE LAST DAYS OF A PATRIOT. 
 
 83 
 
 country. The aged patriot retired to La Grange, 
 where he lived yet a little longer among his children 
 and friends. In his favorite room hung the portraits 
 o f Washington and 
 Franklin and a paint- 
 ing of the siege of 
 Yorktown ; and here 
 he loved to sit and 
 muse over the exciting 
 scenes of his early days. 
 
 One beautiful morn- 
 ing, May 20, 1834, he 
 died at Paris, sur- 
 rounded by his family; 
 and there was mourn- 
 ing throughout France. 
 His remains were placed with great pomp by the side 
 of those of his wife in the cemetery of Picpus. As 
 the casket was lowered, earth from America, mingled 
 with that of France, was strewn upon it. 
 
 ''Lafayette was a man of two worlds," said the 
 Paris papers which were banded in black. 
 
 Church bells tolled in his honor in many countries. 
 
 LAFAYETTE S GRAVE AT PICPUS. 
 
84 STORY OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 In the United States, Congress wore mourning for 
 thirty days, and, by order of President Jackson, the 
 same honors were paid to his memory by the army 
 and navy as had been paid to that of George Washing- 
 ton. 
 
 As the years went by, the French people learned 
 to govern themselves. They created a republican 
 government, and to-day the Republic of France is one 
 of the great powers of Europe. 
 
 As for the United States, the government has 
 grown steadily stronger and greater upon the founda- 
 tions which Lafayette helped to build. 
 
 It was Washington who said: "Lafayette deserves 
 all the gratitude which our country can render 
 him. ' ' 
 
 And on October 19, 1898, the anniversary of the 
 victory at Yorktown, young patriots in every city, 
 town, and village in our country remembered these 
 words. They held memorial services in Lafayette's honor, 
 and contributed funds to erect, in the city of Paris, a 
 noble monument to his name. And all agreed that 
 the monument should be dedicated on July 4, 1900, 
 the anniversary of our Declaration of Independence. 
 
THE LAST DAYS OF A PATRIOT. 
 
 S5 
 
 For it was the news of Liberty's birth which first 
 taught the young captain of artillery at Metz what his 
 mission in life should be. 
 
 LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD. 
 Presented by the People of France to the Republic of the United States. 
 

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