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THE MONUMENT TO THE CHEVALIER DE SAINT-SAUVEUR. 
 KING'S CHAPEL, BOSTON. 
 
THE MEMORIAL 
 
 TO THE 
 
 CHEVALIER DE SAINT-SAUVEUR 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE MONUMENT AND OF 
 
 THE VOTES TO ERECT IT, AND AN AC- 
 
 COUNT OF THE CEREMONIES AT THE 
 
 DEDICATION. MAY 24, 1917 
 
 By FITZ-HENRY SMITH, Jr. 
 
 REPRINTED FROM THE PROCEEDINGS 
 OF THE BOSTONIAN SOCIETY 
 1918 
 

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 iUH 26 1919 
 
THE MEMORIAL 
 
 TO THE 
 
 CHEVALIER DE SAINT-SAUVEUR 
 
 An Account read by request before the Bostonian Society, 
 December i8, 1917, with Additions, by 
 
 FITZ-HENRY SMITH. Jr. 
 
 " Few men can afford to wait a hundred years to be 
 remembered." So spake Elihu Root at the unveiling of the 
 monument to Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the engineer 
 who made the plan of the City of Washington. L'Enfant 
 died in 1825, and it was not until 1909 that there came 
 public recognition of his great work. In the long interval 
 his grave laid neglected — marked only by a tree — while the 
 city rose in splendor about him. Then were witnessed these 
 scenes : the remains of the forgotten man lying in state under 
 the dome of the capitol, attended by the dignitaries of the 
 nation ; after the ceremonies there, a procession to Arlington, 
 the hearse, wrapped in the colors of America and France, 
 escorted by one of the regiments to which the Major had 
 belonged ; and — two years later, — the dedication of a 
 monument over his grave, with addresses by the President 
 of the United States and by the Secretary of State. Thus 
 remembered and honored at last, the artist-soldier was placed 
 in the great national cemetery on a slope overlooking the 
 beautiful city that he had seen in his dreams more than a 
 century before, and had planned for the mighty nation his 
 vision told him the United States was destined to be.* 
 
 * See J. J. Jusserand, With Americans of Fast and Present Days (New 
 York, 1917), pp. 137^ 
 
4 The Memorial to the 
 
 One hundred and thirty-nine years elapsed after the death 
 of the Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur before a monument was 
 raised to his memory and dedicated with ceremonies as im- 
 pressive in their way as those which were held in honor of 
 the designer of the City of Washington. But the circum- 
 stances which caused the monument to be erected in Boston 
 were very different from those which led to the memorial in 
 the federal city. L'Enfant died in poverty and obscurity, 
 cared for only by the man who befriended him in his last 
 days, and upon whose property he was buried. The death of 
 de Saint-Sauveur, on the other hand, was of grave concern 
 to the men in authority at the time, and the state voted him 
 a monument the day following his death. 
 
 Who, then, was the Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur, and why 
 was it voted that a monument be erected to his memory .? 
 The answer is contained in a forgotten chapter of the history 
 of the town of Boston in the American Revolution. 
 
 The History of the Monument and of the 
 Votes to Erect it. 
 
 On the 6th of February, 1778, there was signed at Paris a 
 treaty of alliance between France and the United States, the 
 only treaty of the kind to which this nation has been a party, 
 and the first visible evidence of the support which was to 
 come from it was the sailing to America, two months later, 
 of a fleet of twelve ships of the line and five frigates (one of 
 which was subsequently sent back with despatches) com- 
 manded by the Count d'Estaing and carrying as a passenger 
 Gerard de Rayneval, the first ambassador of any nation to 
 the United States.* 
 
 The fleet took a long time crossing the Atlantic, so long, 
 in fact, that news of its coming reached America in season 
 
 * The fleet included the " Languedoc " of 90 guns, the " Tonnant " of 80, 
 the 74s " Cesar," " Hector," " Zele," " Marseillais," " Protecteur " and " Guer- 
 rier," the 64s " Vaillant," " Provence " and " Fantasque," the " Sagittaire," 50 
 guns, and the frigates "Aimable," "Alcmene," " Chimfere " and " Engageante," 
 of 26 or 30 guns each. 
 
Chevalier de Saint- Sauveiir 5 
 
 for the British to prepare for it. They abandoned Philadel- 
 phia and concentrated at New York, and when d'Estaing ar- 
 rived at the Delaware, on the 8th of July, he found that his 
 enemy had moved, and detaching a frigate (" La Chimere ") 
 to take Gerard to Philadelphia, proceeded at once to Sandy 
 Hook. At New York, we are told, the pilots balked at tak- 
 ing the larger French vessels into the harbor and the fleet 
 was sent on to co-operate with General Sullivan in the cam- 
 paign about to be undertaken in Rhode Island. There, a 
 greater misfortune awaited, for several of the French vessels 
 were badly damaged by a storm,* and d'Estaing acting under 
 explicit orders given him for just such an emergency, on 
 August 23, 1778, sailed for Boston. 
 
 The Count said, on leaving, that if he found at Boston 
 the material he so urgently needed he would be ready to 
 start anew to fight " for the glory of the French name and 
 the interests of America." But Sullivan felt that he had 
 been left in the lurch and he did not hesitate to say so, and 
 whereas he was happily able to withdraw in safety from the 
 difficult position in which he found himself, the abrupt termi- 
 nation of the Rhode Island expedition, from which much had 
 been expected, was the cause of general disappointment and 
 of some ill feeling among the people. What, if anything, this 
 had to do with what afterwards took place in Boston, it is 
 difficult to say.f 
 
 It is to be remembered that under the Duke de Choiseul there was a tre- 
 mendous revival of the French navy and that Frenchmen were the master 
 builders of the ships of the period. 
 
 " The hull of the ' Constitution ' was modeled after the best French prac- 
 tice." HolHs, The Frigate '^Constitution " (Boston, 1901), p. 38. 
 
 * The " Languedoc " was completely dismasted and broke her bowsprit and 
 tiller, the " Marseillais " lost foremast and bowsprit, and the " Protecteur " 
 was otherwise crippled. " So fierce was the storm," says Fiske, " that it was 
 remembered in local tradition as lately as 1850 as ' the Great Storm.' " The 
 American Revolution (Boston, 1902), Vol. 2, p. 93. 
 
 t See the interesting publication entitled Extrait du Journal d^un Officier 
 de la Marine de VEscadre de M. le Comte d'Estaing (1782), p. 38, for a con- 
 temporaneous French view of the effect of Sullivan's charges. 
 
6 TJie Memorial to the 
 
 When he arrived at Boston, d'Estaing left his serviceable 
 ships in Nantasket Roads arranged in such a way as to dis- 
 pute the entrance of the British, should they attempt to fol- 
 low, and brought his damaged liners into the inner harbor for 
 repairs.* The exigency was considered so great that the 
 French were permitted to work upon them on the Sabbath — 
 " with as little Disturbance to the Inhabitants as possible, 
 more especially during the time of divine Service,"! and the 
 visitors were well treated in Boston until, on the night of 
 September 8th, there was an attack on the fleet bakery which 
 had been established ashore, and in attempting to intervene, 
 the Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur and another officer, Pleville le 
 Peley,! were wounded, the former by a blow over the eye 
 which resulted in his death a week later. 
 
 De Saint-Sauveur was a lieutenant on the "Tonnant," the 
 second largest ship in the fleet, fiying the fiag of his brother- 
 in-law, the Count de Breugnon, one of d'Estaing's two " chefs 
 d'escadre." In addition, the Chevalier held the position of 
 "aide-major" in the fleet, and at home was the first chamber- 
 lain of Count d'Artois, the brother of Louis XVI. 
 
 So serious an affront to the ally of the colonies, and its 
 fatal ending to one so close to the family of the French king, 
 greatly disturbed the men in charge of the cause of American 
 independence. It was feared that the townspeople might be 
 implicated, and how the French would take it was doubtful. 
 Who were responsible has not been determined to this day, 
 but some of the crew of a privateer, which was said to include 
 British seamen, were suspected of a part in the riot, and d' 
 
 * The " Marseillais " — " the Ship the nearest to the Town " — lay next to 
 Governor's Island, where the French were given leave to land their sick. 
 Mass. Archives, Documents, Vol. 169, p. 151. 
 
 Mbid.,^. 158. 
 
 } Le Peley, who was attached to the " Languedoc " at the time had an 
 eventful history. Early in his career he lost his right leg, which was replaced 
 by a wooden one, and twice thereafter the wooden leg was carried away. He 
 retired from active service in 1788 and was Minister of Marine under the Di- 
 rectory. Cf. Balch, The French in America during the War of Independence 
 of the United States, Vol. 2 (Phil., 1895), p. 200. 
 
Chevalier de Saini-Sauveur 7 
 
 Estaing, with rare good sense, was quick to act on the as- 
 sumption that the attack was excited by British sympathizers. 
 September loth he wrote General Heath that the common 
 enemy of the allies " hesitated at nothing," and later told the 
 general that he was fully satisfied the inhabitants had no 
 hand in the affray — to the great relief of the local authorities. 
 
 The American leaders for their part did everything possible 
 to make amends, and thus it was that on September i6, 17 7^) 
 the day following the death of the Chevalier, the General 
 Court or Assembly of the State of Massachusetts Bay, out of 
 respect to his memory, voted to "attend in Procession the 
 Corps of the deceased to the Place of Interment " and to 
 " provide a monumental Stone to be placed in the burial 
 Ground where his Remains shall be deposited, with such in- 
 scription as his Excellency the Count d'Estaing shall order." 
 
 As there was yet some unrest, it was deemed wiser to 
 forego a public funeral, and the young officer was buried 
 quietly at night in the crypt of King's Chapel — in what has 
 been thought to be the " stranger's tomb," so called, under- 
 neath the porch of the church. But d'Estaing was much 
 impressed and later when he wrote to his superior of the vote 
 of the state and what he had done in consequence, he ex- 
 pressed the hope that the king would " be satisfied by the 
 public and sincere marks of the regret of the Americans," 
 adding " they could not do more, and I must assure you that 
 they would have liked to do far more." * 
 
 After the burial the men in command of the allied forces 
 gave public evidence of the friendship and understanding that 
 existed between them. September 22d, d'Estaing and his 
 officers paraded in Boston and attended numerous receptions, 
 and on the 25th there was a grand love feast in Faneuil Hall, 
 at which the following toasts were given :f 
 
 * Letter of Nov. 5, 1778, printed in the Report of a Recess Committee on 
 the monument. (May, 1906), Mass. Senate, No. 402, p. 5. 
 
 t Lacour-Gayet, La Marine Militaire de la France Sotis le rigne de Louis 
 XVL. (Paris, 1905), p. 173, note. 
 
The Memorial to the 
 
 America. 
 
 The King of France. 
 
 Congress. 
 
 The French Fleet. 
 
 Gen. Washington and the American Army. 
 
 The Independence of America. 
 
 The AlHance between France and America ; may it never be 
 
 broken. 
 
 The French Minister to Congress. 
 
 Franklin, the American Minister at the Court of France. 
 
 Liberty and the Friendship of France. 
 
 Commerce, Art, and Agriculture. 
 
 M. d'Orvilliers and all his Army. 
 
 The Count d'Estaing and all the Officers of the French Fleet in 
 
 Boston Harbor. 
 
 (By d'Estaing.) The President of the Council and all Americans 
 
 here present. 
 
 Monseigneur, the Duke de Chartres. 
 
 The Queen of France. 
 
 M. Du Chaff ault. 
 
 The Marquis de La Fayette. 
 
 American Ships and Sailors. 
 
 All the Women and Young Girls who have lost their Husbands 
 
 and Sweethearts in the Good Cause. 
 
 The Duke de Choiseul. 
 
 M. de Sartine. 
 
 M. de Maurepas. 
 
 General Washington, who had been informed of the riot, 
 was well pleased when he learned that it had terminated in 
 such a manner as to convince the French that no public insult 
 was intended by the people of Boston, and he sagely advised 
 that all possible means should be taken " to cultivate harmony 
 between the people and the seamen " who, he apprehended, 
 would "not be so easily reconciled as their officers, not having 
 so much sense to direct them."* 
 
 D'Estaing drafted the inscription for the monument — dated 
 September 28th in the log book of the "Languedoc" — and 
 
 * Letter of Sept. 22, 1778, in "Heath Papers," Vol. i, p. 95 (Mass. Hist. 
 Soc. Coll., 5th Ser., Vol. 4), printed in a Report of the Committee on Libraries 
 (April, 1905), Mass. Senate, No. 336, p. 17. 
 

 
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 THE VOTE OF THE GENERAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY, 
 SEPTEMBER 16, 1778. 
 From the original in the State Archives. 
 
Chevalier de Saint-Saiiveur 9 
 
 caused copies of it to be distributed in the fleet that his 
 men might know of the action taken. But the task of es- 
 tabhshing harmony between the seamen of the two nations 
 proved, as Washington anticipated, more difficult to accom- 
 plish, and no small part of the difficulty seems to have been 
 due to the attitude of the American sailors. Rows are said 
 to have occurred on the 26th and 27th of September, and on 
 October 5th there was a street fight between the French and 
 " some American seamen " followed by secret hints that " a 
 much greater disturbance " would take place on the next 
 night. Whereupon the Council ordered Heath to call out 
 the troops, and intrusted to the Sheriff of Suffolk County 
 the not very enviable duty of attending the troops to "see 
 that no unlawful measure be taken in Quelling the Riot." * 
 
 That and like energetic action by the local authorities pre- 
 vented further serious outbreaks.! Early in November, 
 d'Estaing sailed away to the West Indies, and with the de- 
 parture of the fleet the Saint-Sauveur incident passed into 
 history. 
 
 In 1903, the French government published a roster of all 
 the French forces that fought in the war of the American 
 Revolution, $ and the same year there appeared in Paris a 
 private work on the French sailors and soldiers in the war§ 
 
 * Mass. Archives, Documents, Vol. 200, p. 132 and Vol. 169, p. 200. 
 
 t On the evening of October 12th the American Brig " Hazard " came into 
 the harbor and dropped anchor immediately alongside the Schooner " Dol- 
 phin," commanded by M. Bouguier, an officer of the P^ench fleet. Although 
 hailed and requested to move, the Americans paid no attention except to reply 
 in terms characterized chiefly by force. The matter was then called to the 
 attention of the authorities by the French consul, who feared the outcome, 
 and the Council promptly told the commander of the " Hazard " to move her 
 at once and to " order his men not to treat the men on board the ' Dolphin ' 
 with any opprobrious language in time to come." Mass. Archives, Documents, 
 Vol. 169, p. 217. 
 
 X Les Combattants Frarifais de la Guerre Americaine. (Reprinted at Wash- 
 ington in 1905 as a Senate Document. 58th Congress, 2d Session. Document 
 No. 77.) 
 
 § De Noailles, M.irins et SoLiats Fratifaise en Amerique Pendant la Guerre 
 de U Independence des Etats-Unis, pp. i,(iff. 
 
lO TJie Memorial to the 
 
 which told the story of the death of the Chevalier de Saint- 
 Sauveur and quoted the account of his burial, as written by 
 the secretary of the fleet, in the church " dite chappelle du 
 roy." 
 
 Col. Chaille Long, a founder of the French Society of the 
 Sons of the American Revolution, had been one of the com- 
 missioners appointed to search the archives for the material 
 of the publication of the French government just mentioned. 
 In the Records of the Marine he found what has been referred 
 to as the log book of the " Languedoc," d'Estaing's flag ship, 
 containing an account of the Chevalier's death and the inscrip- 
 tion on his monument, and he inquired of Capt. Albert A. 
 Folsom of Brookline in what cemetery in Boston the monu- 
 ment was erected. The Captain knew nothing about it, and as 
 a result of the inquiry Bostonians had a rude awakening. For 
 whereas the riot seems not to have been wholly unfamiliar to 
 local antiquarians, little appeared to be known about the vote 
 of the assembly for a monument to the victim, and less could 
 be told about the place of his interment. An investigation 
 revealed that the vote had never been carried out. 
 
 We can only speculate as to the reason. It is to be noted, 
 however, that the resolve carried no appropriation and that 
 the stone was to be erected in the burial ground where the 
 Chevalier's remains should be deposited. The burial took 
 place in a church.* It would seem that the interment there 
 was only temporary, with the expectation that the body of 
 the young Frenchman would later be removed to some ceme- 
 tery in the town — if it were not shipped to France, a not 
 unhkely disposition in view of the high family connections of 
 the deceased. Whether anything further was done with it, 
 we do not know. Col. Thomas Dawes, who was charged 
 with the duty of erecting the monument, does not seem to 
 have recalled the matter to the attention of the Court. Ap- 
 
 * The church seems to have no record of the interment, and Foote's 
 Annals of King's Chapel (Boston, 1882 and 1896), makes no mention of de 
 Saint-Sauveur or of his burial. 
 
Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur 
 
 II 
 
 parently the trying labors of the authorities during the re- 
 maining years of the war, and in the critical period following 
 when the nation was established, served but too well to cause 
 them entirely to forget an affair which they had every reason 
 to hope had been ended for all time. And it was not long 
 before the Americans of 1778 found themselves at war with 
 their late ally. 
 
 But the reason why the vote was not carried out was not 
 the issue. Massachusetts had said that it would erect a 
 monument to the memory of the Chevalier and had failed to 
 do so, and Capt. Folsom called the matter to the attention 
 of the legislature of the Commonwealth through the Hon. 
 Prentiss Cummings of Brookline, who filed a petition which 
 was referred to the Committee on Libraries, The committee 
 investigated the subject, and in April, 1905, made a report* 
 relating how the question had arisen and publishing much 
 of the available data about de Saint-Sauveur and his death, 
 to which data I acknowledge that I am indebted. 
 
 In closing the report, the committee said : " In war and in 
 peace Massachusetts keeps her promises. Here is an event 
 filled with uncertain and distressing possibilities at the time, 
 which, in the more comprehensive view of the present, had 
 the matter not been disposed of to the entire satisfaction of 
 the French officers, might have ended the French alliance, 
 and changed materially the subsequent history if not the re- 
 sults of the war of the revolution. Yorktown might never 
 have been a lustrous, historic name. The State had failed in 
 its primal duty to keep the public peace ; the death of a French 
 officer of distinction had been the result. All the reparation 
 possible at the moment was made. The omitted or forgotten 
 detail should be supplied, and to this end the committee 
 recommend the passage of the accompanying resolve." 
 
 The resolve called for the appointment of a recess commit- 
 tee to report to the next General Court " such action as shall 
 seem to them appropriate to carry out, at least in spirit, the 
 
 * Senate No. 336. 
 
1 2 The Memorial to the 
 
 promise implied" in the resolution of September i6, 1778. 
 It was enacted as Chapter 72 of the Resolves of 1905, and 
 under it a recess committee was appointed, which in its turn 
 made a report* recommending legislation authorizing them 
 " to cause to be erected, on behalf of the Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts, a monument with a suitable inscription thereon 
 in the cemetery of King's Chapel in Boston, subject to the 
 grant of a site therein by the city of Boston," and for a sum 
 not exceeding three thousand dollars. 
 
 The Court indorsed the recommendation by passing a re- 
 solvef granting the authority requested but cut the amount 
 of the appropriation in two, which disarranged the plansj of 
 the committee. Capt. Folsom thereafter died, the appropria- 
 tion lapsed, and a second vote of the legislature of Massachu- 
 setts for a memorial to the Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur failed 
 to be fulfilled. 
 
 That was the situation when in 1916 the Bostonian Society 
 took up the matter and filed a petition in the General Court 
 which resulted in a resolve§ signed by the Governor on the 
 ist of June appropriating one thousand dollars ** for the erec- 
 tion, at some appropriate place in the City of Boston, of a 
 monument with a suitable inscription, to the memory of the 
 Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur " and for the appointment of a 
 commission to carry the legislation into effect. The commis- 
 sion was appointed June 14, 19 16, and consisted of Courtenay 
 Guild, as Chairman, Grenville H. Norcross, J. Randolph 
 Coolidge, Jr., and the late Robert S. Peabody,|l 
 
 * May 1906, Senate No. 402. t Chap. 104 of the Resolves of 1906. 
 
 X The monument planned was to consist of two bronze tablets embedded 
 side by side in a granite block, with a suitable base, one tablet to have the 
 French inscription as prepared by d'Estaing, and the other an English transla- 
 tion, which was the Count's idea of the manner in which the inscription might 
 appear on the monument, as appears from his letter of November 5th, printed 
 in the committee's report. 
 
 § Chap. 151 of the Resolves of 19 16. 
 
 II Mr. Guild was Chairman of the Committee on Memorials of the Bos- 
 tonian Society and Mr. Norcross President of the Society, and Mr. Coolidge 
 and Mr. Peabody were the wardens of King's Chapel. 
 
CJievalier lie Saint-Sanveur 13 
 
 Previously the project had been submitted to the proprietors 
 of King's Chapel, who became greatly interested, and at a 
 meeting on April 24, 19 16, voted "to permit the placing of 
 a monument in memory of the Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur 
 on the north exterior wall of the church tower or in the plot 
 between the tower and the church-yard." 
 
 Mr. A. W. Longfellow, a member of the Bostonian Society, 
 was employed as architect and in consultation with the com- 
 mission worked out the design of the memorial. It was their 
 aim to have the monument, so far as might be, of a form that 
 was likely to be chosen in the period when the Chevalier died. 
 There are monuments in this country, erected in the i8th 
 century, of the general type of the memorial to the Chevalier- 
 But it is an interesting circumstance that the design adopted 
 was inspired by a monument in the Bunhill Fields Burial 
 Ground, London, E. C, erected in 1725 in memory of 
 
 " Joseph Collette, Esq., late of Hertford Castle, some- 
 time President and Govenor of Fort St. George in East 
 India, who lived and dyed in the firm Belief in the 
 Resurection." 
 
 The monument to de Saint-Sauveur is of concrete granite, 
 fourteen feet high, and was made by Emerson & Norris of 
 Boston. Standing on a base is a plinth, with tablets of green 
 slate on all sides, which forms the pedestal and supports a 
 dwarfed obelisk, with four cannon balls at the foot of the 
 obelisk as appropriate emblems. 
 
 On the tablet facing Tremont Street is the inscription in 
 the main just as d'Estaing wrote it, the only changes being 
 those made necessary by the fact that the monument was 
 erected at a later time and by a different authority than was 
 orignally contemplated, that the preface has been translated 
 into English as is fitting on a monument in a country speak- 
 ing that language, and that the name of the vessel to which 
 the Chevalier was attached and the date of his death have 
 been inserted in brackets, as was suggested by the recess 
 committee of 1905. 
 
14 The Memorial to the 
 
 Surmounting the inscription is a bas-relief of the arms of 
 the Chevalier's family, flanked by dolphins indicative of his 
 naval service, and upon the rear tablet appear the words : 
 
 ERECTED IN CONSEQUENCE 
 
 OF A RESOLVE OF THE 
 
 STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 
 
 l6 SEPTEMBER 1 778 
 
 AND OF A RESOLVE 
 
 OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 I JUNE I916. 
 
 The inscription as d'Estaing wrote it was as follows : * 
 Ce monument a ete ^rige en consequence d'une ddib(5ration 
 de Massachusetts-Bay, du 16 Septembre 1778, en m^moire de 
 M. le Comte de Saint-Sauveur, premier Chambellan de son 
 Altesse Royale Monseigneur le Comte d'Artois, frere de Sa 
 Majeste le Roy de France. 
 
 Cet officier, aide-major de I'escadre frangaise et lieutenant 
 de vaisseau apres avoir eu le bonheur de risquer sa vie pour le 
 service des Etats-Unis, remplissait son devoir lorsqu'il a ete la 
 victime d'un tumulte cause par des gens malintentionnes ; mort 
 avec le meme attachement pour TAm^rique, les liens du devoir 
 et de I'inclination qui attachent ses compatriotes a la ville de 
 Boston en ont ^te plus resserres. Puissent etre ainsi infructueux 
 k jamais tous les efforts qu'on oserait tenter pour sdparer la 
 France et I'Amdrique. Telle est la pri^re que feront dans les 
 siecles a venir au Dieu tout puissant, tout Fran^ais et tout 
 Americain qui jetteront les yeux sur le mausolee d'un jeune 
 homme enleve h. des amis qui ne peuvent se consoUer de I'avoir 
 perdu, qu'en voyant de pareilles fleurs funeraires repandues sur 
 son tombeau. 
 
 Cette inscription, proposee selon I'enonce de la deliberation, 
 par le Comte d'Estaing, Commandant de la premiere escadre 
 frangaise envoyee par le Roy de France aux Etats-Unis de 
 I'Amerique, ses allies, a ete approuvee par (ici est ecrit le nom 
 des officiers generaux et de tous les commandants des vais- 
 seaux avec celui de leurs batiments et leur force), et a €i€ 
 grav^e sur cette pierre, sous la direction du Colonel Thomas 
 Dawes, nomm^ k cet effet par le Gouvernement. 
 
 * See the Report of the Recess Committee, Senate No. 402 (1906), p. 7. 
 
In Memory of 
 
 THE CHEVALIER DE SAINT SAUVEUR 
 
 first Chamberlain of his Royal Highness, 
 
 Count d' Artois, brother of his Majesty 
 
 the King" of France 
 
 " Get officier, aide-major de I'escadre fran^aise et 
 
 lieutenant de vaisseau [sur le Tonnant] apres avoir 
 
 eu le bonheur de risquer sa vie pour le service des 
 
 Etats-Unis, remplissait son devoir lorsqu'il a e'te la 
 
 victime d'un tumulte cause par des gens nialintentionne's : 
 
 mort [le 15 Septembre 1778] avec le meme attachment 
 
 pour I'Amerique, les liens du devoir et de I'inclination 
 
 qui attachent ses compatriotes a la ville de Boston en 
 
 ont ete plus resserres. Puissent etre ansi infru6lueux 
 
 a jamais tous les efforts qu'n oserait tenter pour separer 
 
 la France et I'Amerique. Telle est la priere que feront 
 
 dans les siecles a venir au Dieu tout puissant, tout 
 
 Fran^-ais et tout Ame'ricain qui jetteront les yeux sur 
 
 le mausole'e d'un jeune homme enleve a des amis qui ne 
 
 peuvent se consoller de I'avoir perdu, qu'en voyant de 
 
 pareilles fleurs fune'raires repandues sur son tombeau ". 
 
 Cette inscription a etc pnparce par le Comte d' Estaing 
 
 r Amiral commandant de la premiere escadre francaise 
 envoyee par le Roy de France aux Etats-Ums d' Amerique 
 
Chevalier de Saijit-Sanvenr 1 5 
 
 De Saint-Sauveur was in his 28th year when he died, as 
 appears from the Records of the Bibliotheque Nationale, and 
 his name is there given as "Gregoire Comte de Saint-Sauveur." 
 The text of the inscription — quoted above — which Ambas- 
 sador Jusserand obtained from the Records of the French 
 Navy for the recess committee of 1905, also calls him the 
 Count de Saint-Sauveur, and he is so titled in a letter of 
 his brother-in-law, de Breugnon. Elsewhere he is usually 
 referred to as the Chevalier* — including the inscription as 
 contained in the log book of the " Languedoc, " and the com- 
 pilation of the French government of 1903, where his name 
 appears in the list of lieutenants on " Le Tonnant " with the 
 words, " mort a Boston en septembre 1778." So the title 
 Chevalier was used on the monument as that by which he was 
 commonly known. 
 
 The style " Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur " means that the 
 bearer was a cadet or younger son of a family the designation 
 of whose title was " de Saint-Sauveur." Only a scion of the 
 older nobility could hold such a position as chamberlain to the 
 king's brother, and the family of de Gregoire Marquis de 
 Saint-Sauveur was of that nobility. " Comte de Saint- 
 Sauveur " would be a natural courtesy form for the son of a 
 marquis, which accounts for the use of the title Count in the 
 French records and the letter of de Breugnon. 
 
 The designation " de Saint-Sauveur" was a nom de terre, 
 the name of an estate. The family name of the Chevalier 
 was de Gregoire ; his Christain name we do not know. The 
 family fief took its name from the Chateau de Saint-Sauveur 
 which was a very famous mediaeval fortress, hence the castle 
 on the arms,! the blazon of which is: "silver with chateau 
 
 * Writing to the Council Sept. 19, 1778, d'Estaing speaks of de Saint- 
 Sauveur as tlie Chevalier. Mass. Archives, Documents, Vol. 200, p. 103. But 
 in his report to the Secretary of State for the Marine, dated at Sea, Nov. 5, 
 1778, he calls him Count. Cf. H. Doniol, Histoire de la Participatioti de la 
 France a V Etablissetnent des Etats-Unis, Vol. 3 (Paris, 1888), p. 460. 
 
 t For the drawing of the arms and for much of the information as to the 
 family of de Saint-Sauveur and his title we are indebted to Mr. Pierre de 
 Chaignon la Rose of Cambridge, Mass. 
 
1 6 The Memorial to the 
 
 gules, surmounted by three towers crenelated, the same color." 
 The coronet is that of a French marquis. 
 
 The monument was erected in the plot between the tower 
 of King's Chapel and the burying ground, and thus nearly 
 over the tomb where the Chevalier's remains are said to have 
 been placed, and it was unveiled by Governor Samuel W. 
 McCall, Thursday, May 24th, 19 17, with appropriate and in- 
 teresting ceremonies. 
 
 The Ceremonies at the Dedication of the Monument. 
 
 The Governor's invitation to the dedication set the hour at 
 eleven o'clock in the morning, and at that time a procession 
 formed in front of the State House headed by the Governor 
 and including the speakers and invited guests, among them 
 J. C. J. Flammand, Esq., the French Consul, at Boston, and 
 a large delegation from the House of Representatives led by 
 the Speaker, Hon. Channing H. Cox. It was intended to 
 have M. J. J, Jusserand, the French ambassador, present to 
 respond for France, but he was not able to leave Washington 
 because of the arrival of the Italian War Mission, and his 
 place was taken by Major, now Lieutenant-Colonel, Paul 
 Azan, commander of the French mission to the Harvard 
 regiment. 
 
 Escorted by a detachment of bluejackets from the U. S. 
 Battleship " Virginia," with militiamen of the 5th and 8th 
 regiments carrying the flags of the United States and France, 
 of the Commonwealth, the Society of the Colonial Wars, the 
 Sons of the Revolution, and the Sons of the American Revo- 
 lution, and preceded by buglers, the procession marched down 
 Park to Tremont Street and thence to King's Chapel, where 
 it was met by the building commission. Traffic on the street 
 had been stopped and a large crowd gathered. With the 
 members of the legislature and the passers-by standing with 
 bared heads, and the monument draped with the flags of the 
 two nations the Chevalier had sought to serve, there came a 
 blare of bugles, the bluejackets presented arms, and the Gov- 
 
Chevalier de Saint- Sariveicr 1 7 
 
 ernor removed the covering from the monument and placed 
 upon its base a wreath with the tri-color of France. 
 
 The company then entered the church. After the flags 
 had been placed in front of the chancel, prayer was offered 
 by Rev. Howard N. Brown, D. D., minister of King's Chapel, 
 and Mr. Courtenay Guild for the building commission formally 
 reported to the Governor that the commission had completed 
 its work and had erected the monument, which he said " not 
 only represents a memorial to a gallant officer but in the 
 hearts and minds of the people typifies their admiration for 
 what France is doing for the cause of civilization." 
 
 REMARKS OF HIS EXCELLENCY, GOVERNOR McCALL. 
 
 Governor McCall spoke of the erection of the monument 
 as the fulfillment of a pledge of honor made by the state 
 in the Revolution, and he referred to the enactment of the 
 resolve for the monument, before the United States entered 
 the present war, as demonstrating that the Commonwealth 
 was not actuated by sentimental motives alone. "This 
 occasion," he said, "serves to mark the love we have for 
 France. When the event happened which the monument 
 perpetuates we were the ally of France, and now, when the 
 order of the General Court is carried out, we again find our- 
 selves her ally." 
 
 He then introduced the Mayor of Boston, Hon. James M. 
 Curley. 
 
 REMARKS OF HIS HONOR, MAYOR CURLEY. 
 
 Mayor Curley referred to the monument as an addition to 
 the many historical treasures which Boston possessed, and one 
 which would cement the union between this country and the 
 nation which made sure our freedom. Said the Mayor: 
 " Were it not for the chivalry of France the colonies would 
 not have achieved their independence. And in this hour of 
 France's peril, when she is bereft of so many of her men and 
 women, we try to repay a debt of one hundred and forty 
 
1 8 The Memorial to the 
 
 years ago, not as an obligation, not through compulsion, nor 
 through necessity, but through a sense of love. France is 
 calling aloud, and we offer of our best to the end that liberty 
 may be possible." 
 
 The Governor next called upon Representative Fitz-Henry 
 Smith, Jr., of Boston, for an historical address, and Mr. Smith 
 spoke as follows : 
 
 ADDRESS OF REPRESENTATIVE SMITH. 
 
 Your Excellency, Major Azan, Fellow Americans : 
 
 In the winter of the ever memorable year of 1776, there 
 arrived in Boston a young Frenchman, Lewis — for he wrote 
 his name here in the English fashion — Lewis Ansart de 
 Maresquelle, and on December 6 of that year he made to the 
 government of the State of Massachusetts Bay this proposal. 
 Describing himself as an old captain of infantry who had 
 been brought in the forges of France, his family having for 
 many years furnished all the iron cannon in the service of 
 the French king, he said that while at one time all cannon 
 were cast with a cylinder which left little holes, often the 
 cause of bursting, his father had adopted the practice of cast- 
 ing cannon in a solid piece and boring them, and had invented 
 a machine to do the boring. De Maresquelle then offered to 
 disclose all his knowledge upon the subject, and agreed that 
 if the state would supply the place and materials he would 
 construct the furnaces, and when the mills were ready for 
 boring would furnish one cannon ready for service every 
 twenty-four hours out of the common iron ore within this 
 state. 
 
 In return, he asked from the state the expenses of his trip 
 to America and one thousand dollars a year until the end of 
 the war, and after that time the sum of six hundred sixty-six 
 and two-thirds dollars yearly during his life. He also re- 
 quested the honor of a colonel's commission to give him rank, 
 but without pay or command as such.* 
 
 * The text of this interesting " proposition " may be found in the State 
 Archives, Court Records, Vol. 36, p. 298. 
 
Chevalier de Saint-Sauvcur 19 
 
 There was an imperative need for just such assistance as 
 de Maresquelle was able to render, for we are told that the 
 demand for cannon was so great at the time that they were 
 taking up the old things that had been stuck in the ground 
 as posts at street corners and restoring them to service. The 
 General Court promptly accepted his proposition, and besides 
 granting him a commission as colonel of artillery made him 
 inspector of foundries. 
 
 He entered at once upon his duties and carried out his 
 part of the contract throughout the war. Notwithstanding 
 that he had stated that he expected no command, he could 
 not resist the longing for active warfare, and when the Rhode 
 Island campaign was organizing he sought an opportunity to 
 go to the front, and the Board of War recommended him 
 to General Sullivan as a brave and worthy man, glowing with 
 ardor to signalize himself in the expedition, who came to offer 
 himself with cheerfulness to any service for which he might 
 be thought qualified. He served as an aid to Sullivan, and 
 when the French fleet arrived at Boston was sent to super- 
 vise the construction of the works in the harbor which the 
 French admiral desired to protect his anchorage. 
 
 Before the close of the war he married a Boston girl, 
 and afterwards moved with her to Dracut, Mass., where he 
 brought up his family and lived out his life a prominent and 
 respected member of the community. Some ten years before 
 his death he petitioned for authority to drop the " de Mares- 
 quelle " from his name, as he was about to take out naturaliz- 
 ation papers and wanted to be naturalized as Lewis Ansart, 
 " his Christian and family name," and over his grave in the 
 " Old Woodbine Cemetery " at Dracut is a stone inscribed, 
 " In memory of Col. Lewis Ansart." 
 
 The state upon its side carried out the contract in spirit 
 and letter, adding to de Maresquelle's salary, when the value 
 of the currencey depreciated, in order that the sum paid him 
 might be equivalent to what it was stipulated he should re- 
 ceive, and paying him the amounts agreed, to the fraction 
 
20 The Memorial to the 
 
 of a cent, until he died in 1804. In fact, the last payment 
 (which was made to his legal representatives) was for eighty- 
 seven dollars, three cents and two mills, in full of the bal- 
 ance due him at his death. 
 
 Lewis de Maresquelle was one Frenchman who came to 
 the assistance of America, a compatriot of Lafayette in the 
 employ of the State of Massachusetts, and later her adopted 
 son, and thus did the state keep faith with one who served 
 her truly in her hour of need.* 
 
 Less than three years after the shots were fired at Concord 
 and Lexington the French king entered the contest as an ally 
 of the struggling colonies, and on April 13, 1778, a royal fleet 
 of ships of war, under the command of the Count d'Estaing, 
 set sail from Toulon for the coast of the United States, 
 Arriving at New York the fleet was despatched to Narragan- 
 set Bay to assist General Sullivan in an attack upon Newport. 
 The English ships followed and d'Estaing put to sea to meet 
 them, when, on the i ith of August, there arose a violent gale, 
 known for many years after as the " great storm," which dis- 
 persed and damaged both fleets, and d'Estaing, assembling 
 his ships as best as he could, headed for Boston to refit. 
 
 In command of the vessels which then came into our har- 
 bor were men bearing historic names. The captain of the 74 
 " Z61e " was Count Barras, who afterwards succeeded to the 
 command of the squadron of Ternay, and who will ever be 
 gratefully remembered by Americans for his timely arrival 
 before Yorktown with the siege train of the French army. 
 Another commander was Bougainville, who had served with 
 Montcalm at Quebec, and who, quitting the army for the 
 navy, left his name to posterity because of his celebrated 
 voyage around the world. The captain of the " Fantasque " 
 
 * Due to the fact that de Maresquelle was in the employ of the state, his 
 name does not appear in the compilation of the French government of 1903. 
 Nor have we found him mentioned in Stone's Our French Allies (Providence, 
 1884), nor in Balch, or the other works on the French in America during the 
 Revolution. For his portrait, see Bostonian Society Publications, Vol. 10, p. 34. 
 
Chevalier de Saint- Saiiveur 2 1 
 
 was Suffren, perhaps the greatest naval genius that the 
 French nation has produced, whose fierce encounters with Sir 
 Edward Hughes won for him the admiration of our Captain 
 Mahan, and on the " Sagittaire " was d'Albert de Rions, in 
 Suffren 's estimation the foremost officer in the French navy. 
 
 There was another captain, the Chevalier de Raimondis, 
 commander of the 74 " Cesar," which, separated from its 
 sisters by the storm, had a lively encounter with a British 
 vessel, in which the French captain lost his right arm. When 
 de Raimondis arrived in Boston General Heath, the American 
 commander, went to see him, and expressed regret at the 
 Frenchman's misfortune, to which the brave officer replied, 
 though still weak from his wound, " I am ready to lose my 
 other arm in the cause of the Americans." And thereupon, 
 perhaps with prophetic vision. Heath wrote in his Memoirs 
 these words, " Remember this, ye Americans, in future 
 times." 
 
 My friends, America has remembered. From the begin, 
 ning of the present cruel war our hearts have beat for the 
 French people who have withstood so bravely and so well 
 the fierce onslaught upon their liberties and the freedom of 
 Europe. Already the blood of American youth has been 
 shed on the soil of France, and now we have entered the 
 struggle as a nation. The call to arms has gone forth 
 throughout this land, and were the question asked, "■ Are ye 
 ready to fight that France may live .? " back would come but 
 one reply, " Yes, for we remember," 
 
 De Raimondis was a second Frenchman who came to us 
 when we were fighting for independence, a " regular " in the 
 naval forces of the French king, and Boston was to know yet 
 one other. D'Estaing and his ships were received here with 
 enthusiasm, and receptions were the order of the day. But 
 there were British sympathizers and discontented persons in 
 the community, and not long after the French arrived a riot 
 occurred which ended seriously and threatened still more dis- 
 astrous consequences. So far as can be found out it happened 
 
22 The Memorial to the 
 
 in this way. The admiral set up a bakery for his fleet in the 
 town, and on the night of the 8th of September, 1778, a 
 crowd gathered there demanding bread, which being refused 
 they attacked the bakers, and two officers of the fleet, one 
 the Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur, who attempted to intervene 
 and restore order, were wounded. The American authorities 
 were greatly troubled. It was felt that the very existence of 
 the alliance with France might be at stake, for de Saint- 
 Sauveur was not only an officer of rank in the fleet but a 
 man of position in France and the first chamberlain of the 
 king's brother. Guards were ordered to patrol the streets to 
 prevent further disturbance and a reward was offered for the 
 apprehension of the rioters, yet it never has been determined 
 just who were responsible for the affray. 
 
 De Saint-Sauveur's wound was mortal. Lingering a week, 
 he died on the 15 th of September, and the next day the 
 General Court of Massachusetts, expressing its detestation of 
 the perpetrators and abettors of the horrid deed which ended 
 his life, and out of respect to his memory, voted to attend his 
 body to the place of interment and to provide a monumental 
 stone in the burial ground where his remains should be de- 
 posited, with such inscription as the Count d'Estaing might 
 order. 
 
 The Count, who through all bore himself in a manner 
 which will forever make the city of Boston and the whole 
 country his debtors, was deeply grateful for the sentiment 
 which the Court expressed, but it was thought advisable that 
 the funeral be less public, and the unhappy young man was 
 buried at night, it is believed beneath us in this church, and 
 without display, exactly as he had wished it. 
 
 Listen to the account of the burial as told by the secretary 
 of the fleet : 
 
 "Eight sailors of the ' Tonnant' bore the coffin on their shoulders. 
 I preceded them with the sexton and grave digger ; the recollet M. 
 M. de Borda, de Puyse'gur and Pierveres followed ; the servant of 
 the deceased and perhaps two or three Frenchmen closed the pro- 
 
Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur 23 
 
 cession. We started in that order at ten o'clock, and arriving at 
 the church called King's Chapel, found the basement of the church 
 illuminated with many candles, without ostentation. The vault was 
 opened and the Reverend Father deposited the remains without 
 ceremony. The door of the vault having been closed and pad- 
 locked, we returned to sign a certificate of interment which I had 
 already drawn up. In fine, what we had been charged to do could 
 not have been done with more precision and exactness." 
 
 And so passed from this world — as d'Estaing wrote to the 
 Cotincil* — one who fell a victim to the desire he had of pre- 
 serving the lives of others, and who expressed in his last 
 moments, and with his last words, the hope that his mis- 
 fortune might only serve to cement still further the union 
 between France and America. 
 
 The funeral having taken place, the allied leaders en- 
 deavored so far as possible to forget the incident and to 
 remove all traces of ill feeling which it may have left. 
 D'Estaing and his officers appeared publicly in Boston in full 
 dress. They were saluted in the harbor and were met upon 
 their landing by a committee of both houses of the legislature 
 and conducted to the Council chamber. After the reception 
 there, they bad breakfast with General Hancock and later 
 took punch with Heath at headquarters. Tradition has it 
 that the Common was resplendent with the gold lace of the 
 visitors and that Madam Hancock, in order to meet the sit- 
 uation with which she was confronted, had to send out and 
 milk all the cows on the Common. 
 
 A few days later there was a grand public dinner in Faneuil 
 Hall, where but two short weeks ago the city entertained the 
 great Marshal of modern France. f The dinner of 1778 was 
 attended by upwards of five hundred guests, and twenty-three 
 toasts were drunk to the accompaniment of the discharge of 
 
 * Letter of Sept. 19, 1778, in the State Archives, Documents, Vol. 200, p. 
 103, printed in the Report of the Committee on Libraries (1905), Senate No. 
 336, p. 16. 
 
 t Marshal Joffre and the French War Mission May 12, 1917. 
 
24 The Memorial to the 
 
 cannon. One of the toasts we may repeat in spirit today- 
 "The Alliance between France and America; may it never 
 be broken." 
 
 Thus, through the wisdom exercised by both sides, was 
 closed a most unfortunate affair. And too well was it for- 
 gotten, for upon inquiry made one hundred and twenty-five 
 years after the Chevalier's death as to where in Boston the 
 monument to him was erected, it was discovered that the vote 
 of the Court had never been carried out. Just why, is a 
 mystery ; but now the promise of the state has been fulfilled ; 
 the shaft bearing the inscription written by d'Estaing has 
 been unveiled before us, and we are gathered together in this 
 church to commemorate the event. 
 
 Let me recite the inscription in English : 
 
 " In memory of the Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur, First Chamber- 
 lain of His Royal Highness Count d'Artois, brother of his Majesty, 
 the King of France. 
 
 " This officer, Aide-Major of the French Fleet and a Lieutenant 
 on the ' Tonnant, ' after having had the happiness of risking his 
 life for the United States, was in the performance of his duty 
 when he became the victim of a tumult caused by persons of evil 
 intent ; dying with the same attachment for America, the ties of 
 duty and sympathy which bind his compatriots to the City of Bos- 
 ton have thus been drawn tighter. May all efforts to separate 
 France and America be as unfruitful. Such is the prayer to Al- 
 mighty God which in the centuries to come every Frenchman and 
 American will oifer whose eyes shall fall upon this monument to 
 a young man taken from his friends, who can be consoled for his 
 loss only by seeing such funeral flowers spread upon his tomb." 
 
 Noble words and true. And what time more fitting than 
 the present for this occasion, when we find ourselves once 
 more allied with France, not for the independence of a single 
 nation, but in a great war for the independence of the nations 
 of the world — to make the world " safe for democracy." For 
 this stone which the Commonwealth has raised is more than 
 a monument to one man, or evidence of the good faith of the 
 
THE GOVERNOR, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR AND SPEAKERS 
 IN FRONT OF THE MONUMENT. 
 
Chevalier lie Saint- Sauveiir 25 
 
 state, it is a memorial to a time long since past ; yes, — it is 
 more than that, it is a perpetual reminder of the friendship of 
 America and France, which has endured these hundred years, 
 just as de Saint-Sauveur hoped that it might -and which, 
 pray God, may endure forever. 
 
 And so, the monument has been placed in the heart of 
 this great and historic city of Boston, where so much has 
 been done for human liberty, and where so much has been 
 done to alleviate the sufferings of mankind, placed where the 
 throngs passing daily upon the street may see and pause to 
 consider, and where in future years the American father may 
 come with his son, and when the son asks, " Father, what is 
 that monument for?" may reply, "My son, that is a mem- 
 orial to a young French officer who lost his life in Boston 
 when France was helping us to gain our independence, 
 erected by the State to show that we have not forgotten the 
 sacrifice which he and other Frenchmen then made for us, 
 and as a mark of our regard for France, liberty loving like us 
 and one with us in the cause of humanity and civilization, a 
 union which with God's help we shall neither of us sever." 
 
 The last speaker was Major Paul Azan who spoke in 
 French. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MAJOR AZAN. 
 
 Excellence, Mesdames et Messieurs : 
 
 L'absence de M. Jusserand, qui compte de si nombreuses 
 sympathies dans les villes de Boston et de Cambridge, me 
 donne le grand honneur de representer aujourd'hui la France 
 dans cette touchante ceremonie. 
 
 Ainsi, par un etrange concours de circonstances, c'est un 
 ofificier frangais qui a le privilege, apres 139 ans, de donner le 
 salut de la Mere-Patrie a une tombe presque oubliee. La 
 "General Court" n'avait pas prevu, en 1778, que son voeu 
 serait realise si tardivement, alors que d'autres ofificiers serai- 
 ent venus en Massachusetts, apporter aux jeunes gens de 
 
26 The Memorial to the 
 
 rUniversite Harvard le fruit d'une experience acquise sur les 
 champs de bataille. 
 
 Si le temps a passe, les sentiments affectueux qui unissaient 
 nos deux nations au XVIIP siecle ne se sont pas attenues ; 
 ils se sont meme singulierement developpes depuis quelques 
 annees. C'est aux jours d'epreuve qu'on reconnait les veri- 
 tables amities. L'amitie americaine s'est revelee sous toutes 
 ses formes : par une inepuisable charite, par une assistance 
 morale de tous les instants, par une intervention militaire 
 dont les effets etonneront le monde. 
 
 Ceux qui ne connaissent pas suffisament I'ame fran^aise et 
 I'ame americaine ne comprennent pas toute la profondeur de 
 cette attirance mutuelle, basee sur la delicatesse de senti- 
 ments, sur I'estime reciproque et surtout sur un amour com- 
 mun de I'independance. 
 
 Au temps du chevalier de Saint-Sauveur, un officier fran- 
 gais, le capitaine de Raimondis, qui etait manchot, et dont on 
 vous parlait tout-a-l'heure avec eloquence, disait qu'il don- 
 nerait sans hesiter le bras qui lui restait pour la cause ameri- 
 caine. Les officiers fran^ais d'aujourd'hui pensent de meme ; 
 et plus d'un, malgre les blessures regues, ne reve qu'a retour- 
 ner au combat, pour faire triompher avec I'armee americaine 
 le principe de la liberte des peuples. 
 
 Toutes les rivalites, toutes les inimities qui pouvaient exister 
 a I'epoque du chevalier de Saint-Sauveur ont disparu, laissant 
 s'etablir une intimite complete entre les peuples amis de I'in- 
 dependance. . . 
 
 La legende rapporte que, si le chevalier de Saint-Sauveur 
 fut frappe par la foule, c'est par suite d'une erreur qui I'avait 
 fait prendre pour un Anglais. Aujourd'hui, les Anglais sont 
 nos allies, nos amis ; nulle trace ne reste, dans notre esprit, 
 des inimities d'autrefois, parce que les Anglais se sont tou- 
 jours battus en gentlemen, avec des procedes loyaux. Nous 
 marchons maintenant avec eux la main dans la main, comme 
 avec les Americains. 
 
 Aussi y a-t-il, dans la ceremonie de ce jour, un symbole 
 
Chevalier de Saini-Sauveiir 2/ 
 
 touchant de I'amitie entre nos trois peuples. Nous venons, 
 devant ce monument, non seulement d^plorer le malheureux 
 accident arrive naguere a un officier frangais, mais encore 
 celebrer la reconciliation des peuples americain et frangais 
 avec les Anglais, leurs ennemis d'antan. Tous sont unis 
 aujourd'hui pour la meme cause, et defendent avec ardeur 
 la civilisation menagee. 
 
 Et vous, chevalier de Saint-Sauveur, qui avez eu jadis des 
 funerailles modestes, avec une assistance restreinte, dans 
 I'obscurite de la nuit, vous recevez aujourd'hui un hommage 
 eclatant. C'est la population de Boston, ce sont les hauts 
 dignitaires de I'Etat, ce sont les representants de la plus 
 vieille Universite de I'Amerique qui viennent ici honorer votre 
 memoire. 
 
 Leur hommage va, par dessus votre monument, a la France 
 heroique, a la France qui se bat, a la France qui a ^te incarnee 
 recemment ici par un de ses plus illustres generaux, le mare- 
 chal Joffre. II va au soldat des tranchees, qui depuis bientot 
 trois ans combat sans repit, mais sans faiblesse. II va enfin 
 au soldat americain, qui partagera bientot les souffrances et 
 les dangers du soldat frangais ; il va a cette armee en forma- 
 tion dont I'entree en ligne decidera certainement la Victoire. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 By Professor Barrett Wendell of Harvard University. 
 Yo7ir Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 The absence of Monsieur Jusserand, who has so many 
 friendships in Boston and in Cambridge, brings me to-day the 
 great honor of representing France in the touching ceremony 
 for which we are gathered together. 
 
 So, by a remarkable chain of circumstances, it is a French 
 officer, who has the privilege, after 139 years, of bringing the 
 benediction of the Mother Country to a tomb almost forgot- 
 ten. In 1778, the General Court could never have thought 
 that its purpose would stay unfulfilled until a time when 
 
28 The Memorial to the 
 
 other French officers should have come to Massachusetts, 
 bearing to Harvard Students the fruit of experience to be 
 found only on the fields of battle. 
 
 Yet, though time has passed, the bonds of affection which 
 held our two nations together in the i8th century have no- 
 wise weakened ; rather, in these latest years they have grown 
 stronger than ever. It is in days of stress that we come to 
 know what friendships are true. The friendship of America 
 for France, in these days has proved itself in every way. In 
 charity it has been boundless, in moral support it has been 
 unfailing, in military aid it has begun a work of which the 
 results will surprise the world. 
 
 None but those who truly know the soul of France and the 
 soul of America can understand the full strength of the mutual 
 attraction which thus binds our countries together. It is a 
 matter not only of tender feeling, not only of regard for each 
 others' virtues, but most of all a matter of our common pas- 
 sion for national independence. 
 
 In the times of the Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur, a French 
 officer, Captain de Raimondis, who had lost an arm, said that 
 he would eagerly give the arm that was left him for the cause 
 of American independence. French officers of to-day are of 
 the same mind ; in spite of wounds hardly healed they think 
 only of when they may be allowed to rejoin the battle, to 
 fight with Americans at their side for the great principle that 
 peoples must be free. 
 
 Every rivalry, every enmity which may have existed when 
 the Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur was here is now a thing of 
 the past. The peoples who love independence are now com- 
 pletely one. 
 
 There is a tradition that when the Chevalier de Saint- 
 Sauveur was struck down by a mob, it was because by some 
 blunder of their own, the mob fancied him to be English. At 
 that time the English were at war with America, and with 
 France too. To-day they are our friends, our allies, and those 
 of America as well. In France there is no trace left of the 
 
Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur 29 
 
 old feuds. From beginning to end the English have fought 
 like loyal gentlemen. We are glad to march with them side 
 by side, hand in hand, just as we are glad to grasp the hands 
 of Americans. 
 
 So the ceremony of to-day is a beautiful symbol of the 
 friendship which now animates our three peoples. We come 
 here, not only to lament the luckless accident which in olden 
 time befell a gallant French officer, but more still to cele- 
 brate the reconciliation of nations in his days at war with one 
 another. All three are to-day united in a common cause ; all 
 alike are arisen to defend and to preserve civilization, threat- 
 ened by their common foe. 
 
 So you. Chevalier de Saint-Sauveur, you whose funeral was 
 so simple, with few mourners, and in the darkness of night, 
 you receive to-day a tribute such as few have known. The 
 people of Boston, the dignitaries of the state, the representa- 
 tives of the eldest of American universities, are gathered to- 
 gether here, in homage to your loyal memory. 
 
 Their homage is rendered not only to you. For them your 
 monument enshrines the ideal of France, heroic, at war — the 
 France embodied here only a few days ago by that most illus- 
 trious of our generals. Marshal Joffre. Their homage is ren- 
 dered as well to the French soldier in the trenches, where for 
 almost three years he has fought incessantly, unfaltering. It 
 is rendered also to the soldier of America who will soon share 
 the hardships and the dangers of the soldier of France. It is 
 rendered to that army, now gathering together, whose joining 
 with ours will bring us all the certainty of Victory. 
 
 During the ceremonies all joined in singing the " Star 
 Spangled Banner " and the " Marseillais," and thus did 
 Massachusetts keep as a pledge of love and honor a promise 
 made in the Revolution. When it is considered that on May 
 24, 1917, the General Court "attended in procession" to the 
 place where, it is recorded, the Chevalier was buried, as the 
 Court had voted to do one hundred and thirty-nine years be- 
 
30 
 
 The Memorial to the 
 
 fore, and there dedicated a monument bearing the inscription 
 which d'Estaing, acting under the vote of the Court, had 
 written, the occasion is shown to be unique in the history 
 of the City and the Commonwealth, and one that those 
 present may well remember. 
 
Chevalier de Saint- Sanveiir %\ 
 
 NOTE 
 
 A "communication" in the Independent Ledger of September 14, 1778. 
 
 The riot which occasioned the issuing a proclamation by the Council of 
 this State, offering an high reward for the discovery and apprehension of those 
 concerned therein, was begun, it's said, by seamen captur'd in British vessels 
 and some of Burgoyne's army who had inlisted as privateers just ready to sail. 
 A body of these fellows demanded, we are told, bread of the French bakers 
 who were employed for the supplying the Count d'Estaing's fleet ; being re- 
 fused, they fell upon the bakers with clubs, and beat them in a most outrage- 
 ous manner. Two officers of the Count's being apprized of the tumult, and 
 attempting to compose the affray were greatly wounded ; one of them is a 
 person of distinguished family and rank 
 
 We are well informed that his Excellency the Count D'Estaing, upon hear- 
 ing of the violence that had been committed though much grieved con- 
 sidered the manner in the calmest and most prudent light, and was thoroughly 
 satisfied that it was highly disagreeable to the inhabitants and that every 
 proper method would be taken for finding out and punishing the offenders. 
 Such prudence and moderation mark this great man and must disappoint the 
 hopes of our enemies, who would be glad that every such incident might prove 
 the means of creating dissentions of a more extensive and important nature. 
 
 A correspondent observes, that there is a striking contrast between the 
 behavior of the British military of this town, and that of the French. The 
 former, though coming from what we formerly regarded as our mother country 
 and with a professed design to support law, and protect us, yet in a wanton 
 and butcherly manner fired upon the inhabitants of Boston, without any just 
 provocation, before they received any assault that might afford even a pre- 
 tence to so bloody a procedure ; the latter now become by the oppression and 
 cruelties of Britain our allies and protectors when assaulted themselves by un- 
 known ruffians, have left their protection and satisfaction entirely in the hands 
 of the civil magistrate. Nay, we have it from good authority, that the General, 
 the Count d'Estaing, has desired that should any inhabitant appear to have 
 been concerned in this affray, he might not be punished, and the centuries at 
 the French baking house were prohibited from using any violence in defending 
 even so necessary an article as bread for their fleet. 
 
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