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BOOKS BY HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH.

The Log School-House on the Columbia.
"With 13 full-page Illustrations by J. Carter
Beard, E. J. Austen, and others.
"This book will charm all who turn its pages. There are
few books of popular information concerning the pioneers of the
great Northwest, and this one is worthy of sincere praise." —
Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
In the Boyhood of Lincoln.
A Story of the Black Hawk War and the
Tunker Schoolmaster. With 12 full-page Il
lustrations and colored Frontispiece.
" There is great fascination in these glimpses of Lincoln's
early life, and the artist's accompanying pictures are very clever
and welcome." — Brooklyn Times.
"The author presents facts in a most attractive framework
of fiction, and imbues the whole with his peculiar humor. The
illustrations are numerous and of more than usual excellence."
— New Haven Palladium.
The Boys of Greenway Court.
A Story of the Early Years of Washington.
With 10 full-page Illustrations by H. Win-
THROP PEIRCE.
"Mr. Butterworth has written an excellent book, and one
that young people will find delightful reading." — Boston Beacon.
" Skillfully combining fact and fiction, he has given us a
story historically instructive and at the same time entertaining."
— Boston Transcript.
The Patriot Schoolmaster;
Or, The Adventures of the two Boston Cannon^
the "Adams" and the "Hancock" A Tale
of the Minute Men and the Sons of Liberty.
With Illustrations by H. Winthrop Peirce.
The true spirit of the leaders in ourWarfor Independence is
pictured in this dramatic story. It includes the Boston Tea
Party and Bunker Hill; and Adams, Hancock, Revere, and the
boys who bearded General Gage, are living characters in this
romance of American patriotism.
Each, i2mo, cloth, $1.50.

D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, New York.

" I will take your dispatches to America in person."

THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY

H Uale of tbe fortunes of Xajfasette

BY
HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH
AUTHOR OF IN OLD NEW ENGLAND, THE PATRIOT SCHOOLMASTER,
THE BOYS OF GREENWAY COURT, IN THE BOYHOOD OF LINCOLN,
THE LOG SCHOOL-HOUSE ON THE COLUMBIA, ETC.

ILLUSTRATED BY H. WINTHROP PEIRCE

NEW YORK
APPLETON AND COMPANY
1895

Copyright, 1895,
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.

TO
THE PUPILS OF AMERICAN SCHOOLS
THIS PICTURE OF A LIFE OF
UNSELFISH PATRIOTISM
IS DEDICATED,
IN THE HOPE THAT IT MAY AID IN THE RENEWAL OF INTEREST
IN THE PURPOSES AND DEEDS OF THE
FOUNDERS OF REPUBLICS.

"fcOhm Liberia otoello tqere eoer
will be tqe conittrrj of £a layette."

PREFACE.

IN each volume of this series the writer
has sought to relate some remarkable
story associated with the life of a hero
in such a way as to picture the history of that
hero, making the historical character the back
ground of the narrative. The strange story of
Francis K. Huger in this volume is substantially
true, and is told to illustrate the life of Lafayette,
the Knight of Liberty. Not only is the outline
of the narrative true, but, although the book is
written in the spirit and after the methods of
fiction, nearly all the incidents are historical.
The heroes of these volumes are the creators of
American Liberty : Adams, Washington, La
fayette, Lincoln, Marcus Whitman ; and a new
volume may picture the life of William Perm.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE
I. The Rescue of Lafayette,  i
II. The Hour of Destiny,  4
III. How?  12
IV. Lafayette Meets a Bright Boy, ... 20
V. Lafayette's Ride,  24
VI. The White Cockade,  27
VII. The Albemarle Punch Bowl, .... 34
VIII. " Cornwallis is Taken ! " .... 43
IX. The White Cockade of the Constitution, . 49
X. The Declaration of the Rights of Man, . 57
XI. The Black Cockade,  69
XII. " The Day of Glory has Arrived ! " . . 73
XIII. The Patriotic Parrot,  78
XIV. The Mysterious Traveler  86
XV. The Student Traveler's Strange Story, . 95
XVI. The Silent Surgeon,  101
XVII. The Bag of Gold,  106
XVIII. The Lime Juice Letter,  120
XIX. In the Ink of Life,  126
XX. Perilous,  134
XXI. The Secret was Out  143

VI CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
XXII. The Key of the Bastille  151
XXIII. The Bag of Gold Again  164
XXIV. Father and Son, *  169
XXV. Sunset at Waterloo  174
XXVI. The Unexpected Meeting  188
XXVII. Lagrange  ' .... 194
XXVIII. What Made Him Great  214

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FACING PAGE

" I will take your dispatches to America in person " Frontispiece
Lafayette and his future deliverer  22
" Ca ira, ga ira ! "  65
"Here it is, all of it "  119
The attempted rescue of Lafayette  138
Lafayette's wife visits him in prison  196

THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.

CHAPTER I.
THE RESCUE OF LAFAYETTE.
HAVE written four volumes in which I
have placed an historical character in
the background. These volumes, in the
form of stories, seek to give a view of some of the
most interesting incidents in the lives of Sam
Adams (" The Patriot Schoolmaster "), George
Washington (" The Boys of Greenway Court "),
Abraham Lincoln (" In the Boyhood of Lin
coln "), and Marcus Whitman (" The Log School
House on the Columbia").
I am now asked to continue these stories of the
most unselfish men in the great events of Ameri
can history. Every noble man has some strange
or remarkable story connected with his life,
the telling of which pictures his whole history.
Who shall I next take as a representative of what

2 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
is most unselfish in American history ? William
Penn ? Roger Williams among the Indians? La
fayette, the friend of Washington and the apostle
of liberty ?
• I have chosen Lafayette because he is among
the most unselfish of the world's heroes and bene
factors, and because there is one of the most
remarkable stories associated with his history that
I have ever met with in the life of any public man.
It is a story not commonly known ; it is encour
aging to those who follow the Divine Ought, or
the true spirit within, instead of policy, and I love
to draw upon such material as this.
Lafayette gave himself to mankind, and he
stands for a cause that will live forever. But
unselfish as he was, he had dark days of injustice,
and in those days he found a true friend in
one whose young heart was as unselfish as his
own. The world treats us exactly as we treat the
world ; our conduct all returns to ourselves, for
like seeks like, and duty done for duty's sake is
sure of its compensations, though they may come
in mysterious and unexpected ways.
But to the strange story I have to tell, the

THE RESCUE OF LAFAYETTE. 3
study of which tends to strengthen one's faith in
God and man.
You have read of Lafayette's visits to America,
when the very air seemed to ring with his name.
Did you know that he suffered for years in dun
geons, and that no one but his persecutors and
jailers knew where he was ? That his disappear
ance was one of the mysteries of the world ? And
did you ever hear of two students who went in
search of him, like Blondel for King Richard ?
I must first introduce you to Lafayette, the
young French officer, before these events hap
pened.

CHAPTER II.
THE HOUR OF DESTINY.
jAVE you heard the news from
America ? "
A gay company of men in glittering
uniforms started, and sat in a listening attitude.
" I see you have not. The colonies have
united, and declared their independence of the
Crown in the name of Liberty. Was there ever
audacity like that ! One Jefferson is leading the
movement. It means war. Authority against
Liberty, and the end of it all is not hard to see.
The discontent should have been crushed out
long ago, but at last the king is aroused, and
he will put down rebellion there with a firm
hand." The speaker was the Duke of Gloucester,
brother of George III. The place, a military
banquet hall, at the great German fortress of
Metz. Afar the Moselle lay gleaming, and the
parks and gardens around the ponderous fortifi-
4

THE HOUR OF DESTINY. 5
cations were glowing with fresh leaves and
flowers. "What do the American colonies want of
liberty ? Why should they resist being taxed
for a good government which they know not how
to administer themselves ! They claim that all
men are born free and equal, and that the sense
of the majority should rule. Why, such an idea
would overturn the whole wisdom of the past.
And to what an extent have they gone ! They
would make their public officers the servants of
the people. Think of that ! They would elect
officers to be the servants of the people, and call
such a government as that Liberty ! And further
more they declare that the liberty to do right is
the birthright of every man ! Who would want
to live in a land like that?"
" I would ! "
The speaker was a young French officer in his
nineteenth year. He had been listening to the
words of the duke. His face flashed and glowed,
and his hand trembled on the hilt of his sword.
The word " Liberty " seemed to thrill him. From
a boy he had had an inward conviction that
he was born to be a defender of Liberty, and

6 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
leader of the cause of human freedom in the
world. That young man was the Marquis de La
fayette. "What are the dispatches that you have
received from America ? " asked an English officer
of the duke.
" That the colonies are in rebellion. That the
Colonists are about to maintain their belief in the
equal rights of man."
" I would gladly draw my sword in such a cause
as that," said the young Marquis de Lafayette
to a friend in a low voice. " I am assured that
some such cause is to be my destiny. There are
times when the soul hears a voice that calls it to
duty and makes that duty clear. The voice
comes as it were from the heavens. The soul
which has been haunted by ideals and made rest
less hears it and owns it, and makes it the captain
of its life. The duke's words have a strange
meaning to me. I myself believe in the liberty
of men to do right, and I do not believe in
the right of Crowns to compel men to do
wrong." The duke was about to speak.
" The colonists hold that governments are insti-

THE HOUR OF DESTINY. 7
tuted for the good of the people. Could such an
idea triumph, it would reverse the order of the
world." The American idea and purpose thrilled the
heart of the young marquis. The duke, in con
demning the American people had expressed his
own views in those of the colonists.
" I believe in that cause," said Lafayette to a
brother officer. " I believe in it with all my
heart. I hold to the equal rights and brother
hood of all mankind. Call it what you will,
every man should have the right to do right and
should never be compelled to do wrong. I care
not for fame, nor power, nor wealth, for their own
sake ; I would gladly draw my sword, and give
my fortune to a cause like that, even if it brought
me poverty and loss. I would like to espouse the
cause of the colonists."
" But your young wife ? " said the officer, check
ing his friend's ardent aspirations.
The young marquis answered — we follow the
thoughts of his early inspirations as related in later
years : " No private affection can ever divert me
from public duty. I have a bride whom I love
with a devotion as great as any living man. But if

8 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
I were to draw my sword in the name of Liberty
she would one day be proud that I had done so.
What is the use of life but to live for the things
that live, and for the highest cause that can
claim our service ? What is selfish pleasure like
suffering for a cause ? I must be what I ought
to be. But hold, listen ! what is the duke
saying ? "
" Our forces have routed the Americans at
Bunker Hill, but they have left Boston, and the
struggle now goes on in New York and New
Jersey." " Boston ! " It may have been the first time that
the marquis ever heard that word as applied to an
American town. Lafayette had been born at the
Chateau Chavagnac, Auvergne, France, Septem
ber 6, 1757. His father, a brave French officer,
had fallen at Minden, and his mother had died in
1770, leaving a great fortune and vast estates.
He inherited from his parents a love of liberty
that was the ruling passion of his soul. His boy
hood had been unlike other boys'. It had been a
dream of the welfare of humanity. He had early
entered the army and was stationed at Metz when
the English duke arrived, and he had been

THE HOUR OF DESTINY. 9
included among the guests at this memorable
banquet — a banquet in which the destiny of
America seems to have been determined, for the
inspiration that day in the soul of Lafayette led
to final triumphs of the American armies at York-
town. " And who," said Lafayette, rising, " is the
leader of the American army ? "
He listened.
" George Washington," said an English officer,
bowing across the glittering board.
"George Washington!" Had the Marquis de
Lafayette ever heard that name before ! We
know not. It was a name of destiny to him now.
Washington, the father of liberty! His mission
leaped into his mind in full force. The freedom
of the American colonies should be his grand pur
pose in life, and he would unite his sword with
that of the unknown leader of liberty in the
West. The banquet ended. The summer night came
on over the Moselle and its old towers and bloom
ing gardens. But young Lafayette's thoughts
were with the colonies struggling for freedom in
the West.

IO the knight of liberty.
He sought the Duke of Gloucester, and the two
talked together long on the purpose of the Eng
lish colonies. " We must crush the colonies,"
said the duke. " They are in rebellion. It will
be an easy thing to do. Authority must be
respected." "And crush liberty — the liberty of the new
world," thought the young marquis.
The Moselle darkened ; the stars came out,
and the young marquis wandered out on the
esplanade. " Washington — George Washington ! "
That banquet had made him one of the most
unselfish heroes of liberty who ever drew the
sword. But how should he find the field of strug
gle, more than three thousand miles away ? He
dreamed that night under the moon and stars,
and his dream came true.
" Every man is a debtor to his calling," he
thought. " I must be that which I ought to be or
else I shall be nothing. Nobler deeds than man
has ever done remain to be done. Liberty, I
would find thy field. I was born for thee !
Where? How?"
Such, as we gather from his memoirs, must

THE HOUR OF DESTINY. II
have been the dreams of Lafayette at this time.
Destiny had shown him her face, like Selene to
Endymion in the fable. He knew for what he
was born, but again and again came the ques
tion— " How shall I find the field?"

CHAPTER III.
HOW?
HERE was an American commissioner in
Paris. His name was Silas Deane. He
was born at Groton, Conn., 1737, and
graduated at Yale College, 1758. He had been a
member of the Continental Congress in 1774, and
had been sent to France as the financial agent of
the united Colonies.
Young Lafayette left Metz to consult with this
man. " I have come," said Lafayette, " to offer my
sword to the liberties of your country. I hope
that your cause is advancing. It is one of the
noblest in the world."
" No," said Mr. Deane, " if the dispatches that
have just arrived are true, the cause is not advan
cing. The news is that the 'insurgents,' as the
patriots are called, have been driven toward
Philadelphia, through the Jerseys, by a powerful
force of British regulars. The news may not be

HOW ? 13
trustworthy, but it has prevented me from secur
ing credit for America. My friend Benjamin
Franklin will soon be here, and I will present you
to him, and you may trust his advice and sound
ness of judgment. You are a rich man, I
believe." " I have an ample fortune."
His income from his estates was some $37,000
per year.
" More than ample for my own wants, and in
espousing the cause of America I seek not to add
to my fortune, but to spend what I can spare in
this crisis of human need. I have no thought of
going to America for pay. All that I have and
am I offer to the cause of liberty, which is not of
America alone, but of all mankind. I feel within
myself a calling to which I must be true."
Silas Deane saw in Lafayette one of these
young men who become powerful by giving up
self for the service of others. He introduced him
to Benjamin Franklin, who also saw in the young
marquis a soul that at once won his admira
tion. Franklin was one of the American com
missioners. The commissioners agreed to consider this offer

14 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
of the chivalrous Frenchman to the cause of
American liberty.
" Rich," said one of them.
" With a young and beautiful wife," said the
other. " The favorite of the army."
" A favorite of the court."
" A splendid estate of thousands of acres in the-
mountain walled lands of provincial France."
" Of noble ancestry."
" Yet willing to give his fortune and life if need
be to the cause of a people not his own."
" The world does not produce many men like
him. Yet those that deny themselves the most
receive the most ; it is the law of life and of com
pensation. That boy soldier would have been
worthy of Greece."
" And he may yet find a place in the Plutarch's
lives of the present age. Such a soul must have
a future." " But what can be done for him ? "
" If the present news is true — nothing. We
cannot so much as command the means to pur
chase a vessel to carry arms to America."
" We must report that to him ? "

HOW ? 1 5
" Yes, and it fills me with shame to do so."
The commissioners and the young marquis met
again. " We honor your spirit," said one of the com
missioners, " but we have no means to help you,
not even the money to buy a ship. Our army is
in peril, and the cause looks dark, dark. Only
the soul can conquer in needs like this."
Lafayette listened to the discouraging report.
His own soul rose to the height of the necessity.
He answered, and we here repeat nearly his exact
words : " Sirs, hitherto I have only cherished your
cause, but now, sirs, I am going to serve it." He
added with the soul of a true hero, and here again
we repeat nearly his own words : " The lower
your cause is in the opinion of the people the
greater effect my departure will have among
patriotic men, and since, my friends, you are not
able to purchase a vessel, I will do so at my own
expense, and I will fit it out, and I will take in
person your dispatches to America ! "
It was that resolution, made when the cause of
liberty in America seemed hopeless, that finally
defeated Lord Cornwallis, and gave the cause of
American liberty as an example to the world.

1 6 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" When," says Lafayette, in his memoirs, " I
presented my boyish face to Mr. Deane, I spoke
more of my ardor in the cause than of my experi
ence. But I dwelt upon the effect that my depar
ture would excite in France, and he signed my
documents." One loves to picture that " boyish face."
So young Lafayette gave his name, fame, and
influence to the cause of freedom in a foreign land,
as a debtor to his inward calling. He went to
Passy, where Dr. Franklin was, and there he met
a German officer, as patriotic as himself, Baron
de Kalb. This officer, too, had espoused the
cause of liberty, believing it to be the cause of the
world. He was older than Lafayette, having
been born in Bavaria, 1721. The two became
friends. They thought they had secured a ship at
Bordeaux, but the ship could not at once be got
ready for sea. So they with other volunteers to
the American cause, hurried to Passage, a Spanish
port, to engage another conveyance.
But Lafayette's patriotism was to be still
further put to the test.
At Bordeaux there came to him an order from
the king of the French :

HOW ? 17
" You must not leave the country. Repair to
Marseilles." Should he disobey the king ? Should he
imperil his estates and his fortune? Should he
endanger his noble wife ?
" Thou must be that which thou oughtest to
be," said the spirit of his calling. Yes, for liberty.
"What will you do ?" asked his brother volun
teers. " Will you return ? "
"No — I must go ! And you?"
" We will go ! "
They were words of fate. Lafayette went to
Marseilles, but returned again. So out of the
Spanish port he and his eleven comrades sailed,
leaving all things but honor, to give their swords
to the cause of liberty in the West.
There is no nobler page of history than this, and
nothing more worthy may tempt historic fiction.
On the sea, in peril of capture, with nothing to
hope for but the victory of liberty ! On, on,
to the coasts of the Carolinas, where the patriots
arrived in June, 1777.
" The moment I heard of America I loved her.
The moment I knew she was fighting for liberty I
burned with desire to bleed for her."

1 8 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
So said Lafayette in a letter to the President
of the Continental Congress.
He was now in America, the land of his dreams,
and he was only about twenty years of age.
On landing, a very notable incident occurred.
The shores of the New World filled the two offi
cers, Lafayette and Baron de Kalb, with an
inspirational feeling. Their emotions impelled
them to make their vows to God. The doors of
heaven might open to hear it, for nobler men
never breathed forth their purpose in life.
Above them glowed the summer sky of the
Carolinas. It was night as the two stood upon
the shore.
" I pledge myself and all that I have to the
cause of the liberty of America," said Lafayette,
" and I offer my life to this sacred cause."
" America, I pledge myself and all that I am to
thee and the cause of human freedom ! " said
Baron de Kalb.
The incident is a true one — the stars were
above them, and behind them rolled the sea.
Such in substance were the vows of these two
men, as they landed in America.
They saw a light in the distance. They went

HOW ? 19
toward it. It was in the plantation house of
Major Benjamin Huger.
Morning showed a landscape blossoming with
magnolias ; in the sunny plantations the mocking
birds were singing, and the two officers here first
saw the sun of the New World. Were those mid
night resolutions sentiments ? If so, they were
sentiments that made character, and character
destiny, and that helped give to mankind its
birthright, to toiling millions a field of labor, and
the rights of labor their dues. The birthrights of
universal liberty were in them.

CHAPTER IV.
LAFAYETTE MEETS A BRIGHT BOY.
T the house of Major Huger a strange
incident happened. Major Huger had a
son, who was destined to become in
future years " the deliverer of Lafayette." His
name was Francis K. Huger. His portrait in
a frame of gold once hung, and may now prob
ably be seen, at Lagrange, the chateau of La
fayette. It bears this inscription :
FRANCIS K. HUGER.
Presented to
GENERAL LAFAYETTE,
by the City of Charleston,
through
Samuel Prioleau,
Intendant, 1825.
Made by Fletcher and Gardnier, Phil.
The portrait represents a man of broad fore
head with width of ideality, of a refined, slender
face, a prominent nose, and thin, resolute lips.
20

LAFAYETTE MEETS A BRIGHT BOY. 21
People walk slowly before it and say that that pic
ture represents " The Deliverer of Lafayette."
The Carolinas have always been proud of this
young man and his heroic deed. His name is
pronounced Huzay or Huzhay.
Lafayette loved children, and this boy, Francis,
soon found himself in the patriot's lap, and we,
with a questioning curiosity, may fancy his
inquiries to have been something like these:
"You have come over the sea ?"
" Yes, my boy, a far, far journey."
" But, please sir, why did you come ? "
" To help the people gain their liberties."
" But, please sir, you have your liberty."
" Yes, my boy, in a measure. I could have
more." " And you sailed over the sea to help us ? "
" Yes, we hope to help your country."
" Please sir, will they pay you ? "
"Yes, my boy."
"Who?" " Everybody, my heart here — heaven — you ;
perhaps you will one day pay me."
"You came because you loved us ?"
"Yes, my boy."

22 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" One day we will all love you. I do now."
" And I love you, my boy."
" Shall we ever meet again ? I mean after you
go away ? "
Lafayette looked into the beautiful eyes of the
little Southerner.
" I do not know what may be in store for us.
Love never dies."
" I shall love you always. And if I grow up, I
will pay you."
" What a heart you have, my boy ! "
" You love people whom you have never seen ? "
" Yes."
" Perhaps people whom you have never seen
will love you some day."
" Yes, that is the way that things happen, my
boy ; whatever may befall me, I do not believe I
will ever be entirely forsaken, for those who help
others always find help in their needs."
" Please sir, are you a rich man ? I hope so."
" Yes, I have a good fortune."
" Then you will never want."
" I cannot tell. People who have fortunes are
sometimes forsaken. It is the heart of love that
does not forsake one in misfortune."

Lafayette and his future deliverer.

LAFAYETTE MEETS A BRIGHT BOY. 23
" Suppose you were to lose your fortune, and
be poor, and all folks forget you, or lose you,
please sir, what would you do ? "
" I would trust. Some heart would find me.
The world treats us as we treat the world. Some
true heart would find me."
The boy and the young officer became friends.
It was a link in the chain of destiny.

CHAPTER V.
lafayette's ride.
jAFAYETTE furnished money to
Charleston to provide clothing for the
soldiers under General Moultrie, and he
and Baron de Kalb started in a carriage for Phila
delphia, where the Continental Congress was, late
in June, 1777.
It was the fall tide of the year. The planta
tions were green with vegetation and gay with
bloom. The fame of the officers had preceded
them, and caused the patriots in some places to
await their coming. The roads were in parts of
the country new, and all things were novel to the
two officers and their friends.
They rode rapidly.
" We must make a short journey," said they.
" It is a ride for liberty ! "
The distance was some seven hundred miles.
The coach rolled forward as if it were for a re-en
forcement. The party stopped to cool in the
24

lafayette's ride. 25
shadows of mountains, and beside sunny-bosomed
waters. They rested a little at inns and planta
tion houses, but they were impatient to meet the
American patriotic leaders, and Washington and
the army of liberty.
In the rapid ride the coach broke down.
" Horses are better than coaches," said they,
and they left the coach, and hurried forward on
horseback, riding with the utmost speed.
Through the burning Carolinas, through Vir
ginia, across the Potomac, where the glorious
dome of the Capitol and the Washington monu
ment would in the coming century rise in air,
they pursued their way.
Did a stranger ask the cause of their haste ?
" We are riding for liberty ! "
Did he ask who they were hurrying so impetu
ously to see ?
" Washington and the army of liberty ! "
The patriots who knew them cheered them as
they passed. The British minister in Paris had
tried to prevent them from coming to America,
and their flight had created a great impression
in Europe, and their arrival was destined to
be an inspiration here. They came flying into

26 the knight of liberty. '
Philadelphia, met the patriotic leaders, and one
of the first acts of Lafayette was to present to
Washington sixty thousand francs, to meet a
crisis of the cause.
Lafayette offered to enter the army as a com
mon soldier. Washington read his soul when
they first met, and soon secured for him a major
general's commission.
Fate, fortune, Providence, rode with them on
those midsummer days through the Carolinas
and Virginia ; over the hills of Maryland and
Pennsylvania ; past the Southern cotton fields,
and Northern fields of corn. The young French
man was bearing victory with him. He saw the
future and his soul glowed. He bore in his
young heart the inspiration of the ages. The
cause of the liberty of the world was in that ride !
It was one of the grandest rides in history, to
which Charles Sumner paid the tribute of some of
the best passages of a grand oration.

CHAPTER VI.
THE WHITE COCKADE.
AJOR BENJAMIN HUGER, at whose
plantation house little Francis Kinlock
Huger had first met Lafayette, was one
of the five patriot brothers, who were farmers in
the Carolinas. This man was killed by an acci
dent before his own lines in Charleston, 1779.
One autumn day, not many months after this
event, there came riding down to the Huger
plantation an orderly of William Augustine
Washington, a kinsman of George Washington.
This orderly reined his steed before the door of
the patriot's mansion.
The family hurried out to give a welcome and
to inquire the news. The orderly seemed in high
spirits and pointed to his hat. On his hat was a
white rosette on a ground of black.
" Has there been a victory ? " asked one of the
family. "Yes, good friends, something more than vic-
27

28 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
tory. Our independence is now as sure as any
event can be."
He pointed again to the rosette.
" What has happened?" broke from all lips.
"Lafayette!" He was bidden to dismount, and he entered the
house gayly, and a meal was prepared for him.
The little boy again seemed all eyes and ears.
He climbed upon the stranger's knees as he had
done on Lafayette's when the latter came up
from the seaside after pledging his all, under the
night sky, to the independence of America.
" Did Lafayette give you the white rose on
your hat ? " asked the boy.
"No; Washington."
" William Washington, was it, sir ? "
" No, General George Washington."
"What did he give you the ribbon for, sir ?"
" For a cockade."
"What is a cockade, sir?"
" It is a rosette to wear on the hat. General
George Washington has ordered that all the offi
cers of the army shall wear white rosettes on their
hats, in honor of the return of Lafayette."
" Lafayette, Lafayette ! " said the boy, " I was

THE WHITE COCKADE. 29
the first one that he ever kissed In America. He
said that he loved America when he first heard
her name spoken ; and then he said he loved me,
and he held me in his lap just as you do now and
he let me ask him questions. Where has Lafay
ette been, sir? You said he had returned."
" He has been to France, my little boy, for I
must tell the story through you, and well I may,
as you were among the first to welcome him.
He has been to France to secure a French army
from the king to give us independence, and he
has done it. He has landed at Newport with an
army and navy, under the great Count Rocham-
beau ! "
" Then the vow to win liberty for America that
he made out there on the coast by the sea was an
honest one. Look out yonder — there is where he
was, sir ! "
A wide vista opened through the magnolias,
and afar lay the cotton fields and beyond them
rolled the sea.
" He saw a light," said the boy.
" " When he landed ? " asked the orderly.
"Yes; it was ours; I am glad it was ours.
Who would have thought that he would have met

30 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
me, me? I wonder if I will ever see him again !
He put his arms a'round me, so. Of all the great
men in the world, next to Washington, I would
rather see Lafayette."
"We have let- the boy talk long enough," said
a brother of Major Huger. "You have good
news to tell. Let us have it. Francis, you will
be quiet now while the orderly tells us the
news." " Lafayette left Boston in February [1779] and,
after a short winter voyage arrived at Brest.
The French court received him with favor,
though the king was obliged to imprison him for
one week for leaving the country contrary to his
orders. The imprisonment only amused the court
and his prison was but a room in his brother-in-
law's house. When his punishment was over, all
Paris hailed him with delight and honor. The
king listened to his plea for America as to a son,
and granted him a powerful fleet, and an army six
thousand strong."
"Glory to Lafayette!" exclaimed the boy,
" Glory — look out there — he promised all this to
us out there ! "
" Be quiet, my little friend," said the orderly.

THE WHITE COCKADE. 3 1
" Be quiet ! how could I be quiet ? I would
like to crow."
" Well, not now. The French fleet and army
arrived at Newport July 10 [1780]. Bells rung,
and flags are flying in all the East. We must
put flags all over the plantation houses. By the
way, have you heard of the boast that General
Tarleton has made ? "
" No ; he is the most brutal officer that has ever
appeared on the field. What is his threat?"
said one of the family.
" He says that he will send William Washing
ton to London in chains ; that he will put the
British flag over every plantation house in the
Carolinas, and that he will drink his victory out
of Lady Ashe's punch bowl."
"What is Lady Ashe's punch bowl?" asked
the boy.
" Oh, it Is a famous bowl in Wilmington, or in
some of the houses belonging to the great family."
" But he will have to get William Washington
before he can send him to London in chains, will
he not ? "
" Yes, my boy. And he will have to subdue
the Carolinas more than he has yet, to put the

32 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
British flag over every plantation house. As for
the Albemarle punch bowl, I will tell you the
story of that after dinner. But I have not told
you all the news yet."
The family listened intently.
" The King of France has made General George
Washington lieutenant general of the empire of
France, so that he may outrank the French
general who has come to America."
"Glory to the king!" said the boy. "What
color does he wear? "
" White, my son ; Bourbon lilies."
" What is that ? " said the orderly, pointing to
his hat.
" You said it was a cockade."
"What color is it?"
" White."
" It did not use to be white."
" The one that father used to wear was black.
What changed it to white ?"
" The order of Washington, as I said, in honor
of Lafayette. All the American officers are
henceforth to wear the white cockade."
The boy looked wistfully at the orderly's hat.
" I wish you would give it to me."

THE WHITE COCKADE. 33
" What, my hat ? "
" No ; the white cockade."
" You shall have it, my boy, for I have another.
You ought to have one, as you were among the
first to welcome Lafayette."
The orderly gave the boy the rosette. Francis
placed it on his own hat, and walked to and fro, to
the delight of the family. He saluted each one,
lifting his right hand.
" I wish that he could see me now," said he.
" Who see you ? " asked the orderly.
" General Lafayette ! "

CHAPTER VII.
THE ALBEMARLE PUNCH BOWL.
HE orderly was called to a sumptuous
dinner, after which the family again
gathered around him, and the boy asked
for the story of Lady Ashe's punch bowl, for the
way that the officer had alluded to it had much
excited his curiosity.
" The Albemarle punch bowl," he said ; " you
have heard of it, no doubt. It has a long history,
but I am not going to tell that, my boy. It never
will be mended again ; there were pieces enough
to have decorated a regiment. Lady Ashe made
thorough work of it."
" Is it broken ? " asked Mrs. Huger.
" Broken ? yes, it has been dashed into a hun
dred pieces."
" It was the pride of the family," said Mrs.
Huger, "and many a time has it served them in
the old banquet halls. Did the British officers
destroy it ? " P
34

THE ALBEMARLE PUNCH BOWL. 35
" No. Lady Ashe did it with her own hands.
You have heard," he continued, with the boy at
his knee, " that General Tarleton once boasted
that he would send William Washington to Lon
don in chains ; that he would put the British flag
over every plantation house in the Carolinas, and
would drink his victory out of Lady Ashe's punch
bowl. You know what the family of General
Ashe are. They stand by the honor of the
general, who was the soul of the old Provincial
Congress, and who raised a regiment at his own
expense, even though he was defeated at Briar
Creek. The British have never ceased to annoy
his family since Wilmington fell into their hands.
Now, this is the queer story that the people are
telling : Lady Ashe is a woman of mettle, and I
think it may be true. When she heard of General
Tarleton's boast, she said to an American :
" ' I will see — General Tarleton dines at your
house to-morrow, I believe.'
" ' Yes, would you like to meet him ?' asked the
gentleman. " ' I would like to speak to him on the occasion,'
said the lady.
" ' Then you will be my guest.'

36 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" The day came. General Tarleton and his
staff were present at the fine old house, and Lady
Ashe was among the guests.
" ' I would like to meet your Colonel Washing
ton,' said General Tarleton. ' I have never seen
him.' " ' If you had only looked behind you, after the
battle of Cowpens, you might have done so,' said
Lady Ashe.
" It was a sharp retort to remind Tarleton of his
retreat then and there in the guest rooms. But
Lady Ashe never feared the face of day.
" The tables were spread, and the British officers
assembled, feeling that they were doing honor to
by their host their presence. Wine began to flow,
when one of the guests said :
" ' Lady Ashe, now is the time for the Albe
marle punch bowl.'
" ' Wait a few minutes,' said she ; ' and I will
bring it.'
" She arose and left the room.
" The guests waited.
" Presently the door was opened. Lady Ashe
came into the room slowly and with a radiant face.
She held the punch bowl over her head. It was

THE ALBEMARLE PUNCH BOWL. 37
brimming with roses. The flowers filled the room
with fragrance. Were they swimming on a sur
face of waving punch ?
" She came forward with measured step, as if to
a minuet, casting her eyes at times up to the great
pile of roses above her. When she had reached
the head of the table she stopped, and stood like
a statue, with uplifted eyes.
" How beautiful and noble and regal she
looked !
" The guests were astonished and silent. No
one moved. She did not lower the great bowl.
At last, amid the deep silence she dropped her
eyes on the guests, and then fixed them on the
British officer.
" ' General Tarleton,' she said, in a deep, musical
voice ; ' General Tarleton, this is the Albemarle
punch bowl. Many members of the Provincial
Congress have admired it for its beauty, and it
has found a place in many gatherings of patriots,
though they were not drinking men. Men with a
purpose do not dine and wine much, but this bowl,
as a work of beauty and art, has been the pride of
our family treasures. It is not filled with punch
to-day ; it is filled with roses.

38 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" ' General Tarleton, look at it. Why is it filled
with roses, instead of punch ? Because we are
poor ? No, we have fallen under your power, but
we are not poor. Because we are inhospitable ?
Carolinians would be hospitable, though poor.
" ' General Tarleton, listen. I hear that you
have grown boastful of late. I hear that you have
said that you would send William Washington to
London in chains, and would put the British flag
over every plantation house in the Carolinas. Is
that so, General Tarleton ?'
" ' I will send William Washington to London
in chains, if I can get him, madam ; and I would
be glad, madam, to see my own flag flying over
all the plantation houses in the Carolinas, as they
are floating here to-day.'
" ' And, General Tarleton, I hear that you have
also boasted that you will celebrate your victory
by the use of this punch bowl.
" ' General Tarleton  '
" Lady Ashe dashed the punch bowl to the floor,
breaking it into a thousand pieces.
" ' General Tarleton, that is one part of your
prophecy that will never be fulfilled ! '
" I hope the story is true ; if it be not, it

THE ALBEMARLE PUNCH BOWL. 39
ought to be, and reports do not spring out of the
earth." " Lafayette will drive the British from Wilming
ton, will he not ? " asked the boy.
" So I hope. He is, I hear, given in part the
direction of the Southern campaign," said the
orderly. " Lafayette shall be my hero, after Washing
ton," said the boy, " and I will never surrender
the white cockade."
The boy touched his hat, and the company
laughed, and the orderly said :
" Good, my boy ; Lafayette shall be your hero
and a hero of that hero may you ever be proud
to be ! "
Later in the day, little Francis Huger had the
orderly to himself. He may have recalled the
unusual attention that he had received from
Lafayette. Be that as it may, his fancy was
excited, and his thoughts were inquisitive, though
nobly so.
" Orderly John," he said, for so the popular
orderly and courier was called, " what if Lafayette
should help us gain our liberties ; would he then
not be a great man like Washington?"

40 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" He certainly would, my boy."
" Orderly John, suppose he then should go
back, and sometime return to this country again.
Would not all the people be glad ? "
" Yes."
" And shout ? "
"Yes."" So would I. Do you suppose that he would
remember me ? "
" I think that he would."
" Why ? "
"He met you at a great crisis of his life."
" What do you mean by crisis ? "
"He had just made a vow, as you know ; he
saw the light of your house ; he was lonely, and
he turned his heart to you. He could never
forget it."
" I wish I could do something to honor him,
Orderly John. What is the greatest thing a man
could do for another man, Orderly John ?"
" To be willing to lay down his life for him."
" I would never have such a chance, would I ? "
" I cannot tell. This world brings many
changes. Events come to those who have the
spirit of them."

THE ALBEMARLE PUNCH BOWL. 41
" What do you mean by that, Orderly John?"
" The things that we would do sometimes come
to us."
" Orderly John, that would be the happiest
hour in my life. What thing of all the world
would make a man like Lafayette most happy ? "
" I think, my boy, that the thing that would
make a hero most happy would be the triumph
of his cause."
" Yes, and what else."
" Well, to meet an unknown man who had
offered to give up his life for him."
" To meet an unknown man who had offered to
give up his life for him ? Why would that make
him so happy, Orderly John ?"
" He would then meet one who had loved him
better than himself. There could be no other
meeting like that."
" This nation may be free, and Lafayette may
go away ; and it may grow, and invite him to
come back again. I like to dream of it, and,
Orderly John, I like to dream that when that day
comes, I will be there. I like to fancy such
things. Do dreams come true ? "
"Yes, often, my boy. Everyone dreams of

42 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
what he would like most to be. Almost every
little boy is a Shakespere in his dreams."
" Oh, Orderly John ! I never dream of that.
But everyone can be a kind of Reward of Merit
to others, can he not ? "
Lafayette had dreamed his dream of liberty on
the green Carolinian shore. It was coming true,
for he had made a vow of it, and his life was fol
lowing the grand resolution. Here was a little
dreamer, whose heart was following the fortunes
of Lafayette. Would his dreams one day prove
true ?
Desires have eyes, and hopes are events. Are
the boy and the general to meet again ? When ?
Where ? That is our story.

CHAPTER VIII.
"CORNWALLIS IS TAKEN !"
jlAFAYETTE was made the principal
general of the campaign against Lord
Cornwallis, and his movements in Vir
ginia were regarded as among the most brilliant
in military history. He compelled the British
army to concentrate at a point where they could
be seized.
The siege of Yorktown crowned the efforts of
Lafayette for American independence. The
allied armies joined Lafayette for this last cam
paign of the revolution, September 25, 1781. The
besieging army consisted of sixteen thousand
men, under the chief command of Washington,
assisted by Rochambeau ; but Lafayette, who had
been the directing mind and energy of the envi
ronment of the army of Cornwallis, was allowed
to consummate his own plan. On September 28
twelve thousand men marched from Williamsburg,
driving the British before them into the intrench-
43

44 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
ments of Yorktown. The allies surrounded the
place. The fleet of De Grasse lay off the town
in Lynn Haven Bay to prevent any relief of the
British troops.
On the night of October 6 the cannonade
began from the French ships, and the American
army advanced their intrenchments. Day by day
the circle of the besieging army contracted around
the place. Two British redoubts were carried,
and the situation of Lord Cornwallis became most
critical. He resolved to escape by taking his army
across the river. Boats were prepared, and the
troops began their secret march when a furious
storm arose, and the troops returned. The earl
now lost all hope, and was forced to sign terms of
capitulation. Lafayette's heart was filled with a patriotic
glow when he found that he was forcing Lord
Cornwallis into these limits, which must end in
capture. Would you know how he felt ? The
following extract from a letter which he wrote to
Washington will picture his soul :
" In the present state of affairs I hope you will
come yourself to Virginia. Lord Cornwallis must

" CORNWALLIS IS TAKEN ! " 45
be attacked with pretty great apparatus ; but when
the French fleet takes possession of the bay and
rivers, and we form a land force superior to his,
that army must sooner or later be forced to sur
render, as we may get what re-enforcements we
please. " I heartily thank you for having ordered me to
remain in Virginia ; it is to your goodness that I
am indebted for the most beautiful prospect which
I may ever behold."
That prospect was realized when Yorktown fell
and liberty was won, at that time for America and
ultimately for the world.
Lafayette became the hero of two worlds, but it
is probable that the surrender of Lord Cornwallis,
and the triumph of the American army, was the
most beautiful vision that he ever beheld. He
fought for the cause of liberty universal, and it
was at Yorktown that that cause was won. He
must have ever looked upon it as Freedom's coro
nation day.
" I loved America when I first heard her name,"
he once said, and which remark we have already
quoted. America now was to love his name,
forever more, and to honor it with undying

46 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
fame. He had fulfilled the trust born in his
soul. At midnight, October 23, 1781, an aid-de-camp
of Washington rode into Philadelphia from York-
town. The watchman had been pacing the
streets, crying :
" Past ten o'clock and all is well."
" Past eleven o'clock and all is well."
" Past twelve o'clock and all is well."
The aid-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel Tilghman,
rode up to the house of the President of the Con
gress and knocked.
" I arrest you," said a watchman. " Why do
you disturb the peace?"
" Cornwallis is taken! " said the aid.
" Past one o'clock and Cornwallis is taken ! "
cried the watchman.
The people heard. Lights flashed from win
dow to window. The old State house bell began
to clang.
" Past two o'clock and Cornwallis is taken ! "
we may fancy the intelligence to have been
announced with the hours.
The morning broke amid the booming of can
non. Yorktown had surrendered and the York-

" CORNWALLIS IS TAKEN ! " 47
town siege had been the grand campaign of
Lafayette. Into South Carolina couriers were riding.
Among them was the orderly. He rode out of
his way to the Huger mansion. The family had
seen him and were awaiting him.
" Liberty is won," said the orderly ; " Yorktown
has surrendered ! Seven thousand men and more
than two hundred cannon ! Shout, the world is
taken ! Mankind is to be free ! Shout ! Shout !
The campaign of Lafayette has crowned the
American army ; it was Lafayette whose strategy
shut up Cornwallis, and compelled him to sur
render his army to Washington ! Shout ! Shout !
Boy, where is your white cockade ? "
" Here, sir."
" Aye, and be true to it ever."
" Lafayette is my hero, sir."
" And the world's. For in fighting for our
liberties he has fought for the freedom of all man
kind. The victors at Yorktown will one day
make France itself free. Long live Washington,
and long live Lafayette ! "
" What will Lafayette now do ? " asked the boy.
" He will return to France, and try to secure

48 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
for her people that which he has helped us to
win." This was the history of Lafayette after the
American revolution. He went to his beautiful
home among the mountains, but the people of
France were beginning to struggle to be free.
We must follow Lafayette in these struggles,
which made him the hero of the liberties of
France. The French republic of to-day owes her
glory largely to the character of Lafayette. But
Liberty in France was often overthrown before
she found her stable place. The leader of
progress usually falls a martyr to his cause. But
he will not lose faith, if the cause but go on.

CHAPTER IX.
THE WHITE COCKADE OF THE CONSTITUTION.
N the early struggles of the French for
liberty, Lafayette, in whose honor the
white cockade had been brought into
use in America, became again the hero of the
white cockade.
We must tell you how Lafayette came to give
to France the white cockade. There was formed
a legislative body in France, to make a constitu
tion which should protect the rights of the people,
which was called the Constituent Assembly.
The king secretly was opposed to this assembly,
and began to concentrate an army to sustain his
original power. This threw the city of Paris into
wild excitement, for the people had resolved in
their hearts to be free, and to have a constitution
that would protect them in their freedom. La
fayette was a member of this Assembly.
The Assembly asked the king to withdraw his
troops from Paris. The king replied by recom-
49

50 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
mending the Assembly to remove from Paris to
some city where soldiers would not be needed.
To do this would be to abandon the cause.
Now came forward Lafayette. " Make a declara
tion of the rights of man," he said, " as a preamble
to the constitution."
The Assembly resolved to form a National
Guard for its own protection, and that of the con
stitution which they were forming, and to put at
its head General Lafayette. It was thus that
Lafayette was made the defender of the constitu
tion of France. The king and court were at this
time at Versailles.
The court was at war against the represen
tatives of the people. The excitement in Paris
grew. It was the nth of July, 1789. The king still
controlled the army, and Paris believed itself to be
threatened with invasion. In the hot afternoon of
that day a vast crowd assembled at the Palace
Royal. About three o'clock a young man mounted
a table in the gardens of the Palace and waved
aloft a pistol.
"Citizens!" he cried, "the court is preparing

THE WHITE COCKADE OF THE CONSTITUTION. 5 1
for us a St. Bartholomew for patriots. Citizens, to
arms, to arms ! Let us take the green cockade."
That man was a young Picardian, Camille
Desmoulins. The people mounted the green
ribbon, and those who could not get green ribbons
stripped the green leaves from the trees and put
them in their hats. The people were resolved to
sustain the Assembly ; there should be no surprise
— no St. Bartholomew for liberty. So everywhere
was seen the green cockade.
The king's soldiers menaced the people, and day
by day the excitement grew. The people rushed
in great bodies to the armories, demanding arms.
They must arm themselves, for as yet the National
Guard was not organized. They formed a com
mittee, and this committee resolved to form a
militia of forty thousand men. The colors of
Paris were blue and red.
"The militia must wear the colors of Paris,"
said the committee. So the green cockade of the
night of the nth vanished, and the blue and red
cockade filled the streets of Paris. The people
were arming. The committee ordered the con
struction of fifty thousand pikes ; they were
finished within thirty-six hours. The Intendant

52 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
of Paris had caused the national arms to be hid
den in the cellars of the house of the Invalides.
The sun of the 14th of July rose, red and
warm. " On to the Invalides ! " began to cry the
people, and to the Invalides rushed the heroes of
the blue and red cockades. They forced open the
doors, and carried away twenty-two thousand guns.
The people were now armed. The eventful day
blazed, and the ardor for liberty grew.
There was a great prison in Paris called the
Bastille. It had been used by a long line of
kings to overawe the people. The most cruel
courts had caused their enemies to be sent there
to rot in dungeons. Wicked men and women,
favorites of courts, had been able to send there the
most worthy and noble people. It had been the
stronghold of injustice, tyranny, and cruelty, for
centuries. The people had hated it ; all patriotic
and good hearts had cried out against it ; and now
at last the tempest clouds of indignation were
gathering around it.
" On to the Bastille ! " cried the armed people.
So the blue and red cockades. The tempest was
gathering force.

THE WHITE COCKADE OF THE CONSTITUTION. 53
They approached the great fortress — the em
blem of tyranny — its thick walls and high towers
frowning over them. The stoutest fortress is
weak if it have a weak heart. The people
demanded the surrender of the Bastille. They
were fired by a long sense of injustice, which as a
rule ends at last in revolt, and they rushed over
the drawbridge. The soldiers of the Bastille fired
upon them ; but the sight of blood only added to
the fury of this new army of liberty.
The French garrison within hesitated to fire
upon their own people, and demanded of the
Governor the surrender of the fortress. The
Governor was a tyrant, and all tyrants are
cowards, and finding himself beset with enemies
within the fortress as well as without, he deter
mined to destroy the fortress and end his own life.
He descended to the powder magazine to apply
the torch to the powder, and thus blow up the fort
ress, his own soldiers, and the enemy. There
were thirty-five casks of powder in the maga
zine, and a spark there would have made one
of the most awful slaughters of history. Sud
denly there stepped across his way two French
guards.

54 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" Halt ! " They placed before him two
bayonets. " Capitulate ! "
The governor, with his crimes of years, shrunk
back. Could the Bastille be so easily taken ?
Yes, wrong falls easily, at a breeze, when it is
fully ripe. The terror-stricken man promised to
capitulate, and was led away.
The besiegers were victorious. They lowered
the bridge that led to the fortress. The people
came pouring into the fortress. What a sight was
revealed ! What loathsome dungeons ! What
skeletons of prisoners !
They released the prisoners, and as they saw
what the Bastille was their fury grew. They
began to tear down the fortress with their own
hands. They felt their strength and knew that
the fall of the Bastille was the end of the one
man power in France. They slew the governor,
and placed his head on a pike.
The sunset of the 14th of July was the end of
the arbitrary French monarchy. The Constitu
tion was to rise, defended by the National Guard.
At midnight a messenger entered the apart
ments of the king.

THE WHITE COCKADE OF THE CONSTITUTION. 55
" Is it a revolt?" asked the king.
" Sire, it is a revolution."
On the 15th of July Paris rang with the shouts
of "Vive la Nation /" Lafayette was the man of
Paris. His whole soul was directed toward a con
stitution that would give the people their rights
and privileges. He was elected by acclamation
general of the Parisian militia, and this army he
transformed into the National Guard. The great
Constitution was now made, and the nation rose
to the defense of the Constitution. The French
everywhere began to form a national guard, and
the power passed from the throne into the hands
of the people. The green cockade had passed
away. The blue and red cockade had done its
work. It was time for a new cockade. What
one ? The white. The color of the banners of
the Maid of Orleans. Who should give the new
cockade to liberty ?
Lafayette !
" I bring you," said Lafayette to the new
government of Paris, and we here use nearly his
exact words — " I bring you a cockade. It will
make the round of the world. It will begin an
institution of civil and religious liberty which will

56 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
triumph over the old forms of Europe. This in
stitution will compel arbitrary governments to
follow it or to be overthrown. I bring you the
white cockade."
The white cockade flew. Paris was white. A
German who was in Paris vividly describes the
scene : " I should not know how to express my
feelings," he said, " when, for the first time, I saw
the white cockade on the hats and caps of all I
met — citizens, peasants, children and old men,
priests and beggars, and when I could- read the
pride upon the joyous foreheads, in the presence
of men of other countries, I could have wished to
clasp in my arms the first who presented them
selves before me. For as they were no longer
Frenchmen, and for the moment my companions
and I were no longer German, I am a man, I said,
and nothing which concerns humanity is foreign
to me. So said we all."
So the white cockade became the star of two
revolutions and these revolutions were destined to
change the world.

CHAPTER X.
THE DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN.
DEVOLUTIONS occur in summer; great
deeds are born of the summer, and
shortly before the fall of the Bastille on
the memorable 14th of July, a date eternally to
be celebrated, there appeared in the National
Assembly that knight of human freedom, Marquis
de Lafayette, with the sublime words, " We
must make a declaration of the rights of man ! "
As he had gone to America as a knight, to
champion liberty in the New World, and had
there met Jefferson, the author of the Decla
ration of Independence, the words thrilled
France. The Assembly had asked the king to remove
the army from Paris, since it menaced their free
dom, and the king had replied that instead of
removing the soldiers he would appoint another
city for the meetings of the Assembly. These
things we have already related. 57

58 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
The people were determined to secure their
freedom at once and forever. The example of
America rose before them, and they arose above
themselves. They echoed Lafayette : " We must
have a declaration of the rights of man."
The voice of Lafayette rang through France.
He was awaited as the genius of liberty in the
Assembly. All eyes were bent upon him as often
as his tall form arose in that body of human fate.
He had the spirit but not the pen of Jefferson.
But the most noble sentiments began to fall from
his lips after the Bastille fell, and the revolution
was ripe. The declaration of the RIGHTS OF
MAN came, and was formally made by the
Assembly, August 26, 1789. It echoed the
Declaration of Independence in America, and
made France free.
Its opening was grand :
" In the presence and under the auspices of the
Supreme Being, we declare,
" That all men are born to equal rights, and
remain free in their equity.
" These rights are liberty, property, and the
resistance of tyranny.
" The principle of sovereignty resides in the

THE DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN. 59
nation, and no man can exercise authority without
the people's consent.
" Law is an expression of the public will."
So read the beginning of the Declaration of
the Rights of Man. In that declaration the
aristocracy of France fell, and the exercise of
power passed into the hands of the people.
Lafayette saw that France and the United
States now stood side by side as constitutional
powers. He sent the key of the Bastille to Wash
ington, and it is still shown to visitors at Mount
Vernon. His grand work in the great events
of mankind was now at its height ; he stood on
the very pinnacle of moral influence, the knight
of the liberties of two worlds, and France and
America rang with the shout of " Vive Lafayette !
Long live Lafayette ! " It did not seem then
that this man would one day be' plunged into the
deepest of human misery ; that these glorious
days would be to him the dreams of the past in a
dungeon, and that the world would long seek for
the hiding place, where he was hidden, in vain.
But there is no high life that does not spring
from or go down into the depths. The knight
of liberty is soon to become the prisoner of

60 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
Olmiitz, and one true heart of an American is to
be the agent to deliver him from the dungeon.
How did these things occur ?
The mother of Francis K. Huger, the boy
whom Lafayette met on his landing in America,
still lived in the Carolinas, and the widow gave
her life to the development and education of
her son. The boy was growing up manly and
noble, with the heroic traits of his father and
uncles. One day, as he had returned, on a vacation, the
same orderly who had brought to the family the
news of Lafayette's arrival with an army at New
port, and of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at
Yorktown, again rode up to the grand old plan
tation house. The widow and her son came out
to meet him.
" It is now as in days before," said the widow,
" I hope you bring as good news."
" Yes," said the orderly ; " and it is Lafayette
again." The widow looked down toward that ever to be
remembered coast where Lafayette, then not
arrived at the estate of manhood, and Baron de
Kalb, who gave his life for our country, had made

THE DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN. 6 1
their vow to achieve liberty for America or to
perish. " Lafayette ? " said the young man ; " I can
imagine what it is— he has made France a repub
lic like our own ; France has become America."
" France has made her Declaration of Inde
pendence, and the author of that declaration is
Lafayette. The French call this act of their
National Assembly the Declaration of the Rights
of Man. Lafayette has been made the com
mander of the National Guard of France, and the
National Assembly under his leadership is now at
work upon a constitution."
" He will repeat in France his work in
America," said young Huger; "and make him
self the hero of two worlds and the Washington of
France. I wonder if I will ever see him again."
"That is not unlikely, my son," said the
widow. "You will complete your education
abroad, and then travel over Europe. It is not
unlikely that you may then meet Lafayette."
" Meet him — if I can but see him I shall be
content. He will be then the most glorious
man in the world ! "
" We cannot be sure, my son. The leaders of

62 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
great events sometimes meet with reverses and
have their dark days. I hope that when you see
him, should this happen, you will find him as full
of honors as of glorious deeds. Come in," she
said to the orderly.
" No, no. I am on my way. We have twice
cheered here for Lafayette. Let us cheer again
in memory of fifteen years ago. What say you,
Francis, do you remember the white cockade?"
" I have kept it."
" You may have occasion to wear it again, some
day. Lafayette has given the white cockade
to the army of France."
" All Americans will wear it again, should he
ever visit us!" said Huger.
" Which I hope he may," said the widow.
" So say we all," said the orderly. " Three
cheers for the hero of liberty ! " and saying this,
he rode away.
From this pleasant scene in the Carolinas we
may go back to Paris, and behold Lafayette now
at the height of his influence and glory.
The Bastille fell on July 14, 1789. The Revolu
tion had gone on, producing the Constitution.
On the 14th of July, 1790, occurred one of the

THE DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN. 63
grandest festivals of liberty the world has ever
seen ; all France, as it were, assembled to see the
king take the oath of allegiance to the Constitu
tion, and to dance at night on the ruins of the
Bastille. It was to be a great day in the life of
Lafayette. It was probably the happiest day he
ever saw, except the one when Yorktown fell.
He himself was to swear fidelity to the Constitu
tion into which he had put his heart, in the pres
ence of all the people.
All was in preparation for the grand fete on the
14th of July. The Commune of Paris had invited
representatives from all the people of France to
be present to conclude with the Parisian deputies
a treaty of federation. The National Guard had
filled the country and the National Assembly had
decreed that this great, popular army should send
one delegate for each two hundred men. An
address had been issued to Frenchmen that had
these stirring words :
" Ten months have flown since from the con
quered walls of the Bastille arose the cry, ' We
are free ! ' The anniversary of this event ap
proaches ; assemble, and let the shout go up, ' We
are brothers ! ' "

64 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
The proclamation not only aroused all France,
but excited Europe.
There was a persecuted Jew in Vienna named
Malan. He had brooded long over the wrongs of
his race, and his soul cried out for liberty. He
was a money changer and he was making a jour
ney toward Metz when he heard the news of
the address of the Commune. The words thrilled
him. "We are free! We are brothers!" He
resolved to visit Paris and see the fete.
Old Malan came on with the French deputation
from Metz. It was a glorious company, and
marched singing a song that thrilled the air :
"Ah:
" £a ira, 5a ira, ga ira,
Celui qui s'eleve, on l'abaissera
Celui qui s'abissa on l'£levera ! "
The song is not easily translated — the " Ca ira"
literally means "It will come," 6r " It is well," but
in this connection had the force of " Let it go on ! "
"The humble shall be exalted,
The exalted shall be abased ! "
Our own Franklin is said to have furnished the
refrain for this song. He had said in Paris that

" Ca ira, 5a ira ! "

THE DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN. 65
tyrants, if they resisted the people, would one day
hang from the lamp posts. " It will come — Ca
ira!" The old Jew's heart glowed with the sentiment
of liberty and equality. He sang as lustily as the
Frenchmen.
" £a ira, 9a ira, 5a ira,
The humble shall be exalted,
The exalted shall be abased ! "
As he approached Paris what a scene met his
eyes ! The world seemed on the move. Every
where, like the white rose of France, was seen the
white cockade. —
The Champs de Mars was a plain near Paris.
The Commune had erected there a high altar of
liberty, and the people of Paris resolved to widen
the plain for the celebration of the Bastille's
fall. Many went to work to do this, the rich and the
poor together, singing as they marched and
labored, " £a ira, ca ira, 9a ira ! "
The work was begun by fifteen thousand men.
On the 7th of July it had not been accomplished.

66 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
The plain must be made a valley and the July sun
was burning fast, and the 14th was near.
Three hundred thousand men and women
rushed to the plain to complete the work. The
rich and the titled sang, "Ca ira"; the poor sang
with them, " Let it go on, let it go on,
The humble shall be exalted,
The exalted shall be abased J "
The plain became a valley and the great altar
of liberty rose in the sun. On that altar the king,
compelled by the people, was expected to take
the oath.
The enthusiasm grew. The workmen of Paris
who labored days came to the plain to continue
their toil by night. The warm nights glowed, and
under the moon and stars rang but one voice,
" Let it go on ! let it go on 1 "
The day came. The sky was a blaze of splen
dor. The Champs de Mars was ready. France
had assembled, and the white rose bloomed on
the heads of the representatives of an army of
three millions of men.
The king trembled. He no longer ruled the

THE DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN. 67
people, but the people ruled him. The assembly
filled the plain.
There was an immense procession ; old men
and children joined it as in the days of Greece.
Music pealed, flowers were strewn. The great
Talleyrand, surrounded by two hundred ecclesias
tics, -in tri-colored girdles, led the religious rites.
All was glory, expectation, and joy.
Up the high altar walked the tall form of
Lafayette, sword in hand. The sword gleamed in
the sun, and then was laid on the altar. The
hearts of the people were thrilled and the air was
rent. Then came the poor trembling king to the peo
ple, not to the altar, but to the estrade, and said :
" I, King of the French, swear to uphold the
Constitution decreed by the National Assembly
and accepted by me."
At night France danced on the ruin of the Bas
tille, and cried, " We are brothers!"
Fdte followed fete for days and nights. The
people were delirious with joy. They marched
everywhere singing, " It is well, it is well !
£a ira, 9a ira, 9a ira."

68 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
The Constitution was made ; the king had
sworn to protect it ; the people were free and
brothers. " The world is upset," said the Jew, " but can
these things last ? Will the new liberty ever
reach me and my people ?"
He did not know.
He saw Lafayette go up the steps of the altar of
liberty ; he saw the sword of the great apostle of
liberty gleam, and drop upon the altar, and he
went back to Vienna singing,
" Qa. ira, 9a ira, 9a ira,
The humble shall be exalted,
The exalted shall be abased."

CHAPTER XI.
THE BLACK COCKADE.
IOULD anyone have dreamed previous
to 1792 that Lafayette, the hero of two
worlds, would become an exile, a prisoner,
and suffer long in dungeons ? That he would
need the sympathy of all the people in the
world, to whom his struggle for human freedom
had endeared him ? We repeat the question.
Strange as it may seem, there came to Paris
and France the day of the black cockade.
Lafayette was the maker and defender of con
stitutional liberty. He had sworn to support the
constitution of France.
But the Jacobin clubs became the leading party
in Paris. They were opposed to every order of
the nobility, and Lafayette gave up his title of
marquis and was glad to be known as a plain
citizen. But these clubs, which largely formed the
Commune, found the constitution a barrier to their
wild schemes of the rule of the people. In the so-
6 69

70 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
called revolution of August 10, 1792, the constitu
tional throne was overthrown ; the royal family
were made prisoners, and there was begun the
awful period of blood in which one faction suc
ceeded another in slaughter, called the Reign of
Terror. The guillotine which ended the lives of
the king and queen did its work until France
was sick of blood.
Lafayette had opposed the rise of the Com
mune. As soon as this body had overturned the
throne and had broken the constitution, the revo
lutionists demanded his arrest. He had gone to
the army that was guarding the frontier. To allow
himself to be arrested would end his career. He
resolved to leave the country, to go to Holland,
and thence sail again for America. On the 19th
of August, he and some French officers came
to Rochefort, which was neutral ground, and
where they expected to be protected by the law
of nations. They here met a detachment of Aus
trian hussars, of the army threatening the frontier.
Lafayette sent word to the commanding officer,
that he and his friends had been proscribed by
France, and were seeking an asylum in a neutral
territory, and were about to embark for America.

THE BLACK COCKADE. 71
"And who is your leader?" demanded the
Austrian officer.
" General Lafayette."
" Then he is my prisoner."
" But we are on neutral ground."
" That matters not. The King of Prussia and
the Emperor of Austria look upon Lafayette as a
common enemy of royalty ; the Queen of France
herself holds him to be an enemy ; and he shall
never pass out of my lines until I have instruc
tions from my superiors. No, no — we have in
deed captured a rare bird, and he will be caged."
" But the law of nations ? "
" There is no law of nations for such a prisoner
as Lafayette. That man has shaken the earth,
and now he, too, may tremble."
Lafayette was at once arrested, and placed
under guard. The King of Prussia, violating the
law of nations, commanded his imprisonment.
Despotism had now the great leader of human
freedom in its power.
But his arrest, in violation of the law of nations,
was a shock to the world. Petitions for the
release of Lafayette began to pour in to the
Prussian court.

72 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
What was to be done with the constitution
maker ?
He must be sent out of the Prussian dominions,
and he must somewhere be secretly imprisoned,
where the world could not know where he was,
and where his friends could not find him. Where
was there such a place ? Where was there a dun
geon that none could find, and whose doors were
silence ?
Where ?

CHAPTER XII.
" THE DAY OF GLORY HAS ARRIVED ! "
[RANCIS K. HUGER grew up a manly
boy with the culture and refinements of
the youth of early Southern life. The
Huger families of South Carolina had sent their
sons abroad to be educated, and although his
father was dead, his mother desired him to receive
the most liberal education in Europe. So he
sailed away from his Southern home, consecrated
to fame by the vow of Lafayette, and the years of
the closing century found him a traveling student
in England and on the Continent.
As he was one day traveling in provincial
France, on his way to Germany, a strange sight
met his eye, and a glorious outburst of music fell
upon his ears. A detachment of French volun
teers came marching through the town. The
streets filled with excited people, and these people
were led by a woman in white, who at times
73

74 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
tossed her hands wildly into the air and cried,
" Libertd !"
The band ceased playing, and the drums led
the march. The detachment halted in the public
square, before the H6tel de Ville. It was a calm,
sunny day ; a fountain was playing, and the square
and the balconies were filled with a crowd that
seemed to grow and grow.
The soldiers rested. The woman in white, who
had been leading the people, came and stood upon
the high steps of the fountain, and lifting her dark
but heroic face to the sun, and waving her hand
aloft, cried, "Liberie" /"
A great shout followed.
"Now!" she cried, waving her hand again.
" Now, ye sons of France, awake ! The day of
glory has arrived ! "
The band started up the same grand song that
had thrilled the young traveler when he first heard
the air : " Ye sons of Freedom, wake to glory."
The chorus set the whole town to singing.
The balconies sang and shouted, the chorus was
repeated over and over again.

"THE DAY OF GLORY HAS ARRIVED!" 75
THE MARSEILLES HYMN.
Ye sons of Freedom, wake to glory !
Hark ! Hark ! what myriads bid you rise ;
Your children, wives, and grandsires hoary ;
Behold their tears and hear their cries,
Behold their tears and hear their cries !
Shall hateful tyrants, mischiefs breeding
With hireling hosts, a ruffian band,
Affright and desolate the land,
While peace and liberty lie bleeding ?
Chorus :
To arms, to arms, ye brave !
Th' avenging sword unsheath !
March on, march on, all hearts resolved
On victory or death.
Now, now, the dangerous storm is rolling,
Which treacherous kings confederate raise ;
The dogs of war, let loose, are howling,
And lo ! our walls and cities blaze !
And shall we basely view the ruin,
While lawless force, with guilty stride,
Spreads desolation far and wide
With desolation far and wide,
With crimes and blood his hands imbruing ?
Chorus :
To arms, to arms, ye brave !
Th' avenging sword unsheath 1
March on, march on, all hearts resolved
On victory or death.
The detachment contained a company of sol
diers from Marseilles. It was the wonderful Mar-

j6 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
seilles Hymn of liberty that the people had been
singing. It had been composed by a young musi
cal soldier, in an hour of inspiration, it is said, as
he was falling asleep and roused up again, and the
music indicates this mood. However this legend
may be, the song was filling and thrilling France.
It was the war cry of liberty.
But liberty now was passing the bounds of law,
and was becoming the enemy to liberty. True
liberty is the right to do right, not the right to
follow personal feeling.
The young traveler listened, and he thought of
Lafayette. He stepped up to an officer who was bedecked
with stars, tricolors, and cockade, and said :
" Pardon ! I am a traveler. Where is General
Lafayette ? "
"General Lafayette?"
" The Marquis de Lafayette."
" Pardon me. We have done with marqueses
here. Lafayette is no longer a general. The
Jacobins have voted him an enemy ; his sol
diers have turned Jacobins, and he has gone over
the border. He is lost ; has disappeared, he
has been captured, or perhaps, he has gone to

"THE DAY OF GLORY HAS ARRIVED!" y1/
America. He was a friend of America during the
war. Are you from America ? "
"Yes."" Did you know Lafayette ?"
" I once met him when a boy."
"He led the National Guard in the days of the
constitution. He defended the constitution, but
those days are passed. The people rule ; the day
of glory has arrived ! "
The soldiers were summoned to form into line.
The glittering detachment began to move. The
woman in white again took her place at the head
of the people. The band struck up again the
same thrilling air :
" Ye sons of Freedom, wake to glory ! "
And so the soldiers, followed by a great crowd
and led by a band with the woman in white,
passed out of the town.
Had France gone mad ?
Where was Lafayette ?

CHAPTER XIII.
THE PATRIOTIC PARROT.
30 W old Malan can live again." So said an
old Jew, in a little narrow lane near one
of the grand streets in Vienna. He had
gone to live there in the early part of the century,
this very queer Hungarian Jew, named Malan,
whom we saw at the fete of the Bastille. He was
one of the strangest people in Vienna. There is
usually something wrong about what is strange,
but there was nothing wrong about Malan. He
was a money changer, but he was scrupulously
honest. He was learned, and he had heard that
there was a man named George Washington who
had contended for the equal rights of all men in
the far Western world. He had hoped that some
such man might rise for the liberation of his own
scattered race.
There was a small garden at the back of his
house, and in it was a lime tree, and there old
Malan used to sit and talk on summer days. He
78

THE PATRIOTIC PARROT. 79
had a parrot which he had bought at a Mediter
ranean port, because it had been brought by a
ship from the Western world. The bird had a
blue breast and green wings with red feathers, and
he loved it because he had heard that another
patriot from the land from which the bird came,
by the name of Bolivar, was also contending for
the same equality that Washington had secured
for the United States of the West.
Old Malan had lost his wife, and his children
had married and gone to live in other countries.
He had been rich, but he had lost his property by
a persecution of the Jews in Hungary, and he used
to speak of himself as one who had been dead.
When he first lost his property he was very sad.
A country that could deprive him of his rights
because of his race was no better to him than a
tomb. The children used to gather about him
under the lime tree.
" Why do you come to see old Malan ? " he
would say, " Do you not know that he is dead ? "
" Yes, but you are talking," said one.
" I am talking as one dead. There will never
be any life for poor old Malan until the Jews
have equal rights with mankind. I hear they

80 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
have gained such things in the Western world, now.
If I could go to the West, I would go to heaven."
" No, old Malan," once said a little girl, " you
would be in another world, but not in heaven."
He looked up to the blue patch of sky.
" I was once rich, children, now look at my
hands." Here he opened his hands.
" I once thought that I had friends, but no one
knows who his friends are until he has nothing.
I once had friends, but where are they now ?
Where?" The children would gather close to him as he
would talk in this way, for he was benevolent in
spirit and they loved him.
Then he would begin to tell them of what he
had heard of the wonderful country in the West,
where all the people were free to do right.
" Children, the old prophets saw that land," he
would say. " If I were only there, I would own
the earth, the sky, and the stars. The person
whose rights are protected has everything. But
what is the use for me to gain means ? The
world is against me and it will take it all away."
He dreamed of the Western world. One day

THE PATRIOTIC PARROT. 8 1
he had traveled down to a port town by the sea,
where he met an American ship and bought the
parrot, which he was told had came from Trinidad.
The parrot spoke many words, as these parrots
do, and was very affectionate, as the blue front,
green parrots of South America are.
Two delightful things that the parrot said were :
" Hurrah for Washington!"
"Hurrah for Bolivar!"
The old Jew took the bird to his garden, and
the children multiplied under the lime tree on
summer evenings to hear it talk.
" Hurrah for Washington ! " the bird would
scream. " What Washington ? " the old Jew would ask.
" George," would answer the bird.
" Hush, that is treason ! " the old Jew would
answer. The Jew and the parrot were the warmest
friends. The attachment between the lonely old
man and the excitable bird became so great as to
be a matter of public curiosity.
One day a young American traveler came to see
the bird. The man was delighted to be saluted
with °,

82 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
"Hurrah for Washington !"
He answered " Hurrah for Lafayette !"
The bird did not answer, but rushed nervously
about the cage.
" Polly wants to come out ! " said the bird.
" Hurrah for Lafayette !" said the traveler.
The bird rushed around the cage, and at last said:
" Hurrah for Bolivar ! "
" Here, stranger, sit down," said Malan, "where
do you come from ? "
" From America — I am a traveler. It is a
pleasant thing to hear your parrot cheer for our
country's hero. Where did it learn these words ? "
" On an American ship, sailing about the world.
Your Washington was a great man, I hear ; a
Pericles, Cincinnatus, Maccabeus. Is it true that
all men in your country are free ? "
" Free to do everything that does not harm
society." " Just as though there were no law ? "
" There is no law in a free country for those
who do right, my good friend."
"No, and there never ought to be. Do you
mean to tell me that Jews in your country have
their rights like other people ? "

THE PATRIOTIC PARROT. 83
" Certainly, my friend ; just the same as other
people." " And is their property safe ? "
"Just as safe as other people's, I am pleased
to say."
" How did you get your rights ?"
" We made a Declaration of Rights. Lafay
ette made a like declaration in France."
The man looked up to the bird and said,
" Hurrah for Lafayette !
'' How old Malan would love to go to your
country ! But I don't suppose that I ever shall.
How did that Declaration begin ? "
The stranger placed his hands behind him, and
paced to and fro under the lime tree
" Like this."
" Children, you be still, listen."
" Hurrah for Washington ! " said the South
American bird.
"The Declaration began like this," said the
traveler, in a voice like a solemn chant : " ' When,
in the course of human events, 
" ' When, in the course of human events,' "
repeated the Jew in a Hungarian accent.
" ' It becomes necessary for one people to dis-

84 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
solve the political bands which have connected,
them with another, and to assume, among the
powers of the earth, the separate and equal
station to which the laws of nature and of
nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to
the opinions of mankind requires that they
should declare the causes which impel them to
the separation.' "
The traveler turned around and looked old
Malan in the face. The blue-fronted parrot
peered from its cage, and the children stood with
open mouths.
" ' We hold,' " quoted the traveler, " ' these
truths to be self-evident.' "
"What ?" asked old Malan.
" ' We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal.' "
"Do I hear my ears?" said the Jew, "that all
men are created equal ; the old prophets said that.
Our God told that to Jonah more than two thou
sand years ago. ' All men are created equal.'
Why cannot I go to the West ? But look at my
hands, my hair, my beard. They are thin, very
thin. But go on."
" ' That all men are created equal, and are

THE PATRIOTIC PARROT. 85
endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights.' "
" ' Certain inalienable rights,' " repeated the
Jew. " ' Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.' "
"Stranger!  "
The Jew rose trembling. His eyes were
streaming with tears.
"Stranger — there is a land like that in the
West ? I am glad that I am alive. Now old
Malan can live again. And what did you say
was that general's name that is fighting for the
same ideas in France ? "
" Lafayette. He is in exile now."
" Lafayette ! I will remember him. Lafayette ! "

CHAPTER XIV.
THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER.
|T one of the old inns in Vienna, there
met, about a century ago, two students,
and each was a mystery to the other.
Each spoke English ; one was a German and the
other an American. The American was Frances
K. Huger, the boy whom Lafayette met when he
landed in America.
People having like sympathies are attracted
toward each other, even before they know each
others hearts. We are not sure that they are not
so attracted even before they meet ; life has sym
pathetic atmospheres through which influences
pass like telegrams, it may be ; and these two stu
dents were one in heart, though one had a pur
pose he was slow to confess. They were both
versed in the political condition of America and
France, and their conversation turned on politics
as often as they met.
One serene day they rode together out of the
86

THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER. 87
city on to the plain toward Wiener Wald. The
sky was a clear splendor ; the plain was bright
with flowers, and the mountains stood in somber
shadow, cool and green. They stopped to rest at
last under some wayside trees, where they dis
cussed the recent dark events in France and the
so-called Revolution of August ioth, by which
the constitution was overthrown.
The German student's name was Bollman — Eric
Bollman. He was a physician and had studied
under famous teachers. He was an ardent
republican, and he said to his new American
friend that day, after an earnest conversation :
" I have a secret that I would share with you, if
I dared." "You certainly can trust me, my friend. I
have never sought anyone's confidence, nor
been untrue to my own honor or my family
name." "I have carried this secret alone as long as I
can bear it ; I have for a long time been seeking
someone to share it with me. My heart tells me
that you are the man. People may deceive us,
but our own instincts do not lie to us ; we have an
inner life that is true to us."

88 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" May I ask, whom does the secret concern, my
friend?" " To speak that name would reveal to you
much. There is a new mystery in the world, as
deep as that of the Man in the Iron Mask or the
hiding of King Richard the Lion-hearted in a
prison on the Danube."
His horse became restive, and the young stu
dent circled round the trees, to bring the animal
to a quiet.
" Richard was confined in an Austrian prison,
was he not?" said the young American, "and
Blondel found him by his harp, so the story runs.
It is as good as a story."
" There is a prisoner hidden in Austria to-day,
more noble than was ever Richard the Lion-
hearted, and a man whose genius is creating a
new world for mankind."
" Where is he ?" asked the American student.
" I do not know ; the world does not know."
" Then you should be a Blondel and find him,"
said the American.
" Yes, so it would seem ; but I am not sure that
it is not you who should do this duty to a hero of
heroes, and to mankind."

THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER. 89
"I?" "Yes, you, my good friend."
" I am simply an American traveler, and no
Blondel. I came to Europe to finish my educa
tion, to see the world, and to return to my own
country, which, thank God, is free. We have no
castle prisons for such men there, and all that I
see here convinces me of the wisdom of the
government of my own United States of America,
where every man is free to pursue anything that is
useful to himself or the world. There is no law
there for anyone who follows the law of his
moral being. I am glad, more — I rejoice in my
heart — that my country is free."
" To whom, my friend, do you owe your
liberties ? "
" To the people."
" Who were your leaders into this new state of
equality ? "
" Washington and Lafayette."
" Lafayette — he has been a hero in both worlds ;
he made the decisive stroke for the freedom of
America, and has as nobly defended the con
stitutional liberties of France. Did you ever
meet Lafayette ? "

90 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
"Yes, my friend, but it was in America, many
years ago, when I was a boy, scarcely more than
three years of age. I used to hear about him dur
ing the war, and it thrilled my heart when I
learned that he had landed a second time in our
country, that time bringing with him an army.
Washington ordered the officers of the American
army to wear the white cockade in honor of that
event. I remember, too, the time when a courier
came flying toward our plantation house, say
ing, ' Cornwallis is taken ! ' How my heart beat
when I first heard the news of the surrender of
Yorktown ! "
" Yorktown ? my dear young friend. Who won
the siege at Yorktown ? "
" Lafayette, under the direction of Wash
ington." " It was he, was it, who made your heart thrill
when a boy?"
" Yes, I have ever followed his career with
admiration. Every man has his hero ; he was the
hero of my boyhood ; after Washington. He is
so now."
"He is mine!"
" He once dandled me on his knee, and I asked

THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER. 91
him questions that awakened his interest. I was
a talkative child."
" That was many years ago ?"
" Yes, many ; my father was alive then. He
fell in the war."
" Is it possible that you knew Lafayette in that
way ? How strange it is that we should meet
here." Dr. Bollman turned his horse and looked back
on Vienna, gleaming in the sun. He rode
around the trees again and said 
" Your name is Huger? "
"Yes, Francis Kinlock Huger."
" You are from the Carolinas in America ?"
" I am proud to say that I am."
"Your family were patriots in the Revo
lution?" "All of them were."
" And you knew Lafayette when a boy ?"
" I did. I only vaguely remember him and
our curious interview, when I was sitting on his
knee." " You honor his course in life ? "
"I do ; and I love the man with a patriotic
love ; not with any romantic or sentimental affec-

92 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
tion, although we Carolinians are regardful of
romance and sentiment, but with the love that
those who sympathize in the same cause feel for
each other. It is the great love ; it is higher than
all loves. I loved him when I first met him as a
boy and that attraction has never ceased. His
exploits in America used to thrill me, as an
orderly or courier brought the news."
" What would you do for that same hero of
your heart, if he were in peril ? "
" You may believe it, or not, but what I say is
true. I would give all that I have or am to serve
such a man, whose own service had been that of
my country and humanity."
The mountains gleamed afar, and the shadows
on the plain grew purple and long. The cha-
teaus with their orchards changed the picture
that lay behind them in the sinking sun as
the shadows grew dark, and the young Ameri
can said :
"We must ride back. But you have awakened
my curiosity, and you should now satisfy it, if you
trust my honor. You may safely confide in me ;
there was never a Huger who was untrue to any
man. You, indeed, are a mysterious traveler, but

THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER. 93
I believe you to have an honest purpose. Who is
the hidden prisoner in Austria of whom you have
been speaking ? "
" My friend, this hour surpasses the mysteries
of fiction ; how did I ever meet you here ? That
prisoner, that hidden prisoner, sir, is General
Lafayette ! "
Huger reined his horse.
" Then we must rescue him. How did you
know that he was a prisoner in this country ! "
" I will tell you. There is some strange fate
that is leading us both."
" There seems to be."
Young Huger shed tears.
" America comes back to me," he said, " my old
Carolinian home ; my father, who was killed in
the Revolution; and that summer night- when
there came to our house that strange French
general. Dr. Bollman, listen ! That very night
Lafayette and Baron de Kalb swore under the
moon and stars on the shores near our house that
they would give their lives and fortunes to the
cause of American liberty, Dr. Bollman, we are
two students about the age Lafayette was at that
time. Let us here make a vow to liberate La-

94 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
fayette. I pledge my honor before Heaven to
do this thing."
The German student lifted his face to the sky.
" I pledge my honor before God to do this
thing," he said firmly.
The two students clasped each other's hands
and rode back to Vienna in the sunset.

CHAPTER XV.
THE STUDENT TRAVELER'S STRANGE STORY.
HEY had a common secret and purpose
and they went to the same hotel.
That night they secured the same
apartments. They went from their supper to
their rooms. They sat down together, but they
did not soon light the lamps. The military
bands were playing in the distance and the streets
were deserted and silent. The twinkle of the
lamps and the watchmen's lanterns only relieved
the quiet of the darkness.
"We are alone," said young Huger, "and now
I wish you to tell me how you came to find out
where Lafayette was imprisoned. I thought that
he was merely detained in Prussia."
" I will tell you all of a strange story. Some
unknown power, as I said, has seemed to lead me.
Did you ever meet Lally-Tollendal ? "
" No."
" He is a friend of mine. I came to know him
95

96 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
in Paris. His hero, too, is Lafayette. One day,
amid the butcheries of the Commune, he came to
me and told me that Lafayette had been secretly
imprisoned and that it was his conviction that as
I was a traveler I should make it my mission to
find where he was imprisoned. That I have
done." " How ? How, my dear friend ? "
" I am a poor student. I went to Hamburg.
I found that Lafayette had been imprisoned first
at' Luxembourg, and he had been taken in a
common cart to Wessel on the Rhine. Here he
had been placed in a cold, damp cell, and had
fallen sick from neglect and exposure. His hair
had come off, and his flesh had wasted. He had
been a great sufferer. Then came to the King of
Prussia the petitions from England and America
for his release. They annoyed the king. He
resolved to send him to a secret prison in Austria,
for it is the oft-repeated statement among the
leading courts of the Continent that the ' liberty
of Lafayette is incompatible with the peace of
royal governments.'
" So I learned that he had been sent to a secret
prison in Austria. I had not the money to go to

THE STUDENT TRAVELER'S STRANGE STORY. 97
Austria ; but I was resolved to find the place of
his imprisonment and I have done so."
" How did you raise the money ? "
"A student has one thing — books. I sold
mine, but they did not bring me in enough for my
journey. So I intrusted my plan to a rich mer
chant ; he favored me and lent me the means of
going to Austria, as a student traveler."
" I have means ; my folks are rich planters, and
I will share my purse with you as far as I can.
I am nothing to myself now — nothing to myself —
in this cause."
" Thank you ; I have less need of money now
than of the courage of a friend. I am, as you
know, a medical student, and I have my papers
to that effect with me. I can easily make the
acquaintance of the surgeons of the fortresses
where military and state prisoners are kept. I
believe that Lafayette is confined in the state
prison of the Fortress of Olmutz."
" Do you know any of the surgeons of that
fortress ? "
" Yes, I have been there and met one of
them. I have letters of introduction which I
may use to make the acquaintance of medical

98 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
men at Olmiitz, and so, of the surgeons of that
fortress." " I would use them at once."
" That I have already done. I will tell you
how I did it. I had this curious plan. I went to
the surgeon of the fortress, and asked him if he
would take a pamphlet from me to the state
prisoner, Lafayette."
" But you were not sure that Lafayette was
there?" " No, but I knew that if he were not, the
surgeon would at once show surprise at my
request and say no such man was there. If he
said nothing my opinion would be confirmed."
" I hope that you were successful. Your story
thrills me."
" I was. I said to myself, it will be a great
point gained to find out where Lafayette is.
France does not know, his own family do not
know. England and America would again seek
his release if they knew. Those countries do not
know at what court to make their appeal. It is
the plan of these courts that it shall be so. I
am going to Olmiitz to-day. Will you go with
me?"

THE STUDENT TRAVELER'S STRANGE STORY. 99
" If you find where Lafayette is, we must rescue
him." " We will at least make his rescue by England
and America possible."
" No nobler patriot ever lived ; others have
fought for their own country, but he fought for
humanity. Yes, I will go ; I could not stay ! "
" True. When the king of Prussia saw that he
was holding his prisoner against the moral opinion
of the world he attempted to bribe him. He sent
a messenger to say, ' If you will unite with us
against your enemies in France, you shall be
released.' "
" And what did Lafayette answer ? I need not
ask." " He was in extreme suffering at the time. He
was worn with sickness, and lack of food and fire."
" Yes, but what did he say ? "
" He said, ' Never will I take up arms against
my countrymen! My name is Lafayette!'
These last words were his own, as I have
received the information. ' My name is La
fayette ! ' "
" And my name is Francis Kinlock Huger."
" And mine, Eric Bollman."

IOO THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" And mine stands for honor, I hope."
" And mine."
" So, all I have, my life and fortune, all, all in
the name of America, my own free and happy
America, I offer for the rescue of Lafayette ! This
is the mystery of my life. How will it end?"
" Hurrah for Washington!"
" What was that ? "
" It came from the garden in the lane."
" It sounded like a parrot."
"The Jew has a parrot."
"What Jew?"
" The money changer."
" I imagined that I heard someone in that
garden say Lafayette"
"So did I."
" It could not be."

CHAPTER XVI.
THE SILENT SURGEON.
ELL me," said young Huger, "this story
more fully. How came you to know that
Lafayette was imprisoned at Olmiitz ?
You said you knew. How is Olmiitz situated?"
" It is a strange story. I have told only a part
of it. But first let me tell you where Olmiitz is.
It is in the province of Moravia, about a hun
dred miles from here. It is a powerful fortress
and as gloomy as it is powerful.
" The waters of the Moravia hem it in. The
walls are of stone, some twelve feet thick. The
windows are so deep that the sun's rays can sel
dom enter them. The cells of the fortress prison
are not only dark, but damp and cold. The town
is pleasant, but the fortress is terrible.
" This fortress is a relic of the barbarism of the
Middle Ages. Of all the places in Europe it is
the one where a hidden prisoner of state would be
the least likely to be found.

102 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" I went to Olmiitz, as I told you, on the suspi
cion that Lafayette might be hidden there. I
presented myself to the hospital surgeon of the
fortress. " ' I am a German traveler, sir,' I said, ' and I
wish to see the military hospitals of Europe, and
to study their methods and the experiments that
are made on the patients.'
"'You are welcome, sir,' he said. 'I like a
young student who is alive to these things. A
medical man cannot have too much knowledge,
and the hospital is the true school of medical
science.' " ' There is one subject in which I am especially
interested,' I continued. ' It is the effect which
imprisonment has upon refined and delicate consti
tutions, as of prisoners of state. How it affects
their hearts, brains, muscles, and blood, their
digestion and sleep. The inferences from such a
study are most important. The influence is dif
ferent from that of the sick chamber ; or even
from that of the confinement of the insane.'
" ' I see you have a very interesting subject in
hand,' said the surgeon.
" ' Very. Since tens of thousands of people in

THE SILENT SURGEON. 103
every country are engaged in occupations that
confine them to one room. Such a life develops
peculiar diseases. Melancholia is one of them ; a
subtile kind of poisoning of the blood from an
excess of acids may be another.'
" ' Such a life is as great a peril to the mind
as to the body,' said the surgeon. ' Let me tell
you some of my observations of the effects of a
sedentary life on prisoners of state. This is a
secret prison where many of the prisoners are
shut out from all knowledge of the world. The
world is dead to them.'
" ' Tell me about some particular prisoners, and
the effects of this tomb-like solitude on their
bodies and minds,' said I. We two talked long
on this most interesting topic. It was night and
the hour grew late.
" ' I must go now,' I said. ' I have seldom been
so much interested in anything as in the narra
tives of your experience. By the way, you have a
French prisoner of state, who used to know some
of my old friends — General Lafayette.'
" The surgeon stared, attempted to speak, but
made no answer.
"'His imprisonment must have affected his

104 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
health and spirits, and I have a pamphlet here that
contains accounts of his old friends. I am sure
that it would greatly interest him. Will you hand
it to him ? '
" The surgeon stood like a statue. There was a
puzzled look in his eyes and face that seemed to
say, ' How do you know these things ? Who has
told you of them ? '
" He at length began to pace to and fro impa
tiently. He stopped at times as if to ask a ques
tion. But he had well learned the instructions
commanding silence. So he uttered not a word.
But that silence had its tongue. No voice could
be plainer.
" ' You may like to read the pamphlet,' said I,
'and afterward hand it to the general. If you
do so, you need not mention my name. He does
not know me. I would like to talk with you at
some future time on the effect that confinement
has had on his mind and temperament. He has
been used to a very active life and much excite
ment. Good-night.'
" The surgeon bowed in a stately way, but did
not speak a word. And yet he had spoken again,
and the last silence bore witness to the first."

THE SILENT SURGEON. 105
" Lafayette is his prisoner," said Dr. Bollman.
As he passed out into the still air of the night,
Huger followed him, but this repeated story did
not satisfy him. Had his new friend proof of
these things ?
As he passed down the street the moon hung
over the towers. The sentinels were passing to
and fro, and a great dark clock announced the
late hour.
They felt the loneliness of the situation.
" The end of a high purpose is victory," said
Huger. As they passed along they thought again they
heard the name of Lafayette spoken in a back
garden. " It cannot be," said the doctor.
" Three cheers for Washington ! "
" What was that ? "
" The Jew's parrot."
" We must call on the Jew," said the doctor.
" He is an acquaintance of mine," said Huger.

CHAPTER XVII.
THE BAG OF GOLD.
IHILE Huger was living in Vienna he
used often to meet that curious character,
Malan, the Jew. The latter could speak
French well and a little English, and he was com
monly known at home as old Money Bags, or
Malan, the money changer.
Old and thin, he had the usual long hair and
beard of his race. But his face was so benevolent
and winning that the young American was
attracted to him, and when he wished for direc
tions in plans of travel he used to consult him,
and so came to know him well.
To Malan, the Jew, the wisdom of life lay in
proverbs, and he enforced his ordinary talk, even
in business, with proverbs of his own and many
lands. " I hope I do not trouble you," said young
Huger one day, as he went up to the Jew's ex-
106

THE BAG OF GOLD. 107
change, which projected from the old house under
some cool trees.
" How trouble me, my wanderer?"
" By asking you so many questions."
" It makes me not poorer by trying to answer
them. But he that would seek many things will
find trouble. You will have trouble some day.
What we do not see, do not know, does not harm
us. Herein is wisdom."
" I have come to ask you if there is any danger
of my saying openly here that I am an American ?
Would it be better for me to seek English
protection ?"
" No, no ; it is best always for a man to go about
for just what he is. If he do not, the world is sure
to find him out. What is the sun for? What
are one's eyes for ? "
" But I am told that General Lafayette, who
fought for our country, has been hidden in some
prison in these countries, without process of law,
because his principles were incompatible with
royal governments."
" That may be, but you are not a Lafayette.
The goose does not soar to the sky like an eagle
and get shot."

108 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" No, I am not a Lafayette or an eagle. But
I may be suspected of holding the principles of
Lafayette and of being an eagle."
" No, no ! " said the Jew ; " the world does not
mix the birds up in that way. But do you want
I should tell you what you are thinking about?
Old Malan can tell most people what they are
thinking about. Herein is wisdom. Most of the
people who come here think that I am a Jew, and
will cheat them. But they are mistaken. He that
cheats another, cheats himself. I am an honest
man. So you see they are mistaken.
" Now would you like to have me tell you what
you are thinking about ? I can. You are think
ing that I am talking in this way to take some
advantage of you, but I am not. Old Malan
would treat you just as though you were old
Malan. The way to travel in this world is to
turn to the right and go straight ahead, and you
will get there ! "
"Where?" " That is what I would like to know myself.
It* is hard to tell where we came from or where we
are going to, but of this you and I can be sure,
that it is well with the honest man ; he is on

THE BAG OF GOLD. IO9
the right road, and he will always find it better
farther on."
Old Malan lifted his thin hands^ to his head.
The sun sifted through the lime trees and he
looked into the open face of the young American.
" Young man, I am reading you. You come
from a country that has made the people free.
The old prophets saw such a country. Never
hesitate wherever you may be to say that you are
an American. Why ? Do you ask old Malan
why ? An American is a brother to all men, and
all men one day will be free."
" I am proud of my country."
" Proud, and well you may be. Young man, I
love you ; old Malan, the Jew, loves you, but per
haps you do not care for the love of Malan, the
Jew. I love you because you come from the land
where all are free ! Think what my people have
suffered. You may not like my race, but we
spring from God, and a Jew is never ashamed to
say that he is a Jew. We never forget our origin,
and we are true hearted to our own. The best
thing in the world is to be true hearted. Herein
is wisdom."
Huger turned away convinced of the old man's

IIO THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
sincerity. The Jew followed him with his eye,
his face beaming with a kind of brotherly feeling.
Presently he called after him :
" Young traveler from the West ; you, young
traveler  "
The student stopped.
" If ever you are in trouble, come to me. Old
Malan will treat you like his own heart. Old
Malan wants money, but he does not want yours ;
he would give you money, but not take, for in
giving is love. Herein is wisdom. Do not for
get me. My heart has never been false to any
man, and my heart is yours !"
Huger went up the street slowly, among the
bright, happy people. His mind was full of La
fayette. Would it do to take old Malan, the Jew,
into the secret ? He would need money to give
Lafayette, and perhaps more than he could com
mand. He went back to his hotel and met Dr.
Bollman on the steps.
" Dr. Bollman, I wish to speak with you in my
room. I have found a man in Vienna that I think
we can intrust with our plans."
The two went to their apartments, when Dr.
Bollman said : " We have need of further help.

THE BAG OF GOLD. Ill
We need a confidant in Vienna. Who is that
man ? "
" He is a Jew."
" Never trust a Jew."
" Dr. Bollman, I cannot agree with you. The
Jewish heart is true to its own race and to its
friends. This man's heart is true to all people.
The principles of universal love, justice, and lib
erty came from the Jewish race. Dr. Bollman,
I do not think as you do."
"What is this Jew?"
" A money changer."
" Never trust a money changer."
" And why ? It is as honorable an occupation as
that of a banker. Dr. Bollman, will you go with
me to-night and call on this Jew ? We will have to
know how to secure money for this enterprise. It
will pay you to pass the evening with him, if it be
only to gather up his proverbs."
" The Jews are great on quoting proverbs," said
Dr. Bollman, " but not over careful in following
them. Yes, I will go. We must, as you say, have
further help, and Jews, if they are grasping, are
not treacherous."
That evening the two students went to Malan's

112 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
door. He lived in a tall house, with a lonely and
lofty look ; antique, with shut window blinds and
unused balconies. A single light illumined a
shutter in an upper room.
They knocked and were admitted by a servant,
and conducted to Malan's room.
" I have accepted your invitation," said the
American traveler, " and I have brought with me
a friend. He is also a student and a traveler."
" You are welcome," said the Jew. " Young
people seek old people when they have need of
them, and when they are seeking direction.
Solomon said, ' O Lord, thou hast given me the
choice of three things — riches, fame, and wis
dom ; give me wisdom, and by it I will get the
other two.' What brings you here to-night to
me?" " We are alone," said Dr. Bollman, " and my
friend has told me that you would be a wise friend
to know."
" Then it is wisdom."
" Yes, we are in need of it."
The doctor hesitated and asked : " Who is the
wisest man in the world ?"
" He that overcomes the evils of his own nature

THE BAG OF GOLD. 113
for the welfare of others. Such a man possesses
his own self and the world."
" But that is not the question that brought us
here." " No, that is not the matter that brought you
here. Do you want that I should tell you of
what you are thinking? You are dwelling in your
mind on some mystery in your life."
"Why do you say this? Have you hidden
knowledge ? "
" Yes, but it is the hidden eye that anyone may
have. You do not come to me when the exchange
is open ; nor by day, but in the night, and a young
student like you does not seek for an interview
with an old man like me without a reason, and
whatever an American may feel, a German has
a race prejudice against a Jew."
" Why should he ? Did not your race produce
a Judas Maccabceus ? "
" True, true," said the Jew, starting. " It is now
all clear to me. What is the sun for? Shall I
tell you of what you are thinking? Would you
like to have me tell you now ?"
The question startled Bollman. He looked
around the room. Old faded pictures were there ;

114 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
statues stood in the shadows. Here and there
were carved chairs.
"Yes," said Dr. Bollman, "tell me of what I am
thinking." " I will first tell you of what you are not think
ing. You are not thinking of Judas Maccabaeus,
our hero. No, no. You are not thinking of
him." A spinet stood at the side of the room where
the Jew was sitting. He reached out his long
arms, waving the sleeves of his dressing gown, and
began to play, with one hand, Handel's " See, the
Conquering Hero Comes." He looked into the
faces of the two studerfts almost absently, and
said : " They are all gone — wife, children, and all.
I am all alone, alone. Something new is com
ing to me. I can feel it coming. Come, come !
Events come, the same as people. Events come,
the same as strangers. Events come, but they
come with a purpose. Events have souls."
He drummed the Handel air from "Judas
Maccabaeus " again, then leaned forward, and
peered into the face of Dr. Bollman : " Now shall
I tell you of what you are thinking ? "
" Yes, yes."

THE BAG OF GOLD. 115
" You are not thinking of my hero, you are
thinking of your hero. Is not that true ? "
" Yes," said Dr. Bollman. «
" And now, my young friend from the free
people of the West, where the sun goes down,
you noble heart from the new land of God, shall
I tell you of whom you are thinking ? "
" Yes, tell me. This is very strange."
"And will you answer my questions if I answer
you rightly ? "
" Yes ; I can trust you. The spirit in my heart
says so, and that spirit never lies."
" My yoting wanderer from the West, you are
thinking of your hero ; *and shall I tell you who
your hero is ? "
" Yes, yes," said the young man, starting.
" Well, then ; be still ye walls if ye have ears !
Your hero is Lafayette. Is it not so ? You
promised to answer me."
"Yes; it is," said the young traveler. "Yes, it
is. You already seem to know all."
" And you come to me for help in regard to his
liberation ? "
" How did you know that man and our
purpose ? "

Il6 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" I am no romancer, I am an honest man. You
spoke that name when you called befqre, and that
word 'already' reveals much."
" My friend," said Bollman, " we have given you
so much of our secret that we want your promise
of secrecy, if we will make known to you all that is
in our hearts."
" I would know it all soon, whether you told me
directly or not. It is the slips of speech that is
true language with those who have something to
conceal." " My friend, we have nothing now to conceal
from you. I am seeking Lafayette, who is
hidden in an Austrian prison. That prison is at
Olmiitz. I have come from there. I wish to
release him ; to set him free ! "
" You are not a Frenchman ? "
" No."
" You are not seeking money nor fame in this
purpose ? "
" No ; I have thought of neither."
" What prompts you ? "
" Something within."
"Yes ; the spirit of events. It dwells there."
" I want your help."

THE BAG OF GOLD. 117
" Of course. You shall have it ! Here it is.

I

The Jew arose and trimmed the lamp. He
opened a carved chest and took out of it a small
but heavy bag. He put the bag on the table
beside the lamp. He opened the bag, untying
the string. He took out a gold piece. He laid
down a heavy gold coin.
" There," said he, " he who gives to what bene
fits all men, enriches his own soul, and that soul
is the richest of all that gives away everything.
He who denies himself the most, receives the most
from God. We shall all be dust soon, and it is
only the gold of the soul that will pass in infinity."
He took out of the bag another heavy gold
coin. "There," said he, "when you find La
fayette, he will need money. Give him that.
Tell him that it came from Malan, the Jew. No,
no ; stop. Why should I want my name to go
with it ? That is selfishness. Yes, yes," he con
tinued, " you may say Malan the Jew sent it.
Malan is but a name, but I owe it to my own that
you should say a Jew sent it."
He looked into the bag.
"It was Lafayette who said, ' All men are born
9

Il8 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
free and have the right of their birth.' That
means a Jew."
He took another coin out of the bag.
"There, if you ever find Lafayette, he will
need much money. Give him that too. Tell him
the Jew sent it.
He put down another heavy gold coin beside
the bag.
" He said, Lafayette did, that liberty, equality,
and safety were rights of all men."
He took from the bag another coin and placed
it on the table as before. " There, if you ever
find Lafayette, give him that too. He will need
money. Tell him the Jew sent it.
" He said, too, Lafayette did, that no man can
be accused, arrested, or imprisoned, save by just
processes of law. An admirable man is that
same Lafayette. When you see him, give him
that." He took from the bag another coin.
" He said, the same Lafayette did, that every
man should be regarded as innocent until proven
guilty. You may give him that."
The coins were becoming a pile.
" He said, that same noble man, that no person

' Here it is, all of it.'

THE BAG OF GOLD. II9
should be disturbed on account of his religious
opinions. Oh, oh, here it is, all of it."
He poured out the remaining coins on the table.
" Here, let me gather them all up into the bag.
Take the bag, gold and all. I could not die con
tent unless I did  Here, here, if ever you find
Lafayette, give him this bag of gold, and it
matters not who sent it. Humanity is all one
man, and we are children of the same father.
I am no stranger to the secret of your Gospel,
even if I am a Jew. It is 'He 'that; saveth his
own life shall lose it' ; one must lose in orderto
gain, and fall in order to rise, and be broken in
order to: be made whole. Young travelers, you
will find Lafayette. I read it in my soul.
There is hidden lig-ht there. You will- find him."
He gave the bag of gold to; young, Huger.
Would that bag ever find Lafayette ? ,

CHAPTER XVIII.
THE LIME JUICE LETTER.
HE young travelers set out for Olmiitz.
Dr. Bollman had entrusted to young
Huger another strange secret as they
proceeded on their way.
" Are you sure that Lafayette is at Olmiitz ? "
said the American, as they rode along. He had
an impression that his companion had not told
him all.
" Yes, sure."
" Then you have not told me all ? "
" No, but I will do so now."
" Pray tell me without a moment's delay. Have
you indeed found Lafayette ? "
" I am glad to see that your whole soul is in the
question ; you will need it — you will need it."
" If you have found Lafayette, I shall hence
forth believe in special Providence and in destiny.
What is your proof ? "

THE LIME JUICE LETTER. 121
"/ have found Lafayette, but that may mean
struggle for you."
" No matter what it means to me. The heavens
are true. If you had not found him, my faith
might fall from the sky.
" He is in the dungeon of the Fortress of
Olmiitz." " Are you sure ? Who told you so ? "
" The hospital surgeon."
"What did he say?"
" He said nothing, as I told you before. I said
to him that Lafayette was a prisoner there, and
that I would deem it a favor if he would give him
a pamphlet that contained some notices of two of
his friends. He took the pamphlet, as Itold you,
and said nothing."
" How did he look?"
" His looks told me as much as his tongue could
have spoken ; as I said, looks speak."
" If he would take a pamphlet to Lafayette,
he would take a letter."
" Yes, my good friend, and I prepared one for
him. Here is the answer."
" I see. But why did you not tell me this
before? "v

122 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" I wrote a letter to Lafayette with lime juice,
or invisible ink. When he took it to the fire the
writing appeared."
" Yes, but how did you send it ?"
" By the surgeon."
" But he would suspect a blank piece of paper."
" I had my plan. I wrote the letter in lime
juice and took the paper to the surgeon, and in
his presence wrote over it a letter in ink, and
asked him to take it to Lafayette."
" But how did Lafayette know that the paper
contained a writing in invisible ink?"
" That is what I wish you to guess."
" You must have suggested it to Lafayette in
the ink letter."
" That would be a delicate matter indeed, but
that is what I did. I wrote to him this : ' I am
glad of the opportunity of addressing you these
words, which, when read with the usual warmth,
will afford your heart some consolation.'" These
were the very words that Bollman wrote, literally
translated. " The next day I met the amiable surgeon.
'I gave the pamphlet to Lafayette? he said,
' and he seemed to be much pleased, and wished

THE LIME JUICE LETTER. 1 23
to know more about one of the friends named

in it.'"

They traversed a beautiful country of flax and
hemp, shadowed in the distance by the Carpathian
hills, and would have been charmed with the
sunny valleys had not their daring purpose filled
their souls.
"Your hint to Lafayette, in the words 'if you
read it with your usual warmth,' seems to me to
have been a very slight one on reflection," said
Mr. Huger.
" How could you have been bolder and not
excited suspicion ? " asked his companion. " La
fayette has a very quick mind, and he had re
ceived such secret messages before. His very first
impulse would be to look for more than appeared
on the surface of any letter on political events."
"You are right. He has been trained in that
way," said Mr. Huger. " What did you write
him in acid ?"
" I merely asked him how his friends in Olmiitz
could see him secretly. There was no treason in
that." " No ; but the meaning would be clear to
a mind like his."

124 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" Of course it would. As clear as the song of
Blondel, which Richard helped the Troubadour
himself to write. If this plan should succeed,
it would be the story of Blondel over again."
" Only this story would be true. We are
engaged in no poetry, music, or romance. We
may have to pay the forfeit of what we are about
to attempt with our lives. What if we should
fail?" " We may fail, but we will tell the civilized
world where Lafayette is imprisoned, contrary
to the law of nations. Whatever may become of
us, that alone would be success. Austria cannot
hold Lafayette when this fact is known."
" There are two things that impress me in what
we are attempting. We are doing an unselfish
thing, but we are acting under the laws of the
compensations of character. You never saw La
fayette. You have nothing to gain by his
release. Why are you doing what you are ? "
" Because a perfectly unselfish character draws
to itself equally unselfish assistance in the time of
trouble. If friends do not help an unselfish man,
strangers will. Help is sure to come. There are
secret laws of compensation that are his friends,

THE LIME JUICE LETTER. 125
like angels in disguise. This thought gives me
faith in God and humanity. If we succeed, what
we do will be like a revelation to me. I shall
have a vision of God in his laws. And what is
the other thing that impresses you ? "
" It is the possibility that I, who was almost
the first to meet Lafayette when I was a child,
should now be imperiling my life to do for him
what he did for America. Was my life appointed
to this end ? "
" I do not know.".
" I feel as though an invisible captain was
leading me. Whither ? No matter. It is duty.
He who does right follows an invisible leader and
marches with unseen hosts. I have faith, faith,
faith ! Right-doing is the march of God."
After a journey amid the sunny valleys, they
came to Olmiitz, whose gloomy castle shadowed
the sunrise and sunset air. It was a quiet town
now. The army of the Hapsburgs were in other
fields, far from the gloomy grandeur of the walled
solitude of the Moravia.

CHAPTER XIX.
IN THE INK OF LIFE.
fOON after his arrival in Olmiitz, Dr.
Bollman called on the surgeon of the
military fortress, to resume his discussion
of the effects of confinement upon prisoners of
state. " How is the health of Lafayette?" he asked,
after a long discussion.
" Long imprisonment has told upon him. It
has lost him his hair and shrunk his muscles ; he
can be now but the shadow of the man he was."
" Is he allowed any exercise ? "
"A little — under guard."
The surgeon arose, and took down a pamphlet
from a shelf and said :
" Lafayette wished me to return to you this
pamphlet with his thanks. It has seemed to exer
cise a very hopeful influence upon him. I have
never seen him so cheerful as he has been since
126

IN THE INK OF LIFE. 127
reading it ; in his long imprisonment he has been
much deprived of the knowledge of the world.
" Is he' much restricted here ? "
" Yes, yes. When he entered here, he was told
that he would not be allowed any communication
with the outside world ; that his friends should
never know where he was, and that he would never
be allowed to leave this place."
" What was the excuse for such severity ?"
"That the freedom of Lafayette was incom
patible with the peace of the royal governments of
Europe ; that he was a common enemy of mon
archy, and should be so treated by the royal
powers. For a long time after he came here
he had only scanty food, and was allowed few
resources but his own reflections.
" I have seen him standing in his damp cell, peer
ing into the sky, whose changes of light and shade
were all that he could see. Occasionally a bird
flew by. Sometimes a cloud passed with the glow
of the sun, which must have looked to him like a
heavenly chariot. A bird sometimes came to the
bars of the window. When once its song reached
him, it must have seemed to tell him of the free
dom of a lost world. He has been less restricted

128 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
of late. The interest of America and England in
his welfare has led to his being treated more like
a prisoner of state.
" I have done all I could to make his condition
better and happier, else I should not have taken
to him that pamphlet. I have recommended that
he be allowed to go out under guard, and it has
been so ordered. He sometimes is allowed to
ride over the bridges and outside the town into
the open country."
Dr. Bollman put the pamphlet into his pocket,
and returned to the hotel and went to his room.
There he was immediately joined by Huger, who
had been impatiently waiting his return.
" What has happened ? " asked the American
student. " I cannot tell you yet, till I have examined this
pamphlet." "What pamphlet?"
"The one I sent to Lafayette."
" Has he returned it to you ? "
" He has."
" Then it contains invisible writing. Let us
examine it."
" But how could Lafayette obtain invisible ink ? "

IN THE INK OF LIFE. 1 29
"Acid — lime juice."
" He would not be likely to be allowed such a
thing in his cell."
" If he took the meaning of the usual warmth,
the pamphlet somehow and somewhere will com
municate to us the fact."
" Look."
The two turned the leaves of the pamphlet,
holding them before a strong light.
" I see something there,"- said the young
American. "So do I."
" It is not written with invisible ink. It is pale
printing, as though it was part of the original
tablet." " Like brick dust."
" No, it is not that ; it is blood." Read  "
"My health is poor."
"That means nothing. There it is again.
Read  "
" I am allowed to ride out into the forest, under
guard." " That means much," said Dr. Bollman. " It
means that he has read aright my message. Read
it with the usual warmth."

130 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" It means that he may cross the bridge to the
wood," said Huger.
" It means that his friends must have force to
rescue him," said Dr. Bollman. " ' Under guard,'
that means much."
"We cannot secure force."
" We can use wit — invention. Remember that
the Bastille fell."
" We must secure lodgings in the wood."
" And trusty servants."
"And horses."
" I have not the means to procure all we need
for such an exploit as this promises to be," said
Dr. Bollman.
" But I have — and for the sake of America, you
have everything I can command. For the sake of
Washington — all. For the sake of Yorktown —
all. For the sake of Lafayette, for the heart of
Lafayette, which is the heart of liberty, destiny
may do with me what it will — he loved others bet
ter than himself, and I will love him more than
myself. I have never been so moved before. I
have never felt like this before. Such an exaltation
as possesses me is glory."
" You have, indeed, caught the spirit of your

IN THE INK OF LIFE. 131
hero. One light kindles a thousand. You are
probably the only man in the world who, at this
crisis, could feel all that you feel. We live in
spheres of sympathy in this world, and there
are a thousand worlds in one. The patriotic
have a sphere of their own ; they are a noble
part of the world."
" And those who struggle for the welfare of all
mankind, as has Lafayette, possess the hearts of
all true people in the world. Patriotism is good,
but the good of mankind is more than any one
country, or any single family of nations. My
heart says for America, ' Long live Lafayette ! '
and for France, ' Vive la Lafayette ! ' and for the
world and immortality, ' Onward, O Lafayette, to
justice, liberty, and peace ! ' "
Their windows looked on the bridges. It was
the coming on of a still, beautiful evening. Afar
the country lay glimmering in the sunset light.
" There is no time to lose," said Dr. Bollman.
" Let us seek an inn near the wood, on this very
evening, before the gates close."
They went out together. The fortress dark
ened behind them. They took lodgings near the
town, and began to inquire for servants and horses

132 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
to attend them as travelers. A groom and two
horses were procured.
" Do the officers of the fortress often ride out
this way ? " they asked the groom.
" Yes, often, and the prisoners of state, under
guard." " Have you here any notable prisoners of state ? "
" I suppose so. We would not know them if
there were."
" How do such people ride ?"
" Usually in open carriages with an armed
soldier behind them. So I have seen them."
The two students soon made a friend of the
groom. They found that he could be intrusted
with their plan, and they made him a confidant of
it. They would now have three men against three
men, and two swift horses.
Their plan was to wait for Lafayette's carriage,
to rush out and disarm the guard, frighten the
driver, mount Lafayette on the swiftest horse,
and point out to him the nearest road to the
frontier, while they, too, should mount the other
horse and reach the frontier by some other way,
so that suspicion might not be aroused.
It was a daring, hazardous plan. But an awak-

IN THE INK OF LIFE. 1 33
ened spirit, fired by an overwhelming motive, does
not hesitate. Events march through life toward
the height.
Strange, indeed, must have been the feelings of
Francis K. Huger in the woods of Olmiitz. He
had a mother in America, and his thoughts must
have turned toward her. She was a noble
woman, and must also have felt that her spirit
would approve what he was doing and all that he
was imperiling.
He was a true Southerner, and amid the
grandeur of the old world his heart was still in
the Carolinas. The old plantation house by the
sea was his home. At Charleston his father had
fallen ; was he about to honor his State, and its
lovely capital, by this exploit in the shadows of the
Carpathians and under the Austrian sky?
What matter what followed ? He must be that
which he had ought to be. We all must be, or be
nothing.

CHAPTER XX.
PERILOUS.
JT the close of a glowing November after
noon, while yet the sky was a living
splendor, an open carriage passed out
one of the gates of Olmiitz, taking the road
toward the open country and the wood. On it
were the driver and two soldiers, and in it was a
worn prisoner of state, once Marquis, but now
Citizen Lafayette.
It was the hour of riding, and carriages were
returning toward the gay city. The sunset
brightened, and the air was still.
Soon two horsemen appeared on horseback, fol
lowing the carriage at a distance. They excited
no suspicion, .for it was a common thing for
people, and especially for visitors and travelers, to
ride on horseback into the open country at that
hour of the day.
The carriage went on for some miles, amid the
lovely landscapes of rural homes and gardens.
134

PERILOUS. 135
The two horsemen followed in the dusty distance,
now nearer, now farther away, but never out of
sight of the prisoner of state.
The two horsemen were Dr. Eric Bollman and
Francis K. Huger. They were engaged in an
earnest conversation as they rode along. The
heart of each was bounding with excitement.
They had sent forward a relay of horses to a
public house on the road that led to the confines
of Silesia, which were near to Austria, but outside
of the emperor's jurisdiction.
" Our plan is as perfect as we could have made
it," said Bollman, " and thus far it is working well.
I influenced the surgeon to prevail upon the
governor to let Lafayette have exercise under
guard. My thought has been carried out. I in
fluenced Old Malan the Jew, and I have his purse.
That argues success, a Jew's purse, and a purse for
Lafayette, whom that Jew never saw."
" I have offered you all that I have," said
Huger, wishing to add a good augury to these
seemingly fortunate circumstances.
"Yes, and who in all the world could I have
secured that would have brought a heart like
yours to the cause ? "

136 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" Any true American would have done it," said
the student traveler.
" But few Americans would have been able to
do it," said Bollman.
" It does look as though fate was with us. An
hour will tell."
The two horsemen carried pistols, but the
weapons were not loaded. They did not intend
to take life.
Their plan followed the suggestion of Lafay
ette, written in blood. They expected to see the
carriage stop, and Lafayette dismount, and walk
along the way ; then to rush up to him, to mount
him on their swiftest horse, to put into his hand
the bag of gold that had been given them by
Malan the Jew ; to tell him to ride like the wind
toward Silesia ; that he would find a relay of
horses awaiting on the way, and that they would
join him beyond the frontier.
They were not disappointed in the beginning of
the unfolding of their plan. Several miles were
passed, when the carriage of Lafayette stopped.
It was before a wood.
" An advantageous place, that," said Dr.
Bollman.

PERILOUS. 137
"He is alighting," said Huger. "Just as I
have seen it, as it were in a dream."
" Now is our time," said Dr. Bollman.
They spurred their horses.
" In an hour from now Lafayette will be free,
or we will be prisoners, or dead."
Lafayette had descended from the carriage and
was walking along beside it, but slowly falling
behind it.
The sunset light was gleaming over the dark
wood. There were few passers in the way.
" I have only one concern about what may
happen," said Huger, "it is about my widowed
mother. She is a soldier's widow."
" And you are the son of a soldier. See, he is
as far behind the carriage as the guard will allow
him to be. This is our opportunity. Spurs ! "
The two horsemen flew forward, and met
" Lafayette at the border of the wood.
" You are Lafayette ? " said Bollman.
" Yes, Lafayette, and you my friends. What
is done, must be done at once."
" The world is seeking you, and we are its mes
sengers. Mount my horse and fly to Silesia,"
said Bollman. " Halfway between here and

138 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
Silesia you will meet our groom with a' relay of
horses ; then you will be safe. God ride with
you ! Fly ! You will need money," he added.
" Here is a bag of gold. It comes from Malan, a
Jew in Vienna."
Lafayette attempted to leap upon the horse
when the guard came running up with a drawn
sword. "Halt! Disarm!" cried Dr. Bollman.
A struggle ensued, when Lafayette was
wounded. But he mounted the horse and swiftly
rode away under the cover of the wood.
Friendly night was coming on. But Lafayette
was a stranger in the place. Which was the road
to Silesia ? Which was the road where the groom
and relay of horses were awaiting him ?
And now comes the most noble act of young
Huger's life. The two had intended to escape on
the one horse left, which was heavy, but Lafay
ette had mounted the heavy horse instead of the
light one intended for him.
" That horse cannot carry us both," said
Huger. " Lafayette needs you ; take the horse
and flee after him, and leave me to my fate."
These were nearly his own words.

The attempted rescue of Lafayette.

PERILOUS. 139
Dr. Bollman hesitated.
" He will be likely to go wrong unless you ride
after him. Go ! I will hide in the wood. For
get me ! Go ! whatever happens to me, go ! "
Dr. Bollman mounted the horse and rode after
Lafayette, but, alas, the prisoner of Olmiitz had
already taken the wrong way.
Francis Huger was left alone in the wood. He
hoped for safety under cover of the night, but
the nightfall was slow. He was all alone, and
capture seemed certain, and that death.
Presently he heard the great bells of Olmiitz
clanging, and the signal guns firing. He thought
that the guard had returned, and troops of the
fortress would soon be flying down the road.
He was right. The dragoons came flying out
of the city, sounding the alarm, and calling on
the peasants to follow them. In an hour the
country was aroused. Men and women were
searching everywhere for Lafayette and his
would-be rescuers.
Lafayette, who had taken the wrong road, was
overtaken and arrested that November evening.
He was carried back to the fortress and put in
irons. He was deprived of every comfort of

140 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
life ; his wound was painful. A chain was put
around his body in such a way that he could
scarcely turn over in bed. He was allowed no
light, no linen, no word of information from his
friends. He was, as it were, buried alive. It
was strange that he survived this living tomb.
Dr. Bollman was also captured, cast into
prison, and his life made a torture while he
awaited his trial.
The peasants had discovered young Huger in
the wood early in the evening, and they followed
him. He was hounded like a stag. He was com
pelled to surrender, and was taken back to
Olmiitz in the shadow of the night, and put into
a separate prison in the charge of a merciless
keeper. Deserted by all mankind he passed the hours
of his solitary existence. What was the fate of
Lafayette ? He could not know. Of Bollman ?
He could ask no questions.
He had one request that he made of the jailor.
" May I send word to my mother in America
that I am alive ? "
"Silence!"
A dead silence fell upon him. The world as it

PERILOUS. I41
were vanished away. For him there was neither
sun, moon, nor stars. The rattle of the jailor's
keys, and the coming and departure of merciless
feet, were all the sounds that broke the chill
winter days. He was at last brought to trial,
and emerged into the winter light. Bollman was
tried with him.
Great events were happening in the world.
Napoleon was the master of France, and he had
conquered Italy and humiliated Austria. The
politics of the world were changing, and Austria
and Prussia now trembled before France. There
was a ray of hope for the three prisoners in these
events. The widow in her South Carolina home ceased
to receive letters from her boy. Had he been
waylaid ? Was he dead ?
The waves moaned on the shore, and in sun
light, moonlight, and starlight, she often turned
her eyes thither, and thought of her boy — and
perhaps of the midnight consecration of Lafayette.
The immediate attempt to rescue Lafayette
failed. Hope must for the moment have died in
the two students' hearts. But had it failed ? No !
The world was to learn by these unhappy events

142 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
where Lafayette was, and the young students'
efforts were to be the inspiration that led the heart
of mankind to set free the Knight of Liberty.
The tyranny of tyrants had been discovered, and
Austria was to shrink from the responsibility of
her unlawful deeds. Right efforts do not fail.
Nothing that is right fails. Dungeons stay, but
they do not prevent the course of events. Men
suffer, they sometimes perish for a noble cause ;
but the cause wins, and he whose soul loves the
cause more than himself has in him the conscious
ness of victory.
The bells of two worlds were yet to ring for
Lafayette ; and as for Francis K. Huger, if we
were writing a fairy tale we could hardly fancy
for him a more happy destiny than was to follow
these strange events.

CHAPTER XXI.
THE SECRET WAS OUT.
HE city of Olmiitz, the garrison, and the
country around, now knew that the pris
oner who had been rescued, escaped, and
been recaptured was none other than the illus
trious Lafayette. The news flew to England,
France, and America.
Mme. Lafayette had been a prisoner in the
south of France. Most of her near relatives and
friends had fallen under the guillotine ; the estates
of Lafayette had been for the time confiscated,
and this true wife and mother had suffered all the
distresses of the times of the Black Cockade.
But emerging from prison to see again the
light of the sun, and to breathe the fresh air of the
fields, there came to her the thrilling news that
the prison of Lafayette had been found.
Her health was broken and her strength wasted
by imprisonment. But she could say, " This is
the news for which I have been praying in lonely
143

144 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
places and solitary hours. I will go to the court
of Austria and plead for my husband, and, if I
cannot gain his release, I will beg to share his
prison with him."
Such, in substance, was the declaration of this
most heroic woman. With her two daughters,
she traveled to Vienna and gained an audience
with the emperor, Francis I. The emperor
received her coldly. He did not wish to grant
her requests, but public opinion compelled him to
consider the petition of this helpless woman. To
her pleading she received this hard and final
answer from a state minister:
"You may visit your husband at Olmiitz, but
you must carry nothing to him and never expect
to leave the prison alive."
She heard the decision with a lofty spirit.
" Do you accept the permission under these
conditions ? " asked the minister.
" I do."
Such was the wife of Lafayette.
One day the cell of the hero was opened, and
cries of joy rent the damp and dismal air. Before
Lafayette stood his wife, from whom he had not
heard for three years, and his daughters whom he

THE SECRET WAS OUT. 145
would hardly have known had they not come with
their mother.
" My wife, my dear wife, what has brought you
here ? "
" My heart and my prayers," she might have
answered. But she told him she had come to
share his prison and his fate. Says a friend of
Lafayette : " That meeting cannot be imagined or
described ; the prison wall rang with a joy that
had never been heard there before."
The two daughters, one aged sixteen and one
aged thirteen, were placed in separate cells.
They had committed no crime, but such was
despotism. Mme. Lafayette, after a year's imprisonment,
grew so feeble in health that it was thought that
she must be released or soon die.
She petitioned for the temporary release of
herself and daughters, and waited an answer. It
came :
"You may be released, but on the condition
that you shall never see your husband again."
" Go," said Lafayette, " go for the sake of
your health and your children. Do not think of
me. Go ! "

I46 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" My dear husband, I would rather die with
you here in prison than to live in our beautiful
country of Lagrange without you."
But Napoleon, who had conquered Italy, now
dictated terms of treaty to humiliate Austria.
One of these terms was that Austria should set
free all the state prisoners of France. Lafayette
was among the number, and he went forth again
into the great world of the sun and flowers,
taking the faithful hearts of his family with him.
And Huger and Bollman ? Long before this
the influence of the political changes in Europe
had caused them to be set free.
Dr. Bollman became an eminent physician, but
he never saw Lafayette again after the scene of
the encounter in the wood. But Mme. Lafayette
wrote him a most affecting letter, a part of which
I quote. Some of my readers will like to read it.
LETTER FROM MME. LAFAYETTE TO DR. BOLLMAN.
" Olmutz, May 22, 1796.
" I am at last enabled to write to you, and to
express to you all the sentiments with which we
are so deeply affected. The first wish of my heart
is to assure you of our gratitude. I am likewise
eager to express my regret for having been unable

THE SECRET WAS OUT. 147
to address you sooner. In the prisons of Paris
I had been informed of your generous under
taking, and I was aware that you and M. Huger
were in custody ; but we had been, and were still
in France, exposed to such tyrannical oppression —
such efforts were made to annihilate the recol
lection of one whose principles and whose exam
ple brought to mind the duty of resistance to that
oppression, and terror had so completely paralyzed
every heart, that it was impossible, especially in
my personal position, to obtain many details
respecting M. Lafayette and yourself. Besides,
I was myself overwhelmed by the most appalling
calamities that can be inflicted on the heart of
a daughter and a sister, and I felt the necessity of
coming to this place, in order to regain a portion
of my faculties and to recover my strength.
" I at length obtained a passport for the United
States, and an American vessel conveyed me to
Harriburg, whence I ought to have written to
you ; but as I had received in that city only an
imperfect account of all that referred to you : as
I was, moreover, persuaded by what I heard at
Vienna that I could easily correspond from this
place, and, as I confess that myself, and my
daughters were completely taken up with the idea
of arriving here, we thought that the expression
of our sensibility would be more agreeable to you

148 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
in the name of all four ; and you may easily
imagine that, from the first moment of our
meeting, we had to satisfy the eager impatience
of M. Lafayette to hear of you. From him we
learned, with intense interest and admiration, all
the circumstances which we had previously known
but in part. We were informed of all that you
had done in Russia ; we were aware of the time,
the efforts, and the address, which it must have
cost you at Olmutz to correspond with him ; we
were apprised of your courageous attempt, but we
were ignorant of the generosity with which you
adopted Lafayette's idea, and the zeal with which
you facilitated his flight, when every mode of
serving him at Vienna was exhausted. It is
impossible for me to describe to you how much
we were affected by all the details of that day, on
which you and M. Huger displayed such intre
pidity, such delicacy, such indifference to your
own personal safety, and such undivided devotion
to the idea of saving the man who spoke to us of
your efforts with such well-merited enthusiasm.
He would fain himself explain to you how, after
stopping on the road, in spite of what you had
told him, to see you on horseback ; obliged after
ward to walk, because the blood and filth with
which he was covered attracted attention ; having
stopped again, and even, in his uneasiness for

THE SECRET WAS OUT. I49
both of you, having for a moment retraced his
steps, he was forced to return to Sternberg ; and
how, having reason to believe that you had pro
ceeded across the fields, he endeavored to over
take you before your arrival in that place, al
though he suffered severely from his first fall ;
how, in a word, being unacquainted with the
name of Hoff, and not knowing the direct road to
Silesia, by which he had arrived in a carriage, and
being unable to ask many questions without ex
citing observation, especially on account of the
singularity of his appearance, he was in the end
arrested. He then, at least, had the momentary
consolation of believing that you had both
escaped ; for it was only at Olmutz that he heard
of M. Huger's arrest, and he was not certain even
of yours till he underwent the interrogatory to
which, through consideration for both of you, he
consented to reply ; and in the course of which,
having refused to speak on the secret correspond
ence, it was found necessary to prove to him that
the surgeon and yourself had disclosed everything.
I shall make no effort to describe to you his feel
ings during your horrible captivity. Though we
found him recovered, especially since he had been
informed of your deliverance, it was but too evi
dent how much his heart had suffered from the
moral tortures so basely inflicted on him — tortures

150 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
which even to me, who had been in France, the
witness and the victim of the most atrocious and
tyrannical anarchy, appeared the most cruel refine
ment of barbarity that hatred could contrive.
"You would render us a vast additional service
if you could transmit to the excellent and gen
erous M. Huger the expression of our gratitude,
admiration, and regard, and the assurance of the
feelings with which Lafayette is inspired by the
idea of owing the highest possible obligation to
the son of the first man who received him, and of
the first friend whom he possessed, in America.
Will you have the kindness to undertake to speak
to M. Pinckney, of our grateful attachment to
him, and also of our confidence, and to say a
thousand kind things to our charming friend, Mrs.
Church ? We are too well assured of her hus
band's friendship not to feel assured that he too is
wholly occupied with our affairs.
" Adieu, Sir ; when shall we be able to speak to
you in person of the feelings which we so justly
entertain toward you, and of which our hearts
must forever be so deeply sensible ?
" Noailles Lafayette."

CHAPTER XXII.
THE KEY OF THE BASTILLE.
IHAT shall be done with George?" So
asked Mme. Lafayette of her daughters,
when she first resolved to go in search
of her husband. George was her son, then a
boy. " I shall take you with me ; but George Wash
ington, the heart of his father, what shall we do
with him?"
" Let me go with you," said the boy.
" There is one heart in the world to whom I
can trust you. It is that of Washington. He
will be true to you for your father's sake. You
bear his name. I will send you to him."
A Boston gentleman was about to sail for
America, whom Mme. Lafayette knew, and of
whose character she had a high opinion.
" May I trust my boy to you ? " she asked of
him. "Will you direct him to Washington ? He
151

152 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
will tell his own story to Washington when he
meets the statesman."
" You may trust him to me, to Washington, and
to the American public. Everyone in America
will be a brother to the son of Lafayette. Wash
ington will be a father to him."
" If my husband should ever gain his freedom,
he will ever love those who befriend his boy, at
this time of dire distress and peril. As I said, sir,
that boy is the heart of his father. Their lives
are one. I know that Washington will be a
father to him. I can trust the great American,
and I can trust America ! "
Some families have noble and beautiful friend
ships, and the relation between Lafayette and his
son made both lives happy. Lafayette gave his
son the name of George Washington, as a seal of
eternal friendship for the hero of the West. As
the boy grew up, they became companions, they
loved each other, and each seemed to be happy
when the other was near.
Lafayette trained this boy to republican princi
ples, he taught him that wealth and fame were of
themselves of little worth, and that character is
everything.

THE KEY TO THE BASTILLE. 1 53
The boy accepted these teachings ; he believed
them ; they entered into his heart.
An intimate friend of Lafayette's thus pictures
the conclusions to which that hero came, after his
study of men :
" Proud of having lo'st his feudal nobility, Lafay
ette looked upon the land of liberty as giving a
promise to mankind of a richer harvest of public
virtue than the barren fields of sable, gold, or
azure, so long moistened with the tears and
the blood of nations. He recognized no other
nobility than that of the feelings of the soul ; he
admitted no other distinctions among men than
those acquired by them from their virtues, their
talents, or their services to their fellow-men.
" The aristocracy of money, that of the rich
man, is one of the most powerful, one of those
which in general excite the strongest desire to
form part of it. To become wealthy, and conse
quently to possess the power and means of satisfy
ing one's tastes and passions, is to many the
object of existence. Nevertheless, the aristocracy
of money may have something noble in it, when,
like the horn of plenty, it bestows its treasures on
men whom it relieves, on commerce which it ani
mates, or on the earth which it fertilizes, — but
what is it in itself? It frequently requires little

154 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
intelligence to amass much money, supposing it
legitimately acquired ; but great qualities are
required to make a prudent use of wealth, and to
circulate it freely, without extravagance. The
prodigal sow their treasures in the bed of a tor
rent, without honor to themselves, and without
advantage to their country. On the other hand,
the avaricious capitalist impoverishes his country,
by hoarding wealth and by stopping the circu
lation of the vivifying metal. Like the strong
box, he possesses a value only when full, and is of
use only when he can be emptied. Avarice is the
rust of the soul : nothing grand or generous can
germ or develop itself in the miser's withered
heart !
"The pride arising from the possession of
wealth is always ridiculous : it can make a fool
of a man estimable in other respects, by causing
him to forget or to conceal his origin, which no
other person forgets, and which malice delights in
exposing to public view ; by urging him to make
an ostentatious display of the weakness which he
ought to conceal ; and especially, by filling him
with absurd pretensions to the other descriptions
of aristocracy.
" The aristocracy of intelligence, undoubtedly
renders highly commendable the men who confer
honor on their country, or contribute to the wel-

THE KEY TO THE BASTILLE. 1 55
fare of mankind, by their labors in literature,
science, or the arts ; but in what estimation would
a literary man, an artist, or a man of science be
held, if his character were found unworthy of his
talent, or of his intellectual superiority ? "
Such were Lafayette's views of life, and these
opinions became a part of the heart and character
of his son. Lafayette himself says of his boy :
" The fact is, that George, who is a republican
patriot, — and I have met with few such in my life
time, — has besides a passion for the military pro
fession, for which I think him adapted as he pos
sesses a sound and calm judgment, a just percep
tion, a strong local memory, and will be equally
beloved by his superiors, his comrades, and his
subordinates. I love him with too much tender
ness to make any distinction between his desires
and mine ; and I am too great an enemy to
oppression of every description to place a
restraint on the wishes of a beloved son, nearly
twenty years of age. I could joyfully see him
covered with honorable scars, but beyond that
supposition, I have not the courage to contem
plate existence."
The son of Lafayette, with a tutor named
Frestel, landed in Boston in August, 1785. He

156 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
desired seclusion, and he passed by the name of
Motier ; his full name was George Washington
Motier de Lafayette.
The boy and his tutor had come to Boston on
the invitation of a man named Cabot, who com
municated the arrival of the son of Lafayette
to President Washington, then at Philadelphia.
Washington answered, " I will be to him a father
and friend, protector and supporter."
Washington met the boy at Philadelphia, and
the latter and his tutor made their home with
him there. They went later to Mount Vernon.
It was a still, clear day, as the boy approached
the simple republican house, with its great portico
and grand trees.
On the same eventful year that the Bastille fell,
Washington had been made by the people the
President of the great Republic of the West that
Lafayette had done so much to found. He was
now about to retire from the Presidency, and was
already preparing to make Mount Vernon his
permanent home. His farewell address had gone
forth to the American people.
When Lafayette was compelled to flee to
Flanders, he was the commander of the victorious

THE KEY TO THE BASTILLE. 1 57
army of Ardennes. It was the slanders of the
Jacobins, who accused him of treason, that began
the series of events that drove him out of France.
As Washington and the son of his old friend
came to the mansion, at Mount Vernon, the boy
stood under the portico and looked out on the
Potomac, that lay like a glimmer of silver among
the clouds of trees. The estate was not like
Lagrange, his own home. Everything in the new
country seemed strange to him.
Lady Washington did her best to make the boy
happy on this serene day. Her sympathy was
that of a mother.
" My son, you are welcome here to our hearts
and home," we may suppose her to have said.
"You have a home, but my father is an exile
and a prisoner, if indeed he be alive," said the boy
in his heart.
"You bear our name," we fancy her to have
said. "Your father not only honored our nation
when he gave you that name, but he implied in it
that you were to be a son to us. You are our
son, and the nation's son, and here is to be your
home, until your father returns."
" Returns, from where ? I do not know where

158 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
my father is. They say that an American young
man has discovered him at Olmiitz. My
mother and sisters have gone there." He looked
down the green banks, through the oaks and mag
nolias. His heart was at Lagrange, or with his
father in the Austrian prison.
" Lady Washington ? "
" My son."
" You have a happy home. Washington fought
for liberty, and I am an exile in the country for
which he fought."
One of the family at Mount Vernon came out
on the portico, holding in his hand a great key.
"You are the son of Lafayette?" asked the
gentleman. "Yes, my father is Lafayette."
" His heart sought us in our distress as a
nation, and the heart of the nation will always
love his son."
" But he has lost all, in trying to gain the liber
ties of France. Oh, my poor father ! my poor
mother ! "
" The General of the Army of Ardennes has
not lost all. The times have changed, my boy ;
but France will one day become a free nation, like

THE KEY TO THE BASTILLE. 1 59
America. Your father was a Knight of Liberty
to us, he will prove some day to have been the
apostle of Liberty to France."
The boy burst into tears.
" My father, my father ! What did he not do
for France? I wish that I might enfold him
in my arms, as I used to do. I long for him all
the time. I used to feel his heart beat, — that
heart, that heart, — I wish that I might feel it
again. Do you think that France will ever again
love my father ? "
" My boy, do you know what that is ?"
The gentleman held up "before him the key of
the Bastille.
" No, sir. It is an old key, but I never saw it
before." " Your father sent it to us."
" My father ! Let me take it."
" Your father wrote this letter to Washington,
when he sent the key."
He handed the boy the letter. It read :
" Give me leave, my dear General, to present
to you a picture of the Bastille, just as it looked
a few days after I ordered its demolition, with the
main key of the fortress of despotism.

160 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" It is a tribute which I owe, as a son to my
adopted father, as an aid-de-camp to my general,
as a missionary of liberty to its patriarch."
The boy took the key and kissed it.
" My father sent it ? "
" Yes, my boy. That was the key of the Bastille.
That key will never unlock the Bastille again."
" No, sir."
" And there will never be another bastille in
France after what your father has done."
" Do you think that France will be a free
nation like yours ? "
" Yes, my son ; you hold in your hand the key
of the Bastille, and when the Bastille fell, despo
tism fell. Your father has made France free, and
her people will never again be slaves. Be happy
with us ; you bear our name. This home shall be
your own. The nation will love you until your
father returns. You should be a proud boy.
Your father's sword helped to make this nation
free, and you hold in your hand the key of the
Bastille." George Washington Lafayette would have
been delighted in the new country had his father
been with him.

THE KEY TO THE BASTILE. l6l
Soon after Washington left the chair of state
(March 4, 1797), he proceeded to Alexandria.
It was beautiful weather. The hills, valleys, and
river banks were filled with flowers. Bird
songs enlivened the bright air. The children
strewed the streets with flowers as he passed, and
Cincinnatus-like, the great commoner went back
to the farm and people, amid the almost uni
versal praise of mankind.
The boy saw the glory of the noble man. He
heard the applause of the people, and he was
proud that his own name entered into this great
expression of gratitude — George Washington
Lafayette. He looked up to Washington, that serene man,
and wondered and dreamed. Did this man ever
know sorrow ? Had he ever been maligned, as
had been his father?
One day, as he was sitting on the great piazza
of Mount Vernon, overlooking the green, the
woods, and the river, he said to a gentleman, the
one of the family who had handed him the key :
" Did anyone ever think evil or speak a hard
word of Washington ? "
" My boy," said the gentleman, " read that."

1 62 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
He handed the boy a paper called The Aurora.
The boy read :
" If ever a nation has been debauched by a
man, the American nation has been by Washing
ton. If ever a nation has been deceived by a
man, the American nation has been by Washing
ton. Let his conduct then be an example to
future ages. Let it serve to be a warning that no
man may ever be an idol. Let the history of the
Federal Government instruct mankind, that the
masque of patriotism may be worn to conceal the
foulest designs against the liberties of a people."
The boy read this, and more like it, with aston
ishment. " They destroyed my father's influence in that
way," he said. " Can it be, can it be ? Is there
no help for such slanders as these?"
" Yes, my boy."
"What, sir?"
" Time. Time tells the truth about all men.
When a mean man injures another, it creates
a sympathy for him in the heart of some noble
man, and so he who is unjustly treated gains
more than he loses. My boy, I have something

THE KEY TO THE BASTILLE. 1 63
wonderful to tell you. But I will let another bear
the news."
Lady Washington sent out to the boy a letter.
He read it with surprise and wet eyes, and said :
" His name is Huger."
" Whose name ? "
" The young American, who found where my
father was imprisoned."
" Did you know that Huger was the first boy
your father met on landing on the American
shore ? "
" No, sir ; no."
" He was ; and he took him upon his knee, and
loved him at once, and the two became friends.
That boy then could not have been more than
three or four years of age." He added: " My boy,
what did I just say to you ? Listen to it again.
When a mean man injures another, it creates a
sympathy for him in the heart of some good man,
and so he who is unjustly treated gains more
than he loses. Is not this likely to be true of
your father? The laws of God are good, and
they make Time a friend to all."

CHAPTER XXIII.
THE BAG OF GOLD AGAIN.
jAPTURED," said Malan, the Jew, as he
paced his garden, after the news of the
capture of Lafayette had been brought
by courier to Vienna. " And where is my bag
of gold ? "
" Any injury that we do to another, hurts our
own souls," he continued, pacing to and fro under
the lime trees. " And any good that we do for
another helps our own souls." He paused and
looked down the green sward.
" But where is my bag of gold ? The governor
of the fortress has got it. It has gone to en
rich him."
The parrot saw that her master was in trouble,
and began to make inquiries. " What is the mat
ter, Polly ? " was a common expression with her,
and she was saying it over and over, in English,
and old Malan understood English well.
The Jew turned his face toward the sky, which
164

THE BAG OF GOLD AGAIN. 165
was suffused with sunset light. The good spirit
in his soul had been growing for years, and it now
brought beautiful thoughts to him.
" Any injury that we seek to do others harms
our own souls," he said, and then, with a beneficent
face, he added : " And any good which we seek
to do for another helps our own souls. Where is
my bag of gold ? It is in my soul. It will bless
my soul, but I wish it were in Lafayette's pocket."
" What's the matter ? " asked the blue-fronted
bird. " Nothing is the matter, you poor, simple, beau
tiful creature. To him who does right everything
in this world is right, and it will all be well in
the world to come. Good desires are the soul of
events, and I have the wish that before I die I
may take the hand of Lafayette ; I would make
a pilgrimage to meet him ; the many make the
nation, but a few sympathetic hearts the family
of God." *
The children gathered around the old man
under the lime tree. "Hurrah!" said the Boli
var parrot. " Hurrah for Lafayette ! "
"That will never do," said the Jew. He cov
ered the bird's cage with a mantle, and with poor

166 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
Polly it was night. That was a dangerous word
now, a very dangerous word. It haunted his
thoughts. Were a single watchman or guard to
hear it, it would bring him under suspicion.
" And now, children, you may go," he said pleas
antly, and led them toward the gate.
He closed the gate and removed the cage from
the lime tree to his room, and there sat down
to dream of liberty in the land of the fame of
Washington, and of the triumphs of human rights
in the West.
" All the world is one country," he said in his
proverbial way ; " and there was never a cause
that lacked a Curtius."
There came a heavy rap on the door.
The Jew started and listened. It was repeated.
He went to the door, and found there an Austrian
officer. " I wish to speak with you," said the officer.
"Come in."
The officer entered.
" Did you exchange money for a young Amer
ican traveler, a week or more ago ? "
" I did."
"That man has been arrested."

THE BAG OF GOLD AGAIN. 167
"That were no fault of mine."
" He was engaged in a conspiracy to liberate a
prisoner of state. He was rich, for there was
found on the prisoner of state a treasure which
only a rich man could have furnished him."
" And please you, what might it have been ?"
" It was a bag of gold."
There was another loud rap on the door.
Another officer entered.
" I have traced the case here," said the first
officer. " We must investigate."
" There is no need," said the second.
"Why?"" Do you not see that the man is a Jew ? "
" Yes ; but he confesses that he exchanged
money for the young man."
" That is nothing ; he did not give the young
man the treasure."
"Why not?"
" Why not? Was it ever heard that a Jew gave
one, not his countryman, a bag of gold ? "
The officer rose. The parrot had put her
pretty head out from under the mantle.
" Hurrah ! "
The Jew trembled. But the two officers went

l68 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
away laughing good humoredly. Their feet
echoed along the street, farther and farther away.
The old Jew's heart was hurt. He thought of
the reproachful taunt : " Did ever a Jew ? "
" Did ever a Jew ? " he said. " Yes, for liberty ;
yes, for humanity ; yes, for God ! My days are
swifter than a weaver's shuttle, but I shall live.
The gray hairs in my beard are numbering my
hours, but I am not yet altogether gray. I shall
meet Lafayette some day, if he lives, and then
will come back to me my bag of gold. ' Did ever
a Jew?' Yes— Malan."
He sank upon the couch. The lights went out
in the streets, and the candle failed in the room.
He dreamed of a happier day for his and every
race, and his heart was light, for he had contrib
uted to that day — " Did ever a Jew ? " — a bag
of gold.

CHAPTER XXIV.
FATHER AND SON.
JAFAYETTE'S son returned to France
and entered the army. It was Lafay
ette's pride to watch the development of
this boy ; whatever might happen to himself, he
desired the happiness of him whose life to him
was more than his own. But in this youth, as in
the case of the ancient patriarch, his character was
to be tested, and his faith tried.
Napoleon was rising in military glory. He had
eclipsed Lafayette and become the popular hero of
France. " He followed his great ambitions, and
instead of losing himself in a cause he lost his
cause in himself.
After Lafayette had declined to support him as
•consul for life, Napoleon became the secret enemy
of the great apostle of liberty. He once offered
him a position of the value of twice his then
diminished income, but Lafayette would not be
169

170 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
untrue to the principles he had proclaimed in his
declaration of the rights of man and in the consti
tution, for money.
George Washington Lafayette entered the
army under Napoleon. His high character and
bravery as a young officer won him distinction.
Napoleon could not bend Lafayette, but he
could disappoint him in his son, and this he seems
to have resolved to do.
One day this son returned to his father with a
face of grief.
" You have not been promoted," said Lafayette.
" It is no fault of your own ; it is on my account;
you are suffering for your father's honor. I am
sorry that it is so, but I must be what I ought to
be. What new humiliation brings you here, for I
see that your heart is hurt ? "
" General Grouchy desires my resignation," said
the young man. " He can give no true reason for
it ; I think it is because Napoleon wishes it so. I
have done my duty and been a true soldier. I
have obeyed, dared, and sought the most perilous
service." " Were Napoleon a magnanimous man he would
never belittle himself by treating you thus. An

FATHER AND SON. 171
officer who would treat another in this way has
none of the high qualties of soul that merit glory
— mark my words : Napoleon will fall. Only
what is true lasts, and he that saveth his life shall
lose it.
" ' Mi! ca ira, ga ira, ga ira,
The exalted shall be abased ! '
" I have read the ambition of this man's heart ;
he seeks the glory of France for his own glory,
and not for liberty, justice, and the welfare of
mankind. I may hope it is not so ; but from
his own conversations with me, so I fear it is. If
it be so, he will fall. Heaven holds the scales."
" But what can I do ? Shall I resign as he de
sires ? My heart says no ! Resign without a
cause, in the presence of the enemies of France ?
It would be dishonor ! "
" No, my son ; serve France. You may not be
promoted, but in the presence of the enemies of
France, serve the cause. We must wait events
for justice. Time is the friend of all true hearts
and right efforts.
" If I misunderstand Napoleon, time will correct
me. If he be led by ambition, the end will jus-

172 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
tify my judgment. I am sorry that you must
suffer for my convictions. Serve the cause, and
wait." " I am glad to suffer for your honor. I believe
that Yorktown stands for more than all the
victories of Napoleon. But I must be a true
soldier and obey!"
" Yes, my son ; that is right."
The humiliation of this favorite son made the
heart of Lafayette bleed. It was the most cruel
experience that could come into his life. But he
was proud to know that his boy was a hero.
Nothing is lost while honor is gained.
Should Napoleon fall, would Lafayette be
magnanimous to him after a refinement of cruelty
like this? Events are hastening, and we shall
see. Napoleon became the apparent master of
Europe. In 1804 he crowned himself emperor in
the Church of Notre Dame, in Paris, and France
acclaimed. There was so much that was noble in
the life of Napoleon, so many things to be com
mended, that Lafayette could not be sure that
the view that he had taken of him was true,
but he knew that to crumble is the fate of all

FATHER AND SON. 1 73
«
selfish gravitation. He could be loyal to France
and wait.
The emperor went forth to new conquests. He
crowned his brother Joseph, King of Spain. He
rewarded those who were faithful to him with the
honors and spoils of the world's battlefields. He
met with reverses, but he rose again.

CHAPTER XXV.
SUNSET AT WATERLOO.
jT was the night of the 17th of June,
1815. There were gay gatherings in
Brussels, then a beautiful city, and now
one of the most beautiful cities in all the world.
The people did not know that Napoleon was
rushing forward his fiery and veteran army, of
nearly one hundred thousand men, to crush Well
ington before the latter could unite his forces with
those of the allies against France.
So it was a gay night. The English officers
were there, and there were balls at the Hotel de
Ville, whose ballroom is still shown, and at other
places, and the Duchess of Brunswick had invited
Wellington to the festivities of her house, which
is now partly or wholly gone.
" There was a sound of revelry by night,
And Belgium's capital had gathered then
Her beauty and her chivalry, and bright
The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men.
174

SUNSET AT WATERLOO. 175
A thousand hearts beat happily and when
Music arose with its voluptuous swell,
Soft eyes looked love to eyes that spake again.
And all went happy as a marriage bell."

The city blazed. But amid the festival, there
was heard the roar of cannon afar :

' Within a windowed niche of that high hall
Sat Brunswick's fated chieftain ; he did hear
The sound the first amid the festival."

The alarm ended the joyous scenes. Was
Napoleon indeed approaching ? Napoleon, who
had said that destiny and he were one ? Napo
leon, who at the height of his power had once
declared that he would ascend to the dictatorship
of the world ; that there must be one coinage and
one court of appeal for all Europe; that the states
of Europe must be melted into one nation, and
Paris be the capital ? " Man proposes, but God
disposes," an humble Russian woman is reported
to have said to him. " I propose and dispose,"
was the answer. Napoleon struck, but the blow
rebounded. But he was again free ; and the old
guard and young France were following him. He
had believed that Providence was on the side of

176 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
the heaviest artillery, and, if he were indeed
approaching, he had the heaviest artillery. Was
it the thunder of those guns that were sullenly
shaking the halls ?
But there was another thunder that was shak
ing the sky. Black clouds had gathered on the
morning of the 18th. The battle of Waterloo
was first fought, as it were, in the sky. The
artillery of Heaven poured down a deluging rain
all that hot, fireless morning, and it made the great
plain a sea of mud, over which the heavy artillery
of Napoleon would find it hard to pass.
The field of Waterloo is some twelve miles
from Brussels. One may ride to it now on the
long summer days, and listen to a lecture from
the top of the great monumental mole, on which
rests the bronze lion of Waterloo, made of French
cannon, and return to the city at night, through
the lovely forests and wide poppy-dotted gardens.
Terror filled the city as the army formed to
hurry outward under the clouded stars :

' And there was mounting in hot haste, the steed,
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car
Went pouring forward with impetuous speed,
And swiftly forming in the ranks of war."

SUNSET AT WATERLOO. 1 77
The army swept down through the forest of
Ardennes that wet morn :

" And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves
Dewy with nature's tear drops as they pass."
The powers that were to decide the fate of
Europe were gathering under the clouded sky.
"Waterloo was not a battle," says Victor Hugo,
" but the change of front of the universe."
Wellington was at a disadvantage, but Blticher,
now at a distance, had promised to re-enforce him
an hour after noon of that day. Would he come ?
He had made the promise when he knew not the
events that were impending. Napoleon had from
70,000 to 90,000 men, and the Anglo-Netherlands
army, or the allies under Wellington, would,
should Blucher come, number nearly 70,000, of
which 25,000 were British troops.
Should Wellington face the fiery French army,
and risk the coming of Blucher? The French
had 240 cannon, and he but 156. This he could
not have known, and had he known it, he prob
ably did not believe that Providence sided with
the heaviest artillery.
Napoleon was certain of victory as he stood on

178 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
the hills under the lowering sky, and saw his
advantage over his foe. He laughed in derision
as he sat with his officers, like Xerxes at Salamis.
The green earth was mud; the sky was lead;
the skirmish lines blazed and rattled, and between
eleven and twelve o'clock the battle began, Napo
leon attempting to take Hougoumont, whose well
and ruins may still be seen, and into whose well, it
is claimed, hundreds of bodies were thrown after
the battle, some dead, some wounded, and the
wounded crying out piteously, in their open tomb,
for hours and days, for rescue and the chance for
life. " Had Napoleon taken Hougoumont," says
one, " he might have had the world." But
Hougoumont was not taken. In its green gardens
and orchards, that day, some three thousand men
fell. But the men stationed there were heroes,
and they felt that to them had been given the key
of the temple of fate.
As one visits the ruined chateau now under
the blue sky of summer, amid the gay poppy
fields, and hears the birds singing in the cool
trees, one can hardly imagine how gray and red
and blasting was that day. The low clouds lifted,
but the sky was still overcast.

SUNSET AT WATERLOO. 1 79
At two o'clock Napoleon felt that the crisis of
the battle had come. He did not doubt that " he
and destiny were one." Never was Marshal Ney,
" the bravest of the brave," prouder than at that
hour. He swept down 20,000 men upon Welling
ton's squares. But the English met the shock
with the steadiness of men whose commissions
were in their souls. The French met an awful
loss. Did a doubt begin to enter Napoleon's mind
now? He had sat on his white steed on
the green heights, with his telescope in hand, on
that morning of destiny, arrayed like a con
queror whose victory was already assured. His
cloak, indeed, concealed his epaulettes, red rib
bon, and stars. His white horse had housings of
purple velvet, with decorations of N's and eagles.
By his side was the victorious sword of Marengo.
Four o'clock came. The great plain and slop
ing hills were covered with the dead and dying.
The Prince of Orange, who commanded the
center, had given his immortal order to the Bel
gians :
" Never yield an inch."
The army of Wellington had stretched from

180 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
chateau of Hougoumont to a distant farm house
called La Haye Sainte.
Wellington sat, mounted on his horse, in front
of the old mill of Mount St. Jean, near an elm
tree, the site of which is still shown. His aid-de
camp fell by his side, and his officers around him,
but his mind never wavered from the fate of the
day. A shell came screaming through the air and
bursted near him.
"My Lord," said Lord Hill, "what orders do
you leave for us if you are killed ?"
" Do as I am doing now."
Seeing that events looked dark, and that
Blucher had not come, he said, " Boys, can you
think of giving way — remember old England !"
The English moved back behind a ridge, to
consolidate. The army, except the artillery and sharp
shooters, seemed to have disappeared.
Then, if ever, the heart of Napoleon swelled
with pride. The dream of his life seemed about
to be realized.
" It is the beginning of retreat ! " he cried.
" It is a pretty chess board," he had said of the
armies in the morning, and the game seemed to

SUNSET AT WATERLOO. l8l
have been won. And now was the time to send
the glad news to Paris. How the city would
blaze with light !
" Fly," said he, to the courier, " and tell them
the field is won ! The English are in retreat ! "
There remained one thing to be done. It was
to sweep Wellington's hidden squares from the
plateau. The cavalry must do this and the
cavalry were giant men on giant horses. He
gazed at the ridge. How splendidly these giants
would mount it and hurl their irresistible force
down on the other side.
He had by his side a guide named Lacoste.
He bent low and said to him, " Is there any
obstruction between us and the plateau?"
The peasant shook his head.
It was not true.
The reader may never have seen a sunken
road. If he visit the field of Waterloo to-day he
will probably ride through one, for such a road lies
between the railway and the mound of the lion.
A sunken road is a deep depression, in the
centre of a hill. One might pass close to the hill,
or even along its side and not know that such a
road was there. 13

1 82 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
There was such a sunken road in the ridge
between the cavalry and the plateau, and the
peasant guide probably knew that there was.
But his denial followed his heart and not his
conscience. The grand cavalry charge, in the view of Napo
leon, would end all. Then he would sweep
toward the center of the continent, and who
should stay his eagles ? He would be Alexander !
He would be Caesar! France should be the
world !
The giant horsemen were three thousand five
hundred in number.
How magnificent they looked as their horses
mounted the ridge of the plateau !
There were twenty-six squadrons, and eleven
hundred and ninety-six sabers and nearly as
many lances gleamed in the dissolving air. Ney
was at their head, "the bravest of the brave."
He drew his saber. They raised theif sabers and
gave their standards to the air. They moved as
one spirit, and if ever victory seemed to hover in
the air — victory complete — it was then.
Behind the crest of the plateau, in which was
the sunken road, Wellington had consolidated his

SUNSET AT WATERLOO. 1 83
squares, and he calmly awaited the coming of the
army of death.
There was a silence there, and the rush of the
three thousand horses seemed to rend the air
before the hills. The cuirassiers mounted the
ridge. What a scene was there that made the
blood fly from each leader's cheek and his heart
sink ?
There yawned under their very feet the sunken
road ; a chasm, a grave. They could not halt.
Into that chasm the first rank of men and horses
went down, then the second rank, crushing their
riders, and at last when the road was full of the
dead and dying, the rest of the cavalry, impelled
by an irresistible momentum, rode over their
bodies to new slaughters in the open field.
Two thousand horses and fifteen hundred men
were buried, according to the local tradition, in or
about this awful abyss, on the following days.
The battle that followed is one of the most
terrible in history. Division after division of
the English army was borne down, yet the army,
as a whole, did what the Iron Duke did, stood
like statues.
Ney had four horses shot under him. The

1 84 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
giant horses at times leaped upon the English
bayonets. After twelve assaults the English army
still stood, and the giant cavalry had spent its
force. Ney sent a message to Napoleon — how it
must have shaken the emperor's heart !
" Send me infantry."
"Infantry!" said Napoleon; "does he think
that I can make them ? "
Five o'clock came. Wellington looked at his
watch. " It is Blucher or night," he said — meaning
help or defeat.
Bluchers army had been delayed by the mud.
But early in the battle, under the dissolving
clouds, Napoleon had seen a cloud a long way off
on the hills that raised his apprehension. He
peered through his glass.
" I see a cloud over there," he said. " It looks
like troops."
He looked again.
" Soult, what do you see?"
" Men, sire ; four or five thousand of them."
"They are columns halting," said one officer.
" They are only trees," said others.

SUNSET AT WATERLOO. 1 85
It was now near nightfall. The great cavalry
charge had failed ; and Blucher was thundering
down to the field. To Wellington it was Blucher,
and to Napoleon night.
The French reeled back before the third army.
At first all was terror and confusion ; then the
retreat became a rout. " God disposes ! "
It was evening. The clouds rolled away. The
sky burned. It was sunset.
It was sunset with thee, Napoleon ! It was
sunset, let us hope, with wars of ambition and
conquest in Europe.
But where now is Marshal Ney, the bravest of
the brave ? He finds a horse, a strange horse,
and he mounts it, without hat or sword, and has
tens to order back the flying army. But they still
fly, shouting, " Long live Marshal Ney."
And Napoleon ? He too rides after the fugi
tives, but they still fly, crying out " Long live the
Emperor ! "
That June night the moon came out, and under
it the battlefield blazed and smoked ; and men
groaned and died. Nearly fifty thousand men lay
on the field.
Napoleon turned toward Paris — what must have

1 86 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
been his thoughts of God, fate, and this change
able world, in this solitary hour ?
He at first rode alone, but was recognized by
flying men by his gray overcoat and white horse.
There was a great orchard on the farm of
La Belle Alliance. He came to it, and reined his
horse into the shadows. It was a silent place,
dark with leaves. It was there that must have
come to him the full revelation of his fall. Few
things are more pathetic in his history than this
brief night solitude in the lonely orchard.
" What would father say if he saw us now ? " he
had asked of his favorite brother, Joseph, as they
dressed for his coronation in 1804.
His thoughts may have turned to his brother in
this dreadful hour ; he wrote to him a short time
later. Alas ! what would his father have said could
he have seen him in the shadows of the French
farmhouse, for that little time alone ? What is
there in history more pathetic than Napoleon in
that orchard of La Belle Alliance, all alone ?
Two French soldiers presently came riding by.
They had lost their way. They discovered him
there in solitude and called after him. Thinking
that call was a warning that he was being pur-

SUNSET AT WATERLOO. 1 87
sued, he darted forward, and came to Charleroi.
He obtained a post carriage and rode like the
wind to the walls of Phillipeville, where he wrote
that letter to his brother Joseph. Sleep ? did he
sleep that night ?
And this was the end of the slaughters of men
for glory ! He went to Paris, and the Assembly
demanded his abdication. He must now flee.
Where? Whither?
In the midst of his confusion and peril, there
came to him a message. Its magnanimity re
vealed to him a grand man, whose life had been
governed by the divinity within. It said in sub
stance, " I will prepare the way for you to go to
America." America ? Whence came that noble, compas
sionate message ? Lafayette, who would not
accept his favors and whom he had sought to
injure in his son. Not America, but St. Helena,
was to be the destination of the man who had
crowned and discrowned kings.
Napoleon— Lafayette ! The name of one lives
with the achievements of selfish glory, and the
other with the well-being of mankind. Let us go
with Lafayette and his injured son to a different
field from this.

CHAPTER XXVI.
THE UNEXPECTED MEETING.
HE arrival of Lafayette in New York, as
the guest of the Nation, was the
expected event of 1824. He came on
the morning of August the 15th, and began what
was to him a triumphal march through the repub
lic, whose liberties he had done so much to secure.
Banners waved, bells pealed, the air resounded
with " Long live Lafayette," and children strewed
the streets with flowers. Never, in ancient or
modern times, did a reception of any benefactor of
humanity more engage the people's hearts.
On the 1 6th, Lafayette was publicly received
in the City of New York. All business was sus
pended on that glorious August day. The morn
ing brought the booming of cannon and the ring
ing of bells. All buildings of importance were
gay with flags ; the harbor was a canopy of red,
white, and blue. Some fifty thousand people
crowded the Battery — Castle Garden was a

*

THE UNEXPECTED MEETING. 1 89
canopy of French and American colors — every
where glowed the motto — " Welcome Lafayette ! "
About eleven o'clock in the morning, a steamship
bearing the flags of all nations and followed by
crowded boats sailed to Staten Island, where
Lafayette then was, to escort the hero to the city.
He was landed at the Battery about noon, from a
steamer bearing only the United States and New
York flags.
Seldom in the world has there been felt a
nobler thrill of gratitude than that which filled the
hearts of the people as that steamer swept up
through the shouting harbor. Grand speeches
were made on the arrival, and they were followed
by reviews, receptions, and illuminations. The
city hardly knew any night in those days, when all
hearts beat to the one heart of Lafayette.
At one of the brilliant receptions, a young man
of chivalrous bearing was presented to the Gen
eral. He bowed and said :
" You do not remember me. I first met you
when a little boy. I have seen you but once
since, and then we could not be understood."
"Your name is Huger?"
" Yes, Francis Kinlock Huger."

190 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" Can it be possible ? I first met you when a
boy, and you asked me many questions."
" Yes, General, and that was just after you had
made your vow by the Carolinian sea that prob
ably decided the fate of America."
" My son, my son ! you once offered your life
for mine."
" I put myself in peril once for your sake, and
for the honor of America."
"My son, my more than friend ! " we may sup
pose Lafayette to have thought. " Do you wish
to know what is the most glorious hour of life ?
It is when one meets an unknown friend who has
offered to die for him. What can one say at such
an hour? The tongue has no language; poetry
fails. The atmosphere of the hero is there.
You, you, in the sunset woods near Olmutz, loved
me better than your own life. Let me embrace
you. This is an hour of which I have dreamed ;
my heart is full ; nothing can express what this
meeting is to me ! "
In words like these he took the young man to
his arms. It is one of the noblest hours of
human glory when a patriot meets such a friend.
The accounts of the reception of Lafayette, as

THE UNEXPECTED MEETING. 191
the Nation's guest, would fill volumes, as they
have already done ; the noble speeches made by
the great orators of the elder day, his own
addresses, and the thrilling scenes at Washington,
in the South, on the old battlefields, and at the
laying of the cornerstone of the monument at
Bunker Hill.
These we must pass, but there was one scene at
Yorktown that we will wish to review.
It was again October (1824) ; the committee
who were to entertain Lafayette at Yorktown met
him on the boat that was to convey him thither :
" We are deputed," said the speaker, " by our
fellow-citizens, now assembled at Yorktown, to
welcome you to Virginia.
" In the numerous assembly now awaiting your
arrival, the noblest emotions are swelling in every
bosom, engaging every tongue, and beaming
from every eye.
" Virginia, of all the States, owes you the
greatest debt of gratitude. This State was the
chief scene of your services. In the days of her
greatest peril Washington selected you, his youth
ful friend, for the chief command, and to you
intrusted the defense of his* native State.

I92 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" And now, after the lapse of forty-three years,
you visit this spot again, happy to renew the
recollections of the past."
The beach and the heights of Yorktown were
crowded with happy people. All hearts beat faster
as the boat bearing Lafayette drew near. The
air was a glory of colors, and trembled with cheers.
Noble were the thoughts with which the
Governor of Virginia ended his address of
welcome :
" No other man, at any date of history, has ever
received the tribute of a nation's feelings which
have flowed from the heart more gratefully and
generously than that you witness now."
At the end of the formal reception a soldier
approached Lafayette.
" I was with you at Yorktown," he said. " I en
tered yonder redoubt at your side." He added —
" I was also at the side of the gallant De Kalb,
when he fell on the field."
The eyes of Lafayette filled with tears. He
must have recalled the vow that the Baron made
with him at the Carolinian shore.
Lafayette gazed on the happy faces of the
multitude.

THE UNEXPECTED MEETING. 193
This was not the field of Waterloo. It was
the field that won a new age for the world. It
was the field of a cause, not of men.
The son of Lafayette must here have seen the
true greatness of his father's character. What
was all they had suffered on a day like this ?

CHAPTER XXVII.
LAGRANGE.
|T was at the end of the year 1825 ; Malan,
the Jew, had made a journey to Metz,
and he left the place for Paris, over the
same road he had gone in 1790 with the delegates
of the federation, singing :
" It will come ; it will come ! "
The Ca ira still haunted him, and the visions of
the 14th of July, when Lafayette laid his sword
upon the altar of liberty came back to him.
Great changes had taken place. The fall of
Napoleon had led to the constitutional throne of
another Louis, to be followed by the rise of Louis
Philippe, the citizen king, when France was again
to have peace. But amid all these changes the
principles of the constitution of Lafayette were
to remain ; whatever had happened, or might
come, Lafayette had enthroned the constitution of
the people to be the protector of the rights of the
194

LAGRANGE. 1 95
French. To the people of France and of America
he had indeed proved the true Knight of Liberty.
" I must visit Lafayette," said the old Jew, as
he passed along. "We feel events before they
come ; our life comes to us first as a dream. I
have always wished to meet Lafayette, since I first
heard of his name. I have learned that he has
taken up the cause of the slaves in the West
India Islands and in America ; a true Knight,
that. I wonder if he ever thought of the Jew.
" ' fa ira, ca ira, ca ira,
The humble shall be exalted,
The exalted shall be abased ! '
" Would that there might arise some Lafayette
in the world to champion the cause of my people.
Did ever any wild beasts treat the beasts of the
forests as my own people have been treated by
mankind ? The liberty of the world can never be
achieved until my people have their rights.
" ' f7a ira, ca ira, ca ira.'
"The day will come ; the man will come. I am
going to Paris, and then I will journey to La
grange to see Lafayette, and tell him that it was
I, the Jew, that sent the bag of gold."

196 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
¦ He went to Paris, and dreamed again of that
day of liberty, July 14, 1790. He then jour
neyed toward Lagrange, the home of Lafayette.
Beautiful was Lagrange among the mountains ;
its streams and its trees. Lafayette had just
returned from his visit to America, where he had
been the Nation's guest. The whole country, from
the Hudson to the Mississippi, had rung with the
shout of "Vive Lafayette J '" His journey, as we
have shown, had been a triumphal march under
streaming flags and floral arches. All American
doors had stood open to him.
It was a fete day at Lagrange as the Jew
approached. The children of the country had
assembled to honor Lafayette. The Knight of
Liberty was beloved by all the people where he
lived ; these people had often assembled to do
him honor, and now the children had come.
Why was Lafayette so beloved by his neigh
bors, and why had the children assembled to wel
come him home from America?
We will let one of his most beloved friends,
M. Gates Cloquet, tell the wonderful story of how
Lafayette treated his neighbors, who came to love
him so greatly. This writer draws the following

Lafayette's wife visits him in prison.

(See page 145.)

LAGRANGE. 1 97
picture and we may study it before we follow
the Jew :
" To the indigent inhabitants of his canton
Lafayette's beneficence was unbounded. Two
hundred pounds of bread, baked expressly at the
farm for the support of the poor, were distributed
to them every Monday, at the chateau ; and in
times of scarcity, the weekly distribution was
increased to six hundred pounds. The bread thus
given was of the same quality as that eaten at
Lafayette's own table, and at the seasons last
mentioned, each individual received a mess of
soup and a sol in addition to his portion. If the
poor were seized with some grevious malady,
Lafayette visited them, and had them attended to,
at his own expense, by Dr. Sautereau, whose
talent is equal to his modesty, and whose devotion
to the poor sufferers afforded the best proof of his
goodness of heart, and his attachment to Lafay
ette's family. There exists at Court Palais a
charitable institution founded by the family of
Noailles. Lafayette, as having married a Mile.
de Noailles, contributed to defray the expenses
of this establishment ; and besides, such patients
as could not be attended to at their homes
were taken care of at his expense at the hospital
of Rosay.
" Dr. Sautereau had been an inhabitant of
14

198 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
Lagrange for thirty-six years, and was in posses
sion of Lafayette's confidence as a physician, and
of his affection as a friend. Few have been so
well acquainted with Lafayette's private life as he
was, and few have felt more admiration for his vir
tues and his noble disposition. ' All Lafayette's
moments at Lagrange,' observed he to me one
day, ' resemble each other, for they are all
marked by good feelings or good actions.' It
was from him that I obtained the following anec
dotes, which he related to me with tears in
his eyes, and with the emotion of a man who
regretted that he had himself been unable to per
form the good actions of which he spoke.
"A man, one day in his presence, spoke ill of
Lafayette, and, by way of answer, he related to
him the following anecdote :
" When Lafayette became possessor of
Lagrange, he wished to make his property as
compact as possible, and with that view purchased
several small pieces of land that had intermingled
with his estate. One of these small properties
belonged to a peasant named P  , who raised
all the difficulties imaginable, in order to obtain
an exorbitant price for his land ; he was even dis
posed to go to law with Lafayette about a ditch
which the latter had dug in his neighborhood ; in
short, he took his measures so effectually that he
obtained from the General at least three times the

LAGRANGE. 1 99
value of his property. Two or three years after
ward, the very same peasant, not content with
having fleeced Lafayette, attempted secretly to
cut some wood in his park ; but unfortunately for
him, he fell from the top of an oak, broke his
thigh, and was seized by the keepers, flagrante
delicto. Lafayette was informed of the accident
by the wounded man himself, who had been trans
ported to the chateau, and who applied to him for
assistance. Having learned the circumstances
under which he had broken his thigh, the General
sent Sautereau to the man to set the limb.
When it was observed to him that the individual
whom he assisted was the man who endeavored to
force him into a law-suit, ' No matter,' replied he;
' if I do him good he may feel his injustice to me,
and perhaps regret his exaction on the subject
of our exchange of property.' The case having
proved extremely serious, forty days after the
accident Lafayette had the patient transported to
Paris, and taken care of at his own expense,
though, in reality, the man was wholly unworthy
of his kindness. The fact abundantly proves
that the General could forget base conduct, and
return good for evil.
" In the month of December, 1806, M.
Sautereau was summoned to attend an artisan of
Rosay, named Cerceau, for a fracture of the leg.
The cold was excessive ; the poor patient and his

200 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
wife, who attended him, had but a small provision
of wood, but they were aware that their doctor
saw patients at Lagrange, and that the excellent
inhabitants of the chateau were always disposed
to relieve the unfortunate. They accordingly
besought the doctor to make an appeal to Mme.
Lafayette's charity, in order to obtain for them
wherewithal to warm themselves. M. Sautereau
undertook to discharge the commission, and with
the greater readiness, as he was persuaded that
the demand would be favorably received. The
next morning, on paying his visit at Lagrange,
he acquainted Mme. Lafayette with the wants of
his patient, and the necessity of keeping up a fire
night and day in his chamber on account of the
excessive coldness of the weather. Mme. Lafa
yette, accosting her husband, who was present,
asked if the good people might not be authorized
to take a quarter cord of wood in Lagrange.
' Nay, my love,' he replied, ' give them rather a
half cord, and the poor creatures will then be
spared the trouble of coming so often.' The
advice was followed.
" M. Sautereau made me acquainted with
another trait of Lafayette's humanity and deli
cacy, which is well worth recording. The wife of
a certain ex-physician of Rosay, who carried on
a trade to enable her husband to live with
respectability, but who had neither the exactness

LAGRANGE. 201
nor the economy necessary to insure her success
in business, had signed a bill payable to order for
the sum of four thousand francs, in favor of an
individual in Berney, a village near the chateau of
Lagrange. The bill, not having been paid when
due, was protested. In the midst of her embar
rassments, the poor woman, reckoning upon
Lafayette's extreme kindness, entreated him to
extricate her from her difficulties, and he, affected
by her situation, though suspecting her insol
vency, consented to pay the bill. Shortly after
ward Lafayette asked M. Sautereau if the lady
whom he had obliged was in a condition to repay
him according to her promise. M. Sautereau
replied that in that part of the country she was
said to be ruined ; that she was selling her furni
ture by degrees, but that she was still in posses
sion of some valuable pictures, and that, in his
opinion, to accept them would prove the only
mode of recovering the sum due from her. ' I
prefer losing the money,' replied Lafayette, ' to
being paid in that manner, and I am happy to
have it in my power to offer as a gift to the poor
woman what I had advanced as a loan.' It is
necessary to remark that the husband of the lady
had never been summoned to Lagrange in his
medical capacity; that Lafayette was not even
personally acquainted with him, and that, conse
quently, his generous conduct was not dictated by

202 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
gratitude, but solely by the desire of doing
good. "At the period of the famine, 1817, the distress
at Lagrange was excessive, and all the poor of
the country and of the neighboring communes
were fed at the chateau. As many as seven hun
dred might have been seen there every day.
They received economical soup, bread, and
money, but unfortunately the purses and the
granaries were emptied before the end of the
season. Toward the month of June, a family
council was held at the chateau, to take into con
sideration the means of providing for the wants of
so many unfortunate creatures. It was observed
to Lafayette that it would be impossible to con
tinue the customary distribution, and that, before
the expiration of six weeks, nothing would be left
in the chateau.
"'Well,' replied Lafayette, 'there is a very
simple mode of solving this problem : we can live
in Auvergne ; by retiring to Chavanaic, we may
abandon to the poor what we should have con
sumed by remaining at Lagrange ; their existence
will thus be prolonged till harvest time.' This
proposal was joyfully accepted and put into execu
tion by his worthy family.
" During the prevalence of a species of the
cholera, which spread havoc in the environs of
Lagrange in 1832, Lafayette, in spite of the

LAGRANGE. 203
entreaties of his family, insisted on proceeding to
his country seat, to assist the victims of that horri
ble epidemic, in company with Dr. Thierry. The
medicine which he took with him, his ice house, a
considerable quantity of flannel, linen, woolen
blankets, and I may add, his whole house, were
entirely at the service of the neighboring villages.
'While the scourge lasted,' said one, 'Lafa
yette was admirably seconded by his son and
daughters, Mmes. de Maubourg and de Lasteyrie.
M. George and his sisters had summoned to
Lagrange M. Cardinal, a young physician remark
able for his zeal and activity. They went
together to the villages and houses of the sick,
were in movement night and day to assist and
console the unfortunate patients, to whom they
acted as nurses, and whom they were sometimes
obliged to bury, when they fell victims to the
disease. " A boarding-school for young ladies at Court
Palais, under the direction of Mme. Ducloselle,
had been converted by them into an extensive dis
pensary, where medicine was furnished to all the
patients, rich and poor, indiscriminately. The
villagers, panic-struck by the rapid spread of the
epidemic, and thinking only of themselves, were
retreating with precipitation from the scene of
desolation, and abandoning the sick ; but the
arrival of M. George and his sisters revived their

204 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
drooping courage. By degrees they grew
ashamed of their weakness, and being convinced,
by the example of their benefactors, that the
cholera was not contagious, they began to follow
them into the houses, and at last consented to
attend to such of their relatives and friends as had
been attacked by the malady. Persons whose
situation enabled them to estimate the expenses
incurred by Lafayette, on the occasion of the epi
demic, rated them at 38,000 francs.
" The following fact, simple as it is, will prove
how the inhabitants of the country loved Lafa
yette. About three weeks ago, I made an excur
sion to Lagrange, in a cabriolet. By some
fatality I mistook the road, and lost myself toward
nightfall, in the midst of some plowed land.
After a number of fruitless efforts, I almost de
spaired of regaining the road, when, at a distance,
I perceived a glimmering light. Toward this guid
ing star I directed my steps, and at last reached
the door of a cottage. An aged female, who was
the inmate of it, was on the point of retiring to
rest, but as soon as she heard of my wish to pro
ceed to Lagrange, she dressed herself in haste,
put on her sabots, and an old cloak, the numerous
patches of which attested the owner's anxiety to
counteract the ravages of time, and then closed
the door after her, and had the kindness to guide
me, for more than a quarter of a league, through

LAGRANGE. 205
some most difficult crossroads. As we went
along, she talked to me, in her own way, of the
loss which the country had sustained in the
person of the beneficent Lafayette, and gave me
to understand that in acting as my guide she
merely discharged a debt of gratitude to his
memory. When we separated, the good old
woman refused my thanks. I was as much
affected by her kindness as I was fortunate in
having met with her, since, but for her assistance,
I should probably have been obliged to wait for
daylight to reach Lagrange, which was more than
two leagues distant from her cottage."
Such was the heart of the man, as pictured by
an intimate friend, whose chateau among the hills
we now picture the old Jew as approaching.
It was the ioth of October, 1825, on the day
before Lafayette had arrived. Nearly the whole
population of the canton had met him at the gate.
It had been like the arrival of a man at the gate
of a paradise ; the atmosphere was filled with the
voices of love. It was floral day on the ioth.
The little girls of the canton were to assemble in
the park and fill the chateau with flowers.
The same writer thus speaks of this flower day
that followed the arrival of Lafayette at La-

206 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
grange : " The inhabitants retired only after
having conducted him, by the light of illumination
and the sound of music, under the triumphal arch
bearing an inscription in which they had awarded
to him the title of the people's friend. There he
was again greeted with the expression of the hap
piness and joy caused to his good neighbors by
his return. During the whole of the next day, the
General was occupied in receiving the young girls,
who brought flowers and sang couplets to him,
and also in meeting the company of the National
Guard of Court Palais, and a deputation from the
town of Rosay. While offering a box of flowers
to their friend, the inhabitants of the commune
addressed him in a simple and affecting speech,
through M. Fricotelle, the head of the deputation ;
and no sooner had the oration been pronounced,
than the whole people rushed into the General's
arms, and afterward into those of his son, M.
George Lafayette. On the following Sunday, the
inhabitants of Rosay and the environs offered a
brilliant f£te to Lafayette, the expense of which
was defrayed by a general subscription. The
preparations, which occupied several days, were
the work of a portion of the citizens, who refused

LAGRANGE. 207
the assistance of a single hired laborer. At five
o'clock in the evening the apartments and the
courts of the chateau of Lagrange were filled by
upward of four thousand persons, many of whom
had traveled several leagues to do homage to the
man whose name dwelt on every tongue as the
people's friend."
It was near nightfall of October 10, 1825,
when old Malan entered the Park. The chateau
rose solemn and gray under the long shadows of
the mountains ; the woods were beginning to wear
an autumnal luster, but the park was like fairy
land. Children were everywhere, bearing the last
bright flowers of the year.
In a tent in the midst of a great meadow, which
had been arranged for him, sat Lafayette and his
family. The Jew approached the tent.
" It is a happy company that you have about
you, Monsieur," said the Jew. " But I see none
of my own race among them, and I hope I do not
presume ? "
" You are a stranger to me, and I assure you
that you are welcome. We know no race at a
gathering like this, and as for me, I hope that any
feeling that esteemed one race more than another

208 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
has long since died within me. My country is the
world, and my race is humanity, and my brethren
are mankind. One heart, one brain, one common
form, and the same origin and end have all men.
The cradle and the coffin bring the first and the
final sleep. Whence do you come ? "
" From Metz. I am a Hungarian Jew. I have
lived in Vienna."
" And what brings you here ? Any need of my
service ? "
" No ! yourself."
" I do not remember that I ever did you any
service, but I would be glad to remember that I
had. Sit down, you must be weary, and I esteem
it a compliment that you are interested in myself."
" I once sought to do you a service."
" I am glad to know it. When ?"
" When you were a prisoner at Olmutz."
" I am greatly interested. How was that?"
" I sent to you, by young Huger, a little bag of
gold. It was given to you on the night of the
affair in the wood. You remember ?"
" I remember. What is your name ? "
"They call me Malan, in Vienna — Malan the
Jew."

LAGRANGE. 209
" I wish that I could have done or could do
some service to your race."
" You have rendered services to other races
that the common world does not esteem. It is
such things as these that have led me to esteem
you. General Lafayette, you have the first place
in this poor old heart. I know, as few know, the
value of liberty."
" Malan, my friend ! I would like to talk with
you. Let my friend here take you to the chateau,
and give you a more quiet hospitality than you
can have here. I will join you there soon."
The old Jew was led to the chateau.
It was early evening. A rocket shot into the
sky. The people were lighting lanterns in the
trees, and the hunter's moon, like a gate of heaven,
illumined the dusky east. A single star hung
over the brow of the mountains, and the woods
grew dark in the quiet night. The old Jew was
given a liberal meal. Rocket followed rocket on
the lawn. The bands began to play, and amid
the bright lights of the opening of the fete, Lafa
yette came stealing away from the field of the fes
tival to meet Malan the Jew.
" You are welcome, more than welcome, as I

2IO THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
said," spoke the Marquis. " I am glad that I owe
you a debt of gratitude, though I wish it were the
other way. Let me thank you from out of a truly
grateful heart for the bag of gold. That it mis
carried does not change the prompting and inten
tion of your heart. You spoke to me of young
Huger, the Carolinian."
" The young man from the States."
" I met him in America. He was but a child
when I first saw him. I was mysteriously
attracted to him, perhaps because he had a
French name, and he offered his life for me in the
affair in the wood, though I scarcely spoke to
him, and did not know him. He came to me
amid the noble receptions that were given in my
honor in New York.
" Malan, my venerable friend, it is no common
event of life to meet one who has offered his life
for your sake. My heart melted as he told me
the simple story. He is one of the many sons of
my heart. Oh, how rich is life in friends ! I
bless heaven for them ! "
" The world is yours," said Malan. " Napoleon
fought for France, but also for ambition and
glory. You fought for a cause outside of your-

LAGRANGE. 211
self, and your name will live with the cause.
Lafayette, what was it Napoleon used to call
Marshal Ney?"
" 'The bravest of the brave.' Ney was a very
brave man."
" General Lafayette, he is a braver man who
can say no to the field of honor and glory, and to
wealth and fame, than he who fights to win what
ambition most covets and esteems. You have
been able to say no to yourself, in every cause
where sacrifice would best serve mankind. In my
view, you are the bravest of the brave ; and one
day the world will so count your name and
fame." " But, my good friend, let me show the picture
of one who was as brave as any man who ever
lived. See, here is a portrait framed in gold.
Let me uncover it."
" Whence does it come ? "
" I brought it from America. It was presented
to me by the city of Charleston, South Carolina,
one of the United States."
Lafayette uncovered the portrait slowly in the
dim light.
In the park the fireworks were delighting the

212 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
crowds. The moon was rising, and music filled
the air.
" This young man," said Lafayette, " surren
dered himself to what seemed to him to have been
ruin to save me. He was rich, a mere lad, and
had a widowed mother. Amid hostile stra'ngers
he said in his true heart, ' Welcome any fate, if
Lafayette be but saved ! ' The high quality of
gratitude in his heart was more than life. Such a
man is a hero. I will transfer the phrase with
which you have knighted me to him."
Lafayette set the picture before the light. The
Jew started, and his eyes filled with tears.
" That is Francis Huger," he said. " Do you
know why he offered all he had for you ? "
" Yes, my good friend. Why ? "
" What is a knight ? "
" A knight ? It is he who for honor champions
a cause ! "
" General Lafayette, you hold Huger to be one
of the bravest of the brave. He had a highborn
nature, and he looked upon you as the champion
of the rights of man — the knight of liberty !
" General Lafayette, a knight makes a knight,
and whatever tends to righteousness, that is right.

LAGRANGE. 213
I shall never see you again. I go out into the
night. My days are swifter than a weaver's
shuttle. My hard life is glorified in this word of
cheer. The thought makes me happy. General
Lafayette, I leave with you the voice of time.
Knight of Liberty, farewell !
" Qa ira, ca ira, ca ira.
The humble shall be exalted ! "

15

CHAPTER XXVIII.
WHAT MADE HIM GREAT. (
MAN is not a hero until he can say no
to wealth, honors, preferment, or any
advantage to himself that he may deem
detrimental to the world. Lafayette had indeed
said to the agent of the King of Prussia, who had
offered him freedom in return for an alliance with
a foreign power against his own enemies in
France : " No — my name is Lafayette." In that
hour he not only said no to a great temptation to
gain relief from imprisonment, but what might
have been, to another, a great opportunity for
revenge. No man can ever be conquered who has con
quered himself. And no man can be a hero, and
rise with godlike beauty, who does not make his
affections subordinate to his moral will. A man
enchained by his affections and passions cannot
be free, he is a slave to the earth ; all his powers
214

WHAT MADE HIM GREAT. 21 5
of godlike action are prisoners. The affections
are noble under control.
" So many remarks have been made in a party
spirit," once said Lafayette, " that it may not be
out of place here, to assert that no private affec
tion has ever diverted me from my public duty.
In the course of these years of power I encour
aged none to speak well of me, and prevented
none from speaking ill."
But not only must a true hero be able to say no
to any allurement from duty, and rise superior to
his private affections, he must be able to lose
himself in a cause, and become the soul of the
noble principles that he advocates. Such was
Lafayette. " Ah, sir," wrote he from the prison of
Magdeburg to M. d'Archenholz, speaking of the
necessity in which he had been placed, of exiling
himself after the ioth of August, 1792, "how
great are my obligations to you for having sym
pathized with the inexpressible pangs of my
soul, — ardent in the cause of humanity, thirsting
after glory, tenderly loving my country, my
family, my friends,-^-when after sixteen years'
labor I was compelled to tear myself from the

2l6 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
happiness of combating in defense of the prin
ciples and the opinions for which alone I had
lived ! "
" Every man," says a great thinker, " is a
debtor to his profession." Lafayette recognized
that he owed the highest moral character to his
position as a leader of the people. He knew the
meaning of ruined influence.
When he had not a great call to serve in the
national councils or field, he felt it his duty to
live as a simple citizen ; of this he says :
" The hope of thus serving my country would
be to me an additional motive to preserve undi
minished the species of moral power attached to
my personal character ; and should this hope
prove illusive, as it is the only one which I call my
own, I have only to balance the individual advan
tages of fortune or tranquillity with the benefit
which the public may still find in my passive state
of existence. You thus see that, independently of
my natural and insurmountable feelings, I ought,
as a matter of calculation, to permit myself no
indulgence on this point."
And, to be a true hero, one must seek moral
power without the spirit of revenge. It is a mean

WHAT MADE HIM GREAT. 217
man that would seek to be revenged on anyone.
Lafayette had learned this principle well. One of )
his most intimate friends and a biographer, after
describing his almost boundless charities and his
pity for all who were friendless or unfortunate,
says : " Lafayette's elevated social position, his
fortune, his numerous connections in both hemi
spheres, enabled him to render important services,
and his benevolent solicitude was exerted in favor
of distant as well as of nearer objects. He some
times found grateful hearts, though his kindness
was often repaid with the blackest ingratitude ;
but it may be said to his credit that he never
cherished, I will not say hatred, for that feeling
was unworthy of his noble soul, but even the
slighest resentment, against a human being. He
forgot injuries, or rather, they left no trace on his
mind, which was the abode only of kind and gen
erous sentiments. Gratitude was, in his opinion,
a feeling which reflected as much honor on the
receiver as a kindness on the bestower. Ingrati
tude he looked upon as the offspring of selfishness
or vanity, and he was accustomed to say that with
the ungrateful there was no resource ; that the
best way was to keep them at a distance when

218 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
known, or to avoid them when once made their
victim. Groveling in adversity and insolent in
prosperity, you are everything to the ungrateful
man when he wants you, and nothing to him when
he can dispense with your assistance. Gratitude
is a burden only to a bad heart ; for this reason
Lafayette was not afraid of contracting obliga
tions, which he repaid with interest whenever an
opportunity occurred. One grateful heart made
him forget a thousand instances of ingratitude,
and thus he continued to oblige, though his kind
ness was often thrown away. The happiness
which he felt in doing good would not permit him
to refuse kind offices, and the surest way to oblige
him was to afford him the opportunity of being
useful to others. I have often availed myself of
his kindness on behalf of my friends or of worthy
individuals, and in so doing I felt conscious that I
was guilty of no importunity. His confidence
was, no doubt, often abused, and recommendations
were obtained from him which he would have
refused had he been induced by a little more dis
trust, or even circumspection, to procure accurate
information as to the objects of his kindness.
Whenever he ascertained that he had been

WHAT MADE HIM GREAT. 219
deceived, he made a resolution to be more
reserved for the future ; but his natural goodness
always got the better of him, and his experience
was of but little use in putting him on his guard
against fresh solicitations."
He gave himself to the highest cause that com
manded his service in early years and he never
departed from its principles. Says the same
friend of him, in some personal recollections :
" Lafayette valued reputation and glory, but
cared little for the power that generally results
from them. Having one day been asked who, in
his opinion, was the greatest man of this age :
' In my idea,' replied he, ' General Washington is
the greatest man ; for I look upon him as the
most virtuous.'
" A short time after a great national move
ment to make him a king, an Englishman arrived
from London to Paris to see Lafayette, and
returned as soon as he had accomplished his
object. Some of his countrymen wished to
detain him, but he refused their solicitations, and
said, on leaving them, ' I was desirous of seeing a
man who had refused a crown ; I have seen him,
and return content.'

220 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
" Lafayette," says the same writer, " loved truth
above all things, and rejected all that could
change or corrupt its nature. Like Epaminon-
das, he would not have suffered himself even in
joke to utter the slightest falsehood. He was the
mirror of truth, even in the midst of political
parties, whose condemnation he pronounced by
presenting to them the hideous image of their
passions ; he thus offended without convincing
them, and the mirror, being declared deceitful,
was destined to be broken. I once heard him
say, ' The court would have accepted me, had I
been an aristocrat, and the Jacobins, had I been a
Jacobin, but as I wished to side with neither, both
united against me.'"
This is high praise, and it pictures the true way
that a young man should enter upon life, if he
would have harvests that will satisfy his soul. To
follow the Divine Ought that is born in the soul
of every man, is to find an exalted contentment in
life, joy in death, and the sure elevation to a
better existence hereafter.
We have told the story of how once more was
the great man's soul to be tried ; how Napoleon
Bonaparte flashed forth like a meteor, and gained

WHAT MADE HIM GREAT. 221
control of France, and scattered her enemies, and
it was proposed to elect him consul for life.
Napoleon knew Lafayette as a true knight of
liberty, who drew his sword only for a cause.
He sought to draw him after him, and would no
doubt been glad to have given to him the place,
opportunity, and honors of Murat or Marshal Ney.
Lafayette read Napoleon. He saw that he was
fighting not only for the glory of France but for
himself and empire. The crisis came. Lafayette
was again in the national councils. Should he
follow this new star ?
Should he vote to make Napoleon consul for
life ? No !
He voted no. He followed the Divine Ought
to his own detriment. He made, as we have
shown, Napoleon his enemy, and the conqueror
went so far as to cause the son of Lafayette to be
ignored in the army.
He saw Marshal Ney come to be called " The
Bravest of the Brave." He saw Murat married
to the sister of Napoleon and given the crown of
Naples. He found himself neglected at the new
Imperial court. He had invited it, and he was
silent.

222 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
But the Ought within him had demanded that
vote of no.
Napoleon brought half of Europe at his feet,
and scaled the Alps. The world applauded or
shuddered. Would this man possess Europe or
fall? Lafayette could not then be certain, but could
be silent.
Had Lafayette, in these dazzling years of the
conquests of France, no regret that he had voted
no ? No ! And should Napoleon fall, could
Lafayette be magnanimous toward him who
sought to ruin even the hopes of his own boy?
Yes! We repeat this experience of the life of Lafa
yette. To suffer silence for the conviction of right
and justice is often the noblest achievement of the
soul. With all of his glorious deeds in war, there
is a great example in this silence of Lafayette.
We here take leave of Lafayette in the simple
narrative which we have formed, which has
adhered so nearly to history as to have but
slight threads of fiction. What is the lesson ?
Simply this, that character is everything ! He
was great as the knight that championed

WHAT MADE HIM GREAT. 223
American liberty ; great as the creator of the
constitution of France, which, after nearly a cen
tury of changes, has ended in one of the fairest
republics on earth ; but he was greater when he
said No to self, to luxury, and to every seeming
advantage that could tempt the soul of a man.
He could suffer, and if needs be, die, but he
could not imperil his honor.
" My life and honor both together run ;
Take honor from me, and my life is done."
Let us part from this character, whose influence
is immortal, because it stands for a cause, as
Washington parted from him, when he saw him
for the last time.
It was a bright Indian summer day. The roads
of Maryland were glorious with the lusters of
early fall. The air was mellow, and the noon was
past. They had driven toward Annapolis, Washing
ton and Lafayette. The latter was to embark for
France. The two generals separated on that day, as
brothers would part whose hearts were one.
But the heart of Washington did not leave
Lafayette. It followed him.

A-

224 THE KNIGHT OF LIBERTY.
The great life that he had loved grew upon him
as he sat down amid the shades of Mount Vernon
after that ride. He had not expressed all that
his deep nature desired at that hour of parting
by the way. So he wrote to this friend what
remained to be said :
" In the moment of our separation, upon the
road as we traveled, and every hour since, I have
felt all that love, respect, and attachment for you
with which length of years, close connection, and
your merits have inspired me.
" I often asked myself, as our carriages sepa
rated, whether this were the last sight I should
ever have of you.
" My fears answered Yes.
" I called to mind the days of. youth, that they
had long fled to return no more ; that I was
descending the hill I had been fifty-two years in
climbing ; and, that though I was blessed with a
good constitution, I was of a short-lived family,
and might soon expect to be entombed in the
mansions of my fathers.
" These thoughts darkened the shades and gave
gloom to the picture, and, consequently, to the
prospect of seeing you again."

WHAT MADE HIM GREAT. 225
If such a life inspired the heart of Washington
to such words as these, it may well give the direc
tion of patriotic endeavor to the American youth.
Young Huger, in the wood of Olmutz, is a pic
ture out of life, and what he felt, who would not
feel, and what he offered, who would not offer,
for such as he who rose above self for the welfare
of his fellow-men, and was to France the father of
constitutional rights, and, to our own nation, the
Knight of Liberty !
" Where liberty dwells, there ever will be the
country of Lafayette ! "

THE END.

o

T

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