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1934

WHAT WE OWE
.• .• TO FRANCE '. •.
BY
FRANK LANDON HUMPHREYS, S. T. D.
GENERAL CHAPLAIN OF THE SOCIETY OF THE CINCIN
NATI, CHAPLAIN VETERAN CORPS OF ARTILLERY S. N.
Y. AND THE MILITARY SOCIETY OF 1812. CHAPLAIN OF
THE NEW YORK COMMANDERY OF THE NAVAL ORDER
OF THE UNITED STATES. ETC. .• .' -• .' ." .• .• .• .• .'

NEW YORK
EDWIN S. GORHAM, PUBLISHER
11 -WEST 45th STREET
1915

COPTKIGHT 1915
BT
FRANK LANDON HUMPHREYS, S. T, D.

ctzi.zsi

p

MADE BT
The jerset City Primtinq Company
Jersey City. N. J.

JIUuatrattona
de Bougainville . facing page 74
d'Estaing  " " 34
de Custine  " " 94
de Grasse  " " 84
de La Fayette . . " " 20
de Rochambeau . " " 44
de Viomenil  " " 68

Wmt t0 Mvnntt

The debt we owe to France and her
sons is great. Even before the first sol
dier was landed to support our cause
against the British, the French had won
a far greater position of influence than is
generally known. Admiral de Coligny
planned to found a French colony in the
New World, and one hundred years be
fore the Puritans landed at Plymouth,
French colonists sailed from Havre de
Grace in July, 1555, under Villegagnon,
for Brazil. A second colony of noblemen
sailed from France November 2, 1556.
The colony was a failure, but into the
causes of that failure we need not now
enter. The next expedition to Florida
under Ribault was equally unsuccessful.
In March, 1604, two ships sailed from,
Havre to Canada. It is interesting to
note that investigation has proved that
Priscilla who came on the Mayflower was

10 Wij&t Hg Wm ta 3ffranrg 
a French woman, the daughter of Guil-
laume Molines, corrupted into WUliam
Mullins. Priscilla de Mohnes by her mar
riage with John Alden became the ances
tress of the New England Aldens, and
from this descent came John Adams, sec
ond President of the United States. John
Alden himself also had French blood in
his veins. In 1622 French colonists set
tled in Staten Island and in 1675 many
also formed settlements in Ulster County.
In 1685 many French residents of the
West India Islands came to New York
City. In 1686 Massachusetts granted a
large tract to French refugees and in 1689
numbers of French exiles settled at New
Rochelle. In 1699 about three hundred
French families established themselves on
the banks of the James River, and large
numbers had already settled in South
Carolina. One remarkable thing about
the French is that they never formed a
separate race in this country; they quickly
assimilated themselves, and the change of

 Wlrat ITg Wtae lo 3vuntt 11
their surnames into anglicised forms
greatly conduced to this obliteration.
Many even so-called Dutch emigrants
were really Frenchmen, or of recent
French descent. For instance, the Des
champs became the Van der Veldes; the
Leblancs, the De Witts; the Dubois, the
Van der Bosch; the Chevaliers, the Ruy-
ters ; the Le Grands, the De Groot ; and so
on. The list of French names that have
been anghcised is too long to be given; it
amounts to several hundred names. A
modern writer pays this just tribute to
the French colonists:
"The American colonies were largely
remimerated for the generous hospitali
ties they extended to the French Protes
tants. In Massachusetts the latter cleared
the forests then surrounding the Boston
and Oxford settlements, and introduced
the culture of the pear, quince and grape.
The founders of New Rochelle reclaimed
smiling fields and fruitful gardens from a
savage wilderness ; and thus, too, were the

12 m?al mg Wm ta jffrattfg 
uncultivated lands of the James River
transformed into fruitful farms and rich
harvests. Along the banks of the Cooper,
in South Carolina, they planted the olive,
the vine and the mulberry, with most
other productions of Southern France.
When Charles IL, in 1680, sent the first
band of French Protestants to Carolina,
his principal object was to introduce into
that colony the excellent modes of cultiva
tion which they had followed in their own
country. Their lands, an early traveler
(Lawson) states, presented the aspect of
the most cultivated portions of France
and England; and he adds, 'They hve
like a tribe, like one family, and each one
rejoices at the prosperity and elevation of
his brethren.'
"The mechanics and merchants chose
Charleston for their residence, and they
became a valuable addition to the then
newly founded American colony. They
established silk and woolen manufactories,
and made the cotton Romalls, so much

 Wlfal Wt Wmt to jffrattrg 13
demanded in America, and similar to our
universally used bleached muslins. Thus
the refugees added greatly to the national
prosperity and wealth of the United
States." *
Among the proudest of the Carolinian
And other Southern families we find the
French names of the Ravenels, Neuvilles,
Manigaults, Laurenses, Marions, Bacots,
Benoits, and Bayard, and in the North we
have names that have been indelibly asso
ciated with our history — Jay, Bowdoin,
Cannon, Berrian, Boudinot, Pintard,
Quintard, Demarest, Gallaudet, Guion,
Constant, Joline, Lanier, Le Boutilliers,
Maury, Pelletreau, de Forest, Le Blanc,
Cortelyou, Vermilye, &c.
Faneuil Hall, of which Boston and New
England are so proud, and which is called
the Cradle of Liberty, was the gift of the
son of a Frenchman. Henry Laurens,
John Jay, and Elias Boudinot, who took
*G. P. Disosway in the Huguenots in America, by
Samuel Smiles, p. 437.

14 Mllfat Hlg Wtot ta 3Trattrg 
such a prominent part in the early deUb-
erations touching our independence, were
all three of French descent. Coming to
the war itself, the forgotten fact is that
so evenly were the French and Dutch'
matched in point of influence in New
York that by 1656 all government and
town proclamations were issued in French
and Dutch, and French services were held
in the Fort Chapel. When the war broke
out, the French and the French de
scendants fought for the independence of
the colonies as bravely and as faithfully
as any.
The immediate fruit of the French al
liance was the reduction in the number
of British troops in America. Formerly,
Howe had a command of 60,000 and a
fleet of fifty large warships and twenty-
five armed sloops and cutters. After the
conclusion of the alhance, Clinton never
had over 20,000 troops in all his positions
North and South and seldom as many as
twenty-five warships. The French alh-

 Wlfat Wt Wtas to Jffraturg 15
ance was of a vital necessity to the pa
triots. The whole question hinged upon
what aid France would give and especially
what her navy could do against that of
England. The patriots might deal with
the British land forces, but they were in
despair about the navy and without the
active aid of France or Spain they had
not much hopes of maintaining them
selves. Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga
made a great change in the prospects of
the revolutionary forces. The Count de
Vergennes, the steady friend of Franklin,
and the constant advocate of intervention,
at last won over the French Government
to his views. In accordance with his plans
supplies had been sent secretly by Beau
marchais, and Hortalez and Company
(Hortalez and Company, being really an
other name for Beaumarchais), but after
the defeat of Burgoyne, the secrecy was
no longer considered necessary, and ac
cordingly the treaty of alliance with the

16 Wljat Wt Wmt ta 3Fra«rg
Americans was signed February 6, 1778.
Our alliance with France naturaUy led,
later on, to Spain siding with France, and
the active assistance and the passive en
couragement of Russia were all of great
help to us in our struggle. France, how
ever, furnished nearly the whole naval
force and most of the credit and money, a
large part of the troops, guns, and mih
tary supphes, at a cost to her of over
twelve hundred and eighty miUion francs.
The sailing of the French fleet for
America caused the evacuation of PhUa
delphia. When, in the autumn of 1780, Congress
again determined to appeal to France for
further aid, it was Colonel John Laurens,
the Huguenot, whom they sent to Wash
ington to receive his final instructions in
this delicate matter, and Washington him
self wrote the documents that made this
last appeal to France. Laurens reached
Paris in April, 1781, and secured from
the French Government an agreement to

 Mlfat Wt @ttig to Iffranirg 17
guarantee a loan of ten million francs
from HoUand if it could be had. He
secured 7,000 French troops and a very
large fleet, which reached the coast of
America the following summer under Ad
miral de Grasse.
Trevelyan says in his History of the
American Revolution (Vol. IV., p. 410) :
"Almost everyone, who was somebody,
in Paris or at Versailles, had American
sympathies; and nobody was at pains to
conceal them. The new reign had relaxed
the springs of despotic authority, had un
peopled the Bastille, and had set all
tongues free to criticise and argue. The
courtiers were not afraid of the King; and
other members of the royal family were
afraid of the courtiers, who seldom faUed
to impose their own view of politics
upon those above them. The Comte
d'Artois had been powerfully affected by
the craze which was known as Anglo
mania. He is said to have evinced his re-

18 HMjat Wi Wm ta 3Fra«rg
spect and esteem for our nation by refus
ing to make bets with any except English
men; and that was no barren or valueless
compliment, for he had sometimes lost as
much as six thousand Louis d'or at a
single race-meeting. And yet, as soon as
the frequenters of the Oeil de Boeuf be
gan to take sides, — or, more properly
speaking, to take one side, — in the Amer
ican controversy, the Comte d'Artois,
Prince of the Blood though he was, had
no choice but to sink his English proclivi
ties, and declare himself a 'Bostonian'
with the rest. The young Queen had not
been educated as a patroness of rebels.
She was brought up by a mother who, of
all sovereigns that ever lived, was perhaps
the most indefatigable and conscientious
assertor of the doctrine that people should
stay quietly where their rulers had placed
them. Marie Antoinette's favourite
brother, and the only person on earth of
her own generation by whom she would
submit to be lectured, was the Emperor

mijat Wb Wvtti to 3Frantg 19
Joseph the Second; and Joseph regarded
a monarch who encouraged disaffection in
the British colonies as a traitor to his own
caste. When an attempt was made to en
list his good-will on behalf of the Ameri
can insurgents, he coldly replied that his
vocation in life was to be an aristocrat.
But the influence of her Austrian family
over the Queen's mind was not strong
enough to preserve her from the contagion
of the new ideas. Her most intimate as
sociates had always been women; and the
warmest advocates of American liberty
were to be found among a sex which never
is half-hearted in partisanship. 'Woman'
(wrote a French historian under the sec
ond Empire,) 'in our sad day the prime
agent of reaction, then showed herself
young and ardent, and outstripped the
men in zeal for freedom.' Marie An
toinette obeyed the impulse which per
vaded the society around her, and threw
herself into the movement with frank and
vivid enthusiasm. Long afterwards, when

20 Utfal Wt Wtat to jFraturg 
the poor lady had fallen upon very evU
days, one of her determined political an
tagonists expressed himself as bound by
justice and gratitude that 'it was the
Queen of France who gave the cause of
America a fashion at the French Court.' "
In regard to Washington's visit to
Hartford, in 1780, we read in the Life of
Governor Jonathan Trumbull, by Isaac
W. Stuart (pages 484-486) :
"In order to settle them — 'to combine
some plan of future operations' which
events might render practicable — ar
rangements were made for a personal in
terview between the French and Ameri
can commanders in chief. It was to take
place at Hartford, Connecticut, Septem
ber twentieth — and Trumbull was to be
present. On a Monday morning, there
fore, Washington — with General Knox
and La Fayette for companions, and some
other officers of his suite — set out to meet
Count Rochambeau and Admiral Ter-
nay at the appointed place. It is a singu-

ILAPAYBTTl.

 3it?al Wt Wm to jffratirg 21
lar and interesting fact, related by Gordon
— and one which shows strikingly the pe
cuniary pressure of the times — that, on the
departure of Washington and his party
from Camp — they were compeUed to send
about in every direction in order to 'mus
ter up' money with which to pay the ex
penses of their contemplated trip — and
that after strenuous exertions all they
could obtain was eight thousand paper
doUars* — such was the 'scarcity' says Gor
don, 'even of that depreciated commodity
at camp.' Before quitting New York,
they had expended 'more than half their
stock' — and were much embarrassed by
the idea that soon they would become
quite unable 'to pay their way.' Neverthe
less they 'put a good countenance' on the
matter, 'when in Connecticut,' says Gor
don — 'called for what they wanted, and
*In 1779 $100 in specie could buy $2600 of paper
currency. $8000 paper dollars were therefore worth only
about $300 of specie. According to certain tables in
September, 1780, $7100 of paper was worth only $100
of specie. Washington and his friends, therefore, had
only about $111.

22 Wtjat Hg ®tttg to JFranrg
were well supplied, but the thought of
reckoning with their host dampened all
their pleasure. To their great joy, how
ever, when the biUs were called for, they
were informed that the Governor of Con
necticut had given orders that they should
pay nothing in that State, hut should he
at free cost!'
"Gordon is correct — TrumbuU's
thoughtfulness upon this occasion did an
ticipate their wants and those too of the
I'rench commanders and their suite, — ^for,
September nineteenth, say the Records of
the Council of Safety, 'agreeable to the
orders of his Excellency/ three hundred
and forty-five pounds are to be drawn
from the Treasury 'for the reception and
entertainment' of George Washington,
and the French General and Admiral at
Hartford. "Upon their appearance in the city they
were received with imposing ceremonies.
"The Governor's Guards, and a com
pany of ArtiUery, were on duty upon the

 Ml?at Wt (§utg to jFraturg 23
occasion. They saluted Washington as
he entered the town with thirteen guns.
TrumbuU and Colonel Jeremiah Wads-
worth, and other distinguished personages
of the State, met him as he advanced.
They gave him a cordial welcome — and
through crowds that rent the air with
cheers, and strained to catch a sight of the
Ulustrious Commander-in-chief, the latter
made his way, together with Knox and
La Fayette, to the residence of their
mutual friend, Colonel Wadsworth — ^there
upon the site where the Historical Society
of Connecticut now lifts its walls — and
where in a beautiful mansion, stiU stand
ing, * though upon another spot, himself
and his principal ofiicers were nobly enter
tained during their stay.
"The same ceremony was repeated soon
after Washington came upon the arrival
of the French Commander and suite.
They were formaUy received at the City
Landing after crossing the ferry, and
*This "Life" was published in 1859.

24 WifVit ijg Wm ta JFranrg 
marching to the area in front of the Capi
tol were met there by General Washing
ton and his military companions. It was
the first time that these distinguished
leaders of the great Allied Armies saw
the faces of each other — the first time that
through their chief martial representa
tives France and America shook hands,
and the spectacle is described as having
been one of the most august and inspiring
character." In his "Early Lebanon," published in
1880, Orlo D. Hine gives, on page 64, an
interesting account of the French troops
at Lebanon.
"Count Rochambeau was at Lebanon
about the first of June, 1781, with his five
sparkling regiments of Bourbonnois, on
their march from Newport, Rhode Island,
to join the American Army on the Hud
son, and camped in Lebanon about three
weeks. The Duke de Lauzun, with his
legion of 500 mounted Hussars, was also
quartered here from about December 1,

 H81?at Wg @mg to jFraturg 25
1780, to June 23, '81, a period of seven
months. Their barracks were on the
slopes of the hill west of the Trumbull
house, and near the rivulet above the pond.
A gay June for Lebanon was that, when
these six brUliant French regiments, with
their martial bands and gorgeous banners,
were daily displayed on this spacious and
lovely village green. Gen. Washington
himself reviewed Lauzun's legion here on
the 5th of March of that year, and highly
complimented them and their commander
on their appearance and discipline. He
spent three days in Lebanon at that time
in a long and close conference with Gov.
Trumbull ; and it is believed that this con
ference related to the plan of the south
ern campaign, which resulted in the sur
render of Cornwallis and his army and
led to the final termination of the war;
and that this confidential disclosure of that
plan was one of the first which was made
to any one, and was most heartily ap
proved and encouraged by promises of

26 lH?at Wg Wm to 3Fraturg 
efiicient support by Gov. Trumbull. This
plan was afterwards confidentially con
sidered and perfected, at a Joint Council
of the American and French chief -com
manders, held at the 'Webb House' in
Wethersfield, on the 21st and 22nd of
May following." *
In "The French in America," origi
naUy published in French at Paris in 1872,
by Thomas Balch of PhUadelphia under
the title : "Les Fran^ais en Amerique pen
dant la Guerre de I'lndependance des
Etats Unis" 1777-1783; and translated
into English by his son Thomas Willing
Balch and pubhshed at Philadelphia in
1891— it is said (Vol. I., pp. 79-83) : t
"Already in 1775, we find in the American
Archives that two French ofiicers, Penet
and de Pliarne, were recommended by
*Gen. Washington enters in his Diary, dated at
Wethersfield, May 20, 1781: "Had a good deal of
private conversation with Gov. Trumbull, who gave it
to me as his opinion, that if any important offensive
operation should be undertaken, he had little doubt of
obtaining men and provisions adequate to our wants."
t See the original edition, pp. 69-72.

 Hl;al We Wm to JFranrg 27
Governor Cook, of Providence, to Gen
eral Washington, that he might hear the
proposals which they had to make in be
half of the cause of independence. These
officers arrived from Cap Fran9ais (St.
Domingo) and were received in Decem
ber by Congress, which accepted their
offers concerning supplies of powder,
arms and other warlike stores. The secret
agreement that was then concluded was
executed, at least in part, for, in a letter
dated from Paris on the 10th of June,
1776, by Dr. Barbue-Dubourg to Frank
lin, he says that he has heard from him,
through Penet, who had returned from
Philadelphia, that a supply of fifteen
thousand guns from, the royal factories,
which had been delivered to him under the
name of La Tuillerie, gunsmith, was about
to leave Nantes with the same Penet.
"Barbue-Dubourg, who was a zealous
agent of the American party, wrote at the
same time he had engaged, with the prom
ise of the rank of captain, and by means

28 Wljat Wg Wm ta 3Fraturg
of some advances of money, the Sieur
Favely, a soldier of fortune and formerly
a lieutenant of infantry. To the Sieur
Davin, formerly a distinguished sergeant-
major, he had promised only the payment
of his passage over the sea. He had also
engaged de Bois-Bertrand, a young man,
full of honor, courage and zeal, who in
France held the commission of a heuten-
ant-colonel, but who asked for nothing.
I have met with the names of these of
ficers nowhere else. But I see in another
correspondence, that de Bois-Bertrand
set out in July, 1776, taking with him, at
his own expense, two subalterns of great
bravery. Barbue-Dubourg had led him
to expect the rank of colonel.
"The American militia was in want of
engineers. Again it was Barbue-Du
bourg who undertook to procure them.
In his letter of June the 10th, 1776, al
ready quoted, he thus expresses himself
on the subject: 'I have engaged two en
gineers: one M. Potter de Baldivia, very

 Wlfal Wg Wtot to 3ffrattirg 29
young, but weU educated, the son of a
Chevalier of St. Louis, who was an en
gineer attached to the Duke of Orleans;
the other, Gille de Lomont, a young man
of remarkable merit, although he has not
yet been employed except in peace; but
we cannot induce any others to accept.
" 'I have spoken to M. de Gribeauval,
lieutenant-general of the armies of the
king and director of the artiUery, who be
lieves that we must send you three, one
of whom would be chief, M. Du Coudray,
a distinguished and envied officer, who
served in Corsica, and whose knowledge
of chemistry might be useful.
" 'The only engineers who were sent to
America with a secret mission from the
French government were de Gouvion, Du
Portail, La Radiere and Laumoy. They
were engaged by Franklin, then in Paris,
who had been entrusted by Congress with
that negotiation; but they did not arrive
in America untU after La Fayette, on
July the 29th, 1777.

30 Wlfat Wg Wm ta jffrattrg 
"The oldest of the volunteer officers con
cerning whom I have positive informa
tion is de Kermovan. On March the 24th,
1770, Barbue-Dubourg wrote from Paris
to Dr. Franklin, at Philadelphia: 'I seri
ously think that the Chevaher de Kermo
van is one of the best men that your coun
try can obtain. He has already accepted
its principles, and asks for nothing before
having made his mark ; but he is ambitious
of obtaining a high rank when his zeal and
talents shall have been proved. He is as
ready to expose himself to every danger
as a simple volunteer as if he were com
mander-in-chief. He seems to me well
acquainted with the military art.'
"He left France on AprU the 6th; and
on June the 21st, 1776, the Board of War,
having decided that the Chevalier de Ker
movan had given undoubted evidence of
his good character and skUl in the art of
war, recommended him to Congress as an
engineer, and believed that the authorities
of Pennsylvania ought to employ him up-

 Wl;at Wg (§mg to affrattrg 31
on the works at Bilhngsport, on the Dela
ware. He was commissioned on these
conditions on the 4th of July, 1776.
"Let us also mention among the volun
teers who accompanied La Fayette, pre
ceded him, or followed him closely: De
Mauroy, who had accompanied him in his
flight from France; De Gimat, his inti
mate friend and aid-de-camp; Pontgi-
baud, who was also his aid-de-camp; Ar
mand de la Rouerie, better know as
Colonel Armand, whose chivalric bravery,
liberal character, and adventures made him
popular in America; de Fleury, the hero
of Stony Point; Mauduit du Plessis, the
hero of Red Bank."
Mr. Balch, in his second volume, which
remained in manuscript in French imtU
translated by his son, Edwin Swift Balch,
in 1895, sketches the careers of many who
served in America. These brief memoirs
of three of the higher officers are of value
in carrying out the purpose of this paper.

32 Wljat Ws Wm ta Ifmmt
"Duportail (Louis Le Begue), student
at the Military School of Mezieres; en
tered the engineers as officer in 1761 ; cap
tain in 1773. The 28th of July, 1777, he
was sent to America by Franklin with
Gouvion, Radiere and Laumoy. He ob
tained from Congress the title of chief en
gineer with the rank of colonel ; brigadier-
general, the 17th of November, 1777.
The 25th of AprU, 1780, he was attached
as lieutenant-colonel to the corps of
French infantry, and during the siege of
Yorktown he directed, under the orders
of Desandroins, the work on the trenches.
He is one of the higher officers whom
Washington mentions particularly as hav
ing helped in the capture. He obtained
afterwards the cross of Saint-Louis, with
a pension of twenty-four hundred livres
and the promise of the rank of brigadier-
general after the peace. Congress, on its
side, raised him to the rank of major-gen
eral. He returned to France where he
was marechal de camp in 1788. Through

 Wlfal We Wms ta Iftmts 33
the influence of La Fayette he obtained,
the 16th of November, 1790, the port-
f(jho of minister of war. He resigned
after the disgrace of La Fayette; was
condemned by accusation on the 15th of
August, 1792, and hid in Paris for twen
ty-two months. In 1794 he fled to Amer
ica, and on the 28th of June, 1797, Ma-
thieu Dumas succeeded in having his name
struck off the list of emigrants. He died
at sea while returning to France in 1804.
Ak j|b jj& j)^ ^t& ^ jta
"Estaing (Charles-Hector Count d'),
born in 1729 at the Chateau de Ruvel in
Rouergue, of an illustrious family. His
first rank was that of colonel of infantry.
He embarked as briga,dier the 2nd of
May, 1757, with Lally-ToUendal for the
East Indies, and learned there something
about naval matters; taken prisoner in
1759, at Madras, after having been
wounded, he was put in liberty on parole.
In October, without waiting for his ex
change, he went into the Persian Gulf to

34 Wijat We Wme to aFranrg
take the fort of Bender- Abasse, with three
English vessels captured at Sumatra,
manned by two hundred men. He was
anew taken prisoner while returning to
France in 1760. Appointed lieutenant-
general in 1763, his good luck raised much
jealousy. He showed for blue officers * a
partiality which offended many navy offi
cers. All say of him that he was a brave
soldier, but a poor general or naval officer.
"Vice-admiral in 1777, he raised his pen
nant on the Languedoc of ninety guns;
left Toulon on the 13th of AprU, 1778;
reached Rhode Island on the 29th of July.
On the 8th of August he forced the pas
sage into Newport, and entered Con
necticut Bay.f The next day he saUed
against the forces of Howe, who had
joined Byron. A tempest which raged
from the 11th to the 12th of August, 1778,
divided d'Estaing's fleet. The Languedoc
* Name in the old navy, applied to an ofBcer; a cap
tain appointed on his own ship.
t Mistake of the author ; should be Narragansett
Bay.

1^.^.^-fe.

)°iS'iri\.E;

 Wltat We Wme to jffraturg 35
only escaped by the unexpected as
sistance of two French ships. From New
port, where he was left by Sullivan and
La Fayette, d'Estaing withdrew to Bos
ton, and aroused thus the anger of the
Americans, who accused him of treason.
La Fayette defended him. He went to
the Windward Islands, and his title of
Commander-general of the Windward
Islands aroused the antagonism of de
Bouille. He tried in vain to take Saint
Lucia, but captured Saint Vincent and
Grenada on the 4th of July, 1779, by a
sudden attack, at the head of thirteen hun
dred men. The next day he gave battle
to the English squadron of Byron, who
took refuge at Saint Christopher. He
then tried vainly to take Savannah.
Wounded and repulsed, he was disgraced
in 1780 on his return to France, and re
mained without employment until 1783.
"In 1787, member of the Assembly of
the Notables, commander of the National
Guard of VersaiUes, he was a believer in

36 Wlfat We Wm to 3Fra«f g 
the Constitution by principle, but wished
to save the king. His role was difficult.
His deposition about the Queen before the
Revolutionary Tribunal was variously
criticised. He soon followed her to the
scaffold, on the 28th of August, 1794.
" 'D'Estaing found himself, alone,
charged with a very important mission in
America. Only twelve vessels had been
intrusted to him, and no hope had been
left him of any succor or any increase of
strength. He might meet, not only dur
ing his passage, but especiaUy in the At
lantic, forces much superior to those he
commanded, and, despite this incontest
able inferiority, he was able to raise the
honor of the new French Navy, to obtain
genuine successes, and dispel the very un
favorable opinion then general in Europe
on the possibility of France ever placing
seriously a few vessels on the ocean, and
especially of being able for one instant to
sustain a struggle with England. This is
a glory which the contemporary writers

 Wl;at Wg (igmg to jffranrg 37
accord without contest to the French ad
miral, a glory which the misfortune he en
dured and the actual situation of the navy
of France has too much effaced.' t
******* "Viomenil (Antoine- Charles du Houx,
called Baron de), born at Fauconcourt,
in the Vosges, in 1728; entered the service
in 1740, at the age of twelve, with the
rank of sub-lieutenant in the regiment of
Limousin, and became captain at the age
of nineteen, in 1747. He was wounded at
the siege of Berg-op-Zoom ; served after
wards in Hanover and in Corsica, became
colonel in 1759, brigadier in 1762, mare
chal de camp in 1770. He started in 1771
for Poland, where he fought against the
Russians, and directed the defense at the
castle of Cracow.
"The Baron de Viomenil crossed to
America on the Conquerant, on which
were de Custine, de Menonville, Blanch-
ard, de Chabannes and de Pange, aids-de-
tQuoted by the writer from "Histoire Raisonn^e de
la derniSre Guerre," by de Saint- Vallier, Lidge, 1783.

38 Wifnt We Wme ta IFrattrg 
camp; Brizon, naval-officer, secretary of
the Baron, and part of the regiment of
Saintonge. During the expedition of
1781, Baron de Viomenil played a very
important part. He was at the head of
the expedition which started in March on
the vessels of Destouches to take succors
to Virginia by way of Chesapeake Bay.
The expedition was fruitless; but it was
not the fault of de Viomenil or de Laval,
who were leading it, and who bore them
selves bravely. The Baron de ViomenU
afterwards commanded the rear guard
during the march between New York and
Williamsburg. It is he who directed the
two simultaneous attacks on the English
redoubts during the night of the 14th to
the 15th of October. While La Fayette
and Steuben were capturing the one on
the right, he himself, sword in hand, led to
wards the enemies' intrenchments the first
division of the column on the left, com
manded by GuiUaume de Deux-Ponts, de
I'Estrade and de Rostaing. The success

 Wtfal We Wme ta 3Franrg 39
was prompt and decisive. The Baron de
Viomenil then went to spend a few months
in France. He returned to America on
the Aigle in 1782, after having been made
commander of the order of Saint-Louis
and lieutenant-general. He rejoined the
army at Crampond, and handed over to
de Rochambeau the two million five hun
dred thousand livres he had brought him.
He took the troops back to France, and
hved at La RocheUe until 1789, epoch
when he made part of the Army of Paris
under the orders of de Broglie. He op
posed energetically the Revolution. Dur
ing the fighting of the 10th of August,
1792, he proved himself one of the best
and most courageous defenders of the
royal family. Severely wounded, he was
picked up and hidden in a friend's house,
where he died at the end of three months.
He was a member of the Order of the
Cincinnati." *
•Balch, ii. pp. 113-24,9.

40 Wijnt We (jmg to iffrattrg 
Considerable dispute has arisen as to
who originated the expedition against
Cornwallis at Yorktown. Clinton main
tained that de Grasse had first suggested
it — some give the credit to Washington,
— and others to Rochambeau. The truth
most likely is that such a measure was self
evident to any military man. When Clin
ton had reinforced New York so that it
could not be taken, and De Grasse's
powerful fleet was known to be on the
way, it required little discernment to per
ceive that the endeavor to capture Lord
Cornwallis was the one thing to be at
tempted. As soon as the American Revo
lutionaries had the superiority on water
there could be no hesitation as to which step
to take. Here is the great debt we owe to
France. It must be admitted that with
out the fleets under De Grasse and De
Barras, the 4,000 troops under Rocham
beau and the 3,000 under St. Simon, and
the heavy siege artillery of the French,
it would have been out of the question for

 Wl?at We (0mg to 3ffraturg 41
Washington with his little army of 5,000
to have caused the surrender of Corn
wallis. On September 29, 1781, the alhed
forces began the investment of Yorktown.
De Grasse had part of his fleet in the
mouth of the river whUe the remainder of
his ships guarded the mouth of the Bay
at the Capes.
On the third day the French siege guns
and mortars which had been brought from
Rhode Island opened fire and soon the
British ships were set ablaze by the red
hot balls and shells. The allied forces
pressed on and on. Two advanced re
doubts were assaulted, one by French
troops under Viomenil and the other by
Americans imder La Fayette. On the
night of the 14th, Alexander Hamilton
led La Fayette's men and carried a re
doubt in a few moments. Finding it im
possible to do otherwise, Cornwalhs sur
rendered his army on October 19, 1781.
This battle achieved the independence

42 Wljat We Wme to 3mnte
of our Country, though fighting continued
at different points and the definite Treaty
of Peace was not signed until September
3, 1783.
In connection with the great and de
cisive victory of Yorktown, Franklin
wrote to his old friend Vergennes:
"Sir: — Your very obliging letter com
municating the news of the important vic
tory at York gave me infinite pleasure.
The very powerful aid afforded by his
Majesty to America this year has rivetted
the affections of all that people, and the
success has made millions happy. Indeed
the king appears to me from this and
other late events to be le plus grand faiseur
d'heureux that this world affords. May
God prosper him, his family and nation,
to the end of time! I am, with respect,
&c., &c.
"From this moment all was gratulation.
The news, not unnaturally, reached Eng
land, by way of France. 'How did Lord
North take it ?' 'As he would have taken

 WijvA We Wme ta Ifxmce 43
a cannonball in the heart,' Lord George
Germain replied to that question.
"The French and American authorities
published the fuU accounts they received.
They translated for the widest circulation
Washington's Order of the Day.
"Extracts from the General Orders of the
Day for October 20, 1781
"The General congratulates the army
on the glorious event of yesterday.
"The generous proofs which his Most
Christian Majesty has given of his at
tachment to the Cause of America, while
it undeceives those among our enemies
who have been most blinded, ought to con
vince them of the consequences of the al
liance, so fortunate and decisive, and
ought to inspire all citizens of the United
States with sentiments of the most un
changeable gratitude.
"The most numerous and most powerful
fleet which ever appeared in these waters,
commanded by an Admiral whose good

44 What Wg Wme ta Jffranrg

fortune and ability promised the greatest
success, an army selected with the great
est care both for officers and soldiers, —
these were remarkable pledges of his af
fection for the United States. The union
of these powerful forces assured to us
the brilliant success which we have now
obtained. "The General avaUs himself of this oc
casion to beg his ExceUency the Count de
Rochambeau to receive the expression of
his lively gratitude for the counsel and as
sistance that he has always received from
him. He wishes also to express his most
cordial thanks to the generals Baron de
Viomenil, Chevalier de ChateUux, Mar
quis de St. Simon, and Comte de Vio
menil, and to Brigadier General de Choisy
(who held an independent command) for
the admirable manner in which they
worked for the success of the common
cause. He hopes that the Count de Ro
chambeau will be kind enough to testify
at once to the Army which he commands

^A ?v_'

The count ds ROCHAMBEIAU.
(Afl TvfaTtaTial of France 17Ql)

 Wlfut We @mg to Jranrg 45
the high opinion which the General has
formed of the distinguished merit of the
officers and soldiers of the different corps.
He begs him to present in his name to the
regiment of Gatinois and of Deux-Ponts
the two bronze pieces of artiUery which
they took from the enemy, and he hopes
that they will keep these pieces as a mem
orial of the courage with which, sword in
hand, they captured the enemy's redoubt
on the night ofthe 14th, and that they may
thus serve to perpetuate the remembrance
of an occasion in which officers and sol
diers vied with each other in the display of
the most ditinguished courage.
"If the General should specially thank
all those who deserved his thanks he would
have to name the whole army. He is
obhged by his wishes, his duty, and his
gratitude, to express to the major-gen
erals Lincoln, the Marquis de La Fayette,
and Steuben, his acknowledgements for
the arrangements which they made in the
trenches, to General Du Portail, and to

46 Wliat We Wme to Jffrattrg
Col. Quevenal, for the ability and skiU
which was displayed in the laying out of
the works, to Gen. Knox and to Col.
Daberville for the care and indefatigable
attention with which they accelerated the
transport of the artiUery and munitions,
as well as for their judicious use of them,
and the activity which they showed in the
batteries. He begs the officers whom he
has just named to convey his thanks to the
officers and soldiers of the corps which
they respectively command.
"The General would show himself guilty
of a singular ingratitude, such as he hopes
he may never be guilty of, if he neglected
to express in the most distinct terms his
thanks to his ExceUency Gov. Nelson, for
the assistance which he has personally re
ceived from him, as well as from the mUitia
which he commanded, which deserves for
its activity, its courage, and emulation, the
most distinguished applause." *
* "Franklin in France," by Edward E. Hale and
Edward E. Hale, Jr., page 465.

 Wt?at We Wme ta JFrattrg 47
At the Centennial Celebration of the
siege and surrender of Yorktown, October
19, 1881, when an imposing monument
was dedicated in the presence of the Presi
dent of the United States, the French
Ambassador, and representatives of the
families of La Fayette, Rochambeau, and
other French officers who aided the United
States in the Revolution, President
Arthur delivered the following Address of
Welcome: "Upon this soil, one hundred years ago,
our forefathers brought to a successful is
sue their heroic struggle for independence.
Here and then was established, and as we
trust made secure upon this continent for
ages yet to come, that principle of govern
ment which is the very fiber of our politi
cal system — the sovereignty of the people.
The resentments which attended and for
a time survived the clash of arms have
long since ceased to animate our hearts.
It is with no feeling of exiUtation over a
defeated foe that to-day we summon up

48 Wtfat We Wme to jffraturg 
a remembrance of those events which have
made holy the ground whereon we tread.
Surely no such unworthy sentiment could
find harbor in our hearts, so profoundly
thrilled with expressions of sorrow and
sympathy which our national bereavement
has evoked from the people of England
and their august sovereign; but it is alto
gether fitting that we should gather here
to refresh our souls with the contempla
tion of the unfaltering patriotism, the
sturdy zeal and the sublime faith which
achieved the results we now commemorate.
For so, if we learn aright the lesson of
the hour, shall we be incited to transmit
to the generations which shall follow the
precious legacy which our fathers left to
us — the love of liberty protected by law.
Of that historic scene which we here cele
brate no feature is more prominent, and
none more touching, than the participa
tion of our gallant alhes from across the
seas. It was their presence which gave
fresh and vigorous impulse to the hopes

Wlfat Wg Wme to Jfrattrg 49
of our countrymen when well-nigh dis
heartened by a long series of disasters. It
was their noble and generous aid, extend
ed in the darkest period of the struggle,
which sped the coming of our triumph and
made the capitulation at Yorktown pos
sible a century ago. To their descendants
and representatives who are here present
as the honored guests of the nation, it is
my glad duty to offer cordial welcome.
You have a right to share with us the asso
ciations which cluster about the day when
your fathers fought side by side with our
fathers in the cause, which was here
crowned with success, and none of the
memories awakened by this anniversary
are more grateful to us than the reflec
tions that the national friendships here so
closely cemented have outlasted the muta
tions of a changeful century. God grant,
my countrymen, that they may ever re
main unshaken and that henceforth, with
ourselves and with all the nations of the
earth, we may be at peace !

50 What We Wme ta Stance

"The French Minister's Address
"M. Max Outrey, in behalf of the
French delegation, was introduced by
Secretary Blaine, and delivered the fol
lowing address:
"The French government has felt much
touched by the friendly sentiments which
inspired the United States with the thought
of asking France to participate in the cele
bration of the Yorktown Centennial, and
heartily desires to respond in a manner
worthy of both republics to the invitation
sent by the President of the United States
in behalf of the people of America. The
manifestations of public sympathy follow
ing the initiative taken by the Congress
of the United States, bidding France to
this national festival, has been looked up
on by us not only as an act of the highest
courtesy, but especially as a mark of af
fectionate regard, having the noble aim of
cementing yet more closely the ties which
unite the two republics. In commemora
tion of this day, which represents one of

 Wlfat We (0mg lo 3ffrattrg 51
the grandest events of the political exist
ence of this country, the French govern
ment has sent a mission, composed of
special delegates, from different depart
ments, and the President of the French
republic, wishing to mark his personal
sympathy, has sent one of his own aids-
de-camp. They thus desire to show par
ticularly their appreciation of the grace
ful compliment paid to our country. Each
and all of us are proud of having been
called to the honor of representing
France on this auspicious day. The monu
ment which is here to be erected will not
only recall a glorious victory — it wiU per
petuate the recollections of an ever-faith
ful alliance, faithful through the trials and
vicissitudes of an eventful century, and as
the President of the French republic has
so truly said, it will consecrate the union
sprung from generous and liberal aspira
tions, and which the institutions we can
now boast of in common must necessarily
strengthen and develop for the good of

52 Wljat Wg Wme ta Jfranrg
both countries. In coming to this York-
town Centennial we come to celebrate the
day which ended that long and bitter
struggle against a great nation, now our
mutual aUy and friend, who here, as under
all skies where her flag has floated, has
left ineffaceable marks of her grand and
civilizing spirit. We come to celebrate
the glorious date when the heroes of inde
pendence were able to set their final seal
to the solemn proclamation of the 4th
of July, 1776. We come also to salute
the dawn of that era of prosperity when,
led by her great men, America permitted
the intelhgence of her people to soar and
their energy to manifest itself, and thus
the power of the United States has
strengthened, and every year has added to
the prestige which surrounds her star-
spangled banner.
"When France sent from beyond the
seas the co-operation of her army and her
navy to this valiant people, engaged in a
war for its independence; when La Fay-

 Wtfal Wg (img to 3vmte 53
ette, Rochambeau, de Grasse, and so many
others drew in their footsteps the young
and brave scions of our most illustrious
famihes they yielded to a generous im
pulse and came with disinterested courage
to sustain the cause of liberty, a blessing
went with their endeavors and gave suc
cess to their arms, for when, one hundred
years ago, as to-day, the French and the
Americans grasped each others' hands at
Yorktown, they realized that they had
helped to lay the corner-stone of a great
edifice. But surely the most farsighted
among those men would have started had
he been able to look down the long
vista of a century and see at this end this
republic, then young and struggling with
aU the difficulties which surrounded her,
now calm, radiant, and beaming with her
halo of prosperity. The great Washington
himself, whose genius foresaw the destiny
of this country, could not have predicted
this. Truly the United States have made,
especially in these later years, gigantic

54 Wifat We Wme ta 3Fra«rg
strides along the route to still greater
progress by showing to the world what
can be accomplished by an energetic
and intelligent nation, always as respect
ful of its duties as jealous of its rights,
America has given a great example and
has been a cause of rejoicing to all true
lovers of liberty. France is proud of
having contributed to found this great re
public, and her wishes for your prosperity
are deep and sincere. The mutual friend
ship is founded on many affinities of taste
and aspirations which time cannot de
stroy, and future generations, I trust, wUl
assist again in this same place, at the spec
tacle, unprecedented in history, of two
great nations renewing from century to
century a compact of fraternal and im
perishable affection. I wiU not close with
out thanking the Federal Government, the
different States of the Union of which
the delegation have been the guests, also
the people of America, for the sympathy
and welcome extended to the representa-

Wtjat We ©UJg t0 3Fraturg 55
tives of France. Each of us will treasure
the recollection of American hospitality
and of the friendly sentiments which have
been manifested to us in every place and
in every sphere.
"Address of tpie Marquis de
Rochambeau
"Citizens of the United States: —
You have invited us to celebrate with
you the great achievement of arms, and
we did not hesitate to brave the terrors
of the ocean to say to you that what
our fathers and brothers did in 1781,
we, their sons, would be willing to do to
day, and to attest our constant friendship,
and to further show that we cherish the
same sentiments as our fathers in those
glorious days we celebrate. In the name
of my companions who represent here the
men who fought in 1781, permit me to
hope that the attachment formed in these
days around this monument which is about
to be erected, will be renewed in one hun-

56 Wlfat We Wme ta jffranrg 
dred years and that our descendants wUl
again celebrate the victory which joined
our fathers in comradeship and alhance." *
The historical oration was dehvered by
the Hon. Robert Charles Winthrop of
Boston, a lineal descendant of John Win
throp, the first governor of Massachusetts
Bay, and himself a statesman who had
held various honorable positions in the
State and Nation.
These extracts are specially pertinent
and show clearly the part taken by the
I'rench at Yorktown, with notices of their
chief commanders :
"Yes, it is mine, and somewhat pecu
harly mine, perhaps, notwithstanding the
presence of the official representatives of
my native State, to bear the greetings of
Pljonouth Rock to Jamestown ; of Bunker
Hill to Yorktown; of Boston recovered
*Report of the Commission created in accordance
with a joint resolution of Congress, approved March 3,
1881, providing for the erection of a monument at
Yorktown, Va., commemorative of the Surrender of
Lord Cornwallis. Washington: Government Printing
Office. 1883.

 Wlfat We @mg lo JFrattrg 57
from the British forces in '76 to Mount
Vernon, the home in hfe and death of her
illustrious Deliverer; and there is no office
within the gift of Congresses, Presidents,
or People, which I could discharge more
cordiaUy and fervently. And may I not
hope, — as one who is proud to feel cours
ing in his veins the Huguenot blood of a
Massachusetts patriot, who enjoyed the
most affectionate relations with the young
La Fayette, when he first led the way to
our assistance ;-r-as one, too, who has per
sonally felt the warm pressure of his own
hand, and received a benediction from his
own lips, under a father and a mother's
roof, nearly threescore years ago, when
he was the guest of the nation ; and let me
add, as an old presiding officer in that
representative chamber at the Capitol,
where side by side vsdth that of Washing
ton, — ^its only fit companion-piece — the
admirable full length portrait of the
Marquis, the work and gift of his friend
Ary Scheffer, was long a daily and hourly

58 WIfal We Wme to IFranrg
feast for my eyes and inspiration for my
efforts ; — ^may I not hope, that I shall not
be regarded as a wholly unfit or inappro
priate organ of that profound sense of
obligation and indebtedness to La Fay
ette, to Rochambeau, to De Grasse, and to
France, which is felt and cherished by us
all at this hour?
"For indeed, fellow-citizens, our earli
est and latest acknowledgments are due
this day to France, for the inestimable
services which gave us her crowning vic
tory of the 19th of October, 1781. It
matters not for us to speculate now
whether American Independence might
not have been achieved without her aid.
It matters not for us to calculate or con
jecture how soon, or when, or under what
circumstances that grand result might
have been accomplished. We all know
that, God willing, such a consummation
was as certain in the end as to-morrow's
sunrise, and that no earthly potentates or
powers, single or conjoined, could have

Wlfat Wg Wme to affratug 59
carried us back into a permanent condi
tion of colonial dependence and subjuga
tion. From the first blood shed at Lex
ington and Concord, from the first battle
at Bunker Hill, Great Britain had lost
her American colonies, and their estab
lished and recognized independence was
only a question of time.
"Even the surrender of Burgoyne at
Saratoga, in 1777 — the only American
battle included by Sir Edward Creasy in
his 'Fifteen Decisive Battles of the
World,' of which he says that 'no mili
tary event can be said to have exercised
a more important influence on the future
fortunes of mankind'; and of which the
late Lord Stanhope had said that this sur
render 'had not merely changed the rela
tion of England and the feeling of Europe
towards these insurgent colonies, but had
modified, for all times to come, the con
nection between every Colony and every
parent State,' — even this most memorable
surrender gave only a new assurance of

60 Wlfat We Wme ta jffrancg 
a foregone conclusion, only hastened the
march of events to a predestined issue.
That march for us was to be ever onward
until the goal was reached. However
slow or difficult it might prove to be, at
one time or at another time, the motto
and spirit of John Hampden were in the
minds and hearts and wUls of aU our
American patriots. 'Nulla vestigia retror-
sum.' — 'No footsteps backward.'
"Nor need we be too curious to inquire,
to-day, into any special inducements which
France may have had to intervene thus
nobly in our behalf, or into any special in
fluences under which her King, and Court,
and People resolved at last to undertake
the intervention. We may not forget, in
deed, that our own Franklin, the great
Bostonian, had long been one of the Amer
ican Commissioners in Paris, and that the
fame of his genius, the skiU and adroitness
of his negotiations, and the magnetism of
his personal character and presence were
no secondary or subordinate elements in

 Wlfat We Wme to jffraturg 61
the results which were accomplished. As
was well said of him by a French his
torian, 'His virtues and his renown nego
tiated for him; and before the second year
pf his mission had expired, no one con
ceived it possible to refuse fleets and an
army to the compatriots of Franklin.'
"The Treaty of Commerce and the
Treaty of AUiance were both eminently
Franklin's work, and both were signed by
him as early as the 6th of February, 1778.
His name and his services are thus never
to be omitted or overlooked in connection
with the great debt which we owe to
France, and which we so gratefully com
memorate on this occasion.
"But signal as his services were, Frank
lin cannot be named as standing first in
this connection. Nearly two years before
his Treaties were negotiated and signed,
a step had been taken by another than
Franklin which led, directly and indirectly,
to all that followed.

62 Wlfat We Wme ta jffraturg 
"The young Lafayette was but nine
teen years of age, a Captain of the French
dragoons, stationed at Metz. At a dinner
given by the commandant of the garrison
to the Duke of Gloucester, a brother of
George III., he happened to hear the tid
ings of our Declaration of Independence
which had reached the Duke that very
morning from London. It formed the sub
ject of animated and excited conversation,
in which the enthusiastic young soldier
took part. And before he had left the
table, an inextinguishable spark had been
struck and kindled in his breast, and
his whole heart was on fire in the cause
of American hberty. Regardless of the
remonstrances of his friends, of the Min
istry, and of the King himself, in spite of
every discouragement and obstacle, he
soon tears himself away from a yoimg and
lovely wife, leaps on board a vessel which
he had provided for himself, braves the
perils of a voyage across the Atlantic,
then swarming with cruisers, reaches

 Wlfat Wg Wme ta 3tmte 63
Philadelphia, by way of Charleston, South
Carolina, and so wins at once the regard
and confidence of the Continental Con
gress, by his avowed desire to risk life in
our service, at his own expense, without
pay or allowance of any sort, that on the
31st of July, 1777, before he was quite
yet twenty years old, he was commissioned
a Major General of the Army of the
United States.
"It is hardly too much to say, that from
that dinner at Metz, and that 31st day of
July in Philadelphia, may be dated the
train of influences and events which cul
minated, four year afterwards, in the sur
render of CornwaUis to the AUied Forces
of America and France."*
In describing the officers surrounding
Washington at the time of the surrender
of Yorktown, Mr. Winthrop says:
"Connecticut was represented by Lieu
tenant Colonel Ebenezer Huntington and
*Oration on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the
Surrender of Lord CornwaUis delivered at Yorktown,
19th October, 1881, by Robert C. Winthrop, p. 4.

64 Wlfat We Wme ta 3tmte
Major John Palsgrave Wyllis, and es
pecially by Colonel Jonathan Trumbull,
Jr., a Secretary and Aide-de-Camp of
Washington, and the son of the great
Revolutionary War, Governor Jonathan
Trumbull; and by Colonel David
Humphreys^ another and most valued
member of Washington's Military fam
ily, to whose care the captured standards
of the surrendering army were con
signed, who received a sword from Con
gress in acknowledgment of his fidelity
and ability, and to whom Washington
presented the epaulettes worn by himself
throughout the War, now among the
treasures of the Massachusetts Historical
Society; afterwards a Minister to Portu
gal and to Spain; one of the earliest im
porters of merino sheep; a miscellaneous
and somewhat prohfic poet ; and who com
manded the mUitia of Connecticut in the
War of 1812." f
******* "Such, FeUow-Citizens, were the prin
cipal officers, from other States, and other
+lbid, p. 33.

 Wlfat We Wme ta jffranirg 65
parts of the country and of the world, who
were gathered in this Virginia field, in im
mediate association with the American
Line. "Opposite to them, in that splendid
French Line, stood the gallant strangers
who had been so generously sent to our
aid. "Here, at the head of them, was the
veteran Count de Rochambeau, now in
the fifty-sixth year of his age, and in the
thirty-ninth year of his military service,
who had long been known and noted for
his bravery in the wars of the Continent.
Cool, prudent, reserved, concihatory, no
one could have been more perfectly suited
to the delicate duties which devolved up
on him in co-operating with an army of
a different land and language, and no one
could have discharged those duties more
faithfully. Perhaps his very ignorance
of the English tongue was a positive safe
guard and advantage for him; it certainly
saved him from hearing or saying any rash

66 Wlfat We ®mg to STranrg
or foolish things. Washington bore wit
ness, in the letter bidding him farewell, to
the high sense he entertained of the invalu
able services he had rendered 'by the con
stant attention he had paid to the interest
of the American cause, by the exact order
and discipline of the corps under his com
mand, and by his readiness at aU times to
give facility to every measure to which
the force of the combined armies was com
petent.' Congress presented to him two of
the captured cannon, with suitable inscrip
tions and devices — ^which long adorned
the family chateau in the Vendome — ^in
testimony of the illustrious part he had
played here. His name on the stiU-de-
layed Column — one of only three names
in the originally prescribed inscription —
will soon be engraved where all the world
can read it. Returning home at the close
of our war, he received the highest honors
from his sovereign ; was Governor succes
sively of Picardy and Alsace ; commanded
the French Army of the North; and in

 Wlfat We Wme ta jffranrg 67
1791 was made a Marshal of France.
Narrowly escaping the guillotine of
Robespierre, he lived to receive the cordon
of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor
from Napoleon, and died in 1807, at
eighty-two years of age. We welcome
the presence of his representative, the
Marquis de Rochambeau, at this festival,
and of Madame la Marquise, here hap
pily at my side, and offer them the cordial
recognition which is due to their name and
rank. "Here, in equal rank and honor with
Rochambeau, stood the Count de Grasse,
in the fifty-eighth year of his age; who
was associated with our War for Inde
pendence hardly more than a month, but
who during that momentous month did
enough to secure our lasting respect and
gratitude; whose services, as Lieutenant-
General and Admiral of the Naval Army
and Fleet of France, in yonder bay, were
second in importance to none in the whole
siege ; to whom Washington did not hesi-

68 Wlfat We Wme to jffranrg 
tate to write, the very day after the event :
'The surrender of York, from which so
great glory and advantage are derived to
the Allies, and the honor of which belongs
to your Excellency.' The sympathies of
all his companions here were deeply
stirred, when, losing his famous flagship
and a large part of his fleet on his way
home, he reached England as a prisoner
of Admiral Rodney, to be released only
after our Treaty of Peace was signed;
and, though he had vindicated his conduct
before a court-martial demanded by him
self, to die in retirement after a few years,
without having regained the favor of a
sovereign, who could pardon everything
and anything but defeat. Honor this day
to the memory of the brave Count dq
Grasse, whose name, as Washington wrote
to Rochambeau on hearing of his death,
'will be long deservedly dear to this coun
try!' "Here, second in command of the
French Line, was that worthy and excel-

i^jibof&'fc'C^- ^^j^jpta£-n:!f/^e.''t:^-£..'' a^fi/tijx^..,'!^^ oifc-^

 Wlfat We Wm to 3Framg 69
lent General, the Baron de Viomesnil.,
who brought a gallant brother, the Vis
count, with him, and who himself returned
home 'to be kUled before the last rampart
of Constitutional Royalty,' on the 10th of
August, 1792.
"Here, in hardly inferior rank, was
Major-General the Marquis de Chastel-
Lux; genial, brilliant, accomplished, the
Journal of whose tour in America — indif
ferently translated and scandalously an
notated by. an English adventurer — is f uU
of the liveliest interest; who returned
home to be one of the immortal Forty of
the French Academy, welcomed by a dis
course of Buffon on Taste; and, better
still, to receive one of the very few humor
ous and playful letters which Washington
ever wrote — bantering him 'on his catch
ing that terrible contagion, domestic felic
ity,' which, alas! he only hved to enjoy
for six years. Washington had before
written to him, soon after his return
home: 'I can truly say, that never in my

70 What We Wme ta Jffranrg

life have I parted with a man to whom my
soul clave more sincerely than it did to
you.' "The Admiral Count de Barras was
here — the senior naval officer of France
at the siege, but who generously waived
his seniority; who was privileged, how
ever, to sign the Articles of Capitulation
for himself and the Count de Grasse ; who
was fortunate enough to escape any share
in the defeat by Rodney; who reached
home in season to be promoted, and then
to die before the outbreak of a Revolution
in which his nephew, of the same name,
was famoiis as a Jacobin and regicide, and
afterwards as the head of the Directory.
"The magnificent Duke de Lauzun
was here, conspicuous by his taU hussar
cap and plume, — afterwards Duke de
Biron, — a gay Lothario in the salon, but
dauntless in the field, who, at the head of
his legion, put Tarleton himself to flight;
but who returned home to be, in 1793, one
of the victims of the guillotine.

We Wme to 3tnme 71

"Two of the Laval-Montmorencys
were here : the Marquis, at the head of the
Bourbonnais regiment ; and his young son,
the Viscount Matthieu, afterwards the
Duke de Montmorency — an intimate
friend of Madame de Stael, long a resi
dent at Coppet, and who was eminently
distinguished, in later years, for his accom
plishments and his philanthropy.
"The young Count Axel De Fersen
was here, — a Swedish Nobleman, an Aid
to Rochambeau, 'the Adonis of the Camp' ;
who returned to France to become a suitor
of Madame de Stael and a favorite of
Marie Antoinette ; to whose zeal in aiding
the flight of the King and Queen, with 'a
glass-coach and a new berline,' himself on
the box, Carlyle devotes an early and
humorous chapter of his 'French Revolu
tion,' — and who was killed at last by a
mob in Stockholm, in 1810, on an un
founded charge of having been privy to
the murder of a popular prince.

72 Wlfat We Wme ta Jraturg
"The brave young Duke de Rouerie
was here, under the modest title of Colonel
Armand, after good service in our cause
for two years had sailed for France in
February, 1781, but had returned in Sep
tember in season to be at the siege, and was
a volunteer at the capture of one of the
redoubts. Before the war he was made a
Brigadier General on the special recom
mendation of Washington. He went
home at last to be a prisoner in the Bas-
tiUe, and to die of fever or of poison, in
a forest, to which he had fled from Danton
and Robespierre.
"The Marquis de St. Simon, we know,
was here, in command of the whole splen
did corps, just landed from the fleet,
called by Rochambeau 'one of the bravest
men that lived' ; wounded while command
ing in the French trenches, but who insisted
on being carried to the assault at the head
of his troops; who, after our war was
ended, entered the service of Spain, and,

 Wlfat We Wme ta jFraturg 73
after various fortunes, died a Captain-
General of that Kingdom.
"But a second Marquis de St. Simon
was here also, of still greater historic noto
riety — a young soldier of twenty-one,
who had been a pupil of D'Alembert;
who lived to be the proposer to the Vice
roy of Mexico of a canal to unite the At
lantic and the Pacific; and to be the author
of a scheme for the fundamental recon
struction of society; — ^the founder of St.
Simonianism, with Comte for a time as
one of his disciples, and whose published
works fiU not less than twenty volumes.
"And here was the Count Matthieu
Dumas, another of Rochambeau's aids,
who bore a conspicuous part at one of
the redoubts, and was one of the first to
enter it, who returned home to be a mem
ber of the Assembly and a peer of France ;
whose last military service was with Na
poleon at Waterloo, and who, in 1830,
gave active assistance to La Fayette in

74 Wlfat We Wme ta 3mnce
placing Louis Phihppe on the throne —
dying at eighty-four years of age.
"Count Charles De Lameth was here,
too, as an Adjutant General, and was
severely wounded at the storming of the
redoubts, who afterwards served in the
French Army of the North till the mem
orable 10th of August, 1792, became a
Deputy at the Restoration, and was living
as late as 1832.
"But how can I attempt to portray the
numerous, I had almost said the number
less, French officers of high name and
family who were gathered on this field a
hundred years ago, and who went home to
so many strange fortunes, and not a few
of them to such sad fates? It would re
quire no small share of the genius which
old Homer displayed in his wonderful
catalogue of the ships and forces which
came to the siege of Troy, when Pope
translates him as demanding of the
Muses; 'A thousand tongues, a throat of
brass, and adamantine lungs.

.,,«&¦

1®1U©AIMY]IILILIS „

 Wlfat We Wme to jffraturg 75
"Time certainly would fail me were I to
give more than the names of General de
Choisy and the Marquis de Rostaing; of
the Marquis and Count de Deux-Ponts;
of the Counts de Custine and de Charlus,
d'Audichamp and de DUlon, de I'Estrade,
de St. Maime, and d'Olonne; of the Vis
counts de Noailles and de Pondeux; of
Admiral Destouches and Commodore the
Count de BougainviUe; of General Des-
androuins and Colonel the Viscount
d'Aboville; of Colonels de Querenet and
Gimat, and Major Galvan; of M. de
Menonville and the Marquis de Vauban;
of M. de BevUle and M. Blanchard; of
Chevalier da la Vallette, M. de BressoUes,
and M. de Broglie; of Chevalier, after
wards the Baron, Durand, a General of
the French Army at the Restoration; of
M. de Montesquieu, son of the author of
'L'Esprit des Lois'; of M. de Mirabeau,
brother of the matchless orator; of M. de
Berthier, afterwards one of Napoleon's
Chiefs of Staff, a Marshal of France, and

76 Wlfat We Wme ta 3Tranrg
Prince of Wagram. I must have omitted
many who ought to be named in this enu
meration; but enough have certainly been
given to show what a cloud of witnesses
and actors were here, whose names have
since been celebrated in the annals of their
own country, and which deserve a grate
ful mention in ours to-day. That famous
'Field of Cloth of Gold,' two centuries and
a half before, when Francis I. and Henry
VIII. met, in the valley of Ardres, to ar
range an ominous family alliance, had
hardly a more imposing representation of
the nobles and notables of either land." t
jlt ill jlt Alt ijt jl* ak
"We do not forget that it was from a
Bourbon Monarch we received this aid.
We do not forget of what dynasty the
vigilant and far-sighted Vergennes, and
the accomplished but somewhat wavering
Necker, were Ministers, — ^together with
the aged Maurepas, over whose death-bed
the tidings of this surrender 'threw a
halo.' We do not forget that it was in
tIbid. p. 39.

Wlfat We Wme ta Jranrg 77
the very uppermost ranks of French so
ciety that an enthusiasm for our contest
for freedom first caught and kindled. We
do not forget that it was from the high
est nobihty of France that so many of her
brave soldiers came over to help us, and
went home, alas ! to reap such a harvest of
horrors for themselves. We would not
breathe a word or thought to-day in dis
paragement of those who were the im
mediate instruments of our success on this
field. The sad fate of Louis XVI. and
Marie Antoinette, and of so many of the
gay young officers who were gathered here
around Washington and Rochambeau, a
century ago, cannot be recalled by Ameri
cans without emotion, as they reflect that,
by the very act of helping us to the estab
lishment of republican institutions, they
were preparing the way for dethronement,
exile, or death on the scaffold, for them
selves. "But it is to France that our acknowl
edgments are due, — to France, then an Ab-

78 Wlfat We Wme ta 3tmte
solute Monarchy, afterwards an Empire,
then a Constitutional Monarchy, again an
Empire — but always France: Toujouhs
La France! She has many glories to
boast of in her history, glories in art and
science, glories in literature and philoso
phy, glories in peace and war, brilhant
statesmen and orators, heroic soldiers and
captains and conquerors on land and on
sea; and even in the later pages of that
history, amid aU her recent reverses, the
endurance and fortitude of her marvel
lously mercurial people — rising superior
to what seemed a crushing downfall — have
won the admiration and sympathy of the
world. When I witnessed, personally, by
a happy chance, the removal of the last
scaffolding from that superb column in
the Place Vendome, restored in aU its
original beauty as a priceless monimaent
of history, I could not but feel that the
glories of France were safe. When we
all witnessed from afar the magic prompt
ness with which, at the call of her late ad-

 Wlfat We @iog to 3^ra«gg 79
mirable President, Thiers, and almost as
at the touch of Midas, those millions of
gold came pouring into the public coffers
to provide for the immediate payment of
her ransom from Germany, we all could
not fail to feel, that she had a reserved
power to reinstate herself, as she has done,
among the foremost nations of the world.
Yet as her chUdren, and her children's
chUdren for a thousand years, and till time
shaU be no more, shall review her varied
and most impressive annals, since Gaul
was conquered by Julius Caesar, down
through the days of Clovis and Charle
magne, through aU her dynasties, — Mero
vingian, Carlovingian and Capetian, Va-
lois, Bourbon, Bonaparte, or Orleans, —
their eyes wUl still rest, and still be riveted
with pride, on the brief but eventful story
of this 19th of October, 1781. And as
they read that story, her classical scholars
will recall the account which the great
Roman historian, Livy, has left us, of the
splendid ceremonial at the celebration of

80 Wlfat We @mg to JFraturg 
the Isthmian games, when Titus Quinc-
tius, the Roman Pro-consul and General,
having subdued PhUip of Macedon, and
given freedom and independence to
Greece, from lip to lip the saying ran,
and resounded over Corinth, in words
which might almost have been written pro
phetically, as weU as historically —
"That there is a nation in the
world, which, at its own expense,
with its own labor, and at its own
risk, waged war for the liberty of
others: and this is not merely for
CONTIGUOUS states, OR FOR NEAR NEIGH
BORS, OR FOR COUNTRIES THAT MADE PART
OF THE SAME CONTINENT; BUT THAT THEY
EVEN CROSSED THE SEAS FOR THE PURPOSE,
SO THAT NO UNLAWFUL POWER SHOXJLD
SUBSIST ON THE FACE OF THE WHOLE
EARTH, BUT THAT JUSTICE, RIGHT AND
LAW SHOULD EVERYWHERE HAVE SOVER
EIGN SWAY." *
*Ibid. p. S3.

Wlfat We Wme ta JTraturg 81

In 1881 these interesting letters from
the collection of Mr. Gordon L. Ford,
of Brooklyn, New York, were privately
printed :
"(Noah Webster to Washington.)
"Sir: "Having engaged to write, for Mr.
Morse's Geography a sketch of the His
tory of the late war, I take the liberty of
making an enquiry respecting a fact
which I am told is commonly misrepre
sented, & which perhaps no person but
the Commander in chief of the late armies
in America can set right. An opinion.
Sir, is very general that the junction of
the French fleet and the American armies
at York Town was the result of a precon
certed plan between yourself and the
Count de Grasse; & that the prepara
tions for attacking New York were merely
a feint. But the late Quarter Master
General * has assured me that a combined
attack was intended to be made upon New
[(*) Col. Timothy Pickering.]

82 Wlfat We Wme ta Jfframrg
York, & that the arrival of the French fleet
in the Bay of Chesapeake was unexpected
& changed the plan of operations.
"A true state of the facts is aU I have
to request of your Excellency, — & I fear
that this request may be improper and in
delicate. But in writing history, it is of
infinite consequence to know the springs
of action as well as the events ; and a wish
to discover and commemorate truth, is my
sole motive for writing. Be pleased. Sir,
to accept this as an apology for giving
trouble to a Gentleman who must be op
pressed by a multitude of attentions of
more consequence, — & be assured that
with perfect respect for yourself and
family "I am. Sir,
"Your Excellency's
"Most Obliged & most humble Servant
"Noah Webster.
"New York, July 14th, 1788."
"His Excellency Gen. Washington."

 Wlfat We Wme to JFranrg 83
"Mount Vernon, July 31st, 1788.
"Sir: "I duly received your letter of the 14th
instant, and can only answer you briefly
and generally from memory: that a com
bined operation of the land and naval
forces of France in America for the year
1781, was preconcerted the year before:
that the point of attack was not absolutely
agreed upon, * because it could not be
foreknown where the enemy would be
most susceptible of impression; and be
cause we (having command of the water
with sufficient means of conveyance)
could transport ourselves to any spot with
the greatest celerity: that it was deter
mined by me (nearly twelve months before
hand) at all hazards to give out and cause
it to be believed by the highest military
as well as civil Officers that New York was
the destined place of attack, for the impor-
•Because it would be easy for the Count de Grasse,
in good time before his departure from the West Indies,
to give notice by Express, at what place he could
conveniently first touch to receive advice.

84 Wlfat We Wme ta Jfframrg 
tant purpose of inducing the Eastern &
Middle States to make greater exertions
in furnishing specific supplies than they
otherwise would have done, as well as for
the interesting purpose of rendering the
enemy less prepared elsewhere: that by
these means and these alone ArtUlery,
Boats, Stores and Provisions were in
seasonable preparation to move with the
utmost rapidity to any part of the conti
nent — for the difficulty consisted more in
providing, than knowing how to apply
the mUitary apparatus : that before the ar
rival of the Count de Grasse it was the
fixed determination to strike the enemy in
the most vulnerable quarter so as to en
sure success with moral certainty, as our
affairs were then in the most ruinous train
imaginable: that New York was thought
to be beyond our effort & consequently
that the only hesitation that remained was
between an attack upon the British Army
in Virginia or that in Charleston — and
finaUy, (by the intervention of several

 Wlfat Wg Wme ta JFranr g 85
communications & some incidents which
cannot be detailed in a letter; and w'ch
were altogether unknown to the late
Quarter Master General of the Army,
who was informed of nothing but what re
lated to the immediate duties of his own
department) the hostile Post in Virginia
from being a provisional <§ strongly ex
pected became the definitive and certain
object of the Campaign.
"I only add, that it was never in contem
plation to attack New York unless the
Garrison should first have been so far de-
garnished to carry on the southern opera
tion, as to render our success in the siege
of that place as infallible as any future
military event can ever be made. — For
I repeat it and dweU upon it again &
again — some splendid advantage (whether
upon a larger or smaUer scale was almost
immaterial) was so essentiaUy necessary
to revive the expiring hopes and languid
exertions of the Country at the crisis in
question, that I never would have con-

86 Wlfat We Wme ta Ifvmte
sented to embark in any enterprise ; where
in from the most rational plan & accurate
calculations, the favourable issue should
not have appeared as clear to my view
as a ray light. The failure of an attempt
ag'st the Posts of the enemy could in no
other possible situation during the war
have been so fatal to our cause.
"That much trouble was taken and fin
esse used to misguide & bewilder Sir
Henry Clinton in regard to the real object,
by fictitious communications, as weU as by
making a deceptive provision of Ovens,
Forage and Boats in his neighborhood,
is certain. Nor were less pains taken to
deceive our own army; for I had always
conceived, when the imposition did not
completely take place at home, it could
never sufficiently succeed abroad.
"Your desire of obtaining truth is very
laudable. I wish I had more leisure to
gratify it; as I am equaUy solicitous that
the undisguised verity should be known.
Many circumstances will unavoidably be

Wlfat We Wme to aFranrg 87

misconceived & misrepresented. Notwith
standing most of the Papers which
may properly be deemed official are pre
served; yet the knowledge of innumer
able things of a more dehcate & secret
nature is confined to the perishable re
membrance of some few of the present
generation. With esteem
"I am. Sir,
"Your Most Obed't H'ble Servt,
"G? Washington."
"Noah Webster, Esqr."
The debt of gratitude has been ex
pressed for what this country owes to
France, not only for what Frenchmen did
in the early days in the settlement of Amer
ica, but for what she did in aiding it to
achieve Independence and notably for be
ing the contributing factor in the victory
of Yorktown. All this I have said as a
citizen of the United States and as one,
not unmindful of my lineage from one
who distinguished himself in so many

88 Wlfat We Wme ta jffrattrg 
ways in furthering the interests and wel
fare of this country, — the friend of Wash
ington, and to whose hands were com
mitted the flags surrendered by the enemy
at Yorktown, for presentation to Con-
gTCSS. May I now be permitted to say a few
words as an individual, and as a friend of
France. The literary skill of her writers is un
surpassed, their purity of style and ele
gance of diction is inimitable and for logic
they have no equals. It would be easy to
prove how the whole modern world is a
debtor to French thought. French
thought which the iUogical Enghshman
has put into practice, and which the
shrewd American has exploited, which the
German dreamers have pushed to fanciful
extremities and rendered grotesque. The
Italian alone has been able to assimUate
it. The American Declaration of Inde
pendence is the product of French and
Italian thought. It is not too much to say

 Wlfat We @mg to jFraturg 89
that until quite recent years France was
the only civilized country ; and to-day she
is still in the fore-front of the civilized
world. Her language was the language
of law, diplomacy, and of the court.
Strike out from the English language the
words of French origin, and you have
struck out all the words of civilization.
The Frenchman has thought out the great
problems and thought them out most un
selfishly, looking for no fee or reward ex
cept for the glory of benefiting the cause of
humanity. French thought has been su
preme in almost every domain. In arts —
whether it be painting, sculpture or archi
tecture; in science; in engineering; in ap-
lied mechanics; in surgery and medicine;
in jurisprudence; in the arts and graces
of life which distinguish the civilized man
from the savage — his attire, his food, his
manners. I have always admired the
sweet domesticity of her life — the grace
of her women — the joyous gayety which
crowns the earnest character of her men.

90 Wlfat We Wme ta 3ffraturg 
As a Churchman, I remember that one
of our Parishes is caUed St. Denis from
the fact that few of the French who set
tled within the limits of the Parish of St.
Thomas in South Carolina, knew Enghsh,
and that therefore a distinct Parish was
erected for them and caUed St. Denis.
Let me finaUy render this tribute to
the French in this country. They founded
no parties and formed no cliques. They
merged themselves into the great body
politic because they have always been
loyal but unostentatious citizens. The de
basement in our pohtics can never be laid
to their doors.
Have you ever paused to reflect on the
strange fact that France should have
played such an important part in shaping
the destinies, as she did in the early days
of the two great English speaking races —
England and America — and what a debt
of gratitude both coimtries owe to France
and her people?

 Wlfat We Wme ta jffraturg 91
Nay, further, is it not true that the
whole world is the debtor of France?
Finally, let me correct a popular mis
conception that Frenchmen aided us out
of their hatred to England. Their states
men and pohticians may have been sus
picious and distrustful of the Court of
St. James but it is a strange fact and one
well worth remembering that never be
fore had the French gentry been so friend
ly to England or so fond of English
ways or customs. Mr. Trevelyan is per
fectly right when he says on page 390 of
the fourth volume of his American Revo
lution that nowhere was she so respected,
admired and imitated than in the land of
her hereditary foe. "The more frivolous
of the French nobility copied and borrowed
our simple dress, our less gaudy and far
swifter carriages, our games at cards, the
implements of our national sports, and the
jargon of our race-course, — so far as they
could frame their lips to pronounce it.
Those among them who were of more ex-

92 Wlfat We (Jmg to jffrancg 
alted nature, and tougher fibre, envied the
individual liberty and responsible self-
government which prevailed in England,
and the opportunities there afforded for
a strenuous and worthy public career.
The pride of young French gentlemen,
(wrote the scion of a great family in Peri-
gord) , was piqued by the contrast between
their own situation, and that of men of
their age and class beyond the Channel.
'Our minds dwelt upon the dignity, the
independence, the useful and important
existence of an English peer, or of a mem
ber of the House of Commons, and up
on the proud and tranquil freedom which
appertained to every citizen of Great
Britain.' "
The spirit of liberty was moving over
the waters and curiously enough it was
out of that very spirit of liberty of
which England boasted and for which she
was both hated and admired, that the al
liance between France and America was
born. We have seen how it was at a din-

We Wme to 3vnme 93

ner in honour of an English officer that
young La Fayette's enthusiasm for liberty
over the seas was kindled. It was out of
their very love for England and her ideals
of liberty and freedom that the young
gentry of France crossed a thousand
leagues of sea to aid a struggling nation
to win its liberty and its freedom.
There were moments when the leaders
of the French Nation hesitated at the
cost and the risk — but there was never a
moment when the French people wavered
in their devotion to the American cause.
So universal was the desire of the French
soldiers to come to America that orders
had to be sent to the surgeons to be very
careful in examining the men because
many were concealing infirmities for fear
of being left behind, and France wished
only picked men to be sent. When we
turn from the common soldier to the offi
cers of the French army, we may be sure
that it was no consideration of st.atecraft
or national policy that impeUed such men

94 Wlfat We Wme ta S^raturg
as La Fayette and Rochambeau and
d'Estaing, and the others to exchange the
luxuries of French country life and the
charms of Paris for the privations and
hardships of camp life in the Revolution
ary Army and the sufferings of VaUey
Forge. It was only the noble impulse of
noble hearts that beat high in the cause of
human liberty, that could impel men to
such sacrifice. Nor have we in the United
States been unmindful of this friendship
and service of the French. At all the
chief cities of the original thirteen states,
at Savannah, Charleston, Baltimore, An-
napohs, Washington, Philadelphia, New
York, Newport, and Boston, are tablets,
monuments, statuary and paintings — ^not
only to officers, but even to the soldiers of
France, to show that America remembers.
At the Capitol at Washington, the Speak
er sits between the portraits of Washing
ton and La Fayette.
Shall not our hearts go forth in loving
sympathy to our former aUy and our pres-

Wlfat We ®mg to 3Fraturg 95
ent friend in her present hour of stress
when in stem array she is holding in check
the foe on her northern territory, and with
her old foe across the channel fighting on
her side she trusts that she may yet win
the battle for Liberty and Freedom
against the tyranny of caste and bureau
cracy. France seeks no material aid from
us, but shaU we not give her that which
she in her proud reserve has the right to
receive, from free America, loving and
heartfelt messages of cheer and hope?
Let her feel that American hearts beat in
warm sympathy for her in her fight for
hearth and home — fair sunny France,
when now Burgundy, may as of yore,
mourn that
"AU her husbandry doth lie on heaps.
Corrupting in its own fertility.
Her vine, the merry cheerer of the
heart,
Unpruned dies." *
As in the past we thought our cause
*Shakespeare's Henry the Fifth, Act V., Scene 1.

96 Wlfat We Wme ta jffratttg 
was just and right, so let our thoughts go
out to our allies of yore, friends of yester
day and to-day, sharing their behef.
"Terrible the process.
But our cause is good;
Knowing all. Thou knowest
Whose the guilt of blood.
And, for him who sent them
To be slain and slay.
Judge, O God, between us
Justly, as to-day." *
If, as neutrals, we can give no official
utterance to the feelings of our hearts, we
can and do in silent homage repeat the
first toast of the Alliance of 1774 —
"To America! To France!
To General Washington and to the Amer
ican Army,
To the Independence of America!
To the Alhance of France and America!
May it never be broken!"
*Lushington's "Inkerman."

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