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EVLOGETAII ON GEN. LAFAYETTE.
arlicaOttlefP
ON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OP
*it*
•
. ert 4710tter, De 'Gate:gene:
; oillieeed at th e request of both Houses of the Cc:re
gress of tha 'lifted States, before them, in the
flatuo of Representatives at 'Washington,
on the 31st of December, 1934, by
JOHN QV/NOT ,ADANCS,
A PIPMBER OP THE HOUSE.
[CONCLUDED FRO)! ODE LAST.
n the month of April, 1776, the combin
- tfid.Wisdoei of the Count de Vergennes and
.af SL . Turgot, the Prime 7rlinister, and the
•‘ <Financier of Louis the Sixteenth, had bro't
'him to the conclusion that the event the
•thiest desirable to France, with regard to the
'controversy between .Great Britain and her
Atnericeb-Colonies, was that the insurrec
tion should be suppressed. This judgment
evincing only the total absence of all moral
considerations, in the estimate by these emi
nent statesmen, of what was desirable to
France, had undergone a great change by
the close of the year 1777. The Declara
tion of Independence had changed the ques
tion between the parties. The popular feel.
ing of France was all on the side of the A
ittericaas. The daring and romantic move
tniitit efLafifyette in defiance of the Govern
ment itself, then highly favored by public
opinion, was followed by 'universal admire
tioiti. The spontaneous spirit of the people
gradually spread itself even over the rank
corruption of the court; a suspicious and
deceptive neutrality succeeded to an asten
eible exclusion of the insurgents from the
portsof France, till the capitulation of Bur
goyne satisfied the elisions
. 4 international
kw at Versailles that the inippression of the
insurrection•was no longer tile infHt desira
ble of events; but that the United States
were, de facto, sovereign and intivendent;
and that France might conclude a treaty of
commorce with them, without giving just
cause of offence to the stepmother country.
On the 6111 of Febniary, 1778, a treaty of
Commerce between France and the United
States was concluded, and with it, on the
same day a Treaty of eventual Defensive
Alliance, to take effect only in the event of
Great Britain's resenting by war against
France, the consummation of the Commer
cial Treaty. The war immediately ensued,
arid in the slimmer of 1778 a French fleet,
antler the command of Count d'Estaing was
.sent to cu-operate with the forces of the U.
States for the mainteuunce of their ludepen.
dence.
By these events the position of the Mar
quis de Lafayette was essentially . change
It became necessary for him to r Na-to
himself in the ~trod r.ic S:pioret; - ;
011141.1 , .(1 ..t t;!..; !
C.Ourif.v ".!; -,.. '2; ,1
•1 `‘l,
close of the
i i 18, with the approbation of
his friend and patron the Commander-in
chief, he addressed a latter to the President
of Congress, representing his then present
circumstances, with the confidence of affec
tion and gratitude, observing that the semi
meats which bound him to his country could
never be more properly spoken of than in
the presence of men who had done so much
for their own.. "As long (continued he) as
I thought I could dispose of myself, I made
it my pride and pleasure to tight under A
merican colon', in detence of a cause which
I dare more 'particularly call ours, because
I had the ga,od fortune of bleeding for her.
Now, Sir, that France is involved in a war,
I am urged / by a sense of my dutyris well as
thalo,re of my country, to present myself
before the King, and know in what manner
he judges prdper to employ my services.—
'rhe 'moat agreeable of all will always be
-
soch as may enable me to serve the common
;Cause among those whose friendship I bad
/ the happiness to obtain, and whose fortune I
had the honor to follow in less smiling times.
That reason, and others, which I leave to
the feelings of Congresi, engage me to beg
from them the liberty of going home for-the
next winter. .
"As long as there were any hopes of an
active campaign, I did not think of leaving
the field; now that 1 see a very peaceable
and undisturbed moment, I take this oppor
tunity of waiting on Congress."
In the remainder of the letter he solicited
that, in the event of his request being gran
ted, he Might be considered as a soldier on
furlough, heartily wishing to regain his col
ors and his esteemed and beloved fellow
soldiers. And he closes with a tender of
any services which he might be enabled to
render to the American cause in his own
country.
On the receipt of this letter, accompanied
by one from General Washington, recom
mending to Congress, in terms most honora
ble to the Marquis, a compliance with his
request, that body immediaty passed resolu
tions, granting him an unlimited leave of
absence, with permission to return to the
United States at his own most convenient
time; that the President of Con.ressshould
. write him a letter, ;returning him the thanks
of Congress ferthat disinterested zeal which
bad led him to America, and for the services
he had rendered to the United States by
the exertion of his coinage and abilities on
tummy signal occasions, and that the Minister
Plenipotentiary of the United States at the
`Court of Versailles should be directed to
canoe an elegant sword, with proper devices,
'to be made and presented to him in the
tame of the United States.. These resolu
tines were communicated to him in a letter
expressive of the sensibility congenial to
'time, from the President of Congress, lien
el Laurens.
U. embarked in January 1770, in the
010 , 0 Alliance, at Boston,. and on the suc
"ciieding 12th day of February, presented
at Versailles. Twelve months had
tilittadY elapsed since the conclusion of the
Tseaties Conunerce and of eventual Mil
''istsets" betwetto France and the United States.
ir , had, during the greater part of that
• t* heist tkieply engaged in war with a
4101111451013 cause against Great Brita in, and
THE GETTYSBURG STAR EPUBLICAN BANNER.
it was the cause in which Lafayette had been
shedding his blood: yet, instead of receiving
him with open arms, as the pride and orna
ment of his country, a cold and hollow-heart
ed order was issued to him not to present
himself at Court m
but to •consider him
I unrier arrest, with permission to receive vis
its only from his relations. This ostensible
mark of the Royal displeasure was to last
eight days, and Lafayette Manifested his
Isense of it only by a letter to the Count de
Vergennes, inquiring whether the interdic
tion upon him to receive visits was to be
considered as extending to that of Dector
Franklin. The sentiment of universal ad•
miration which had followed him at his first
departure, greatly increased by his splendid
career of service during the two years of
his absence, indemnified hini for the indig
nity of the courtly rebuke.
he remained in France through the year '
1779, and returned to the scene of action
early in the ensuing year. Ile continue.l
in the French service, and was appointed
to command the Kner's own regiment of
dragoons, stationed during the year in va
rious parts of the Kingdom, and holding an
incessant correspondence with the Ministers
of 'foreign Affairs and of War, urging the
employment of a land and naval force in aid
of the American cause. "The Maiq.iis de
Lafayette," says Dr. Franklin, in a letter
of the 4th of March, 1780, to the President
of Congress, "who, during his residence in
France, has been extremely zealous in sup
porting our cause on all occasions, returns
again to fight for it. Ile is infinitely es
teemed and beloved here, and I am per
suaded will do every thing in his power to
merit n continuance of the same affection
from America."
Immediately idler his arrival in the U.
States, it was, on the 16th of Slav, 1780,
resolved in Congress, that they considered
his return to America to resume his com
mand, as a fresh proof of the disinterested
zeal and perseveringattachment which have
justly recommended him to the public confi•
deuce arid applause, and that they received
with pleasure a tender of the-further services
ofso gallant and meritorious an (ifficer.
From this tinr.e until the termination of
the, campign of 17 1 41, by the surrender of
Lord C- , rnwallis and his army at Yorktown,
his service wag of incessant activity, alwa) s
signalised by military talenis unsurpassed,
and by appirii never to be subdued. At the
time of the treason of Arnold, Lafayette way
accompanying his Comm"'.-- •
an unnar*--•
war,lt
which he occupied,
personal character, his individual rein.
, f-ins with Washington, with the officers of
th the allied armies, and with the armies
Inselves, had been specially ordered to
promote and secure that harmony and mu•
tual good understanding indispensable to the
ultimate success of the common cause. His
position, too, as a foreigner by birth, a Eu
ropean, a volunteer in the American ser.
vice, and a person of high rank in his native
country, pointed him out as peculiarly stilt
ed to the painful duty of deciding upon the
character of the crime, and upon the fate of
the British officer, the accomplice and vic
tim-of the detested traitor, Arnold.
In the early part of the campaign of 1781,
when Cornwallis, with an overwhelming
force, was spreading ruin and devastation
over the Southern portion of the Union, we
find Lafayette, with means altogether inad
equate, charged with-the defence. of the
Territory of Virginia. Always equal to the
emergencies in which circumstances placed
him, his expedients for encountering and
surmounting the obstacles which they cast
in his way are invariably stamped with the
peculiarities of his tharacter. The troops
placed under his command for the defence
of Virginia, were chiefly taken from the
Eastern regiments, unseasoned to the cli
mate of the South, and prejudiced against it
as unfavorable to the health of the natives of
the more rigorous regions of the North.—
Desertions became frequent, till they threat
ened the very dissolution of the corps. In
stead of resorting to military execution to
retain his men, he appeals to the sympathies
of honor. He states, in general orders, the
great danger and difficulty of the enterprise.'
upon which he is about to embark; repre
sents the only possibility by which it can
pmmise success, the faithful adherence of
the soldiers to their chief, and his confidence
that they will_not abandon him. He then
adds, that if, however, any individual of the
detachment was unwilling to follow him, a
passport to return to his home should be
forthwith granted him upon his application.
It is to a cause like that of American Inde
pendence that resources like this are con.
genial. After these general orders, mob
ing more was heard ofdesertion. The very
cripples of the army preferred paying for
their own transportation, to follow the corps,
rather than to ask for the dismission which
had been made so easily accessible to all.
But how shall the deficiencies of the mili
tary chest be supplied? The want of money
was heavily pressing upon the service in
every direction. Where are the sinews of
wail How aie the troops to march without
shoes, linen, clothing of all descriptions, and
other neceiKerriestflife! Lafayette has found
them all. From the patriotic merchants of
Baltimore he obtains, on the pledge of his
own personal credit, a loan of money ade
quate to the purchase of the materials; and
from the fair hands of the daughters of the
Monumental City, even then worthy to be
so called, he obtains the toil of making up
the needed garments.
The details of the campaign, from its un
promising outset, when Cornwallis, the
British Commander, exulted in anticipation
that the boy could not escape him, till the
storming of the twin redoubts. in emulation
of gallantry by the valiant FrenChmen of
Vinmeenil,and the American fellow-soldiers
of Lafayette, led by him to victors at York
town, must be left to the recording pen of
History. Both redoubts were carried at
the point of sword, and Cornwallis, with
I averted face, surrendered his sword to
i Washington.
I This was the last vital struggle of the war,
I which, however, lingered through another
year rather of aegotiation than of action.—
Immediately after the capitulation at York
town, Lafayette asked and obtained again a
leave of absence to visit his family and his
country, and with this closed his military
service to the field during the Revolutionary
War. But it was not for the individual en
joyment of his renown that he returned to
France. The resolutions of Congress ac
companying that which gave him a discre
tionary leave of absence, while honorary in
the highest degree to him, were equally
marked by a grant of virtual credentials for
negn tiation, and by the trust of confidential
powers, together with a letter of the warm
, est commendation of the gallant soldier to
the favor of his King. The ensuing year
' was consumed in preparations, for a formida
ble combined French and Spanish expedi
'ion against the British Islands in the West
Indies, and particularly the Island of Janizii
ca; thence to recoil upon New York, and to
pursue the ofFensive war into Canada. The
fleet destined for this gigantic undertaking
was already assembled at Cadiz; and La
fayette, appointed the chief of the Staff, was
there ready to embark upon this perilous
adventure, when, on the 30th of November,
1782, the preliminary treaties ofpeace were
concluded between his Britannic 11ajesiy on
one part and the Allied Powers of France,
Spain, and the United States of America,
on the other. The first intelligence of this
event received by the American Congress
was in the communication of a letter from
Lafayette.
The war of American Independence is
closed. The People of the North American
Confederation are in union, sovereign and
independent. Lafityette, at twenty-five
years of age, has lived the life of a patri
arch. and illustrated the career of a hero.
fled his days upon earth been then number
ed, and had he then slept with his fathers,
illustrious as fbr centuries their names had
been, his name, to the end of time, would
have transcended them all. Fortunate
youth! fortunate beyond even the measure
of his companions in arms with whom he
had achieved the glorious consummation of
American Independence, His lame was
all his own; not cheaply earned:
bly won. His (1.11-
.oe rewards of their dangers and their
toils. Lafayette had watched, and labored,
and fought, and bled, not for himself, not for
his family, not, in the first instance, even for
his country. In the legendary tales of
Chivalry we read of tournaments at which a
foreign and unknown Knight suddenly pre
sents himself, armed in complete steel, and
with the vizor down, enters the, ring to con
tend with the assembled flower of Knight.
hood for the prize of honor, to be awarded
by the hand of Beauty; bears tt in triumph
away, and disappears from the astonished
multitude of competitors and spectators of
the feats of arms. But where, in the rolls
ofl - listory,where,in the fictions of Romance,
where, but in the life of Lafayette, has been
seen the noble stranger, flying, with the
tribute of his name, his rank, his affluenee,
his ease, his domestic bliss, his treasure, his
blood, to the relief of a suffering and distant
land, in the hour of her deepest calamity—
baring his bosom to her foes; and not at the
transient pageantry of a tournament, but for
a succession of five years sharing all the vi
cissitudes of her fortunes; always . eager to
appear at the post of danger—tempering the
glow of youthful ardor with the cold caution
.of a veteran commander; bold and daring in
action; prompt in execution; rapid in pur
suit; fertile in expedients; unattainable in
retreat; often exposed, but never surprised,
never disconcerted; eluding his enemy when
within his fancied grasp; bearing upon him
with irresistible sway when of force to cope
with him in the conflict ofarms? And what
is this but the diary of Lafayette, from the
day of his rallying the scattered fugitives of
the Brandywine, insen-ibis of the blood flow
ing from his wound, to the storming of the
redoubt at Yorktown?
Henceforth,as a public man, Lafityctte is
to be considered as a Frenchman,always ac
tive and ardent to serve the H.States,but no
longer in their service as an officer. S o
transcendent had ben his merits in the com
mon cause. that, to reward them, the rule of
nrogressive advancement in the armies of
France was set aside for him.- He received
from the Minister of War a notification that
from the day of his retirement from the ser
vice of the United States as a Major Gene
ral, at the close of the war, he ghnuld hold
the same rank in the armies of France, to
date from the day of the capitulation of Lurd
Cornwallis.
Henceforth he is a Frenchman, destined
to perform in the history of his country a
part,as peculiarly his own, and not less glo
rious than that which he had performed in
the war of Independence. A short period
of profound peace followed the - great tri
umph of Freedom. The desire of Lafayette
once more to see the land of his adoption and
the associates of his glory,the fellow-soldiers
who had become to him as brothors,and the
friend and patron of his youth, who had be
come to him as a father; sympathizinc , with
their desire once more to see him—to see
in their prosperity him who had first come
to them in their affliction, induced him, in
the year 1784,t0 pay a visit to the (J.States.
On the 4th of August,of that vear,he.lan
ded at New York, and in the space of five
months from that tline,visited his venerable
friend at Mount Vernon,where he was then
living in retirement,and traversed ten States
of the Union, receiving every where from
their Legislative Assemblies, from the Mu
nicipal Bodies of the cities and towns thro'
which he passed,from the officers of the ar
my, his late associates, now restored to the
virtues and occupations of private life, and
even from the recent emigrants from Ire
land, who had come to adopt for their coun-
r .,,,olrity to ihe 'West
-1 try the self-emancipated land, addresses of
gratulation and of joy,the effusions of hearts
grateful in the enjoyment of the blessings
I for the possession of which they had been so
largely indebted to his exertions—and,final
ly,from, the United States of America in
Congress assembled at Trenton. i
On the 9th of December it was resolved
by that body that a committee, to consist of
one member from each Slate, should be ap
pointed to receive, and in the name of Con
gress take leave of the Marquis. That they
should be instructed to assure him that Con
gress continued to entertain the same high
sense of his abilities and zeal to promote the
welfare of America, both here and in Eu
rope, which they had frequently expressed I
I and manifested on former occasions, and
which the recent marks of his attention in
their commercial and other interests had
perfectly confirmed. "That as his uniform
and unceasing attachment to this country
has resembled that of a patriotic citizen, the
United States regard him with particular
action, and will not cease to feel an inter
est in whatever may concern his honor and
prosperity, and that their best and kindest
wishes will always attend him."
And it was further resolved, that a letter
be written to his Most Christian Majesty, to
be signed by his Excellency the President of
Congress, expressive of the high sense
which the United States in Congress assein
bled entertain of the zeal, talents, and meri
torious services of the Marquis de Lafayette,
and recommending him to the favor mid
patronage of his Majesty.
The first of these resolutions was, on the
next day cart ied into execution. At a so
lemn interview with the Committee of Con
gress, received in their Hall, and addressed
by the Chairman of their Committee, John
Jay, the purport of these resolutions was
communicated to him. He replied in terms
of fervent sensibility for the kindness mani.
fisted personally to himself; and, with allu
sions to the situation, the prospect, and the
duties of the People of this country, he point
ed out the great interests which he believed
it indispensable to their welfare that they
sheuld cultivate and cherish. In the follow
mg memorable sentences the ultimate ob
jects of his solicitude are disclosed in a tone
deeply solemn and impressive.
"May t his immense Temple of Freedom,"
lid he, "ever stand, a lesson to bppressors,
example to the oppressed, a sanctuary for
Oils of mankind I and may these hap
-1 States attain that complete spiel'.
-.rity which will illustrate the
qovernment, and for ages
to corns.
founders."
since these words wk.
the years of the existent:.
founders of this immense '1
dom have all departed, gave her,
a solitary exception, even while I sp..
the point of taking wing. The prayer
Lafayette is not yet consummated. A g es
upon ages are still to pass away before it
can - have its full accomplishment; and, for
its accomplishment, his spirit hovering over
'our heads, in more than echoes talks around
these walls. It repeats the prayer which
from his bps fifty years ago was at once a
parting blessing and a prophecy; for, were
it possible for the whole human race, now
breathing the breath °fide, to be assembled
within this Hall, your Orator would, inyour
name and in that of your constituents, ap
peal to them to testify for your fathers of
the last generation, that;so far as has depen.
ded upon them, the blessings of Lafayette
has been -prophecy. Yes! this immens-
Teinple of Freedom still stands, a lesson to
oppressoman example to the oppressed,und
a sanctuary for the rights of mankind. Yes!
with the smiles of a benignant Providence,
the splendor and prosperity of these happy
United States have illustrated the blessings
of their Government, and, we may humbly
hnpe,have rejoiced the departed 8. 43 18 of Its
founders. For the past, your fathers and
you have been responsible. The charge of
the future devolves upon you and your chil
dren. The vestal fire of Freedom is in your
custody. May the souls of its departed
founders never be called to witness its ex
tinction by neglect, nor a soil upon the pu.
rite of its keepers!
With this valedictory, Lafayette took, as
he and those who heard him then believed,
a final leave of the People of the U. States.
He returned to France,and arrived at Paris
on the 25th of Janaary, 1765.
He continued to take a deep interest in
!he concerns ef the United States,and exer
ted his influence with the French Govern
ment to obtain reductions of duties favorable
to their commerce and fisheries. In the
summer of 17e6, he visited several of the
German Courts, and attended the last great
review by Frederick the Second of his ve
teran army—a review unusually splendid,
and especially remarkable by the attendance
of many of the most distinguished military
commanders of Europe. In the same year
the Legislature of Virginia manifested the
continued recollection of his services ren
dered to the People of that Commonwealth
by a complimentary token of gratitude not
less honorable than it was unusual. They
resolved that two busts of Lafayette, to be
executed by the celebrated sculptor, Hou
don, should be procured at their expense—
that one of them should be placed in their
own Legislative H ill, and the other presen
ted, in their name, to the municipal authori
ties of the city of Paris. It was accordingly
presented by Mr. Jefferson, then Minister
Plenipotentiary of the U. States, in France,
and,by the permission of Louis the Sixteenth
was.accepted.and,with appropriate solemni
tv,placed in one of the Halls of the Hotel de
Ville of the Metropolis of France.
We have gone through with one stage of
the life of Lafayette; we are now to see him
acting upon another theatre—in a cause still
essentially the same, but in the application
of its principles to his own country.
The immediate originating question which
occasioned the French revolution was the
same with that from which the American
4 eparted souls of 16
missed away
' ages are
The
their c►.
3. The i astniulll.ll
sembly,rerresenting the People of France—
Personal Liberty—Religious Liberty---=and
a Representative Assembly of the People.
These were his demands.
The first and second of them produced,
perhaps, at the time, no deep impression on
the Assembly, nor upon the public. Arbi
trary imprisonment, and the religious perse•
cutions of the Protestants had become uni
versally odious. They were worn-out in
.truments even in the hands of those who
wielded them. There was none to defend
them.
But the demand for a National Assembly
startled the Prince at the head of the Bu
reau. What! said the Count d'Artois, do
you ask for the States General? Yes, Sir,
was the answer of Lafayette, and for some
thing yet better. You ddsire,then,replied the
Prince,t hat 1 should take in writing,and re
port to the King,that the motion to convoke
the States General has been made by the
Marquis de Lafayette? "Yes,Sir," and the
name of Lafayette was accordingly reported
to the King.
The Assembly of the Notables was dis
solved—De Calonne was displaced and ban•
ished,and his succe undertook to raise
the needed funds, by7Tie authority of Royal
Edicts. The war of litigation with the Par
liaments recommenced, which terminated
only with a positive promise that the States
General should be convoked.
From that time a total revolution of Go
vernment in France was in progress. It has
been a solemn, a sublime,often a most pain.
fill,and yet,in the contemplation of great re
3ults, a refreshing and cheering contempla
tion. 1 cannot follow it in its overwhelming
multitude of details, even as connected with
the Life and Character of Lafayette. A se
cond Assembly of Notables succeeded the
first; and then an Assembly of the States
General,first to deliberate in separate orders
of Clergy, IsLibility, and Third Estate; but
finally, constituting itself a National Assem
bly, and forming a Constitution of limited
Monarchy, with a hereditary Royal Execu
tive,and a Legislature in a single Assembly
representing the People.
Lafiiyette was a member of the States
General first assembled. Their meeting
was signalized by a struggle between the
several orders of which they were compos
ed,which resulted in breaking them all down
into one National Assembly.
The convocation of the States General
had, in one respect, operated, in the pro
gress of the French Revolution, like the
Declaration of Independence in that of North
America. It had changed the question in
controversy. It was on the part of the Kin g
of France, a concession that he had no law.
ful power to tax the People_without their
consent: The States General, therefore,
met with this admission already conceded
by the King. In the Ameiican conflict the
British Government never yielded the con
cession. They undertook to maintain their
supposed right ofarbitrary taxation by force;
arid then the People of the Colonies renowi.
Revolution had sprung—Taxation of the ced all community of Government, not only
People without their consent. For nearly with the King and Parliament, but with the
two centuries the Kings of Franco had been British Nation. They re-constructed the
accustomed to levy taxes upon the People by I fabric of Government for themselves, and
Royal Ordinances. But it was necessary I held the people of Britain as foreigners—
that these Ordinances should be registered friends in peace—enemies in war.
in the Parliaments or Judical Tribunals; and I The concession by Louis the Sixteenth,
these Parliaments claimed the right of re• implied in the convocation of the States Gen
monstrating against them, and sometimes eral, was a virtual surrender of absolute
refused the registry of them itself. The , power —an acknowledgement that, as exer
members of the Parliaments held their °fn. cised by himself and his predecessors, it had
cos by purchase, hut were appointed by the ' been usurped. It was, in substance, an ab-
King, and were subject to banishment or jut- dication of his Crown. There was no pow
prisomnent, at his pleasure. Louis tile Filer which lie exercised as King of France,
teetith,towards the close of his reign,liad a- the lawfulness of which was not contestable
Ipiltsited the Parhaments,but they had been on the same principle which denied hiin the
restored at the accession of his successor. right of taxation. When the Assembly of
The finances of the Kingdom were in ex•
(ream disorder. The Nliiiister,or Comptrol
ler General, De Cilium!, after attenirting
various projects for obtaining the supplies,
the amomn and need of which he was with
lavish hand daily nicreasing,bethouglit him-
,elf at last ()leaning for the counsel of oth
ers. He prevailed upon the King to convoke,
not the States General, but an Assembly of
Notables. There was something ridi
rufous in the very name by which this meet
ing was called,but it consisted of a selection
from all the Grandees and Dignitaries of the
Kingdom. The two brothers of the King—
all the Princes of the blood, Arch-bishops
and Bishops, Dukes and Peers—the Chew
cellar and Presiding Members of the Parlia
ments; distinguished Members of the No.
blesses and the Mayors Ai. Chief Magistrates
of a few of the principal cities of the King
domoconstituted this assembly. It was a re
presnniat ion of every interest but that of the
People. They wrre appointed by the King
—were members of the highest Aristocra-
cv,and were assembled with the, design that
their deliberations should be confined exclu
sively to the subjects submitt• d to their con-
sideration by the Minister. These were cer.-
tain plans devised by him fir replenishing
the insolvent Treasury,by assessments upon
the privileged classes,the very Princes,No
hles, Ecclesiastics, and Magistrates exc!u
sively represented in the Assembly itself.
Of this meeting the Marquis de Lit .yeite
was a member. It was held in February,
1787, and terminated in the overthrow and
banishment of the Minister by whom it was
convened. In the fiscal concerns which ab
sorbed the care and attention of others, La
filyette took comparatively little interest.—
Ills viek‘s were mere comprehensive.
The Assembly consisted of one hundred
and, thirty-seven persons, and divided itself
into seven sections or bureaux, each presid•
ed by a Prince of the blood. Lafiyeite was
allotted to the division under the Presidency
of the Count d'Artois, the younger brother
of the Kirr,and since known as Charles the
Tenth. The propositions made by Lafay
ette were—
1. The suppression of Lettres de Cachet,
q abolition of all arbitrary imprison-
the :States General met at Versailles, in
%lay, 1769, there was but a shadow of the
Royal authority left. They felt that the
power of the Nation was in their hands, and
they were riot sparing in the use ofit. The
Represe;itatives ot the Third Estate, double
in numbers to those of the Clergy and the
Nobility, constituted themselves a National
Assembly, and, as a signal for the demoli
tion of all privileged orders, refused to de
liberate in separate Chambers, and thus
compelled the Representatives of the Clergy
and Nubility to merge their separate exis
tence in the general mass of the popular
Representation.
Thus the edifice of societv was to be re.
constructed in France as it had been in A.
The King made a feeble attempt
menca
to overawe the Assembly. by culling regi
ments of troops to Versailles, and surround
ing with them the hall of their meeting.—
But there was defection in the army itself;
and even the poison of the King soon ceased
to be at his own disposal. On the 11 th of
July, 1789, in the midst oldie fermentation
which had succeeded tlo fall of the Monar
chy, and while the Assembly was surround-
ed by armed soldiers. Lafayette presented
to them his Declaration of Rights—the first
declaration of human rights ever proclaimed
in Europe. It was adopted, and became
the basis of that which the Assembly pro
mulgated with their Constitution.
It was in this hemisphere, and in our own
count ry,t hat all principles had been imbibed.
At the very moment when the Declaration
was presented, the convulsive struggle be.
tween the expiring Monarchy and the new
born but portentous anarchy of the Parisian
populace was taking place. The Royal
Palace and the Hall of the Assembly were
surrounded with troops, and insurrection
was kindling at Paris. In the midst of the
platter commotion, a deputation of sixty
members, with Lafayette at their head, was
sent from the Assembly to tranquilize the
People of Paris, and that incident was the
occasion of the institution of the National
Guard throughout the Realm and of the
appintment, with *the approbation .of the
King, of Lafayette as their General Com-
This evnr.t. without ~idler, M.....
uuara was the armed militia of the whole
Kingdom, embodied for the preservation of
order, and the protection of persons tide-pro
perty, as well as for the establishment of the
liberties of the People. In his double ca
pacity of Commander General of this force,
and of a Representative in the Constituent
Assembly, his career, for a period of more
than three years, was beset with the most
imminent dangers, and with difficulties be
yond all human power to surmount.
The ancient Monarchy of France had
crumbled into ruins. A National Assem
bly, formed by an irregular Representation
of Clergy, Nobles, and Third Estate, after
melting at the fire of a revolution into one
body, had transformed itself into a Constitu
ent Assembly representing the People, had
assumed the exercise of all the powers of
Government, extorted from the hands of the
King, and undertaken to form a Constitution
for the French Nation, founded at once up
on the theory of human rights, and upon
the preservation ofa royal hereditary Crown
upon the head of Louis the Sixteenth. La
fayette sincerely believed that such a system
would not be absolutely inconovatible with
the nature of things. An hereditary Mon
archy, surrounded by popular Institutions,
presented itself to his imagination as a prac
ticable form of government; no. is it certain
that even to his last had he ever abandoned
this persuasion. The elemei,t of hereditary
Monarchy in this Constitution was indeed
not congenial with it. The prototype from
which the whole fabric had been drawn,had
no such element in its composition. A feel
ing of generosity, of compassion, of com
miseration with the unfortunate Prince then
upon the throne, who had been his Sover
eign, and for his ill-fated family, mingled it
self, perhaps unconsciously to himself, with
his well reasoned faith in the abstract prin
ciples of a republican creed. The total abo
lition of the monarchical feature undoubted
ly belonged to his theory, but the family of
Bourbon had still a strong hold on the afli!c.
tions of the French People; History had not
made up a record favorable to the establish.
ment of elective Kings—a strong Executive
Head was absolutely necessary to curb the
impetuosities of the People of France; and
the•same doctrine which** played upon the
fancy, and crept upon the kind-hearted be
nevolence of Lafayette, was adopted by ci
large majority, of the National Assembly,
sanctioned by the suffrages of its most intel
ligent, virtuous, and patriotic members, and
was finally embodied in that royal democ
racy, the result of their labors, sent forth to
the world, under the guaranty of number.
less oaths, as the Constitution of France for
all aflertime.
But during the same period, after the first
meeting of the States General, and while
they were in actual conflict with the expiring
energies of the Crown, and with the exelu.
sive privileges of the Clergy and Nobility,
another portentous power had arisen, anti
entered with terrific activity into the con . .
troverates of thi, time. This was the pow.
"CONTINUED F.MIST VAQX