The Boys Life of Lafayette 1

The Boys Life of Lafayette 1

The Boys Life of Lafayette

 

Author: Helen Nicolay

 

 

CHAP. PAGE

 

Preface............................... ix

I. Warriors and Wild Beasts.............. 1

II. Educating a Marquis................... 9

III. A New King............................ 19

IV. An Unruly Courtier.................... 29

V. Leading a Double Life................. 39

VI. A Sea-turn............................ 48

VII. An American Pilgrimage................ 57

VIII. An Astonishing Reception.............. 64

IX. Proving Himself a Soldier............. 72

X. Letters............................... 81

XI. A Fool's Errand....................... 91

XII. Farce and Treachery................... 104

XIII. A Liaison Officer..................... 113

XIV. Near-mutiny and near-imprisonment..... 122

XV. Help--and Disappointment.............. 129

XVI. Black Treachery....................... 139

XVII. Preparing for the Last Act............ 149

XVIII. Yorktown.............................. 158

XIX. "The Wine of Honor"................... 168

XX. The Passing of Old France............. 180

XXI. The Tricolor.......................... 191

XXII. The Sans-culottes..................... 200

XXIII. Popularity and Prison................. 208

XXIV. South Carolina to the Rescue!......... 221

XXV. Volunteers in Misfortune.............. 235

XXVI. Exiles................................ 246

XXVII. A Grateful Republic................... 258

XXVIII. Leave-takings......................... 269

XXIX. President--or King-maker.............. 276

XXX. Seventy-six Years Young............... 289

Index................................. 301

 

 

ILLUSTRATIONS

 

MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE................ _Frontispiece_

THE MANOR-HOUSE OF CHAVANIAC........ _Facing p._ 6

FRANKLIN AT THE FRENCH COURT........ " 42

WASHINGTON AND THE COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS

AT VALLEY FORGE.................. " 94

VALLEY FORGE—WASHINGTON AND LAFAYETTE " 94

THE BATTLE OF MONMOUTH............... " 110

THE BASTILLE......................... " 194

SIEGE OF THE BASTILLE................ " 194

MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE................. " 262

MADAME DE LAFAYETTE.................. " 262

MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE AND LOUIS-PHILIPPE " 286

 

 

 

[Pg ix]PREFACE

 

This is no work of fiction. It is sober history; yet if the bare facts

it tells were set forth without the connecting links, its preface might

be made to look like the plot of a dime novel.

 

It is the story of a poor boy who inherited great wealth; who ran away

from home to fight for liberty and glory; who became a major-general

before he was twenty years old; who knew every nook and corner of the

palace at Versailles, yet was the blood-brother of American Indians;

who tried vainly to save the lives of his king and queen; who was in

favor of law, yet remained a rebel to the end of his days; who suffered

an unjust imprisonment which has well been called "a night five years

long"; who was twice practically Dictator of France; and who, in his

old age, was called upon to make a great decision.

 

But it is no work of fiction. It is only the biography of a French

gentleman named Lafayette.

 

 

 

[Pg 1]THE BOYS' LIFE OF LAFAYETTE

 

 

I

 

WARRIORS AND WILD BEASTS

 

 

"The Lafayettes die young, but die fighting," was a saying in that part

of France where they had been people of consequence for seven hundred

years before the most famous of them came into the world. The family

name was Motier, but, after the custom of the time, they were better

known by the name of their estate, La Fayette, in Auvergne, a region

which had been called the French Siberia. Although situated in central

southern France, fully three hundred and fifty miles from Paris, it is

a high wind-swept country of plains and cone-shaped hills, among whose

rugged summits storms break to send destruction rushing down into the

valleys. Unexpected, fertile, sheltered spots are to be found among

these same hills, but on the whole it is not a gentle nor a smiling

land.

 

The history of France during the Middle Ages bears not a little

[Pg 2]resemblance to this region of Auvergne, so full of sharp

contrasts, often of disaster. Through all the turbulent centuries the

men of the house of Lafayette bore their part, fighting gallantly for

prince and king. Family tradition abounded in stories telling how

they had taken part in every war since old Pons Motier de Lafayette,

the Crusader, fought at Acre, in Palestine, in 1250. Jean fell at

Poictiers in 1356. There was a Claude--exception to the rule that they

died young--who took part in sixty-five sieges and no end of pitched

battles. Though most of them fought on land, there was an occasional

sailor to relieve the monotony; notably a vice-admiral of the reign

of Francis First, who held joint command with Andrea Doria when that

soldier of fortune went to the relief of Marseilles, and who sank or

burned four Spanish galleons in the naval battle at the mouth of the

Var.

 

But the Lafayette who occupied most space in family tradition and

written history was Gilbert, who was head of the family about the

time Columbus discovered America. It was he who took for motto upon

his coat of arms the words, "_Cur non?_" "Why not?" and by energetic

deeds satisfactorily answered his own question. "Seneschal of the

Bourbonnaise," "Lieutenant-General," "Governor of Dauphigny," and

"Marshal of France" were a few of the titles and honors he gathered

in the course of a long life, for he was another exception to the

family rule. He was eighty-two before he passed away, ready to fight

to the last. Although it is not true that he slew the English Duke of

Clarence with his own hands at the battle of Baugé, it is true that he

[Pg 3]fought under the banner of Joan of Arc at Orléans, and that he

had many adventures on many fields. When there was no foreign enemy

to battle against, he worked hard to subdue the bandits who infested

France and made travel on the highroads more exciting than agreeable to

timid souls in the reign of Charles VII.

 

In time the Motiers de Lafayette divided into two branches, the elder

keeping the estate and name and most of the glory; the younger, known

as the Motiers of Champetières, enjoying only local renown. The women

of the family also made a place for themselves in history. One, who had

beauty, had also courage and wit to oppose the great Cardinal Richelieu

himself. Another, less known in politics than in literature, though

she tried her hand at both, became famous as a novelist. It was her

grand-daughter who inherited part of the property at a time when there

were no more men of the elder branch to carry on the name. In order

that it might not die out, she arranged to have the estates pass back

to the younger branch, which in time inherited the title also.

 

The Lafayettes went on fighting and losing their lives early in battle.

Thus it happened that a baby born to a young widow in the grim old

manor-house of Chavaniac on the 6th of September, 1757, was the last

male representative of his race, a marquis from the hour of his birth.

His father had been made Chevalier of the Order of Saint-Louis and

Colonel of Grenadiers at the early age of twenty-two, and fell before

[Pg 4]he was twenty-five, leading his men in an obscure engagement of

the Seven Years' War. This was about a month before his son was born.

His family believed that the gallant colonel's life was sacrificed by

the recklessness of his commanding officer.

 

According to the old parish register, still preserved, "The very high

and puissant gentleman, Monseigneur Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert

Dumotier de Lafayette, the lawful son of the very high and very

puissant Monseigneur Michel-Louis-Christophe-Roch-Gilbert Dumotier,

Marquis de Lafayette, Baron de Wissac, Seigneur de Saint-Romain and

other places, and of the very high and very puissant lady, Madame

Marie Louise Julie de la Rivière," was baptized in the little parish

church of Chavaniac twenty-four hours after his birth. Besides this

terrifying name and the title, all the traditions and responsibilities

of both branches of the family descended upon his infant shoulders.

Being such a scrap of a baby, however, he was mercifully ignorant

of responsibilities and ancient names. The one given him in baptism

was shortened for daily use to Gilbert, the name of the old Marshal

of France; but a time came when it was convenient to have a number,

rightfully his, from which to choose. For his signature "La Fayette"

covered the whole ground.

 

His only near relatives were his young mother, his grandmother (a

stately lady of strong character), and two aunts, sisters of his dead

father, who came to live at Chavaniac. It was by this little group of

[Pg 5]aristocratic Frenchwomen that the champion of liberty was brought

up during those early years when character is formed. That he did not

become hopelessly spoiled speaks well for his disposition and their

self-control. He was not a strong baby, and they must have spent many

anxious hours bending over him as he lay asleep, however much they

concealed their interest at other times for fear of doing him moral harm.