The Boys Life of Lafayette 15
Meanwhile Lafayette returned to camp and started with his detachment
for Newport. On the march he received a letter from Washington which
must have caused him keen disappointment, since it took away half his
authority. General Greene was a native of Rhode Island, with special
knowledge of the region where the fighting was to take place, and
because of this it had been decided at the last moment to combine the
Continental troops with the militia and to give General Greene joint
command with Lafayette. The young man's answer was a model of cheerful
acquiescence. "Dear General: I have received your Excellency's favor
by General Greene, and have been much pleased with the arrival of a
gentleman who, not only on account of his merit and the justness of
his views, but also by his knowledge of the country and his popularity
in this state, may be very serviceable to the expedition. I willingly
part with half of my detachment, though I had a great dependence upon
them, as you find it convenient for the good of the service. Anything,
[Pg 117]my dear General, you will order, or even wish, shall always
be infinitely agreeable to me; and I will always feel happy in doing
anything which may please you or forward the public good. I am of the
same opinion as your Excellency that dividing our Continental troops
among the militia will have a better effect than if we were to keep
them together in one wing." Only a single sentence, near the end, in
which he referred to himself as being with the expedition as "a man of
war of the third class" betrayed his regret. Washington appears to have
been much pleased and relieved by this reply, for he realized that he
was drawing heavily upon Lafayette's store of patience.
As it turned out, neither Greene nor Lafayette had authority enough to
quarrel over or any glory in the enterprise, for on the 10th of August,
at the moment when the combined attack was about to begin, the relief
expedition of Admiral Howe's ships loomed suddenly out of the fog.
The French vessels had been placed only with a view to an attack upon
land, and most of the sailors had been disembarked to take part in it.
D'Estaing had to get them hurriedly back again and to prepare for a
sea-fight. Before this was over a wind-storm of great fury arose. It
separated the combatants, but left D'Estaing so crippled that he was
obliged to put into Boston for repairs.
Some of these events were of a character no human foresight could
prevent. All of them held possibilities of misunderstanding, and these
misunderstandings were increased tenfold by differences in nationality,
[Pg 118]in temper, and in language. Some of the French thought
General Sullivan deliberately and jealously tried to block success.
He reproached the French admiral for going to Boston after the storm
instead of returning to his aid. Lafayette's very eagerness subjected
him to criticism, yet he was the one man involved who understood
the temperament of both the French and the Americans. The burden of
explaining, of soothing, of trying to arrange the thousand prickly
details of the situation fell upon him. Twice he rode to Boston and
back for conferences with D'Estaing, making the journey of seventy
miles once by night in six and a half hours--unexampled speed for those
days. Such work now would be called the work of a liaison officer. He
had need of all his tact, and even his sweet temper grew acid under the
strain. He was strongly moved to fight a duel with General Sullivan;
and both Washington and Congress had to intervene before the French
admiral was completely assured of America's belief in his "zeal and
attachment," and before Lafayette could be thoroughly appeased.
Fond as he was of America, Lafayette was a Frenchman first of all. He
had assured D'Estaing that he would rather fight as a common soldier
under the French flag than as a general officer anywhere else. The
coming of the French fleet had been to all intents a declaration of
war by his country against England; and when the autumn was far enough
advanced to make it certain there would be no more military activity in
America before the next spring, he asked permission to return to France
and offer his sword to his king.
[Pg 119]Washington, who had more sympathy with the impulses of youth
than we are apt to give him credit for, saw that after the trying
experiences of the past few weeks a leave of absence would be the
best thing for Lafayette and also for his American friends. The young
man's nerves were completely on edge. He had not only wanted to fight
General Sullivan and controlled the desire; he had actually sent a
challenge, against the advice of Washington and Admiral d'Estaing, to
the Earl of Carlisle, an Englishman in America on official business,
because of some words the latter had used which Lafayette regarded as
an insult to the French. Besides these grievances, his imagination
was working overtime on a grand new scheme for the conquest of Canada
which Washington could no more indorse than he could approve the desire
to shed blood in private quarrels. The young man's friendship was too
valuable to make it politic continually to thwart him. Undoubtedly
this was a case where absence would make the heart grow fonder. Very
possibly also the wise general foresaw how much good Lafayette might
do in Paris as an advocate of American interests during the next few
months.
Lafayette did not wish to sever his relations with the Continental
army. All he asked was a leave of absence, and this Congress readily
granted in a set of complimentary resolutions, adding for good measure
a letter "To our great, faithful, and beloved friend and ally, Louis
the Sixteenth, King of France and Navarre," telling what a very wise
[Pg 120]and gallant and patient and excellent young man he was. But it
was weeks after this permission was given before Lafayette left
America. Congress arranged, as a compliment, that he should sail from
Boston on the frigate _Alliance_, one of the best of the nation's
war-vessels. Lafayette made his visits of ceremony, wrote his notes of
farewell, and set out from Philadelphia in a cold rain one day late
in October. Ordinarily he would not have minded such a storm. He had
endured the life at Valley Forge and discomforts of the winter trip
to Canada with apparent ease; but to a year of such campaigning had
been added several months of work and worry in connection with the
French fleet. The two together had told upon his strength, and the
storm added the finishing touch. He became really ill, but, suffering
with fever, rode on, unwilling to delay his journey for mere weather,
and unwilling, too, to fail in courtesy to the inhabitants of the many
towns on his way who wished to do him honor. He fortified himself for
the receptions and functions they had planned by frequent draughts of
tea and spirits, which made his condition worse instead of better.
By the time he reached Fishkill, New York, he was unable to proceed
farther. His fever raged for three weeks, and the news spread that he
would not recover. The concern manifested showed what a firm hold he
had made for himself in American affection. Civilians spoke of him
lovingly and sorrowfully as "the Marquis," while in the army, where
he was known as "the soldier's friend," grief was even more sincere.
Washington sent Surgeon-General Cochran, who had cared for him in
[Pg 121]Bethlehem, to take charge of the case, and rode himself almost
daily the eight miles from headquarters to make inquiries, never
entering the sick-room, and often turning away with tears in his eyes
at the report given him. Lafayette, racked with fever and headache, was
sure he would never live to reach France again. The idea of leaving
the world at the early age of twenty-one did not trouble him; he felt
that he would gladly compromise on three more months of life, provided
he could see his family and be assured of the happy outcome of the
American war.
After the fever left him and he slowly regained his strength he spent a
few happy days as Washington's guest before proceeding on his journey
to Boston. The elder man's farewell was "very tender, very sad," and
Lafayette rode away in company with the good Doctor Cochran, who had
orders to watch him like a hawk until he was safely on the ship. After
this parting the young man was more than ever convinced that Washington
was a great man and his own very warm personal friend. He wondered how
anybody could accuse him of being cold and unsympathetic.
[Pg 122]XIV
NEAR-MUTINY AND NEAR-IMPRISONMENT
When he reached Boston the crew of the _Alliance_ had not been fully
made up. The authorities offered to impress enough men to complete
it, but Lafayette objected on principle to that way of obtaining
sailors. They were finally secured by enlistment, but many of them
were questionable characters, either English deserters or English
prisoners of war. With such a crew the _Alliance_ put to sea on the
11th of January, 1779, upon a voyage short for that time of year, but
as tumultuous as it was brief. Excitement and discomfort began with a
tempest off the Banks of Newfoundland which the frigate weathered with
difficulty. Lafayette, who was always a poor sailor, longed for calm,
even if it had to be found at the bottom of the sea; but that was only
the beginning, the real excitement occurring about two hundred leagues
off the French coast.
Lafayette's own account explains that "by a rather immoral proclamation
his Britannic Majesty encouraged revolt among crews," offering them the
money value of ships captured and brought into English ports as "rebel"
[Pg 123]vessels--"a result which could only be obtained by the massacre
of officers and those who objected." A plot of this nature was entered
into by the English deserters and prisoners among the sailors on the
_Alliance_. A cry of "A sail!" was to bring officers and passengers
hurrying upon deck and shots from four cannon, carefully trained and
loaded beforehand, were to blow them to bits. The time was fixed for
four o'clock in the morning, but, fortunately, it was postponed until
the same time in the afternoon, and in the interval the plot was
disclosed to an American sailor who was mistaken by the conspirators
for an Irishman on account of the fine brogue he had acquired through
much sailing "in those latitudes." They offered him command of the
frigate. He pretended to accept, but was able to warn the captain and
Lafayette only one short hour before the time fixed for the deed. That
was quite enough, however. The officers and passengers appeared upon
deck ahead of time, sword in hand, and gathering the loyal sailors
about them, called up the rest one by one. Thirty-three were put in
irons. Evidence pointed to an even greater number of guilty men, but
it was taken for granted that the rest might be relied upon, though
only the Americans and French were really trusted. A week later the
_Alliance_ sailed happily into Brest floating the new American flag.
The last word Lafayette had received from his family was already eight
months old. He hurried toward Paris, but the news of his arrival
traveled faster, and he found the city on tiptoe to see him. "On my
[Pg 124]arrival," says the _Memoirs_, "I had the honor to be consulted
by all the Ministers and, what was much better, embraced by all the
ladies. The embraces ceased next day, but I enjoyed for a longer
time the confidence of the Cabinet and favor at Versailles, and also
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