Show p 1 t. t LAFAYETTE AND HIS WORK q J b I. I 1 During the medieval times existed as a part of feudalism the institution of chivalry In that age of darkness this was a redeeming light it tempered violence and made it less ruthless it fostered virtue generosity and true manhood it gave to knighthood a high ideal though sometimes sometime abused and seldom realized The genius of chivalry was valorous conflict for the weak and oppressed loyal self-sacrifice self in the cause of right Its exponent was a aman aman aman man of instincts and action whose life was of slight value compared with the issue of any honorable cause H. H After the dark ages had passed away when the whole system of feudalism feudalism feudalism feudal feudal- ism was tottering after a new era had begun there arose perhaps the best tat t- t at least an almost perfect impersonation of chivalry and that was Lafayette fj He inherited from the past his gracious courtesy and loyalty and the desire desire desire de de- sire for fame and honor gained with his own good sword his contempt for meanness and hatred of injustice And from the present he absorbed his 4 broader ideas of liberty and his universal interest t in and sympathy with man man- kind He was able to put aside d domestic joys and royal favor and make his quest the uncertain struggle for liberty for liberty of a people foreign to him in race and tongue He was able ble to endure dreary years of unjust imprisonment rather th than m compromise his honor He was never guilty of a cowardly or selfish act We Ve who love him because he fought so well for our dear country we at at least least can can call him the purest representative of purest chivalry t tAt At the old Castle of Ca Cavagnac in Auvergne France on the sixth of Septem September ber 1757 Gilbert Motier Marquis de Lafayette was born and his birth brought gladness to a sad home Two months before his young mother had been made a widow widow his his father a colonel of grenadiers had fallen at the battle of Minden Minden and and this child was alone left to bear the family name His early inclinations were naturally military and when only fifteen he became an officer in the kings king's regiment of musketeers and he advanced rapidly in skill and in favor At the age of sixteen this impetuous youth won and wedded the Countess Adrienne d' d dAyen Ayen who was a year younger than himself The combination of t their fortunes furnished an enormous income but it was a marriage solely for a love love a love that proved lasting and tender under severest trials This boy was now a man and was ere long to take a manly part in the f 2 i J o history of the world 1 tie He e was Jo soon J oto be be seized i d with the Washington idea r. r as Carlisle says and that idea was to affect his whole character He had reached his nineteenth year before it began to awaken One d day y he happened to hear recounted the wrongs of the colonists and their valiant resistance and struggle for freedom His ardent nature burst into a glow of sympathy and enthusiasm and before the recital was ended he had determined to make the colonial cause his own He was introduced to Silas Deane our ambassador dor at Paris by the brave brav Baron de Kalb who three years later was to fall bleeding from eleven wounds on the gory field of Camden Deane heard Lafayette's generous offer and promised him the position of I major-general major in the American army but now came a series of misfortunes that thoroughly tested the young nobleman's determination The news of American reverses in Washington's loss of Long Island and New York prevented prevented prevented pre pre- vented the ship in which he had passage from sailing Dr Franklin and Anthony Lee sought to dissuade him The English minister protested and induced the French government to issue an order for his arrest His His' i friends and relatives bitterly denounced his course but in spite of all he purchased a ship with private means loaded it with arms and escaping from France in disguise set sail Two English war sloops chased after him but they failed to capture their prize and the little ship at length came safely to land Lafayette perhaps expected an enthusiastic welcome but Congress overburdened overburdened overburdened over over- burdened with offers offer from foreign adventurers was not in the mood to give the high commission of major-general major to a nin year old boy and stranger Learning this Lafayette petitioned the favor of serving as a volunteer without without without with with- out command or pay On the last day of July 1777 his services were accepted but with the commission commissi n originally promised Next day he met Washington and the great patriot took th the foreign youth to to his heart and their friendship has had few parallels in history The sublime character of him whom we reverently call Father of our Country became at once the ideal of Lafayette The purity of motive and gallantry of the young nobleman gained the complete love of Washington's ms m's great soul A month after this meeting occurred the battle of Brandywine The r patriots suffered defeat but it was vas due to no fault of Where Where the the fight was thickest and he saw the line begin to waver caver he rushed in on foot to rally the pressed hard-pressed soldiers but he himself was wounded and had to mount his horse to escape the British Though weak from loss of blood he tried again and again to check the retreat and ceased only when Washington c himself led him away Before his wound was healed he was again in service accompanying Greene against Cornwallis At Gloucester while reconnoitering with a few troops lie be skillfully escaped a detachment of British dragoons sent to cut him himi i off As he withdrew he came unexpectedly upon an outpost outpost- outpost outpost-of of Hessians 1 s i J larger than his own force Without hesitating an instant he made a fierce attack routed the enemy and chased them almost into Cornwallis's camp Lafayette Lafayett had now gained the love of the soldiers and t the e confidence of Congress and though barely twenty years old he was placed in command of the Virginia division of the army During that terrible winter at Valley Forge Lafayette suffered uncomplainingly uncomplainingly uncomplainingly every h hardship of the patriot soldiers It was at th this s time too that he showed his loyalty to Washington and by that loyalty saved our country almost from disaster A cabal had been formed in Congress to ruin Washington and to give his position to the incapable Gates To further the i design Lafayette was offered the command of the expedition against Canada but he absolutely refused to act independently of the in commander Finding that he could not be moved the cabal weakened and the danger passed F In the spring of 78 when the British were about to leave Philadelphia Washington sent Lafayette with two thousand choice troops to occupy Banen Hill nine miles from Valley Forge The English learned of the move and determined to capture this tempting prize Superior forces advanced upon his van and rear A third column secured one of the two fords of the Schuylkill f kill by which he could escape and a fourth fourt stood ready to fall upon him if he attempted to cross the other It was a complete surprise for the pickets had brought in no reports Quick as a flash Lafayette realized what he must do Forming false heads of columns he sent he-sent sent them charging against the fourth division of the enemy while he with the main part of his force glided swiftly through the woods and gained the ford The commander of the British thinking himself attacked formed in battle order and before he recovered from the the illusion Lafayette was safe on the other side and even the false columns had wheeled about and nd escaped That day as the English slunk back to Philadelphia Valley Forge was made to ring with cheers for the brave boy Layfatte not only gave his personal services to the American cause but used all his influence at home to bring about Fre French ch alliance This was at length obtained and became a formidable factor against England The jealousies jealousies jeal jeal- between French and Patriot officers that sometimes threatened rupture were always settled by Lafayette's prudent mediation and his labors here were invaluable At the the French court also on his visit home to consult with his king his efforts were tireless in our behalf and it was largely due to him that the splendid land force and addition to the fleet were sent After his return to America he was given the important task of defending Virginia He realized the responsibility and was surprised that it should have been given to so young a man He had as his opponents opponents' Lord Cornwallis Cornwallis Cornwallis Corn- Corn wallis and Benedict Arnold and there was as great a disparity between the troops as apparently between the generals did what he could to strengthen his command He supplied the men at his own expense with T r uniforms and borrowed from Baltimore merchants Baltimore merchants er hants to better bette equip the them His policy in the South was at first defensive and Cornwallis felt certain of capturing him but the man manoeuvres of the boy as as he was contemptuously j z called were so adroit that he not only could not be taken but soon had the l British in full retreat He followed them to Yorktown and by the keenest 1 t planning and most skillful movements kept them at bay until the French J r fleet came by sea and Washington by land to complete the siege In the last j great great- battle of the Revolution he led a detachment against an important redoubt redoubt redoubt re re- doubt and carried it with the same dash that characterized all his actions i When the British laid down their arms at Yorktown Lafayette's Lafayette s quest was waE j gained and he returned to his native land He became at once the hero of all France he was honored in drama and verse in the royal court and among the lowly peasantry No praise was too lavish no place too high for tor him r But in it all he preserved his character and high ideals His mind was at i work on some plan to rid the world ot of negro slavery to give French Protestants Protestants Protes Protes- J tants their civil rights and then became absorbed in the great problem that was not to be solved until rivers of his countrymen's blood had flowed He was active in every move for popular government and it was he who t nr first spoke the magic word States General II the word that was to convulse con con- L' L France and un throne royalty He became an important member and 4 officer of that body and by it was made commander chief of the National Guard f For centuries the people of France had suffered monstrous tyranny and h now V when others were casting off oppression their own seemed to be he growing heavier From the the- the New New World they were thrilled with the spirit of freedom h Y their monarch was weak the time had come they come they revolted For a while all went well but blood blood and too sudden liberty snatched f away their reason and with the fury of slaves risen in rebellion they executed awful merciless vengeance They rejected the services of patriots and ands s hoisted to high pl places ces madmen instead and called their order government It Lafayette against whom hom no man ever uttered a deserved reproach was compelled to leave France to save his life Though in neutral territory the thel l Austrians seized and made him prisoner and for five years he suffered ignominious ignominious ignominious inious co confinement which his noble wife and da daughters shared Washington Washingto the American Congress even the English Parliament sought his release in In It j vain One word from him in favor of despotic rule would have opened his his his' prison door but that word he would not speak At length Napoleon whose meteoric career had just begun secured his release and he returned to France He could not sanction the Bonaparte regime and most of his remaining years r f were spent in private life His days were sere passed in useful labors and his r. r mind was ever filled with the interests interests interests' of humanity In 1834 he visited our 4 land land- again aRain and it was Vias like the of F r return a father to his family family after a long tri J l r absence Bells rang flowers were strewn in his way of songs gratitude were sung and tears of joy were shed Once more before his long life closed he was permitted to point out the 3 way for his countrymen to act When Charles the tenth reached his last stage of mad tyranny Lafayette joined with the people and urged them on to t the dethroning of the despot He might have ruled then but he put aside o the honor Four years later in his year he died and two worlds mourned for him Thus the brave knight whose crest was blazoned with the bright star of freedom whose battle cry was an unchanging cry for human liberty went home to his reward Jos fos J. J Cannon It o f. f |