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Show n I r 1 i v- .. -- ill I i ( ! ; v , - C .,A .iV -f js? : I . .: - y X i v J ' , v 1 crl) ; -" . AMERICA'S DEBT TO LAFAYETTE Washington Paid Tribute to Great Services Rendered. WHEN the Revolution bcpnn Americans were still pioneers pio-neers and straight shooters. The country was full of men nho had seen service in war against the French and Indians. Washington had been all his life a soldier. . It is not surprising that American officers felt quite able to handle the military situation without assistance from the host of applicants for commissions from abroad. Therefore when Washington Wash-ington heard that a young Frenchman named Lafayette had left his wife and child and crossed the ocean to serve the American cause as a volunteer without pay, he muttered: "One more Incumbrance." But Lafayette pleaded : "Give me n chance: I do not want to be an honorary soldier." lie went to Washington's camp and there began a friendship which ran through so many years like an idyl. In 17SS Hrissot visited Washington at Mt. Vernon with a letter from Lafayette. Lafayette. He says Washington "spoke to me of M. IV Lafayette with emotion ; he considers him as his child." Later, Lafayette sent to Washington the key to the destroyed Eastile, saying: "It is a tribute which I owe as a son to my adopted father, as an aid-de-camp to my general, as a missionary of liberty to its patriarch." French Eager in Liberty's Cause. The spirit of Lafayette was the spirit of Kochambeau's army. A host of young French officers looked on the expedition as a crusade for liberty, and crowded for places. Young lierthier was a volunteer at Torktown, and he became a marshal of France. Viscount De Noailles marched afoot the whole 75G miles from Newport to Torktown. Toung Saint-Simon, Clpsen, Chastel-lux, Chastel-lux, a brother of Mirabeau, a brother of Talleyrand, Barras, later Director Barras, and many other enthusiasts for liberty were in the expedition. They understood Americans. Equality was the particular American trait which impressed them most, and this idea was imported by them from America into France. Roehambeau placed himself and his army under the command of Washington. Washing-ton. The ragged Americans always had the right of the line. In case of equality of rank, the American officer always took command. Not so much as a cabbage was taken without payment. pay-ment. Before Torktown the Americans Ameri-cans were not skilled in siege operations, opera-tions, and Washington gratefully acknowledged ac-knowledged the service of the French engineers. The French fleet closed the river, and the surrender came. Without With-out that French help we tremble to think what might have happened. Fired Lafayette's Ardor. Toward the close of the year 177G, the duke of Cumberland, who was the brother of King George III of England, was traveling in France, and one day he arrived at the town of Metz, then a French possession. A certain count De Broglie, a veteran of many battles, was in command of the garrison, and, to do honor to his distinguished visitor, he invited some of his officers to meet him at dinner. Now it happened that the duke of Cumberland was in disfavor dis-favor with his royal brother he was, in fact, in banishment, lie had lately ' received news that certain of his majesty's colonies in America had rebelled re-belled and declared themselves free, declining to be subject any longer to a tyrannical king. It would seem that the duke of Cumberland told the story with some gusto, as if he were not altogether al-together sorry that his brother was in trouble. One officer listened with particular par-ticular attention. He was a youth of nineteen, tall and thin, with a long nose and reddish hair. His solemn expression ex-pression and his somewhat awkward manner contrasted strongly with the frivolous ease and grace of the other young officers present. He was a marquis mar-quis of long descent, connected by marriage with one of the greatest families in France, and he had at his own disposition a very large income. He listened intently, he asked many eatrer questions, and when he rose from the table he had made a momentous moment-ous and historic resolution. He had resolved to abandon the pleasures and luxuries of the gayest court in th world, even to leave his young wife and child, and to cast in his lot with these strange rebels in America. In his own words, "When first I heard o' American independence, my heart was enlisted 1" That young man was Lafayette; La-fayette; and when the American army went to the front In France, it merely paid a small part of the debt of gratitude grati-tude we owe that splendid young of-, Eeer that true nobleman. Appointed a major general by Wash ington in July, he fought at the battle bf Brandywine in September and received re-ceived an ugly wound. Soon again in the saddle, he went through many vicissitudes vi-cissitudes and privations with Washington Wash-ington at Valley Forge, his crowning exploit being the forcing of the retreat of Lord Cornwallis, leading to his surrender sur-render at Torktown, in 1781. Although Washington and other famous American Ameri-can generals had joined him previous to the surrender, Lafayette, with a small force, had initiated the rout of Cornwallis at the battle of Albemarle. That the highest credit was due to Lafayette La-fayette is shown by the fact that Washington warmly thanked and complimented com-plimented him in the presence of the troops, after the grat surrender which practically ended the war. Patriot of Marblehead. General Lafayette paid a tribute to Marblehead, Mass., by making two visits to the people, by whom he was i An Old-Time Patriot Cut Off the Corner Cor-ner of His House That Lafayette's Carriage Might Go Through His Street received with bands of music and a huge procession of citizens. It is related re-lated that on his first visit in 17S4 there was a controversy as to how the procession was to proceed through the main streets of the town, owing to the fact that at one of the sharp turns, a house so jutted into the road that the general's coach could not pass. On the morning of the great event, it was discovered dis-covered that the patriotic family occupying occu-pying the property had cut off a section sec-tion of the house, removing the offending offend-ing corner and thus the coach was driven without a. hitch through the street. The house with jvrt .f the first story missing can si HI 'o - n 1.1 this year of 1010, und is s;iowu in 'he illustration. |
