in the month of January! It is in a camp, in the centre of woods,
fifteen hundred leagues from you, that I find myself enclosed in the
midst of winter. It is not very long since we were only separated from
the enemy by a small river; we are at present stationed seven leagues
from them, and it is on this spot that the American army will pass the
whole winter, in small barracks, which are scarcely more cheerful than
dungeons. I know not whether it will be agreeable to General Howe to
visit our new city, in which case we would endeavour to receive him
with all due honour. The bearer of this letter will describe to you
the pleasant residence which I choose in preference to the happiness
of being with you, with all my friends, in the midst of all possible
enjoyments; in truth, my love, do you not believe that powerful reasons
are requisite to induce a person to make such a sacrifice? Everything
combined to urge me to depart,--honour alone told me to remain; and when
you learn in detail the circumstances in which I am placed, those in
which the army, my friend, its commander, and the whole American cause
were placed, you will not only forgive me, but you will excuse, and I
may almost venture to say, applaud me. What a pleasure I shall feel in
explaining to you myself all the reasons of my conduct, and, in asking,
whilst embracing you, a pardon, which I am very certain I shall then
obtain! But do not condemn me before hearing my defence. In addition to
the reasons I have given you, there is one other reason which I would
not relate to every one, because it might appear like affecting airs of
ridiculous importance. My presence is more necessary at this moment to
the American cause, than you can possibly conceive; many foreigners,
who have been refused employment, or whose ambitious views have been
frustrated, have raised up some powerful cabals; they have endeavoured,
by every sort of artifice, to make me discontented with this revolution,
and with him who is its chief; they have spread as widely as they
could, the report that I was quitting the continent. The English have
proclaimed also, loudly, the same intention on my side. I cannot in
conscience appear to justify the malice of these people. If I were to
depart, many Frenchmen who are useful here would follow my example.
General Washington would feel very unhappy if I were to speak of
quitting him; his confidence in me is greater than I dare acknowledge,
on account of my youth. In the place he occupies, he is liable to be
surrounded by flatterers or secret enemies; he finds in me a secure
friend, in whose bosom he may always confide his most secret thoughts,
and who will always speak the truth. Not one day passes without his
holding long conversations with me, writing me long letters, and he has
the kindness to consult me on the most important matters. A peculiar
circumstance is occurring at this moment which renders my presence of
some use to him: this is not the time to speak of my departure. I
am also at present engaged in an interesting correspondence with the
president of congress. The desire to debase England, to promote the
advantage of my own country, and the happiness of humanity, which is
strongly interested in the existence of one perfectly free nation,
all induces me not to depart at the moment when my absence might prove
injurious to the cause I have embraced. The General, also, after a
slight success in Jersey, requested me, with the unanimous consent of
congress, to accept a division in the army, and to form it according to
my own judgment, as well as my feeble resources might permit; I ought
not to have replied to such a mark of confidence, by asking what were
his commissions for Europe. These are some of the reasons, which I
confide to you, with an injunction of secrecy. I will repeat to you many
more in person, which I dare not hazard in a letter. This letter will
be given you by a good Frenchman, who has come a hundred miles to ask me
for my commissions. I wrote to you a few days ago by the celebrated
Mr. Adams; he will facilitate your sending me letters. You must have
received those I sent you as soon as I heard of your confinement. How
very happy that event has rendered me, my dearest love! I delight in
speaking of it in all my letters, because I delight in occupying myself
with it at every moment of my life! What a pleasure it will give me to
embrace my two poor little girls, and make them request their mother to
forgive me! You do not believe me so hard hearted, and at the same time
so ridiculous, as to suppose that the sex of our new infant can have
diminished in any degree my joy at its birth. Our age is not so far
advanced, that we may not expect to have another child, without a
miracle from Heaven. The next one must absolutely be a boy. However, if
it be on account of the name that we are to regret not having a son, I
declare that I have formed the project of living long enough to bear it
many years myself, before I yield it to any other person. I am indebted
to the Marshal de Noailles for the joyful news. I am anxiously expecting
a letter from you. I received the other day one from Desplaces, who
mentioned having sent a preceding one; but the caprice of the winds,
without speaking of English ships, often deranges the order of my
correspondence. I was for some days very uneasy about the Viscount de
Coigny, who, some of my letters announced, was in a precarious state
of health. But that letter from Desplaces, who told me all were well,
without mentioning the viscount's name, has quite reassured me. I have
also received some other letters which do not speak of his health. When
you write, I entreat you to send me many details of all the people whom
I love, and even of all my acquaintance. It is very extraordinary that I
have not heard of Madame de Fronsac's confinement. Say a thousand
tender and respectful things from me to her, as well as to the Countess
Auguste. If those ladies do not enter into the reasons which force me
to remain here, they must indeed think me a most absurd being, more
especially as they have opportunities of seeing clearly what a charming
wife I am separated from; but even that may prove to them what powerful
motives must guide my conduct. Several general officers have brought
their wives to the camp; I envy them--not their wives--but the happiness
they enjoy in being able to see them. General Washington has also
resolved to send for his wife. As to the English, they have received a
reinforcement of three hundred young ladies from New York; and we have
captured a vessel filled with chaste officers' wives, who had come to
rejoin their husbands: they were in great fear of being kept for the
American army.
You will learn by the bearer of this letter that my health is very good,
that my wound is healed, and that the change of country has produced
no effect upon me. Do you not think that, at my return, we shall be
old enough to establish ourselves in our own house, live there happily
together, receive our friends, institute a delightful state of freedom,
and read foreign newspapers, without feeling any curiosity to judge by
ourselves of what may pass in foreign countries? I enjoy thus building,
in France, castles of felicity and pleasure: you always share them with
me, my dearest love, and when we are once united, nothing shall again
separate us, or prevent our experiencing together, and through each
other, the joy of mutual affection, and the sweetest and most tranquil
happiness. Adieu, my love; I only wish this project could be executed
on this present day. Would it not be agreeable to you also? Present
my tender respects to Madame d'Ayen: embrace a thousand times the
viscountess and my sisters. Adieu, adieu; continue to love me, and
forget not for a moment the unhappy exile who thinks incessantly of thee
with renewed ardour and tenderness.
TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.
(ORIGINAL.)
DEAR GENERAL,--I shall make use, in this particular instance, of the
liberty you gave me, of telling freely every idea of mine which could
strike me as not being useless to a better order of things.
There were two gentlemen, same rank, same duty to perform, and same
neglect of it, who have been arrested the same day by me. As I went
in the night around the picquets, I found them in fault, and I gave an
account of it the next day to your excellency. You answered, that I was
much in wrong not to have had them relieved and arrested immediately.
I objected that it was then very late for such a changement, and that
I did not know which was the rule in this army, but that the gentlemen
should be arrested in that very moment. The last answer of your
excellency has been, "they are to have a court-martial, and you must
give notice of it to the adjutant-general." Therefore, Major Nevil made
two letters in order to arrest them, _one for having been surprised in
his post_, and the other, for the same cause, _and allowing his sentries
to have fires, which he could see in standing before the picquet_. I
give you my word of honour, that there was not any exaggeration.
Now I see in the orders, the less guilty punished in a manner much too
severe indeed, and dismissed from the service, (it is among all the
delicate minds deprived of his honour,) when he was only to be
severely reprimanded and kept for some time under arrest. But it can be
attributed to a very severe discipline.
What must I think of the same court, when they unanimously acquit (it is
to say that my accusation is not true) the officer who joins to the same
fault, entirely the same this, of allowing his sentries to have fire in
his own sight; for in every service _being surprised_ or being found in
the middle of his picquet without any challenging or stopping sentry,
as Major Nevil, riding before me, found him, is entirely the same thing;
and Major Nevil, riding before me, when I was busy to make a sentry pull
off his fire, can swear that such was the case with that officer--he can
do more than swearing, for he can give his word of honour, and I think
that idea _honour_ is the same in every country.
But the _préjugés_ are not the same thing; for giving publicly the best
of such a dispute (for here it becomes a trial for both parties) to an
officer of the last military stage against one of the first, should
be looked on as an affront to the rank, and acquitting a man, whom one
other man accuses, looked upon as an affront to the person. It is the
same in Poland, for Count de Pulaski was much affronted at the decision
of a court-martial entirely acquitting Colonel Molens. However, as I
know the English customs, I am nothing else but surprised to see such a
partiality in a court-martial.
Your excellency will certainly approve my not arresting any officer for
being brought before a court-martial for any neglect of duty; but when
they will be robbers or cowards, or when they will assassinate--in all,
when they will deserve being cashiered or put to death.
Give me leave to tell your excellency how I am adverse to
court-martials. I know it is the English custom, and I believe it is a
very bad one. It comes from their love of lawyers, speakers, and of that
black apparatus of sentences and judgments; but such is not the American
temper, and I think this new army must pick up the good institutions,
and leave the bad ones wherever they may be. In France, an officer
is arrested by his superior, who gives notice of it to the commanding
officer, and then he is punished enough in being deprived of going out
of his room in time of peace--of going his duty in time of war. Nobody
knows of it but his comrades. When the fault is greater, he is confined
in a common room for prisoner officers, and this is much more shameful.
Notice of it is immediately given to the general officer who commands
there. That goes, too, to the king's minister, who is to be replaced
here by the commander-in-chief; in time of war, it goes to the
general-in-chief.
Soldiers are punished the same, or next day, by order of proper
officers, and the right of punishing is proportionate to their ranks.
But when both officers and soldiers have done something which deserves
a more severe punishment; when their honour, or their life, or
their liberty for more than a very short time, is concerned, then a
court-martial meets, and the sentence is known. How will you let an
unhappy soldier be confined several weeks with men who are to be hanged,
with spies, with the most horrid sort of people, and in the same time
be lost for the duty, when they deserve only some lashes. There is no
proportion in the punishments.
How is it possible to carry a gentleman before a parcel of dreadful
judges, at the same place where an officer of the same rank has been
just now cashiered, for a trifling neglect of his duty; for, I suppose,
speaking to his next neighbour, in a manoeuvre for going into a house
to speak to a pretty girl, when the army is on its march, and a thousand
other things? How is it possible to bring to the certainty of being
cashiered or dishonoured, a young lad who has made a considerable fault
because he had a light head, a too great vivacity, when that young man
would be, perhaps, in some years, the best officer of the army, if he
had been friendly reprimanded and arrested for some time, without any
dishonour?
The law is always severe; and brings with it an eternal shameful mark.
When the judges are partial, as on this occasion, it is much worse,
because they have the same inconvenience as law itself.
In court-martial, men are judged by their inferiors. How it is averse
to discipline, I don't want to say. The publication exposes men to
be despised by the least soldier. When men have been before a
court-martial, they should be or acquitted or dismissed. What do you
think can be produced by the half condemnation of a general officer?
What necessity for all the soldiers, all the officers, to know that
_General Maxwell has been prevented from doing his duty by his being
drunk?_ Where is the man who will not laugh at him, if he is told
by him, _you are a drunkard;_ and is it right to ridiculize a man,
respectable by his rank, because he drank two or three gills of rum?
These are my reasons against courts-martial, when there is not some
considerable fault to punish. According to my affair, I am sorry in
seeing the less guilty being _the only one punished_. However, I shall
send to courts-martial but for such crimes that there will be for the
judges no way of indulgence and partiality.
With the most tender respect, I am, &c.
TO MADAME DE LAFAYETTE.
York, February 3rd, 1778.
I shall never have any cause to reproach myself, my dearest love, with
having allowed an opportunity to pass without writing to you, and I
have found one by M. du Bouchet, who has the happiness of embarking for
France. You must have already received several letters in which I speak
of the birth of our new infant, and of the pleasure this joyful event
has given me. If I thought that you could imagine the happiness I feel
at this event had been at all diminished because our Anastasia is only
a daughter, I should be so much displeased with you, that I should but
love you a very little for a few moments. O, my love! what an enchanting
pleasure it will be for me to embrace you all; what a consolation to be
able to weep with my other friends for the dear friend whom I have lost!
I will not give you a long account of the proofs of confidence with
which I have been honoured by America. Suffice it to say that Canada is
oppressed by the English; the whole of that immense country is in the
power of the enemy, who are there in possession of troops, forts, and a
fleet. I am to repair thither with the title of General of the Northern
Army, at the head of three thousand men, to see if no evil can be done
to the English in that country. The idea of rendering the whole of New
France free, and of delivering her from a heavy yoke, is too glorious
for me to allow myself to dwell upon it. My army would, in that case,
increase at an immense rate, and would be increased also by the French.
I am undertaking a most difficult task, above all taking into account
the few resources I possess. As to those my own merit offers, they are
very trifling in comparison to the importance of the place; nor can
a man of twenty be fit to command an army, charged with the numerous
details to which a general must attend, and having under his direct
orders a vast extent of country.
The number of the troops I shall command would appear, I own, trifling
in Europe, but it is considerable for America. What gives me most
pleasure in all this is, that, under any circumstances, I shall be now
sooner able to rejoin you. How delightful it will be to hurry through my
affairs with the English there above! I am just setting out for Albany,
and from thence to another place, nearly a hundred and fifty leagues
from hence, where my labours will commence. I shall go part of the way
on sledges; having once reached that spot, I shall have only ice to
tread upon.
I do not write to any of my friends by this opportunity. I have an
immense deal of business to do; there is an infinite number of military
and political affairs to arrange; there are so many things to repair,
so many new obstacles to remove, that I should require, in truth, forty
years' experience, and very superior talents, to be able to conquer all
the difficulties I meet with. I will, at least, do the best I can, and
if I only succeed in occupying the enemy's attention in the north,
even if I do them no other injury, it would be rendering an important
service, and my little army would not be wholly useless. Be so kind
as to tell the prince~[1] that his youthful captain, although now a
general-in-chief, has not acquired more knowledge than he possessed at
Polygone, and that he knows not how, unless chance or his good angel
should direct him, to justify the confidence which has been placed in
him. A thousand tender respects to Madame d'Ayen. A thousand assurances
of my tender affection to the viscountess and all my sisters. Do not
forget me to your father, Madame de Tessé, and the Marshal de Noailles.
Adieu, adieu, my dearest love; embrace our dear children; I embrace a
million of times their beloved mother. When shall I find myself again
within her arms?
Footnote:
1. The Prince de Poix, colonel of the regiment de Noailles, in which M.
de Lafayette was captain.
TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.
(ORIGINAL.)
Hemingtown, the 9th February, 1778.
Dear General,--I cannot let go my guide without taking this opportunity
of writing to your excellency, though I have not yet public business
to speak of. I go on very slowly; sometimes drenched by rain, sometimes
covered by snow, and not entertaining many handsome thoughts about the
projected incursion into Canada; if successes were to be had, it would
surprise me in a most agreeable manner by that very reason that I don't
expect any shining ones. Lake Champlain is too cold for producing the
least bit of laurel, and if I am not starved I shall be as proud as if I
had gained three battles.
Mr. Duer had given to me a rendezvous at a tavern, but nobody was to be
found there. I fancy that he will be with Mr. Conway sooner than he
has told me; they will perhaps conquer Canada before my arrival, and I
expect to meet them at the governor's house in Quebec.
Could I believe, for one single instant, that this pompous command _of
a northern army_ will let your excellency forget a little us absent
friends, then, I would send the project to the place it comes from.
But I dare hope that you will remember me sometimes. I wish you, very
heartily, the greatest public and private happiness and successes. It is
a very melancholy idea for me that I cannot follow your fortunes as near
your person as I could wish; but my heart will take, very sincerely, its
part of everything which can happen to you, and I am already thinking of
the agreeable moment when I may come down to assure your excellency of
the most tender affection and highest respect. I have the honour to be,
&c.
TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.
(ORIGINAL.)
Albany, the 19th February, 1778.
Dear General,--Why am I so far from you and what business had the board
of war to hurry me through the ice and snow without knowing what I
should do, neither what they were doing themselves? You have thought,
perhaps, that their project would be attended with some difficulty, that
some means had been neglected, that I could not obtain all the success
and the immensity of laurels which they had promised to me; but I defy
your excellency to conceive any idea of what I have seen since I left
the place where I was quiet and near my friends, to run myself through
all the blunders of madness or treachery (God knows what). Let me begin
the journal of my fine and glorious campaign.
According to Lord Stirling's advice, I went by Corich-ferry to Ringo's
tavern, where Mr. Duer had given me a rendezvous; but there no Duer was
to be found, and they did never hear from him.
From thence I proceeded by the State of New York, and had the pleasure
of seeing the friends of America, as warm in their love for the
commander-in-chief as his best friend could wish. I spoke to Governor
Clinton, and was much satisfied with that gentleman. At length I met
Albany, the 17th, though I was not expected before the 25th. General
Conway had been here only three days before me, and I must confess I
found him very active and looking as if he had good intentions; but we
know a great deal upon that subject. His first word has been that the
expedition is quite impossible. I was at first very diffident of this
report, but have found that he was right. Such is, at least, the idea I
can form of this ill-concerted operation within these two days.
General Schuyler, General Lincoln, General Arnold, had written, before
my arrival, to General Conway, in the most expressive terms, that, in
our present circumstances, there was no possibility to begin, now, an
enterprise into Canada. Hay, deputy quarter-master-general; Cuyler,
deputy commissary-general; Mearsin, deputy clothier-general, in what
they call the northern department, are entirely of the same opinion.
Colonel Hazen, who has been appointed to a place which interferes with
the three others above mentioned, was the most desirous of going there.
The reasons of such an order I think I may attribute to other motives.
The same Hazen confesses we are not strong enough to think of the
expedition in this moment. As to the troops, they are disgusted, and (if
you except some Hazen's Canadians) reluctant, to the utmost degree,
to begin a winter incursion in a so cold country. I have consulted
everybody, and everybody answers me that it would be madness to
undertake this operation.
I have been deceived by the board of war; they have, by the strongest
expressions, promised to me one thousand, and (what is more to be
depended upon) they have assured to me in writing, _two thou-sand and
five hundred combatants, at a low estimate_. Now, Sir, I do not believe
I can find, _in all_, twelve hundred fit for duty, and most part of
those very men are naked, even for a summer's campaign. I was to find
General Stark with a large body, and indeed General Gates had told to
me, _General Stark will have burnt the fleet before your arrival_. Well,
the first letter I receive in Albany is from General Stark, who wishes
to know _what number of men, from whence, for what time, for what
rendezvous, I desire him to raise_. Colonel Biveld, who was to rise
too, would have done something _had he received money_. One asks, what
encouragement his people will have, the other has no clothes; not one
of them has received a dollar of what was due to them. I have applied
to every body, I have begged at every door I could these two days, and
I see that I could do something were the expedition to be begun in five
weeks. But you know we have not an hour to lose, and indeed it is now
rather too late, had we every thing in readiness.
There is a spirit of dissatisfaction prevailing among the soldiers, and
even the officers, which is owing to their not being paid for some time
since. This department is much indebted, and as near as I can ascertain,
for so short a time, I have already discovered near eight hundred
thousand dollars due to the continental troops, some militia, the
quartermaster's department, &c. &c. &c. It was with four hundred
thousand dollars, only the half of which is arrived to day, that I was
to undertake the operation, and satisfy the men under my commands. I
send to congress the account of those debts. Some clothes, by Colonel
Hazen's activity, are arrived from Boston, but not enough by far, and
the greatest part is cut off.
We have had intelligence from a deserter, who makes the enemy stronger
than I thought. There is no such thing _as straw on board the vessels to
burn them_. I have sent to congress a full account of the matter; I hope
it will open their eyes. What they will resolve upon I do not know,
but I think I must wait here for their answer. I have inclosed to the
president, copies of the most important letters I had received. It would
be tedious for your excellency, were I to undertake the minutest detail
of everything; it will be sufficient to say that the want of men,
clothes, money, and the want of time, deprives me of all hopes as to
this excursion. If it may begin again in the month of June, by the east,
I cannot venture to assure; but for the present moment such is the idea
I conceive of the famous incursion, as far as I may be informed, in a so
short time.
Your excellency may judge that I am very distressed by this
disappointment. My being appointed to the command of the expedition is
known through the continent, it will be soon known in Europe, as I have
been desired, by members of congress, to write to my friends; my being
at the head of an army, people will be in great expectations, and what
shall I answer?
I am afraid it will reflect on my reputation, and I shall be laughed at.
My fears upon that subject are so strong, that I would choose to become
again only a volunteer, unless congress offers the means of mending this
ugly business by some glorious operation; but I am very far from giving
to them the least notice upon that matter. General Arnold seems very
fond of a diversion against New York, and he is too sick to take the
field before four or five months. I should be happy if something
was proposed to me in that way, but I will never ask, nor even seem
desirous, of anything directly from congress; for you, dear general, I
know very well, that you will do everything to procure me the only thing
I am ambitious of--glory.
I think your excellency will approve of my staying here till further
orders, and of my taking the liberty of sending my despatches to
congress by a very quick occasion, without going through the hands of
my general; but I was desirous to acquaint them early of my disagreeable
and ridiculous situation.
With the greatest affection and respect, I have the honour to be, &c.
TO GENERAL WASHINGTON
(ORIGINAL)
The 23rd February, 1778.