One of General Wayne's officers, Captain Davis of the First
Pennsylvania, whose military skill, let us hope, exceeded his knowledge
of spelling, kept a diary full of enthusiasm and superfluous capital
letters. By this we learn that the Fourth of July, 1781, was a wet
morning which cleared off in time for a "Feu-de-joy" in honor of
the day. The Americans had by this time forced the British down the
peninsula as far as Williamsburg, and were themselves camped about
fifteen miles from that town. While the "Feu-de-joy" went up in smoke
the British were busy; for Cornwallis had received letters which
decided him to abandon Williamsburg, send a large part of his men
north to reinforce Clinton, and consolidate the rest with the British
garrison at Portsmouth, near Norfolk.
The battle of Green Springs, the most serious encounter of Lafayette's
Virginia campaign, took place on the 6th of July, near Jamestown, when
the British, in carrying out this plan, crossed to the south side of
the river James. Cornwallis was sure that Lafayette would attack, and
[Pg 159]arranged an ambush, meaning to lure him with the belief that
all except the British rear-guard had passed to the other bank. The
ruse only half succeeded, for Lafayette observed that the British
clung tenaciously to their position and replaced the officers American
riflemen picked off one after the other. Riding out on a point of land,
he saw the British soldiers waiting under protection of their guns
and spurred back to warn General Wayne, but by that time the battle
had opened. Wayne's men suffered most, being nearly surrounded. In a
tight place Wayne always preferred "among a choice of difficulties, to
advance and charge"; and this was exactly what he did, straight into
the British lines. The unexpectedness of it brought success; and in the
momentary confusion he fell back to a place of safety. Afterward he had
a word to say about Lafayette's personal conduct. Reporting that no
officers were killed, though most of them had horses shot or wounded
under them, he added: "I will not condole with the Marquis for the loss
of two of his, as he was frequently requested to keep at a greater
distance. His native bravery rendered him deaf to the admonition."
The British retained the battle-field and the Americans most of the
glory, as was the case in so many fights of the Revolution. British
military writers have contended that Lafayette was in mortal danger
and that Cornwallis could have annihilated his whole force if he had
attacked that night. What Cornwallis did was to cross the river next
morning and proceed toward Portsmouth. The affair at Green Springs
[Pg 160]added materially to Lafayette's reputation. Indeed, with the
exception of burning a few American stores, increasing Lafayette's
military reputation was about all the British accomplished in this
campaign. An American officer with a taste for figures gleefully
estimated that Cornwallis's "tour in Virginia" cost King George, one
way and another, more than would have been needed to take all the
British aristocracy on a trip around the world.
Cornwallis got his soldiers safely upon their transports, but it was
written in the stars that they were not to leave Virginia of their own
free will. Orders came from Clinton telling him not to send them north,
and giving him to understand that his recent acts were not approved.
Clinton directed him to establish himself in a healthy spot on the
peninsula between the York and James rivers and to gain control of
a seaport to which British ships could come. He suggested Old Point
Comfort, but Cornwallis's engineers decided that Yorktown, with the
neck of land opposite called Gloucester, was the only place that would
serve. Here Cornwallis brought his army on the 1st of August and began
building defenses.
Following the battle of Green Springs, Lafayette occupied Williamsburg
and gave his men the rest they needed after their many weeks of
marching. He sent out detachments on various errands, but this was a
season of comparative quiet. Soon he began to long for excitement,
and wrote to Washington that he did not know about anything that was
happening in the world outside of Virginia, that he was homesick for
[Pg 161]headquarters, and that if he could not be there to help in the
defense of New York, at least he would like to know what was going on.
The answer only whetted his curiosity. Washington bade him await a
confidential letter explaining his plans.
The military situation as Washington saw it was exceedingly
interesting. Colonel Laurens's mission to the French court had turned
out badly. Perhaps he had not taken sufficiently to heart Lafayette's
advice; but young Rochambeau had not fared much better. In May it
had been learned that there was never to be any second division of
the French army; a blow that was softened by the assurance that
considerable money was actually on the way and that a French fleet,
which had sailed for the West Indies under command of Comte de Grasse,
might visit the coast of the United States for a short time.
It was the approach of this French fleet which caused Clinton
uneasiness in New York and made Cornwallis embark part of his troops
for the North. Washington took good care to let Clinton rest in the
belief that New York was to be attacked, but it became increasingly
evident to him that the greatest blow he could strike would be to
capture Cornwallis's army. He arranged with Admiral de Grasse to sail
to Chesapeake Bay instead of to New York, sent word to Lafayette to
be on the lookout for the French fleet, moved Rochambeau's soldiers
from Newport to the Hudson, left a sufficient number of them there and
started south with all the rest of the army, moving with the greatest
possible speed. Those of us who have read about this merely as long [Pg
162]past history do not realize the risks involved in planning such
far-reaching combinations in days before cables and telegraph lines.
"To blockade Rhode Island, fool Clinton, shut him up in New York,
and keep Cornwallis in Virginia," says a French writer, "it was
necessary to send from the port of Brest and later from the Antilles
to Chesapeake Bay a flotilla destined to take from the English all
hope of retreat and embarkation at the exact instant that Washington,
Rochambeau, and Lafayette should come and force the English in their
last intrenchments. This grand project which decided the outcome of the
war could be conceived only by men of superior talent." Lafayette's
friend, De Ségur, said that "it required all the audacity of Admiral
Comte de Grasse and the skill of Washington, sustained by the bravery
of Lafayette, the wisdom of Rochambeau, the heroic intrepidity of our
sailors and our troops, as well as the valor of the American militia."
Fortunately the geography of the Atlantic coast helped Washington keep
his secret even after he was well started. If De Grasse came to New
York, Washington's logical goal was Staten Island, and the route of the
Continental army would be the same in either case for a long distance.
After Philadelphia had been left behind and Washington's plan became
evident, it was too late for Clinton to stop him.
Thus the net tightened about Cornwallis. French ships in the bay
effectually cut off hope of reinforcement or escape by sea. Lafayette
[Pg 163]stationed Wayne where he could interpose if the British
attempted to go by land toward the Carolinas. He sent his faithful
friend, De Gimat, down the bay to meet the French admiral and give him
information, and disposed his own forces to cover the landing of any
soldiers De Grasse might bring him.
It must have been a fine sight when twenty-eight large ships of the
line and four French frigates sailed up the James River on the 2d of
September and landed three thousand soldiers, "all very tall men" in
uniforms of white turned up with blue. Lafayette's Americans, drawn up
not far from the battleground of Green Springs, donned their ragged
best in their honor. "Our men had orders to wash and put on clean
clothes," a diary informs us.
With this addition to his force Lafayette approached Yorktown. General
Saint-Simon, the commander of the three thousand very tall men, was
much older than Lafayette, besides being a marshal of France, but he
gallantly signified his willingness to serve under his junior; and
officers and privates alike accepted cheerfully the scanty American
fare, which was all Lafayette could get for his enlarged military
family. He found difficulty in collecting even this and wrote
Washington that his duties as quartermaster had brought on violent
headache and fever, but that the indisposition would vanish with three
hours' needed sleep.
In spite of their politeness it was evident that the visitors were
anxious to be through with their task and away. Admiral de Grasse had
a rendezvous for a certain date in the West Indies and insisted from
[Pg 164]the first that his stay in American waters must be short. The
French were scarcely inclined to await the arrival of Washington; yet
with all Washington's haste he had only reached Chester, Pennsylvania,
on the way to Head of Elk when he heard of De Grasse's arrival. Those
who were with him when the news came were more impressed by the way he
received it than by the news itself. His reserve and dignity fell from
him like a garment, and his face beamed like that of a delighted child
as he stood on the river-bank waving his hat in the air and shouting
the glad tidings to Rochambeau.
When Washington reached Williamsburg on the 13th of September he
found both Lafayette and General Wayne the worse for wear. Wayne,
with characteristic impetuosity, had tried to pass one of Lafayette's
sentries after dark and was nursing a slight wound in consequence.
Lafayette's quartermaster headache had developed into an attack of
ague; but that did not prevent his being present at the ceremonies
which marked the official meeting of the allied commanders. There were
all possible salutes and official visits, and, in addition, at a grand
supper a band played a kind of music seldom heard in America in those
days--the overture to a French opera "signifying the happiness of a
family when blessed with the presence of their father."
Washington's arrival of course put an end to Lafayette's independent
command. With the Commander-in-chief present he became again what
he had been the previous summer, merely the commander of a division
[Pg 165]of light infantry, and as such took part in the siege of
Yorktown, which progressed unfalteringly. The night of October 14th
witnessed its most dramatic incident, the taking of two redoubts, one
by French troops, the other by Americans under Lafayette. Among his
officers were Gimat, John Laurens, and Alexander Hamilton. Six shells
in rapid succession gave the signal to advance, and his four hundred
men obeyed under fire without returning a shot, so rapidly that the
place was taken at the point of the bayonet in a very few minutes.
Lafayette's first care was to send an aide with his compliments and
a message to Baron Viomenil, the French commander, whose troops were
still attacking; the message being that the Americans had gained their
redoubt and would gladly come to his assistance if he desired it. This
was a bit of vainglory, for Viomenil had nettled Lafayette by doubting
if his Americans could succeed. On the night of October 15th the
British attempted a sortie which failed. After an equally unsuccessful
attempt to escape by water, Cornwallis felt that there was no more
hope, for his works were crumbling and, in addition to his loss in
killed and wounded, many of his men were sick. He wrote a short note to
Washington asking for an armistice to arrange terms of surrender.
The time of surrender was fixed for two o'clock on the afternoon of
October 19, 1781. Lafayette had suggested that Cornwallis's bands be
required to play a British or a German air when the soldiers marched
to lay down their arms. This was in courteous retaliation for the
[Pg 166]treatment our own troops had received at British hands at the
surrender of Charleston, when they had been forbidden to play such
music. It was to the tune of "The World Turned Upside Down" that they
chose to march with colors cased, between the long lines of French and
Americans drawn up on the Hampton Road, to a field where a squadron
of French had spread out to form a huge circle. The French on one
side of the road under their flag with the golden fleur-de-lis were
resplendent in uniforms of white turned up with blue. The Americans
were less imposing. In the militia regiments toward the end of their
line scarcely a uniform was to be seen, but at their head Washington
and his officers, superbly mounted, stood opposite Rochambeau and the
other French generals. Eye-witnesses thought that the British showed
disdain of the ragged American soldiers and a marked preference for
the French, but acts of discourtesy were few, and the higher officers
conducted themselves as befitted gentlemen. Cornwallis did not appear
to give up his sword, but sent General O'Hara to represent him, and it
was received on Washington's part by General Lincoln, who had given up
his sword to the British at Charleston.
As each British regiment reached the field where the French waited it
laid down its arms at the command of its colonel and marched back to
Yorktown, prisoners of war. The cheeks of one colonel were wet with
tears as he gave the order, and a corporal was heard to whisper to
his musket as he laid it down, "May you never get so good a master!"
[Pg 167]Care was taken not to add to the humiliation of the vanquished
by admitting sightseers, and all agree that there was no cheering or
exulting. "Universal silence was observed," says General "Lighthorse
Harry" Lee, who was there. "The utmost decency prevailed, exhibiting
in demeanor an awful sense of the vicissitudes of human life, mingled
with commiseration for the unhappy." There was more than commiseration;
there was real friendliness. Rochambeau, learning that Cornwallis was
without money, lent him all he needed. Dinners were given at which
British officers were the guests of honor; and we have Lafayette's word
for it that "every sort of politeness" was shown.
Washington's aide, Colonel Tilghman, rode at top speed to Philadelphia
with news of the surrender, reaching there after midnight on the 24th.
He met a watchman as he entered the city, and bade him show him the way
to the house of the president of Congress. The watchman, of course,
learned the great news, and while Tilghman roused the high official,
the watchman, who was a patriot, though he had a strong German accent,
continued his rounds, calling, happily:
"Basht dree o'glock, und Corn-wal-lis isht da-a-ken!"
[Pg 168]XIX
"THE WINE OF HONOR"
About the time that Colonel Tilghman rode into Philadelphia a large
British fleet appeared just outside of Chesapeake Bay, thirty-one
ships one day and twenty-five more the next; but they were too late.
As a French officer remarked, "The chicken was already eaten," and two
days later the last sail had disappeared. The surrender of Cornwallis
cost England the war, but nobody could be quite sure of it at that
time. Washington hoped the French admiral would still help him by
taking American troops south, either to reinforce General Greene near
Charleston or for operations against Wilmington, North Carolina. Two
days after the fall of Yorktown, when Washington made a visit of thanks
to De Grasse upon his flagship, Lafayette accompanied his chief; and
after Washington took leave Lafayette stayed for further consultation,
it being Washington's plan to give Lafayette command of this expedition
against Wilmington in case it should be decided upon. The young general
came ashore in high spirits, sure that two thousand American soldiers
[Pg 169]could sail for North Carolina within the next ten days.
Reflection, however, showed the admiral many obstacles, chief of them
being that he had positive orders to meet a Spanish admiral in the West
Indies on a certain day, now very near. Taking troops to Wilmington
might delay him only a few hours, but on the other hand contrary winds
might lengthen the time to two weeks, in which case he would have to
sail off to the rendezvous, carrying the whole American expedition
with him. After thinking it over, he politely but firmly refused.
Reinforcements for General Greene were sent by land under command
of another officer, the expedition to Wilmington was given up, and
Lafayette rode away to Philadelphia to ask leave of Congress to spend
the following winter in Paris. This was readily granted in resolutions
which cannily combined anticipation of future favors with thanks for
the service he had already rendered.
Once more he sailed from Boston on the _Alliance_. This time the voyage
was short and lacked the exciting features of his previous trip on
her. Wishing to surprise his wife, he landed at Lorient and posted to
Paris with such haste that he arrived quite unexpectedly on the 21st
of January, to find an empty house, Adrienne being at the moment at
the Hotel de Ville, attending festivities in honor of the unfortunate
little Dauphin. When the news of her husband's return finally reached
her on the breath of the crowd she was separated from her home by
streets in such happy turmoil that she could not hope to reach the
Hotel de Noailles for hours. Marie Antoinette hastened this journey's
[Pg 170]end in a lovers' meeting in right queenly fashion by holding
up a royal procession and sending Madame Lafayette home in her own
carriage. Accounts written at the time tell how the husband heard his
wife's voice and flew to the door, how she fell into his arms half
fainting with emotion, and how he carried her inside and the great
doors closed while the crowd in the street applauded. What happened
after that we do not know, except that he found other members of his
family strangely altered. "My daughter and your George have grown
so much that I find myself older than I thought," the father wrote
Washington.
Paris set about celebrating his return with enthusiasm. A private
letter which made much of the queen's graciousness to Madame Lafayette
remarked as of lesser moment that a numerous and joyous band of
"_poissards,_" which we may translate "the rabble," brought branches
of laurel to the Hôtel de Noailles. A prima donna offered him the same
tribute at the opera, but in view of later happenings this homage of
the common people was quite as significant. In vaudeville they sang
topical songs about him; pretty ladies frankly showed him their favor;
the ancient order of Masons, of which he was a member, gave him the
welcome reserved for heroes; and he was wined and dined to an extent
that only a man blessed with his strong digestion could have withstood.
One of these dinners was given by the dissolute old Maréchal de
Richelieu, nephew of the famous cardinal, and to this were bidden "all
[Pg 171]the _maréchals_ of France," who drank Washington's health with
fervor and bade the guest of honor convey to him "their homage."
It had been more than a century since France won a victory over
England comparable to this capture of Cornwallis, and national pride
and exultation were plainly apparent in the honors bestowed upon the
returned soldier. "Your name is held in veneration," Vergennes assured
him. "It required a great deal of skill to maintain yourself as you
did, for so long a time, in spite of the disparity of your forces,
before Lord Cornwallis, whose military talents are well known." And
the new Minister of War, M. de Ségur, father of Lafayette's boyhood
friend, informed him that as "a particular and flattering favor" the
king had been pleased to make him a marshal of France, his commission
dating from the 18th of October. This rank corresponded to that of
major-general in the American army, and Lafayette was to assume it
at the end of the American war. There were officers in the army who
did not approve of this honor. They could not see that Lafayette had
done anything to warrant making a French colonel into a major-general
overnight and over the heads of officers of higher rank. They were
quite sure they would have done as well had the opportunity come their
way. Kings do not often reward subjects for services rendered a foreign
nation; and the part that strikes us as odd is that Lafayette had been
fighting against monarchy, the very form of government his own king
represented. But Lafayette's life abounded in such contradictions.
[Pg 172]His popularity was no nine days' affair. Franklin found it of
very practical use. "He gains daily in public esteem and affection,
and promises to be a great man in his own country," the American
wrote, after Lafayette had been back for some weeks, adding, "he has
been truly useful to me in my efforts to obtain increased assistance."
Before the young hero arrived Franklin had found it difficult to
arrange a new American loan, but with such enthusiasm sweeping Paris it
was almost easy. The town went quite wild. John Ledyard, the American
explorer, who was there at the time, wrote: "I took a walk to Paris
this morning and saw the Marquis de Lafayette. He is a good man, this
same marquis. I esteem him: I even love him, and so do we all, except
some who worship." Then he added, "If I find in my travels a mountain
as much elevated above other mountains as he is above ordinary men, I
will name it Lafayette."
Envoys to discuss peace had already reached Paris, but it was not at
all certain that England would give up the contest without one more
campaign. To be on the safe side it was planned to send a combined
fleet of French and Spanish ships convoying twenty-four thousand
soldiers to the West Indies to attack the English island of Jamaica.
Ships and men were to be under command of Admiral d'Estaing, who
wished Lafayette to go with him as chief-of-staff. After the work was
done in the West Indies D'Estaing would sail northward and detach six
thousand troops to aid a revolution in Canada, a project Lafayette had
never wholly abandoned. The expedition was to sail from Cadiz, and
[Pg 173]Lafayette was already in Spain with part of the French force
when he learned that the preliminary treaty of peace had been signed
at Versailles on January 20, 1782. He longed to carry the news to
America himself, but was told that he could do much in Spain to secure
advantageous trade agreements between that country and the United
States. So he contented himself with borrowing a vessel from the fleet
that was now without a destination, and sending two letters by it.
One, very dignified in tone, was addressed to Congress. The other, to
Washington, was joyously personal. "If you were a mere man like Cæsar
or the King of Prussia," he wrote, "I would almost regret, on your
account, to see the end of the tragedy in which you have played so
grand a role. But I rejoice with you, my dear General, in this peace
which fulfils all my desires.... What sentiments of pride and joy I
feel in thinking of the circumstances which led to my joining the
American cause!... I foresee that my grandchildren will be envied when
they celebrate and honor your name. To have had one of their ancestors
among your soldiers, to know that he had the good fortune to be the
friend of your heart, will be the eternal honor that shall glorify
them; and I will bequeath to the eldest among them, so long as my
posterity shall endure, the favor you have been pleased to bestow upon
my son George."
The ship on which these letters were sent was called, appropriately,
_La Triomphe_; and, as he hoped, it did actually carry the news of
peace to America, reaching port ahead of all others.
[Pg 174]For himself, he remained in Spain, doing what he could for
America. The things he witnessed there made him a better republican
than ever. He wrote to his aunt that the grandees of the court looked
rather small, "especially when I saw them upon their knees." Absolute
power, exercised either by monarchs or subjects, was becoming more and
more distasteful to him. The injustice of negro slavery, for example,
wrung his heart. In the very letter to Washington announcing peace he
wrote: "Now that you are to taste a little repose, permit me to propose
to you a plan that may become vastly useful to the black portion of the
human race. Let us unite in buying a little property where we can try
to enfranchise the negroes and employ them merely as farm laborers."
He did buy a plantation called Belle Gabrielle in Cayenne, French
Guiana, and lavished money and thought upon it. It was an experiment
in which his wife heartily joined, sending out teachers for the black
tenantry and making their souls and morals her special care. The French
Revolution put an end to this, as it did to so many enterprises; and
it seems a bitter jest of fortune that when Lafayette's property was
seized these poor creatures were sold back again into slavery--in the
name of Freedom and Equality.
In March, 1783, Lafayette took his wife to Chavaniac, possibly for the
first time. One of the two aunts who made the old manor-house their
home had just died, leaving the other desolate. While Adrienne won the
affections of the lonely old lady, her husband set about improving
the condition of the peasants on the estate. Bad harvests had brought
[Pg 175]about great scarcity of food. His manager proudly showed his
granaries full of wheat, remarking, "Monsieur le Marquis, now is the
time to sell." The answer, "No, this is the time to give away," left
the worthy steward breathless. Whether Lafayette's philanthropies
would win the approval of social workers to-day we do not know. The
list of enterprises sounds well. During the next few years he built
roads, brought an expert from England to demonstrate new methods in
agriculture, imported tools and superior breeds of animals, established
a weekly market and an annual fair, started the weaving industry and a
school to teach it, and established a resident physician to look after
the health of his tenants. He was popular with them. On his arrival he
was met in the town of Rion by a procession headed by musicians and the
town officials, who ceremoniously presented "the wine of honor" and
were followed by local judges in red robes who "made him compliments,"
while the people cried, "Vive Lafayette!" and danced and embraced,
"almost without knowing one another." A few weeks later the tenants
from a neighboring manor came bringing him a draught of wine from their
town, and expressing the wish that they might come under his rule. This
he was able to gratify a few years later, when he bought the estate.
In May, 1783, Lafayette realized the long-cherished dream of having
a home of his own. The Hôtel de Noailles was very grand and very
beautiful, and while he was away fighting it was by far the best place
[Pg 176]for Adrienne and the children; but it belonged to her people,
not to him. From camps he had written her about this home they were
some day to have together; and now that he had returned to France
to stay they bought a house in the rue de Bourbon and set up their
domestic altar there. They had three children; for a daughter had
been born to them in the previous September. Like George, she was as
American as her father could make her. "I have taken the liberty of
naming her Virginia," he wrote General Washington. Benjamin Franklin,
to whom he also announced the new arrival, hoped he would have children
enough to name one after each state of the Union.
In May, also, something happened which must have pleased Lafayette
deeply. He was given the Cross of Saint-Louis, the military decoration
his father had worn; and the man who received him into the order was
his father-in-law, the Duc d'Ayen, who had so bitterly opposed his
going to America.
With large estates in the country, a new house in town, a list of
acquaintances which included everybody worth knowing in Paris and more
notables in foreign countries than even he could write to or receive
letters from, and a keen interest in the politics, philanthropy, and
commerce of two hemispheres, he might have passed for a busy man.
Yet he found time for an entirely new enthusiasm. A German doctor
named Mesmer had made what he believed to be important discoveries
in a new force and a new mode of healing, called animal magnetism.
Lafayette enrolled himself as a pupil. "I know as much as ever a
[Pg 177]sorcerer knew!" he wrote enthusiastically to Washington. On
paying his initiation fee of a hundred golden louis he had signed a
paper promising not to reveal these secrets to any prince, community,
government, or individual without Mesmer's written consent, but
the disciple was eager to impart his knowledge to his great friend
and hoped to gain permission. Louis XVI was satirical. "What will
Washington think when he learns that you have become first apothecary
boy to Mesmer?" he asked.
Lafayette was planning a visit to America and sent a message to Mrs.
Washington that he hoped "soon to thank her for a dish of tea at Mount
Vernon." "Yes, my dear General, before the month of June is over you
will see a vessel coming up the Potomac, and out of that vessel will
your friend jump, with a panting heart and all the feelings of perfect
happiness." He did indeed make the visit during the summer of 1784,
though a few weeks later than June. Whether they had time during his
ten days at Mount Vernon to talk about Mesmer history does not state.
The hours must have been short for all the things clamoring to be
said. Then Lafayette made a tour that carried him to Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, as far west as Fort Schuyler, for another treaty-making
powwow with his red brothers the Indians, and south to Yorktown.
Everywhere bells pealed and balls and dinners were given. Before he
turned his face toward France he had a few more quiet days at Mount
Vernon with Washington, who accompanied him on his homeward way as far
[Pg 178]as Annapolis. At parting the elder man gave him a tender letter
for Adrienne, and on the way back to Mount Vernon wrote the words of
farewell which proved prophetic: "I have often asked myself, since our
carriages separated, whether that was the last sight I ever should have
of you; and though I wished to say No, my fears answered Yes."
Washington lived fourteen years longer; but in the mean time the storm
of the French Revolution broke and everything that had seemed enduring
in Lafayette's life was wrecked. Until that storm burst letters and
invitations and presents flashed across the see as freely as though
propelled by Mesmer's magic fluid. Mrs. Washington sent succulent
Virginia hams to figure at dinners given by the Lafayettes in Paris.
A picture of the household in the rue de Bourbon has come down to us
written by a young officer to his mother:
"I seemed to be in America rather than in Paris. Numbers of English and
Americans were present, for he speaks English as he does French. He has
an American Indian in native costume for a footman. This savage calls
him only 'father.' Everything is simple in his home. Marmontel and the
Abbé Morrolet were dinner guests. Even the little girls spoke English
as well as French, though they are very small. They played in English,
and laughed with the Americans. This would have made charming subjects
for English engravings."
Lafayette on his part sent many things to that house on the banks
of the Potomac. He sent his friends, and a letter from him was an
[Pg 179]infallible open sesame. He sent his own accounts of journeys
and interviews. He sent animals and plants that he thought would
interest Washington, the farmer. Asses, for example, which were hard to
get in America, and rare varieties of seeds. In time he sent the key of
the Bastille. But that, as romancers say, is "another story," and opens
another chapter in Lafayette's life.
[Pg 180]XX