The following tribute to the memory of Lafayette, having been
transmitted from Paris for the purpose of being published in some
American periodical, the gentleman by whom it was received, has
requested that the same may be inserted in the Messenger.
He breathed not the atmosphere of cities at his birth; he was born on
the mountain top; he inhaled with the breath of life, the breath of
liberty. Though sprung from a lordly race, he was the people's friend;
and, under every trial, he displayed the inborn dignity of man.
Rich too he was, but lucre was not his idol; and his liberality was as
unbounded, as his heart was generous. At that season of life which, to
common men, is a time for pleasure and dissipation, he heard and obeyed
the holy call of freedom.
Far off, beyond ocean's bounds, a young and promising nation was
struggling for its rights. He felt, as if instinctively, the part
allotted to him on the stage of life; and he became America's adopted
and beloved son, when in his native land, his name was scarcely known.
On returning to France, he found her laboring under mysterious
warnings--of good or evil he knew not--the foreboding pangs of
political convulsions; and he put his trust in the cause of humanity,
because he judged of other men from himself.
But vain was his boldness and wisdom in council; in vain did he beard
in their very den, the infuriate demagogues; a bloody pall was spread
over his devoted country; he gave her up in despair, and the dungeon of
Olmutz closed upon him as a tomb. When a brighter day arose, his
freedom was stipulated as the most glorious trophy of his nation's
victories. But the hurricane had swept the ancient fabric from the
earth; not a vestige of it remained, so dreadful had been the storm.
All the powers of the state were centred in one man; a man of
selfishness and pride, who aimed at absorbing all wills in his own. And
in sooth he did this, with one sole and great exception. The instinct
of freedom, which was as the vital spark in our great citizen, kept him
aloof from the man whose empty and ephemeral triumph is stained with
the blood and tears of every nation. He retired to his paternal fields;
and at a time when the sword ruled paramount, he guided the fruitful
ploughshare.
Liberty was no more; and by a hard but just retribution, it was made
the rallying word of nations against us. Then fell upon our country
unheard of disasters and defeats; after which dawned a milder reign. He
now reappears upon the public stage; he comes to heal our wounds, to
rekindle in our hearts the love of liberty. He devotes himself to the
task with a zeal unceasing, enlightened by long-tried experience,
inspired by a pure and upright heart, and animated by a spirit of self
denial never equalled. In the prosecution of this noble attempt--he
dies!
He was one of those men who, at far and distant intervals, appear in
days of degeneracy to arrest the right of proscription against virtue.
He disdained power, he despised riches, he abhorred corruption. He
wished that all men should be happy and free.
Yet in the age of barefaced egotism, and under the reign of fraud and
knavery, such disinterestedness and candor must inevitably be deceived;
therefore is it that our political jugglers sneer at this great and
good man--their grovelling minds understand him not.
But his name, pronounced with reverence in both hemispheres, is become
the watchword of mankind laboring to be free; and it will stand for
ages, as the brightest symbol of humanity.
Thy soul, oh Lafayette! was a pure and glorious emanation from that GOD
in whose bosom thou now hast found a resting place. He alone can reward
thy manifold virtues, thy constant love of humanity, thy inexhaustible
charity, thy piety and truth. Thou art blessed in Christ.