LV. 1777. indulged in Opposition topics, and, in some degree CHAP. at least, took the part of the Americans. The details were new to La Fayette. He listened with eagerness, and prolonged the conversation by asking questions of the Royal guest. The cause of the colonies that had risen against England seemed to him just and noble, even on the showing of one of the English princes; and before he left the table, the thought came into his head that he would go to America, and offer the Americans his services. He determined to return to Paris, and make further inquiries. His inquiries being mainly addressed to Silas Deane and other zealous friends of the insurgents, could not fail to confirm him in his first impressions. He became fired with an ardent zeal for Republican principles and the American cause. That zeal continued ever afterwards-for well nigh sixty yearsthe polar star of his course. That zeal, favoured as it was by fortune, adapted to the times that came upon him and urged forward by great personal vanity, laid the foundations of his fame far more, as I conceive, than any strength of mind or talents of his own. Few men have ever been so conspicuous from afar with so little, when closely viewed, of real weight or dimension. As a general, it can scarcely be pretended that his exploits were either many or considerable. As an orator, we look in vain for any high powers of debate. As a statesman, we find only an undistinguishing eagerness to apply the Transatlantic examples and to act the part of LV. CHAP. Washington, without duly estimating either the immense superiority of Washington's character above his own, or the manifold points of difference between America and Europe. 1777. 66 It was said by Napoleon, at St. Helena, that "La Fayette was a man of no ability, either in "civil or military life; his understanding was con"fined to narrow bounds; his character was full "of dissimulation, and swayed by vague ideas of liberty, which, in him, were undefined and illdigested." No doubt there is some exaggeration in these words. No doubt the late Emperor, at that period, was stirred by personal resentment at the hostile conduct of the General in 1815; yet it will perhaps be found more easy by any admirer of La Fayette to impugn the good faith of the draughtsman than the general accuracy of the portrait.* The fortune of La Fayette was ample, his yearly income being little short of two hundred thousand * The article LAFAYETTE, by Messieurs Boullée and Michaud, in the "Supplément à la Biographie Universelle" (vol. lxix. ed. 1841), which quotes the saying of Napoleon, gives also a curious confirmation of it from the MS. Memoirs of M. de St. Priest. It appears that a little before the French Revolution, and when M. de St.Priest had returned from his embassy at Constantinople, General La Fayette called upon him and expressed his intention to undertake, as a private individual, with a band of followers, the conquest of Egypt, or else of the Barbary States — all this without the slightest knowledge of the actual condition or means of defence of these countries! It is added: "M. de St. Priest "fut si étonné, si mecontent, de son ignorance, et de ses plans ridicules, qu'il lui tourna le dos et lui ferma sa porte!" LV. 1777. livres; and his connexions, as we have seen, were CHAP. among the first at Court. Under such circumstances, Silas Deane felt the vast importance of securing him. An agreement was concluded between them, by the intervention of one Mr. Carmichael (for as yet La Fayette spoke no English, and Deane little French), according to the terms of which the Marquis de La Fayette was to join the American service, and to receive from Congress the rank of Major-General-no slight temptation to a stripling of nineteen! La Fayette was to be accompanied, or rather attended, by the Baron de Kalb and eleven other officers of lower rank, seeking service in America. He sent, in secret, an agent to Bordeaux, there to purchase and prepare a vessel for their voyage. Meanwhile he made an excursion of three weeks to London, where his kinsman, the Marquis de Noailles, was ambassador. He was presented to the King, and graciously received. He saw at the Opera General Clinton, who had come home on a winter leave of absence, and who was next to meet him on a field of battle in America. But, mindful of his own hostile designs, he deemed it proper to forbear from prying into the military forces of the kingdom, and declined an invitation to visit the naval armament at Portsmouth. See the valuable and authentic "Note," or rather, Memoir, written by Mr. Jared Sparks, but derived in great part from La Fayette's own oral information, in the Appendix to Washington's Writings, vol. v. p. 445-456. CHAP. 1777. On his return to France, La Fayette bade farewell to his young wife, leaving her four months gone with child, and set out for Bordeaux. Thus far all had prospered according to his wishes. But at Bordeaux he found that his preparations had been discovered and complained of by Lord Stormont, and that a LETTRE DE CACHET for his arrest was already issued. Nevertheless he did not relinquish his design. He crossed the Spanish frontier in the disguise of a courier, found his vessel at Pasages, and there embarked with his companions. Towards the middle of June he landed on the coast of Carolina; and after a few days' rest, pursued his route to Philadelphia. His reception by the Congress was not at first a warm one; but La Fayette declared that he would accept no pay, and was willing to serve as a volunteer; and under these circumstances, the Assembly fulfilled the terms of the secret agreement, and bestowed on him the rank of Major-General. At Philadelphia La Fayette saw the American troops for the first time, and, according to his own account, was struck at their grotesque appearance -with green boughs fastened to their hats coarse hunting-shirts instead of uniforms-and muskets, many wanting bayonets, and all of unequal make and size. But he soon learnt to think more favourably of these raw levies, when, notwithstanding all their disadvantages, he observed their conduct in the field. With regard to their commander, his early impressions never changed. LV. 1777. It was also at Philadelphia, and at a dinner-table, CHAP. comprising several members of the Congress, that La Fayette was introduced to Washington. The boy-general found himself warmly welcomed by the chief whom he had long admired. "When you come to the army," said Washington, "I "shall be pleased if you will make my quarters your home, and consider yourself as one of my 66 66 family." The invitation thus frankly tendered was no less frankly accepted. Thus did a cordial intimacy arise between them, Washington at all times treating La Fayette with fatherly kindness, and La Fayette looking up to Washington with filial regard. La Fayette had already begun to speak a little English, and by degrees acquired more. But to the last the difficulties of the language were a main obstacle, not only to himself, but to every other foreigner who served with, or under, the United States. Thus there are still preserved some of the ill-spelled and scarce intelligible notes of Count Pulasky, during the short time that he served as general of cavalry. Still worse was the case of Baron Steuben, a veteran of the school of Frederick the Second, who joined the Americans a few months later than La Fayette, and who greatly aided them in the establishment of discipline. The Baron, it appears, could not teach and drill, * See one of these notes in Reed's Life and Correspondence, vol. i. p. 318. |