having neither money nor credit, he purchased for them a full supply with his own funds. His presence inspired the militia of Virginia with fresh hope, and his force was soon doubled in numbers. Toward the end of May Lord Cornwallis took command of the British in Virginia, and, with his usual energy, on the 4th day after his arrival he marched to attack Lafayette, who with about 3,000 troops was posted half way between Richmond and Wilton. Confident in his superiority of numbers, Cornwallis was so sure of success that he wrote home: "The boy cannot escape me." Lafayette, bowever, made a skilful retreat to the northward, and, though pursued with unusual activity, made his way safely to the Raccoon ford on the Rappahanock in Culpepper county, where he was joined by Gen. Wayne, who had marched from Maryland to his assistance with 800 men. Strengthened by this reenforcement, Lafayette again advanced, and interposed himself in a strong position near Charlottesville between the British army and some large quantities of stores removed from that town on the enemy's approach. Cornwallis marched off toward Williamsburg, pursued by Lafayette, a portion of whose troops overtook the British, July 6, at the Jamestown fordwhere a sharp action was fought. Continuing his retreat, Cornwallis at last took post at Yorktown. "Lafayette conducted this campaign," says Mr. Everett, "with a vigor, discretion, and success, which saved the state of Virginia, and proved himself to be endowed with the highest qualities of generalship." Having driven the British into Yorktown, he stationed his army so as to cut off their retreat into the Carolinas, and awaited the reënforcements from the north, which came a few weeks later under the command of Washington and Rochambeau. For his services during the siege of Yorktown, where in conjunction with Hamilton he commanded one of the assailing parties, he was publicly thanked by Washington on the day after the surrender of Cornwallis. At the close of the campaign he returned to France. In granting him leave of absence, congress passed resolutions acknowledging his eminent services, and directing althe ministers of the United States in Europe to confer and correspond with him. He was received with the highest enthusiasm in France, and his request for additional men and money for service in America was readily complied with. The enthusiasm spread from France to Spain, and a great expedition of 60 vessels of the line and 24,000 troops was organized to sail from Cadiz under the command of Lafayette, who led 8,000 men from Brest to Cadiz. Soon after his arrival, however, he heard the tidings of the conclusion of peace at Paris; and it was from a letter which he sent from Cadiz, Feb. 5, 1783, that congress first learned the news of the treaty. In 1784, at the invitation of Washington, he revisited the United States, landing at New York, Aug. 4, and proceeding almost immediately to Mount Vernon. He subsequently visited Anna

polis, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Albany, and Boston, receiving everywhere the warmest testimonials of affection and respect. On his departure in December, congress appointed a solemn deputation of one member from each state to take leave of him on behalf of the whole country. In the year after his return to France he visited Germany, where he was received with much distinction. Frederic the Great paid him marked attention, and took him with him on a military tour of inspection and review. For some years he now occupied himself with efforts to ameliorate the political condition of the French Protestants, and in promoting the abolition of slavery in the colonies. He purchased a plantation in Cayenne, emancipated the slaves, and expended a large sum in their education. The assembly of the notables at Paris, Feb. 22, 1787, was the first step in the French revolution. Of that assembly Lafayette was a member, and contributed essentially to give character to its deliberations. He stepped forth at once the champion of the people, denounced the abuses of the government, proposed the abolition of private arrests and of the prisons of state, the restoration of Protestants to the equal privileges of citizenship, and the convocation of the states-general. "What!" said the count d'Artois, the brother of the king, and afterward king himself as Charles X., "do you demand the states-general?" "Yes," replied Lafayette, "and something better than that." The states-general, which soon became the constituent assembly, met May 3, 1789. According to Jefferson, its initiatory movements were concerted by Lafayette and a small circle of friends at the hotel of Jefferson himself. He proposed in this body a declaration of popular rights not unlike that of the American declaration of independence, and it was by his influence that on the night of July 13, while the Bastile was falling before the people, the decree providing for the responsibility of the royal ministers was carried through. Two days afterward he was appointed commander-in-chief of the national guards of Paris, an organization which rapidly extended throughout the kingdom until it embraced 3,000,000 men, and under his effective management became the controlling power of the country. It was at his suggestion that the tri-color was adopted, July 26, an emblem destined, as he said, to make the tour of the world. His history for a time now became almost the history of France; and while he retained his power it was always exercised on the side of moderation, humanity, and constitutional liberty. A loyal subject, though in principle a firm republican, he defended the freedom of the king as sincerely as he had ever defended the freedom of the people. His courage and coolness during the dreadful tumults of Oct. 5-6 saved the lives of the king and queen from a ferocious mob that had taken possession of the palace of Versailles. When the national assembly decreed the abolition of feudal titles, Lafayette was among the first to lay down that of marquis, which he never

resumed; and the only title which he bore till his death was that of general, which he derived from his commission in the American army. After the splendid and imposing ceremony of the adoption of the constitution, July 14, 1790, in the Champ de Mars, where, in the presence of half a million of people, he took the oath to its support in the name of the nation, he resigned his command of the national guards in an able and patriotic letter, and retired to his estates in the country. When war was declared against the Austrians, March 20, 1792, he was appointed to the command of one of the armies sent to guard the frontier. He established discipline in the army, and won victories at Philippeville, Maubeuge, and Florennes. But the Jacobins, who were now becoming predominant in France, hated and feared him, and orders were sent to the camp from the ministry of war designedly to embarrass and annoy him. In return he addressed a letter to the assembly denouncing the Jacobins as enemies of the constitution and the people. The voice of reason for a moment was regarded, and a majority of the assembly and the local assemblies of 75 of the departments gave their formal sanction to his views. But violence at length prevailed, and on Aug. 8 he was denounced in the assembly as an enemy of the nation, and a motion was made for his arrest and trial. After vehement debates it was put to vote and lost by a majority of 407 to 224. But the terrible events of Aug. 10 soon followed, and the reign of terror was established. Commissioners were sent to the army with orders to arrest Lafayette. Arrest at that period was certain death. He saved himself by flight, after placing the ariny in such a position that his departure could not expose it to danger. He crossed the frontier Aug. 17, intending to take refuge in Holland. But he was seized the same night by an Austrian patrol, and being soon recognized was treated as a criminal and exposed to disgraceful indignities. He was handed over to the Prussians because their prisons were near at hand, and was at first confined at Wesel and afterward at Magdeburg. But the Prussians, unwilling to bear the odium of holding Lafayette a prisoner, soon transferred him again to the Austrians, who consigned him to damp and dark dungeons in the citadel of Olmütz. Here he was told that he would never again see any thing but the four walls of his prison; that he would never receive news of events or of persons; that his name would be unknown in the citadel, and that in all accounts of him sent to court he would be designated only by a number; that he would never receive any notice of his family, or of the existence of his fellow prisoners. At the same time knives and forks were kept from him, as he was officially informed that his situation was one which would naturally lead to suicide. The want of air and of proper food, and the dampness and filth of his dungeon, brought on dangerous diseases, of which his gaolers took no notice; and he was at one period reduced to such a state by his suf

ferings that all his hair came off. His friends for a long time could get no intelligence of his fate; but at length the persevering inquiries of Dr. Erick Bollmann, a Hanoverian of great address and courage, who was employed by Count Lally-Tollendal, and who had established himself for the purpose as a physician at Vienna, ascertained that he was confined at Olmütz. The military physician of Olmütz by this time had thrice made a formal representation to the Austrian government that Lafayette would die unless he was allowed to breathe a purer air than that of his dungeon. To the first application the reply was made that "he was not sick enough yet;" but at length the outcry of public indignation in Europe compelled them to grant him permission to ride out occasionally in a carriage accompanied by two soldiers. Dr. Bollmann determined to attempt his rescue during one of these airings, and communicated his project to a young American then travelling in Austria, Francis K. Huger, a son of the gentleman at whose house Lafayette had been received on the night of his first landing in America near Charleston, S. C., in 1777. Huger devoted himself to the enterprise with romantic enthusiasm. The two friends went to Olmütz, where in his professional capacity Bollmann contrived to communicate with Lafayette and to agree upon a plan. Their carriage was sent to Hoff, a town 25 miles from Olmütz, and the coachman was directed to be in waiting at a certain hour on the day when Lafayette and his guard rode out. They themselves on horseback lay in wait at a part of the road where Lafayette was accustomed to descend from the carriage and walk. The moment he touched the ground, Lafayette, sick and unarined as he was, attacked the guards and disarmed one of them, who fled in terror. After a violent contest he also disarmed the other, but in the struggle was badly wounded in the hand. His friends now came up, and placing him on one of their horses told him in English to go to Hoff. He misunderstood the word, and supposing they had merely said "Go off," rode away on the wrong road. Their other horse had been purposely trained to carry two persons, but in the confusion he became frightened and unmanageable, and Huger generously insisted that Bollmann should ride off alone while he made his escape on foot. He was soon arrested by some peasants who had witnessed the affair, while Bollmann arrived safely at Hoff, and, after waiting in vain for Lafayette, passed the frontier into Prussia, where he was soon arrested and delivered to the Austrians. Lafayette meanwhile rode toward Moravia, and, not well knowing the road, asked a peasant to guide him. His bleeding wound and his prison clothing excited the suspicions of the peasant, and he betrayed the fugitive to the police, who took him back to Olmütz next day. Bollmann and Huger were kept in dungeons for 8 months chained by the neck to the floor, but were at length released by the interference of Count Metrowsky, an Austrian nobleman of

liberal character residing near Olmütz. Lafay ette himself was confined with redoubled severity. Meantime his wife, who had been put in prison at Paris during the reign of terror, obtained her liberty on the downfall of Robespierre. She then proceeded to Vienna, obtained with difficulty a personal interview with the emperor Francis, and gained permission to share her husband's captivity, under the hardship of which, however, her health soon became so impaired that she never fully recovered from its effects. Great exertions were now made both in Europe and America to obtain the release of Lafayette. In the house of commons Gen. Fitzpatrick, Dec. 16, 1796, made a motion in his behalf, which was supported by Col. Tarleton, who had fought against Lafayette in America, by Wilberforce, and by Fox. "The speech of the latter," says Mr. Everett, "is one of the most admirable specimens of eloquence ever heard in a deliberative assembly." President Washington wrote a letter to the emperor, asking for the liberation of his old companion in arms. The Austrian government was deaf to all entreaties. But an advocate now appeared whose plea was irresistible. Bonaparte at the head of his victorious army demanded the release of Lafayette in the preliminary conferences held at Leoben before the treaty of Campo Formio. He was often afterward heard to say that in all his negotiations with foreign powers he had never experienced so pertinacious a resistance as that which was made to this demand. The Austrian negotiators attempted to compel Lafayette to receive his freedom clogged with certain conditions; but in spite of his sufferings his spirit was unbroken, and he firmly replied that he would never accept his liberation in any way that should compromise his rights and duties, either as a Frenchman or as an American citizen. He was set free at last, Aug. 25, 1797, after an imprisonment of 5 years, 22 months of which had been shared by his wife. The unsettled condition of France yet precluded his return to his native country, and he took up his residence in Holstein, where he lived in retirement, occupying himself with agriculture, until toward the end of 1799, when he established himself at his estate of La Grange, a fine old chateau about 40 miles from Paris. Here he lived quietly, still occupied with agriculture and holding steadfastly to his republican convictions. Napoleon in a personal interview endeavored in vain to persuade him to take the post of senator. He also offered him the cross of the legion of honor, but Lafayette rejected it with disdain, calling it an absurdity. Of all the ancient nobility who returned to France, he and the young count de Vaudreuil were the only persons who refused the favors which Napoleon tendered to them. When the question was submitted to the people whether Napoleon should be first consul for life, Lafayette voted in the negative, and informed Napoleon of the fact in a letter, which put an end to their intercourse. Nothing could tempt him

from his retirement. President Jefferson offered to appoint him governor of Louisiana, then just become a territory of the United States; but he was unwilling by quitting France to appear to abandon the cause of constitutional freedom on the continent of Europe. During the Hundred Days after the return from Elba, when Napoleon granted to the people an elective house of representatives, Lafayette again appeared in public. He was chosen a representative, and took his seat in the chamber, refusing a peerage which the emperor offered him. On the first ballot for president of the house he had the highest number of votes; but he declined the honor, and exerted himself for the election of Lanjuinais. He took little part in the debates, however, till after Napoleon's return from Waterloo, when he took the lead in demanding the emperor's abdication. Lucien, the brother of Napoleon, opposed the motion to this effect in a speech of great power and eloquence. He denounced the proposition as a signal instance of inconstancy and national ingratitude. Lafayette rose, and, contrary to rule and custom, spoke from his place and not from the tribune. "The assertion which has just been uttered," he said, "is a calumny. Who shall dare to accuse the French nation of inconstancy to the emperor Napoleon? That nation has followed his bloody footsteps through the sands of Egypt and through the snows of Russia; over fifty fields of battle; in disaster as faithfully as in victory; and it is for having thus devotedly followed him that we now mourn the blood of three millions of Frenchmen." These few words made an impression on the assembly which could not be resisted; and as Lafayette ended Lucien himself bowed respectfully to him, and without resuming his speech sat down. After the entry of the allies into Paris, Lafayette returned to La Grange. Touched with a sympathy for Napoleon in his adversity which he had not felt at the height of his power, he offered to procure him the means of escaping to America; but Napoleon could not forgive his former opposition, and refused to accept his assistance. In 1818 Lafayette was elected to the chamber of deputies, where he voted constantly for all liberal measures, and opposed the censorship of the press and every thing that tended to infringe the constitutional rights of the people.-In 1824 the congress of the United States voted unanimously a resolution requesting President Monroe to invite Lafayette to visit the United States. He accepted the invitation, but declined the offer of a ship of the line for his conveyance, and with his son and secretary took passage on a packet ship from Havre for New York, where he landed Aug. 15, 1824. He was received everywhere with the utmost demonstrations of popular enthusiasm, and his progress through the country resembled a continuous triumphal procession. He visited in succession each of the 24 states and all the principal cities. "We rejoice," said Mr. Ticknor in the " North Amer

ican Review," in Jan. 1825, "in common with the thousands who throng his steps wherever he passes, that we are permitted to offer this tribute of a gratitude and veneration, which cannot be misinterpreted, to one who suffered with our fathers for our sake; but we rejoice yet more for the moral effect it cannot fail to produce on us, both as individuals and as a people. For it is no common spectacle which is now placed before each of us for our instruction. We are permitted to see one who, by the mere force of principle, by plain and resolved integrity, has passed with perfect consistency through more remarkable extremes of fortune than any other man now alive, or perhaps any man on record. We are permitted to see one who has borne a leading and controlling part in two hemispheres, and in the two most important revolutions the world has yet seen, and has come forth from both of them without the touch of dishonor. We are permitted to see that man who first put in jeopardy his rank and fortune at home in order to serve as a volunteer in the cause of free institutions in America, and afterward hazarded his life at the bar of the national assembly, to arrest the same cause when it was tending to excess and violence. We are permitted to see the man who, after three years of unbroken political triumph, stood in the midst of half a million of his countrymen, comprehending whatever was great, wise, and power. ful in the nation, with the oriflamme of the monarchy at his feet, and the confidence of all France following his words, as he swore on their behalf to a free constitution; and yet remained undazzled and unseduced by his vast, his irresistible popularity. We are permitted to see the man who, for the sake of the same principles to which he had thus sworn, and in less than three years afterward, was condemned to such obscure sufferings, that his very existence became doubtful to the world, and the place of his confinement was effectually hidden from the inquiries of his friends, who sent emissaries over half Europe to discover it; and yet remained unshaken and undismayed, constantly refusing all appearance of compromise with his persecutors and oppressors. We are, in short, permitted to see a man who has professed, amid glory and suffering, in triumph and in disgrace, the same principles of political freedom on both sides of the Atlantic; who has maintained the same tone, the same air, the same open confidence, amid the ruins of the Bastile, in the Champ de Mars, under the despotism of Bonaparte, and in the dungeons of Olmütz." While Lafayette was still in the country, congress, in Dec. 1824, voted him a grant of $200,000 and a township of land, "in consideration of his important services and expenditures during the American revolution." His immense hereditary fortune had been mostly lost by confiscation during the reign of terror. On Sept. 7, 1825, he sailed from Washington in a frigate named in compliment to him the Brandywine. On his arrival at Havre the people assembled to make a demon

stration in his honor, but were dispersed by the police. In Aug. 1827, he pronounced a funeral oration over the body of Manuel, a distinguished member of the chamber of deputies. In November of the same year the chamber was dissolved, and Lafayette was reelected. During the revolution of July, 1830, of which he became the acknowledged leader, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the national guards of Paris, and, though not personally engaged in the fight, his name and his experience and energy were of the greatest service to the liberal cause. His influence was successfully exert ed to prevent the revolution from assuming a sanguinary character, and from proceeding to extremes which would have brought France into perilous collision with all the powers of Europe. He sacrificed his own republican preferences for the sake of peace and order, and placed Louis Philippe on the throne, "a monarchy surrounded by republican institutions." He soon resigned his commission as commander of the national guards, and confined himself to his duties as a representative of the people, and to the exercise of his moral influence as the acknowledged chief of the constitutional party on the continent of Europe. In attending in the winter and on foot the obsequies of a colleague in the chamber of deputies, he contracted a cold which settled on his lungs and caused his death. He received a magnificent funeral, and his body was buried, by his own direction, in the cemetry of Picpus in the faubourg St. Antoine.-"There have been those," says Mr. Everett, "who have denied to Lafayette the name of a great man. What is greatness? Does goodness belong to greatness and make an essential part of it? If it does, who, I would ask, of all the prominent names in history, has run through such a career, with so little reproach justly or unjustly be stowed? Are military courage and conduct the measure of greatness? Lafayette was intrusted by Washington with all kinds of service-the laborious and complicated, which required skill and patience the perilous, that demanded nerve; and we see him keeping up a pursuit, effecting a retreat, out-manoeuvring a wary adversary with a superior force, harmonizing the action of French regular troops and American militia, commanding an assault at the point of the bayonet; and all with entire success and brilliant reputation. .. Lastly, is it any proof of greatness to be able, at the age of 73, to take the lead in a successful and bloodless revolution; to change the dynasty; to organize, exercise, and abdicate a military command of three and a half millions of men; to take up, to perform, and lay down the most momentous, delicate, and perilous duties, without passion, without hurry, and without selfishness?"-See "Eulogy on Lafayette, delivered in Faneuil Hall, Sept. 6, 1834," by Edward Everett; and Mémoires et manuscrits de Lafayette, published by his family (6 vols. 8vo., Paris, 1837-'8). There are also numerous biographies of him, both in French and English.

LAFFITTE, JACQUES, a French banker and statesman, born in Bayonne, Oct. 24, 1767, died in Paris, May 26, 1844. He was the son of a poor carpenter, but received a fair education. In 1788 he went to Paris, was admitted as a clerk in the banking house of Perregaux, rose to the rank of bookkeeper, and evinced such capacity for business that at the end of a few years he was offered a partnership by his employer. He at once became the leading spirit of the new firm, which through his management successfully extended the range of its operations. Such was the confidence Perregaux reposed in his integrity, that on his death he appointed him his executor. In 1809 Laffitte became one of the regents of the bank of France, and was elected a member of the tribunal of commerce in 1813; in the following year he was made president of the chamber of commerce and promoted to the governorship of the bank, which post he held for 5 years, refusing to draw the large salary attached to it. During the events of the two restorations, his liberality was equally conspicuous with his integrity; in 1814 he advanced the sum of 2,000,000 francs to the provisional government to relieve their embarrassments, and secure the pay of the French army who were to retire beyond the Loire; in 1815 he made himself responsible for the sum of 600,000 francs, exacted by Blücher as a war contribution from the city of Paris. Meanwhile he was banker of both Louis XVIII. and Napoleon, and faithfully discharged his confidential duties toward them under the most trying circumstances. When the latter finally left the capital, he placed in trust with Laffitte about 5,000,000 francs, which was afterward distributed according to his will. In 1816 the honest banker was elected to the chamber of deputies; and although he took his seat among the opposition, he was appointed member of a government committee on finance, and was instrumental in persuading the king to resist the imprudent tendencies of his adherents. In 1817 he was reelected; and in 1818, when the public credit was in danger, he prevented a commercial crisis by purchasing government stocks to the amount of several millions. While he opposed the general policy of the government, especially in 1823, when he denounced the armed intervention of the French in Spain, he never hesitated to give his support to all such measures as he thought beneficial to the people. In 1824 he separated from his political friends to uphold the conversion of the government stocks from 5 to 3 per cents., as "by alleviating the burden weighing upon the government, it was a step toward allaying the charges borne by the nation." At the same time he participated in the establishment of institutions for bettering the condition of the common people, among others of the savings bank of Paris; he opened his purse to old officers in reduced circumstances, relieved merchants on the verge of bankruptcy, and readily assisted even his political opponents. Châteaubriand,

finding himself pecuniarily embarrassed when he resigned his embassy at Rome, and having applied in vain to the royalists for assistance, received the aid he wanted from Laffitte. The political importance of the banker was increasing daily; his house became the rendezvous of the most eminent members of the opposition, either in the legislative chambers or in the public press; he was the friend of Béranger and the protector of Thiers. In 1827, when the national guard of Paris was disbanded, he moved the impeachment of the ministers. He embraced with ardor the cause of Louis Philippe, and pointed him out beforehand as the only man who could save the country in the event of a revolution. On the publication of the famous ordinances of July, 1830, he first tried to bring back Charles X. to a wiser line of policy; but his efforts being fruitless, he moved the organization of a provisional government, and when the king at last offered to repeal his obnoxious decree, it was he who uttered the sentence: "It is too late!" He now issued a proclamation in behalf of the duke of Orleans, proposed his appointment as lieutenant-general of the kingdom, and brought about a reconciliation between him and Lafayette, thus preventing the latter from proclaiming the republic; and finally he had the duke chosen king of the French by 221 deputies. He was appointed minister of state, and, assuming the ministry of finance, was intrusted with the premiership, Nov. 3, 1830. He had now reached the climax of his fortune, and his future career was unlucky. His sentiments were too liberal to suit the king, and he accordingly resigned in the following March. His banking business had suffered from his absence and the commercial difficulties consequent upon the revolution; the king had felt himself obliged to help his minister by purchasing the forest of Breteuil from him at the price of 6,000,000 francs, and authorizing the bank to lend him 13,000,000; but these transactions becoming known through the indiscretion of the king, Laffitte's credit was lost, and his exertions to prevent the fall of his firm were unavailing. He sold all his property, including his house in Paris, which however was restored to him by a national subscription, and established a new banking house under the appellation of banque sociale, of which he was the manager; but his anticipations of success were not realized. He reentered also the political arena, was elected in 1837 by one of the districts of Paris, reëlected in 1839 and 1842 by the city of Rouen, and at the opening of the session of 1844 presided over the chamber as its oldest member. To the last his democratic feelings were shown in his words and actions. His only daughter had married the eldest son of the illustrious Marshal Ney, the prince of Moskva; and his granddaughter, once inquiring from him the reason why, being herself a princess, her maternal grandfather was not a prince, he answered: "I am a prince, the prince of the plane; my father was a carpenter!" He died of a pulmonary disease, and more than 20,000 persons