348 



LAFAYETTE. 



offered him by Bonaparte, he gave his vote against 

 the consulate for lite, and, taking no further part in 

 public affairs, devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. 

 On the restoration of the Bourbons, in 18i4, he per- 

 teived tliat their principles of government were not 

 MU h as France required, and lie did not therefore 

 leave his retirement. The 20th of March, 1815, 

 -a\\- Napoleon on the imperial throne, and 



\ i Miring to conciliate the nation by the pro- 



u of liberal principles. Lafayette refused, 

 though urged, through the mediation of Joseph, to 

 set- him, protested against the acte additionnel of 

 April 22, declined the peerage offered him by the 

 emperor, but accepted the place of representa- 

 tive, to which the votes of his fellow-citizens called 

 him. He first met Napoleon at the opening of the 

 chambers : the emperor received him with great 

 marks of kindness, to which, however, he did not 



::d ; but, although he would take no part in 

 the projects of Napoleon, he gave his vote for all 



-ary supplies on the ground that France was 

 invaded, and that it was the duty of all French- 

 men to defend their country. June 21, Napoleon 

 returned from Waterloo, and it was understood that 

 it was determined to dissolve the house of represen- 

 tatives, and establish a dictatorship. Two of his 

 counsellors informed Lafayette that, in two hours, 

 the representative body would cease to exist. Im- 

 mediately on the opening of the session, he ascended 

 the tribune, and addressed the house as follows : 

 " When, for the first time, after an interval of many 

 years, 1 raise a voice which all the old friends of 

 liberty will still recognise, it is to speak of the 

 dangers of the country, which you only can save. 

 This, then, is the moment for us to rally round the 

 old tri-coloured standard, the standard of '89, of 

 liberty, of equality, of public order, which we have 

 now to defend against foreign violence and domestic 

 usurpation." lie then moved that the house declare 

 itself in permanent session, and all attempts to dis- 

 solve it high treason ; that whoever should make 

 such an attempt, should be considered a traitor to 

 the country, &c. In the evening, Napoleon sent 

 Lucien to the house, to make one more effort in his 

 favour. Lucien, in a strain of impassioned eloquence, 

 conjured the house not to compromise the honour of 

 the French nation by inconstancy to the emperor. 

 At these words, Lafayette rose in his place, and, 

 addressing himself directly to the orator, exclaimed, 

 " \Vho dares accuse the Frencli nation of inconstancy 

 to the emperor? Through the sands of Egypt, and 

 the wastes of Russia, over fifty fields of battle, this 

 nation has followed him devotedly ; and it is for this 

 tliat we now mourn the blood of three millions of 

 Frenchmen." This appeal had such an effect on the 

 assembly, that Lucien resumed his seat without finish- 

 ing his discourse. A deputation of five members 

 from each house was then appointed to deliberate in 

 committee with the council of ministers. Of this 

 deputation, general Lafayette was a member, and he 

 moved that a committee should be sent to the 

 emperor to demand his abdication. The arch-chan- 

 cellor refused to put the motion ; but the emperor 

 sent in his abdication the next morning (June 22). 

 A provisional government was formed, and Lafay- 

 ette was sent to demand a suspension of hostilities of 

 the allies, which was refused. On his return, he 

 found Paris in possession of the enemy ; and, in a 

 few days after (July 8), the doors of the representa- 

 tives' chamber were closed, and guarded by Prussian 

 troops. Lafayette conducted a number of the mem- 

 bers to the house of Lanjuinais, the president, where 

 they drew up a protest against this act of violence, 

 and quietly separated. Lafayette now retired once 

 more to La Grange, where he remained till 1818, 



when he was chosen member of the chamber of 

 deputies. Here he continued to support his constitu- 

 tional principles, by opposing the laws of exception, 

 the establishment of the censorship of the prfss, the 

 suspension of personal liberty, &c.,and by advocat- 

 ing the cause of public instruction, the organization 

 of a national militia, and the inviolability of the 

 charter. 



In August, 1824, he landed at New York, on a 

 visit to the United States, upon the invitation of the 

 president, and was received, in every part of the 

 country, with the warmest expressions of delight and 

 enthusiasm. He was proclaimed, by the popular 

 voice, " the guest of the nation," and his presence 

 was every where the signal for festivals and rejoic- 

 ings. He passed through the twenty-four states of 

 the Union in a sort of triumphal procession, in which 

 all parties joined to forget their dissensions, in which 

 the veterans of the war renewed their youth, and the 

 young were carried back to the doings and sufferings 

 of their fathers. Having celebrated, at Bunker hill, 

 the anniversary of the first conflict of the revolution, 

 and, at Yorktown, that of its closing scene, in which 

 he himself had borne so conspicuous a part, and taken 

 leave of the four ex-presidents of the United States, 

 he received the farewell of the president in the name 

 of the nation, and sailed from the capital in a frigate 

 named, in compliment to him, the Brandywine, Sept. 

 7, 1825, and arrived at Havre, where the citizens, 

 having peaceably assembled to make some demon- 

 stration of their respect for his character, were dis- 

 persed by the gendarmerie. In December following, 

 the congress of the United States made him a grant 

 of 200,000 dollars, and a township of land, " in con- 

 sideration of his important services and expenditures 

 during the American revolution." The grant of 

 money was in the shape of stock, bearing interest at 

 six per cent., and redeemable Dec. 31, 1834. In 

 August, 1827, he attended the obsequies of Manuel, 

 over whose body he pronounced a eulogy. In Nov. 

 1827, the chamber of deputies was dissolved. Lafay- 

 ette was again returned a member by the new elec- 

 tions. Shortly before the revolution of 1830, he 

 travelled to Lyons, &c., and was enthusiastically 

 received a striking contrast to the conduct of the 

 ministers towards him, and an alarming symptom 

 to the despotic government. During the revolution of 

 July, 1830, he was appointed general-in-chief of the 

 national guards of Paris, and, though not personally 

 engaged in the fight, his activity and name were of 

 the greatest service. When the national guards were 

 established throughout France, after the termination 

 of the struggle, he was appointed their commander- 

 in-chief, and his activity in this post was admirable. 

 Aug. 17, he was made marshal of France. He how- 

 ever, sent in his resignation in December, 1830, 

 which was accepted, and count Lobau appointee! 

 chief of the national guards of Paris. Lafayette 

 declared from the tribune, that he had acted thus in 

 consequence of the distrust which the power accom- 

 panying his situation seemed to excite in some peo- 

 ple. On the same occasion, he also expressed his 

 disapprobation of the new law of election. Shortly 

 before his resignation, he exerted himself most praise- 

 worthily to maintain order during the trial of the ex- 

 ministers. The Poles made him first grenadier of 

 the Polish national guards. He died on the 20th of 

 May, 1834. The French Chamber of Deputies 

 attended his funeral, and at Washington, the halls 

 of the representatives and of the senate were clothed 

 in black. 



Very few men have acted so conspicuous a part in 

 life as Lafayette for so long a period. He was the 

 heroic asserter of liberty, both in the new and old 

 world, in his youth and in his age ; always an ardent 



