Roseiigarten. I dOO [Dec. 21, 



attention to Rocharabeau's Memoirs or to the broader subject of the French 

 forces in America, since then so fully and ably discussed by the late Mr. 

 Balch in his various elaborate studies of the material he gathered in Paris. 

 In that treasure house of information on the subject, Doniol's Hlstoire de 

 la Participation de la France a I' Etablissement des Etats Unis d' Amerique, 

 Rochambeau's name and deeds are frequently recorded. Chosen to com- 

 mand a descent on the English coast, for his services in the Seven Years' 

 War had made him preeminent for an independent expedition, he was 

 suddenly called from the Chateau de Rocliambeau, where he had just gone 

 to take possession on the death of his fatlier. He was assigned to the 

 leadership of the force sent to America. He was in consultation witli La 

 Fay ette hs to its details. His instructions are printed in the seventh volume 

 of Sparks' Washington, where the letters from "Washington to Rocham- 

 beau, both in this country and after his return to Europe, show the close 

 ties that bound the two in life-long friendship. La Fayette was full of 

 zeal and ambition, and acting as intermediary between Washington and 

 Rochambeau, was at the outset unwilling to defer to the prudence and 

 experience of the elder soldier, but in the end all worked together har- 

 moniously with the best results. Rochambeau treated La Fayette with 

 fraternal tenderness, and even in criticising his impetuous plans, spoke of 

 himself as "ie vieux perequi parle a soncherfils." When Washington and 

 Rochambeau met for the first time at Hartford, the former had Knox and 

 La Fayette with him ; the latter Ternay, Chastellux, Fersen, Danias, 

 Mathieu Dumas. The results of the interview were entrusted to the 

 younger Rochambeau, who sailed in a ship commanded by La Perouse, 

 to seek in France additional help, men, money and ships. Chastel- 

 lux and Mathieu Dumas both printed their accounts of their life in 

 America, the former in 1786, the latter not until 1839, but both show 

 that France and indeed all Europe were closely following events 

 in America. Washington naturally deferred to tlie older soldier, 

 but Rochambeau loyally sought to do all he could to assist both 

 in perfecting plans for military operations and in making them suc- 

 cessful by the prompt use of all the means at hand. The fifth volume of 

 Doniol gives the letters of Rochambeau to the French War Department, 

 from his accepting the command until he returned to France ; it includes 

 copies of his correspondence with Washington and with de La Luzerne, the 

 French Minister in Philadelphia. In his letter accepting his appointment, 

 he recalls his experience in the battles of Laufeldt, Crefeld and Closter- 

 camp, and his reasons for a force large enough for all the contingencies of 

 a war in a distant country. Undoubtedly to him is due the fact of later 

 reinforcements of men and ships as well as liberal advances of money. 

 Besides reproducing portraits of Rochambeau from Trumbull, Doniol 

 gives in his fifth volume a portrait owned by the family, from a miniature 

 in their possession. Of the son I know of no portrait in this country, 

 although there is a very good one at the Chateau de Rochambeau, that 

 might with advantage be reproduced to add to the growing gallery of men 

 of note in our history. 



