OUR FIRST ALLIANCE 



519 



showed him to be "a real friend of hu- 

 manity" ; narratives of a regimental chap- 

 lain, like Abbe Robin, of a skeptical rake 

 like the Duke de Lauzun ; journals of 

 officers of various ranks, like Count de 

 Deux-Ponts, Prince de Broglie, Count de 

 Segur, son of the marshal, himself after- 

 ward an Academician and an ambassa- 

 dor ; Mathieu-Dumas, future minister of 

 war of a future king of Naples, who 

 bore the then unknown name of Joseph 

 Bonaparte ; the Swedish Count Axel de 

 Fersen, one of Rochambeau's aides, who 

 was to organize the French royal family's 

 flight to Varennes and to die massacred 

 by the mob in his own country; journal, 

 too, among many others, of a modest 

 quartermaster like Blanchard, who gives 

 a note quite apart, observes what others 

 do not, and whose tone, as that of a sub- 

 ordinate, is in contrast with the superb 

 ways of the "seigneurs," his companions. 

 From page to page, turning the leaves, 

 one sees appear, without speaking of La- 

 fayette, Kosciusko, and the first enthusi- 

 asts, many names just emerging from 

 obscurity, never to sink into it again : 

 Berthier, La Perouse, La Touche-Tre- 

 ville, the Lameth brothers, Bougainville, 

 Custine, the Bouille of the flight to Va- 

 rennes, the La Clocheterie of the fight of 

 La Belle Poule, the Duportail who was to 

 be minister of war under the Constituent 

 Assembly ; young Talleyrand, brother of 

 the future statesman ; young Mirabeau, 

 brother of the orator, himself usually 

 known for his portly dimensions as Mira- 

 beau-tonneau, ever ready with the cup or 

 the sword ; young Saint-Simon, not yet 

 a pacifist and not yet a Saint-Simonian ; 

 Suffren, in whose squadron had em- 

 barked the future Director Barras, an 

 officer then in the regiment of Pondi- 

 chery. 



all francl behind America then 



All France was really represented — to 

 some extent that of the past, to a larger 

 one that of the future. 



A juvenile note, in contrast with the 

 quiet dignity of the official reports by 

 the heads of the army, is given by the 

 unprinted journal, a copy of which is 

 preserved in the Library of Congress, 

 kept by one more of Rochambeau's 



aides, Louis Baron de Closen, an excel- 

 lent observer, gay, warm-hearted, who 

 took seriously all that pertained to duty, 

 and merrily all the rest, especially mis- 

 haps. 



Useful information is also given by 

 some unprinted letters of George Wash- 

 ington, some v/ith the superscription still 

 preserved : "On public service — to his 

 Excellency Count de Rochambeau, Wil- 

 liamsburg, Virginia," the whole text often 

 in the great chief's characteristic hand- 

 writing, clear and steady, neither slow 

 nor hasty, with nothing blurred and noth- 

 ing omitted, with no trepidation, no ab- 

 breviation, the writing of a man with a 

 clear conscience and clear views, superior 

 to fortune, and the convinced partisan, in 

 every circumstance throughout life, of 

 the straight line. 



The British Government has, more- 

 over, most liberally opened its archives, 

 so that, both through the recriminatory 

 pamphlets printed in London after the 

 disaster and the dispatches now accessi- 

 ble, one can know what was said day by 

 day in New York and out of New York, 

 in the redoubts at Yorktown, and in the 

 French and American trenches around 

 the place. 



an extraordinary task 



Lieut. Gen. Jean-Baptiste Donatien de 

 Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, aged 

 then fifty-five, and Washington's senior 

 by seven years, was in his house, still in 

 existence, Rue du Cherche-Midi, Paris, at 

 the beginning of March, 1780; he was ill 

 and about to leave for his castle of Ro- 

 chambeau in Vendomois ; post - horses 

 were in readiness when, in the middle of 

 the night, he received, he says in his me- 

 moirs, a "courier bringing him the order 

 to go to Versailles and receive the in- 

 structions of his Majesty." 



For some time rumors had been afloat 

 that the great attempt would soon be 

 made. He was informed that the news 

 was true, and that he would be placed at 

 the head of the army sent to the assist- 

 ance of the Americans. 



The task was an extraordinary one. 

 He would have to reach the New World 

 with a body of troops packed on slow 

 transports, to avoid the English fleets, to 



