OUR FIRST ALLIANCE 



547 



your exertions in the cause of humanity 

 and the particular regard you have paid 

 to the rights of the citizens." 



PREJUDICES 3OO YEARS OED DESTROYED IN 

 3 YEARS 



Writing at the moment when departure 

 was imminent, the Maryland Assembly 

 recalled in its address the extraordinary 

 prejudices prevailing shortly before in 

 America against all that was French : 



"To preserve in troops far removed 

 from their own country the strictest dis- 

 cipline and to convert into esteem and 

 affection deep and ancient prejudices was 

 reserved for you. . . . We view with 

 regret the departure of troops which have 

 so conducted, so endeared, and so dis- 

 tinguished themselves, and we pray that 

 the laurels they have gathered before 

 Yorktown may never fade, and that vic- 

 tory, to whatever quarter of the globe 

 they direct their arms, may follow their 

 standard." 



The important result of a change in 

 American sentiment toward the French, 

 apart from the military service rendered 

 by them, was confirmed to Rochambeau 

 by La Luzerne, who wrote him : "Your 

 well-behaved and brave army has not 

 only contributed to put an end to the 

 success of the English in this country ,_ 

 but has destroyed in three years preju- 

 dices deep-rooted for three centuries." 



The "President and professors of the 

 University of William and Mary," using 

 a style which was to become habitual in 

 France but a few years later, desired to 

 address Rochambeau, "not in the prosti- 

 tuted language of fashionable flattery, 

 but with the voice of truth and republi- 

 can sincerity," and, after thanks for the 

 services rendered and the payment made 

 for the building destroyed "by an acci- 

 dent that often eludes all possible pre- 

 caution," they adverted to the future in- 

 tellectual intercourse between the two 

 nations, saying: "Among the many sub- 

 stantial advantages which this country 

 hath already derived and which must 

 ever continue to flow from its connection 

 with France, we are persuaded that the 

 improvement of useful knowledge will 

 not be the least. A number of distin- 

 guished characters in your army afford 



us the happiest presage that science, as 

 well as liberty, will acquire vigor from 

 the fostering hand of your nation." 



They concluded: "You have reaped 

 the noblest laurels that victory can be- 

 stow, and it is perhaps not an inferior 

 triumph to have obtained the sincere af- 

 fection of a grateful people." 



THE ERENCH ARMY RETURNS TO 

 PROVIDENCE 



As the summer of 1782 was drawing 

 near, the French army, which had win- 

 tered in Virginia, moved northward in 

 view of possible operations. 



On the 14th of August Washington 

 and Rochambeau were again together, in 

 the vicinity of the North River, and the 

 American troops were again reviewed by 

 the French general. They are no longer 

 in tatters, but well dressed and have a 

 fine appearance ; their bearing, their ma- 

 neuvers are perfect ; the commander-in- 

 chief, "who causes his drums," Rocham- 

 beau relates, "to beat the French march," 

 is delighted to show his soldiers to ad- 

 vantage ; everybody compliments him. 



During his stay at Providence, in the 

 course of his journey north, Rochambeau 

 gave numerous fetes, a charming picture 

 of which, as well as of the American so- 

 ciety attending them, is furnished us by 

 Segur: "Mr. de Rochambeau, desirous to 

 the very last of proving by the details of 

 his conduct, as well as by the great serv- 

 ices he had rendered, how much he 

 wished to keep the affection of the Amer- 

 icans and to carry away their regrets, 

 gave in the city of Providence frequent 

 assemblies and numerous balls, to which 

 people flocked from ten leagues around. 



"I do not remember to have seen gath- 

 ered together in any other spot more 

 gayety and less confusion, more pretty 

 women and more happily married cou- 

 ples, more grace and less coquetry, a 

 more complete mingling of persons of all 

 classes, between whom an equal decency 

 allowed no untoward difference to be 

 seen. That decency, that order, that 

 wise liberty, that felicity of the new Re- 

 public, so ripe from its very cradle, were 

 the continual subject of my surprise and 

 the object of my frequent talks with the 

 Chevalier de Chastellux." 



