Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1854-02-17
LAFITTE.

g. n
So many arguments concerning this celebrated
individual have lately been published, that per-
haps the following article from the Philadelphia
Ledger will be read with interest:
" Circumstances made us acquainted at one
period of life, with the real facts of Laitt's
history, verified in manner that left no loop
holes for falsehoods to creep in. Since then We
have read most Of the novels that have been
written respecting him, and greater libels were
probably never penned; for they represent La
fitte either romantic hero, man who
had been goaded by great wrongs to seek re-
venge, which he did in that wild Arab way SO
often characteristic Of scamen, and which is
nourished IN the blood partly by the loneliness
of the sea, and partly from a life free from the
conventionalites Of civilization. For true sail
or has, as Herman Melville says, a spice of the
wild mortality of the desert, and is, as it were,
the Bedouin of the great deep.
jean Lafitte was born on the Caronne and
not at Marseilles; and was, from his boyhood,
accustomed to the ocean, for he belonged to q
family which for many generations had furnished
the most skillful and daring privateers men of
Baycnnc. In the great war of the French revo-
luton, when the commerce of his native pro-
vince was destroyed, he embarked as a lieuten-
ant on board private armed vessel, which, af-
ter ranning brilliant career, was captured by
superior force, and carried into an English port.
Here Laiitte with the other officers and the crew.
was cast into prison. Time passed-his cap
tain, his brother heutenants, the common men
even obtained their freedom; but Lafitte himself
remained prisoner. His friends, however, and
Several times were prisoners of equal rank sent
into the English ports by the agency of his old
captain, in order to be exchanged for him, but it
was not till many long years had passed, that
Lafi!te had found himself free. This long deten-
ton raised in him an almost savage thirst for
vengeance against England and on his release he
returned Immediately to privateering, principal
y for the harm he thus might do English ships.
The pacifications of Europe, after the treaty
Of Fontainblcau, deprived him of the means of
legally carrying on his revenge. But long years
Of solitary brooding in prison, and night watch
cs afterwards upon the lonely sea had destroyed
20 great extent, his preference for human laws;
he had, in g word, become an Arab at heart. He
Yet he rcf-ained from attacking any but English
he sought revenge. His relations in France heard
of his course with inexplicable pain, and remons-
;ratcd with him earnestly, especially one who
had been sort of guardian to his youth, and
who now expostulated with him almost with
tears But Laiitte was incxorable. At last his
carly friend called in the aid of religion, and re-
minded the erring man of the awful destiny he
was preparing for himself in eternity. The reply
was characteristics. . If 90 to h." wrote
Lafi;te, sayagely, II will drag plenty of Eng
lishncn along with me-" His relative, aware
how great had been the provocation, could say
no more. But from that hour, for many long
years, the name of the wandering outlaw ceased
to be spoken in the household of his father and
the children, whose blood ran kindred to his own,
grew up to manhood ignorant of his very exist
ence. -.'s- e. H..
The subsequent career of Lafitte is well
known. Though he committed acts of piracy
only on British vessels, he paid no regard to the
revenue laws of any nation. For long time he
had under him quite considerable force at the
island of Barataria But his early education,
which had been strict, asserted its power at last
old memories re-awakened, and he sighed to re-
turn again to civilized life, to lay down the brand
of pirate, to pass his days in quiet. The volcano
of passion, or insanity, for it as much the
one as the other, had burned out in that fiery
heart. He made his peace with the United States,
as is popularly known, just before the battle
subsequently, he returned to his native land,
where he died not long ago. His wife, whom he
married in America, is still living, was at the
time we heard the narration given above.
- We would have to violate the sanctity of pri-
vate life if our authority was TO be given. AT
the time we heard the history of Lafitte we were
told the name Of his old captain, who command
ed the priyateer in which he was captured and
other facts which we have since forgotten