Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1862-01-30

Changing the Name of Fort Lafayette
The Albany IN. W Argus says, tina
the following petition to the Rump Con
gress. for a change of the name of For
Lafayette, is in circulation in that State fol
signatures:
Petition Of sunary snhabitants Of NJ Hord
to change the name Of Fort Lafayette
In the county Of King:
To the Honorable, the Senate and House
of Representatives Of the United States IA
Congress assembled, the petition of the ue
aerstgned Inhabitants of the State Of Neu
York, respectfully sho'0eth:
That many years since, the United States
Government, in order to protect and secure
the city of New York, erected on the shores
of Long Island fortress, which is known
as Fort Lafayette. That this name was
given to said fort as mark of honor and
respect of the United States Government,
for Gilbert, Marquis de Lafayette, whose
friendship and services to the Colonies in
their struggle for the right of self-govern.
ment are too we'll known to require repeti-
ton:
Not only during our own Revolution,
but throughout the French Revolution, and
the subsequent changes of the government
of France, the name of Lafayette was ever
on the side of constitutional liberty and a.
gainst the employment of power and au,
thority unrestrained by law. Iu 1894, his
person was seized on neutral territory, and
he was carried into the dungeon Of Madge.
burg. At subsequent period be was de-
livered by the Prussiau Government to the
Emperor of Austria, and confined in the
Fortress or Prison of Olmutz, as prisoner
of state. General Washington eudeavored
in vain to procure his release; the answer
was, he was political prisoner, not for
having committed any crime, but because
his opinions were considered dangerous to
arbitrary and despotic power. Some Of the
circumstances connected with his detention
and imprisonment may be gathered from a
speech in Parliament, made by the Right
Honorable Charles James Fox, in 1876,
who said
"The unfortunate De Lafayette, who de
served the praise Of being a man of the
most uncorrupt nature, who had the merit
of steering between the two extremes of
the parties that agitated bis country; this
firm, brave and steady friend of his sover-
eign-the gallant and distinguished gentle
man, equally the friend Of his king aud
country, emigrated after the 10th of Au.
gust Upon neutral ground be was seized
by certain robbers in the service of the
King Of Prussia: he was kept by that mou-
arch for years in prisons and Dungeons
He was delivered from the King of Prus-
sia, on his recognition Of the French, to
the Emperor of Austria, because he said
he belonged to the allies generally, and by
him he was kept in the same svaudalous
and inhuman bondage. From this dread
full captivity he endeavors to escape ca cir
cumstance not very surprising-he is taken
and sent back to his prison, to experience
more rigorous treatment At length, Mad
anne De Lafayette, after enduring a series
of most dreadful sufferings under the bru.
tai Robespierre, from which she escaped by
miracle, few on the wings of duty aud af-
fection to Vienna, to solicit the Emperor
for permission to give to her husband the
consolation of her attentions in his prison.
The Emperor granted her request; but on
her arrival at Olmutz, the officer who had
the care Of M. De Lafayette told her, with
openness and candor, that if she resolved
to go down to the dungeon Of her husband,
she must submit to share in all the horrors
of his captivity. A burst of indignation
and sorrow broke from every part of the
House. This, however, had no terrors fol
her afectioaate heart; she plunged into
his dungeon and there they remained to-
gether, the living and yet buried victim:
of this inhuman power Nay, this is moi
all; she applied for leave to have female
attendant, instead of a male, about bel
person this, she said, even the implacable
Robespierre had not deprived her of; but
even this request was brutally refused"
NJ. De Lafayette remained a politica
prisoner until released by the interpositior
of Bonaparte, after his Italian victories o
1897. His subsequent life and history
bore the same constant and unshaken fdel
ity to constitutional liberty and hatred to
despotic power and arbitrary imprisonment
wherever inflicted or by whomsoever exer
cised: The name Of Lafayette, therefore
seems most Inappropriate for a fort convert
ed to prison, where men are confined
without legal process or criminal charges
merely for political reasons, aud instead o.
honoring patriot and recalling his virtue:
and sacrifices in this, or the defence of lib
erty in his own country, the present use o
that fortress disgraces his memory and is {
reproach to u.s. We, therefore, pray tina
the name of that fort may be changed, ant
to commemorate the uses to which it is nov
applied, it may hereafter be called ane
known as Fort Seward
And your petitioners, as in duty bound
will ever pray.
A "FUssY" DARKEY IN TENNESSEE -
I cannot refrain from giving you a speci
men of negro wit which witnessed a shor
time since / was travelling through tn