The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1874-12-26
NJ. Oscar de Lafayette.
lCourier-J -Journal.l

WashOurhe presented inc Olner ga
the watch given by General Wash
ington to his grandfather, is now
man nearly sixty years Of age, II
was born in 1916, eldest son o
George Washington Lafayette, nam
ed by his grandfather for his illus
trious companion-in-arms. Iii
father was u soldier, entering th
French army in 1896, and as aid
TO General Grouchy making th,
campaigns of Austria, Prussia ant
Poland. He was elected to tn,
chamber of deputies in 1922 ant
again in 1927 by the voters of tho
constituency for which his son nov
sits in the national assembly. ThiI
department he continued to repre-
sent till 184S. He. was man O
equal courage, equal probity, bu
not equal talents with the old gen
eral whose early career forms q par
of our history. One of tho mos
honorable things ever done by oul
government was a vote in 1924 Of
100000 in recompense of his ser
vices. Before the death of his
father the subject of the present
sketch had already entered public
life. Educated partly at the Poly
techuic school, which he entered in
1898, he finished his studies at Metz,
and in 1885 he received his commits.
sion as an officer in the artillery
He made several campaigns in AL.
gicrs, whore he won the epaulettes
Of Il captain and the decoration OF
the legion ofhonor, in 1871. Though
SUPPORTER of hereditary constitu-
tional monarchy, as his father and
grandfather had been before him,
he, like them, was a liberal. He
accordingly associated himself with
the advocates Of reform, and took
place in the reform banquets in the
latter part of 1917. After the rev.
olution of February, 1913, he was
named by the provisional govern
ment commissary general of the
republic in the department of Seine
et-Marnc, where he was elected rep
resentative to the constituent
assembly, second on the list Of nine,
his father, George Washington La
fuyotte, being first. In the consti-
tucnt assembly he ordinarily voted
with tho third party, which was
republican, ard after the election Of
the 10th of December took his seat
on the benches of the opposition to
the policy of the Elysee. He was
reelected to the assembly by the
same department, but this time last
on the list. After the coup d'etat
he retired to private life. During
the empire he maintained discreet
silence. Imperialism was not the
form of government of his choice,
but with the good sense character
istic of his family, he made no fac
tious opposition. No Frenchman,
indeed, ever had Il more just concep-
ton of what is expressed in their
language by the juste milieu than
the Lafayette family. Equally en-
emies to despotism and to the ex-
cesses of freedom, they have always
stood aloof from countenancing
either the one or the other. But
when the elections of February,
1871, called him to place his SER
vices at the call of his country, he
accepted Il nomination from his
fellow citizens of the Seine et-Marne,
and was elected to the national
assembly the second upon a list of
seven, and by II vote Of 34,032, He
was, upon the meeting OF the assem-
b'y at Bordeaux, enrolled among
the members of the party of the
republican left; was chosen by his
section as one of its vice presidents
and by vote OF Az out Of 499
elected II member of the permanent
parliamentary commission, which
Rods ils sittings during the recesses
of the assembly, His votes, though
generally, are not always Of a
strictly party character. He sup
ported the measure for the prelim-
inaries of peace, the law regulating
the relations Of the departments,
the proposition of NJ. Rivet which
conferred executive powers on M.
Thiers during the life of the assem-
bly,, the law relating to custom
house duties, the tax upon raw
imported, and the return,
of the assembly to Paris. He voted
for the government on the question
of the temporal power against the
vaiidation Of the election of the
Orleans princes, for the constituent
power OF the assembly, the measure
fixing the official residence Of the
at Versailles, and the
maintenance of the existing treaties
of commerce. Except his vote on
the ratification of the elections of
the Orleans princes to the assembly,
none of the public acts of M. de
are open to the charge OF
While all the American people |
concur heartily in the expression Of
the national feelings by Minister
Washburne, one more thought might
have found utterancc. After the
lapse of half Il century the Ameri-
can people would be glad to well
come once more a Lafayette upon
American soil A visit to the great
republic could not fail to recall us TO
the days when his grandfather aided
US in the hour of need, and but for
whose aid independence then at
least would have miscarried 1t
might do something towards setting
onr thoughts in the direction of the
better days of the republic, when
patriotism and not the vulgar lust
for place and power was the ruling
motive among aspiring statesmen.
A few words in regard to his
brother. Edouard du Mo-
tier de Lafayette is two years
younger than Oscar. After the
revolution of February, 1871, his