BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1902-06-10
SArIJUAN, JUNO 10
ROCHAMBEAU.

IN
The unwilling of the monument to
Rochambeau at washington le-
calls story never heard by Americans
without a thrill-the story OF the AID
which came from France at the turning
point of the War of Independence. 1t
is this permanent sense of gratitude
which lends to the reception OF the
French commissioners and of the de-
scendants of Rochanbeau warmth
and reality that such formal expressions
of friendship often lack. The com
manderin chief of the French allies, it
should frankly be admitted, was not
one of the salient personages OF the
Revol ationary War. No opportunity,
was granted him for that display OF
ardent personal devotion which secured
for LAFAYETTE a kind of fi1ial relation to
the Father of his Country, hence
brotherly relation to us ALL nor did
Rochambeau receive the glory which
rebounds to Admiral Grasse for
single brilliant and decisive evolution.
He stands, instead, as the representa-
tive of sheer military sugacity; patient
resourceful, as ready to cooperate un-
questioningly with his American com
man6er as to offer valuable counsel;
finally. he has the undying fame OF
having planned and sec 1red that timely
descent of the French fleet which
brought the war to dramatic close.
For year he had an ungratcful
part to play. Landing a Newport IN
1u1v. Iz8o. he found himself condemn
to co nple:e inactivity. The second
CONT igent which he had been prOnls-
ed never came; he was supported by a
naval force inadequate and unaggres-
sive; the French Ministry regularly
refused his recommendations for mo.
ne7, ships, and men. For year he
did little more than win golden opinions
for the discipline of his troops. Lafa-
yette wrote to Washington as crucial
instance of the good conduct Of his
follow-couutrymen that the Newport
chickens which fed freely in the French
camp might be counted at night on the
roosts This was glory Of kind, but
after all, not much for veteran of the
Seven Years War.
During all this time Rochambca1
was in the position Of failing 10 cooper
ate in Washingtons cherished plan of
a Joint attack upon New York. AT an
early period he seems to have had an
instinct that the final campaign would
be, not on the Hudson, bit on the Che
sap4ake It gradually became palmer
that the British were trying again, in
somewhat different fashion, the plan of
Burgoyne-namely, to cut off Ne Eng
land for subsequent con luest as the
most difficult, and, accordingly. to sub
due gradually all the country sJl1th and
ives. of the Hudson. 1t was therefore
necessary to strike them in the south.
Just who deserves the most credit for
coraering Cyrnwallis on the peninsula
between the York River and the lanes
will probably be a matter of endl. SIS
dispute; but this much is indisputable
that Rochasnbeau b. his own efforts
secured the indispensable aid Of Admi-
raj Grasses squadron.
Those who love to qualify the word
initiative with the epithet Anglo-Saxon
would do well to Study the movements
of Admiral Grasse during the late sum-
mer of 1881. Under Rochambeau's
earnest solicitation, he sailed from the
West Indies without sanction from tll7
French Ministry; collected troops which
he virtually borrowed from Frances
ally, Spain; in fact, ook so many 1iber-
ties with the programme laid down for
him that he was obliged to serve no.
tice that CORVALLIS must be captured
IN two months time, or not at all II
the stoical French General ever gave
way to enthusiasm, it must have been
on the day, August IA, 1881, when he
informed Washington. whose command
he had joined, that Grasse was already
day at sea and headed for the two
capes It was contemporaries say, one
of the few occasions when Washington
betrayed emotion.
How timely this aid was, need hard
1y.be recalled Rocnambeau, after his
juncture with the Continental army. had
written: Gen Washington has but a
handful of men -. This country has
been driven to bay, and all its res
ources are giving out at once. Iafa-
yette, whose scanty regiments alone Oh.
posed CORVALLIS during those anxiois
months, had written to Washinpton
lAdt TIC ltOoPo were nOt enough even
30 be decently beaten" The coming
of Grasse put different face on things
aud from the time that the grizzled
int-Simon put his reinforcements at
the disposal Of the young Lafayene the
fall Of CORVALLIS was inevitable. The |
feeling of the French towards Wash /
ington is quantity symbolized in an anec-
do e recorded by Col Bat1er. The
evening that Washington and Rocham-
beau, after thsir long march joined La
fayette and Saint Simon at Williams