The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-07
Birthday of Lafayette,
 Americas Friend In Need


 Monday, dedicated to the toilers, had for Americans another signif- canoe, for it was the 158th anniver-- sary of the birth of Lafayette, the inn mortal Frenchman who played so inn portant a. role in aiding the strug gling colonists to achieve their inde- pendence. In the trenches of France many young sons of the country which Lafayette helped to found are now helping to fight the battles of the European republic, repaying in kind the debt which the United States owes to the nation of which it was both the daughter and the mother.
 While the birthday of Lafayette has never been generally celebrated in the Unitd States, no sixth of September has ben permitted to pass without some recognition of Lafayette's ser vices. Marie Jean Paul Koch Yves Gilbert Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was the full name of the dem mocratic French nobleInan. Atd the age of 13 he inherited an immense fortune, and he was only 16 when he married granddaughter of the Duke de Noa- files. Despite his ariStocratic educa- ton and environment, he was from childhood an ardent lover of liberty. Republican anecdotes always de-. lighted me-" he wrote in his Me motrss "and. when my new connec- t1ons wished to obtain for me a place
 
 them to preserve my independence.' When he first heard of the revolution in America, he "espoused warmly the cause of liberty,'' and offered his ser vices to Silas Deane, the American revolutionary agent in Paris. When face (for I was scarcely 19 years of age), I spoke more of my ardor in the cauase than of my experience,'' wrote Lafayette; "but I dwelt much upon the effect my departure would excite in France" The credit of the Con- tinental Congress was so low that Deane could not procure a vessel. so Lafayette bought and secretly freight ed the ship Victory, to carry himself and a dozen or so other officers across the Atlantic. Among Lafayette's com panions was Baron Johann, de Kalb, 8 native of Bavaria, but who had long been in the service of France. Against the wishes of his relatives and the orders of the French King, Lafayette sailed for America. From the Vic who was about to become a mother for the second time, From love to me, become a good American; the welfare of America is closely bound up with the welfare of mankind
 Lafayette and his party landed near Georgetown, s. C., in April, TIT, and then travelled by land to Phi1adel- plaia. where the Congress commissio on ed him a major-general, and Wash ington invited him to become mem Der of his military family. The boy general. he was then less than 70 Joined the Continental army in Aug ust, HIT. and in the following month he fought in the battle of Brandywine. where the Stars and Stripes were First carried in battle Lafayette fought as a volunteer on foot, and was badly wounded in the leg After several brilliant exploits, Lafayette returned to France early in 1779. and was hailed as a htro. During the French revolution he was an ardent repubI- can, and dropped his title when he was made comma nd r-fn-chief of the National Guard He was driven from the country by the extremists, and the Austrians flung him into a dungeon, where he was confined for five years. It was not until Bonaparte, at the head of an army, demanded his re- lease, that the Austrians gave him his liberty. Throughout the Napo1eonic and subsequent regimes Lafayette re- mained the staunch defender of con | stitutfonaI government and liberal principles and when he died. in 1894 ae was the acknowledged chief of the constitutional party of Europe.