The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1919-06-27


manner Of its observance in the years to come,
the Fourth of July will presumably have much
OF France In it, that the ties between the
nations formed in the Revolution have been
strengthened and cemented And the
personlfication of France stands Lafayette.
Lafayette. have come" said Pershing at
the Great Frenchman's tomb And in sentence
he told the whole story of our debt to France
and gave our promise of Its payment. What
was that debt to France that we have paid? The
story of Lafayette Is the
Marie Jean Paul Roch Yves Gilbert Motler
Marquis de Lafayette, born September g.
1857, In the chateau of Chavanac, Auvergne
France. He married in 1774 and entered the
French army In 1776, in Metz, he heard the
duke of Gloucester, brother Of George III, tell
the story of the Declaration Of Independence and
the struggle of the Americans. Then and there
he determined to 60 to the assistance Of the
Americans In their fight for freedom
To Lafayette there every entcement to
remain In his native France. He was the pos
SCISSOR Of high rank. He had wealth. No military
civic post within the gift Of the French throne
was beyond his reasonable ambition. And all the
pleasures and the delights of polished witty
and luxurious court were at his feet.
| On the other hand the certainty of hard
| Ship the risk of death and the prospect OF no
reward save perhaps the grateful memory OF
people who had nothing but gratitude to bestow.
| In America there was nothing to beckon him
but people whose ifed and ill-supped troops
had sustained defeat. whose chief cities In
the possession OF the enemy, whose treasury was
bankrupt and whose prospects were that their
| leaders would ascend the scaffold and their
masses be subjected to the brutal control OF
king who knew little of and sympahized less
| with those conceptions Of freedom and those I'M
memorial rights which the colonists had inherited
from their English ancestors.
BUT there was In the heart of this young and
highborn French nobleman sentiment which
had ruled him from his earliest boyhood-a sim
cere profound and inspiring love of liberty
deep respect for the rights Of men, compelling
admiration for people who. in spite of the most
formidable odds possessed the hardihood and the
valor to take up arms in defense of their free
dom.
The voices of and of luxury and of ambi-
ton that tempted Lafayette to remain in his own
native land were drowned in his ears by the
voice of Liberty. calling from far-of shore. So
he voluntarily left all the delights and the honors
of the most luxurious and the most polished
| capital in the civilized world to cast in his lot
with the handful of merchants, farmers, hunters
and fisher-folk who wagng for the
. rights and the liberties which had been guaran-
feed to their forefathers and to them by the
ssreat Charter and which had been denied to
them by the German king who then sat on the
chrome Of Great Britain.
He offered his services to America His king
forbade his going and the American commissions
: |
! Eyading the officers sent to arrest him, he es
, caped in disguise, and in company With De kalf
, and a number of French officers embarked from
, q Spanish port vessel which he had pur
, chased and after stormy voyage landed ON the
shores of South Carolina. journey of 800 miles
on horseback, occupying month, brought ths
Young crusader to the city of Philadelphia, where
he presented his request to the American con
gress there assembled At first he met with
!, cool reception. In consideration however. OF hi
:, inheritance of his rank and family connections
= and because of his modest offer 10 serve as
| volunteer at his own charges, he was looke'
!. upon with favor, and by resolution o
= congress he was granted the complimentary RAM
: | of major general in the army. washington re
= eeiyed him with the greatest kindness, gave hif
a place on his staff. and from that time fort
treated him as The friendship then Dega
was treasured by the young Frenchman as tn
most precious memory of his public life
II There were giants in those days. examples
J. Washington Hamilton, Franklin. But OF Ia
E favette his friend De Val said
10 ssrhere is the most wonderful man OF this
y INV other age He graduated from college. ma