The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1919-07-03

chief of the American armies; and how, when
Washington did arrive, Lafayette of the
very first to lead a stOrming party; how Admiral
de Grasses fleet did all and more than could be
expected of II, until Lord CORVALLIS and his
army had surrendered and been disarmed.
facts that every good American knows.
In this final struggle the whole force of the
colonies consisted of 1000 men of Washington's
army, 5000 under Rochambeau and 5000 of De
Grasses French marines and sailors
Would IT have been possible for to win with
out the aid of France? Washington and Frank
lin believed not. Fifty years afterward when
the question asked Of Charles Carroll OF
Carrollton, then the only alive who had
signed the Declaration of Independence, that
venerable Christian and statesman replied:
ut Gods Will"
1t will always be n much-veXed question how
much financial aid France rendered America. 1t
seems impossible to straghten out the account
Professor Marion of the College OF France has
expressed the opinion that the total expenditures
were fully 2,000000,000 lvres. Much information
will be found in his "HistOlre Financiere de Ia
France depuis 1715." Fiske in his Critical
Period" puts the expenditure of France at 1,4OO-
100000 francs. Trevelyan states the following
in a note to his American Revolutions" at was
calculated that between the years 117S ana lISd
the war with England cost the French treasury
f4SOOOOOO. 1t was the main cause of those fnan.
Revolution of 1899" This would be equivalent
10 1200OOO000 livres (francs), or S240,0OOOOO, at
a time when the purchasing power of money was
nearly three times what it is in our day.
When victory was ours Lafayette went home
to France He came back for short time in
1884 Then came the French revolution. Lafay-
cite from first to last consistently advocated "a
limited constitutional monarchy for France. His
experiences were many including five years In
an Austrian prison, from which he was released
by Napoleon In 1897.
In 1924 when Lafayette was sixty-seven, he was
invited by President Monroe to visit the United
States He came as. the guest of the nation in
pursuance of an unanimous resolution passed by
congress. The occasion the dedication OF
Bunker Hill monument. He made q trumphhl
tour of the twentyfour states Of the UnioI.
Every possible honor was showered upon him.
Probably the most moving event in the whole tour
was his visit to the tomb of Washington The
climax was the ceremony at Bunker Hill.
Lafayette lived ten years longer. When Pres,
ident Andrew Jackson heard the news of his death
In 1884 he ordered on behalf Of the whole Ameri-
can people that the same honors be rendered
upon this occasion at the different military and
naval stations were observed upon the deceasc
of Washington, the Father of His Country and
his contemporary in arms
Lafayette has been dead So years His clay IS
dust. But his soul still lives. 1t has breathed
courage into the breasts of war-worn French SOL
diers. 1t has wept the deported, enslaved
and outraged women of his native land-Over the
slaughter of the innocents And who may doubt
that his soul called across the ocean:
"Help us, Amerlcal Help us as helped you ."
At first we did not hear or If hearing, did not
answer. But at last heard and needed and
went. The fighting men of France. staggering
with wounds, dizzy with fatigue, and the women
of France, white with horror an impending
fate worse than death, saw the Star-Spangled
Banner afar and cried in thankfulness:
1.-THE Americans comngl"
We arrived-young. husky, smiling, larkinG
fighting men. The French loved us for our looks
and our ways. But could we fight? Then came
June and Chateau-Thierry, when we stopped the
flower of the German shock troops in their tracks,
attacked In turn, put the Hun on the run and
kept him runDingl No wonder all France went
delirious with JOY.
That was what promised through "Black
Jack" Pershng, when he saluted at the tomb in
the little cemetery of Picpus in Paris and said:
Lafayette, are here"
And we made the promise good. He and his
young husky, smiling. larkng. fighting men struck
the finishing blow which guaranteed that French
men may pursue their honest toll In peace and
that French women, with babe at breast. may
sleep at night without fear of the Beast
Such was Lafayette great soul, a gallant
soul the living embodiment of the noblest ideal
for which men can generously live and gloriously
die.
"The liberty we hold secure
The soil on which we tread,
That air of freedom that we breathe,
The flag that floats o'erhead;
That nation whose history
The sun shall never set
All that we have and hold we owe
To France-and Lafayette"