Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1919-06-26


-l'.ll1 In Its observance But whatever the
sa1t1er OF Its observance in the years to come
- curtin or July will presumably have much
" france In it, now that the ties between the
nutons formed In the Revolution have been
suens.nened and cemented anew. And as the
3 Ielsonihcation of France stands Lafayette
La1ayette. we have Gomez said Pershng at
me Great frenchmans tomb. And in a sentence
Ae 'elo the Whole story of our debt to France
j anu gave cur promise of its payment What
was tnat debt to France that we have paid? The
& story OF Lafayette is the answer
Marie Jean Paul Roch Yves Gilbert Afotier
q MARQUIS de Lafayette, was born September G.
4 1907, in the chateau Of Chavaniac Auyercne.
i france He married in 1874 and entered the
Sfreneh army. In 1776, in Metz he heard the
#SauKe OF Gloucester, brother OF George III tell
the story OF the Declaration of Independence and
ne struggle OF the Americans. Then and there
me determined to go to the assistance of the
& 81 AIner1cans In their fight for freedom.
@ To Lafayette there was every ent;cement ia
3akemaln In his native France He was the nos.
lessor 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
Z pleasures and the delights Of polished, witty
I and luxurious court were at his feet
Il On the other hand were the certainty of4bard.
ship, the risk Of death and the prospect of no
reward save perhaps the grateful memory of
Epeople who had nothing but gratitude to bestow
8 IN America there was nothing to beckon him
Nbut people whose illfed and ill-supplied troops
! had sustained defeat, whose chief cities were in
l the possession Of the enemy, whose treasury was
bankrupt and whose prospects were that their
Headers would ascend the scaffold and their
masses be subjected to the brutal control Of
king who knew little Of and sympathized less
with those conceptions of freedom and those Inn
memorial rights which the colonsts had inherited
from their English ancestors
I But there was In the heart Of this young and
& high-born French nobleman sentiment which
mad ruled him from his earliest boyhood-a sin.
IScere, profound and inspiring love of liberty
deep respect for the rights Of men, a compelling
admiration for people who, in spite of the most
formidable odds, possessed the hardwood and the
valor to take up arms In defense Of their free
1 dom.
The voices Of ease 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 a far-off 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
Eand fsherfok who were waging war for the
rights and the liberties which had been guaran-
Sfeed to their forefathers and to them by the
Great Charter, and which had been denied to
them by the German king who then sat on the
throne Of Great Britain.
@ he offered his services to America. His king
forbade his going and the American commission
Gers were not able to furnish him transportation.
Evading the officers sent to arrest him, he es.
capped in disguise, and In company with De Kalb
and number of French officers embarked from
"a Spanish port on q vessel which he had pur.
chased. and after a stormy voyage landed on the
shores of South Carolina. A journey of 800 miles
on horseback, occupying month. brought the
yo Dig 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 the
Importance Of his rank and family connections
and because Of his modest offer To serve as
volunteer at his own charges6-he was looked
upon with more favor, and by resolution Of
congress he was granted the complimentary rank
Of major general In the army. Washington re-
ceiyed him with the greatest Kindness gave him
q place ON hiqystan, and from that time forth
treated him as son. The friendship then began
was treasured by the young Frenchman as the
most precious memory, of his public life.
4 There were giants In those days; examples:
Washington, Hamilton, Franklin. But Of La
fayette his friend De Val said:
'There Is the most wonderful man Of this OF
any other age. He graduated from college. has