Memoirs, Correspondence and Manuscripts of General Lafayette Part 21

I know, my dear general, you wish to hear something about my private affairs: these I give an account of to congress, and shall only add that I am here as happy as possible. My family, my friends, my countrymen, made me such a reception, and shewed me every day such an affection, as I should not have dared to hope. I have been for some days in this place, where there is the king's own regiment of dragoons, which I command, and some regiments of infantry, which are, for the present, under my orders; but I hope soon to begin a more active life, and in consequence thereof my return to Paris is, I believe, very near at hand; from thence I shall get employed in whatever may be done against the common enemy. What I wish, my dear general, what would make me the happiest of men, is to join again American colours, or to put under your orders a division of four or five thousand countrymen of mine. In case any such co-operation or private expedition should be desired, I think (if peace is not settled this winter) that an _early_ demand might be complied with for the next campaign.

Our ministry is rather slow in their operations, and have a great propensity for peace, provided it be an honourable one, so that I think America must shew herself in good earnest for war till such conditions are obtained. American independence is a certain, undoubted point, but I wish to see that independence acknowledged with advantageous conditions.

This, my dear general, is between us; as for what concerns the good will of the king, of the ministers, of the public, towards America, I, an American citizen, am fully satisfied with it; and I am sure the alliance and friendship between both nations will be established in such a way as will last for ever.

Be so kind, my dear general, as to present my best respects to your lady, and tell her how happy I should feel to present them myself to her at her own house. I have a wife, my dear general, who is in love with you, and her affection for you seems to me to be so well justified that I cannot oppose myself to that sentiment of hers. She begs you will receive her compliments and make them acceptable to Mrs. Washington.

I hope, my dear general, you will come to see us in Europe, and most certainly I give you my word that if I am not happy enough to be sent to America before the peace, I shall by all means go there as soon as I can escape. I must not forget to tell you, my dear friend, that I have the hope of being soon once more a father.

All Europe wants to see you so much, my dear general, that you cannot refuse them that pleasure. I have boldly affirmed that you will pay me a visit after the peace is settled, so that if you deny me, you will hurt your friend's reputation throughout the world.

I beg you will present my best compliments to your family, and remind them of my tender affection for them all. Be so kind, also, to present my compliments to the general officers, to all the officers of the army, to every one, from the first major-general to the last soldier.

I most earnestly entreat you, my dear general, to let me hear from you.

Write me how you do, how things are going on. The minutest detail will be infinitely interesting to me. Don't forget anything concerning yourself, and be certain that any little event or observation concerning you, however trifling it may appear, will have my warmest attention and interest. Adieu, my dear general, I cannot lay down the pen, and I enjoy the greatest pleasure in scribbling you this long letter. Don't forget me, my dear general; be ever as affectionate to me as you have been; these sentiments I deserve from the ardent ones which fill my heart.

With the highest respect, with the most sincere and tender friendship that ever human heart has felt, I have the honour to be, &c.

For G.o.d's sake write me frequent and long letters, and speak chiefly about yourself and your private circ.u.mstances.

St. Jean, d'Angely, 13th June, 1779.

I Have just received, my dear general, an express from court, with orders to repair immediately to Versailles. There I am to meet M. le Comte de Vaux, Lieutenant-General, who is appointed to, the command of the troops intended for an expedition. In that army I shall be employed in the capacity of aide-marechal-general des logis, which is, in our service, a very important and agreeable place; so that I shall serve in the most pleasing manner, and shall be in a situation to know everything and to render services. The necessity of setting off immediately prevents my writing to General Greene, to the gentlemen of your family, and other friends of mine in the army, whom I beg to accept my excuses on account of this order, which I did not expect so soon. Everything that happens you shall most certainly be acquainted of by me, and I will for the moment finish my letter in a.s.suring your excellency again of my profound respect and tenderest friendship. Farewell, my dear general, and let our mutual affection last for ever.

Footnote:

1. This conjecture was a just one: by the correspondence of General Washington, who kept copies of all his letters, we perceive that he often wrote to M. de Lafayette, whose letters, on the contrary, during this voyage, consist but of two, because we have been able to find only those that arrived in America.

TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Havre, 30th July, 1779.

Sir,--I have received the letter which you have had the goodness to write to me, and in which you promise me another after having read to M.

de Maurepas the paper which I addressed to you.~[1] It is shewing me a great favour to employ, in answering me, a part of your time, which is so precious; and I remain in eager expectation of your second letter.

Being convinced that there is no time to lose in adopting the measures which I propose, my love for my country makes me feel an impatience, which I fear may pa.s.s for importunity; but you will excuse a fault arising from a feeling which is dear to every good citizen.

The Prince de Montbarrey will give you, with regard to Havre, all the information you may desire. You are certainly right in saying that my blood is in fermentation. We hear nothing of M. d'Orvilliers. Some say that he has gone to the Azores, to intercept the West Indian fleet, and to join M. d'Estaing, who was to return here, as I was informed by yourself and M. de Sartine; others affirm that he has gone to America.

The reasoning of the latter does not bring me over to their opinion; and it is very probable that if our fleet had been sent, as they suppose, I should not now be in Normandy. Be that as it may, you know, I hope that any arrangement, and any station, will satisfy me, and that I do not claim promotion, or a.s.sistance, or any mark of favour whatsoever. If M. d'Orvilliers, or a detachment, is now in the independent states of America, and my presence there can be in any way more serviceable than here, I shall be very willing to go over in an American frigate, which I will take on my own authority; and with the very natural pretext of rejoining the army in which I served, I will go and endeavour to use my influence for the advantage of my country. Several persons say, also, that Spanish dollars have been sent to the Americans; I earnestly hope it is so, as my last advices shew the necessity for them.

If the project, for want of sufficient means, should not be adopted this year, I deem it my duty to submit to you a proposition which would in a great measure accomplish the same object.

While waiting until next year to commence combined operations with a squadron, why might you not send to Boston three thousand, or even two thousand men, with three hundred dragoons, who should be joined in the spring by ships of war and a reinforcement of troops? This detachment could be sent by two fifty gun ships, using one of the India Company's ships for a transport, or Spanish vessels, if you prefer them. To avoid expense, let them sail in company with the ships destined for the West Indies, with the escort of the merchantmen, with the _Bonhomme Richard_, and all the frigates at Lorient. These troops will be left in America until the next campaign, and I will now mention what would be the result of such a measure; it being well understood that the convoy would proceed to the West Indies, or to any other destination, after having landed the detachment. First, we should raise by our presence the value of their paper money, an important point for French commerce; secondly, we should be at hand to obtain information, and might take such preliminary steps as would conduce, eventually, to our obtaining possession of Halifax; thirdly, such a detachment would inspire, the American army with new vigour, would powerfully support an attack for retaking the forts on the north river, and would lead the Americans to such undertakings as circ.u.mstances might render advisable.

You have told me to give you all my ideas. It is my duty to submit to you this last one, which, as it seems to me, is not liable to any objection. At first, I was afraid of expressing my opinion so strongly as I was inclined to do, lest I should be suspected of peculiar motives and predilections; but, now that people must know me better, and that you have my entire confidence, I speak more freely, and I solemnly affirm, upon my honour, that if half my fortune were spent in sending succours of troops to the Americans, I should believe that, in so doing, I rendered to my country a service more important than would be to me this sacrifice.

You will say, perhaps, that it will be difficult to find subsistence for the troops during the winter; but in paying in specie, we should obtain provisions very cheap, and the additional number of mouths would be very small in comparison to the population of the country.

Permit me, sir, to offer you the a.s.surance of my attachment.

Footnote:

1. This letter, in the form of a memorial, and containing the plan of an expedition to America, has been placed at the end of the volume.--(See Appendix 2.)

TO M. DE VERGENNES.

Paris, Monday morning, August, 1779.

It is not, sir, to the king's minister that I am now writing, but my confidence in your kindness makes me hope that I am addressing a man whom I may safely call my friend, to whom I am merely giving an account of all that is most interesting to me. You may confer a great obligation upon me, (and render one perhaps to the public,) by employing in a less useless manner the few talents a soldier may possess, who has been hitherto rather fortunate in war, and who supplies his want of knowledge by the purest ardour in the cause.

I have seen the Comte de Maurepas, and I told him what I have the honour of communicating to you; he would not agree to the projects in question, and was doubtless right, although my own opinion remains unchanged; but he thinks that I, who was one of the first to speak of the expedition with fifteen hundred or two thousand men, must now command six hundred hussars, and that this change would be injurious to me. He, perhaps, imagined, as some others have done, from kindness towards me, that such a command would be beneath me. I ought not, besides, he added, to exchange a certainty for an uncertainty.

To this I answer, in the first place, that from the extreme kindness of the public towards me, nothing (I mean in relation to what pa.s.ses in my own heart) can ever be injurious to me; that my setting out with only six hundred men would have been attributed to its real motive, and therefore pardoned. In the second place, to suspect me of entering into a calculation with my country, and of despising any means whatever of serving her, would either prove a want of discernment or of memory; and to the last objection, I reply, that the expedition of which I spoke to you yesterday, is quite as certain as my own.

If the troops had remained in a state of inactivity, it would have been very natural if my ardour had induced me to adopt the trade of a corsair; nay, it would have been natural if I had set out in an armed boat; but when an opportunity offers for employing on a grander scale the talents of a man who has never exercised a soldier's trade but on a wide field, it would be unfortunate for him to lose the power of distinguishing himself, and rendering, perhaps, some important services to his own country; and it would be injudicious in the government not to put to the test that reputation which has been gained in foreign service.

May I, sir, speak to you with frankness? What is most proper for me, would be an advance guard of grenadiers and _cha.s.seurs_, and a detachment of the king's dragoons, making in all, from fifteen hundred to two thousand men, to raise me above the line, and give me the power of action. There are not many lieutenants-general, still fewer field-marshals, and no brigadiers, who have had such important commands confided to them as chance has given me. I also know the English, and they know me--two important considerations during a war. The command I wished for has even been given to a colonel.

It is said that M. de Maillebois, M. de Voyer, and M. de Melfort, will be employed; I know then first and last of these gentlemen; M. de Melfort is a field-marshal, and although I have exercised that trade myself, I should be well pleased to be under his orders. I wish to be chosen in the report of the army, not of the court; I do not belong to the court, still less am I a courtier; and I beg the king's ministers to look upon me as having belonged to a corps of the guards.

The Count de Maurepas only replied to me, perhaps, to divert my attention from some projects which are known unto me; I shall see him again on Wednesday morning, and my fate will then be decided. You would give me, sir, a great proof of friendship, by paying him a visit either to-night or to-morrow morning, and communicating to him the same sentiments you expressed to me yesterday. It is more important that you should see him at that time, because, if I hear from Lorient that the vessels are in readiness, I know not how to dissemble, and I must demand my farewell audience. The little expedition will then be given to some lieutenant-colonel, who may never have looked with the eye of a general, who may not possess great talents, but who, if he be brave and prudent, will lead the six hundred men as well as M. de Turenne could do if he were to return to life. The detachment of dragoons might then be kept back, the more so, as when reduced to fifty it would only become ridiculous; and the major, who takes charge of the detail, would likewise attend to the detail of my advance guard, in which I place great dependence.

I acknowledge to you, that I feel no dependence on M. de Montbarry, and I even wish, that my affairs could be arranged by you and M. de Maurepas. I know, sir, that I am asking for a proof of friendship which must give you some trouble, but I request it because I depend fully upon that friendship.

Pardon this scrawl, Sir; pardon my importunity; and pardon the liberty I take in a.s.suring you so simply of my attachment and respect.

DR. FRANKLIN TO THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE.

(ORIGINAL.)

Pa.s.sy, 24th August, 1779.

Sir,--The congress, sensible of your merit towards the United States, but unable adequately to reward it, determined to present you with a sword, as a small mark of their grateful acknowledgment: they directed it to be ornamented with suitable devices. Some of the princ.i.p.al actions of the war, in which you distinguished yourself by your bravery and conduct, are therefore represented upon it. These, with a few emblematic figures, all admirably well executed, make its princ.i.p.al value. By the help of the exquisite artists of France, I find it easy to express everything but the sense we have of your worth, and our obligations to you for this, figures, and even words, are found insufficient. I, therefore, only add that, with the most perfect esteem, I have the honour to be,

B. FRANKLIN.

P.S. My grandson goes to Havre with the sword, and will have the honour of presenting it to you.

TO DR. FRANKLIN.

(ORIGINAL.)