* The United Slates vessel of war Brandywine bore him to our shores, and his journey among us was a continued ovation. He was every where received with the most affectionate demonstrations of regard, as next to Washington in the great American heart. Even his grandson, who is now (1850) traveling in this country, has been received with marked public attention on account of his relationship to the great and good man. La Fayette was conspicuous in the Republican Revolution in France in 1830, and generously refused the proffered crown of constitutional monarch, and designated the Duke of Orleans (Louis Philippe) as a proper recipient of the trust. It was unworthily bestowed; for the ungrateful monarch not only treated La Fayette with coldness and disdain, but, by a despotic course, betrayed the confidence of the people. La Fayette died in 1834, at the age of seventy-seven years. His remains rest in the cemetery of Pippers, a private burial-ground of several families of the nobility of Paris, back of the gardens of what was once a nunnery, but now a boarding-school for young ladies. The sketch here given is from a French picture by Champin, which the artist dedicated "To the Americans, the friends of La Fayette." The monument is inclosed by an iron railing. It is about eight feet square, and composed of dark sandstone. The tablets slope from a ridge upon whieh is a cross. The inscriptions are in French. On one side of the tablet is an inscription referring to La Fayette; on the other, to his wife. The cross seen in the picture stands over the grave of another.
* This vessel was afterward laden with rice for the French market, but was foundered on going out of the harbor, and vessel and cargo were lost.
La Fayette's Application to Congress.—His Appointment.—Interview with Washington.—Attached to the Army.
man of the committee of Congress on foreign affairs. The next day his papers were handed back to him by Mr. Lovell, with the remark that so many foreigners had offered themselves for employment that Congress was embarrassed with their applications, and he was sorry to inform him that there was very little hope of his success. The marquis was convinced that his papers had not been read. He immediately sent a note to the president of Congress, in which he asked permission to serve in the Continental army upon two conditions; first, that he should receive no pay; secondly, that he should act as a volunteer. These conditions were so different from those demanded by other foreigners, that they were at once accepted by Congress. Although he was not yet twenty years of age, the peculiar position in which his wealth, fervent zeal, and social eminence at home, placed him before the American people, gave him great importance, and on the 31st of July Congress appointed him a major general in the Continental army. This appointment was considered by Congress as merely honorary, but such was not the intention of the recipient, as subsequent events will show. *
Washington arrived in Philadelphia soon after La Fayette's appointment, and they were first introduced to each other at a dinner party, where several members of Congress were present. When they were about to separate, Washington took the marquis aside, complimented him upon the noble spirit he had manifested toward the cause of the Americans, and invited him to become a member of his military family. His kind invitation was joyfully accepted, and while he remained in America the closest intimacy existed between La Fayette and the commander-in-chief. The marquis joined the army, and continued in it as a volunteer, without any command, until the battle on the Brandywine, two months afterward, where we shall meet him presently fighting with all the zeal of a September 11, 1777 champion of liberty.
La Fayette was anxious to have a command suitable to the rank which his commission conferred; but Congress, fearing his appointment to the command of a division might excite the jealousy of American officers, had withheld the coveted honor from the marquis. Washington repeatedly suggested the expediency of a different course; but it was not until the 1st of December that the wishes of La Fayette were gratified. On that day Congress resolved, "That General Washington be informed it is highly agreeable to Congress that the Marquis De La Fayette be appointed to the command of a division in the Continental army." ** Three days afterward it was proclaimed, in public December 4. orders, that he was to take command of the division recently under General Adam
Stephen, who, as we have seen, was dismissed from the army. ***
La Fayette was engaged in various important services during the winter and spring of 1778, while the American army was at Valley Forge; and about the middle of May we find him on Barren Hill, our present point of view. Intelligence had reached Washington in his camp that the British were making preparations to evacuate Philadelphia. They were frequently sending out foraging parties between the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers; and on the 7th of May an expedition went up the Delaware to destroy all the American shipping between Philadelphia and Trenton. Forty-four American vessels were burned; a considerable quantity of provisions and stores were destroyed, and a number of the inhabitants killed and wounded. To restrain these depredations; to cut off all communication in that direction between the country and Philadelphia; to obtain correct information concerning the movements of the enemy; and to be ready to follow with a considerable force immediately in the rear of the British army, when it should leave Philadelphia, Washington
* The following preamble and resolution were adopted: "Whereas the Marquis De La Fayette, out of his great zeal to the cause of liberty, in which the United States are engaged, has left his family and connections, and, at his own expense, come over to offer his services to the United States, without pension or particular allowance, and is anxious to risk his life in our cause:
* Resolved, That his service he accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connections, he have the rank and commission of major general in the army of the United States.—Journals of Congress, iii., 247.