Then a great shout went up that thrilled the young heart of Lafayette.
“Vive le roi!—Long live the King of France!”
That thanksgiving set the bells of New England to ringing, and was a means of recruiting the army everywhere.
Lafayette heard the news with a full heart, and he himself only knew how much he had done silently to renew the contest for liberty.
Congress began to see his value. They honored him, and that gave him the influence to say:
“I came here for the cause. I must return to France for the cause.”
He said of this crisis, and we use his own words here:
“From the moment I first heard the name of America, I began to love her; from the moment I understood that she was struggling for her liberties, I burned to shed my best blood in her cause, and the days I shall devote to the service of America, whatever and wherever it may be, will constitute the happiest of my life. I never so ardently desired as I do now to deserve the generous sentiments with which these States and their representatives have honored me.”
He obtained from Congress permission to return to France in the interest of the cause of liberty.
It was 1778. He had arrived on the American shores a mere boy and a stranger. Now that he returned to France, the hearts of all Americans followed him. He was twenty-two years of age. He was carrying a secret with him that he was beginning to reveal and that the world was beginning to see.