With unflagging labor La Fayette now occupied himself in carrying out his promised plan. From his own estates he raised the money necessary for the expedition, and prepared to purchase and equip a vessel. King Louis, owing to the recent reverses in America, began to distrust the expediency of an open alliance. La Fayette, being suspected of favoring the American cause, was constantly watched by French and English spies. To escape the knowledge of his family and the royal surveillance, the ship was purchased through La Fayette’s friend, Mr. Duboismartin, who warmly sympathized with his liberal principles. In the midst of these preparations La Fayette was sent by the French government on a diplomatic mission to London. Lest he should excite suspicion by refusal, La Fayette departed for England with his associate, the Prince de Poix. On reaching London, it was a significant fact that before La Fayette paid his respects to the British court, he sought an interview with Bancroft, the American.
La Fayette was received at the English court with every mark of distinguished honor, but court flatteries were little now to his taste. He was yearning to return to Paris, to continue his preparations for his chivalrous project.
“At the end of three weeks,” he writes, “when it became necessary for me to return home, while refusing to accompany my uncle, the ambassador, to court, I confided to him my strong desire to take a trip to Paris. He suggested that he should say that I was ill during my absence. I should not have made use of this stratagem myself, but did not object to his doing so.”
Hastening back to Paris, he continued his secret preparations. Without making known his return to any of his friends, with the exception of those interested in his plans, La Fayette set out for Bordeaux, where a ship was being equipped for him. But information regarding his mysterious manœuvres was now communicated to the court of Versailles, and led to an order for his arrest. La Fayette, being warned, departed to Passage, a Spanish port, intending to embark for America from there. He now openly avowed his intentions, and declared that nothing should induce him to relinquish his plans.
MARIE ANTOINETTE.
But now his firmness was put to the severest test. Letters arrived from his family, containing the bitterest reproaches. He was even accused of want of parental care and gross neglect of his wife and home. This was indeed hard to bear. La Fayette was deeply in love with his winsome and affectionate wife. But with an unselfishness which amounted to the sublimity of heroism, his young wife restrained her tears, lest he should be blamed, and bravely determined to bear the parting uncomplainingly. Such a heroine as she afterwards proved herself to be made her a truly worthy companion for her hero-husband.
Letters came, also, under kingly authority, forbidding his embarkation for America, threatening severe displeasure in case of disobedience. Sovereign displeasure, La Fayette was well aware, meant liability to the confiscation of all his property, and public disgrace. Feigning obedience, La Fayette returned to Bordeaux, and wrote to the ministry, requesting permission to carry out his plans, representing the benefits which France would derive by the wresting of this coveted land from proud England. But the king was not prepared to excite the wrath of his powerful neighbor, and no reply was sent directly to La Fayette, though he was made to understand, through friends, that his petition had been refused.
He shortly afterwards received orders to proceed to Marseilles, and join himself to the Duke d’Ayen, who was going into Italy. La Fayette now determined to brave all hazards. He accordingly departed ostensibly for Marseilles, but soon changed his route and went directly to Passage, and there embarked on his gallant ship Victory, and unfurled the sails, pointing the prow of his vessel towards the land of liberty. As soon as it was ascertained that La Fayette had gone, despatches were sent to arrest him at the West Indies. But La Fayette, suspecting this, ordered his captain to steer directly for America.
His wearisome voyage lasted for two months. Seasickness added its discomforts to the anxieties, regrets, and aspiring longings which made keen warfare in his saddened heart. Would his wife forgive him for this seeming desertion? Would his country renounce him? Would his unselfish and magnanimous sacrifice avail in the cause of liberty, which was the ruling passion of his life? Weak with sickness and tempest-tossed, he addressed to his wife these pathetic letters:—