Noailles La Fayette.’
“My mother’s illness made rapid progress. The doctor was only allowed to see her a moment during the officer’s visit. Being ignorant of the French language he could not understand her, but would express in Latin his fears to my father. This state lasted eleven months, during which no alleviation of the prison treatment was obtained. She had not even an armchair. Her sufferings did not in the least impair her spirits. Seeing her always serene, always enjoying my father’s company, and the consolations she had brought with her, we were all less anxious than we ought to have been.
“My sister supplied the place of outdoor workmen; she even made shoes for my father. But her principal occupation was to write under his dictation on the margins of a book. My mother attended to my education, and used to read with me; but the margins of a book, the toothpicks, and the bit of India ink were things too precious for my use. In the evening my father used to read aloud to us: I still remember the pleasure of those moments.
“In the interior of the prison we had established a correspondence with our companions in captivity, with the help of the soldiers, whom we bribed by the pleasure of a good meal. Of a night, through our double bars, we used to lower, at the end of a string, a parcel with part of our supper, to the sentry on duty under our windows, who would pass the packet in the same manner to MM. de Maubourg and de Pusy, who occupied separate parts of the prison.
“In the month of July, 1797, the Marquis de Chasteler, Austrian general, was sent by the emperor to Olmütz, in order to offer their liberty to the prisoners on condition that they would promise never again to appear in his dominions. The day they received this proposal they heard that the French government, who insisted on their deliverance, had declared at the same time that they could not return to France. Notwithstanding this proof of ill-will, the three friends, who had been allowed to meet a moment in order to consult together on their decision, refused to make any agreement which did not preserve entire the rights of their country on their persons; this restriction caused the prison doors to be closed on them again.”
The following was La Fayette’s declaration in answer to the offer of liberty upon conditions which he considered too ignoble to comply with:—
“Olmütz, July 25, 1797.
“The commission with which the Marquis de Chasteler is entrusted appears to me to reduce itself to three points: First, His Imperial Majesty wishes to have a statement of our situation at Olmütz. I am disposed to present no complaint to him. Several details will be found in my wife’s letters transmitted or sent back by the Austrian government, and should his Imperial Majesty not consider it sufficient to re-peruse the instructions sent from Vienna in his name, I will willingly furnish the Marquis de Chasteler with all the information he may desire.
“Secondly, His Majesty the emperor wishes to be assured that immediately after my liberation I shall set out for America. That intention I have often expressed, but as an answer would, under present circumstances, appear like an acknowledgment of the right to impose on me such a condition, I think it inexpedient to comply with the demand.
“Thirdly, His Majesty the emperor and king has done me the honor to announce to me that, as the principles which I profess are incompatible with the safety to the Austrian government, he cannot consent to my return to his states without his special permission. There are certain duties, the fulfilment of which I cannot decline; I have some towards the United States; I have others towards France,—I cannot under any circumstances shrink from the performance of those which I owe to my country. With this reservation I can assure General the Marquis de Chasteler of my fixed determination never to set foot in any state subject to his Imperial Majesty the King of Bohemia and Hungary.