Lafayette, too, amid the perplexities of conducting a revolution, looked back to the time when, in his early campaigns in America, he had shared Washington's councils, bivouacked with him on the field of battle, and been benefited by his guardian wisdom in every emergency.

"How often, my well-beloved general," writes he (January, 1790), "have I regretted your sage councils and friendly support. We have advanced in the career of the revolution without the vessel of State being wrecked against the rocks of aristocracy or faction. In the midst of efforts, always renewing, of the partisans of the past and of the ambitious, we advance toward a tolerable conclusion. At present, that which existed has been destroyed; a new political edifice is forming; without being perfect, it is sufficient to assure liberty. Thus prepared, the nation will be in a state to elect, in two years, a convention which can correct the faults of the constitution. The result will, I hope, be happy for my country and for humanity. One perceives the germs of liberty in other parts of Europe. I will encourage their development by all the means in my power."

Gouverneur Morris, who is no enthusiast of the revolution, regards its progress with a dubious eye. Lafayette, in the previous month of November, had asked his opinion of his situation. "I give it to him," writes Morris, "sans menagement. I tell him that the time approaches when all good men must cling to the throne. That the present king is very valuable on account of his moderation; and if he should possess too great authority, might be persuaded to grant a proper constitution. That the thing called a constitution, which the Assembly have framed, is good for nothing. That, as to himself, his personal situation is very delicate. That he nominally, but not really, commands his

troops. That I really cannot understand how he is to establish discipline among them, but, unless he can accomplish that object, he must be ruined sooner or later."

On the 22d of January, 1790, Morris writes to Washington, "Our friend, Lafayette, burns with desire to be at the head of an army in Flanders, and drive the Stadtholder into a ditch. He acts now a splendid, but dangerous part. Unluckily, he has given in to measures, as to the constitution, which he does not heartily approve, and heartily approves many things which experience will demonstrate to be injurious." *

Far removed as Washington was from the theater of political action, and but little acquainted with many of the minute circumstances which might influence important decisions, he was cautious in hazarding opinions in his replies to his French correspondents. Indeed, the whole revolutionary movement appeared to him so extraordinary in its commencement, so wonderful in its progress, and so stupendous in its possible consequences, that he declared himself almost lost in the contemplation of it. "Of one thing you may rest perfectly assured," writes he to the Marquis de la Luzerne, "that nobody is more anxious for the happy issue of that business than I am; as no one can wish more sincerely for the prosperity of the French nation than I do. Nor is it without the most sensible pleasure that I learn that our friend, the Marquis de Lafayette, has, in acting the arduous part which has fallen to his share, conducted himself with so much wisdom and apparently with such general satisfaction."

A letter subsequently received from Lafayette gives him two months' later tidings, extending to the middle of March. Sparks' Life of Morris, ii. 86.

*

"Our revolution pursues its march as happily as is possible, with a nation which, receiving at once all its liberties, is yet subject to confound them with licentiousness. The Assembly has more of hatred against the ancient system than of experience to organize the new constitutional government; the ministers regret their ancient power, and do not dare to make use of that which they have; in short, as all which existed has been destroyed, and replaced by institutions very incomplete, there is ample matter for critiques and calumnies. Add to this, we are attacked by two sorts of enemies; the aristocrats who aim at a counter-revolution, and the factions who would annihilate all authority, perhaps even attempt the life of the members of the reigning branch. These two parties foment all the troubles.

"After having avowed all this, my dear general, I will tell you, with the same frankness, that we have made an admirable and almost incredible destruction of all the abuses, of all the prejudices; that all which was not useful to the people, all which did not come from them, has been retrenched; that, in considering the situation, topographical, moral and political of France, we have effected more changes in ten months than the most presumptuous patriots could have hoped, and that the reports about our anarchy, our internal troubles, are greatly exaggerated."

In concluding this letter, he writes: "Permit me, my dear general, to offer you a picture representing the Bastile, such as it was some days after I had given orders for its demolition. I make you homage, also, of the principal key of this fortress of despotism. It is a tribute which I owe you, as son to my adopted father, as aid-de-camp to my general, as missionary of liberty to its patriarch.

* Mem. de Lafayette, t. ii., p. 446.

Thomas Paine was to have been the bearer of the key, but he forwarded it to Washington from London. "I feel myself happy," writes he, "in being the person through whom the marquis has conveyed this early trophy of the spoils of despotism, and the first ripe fruits of American principles, transplanted into Europe, to his great master and patron. That the principles of America opened the Bastile is not to be doubted, and, therefore, the key comes to the right place."

Washington received the key with reverence, as "a token of the victory gained by liberty over despotism"; and it is still preserved at Mount Vernon, as a precious historical relic.

His affectionate solicitude for the well-being of Lafayette was somewhat relieved by the contents of his letter; but, while his regard for the French nation made him rejoice in the progress of the political reform which he considered essential to its welfare, he felt a generous solicitude for the personal safety of the youthful monarch, who had befriended America in its time of need.

"Happy am I, my good friend," writes he to the marquis, "that, amid all the tremendous tempests which have assailed your political ship, you have had address and fortitude enough to steer her hitherto safely through the quicksands and rocks which threatened instant destruction on every side; and that your young king, in all things, seems so well disposed to conform to the wishes of the nation. In such an important, such a hazardous voyage, when everything dear and sacred is embarked, you know full well my best wishes have never left you for a moment. Yet I will avow that the accounts we received through the English papers, which were sometimes our only channels of infor

mation, caused our fears of failure almost to exceed our expectations of success."

Those fears were not chimerical; for, at the very time he penned this letter, the Jacobin club of Paris had already sent forth ramifications throughout France; corresponding clubs were springing up by hundreds in the provinces, and everything was hurrying forward to a violent catastrophe.

Three days after the dispatch of the last-cited letter, and two days after the adjournment of Congress, Washington, accompanied by Mr. Jefferson, departed by water on a visit to Rhode Island, which State had recently acceded to the Union. He was cordially welcomed by the inhabitants, and returned to New York, after an absence of ten days, whence he again departed for his beloved Mount Vernon, there to cast off public cares as much as possible, and enjoy the pleasures of the country during the residue of the recess of Congress.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Frontier Difficulties with the Indians-General Harmer's Expedition against them-Ambuscade of Col. Hardin's DetachmentEscape of Capt. Armstrong-A second Detachment of Col. Hardin compelled to retreat-Washington's long Anxiety as to the Result of the Enterprise-Final Tidings

FREQUENT depredations had of late been made on our frontier settlements by what Washington termed "certain banditti of Indians" from the northwest side of the Ohio. Some of our people had been massacred and others carried into deplorable captivity.

Strict justice and equity had always formed the basis of Washington's dealings with the Indian tribes, and he had