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diff --git a/24494-8.txt b/24494-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c840ec --- /dev/null +++ b/24494-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1805 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Spirit of Lafayette, by James Mott Hallowell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Spirit of Lafayette + +Author: James Mott Hallowell + +Release Date: February 2, 2008 [EBook #24494] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPIRIT OF LAFAYETTE *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +THE SPIRIT OF LAFAYETTE + + + + + THE SPIRIT OF + LAFAYETTE + + BY + JAMES MOTT HALLOWELL + _Former Assistant Attorney-General + of Massachusetts_ + + + [Device] + + + GARDEN CITY NEW YORK + DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY + 1918 + + + + + _Copyright, 1918, by_ + DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY + + _All rights reserved, including that of + translation into foreign languages, + including the Scandinavian_ + + + + + DEDICATED TO + THE AMERICAN SOLDIER IN FRANCE + WHO HAS ANSWERED THE + CALL OF LAFAYETTE + + + + +THE SPIRIT OF LAFAYETTE + + + + +The Spirit of Lafayette + + + + +I + + +A few years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence a +hostile Mohawk chief met in council a representative of the young +American republics for the purpose of concluding a treaty of peace. The +representative of young democracy was a soldier of France, the Marquis +de Lafayette. Primitive America on the one hand, ancient Europe on the +other! "Father," said the Indian, "we have heard thy voice and we +rejoice that thou hast visited thy children to give to them good and +necessary advice. Thou hast said that we have done wrong in opening our +ears to wicked men, and closing our hearts to thy counsels. Father, it +is all true; we have left the good path; we have wandered away from it +and have been enveloped in a black cloud. We have now returned that thou +mayest find in us good and faithful children. We rejoice to hear thy +voice among us. It seems that the Great Spirit has directed thy +footsteps to this council of friendship to smoke the calumet of peace +and fellowship with thy long-lost children." + +The Indian warrior's vision was true in a greater sense than he knew. +Through him the soul of America spoke to the soul of Europe, and it +spoke of the fellowship of man. Perhaps the footsteps of this soldier of +France were indeed directed by a high Providence. Perhaps he was himself +a message from the infinite. I love, for my own part, to believe that at +his birth there appeared in this world an eternal and mighty spirit, a +spirit perhaps from another age or sphere. Who knows? Why not? Who is +there can look into the great unknown, the vast and impenetrable depths +of the heavens, and say that this could not be, and was not so? How else +explain this child of a French monarchy, brought up among the titled +nobility of France, who amidst such conditions grew to manhood--the +devotee of freedom and the ever-loyal champion of democracy? + +Lafayette was born on September 6, 1757, at the Château de Chavagnac in +the province of Auvergne in the monarchy of France. Two months before +his birth his father was killed in battle. Left to the sole guidance of +an indulgent mother, surrounded by flattering attendants and the +enervating influences of wealth and noble birth, he faced the empty and +useless life of a mere titled, wealthy aristocrat. What saved him? To +add to these inauspicious beginnings, he was, at the age of twelve, sent +to Paris to the College du Plessis where his rank and wealth introduced +him to all the gaieties and dissipations of exclusive fashionable +Parisian society. His mother died when he was but thirteen, leaving him +in the full possession of large and valuable estates, the absolute +master of his own destiny, and subject to the indulgences and +corruptions of one of the most notorious courts of all Europe. Of a +winning personality, he was appointed one of the King's pages, a +position much coveted by the princes and nobles of the kingdom. He was +also enrolled in the King's Regiment of Mousquetaires, and at the age of +fifteen through the favour of the Queen obtained a commission, an honour +conferred as a mark of especial royal regard. He was married at the age +of sixteen, and his young wife was a daughter of the aristocratic house +of Noailles, one of the most powerful and influential families of the +French court. What more profoundly barren soil could be chosen to +produce the self-denying fighter for liberty, the clean-minded democrat, +Lafayette? + +A significant incident is told of his early life. Shortly after his +marriage, his wife's family sought for him an honorary position in the +household of the Count de Provençe, afterward Louis XVIII King of +France. Lafayette did not wish the appointment. The spirit of Lafayette, +the democrat, was already restive under royal authority. To prevent the +honour being thrust upon him, and in order at the same time not to +offend his family by refusing to accept, he sought an opportunity to +make himself so obnoxious to the Count that the arrangement could not go +through. The chance offered itself at a masked ball where the Count +appeared in a disguise which was instantly penetrated by Lafayette. +Making himself known, he lost no time in engaging in conversation the +royal personage, who thought himself unknown, and with a freedom and +boldness bordering upon discourtesy, he gave voice to facts and opinions +which he knew would be obnoxious to his listener's ear. The future King +of France had little hesitation in making up his mind that the young +Marquis would be a refractory attaché, and declined to make the +requested appointment. + +Providence, or his own spirit, had saved Lafayette for democracy. + + + + +II + + +In 1775 in the new western hemisphere democracy was born to the modern +world. + + "By the rude bridge that arched the flood, + Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, + Here once the embattled farmers stood + And fired the shot heard 'round the world." + +Across the vast Atlantic rolled its echoes. Across a trackless sea, +across the lands of France, up through the great White Ways of Paris it +resounded. It knocked against the palace doors of the King of France. On +through the flippant gibe, the careless laugh, the carousing and the din +of the royal court, it reached and touched the spirit of Lafayette. + +What was the strange tale that came to him from the New World? Was it a +tale of liberty triumphant and conquering, a tale of success, a tale to +touch the imagination of a soldier through the glory of a winning cause? +Far from it. After a brief temporary success in Massachusetts the cause +of the newly-born confederated American republics seemed to be tottering +upon the brink of total destruction. The rout of the Americans at +Brooklyn and the consequent abandonment of Long Island was followed by +their evacuation of New York City. The American army was becoming +demoralized. The militia were impatient to return home, were disobedient +to orders, and were deserting in large numbers--it is said "by half and +even by whole regiments." Then followed the Americans' defeat at White +Plains, the surrender of Fort Washington, the evacuation of Fort Lee, +and the steady disheartening of the American forces. The ineffectual +attempts to increase the militia, the indisposition of the inhabitants +to farther resistance, the retreat of General Washington through New +Jersey at the head of less than three thousand men, poorly armed, almost +without tents, blankets, or provisions, discouraged by constant +reverses, many of them half-clad and barefooted in the cold of November +and December, passing through a desponding country and pursued by a +numerous, well-appointed, and victorious army--all these events made +liberty at this time indeed + + "A wretched soul bruised with adversity." + +It was at this stage of the conflict that Lafayette determined to cross +the Atlantic and take up the cause of the thirteen little republics. +Benjamin Franklin, one of America's two representatives in France, who +at first had welcomed this offer of assistance, upon learning of the +continued American reverses, and almost despairing of the success of the +cause, is reported honourably to have endeavoured to dissuade the +Marquis from carrying his design into execution. Franklin and Silas +Deane, the other American representative in France, told him they were +unable to obtain a vessel for his passage. France was then at peace, and +the King of France forbade his departure. Under the laws of France he +risked the confiscation of all his property, as well as capture on the +high seas. There was no winning cause to lure him, merely thirteen +little newly-born republics struggling for a principle, fighting for +democracy--a weak, bedraggled, and dispirited democracy, a democracy +half-clad and poverty stricken, a barefooted, half-naked democracy that +was very nearly down and out. + +"Now," he replied to Franklin and Deane, "is precisely the moment to +serve your cause; the more people are discouraged, the greater utility +will result from my departure; and if you cannot furnish me with a +vessel, I shall charter one at my own expense to convey your despatches +and my person to the shores of America." + +In a Paris paper of that year, there appears the following item: + + Paris, April 4, 1777. + + One of the richest of our young nobility, the Marquis de Lafayette, + a relation of the Duke de Noailles, between nineteen and twenty + years of age, has at his own expense hired a vessel and provided + everything necessary for a voyage to America, with two officers of + his acquaintance. He set out last week, having told his lady and + family that he was going to Italy. He is to serve as Major-General + in the American army. + + + + +III + + +Lafayette arrived in America in June, 1777, and at once plunged into the +struggle. He refused an active command at first, preferring to serve in +a more humble capacity until accustomed to American troops. In the +Battle of Brandywine, only some forty days after his arrival, he +received a wound from a musket ball--a wound sufficient to keep him in +bed for six weeks. This battle was a defeat for the American forces and +was followed by the fall of the City of Philadelphia. Wounds and defeat +seem, however, to have acted only as a stimulus, and in December, 1777, +as a reward for intrepid and brilliant service, he was given the command +of a division of the American army. He was then twenty years of age. + +Then followed four years of active service under General Washington, +broken only by a temporary return to France in 1779 on a diplomatic +mission. Gentle and courteous, yet apparently insensible to fear, his +spirit was an inspiration. At the Battle of Monmouth the enemy, during a +lull, observed a general officer in the service of the Americans +advancing into the danger zone, with some other officers and men, to +reconnoitre the enemy's position. An aide-de-camp fell, struck by a +ball, and all but the general fled precipitately. They saw the latter, +although under the fire of a battery, lean to assist the stricken aide, +and finding that all was ended turn and slowly rejoin the others. The +British commander, General Clinton, ordered his men not to fire; and +the chivalry of this Englishman probably saved the American officer's +life. It was Lafayette. + +In 1780 he asked leave to take a position in the Southern Department +where the situation of the American army is described in a letter to +Lafayette by General Greene, then commanding the division. + +"It is now within a few days of the time when you shall be with me. Were +you to arrive you would find a few ragged, half-starved troops in the +wilderness, destitute of everything necessary for either the comfort or +convenience of soldiers.... The country is almost laid waste and the +inhabitants plunder one another with little less than savage fury. We +live from hand to mouth, and have nothing to subsist on but what we +collect with armed parties.... I fear this department is to be the great +Serbonian bog to the American armies and particularly to the general +officers." + +The vision of a Serbonian bog acted only as a magnet, and Lafayette +started to join Greene. On his way, however, he was recalled by the +commander-in-chief, General Washington, to take command of an expedition +against Benedict Arnold, the traitor, now a brigadier-general in the +enemy's army, who was marching into Virginia and with revengeful fury +carrying fire and sword wherever he went. Lafayette was dispatched +against him with specific orders that if Arnold surrendered there should +be no stipulation made for his safety, and at the same time forbidding +the slightest injury to his person;--it being the purpose of Washington, +never however fulfilled, to bring Arnold to public punishment according +to the rules and regulations of the army. + +Lafayette's command seems to have been no better than Greene's. In a +letter to Greene he describes his men as being in a condition of +"shocking nakedness." Even the officers were destitute of money, +clothing, and everything that could contribute to cleanliness and +comfort. As for the men, they were poorly fed, their shoes worn out, +without tents, and destitute of almost any protection from the +inclemency of the weather. Some of his officers assured the Marquis that +his command would speedily be reduced one-half by desertion,--and as a +matter of fact thirteen out of one company deserted in a single day. A +nauseous and contagious disease, generally produced by a want of +cleanliness, overspread nearly the entire command. In consequence of +these difficulties, Arnold escaped, but Lafayette forced his retreat. + +The military genius of George Washington at last turned the tide of war. +In October, 1781, he had the enemy's troops under Cornwallis cornered at +Yorktown. In the course of the siege it became necessary to capture a +certain redoubt possessed by the enemy. Washington determined to carry +it with the bayonet, and appointed Lafayette to conduct the charge. The +American infantry advanced with irresistible power, relying entirely +upon their bayonets, and carried the redoubt by assault. + +Shortly afterward Cornwallis surrendered his entire army to Washington, +and the last battle of the American Revolution had been fought. In +November, 1781, the confederated republics having won, Lafayette +returned to France. + +Washington and Lafayette! The American and the Frenchman. Great +soldiers both, but above all, great _men_. The real soul of the soldier +speaks out in this letter from the American to the Frenchman, written in +1784: "At length, my dear Marquis, I have become a private citizen on +the banks of the Potomac; and under the shadow of my own vine and my own +fig-tree, free from the bustle of the camp and the busy scenes of public +life, I am solacing myself with those tranquil enjoyments, of which the +soldier who is ever in pursuit of fame, the statesman whose watchful +days and sleepless nights are spent in devising schemes to promote the +welfare of his own, perhaps the ruin of other countries, as if this +globe was insufficient for us all--and the courtier who is always +watching the countenance of his prince in the hope of catching a +gracious smile--can have very little conception. I have not only retired +from all public employments, but am retiring within myself and shall be +able to view the solitary walk, and tread the paths of private life with +heartfelt satisfaction. Envious of none, I am determined to be pleased +with all; and this, my dear friend, being the order of my march, I shall +move gently down the stream of life until I sleep with my fathers." + + + + +IV + + +The scene in the world-wide drama of democracy shifts across the +Atlantic Ocean, from America to France. The French Revolution of 1789 +and the Reign of Terror--a century's pent-up rage against despotism, let +loose in a single hour! + +When Madame Roland was summoned before the revolutionary tribunal she +came with a smile upon her lips, her face sparkling with life and +animation. Condemned in advance, she was falsely declared guilty of +being the author of a "mutinous conspiracy against the unity and defense +of the republic." She heard her sentence calmly. "You deem me worthy the +fate of the great men you have murdered. I shall try to display the +same courage on the scaffold." She was at once taken in a cart to the +Place de la Revolution, a man guilty of treason being placed in the same +cart. He was overwhelmed with terror and she occupied her time in +soothing him. On reaching the guillotine, she bade him mount the steps +first, that his sufferings might not be prolonged. As she took her +place, her eyes fell on a colossal statue of Liberty, recently erected +near by. "O Liberty," she cried, "what crimes are committed in thy +name!" + +"There is no God." Thus in 1793, by solemn enactment of the Terrorists, +was the Deity legislated out of existence. There is no God! What sayest +thou now, Robespierre? Dost thou say so, _now_? How likedst thou thy +brief space of usurpation? A few brief months of power--night and day +with loaded pistols at thy side--no food till some one else had tasted +from thy dish, lest it be poisoned. And then another scene in that same +legislative hall, the hall of thy own great terrifying power. A vote +ordering thy arrest! Vain are thy shrieks--a detachment of thy own +soldiers forces its way into the room--a pistol shot rings out, and thou +with shattered jaw, a ghastly spectacle, facest thy end. Thou fallest, +and some spit upon thy prostrate form, others stab thee with their +knives. Still living, thy body is hurried before the tribunal thou +thyself didst form, and thence to the guillotine. O Robespierre, +thinkest thou now there is a God? + +License, not liberty. Mania, not reason. How fared the spirit of +Lafayette during this debauchery in the name of freedom? + + + + +V + + +A brief interval of less than ten years intervened between the closing +scenes of the American Revolution and the opening scenes of the French +Revolution. Democracy in America was a victor, and the republic had been +established. Democracy in France was just entering upon its cyclonic and +hideous struggle for the right to live. + +The government of France was at that time an absolute despotism. The +king was the supreme arbiter of its destinies. He was the head of the +army. He appointed his own ministers, made his own laws, levied and +raised taxes at his pleasure, and lavished his treasures as he pleased. +The common people were more like cattle than men. They tilled the ground +and bore the yoke; the king and the aristocracy wielded the whip. Years +of suffering ignorance for the many--years of riotous profligacy for the +few! + +True democracy is world-wide. It knows no nationality. All mankind are +its countrymen. When at the close of the American war Lafayette returned +to France, he hung in his house a copy of the American Declaration of +Independence upon one of the walls, leaving the corresponding space on +the opposite side vacant. "What do you mean to place here?" asked one of +his friends. "A Declaration of Rights for France," he replied. + +Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, the first giant of the +Hohenzollerns and the fountain head of modern Prussian autocracy, +attracted by Lafayette's military reputation, invited him to the royal +palace at Potsdam to witness and take part in the review of the Prussian +army. At dinner one evening Frederick declared confidently his opinion +that America would not long be a republic, but would return to the good +old system. "Never, sir," replied his guest. "A monarchy, a nobility can +never exist in America." "Sir," said the monarch, "I knew a young man +who, after having visited countries where liberty and equality reigned, +conceived the idea of establishing the same system in his own country. +Do you know what happened to him?" "No, sir." "He was hanged," replied +the King with a smile. + +In 1789 the mutterings of the coming storm became more ominous, but the +King of France, deafened by the clamour of cackling advice from his +aristocracy, either could not or would not hear. Almost bankrupt +because of the extravagance of the court, he needed money, still more +money, and called an "assembly of notables" to assist in devising +measures to relieve his embarrassed finances. They were men from the +most distinguished of the nobility. Lafayette was one. In a letter to +Washington he humorously remarked that "wicked people called them +not-ables." Lafayette's part in the assembly consisted in making a bold +protest against the prodigality of the crown. "All the millions given up +to cupidity or depredation," he forcefully exclaimed to the noble +gathering, "are the fruit of the sweat, the tears, and perhaps the +blood, of the nation"; and he concluded by requesting that the King +convoke a real National Assembly, made up of representatives of the +common people. It was the beginning of the Revolution. For Lafayette's +part in this the King's prime minister, Calonne, proposed to the +monarch to send Lafayette to the Bastile. + +Nothing was accomplished by the notables, and the monarch then decided +to assemble the states-general. This was not a legislative body, but an +assembly of representatives from the nobility, the clergy, and the +common people, sometimes called by the crown when it needed assistance, +the commons always being in the minority. The commons, _le tiers état_ +grasped the opportunity, met by themselves, and on June 17, 1789, +resolved themselves into a National Assembly, to accomplish the +regeneration of France. + +Troops were summoned by the crown to put down the rebellion, and more +than fifty thousand mercenary troops from foreign states were engaged by +the King to take the place of the French troops, whom he distrusted. +Lafayette joined with the National Assembly, and then and there proposed +to it the first draft of that French Declaration of Rights for which he +had prophetically left a space on the wall of his home. The essence of +his draft lies in the following extract: "No man can be subject to any +laws, excepting those which have received the assent of himself or his +representatives, and which are promulgated beforehand and applied +legally. The principle of all sovereignty resides in the nation." + +On July 14, 1789, the storm broke. The gigantic fortress of the Bastile +which for ages had reared its menacing head among the people of Paris, a +terrible engine of despotic military autocracy, was attacked and taken +by the mob. M. De Launay, its Governor, was killed by a bayonet thrust, +and his head cut from his body and carried through the streets upon a +pitchfork. "And in this bloody manner, into those dungeons where +thousands had wasted away, often without trial and with no knowledge of +the charges against them, liberty sent her first ray of sunlight." + +"When oppression renders a revolution necessary, insurrection becomes +the holiest of duties," was the ringing message of Lafayette to the +Assembly. The key of the Bastile was given to him as the representative +of freedom in Europe, and together with a sketch of the ruins of that +fortress of despotism, he sent it to George Washington. "It is a +tribute," he wrote, "which I owe, as a son to my adopted father--as an +aide-de-camp to my general--as a missionary of liberty to its +patriarch." + +A National Guard, a new army of two hundred thousand citizen soldiers, +was authorized and formed by the National Assembly, both for the +protection of the rights of the people at home and for resistance to +possible foreign aggression. Lafayette, now thirty-two years of age, was +chosen its commander-in-chief. Thus was born democracy in France. + + + + +VI + + +A foreign peasant, from a land of despotic autocracy, who had just +immigrated to the United States, was once haled into one of our police +courts, charged with almost murdering his wife with a club. His defense +was that he now was in a land of liberty and he thought he could do what +he liked. Multiply this by a million-fold and you have the Reign of +Terror, the second chapter of the French Revolution. + +"_Aimez les amis du peuple et l'enthousiasme pour la liberté, mais +réservez l'aveugle soumission pour la loi_," said Lafayette to the +Federation of National Guards. The atrocities, both at the storming of +the Bastile and afterward, he would not countenance, and on more than +one occasion, at the head of his armed troops, he enforced law and +order. Finally, Austria and Prussia declared war upon France, and +Lafayette was sent from Paris and at the head of a French army of +twenty-eight thousand men was stationed at Sedan. + +It was inevitable that he and the Jacobins, the leaders in the mad orgy +of debauched democracy that succeeded the initial stages of the +revolution, should soon split. For a long time the Jacobins had seemed +to shrink from a contest with him, probably because they hoped to win +him over to their excesses. Finding him inflexible, when at last they +controlled the government, they vowed his destruction, and he was +deprived of his command. They proposed that a price should be set upon +his head and that "_chaque citoyen pût courir sus_"--that is to say, +that any one who pleased might murder him. + +Deprived of his command, and with destruction awaiting him in the rear, +his only resource was flight. Even then he hesitated, but reason +prevailed and on a dark and rainy night, with a few companions on +horseback, he started for Holland. To get there he had to pass through +territory occupied by the Austrian and Prussian troops. Facing the +almost certain chance of falling in with a superior force, he determined +to make a bold front, and went directly to the Austrian commander at +Namur, declaring that he was a French officer attached to constitutional +measures and seeking an asylum in Holland. Instead of being given a +passport, he was, when recognized, detained, given over to a Prussian +commander, sent in a cart to Wesel on the Rhine and there put in a cell +in irons. It was then intimated to him that the burden of the situation +would be lightened if he would draw up certain plans to be used against +France. The Prussians, finding that he would not do this, instead of +treating him as a prisoner of war threw him into a dungeon at +Magdebourg. His estate at home was confiscated and his wife imprisoned. +After a year's imprisonment at Magdebourg in a dirty and humid vault he +was transferred by the Prussians from one dungeon to another, and at +last confined in the Austrian citadel of Olmutz. + +The walls of his dungeon at Olmutz were six feet thick and the air was +admitted through openings two feet square secured at each end by massive +iron bars. Before these loopholes was situated a broad ditch, which was +filled with water only when it rained; at other times it was a stagnant +marsh continually emitting disease; beyond this were the outer walls of +the castle, so that the slightest breeze could never refresh the inmate. +Each cell had two doors, one of iron, the other of wood nearly two feet +thick, and both were covered with bolts, bars, and padlocks. When the +soldiers twice a day brought the prisoner's wretched portion it was +carefully examined to find out if there was any note or communication +contained in it. A messy bed of rotten straw filled with vermin, +together with a broken chair and an old worm-eaten table, formed the +whole furniture of his establishment. The cell was from eight to ten +paces long and six wide; in storms the water frequently flowed through +the loopholes; when the sun did not shine he remained almost in darkness +during the whole day. + +He was a prisoner of war and entitled to be treated as such. But instead +he was confined in a dungeon and was given to believe that he would +never again see beyond its four walls, that he would never receive news +of any events or persons, that his name would be unknown in the citadel, +and that in all accounts of him sent to Court he would be designated +only by a number. Even knives and forks were denied him, and he was told +that this was done because his situation was such as naturally to lead +to suicide. His sufferings proved almost beyond his strength. The want +of air and decent food, and the loathsome dampness of his dungeon +brought him more than once to the borders of the grave. His frame was +wasted by diseases, and on one occasion he was so reduced that "his hair +fell from him entirely by the excess of his sufferings." + +Following a bold attempt to escape, the torture of his imprisonment was +increased. Irons were securely fastened around his ankles. During the +winter of 1794-1795, which was extremely severe, he had a violent fever +and almost died; he was deprived of proper attendance, of air, of +suitable food, and of decent clothes; in this state he had nothing for +his bed but a little damp and mouldy straw; around his waist was a chain +which was fastened to the wall and barely permitted him to turn from one +side to the other. No light was admitted into his cell. To increase his +miseries, almost insupportable mental anguish was added to his physical +suffering. He was made to believe that he was only saved for a public +execution, while at the same time he was not permitted to know whether +his family were still alive or had perished under the axe during the +Reign of Terror. + +A Prussian statesman to whom in 1793 a memorial had been addressed +soliciting Lafayette's release is said to have replied: "Lafayette has +too much fanaticism for liberty. He does not conceal it. All his letters +prove it. If he were out of prison he could not remain quiet. I saw him +when he was here and I shall always recollect one of his expressions, +which surprised me very much at the time: 'Do you believe,' said he, +'that I went to America to obtain military reputation?--it was for +liberty I went there. He who loves liberty can only remain quiet after +having established it in his own country.'" + +O liberty, hard is thy path! License wearing thy mask at home, and thy +champion betrayed to the dungeon of thy eternal foe! + + + + +VII + + +Out of the chaos rose the dictator. Napoleon's comet was beginning to +ascend. + +Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797 was commander in Italy of the victorious army +of the French Republic, and as such he demanded of Austria that the +French prisoners in the fortress of Olmutz be set at liberty. Consent +was given as to the others, but only after much talk and grudgingly as +to Lafayette. His unconquerable hostility to the reigning autocracies +was too well known, and Austria even attempted to impose the terms that, +if freed, Lafayette should be deported to America under promise never +again to put his foot either in Austria or Prussia. But Lafayette +himself would not consent to be freed on these terms, and Napoleon +insisted; so, finally, at the dictation of Napoleon Bonaparte, on +September 19, 1797, after more than five years' imprisonment, +Lafayette's fetters were knocked off and he was released. Napoleon +afterward often alluded to the intense hatred of the monarchs and royal +cabinets of Europe for the democrat Lafayette. "I am sufficiently +hated," said he one day to Lafayette, "by the princes and their +courtiers; but it is nothing to their hatred for you. I have been so +situated as to see it, and I could not have believed that human hate +could go so far." + +Perhaps at no time was the spirit of Lafayette put to a greater test +than in the years that followed--the years of the rise of imperial +Napoleon, Emperor of the French. + +Revenge against his prison keepers, the certainty of high success, the +excitement of a great popular cause, military glory, gratitude to his +deliverer, all coördinated to make him follow the path of conquest, and +lead with Napoleon. He could have been one of the great military heroes +of those times. But apparently these temptations rebounded from him as +an arrow from a steel plate. When only a boy of seventeen, his noble +relatives had been unable to conceive his refusing an honorable place in +royalty's household. It had been inconceivable to the Prussian that this +Frenchman had not gone to America on a quest solely for military glory. +The Jacobin clubs, first by fair promises and then by the demand for his +life blood, had sought to force him from liberty to license, from real +freedom to debauched freedom. But like Sir Galahad, the Knight of the +Holy Grail, he had stood true to his quest, true to his ideal, true to +the inward light that unerringly marked the real from the false, true to +genuine democracy in its fight against autocracy. And now, greater than +all these lures and tests, stood before him Napoleon Bonaparte, his +deliverer, the greatest military captain of the world beckoning him to +paths of fame. The sceptre of all that the professional soldier held +dear was thrust into his hands. He could not be false unto himself, and +the sceptre was turned aside. + +When he found that Napoleon was plotting against the democracy of +France, that a new imperial power was rising in Napoleon's person, he +deliberately broke off his relations with the general. During the days +of the French conquests under Napoleon he lived the life of a quiet +country gentleman, interested solely in domestic life, agriculture, and +the pursuit of reading and science. The man who had staked his all in a +desperate chance in the war of democracy against despotic autocracy +would not raise his finger in a war of conquest for the aggrandizement +of an emperor, though driven by the demon of revenge, drawn by the ties +of gratitude, and enticed by the lure of glory. + + + + +VIII + + +On March 1, 1815, Napoleon returned from Elba and began the final act in +the great drama of his life. In a last effort to win Lafayette to his +side, he sent his brother Joseph Bonaparte on a special mission to +Lafayette with word that the latter's name was placed first upon +Napoleon's list of peers. Joseph returned with a refusal. "Should I ever +again appear upon the sea of public life," Lafayette had replied, "it +will only be as a representative of the people." + +Waterloo!--and Napoleon disappeared forever from the world drama. Then +came back the Bourbons, first Louis XVIII, followed by Charles X. Step +by step, under the Bourbon _régime_, autocracy began to regain its grip +upon France. The year 1830 opened ominously. The rumblings of 1789 were +again heard. The French Chamber of Deputies protested against the +growing usurpations of the crown. The King boldly defied them, dissolved +the Chamber, annulled the electoral laws then in force, reduced the +number of deputies nearly one-half, and materially changed the +conditions of suffrage and representation. + +Lafayette was at his country estate, La Grange, when the _Moniteur_ with +a copy of these decrees reached him. He immediately set out for Paris. +Revolt had already commenced, and war was raging in the streets of the +city. The revolutionists wanted a leader and all eyes turned to +Lafayette. He was called by acclamation to command the National Guard. + +He was now seventy-two years of age, but he accepted the call. +Immediately he established his headquarters in Paris and passed the +whole night inspecting barriers and preparing for a renewal of the +battle on the morrow. At dawn it began again and the National Guard +under Lafayette drove back the royal troops and carried all before them. +On July 29, 1830, the Chamber of Deputies reassembled, organized a +provisional government, and formally invested Lafayette with the powers +of military dictator of France. "Liberty shall triumph," he replied in +his letter of acceptance, "or we will perish together." + +Charles X, seeing the hopelessness of the royal cause, sent a deputation +to Lafayette to announce the revocation of the obnoxious decrees and the +nomination of a new and liberal ministry. "It is too late," Lafayette +sent word back, "all conciliation is impossible. The royal family has +ceased to reign." Thus ended the dynasty of the elder branch of the +Bourbons on the throne of France. The deposed king was allowed to pass +unmolested to another country. + +The people who had accomplished the revolution, especially the citizen +army, loudly demanded a republic with Lafayette for its president. +Others begged him to mount the throne himself. But to all these +entreaties he turned a deaf ear. He thought not of himself but of France +alone. + +A constitutional monarchy, under Louis Phillippe, followed. It was +successful at first, until the old, old story of attempted autocratic +usurpation was again repeated by the monarch. He was forcibly ejected, +and the Republic of 1848 was formed. But long ere this, moving gently +down the stream of life, the journey had ended, and Lafayette slept with +his fathers. _Vive l'ésprit de Lafayette!_ + + "The stars shall fade away, the sun himself + Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, + But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, + Unhurt amidst the war of elements, + The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds." + + + + +IX + + +Every person has two selves, the shell and the real self beneath. Acts +are the evidence of the real self. Let us hope what is best in the real +self is eternal, for thus only does the world progress. + +Lafayette symbolized two great principles of government. First, the +right of a people to govern themselves, as opposed to government of the +many by a self-appointed few--in other words, democracy as opposed to +autocracy. Second, a union of the democracies to insure mutual +protection and peace. + +When only a boy at school, he was told in class one day to describe a +perfect courser, and he sacrificed his hope of obtaining a premium by +describing a horse which on perceiving the whip threw down his master. +He adopted on his arms the device, "_Cur non?_"--"Why not?" Before +landing in America in 1777 he wrote to his wife: "I but offer my +services to that interesting republic from motives of the purest kind, +unmixed with ambition or private views: her happiness and my glory are +my only incentives to the task. I hope that, for my sake, you will be a +good American, for that feeling is worthy of every noble heart. The +happiness of America is intimately connected with the happiness of all +mankind; she will become the safe and respected asylum of virtue, +integrity, toleration, equality, and tranquil happiness." + +In camp at Valley Forge, January, 1778, he writes to his wife, who was +then seeking his return: "The desire ... to promote ... the happiness +of humanity which is strongly interested in the existence of one +perfectly free nation ... forbids my departure." + +Upon a return visit to America in 1784, speaking to a deputation from +the Pennsylvania Legislature, he said: "Now that the great work is +accomplished let us mutually congratulate ourselves on the federal union +which this peace has cemented, and upon which the importance, the power, +and the riches of this beautiful country rest; that union is the bond +which will continue to preserve brotherly love and reciprocal friendship +among the citizens of the states. I shall be happy to receive the +command of this Republic at every period of my existence and in whatever +part of the world I may be; my zeal for its prosperity is only equalled +by my gratitude and respect." A statement from his reply to a special +committee appointed by Congress to wait upon him shows the same feeling: +"May this immense temple of freedom ever stand a lesson to oppressors, +an example to the oppressed, and a sanctuary for the rights of mankind." + +The confederation in 1776 of the thirteen separate colonies of the +western world was a union of all the then existing democracies of a +hemisphere, to insure mutual protection and peace. Since then, democracy +has been born in the Old World. In its common cause it knows no +nationality. Lafayette is the symbol of its internationalism. In the +time of our greatest stress he crossed the ocean to us, saying: "Now is +precisely the moment to serve your cause." To-day democracy in France is +bleeding to death. Throughout Europe, assailed in front by the giant of +Prussian militarism and stabbed in the back by assassins conducting an +insidious and treacherous peace propaganda, it is staggering under the +combined attack. The spirit of Lafayette, the democrat, calls to us +across that same ocean. The bugles of the heavens ring out. The days of +'76 are born again. Once more is heard the battle-cry of the Republic. +Where his spirit calls, our armies go. And when the great work is +accomplished, we shall cement the union which he began. + + + + +X + + +But is democracy worth preserving? How fares that intangible something +which was the inspiration of this man's living? Democracy, the right of +people to govern themselves, as opposed to their control by a +self-appointed few--is it a failure or a success? Has it proved itself +worth the dedication of this soldier spirit? + +The French, for themselves, have answered the question at the Battle of +the Marne and at Verdun. But how about America? Has the great American +democracy proved a success, as compared with government by +autocracy--for example, as compared with the government of Germany by +the Prussian military autocracy, headed by the House of Hohenzollern? + +More than a century has passed since the surrender of Cornwallis. Since +then in physical growth and material success the democracy of the United +States has more than fulfilled the highest hopes. At that time these +United States were only a strip along the eastern seaboard, bounded on +the east by the Atlantic Ocean and on the west by an unexplored +wilderness; thirteen sparsely settled states, the settlements widely +separated from each other, with a population of less than four million +persons. Now the wilderness is overcome. By the Louisiana Purchase we +acquired the Great Southwest. For a pittance we bought the wastes of +Alaska and then found them to be the gold fields of the world. The +Philippines, with an area of one hundred and fifteen thousand square +miles, and the Hawaiian Islands mark the extension of our western +boundaries. Cuba is under our immediate protection. Porto Rico is part +of us, and likewise the Danish West Indies. In Central America we have +built the Panama Canal. By the Monroe Doctrine we are the protectors +from foreign interference of all of Central and South America. Our +population has grown to more than one hundred million souls. Our +material wealth is the greatest of any single nation in the world. + +Does this constitute success? Look on the other side of the picture. Our +form of national government has been notoriously inefficient--taking +Germany as the standard. Our state governments at their best are +mediocre, while at their worst they stand pitifully paralyzed before mob +law. Our unpunished lynchings of coloured people, innocent as well as +guilty, make us contemptible in the eyes of the civilized world. No +other government on earth remains silent and helpless while its citizens +assemble as for a holiday and burn a criminal at the stake. Our +municipalities are largely rotten with graft, and the graft is +accompanied by its inevitable handmaids, extravagance and inefficiency. +Enormous wealth, in the hands of a few, dwells side by side with extreme +poverty. Our cities are overcrowded, and the country of Whittier, where + + "Shut in from all the world without + We sat the clean-winged hearth about," + +is handed over to the huts and shanties of immigrants. Capital fights +labour and labour fights capital. Politics are such that most men avoid +them. The standard of work is not how well you can do your job, but how +much you can make out of it. Is this democracy a success? + +In answer to this, however, does not an inner consciousness in each of +us, perhaps the spirit of Lafayette and perhaps our own, perhaps the +whispering of an unseen, great, and infinite power, tell us that the +really relevant question is not whether we have yet achieved success, +but whether a successful democracy is worth striving for? If, however, I +should be obliged to answer the question by "Yes" or "No" I would say, +"Yes, it is a success!" + +The best route for the development of any man lies along the hard and +thorny road of self-development. In the end, self-development, by dint +of hard work and mistakes, produces the best man, provided he has the +courage to "see it through." Nations are merely big collections of +individuals. In the end this self-development produces the best nation. +The road is filled with difficulties, but so are most roads to goals +that are worth reaching. + +Our national government may have been inefficient in its details, but +taken as a whole it has created a country which for generations has been +a haven for the oppressed of the world. How many hundred thousand +Germans have immigrated to America? How many Americans have ever +emigrated to Germany? We have lynchings in the South, but no other +country was ever left a more hideous problem of slavery, and in 1861 +when the supreme test came the government rose to it; no one but a +visionary can expect an immediate Utopian readjustment. Our +municipalities abound in graft, but what country before ours ever faced +the problem of absorbing annually the enormous flood of unlettered +immigrants that is unceasingly poured upon us by the Old World. The +wonder is not that we have graft, but that we have not more graft. We +have great wealth and extreme poverty, but they are due to unusual +economic causes, namely: great national resources on the one hand, and +ceaseless immigration on the other. Our cities are overcrowded and our +standards of work are superficial, but would this be cured by a +despotism? + +And always we have the hope that goes with liberty, the undying strength +that accompanies the knowledge that you are master of your own soul. A +good despot at the head of a military autocracy may for the time being +make the most efficient government in the world; certainly a bad despot +at the head of a military autocracy makes the worst government. But I +will never believe that the total surrender of the individual to the +guiding hand of a despotic autocracy makes in the end for the progress +of the whole. History shows it to be untrue; the never-ceasing efforts +of democracy, as endless as the waves of the sea, show that despotic +autocracy cannot last; and the hell let loose upon earth by Prussian +autocracy, its modern exponent, clinches the falsity of its creed for +all but the intoxicated or maniacs. + + + + +XI + + +Now has arisen the Menace, the eternal foe of a free people, the +Prussian Creed. The following is a composite statement of Prussianism: +"compiled sentence by sentence from the utterances of Prussians, the +Kaiser and his generals, professors, editors, and Nietzsche, part of it +said in cold blood, years before this war, and all of it a declaration +of faith now being ratified by action." It is taken word for word from +the eleventh chapter of Owen Wister's remarkable work "The Pentecost of +Calamity,"[A] and is the most concise statement of the Menace that I +have seen. + +[A] "The Pentecost of Calamity," by Owen Wister. The Macmillan Company. + +"We Hohenzollerns take our crown from God alone. On me the Spirit of God +has descended. I regard my whole ... task as appointed by heaven. Who +opposes me I shall crush to pieces. Nothing must be settled in this +world without the intervention ... of ... the German Emperor. He who +listens to public opinion runs a danger of inflicting immense harm on +... the State. When one occupies certain positions in the world one +ought to make dupes rather than friends. Christian morality cannot be +political. Treaties are only a disguise to conceal other political aims. +Remember that the German people are the chosen of God. + +"Might is right and ... is decided by war. Every youth who enters a +beer-drinking and duelling club will receive the true direction of his +life. War in itself is a good thing. God will see to it that war always +recurs. The efforts directed toward the abolition of war must not only +be termed foolish, but absolutely immoral. The peace of Europe is only a +secondary matter for us. The sight of suffering does one good; the +infliction of suffering does one more good. This war must be conducted +as ruthlessly as possible. + +"The Belgians should not be shot _dead_. They should be ... so left as +to make impossible all hope of recovery. The troops are to treat the +Belgian civil population with unrelenting severity and frightfulness. +Weak nations have not the same right to live as powerful ... nations. +The world has no longer need of little nationalities. We Germans have +little esteem and less respect ... for Holland. We need to enlarge our +colonial possessions; such territorial acquisitions we can only realize +at the cost of other states. + +"Russia must no longer be our frontier. The Polish press should be +annihilated ... likewise the French and Danish.... The Poles should be +allowed ... three privileges: to pay taxes, serve in the army, and shut +their jaws. France must be so completely crushed that she will never +again cross our path. You must remember that we have not come to make +war on the French people, but to bring them the higher Civilization. The +French have shown themselves decadent and without respect for the Divine +law. Against England we fight for booty. Our real enemy is England. We +have to ... crush absolutely perfidious Albion ... subdue her to such an +extent that her influence all over the world is broken forever. + +"German should replace English as the world language. English, the +bastard tongue ... must be swept into the remotest corners ... until it +has returned to its original elements of an insignificant pirate +dialect. The German language acts as a blessing which, coming direct +from the hand of God, sinks into the heart like a precious balm. To us, +more than any other nation, is intrusted the true structure of human +existence. Our own country, by employing military power, has attained a +degree of Culture which it could never have reached by peaceful means. + +"The civilization of mankind suffers every time a German becomes an +American. Let us drop our miserable attempts to excuse Germany's action. +We willed it. Our might shall create a new law in Europe. It is Germany +that strikes. We are morally and intellectually superior beyond all +comparison.... We must ... fight with Russian beasts, English +mercenaries, and Belgian fanatics. We have nothing to apologize for. It +is no consequence whatever if all the monuments ever created, all the +pictures ever painted, all the buildings ever erected by the great +architects of the world, be destroyed.... The ugliest stone placed to +mark the burial of a German grenadier is a more glorious monument than +all the cathedrals of Europe put together. No respect for the tombs of +Shakespeare, Newton, and Faraday. + +"They call us barbarians. What of it? The German claim must be: ... +Education to hate ... Organization of hatred ... Education to the desire +for hatred. Let us abolish unripe and false shame.... To us is given +faith, hope, and hatred; but hatred is the greatest among them." + +The German war code, introduction, paragraph three, reads as follows: "A +war conducted with energy cannot be directed merely against the +combatants of the enemy state, and the positions which they occupy, but +will in like manner seek to destroy the total intellectual and material +resources of the latter." + + + + +XII + + +We are at war. On April 6, 1917, the democracy of the United States of +America formally declared war against the autocracy of Germany. What are +we fighting for? + +Two brutes in the shape of men engage in a savage, drunken brawl. +Bloody, cursing, dishevelled, with swollen and distorted features, and +screaming their anathemas of drunken hate, they fight with the ferocity +of beasts. Beasts they are. + +A bully, a degenerate, a thug of the city, a brigand of the country, a +horse thief of the western plains, attacks a weaker and unprepared +victim. A man with red blood in his veins sees the assault, and attacks +the attacker with strength enough to save the victim, arrest the +disturber of the peace, and prevent a repetition of the offense. He has +been engaged in a fight, but he is not a beast. + +The spirit of Lafayette brought him to America to fight for democracy; +he was a hard fighter but he was not a beast. And now, against that +calculating and brutal power which with the treachery of a tiger of the +jungle and all the devilish ingenuity of the highest Kultur has +assaulted the peace of the world, the armies of America are led by the +spirit of Lafayette. + +For years the Prussian military autocracy has been preparing for the +leap upon its victim. The power to declare war has been kept solely and +exclusively in the hands of the military autocracy. It is responsible to +no one. The great mass of people must do as they are commanded; +obeying, not laws made by themselves acting through their duly-elected +representatives, but orders promulgated by a self-appointed few, the +military autocracy of Prussia. Woe to the unfortunate victim who refuses +to obey! With cold-blooded deliberation this military autocracy which +controls the German people has for years been preparing its huge +fighting machine. When the time to strike came, when the neighbouring +countries were least prepared to resist, Germany was deluged with the +lie that the German nation was attacked, the scrap of paper otherwise +called a treaty was torn up, and the tiger sprang. The world knows the +result. + +We enter the war for two motives, one to preserve the democracies of +Europe, the other for our own preservation. The sinking of our ships by +submarines was merely the immediate cause, the match that lit the fire, +just as the firing on Fort Sumter was the proximate but not the real +cause of our Civil War. The real cause of our Civil War was, as Lincoln +said, because this nation "could not endure half slave and half free." +The real cause of the present World War is because civilization cannot +endure half military autocracy and half free democracy. "The world must +be made safe for democracy." We fight to save the intended victims of +Prussianism, to arrest the disturber of the peace, and prevent a +repetition of the offense. + +The President of the United States in his great message, delivered in +the Congress of the United States on the second day of April, 1917, in +which he advised the Congress to accept the status of belligerent thrust +upon us by the acts of the Imperial Government of Germany in unlawfully +sinking our ships and killing our citizens, said: "Let us be very clear, +and make very clear to all the world what our motives and our objects +are.... Our object ... is to vindicate the principles of peace and +justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power +and to set up amongst the really free and self-governed peoples of the +world such a concert of purpose and of action as will henceforth ensure +the observance of those principles. Neutrality is no longer feasible or +desirable where the peace of the world is involved and the freedom of +its peoples, and the menace to that peace and freedom lies in the +existence of autocratic governments backed by organized force which is +controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people.... + +"We are now about to accept gauge of battle with this natural foe to +liberty and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to +check and nullify its pretensions and its power.... The world must be +made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested +foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We +desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, +no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are +but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied +when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom +of nations can make them." + + + + +XIII + + +We are at war with the Menace. It is the same Menace--now grown to a +monster with four heads dominated by one brain--that over a hundred +years ago invited Lafayette to its palace at Potsdam to review the +Prussian army, and then cynically suggested to him an end upon the +scaffold. It is the same Menace, now from its four mouths spitting its +spume of hate upon a chaotic world, that thrust the body of the champion +of democracy into a dungeon, but could not kill his soul. Our present +war against this creature of evil is but one more act in the drama begun +by the spirit of Lafayette. + +How shall this act end? Listen to this. I quote largely from André +Chéradame, a man who deals not in platitudes and conceits to tickle the +vanity of a nation, but in cold, hard facts. + +In 1914, when the war began, Prussian militarism controlled Germany, +with a population of sixty-eight millions; and Germany had one ally, +Austria-Hungary, of whose thirty million people a majority were directly +antagonistic to Berlin. By the spring of 1915 it had extended and +organized its power among these thirty million Austro-Hungarians, who +until that time had taken orders from their own independent military +chiefs. In the fall of 1915 it joined hands with Bulgaria and Turkey +over the corpse of Serbia. Thus, since the beginning of the war, has +been formed the Quadruple Alliance, dominated by Prussian militarism. + +This alliance, or Prussia before the alliance was completed, has since +the beginning of the war seized Belgium, Poland, Serbia, Albania, +Montenegro, part of France, and most of Roumania. The population now +controlled by Prussian militarism is about one hundred and seventy-five +million people. The economic resources controlled by it show a +corresponding increase. Before the war began, Prussia planned for a +Pan-Germanism of this nature, and this plan has now been almost +completed. + +If Prussia can now, by granting pretentious but ineffective political +reforms to its own people and by fighting a defensive war until the +contest becomes a deadlock, hold this Pan-Germany in its present +position, then after peace has been declared it can organize this vast +additional strength in man power and resources which it has gained, can +Prussianize this additional one hundred million, can, by the same +intrigue which it has used in the past, undermine during this period of +peace the internal defensive effectiveness of the democracies, and when +the time comes can strike again. And if the democracies are unable to +win now, what chance will they have then? + +Drop the scales from our eyes and look clearly at the facts, hard as +they are. The Menace has been fighting a winning fight. By merely +keeping a deadlock for the rest of the war, and forcing a truce under +the guise of peace, the Menace will win; provided, however, that it is +not expelled by the German people themselves. This is the strength--and +the weakness--of the foe against which we have declared war. + +The Prussian looks a long way ahead. M. Chéradame, in his work, "Le +Complot Pan-Germaniste Demasqué," recites the following incident: "In +1898, before Manila, the German Rear-Admiral von Goetzen, a friend of +the Kaiser, said to the American Admiral Dewey, 'In about fifteen years +my country will begin a great war.... Some months after we have done our +business in Europe we shall take New York and probably Washington, and +we shall keep them for a time.... We shall extract one or two billions +of dollars from New York and other towns.'" The months referred to by +the German sailor may be turned into years, and the one or two billions +may be multiplied by ten--but the Prussian looks a long way ahead. + + + + +XIV + + +How can our rights and the rights of mankind to which the President has +alluded be made secure? What definite concrete facts must be established +in order that democracy may be made safe? + +In the first place, the autocratic power that now puts terror into the +heart of the world must be broken beyond repair. The Hohenzollerns and +the rest of the military caste which now controls Germany must be +politically exterminated. No pretended or half-way internal political +reforms, leaving a road for their return to power, will be sufficient. +Annihilate the Menace. The cancer must be cut out, with no roots left in +the body politic to spread its hideous disease again. Make an effective +job of it once for all. We want no chance, under the cloak of peace, for +the return of this monster. + +"The time has come to conquer or submit," wrote President Wilson shortly +after our declaration of war. It is true. Can any one doubt what would +have happened to the United States of America if Prussian autocracy had +dictated terms of peace to vanquished Allies and as part of those terms +had taken over the allied fleet and obtained territory in Canada? Or can +any one doubt what will now happen to all the democracies if the present +Pan-Germany, now existing by means of Prussian victories in this war, is +during the next ten years consolidated, organized, Prussianized--and +then, a fighting machine twice as powerful as the machine of 1914, +hurled against the democracies? With an army of seven or eight million +men trained to the hour, with equipped reserves of ten or twelve million +more, with a complete network of military railroads capable of +concentrating the units of this engine of destruction wherever military +strategy shall designate, and with aeroplanes and transatlantic +submarines in proportion, what chance will the democracies have? + +In the second place, it ought to be very clear that future power and +prosperity on the part of the plain people of Germany will be no bar to +securing our rights, provided, however, that this power and prosperity +is not owned and controlled by Prussian autocracy so that it can again +be forced into a huge fighting machine to put the rest of the world in +terror. The spirit of Lafayette, although its fight against such masters +is eternal, will not lead in a war of conquest or annihilation against +the German people. + +"We have no quarrel with the German people," said the President of the +United States in his message of April 2, 1917. "We have no feeling +toward them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their +impulse that their government acted in entering this war. It was not +with their previous knowledge or approval. It was a war determined upon +as wars used to be determined upon in the old, unhappy days when peoples +were nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and waged +in the interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambitious men who +were accustomed to use their fellowmen as pawns and tools." It was a war +determined upon by the same Menace that thrust the democrat Lafayette +into a dungeon, and which so hated democracy that when compelled to +release him it attempted to impose terms that he should be deported to +America, never again to place foot on Prussian or Austrian soil. + +The corollary of this is that the best security for the rights of +democracy is the establishment of a republic in Germany. A real +republic, not a sham one. This is the one definite, concrete fact which +would make the world safer for its peoples. + +When will the German people see the light? When will there be a +government of the people of Germany, for the people, and by the people? +The shades of her dead, led to the slaughter by a merciless and +heartless autocracy in a needless war, cry out for it. What say you, you +men of Germany? Among you are men whose souls are brave and strong and +true, an unnumbered host. How long, slaves, will you bend your backs to +the lash of your military masters? They lied to you and made you +believe the Fatherland was attacked, and led you, dupes, into a war of +conquest. Your modern Pilate, in his blasphemous pride, with the name of +God upon his lips and the blood of innocents upon his hands, is now +crucifying Freedom upon his cross of iron. But the day of the +resurrection will come; and how will your record stand then? Awake, ye +free of Germany! When shall you come into your own? + +Every hour that the coming of such a republic is shortened means just so +much less agony for the peoples of the world. There is no better pledge +for the safety of democracy. "Self-governed nations," said the President +of the United States in the message referred to above, "do not fill +their neighbour states with spies or set the course of intrigue to +bring about some critical posture of affairs which will give them an +opportunity to strike and make conquest. Such designs can be +successfully worked out only under cover and where no one has the right +to ask questions. Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggression, +carried, it may be, from generation to generation, can be worked out and +kept from the light only within the privacy of courts or behind the +carefully guarded confidences of a narrow and privileged class. They are +happily impossible where public opinion commands and insists upon full +information concerning all the nation's affairs." + + + + +XV + + +What else? The union. The final act in the world-wide drama of +democracy. The union of the democracies of the world to insure mutual +protection and peace. I mean a union for this purpose of all those +governments where the people, by their representatives, control. The +union on two hemispheres of what the spirit of Lafayette foresaw, +symbolized, and battled for on both. + +The union ought to include the Austrian and German people themselves. It +can never, however, include the Prussian military autocracy or any other +military autocracy. I quote again from the President's message: "A +steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a +partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic government could be +trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. It must be a +league of honour, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its +vitals away; the plottings of inner circles who could plan what they +would and render account to no one would be a corruption seated at its +very heart. Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honour +steady to a common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow +interest of their own.... One of the things that has served to convince +us that the Prussian autocracy was not and could never be our friend is +that from the very outset of the present war it has filled our +unsuspecting communities and even our offices of government with spies, +and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity +of counsel, our peace within and without, our industries, and our +commerce. Indeed it is now evident that its spies were here even before +the war began; and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture, but a +fact proved in our courts of justice, that the intrigues which have more +than once come perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating +the industries of the country have been carried on at the instigation, +with the support, and even under the personal direction of official +agents of the Imperial Government accredited to the Government of the +United States." + +The union must be a union to keep the future safe against war, a league +to compel every nation after the close of the present war to settle any +claim it may have against its neighbour in the same way that individuals +settle their disputes--by rules of right and reason instead of by the +law of might. It must be "some definite concert of power that will make +it virtually impossible that any such catastrophe should ever overwhelm +us again." In a memorable address to the Senate of the United States on +January 22, 1917, the President urged that the United States enter into +such a league after the close of the present war, and on the point of +effectiveness said: "Mere agreements may not make peace secure. It will +be absolutely necessary that a force be created, as a guarantor of the +permanency of the settlement, so much greater than the force of any +nation now engaged or any alliance hitherto formed or projected, that no +nation, no probable combination of nations, could face or withstand it. +If the peace presently to be made is to endure it must be a peace made +secure by the organized major force of mankind." + + + + +XVI + + +"_Cur non?_"--"Why not?" The union of the democracies will be the +culmination of the world-wide drama begun by the spirit of Lafayette. + +Jesus Christ, nineteen hundred years ago in his Sermon on the Mount, +said to the wondering multitude: "For verily I say unto you, till heaven +and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the +law, till all be fulfilled." Since then, as sure and certain as the +evolution of time itself, the evolution of the law has been toward such +a union. + + "God's ways seem dark, but soon or late + They touch the shining hills of day; + The evil cannot brook delay, + The good can well afford to wait. + Give ermined kings their hour of crime, + Ye have the future grand and great + The safe appeal of truth to time." + +Year has followed year and century has followed century, and through it +all, surely, slowly, often torn and twisted out of shape but always +growing, evolving, moving onward, the law has followed the safe appeal +of truth to time, toward this great goal. One jot or one tittle shall in +no wise pass from it till all be fulfilled. It is the spirit of +Lafayette that leads. It was he who saw "the glory of the coming of the +Lord." He saw fulfilled in fact the union of the separate democracies on +one hemisphere; his spirit sees the vision of their union on two. + +Gaze for a moment on what this soldier spirit has looked down upon in +the past and on the vision of what it sees for the future. + +Centuries ago individual man settled all his disputes with individual +man by fighting. It was the primitive method. There was no law: might +made right. The spirit saw savage primeval force, unconquered, untaught, +powerful and brutal in the wanton exercise of its strength. + +Then, under the safe appeal of truth to time, there gradually evolved, +as between man and man, the method of voluntary submission to a judicial +tribunal. Twisted and gnarled was this growth however, for even under +Anglo-Saxon law the right of trial by battle was jealously guarded, and +lasted for many years. A noble knight charged with an offense could +always demand trial by battle; and if he succeeded in running through +the body or otherwise disabling the man who made the accusation, he +thereby established his own innocence and was acquitted by the court. +This also the spirit saw. + +Then gradually force was conquered, tamed, and used; and there evolved +the modern court backed by the harnessed force of the community--backed +by force sufficient to compel individual man to settle his disputes in +court instead of by fighting, and if he refused and chose to fight, +sufficient to compel him to desist and to punish him for his attempt. +Force, a human Niagara, wild from the beginning, now controlled and +directed by a higher law. Imagine the modern courts of our cities and +states without the backing of organized force--courts and judges and +rules of judicial procedure with no force to support them, and each +individual in the community vested with the option in case of a dispute +with a neighbour to settle that dispute by attacking the neighbour! We +should have anarchy within six months. + +What about nations? What has the spirit seen there? For nations are +merely large collections of individuals. The same law of evolution +governs both. + +The first and primitive method of settling disputes between nations, and +for a long time the only one, was war; and this the spirit beheld. Then +gradually evolved the method of voluntary submission to a judicial +tribunal such as the tribunal now existing at The Hague, each nation +retaining, however, its right of trial by battle. The next method, the +vision of the future, the new internationalism of which the living +Lafayette was the symbol, is the harnessing of the united force of the +peoples of the world, the union of the democracies to enforce the peace +of the world. It is a vision of the union to form a modern court backed +by force trained to obey the higher law, backed by force sufficient to +compel nations to settle their disputes in court instead of by +fighting. It is a vision of the war ogre, who has for centuries ravaged +the world, at last shackled and bound; of the monster who with bloody +claws and fangs has torn, ripped, and murdered his victims by the +million, at last overcome; a vision of this evil brute of war conquered, +and of primeval force trained, civilized, and forging the chains to hold +this devil of hell. + + + + +XVII + + +Did that Indian warrior who met Lafayette in the American wilderness +speak more wisely than he knew? Were the footsteps of this soldier of +France directed by the Great Spirit? Who can tell! + +This must be the last war. We shall not hand down to our children this +heritage of calamity. Our Revolutionary War settled for all time the +independence of these United States of America. The Civil War settled +for all time the question of slavery in this hemisphere. This war must +and shall settle for all time the question of military autocratic +domination of the world. "The time has come to conquer or submit." + +And if after we have checked and curbed this natural foe to liberty +there shall arise a concert of the powers of the world, a world-wide +union to insure and enforce future peace, a union based not merely on +treaty obligations which may be avoided, or on a contract which may be +broken, but on a wide understanding and realization that organized +democracy must in the future act concertedly as the police of the +world--then by just so much as we make posterity safe, the awful +sacrifice will not have been made in vain. + +We build for posterity. "_Cur non?_"--"Why not?" It is the spirit of +Lafayette that calls. And with the call we hear from the heavens the +chant of a mighty chorus, singing not the hymn of hate but the pæan of +peace on earth, good-will toward men. + +Those who do not know us gibe at us and throw our sins in our teeth. +But this mightiest of democracies is at last awakening, is casting out +the evil genii of opulence, is girding on its sword for the great work. +Soldier of freedom, thou camest to us in the time of our greatest need. +"Now," thou saidst, "is precisely the moment to serve your cause." +Symbol of the united democracies of the world, symbol of a union which +will make the earth safe for its peoples, symbol of a union of peace, we +are led by thy spirit. We fight for democracy; we build for posterity. + + _And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, + and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a + rock._ + + + + + [Device] + THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS + GARDEN CITY, N. Y. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Archaic + and variant spellings remain as printed. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Spirit of Lafayette, by James Mott Hallowell + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPIRIT OF LAFAYETTE *** + +***** This file should be named 24494-8.txt or 24494-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/4/9/24494/ + +Produced by Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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