OF GENERAL LA FAYETTE, EMBRACING' DETAILS OF HIS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIFE,. SKETCHES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, RESTORATION OF THE BOURBONS. WITH Biographical Notices OF INDIVIDUALS, WHO HAVE BEEN DISTINGUISHED ACTORS IN THESE EVENTS. HARTFORD, PUBLISHED BY BARBER AND ROBINSON. 1825. DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT, ss. BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the First day of FebruL. S. ary, in the forty-ninth year of the Independence of the United States of America, Barber and Robinson of the said District, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit: "Memoirs of General La Fayette, embracing details of his public and private life, sketches of the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the downfall of Bonaparte, and the restoration of the Bourbons, with Biographical notices of individuals who have been distinguished actors in these events." In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned." CHAS. A. INGERSOLL, Clerk of the District of Connecticut. A true copy of Record, examined and sealed by me, CHAS. A. INGERSOLL, Clerk of the District of Connectiout. PREFACE. THE present volume, though necessarily compiled in great haste, it is hoped will be found to comprise all that is necessary to enable the reader to form a just estimate of the Life and Character of General La Fayette. It was the opinion of the writer, that a bare detail of his actions, without bringing into view the circumstances under which they were performed, or the persons with whom he was associated, or to whom he was opposed, could not present any adequate grounds upon which to form an opinion of a characer, who has been so conspicuous in the great movements of the last half century. It is obvious that the elevation of La Fayette's conduct in embracing the American cause, cannot be properly felt, unless we take into consideration the real state of the American struggle at the time-that we cannot comprehend the dignity with which he marched through the French Revolution, unless we are apprised of the fearful convulsions which shook every thing around him—and that we cannot assign him his comparative rank among the great men of the last age, without recollecting the long list of mighty names which have figured by his side. The writer has therefore hastily sketched the great public events in which General La Fayette has been concerned—and in some instances has gone so far as to add a few pages, for the sake of completeness, not directly connected with his Memoirs. In this course he has, perhaps, in same instances, rather consulted what he apprehended must be the feeling and interest of his readers, than strict rhetorical symmetry. |