Rupert Sargent Holland

“ If I am striving for my own glory, I am at the same time laboring for the welfare of the American republic. I trust that, for my sake, you will become a good American. It is a sentiment made for virtuous hearts. The happiness of America is intimately connected with the happiness of all mankind; she is destined to become the safe and worthy asylum of virtue, integrity, tolerance, equality, and peaceful liberty.”
This, from a boy not yet twenty years old, showed the prophetic instinct that burned like a clear flame in the soul of Lafayette. ”

“ Lafayette said to his officers, [197] “We are lost if the service continues to be conducted with such great inexactitude. We are the only soldiers of the Revolution; we alone should defend the royal family from every attack; we alone should establish the liberty of the representatives of the nation; we are the only guardians of the public treasury. France, all Europe, have fixed their eyes on the Parisians. A disturbance in Paris, an attack made through our negligence on these sacred institutions, would dishonor us forever, and bring upon us the hatred of the provinces.” ”

“ Few men are like Lafayette, who from youth to old age hold fast to their ideals, no matter what comes. Then, in a time of stress, the question is put to them: What will you do? Take the easy road of blindness or follow the rough road of vision? Belgium had her choice; she chose to lose all her worldly possessions rather than lose her soul. France had her choice, and England and Italy: to each the vision of liberty was greater than safety of life. And as each has had to pay in countless suffering so the soul of each nation has risen to greater heights. Their people do not perish like the blind ”

“ Russia was autocratic, her ruling house of Romanoff was in many ways true brother of the other tyrants, but the people of Russia felt the new spirit and have already driven their Czar from his throne. When we think of the French Revolution, the Reign of Terror, Napoleon, and all that France had to endure on the hard road to liberty we may well imagine that dark days lie before the Russian people, but in time France rose like a phœnix from the ashes of revolt, and when we see what France is to-day we may look confidently to the future of this other great people. ”

“ Russia had her Czar, an autocrat of the worst type, Turkey her Sultan, a relic of the Dark Ages, Austria her Hapsburg Emperor, a thorough Bourbon, who learned nothing and forgot nothing. And Germany had her Hohenzollern and Prussian Emperor, the descendant of a long line of autocratic rulers, the sovereign made by Bismarck, “the man of blood and iron,” the stanch believer in the old doctrine of the divine right of kings. Germany had become an empire by the power of the sword, and her Emperor never allowed his people to forget that fact.
Power goes to the head of a nation like strong wine. ”

“ To what nobler end could Washington’s children dedicate themselves than to help their brethren? And the spirit of Lafayette must rejoice to see his dreams fulfilled, his dreams of the great republic and of the dawn of the brotherhood of men!
Lover of liberty and justice, we salute you! The time has come for us to show that what you hoped of us we now are, and to show it to the end that liberty shall not perish from the earth, that all men be free, and that in truth [343] man was endowed by his Creator with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. ”

“ If you look back through history you will see [320] that the crimes of all the despots are the crimes of Germany to-day and that whenever men were fighting tyranny, rapacity and cruelty they were fighting the same battle that America and her allies fight to-day.
More than that. In fighting for freedom we are fighting for our preservation. The world cannot exist one half slave, the other half free. Let tyranny succeed in Europe and it can only be a short time before it will look hungrily at America. The Menace must be destroyed before it grows so powerful that none can withstand it. ”

“ She is young and immensely strong, she is still the land of freedom. And when she rises in full, relentless might, thrice armed in that she has a just cause, she will destroy the serpent and cast him from the earth. The greatest page in our history is being written; we shall write it so that the better world to come shall call us blessed.
“We are coming, Lafayette!” What a call to victory is that! We have already come. We have joined with the descendants of that youth of France who came to us in our hour of need. The spirit of Washington must glory in that fact. ”

“ There have been many great changes in all the countries of the world since the time of Lafayette, and in most nations liberty has become more and more the watchword and the goal. The French Revolution was like a deep chasm between the era of feudalism and the era of the rights of man, and though the pendulum has sometimes seemed to swing backward for a short time it has almost constantly swung farther and farther forward in the direction of independence. ”

“ Every boy and man in America should learn the lesson of Lafayette’s life and then go into the struggle with the feeling that he is following in the footsteps of that great idealist, that great patriot whose country was not limited to his own nation but to all men who yearned for liberty. The greatest gift of patriots is not the material things they may build, but the devotion to ideals they show to other men. ”

“ In 1917 the United States of America drew the sword in defense of the sacred principle of liberty for which the country of Lafayette was fighting. The debt of gratitude had never been forgotten; the ideals of the gallant Frenchman and of the young Republic of the Western World were the same; what he had done for us we of America are now doing for him.
It is a glorious story, and one never to be forgotten while men love liberty and truth. ”

“ And the spirit that fills France to-day, the spirit that fills England and Belgium and America and all the allies, yes, even that same spirit in Russia, will carry mankind a long way on the road to liberty. For no one can conquer that spirit; it is the immortal part of man. ”

“ For six hundred years it has stood there, part fortress and part manor-house and farm, a huge structure, built piecemeal through centuries, with many towers and battlements and thick stone walls long overgrown with moss. Before it lies the valley of the Allier and the great rugged mountains of Auvergne. Love of freedom is deeply rooted in the country round it, for the people of Auvergne have always been an independent, proud and fearless race.
In this old Château of Chavaniac there was born on September 6, 1757, the Marquis de Lafayette. ”

“ As the small American republic once heard with rejoicing and confidence the word that Lafayette and Rochambeau were to bring aid westward across the Atlantic, so now the great French republic heard with the same emotions the declaration that American soldiers were to bring succor to them eastward across the same sea. The last great neutral nation, immense in power of men and wealth and energy, had cast in its lot with the forces that were fighting for freedom. ”

“ On one midsummer night Marie Antoinette gave a fête at Versailles, and Lafayette led the revels. The Queen had declared that she meant to have a fête champêtre in the gardens that should be different from anything the court of France had ever seen. All her guests should appear either as goblins or as nymphs. They should not be required to dance the quadrille or any other stately measure, but would be free to play any jokes that came into their heads. As Marie Antoinette outlined these plans to him Lafayette shook his head in doubt. ”

“ History rarely says enough about the devoted wives of the great men who have helped the world. No hero ever found greater aid and sympathy when he needed it most than Lafayette had from his wife Adrienne.
From his home at Lagrange the true patriot of France watched the wonderful course of the Emperor of France. It was a course amazing in its victories. The men who had been an undrilled rabble in the days of the Revolution were now the veterans of the proudest army in Europe. The people did not have much more liberty than they had enjoyed under Louis XVI. ”

“ So is liberty built; founded upon a rock; as unconquerable as the soul of man. Liberty must win after floods and storms; its beacon-light must in the time to come illumine the whole world. Its enemies are strong and well-prepared; they call to their aid all the [341] powers and devices of darkness; but as truth is greater than falsehood so is liberty greater than all the oppressors of man can bring against it. ”

“ But France had yet to deal with its own problem of liberty. There were many men who dreamed of equality in that nation and who hoped for it, but the King and the court were despotic, the peasants yoked to the soil, bowed down by unjust taxes, crushed by unfair laws. There was a spirit abroad that was destined to bring a temporary whirlwind. So the thinking men of France, and Lafayette one of the chief among them, turned their attention to affairs at home. ”

“ Never in history has a people,—and in this case a people that was supposed to be civilized and thoughtful,—bowed its neck so meekly to the yoke of its overlords.
But as the hordes of power-drunk Germans,—whom civilization has rightly named the Huns, in memory of those earlier barbarian invaders of western Europe,—advanced through the peaceful fields of little Belgium they found, to their great surprise, that the Belgian people did not intend to submit to such an outrage without protest. ”

“ The innocent men, women and children who went down with the Lusitania called forth the hate of the world on the Huns, and set America on fire with indignation. For every victim there Germany was to pay a thousandfold in time.
The United States had a great President, a man who knew the temper of his people far better than those who criticized him. He knew the history of the country, he knew that [315] its people loved peace and hated war, that Europe was far from the vision of most of them, and that they still cherished Washington’s advice against the making of “entangling alliances.” ”

“ Fortunately Lafayette was more even-tempered. In spite of this rebuff at the outset he meant to achieve his goal. He turned to the angry De Kalb and laid his hand restrainingly on the latter’s arm. “Let us not talk of damages, my friend,” he said. “It is more important for us to talk of doing. It is true that Congress didn’t ask us to leave our homes and cross the sea to lead its army. But I will not go back now. If the Congress will not accept me as a major-general, I will fight for American liberty as a volunteer!” ”

“ Yet the German army was a mighty and effective machine in that autumn of 1914, built by men who had devoted their lives to perfecting instruments of destruction. It rolled on and on, across Belgium, southward and westward into France, crushing the small Belgian army, forcing the outnumbered British into retreat, driving back the French by sheer weight of cannon and men. ”

“ 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 had directed thy footsteps to this council of friendship to smoke the calumet of peace and fellowship with thy long-lost children. ”

“ The Allies, weary and worn with more than two years of fighting, looked to this fresh, great people to bring them victory.
A month after we joined the cause of liberty French generals and statesmen came to [332] America. At their head was Marshal Joffre, the hero of the Marne. He visited Mount Vernon and laid a wreath on the tomb of Washington; he traveled through the country and everywhere he found statues of Lafayette and Joan of Arc and memories of great Frenchmen. To America Joffre stood for the ideals of France, courage, endurance, nobility of thought and action. ”

“ It is for us to give the land of Lafayette all that he brought to us, and we do it for the same reason, because we see in France and her allies the present hope of the world.
It is for youth to fight, for age to counsel and help youth in the combat. Glorious is the opportunity that lies before the youth of our country now ”

“ Lafayette, who had played with the Queen and her friends in the gardens at Versailles when he was a boy, had stood by her loyally on that day when the mob had vowed vengeance against her. He believed in liberty and constitutional government, but he also believed in order. He wanted to protect the weak and defenseless, and he hated the excesses of the mob. He thought he could reproduce in France what he had seen accomplished in America. But conditions were too different. The people of France had been ground down too long by their nobles. ”

“ The true test of the greatness of a nation is its ability to use its power for the good of the world rather than for selfish ends. Prussia had always been selfish. She had fought a number of successful wars, against Denmark, against Austria, and against France, and each time she had taken territory from her adversary. Her statesmen regarded her power only as a means to gain greater material strength, and from the birth of the empire they trained the people to think only of that end. ”

“ But the people have let themselves be treated like galley-slaves, have allowed that dark enemy of liberty to chain them to the benches and make them row that ship of state which is nothing less than a pirate bark upon the seas of the world. The people have been blind. Our President has tried to help them to see the light of freedom. ”

“ It is one of the beautiful things of history that Americans could do this for France. It is in such ways that the spirit of brotherly love may some day encircle the earth.
For all wise men know that it is not riches, nor material possessions nor great territories that make either men or nations noble. The United States might cover half the globe, her wealth be beyond what man has ever dreamed of, her population run into the hundreds of millions, and yet our country be only hated and feared by other peoples. That was the future the rulers of Germany had been planning for [327] their nation ”