Lafitte

“ DAR. And the old uncle to give you welcome.
DOM. Spain is a pretty far way off, eh uncle?
DAR. But with Lafitte!—You know, Dominique, I have served Lafitte for years and yet have never seen him.
DOM. You have no idea the wonderful man he is!
DAR. Yes?
DOM. Oh, a man to admire, copy, love; a man to spend your life with, if it were not for Bella. How is Bella? Have you seen her? Is she well?— (notices a bulge in Darblee’s pockets.) What [26] on earth have you in your pockets?
DAR. (pulling out a pair of slippers.) ”

“ I’ll look for the man in the locket. (exit.)
LIZ. Dis snake head pow’ful significant. (the moon rises, Lizbette puts locket in her bosom; takes her bottles from the grave and exits. Enter Lafitte; he walks across stage; sits absent-mindedly; rests his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Enter Mariana. “Her eyes are open, but their sense is shut.” She wears a long, filmy, trailing white dress; her hair falls over her shoulders; she has her back turned to Lafitte; she touches the tall flowers lightly going from one to another—)
MAR. (in a low, soft voice to a flower.) ”

“ Weak and very nervous, they say, but quite conscious. It was the shock— (getting up and calling.) Narbonne. (enter Narbonne.) Order the false commander of the Creole brought before me. (Narbonne bows and exits; Lafitte walks about; enter Pedro in chains and escorted by pirates; Lafitte faces about as they enter; both start.) What! (to the man.) Is this the man who commanded the Creole?
1st PIR. This is the man.
LAF. Colonel Tolosa, what have you to say in your own defense? (Pedro is silent.) Perhaps you know the whereabouts of that ally of yours, Don Manuel d’Acosta? ”

“ Mother could never have loved other than a fine man.
BEL. Did she ever tell you his name?
BELLA. No.—Sometimes I think they may have made a mistake about his being dead;—don’t you think so?
BEL. No,—he is dead. (turns to go.)
BELLA. (puts her hand on his arm.) You will send Dominique to me?
BEL. Yes.
BELLA. Thank you.—I do like you. (exeunt severally Bella and Beluche; distant sounds of battle; enter several pirates; they look surly, scowling.)
1st PIR. Do you hear that firing?
2d PIR. I’m not deaf. (shivers; draws his coat about him.)
1st PIR. I don’t believe in Lafitte’s co-operation ”

“ BELLA. Baptiste.
DUV. Then go home with him.
BELLA. (kisses her father.) Good-by. (holds her hand out to Dominique.) Good-by. (he comes to her; takes her hand; kisses it; exit Bella.)
DUV. (to Dominique.) Now, sir!—I have no time to join the fighting forces near New Orleans. I will follow you and settle my personal differences with you later.
DOM. (bows; turns; makes a few steps toward exit, followed by Duval; stops; starts.) By heavens!—the British! The men have let them pass without a shot! (to his men.) Forward! (men remain seated; continue playing.) In the name of Lafitte! (all rise.) ”

“ Yet it was his proud satisfaction, before he finally lay down, to see Ursin a favored companion and the peer, both in courtesy and pride, of those polished gentlemen famous in history, the brothers Lafitte.
The two Lafittes were, at the time young Lemaitre reached his majority (say 1808 or 1812) , only merchant blacksmiths, so to speak, a term intended to convey the idea of blacksmiths who never soiled their hands, who were men of capital, stood a little higher than the clergy, and moved in society among its autocrats. ”

“ Hadn’t Lafitte better bring him before a Commissioner, and have a certificate made out”—
“No,” interrupted the merchant, with strenuous emphasis. “I’ll have it said in New Orleans that a Boston merchant can show his devotion to the interests of the South without any ridiculous formalities. It’ll strike them well, Bangham, [208] and raise our credit there. Besides, if we go before the Commissioner, those infernal Abolitionists will have another long fuss about it, as they had about Sims, and who knows but that they’ll rescue him as they did Shadrach. ”

“ DOM. Yes. Au revoir. (exeunt; Bella enters just as Duval, Pedro and the others enter.)
DUV. (in high feather.) Well, that’s done!
1st LEG. And well done. The petition cannot fail to carry weight.
DUV. Five hundred dollars reward for Lafitte’s head should bring about results.
BELLA. (advancing timidly.) It is blood money.
DUV. What of it?
BELLA. Pirates are men.
PED. (smilingly and yet on the alert.) Does Miss Bella know any of them?
DUV. (angrily, to Bella.) I will tell you this much: that if ever the nosing Britishers get into New Orleans, it will be by the aid of the pirates. ”

“ There must be not only bold men, with arms in their hands, to achieve, but there must be sagacious men in council to plan and direct. During the day a sort of provisional government was established by the insurgents, which continued in session until midnight. The voices of the street cannon [Pg 205] had summoned Lafayette to Paris, and he consecrated his world-wide renown to the cause of popular rights, for which he had fought in America, and to which he had been ever true in Europe. M. Lafitte, the wealthiest banker in Paris, consecrated his fortune to the cause. ”

“ Things will come right troo a disguise.
BAP. An’ dis— (takes out the serpent-head locket.) I dunno who dat sen’ it, but de owner wan t’know ef her lover gwine be true to her? (Lizbette takes the locket.) I done got some money here wat Miss Bella sont yo..., (looks for the money; finds none; Lizbette shakes her head.)
[51]
LIZ. Wat use try to fool de powers?
BAP. (distracted.) But Aun’ Lizbette ... (Lizbette shakes her head.) Lordy! I’ll give you de las’ cent I got, Aun’ Lizbette—all de money I kin make so you woan gimme dat rep’tation. Dat sperrit jes sot on chasin’ me to dem blood-houn’s. ”

“ His vast wealth, and the frequent and extensive aid it has afforded to the working classes, have rendered him one of, if not the most popular man in Paris: so that those most conversant with the actual state of affairs, pronounce that with Lafayette and Laffitte now rest the destiny of France. How strange is the alteration which has occurred within so short a space of time! Five days ago, Charles the Tenth reigned in the Tuileries; at present, on Lafayette and Laffitte it depends whether he ever enters his palace again! ”

“ There were deeds of heroism, deeds of self-sacrifice. deeds of loyalty, deeds of cruelty, and deeds of mercy, as there always are in Paris in times of revolution. By nightfall on the 29th the fighting was over. It only remained Page 24 to be seen what would be done with the victory. The evening before, Laffitte had sent a messenger to Louis Philippe, then residing two miles from Paris, at his Château de Neuilly, warning him to hold himself in readiness for anything that might occur. Lafayette had been made governor of Paris, and thus held in his hand the destinies of France. ”

“ One of the earliest and most determined of the partisans of a constitutional monarchy under the duke of Orleans, he was deputy for Bayonne in July 1830, when his house in Paris became the headquarters of the revolutionary party. When Charles X., after retracting the hated ordinances, sent the comte d’Argout [1] to Laffitte to negotiate a change of ministry, the banker replied, “It is too late. There is no longer a Charles X.,” and it was he who secured the nomination of Louis Philippe as lieutenant-general of the kingdom. ”

“ That was written about this very region of Auvergne a few years before Lafayette was born. In self-defense the peasants made their homes look even more wretched than they really were. On occasion, when convinced that the stranger knocking at their door was no spy, they could bring a wheaten loaf and a bottle of wine from their secret store and do the honors most hospitably. ”

“ Many wonderful visitors came to La Grange, and in later years to the Paris home of the Lafayettes. There were Irish guests to tell tales of romance; there were Poles to plead the cause of their country; misguided American Indians were sometimes stranded there; Arabs from Algeria; negro officers in uniform from the French West Indies—all people who had the passion for freedom in their hearts naturally and inevitably gravitated to Lafayette. ”

“ But there was no use in trying to keep the impressionable French people from worshiping a hero after their hearts had been captured by him. The gallantry and the human-heartedness of Lafayette, as well as the ideals he held—ideals that were becoming more and more captivating to the fancy and to the reason of the French nation—contributed to make him the favorite of the hour. A passage from a certain play never failed to receive enthusiastic applause from the audiences because it was held by all to be susceptible of direct application to Lafayette ”

“ Music and artillery crashed in jubilant sound; other cannon at a distance took up the tale; and in this way news of the oath was borne to the utmost limits of France. The day ended with fireworks, dancing, and a great feast. Lafayette was the center of the cheers and adulation, admirers pressing upon him from all sides. He was even in danger of bodily harm from the embraces, "perfidious or sincere," of a group of unknown men who had to be forcibly driven away by his aides-de-camp. ”

“ The last and most moving appeal made to me was that of Monsieur Lafayette. I met him at the Tuileries when he went to pay his respects to their Majesties before rejoining his army. I know not what had passed between the King and himself at the levee, for I arrived just as he was going, but I saw by his countenance that he had the gloomiest forebodings. He drew me into a small anteroom and spoke to me with his old familiarity and affection. Indeed, he is greatly changed, and I could not help but be touched by the consternation and grief that weighed upon him. ”

“ Very different were the scenes that Lafayette witnessed, during the period he co-operated with the colonies of America, in their struggles for liberty and independence. Here he met many of the descendants of the very people, whom the bitter persecutions in France had driven to this country. Many of them, as early settlers in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia, exerted a considerable influence, in moulding the character of the American people. He found all the people engaging intelligently in the cause of freedom. ”

“ Bowles rubbed his thumb across the outlines of his study to "throw in a little atmosphere," as he said, glared at the model, pulled at his pipe and finding it out struck a match on his neighbour's back to relight it.
"His name," continued Laffat, hurling a bit of bread at the hat-rack, "his name is Hastings. He is a berry. He knows no more about the world,"—and here Mr. Laffat's face spoke volumes for his own knowledge of that planet,—"than a maiden cat on its first moonlight stroll." ”

“ THE BOYS' LIFE OF LAFAYETTE I
WARRIORS AND WILD BEASTS
"The Lafayettes die young, but die fighting," was a saying in that part of France where they had been people of consequence for seven hundred years before the most famous of them came into the world. The family name was Motier, but, after the custom of the time, they were better known by the name of their estate, La Fayette, in Auvergne, a region which had been called the French Siberia. ”

“ The two elder men were quite willing to use his enthusiasm to further their own ends; but he had great need of their help. It was agreed that the voyage to America must on no account be given up, and that the best way would be for Lafayette to purchase and fit out a ship. This, however, was easier said than done. One cannot buy a ship as casually as a new pair of gloves.
Not only was his family genuinely opposed and his government officially opposed to his going; England had spies in Paris. ”

“ Adrienne was only too willing to receive the one who had left her to go on a mission to the other side of the world; but what about the king whose command not to leave the shores of France he had practically disobeyed? Many a man had been shut up in the Bastille because of a much smaller offense.
Lafayette was brought to the court at Versailles by his relative, the Prince de Poix. The king received him and graciously accorded a punishment. He was to suffer imprisonment for the space of one week—his prison to be the grand residence of his father-in-law, the Hôtel de Noailles! ”

“ While the court at Versailles and the city of Paris were very distinct, Paris being only a huge town near at hand, the distance between them was but fourteen miles, and it was quite possible for young men like Lafayette to go visiting, so to speak, in circles not their own. Lafayette's friend, the Comte de Ségur, has left a picture of life as the young men of their circle knew it. ”

“ Sophie had become the wife of the member for the country, and had instantly settled down to a quiet life. This was disconcerting to Madame Lavilette, who had hoped that out of Farcinelle’s official position she might reap some praise and pence of ambition. Meanwhile, Ferrol became more and more a cherished and important figure in the Manor Casimbault, where the Lavilettes had made their home soon after the wedding. The old farmhouse had also secretly become a rendezvous for the mysterious Nicolas Lavilette and his rebel comrades. ”

“ He passed beneath an elaborate arch blazoned with words of welcome, but Lafayette relatively was unmoved. Sitting quietly with no expectation excited, before a screen in a public assembly, the curtain lifted and there stood his birthplace, in speaking beauty and suggestiveness and all the deeps of his heroic nature were broken up and he sobbed audibly like a child. The strong old home still held him to its heart.
How is such a birthplace marked? Chiefly by a gush of rich emotion in the heart of him who claims it as his own. Nature attends to that. A boy has warm affections. ”