Marquis De Lafayette, •The Friend of America

{J J' •Pl5;E«Q\^SI-SEA\P&i\-\/Ig"\/i^\/S* •\/ivt-9V^Sl-QfÂS-/*\0f\iTv/i^\/S- VOL., XXXII. NOTRE DAME, INDIANA, OCTOBER 22, 1898. "No. 7. , r TO THE MEMORY OF THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE, •THE FRIEND OF AMERICA . .- V • • . - AND . • . ; ,. THE yiNpiCATORÔF HUMAN IrBERTY/' jj J:J.;; : ' THESE PAGES ARE REVERENTLY DEDICATED. ' - ^-^^ ii8 NOTRE DAME SCHOLASTIC. TWO HEROES or THE AnCRlOW REVOLUTION. WASHINGTON AND LArAYETTE. PAR NOBILE TRATRUn. 'ESTA dies agitur nostrum celebranda per Quam diu inter nos furiosa belli jil^l' orbem, Sjeviit pestis, gladiique labes )'V5^ Totaque Izetifero resonat Respublica cantu, Integram late maculavit atro Et gratos cupiunt cives expromere sensus. Sanguine terram! Cur NosTR/E DOMINJE gaudent concentibus cedes? Num duces Anglos superavit unus Cur flores etiam in campo ridere videntur? , Vir bonus, fortis, patiens, et artis Omnia cur liquidas reboant campana per auras? Bellies compos? Validosne solus Undique cur cessat labor? Indulgere quieti Obruit hostes? Cur juvenes properant? Cur, exundante caterva, Discurrunt celerique pila contendere gaudent?— Absit!'Hicmagnum meruit triumphuni, Natio magna viro magno nunc debita solvit. , Cujus et nomen colimus quotannis, Si WASHINGTONEM merito donamus honore, Ac pia famam juvenes senesque Atque novo PATREM PATRliE veneramur in orbe, Voce salutant. Nonne decet tandem nos WASHINGTONIS amicum, Et belli socium, et pacis memorare sodalem? Num tuam laudern in dubium vocamus, MAGNE WASHINGTON?—Minime profecto: Floret immensis opibus superba. Quam tamen tecufn^ merito reposcat Gens, regit szevas raarium procellas, GALLICUS HEROS. Ac fere in totum dominatur ingens Anglia mundum. Hie vir'hic est, qui, patria relicta, Nobilis natu, miseris amicus Quffi quidem naves rapidas ubique Civibus, miles generosus hisce Mittit, ut quzestus habeant Bntanni, ^ . - Adpulit oris. Nomen extendant patrias ferantque; Jura colonis. Hie vir hie est/quem PATRIAE PARENT: ' , Vidimus semper socium fidelem. Scilicet gentes faciet beatas Qui suo nostras habuit sacras in Dura lex fortesve animos tyrannus! , Pectore parfes. Liberos cives peperit regendi ^qua potestas. - Hie vir, excellens genius colonis Factus, hie fortis simul et modestus Quid fuit bello REVOLUTIONIS : Dux, Duci SUMMO retulit supremos Justius? Num quis PATRI^ PARENTE" ~ : - ; Laudis honores. Clarior vixit, populove nostro ' : ,^- Natio major? ; . Quid quod infensas acies repellat Num^ pater, quando minitanturhostes, - • v. Victor, et tandem capiat peritus Filios unquam dubitat tueri? \ , ' ' ;, 6?PIDUM, et cogat subitum Britannos An domum, uxorem, per aquas, per ignes, T' v;r'- ' .Fcediis inire?, ^ .Protegit armis? Perpetua TREDECIM STATUS quum pace fruuntur, : Jiifa .quum_^sanae rationis Angli Nostraque: jam veteri terra soluta jugo est, Publica LIBERTAS tota-regione nitescat, Denegant, turmas coeiint pararitque,. ; "Et sacer .inflammet pectora LEGIS amor. Nil uisi bellum superêst colonis: ~ • "Crescas uf prosis,'' aliisque, COLUMBIA, regnis ' . , x"Alea jacta est! " . JEX&cnst PACIS, munera grata feras. ' Gh'arta declarat nimios labpres, /•'_•' .O. utinam.nostraejungatur GALLIA genti, Givium'et fraudes dbmini molestas:. "-.Ut niuridum placjda prosperitate juvent. -. •: . V Unde amor vita^ ,,. .-Non*statuain dabimus jam .WASHINGTONIS aihico, • .-; . :-• \ •7junxit in'ûrium. '- ..: 'Sedreferet. mores, orbisuterque ViRi. ^ NOTRE DAME SCHOLASTIC. 119 the efforts of his friends who worked earnestly Lafayette—^the Man.* for the release of the prisoner. He finailly . regained his freedom, and again devoted him-./ EUGENE A. DELANEY. self to the duties of his different offices, and more closely endeared himself to the affections ^NE by one the great nations of of his family and friends.- He died in Paris, in the chaotic world have settled 1834, at the age of 76. into their foreordained places. The life of this valiant young- Frenchman They ^struggle, they grow; for abounds in unparalleled examples of honor awhile they flourish, then they and bravery. He appeared in public life at a- wane and pass on to the silent rest of their time when the great political convulsions of ancestors. We look backward to the paths of his own»country were rife, and we wonder at these mighty powers. Some have come as far his coming forth unscathed from surroundfrig as our o\vn day; others, the more illustrious filth. When a rich and influential family would perhaps, found death in the very heart of their have made future success a certainty for the splendor. But we look not only upon the young nobleman, he rather chose to risk hfs progress and expansion of a people; the mighty comfort among our little band of patriots. forces of the nation's heart attract us. Here Fortune, education, and the frivolities of the are the moral influences that' struggle to shape gay chivalry of France had for him less the destiny of empires. The good and the bad attraction than the determined struggle, of in man ever strive toward their own ends. the American arms. "At the first news of Sometimes the arm of might weighs heavily the quarrel," he said, " my heart was enrolled upon the heart of right. The weak go down in it," arid the simplfcity of his words is wor before the strong. The soldier, the statesman thy of their force. His great heart, indeed, and the man work for the accomplishment of throbbed in unison with the hearts of - all their different endeavors. But in the ranks of oppressed; with the slave in his efforts to throw these leaders, we first look for the man, with off the fetters, with the lowly in their striving . his strength of intellect, his grandeur of soul, after brighter and better things. We need not his purity of heart. Among these giants of review the career of Lafayette in America. We human force, we place Lafayette. know hi& name much as we know the narhe Gilbert Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was of Washington; and the confidence that the born at Auvergne, France, Sept. 6, 1757. His great general had in his young officer is suffi early years were devoted to the study and cient proof of Lafayette's worth. We need not training that eminently fitted him for the suc consider his success-in battle, or his sharing cessful career of his eventful life. The loss of the vicissitudes of our ill-kept camps;, we need' his parents seems not to have turned his young not remember his timely retreats; but we must mind from the thoughts of entering upon the know that for us he gave up the charms of duties of life; for at the age of 19, we find the his youth. For us he sacrificed his money untried boy directing his efforts toward the and his blood. He came to us when our arms 'Struggling American, colonies..^ It was only despaired of success. He fought for our free after extreme vigilance and difficulties that dom, not as an advefiturer but as a man. When he succeeded in getting to our coast. At the the struggle was over, he left our shores with close of our struggle he. returned to France his sense of honor gratified, his noble character where he engaged actively in the various duties bearing its usual high-mindedness, and his of state. His hearty interest in the affairs thoughts far above any greed for personal gain. - of society and state placed him in a precari In France, the public life of Lafayette was ous position among the ever-fliictuating tides characterized by the dignity and propriety of his fiery-natured countrymen. Lafayette's and deep discretion of the man. True, the fair character placed him pre-eminently as an venom of calumny was ever ready to assail a: arbiter among the struggling masses. He re fair name; but a rigid trial could not fail to^ cognized his duty to society,, and examplified bring forth,: in a clearer light, LafayetteV his principles by the practice, of his con loyalty to worthy, principles and his living : victions. He was thrown into prison, and interest in huriaanity. During the wild delirium kept in long and close confinement, despite •of the French J Revolution, when riot seized- / upon the best minds of the State, when men/ ; -Ôration-delivered in Washington Hall, Lafayette Cay, Get. 19, 1898. • ' grew frenzied, and women changed: to-wild;>;. I30 NOTRE DAME SCHOLASTIC. murderous beasts, the great powers of Lafay Lafayette looked upon his faith and its minis ette were ever directed toward the good. He ters as influences of liberty and morality, and he might have become a leader of the mad throng; and his family were in constant companionship he rather chose to be its victim. Through the with the clergy. The weakness of the evidence whole course of riot and murder he stood as relating to this charge is characteristic of the a sentinel of justice. He never shrank from malice and blindness of bigotry. The enthusi responsibility. Surely it required a strong man astic workers in their attack upon the ancient to oppose the dominant mind of Bonaparte: faith seem to have left discretion to the rriercy Lafayette refused to vote for-Bonaparte's life- of their,intolerance. Wild and bold conclusions consulship. When all Europe trembled at the were constructed upon the weakest of pre name of Bonaparte, when proud England her mises. Much importance was attached to the self feared lest she should find the invader at evidence of an (so-called) apostate priest. We her doors, here, was one man, himself a child know the value and honor of the statements of revolution, to oppose an injustice, no matter of the these unprincipled parasites., Again, it how strong its advocate be. Here was a man was said that Lafayette on the occasion of a' to appear before the unscrupulous maker of visit with Washington to Boston, gave expres crowns, a man to rise up against the tyranny sion to his apprehensions for our national of Napoleon and say: " I will not." Perhaps it safety from Romish influence.

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