now gone. "The hero of two worlds," as he was called, was little
more than a boy when he fought under Washington, in the cause of
American independence. Animated by the same love of liberty
which had carried him to America, Lafayette took part in the
early movements of the French Revolution. In 1789, after the
fall of the Bastille, he was commander of the national guard, and
one of the most popular men in France. A high-minded man, full
of sincerity, of enthusiasm: "Cromwell Grandison," Mirabeau
nicknamed him. Devoted to the Constitution, Lafayette was no
friend to the extreme party, to the jacobins, with their Danton,
their Robespierre. He had striven for liberty, but for liberty
and monarchy combined; and the two things were fast becoming
irreconcilable. And now, in July 1792, distrusted alike by the
Court and the people, Lafayette sits sad at Sedan, in the midst
of his army. War has already commenced, with a desultory and
unsuccessful attack by the French upon the Austrian Netherlands.
But the real struggle is now approaching. Heralded by an insolent
proclamation, the Duke of Brunswick is marching from Coblenz with
more than a hundred thousand Prussians, Austrians, and emigrants
; and General Lafayette, alas ! appears more bent upon denouncing
jacobinism than upon defending the frontier.


The country is indeed in danger. With open hostility advancing
from without, doubt and suspicion fermenting within, Paris at
last rises in good earnest, August 10, 1792. This is the answer
to Brunswick's insolent proclamation. Paris attacks the
Tuileries, King Louis and his family taking refuge in the
Assembly; captures the Tuileries, not without terrible loss, the
brave Swiss guard