attached to M. de Lafatette, and the officers were numerous: they made
a show of resistance. It turned out, fortunately, to be an American
ship, whom they vainly endeavoured to keep up with; but scarcely had
the former lost sight of M. de Lafayette's vessel, when it fell in
with two English frigates,--and this is not the only time when the
elements seemed bent on opposing M. de Lafayette, as if with the
intention of saving him. After having encountered for seven weeks
various perils and chances, he arrived at Georgetown, in Carolina.
Ascending the river in a canoe, his foot touched at length the
American soil, and he swore that he would conquer or perish in that
cause. Landing at midnight at Major Huger's house,~[16] he found a
vessel sailing for France, which appeared only waiting for his
letters. Several of the officers landed, others remained on board, and
all hastened to proceed to Charleston:

This beautiful city is worthy of its inhabitants and everything there
announced not only comfort but even luxury. Without knowing much of M.
de Lafayette, the generals Howe,~[17] Moultrie, and Gulden, received
him with the utmost kindness and attention. The new works were shown
him, and also that battery which Moultrie afterwards defended so
extremely well, and which the English appear, we must acknowledge, to
have seized the only possible means of destroying. Several
adventurers, the refuse of the islands, endeavoured vainly to unite
themselves to M. de Lafayette, and to infuse into his mind their own
feelings and prejudices. Having procured horses, he set out with six
officers for Philadelphia. His vessel had arrived, but it was no
longer protected by fortune, and on its return home it was lost on the
bar of Charlestown To repair to the congress of the United States, M.
de Lafayette rode nearly nine hundred miles on horseback; before
reaching the capital of Pennsylvania, he was obliged to travel through