3. TJ to JMA, MAR 18, 1785, quoted Adams, Paris Years, 73; Xavier de Schonberg quoted Unger, Lafayette, 208–9; Hawke, Paine, 175, 185; Bizardel, First Expatriates, 5–6; McCullough, John Adams, 326–27. Laf said, “I am more and more pleased with Mr. Jefferson…. He enjoys universal regard, and does the affairs of America to perfection.” Laf to GW, JAN 1, 1788, GLW 334–36.
4. TJ to William Short, MAR 27, 1787, quoted Adams, Paris Years, 208.
5. John Ledward quoted Gottschalk, Lafayette Between, 267; Laf to JJ, FEB 8 and MAY 11, to NG, to Richard Henry Lee, and to JMA, all March 16, to JA, MAY 8, July 13, and DEC 13, to HK, MAY 11, to Pierre-Samuel du Pont de Nemours, MAY 30, to Patrick Henry, JUN 7, to Jeremiah Wadsworth, JUL 9 and DEC 3, to TJ, to Thomas Boylston, NOV 4 and 20, to Ver, NOV 16 and SEP 4, to James McHenry, DEC 3, and to marquis de Castries, DEC 29, Lee to Laf, JUN 11, TJ to JA, SEP 24, JA to Laf, DEC 13 and 20, all 1785, ILA 5:293–95, 302–4, 307–10, 308n, 320–22, 321n, 322n, 327–28, 331–35, 345–60, 349n; Laf to GW, MAY 24, OCT 8 and 15 (two letters), GLW 311–13, 332–33; TJ to JMA, JAN 30, 1787, quoted Gottschalk, Lafayette Between, 30; TJ, Autobiography, 76.
6. GW to Laf, AUG 15, 1786, FGW 28:518–22.
7. Laf to American Commissioners, APR 8, 1785, ILA 5:315–16, and related correspondence 316n; Laf to GW, OCT 16, 1786, and JAN 13, 1787, GLW 313–19.
8. Laf to Carmichael, MAR 10, to Patrick Henry and to Madison, both MAR 16, to GW and to HK, both MAY 11, JMA to Laf, MAR 20, 1785, ILA 5:300–2, 305–6, 309–14, 321–23; GW to SS, MAR 19, 1791, FGW 31:247; Laf to GW, JUN 6, GLW 355–57; Laf to TJ, JUN 7, 1791, BTJ 20:539–41; Flexner, George Washington New, 258; Lycan, Alexander Hamilton, 129.
9. Laf to GW, JUL 9, 1785, GLW 300; Gottschalk, Lafayette Between, 252; Malone, Jefferson and Rights, 44–46.
10. Gottschalk, Lafayette Between, 162.
11. Laf to GW, MAY 11, 1785, ILA 5:322–23.
12. Leader quoted Gottschalk, Lafayette Between, 179; Maurois, Adrienne, 127–28; Laf to Rabaut de Saint-Etienne, NOV 20, 1785, ILA 5:351–52; Laf to GW, OCT 26, 1786, and FEB 4, 1788, GLW 313–16, 337–39.
13. Condorcet to Laf, FEB 24, 1785, ILA 5:299–300, 300n. Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas-Caritat, marquis de Condorcet (1743–1794), had authored Réflexions sur l’ esclavage des negres (Reflections on the Enslavement of Negroes, published at Neufchâtel, 1781) under a pseudonym, though the author’s identity became widely known. It answered a justification of slavery that had appeared in Paris in 1780, and aimed at refuting systematically all justifications for the institution, including the claim that it was necessary for colonial economies to succeed. The book was the most famous and influential antislavery tract of the eighteenth century.
14. Laf to AH, APR 13, 1785, and MAY 24, 1788, to HK, JUN 12, 1785, and to JJ, JUL 14, 1785, ILA 5:317–18, 318n, 329–30, 335–36; Laf to GW, FEB 6, 1786, GLW 303–10; Kramer, Lafayette, 217.
15. Maurois, Adrienne, 127–30; GW to Laf, JUN 8, 1786, FGW 28:456–57.
16. Quoted Ellis, His Excellency, 163–64.
17. Laf to GW, JUN 6, 1791, GLW 355–57.
18. Laf to GW, FEB 9, MAR 19, APR 16, JUL 14, and SEP 3, 1785, GLW 291–96, 300–2; GW to Laf, FEB 15, APR 12, MAY 12, JUL 25, SEP 1, and NOV 8, 1785, FGW 28:71–75, 132–33, 140, 205–10, 242–45, 308–9; Laf to GW, MAY 11 and 13, 1785, ILA 5:322–27; GWD 4:186.
19. GW to Laf, FEB 15, and MAY 13, 1785, ILA 5:322–27; GW to Laf, SEP 6, 1785, FGW 28:244; Laf to GW, FEB 7, 1786, GLW 303–10.
20. Cornwallis to Alexander Ross, OCT 5, 1785, quoted Gottschalk, Lafayette Between, 186.
21. Laf to GW, FEB 6, 1786, GLW 303–10.
22. GW to Laf, MAY 10, 1786, FGW 28:420–25.
23. Laf to GW, MAY 24 and OCT 16, 1786, JAN 13 and FEB 7, 1787, GLW 311–21; GW to Laf, JUN 8, AUG 15, and NOV 16, 1786, and MAR 25, 1787, FGW 28:456–57, 518–22, 29:74–75, 183–86; GWD 5:68, 73. Daniel Shays had raised a tax revolt in western Massachusetts, threatening the national armory at Springfield. This started a chain of events that led to the Constitutional Convention. NG died of sunstroke in Georgia, JUN 19, 1786.
24. Brinton, Anatomy, 73; Schama, Citizens, 238–47. TJ was at Laf’s elbow from then on. See Ellis, American Sphinx, 106; TJ, Autobiography, 80–81; and TJ to Laf, APR 11, 1787, in Hazen, Contemporary, 19–20.
25. Laf to GW, JAN 13, FEB 7, and MAY 1 and 5, 1787, GLW 317–24; GW to Laf, MAR 25, 1787, FGW 29:183–86.
26. Quoted GLW vii–viii. TJ, Autobiography, 82, claimed that it was well-known that Laf and three other members were headed to the Bastille, and twenty others and two ministers to banishment, on Calonne’s recommendation. “The king found it shorter to banish him.”
27. TJ to JA, AUG 30, 1781, quoted Smith, John Adams 2:720.
28. Padover, Life and Death, 139–40; Brinton, Anatomy, 108; GW to Laf, JUN 6 and 30, AUG 15, and SEP 18, 1787, and FEB 7, 1788, FGW 29:229–30, 236–37, 258–60, 276–77, 409–12; Laf to GW, AUG 3, OCT 9 and 15 (two letters), 1787, JAN 1 and 2, and FEB 4, 1788, GLW 324–39.
29. Jean-Pierre Brissot-Warville in Chinard, George Washington as French, 87.
30. GW to Laf, FEB 7, 1788, FGW 29:409–12.
31. Hardman, Louis XVI, passim; Vovelle, Fall, 182–83; TJ to Richard Price, MAY 25, 1788, quoted Malone, Jefferson and Rights, 194–95; Ellis, American Sphinx, 108–9; TJ, Autobiography, 113–14.
32. Ibid., 292–304.
33. Laf to GW, MAR 6 and 18, and MAY 25, 1788, GLW 339–45; GW to Laf, APR 28, MAY 28, JUN 10 and 19, 1788, FGW 29:373–77, 475–82, 506–8, 522–26. No letters from Laf to GW between MAY 25, 1788, and JAN 12, 1790, have survived, although Laf mentioned in 1790 that he had written some. GLW xx, 345n. Specifically, there is no evidence of one he wrote on SEP 5, 1788, mentioned in GW to Laf, JAN 29, 1789, FGW 30:184.
34. Pendleton to JMA, OCT 6, 1788, and TJ to JMA, JAN 12, 1789, HJM 11:412–13, 17:529–30; GW to Laf, NOV 27, 1788, FGW 30:139–40. GW said he had written a long letter on SEP 15, but neither Laf nor anybody else has seen it since.
35. GW to Laf, JAN 29, 1789, FGW 30:184–87.
36. Sears, George Washington and French, 7–9, 13–14.
37. Bizardel, First Expatriates, 13; Brookhiser, Gentleman, 97–113.
38. GM to GW, APR 29, 1789, quoted Hazen, Contemporary, 61–62.
39. Schama, Citizens, 288–332.
40. Bizardel, First Expatriates, 28–30, quoting TJ to GW; TJ to Laf, MAY 6, 1789, BTJ 15:97–98. On Laf in the Estates General, see Gottschalk and Maddox, Lafayette in French Through, 46–70.
41. Quoted Gottschalk and Maddox, Lafayette in French Through, 70.
42. GM, JUN 23, 1789, Diary 1:121.
43. Summarized Unger, Lafayette, 234.
44. TJ to JM, AUG 9, 1789, quoted Malone, Jefferson and Rights, 193; GM to Carmichael, quoted Unger, Lafayette, 234–35.
45. TJ, Autobiography, 109–10. On the fourteenth the Bastille housed four forgers, a sexual deviant, and two lunatics.
46. Padover, Life and Death, 181; Laf quoted Gottschalk and Maddox, Lafayette in French Through, 122–23; GM quoted Brookhiser, Gentleman, 103, 114–15; GM, JUL 20, 1789, Diary 1:156.
47. Gottschalk and Maddox, Lafayette in French Through, 127; GM to GW, JUL 31, 1789, in GM, Diary 1:170–72.
48. Brinton, Anatomy, 91; Faÿ, Louis XVI, 317–29; Schama, Citizens, 449–53.
49. Schama, Citizens, 451–55.
50. TJ to JJ, SEP 23, 1789, quoted Gottschalk and Maddox, Lafayette in French Through, 287.
51. Gottschalk and Maddox, Lafayette in French Through, 330–34, Short quoted 385; Schama, Citizens, 458–70; Hardman, Louis XVI, 172–80; Lever, Marie Antoinette, 223–32; Belloc, Marie Antoinette, 226–27; Herold, Mistress, 89 (de Staël).
52. Gottschalk and Maddox, Lafayette in French October, passim; Mirabeau quoted Hardman, Louis XVI, 176–77.
53. AH to Laf, OCT 6, 1789, SAH 5:425; see also Kline, Alexander Hamilton, 223.
54. GW to Laf, OCT 14, 1789, FGW 30:448–49; Sears, George Washington an
d French, passim.
55. GW to GM, OCT 13, 1789, quoted Unger, Lafayette, 259; GW to Catherine MacAuley Graham, JAN 9, 1790, FGW 30:495–98.
56. Schama, Citizens, 472–513; Gottschalk and Maddox, Lafayette in French October, passim.
57. Laf to GW, JAN 12, 1790, GLW 346; Adr to GW, January 14, 1790, in Maurois, Adrienne, 179.
58. Vovelle, Fall, 122–24; Maurois, Adrienne, 180–81.
59. Laf to GW, MAR 17, 1790, GLW 347–48; Bizardel, First Expatriates, 40; Flexner, George Washington New, 313.
60. GW to Luz, APR 29, to Laf and to Adr, both JUN 3, 1790, FGW 31:39–41, 44–47. “I have never feared for the ultimate result,” TJ said of the Revolution, “tho’ I have feared for you personally…. Take care of yourself, dear friend.” TJ to Laf, APR 2, 1790, BTJ 16:292–93.
61. GW to Laf, AUG 11, 1790, FGW 31:85–88.
62. Schama, Citizens, 509–13; Talleyrand quoted Orieux, Talleyrand, 93; Short quoted Bizardel, First Expatriates, 64–65.
63. Vovelle, Fall, 127–28, 132–37, Jean-Paul Marat quoted 128; Mirabeau quoted Unger, Lafayette, 270; Maurois, Adrienne, 186–87.
64. Laf to GW, AUG 23, 1790, GLW 348–50. Oliver Cromwell was “lord protector” (military dictator) of England in the 1650s. Laf was often called “Cromwell” by his enemies.
65. Schama, Citizens, 532–43; Laf to GW, JAN 25, 1791, GLW 351.
66. Laf to GW, MAR 7, 1791, GLW 352–53; GW to Laf, MAR 19, 1791, FGW 31:247–49.
67. Doyle, Oxford, 148; Schama, Citizens, 549–50; GM quoted Brookhiser, Gentleman, 123.
68. Laf to GW, MAY 3, 1791, GLW 353–55.
69. Laf to GW, JUN 6, 1791, GLW 355–57.
70. Schama, Citizens, 549–61; Laf and Louis quoted Unger, Lafayette, 273–74.
71. Doyle, Oxford, 154; Schama, Citizens, 566–68; Hardman, Louis XVI, 198–99. The statistics depended on which faction was doing the counting.
72. Vovelle, Fall, 144–45; GW to Laf, JUL 28, 1791, FGW 31:324–26; Bizardel, First Expatriates, 92. GW wrote Laf twice more that fall, praising his achievements and worrying about his situation. GW to Laf, SEP 10 and NOV 22, 1797, FGW 31:362–63, 425–26. He also urged him to take a break in America.
73. GM to GW, DEC 27, 1791, quoted Unger, Lafayette, 279.
74. Laf to Short, NOV 16, 1791, quoted Gottschalk, Lafayette and Close, 421–23.
Chapter Fifteen
1. Maurois, Adrienne, 196–99; Doyle, Oxford History, 112.
2. Brinton, Anatomy, 131–32; Schama, Citizens, 573–87.
3. Quoted Maurois, Adrienne, 200. Minister of War Louis Narbonne had been comte de Narbonne-Lara.
4. Goerlitz, General Staff, 10–11.
5. Elting, Sword, 32–33; Schama, Citizens, 599–600.
6. Elting, Sword, 32–33, 57–59; O’Connell, Arms and Men, 175. Napoleon and Moreau separately developed the army corps in 1800. It was a standing combination of divisions with its own staff, making it possible to assemble a massive force when an enemy army was located. Before 1800, in all armies the word “corps” was a general term for any body of troops.
7. Schama, Citizens, 600.
8. Laf to GW, JAN 22, 1792, GLW 358–60. He had written earlier from Chavaniac, but that letter has disappeared. He repeated its account of his country life in this one.
9. Brinton, Anatomy, 139–40; Hawke, Paine.
10. Laf to GW, MAR 15, 1792, GLW 360–62.
11. GW to Laf, JUN 10, 1792, FGW 32:53–55.
12. James Cole Mountflorence’s Account of the French Revolution, transmitted with Mountflorence to TJ, FEB 1, 1793, BTJ 25:119–33, quotation at 122; Elting, Sword, 31–32.
13. Schama, Citizens, 604–5; Laf to King Louis, JUN 16, 1792, in Memoirs, quoted Unger, Lafayette, 281.
14. “Licentiousness under a mask of patriotism is our greater evil,” Laf also groused. Laf to GW, JUN 15, 1792, GLW 360–62. TJ congratulated Laf, unaware that everything had fallen to pieces. “Behold you then, my dear friend, at the head of a great army, establishing the liberties of your country against a foreign enemy. May heaven favor your cause, and make you the channel thro’ which it may power it’s favors.” TJ to Laf, JUN 16, 1782, BTJ 24:85–86.
15. Schama, Citizens, 609–10; Laf to Assembly, JUN 16, 1792, in Memoirs, quoted Unger, Lafayette, 281; Hardman, Louis XVI, 218–20; Asprey, Rise of Napoleon, 60–66. “The Marquis Lafayette appeared at the bar of the National Assembly & denounced the Jacobin club, as the cause of all the evils under which the nation labours; it appears that he had a favorable hearing, and that notwithstanding violent attempts to impeach him &c., he had been permitted to leave Paris & rejoin the army, but without effecting his object.” John Beckley to JMA, SEP 10, 1792, HJM 14:361–62.
16. Schama, Citizens, 610–18; Maurois, Adrienne, 205–7.
17. Mountflorence’s Account, BTJ 15:128; GM quoted Brookhiser, Gentleman, 133.
18. Schama, Citizens, 610; Maurois, Adrienne, 207–8; Laf to Adr, AUG 21, 1792, in Memoirs, quoted Unger, Lafayette, 285–86.
19. Laf to Herr von Archenholtz, MAR 27, 1793, quoted Kramer, Lafayette, 51.
20. Duke of Saxe-Teschen, quoted Unger, Lafayette, 290.
21. Schama, Citizens, 619–41; Elting, Sword, 32–33.
22. De Conde, Entangling Alliances, 328–30; Sears, George Washington and French, 142–47; GM, Diary 2:552–55; Brookhiser, Gentleman, 133, 151–52.
23. Maurois, Adrienne, 207–26.
24. Quoted ibid., 229. See also GM, Diary 2:561.
25. Adr to GW, OCT 8, 1792, quoted Sears, George Washington and French, 147–48.
26. Ferling, Leap, ch. 11; quotations Hazen, Contemporary, 262–64.
27. Hazen, Contemporary, 220–21; GW to Nicholas van Staphorst, JAN 30 and 31, and to Adr, JAN 31, 1793, 32:321–33.
28. GW to SS, FEB 24 and MAR 13, 1793, FGW 32:355–56, 385–86.
29. GW to TJ, MAR 13, and TJ to GM and to Pinckney, MAR 15, 1793, BTJ 25:382, 387, and footnotes.
30. GW to Adr, MAR 16, 1793, FGW 32:389–90. The drafts and exchanges between TJ and GW are in BTJ 25:390–93.
31. Maurois, Adrienne, 236–39; Adr to GW, MAR 13, 1793, quoted Unger, Lafayette, 294.
32. Quoted Maurois, Adrienne, 233; see also pp. 213–315.
33. GW to Adr, and to GM, both JUN 13, to Nicholas van Staphorst, SEP 1, to SS, NOV 22, 1793, FGW 32:501–2, 33:77–78, 154; Pinckney to TJ, SEP 25, Enoch Edwards to TJ, OCT 28, TJ to GW, NOV 24, to Angelica Schuyler Church, NOV 27, to Pinckney, NOV 27, to John Barker Church, DEC 11, and to GW, DEC 30, 1793, BTJ 27:151, 275–77, 425, 433, 449–50, 502, 643–44; Malone, Jefferson Ordeal, 59–60.
34. TJ to GW, DEC 30, 1793, BTJ 27:643–44, 644n.
35. Laf to Adr, OCT 2, 1793, quoted Maurois, Adrienne, 239–40.
36. Ibid., 240–61; Schama, Citizens, 836–47.
37. Cabinet Minutes JAN 14, GW, Memorandum to State Files, JAN 16, and GW to James McHenry, APR 8, 1794, FGW 33:242n, 243n, 318–19; Pinckney to TJ, JUN 6, 1794, BTJ 28:97. McHenry offered to head a special commission to work for Laf’s release.
38. JM, Autobiography, 70–71; GM, Diary 2:561n; Maurois, Adrienne, 258–62; Ammon, James Monroe, 137–38. GM thought that JM took too much credit for Adr’s survival, ignoring his own efforts.
39. Maurois, Adrienne, 262–64.
40. Quoted ibid., 266–67.
41. Ibid., 265–72.
42. GW to Adr, and to JM, both JUN 5, 1795, FGW 34:210–11; AH to William Bradford, JUN 13, and Bradford to AH, JUL 2, 1795, SAH 18:373–75, 393–97. Asking for British help was AH’s idea.
43. Maurois, Adrienne, 275–301.
44. Quoted Hazen, Contemporary, 251.
45. Quoted ibid., 264. This was reportedly sung to another “plaintive air, composed on the execution of Marie Antoinette, which was current in Philadelphia after that melancholy tragedy.”
46. This summary follows Ferling, Leap, ch. 11 and 12, passim. See also Freeman, George Washington, 7:521–34; Flexner, George Washington Anguish, passim
; and De Conde, Quasi War. In the road-poor West, corn was more profitable distilled into whiskey, because it was easier to transport.
47. GW to Cabot, SEP 7, 1795, FGW 34:299–301.
48. GW to HK, SEP 20, to Acting SS, SEP 23, to AH, OCT 29, NOV 10 and 18, and AH to GW, NOV 19, 1795, FGW 34:310–13, 346, 362, 364, 364n.
49. GW to GWL, and to Frestel, both NOV 22, and to AH, NOV 23 and 28, 1795, FGW 34:367–69, 374–77.
50. GW to AH, DEC 22, 1795, and FEB 13, 1796, to Madison, JAN 22 and MAR 6, to GWL, FEB 28 and MAR 31, to Tobias Lear, MAR 27, and to HK, APR 11, 1796, and GWL to GW, DEC 25, 1795, FGW 34:404, 404n, 424–25, 462, 478, 485–87, 506–7, 35:8, 21; TJ to GWL, JUN 19, and GWL to TJ, JUL 29, 1796, BTJ 29:126, 159–60.
51. GW to Thomas Pinckney, FEB 20, and to AH, MAY 8, 1796, FGW 34:472–74, 35:38–43.
52. GW to Emperor of Germany, MAY 15, 1796, FGW 35:45–46.
53. GW to Thomas Pinckney, MAY 22, 1796, FGW 35:61–63.
54. Benjamin Latrobe quoted FGW 35:141n; GW to HK, JUL 11, to duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, AUG 8, to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, DEC 5, 1796 (“I have used, and shall continue to use, every exertion in my power to effect this much desired object”), and JUN 24, 1797, to Gillaume-Mathieu, comte de Dumas, and to Laf’s friend and fellow soldier Louis-Philippe, comte de Ségur, both JUN 24, 1791, FGW 35:133–34, 167–69, 308–9, 468–74.
55. Maurois, Adrienne, 302–13.
56. GW to AH, OCT 8, to La Colombe, and to William Vans Murray, both DEC 3, to C. C. Pinckney, to Frestel, and to John Marshal, all DEC 4, to GWL, and to Laf, both DEC 5, to Rufus King, DEC 6, to SS, DEC 11, 1797, FGW 36:39–42, 86–99, 104–6; GW to Samuel Williams, JAN 10, 1798, Feinstone Collection, David Library. GW accompanied them as far as “the Fedl. City,” meaning the future Washington, D.C. GWD 6:261. Some of these letters mentioned a rumor that Laf had been on a ship that foundered off the New Jersey coast; also mentioned TJ to JM, DEC 27, 1797, BTJ 29:593–95.
57. GW to Laf, OCT 8, 1797, FGW 36:40–42.
58. GW to Frestel, DEC 4, to GWL and to Laf, both DEC 5, 1797, and to Samuel Williams, JAN 10, 1798, FGW 36:91–92, 95–98, 121–22.
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