Lafayette_Courtier to Crown Fugitive, 1757-1777

by S. P. Grogan

  By the end of the evening he felt better and believed he made a friendly acquaintance with Deane’s secretary. All parted in kind civility with de Broglie making a personal hold on Gilbert’s shoulder, “Our fates are destined to go and fight but we must have the patience of Caesar’s wife. Your time will come. Anything the Baron writes to me I will pass along the communication to your attention. You must follow their travels and learn by them.”

  Gilbert felt better, not back to his normal positive bounce, but a realization that he must go forward and be prepared to move quickly. It became apparent that he must find his courage to face his father-in-law’s wrath. He must be himself. He was the head of his own household. Above it all, he had the resources to stand up and go his own direction. He regained his self-confidence and prepared himself.

  Into the mix, the Duc D’Ayen had a partial change of heart. If his son-in-law, Marc, wished to spend a year or two abroad advising the American army, he saw little harm. As to the marquis, it was as much about a husband with a baby to watch over, that was minor in the male cultural structure. More critical to the duke was that he had access to some of La Fayette’s tenant rental income and used it for his own household expenses. He even charged Gilbert a rental fee for living under the roof of the Hôtel Noailles. It was only fair. The Duc d’Ayen would give the young boy further chances to advance his education, to push him towards his courtier future, and if he wanted to play soldier, he could do so closer to home. That was that. Marc might go with his friend Segur. Gilbert would on no account go on this lark.

  Segur in the next week was the first to bow out of the pact. He said it was his parent’s refusal that made him realize his ties were still close to home. In actuality it became more apparent that Segur had finally found a woman he wished to marry – and what a coincidence.

  Being tossed into the family going-ons of the Noailles clan and closely tied by his friendships with Marc and Gilbert, he soon found himself at many social events being placed at the dinner table or an extra partner to Mademoiselle Antoinette Élisabeth d'Aguesseau, who was the youngest sister of Adrienne’s mother, and this closeness would lead to a quick engagement (the wedding in April, 1777), so, perhaps normal within close court families, the comte de Segur would become Marc’s and Gilbert’s uncle by marriage.

  So, in one aspect, it was love that broke apart the pact.

  That fact was overlooked for in the last month of the year it was a blowing storm of political coincidences crashing into each other that put all plans into cold disarray. And such ill fortunes to all opened up an opportunity for nearly forgotten Captain de la Fayette.

  47.

  NEW AMERICAN COMMISSIONER Benjamin Franklin arrived in France on December 8th, settling his sea legs with a short stay in Nantes before his plans to travel to Paris to meet up with Silas Deane. Under the instructions of Congress, the papers held by Franklin, envoy Arthur Lee would be summoned from England to create the third American Commissioner. Deane finally had the support he desperately had written so often seeking, something he might soon come to regret.

  The news of Franklin stepping onto the soil of France with a new unknown mandate from the Colonies would not seem earth-shattering, except in his arrival the conveying ship captain had along the route made the capture of two British ships, which Franklin quickly sent to the claims court so he could gain the prize money to help fund his arrival costs.

  Meanwhile, in the same time frame, Beaumarchais as military wares supplier was in Le Harve under his nom de plume, Roderigue Hortalez. During the downtime while busy outfitting three ships to take Conway, Courday and de Kalb to fight in America’s war, the spy-playwright heard one of his plays, Le Barbier de Séville ou la Précaution inutile, [‘The Barber of Seville or the useless Precaution’] was being performed locally. And being the play’s author he could not resist becoming advisor if not the extemporaneous stage craft director. Such notice was made by the bought spies of England and they could readily pierce the cover of the playwright and soon discovered he was sending French weapons and French officers off to sea, destination apparent.

  Within a week, events of Franklin’s arrival and Beaumarchais loading ships were political cannon fodder for Lord Stormont who stormed French government offices decrying Franklin’s capture of British ships, bringing them into French ports, all with it seemed, France’s direct complicity. And further Beaumarchais had three ships loaded with war supplies that the French government must have tacitly approved.

  These charges were laid by Stormont upon Vergennes desk with a real threat of blockage by the English fleet and cry of treaty violations that smacked to Vergennes of a country willing to move to a war footing.

  If not enough, on top of this came to Maurepas’s attention and thus Vergennes’ attention the letter of Marc Noailles asking that the King allow three nobles to go fight for the Americans, two of them members of one of the most powerful families in France, and one of them the richest youth in the kingdom. Such a request if granted would be further evidence that the King’s government, his own court, openly supported the American colonial revolution now being waged.

  Too much for Vergennes and Maurepas. They now faced direct retaliation by an English fleet action which meant war with Great Britain and the French were not yet militarized in strength. The French did not want war...at this time. To defuse the situation swift action followed.

  Maurepas moved quickly and denied to the Duc D’Ayen both his request for only Marc’s war participation and then bluntly refused to acknowledge Marc’s letter asking consideration to join up for himself, Segur and de La Fayette. Learning of Marc’s letter sent on behalf of the three young officers set the Duc d’Ayen off even further for they had disobeyed his previous wishes for them to cease such frivolity. His verbal wrath aimed infliction upon Gilbert where the whole Noailles household could hear the yelling.

  Vergennes, under the King’s name, issued an embargo on all ships that might be carrying cargo to warring combatants. And further he sought the prisoner release from Franklin’s captured prizes, though declining to Stormont’s demand of expelling Franklin before the old man, now a stout man of seventy one, even arrived in Paris. Lord Stormont having known what unrest even Franklin had caused when he was the Pennsylvania Assembly’s colonial representative to the British court, for approximately eighteen years, 1757 (year of La Fayette’s birth) to 1775.

  Upon receiving this disastrous news, a royal edict issued with speed in mind—as it was only a three day hard horse sprint from Paris to le Harve—Beaumarchais to stem defeat reacted swiftly when the courier arrived, pretending to unload two of the ships to the king’s demand when in fact he was loading as fast as he could the third ship with supplies, the transport which would also take Courday’s officers. This ship now bearing forged documents of carrying only ‘horticultural equipment and farmers’ quickly weighed anchor and left port. Though the ship departed, events became more complicated as Courday would later disembark causing further problems for Deane before Coudray left again reaching Rhode Island in May, 1777. In this impulsive display was revealed to Deane the true character of Courdray’s as a man not to trust. Deane’s warning to Congress reached them too late, mail lost upon the sea perhaps one excuse for delay. Courdray arrived first bearing Deane’s commission seeking affirmation to be one of the many French Major Generals.

  Another Major General in waiting, Baron de Kalb, by the king’s edict was left stranded on the dock along with his officers in the Le Harve harbor, his ship quarantined, threatened against unlawful departure. They had been hours short of sailing, but as military officers they could not disobey their sovereign.

  With Maurepas’s strong rejection by the government, and the Duc d’Ayen representing family anger, Marc Noailles begrudgingly withdrew his request to go and serve. To him, it had been an interesting diversion, no great life priority. In weighing in balance the hardships of battlefield command against the easy life in the court scene, Marc accepted that his life no
w was most comfortable. There was also the hard fact, both Segur and Noailles held commissions as active French military officers and they could not go against their King’s wishes, the ban against all regular officers from going off to war. Gilbert felt in his state of martial suspension, he was not bound by the edict. A point to his favor, as his mind reshuffled possibilities.

  By year end, at New Year’s eve, it seemed all aid from France to the fledgling government of the United States had come to an end.

  48.

  1777

  In America: January 3 – General Washington defeats the British at Princeton, New Jersey

  With this action as an awakening stimulation, British Generals on the scene consider their Spring campaign with the goal of splitting New England from the rest of the colonies, doing so by General John Burgoyne driving down from Canada, while driving the wedge in place would be General William Howe who would move north from New York City. The icing to the victory cake would be General Barry St. Leger creating havoc throughout the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York. In February-March the North Administration approved the plan and King signed off on it. The plan would fall apart when Howe decided to capture the rebels’ capital, Philadelphia. This will leave General Burgoyne’s command in the air, and by October, 1777, he would find himself surrounded at a place called Saratoga, without supplies or reinforcement. Of note: General William Phillips (in action at the Battle of Minden – see Chapter 1) commanded Burgoyne’s right wing. In prelude to the Saratoga surrender a few days earlier at the Battle of Bemis Heights, Phillips fought against the American generals, Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold.

  DE KALB SAT MOROSE in the carriage, bouncing, sideways jostled as he and several officers were flinging themselves upon the road back to Paris. His sea journey stalled before the anchor raised; de Broglie’s plotting shut down. The cadre of once eager officers were taking separate routes home, returning to past duties or seeking new employments.

  Beaumarchais had likewise abandoned the seacoast making a dash back to Paris, seeking to outpace Benjamin Franklin’s slow trek to be there before the new commissioner arrived, and bearing with him unknown instructions either to partner with or usurp Deane’s official duties. Beaumarchais would seek to make sure his shipping contracts and unpaid balances were set forth in the ledgers to protect his interest, and indirectly the King’s. And to be assured business at some point in the future would return to the normal enterprise, where he would get his usual percentage.

  Back in Paris, Gilbert seemed to be the only one now interested in what was going on with all the unsettling news. Most vexing was the ship embargo and the Baron’s failure to get away. Most exciting was the news that Benjamin Franklin, the scientist, the man who harnessed the lightening from the sky, was on his way to Paris with private instructions from the American Congress.

  Gilbert for once received his news from several reliable sources. General de Broglie saw that his secretary, M. Duboismartin, sent a servant with the latest on the sad fate of de Kalb’s venture, also news from the French government and milled rumors off the street. Deane’s secretary, William Carmichael, provided the American news, a few letters from Congressional leader, Robert Morris had just arrived further depressing everyone with the Battle of Long Island to those who favored the insurgents. Carmichael further had his old contacts when he once lived in England, but there they were joyous in being victorious against the American rebels. The consensus, Carmichael showed the young marquis in the British news headlines was that the American war, to them, looked almost like a fox in the bag.

  Gilbert for once was a very knowledgeable man of the transpiring events. And the tidings did not look favorable, and like de Kalb, his own plans had moved to hiatus and he felt miserable.

  It would take only one idea to remedy all maladies.

  49.

  DUBOISMARTIN, DE BROGLIE’S personal secretary, set out on another mission, to prevent his own brother from becoming a drunkard. Francois Dubois-Martin was attempting to drown himself in a tankard of ale in his favorite Paris tavern, definitely no coffee shop of high intellect. Duboismartin could very well understand Francois’s melancholy.

  Ambition, as that found in La Fayette’s character, was pervasive to all French military men, the reason for enlisting was to seek advancement and gain the laurels of favoritism and presumed largess that accompanied rising promotion. Francois, a lieutenant in the army, had left his regiment based in Bordeaux, gained an extended leave, and had been eagerly looking forward to his Deane promotion to a Major in the Continental Army. He was not only going to go to America a part of de Broglie’s empire building plans but had been slated to be aide-de-camp to Major General de Kalb. All dreams so dashed.

  Duboismartin could only comfort his brother by the rumors that in the frozen month of January Commissioner Deane was seeking another ship. This certainly did not placate Lieutenant Francois.

  “Rumors, only rumors. Merde. I might as well rejoin my regiment. They have been sent to Santo Domingo. But what embarrassment. I had sent my friends letters of my plans, and to be so ridiculed to be back at a lower rank.”

  “If you only have the patience to wait, I am sure the comte, my master, will find another way. You know it is in his best interest to put Baron de Kalb into the American forces. Beaumarchais and the Commissioner will find a ship. It is to their advantage also.”

  “Why do we need to wait for this Commissioner, who knows nothing of the sea, to go in search of a ship? They are waiting to be found if you know where to look.”

  Duboismartin could grant his brother’s knowledge in such. He had been in the French navy for over ten years before deciding he could move more quickly up the ranks in the land based army.

  “Perhaps, but you know, these are purchases of high finance. Governments or commerce syndicates have the strongboxes to afford a good ship. Just give it time.”

  Francois gulped hard at the last dregs of his drink, and pounded the table asking the bar maid for another. His frustration to his brother was palatable. Both men felt the let down keenly.

  “Why not the Marquis de La Fayette?” queried Lieutenant Dubois-Martin.

  “What about the Marquis?”

  “Is he not one of the, if not the, richest young man in France? Could he not buy a ship, even a fleet of ships?”

  Duboismartin was about to laugh when he jolted to a stop.

  “I had not given that any thought, and wager neither had the General.” They had not been thinking that way at all. They were only looking to Marc Noailles, the primary Noailles relations not the name of La Fayette, and even Segur would have given the venture an air of legitimacy. With the American government in charge of provisioning the ships up until last month, the how to afford a ship had never figured into their own plans.

  Duboismartin mulled over his brother’s suggestion, with serious contemplation. His brother sloshed out ale pulling the full drink to his lip.

  General de Broglie’s secretary thought aloud.

  “Marquis de la Fayette is wealthy. His assets, as far as I can see, have not been squandered. His yearly income must be much higher than expenses, so there is surplus, perhaps ready money at hand. And the Marquis is not an active military officer but on reserve and by my understanding not directly answerable to the King’s recent ban on officers serving abroad. But more important, such a concept would be extremely agreeable to his eagerness to fight with the Americans. Of us all, I have noted, his energy to be involved is boundless. He comes to the General’s house every other day seeking news. If not friends, he has shown me great favor, more so to the General. Indeed he seems to want to make and be friends with everyone.”

  “Hey,” exclaimed Francois as Dubois-Martin as his brother removed the ale away from his grasp.

  “Time to sober, dear brother. We must quickly put down on paper your plan.”

  “What plan?”

  “For La Fayette to be owner of a ship that will take his companions to France. To be so helpf
ul to our cause he cannot dare turn down such a plan as yours. Once your plan is written I will go and search out the young marquis.”

  Running off to the marquis was not in Duboismartin’s initial plans, for he had the intelligence fostered by seeing how his master, the General—Marquis de Ruffec, operated when he worked below the scenes. As a matter of protocol, the secretary explained the ‘plan’ to his employer, and gained his enthusiasm and in turn brought in Baron de Kalb, who almost had given up on any military mission to North America. All three thought the plan held strong merit but had to be finessed when approaching young Gilbert, for they had to maneuver, to make it seem

  the idea and brilliance had come from his mind. The boy wanted to fight so here was the best opportunity void of governmental politics with him in control, as he might believe.

  Baron de Kalb now used his persuasion on Deane so the Commissioner would not be surprised by a renegade operation in motion. De Kalb with proud and haughty joy explained how the family and the wealth of the de la Fayette and Noailles family had come to the rescue and would provide funds to buy a ship to take the officers to France. And with the marquis a favorite of the Queen and high in the nobility, his support to the American cause would go a long way in gaining support from other neutral foreign governments. And this was something surely the two new Commissioners could well understand the merits.

  Only one small stone lay as an obstacle in the path. De Kalb was certain, for he had heard as much from Gilbert that the boy wanted to be commissioned as a Major General in the American Army. He had so said to Silas Deane in their first meeting suggesting that a noble of his class deserved as much. Actually, what he had been thinking was that he wanted the same rank Marc Noailles might be granted and competitive pride not his attributes invoked the request. This reminder by de Kalb drew a frown from Deane. He had been chastised by Franklin for populating North America with major generals like fowl-like capons who spoke only francais.