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Review by Louise Leetch
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In 1776, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old independently wealthy Frenchman, adored and petted by royalty, happily married in a well-connected family, petitioned to be allowed to join the American Revolution. Dazzled by his reputation at court and convinced that this soldier’s offer to outfit and transport his volunteers was legitimate; the American delegation in Paris appointed him a general in the American Army.
In his new book, Lafayette: Hero of the American Revolution, Gonzague Saint Bris shows us the Lafayette who was much more than a rich young Frenchman dabbling in a foreign war. He admits to the naivete and pursuit of glory which propelled Lafayette across the Atlantic. However, it was just those qualities that began his lifelong mission to establish freedom and defend the oppressed.
Saint Bris gives us the man who used the lessons of the American Revolution to help France through her long journey to nationhood. Along the way, the author shows us the true image of the French revolution and it is nothing like that in our high school history books.
Make no mistake, Lafayette was on a quest for fame and glory; more interested in popularity than power. What truly drove him, more than any of his contemporaries, was his dedication to securing freedom and equality for all men. He was the white knight of rights, a paladin whose commitment increased exponentially as he aged.
In Lafayette’s letters to his countrymen, his zeal for the American campaign convinced Louis XVI to issue the Treaty of Trade and Friendship, a deliverance for which America to this day esteems him. His filial devotion to George Washington during the Revolution continued in his letters seeking advice when France fought for the same liberties.
France’s burgeoning struggle beckoned Lafayette home to serve his king. His role as a member of the Estates General and his ability to serve both his king and his nation provide a remarkable tale of an apolitical idealist. As head of the Parisian National Guard, his duty was the protection of the royal family. Indeed, he saved the lives of the king and queen on more than one occasion. Their attempt to escape caused him to be reviled by both the nobles who blamed him for recapturing them and the monarch’s enemies who believed he had enabled their attempt.
I’ve always wondered how Lafayette the aristocrat managed to avoid the guillotine. In a strange twist of fate, a Jacobin conspiracy led to a call for his arrest in 1792. In the face of certain execution, Lafayette deserted. He was quickly arrested by the Austrian army of Francis II, and imprisoned until 1797. He was released only after the intervention of both Washington and Bonaparte. Napoleon really didn’t want him back in France raising cries for civil liberties, but finally agreed to allow him to return ‘quietly’ in 1799.
Lafayette never rested, encouraging, cajoling and exhorting the nascent State of France as she grappled with interminable birth pangs of revolution, republic, directory, empire, and restorations–even securing Napoleon’s abdication in 1815. Only just a few years before his death did he see his hopes of a constitutional monarchy realized. He was the voice of France’s conscience crying out for freedoms, working as the ‘soul of the liberal opposition’ in the Parlement through all those governments. Mme de Stael said Lafayette’s name was one and the same with the name of freedom.
Louise Leetch divides her time between Chicago and Wisconsin. Both houses are just crammed with books. She collects her reviews on her GoodReads page.