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Rh the allied forces at Williamsburg sealed the doom of Cornwall is. During the whole campaign, from 20 May to 14 Sept., while Lafayette was in com- mand "opposed to Cornwallis, his conduct was pru- dent and skilful, and contributed in no slight degree toward the grand result. On 22 Dec. he sailed again from Boston in the " Alliance," and on his arrival in France was greeted with enthu- siasm. An army of 24,000 French and Spanish troops was about to assemble at Cadiz, and Lafay- ette was appointed chief-of-staff, with a brevet of major-general. Before the preparations for this expedition were completed, the war was at an end, and Lafayette sent from Cadiz the swift frigate "Triumph," which arrived, 23 March, 1783, at Phil- adelphia, with the first news of peace. Next year, at Washington's invitation, he returned to the United States, and after a visit to Mount Vernon made a journey through the country from Virginia to Massachusetts. On 25 Dec, 1784, he sailed from New York in the French frigate " Nymphe."

In 1785 he travelled in Germany. About this time he was deeply interested in the abolition of slav- ery, and purchased a large plantation in Cayenne, where great numbers of slaves might be educated with a view to gradual emancipation. Washing- ton, Jefferson, and others were interested in this experiment, which it was hoped might furnish an example for imitation in the United States. In 1787 Lafayette was a member of the assembly of notables, and in the states-general of 1789 he sat as representative of the nobility of Auvergne. He was chosen, 26 July, 1789. commander-in-chief of the National guard, a position which he held till 8 Oct., 1791. Part of his difficult duties at this time related to the protection of the king and queen, who distrusted him, as they distrusted every one who might have been of real service to them. His moderate views made Lafayette very distaste- ful to the Jacobins, and with their rise to power his influence and popularity diminished. Having been promoted lieutenant-general, 30 June. 1791. he was appointed, on the declaration of war against Austria, 20 April, 1792. to command the army of the centre, 52.000 strong, between Philippeville and Lauterbourg. From his camp at Maubeuge, 16 June, he wrote the famous letter to the Na- tional assembly, in which he denounced the dan- gerous policy of the Jacobins. The insurrection of 20 June followed. On the 28th Lafayette came to Paris, and appeared before the assembly to de- fend his course. After two days, finding the Jaco- bins all-powerful in the city, he returned to camp, and formed a plan for removing the king from Paris. Before the plan was fully matured, and while his army was at Sedan, only four days' inarch from the capital, there came the news of the revo- lution of 10 Aug. and the imprisonment of the king. Lafayette now refused to obey the orders of the assembly, and arrested the three commission- ers sent by that body to his camp. In return the assembly removed him from command and ap- pointed Dumouriez in his place, 19 Aug.; his im- peachment was also decided upon, and it became evident that his soldiers were in sympathy with the Jacobins. He fled into Belgium with half a dozen companions, was taken prisoner by the Aus- trians, and handed over by them to the Prussians, by whom he was imprisoned first at Wesel, after- ward at Magdeburg. He was offered his liberty on condition of assisting the allies in their invasion of France, but refused. After a year's incarcera- tion at Magdeburg, he was transferred to Austria for safe keeping, and passed the next four years in a loathsome dungeon at Olmutz, where he was treated with barbarous cruelty. Much sympathy was felt for him in the United' States and in Eng- land. In parliament, Fox, Wilberforce, and Sheri- dan were active in his behalf, "and Washington wrote to the emperor, Francis II.. asking that he might be allowed to come on parole to the United States. In the autumn of 1794, through the bold- ness and skill of Dr. Bollmann, a young German physician, and Francis Kinlock Huger, of South Carolina, he was actually set free, and had nearly got clear of Austrian territory when he was cap- tured, loaded with irons, and carried back to his dungeon. With much difficulty, in 1795, his wife and two daughters got permission to share his cap- tivity. In these sufferings Lafayette served as the scapegoat upon which the emperor could freely vent his rage at the revolutionary party in general for the indignities heaped upon his kinswoman Marie Antoinette. The unfortunate victim was at length set free. 23 Sept., 1797, by the victories of Bonaparte. After a sojourn in flolstein and then in Holland, he returned to France in March. 1800, after the overthrow of the Directory, and retired to his castle of La Grange, in Brie, about forty-three miles from Paris. Napoleon sought to gain his ad- herence by offering him a senatorship, the cross of the Legion of honor, and the position of minister to the United States; but he declined these offers. He also declined President Jefferson's offer in 1805 to appoint him governor of Louisiana. During Napoleon's ride he remained in the quiet of his home at La Grange, where his wife died, 24 Dec, 1807.

(See illustration.) On Napoleon's return from Elba, it seemed desirable to secure the sup- port of that moderate liberal sentiment which La- fayette had always consistently represented, and Joseph Bonaparte was accordingly sent to La Grange to sound Lafayette and secure his allegiance. Lafayette refused to accept a place in the hereditary peerage which the Corsican proposed to re-establish, or to attach himself in any way to his fortunes. " If I should ever again appear in public life," said he, " it can only be as a representative of the people." When a chamber of representatives was established he was chosen meml>er for the Department of Seine-et-Marne. but took little or no part in the proceedings until after Waterloo. On 21 June, 1815. he insisted that Napoleon's abdication should be demanded, while at the same time his life and liberty should be guaranteed by the nation. He endeavored unsuccessfully to procure for Napoleon the means of escaping to the United States. In 1818, after three years of seclusion at home, he was elected to the chamber of deputies, where he sat till 1824. as a leader of the opposition, opposing the censorship of the press, and voting for all truly liberal measures. In 1824 congress passed unanimously a resolution requesting President Monroe to invite Lafayette to visit the United States. He sailed from Havre, 12 July, in an American mer-