Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/329

 LAFAYETTE

LA FOLLETTE

Lafayette went to Paris where he defended liis course. Finding the Jacobins in power lie planned to remove the king toConipiegnc, but the revolu- tion of Aug. 10, 1792, prevented, and Lafaj-ette refused to obey tlie orders of the assembly, and arrested three commissioners sent to his camp to gain his adlierence. Infuriated at this insult the assembly dismissed him from the army, and on Aug. 19, 1792, declared him a traitor. He fled to Belgium with a few of his officers, was arrested at Liege by the Austrians, was given in charge of the Prussians, confined in the fortress at Wesel, and removed to Magdeburg, in March, 1793. In 1794 he was conveyed to Neisse. but the King of Prussia transferred the prisoners to the Aus- trians and numbers were suljstituted for their names and but a few officers knew the place of their imprisonment. Lafayette escaped to the Austrian frontier in 1794 through the bold- ness and skill of Dr. Eric Bollman, a German physician, and Francis Kinloch Huger, of South Carolina (q. v.), but he was re-captured and carried back to Olmutz. In 1795 his wife and two daughters received permission to share his imprisonment. He was set free Sept. 23. 1797, repaired to Holstein and thence to Holland, returning to France in March, 1800, and retiring to his castle of La Grange, in Brie, where his wife died Dec. 24, 1807. Napoleon sought to gain his allegiance by offering him a senatorship, the cross of the legion of honor and the position of minister to the United States, but he declined. He also refused President Jefferson's offer in 1805 of the governorship of Louisiana. He was a member of the chamber of representatives for the department of Seine-et-Marne, 1815. On June 21, 1815. he in- sisted on Napoleon's abdication, but conditioned that his life and liberty be guaranteed bj' the nation. He also endeavored to procure for Napoleon, the means of escaping to the United States. Lafayette was a member of the chamber of deputies, 1818-24, where he was the leader of the opposition. Upon the request of congress lie again visited the United States in 1824, sailing fi-om Havre, July 12, and arriving in New York August 15. He travelled through the states and returned to New York July 4, 1825. The whole journey was a triumphal progress, everywhere he was received with extraordinary honors and the festivities and celebrations of that year had no precedent in the annals of the country. In con- sideration of his services, congress voted him an appropriation of lj;200.000 and a township of 24,000 acres to be assigned from the public lands. His sixty-eighth birthday, Sept. 6, 1825, was cele- brated at the White House, where a farewell speech was pronounced by President Adams. He sailed for France in the frigate Brandywine, Sept. 7, 1825, arriving in Havre Oct. 5, 1825, and

resumed his domestic life at La Grange, but in 1827 he was again elected to the chamber of de- puties. In the revolution of Jul}', 1830. he was made commander-in-chief of the National guard, and was instrumental in putting Louis Phillippe on the throne. lie was tendered a public dinner, Aug. 15, 1830. by the city of Paris, as a recogni- tion that to him the nation owed the deliverance from past dangers and the peace it then enjoyed. A revolution in Belgium which left the throne vacant gave liim an opportunity to decline the offer of a crown. He was again appointed com- mander of the National guard. lie died in Paris, France. May 20. 1«34.

LAFLIN, Addison Henry, representative, was born in Lee, Mass.. Oct. 24, 1823. He was grad- uated at Williams c(jllege in 1S43 and engaged in the manufacture of paper at Herkimer, N.Y. He was a state senator, 1857-58, and a representa- tive in the 39th, 40th and 41st congresses, 1865- 71, serving as chairman of the committee on printing, and as a member of the committee on manufactures. He was a member of the Repub- lican state convention of 1867. He was appointed by President Grant, naval officer of the post of New York, in 1871, resigning in 1877. He died at Pittsfield. Mass., Sept. 24, 1878.

LA FOLLETTE, Robert Marion, governor of AVisconsin, was born in Primrose, Wis., June 14, 1855 ; son of Josiah and Mary (Furgeson) La Follette. He was graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1879, and won the inter- state collegiate ora- torical contest. He was admitted to the bar in 1880 ; was dis- trict attorney of Dane county, 1880- 84 ; a Republican rep- resentative from the third Wisconsin dis- trict in the 49th, 50th and 51st congresses, 1885-91, and was de- feated for re-election in 1890. He served on the ways and means committee and was prominent in framing the McKinley bill. In 1891 he returned to the practice of law at Madison, Wis. He was mar- ried. Dec. 31. 1881, to Belle, daughter of Anson T. Case, of Baraboo, Wis. He was a candidate for nomination for governor before the Repub- lican state conventions of 1896 and 1898 ; and was elected governor of Wisconsin in 1900. It was through his efforts that a primary election law was enacted in Wisconsin, by which all nomi- nations were made by Australian ballot.