lly in France.
Truly their fame is each of a different kind. The latter fought for
peace, not victory; the former rather for the laurel wreath than for
that of oak leaves. It would indeed be ridiculous to measure the
greatness of the two heroes with the same metre, and put one on the
pedestal of the other, even as it would be absurd to set the statue of
Lafayette on the Vendome column--that monument made of the cannon
conquered on so many fields of battle, the sight of which, as Barbier
sings, no French mother can endure. On this bronze column place
Napoleon, the man of iron, here, as in life, standing on his fame,
earned by cannon, rising in terrible isolation to the clouds, so that
every ambitious soldier, when he beholds him, the unattainable one,
there on high, may have his heart humbled and healed of the vain love of
celebrity, and thus this colossal column of metal, as a lightning
conductor of conquering heroism, will do much for the cause of peace in
Europe.

Lafayette has raised for himself a better column than that of the Place
Vendome, and a better monumental image than one of metal or marble.
Where is there marble as pure as the heart of old Lafayette, or metal as
firm as his fidelity? It is true that he was always one-sided, but
one-sided like the magnetic needle, which always points to the north,
and never once veers to south or west. So he has for forty years said
the same thing, and pointed constantly to North America. He is the one
who opened the Revolution with the declaration of the rights of man; to
this hour he perseveres in this belief, without which there is no
salvation and no health to be hoped for--the one-sided man with his
one-sided heavenly region of freedom. He is indeed no genius, as was
Napoleon, in whose head the eagles of inspiration built their nests,
while the serpents of calculation entwined in his heart; but then he was
never intimidated by eagles nor seduced by serpents. As a young man he
was wise as a graybeard, as a graybeard fiery as a youth, a protector of
the people against the wiles of the great, a protector of the great
against the rage of the people, compassionating yet combating, never
arrogant and never discouraged, equally firm and mild--the unchangeable
Lafayette! and so, in his one-sidedness and equanimity, he has remained
on the same spot from the days of Marie Antoinette to the present hour.
And, as a trusty Eckart of liberty, he still stands leaning on his sword
bef