with a nation which, receiving at once all its liberties, is yet subject
to confound them with licentiousness." He then spoke of the hinderances
to speedy success in the establishment of a sound republican government,
and said: "After having avowed all this, my dear general, I will tell
you, with the same frankness, that we have made an admirable and almost
incredible destruction of all the abuses, of all the prejudices; that
all which was not useful to the people--all which did not come from
them--has been retrenched; that, in considering the situation,
topographical, moral, and political, of France, we have effected more
changes in ten months than the most presumptive patriots could have
hoped, and that the reports about our anarchy, our internal troubles,
are greatly exaggerated."

In conclusion, the marquis said: "Permit me, my dear general, to offer
you a picture representing the Bastile, such as it was some days after I
had given orders for its demolition, with the main key of the fortress
of despotism. It is a tribute which I owe as a son to an adopted
father--as an aid-de-camp to my general--as a missionary of liberty to
its patriarch."

The picture and key were placed in the hands of Thomas Paine, then in
London, who was intending soon to visit the United States. His
destination was changed to France, and after considerable delay he
forwarded the precious mementoes, with a letter, in which he said:--

"I feel myself happy in being the person through whom the marquis
has conveyed this early trophy of the spoils of despotism, and the
first ripe fruit of American principles transplanted into Europe,
to his great master and patron. When he mentioned to me the present
he intended for you, my heart leaped with joy.... That the
principles of America opened the Bastile is not to be doubted, and
therefore the key comes to the right place."

On the receipt of these presents early in August, Washington wrote to
Lafayette, saying: "I have received your affectionate letter of the
seventeenth of March by one conveyance, and the token of the victory
gained by liberty over despotism by another; for both which testimonials
of your friendship and regard, I pray you to accept my sincerest thanks.
In this great subject of triumph for the new world and for humanity in
general, it will never be forgotten how conspicuous a part you bore, and
how much lustre you reflected on a country in which you