isheartened band of three thousand
militia, were pursued by a triumphant army of thirty-three thousand
English and Hessians. The credit of the colonies at Paris sank to the
lowest ebb, and some of the Americans themselves confessed to La Fayette
that they were discouraged, and tried to persuade him to abandon his
project. He said to Mr. Deane:

"Until now, sir, you have only seen my ardor in your cause, and that may
not at present prove wholly useless. I shall purchase a ship to carry
out your officers. We must feel confidence in the future, and it is
especially in the hour of danger that I wish to share your fortune."

He proceeded at once with all possible secrecy to raise the money and to
purchase and arm a ship. While the ship was getting ready, in order the
better to conceal his intention, he made a journey to England, which had
previously been arranged by his family. He was presented to the British
king, against whom he was going to fight; he dined at the house of the
minister who had the department of the colonies; he visited Lord Rawdon,
afterwards distinguished in the Revolutionary struggle; he saw at the
opera Sir Henry Clinton, whom he next saw on the battlefield of
Monmouth, and he breakfasted with Lord Shelburne, a friend of the
colonies.

"While I concealed my intentions," he tells us, "I openly avowed my
sentiments. I often defended the Americans. I rejoiced at their success
at Trenton, and it was my spirit of opposition that obtained for me an
invitation to breakfast with Lord Shelburne."

On his return to France his project was discovered, and his departure
forbidden by the king. He sailed, however, in May, 1777, cheered by his
countrymen, and secretly approved by the government itself. On arriving
at Philadelphia, he sent to Congress a remarkably brief epistle to the
following effect: "After my sacrifices, I have the right to ask two
favors. One is, to serve at my own expense; the other, to begin to serve
as a volunteer."

Congress immediately named him a major-general of the American army, and
he at once reported himself to General Washington. His services at the
Brandywine, where he was badly wounded; in Virginia, where he held an
important command; at Monmouth, where he led the attack--are
sufficiently well known. When he had been in America about fifteen
months, the news came of the impending declaration of war between France
and England. He then wrote to Congress that, as long as he had belie