e gift to the cause of liberty.

One of the most pleasing circumstances of La Fayette's residence in
America was the affectionate friendship which existed between himself
and General Washington. He looked up to Washington as to a father as
well as a chief; and Washington regarded him with a tenderness truly
paternal. La Fayette named his eldest son George Washington, and never
omitted any opportunity to testify his love and admiration for the
illustrious American. Franklin, too, was much attached to the youthful
enthusiast, and privately wrote to General Washington, asking him, for
the sake of the young and anxious wife of the marquis, not to expose his
life except in an important and decisive engagement.

In the diary of the celebrated William Wilberforce, who visited Paris
soon after the peace, there is an interesting passage descriptive of La
Fayette's demeanor at the French court:

"He seemed to be the representative of the democracy in the very
presence of the monarch--the tribune intruding with his veto within the
chamber of the patrician order. His own establishment was formed upon
the English model, and amidst the gayety and ease of Fontainebleau he
assumed an air of republican austerity. When the fine ladies of the
court would attempt to drag him to the card-table, he shrugged his
shoulders with an air of affected contempt for the customs and
amusements of the old _regime_. Meanwhile, the deference which this
champion of the new state of things received, above all from the ladies
of the court, intimated clearly the disturbance of the social
atmosphere, and presaged the coming tempest."

From the close of the American war for independence to the beginning of
the French Revolution a period of six years elapsed, during which France
suffered much from the exhaustion of her resources in aiding the
Americans. La Fayette lived at Paris, openly professing republicanism,
which was then the surest passport to the favor both of the people and
the court. The queen of France herself favored the republican party,
though without understanding its object or tendencies. La Fayette
naturally became the organ and spokesman of those who desired a reform
in the government. He recommended, even in the palace of the king, a
restoration of civil rights to the Protestants; the suppression of the
heavy and odious tax on salt; the reform of the criminal courts; and he
denounced the waste of public money on princes and court favorites.