A complete history of the Marquis de Lafayette, major-general in the American army in the war of the revolution. Embracing an account of his tour through the United States, to the time of his departure, September, 1825. By an officer in the late army.

MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE. 203
lied the first moments of his command. Filled with horror
and disgust, and exasperated by this contempt of all authority, he determined at once to resign his office of commanderin-chief; and this determination he immediately conveyed,
in the following letter, to M. Bailly, mayor of the city of
Paris:
SIR,
Summoned by the confidence of its citizens to the military
command of the capital, I have uniformly declared, that in
the actual state of affairs, it was necessary, to be useful, that
confidence should be full and universal. I have steadily declared to the people, that, although devoted to their interest
to my last breath, yet I was incapable of purchasing their favour by unjustly yielding to their wishes. You are aware,
sir, that one of the individuals who perished yesterday was
placed under a guard, and that the other was under the
escort of our troops, both being sentenced by the civil power
to undergo a regular trial. Such were the proper means to
satisfy justice, to discover their accomplices, and to fulfil the
solemn engagements of every citizen toward the national
assembly and the king.
The people would not hearken to my advice; and the
moment when the confidence which they promised, and reposed in me, is lost, it becomes my duty, as I have before
stated, to abandon a post in which I can be no longer useful.
I am, with respect, &c. &c.
LAFAYETTE.
On the receipt of this intelligence, universal consternation
reigned in the assembly. The members rose en masse, and
with M. Moreau de Saint-Mery at their head, proceeded in a
body to M. de Lafayette. With a disorder which their
highly excited feelings produced and justified, they surrounded him on all sides, exclaiming with one voice, that the safety
of the city depended on his preserving the command.Lafayette replied, that the public good itself appeared to