but force. As M. de Larmartime has said: "One gets from
factions only what one snatches." Instead of striking, Lafayette was
going to speak and write. The Jacobins might have feared his sword;
they despised his words and pen. But though it was not very wise, the
noble audacity with which the hero of America came spontaneously to
throw himself into the heat of the struggle and utter his protest in
the name of right and honor, was none the less an act of courage.
While with the army, that asylum of generous ideas, the sentiments on
which his ancestors had prided themselves rekindled in his heart.
Memories of his early youth revived anew. Doubtless he also recalled
his personal obligations to Louis XVI. On his return from the United
States, had he not been created major-general over the heads of a
multitude of older officers? Had not the Queen accorded him at that
epoch the most flattering eulogies? Had he not been received at the
great receptions of May 29, 1785, when any other officer unless highly
born would have remained in the OEil-de-Boeuf or paid his court in the
passage of the chapel? Had he not accepted the rank of
lieutenant-general from the King, on June 30, 1791? The gentleman
reappeared beneath the revolutionist. The humiliation of a throne for
which his ancestors had so often shed their blood {232} caused him a
real grief, and it is perhaps regrettable that Louis XVI. should have
refused the hand which his recent adversary extended loyally though
late.

Lafayette was encamped near Bavay with the Army of the North when the
first tidings of June 20 reached him. His soul was roused to
indignation, and he wanted to start at once for Paris to lift his voice
against the Jacobins. Old Marshal Luckner tried in vain to restrain
him by saying that the _sans-culottes_ would have his head. Nothing
could stop him. Placing his army in safety under the cannon of
Maubeuge, he started with no companion but an aide-de-camp. At
Soissons some persons tried to dissuade him from going further by
painting a doleful picture of the dangers to which he would expose
himself. He listened to nobody and went on his way. Reaching Paris in
the night of June 27-28, he alighted at the house of his intimate
friend, the Duke de La Rochefoucauld, who was about to play so
honorable a part. As soon as morning came, Lafayette was at the door
of the National Assembly, asking permission to offer the homage of his
respect. This a