n--his simplicity of manner and unstudied
grace of speech were but further proofs thereof. Brutality and
lawlessness, veiled under the name of patriotism, could hardly do less
than hate an incorruptible man like Lafayette who was outspoken in his
beliefs.

A coalition of European powers stood ready to invade France and place
the monarchy again on a secure basis. Lafayette was at the head of one
of three armies sent to withstand the forces of the coalition, but his
own soldiers were secretly in sympathy with the revolutionary frenzy.

The end came when Lafayette defied the Jacobin party, and they in turn
declared him a traitor and put a price on his head. But even at that
late day, if there had been in France any number of men who possessed
Lafayette's calmness, self-control, and generous spirit, the state
might still have been saved from tumult and degradation. As it was,
France turned its face away from its best light and hope, and
Lafayette was, as Carlyle picturesquely said, "hooted forth over the
borders into Cimmerian night." He put his army into the best order
possible, and with a company of devoted officers and followers started
for a neutral country.

Meantime in Paris the feet of the people were at the threshold of the
Terror.

CHAPTER XV

LAFAYETTE IN PRISON

Lafayette attempted to cross the frontier on his way to America when he
was intercepted and taken prisoner. This was at Rochefort, on neutral
territory. The arrest of peaceful citizens on their way through neutral
territory to a neutral country was treason to all international covenant
and courtesy; evidently, the phrase "international courtesy" had not
then been coined; but the act has been abhorred by unprejudiced military
men the world over.

The party were taken to Namur, thence to Wesel, where some were
released; later, three remained to be imprisoned in Magdeburg. Lafayette
is reported to have owned as his highest ambition that his name should
be a terror to all kings and monarchs. If he made this remark, his wish
was fulfilled; for at a meeting of a committee of the Coalition it was
agreed that the "existence of Lafayette was incompatible with the safety
of the governments of Europe."

Following this decision, in May, 1794, the king of Prussia gave him into
the keeping of the Emperor of Austria, and the dangerous prisoner,
together with three of the officers who were with him when arrested,
Latour-Maubourg, Bureaux-de-Pusy, and L