La Fayette, and was called general
Biron. He was a man of the court, who had gone over in all sincerity to
the side of the people. Young, handsome, chivalrous, with that intrepid
gaiety which plays with death, he carried aristocratic honour into
republican ranks. Loved by the soldiers, adored by the women, at his
ease in camps, a roue in courts, he was of that school of sparkling
vices of which the Marshal de Richelieu had been the type in France. It
was said that the queen herself had been enamoured of him, without being
able to fix his inconstancy. Friend of the Duc d'Orleans, companion of
his debaucheries, still he had never conspired with him. All treachery
was abhorrent to him, all baseness of heart roused his utmost
indignation. He adopted the Revolution as a noble idea, of which he was
always ready to be the soldier, but never the accomplice. He did not
betray the king, and always preserved a deep feeling of pity and
sympathy for the queen; with an intense love for philosophy and liberty,
instead of fomenting them by sedition, he defended them by war. He
changed devotion to kings into devotion to his country. This noble
cause, and the sorrows of the Revolution gave to his character a more
manly stamp, and made him fight and die with the conscience of a hero.

He was encamped at Quievrain with 10,000 men, and advanced against the
Austrian general Beaulieu, who occupied the heights of Mons, with a very
weak army. Two regiments of dragoons, who formed Biron's advanced guard,
were seized with a sudden panic on beholding Beaulieu's troops. The
soldiers cried out treachery, and in vain did their officers attempt to
rally them; they turned bridle and scattered disorder and fear
throughout the ranks. The army gave way and mechanically followed the
current of flight. Biron and his aides-de-camp threw themselves into the
centre of the troops to stay and to rally them. They struck at them with
their swords, and fired at them. The camp of Quievrain, the military
chest, the carriage of Biron himself, were plundered by the fugitives.

Whilst this defeat, without a battle, humiliated the French army, in its
first step, at Quievrain, bloody assassinations stained our flag at
Lille. General Dillon had left that city, the enemy showed itself on the
plain to the number of nine hundred men. At its appearance only, the
French cavalry uttered treacherous cries, and passing by the infantry,
fled to Lille, without being followed, aband