improved hospitals; at his word humanity ex plored the prisons; he honoured and encouraged agriculture, cut canals, dried up marshy land, built bridges, abolished feudal service, established schools for the people, reformed the criminal laws, banished from the code the torture of the question, equalized the assessment of taxes, eased the burthens of the most oppressed part of his subjects, imposed upon himself severe retrenchments, and made every part of his expenditure accountable to laws that could not be altered. Peace arrived, apparently crowned with all the success that could be expected from the war: the French flag had triumphed equally with its enemy's: the army had gained advantage; there was no longer a foreign commissary at Dunkirk; France was able to fortify her towns as she pleased, and the British colonies were formed into a republic.

But this republic was formed by the subjects of one King, which those of another had assisted in their rebellion; those armaments, by sea and land, having blended their flags and standards with those of an American congress, heard a new language, and learned to speak it themselves. Not long after, the marine council that was held at L'Orient, to try the officers of

the fleet commanded by Count de Grasse, declared those whom they were anxious to shelter from reproach had deserved well of the nation, a form of expression which was simple enough in itself, but was nevertheless novel in France. All those heroes who, in the flower of their age, had repaired to the New World to engage in arms, left their country Frenchmen, but came back Americans: they set out in quest of dangers, and military glory only, but brought back systems, and patriotic enthusiasm. They appeared again at Court, boasting of the scars of wounds received in the cause of liberty, and wearing with their dress the emblems of republican deLa Fay-coration. La Fayette, who became himself the ally of the Americans before his Sovereign, who, with the prodigal ardour of strong passions, but with a mysterious reserve and perseverance, incomprehensible at his age, armed a vessel in the cause of the United States, laded it with all sorts of warlike stores, to the amount of nearly a million of livres, and withdrew from his family without any person having penetrated into his secret; La Fayette, who had commanded an army of insurgents, who had conquered with it, whom also the United States had enrolled amongst their citizens, and whom Washington for six years together called his son; La Fayette

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once more entered his native country, full of the passionate desire, and vain illusions, of an exotic freedom, which, as soon as it was transplanted into France, brought forth fruit widely different from the general expectation. It is said that he had in his back-parlour at Paris, a design elegantly framed and divided into two columns, in one of which was drawn out at length the declaration of rights, published by the Anglo-Americans, the other was left blank, and seemed as if kept for the same declaration on the part of the French. His own intoxication was less surprising than that which he produced in others. The monarchy seemed as if it possessed not voices enough to celebrate, nor favours enough to recompense this young champion of republican liberty. The famous battle of Beaugé, in which Marshal de la Fayette conquered and killed the brother of Henry V. and kept the crown on the head of Charles VII. was not more celebrated in former times, than was the action of Brandywine, in which the Marshal's youthful descendant brought back the American troops to the charge, and was twice wounded at their head. From the highest order of nobility to the lowest rank of citizens, the Parisians vied with each other, who should offer him the most flat

tering testimony of regard, and the most affectionate demonstrations of good will. If the Queen sat for her picture at full length for General Washington, it was at the request of Marquis de la Fayette. The King caused him to supersede all his seniors on the army list, that he might havé rank equal to that which he bore in America. Some of the ministers were desirous of having him for their colleague, and the more repugnance he shewed for what he called places at Court, the more marked were the attentions he met with. His bust was inaugurated in the saloon of the Guildhall at Paris. His wife was present at an audience of the Grand Chamber on the same day with the Count OF THE NORTH; and the Advocate-general of the Court of Peers, paid his compliments to the wife of the Marquis de la Fayette, at the same time as to the Empress Catherine. What age, what mind, could have escaped a seduction like this, in which all the world conspired? Lastly, and certainly it was the finishing characteristic of this extraordinary enthusiasm, as it was the most striking symptom of the effect which the contagion was working, the young and intemperate magistracy of inquirics of the Parliament of Paris, was seen to pay its court to the companion in arms, and the beloved pupil, of Washington, and even to

devise expedients to procure his admission into its society; it is certain, that measures were taken to have the Marquis de la Fayette made an honorary counsellor of the Parliament of Paris. Doubtless the ancient idea of putting on the senatorial gown, after taking off the warlike breast-plate; the new charm of pleading the cause of liberty in the sanctuary of the laws, and on the banks of the Seine, after having defended it with the sword on the borders of the Ohio, were incidents worthy of romance; la Fayette was strongly solicited to undertake this character, but he kept in mind the phlegmatic deliberations of the American Congress, and feared being laughed at if he were to belong to the Parisian Court of Inquiry; he refused, therefore, to be made a parliamentary counsellor, but from that time he connected himself with some of those magistrates who afterwards reproached him with being less resolute than themselves in the revolutionary career. Conferences were held, and discussions entered into. A set of tenets were drawn and the batteries of their eloquence were up; levelled against those ruins of the feudal system which were yet standing. Some time after the Grand Chamber had condemned the publi cation of Boncerf, against feodal rights, to be