were sent to the dungeons of Wesel and Magdeburg, and ultimately to those of Olmutz, by order of the allied monarchs of Austria and Prussia. When information of this condition of his dear friend reached Washington at Philadelphia, he was deeply moved. The late venerable Richard Rush-intelligence of whose death is spreading upon electric pinions over the land while I write (August 1, 1859)—relates an interesting incident illustrative of the feelings of Washington on that occasion. Mr. Bradford, the attorney-general, was living directly opposite the President's house, and was spending an evening with Washington's family, when the conversation reverted to Lafayette. Washington spoke with great seriousness, contrasted the marquis's hitherto splendid career with his present forlorn and suffering condition, and at length became so deeply affected, that his eyes filled with tears, and his whole great soul was stirred to its very depths. "Magnanimous tears they were," says Mr. Rush, “fit for the first of heroes to shed-virtuous, honorable, sanctified!" Mr. Bradford, who deeply sympathized with the feelings of Washington, was much affected at the spectacle, and returning to his own house, he "sat down," says Griswold, from whose Republican Court I quote, "and wrote the following simple, but touching verses, an impromptu effusion from the heart of a man of sensibility and genius: "THE LAMENT OF WASHINGTON "As beside his cheerful fire, 'Midst his happy family, Sat a venerable sire, Tears were starting in his eye. Selfish blessings were forgot, Whilst he thought on Fayette's lot, Now in poverty and chains. "Fayette,' cried he-'honored name! "Soldiers in our fields of death-- What, but poverty and chains! 'Hapless Fayette! 'midst thine error, How my soul thy worth reveresi Hero of both hemispheres! What reward for all remains, What, but poverty and chains! “Born to honors, ease, and wealth, See him sacrifice them all; Sacrificing also health, At his country's glorious call, What for thee, my friend, remains, What, but poverty and chains! "Thus with laurels on his brow Hannibal an exile fled. Alas! Fayette at once sustains EXILE, POVERTY, and CHAINS!' "Courage, child of Washington! Though thy fate disastrous seems, Rise and burn with brighter beams, Thy country soon shall break thy chain, Thy country soon shall break thy chain, In the horrid dungeon at Olmutz, in a cell three paces broad and five and a half long, containing no other ornament than two French verses which rhyme with the words to suffer and to die, the generous Lafayette was confined almost three years, and yet his great soul was not bound by suffering, nor his zeal for liberty one whit abated. Deprived of pen, ink, and paper, except a sheet that "by a miracle" he possessed, he wrote a letter with a toothpick to a princess who sympathized with him, and said, in a postscript: "I know not what disposition has been made of my plantation at Cayenne, but I hope Madame Lafayette will take care that the negroes who cultivate it shall preserve their liberty." Lafayette's noble wife, as soon as she could get permission to leave France, hastened to Olmutz, with her daughters, to share the prison with the husband and father, while their son, George Washington, came to the United States, with his tutor, consigned to the fatherly care and protection of the great patriot whose name he bore. They arrived at Boston at the close of the summer of 1795, and immediately informed Washington of the fact. The President's first impulse was to take the young man to his bosom and cherish him as a son, but grave reasons of state denied him that pleasure. "To express all the sensibility," he said, in a letter to Senator Cabot, of Boston, "which has been excited in my breast by the receipt of young Lafayette's letter, from the recollections of his father's merits, services, and sufferings, from my friendship for him, and from my wishes to become a friend and father to his son, is unnecessary." He then declared himself the young man's friend, but intimated that great caution in the manifestation of that friendship would be necessary, considering the light in which his father was then viewed by the French government, and Washington's own situation as the executive of the United States. He desired Mr. Cabot to make young Lafayette and M. Frestel, his tutor, understand why he could not receive them as he desired, but that his support and protection, until a more auspicious moment, might be relied on. He ordered them to be provided with every thing necessary, at his expense, and advised their entrance at Harvard University. Young Lafayette assumed the name of Motier (a family name of his father); and in November Washington wrote to him with caution, telling him that the causes which rendered it necessary for them both to be circumspect were not yet removed, and desiring him to repair to Colonel Hamilton, in New York, who would see that he was well provided for. How long the causes which have withheld you from me may continue," Washington said, "I am not able at this moment to decide; but be assured of my wishes to embrace you so soon as they shall have ceased, and that, whenever the period arrives, I shall do it with fervency." He then, with fatherly solicitude, advised him to attend well to his studies, that he might "be found to be a deserving son of a meritorious father." After leaving Boston, young Lafayette lived with his tutor for awhile in the vicinity of New York, in comparative seclusion. At length the Congress took cognizance of the presence of the young man, and on the 18th of March the House of Representatives passed the following resolution and order: "Information having been given to this House that a son of General Lafayette is now within the United States; Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire into the truth of the said information, and report thereon; and what measures it would be proper to take if the same be true, to evince the grateful sense entertained by the country for the services of his father. "Ordered that Mr. Livingston, Mr. Sherburne, and Mr. Murray be appointed a committee pursuant to the said resolution." As chairman of the committee, Mr. Livingston wrote to young Lafayette as follows: "SIR: Actuated by motives of gratitude to your father, and eager to seize every opportunity of showing their sense of his important services, the House of Representatives have passed the resolution which I have the pleasure to communicate. The committee being directed to inquire into the fact of your arrival within the United States, permit me to advise your immediate appearance at this place, that the legislature of America may no longer be in doubt, whether the son of Lafay ette is under their protection, and within the reach of their gratitude. "I presume to give this advice as an individual personally attached to your father, and very solicitous to be useful to any person in whose happiness he is interested. If I should have |