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Memoirs, Correspondence and Manuscripts of General Lafayette by Lafayette

L >> Lafayette >> Memoirs, Correspondence and Manuscripts of General Lafayette




I am now writing to the Count de Rochambeau and the Chevalier de
Ternay, on the subject of your several letters. When their answer
arrives, I will communicate the contents to you. You must be convinced,
from what passed at the interview at Hartford, that my command of the
French troops at Rhode Island stands upon a very limited scale, and
that it would be impolitic and fruitless in me to propose any measures
of co-operation to a third power, without their concurrence;
consequently an application from you, antecedently to an official
proposition from the minister of France, the gentlemen at the head of
the French armament at Rhode Island, congress, or myself, could only be
considered as coming from a private gentleman; it is, therefore, my
advice to you to postpone your correspondence with the Spanish
generals, and let your influence come in hereafter, as auxiliary to
something more formal and official. I do not hesitate to give it
clearly as my opinion to you, (but this opinion and this business
should be concealed behind a curtain,) that the favourable moment of
the Spanish operations in the Floridas ought to be improved to the
utmost extent of our means, provided the Spaniards, by a junction of
their maritime force with that of his most Christian Majesty, under the
command of the Chevalier de Ternay, will give us a secure convoy, and
engage not to leave us until the operations shall be at an end, or it
can be done by consent of parties.

I am very thankful to the minister for permitting, and to you for
communicating to General Greene, intelligence of the Spanish movement
towards the Floridas. It may have a happy influence on his measures,
and it may be equally advantageous to the Spaniards. Your expressions
of personal attachment and affection to me are flattering and pleasing,
and fill me with gratitude. It is unnecessary, I trust, on my part, to
give you assurances of mutual regard, because I hope you are convinced
in your own choice to go to the southern army or to stay with this,
circumstances and inclination alone must govern you. It would add to my
pleasure if I could encourage your hope of Colonel Nevill's exchange. I
refused to interest myself in the exchange of my own aide. General
Lincoln's were exchanged with himself, and upon that occasion, for I
know of no other, congress passed a resolution, prohibiting exchanges
out of the order of captivity.

Under one general head, I shall express my concern for your
disappointment of letters, our disappointment of clothes, and
disappointment in the mode of raising men; but I shall congratulate you
on the late change of the administration of France,~[1] as it seems to
be consonant to your wishes, and to encourage hope. I am much pleased
at the friendly disposition of Portugal. Much good, I hope, will result
from the combination of the maritime powers. I am in very confined
quarters; little better than those at Valley Forge, but such as they
are I shall welcome into them your friends on their return to Rhode
Island. I am, &c.


Footnote:

1. Footnote 1: The Marquis de Castries had succeeded, as minister of
the navy, to M. de Sartine. This change gave rise to the hope that
France would send the promised succours, and that expectation induced
M. de Lafayette to renounce his journey to the south.



TO M. DE VERGENNES.~[1]

New Windsor, on the North River, Jan. 30th, 1781.

The letters which I had the honour of writing to you, sir, and which
were dated the 20th May, 19th July, 4th and 16th December, have, I
hope, reached you safely. Since the arrival of the squadron, your
despatch of the 3rd of June is the only one I have received. The
Chevalier de la Luzerne has only received one letter of the same month,
and none have yet reached the officers of the army and squadron.

The first copy of this letter will be delivered to you by
Lieutenant-Colonel Laurens, aide-de-camp to General Washington, who is
charged by congress with a private mission. Permit me to recommend to
you this officer as a man who, by his integrity, frankness, and
patriotism, must be extremely acceptable to government.

According to the instructions of congress, he will place before you the
actual state of our affairs, which demand, I think more than ever, the
most serious attention. As to the opinions which I may allow myself to
express, sir, they entirely correspond with those I have hitherto
expressed, and the very slight alterations observable in them have been
occasioned by a change of time, prejudices, and circumstances.

With a naval inferiority, it is impossible to make war in America. It
is that which prevents us from attacking any point that might be
carried with two or three thousand men. It is that which reduces us to
defensive operations, as dangerous as they are humiliating. The English
are conscious of this truth, and all their movements prove how much
they desire to retain the empire of the sea. The harbours, the country,
and all the resources it offers, appear to invite us to send thither a
naval force. If we had possessed but a maritime superiority this
spring, much might have been achieved with the army that M. de
Rochambeau brought with him, and it would not have been necessary to
have awaited the division he announced to us. If M. de Guichen had
stopped at Rhode Island, on his way to France, Arbuthnot would have
been ruined, and not all Rodney's efforts could have prevented our
gaining victories. Since the hour of the arrival of the French, their
inferiority has never for one moment ceased, and the English and the
Tories have dared to say that France wished to kindle, without
extinguishing the flame. This calumny becomes more dangerous at a
period when the English detachments are wasting the south; when, under
the protection of some frigates, corps of fifteen hundred men are
repairing to Virginia, without our being able to get to them. On the
whole continent, with the exception of the Islands of Newport, it is
physically impossible that we should carry on an offensive war without
ships, and even on those Islands the difficulty of transportation, the
scarcity of provisions, and many other inconveniences, render all
attempts too precarious to enable us to form any settled plan of
campaign.

The result, sir, of all this is, that the advantage of the United
States being the object of the war, and the progress of the enemy on
that continent being the true means of prolonging it, and of rendering
it, perhaps, even injurious to us, it becomes, in a political and
military point of view, necessary to give us, both by vessels sent from
France, and by a great movement in the fleet in the Islands, a decided
naval superiority for the next campaign; and also, sir, to give us
money enough to place the American forces in a state of activity;
fifteen thousand of the regular army, and ten thousand, or, if we
choose it, a still greater number of militia in this part of the
country; a southern army, of which I cannot tell precisely the extent,
but which will be formed by the five southern states, with all means of
supporting in this country such a considerable force. Such, sir, are
the resources that you may employ against the common enemy; immense
sums of money could not transport resources of equal value from Europe
to America, but these, without a succour of money, although established
on the very theatre of war, will become useless; and that succour,
which was always very important, is now absolutely necessary.

The last campaign took place without a shilling having been spent; all
that credit, persuasion, and force could achieve, has been done,--but
that can hold out no longer: that miracle, of which I believe no
similar example can be found, cannot be renewed, and our exertions
having been made to obtain an army for the war, we must depend on you
to enable us to make use of it.

From my peculiar situation, sir, and from what it has enabled me to
know and see, I think it is my duty to call your attention to the
American soldiers and on the part they must take in the operations of
the next campaign. The continental troops have as much courage and real
discipline as those that are opposed to them. They are more inured to
privation, more patient than Europeans, who, on these two points,
cannot be compared to them. They have several officers of great merit,
without mentioning those who have served during the last wars, and from
their own talents have acquired knowledge intuitively; they have been
formed by the daily experience of several campaigns, in which, the
armies being small, and the country a rugged one, all the battalions of
the line were obliged to serve as advance-guards and light troops. The
recruits whom we are expecting, and who only bear, in truth, the name
of recruits, have frequently fought battles in the same regiments which
they are now re-entering, and have seen more gun-shots than
three-fourths of the European soldiers. As to the militia, they are
only armed peasants, who have occasionally fought, and who are not
deficient in ardour and discipline, but whose services would be most
useful in the labours of a siege. This, sir, is the faithful picture
that I think myself obliged to send you, and which it is not my
interest to paint in glowing colours, because it would be more glorious
to succeed with slighter means. The Chevalier de la Luzerne, who,
having himself seen our soldiers, will give you a detailed and
disinterested account of them, will doubtless tell you, as I do, that
you may depend upon our regular troops. The result of this digression,
sir, is, to insist still more earnestly on the necessity of sending
money to put the American troops in movement, and to repeat that
well-known truth, that a pecuniary succour and a naval superiority
must be the two principal objects of the next campaign.

It would take us too long to examine the faults that have been
committed, and the efforts that the states may still endeavour to make:
we must return to the former point, that, under present circumstances,
money is requisite to derive any advantage from the American resources;
that the means which have been substituted for funds are almost
completely worn out; that those to which we are at present reduced, do
not fulfil the proposed end, and are opposed to the ideas which induced
the nation to commence the revolution; that, consequently, we require
money to restore to the army that degree of activity without which it
cannot operate in an efficacious manner. Clothes, arms, ammunition, are
comprised in the same article, and Colonel Laurens carries with him a
copy of the former list, from which some deductions have been made. I
will content myself with saying, that nothing of any importance has
been sent us, that it is necessary to clothe the American army, that it
requires arms, and, to be enabled to besiege places, a great
augmentation of powder. As these expenses relate to the pecuniary
succours, and are those which will strike most forcibly individuals,
both of the army and nation, I think it important that the government
should prepare them with promptness, and send them in a secure manner.

If it should appear strange, sir, to call that completion of the army a
great effort, I would beg to observe, that hunger, cold, nudity, and
labour, the certainty of receiving no pay, clothes, or necessary food,
being the prospects held out to the American soldier, they must be but
little inviting to citizens who are, generally speaking, accustomed to
live at home with some degree of comfort; and the English having had
sufficient time to think of all the naval points, the attacks of next
year will be anything rather than surprises, and our forces must
increase in proportion to their precautions. I could have wished that
there had been some French troops, and my confidence in the decrease of
prejudice has been even greater than that of congress, General
Washington, or your minister at that time. The advance-guard of the
Count de Rochambeau, although inactive itself from want of ships, by
its presence alone has rendered an essential service to America: if it
had not arrived, the campaign would have been a ruinous one. When I
consider the present state of feeling, my opinion, as I have had the
honour of telling you before, would be to send hither, for the
expedition of New York, a division of about ten thousand Frenchmen.

In our conference at Hartford, sir, the calculations were of course
made, not according to the fortifications actually existing, but
according to those they might intend erecting. The answers General
Washington thought proper to make to the questions put by the Count de
Rochambeau, have been long since carried to you by the _Amazon_. A
proposal to ask for a corps of fifteen thousand Frenchmen could only be
acceptable to the commander-in-chief. But if that surplus were to
lessen the sum of money by means with which fifteen thousand regular
troops, ten thousand militia, and a southern army should be put into
motion; if it were to lessen the number of ships that would enable us
to act in all places, and with a decided superiority;--I must again
repeat, that pecuniary succours and a naval superiority are the two
most essential points; that the same quantity of money would, put into
action here, double that number of American soldiers; and that, without
ships, a few thousand men more would be but of little use to us.

The admirable discipline of the French corps, in addition to the honour
it confers on M. de Rochambeau and the soldiers under his command,
fulfils a still more important aim, by impressing on the minds of the
Americans the highest idea of our nation.

The wisdom of the government, in placing that corps under the orders of
General Washington, allows me only to repeat how essential it is that
his authority should be complete, and without any sort of restriction.
The talents, prudence, delicacy, and knowledge of country, which are
all united in him in the greatest degree of perfection, are qualities
of which one only would suffice to ensure the rigid observance of the
instructions which I bear; and the longer I remain here, the more
frilly am I convinced that each of them is equally necessary to the
harmony and success of the whole affair.

We have had, lately, sir, an important mutiny, of which Colonel Laurens
will give you the details.~[2] A corps of Pennsylvanian troops, almost
wholly composed of strangers, and stationed at Morristown (Jersey),
unanimously rose against their officers, and, under the direction of
one of their sergeants, marched on to Princetown. The civil authorities
repaired thither, to afford them the justice they demanded. To be in
want of food and clothes, to serve for more than a year without pay,
some of them, indeed, having been forced to serve a whole year beyond
their engagement, are evils to which no army would submit. It is
singular enough that those mutineers should have hung up the envoys of
General Clinton. The greatest part of the soldiers are disbanded, but
they are to re-enter the service, and to join the recruits in different
regiments of the state. I am not less positive as to the number of men
we shall have in our continental army. Some troops belonging to the
Jerseys, seduced by example, and being those next to the
Pennsylvanians, which were composed of the greatest number of
foreigners, wished to take the same method of obtaining justice; but
General Washington, having taken the management of this affair in his
own hands, sent forward a detachment; the mutineers submitted, and
their chiefs were punished. It is impossible to pass too high encomiums
upon the New England troops, almost all national ones, whose cause was
at bottom the same, and who, in spite of their nudity, crossed heavy
snows to march against the mutineers. This proves, sir, that human
patience may have some limits, but that soldier citizens will endure
far more than strangers. These events furnish another argument for the
necessity of obtaining money.

I flatter myself, sir, that the government, conscious that the ensuing
campaign may be a decisive one, will occupy itself seriously of
rendering it favourable to us. The taking of New York would destroy the
power of the English on this continent, and a short continuation of
naval superiority would secure to us the easy conquest of all the other
parts of the United States. As to the taking of New York, which it
would be rash to consider easy, but absurd to respect the town as if it
were a fortified one, it is, I believe, well authenticated, and General
Washington has no doubt upon the subject, that with the means proposed
in my letter, we should obtain possession of it in the course of the
summer.

It is, I believe, important to turn, as far as possible, the enemy's
attention towards Canada.

When General Washington gave Colonel Laurens his opinion respecting
military affairs and the operations of the campaign, he also put down
in writing some ideas on our present situation, and communicated to me
that letter, which contains the substance of several of his
conversations with me. I take the liberty of requesting the king's
minister, to ask to see that letter. Our situation is not painted in
flattering colours; but the general speaks from the sad experience of
our embarrassments, and I agree with him, sir, that it is indispensable
for us to obtain some pecuniary succours, and a decided naval
superiority.

You must certainly have learnt, sir, that the defeat of Ferguson, and
some other successes of ours, having disarranged the plans of Lord
Cornwallis, General Leslie re-embarked to form the junction by water,
and that he has since arrived at Charlestown. Arnold, became an English
general, and honoured by the confidence of that nation, is at this
moment at the head of a British detachment. Having landed in Virginia,
he took possession of Richmond for some hours, and destroyed some
public and private property: he must now have retired into a safe
harbour, or has, perhaps, joined some other expedition. At the very
moment when the English fancied that we were in the most awkward
situation from the mutiny of some troops, General Washington sent a
detachment on the left side of the Hudson, commanded by
Lieutenant-Colonel Hull, supported by General Parsons, which surprised,
at Westchester, a corps of three hundred men under Colonel Delancey,
wounded several, killed thirty, took sixty prisoners, burnt all the
barracks and provisions, and retired, after having destroyed a bridge
of communication with the Island of New York.

The general is soon to pass some days with the French troops at Rhode
Island, and I shall accompany him on that journey.

I have the honour to be, sir, with equal affection and respect, &c. &c:

New Windsor, February 4th, 1781.

By a letter from M. de Rochambeau, sir, we learn that the English
squadron in Gardiner's Bay has suffered severely from a gale of wind. A
seventy-four, it is said, has run on shore; the _London_, of ninety
guns, is dismasted, and M. Destouches~[3] was preparing to take
advantage of this event. But you will receive more circumstantial, and
perhaps more certain details, by letters from Rhode Island, and we are
also ourselves expecting some, to fix more positively our own ideas and
hopes. General Knox, commander of our artillery, a man of great merit
and extreme probity, has just reported to the general the result of a
mission which had been given him in the New England States. The spirit
of patriotism and the zeal he found,--the exertions they are making to
levy troops, either for the whole duration of the war, or for (what
amounts, I trust, to the same thing) the period of three years, surpass
our most sanguine hopes; and as they have twenty regiments in the
continental service, I can only urge, in a still more positive manner,
what I have already had the honour in writing to you.


Footnotes:

1. This letter was written in ciphers. It is inserted here exactly as
it was first deciphered at the archives of foreign affairs. To avoid
repetitions, we have not inserted the answers of the minister; these
were written in a tone of confidence and friendship, and accord almost
on every point with the ideas of M. de Lafayette, which were, in a
measure, adopted by the cabinet of Versailles for the approaching
campaign.

2. The revolt of the Pennsylvanian line is of the 2nd of January. It
was appeased ten days afterwards, and imitated, the 20th of the same
month, by the New Jersey troops.--(See the Letters of Washington at
that period, and the Appendix, No. x, vol. vii.)

3. M. Destouches had replaced in the command of the frigates M. de
Ternay, deceased the 15th December, after a short illness.



TO MADAME DE LAFAYETTE.

New Windsor, in the North River, February 2nd, 1781.

The person who will deliver this to you, my dearest love, is a man I am
much attached to, and whom I wish you to become intimate with. He is
the son of president Laurens, who has been lately established in the
Tower of London;~[1] he is lieutenant-colonel in our service, and aide-
de-camp to General Washington; he has been sent by congress on a
private mission to the court of France. I knew him well during the two
first campaigns, and his probity, frankness, and patriotism, have
attached me extremely to him. General Washington is very fond of him;
and of all the Americans whom you have hitherto seen, he is the one I
most particularly wish you to receive with kindness. If I were in
France, he should live entirely at my house, and I would introduce him
to all my friends (I have even introduced him to some by letter); and
give him every opportunity in my power of making acquaintance, and of
passing his time agreeably at Versailles; and in my absence, I entreat
you to replace me. Introduce him to Madame d'Ayen, the Marshal de
Mouchy, the Marshal de Noailles, and treat him in every respect as a
friend of the family: he will tell you all that has occurred during our
campaign, the situation in which we are at present placed, and give you
all details relating to myself.

Since my arrival here, my health has not for a moment failed. The air
of this country agrees with me extremely well, and exercise is very
beneficial to me. My exertions during the last campaign did not lead me
into much danger, and in that respect we have not, in truth, much to
boast. The French squadron has remained constantly blockaded in Rhode
Island, and I imagine that the Chevalier Ternay died of grief in
consequence of this event. However this may be, he is positively dead.
He was a very rough and obstinate man, but firm, and clear in all his
views, and, taking all things into consideration, we have sustained a
great loss. The French army has remained at Newport, and although its
presence has been very useful to us, although it has disconcerted some
plans of the enemy which would have been very injurious to us, it might
have done still more good if it had, not been thus blockaded.

Several Frenchmen have passed by head quarters. They have all been
delighted with General Washington, and I perceive with pleasure that he
will be much beloved by the auxiliary troops. Laval and Custine
disputed together during the whole journey, and at each station would
have done much better than the American and English generals, but never
both in the same manner. The viscount and Damas have taken a long
journey on the continent; we have also had the Count des Deux-Ponts,
whom I like very much; M. de Charlus is at present in Philadelphia. I
intend setting out about the 15th, for Rhode Island, and I shall
accompany General Washington during his visit to the French army. When
you recollect how _those poor rebels_ were looked upon in France, when
I came to be hung with them, and when you reflect upon my warm
affection for General Washington, you will conceive how delightful
it will be for me to witness his reception there as generalissimo of
the combined armies of the two nations.

The Americans continue to testify for me the greatest kindness: there
is no proof of affection and confidence which I do not receive each day
from the army and nation. I am serving here in the most agreeable
manner possible. At every campaign I command a separate flying corps,
composed of chosen troops; I experience for the American officers and
soldiers that friendship which arises from having shared with them, for
a length of time, dangers, sufferings, and both good and evil fortune.
We began by struggling together; our affairs have often been at the
lowest possible ebb. It is gratifying to me to crown this work with
them, by giving the European troops a high idea of the soldiers who
have been formed with us. To all these various motives of interest for
the cause and army, are joined my sentiments of regard for General
Washington: amongst his aides-de-camp there is one man I like very
much, and of whom I have often spoken to you; this is Colonel Hamilton.

I depend on Colonel Laurens to give you the details of our campaign. We
remained sufficiently near the English to merit the accusation of
boldness; but they would not take advantage of any of the opportunities
we offered them. We are all in winter quarters in this part of the
country. There is some activity in the south, and I was preparing to go
there; but the wishes of General Washington, and the hope of being
useful to my countrymen, have detained me here. The corps I command
having returned to the regiments, I have established myself at head-
quarters. America made great efforts last summer, and has renewed them
this winter, but in a more durable manner, by only making engagements
for the war, and I trust that none will have cause to be dissatisfied
with us.

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Turkey is restoring the citizenship of its most famous 20th century poet Nazim Hikmet over 50 years after it branded him a traitor.

Hikmet, a communist who died in exile in Moscow in 1963, was imprisoned in Turkey for more than a decade. He was stripped of his Turkish nationality in 1951 because of his communist views, but despite a ban on his poetry which remained in place until 1965, has remained one of Turkey's best-loved poets. His work, much of which was written in prison, including his masterpiece Human Landscapes, has been translated into more than 50 languages.

"This is very good news," said Richard McKane, Hikmet's English translator. "The restoration of his Turkish citizenship is long overdue: the people of Turkey and his readers are owed that."

Immortalised by Pablo Neruda, with whom he shared the Soviet Union's International Peace Prize in 1950, with the lines "Thanks for what you were and for the fire / which your song left forever burning", Hikmet was also supported by Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso. Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, when given the editorship for a day of Turkish newspaper Radikal two years ago, used the example of Hikmet in his cover story to criticise the lack of freedom of expression in Turkey. In 2000, 500,000 Turks petitioned the government to restore Hikmet's citizenship rights and repatriate his remains.

Deputy prime minister Cemil Cicek told the Associated Press that it was time for the government to change its mind about Hikmet. "The crimes which forced the government to strip him of his citizenship at that time are no longer considered a crime," the BBC quoted him as saying.

Hikmet, whose remains are currently in Russia, had said that he wished to be buried in Turkey in his 1953 poem Testament, translated by Ruth Christie. "Friends if it's not my lot to see the day / of independence... / if I die before that day / - and it seems I will - / bury me in a village graveyard in Anatolia / and if it's fitting / and a plane tree grows at my head, / then there's no need for a gravestone or anything else."

Cicek said that Hikmet's family would now decide whether to ship his remains back to his homeland.

Hikmet introduced free verse to Turkey in the 1930s, with his themes ranging from war to love. Despite his imprisonment he retained a deep passion for Turkey. "I love my country", he wrote in one of his poems. "I swung in its lofty trees, I lay in its prisons. Nothing relieves my depression like the songs and tobacco of my country."

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