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LAFAYETTE, Gilbert du Moitier, Marquis de (1757-1834), Continental General. Autograph letter signed ("Lafayette") to Sir Charles Morgan, La Grange, 18 August 1822. 3 pages, 4to, slight loss at top corner, panel addressed by Lafayette, fine.
LAFAYETTE VIEWS THE CURRENT POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS IN EUROPE. An unusually long letter. Although retired, Lafayette remained a close observer of the complexities of European politics." In Spain, he notes, "the plot against the revolution...would have had a large following, if the steadfastness of the good citizens and the cowardice of Ferdinand VII had not wrecked the arrangement from abroad." If the plot had succeeded, the left wing in France would have been "the object of a violent attack....In the meantime we are surrounded by political trials." In the prcès de Nantes, "You will have seen in the papers that one sought to implicate several deputies including myself..." In regard to the Greek movement for independence from Turkish rule, he observes that "it is shameful that the forces that call themselves so Christian...openly embrace the Muslim party, their massacres, and their bazaars where young Christian girls are sold, bodies and souls, to the children of Mohammed. The Hellenic resistance is very honorable, may their efforts achieve independence for this new federation which evokes the most beautiful classical tradition!" Hoping for the "amelioration of the condition of Ireland," he remarks that on his recent visit to America, he "found myself in communication with your brave volunteers. The strange end of Lord Castlereagh will have seemed to many people a punishment from God [the British minister committed suicide 6 days before this letter], belated for Ireland...I do not know what the future will hold for the people involved in the two parties of right and privilege. But it is impossible that the good cause will not win in the end; the Royalty could have survived the European revolution by becoming democratic and this would have cost little. If its aristocracy and its luxuries make it incompatible with liberty, it is not liberty that will give up its place...Italy shudders under the yoke, and...the recent measures prove that the court of Naples still fears its army; the spirit of the people of France becomes better and better. Bonapartist impulses have been replaced by a return to the ideas of '89..." He recommends "the second edition of Views of Society and Manners in the U.S.," comments on France's electoral system, and jokes about "the restoration of the noble and legitimate race of the Irish wolf dog...which Buffon and Jefferson speak of with so much praise..."
LAFAYETTE VIEWS THE CURRENT POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS IN EUROPE. An unusually long letter. Although retired, Lafayette remained a close observer of the complexities of European politics." In Spain, he notes, "the plot against the revolution...would have had a large following, if the steadfastness of the good citizens and the cowardice of Ferdinand VII had not wrecked the arrangement from abroad." If the plot had succeeded, the left wing in France would have been "the object of a violent attack....In the meantime we are surrounded by political trials." In the prcès de Nantes, "You will have seen in the papers that one sought to implicate several deputies including myself..." In regard to the Greek movement for independence from Turkish rule, he observes that "it is shameful that the forces that call themselves so Christian...openly embrace the Muslim party, their massacres, and their bazaars where young Christian girls are sold, bodies and souls, to the children of Mohammed. The Hellenic resistance is very honorable, may their efforts achieve independence for this new federation which evokes the most beautiful classical tradition!" Hoping for the "amelioration of the condition of Ireland," he remarks that on his recent visit to America, he "found myself in communication with your brave volunteers. The strange end of Lord Castlereagh will have seemed to many people a punishment from God [the British minister committed suicide 6 days before this letter], belated for Ireland...I do not know what the future will hold for the people involved in the two parties of right and privilege. But it is impossible that the good cause will not win in the end; the Royalty could have survived the European revolution by becoming democratic and this would have cost little. If its aristocracy and its luxuries make it incompatible with liberty, it is not liberty that will give up its place...Italy shudders under the yoke, and...the recent measures prove that the court of Naples still fears its army; the spirit of the people of France becomes better and better. Bonapartist impulses have been replaced by a return to the ideas of '89..." He recommends "the second edition of Views of Society and Manners in the U.S.," comments on France's electoral system, and jokes about "the restoration of the noble and legitimate race of the Irish wolf dog...which Buffon and Jefferson speak of with so much praise..."