FOOTNOTES

[1] Concerning his American campaign, in which he greatly distinguished himself, he wrote later: "In itself, war did not interest me, but its object interested me keenly, and I willingly took part in its labors. I said to myself: 'I want the end; I must adopt the means.'" Œuvres, 1865, I, 11. He was wounded and promoted.

[2] Magazine of American History, March, 1880, ff.

[3] A quite handsome house, now the offices of the Ministry of Labor. The gardens no longer exist.

[4] Mémoires militaires, historiques et politiques de Rochambeau, ancien maréchal de France et grand officier de la Légion d'honneur, Paris, 1809, 2 vols., I, 235.

[5] "On a soutenu," said Pontgibaud, later Comte de Moré, one of Lafayette's aides, in a conversation with Alexander Hamilton, "que l'intérêt bien entendu de la France était de rester neutre et de profiter de l'embarras de l'Angleterre pour se faire restituer le Canada." But this would have been going against the general trend of public opinion, and a contrary course was followed. Mémoires du Comte de Moré, Paris, 1898, p. 169.

[6] Mémoires, souvenirs et anecdotes, Paris, 1824, 3 vols., I, 140. English translation, London, 1825.

[7] Œuvres, vol. IX, Paris, 1810, pp. 377 ff.

[8] Œuvres, IX, 417.

[9] January, 1781.

[10] He ends his dedication stating that he may fail and may have dreamed a mere dream, but he should not be blamed: "Le délire d'un citoyen qui rêve au bonheur de sa patrie a quelque chose de respectable." Essai Général de Tactique précédé d'un Discours sur l'état actuel de la politique et de la science militaire en Europe, London, 1772; Liége, 1775.

[11] Writings, Smythe, VIII, 390, 391.

[12] Both signed at Paris on the same day, February 6, 1778.

[13] Vergennes had written in the same way to the Marquis de Noailles, French ambassador in London: "Our engagements are simple; they are aggressive toward nobody; we have desired to secure for ourselves no advantage of which other nations might be jealous, and which the Americans themselves might regret, in the course of time, to have granted us." Doniol, Participation de la France à l'établissement des Etats Unis, II, 822.

[14] 1 November 11, 1778.

[15] Souvenirs du Lieutenant Général Comte Mathieu-Dumas, de 1770 à 1836, Paris, 3 vols., I, 36.

[16] Literary Diary, September 11, 1779; New York, 1901, 3 vols.

[17] Wooden shoes, a nickname for a ship of mean estate.

[18] So called after its owner, Samuel Fraunces (Francis or François) from the French West Indies, nicknamed "Black Sam" for the color of his skin.

[19] Nouveau Voyage dans l'Amérique Septentrionale en l'année 1781 et campagne de l'armée de M. le comte de Rochambeau, Philadelphia, 1782.

[20] Literary Diary, New York, 1901, II, 454.

[21] To Rochambeau; n.d., but 1780. (Rochambeau papers.)

[22] Writing to the president of Yale, July 29, 1778, Silas Deane, just about to return to France, recommended the creation of a chair of French: "This language is not only spoke in all the courts, but daily becomes more and more universal among people of business as well as men of letters, in all the principal towns and cities of Europe." Ezra Stiles consulted a number of friends; the majority were against or in doubt, "Mr. C—— violently against, because of popery." Literary Diary, August 24, 1778, New York, 1901, II, 297. See also, concerning the prevalent impressions about the French the Mémoires du Comte de Moré, 1898, p. 69.

[23] August 8, 1780. (Rochambeau papers.)

[24] August 3, 1780. (Ibid.)

[25] Stiles's Literary Diary, II, 458.

[26] Rodney "has left here two months ago without our being able to guess whither he was going.... Maybe you know better than I do where he may presently be....

"We have just suffered from a terrible tornado, which has been felt in all the Windward Islands; it has caused cruel havoc. A convoy of fifty-two sails, arrived the day before in the roadstead of Saint-Pierre, Martinique, has been driven out to sea, and has disappeared for now a fortnight; five ships only returned here, the others may have reached San Domingo or must have perished. An English ship of the line of 44 guns, the Endymion, and two frigates, the Laurel and the Andromeda, of the same nationality, have perished on our coasts; we have saved some of their sailors." Marquis de Bouillé to Rochambeau, Fort Royal (Fort de France), October 27, 1780. (Rochambeau papers.)

[27] Three Saint-Simons took part in the American War of Independence, all relatives of the famous duke, the author of the memoirs: the Marquis Claude Anne (1740-1819), the Baron Claude (retired, 1806), and the Count Claude Henri (1760-1825), then a very young officer, the future founder of the Saint-Simonian sect, and first philosophical master of Auguste Comte.

[28] January 7, 1781. (Rochambeau papers.)

[29] Histoire des Troubles de l'Amérique Anglaise, by Soulès; Clinton's copy, in the Library of Congress, p. 360.

[30] January 15, 1781.

[31] Specimens exhibited by the doctor's descendant in the Fraunces's Tavern Museum.

[32] In English in the original.

[33] Voyages de M. le Marquis de Chastellux dans l'Amérique Septentrionale, dans les années 1780, 1781 et 1782, Paris, 1786, 2 vols., I, 118.

[34] Now the property of the Charity Organization Society. See A History of the Vernon House, by Maud Lyman Stevens, Newport, R.I., 1915. Illustrated.

[35] To Rochambeau, June 30, 1781.

[36] This island's aspect fifteen years later is thus described by Duke de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt: "Enfin nous sommes arrivés à King's Bridge dans l'île de New York, où le terrain, généralement mauvais, est encore en mauvais bois dans les parties les plus éloignées de la ville, et où il est cependant couvert de fermes et surtout de maisons de campagne dans les six ou sept milles qui s'en approchent davantage et dans les parties qui avoisinent la rivière du Nord et le bras de mer qui sépare cette île de Long Island." Voyage, V, 300.

[37] The convoy was carrying to England the enormous booty taken by Rodney at St. Eustatius. Eighteen of its ships were captured by La Motte-Picquet (May 2, 1781) and thus reached France instead of England.

Toward the Hessians, however, the feeling was different. Some had deserted to enlist in Lauzun's legion, but they almost immediately counterdeserted, upon which Rochambeau wrote to Lauzun: "You have done the best in deciding never to pester yourself again with Hessian deserters, of whom, you know, I never had a good opinion." Newport, December 22, 1780.