The Life of La Fayette by Lydia Farmer

LA FAYETTE was not only the Knight of Liberty in two worlds and in two centuries, but was also the champion of law and order. Other men have fought for freedom; but few men in history have so truly and broadly comprehended the indissoluble tie which must ever bind liberty to law, if the shackles of oppression be unloosed, and the equal rights of men become the watchwords of national peace and prosperity. The battle of Minden, in 1758, was fought, and a young and valiant French marquis sacrificed his life upon that battle-field. He was the first Marquis de La Fayette. At that time his son, Marie-Jean-Paul-Roch-Yves-Gilbert de Motier La Fayette, lay in his cradle, an infant of seven months old. The warlike mantle of the father fell upon the son. But gentler spirits than Stern War hovered over his pillow. Gleaming-eyed Liberty said, “I will make him my champion”; and mild-eyed Law bent over the cradle and smoothed the baby brow, murmuring, “I will make him love peace and order.” Thus War, Liberty, and Law christened the fatherless child, and to the long list of titled names which already weighted his infant forehead, they added yet another, of nobler rank than all; for they placed there, in letters of glowing light, the unrivalled title, Knight of Liberty.