Pave: The American Friend

We must feel confidence in the future, and it is especially in the hour of danger that I wish to share your fortune.

The 19 year old then-Marquis de Lafayette,
following Britain's early victories,
addressing Silas Deane, an American envoy
who despaired of the revolution's success
Memoirs, Correspondence and Manuscripts
of General Lafayette by Lafayette
(New York: Columbia College, 1837), 16

September 6th is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, General Lafayette, formerly the Marquis de Lafayette (September 6, 1757 – May 20, 1834). In this, his semiquincentennial year, many American cities, towns, counties, and colleges named in his honor will be holding special celebrations (for example, here).

THE AMERICAN FRIEND

Lafayette stands in sharp contrast to contemporary French youth, who have a visceral antipathy toward America, who shrink from précarité, who see the world as only dark and frightening, who forfeit their liberties -- in small ways, little by little -- to be manipulated by schemers and herded by the state.

Unlike many whose politics and ideals track to polls or mobs or make-nice, Lafayette risked and sacrificed and suffered much throughout his life -- in America and in France, at large and in prisons -- for the great causes of liberty.

Pave's 2006 remembrance can be found here.

PFFT (What is this?): Where is his like in France today? ½ | Rayonnement français 5