Member, Great,
or World, Council, Fraternitas; L'Ordre Du Lis; Member, Humanidad
LaFayette was a member of the Guards and Captain of dragons when independence was declared. At heart he was not a Royalist and because of this he had become a member of Humanidad when very young. It was at the Lodge Humanidad (1) that LaFayette became acquainted with Franklin and learned all about the new country across the sea and what its people had in mind. He was so fired with this new thought for freedom that he not only volunteered to go to America to help, but proceeded to fit out a ship in order to proceed westward and give his aid.
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Before The British ambassador at Versailles learned of the project. At his insistence orders were issued to seize the ship, and LaFayette was arrested. The ship was sailed out of Bordeaux to a port in Spain. LaFayette escaped from custody in disguise, and before he could be apprehended he had set sail. His ship landed at Georgetown, S. C., and he at once proceeded to Philadelphia.
LaFayette, though but eighteen before he left France, had been promised a commission as major-general. On his arrival jealousies were aroused among officers that a mere youth should be so honored. To avoid unpleasantness he volunteered as a private (2) and later, on July 31, 1777, Congress recognized his valor and passed a resolution "that his services be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family (and influence in France), he receive the rank and commission of major-general of the United States."
The day after receiving his commission he met Washington and they became fast friends. His first battle was at Brandywine where he was wounded. After recovery he was given command of a division. Early in 1778 he commanded troops detailed for a proposed expedition against Canada, and in June, 1778, he fought at the battle of Monmouth and received formal recognition for his valor, from Congress.
When the treaties for Commerce and defensive alliance were signed by America and France on February 6, 1778,and a declaration of war against France was declared by England, LaFayette requested leave to return to France to consult with the King. This was granted and he returned to France and at once was made a Colonel in the French Army. After six months he again returned to America, but after the battle of Yorktown his military career ended in the United States.
He once more returned to France, where he occupied himself with the preparations for an expedition against the British West Indian Islands, but this was not realized because of the armistice between England and France. He was now promoted to the rank of major-general in the French army. In 1784 he revisited the United States in his military capacity, but more especially to sit in the Council of Seven of the Fraternitas, a continuation of the 1774 session (3), and to consult with Thomas Paine, like himself, a Friend of Freedom.
LaFayette was thoroughly conversant of the undercurrent in France and of the fight for freedom that was to follow. He was whole-heartedly in sympathy with the miseries of the people but, like others of the Friends of Freedom, he believed it might be accomplished without bloodshed and in peace. With this in mind, he took his seat in the Assembly of Notables in 1787. As a leader of the inner group of which Humanidad was the organization, he demanded, and himself signed the demand, that the King convoke the States-General. As a result of this demand he became the leader in the French revolution. Less than two years thereafter he was elected to the States-General and chosen vice-president of the National Assembly. On July 11, 1789, he presented a declaration of rights, modeled on the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson. LaFayette was now chosen by acclamation colonel-general of the new National Guards of Paris. He himself proposed the combination of the colors of Paris, the red, blue and white, into the tricolor cockade of modem France. For three years LaFayette was France. Had the constitutional monarchy continued under the wise counsel of LaFayette and his fellow Friends of Freedom, all bloodshed would have been avoided and a real Government of the people would have been established, but, as happened with Paine and other true friends of the people, in the end he was made to suffer for his efforts in behalf of the people.
In the Constituent Assembly he pleaded for the abolition of arbitrary imprisonment; for true-not artificial-religious tolerance, having in mind the conflict between the church, Masonry, the Templars and the outer activities of the Philosophic Initiates; he desired actual representation by the people; the establishment of trial by jury; for the emancipation of slaves; the freedom of the press, and the suppression of all special privileges. This was according to the terms of the charter written by Paine. During February, 1790, he refused the supreme command of the National Guard of the kingdom and a little later founded the Society of 1789, which later became the Feuillants Club, which was to, in part, replace Humanidad, many members of which had, unfortunately, become extremely radical in their views, recognized by LaFayette as very dangerous to the welfare of France and the people themselves.
While LaFayette was what today is known as a liberal, he was in no sense a radical, believed in change by means of Law and order, and acted accordingly, frequently standing almost alone. In July, 1790, on the first anniversary of the destruction of the Bastille, he took a prominent part in the celebration. In April of 1791 he acted to suppress an uprising and then resigned his commission, but was again compelled by circumstances to reaccept it.
When Louis XVI fled to Varennes it was LaFayette who gave orders to stop him, though later he admitted it might have been better had he been allowed to pass. He was now made lieutenant-general of the army, but shortly again had to command the troops to suppress another uprising when the constitution was proclaimed September 18, 1790. He now foresaw what was certain to follow and wanting no part of it, he resigned.
However, "Man proposes, God disposes." When late in 1791, three armies were formed to attack Austria, LaFayette was called upon to command one of them, and feeling that as a loyal Frenchman this was a duty, he accepted the command, with the plan in mind that eventually this army might be used in creating a limited monarchy.
For all his loyalty to France and his constant service to the people, The Assembly declared him a traitor to France on August 19, 1792. LaFayette now fled to Liege, whence he was one of the prime movers in the Revolution, was taken and held as a prisoner for five years; first in Prussian and later in Austrian prisons. Later Napoleon, then still a co-member of the new Society of 1789, and a Friend of Freedom, in the treaty of Campo Formio, demanded LaFayette's release.
Shortly thereafter Napoleon foreswore his allegiance to The Friends of Freedom, the Fraternitas and L'Ordre du Lis, the desire for Kingship having replaced his ideals for a free people of whom he would be the leader. LaFayette, as a member of these inner circles was aware of this and in 1802 voted against the life consulate for Napoleon, and again in 1804 voted against the imperial title. He divorced himself entirely from public life under the Empire but again became active under the First Restoration and from 1818 to 1824 was the deputy for the Sarthe, always working on the Freemen's side. LaFayette once again visited America and took part in the deliberations of the Council of Seven in the same manner he always did in France.
Up to this period the number of the members of the Council were predominantly English. From this period on the number of French members increased while the number of English members decreased and allegiance, by permission of the Supreme Grand Dome of England, shifted to France.LaFayette was a true Unknown (Inconnu) and no one other than the members of the Council, was aware of his various Arcane connections
He once again returned to America, and America as a whole received him with open arms. On his return to France in 1825 and until his death, he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies for Meaux. All in all, the end of his life was far more pleasant than that of his fellow member and worker, Thomas Paine, who, in truth, was the father of both the Republics of America and France.
LaFayette remained active in the Councils of the Fraternitas in France, and of America, and L'Ordre du Lis, until his death on May 20, 1834.
1 The present Lodge Humanidad in Paris does not appear to be a continuation of Humanidad to which LaFayette and Franklin belonged.
2. An indication of the true greatness of LaFayette.
3. See Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, Philosophical Publishing Company, Quakertown, Penna.