CHAPTER III. FRENCH TRAVELLERS AND WRITERS. CHASTELLUX ; L'ABBÉ ROBIN; DUCHÉ; BRISSOT DE WARVILLE; CREVECOEUR; LA ROCHEFOUCAULD-LIANCOURT ; VOLNEY; RAYNAL. AFTER the colonial adventurers and the religious pioneers had made the natural features of America familiar to Europe -after settlements had been made (disputed, declined, and flourished) by representatives of every civilized land, and the English character was the established social influence in the New World-came that memorable struggle for political independence which attracted so many brave and intelligent allies from abroad: some of these have left accounts of their experience and a record of their impressions; they differ from the earlier series of travels in a more detailed report of the manners and customs of the people, in a sympathetic emphasis derived from mutual privations and triumphs, in a speculative interest suggested by the new and vast prospects which then opened before a free people, and in the attractive personal associations which connect these literary memorials with the names of our champions in the War of Independence. Perhaps no one of this class of travels in America is more satisfactory, from the interest of the narrative and the agreeable style, than those of the Marquis de Chastellux.* He vividly * "Voyages dans l'Amérique Septentrionale dans les années 1780-'81-'82," 2 vols. 8vo., Paris, 1786. caught the life of America at the time of its most characteristic self-assertion. His amiable manners and intelligent zeal had won him the special regard of Washington. He was one of the forty members of the French Academy, and a majorgeneral of the French army, serving under Count Rochambeau. François Jean, Marquis de Chastellux, was born in Paris in 1734, and died there in 1788. He was one of those characters almost peculiar to the old regime, in France, wherein the militaire and the man of letters were gracefully combined with the gentleman. At quite an early age he entered the army, and won distinction in Germany during the Seven Years' war. His agreeable conversation and urbane manners made him a great favorite when, under Rochambeau, he served in America; in camp and drawing room, at wayside inns and among educated and philosophical men, he was alike pleasant and courteous; and from the commander-inchief of our army to the shrewd farmer of whose hospitality he partook while travelling, from the stately dowager at Philadelphia to the rustic beauty of an isolated plantation in Virginia, he gained that consideration which high breeding, quick sympathy, and a cultivated mind so naturally win. He acquired no inconsiderable literary reputation by a work that appeared in 1772, De la Félicité Publique: the significance of this somewhat ambitious treatise has long since passed away, with the tone of feeling and the state of opinion it once not inadequately represented; still, it is an interesting memorial of an amiable and accomplished champion of the American cause, and a curious illustration of the theories and style once so prevalent in France. The Marquis sympathized with Condorcet's views of the possible and probable progress of humanity, and his work is chiefly inspired with these speculations; but it has no claim to logical order or harmony of plan; it has vigorous thoughts, but they are expressed in too rhetorical a manner to impress deeply a reflective mind; the absence of Christian faith is characteristic of the author's times and country among philosophical writers: yet, notwith standing the incompleteness and scepticism of the work, its brilliant generalizations so pleased Voltaire that he declared it superior to Montesquieu's famous treatise. As in so many other instances, the fame of the Marquis de Chastellux, as a writer, rests upon the incidental rather than the formal and elaborate achievements of his pen. His Voyages dans l'Amerique Septentrionale are the spontaneous comments and descriptions such as fill the letters and journals of an intelligent traveller; they are written in a very pleasant though desultory style, and abound in details of interest not familiar at the time the work appeared. Many important economical, social, and personal facts are gracefully recorded; and the character of the country and of the men who directed the War of Independence and the formation of a free government are described; there are some lively anecdotical episodes, and not a few acute speculations: the work is truly French in the constant alternation of a light vein of remark with serious observation, and warm sentiment with worldly wisdom. The frugal and simple ways, the mental independence, modesty, habits of reading, and political tendencies of the people elicit from the Marquis the most intelligent sympathy; he appreciated the eminent characters to whom the country owed her safety; he notes with accuracy the climate, productions, and habits, with which he comes into contact; but, now and then, a tone of pedantry seems inconsistent with the scene and the senti ment; yet sometimes the associations of both naturally excite classic and romantic memories; he quotes Rabelais and Metastasio, Molière and Guarini; a fair country girl is suggestive of Greuze, and a rural Adonis of Marmontel; he thinks of Buffon among the novel birds and beasts of the wild; and a Connecticut statesman reminds him of a Holland stadtholder; Philadelphia is a modern Capua, and he praises the ladies of that city for skill on the harpsichord; and the fortified Highlands of the Hudson seem a war-girdled Thrace; he contrasts the silent watchfulness of a Quaker meeting with the chanting of the Church of England. The mocking bird and the mountain top, grand old trees and original human beings beguile his fluent pen. As a digest and epitome of his observations in the New World, his discourse on "The Advantages and Disadvantages resulting to Europe from Democracy in America," 1787, is praised by La Harpe as his best work, and seems to have definitely settled the question, as proposed by Raynal, in favor of the advantages. De Chastellux was one of Pope Ganganelli's correspondents; and translated Humphrey's "Campaign." The period of his sojourn in America adds greatly to the interest of his account thereof: the early battle fields of the Revolution were yet fresh, and the momentous conflict was drawing to a glorious end; he saw a fair fugitive from the Wyoming massacre at a New England tavern; and parted with Washington where he took a final leave of his officers, in the "right-hand room" of the old headquarters at Newburgh. One of the biographers of Chastellux, praising his accomplishments, observes: " Cette alliance des armes et des lettres, moins rares autrefois, fût doublement glorieux pour lui." His "Essay sur l'Union de la Poesie et de la Musique" and his "Vies de quelques grands Capitaines" were highly commended by Buffon, who was president of the Academy when the Marquis was elected a member; the subject of the latter's discours d'entrance was Le Gout: an appropriate theme for a nobleman whose writings indicate the cultivation of taste in all departments as a mental habit. It has been objected, and justly, to his philosophical writings, that their style is too ambitious; and, in this respect, the simplicity and geniality of his less pretentious Travels give them a more popular tone and scope. They were, notwithstanding their immediate success, bitterly criticized by Brissot de Warville. An English gentleman, who lived in America at that time, translated the Travels of the Marquis from the French, and added copious notes. Only twenty-four copies of the original had been printed. It is a curious illustration of the period, that "at a time when there was very little hope of any packets reaching Europe but by means of duplicates," the author availed himself of the little printing press on board the squad ron at Rhode Island. Only ten out of the twenty-four arrived to the address of those for whom they were destined, and who had been earnestly requested not to take copies; but such was the prevalent desire to know everything possible as to the condition and prospects of America and the remarkable events that had so lately transpired there, that these few impressions were widely circulated; and the translation before alluded to appeared in Dublin and afterward in London, in 1787.* Whoever would compare the present condition of a part of the Southern and most of the New England States with that of eighty years ago, will find few more pleasant authorities than the Marquis de Chastellux. He united, in a singular degree, the gentleman and the scholar, the philosopher and the artist, the man of the world and the good fellow; accordingly he looked upon the primitive life, the original characters, the economical resources, and the natural beauty around him, with curiosity and sympathy; he had the facility of intercourse, the liberal culture, the desire of knowledge so requisite for a traveller; and he was alive to the significance of the present in its relation to the future. His appreciation of the social virtues of the people and his tolerance of their limited means-his interest in their welfare, and his respect for their cause, are evident on every page. No foreigner has manifested a greater admiration of Washington, or more truly described his bearing and principles. Some of his observations are full of interest for those who delight to trace national character and local influence to their sources. Here an anecdote, and there a description; now military details, and again social traits occupy his pen: no phase of domestic economy or statistics of trade and agriculture, no pretty face or shrewd comrade which accident reveals by the way, is allowed to escape him; so that unconsciously he prepared a book of reference whence the philosopher, novelist, and historian may still draw useful hints. It was in the spring of 1782 that the Marquis de Chastellux travelled through Upper Virginia, and, *“Travels in North America, in the Years 1780, '81, '82,” 2 vols. 8vo., maps, London, 1787. |