After the overthrow of the newly adopted Constitution in France, and the execution of the King, Lafayette, although ardently devoted to popular and free institutions, soon fell under the suspicion of the extreme party, and the Assembly passed a decree of accusation against him. Finding that he had also lost the confidence of the army, of which he was then in command, he determined

LAFAYETTE

to leave France for a time and seek an asylum in a foreign land. With a few friends he left the camp on August 20, 1792, accompanied by an escort, as if to reconnoitre. After proceeding eight or ten miles, he stopped at an inn; and, placing sentinels to guard against surprise from the enemy, he then told his friends the news from the capital; that he had been declared a traitor and an enemy

to his country, and that a price had been set upon his head. He told them that he was leaving the country, but that he would consider any man his enemy who took up arms against her. The young officers were

.

astonished and insisted upon going with him, but he represented to them the danger of so doing, not only to themselves, but to their country and their families, and prevailed upon them to return to the camp which they had so recently left. He finally consented that the two brothers, Latour and Louis Maubourg, Buneau de Puzy, Alexandre Lameth, Auguste Masson, Rene Pillet, and Cardigan, might go with him. The others all returned to camp. About 11 o'clock they arrived in the neighborhood of the Austrian advance guard. They were at once arrested, sent to headquarters, and at length to Luxembourg. Here they were recognized by French refugees and were treated by them with great insolence and contempt. They were placed by the Austrians in close confinement and treated as common criminals. After a while they were delivered to the King of Prussia and carried in a common cart to Wesel, where they were put in irons and placed in separate cells. They were transferred to Magdeburg and from Magdeburg to Silesia, and then confined in a dungeon at Neisse. Alexandre Lameth was not conveyed to this place. Soon after this the King of Prussia made peace with France, and, fearing that he might be required to give up his prisoners, had them carried into Austria, in which country they were confined more than four years in the dungeons of Olmuetz, about 150 miles north of Vienna. It was while Lafayette was in this prison that the young American, Francis Huger, son of Colonel Huger, of Charleston, in conjunction with Henry Bollman, a young physician of Goettingen, attempted his rescue.

How to open communication with him was the great difficulty; but, through the influence of all-powerful money, this was done. They bribed the chief surgeon of the garrison, and through him they sent a letter to Lafayette. The plan adopted by Lafayette's friends and suggested to him by the physician, was for him to feign sickness, which he did. In a few weeks or a month the physician induced the governor of the prison to get permission from Vienna for the prisoner to take daily rides for the benefit of his health. The permission was granted on condition that the governor should always go with him. On one of these rides, Huger and Bollman met the general at a place which had been previously designated, and endeavored to liberate him, but failed. Lafayette did, indeed, mount behind Bollman and travel in this way for several miles; but they mistook their road. The alarm bells were soon ringing and they were arrested in a short time. Bollman, after telling the mayor of Braunseifen who they were, attempted to bribe him; but in this he failed. They were carried back to Olmuetz and both thrown into prison. Huger had been immediately arrested and imprisoned. He and Bollman were brought to trial and were both sentenced to imprisonment for life. This was afterward commuted to a term of years, and, finally, they were set at liberty on the payment of a large sum of money. Lafayette's estate in France was confiscated and his wife and daughter were imprisoned for twenty months. As soon as they were released they went to Vienna to see the

Emperor, who granted them permission to visit Lafayette in prison, and they shared his captivity. Lafayette, his wife and daughter and his two friends, were set at liberty August 25, 1797, in obedience to the peremptory demand of Bonaparte, who refused to make peace with Austria until he knew that they were free. After their release, the treaty of Campo Formio was immediately concluded.

CHAPTER XIV

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

Constitutional Convention of 1787-9.-We come now to the Constitutional Convention of 1787-9, and we inquire what South Carolina's part was in this work. We find that she had in the Convention John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, and Pierce Butler, and that there were no abler representatives

from any other State. Several plans were presented for consideration, and Charles Pinckney's plan, along with the plan of Virginia and of New Jersey, was submitted and went into the hands of the Committee of Detail, over which John Rutledge, of South Carolina, presided. After many years of discussion, as to which plan entered