France was the country where enthusiasm for America was first kindled and where it burned most brightly. The struggle of a people for their liberties found great sympathy there, because the French people had for a long time suffered deeply under the misrule of the Bourbons, and the discontent was already brewing which, a few years later, led to such a terrible outbreak. There are those who put the American war for independence and the French revolution in the same category. But what a gulf there is between the two historical events! The cause, tyranny of the ruler, was the same in both instances, but the conduct of the revolution, the aim and consequences, were as different from one another as the Anglo-Saxon character is from that of the Latin. We must again recall the fact that the Americans had been anxious for a long time to re?stablish the old ties, which had been so recklessly loosened by the rulers, on a constitutional basis, and that it was not until they had exhausted every possible means of reconciliation, and until the government had closed every avenue of legal justice against them that they set to work to create a new constitution for themselves. In all their operations they never so far forgot themselves as to misuse the property of the church; on the contrary, their action was consecrated by religion. It was and remained their standard in the creation of a new constitution. What a contrast to the French people, who, in breaking the fetters of their slavery, overthrew the altars of religion at the same time! America gained her liberties in a reverent spirit, through earnest work; while France, possessed by madness, rent herself and did not succeed in shaking off the bonds of tyranny, though under new circumstances it gave itself grandiose names to deceive itself and others. What do the differing manifestations of the popular spirit mean? The Americans belong to the great Anglo-Saxon race, which has a deeply religious spirit. To them the laws of government mean a reflection of the eternal laws which find their expression in religion. Their object is to bring the laws of the State into harmony with the tenets of religion; to make it an animating and illuminating force in the life of the State. Thus in seeking to develop earthly life they draw from a divine source. It is different with the Latin race, in whom this deep religious strain is absent. This is most clearly apparent in the French nation. They have had many political revolutions without gaining any permanent constitutional advantages, and they will probably continue to teach the world that a people, however talented they may be in some directions, will nevertheless never reach the harbor of a well-ordered political status unless the aspiration dwell within them continually to purify and elevate their moral condition by serious examination of themselves.  
115
This criticism refers to the French people as a whole. That there were excellent individuals among them no one will dispute, and these were full of enthusiasm for the struggle for liberty in the forests of America. One of the noblest among them was Lafayette. He was nineteen years old, an officer, handsome, rich, happily married, and his family was one of the most influential in France. He had the prospect of a brilliant position at court, but he despised the luxurious life there. It was revolting to him to see how the taxes, which were squeezed out of the people, were wasted, and as the frivolous and bewildering Parisian life was very distasteful to him, he had retired to live on one of his estates far from the capital, where he passed happy days in the society of his beautiful, amiable, and well-educated wife. But his love of liberty urged him continually to devote himself to the great work of emancipation. Botta tells us: “Filled with the enthusiasm which great events usually inspire in noble natures, he made the cause of the Americans his own with that peculiar ardor which possessed most people at that time and particularly the French. He felt it to be just and sacred. Burning with the desire to take part in the struggle, he had laid his plan of going to their country before the American ambassadors in Paris, and they had confirmed him in his resolution. But when they received news of the disasters on Long Island and were almost in despair of the success of the revolution, they were honorable enough to advise him not to go. They even told him that in the terrible situation in which they were placed, they did not have the means to fit out a ship to carry him to America. The undismayed young man is said to have answered that now was the time when their cause most needed help; that his departure would have all the more effect because the people were so discouraged; and finally, that if they could not provide a ship for him, he should fit one out at his own expense. What he had said came to pass. The world was amazed. This decision on the part of a man of such rank gave rise to all kinds of rumors. The French court, perhaps because it did not wish to o............