A gallant company it was which gathered at Brest. Probably no
other land than France could have sent forth on a crusade for
democratic liberty a band of aristocrats who had little thought
of applying to their own land the principles for which they were
ready to fight in America. Over some of them hung the shadow of
the guillotine; others were to ride the storm of the French
Revolution and to attain fame which should surpass their sanguine
dreams. Rochambeau himself, though he narrowly escaped during the
Reign of Terror, lived to extreme old age and died a Marshal of
France. Berthier, one of his officers, became one of Napoleon's
marshals and died just when Napoleon, whom he had deserted,
returned from Elba. Dumas became another of Napoleon's generals.
He nearly perished in the retreat from Moscow but lived, like
Rochambeau, to extreme old age. One of the gayest of the company
was the Duc de Lauzun, a noted libertine in France but, as far as
the record goes, a man of blameless propriety in America. He died
on the scaffold during the French Revolution. So, too, did his
companion, the Prince de Broglie, in spite of the protest of his
last words that he was faithful to the principles of the
Revolution, some of which he had learned in America.
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