tional government, was heartily welcomed by Lafayette. During the Hundred Days he was tempted to Paris by Joseph Bonaparte, with whom he was intimate, and being elected to the house of representatives, he was made vice-president. After the battle of Waterloo he took a prominent part in promoting the abdication of the emperor. On the occupation of Paris by the allies, Lafayette retired to his country seat, where he remained till 1817, when he was once more elected to a seat in the lower chamber, where for seven years he took an active part in most of the great debates. His irrepressible sympathy with liberty all over the world well-nigh involved him in a charge of complicity in the military plot of 1821. Not being returned to the chamber which was elected in 1824, Lafayette indulged in a visit to America, and met with a most triumphant reception. In the course of twelve months he went through all the states of the Union, and everywhere was banqueted and harangued by the most distinguished men in the country. So fervent was the popular admiration for this friend and fellow-soldier of Washington, that congress voted him an estate in Virginia and a grant of two hundred thousand dollars for his services in the war of independence. On his return to France Lafayette found Charles X. upon the throne, a monarch who gave credit to the republican general for a consistency in political principles equal to his own. "I know but two men," he said, "who have always professed the same principles; they are myself and M. Lafayette." In the struggle that ensued between the opposing principles represented by the king and the general respectively, the latter took little share until 1830, when, on the 28th of July, he declared himself a leader in the revolution that was being enacted. On the following day he was elected commander of the national guard, and on the 31st he sealed the fate of the old dynasty by replying publicly to the proposal from the king's party of a new ministry and the royal confirmation of his new appointment, "Il n'ést plus temps." The same day he gave a public reception to the duke of Orleans. His republicanism had always been of a moderate complexion, and now, in his old age, seeing an opportunity of founding a constitutional monarchy based on the most liberal principles, he expressed himself, no doubt sincerely, in his reply to the cries of "Vive la Republique." Standing on the balcony of the palais royal, he pointed to Louis Philippe and said, "Voila la meilleure des republiques." After suppressing the disturbances of December, 1830, Lafayette resigned his commission, and soon grew dissatisfied with the conduct of the new government. On the 7th of June, 1832, he was once more nearly forced into the leadership of a revolution, being dragged through the streets in a hackney coach by men wearing the red Phrygian cap, and was only released by a squadron of dragoons, who quelled the riot. The reaction which resulted from these popular excesses embittered the last days of the general, still true to his dream of liberty. In 1834 he spoke in the chamber on behalf of political refugees, and the last lines he wrote related to the emancipation of the negroes. On the 30th of January, 1834, although unwell, he followed on foot to the grave the remains of Dulong, who had been killed in a duel by Bugeaud; and on his return home retired to the bed from which he was not to rise. He lingered, however, for some months, dying on the 19th of May, 1834. "Lafayette," it has been said, "was too honest a man not to leave the keys in the locks, even in politics."—R. H.
LAFAYETTE, Marie Madeleine Pioche de Lavergne, Comtesse de, a woman celebrated for her friendship with Rochefoucauld, author of the Maxims. She made herself a name in letters also by two novels, "Zayde," and "The Princess of Cleves," and wrote a "History of Henrietta of England," Amsterdam, 1720. She was born in 1632, and died in 1693. A notice of her life, by M. Auger, is prefixed to the edition of her works published at Paris in 1804.—R. H.
LAFFITTE, Jacques, a French banker and financier, who played an important part in the revolution of the Three Days, was the son of a poor carpenter, and born at Bayonne on the 24th of October, 1767. He was placed in the office of a notary, and with no recommendation but a frank and expressive countenance, he repaired in 1788 to Paris to seek his fortune. He waited on Perregaux the prosperous banker, obtained employment, and gradually advancing in the service of the firm, soon became a partner. The elder Perregaux retired from business when he was created a senator; and his son remaining only as a sleeping partner, the firm was carried on under the style of Laffitte & Co. In 1814 Laffitte's character and wealth led the provisional government to offer him the governorship of the bank of France, of which he had been made regent some years before. He accepted the offer, but refused the large salary attached to the post. So great and so general was the confidence reposed in him, that during the Hundred Days, Louis XVIII., leaving Paris for Ghent, and Napoleon leaving it for ever, made him the depositary of large sums. After the second restoration he was elected to the chamber of deputies by the department of the Seine, and as the royalist reaction increased in vehemence, Laffitte became more and more liberal in his speeches. In 1819, accordingly, he was replaced by the duke de Gaeta as governor of the bank of France. During the remaining years of the restoration Laffitte and his salon became centres of liberalism, though he showed his independence by giving against the wishes of his political friends, but for what he thought the good of the country, a support to the scheme of the Villèle ministry for the conversion of the rentes. In 1827 he went so far as to propose the impeachment of the ministry of the day. As coming events cast their shadows before, and revolution seemed inevitable, Laffitte, fearing the return of another '92, exerted himself to gain partisans for the duke of Orleans (Louis Philippe) as successor to Charles X. When the revolution of July had commenced, he went on the 28th to the Tuileries to persuade Marmont to have the ordinances withdrawn, and bloodshed stopped. But when this attempt failed Laffitte no longer hesitated. He made his hotel the head-quarters of the insurrection and supplied it with funds; he pressed on Louis Philippe the acceptance of the crown; it was at his instance that a deputation was sent on the 30th to the duke of Orleans, who in the evening was nominated lieutenant-general of the kingdom. While the republicans grouped themselves round Lafayette, Laffitte was the rallying-point for the partisans of the duke of Orleans; and if Louis Philippe owed his crown to any one person, that person was Jacques Laffitte. When the revolution was consummated, Laffitte entered Louis Philippe's first ministry without a portfolio. Amid the popular excitement at the approach of the trial of the ex-ministers, it was thought prudent to summon him to the head of affairs. He was accordingly appointed president of the council and finances, and formed the ministry of the 3rd November, 1830, of which Soult and Sebastiani were members. In his new position Laffitte was not successful. The conservatives thought him too liberal, the liberals too conservative; and the king having shown him a marked want of confidence, Laffitte resigned, and was succeeded by Casimir Perier, 13th March, 1831. Meanwhile, engrossed in politics, he had been obliged to neglect his business, at a time, too, when the greatest care was required to sustain it, and his affairs were thrown into disorder. To liquidate his debts he disposed of his private property. So great was the sympathy felt for him, that a subscription was opened to rescue his hotel and property of Maison-Laffitte. The present emperor of the French was among the subscribers, and nearly half a million of francs were raised in eight months. When a balance was struck, Laffitte found himself the possessor of a few millions of francs, and he established a discount company, but it was not very successful. His later political career was one of ultraliberalism, and he was once heard to "ask pardon of God and men for having contributed to the revolution of July." He died at Paris suddenly of a pulmonary affection on the 26th May, 1844, and his funeral was attended by more than twenty thousand mourners.—F. E.
LAFFON de Ladebat, André Daniel, an able financier and prominent statesman of the French revolution, born in 1746, was the son of an opulent protestant merchant at Bordeaux. On the breaking out of the Revolution he was returned to the legislative assembly, in which he took an active part in promoting financial reforms, and in May, 1792, he was chosen president; but his steady opposition to the sweeping measures of the majority soon deprived him of that position. In 1795 he was elected simultaneously by two departments as member of the council of elders. In 1797, on the occasion of the address sent by the army of Italy to Paris, he moved the arrest and deprivation of Bonaparte; but the coup d'état of the 18th Fruetidor (September 4) having given the ascendancy to Barras and his friends, Ladebat and the other leaders of the opposition were sent into exile to Cayenne. After two years the survivors were permitted to return, and Ladebat, on arriving at Paris, was elected by several departments as a member of the senate; but
