The French have sometimes been spoken of as a light people, without depth or stability of character. Let those who thus describe them, open the annals of England (the Rome of modern times) and shew us there, a movement, from the period of their invasion by Julius Caesar to the present day, that can match this magnificent movement of the common people of Paris. No. In the enlightened motive, in the station of the actors, in the character of the action itself, and in its beautiful consummation, there is nothing in the archives of history, ancient or modern, nor even in the volumes of the boldest and wildest imagination, that will bear a comparison. It was for liberty they struck, and the blow was the bolt of heaven. The throne of the tyrant fell before it. The work was done: and all was peace. Well may we be proud to claim such a people as our friends and allies, and to unite in this public demonstration of joy at their triumph. To give us a still deeper interest in the transaction, whom do we see mingling brilliantly in the conflict, partaking of the triumph, and benevolently tempering and guiding its results? Lafayette, our own Lafayette, the brave, the good, the friend of man. Well may we call him _our own_: for he gave to us the flower of his youth! freely sacrificed the splendors of a court, all the pleasures and enjoyments natural to his age, nay his fortune and his blood, on the altar of our liberty. With the weight of more than seventy winters upon his head, broken with the struggles of a long life devoted to the cause of liberty, in America and in France--a cause which he has never ceased to cherish in the midst of the most depressing circumstances, even in the dungeon's gloom--we see him now throwing off at once the weight of years, recovering, as if by magic, all the animation of his youth, with all its generosity and humanity; building up the liberties of his country with one hand, and with the other, protecting and alleviating the misfortunes of the fallen dynasty, and its misguided adherents. This is, indeed, to ride like an angel in the whirlwind and direct the storm: like an angel whose mercy is equal to his power. Yes--if any thing could swell still louder the note of our exultation at this great achievement, it is the part which Lafayette, the noble pupil of our Washington, has borne and is still bearing in it. He seems to have been preserved by heaven, amid the countless perils through which he has passed, that he might witness the final triumph of liberty in his native land. The great object of his life, that alone for which he seemed to wish to live, is accomplished; and he wears, at this moment, a brighter crown than ever graced the brow of a Bourbon; for it is formed of the best affections, the love and gratitude of an admiring world. Here let us pause, and endeavor to recover from the amazement with which such an event is calculated to overwhelm the mind, that we may contemplate it more calmly.