La Fayette’s idea of liberty was always accompanied with a firm belief in law and order; it was not the liberty of unbridled license. When he first upheld the Revolution in France, it was with the same spirit with which he had aided the American Revolution, contending only for liberty and order; and when, during the Reign of Terror, riot and license held the reins of power, then La Fayette was to be found not in sympathy with this wild, reckless turmoil, but always standing by the recognized government, though that government were even a monarchy, and risking his own life to save those royal lives, who so poorly repaid his generous and chivalrous devotion as even to turn with contemptuous coldness toward him who had sacrificed his own popularity to save them from destruction. At the head of the National Guard La Fayette had a most difficult task to perform during those days of riotous commotion. His sympathies were with the oppressed people; his duty was to maintain public order; his loyalty made him true to his king. When the unfortunate minister Foulon was seized by the mob and dragged before the Assembly, where the rioters clamored loudly for his death, La Fayette thus appealed to the furious crowd:— “I am known to you all; you have appointed me your commander,—a station which, while it confers honor, imposes upon me the duty of speaking to you with that liberty and candor which form the basis of my character. You wish, without a trial, to put to death the man who is before you; such an act of injustice would dishonor you; it would disgrace me; and were I weak enough to permit it, it would blast all the efforts which I have made in favor of liberty. I will not permit it. I am far from desiring to save him, if he be guilty; I only wish that the orders of the Assembly should be carried into execution, and that this man be conducted to prison, to be judged by a legal tribunal. I wish the law to be respected; law, without which there can be no liberty; law, without whose aid I would never have contributed to the revolution of the New World, and without which I will not contribute to the revolution which is preparing here. What I advance in favor of the forms of law ought not to be interpreted in favor of M. Foulon. But the greater the presumption of his guilt is, the more important is it that the usual formalities should be observed in his case, so as to render his punishment more striking, and by legal examinations, to discover his accomplices. I therefore command that he be conducted to the prison of L’Abbaye St. Germain.” [Illustration: VIEW OF THE BASTILE.] These remarks were hailed with applause by those within hearing of them; but at this moment a fresh mob broke into the Assembly, and set up a furious yell for vengeance; and notwithstanding the loud intercessions of La Fayette, deaf to everything but their wild fury, the rioters seized the hated Foulon, and rushing forth, hanged him to a lamp post in front of the Hôtel de Ville.