THE LIFE, CHARACTER, &c.

of the

MARQUIS DE LA ROUËRE (COL. ARMAND)

Of the many French adventurers who at an early period of the Revolutionary contest sought our shores, and whose subsequent services obtained for them an American reputa-tion, La Fayette was probably the most useful, as he was cer-tainly the most conspicuous. His merits were always recog-nized, and on the occasion of his final visit, a grateful welcome from youth and age, such as the world never saw before, hailed his advent. Next to him however in wealth and in that influence which is derived from high family connexions, and his equal in birth, generous devotion to the cause of freedom and services in the field, stood a young nobleman of about his own age, who generally passed in this country by the name of Monsieur Armand. From some cause or other the deserts of the latter have been much overlooked by biog-raphers and historians, and little is generally known of him except that he raised a legion, at the head of which he served during the great contest. From a variety of sources, French and American, have been gathered the principal events of his life, a brief sketch of which I now put before the Society. Armand Tuffin, Marquis de la Rouërie, was a gentleman of Brittany. He was born sometime in the year 1756, at the chateau de la Rouërie, on his patrimonial estate, between Saint Malo and Rennes. Of his early life little is known be- yond the fact that the severity even of French education was insufficient to curb the ardent vivacity and headlong passions which it was his destiny to inherit. From infancy he had determined upon running the career of arms. While yet a