Christophe Vuillaumes efterslægt - Christensen, Erichsen ...

The three prisoners of Olmutz owe their liberation exclusively to the esteem and regard in which they were
held by Napoleon Bonaparte, at that time General in Chief of the army of Italy. The Directory had made very
feeble efforts indeed, to effect their restoration to liberty, and that for reasons already assigned. But Bonaparte,
by the advice of Major General Berthier, who highly esteemed La Fayette, resolutely insisted at the treaty of
Campo Formio, which was preceded by the negotiation of Léoben and Udine, that, as an indispensable
preliminary, the prisoners of Olmutz should be immediately released from confinement.
On arriving at Hamburg, Messrs. Parish, Morris, and a great number of other distinguished Americans, gave
us a very splendid and magnificent entertainment on board of an elegant American ship, which lay at anchor in
the harbour of the town. These gentlemen had previously sent several large barges, superbly decorated and
manned with American seamen, to meet us at Haarburg, a town on the left bank of the Elbe, immediately
opposite to Hamburg.
Through the attention of Messrs. Parish, Masson, Archenholtz, Sieveking, &c. lodgings had been secured and
prepared for us all; and the next day M. Reinhardt, the French minister, gave us an elegant entertainment, at
which the prisoners made their appearance with the tri-coloured cockade, which they had mounted on the day
of their arrival on the territory of Hamburg, in order to show that they were not emigrants, nor indeed, had ever
ceased to be Frenchmen and patriots.
It was here I enjoyed the pleasure of embracing my respected father, who had hastened to meet me, and to pay
his tribute of respect to the illustrious prisoners. I had sent, when at Dresden, my servant with letters of
invitation from these gentlemen, and from Madame de la Fayette, and entreating him to participate in the
happiness of his son, who was now received into the bosom of their family.
Fra en samtidig anmeldelse i "The North American Review" af Edward Everett: 25
The work published by General Ducoudray Holstein at New York is much worse. It is not entitled to credit.
Nearly half of it is taken up with the five years that elapsed between the moment when General Lafayette left
the army in August 1792 and his release from the dungeons of Olmutz in August 1797; and the whole of this
when compared with the accounts given by Toulongeon, which Madame de Stael declares to be authentic;
with Bollmann's own story of his attempt to rescue Lafayette in 1794; and with the general facts known
everywhere and the details that may still be obtained from living witnesses can be considered only as an
unhappy attempt at romance. Indeed the entire work is not much better for though in some portions the facts
and dates may be given with more accuracy yet a false or exaggerated coloring is everywhere perceptible and
the documents and public acts which were originally in English and after being translated into French by the
author are now retranslated into English for his publisher come to us so travestied that their original features
can hardly be recognised;
Ducoudray fortæller om sit møde med Schiller 26 :
25
Edward Everett, "Lafayette," The North American Review XLVI (Januar 1825). Herefter citeret som
"Lafayette."
26
H. L. V. Ducoudray Holstein, Le glaneur français number one, for the use of universities, colleges,
academies and schools; containing original and selected anecdotes, biographical sketches and characteristic
al traits of persons distinguished by their genius and their knowledge; historical facts, inventions and other
miscellanies, useful, interesting and varied. Tilgængelig på
http://books.google.com/books/download/Le_glaneur_francais__number_one.pdf?id=SDABAAAAYAAJ&ou
tput=pdf&sig=ACfU3U2yvCnOQdpP9_oFjKFPVRZrBk6kQQ&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0
(Geneva, NY, USA: Russel Robbins, 1833).
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