On Aug. 15, 1824, as the summer sun sank over New York Harbor, a huge crowd pressed against the wharves, straining for a glimpse of the Cadmus. Church bells rang out as the ship eased into view, and on its deck stood the figure they had all come to see: Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. At 67, 40 years after leaving America for France, the hero of the Revolution returned not as a soldier, but as the honored guest of the nation he had helped to secure.