CHAPTER XV.
Letter of Mr. Keratry on the anniversary of Bunker’s hill—Fair Mount Water Works at Philadelphia—Germantown—Mr. Watson’s Historical Box—Field of the Battle of Brandywine—Invocation of the Rev. William Latta—Clergy of Lancaster—Return to Baltimore, lighted by a fire.
Whilst the citizens of the United States were exhausting every means to prove their grateful recollections of the ancient friend of their fathers, of their country, and of their institutions, France was not indifferent to the honours rendered to one of her sons on a distant shore. By means of her writers, her poets and her orators, she united her voice to that of republican America, to celebrate the principal circumstances of this triumph, honourable alike to the two nations. It was by means of one of the public journals,[21]printed at Paris and transmitted to the United States, that Mr. Keratry, inspired by the solemnity of Bunker’s hill, expressed the aspirations and sentiments of every friend of liberty in France:—
“Nations acquit themselves of a sacred debt in honouring the memories of their great citizens; but even by that they perform also an act of personal preservation, since nothing can better excite a generous patriotic devotion than the certainty secured to its author, of escaping oblivion.
“There is in fact, in the acclamations of public gratitude, something inspiring and almost contagious, which snatches man from himself, and the interests of daily life. We sacrifice this life to assure ourselves of another more brilliant and enduring. If told that these plaudits should be decreed to frigid ashes, one would feel himself revived to participate in this futurity of glory; and by a miracle of patriotism, thegeneral safety of a country results from all the sacrifices of individuals.
“Nations capable of these sacrifices, even while endeavouring to throw off a yoke of oppression, the inevitable tendency of which is to degrade our species, wherever it is submitted to, were never without virtue. We are entirely convinced, that as God judges men individually, by their earthly conduct, in a future state, he pronounces also collectively on nations here below according to their sum of merit, and this is the providential justice of the present economy. According as he weighs them, they prosper or they perish! Thus have colonies become empires—thus have empires been swept away.
“Inhabitants of North America! citizens of an enfranchised world! behold what has permitted you to become embodied and constitute a nation; see what has guaranteed to you a perpetuity of ennobled existence! Your nobility is produced by your habits of laborious exertion, and by your domestic virtues. These virtues exist amongst you: where women are chaste, men are brave; where religion is the free and spontaneous motion of the creature toward the Creator, and is not transformed into a political lever of worldly interests, salutary faith presides over social order, and nerves the soul. You have had a Franklin, a Washington, a Samuel Adams, a Jefferson: if needed, you will find others. The tree abounds in sap, why then shall it not produce new fruits? Your prosperity no longer excites my astonishment; it is in the nature of things both human and divine.
“You do well, however, in enhancing the renown of these supporters of your liberty; and in raising monuments worthy of those who died in insuring it. The great citizen, who in 1765 was one of the founders of the noble conspiracy in Boston, so influential on your destinies; he who was on two memorable occasions commissioned by that city, to console, by his eloquence, the shades of your illustrious compatriots, massacred the 2d of March, 1770; he who in 1775 assisted you to win the brilliant auguries of the battle of Lexington, and who fell by a mortal blow at Breed’s Hill, in the second engagement of your struggle for independence, Dr. Warren, meritedfrom yourselves and from your children, a peculiar distinction.
“It was perhaps sufficient for the glory of this gallant patriot, whose virtue was attested by the sorrow of his most decided enemies, and to whose courage the entrenched earth yet bears witness, which received with his blood his last drawn sigh: it was sufficient I say, that his collected remains should have found an honourable sepulture in the bosom of that city whose liberty he was so desirous to behold accomplished. You have decreed more than this for his heroic companions in arms. Men of North America, I congratulate you that the services of the brave remain vivid in your memories: for it were the extreme of rashness, to expect aught for the future of nations that forget the past, by which they were established and by which they exist. There are in you the elements of vigour, and you well know how to cherish them. You have desired that the hand of one of the earliest defenders of your liberty might assist you to complete the pious duty. Already have our imaginations and our eyes followed to the tomb of Washington, this aged soldier celebrated in the annals of two nations; nor can I believe that the sun ever shone on a more noble spectacle on this earth. Let us accompany, him yet farther, when on the 17th of the next month, he united with you in founding the monument built by the citizens of Boston to the memory of the brave of Bunker’s hill: fully worthy, indeed, to solemnize with you this great obligation, his views no doubt were directed toward his own country, whilst assisting you in the discharge of your country’s debt. He shall intercede by his prayers for us, and perhaps without envying the happy situation you owe to the civil and military talents of your citizens, he will humbly ask of Providence why those happy days seem to have been withdrawn from France, the dawn of which she once beheld. No! in his grief he will be silent, lest the tombstone, and the sacred bones which it protects, should render him a reply too severe for us, inhabitants of ancient Europe, where, pretensions to liberty are made without sacrifices, and to happiness without virtue!
“Happy nation! in thy calendars are found no victories but those which established thy independence. Nor dostthou desire others, unless a noble sentiment should dictate to thee to be interested in the cause of men oppressed by one of the hemispheres; for thou hast been oppressed, and has received succour.
“Permit no one of thy citizens to become great with a greatness which would be too personal to him, or which would disparage his compeers: for a nation should not become a pedestal.
“Grant no distinctions to the living which they have not merited by their achievements; nor to the dead, such as would retard the excellence about to arise in competition with the past; for the transmission of hereditary glory is the act of an unwise people, who alienate their posterity to the advantage of strangers.
“Simple citizens of another state! I feel encouraged to send you this address across the sea, whose waves separate us; but my spirit has wished to commune with yours, and I have believed that the counsel of a native son of France who rejoices in your fortunes, would not find a haughty and disdainful reception, even at the moment when one of his own countrymen is receiving the honours of your gratitude. That man to whom is accorded the privilege of beholding himself honoured as posterity will honour similarly great men, is preparing for a return to his native shore: you know his heart went in search of the great and the happy of the age, but that to him the cause of the just will ever be the good cause, whether in triumph or defeat. Blow auspicious, then, ye winds. Laden with gifts as in ancient days, crowned with flowers gathered by the hands of your beauteous virgins and of their virtuous mothers, may he speedily regain his fire-side! Soon may he be restored to expectant, welcome embrace! Detain no longer the noble visitant on your shores! You are rich enough in citizens. I shall not assent that they yet enrol themselves amongst us, for it is permitted to no one to speak evil of his country; but when the weak feel their own weaknesses and fears, the presence of the strong is the more important.â€
Governed by the feeling of his duties as a citizen, and by his affections as the head of a numerous family, General Lafayette required not the expression of these emanations of friendship to insure his speedy return toFrance: nevertheless it was not without the kindest emotions that they penetrated his bosom. This demonstration of his countrymen’s continued affection contributed to mitigate the sacrifice he felt himself bound in duty to make, in rejecting the entreaties of the citizens of the United States, who universally and simultaneously begged he would fix his residence amongst them.
The intention of the general was, to re-embark previous to the return of the inclement season, but before quitting the American soil, he wished to fulfil some engagements which he had made in different places; to pass some time at the seat of the general government of the Union, and to make a final visit to the ex-presidents, in their retirement in Virginia. We were now in the middle of July, and there remained less than two months for the execution of these designs, and he hastened immediately to reach Pennsylvania. He passed rapidly through New Jersey, surrounded by the customary demonstrations of the veneration of the people. I shall not speak of the entertainments offered him by the inhabitants of the towns he passed through, nor of his second visit to Joseph Bonaparte, on his journey to Bordentown, where we had the pleasure of meeting again, Colonel Achille Murat, who had just returned from an interview with his brother, recently arrived from Spain. But we shall pause an instant longer in Philadelphia, to visit the Water Works, and attend the celebration festival with which the citizens particularly engaged in these works desired to honour the nation’s guest.
We had visited, during our first stay in Philadelphia, the fine machinery established on the Schuylkill, for the supplying of water to a population of one hundred and twenty thousand persons, and we had been struck with the simplicity of its mechanism, its admirable force, the elegance and good taste of the building prepared for its protection; however, being then pressed with other engagements, we but slightly glanced at its general aspect, without entering into the examination of details, and it was to supply this defect of our information that we returned hither a second time with the committee entrusted with the superintendence of the expenses of the establishment.
The tide in the Delaware extending far above Philadelphia, it followed that its inhabitants could not employ thewater of that stream for culinary purposes, and heretofore they had no supply of potable water but that which was furnished by some cisterns, which became exhausted during the great dryness of the summer, or furnishing but an unwholesome beverage, a great number of diseases ensued. The rapid growth of the population soon rendered indispensable the supply of water of a better quality, and in larger quantity. One pump wrought by steam power was established on the border of the Schuylkill. The expense of maintaining this pump in operation was very great, and its power insufficient, being the only resource for the supply of a population of more than eighty thousand souls at the end of the year 1818, at which time the watering committee, composed of citizens distinguished for their skill and their zeal in the public service, began to devise means for substituting, in place of the old machinery, other works at once more suited to the increasing demands of the city, more economical in their structure and in the cost of continuing them in operation. Fair Mount, on the left bank of the Schuylkill, seemed the point most favourable for the execution of the views of the committee. The Schuylkill Navigation Company having permitted the damming of the river to obtain a fall of water, on condition that a canal with locks should be constructed at the expense of the city, on the right bank of the river, in order that the navigation should not be interrupted; and Messrs. White and Gillingham having consented to yield, for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, their rights in the water courses, the committee, freed from every obstacle, submitted their plans to the city councils, who approved them, and voted the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the commencement of their execution.
The labour was commenced the 19th of April, 1819, under the direction of Ariel Cooley, engineer, and was completed in four years. At the sight of the canals it was found necessary to open, the immense piers and embankments that had to be raised, the reservoirs which must be excavated to a great depth in the solid rocks, it is almost inconceivable that so many things could be achieved in so short a time. Money, it is true, was not withheld, but money is not always sufficient, we well know amongst us, for the accomplishment of great affairs; to act well andpromptly, we must have agents of promptness and ability, and at the same time animated with honest zeal for the public welfare: such was Cooley, who unfortunately forfeited his life in consequence of his activity in the accomplishment of his duties. Incessantly exposed either to the heat of the sun or to the freshness of the nights, he contracted a fatal disease, which did not permit him to enjoy the fruits of his labour. Philadelphia, to this day, regrets in him a good citizen, an accomplished and disinterested artist.
As we have now seen them, the Water works at Fairmount can abundantly supply the demands of the city, and afford to the friends of the useful arts a monument worthy of their attention. The building that encloses the machinery, is constructed of stone of a brilliant whiteness. It is two hundred feet in length and fifty in breadth, and built in the Doric order of architecture. The interior section is divided into twelve solid vaulted apartments, designed for the reception of eight forcing pumps, to be put in operation by wheels of fourteen feet in diameter, and fourteen feet in length. Each extremity of the building is terminated by a pavilion of the same order of architecture, the one serving for the meetings of the watering committee, the other appropriated to the superintendent of the establishment. Of the eight pumps there are yet but three in operation, and by these alone there are carried into the reservoir of distribution, which is more than a hundred feet above the level of the river, nearly five millions of gallons of water in twenty-four hours. Each wheel performs thirteen revolutions per minute; they are formed with buckets perpendicular to the circumference, and revolve with surprising regularity. Their construction is due to the talents of Mr. Drury Bromley, who in this circumstance has forfeited no part of his reputation as an able mechanician.
The pumps are from the establishment of Messrs. Rush and Muhlenburg; they are castings of sixteen inches diameter, and are placed horizontally after the plan of Mr. Graff. Their play is so simple and so easy, that when they are in motion neither the smallest noise nor friction can be observed. Throughout all the parts of this admirable monument of American industry have been executed with thesame care, and it is impossible to visit it without a strong excitement of admiration for all the individuals who have contributed to its design and completion. Mr. John Moore, mason, and Mr. Frederick Erdman, carpenter, have an equal share of honour with their collaborators; nor does any one omit a just tribute of praise to the precision in the calculations of Mr. Thomas Oaks, respecting the estimate and the application of the forces requisite to obtain, with the least possible expense, the most advantageous results. The total sum of expenditure, made in the construction of this establishment, amounts to four hundred and twenty-six thousand three hundred and thirty dollars, the interest of which at five per cent, is twenty-one thousand three hundred and sixteen dollars. The annual expense for salaries of workmen, repairs of machinery, fuel, oil, &c. is only fifteen hundred dollars, which added to the interest makes a total sum of only twenty-two thousand eight hundred and sixteen dollars, for distributing in the city of Philadelphia, almost five millions of gallons of water every twenty-four hours. The original steam engine could not supply more than one million six hundred thousand gallons of water, in twenty-four hours, and cost annually thirty-thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight dollars: and in order to obtain, by steam power, a daily supply of five millions of gallons, it would have required an annual expense of at least sixty-one thousand seven hundred and sixteen dollars. Thence there has been secured, by the introduction of the new machinery, an annual saving of thirty-eight thousand nine hundred dollars. To this great improvement must likewise be added many other equally important advantages, such as the healthfulness of the city, its great security against the ravages of fire, the embellishment of public places by abundant fountains, the opportunity afforded to every inhabitant of supplying his residence with water, at the moderate price of five dollars a year, and the facility of establishing in the city various factories, &c. by the aid of water power.
All these details were received with a lively interest by General Lafayette, who expressed his satisfaction and admiration, saying that the water works at Fair Mount appeared to him the perfect representation of the American government, in which were combined simplicity, power andeconomy. Just as we were leaving this interesting spot, Mr. Lewis, as president, and in behalf of the committee, presented the general a mode of the machinery, and a vertical section of the building perfectly executed in mahogany. He received it thankfully, and assured Mr. Lewis that he would have sincere pleasure in exhibiting to his friends in Europe, this evidence of the perfection of mechanic arts in the United States.
Although, during the whole period of our second visit to Philadelphia, the heat was excessive, so that Fahrenheit’s thermometer was generally at the 98th degree, and rose sometimes to 104°, General Lafayette was not the less assiduous in employing every day either in uniting with his friends in the festivities to which he was invited, or in visiting the environs of the city, nor did his health sustain one moment’s unfavourable impression.
It was the 20th of June that we went to visit the field of battle at Germantown and the mansion of Mr. Chew, on the walls of which may yet be discovered traces of the cannon and musket balls, proving the prominence of its situation in the battle that raged around it. After having breakfasted with Mr. Benjamin Chew, the proprietor of this historic mansion, the general continued his route to Chesnut Hill, in sight of Barren Hill, where on the 20th of May, 1778, he effected so happily and so successfully the famous retreat which laid the foundation of his fame in military tactics: thence he returned to Germantown, to pass a short time with the inhabitants, who anxiously requested he would visit their academy, at which he was received by the students with enthusiasm. We found amongst them the young Fernando Bolivar, adopted son of the Liberator. General Lafayette spoke to him with pleasure of the hopes which the friends of liberty and humanity repose in the character of his uncle, who, until the present moment, had advanced with a firm pace in the career pursued by Washington; the young man seemed penetrated with grateful emotions, and expressed himself in such a manner as to excite a hope, that his having been sent to the United States to study her political institutions would not be without permanent benefit.
As we were leaving Germantown, Mr. John F. Watson offered for the acceptance of the general a present of greatvalue, on account of the recollections it awakened. It was a box formed of many pieces of different kinds of wood, the origin and history of which he thus recited:
“The body of the box is made of a piece of black walnut, an ancient son of the forest, that once occupied the spot where Philadelphia now stands. Cotemporary with the trees which lent their shade to William Penn and his companions, it continued till 1818, spreading its noble branches in view of the hall in which our declaration of independence was ratified.
“The cover is composed of four different pieces.
“The first is of a branch of a forest tree, the last surviving of those which were removed in order to dig the first foundations of Philadelphia.
“The vigour that yet animates the vegetation of this ancient tree, is an evidence of the rapid growth of the city, which has risen and become great whilst the tree is still flourishing.
“The second is a piece of oak, broken off the first bridge built in 1683, over the little river Canard. This piece was found in 1823 at about six feet below the surface of the earth.
“The third is a piece of the famous elm under which Penn’s first treaty with Shackamaxum was made. It fell from old age in 1810, but a branch from it is now growing, and in a flourishing state, in the garden of the hospital, and our fellow citizens delight to recount the story of its origin whilst protected by its shade.
“The fourth awakens recollections of yet more olden time. It is a fragment of the first house raised by European hands upon the American shores! It is a piece of mahogany of the habitation constructed and occupied in 1496, by the immortal Columbus. Honour to the Haytien government, which still watches with care for the preservation of this precious monument.
“I offer you these reliques with confidence,†continued Mr. Watson, “persuaded, as I am, that it is with interest you receive every thing connected with the remembrance of the first movements of a nation that has received so many proofs of your friendship.â€
General Lafayette was, indeed, highly flattered by Mr. Watson’s present. He received it with gratitude, anda pledge that it should find a place amongst the most precious memorials of his tour. To this first present Mr. Watson added also another not less valuable; a piece of the American frigate “Alliance,†in which Lafayette had twice crossed the ocean during the revolutionary war.
On the 21st, we went to spend the day in thestateof Schuylkill. But before speaking of the honours conferred there on the voyager, a few words of explanation of this “state,†will be requisite. “In 1731 some citizens of Philadelphia united themselves into an association having both pleasure and beneficence for its design. They purchased a large tract of land near the falls of the Schuylkill, built a house for the accommodation of their meetings, elected a governor, council, secretary of state, treasurer, and judge, established a seal, and constituted themselves the ‘Colony of the Schuylkill.’ More than half a century passed away without the slightest circumstance transpiring to give occasion of trouble to the colony: every day was marked by its benefactions, and delight and mutual confidence presided at all the periodical festivals, at which the members were assembled at a common table. But subject to the destiny of states, all of which have their vicissitudes, the colony of Schuylkill was also to experience a revolution. In 1783, at the conclusion of a dinner of more than fifty covers, the colony rose and declared independence: resolved to revise their constitution, and the Colony of the Schuylkill became, in the course of a few hours, the ‘republic of the State of Schuylkill,’ and no attempt was made on the part of the mother country to oppose it. Since that time the new republic has gone on advancing in strength and riches; its pleasures and its acts of benevolence followed at an equal rate. Possessed now of an enlarged estate acquired by a treaty with a farmer, she has transferred her seat of government, that is, her nets, her kitchen and cellar, three miles farther down the stream, under the cool shades on the banks of the river.â€
Here it was that General Lafayette was received by the citizens and magistrates, who in the costume of fishermen, awaited his arrival on the frontier of their state. In a short and eloquent address, the secretary of state recounted to him the history of the republic, from its establishment to the present time, and concluded by announcing to him that the title and all the rights of citizen had been grantedto him by a unanimous vote. As soon as the general had expressed his acceptance of the honour and his gratitude, he was invested with the national costume, and, his head being protected with the large straw hat, he entered into the occupations of the community. Mr. George Lafayette, Mr. de Syon, and myself, were also admitted to partake of the duties of the day; people and magistrates, all with one accord, assisted without distinction in the work. We embarked in the batteaux belonging to the republic, and obtained an abundant supply of fish, and in four hours we were seated at the banquet prepared by our own hands. Never was a repast attended with greater gaiety, nor cheered by better wine, and long shall we have the pleasure of remembering the delight and good cheer we found in the state of Schuylkill.
The week we had just spent in Philadelphia, as it were in his own family, had entirely composed the fatigue of the general; and although the heat continued excessive, he undertook, on the 25th, his journey to Wilmington, where a great number of Pennsylvanians and Virginians were in waiting to conduct him to the field of the battle of Brandywine. This field was not rendered illustrious by a victory, as has been said, but its remembrance is not less dear to Americans, who gratefully recollect the blood spilled there by their fathers, and by young Lafayette, in the defence of their rights, and to secure their independence. Happy that country in which events are appreciated more by their influence on its destinies than by the eclat of the moment! The men who took the first steps in procuring the liberties of the United States in the battles of Bunker’s hill and on the banks of the Brandywine, are at this day not less honoured in the eyes of the nation than those who sealed it last, at the battle of Yorktown.
In the beginning of September, 1777, General Howe, at the head of eighteen thousand men of the British army, embarked on board the fleet commanded by his brother, and left New York without the possibility of the Americans ascertaining precisely the object of his expedition. A few days after it was ascertained that he had entered the Chesapeake, and had landed at the Head of Elk, for the purpose of marching to attack Philadelphia, Washington immediately marched through this city, wherethe congress were then in session, and advanced to meet the enemy, annoying him with several attacks between the point of his debarkation and a small stream, the Brandywine, behind which the American army, greatly inferior in number, and composed almost wholly of militia, had just taken their position. Chads-Ford was in front of their encampment, where it was contemplated to give them battle, but General Howe leaving a body of troops on the opposite side of the stream, in order to cover his manœuvre, marched forward to pass another ford on the right of the Americans. This movement was so much the more difficult to reconnoitre, as the banks of the stream were densely grown with wood, and, by a singular fatality, the two parallel roads leading to the two fords were called by the same name, so that the reports received by Washington from his scouts, though apparently contradictory, were nevertheless true. This confusion of names threw the American general into a most painful anxiety; he hesitated too long on the course he was to pursue, and lost a most precious moment which might have given him the victory. Had he been able to procure definite intelligence of the movements of the enemy, he would have passed the ford before him, and most certainly would have defeated the British division which remained at Chads-Ford, commanded by Knyphauzen, and then falling suddenly on the body under General Howe, surprising him by an attack in flank, would almost inevitably have succeeded in a complete defeat of the English army; but the occasion passed rapidly, and the firing of muskets on his right soon apprized Washington of the danger of his situation. Happily he had established a position behind the second ford, of three brigades, commanded by Sullivan and Sterling. These three brigades sustained the attack with vigour, and for a short time arrested the British by a deadly fire: but their line being attacked both right and left, by superior forces, the wings gave way. The centre continued its position firmly, in defiance of the shower of broken brass that was poured in upon them. But this centre itself at last began to yield, and was about to beat a retreat, when young Lafayette, notwithstanding his rank of brevet-major, was yet serving as a simple volunteer near the commander-in-chief, dismounted from his horse, and went, sword in hand, to placehimself at the head of a company of grenadiers, who, reanimated by this noble effort, maintained themselves firmly for a few moments. Soon, however, Lafayette received a shot below the knee, and was obliged to retire with his grenadiers; but he had already reaped the reward of his devotedness, for he had procured the opportunity for Washington to join the division of General Greene, and of recommencing the action in a second line. Here the fight raged on either side with obstinate perseverance, and the astonishing spectacle was exhibited of militia rallying after a first check, and fronting with firm step an enemy superior in numbers and in discipline. The event of this second contest was yet doubtful, when suddenly Washington learned that the pass of Chads-Ford was forced, and that Knyphauzen was about to fall on his left flank; he immediately resolved to secure a retreat to Chester, where he arrived with his army the same evening.
The battle was lost, but the British had paid dear for their victory, and the moral force of the Americans was augmented even by their defeat. In this day’s engagement Lafayette had sealed with his blood his alliance with the principles for which he had crossed the ocean, and forever secured to himself the gratitude of a nation amongst whom generous and noble sentiments outlive the ravages of time.
It was once more to evince their gratitude for their long tried friend, that the revolutionary soldiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia had now assembled with their sons to conduct Lafayette to the field of the battle of Brandywine. We left Chester on the 26th of July, with a retinue, at the head of which appeared the two oldest revolutionary officers of the neighbouring counties, Colonel M’Lean and Captain Anderson. Numerous bodies of militia had preceded us, and were already gone to take their position at the ancient encampment of the American army, where may yet be discovered traces of one of the redoubts. It was about noon when we arrived on the borders of the Brandywine, along which we were to travel to the point at which, as we had been informed, the army had passed. But on approaching the stream, General Lafayette cast a glance on the surrounding country and said, “It cannot be here that we passed in 1777, it must be a little higher up the stream.†It wasin fact ascertained that the passage had been effected just above the spot we occupied. This accuracy of observation and vivid recollection excited in a high degree the admiration of the numerous witnesses.
At Chads-Ford the general learned that one of his companions in arms, Gideon Gilpin, under whose roof he had passed the night before the battle, was now confined to bed by age and infirmity, and despaired of being able to join his fellow citizens in their testimony of respect to the general: he went to visit the aged soldier, whom he found surrounded by his family. Gideon Gilpin, notwithstanding his extreme weakness, recognized him on his entrance, and proved by tears of grateful and tender recollection how much this visit tended to the comfort and soothing of his last moments.
On arriving at the field of battle, General Lafayette recognised successively, and pointed out to us himself, all the principal points on which the two armies had manœuvred and fought on the 11th of September 1777; nor did his recollection wander a single moment. Being arrived at the spot where the first attack was made, and where he had been wounded, he paused a moment; his ancient companions pressed around his carriage, and the militia passed before him, amid the loudest acclamations and the cry a thousand times re-echoed, “long live Lafayette.†During the whole of this scene, of profound emotion on his part, and which his modesty induced him frequently to attempt to abridge, he spoke to those around him of nothing but the presence of mind evinced by Washington on the fatal day of the 11th September, and of the courage manifested by the officers and soldiers in supporting him. But in vain he recalled the names of the most illustrious chiefs, and attributed to them all the glory of having saved the army: the reply he received was by pointing him to the soil on which he had spilled his blood, and the sight of this indestructible monument exalted to the highest degree the gratitude of the crowd of spectators who accompanied him. In prolonging our excursion along the route by which the British had conducted their first attack, we arrived at the house of Mr. Samuel Jones. It had been for a short time occupied by General Howe during the battle, and yet retains traces of the well directed fire of the American artillery.After the elegant collation with which we were entertained by Mrs. Jones, we had presented to us various implements and remains of arms found on the field of battle; and we returned with these precious reliques to West Chester, where we concluded the day in the enjoyment of festivities prepared by the inhabitants.
In the multiplied recitals I have made of the public rejoicings at which I assisted, during my stay in the United States, it was impossible not to be struck with the constant association of religious ideas and patriotic sentiments which so strongly characterise the citizens of this republic: but what is not less remarkable is, that their religion, free of practical minutiæ, seems as much an uniform sentiment as their love of liberty resembles an uniform faith. With them a political orator never terminates a prepared address without an invocation, or grateful recognition of divine power; and a minister of the gospel on taking the pulpit commences, by recalling to the notice of his auditors their duties as citizens, and their peculiar privileges in living under the wise institutions of their country. It may also be remarked, that this union of political morals and theology influences all the actions of the Americans with a gravity and deep conviction, the charm and tendency of which are wholly inexpressible. How could any one listen to these simple and touching invocations without being deeply affected, and without uniting in their humble and pious acknowledgements? We were about being seated at the hospitable board prepared by the citizens of West Chester at the National Hotel, when the president of the day remarked that a minister of the church was in the company, and invited him to ask a blessing on the assemblage, which was done in the most affecting manner by the Rev. William Latta.
A committee of the citizens of Lancaster having been deputed to escort General Lafayette from West Chester, he committed himself to their care on the 27th, after taking leave of a great number of the soldiers of 1776, who could not receive the last adieu of the aged general without testifying their emotion with tears.
I have already, I believe, mentioned the remarkable fact, that at the south, as at the north, and from the east to the west of the United States, we had met with men ofdifferent manners and languages, submitting for the general good to the same democratic government; living in harmony, in the enjoyment of domestic happiness and of public prosperity, under the shield of the same institutions. Having made this observation, we naturally concluded that neither great wealth nor diverse habits of the people of this country, are obstacles to the establishment and the administration of republican government, which is founded on an equal appreciation of the interests and rights of all. Nothing perhaps more strongly confirmed General Lafayette in this opinion, than a view of the city and county of Lancaster, where are found men from all parts of America and Europe, and of almost every diversity of religious faith, yet all attached to the wise and excellent institutions by which they are governed.
I shall not describe the festivities with which the citizens of Lancaster entertained the man, who, whilst they received him as a guest, they most warmly claimed as their friend, though they were not inferior either in elegance or cordiality to those of the largest cities of the Union. I shall not, however, pass over in silence, events which by their nature serve to explain the unity of sentiments and principles which characterise all classes of the American people. I shall, therefore, relate the proceedings of the clergy of every denomination in the city and vicinity, who, at the intelligence of the arrival of the general, spontaneously collected to unite their patriotic felicitations with those of the other citizens. Their congratulations were conveyed by the dean on their behalf, without distinction of sect. If the address were to be given at length, it would give additional weight to the opinion I have already advanced respecting the American clergy: but it will suffice, I trust, to relate a portion of the general’s reply, in which this opinion is expressed with a strength and precision which leave no doubt of his convictions.
“I accept,†replied he, “with sincere gratitude the proofs of kindness and regard which the clergy of this city and vicinity have voluntarily accorded to me, and which you, sir, have expressed in so impressive a manner. In my happy sojourn in this country, I have often had occasion to remark the veneration which the clergy of every denomination inspire, whose individual members, apostles ofthe rights of man, are the immediate functionaries of a religion founded on the principles of liberty and equality, and on the principle of elections by the people of evangelical ministers.â€
On quitting Lancaster, we travelled to Port Deposit, on the shore of the Susquehanna, where we were met by a deputation from Baltimore, with whom we embarked, destined for this latter city. On our way we visited Havre-de-Grace, a small town situated on the Susquehanna, at its entrance into the Chesapeake. Here we remained several hours, and then continued our voyage favoured by fine weather, our way being beguiled also by the pleasures we enjoyed on board. From the deck of our vessel, we beheld expanded to our view the delightful vallies and the rich hills of Maryland: the companions of our voyage, pressing around Lafayette, and designating to him the fields in which, during their struggle for liberty, he had fought to obtain it: and at short distances on the shores, groups of the inhabitants attracted by the sounds of national airs which echoed from our deck, testified, by incessant acclamations, the delight occasioned by the presence of the adopted son and benefactor of their country.
The sun had left the horizon some time ere we arrived at the mouth of the Patapsco, and it was not till midnight that we touched the wharf at Baltimore. Though at that advanced and unseasonable hour, a large number of persons were in waiting for the appearance of our vessel, and on disembarking General Lafayette found himself surrounded by a crowd of friends. At the moment of placing his foot on shore, an immense burst of light suddenly illuminated the port, and looking to the southern quarter of the city we saw volumes of flame rising almost to the clouds. Instantly the hollow cry of “fire, fire,†resounded in every street. Anxious to offer the first assistance, we left the general in care of two members of the committee, who conducted him directly to the hotel provided for him, and we ran at our utmost speed toward the scene of conflagration, but we discovered that we had been outstripped by four engines, which on our arrival were already in full operation. Other engines arrived from all quarters, directed by young men, volunteers in this patriotic employment, and commenced their operations with such promptnessand activity, that, although the fire had originated in a frame building occupied as a store, the flames were very soon subdued, and indeed wholly extinguished. We found ourselves involuntarily amidst the inactive crowd of spectators, and returned to our lodgings at two o’clock in the morning, filled with admiration of the spontaneous exertions as well as the zeal and ability of the young firemen of Baltimore.