CHAPTER XVI.
Return to Washington—Character of the new President—Visit to the ex-president, become a farmer and justice of peace—Government offers Lafayette a ship of war to return in to France—Presents made to Bolivar through Lafayette—New homage from the city of New York—Farewell of the President to the Nation’s Guest—Departure from Washington city—Embarkation in the Brandywine—Voyage—Testimonies of attachment and regret of the crew of the Brandywine to Lafayette—Reception at Havre—Some hours at Rouen—Reception of Lafayette at La Grange by the inhabitants of his vicinity.
After resting two days at Baltimore we set out for Washington city. General Lafayette wished to depart privately, and the citizens, always solicitous to satisfy his desires, contented themselves with calling in the evening to take leave and express their regrets. This circumstance employed several hours, and left in our hearts impressions of profound melancholy. We commenced our journey on the 1st of August, accompanied by two members of the Baltimore committee. A few miles from Washington we were met by an elegant carriage, which drew up near us, from which a young gentleman alighted and inquired for General Lafayette. This was the eldest son of the new president Mr. Adams, who was sent by his father to the nation’s guest, to inform him that he had solicited and obtained from the citizens of the metropolis, permission to offer him the use of the president’s house. The general accepted the invitation for himself and travelling companions, entered Mr. Adams’s carriage, and we continuedon our route. Our two members of the Baltimore committee had not anticipated such an occurrence, which threw them into considerable embarrassment. They had been zealous “Jackson men,” and had declared themselves strongly against Mr. Adams, during the election; of this Mr. Adams was not ignorant, and on this occasion it appeared difficult to them to present themselves under the auspices of General Lafayette, without exposing themselves to the chance of being thought willing to make theamende honorable. They determined to separate from our party, on entering the city, and took lodgings in a hotel.
During the canvass of the presidential election, I had frequently heard the adversaries of Mr. Adams accuse him of aristocratic habits, contracted, as they said, in the foreign courts at which he had passed many years. This accusation appeared to me much opposed to what I had seen and have related of his conduct in the steam-boat going from Frenchtown to Baltimore; but, at length, in consequence of hearing the charge frequently repeated, I began to fear, that, with the exercise of power, he might fall into what we call in Europe the manners of a prince; my surprise was therefore the more agreeable, to find, on reaching Washington, that the president was not changed. It is true, we found Mr. Adams in the place of Mr. Monroe; but the public man was still the same. The plainness of the domestics, and facility of access to the house, appeared not to have undergone the least alteration, and in Mr. Adams’s reception of us we experienced all the cordiality of his predecessor. He soon ascertained why our companions had not remained with us, and hastened to send them an invitation to dinner, which they accepted without embarrassment or hesitation, as men who understood the politeness intended them, but who did not consider themselves as being in any way pledged by accepting it.
The lodgings prepared for us in his own house by the president were plain, but commodious and in good taste. Anxious to enable General Lafayette to enjoy the repose he thought him to need after so many and such long voyages, and after numerous and profound emotions, he secluded himself with us in entire privacy. Aided by Mrs. Adams, her two sons, and two nieces, he made us taste, if I may so express myself, the sweets of domestic life. Duringthe early portion of our stay, there rarely set down to table or around the hearth more than two or three persons at once, and usually these were some public officers who, after being occupied all day with the president in business, were detained by him to dinner and the familiar conversation of the evening. It was during this period which glided away so swiftly, that I could appreciate the character of Mr. Adams, whom I had previously known only by the eulogies of his friends or the attacks of opponents. I discovered that the first had but done him justice, and the last been misled by party spirit. It is difficult to find a more upright and better cultivated intellect than is possessed by the successor of Mr. Monroe. The beautiful reliefs of the capitol, to which he is not a stranger; his treatise on weights and measures, and the numerous diplomatic missions he has discharged with distinction, bear witness to his good taste in the arts, the correctness of his scientific judgment, and his skill in politics. As to the accusation of aristocracy, which some have preferred against him, it is sufficiently refuted by his manners, which remain unaltered by his elevation to the chief magistracy of the republic.
Notwithstanding that General Lafayette was daily preparing to return to Europe, before quitting the American soil, he wished once more to see some of his old Virginia friends, and especially desired again to embrace and thank him, who, as head of the government, had first welcomed him to its capital, and who, at present returned to private life, continued to give his fellow citizens an example of all the virtues, in cultivating his modest patrimony. The general mentioned the subject to Mr. Adams, who offered to accompany him on this visit, saying, “that he would gladly take this occasion to go and present to his predecessor his tribute of veneration and attachment.” The 6th of August was the day fixed upon for this visit, and we set out for Oak Hill, the seat of Mr. Monroe, which is thirty-seven miles from Washington, unaccompanied by any escort. Mr. Adams took the general and Mr. George Lafayette, with one of his friends, in his carriage; I rode in a tilbury with the president’s son. At the Potomac bridge we stopped to pay the toll, and the gate-keeper, after counting the company and horses, received the money from the president,and allowed us to pass on; but we had gone a very short distance, when we heard some one bawling after us, “Mr. President! Mr. President! you have given eleven-pence too little!” Presently the gate-keeper arrived out of breath, holding out the change he had received, and explaining the mistake made. The president heard him attentively, re-examined the money, and agreed that he was right, and ought to have another eleven-pence. Just as the president was taking out his purse, the gate-keeper recognized General Lafayette in the carriage, and wished to return his toll, declaring that all gates and bridges were free to the nation’s guest. Mr. Adams told him, that on this occasion General Lafayette travelled altogether privately, and not as the nation’s guest, but simply as a friend of the president, and, therefore, was entitled to no exemption. With this reasoning, our gate-keeper was satisfied, and received the money. Thus, during his course of his voyages in the United States, the general was but once subjected to the common rule of paying, and it was exactly upon the day in which he travelled with the chief magistrate; a circumstance which, probably in every other country, would have conferred the privilege of passing free.
We did not reach Oak Hill until the morning after we left Washington. We found the ex-president of the United States, now a farmer, pleasantly settled with all his family, in a handsome house near his farm. He was engaged in superintending his agricultural affairs, and endeavouring to improve his property, which had long been neglected for public business. Some of Mr. Monroe’s friends had collected to assist him in entertaining Lafayette. We passed three days in their company, and then the inhabitants of Leesburg, a small adjacent village, came in company with the Loudon county militia, to invite the presence of the nation’s guest at an entertainment prepared for him. The president, ex-president, and chief justice of the United States, accompanied him, and received their share of popular attention; but it was easy to perceive that this homage was inspired by the veneration of their virtues, rather than by any titles which they possessed.
After the Leesburg and Loudon county festivals we took leave of Mr. Monroe to return to Washington. Wishing to make the journey in a single day, we set out very early, butsoon had cause to repent of this arrangement; about two o’clock the heat became so oppressive, that one of Mr. Adams’s horses was struck down by apoplexy. The driver in vain attempted to save its life by copious blood-letting, and in a few minutes the animal expired in the ditch where it had fallen. As soon as the accident happened, we all alighted to help the horse, but finding him dead, we took seats on the grass until a waiter went to the nearest village for another horse. Travellers were passing us continually, and cast inquisitive glances upon our group, without once suspecting the presence of the first magistrate of the republic, or that of the adopted son of a great nation. Having procured another horse, we resumed our journey, but the delay caused by this accident prevented our arrival at Washington until long after sunset, which prevented us visiting the falls of Potomac, near to where we crossed the river. Although these falls are of slight elevation, their effect is said to be very fine.
A few days afterwards we again left the capital to make a last tour in Virginia. On this occasion we visited Albemarle, Culpepper, Fauquier, Warrenton and Buckland. Although in all these towns the progress of Lafayette was marked by popular festivals, he could not avoid feeling pained by the recollection that in a few days he was about to leave, perhaps for ever, a country which contained so many objects of his affection. At Albemarle we were re-joined by Mr. Monroe, whom we now found invested with a new public character. Faithful to the doctrine that a citizen should always be entirely at the service of his country, he did not think that his title of late president of the republic withheld him from being useful to his countrymen; and he had therefore accepted the office of justice of the peace, to which he had been elected by the confidence and suffrages of the people of his county. Mr. Madison had also left his retreat and re-joined us on the road to Monticello, whither the general went to take leave of his old friend Jefferson, whose enfeebled health kept him at present in a state of painful inaction. The meeting at Monticello, of three men, who, by their successive elevation to the supreme magistracy of the state, had given to their country twenty-four years of prosperity and glory, and who still offered it the example of private virtues, was a sufficientlystrong inducement to make us wish to stay there a longer time; but indispensable duties recalled General Lafayette to Washington, and he was obliged to take leave of his friends. I shall not attempt to depict the sadness which prevailed at this cruel separation, which had none of the alleviation which is usually left by youth, for in this instance, the individuals who bade farewell, had all passed through a long career, and the immensity of the ocean would still add to the difficulties of a reunion.
One of Mr. Adams’s first cares on attaining the head of the administration had been to decide General Lafayette to accept the use of a public ship for his return to France. This vessel, built in Washington navy yard, was launched about the end of June, and was to be ready for sea by the beginning of September, the time fixed upon by General Lafayette for his departure. “It is customary,” Mr. Adams wrote to him, “to designate our frigates by the names of rivers of the United States; to conform to this custom, and make it accord with the desire we have to perpetuate a name that recalls that glorious event of our revolutionary war, in which you sealed with your blood your devotion to our principles, we have given the name of Brandywine to the new frigate, to which we confide the honourable mission of returning you to the wishes of your country and family. The command of the Brandywine will be entrusted to one of the most distinguished officers of our navy, CaptainCharles Morris, who has orders to land you under the protection of our flag, in whatever European port you please to designate.”
This invitation was too honourable, and made with too much delicacy, to be for an instant refused by General Lafayette; therefore he hastened to return to Washington to express his gratitude to the president, and concert with Captain Morris the day of sailing, which was settled for the 7th of September. When this determination became known, a great number of persons thronged from the neighbouring cities to take a last farewell of the nation’s guest; and all the constituted authorities of the capital determined to take a solemn leave of him. From this time to the day of our embarkation the general devoted his whole time to the duties of friendship, and in answering to the invitations ofvarious cities, which, for want of time and on account of their distance, he had been unable to visit.
The fame of Bolivar’s exploits in combating for the liberty and independence of the South American republics, at this time resounded through the United States, whose citizens applauded with transport his republican patriotism, which then was free from all suspicion. Mr. Custis, the adopted son of Washington, whose ardent spirit is ever ready to sympathise with all that is great and generous, conceived the thought of presenting to the Liberator, as a testimonial of his admiration, a fine portrait of General Washington, and a medal of pure gold, which had been decreed to the great citizen by the American nation, at the festival of independence. He thought that these presents, although sufficiently precious on account of their origin, would acquire a still greater value by passing through the hands of the veteran of liberty in the two worlds, and General Lafayette consented with pleasure to the request made him to be the organ of communication. On the 2d of September these presents were placed in the hands of M. Villenilla, member of the Colombian Legation, with a letter for Bolivar, from Lafayette.
On the 6th of September, the anniversary of Lafayette’s birth, the president gave a grand dinner, to which all the public officers, and numerous distinguished persons then in Washington, were invited. The company had already assembled and were about to sit down to table, when the arrival of a deputation from the city of New York was announced, which came to present to General Lafayette, on behalf of the city council, a book containing an account of all the transactions and events occurring during his stay in that city. This magnificent volume, removed from its case, and exhibited to the company, excited general admiration. It is in fact a masterpiece that may be compared with the most beautiful and rich of those manuscripts which formed the glory and reputation of libraries before the discovery of printing. It contained fifty pages, each ornamented with vignettes designed and painted with the greatest skill; views and portraits perfectly executed, completed this work, of which the writing was done by Mr. Bragg, and the paintings by Messrs. Burton, Inman, and Cummings. The view of the Capitol at Washington, of the City Hall ofNew York, and the portraits of Washington, Lafayette, and Hamilton, left nothing to be desired; and in order that this beautiful work should be altogether national, it was upon American paper, and bound by Mr. Foster of New York with admirable richness and elegance.
General Lafayette gratefully accepted this fine present, to which the president and his cabinet gave additional value by placing their signatures in it. Although a large company partook of this dinner, and it was intended to celebrate Lafayette’s birth-day, it was very serious, I may say, almost sad. We were all too much pre-occupied by the approaching journey to be joyous: we already felt, by anticipation, the sorrowfulness of separation. Towards the conclusion of the repast, the president, contrary to diplomatic custom, which forbids toasts at his table, arose and proposed the following: “To the 22d of February and 6th of September, birthdays of Washington and Lafayette.” Profoundly affected to find his name thus associated with Washington, the general expressed his thanks to the president, and gave this toast, “To the fourth of July, the birth-day of liberty in both hemispheres.”
At last the day which we ardently wished for, and whose approach, however, filled us with profound sadness, the day which would begin to convey us towards our country, but must, at the same time, separate us from a nation which had so many claims to our admiration and affection, the day of our departure, the 7th of September, dawned radiantly. The workshops were deserted, the stores were left unopened, and the people crowded around the president’s mansion, while the militia were drawn up in a line on the road the nation’s guest was to move to the shore. The municipality collected about the general to offer him the last homage and regrets of their fellow citizens.
At eleven o’clock he left his apartment, slowly passed through the crowd which silently pressed after him, and entered the principal vestibule of the presidential dwelling, where the president, surrounded by his cabinet, various public officers, and principal citizens, had waited for him a few minutes. He took his place in the centre of the circle which was formed on his approach; the doors were open, in order that the people who were assembled withoutmight observe what took place, and the slight murmur of regrets which were heard at first among the crowd, was succeeded by a solemn and profound silence; the president, then visibly agitated by emotion, addressed him as follows, in the name of the American nation and government:—
“General Lafayette—It has been the good fortune of many of my distinguished fellow-citizens, during the course of the year now elapsed, upon your arrival at their respective places of abode, to greet you with the welcome of the nation. The less pleasing task now devolves upon me, on bidding you, in the name of the nation, adieu.
“It were no longer seasonable, and would be superfluous, to recapitulate the remarkable incidents of your early life—incidents which associated your name, fortunes and reputation, in imperishable connection with the independence and history of the North American Union.
“The part which you performed at that important juncture was marked with characters so peculiar, that, realizing the fairest fable of antiquity, its parallel could scarcely be found in theauthenticrecords of human history.
“You deliberately and perseveringly preferred toil, danger, the endurance of every hardship, and the privation of every comfort, in defence of a holy cause, to inglorious ease, and the allurements of rank, affluence, and unrestrained youth, at the most splendid and fascinating court of Europe.
“That this choice was not less wise than magnanimous, the sanction of half a century, and the gratulations of unnumbered voices, all unable to express the gratitude of the heart with which your visit to this hemisphere has been welcomed, afford ample demonstration.
“When the contest of freedom, to which you had repaired as a voluntary champion, had closed, by the complete triumph of her cause in this country of your adoption, you returned to fulfil the duties of the philanthropist and patriot in the land of your nativity. There, in a consistent and undeviating career of forty years, you have maintained, through every vicissitude of alternate success and disappointment, the same glorious cause to which the first years of your active life had been devoted, the improvement of the moral and political condition of man.
“Throughout that long succession of time, the people of the United States, for whom, and with whom you had fought the battles of liberty, have been living in the full possession of its fruits; one of the happiest among the family of nations. Spreadingin population; enlarging in territory; acting and suffering according to the condition of their nature; and laying the foundations of the greatest, and, we humbly hope, the most beneficent power that ever regulated the concerns of man upon earth.
“In that lapse of forty years, the generation of men with whom you co-operated in the conflict of arms, has nearly passed away. Of the general officers of the American army in that war, you alone survive. Of the sages who guided our councils; of the warriors who met the foe in the field or upon the wave, with the exception of a few, to whom unusual length of days has been allotted by heaven, all now sleep with their fathers. A succeeding, and even a third generation, have arisen to take their places; and their children’s children, while rising up to call them blessed, have been taught by them, as well as admonished by their own constant enjoyment of freedom, to include in every benison upon their fathers, the name of him who came from afar, with them and in their cause to conquer or to fall.
“The universal prevalence of these sentiments was signally manifested by a resolution of congress, representing the whole people, and all the states of this Union, requesting the president of the United States to communicate to you the assurances of grateful and affectionate attachment of this government and people, and desiring that a national ship might be employed, at your convenience, for your passage to the borders of your country.
“The invitation was transmitted to you by my venerable predecessor; himself bound to you by the strongest ties of personal friendship, himself one of those whom the highest honours of his country had rewarded for blood early shed in her cause, and for a long life of devotion to her welfare. By him the services of a national ship were placed at your disposal. Your delicacy preferred a more private conveyance, and a full year has elapsed since you landed upon our shores. It were scarcely an exaggeration to say, that it has been, to the people of the Union, a year of uninterrupted festivity and enjoyment, inspired by your presence. You have traversed the twenty-four states of this great confederacy: You have been received with rapture by the survivors of your earliest companions in arms: You have been hailed as a long absent parent by their children, the men and women of the present age: And a rising generation, the hope of future time, in numbers surpassing the whole population of that day when you fought at the head and by the side of their forefathers, have vied with the scanty remnants of that hour of trial, in acclamations of joy at beholding the face of him whom they feel to be the common benefactor of all. You have heardthe mingled voices of the past, the present, and the future age, joining in one universal chorus of delight at your approach; and the shouts of unbidden thousands, which greeted your landing on the soil of freedom, have followed every step of your way, and still resound, like the rushing of many waters, from every corner of our land.
“You are now about to return to the country of your birth, of your ancestors, of your posterity. The executive government of the Union, stimulated by the same feeling which had prompted the congress to the designation of a national ship for your accommodation in coming hither, has destined the first service of a frigate, recently launched at this metropolis, to the less welcome, but equally distinguished trust, of conveying you home. The name of the ship has added one more memorial to distant regions and to future ages, of a stream already memorable, at once in the story of your sufferings and of our independence.
“The ship is now prepared for your reception, and equipped for sea. From the moment of her departure, the prayers of millions will ascend to heaven that her passage may be prosperous, and your return to the bosom of your family as propitious to your happiness, as your visit to this scene of your youthful glory has been to that of the American people.
“Go, then, our beloved friend—return to the land of brilliant genius, of generous sentiment, of heroic valour; to that beautiful France, the nursing mother of the twelfth Louis, and the fourth Henry; to the native soil of Bayard and Coligni, of Turenne and Catinat, of Fenelon and D’Aguesseau. In that illustrious catalogue of names which she claims as of her children, and with honest pride holds up to the admiration of other nations, the name of Lafayette has already for centuries been enrolled. And it shall henceforth burnish into brighter fame; for if, in after days, a Frenchman shall be called to indicate the character of his nation by that of one individual, during the age in which we live, the blood of lofty patriotism shall mantle in his cheek, the fire of conscious virtue shall sparkle in his eye, and he shall pronounce the name of Lafayette. Yet we, too, and our children, in life and after death, shall claim you for our own. You are ours by that more than patriotic self-devotion with which you flew to the aid of our fathers at the crisis of their fate. Ours by that long series of years in which you have cherished us in your regard. Ours by that unshaken sentiment of gratitude for your services which is a precious portion of our inheritance. Ours by that tie of love, stronger than death,which has linked your name, for the endless ages of time, with the name of Washington.
“At the painful moment of parting from you, we take comfort in the thought, that wherever you may be, to the last pulsation of your heart, our country will be ever present to your affections; and a cheering consolation assures us, that we are not called to sorrow most of all, that we shall see your face no more. We shall indulge the pleasing anticipation of beholding our friend again. In the mean time, speaking in the name of the whole people of the United States, and at a loss only for language to give utterance to that feeling of attachment with which the heart of the nation beats, as the heart of one man—I bid you a reluctant and affectionate farewell.”
An approving murmur drowned the last words of Mr. Adams, and proved how deeply the auditors sympathised with the noble sentiments he had expressed in favour of France, and her children whose whole life and recent triumph would add still more to his glory and exaltation. General Lafayette, deeply affected with what he heard, was obliged to pause a few moments before he was able to reply. At last, however, after having made an effort to regain his voice, he thus expressed himself:
“Amidst all my obligations to the general government, and particularly to you, sir, its respected chief magistrate, I have most thankfully to acknowledge the opportunity given me, at this solemn and painful moment, to present the people of the United States with a parting tribute of profound, inexpressible gratitude.
“To have been, in the infant and critical days of these states, adopted by them as a favourite son, to have participated in the toils and perils of our unspotted struggle for independence, freedom and equal rights, and in the foundation of the American era of a new social order, which has already pervaded this, and must, for the dignity and happiness of mankind, successively pervade every part of the other hemisphere, to have received at every stage of the revolution, and during forty years after that period, from the people of the United States, and their representatives at home and abroad, continual marks of their confidence and kindness, has been the pride, the encouragement, the support of a long and eventful life.
“But how could I find words to acknowledge that series of welcomes, those unbounded and universal displays of publicaffection, which have marked each step, each hour, of a twelve-months’ progress through the twenty-four states, and which, while they overwhelm my heart with grateful delight, have most satisfactorily evinced the concurrence of the people in the kind testimonies, in the immense favours bestowed on me by the several branches of their representatives, in every part and at the central seat of the confederacy?
“Yet, gratifications still higher await me; in the wonders of creation and improvement that have met my enchanted eye, in the unparalleled and self-felt happiness of the people, in their rapid prosperity and insured security, public and private, in a practice of good order, the appendage of true freedom, and a national good sense, the final arbiter of all difficulties, I have had proudly to recognise a result of the republican principles for which we have fought, and a glorious demonstration to the most timid and prejudiced minds, of the superiority, over degrading aristocracy or despotism, of popular institutions founded on the plain rights of man, and where the local rights of every section are preserved under a constitutional bond of union. The cherishing of that union between the states, as it has been the farewell entreaty of our great paternal Washington, and will ever have the dying prayer of every American patriot, so it has become the sacred pledge of the emancipation of the world, an object in which I am happy to observe that the American people, while they give the animating example of successful free institutions, in return for an evil entailed upon them by Europe, and of which a liberal and enlightened sense is every where more and more generally felt, show themselves every day more anxiously interested.
“And now, sir, how can I do justice to my deep and lively feelings for the assurances, most peculiarly valued, of your esteem and friendship, for your so very kind references to old times, to my beloved associates, to the vicissitudes of my life, for your affecting picture of the blessings poured by the several generations of the American people on the remaining days of a delighted veteran, for your affectionate remarks on this sad hour of separation, on the country of my birth, full, I can say, of American sympathies, on the hope so necessary to me of my seeing again the country that has designed, near a half century ago, to call me hers? I shall content myself, refraining from superfluous repetitions, at once, before you, sir, and this respected circle, to proclaim my cordial confirmation of every one of the sentiments which I have had daily opportunities publicly to utter, from the time when your venerable predecessor, myold brother in arms and friend, transmitted to me the honourable invitation of congress, to this day, when you, my dear sir, whose friendly connection with me dates from your earliest youth, are going to consign me to the protection, across the Atlantic, of the heroic national flag, on board the splendid ship, the name of which has been not the least flattering and kind among the numberless favours conferred upon me.
“God bless you, sir, and all who surround us. God bless the American people, each of their states, and the federal government. Accept this patriotic farewell of an overflowing heart; such will be its last throb when it ceases to beat.”
In pronouncing these last words, General Lafayette felt his emotion to be rapidly increasing, and threw himself into the arms of the president, who mingled his tears with those of the national guest, in repeating those heart-rending words, Adieu! Adieu! The spectators, overcome by the same feelings, also shed tears and surrounded their friend, once more to take him by the hand. To abridge this scene, which could not be suffered much longer, the general retired for a short time into his own apartment, where Mrs. Adams surrounded by her daughters and nieces came to express their wishes and regrets. On the evening before, this lady, whose cultivated mind and amenity of character had greatly contributed to the pleasure of our visit to the president’s house, had presented him with a fine bust of her husband, and had added to this present a copy of verses in French, whose charm and elegance proved that this was not the first occasion in which her muse had spoken in our language.
Detained as if by a magic spell, General Lafayette could not make up his mind to leave his friends; a thousand pretexts seemed to retard the definitive moment of separation, but at last the first of the twenty-four guns, which announced his departure, having been heard, he again threw himself into Mr. Adams’s arms, expressed to him his last good wishes for the American nation, and retired to his carriage. The president repeated the signal of adieu from the top of the steps, and at this sign the colours of the troops which were drawn up before the president’s house were bowed to the earth.
Accompanied by the secretaries of state, treasury, and navy, the general proceeded to the banks of the Potomac,where the steam-boat Mount Vernon was waiting for him. On a level above the river, were all the militia of Alexandria, Georgetown, and Washington, drawn up in solid columns, waiting to defile before the general. In advance of the troops were the magistrates of the three cities, at the head of their fellow citizens, to whom numbers of strangers had joined themselves. When the general arrived at a point from whence he could embrace this scene at a glance, the family of General Washington and the principal officers of government, ranged themselves around him, when all the different masses of men who had hitherto been so motionless, moved on to the sound of artillery, and advanced melancholy and silent to receive his last adieu. When the different corps had passed, the general took leave of all the friends that surrounded him, and went on board of the Mount Vernon, with the secretary of the navy and those officers of government who were to accompany him on board of the Brandywine.
During this time, the innumerable crowd which lined the shores of the Potomac for a great distance, governed by a painful feeling of sorrow produced by his departure, remained in the most profound silence; but when the steam-boat had pushed off with the object of their affections, they gave vent to a mournful cry, which, repeated from echo to echo, was finally mingled with the deep sound of the artillery of fort Washington. A few moments afterwards we passed Alexandria, and the general received the same marks of regret from the population of that city. But it was when he came in view of Mount Vernon, that he felt most deeply affected, and experienced the great sacrifice he made to his country in leaving the American soil, that hospitable, land, where every step he made was accompanied with heartfelt recollections.
In a few hours we reached the Brandywine, which was anchored at the mouth of the Potomac, where she only awaited our arrival to set sail. The general was received on board with the greatest honours, the yards were manned, the gunners at their posts, and the marines drawn up on deck. Of the whole company that had attended us from Washington, the secretary of the navy, Mr. Southard, alone went on board the Brandywine with the general, to present and recommend him to the care of Commodore Morris inthe name of the American nation and its government. We had experienced so many marks of kindness from Mr. Southard, that it was with real grief that we took leave of him. As soon as he had received our last farewells, he returned on board the Mount Vernon, and our commander gave orders to weigh anchor; but at this moment another steam-boat appeared in sight, which apparently wished to speak to us; we soon recognised her as the Constitution, which had arrived from Baltimore, carrying a great number of the inhabitants of that city, who desired once more to see General Lafayette, and to express to him the good wishes of their fellow-citizens, as well as their own. We experienced great pleasure in observing among them a majority of those with whom we were most intimate in our different visits to Baltimore. Their presence, at this time, in recalling to our minds the happy time we spent with them, made us forget, for a moment, that we had already left the American soil, perhaps for ever, and our illusion was prolonged until the evening gun announced that all communication between us must cease.
The night was now too far advanced to get under sail, and Commodore Morris waited till next day to weigh anchor. It was the 8th of December we entered the Chesapeake under full sail, traversing the centre of a brilliant rainbow, one of whose limbs appeared to rest on the Maryland shore, and the other on that of Virginia. Thus the same sign that appeared in the heavens on the day on which Lafayette landed on the American soil, also appeared when he left it, as if nature had reserved to herself the erection of the first and the last of the numerous triumphal arches dedicated to him during his extraordinary journey.[22]
The wind blowing brisk and favourable, we soon passed the capes of Virginia, and were in a short time out at sea. It was then only that our captain, disengaged from the carea difficult navigation, near the shore always induces, made us more particularly acquainted with his officers and our new abode. From the character of the former and commodious arrangement of the latter, it was readily perceived that the American government had neglected nothing that could contribute to the safety or comfort of Lafayette’s return to his own country. The captain announced to the general, that the last instructions he had received from the president, was to put himself entirely at the general’s disposal, and to conduct him to any part of Europe that he might designate, and to land him under the protection of the American flag; hence, that he must from that moment consider himself as absolute master, and to be assured that his orders would be executed with the greatest readiness. The general was deeply affected but not surprised at this fresh instance of kindness in the American government, and declared to the captain, that the only use he should make of these honourable prerogatives would be a passage to Havre. Two motives, added he, make me desirous of reentering France by that city; my family will be there to receive me, and my heart feels a strong desire to present myself, in the first instance, to those who received my farewell with such kindness, when I last year left my country.
The wind blew so violently, that in forty-eight hours from our leaving Chesapeake bay, we were in the Gulf stream, whose waves, opposed by the wind, made us experience all the agonies of rolling and pitching horribly combined. Added to the sea-sickness which attacked nearly all of us, another source of anxiety arose. The frigate leaked without it being discovered at what place; the pumps, in spite of their constant employment, could not keep the vessel clear, and some persons already regretted we were so far from the land, but our captain and his crew were not to be intimidated so easily. After a close examination of our situation, Captain Morris was of opinion that the vessel was too deep in the water, and should be lighted; he therefore had 32,000 weight of iron, part of his ballast, thrown overboard. This operation which was performed in a few hours, remedied every inconvenience. The frigate being lighter was in better trim, and in rising some inches more above the surface of the water, discovered the leak, which was just under the water-mark: from this moment the danger,which had never been serious, entirely disappeared, and our voyage was accomplished without the slightest anxiety.
As the president had told the general, in offering him the use of the Brandywine to carry him to France, we had for commander one of the most distinguished officers in the American navy. During his youth, Captain Morris had distinguished himself in several engagements before Algiers, under the command of Commodore Rogers. At a later period, during the last war with Great Britain, he had added to his reputation, from his skill in manœuvring his vessel, in the presence of an overwhelming force; and his comrades generally attributed to him a great part of the glory of the victory of the Constitution over the Guerriere, who, proud of her formidable artillery and the experience of her numerous crew, had sent a challenge to any American vessel, that had the courage to meet her, and seemed to wait with impatience for some one to accept her defiance, when the Constitution appeared and soon made her repent of her presumption.
The officers who served under the orders of Captain Morris, on board of the Brandywine, had also distinguished themselves in the last war, and each could boast of having added to the glory of the American navy, by his own gallant deeds. I regret that I cannot record all their names, and some of the actions by which they merited the gratitude of their country, and the esteem of their fellow-citizens; but such details would lead me far beyond all due bounds, and I hope that my silence will be taken rather as a proof of my incapacity to act as their historian, than as a proof of my indifference to men, whose society was so delightful to us, during a voyage which would have appeared very short, if we had not been returning to our own country.
The government of the United States has no theoretical school for her marine officers, but each national vessel, when going on service, receives on board a certain number of midshipmen, and thus forms a practical school at little expense as to money, and attended with the happiest results. When it was rumoured, that the Brandywine was destined to conduct Lafayette back to France, all those parents who intended their children for the navy, were ambitious to obtain them a birth on board of this frigate, and thepresident found himself beset with petitions from all parts of the Union. Not being able to satisfy all, but at the same time wishing to amalgamate, as much as possible, private interests with public good, he decided that each state should be represented by a midshipman, and hence the Brandywine had on board twenty-four, instead of eight or ten, as is usual in vessels of her size. It was gratifying to the general, thus to find himself surrounded by these young representatives of the republics he had visited with so much pleasure, not only as their presence recalled spots he loved, but also as some of them, being sons of old revolutionary soldiers, gave him an opportunity of speaking of his former companions in arms; and the young men, on their part, proud of the mission they were engaged in, endeavoured to render themselves worthy of it, by strict attention to study, and the performance of their duties. The paternal friendship testified towards them by the general, during the voyage, so completely gained their affection, that they could not separate from him without shedding tears. They begged that he would permit them, to offer him a durable mark of their filial attachment, that would also recall to his mind the days passed with them on board the Brandywine.[23]
The wind continued strong during the whole passage, but was very variable, thus rendering our voyage unpleasant. Nevertheless, in spite of their inconstancy, Captain Morris found means to make us advance rapidly; and on the 3d of October we arrived in sight of the coast of Havre, in twenty-four days after leaving the Chesapeake. This passage ought to be considered as very short, particularly when it is considered that it was our vessel’s first voyage, and consequently that she required to be studied with greater care by those who navigated her.
I will not speak of the feelings that agitated us at the sight of our country. There are few who have not experienced them on again seeing their native land, even after a short absence; and to those who have never known the torments of absence, or the sweet emotions of a return, I fear that my words would appear exaggerated or ridiculous.
As there was a great swell, and the wind variable, the captain would not hazard the frigate by approaching too near land in the night; he therefore sent one of his officers to Havre for a pilot, and stood off and on until his return. About midnight, a fishing boat boarded us, and brought letters, by which we learnt, that a great part of General Lafayette’s family, and numbers of his friends, among whom was my father, had waited for us at Havre for several days, and would join us in a few hours.
It may be readily supposed, that such news kept us awake all night, expecting with impatience the return of day, to restore us to our friends, our families, and our country. At six o’clock, the pilot being on board, he cautiously guided the vessel towards Havre, which we saw gradually becoming more visible on the horizon. At three o’clock we anchored, from the impossibility of approaching nearer without danger in a vessel the size of our frigate. Captain Morris then fired a salute of twenty-four guns, which was answered from the fort a few moments afterwards. At 11 o’clock, a steam-boat having boarded us, we experienced the happiness of seeing our friends.
We also received on board some citizens of Havre, among whom was M. de Laroche, who begged the general to accept of lodgings in his house, as long as he should remain in the city. Mr. Beasley, American consul at Havre, was also among our visiters. Our captain and his officers received them with distinction, and showed them every part of the frigate, whose beautiful proportions and admirable order excited their admiration.
But the time rapidly passed, and the moment of separation from our fellow passengers arrived. It would be difficult to portray the expression of grief and regret that was observable on the faces of all on board, when they advanced for the last time to bid farewell to him whom they had so proudly conducted across the ocean. The officers surrounded him for a long time, not being able to permit himto depart. Their first lieutenant, Mr. Gregory, who had been commissioned by them to express their sentiments, experienced so much emotion, that his voice faltered in pronouncing the first words; but, as if suddenly inspired, the young seaman sprung towards the national flag which floated at the stern of the vessel, rapidly detached it, and presented it to the general, exclaiming, “We cannot confide it to more glorious keeping! Take it, dear general, may it for ever recall to you your alliance with the American nation; may it also sometimes recall to your recollection those who will never forget the happiness they enjoyed of passing twenty-four days with you on board of the Brandywine; and in being displayed twice a year on the towers of your hospitable dwelling, may it recall to your neighbours the anniversary of two great epochs, whose influence on the whole world is incalculable,—the birth of Washington and the declaration of the independence of our country.”
“I accept it with gratitude,” replied the general, “and I hope that, displayed from the most prominent part of my house at La Grange, it will always testify to all who may see it, the kindness of the American nation towards its adopted and devoted son. And I also hope, that when you or your fellow countrymen visit me, it will tell you, that at La Grange you are not on a foreign soil.”
At this moment, the noise of cannon and the huzzas of the sailors on the yards, prevented any further adieus, and we went on board the steam-boat, whence we saw the Brandywine spread her sails, and leave us with the majesty of a floating fortress.
Captain Morris, who was to accompany the general to Paris; Captain Reed, a distinguished officer of the American navy, charged with a scientific mission to Europe by his government; and Mr. Somerville, envoy from the United States to the court of Sweden, left the Brandywine with us; and this vessel, under the command of Lieutenant Gregory, sailed for the Mediterranean, to reinforce the squadron there.
On his landing, General Lafayette perceived that the sentiments expressed towards him by the citizens of Havre, at his departure, had not changed, and he was much affected at their warmth. As to the administration, it was what itought to have been the preceding year, that is, it permitted a free expression of public opinion, so that in his passage from the quay to Mr. de Laroche’s, the general had not the grief of seeing his friends menaced by the sabres of the gens d’armes, or humiliated by the presence of foreign troops.
General Lafayette ardently desired to see such of his children as could not come to meet him, and waited for him at La Grange, and he therefore decided on leaving Havre the day after his arrival. His son embarked on the Seine with his family and friends, to proceed to Rouen, where he would wait for him, whilst, accompanied by Captain Morris and the author of this journal, he went by land. On leaving the suburb, his carriage was surrounded by a large cavalcade of young men, who asked permission to accompany him to some distance. After an hour’s march, the general stopped to thank his escort, who did not separate from him until they had expressed the most flattering sentiments, through their young leader, Mr. Etesse, to whom his fellow citizens bad also this day given a proof of their esteem and friendship in placing themselves under his orders.
On arriving at Rouen, we stopped at M. Cabanon’s, a worthy merchant, who has always been charged with the interests of his department in the chamber of deputies, whenever his fellow citizens have been unshackled in their choice. As an old friend and colleague of the general, he had insisted on his right of receiving at his table the guest of America, and had prepared him the pleasure of once more being seated with his family and a great number of the most distinguished citizens of the ancient capital of Normandy. Towards the end of the dinner, some one came to announce to the general that a crowd of persons in the street, accompanied by a band of musicians, wished to salute him. He eagerly went out on the balcony to reply to this mark of esteem from the population of Rouen, but scarcely were the first acclamations heard, when detachments of the royal guard and gens d’armes appeared from the extremities of the street, who, without any previous notice, began to disperse the crowd. The moderation with which the royal guard executed the orders they had received from an imprudent and blind administration,proved how repugnant they were to them, but the gens d’armerie, anxious to prove themselves the worthy instruments of the power that employed them,bravelycharged on the unarmed citizens, and were not to be checked by the cries of the women and children overthrown by the horses. A manufacturer of Bolbec, an elderly man of Rouen, and several other persons, were severely wounded. Many others were illegally and brutally arrested. After these glorious exploits, the gens d’armes, being conquerors, waited for the appearance of General Lafayette, and, sabre in hand, accompanied the carriage to the hotel where we were to spend the night. But here their success was checked; young men stationed at the door forbid all entrance into this asylum, where many of those who were obliged to fly had taken refuge, and where General Lafayette could receive, in peace, the feeling and honourable congratulations of those citizens who wished, in spite of the interdict of those in authority, to testify the satisfaction they felt at the return of a man, who by the triumphs decreed to him by a free nation had so much added to the glory of the French name.
This atrocious conduct of the magistrates and their servile instruments afflicted us the more, from having a few days previous enjoyed the free expression of the feelings and enthusiasm of the American people, and which in spite of ourselves forced a comparison that was far from being favourable to our own country. The presence of Captain Morris and some of his countrymen who had accompanied him to Paris, added still more to our sorrow and embarrassment. We seemed to read in their stern expression, the feelings they experienced in seeing a people once so energetic in the cause of liberty, now timidly submitting to the despotism of bayonets. As soon as I found an opportunity of speaking to them for a moment, I hastened to tell them that they must not confound prudence and moderation with weakness, which was here only so in appearance. That, in this instance, the citizens could not have supposed that the local authorities would have been foolish enough to oppose the expression of sentiments so inoffensive and natural, and consequently no one had thought of making preparations for a resistance, whose necessity had not been foreseen. Some young men who were near us overhearingthis conversation, added with warmth, “we hope our moderation will not be misinterpreted by those who know us, and that they will understand that we only submitted to be thus driven back by some gens d’armes, because we wished to spare our friend General Lafayette the chagrin of being the cause of a greater disturbance.” The American officers applauded the courage and delicacy of this feeling, and comprehended that under other circumstances, the triumph of the police and its gens d’armes over the citizens of Rouen would not be so easy.
The next morning, October 8th, the court of the hotel was filled by young men on horseback, intended as an escort to the general as far as the first post-house. Their countenances, and some words I overheard, proved to me that they were full of the scene of the evening before, and were firmly resolved that it should not be renewed with impunity. The posts of the infantry and gens d’armerie had been doubled during the night, as if the day was to be productive of great events; but the magistracy confined itself to those ridiculous demonstrations, and General Lafayette left the city in peace, receiving on his way numerous testimonials of the good wishes of the citizens.
At the end of the suburb, the escort was augmented by more young horsemen, who accompanied him to the first relay of horses, where they took leave of him, after having presented him with a crown of “Immortelles,” which was laid in his carriage on the sword given him by the New York militia.
That evening we slept at St. Germain-en-Laye, and the next day, October 9th, we arrived at La Grange, where, for the three last days, the neighbouring districts had been occupied in preparations for a fete on the arrival of one so long and ardently looked for.
At a certain distance from the house, the carriage stopped; and the general on descending from it, found himself in the midst of a crowd, whose transports and joy would have deceived a stranger, and led him to suppose that they were all his children. The house was filled until evening, by the crowd, who only retired after having conducted the general, by the light of illuminations and to the sound of music, under a triumphal arch, bearing an inscription, in which they had dedicated to him the title of “friend of thepeople.” There he again received the expressions of joy and happiness induced by his return.
The next day, the general was occupied in receiving the young girls who brought him flowers and chaunted couplets in his honour, the company of the national guard of Court Palais, and a deputation from the town of Rosay. The inhabitants of the commune in offering a box of flowers to their friend, congratulated him on his arrival through their leader M. Fricotelle.
The following Sunday, the inhabitants of Rosay and its environs gave the general a brilliant fete, the expenses of which were defrayed by common subscription. The preparations which had required several days’ labour, were the work of the citizens, who did not wish to be aided by any mercenary hands. At five o’clock in the evening, more than four thousand persons, many of whom had arrived from a distance of some leagues, filled the apartments and courts of La Grange, to salute him, whom all voices hailed as the friend of the people. At seven o’clock, a troop of young girls marching at the head of the population of Rosay, presented a basket of flowers to the general, and chaunted some simple and touching couplets; after which Mr. Vigne pronounced in the name of the canton a discourse filled with noble sentiments. After the general’s reply, which was received with transports of joy, he was conducted in triumph to the meadow, where an elegant tent had been erected for him and his family. Illuminations artfully disposed, fire-works prepared by Ruggieri, animated dances, a great number of booths of all kinds, and a population of upwards of six thousand persons, all contributed to recall to Lafayette some of the brilliant scenes of his American triumph; and with the more truth, since he found so much conformity in the feelings which dictated both.
The dancing lasted all night; the cries of “long live the people’s friend” were to be heard until the next day, when Lafayette, once more in the bosom of his family, enjoyed that happiness and calm which only result from the recollection of a well spent life.