Rapid and hasty visit to the states of New Hampshire, Maine, and
Vermont—Return to New York—Celebration of the Anniversary of
American Independence—American vessels of war—Patriotism and
disinterestedness of the Seamen of New York.
In commencing this journal, I had determined to record each day, all the
events of this extraordinary journey, but their multiplicity, and above
all, the rapidity of our movements, often obliged me to forego the
rigorous fulfilment of this plan; and it was in traversing the states of
Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, more especially, that I felt the
utter impossibility of noting all the interesting occurrences, all the
honourable and interesting circumstances that characterised the visit of
General Lafayette to that part of the Union. We travelled through these
states at a speed of eleven miles per hour. We often passed through so
many villages and towns on the same day, that my memory could not retain
their names. I could not therefore find the necessary time to record all
the historic or statistical details, which I had amply gleaned in a
majority of the other states, and shall only be able, in this chapter,
to retrace some of the entertainments given by the Green Mountain boys,
and their neighbours, to the guest of the nation.
I have said that General Lafayette left Boston on the 22d May, early in
the morning. A few hours after his departure, he arrived at Pembroke on
the borders of New Hampshire, where he was received by a deputation from
that state at the head of which was Mr. Webster, brother to the orator
of Bunker’s hill, who complimented him in the name of his fellow
citizens. From Pembroke to Concord, the capital of the state, his
triumphal progress was attended by a large escort of citizens collected
even from distant places. On arriving in that town, he was immediately
conducted to the capitol, where the house of representatives and the
senate, presided over by the governor of the state, were assembled to
receive him. The address delivered by Governor Morrill, was remarkable
for the vivid expression of the feelings of gratitude and attachment
entertained towards him by the people of New Hampshire. He replied to
this speech with great emotion.
After this reception the general was led into another room in the
capitol, where General Pierce was in attendance, and who presented to
him a great number of his old fellow soldiers, who, notwithstanding age
and fatigue, had not hesitated to leave their distant fire-sides to
shake hands and recall with him for a moment, scenes long passed. They,
as well as the senators and members of the house of representatives,
were individually introduced to him; the people joyfully prepared a
dinner in the public square for six hundred guests, to which we were
invited on leaving the capitol. The general had the pleasure of finding
himself seated in the midst of two hundred officers and soldiers of the
revolution, who could scarcely restrain their joy at the presence of
their old friend.
Before leaving the table, several expressed in their toasts their
feelings of philanthropic liberty. One drank “to the holy alliance
between Lafayette and liberty—may it overthrow all plots against the
rights of man.” Another gave “North America as she is, France as she
ought to be.” The general replied to these wishes by the following
toast: “The state of New Hampshire and its representatives, and this
town, the residence of the constituted authorities of the state. May the
citizens of New Hampshire always enjoy civil and religious liberty,
benefits which the elevated souls of their ancestors led them to seek in
a distant land, and which their fathers have founded on the solid basis
of the sovereignty of the people, and the rights of men.” A discharge of
artillery, and the unanimous plaudits of the crowd that surrounded the
tables, attended this toast, and we left the table to proceed to the
capitol square, where the militia were drawn up, waiting until the
general reviewed them.
Our evening was divided between the musical society, who performed an
excellent oratorio, and a party at Governor Morrill’s, at which were
crowds of ladies, wishing to take leave of the national guest, who the
next day left Concord with an escort of a corps of cavalry, and took the
road to Dover, where he arrived before evening, and was received with an
enthusiasm I shall not pretend to describe.
After having quitted Dover, we arrived on the frontiers of Maine, where
General Lafayette was received by a deputation, with which we directed
our course to Portland, the seat of government of that state. On the way
we visited Kennebunk, a small town of about 2,500 inhabitants,
remarkable for the commercial activity of its port. The sound of bells
and artillery announced to the general with what pleasure he was
expected by the people, with whom he resolved to spend some hours. When
he entered the town-house, where the authorities of the state waited for
him, he was received by Dr. Emmerson, who addressed him in the name of
his fellow citizens.
Although the general had but a short time to devote to the citizens of
Kennebunk, he yet accepted the public dinner they had prepared for him,
and took his seat on a chair elegantly decorated with flowers by the
ladies of the town: at the end of the repast each citizen expressed the
feelings he experienced at this patriotic reunion, and Dr. Emmerson gave
the following toast: “Our national guest, General Lafayette—he left
Europe to give liberty to America; he returned to teach his country the
manner of achieving happiness. To-day he comes among us to enjoy the
result of his glorious deeds.”
The general replied to this toast by the following: “The village of
Kennebunk, on the site of which the first tree was felled on the day in
which the first gun was fired at Lexington, the signal of American and
universal liberty! May that glorious date always be a pledge of the
republican prosperity and increasing happiness of Kennebunk.”
On leaving the table, and before departing from the town, the general
repaired to the house of one of the principal citizens, Mr. Storer,
where all the ladies were assembled to be introduced to him. He thanked
them affectionately for the delicate attentions which they had paid him
during his stay at Kennebunk, and at 4 o’clock, P. M. he commenced his
journey to Saco, where he slept.
On the 25th we arrived at Portland, a pretty town on the sea-shore,
between the rivers Saco and Penobscot. It had been for a long time the
seat of government of Maine, and its population, almost entirely
commercial, is about nine thousand souls. The citizens of Portland and
their magistrates had prepared a reception worthy of their love for
Lafayette, and it may be said not to have yielded in magnificence to
that accorded him by the largest cities of the Union; the militia,
assembled from every part of the state, presented an imposing body in
front of the town. The children of the different schools occupied the
streets through which the general was to pass, and strewed flowers upon
his path. The triumphal arches under which he passed, were remarkable
for their good taste, and the delicacy of the inscriptions with which
they were decorated. Upon one of them was a small model of a ship, under
which was written, “_I will purchase and equip a vessel at my own
expense!_” Words which Lafayette addressed, as is known, to the American
commissioners at Paris, in 1777, when the latter acknowledged the
inability of their country to provide the means of transporting him to
the United States. Upon others were the names of the battles in which
the young companion in arms of Washington had fought. Having slowly
traversed the town amidst the acclamations of the crowd, the general
arrived at the state house, where Governor Parris received and addressed
him on behalf of the citizens of Maine, and in the presence of the
representatives and magistrates of the people. The governor, in his
address, recalled with enthusiasm the glorious epoch which commenced the
reputation of Lafayette, and offered a merited tribute of eulogy and
admiration to the soldiers of the revolution.
Replete with a vivid emotion in which all his auditors participated,
General Lafayette briefly replied, but with that aptness and vigour, for
which he was uniformly conspicuous.
From the senate chamber the general went to the house of Mr. Daniel
Cobb, which had been prepared for him. He was there waited upon by a
great number of deputations, who offered him the greetings of the
neighbouring towns and villages. The grand officers of the masonic lodge
of Portland were also there, and the president of the academy, who, in
presence of the professors and students, conferred upon him the title of
LL.D. As soon as he could disengage himself for a moment from the crowd,
he visited Mrs. Thatcher, the daughter of his illustrious companion in
arms, James Knox, with whom he remained until he was informed that the
public authorities waited to accompany him to the dinner prepared by the
citizens.
From Portland, the general would have been well pleased to continue his
route to the extremity of the state of Maine, but time was wanting; he
therefore retraced his steps towards Burlington, passing through
Windsor, Woodstock, Montpelier, &c. Although Vermont is very
mountainous, which rendered the road more difficult, we travelled with
extreme rapidity, advancing almost all the time more than nine miles an
hour, relays of horses having been well disposed by the inhabitants, in
order that the general might not be retarded in his progress to New
York. On the morning of the 28th, we arrived at Burlington, the
beautiful situation of which, on the delightful shores of Lake
Champlain, excited our admiration. Whilst we were viewing, with pleasure
and astonishment, the beauties of nature spread before us, we heard the
thunder of artillery, and an instant afterwards saw advancing towards us
a body of militia, preceded by a crowd of citizens, who hastened in
front of the national hotel. The good order of this body of troops, the
bold and firm step of the men who composed it, answered perfectly to the
reputation for bravery and patriotism which the inhabitants of Vermont
had acquired in the revolutionary war, and in that of 1814. Every one
knows, that it was the Vermonters who, in 1777, completed, by their
presence, the embarrassment of the English General Burgoyne, who, at
sight of their intrepid bands, presented his capitulation. Some days
before his surrender, he wrote to the British minister: “The inhabitants
of the New Hampshire[17] grants, a territory uninhabited and almost
unknown during the last war, flock together by thousands, and accumulate
upon my left like dense clouds” This letter had not yet been received in
England when already the thunderbolts which these clouds enveloped had
struck him. It was also the soldiers of Vermont, to the number of 800
only, who, led by General Starke, engaged, on the same day, two English
detachments, took from them seven hundred prisoners, four pieces of
artillery, and all their camp equipage. Finally, it was these intrepid
Green Mountain boys who formed the troops which preserved Plattsburg
from pillage by the English, on the 11th of September, 1814; and the raw
crews, who, with vessels built in eighteen days, forced an enemy
superior in number, to strike a flag which claimed the absolute empire
of the sea.
The governor, who had met the general at Windsor, and who had travelled
with him from that city, introduced him to the citizens and magistrates
of Burlington, who received him with the most affectionate addresses. I
shall not insert here, notwithstanding their eloquence, the numerous
speeches addressed to him by the representatives of the different
branches of the administration and government, nor his answers, in which
he congratulated the state of Vermont on their enjoying so nobly the
benefits of the new American social order, so superior to the least
vicious institutions of Europe, and at having replaced European
tolerance by religious _liberty_; _privilege_ by right; a shadow of
representation and an unequal compromise between the aristocratic
families and the people, by a true representation by the principle of
the sovereignty of the nation, and its self-government. But I cannot
refrain from relating some of the patriotic remarks of these veterans,
glorious and living monuments of the revolutionary war, who crowded
around their old chief, the companion of former dangers, privations, and
glory, and repeating with enthusiasm the names of the battles, in which
he had aided them in achieving the independence of their country. Formed
in column in the public square, to the number of more than a hundred,
they listened at first in silence to the discourse addressed to the
general by Mr. Griswold, president of the council; afterwards they
advanced in their turn, conducted by one of their comrades, David
Russel, whom they had chosen to be the organ of their sentiments, and
who performed the office with that eloquence of heart which is inspired
by love of country and of liberty. When the general had answered to the
professions of attachment of his old companions in arms, they all in
turn approached to shake hands with him, reminding him more particularly
of the circumstances under which each had known him, or had fought by
his side. One of them, Sergeant Day, showed him a sword, saying, “It is
nearly half a century since I received this from your hands, general.”
And I heard it said in the crowd, that notwithstanding his great age,
Sergeant Day had not found this sword too heavy for his arm in 1814.
After the public dinner, which was concluded before night, the general
visited the university, where he was invited to lay the corner stone of
a new building intended to be added to the establishment, which an
incendiary had destroyed a year before, and which the zeal of the
inhabitants of Vermont for the diffusion of knowledge had entirely
rebuilt in a few months. In the solidity and elegance of these buildings
it was easy to see the _hand of the people_. The ceremony of laying the
corner stone took place in presence of the pupils of the university,
their professors, the magistrates of the city, and a great concourse of
citizens, who saw with joy the restoration and enlargement of an
institution destined to render more permanent the support of their wise
institutions, by instructing and enlightening the rising generations.
Mr. Willard Preston, president of the university, thanked General
Lafayette for the evidence he had given of his interest in the education
of the youth of Vermont, and we proceeded to the residence of Governor
Van Ness, whose delightful dwelling and gardens arranged with exquisite
taste, were still more charmingly embellished by an assemblage of ladies
and gentlemen, who, during the whole evening, contended for the pleasure
of approaching the nation’s guest, to express their sentiments of
affection and gratitude for the services he had rendered to their
country and forefathers; for, in the state of Vermont, as in all the
rest of the Union, the females are not strangers either to the
principles of government, or to the obligations of patriotism; their
education, more liberal than in any part of Europe, places them in a
condition more worthy the rank of thinking beings, as it is well known
that in all the great events which have agitated the United States at
different periods, the enthusiasm of the women powerfully seconded the
energy of the magistrates, and the devotion of the warriors. One of the
circumstances which contributed most to augment my attachment to the
Americans during my stay among them, is the profound respect that they
pay to females of every rank, and the tender care with which they
protect this sex.
About midnight General Lafayette quitted the town of Burlington,
carrying with him the good wishes and benedictions of the inhabitants,
who accompanied him to the shore, where there were two steam-boats, the
Phœnix and Congress, both having awnings, illuminated and ornamented
with designs and transparencies. He went on board the Phœnix, which
saluted him with thirteen guns on his embarkation, when the anchor was
quickly weighed, amidst the loud farewells of the crowd who lined the
shores. The Congress having on board a deputation from Vermont, and a
large number of citizens, followed the Phœnix, and during the whole
night we ploughed the waters, upon which Commodore M’Donough and his
intrepid sailors covered themselves with glory on the 11th Sept. 1814.
We should have been pleased, before leaving these places, to visit
Plattsburg, where on the same day General M’Comb merited the gratitude
of his country, by repulsing the veteran troops of Britain, with a
handful of raw volunteers, who, at the first rumour of the invasion of
their territory, had flocked around him; but the 4th of July was
approaching, and rendered it necessary for us to hasten our progress.
The following day, June 30, about noon, we arrived at Whitehall, where
General Lafayette disembarked under a canopy formed of two hundred flags
of all nations, to the thunder of artillery, and between two lines of
girls who scattered flowers over him as he passed. Whitehall is
celebrated in the history of the revolutionary war. General Burgoyne
boasted in parliament, at London, that those whom he called the rebels
of America, were so incapable of resisting, that with five thousand
regular troops he would march from Canada to Boston, where he would take
up his winter quarters. He embarked in fact with his army on Lake
Champlain, disembarked at Whitehall, and not far from the latter place,
at Saratoga, he was compelled to capitulate, and passed, it is true, the
winter at Boston, but as a prisoner of war. At the conclusion of the
public dinner which the citizens of Whitehall gave to General Lafayette,
he referred to this remarkable fact, by giving the following
toast:—“Whitehall! May this town for ever enjoy the advantages resulting
to her from the manner in which the English general’s prophecy was
accomplished!”
We could remain but a short time with the inhabitants of Whitehall, who
having furnished good carriages, and excellent horses, enabled us to
pass rapidly over the eighty miles that separated us from Albany, where
we were to embark for New York. After sunset we crossed Fish Creek, and
stopped some minutes at the house of Mr. Schuyler, which is built on the
precise spot where General Burgoyne delivered his sword to General
Gates. At Whitehall we were told of the boast of the English general,
and we now found ourselves on the field of battle which humbled his
pride; we should have been exceedingly pleased to visit this theatre of
one of the most glorious events of the revolution; but the night was too
far advanced, and we were compelled to forego this pleasure. To make
amends, as far as he could, Mr. Schuyler had the goodness to give us a
very detailed account of the battle of Saratoga. “The ground,” he told
us “has not undergone any change; the entrenchments, though considerably
effaced by time, are nevertheless easy to be recognised.” In fact, the
old patriots of that period can still show their children the path which
the aid of General Gates took, when he carried the _ultimatum_ to the
English general, and the road by which the English army left their
entrenchments to lay down their arms before rebels, who, almost without
arms, and destitute of equipments, commenced so gloriously the
acquisition of their independence. But these traces will one day
disappear. Why not erect in the midst of them, a more durable monument,
which shall remind future generations of the courage and patriotism of
this glorious generation, which time will soon render extinct?
After a short time passed with the family of Mr. Schuyler, we left them,
to sleep at a neighbouring town, and the next morning we continued our
journey by a road which winds along the Hudson, sometimes to the right,
at others on the left of the northern canal, which latter is constructed
parallel to the river, and a short distance from its right shore; in
crossing Fish Creek we re-entered the state of New York. We crossed the
Hudson at Waterford; this spot is rendered remarkable by the junction of
the northern with the western or great canal, which is just at the
confluence of the rivers Mohawk and Hudson. On the 2d of July, we
visited Lansinburgh, and returned to Troy, but without stopping any
time. A steam-boat had been prepared for us at Albany; on board of which
we went that evening, and at daylight we arrived at New York, where we
disembarked almost unexpectedly.
Nevertheless, there was a great bustle, and a great number of strangers
were observed in the streets; every moment vessels and carriages were
arriving, followed by others which seemed to come from a greater
distance. Detachments of militia from the neighbouring towns,
inhabitants of the surrounding country, were constantly swelling the
population of New York. Night did not interrupt these movements, the
precursors of a great event. Accordingly at midnight, a discharge of
artillery announced the commencement of a day ever glorious in the
records of the history of the New World, and some hours afterwards the
sun of the Fourth of July rose radiantly to illumine the 49th
anniversary of the declaration of independence of a republic, whose
great lessons will not be lost to the human race.
In the morning the militia were under arms, the streets, the public
places, and the entrances to the churches, were thronged with people,
and the air resounded with thanksgiving. At eight o’clock the officers
and magistrates of New York and Brooklyn, with a number of citizens,
visited General Lafayette, and invited him to lay the corner stone of a
building for a mechanics’ library at Brooklyn. The general acceded with
pleasure to the wishes of the magistrates, and proceeded to Brooklyn,
where, assisted by some free masons of Long Island, he laid the corner
stone of the edifice, in presence of a great concourse of citizens,
arranged in front of whom the young mechanics loudly expressed their joy
and gratitude; finally, he returned to New York, followed by companies
of journeymen tailors, shoemakers, bakers, stone-masons, cutlers,
coopers, riggers, &c., who, preceded by their banners, accompanied him
to church, where he attended divine worship. The sermon, the subject of
which was the solemnity of the day, was followed by the reading of the
declaration of independence, which was listened to with profound
attention. This declaration, a monument of fearlessness and wisdom,
whose magic influence saved the colonies at a moment when, without
money, munitions of war, or arms, they engaged in a formidable contest
with the colossal power of Great Britain, affected the Americans even at
the present day, after half a century, as if it were the moment when it
was first proclaimed. Not only is it read every year on the fourth of
July, in public, but also in many families. It is not uncommon to find
the houses of the Americans ornamented with the declaration of
independence, beautifully engraved with facsimiles of the signatures of
the immortal signers attached to it, and splendidly framed. Even
children know it by heart; it is commonly the first object upon which
the youthful memory is exercised; it is their pleasing task to translate
it into the different languages which they study; and when they recite
it in the midst of a circle of their relations or friends, it is easy to
perceive that they are penetrated, as were their fathers, with the
incontestible truth of the principle, that “when a long train of abuses
and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design
to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their
duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their
future security.”
I have often heard children of from ten to twelve years of age recite
this extract in English and French, and it was never without deep
emotion that they enumerated the oppressions and vexations exercised
towards the American colonies by the mother country. It was easy to
perceive that patriotism and liberty had taken deep roots in their young
hearts, when they pronounced the pledge which terminates the concluding
paragraph.
“We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in
general congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world,
for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the
authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and
declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free
and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to
the British crown, and that all political connection between them and
the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and
that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war,
conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all
other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for
the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection
of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our
fortunes, and our sacred honour.”
After leaving church, General Lafayette went to the Park, where all the
militia and firemen were assembled, who manœuvred and defiled before him
with great precision. One of these companies had a splendid flag, on
which was represented an equestrian portrait of the nation’s guest.
After this review he entered the city hall, where the governor presented
him to the senate; by whom he was received with honours never before
bestowed upon any one. On his entrance the members arose and uncovered
themselves; the president of the senate advanced towards him, and
felicitated him on his return, and expressed to him the gratification of
the citizens of New York, at his uniting with them in the celebration of
the anniversary of the glorious fourth of July.
From the council chamber we passed into that of the governor, where the
general was attended by the members of the society of Cincinnatus, the
European consuls, and a great number of distinguished persons, whom the
municipal body had invited to a banquet, the arrangement of which had
been given to a committee, who performed the duty in excellent taste.
Memorials of glory, of patriotism, and of liberty, were assembled in
astonishing numbers in the superb saloon of the city hall, where the
tables were arranged. The busts of Washington and Lafayette, the
portraits of Bolivar and of De Witt Clinton, were arranged in the midst
of trophies, above which always floated united the American and French
flags. The arm chair used by Washington when president, was placed in
the centre, and covered with branches of laurel and evergreens.
The company having seated themselves at table, we observed, amidst the
happy soldiers of 1776, proscribed persons from almost every country of
Europe, to whom places had been assigned by the republican hospitality
of the new world. Among these exiles were members of the Spanish cortes,
driven from their country by despotism; some learned Germans flying from
punishments as singular, as atrocious and unjust;[18] French
officers,[19] compelled to seek, in a foreign land, a repose which they
have had so often sacrificed for their native country, and all,
notwithstanding the miseries they had suffered, appeared consoled, and
their spirits revived by the prospect of the happiness enjoyed by the
freemen among whom they reside.
According to the American custom, after dinner a number of appropriate
toasts were drank. The general, after having received the felicitations
and good wishes of all the company, went to the Park theatre, where the
audience saluted him on his entrance and his departure with three
cheers.
After the exertions of such a day, the general required rest, and the
citizens, always attentive to his wishes, allowed him, during some days,
freely to enjoy the calmer and not less pleasant attentions of his
private friends. It was with delight that he consecrated this period to
the society of his old companions in arms, among whom were Colonel
Platt, Colonel Willett, Colonel Varick, General Van Cortland, and many
others, whose names, though they dwell in the memory of the general,
have escaped mine.
He did not again leave the sweets of private life except to cross the
river to New Jersey, to pass a short time with his friend, Col. Varick,
who had invited him to dine with some of the principal citizens of New
York. The corporation of boatmen claimed the honour of conveying him
across the Hudson in a boat whose name was rendered popular by a recent
occurrence, which still occupied public attention.
The captain of the English frigate Hussar, which arrived at New York in
December, 1824, had a gig of remarkably light construction, with which
he had won several races in different European ports, especially in
England. Proud of his success, and full of confidence in the speed of
his gig, he challenged the boatmen of New York, and proposed a race for
$1000; this was accepted, the money made up on their side by
subscription, and a beautiful new boat called the American Star, chosen
for the contest. The day, hour, and place were fixed. The English
captain selected four of the most expert oarsmen of his crew, and acted
as cockswain himself. The _Whitehallers_ took four of their number
without much choice, and a youth of fifteen for cockswain. The distance
to be rowed was about three miles, between Castle Garden and the point
of Long Island. The English sailors, stooping violently to their
thwarts, and bending their oars at every stroke, launched forward with
impetuosity, leaving in their wake large whirls of sparkling foam. The
Whitehallers, seated perpendicularly on their thwarts, with motionless
bodies, and their arms also nearly fixed, scarce skimmed the waves with
their slight oars, but pressing and multiplying their pulls, were under
way as soon as their adversaries, scarce disturbing the transparent
water around them. A few minutes decided the victory, sometimes so long
uncertain. Though started at the same time, the two boats were soon
separated. The Englishmen, quickly exhausted by their violent exertions,
could not equal the rapid flight of their rivals, whose prompt arrival
at the goal was announced by the joyful acclamations of the spectators,
whom curiosity had drawn from all points of the city and vicinity to the
shores. Astonished at his defeat, but unable to contest its
completeness, the English captain eagerly acknowledged the superiority
of the American boat to his own, and offered to purchase her for $3,000.
But the Whitehallers refused to sell her. “We wish to keep her,” said
they, “as a monument of the victory we have had the honour of gaining
over you; but to lessen the regrets caused by our refusal, we will run
you another race, for double the stake, in which you shall man our boat
against us, and we will man yours.” But, however the English captain was
surprised, fearing a new defeat, or the loss of his money, he declined
the proposal. In the evening, the victorious boat was drawn on a
triumphal car through the city, and carried to the theatre, where it was
crowned, along with its four oarsmen and young cockswain. The next day
it was placed as a monument on the wharf, with the names of the crew
inscribed on the thwarts, and this legend on her gunwale: AMERICAN STAR,
Victorious, 4th December, 1824.
It was in this boat, and with the same oarsmen who had gained the
victory, that the Whitehallers wished to convey General Lafayette to
Sandy Hook, on the other side of the North river. In this passage we
could judge of their dexterity and skill; the numerous boats which
carried the other guests were compelled to follow at a distance. On his
return, as soon as the general had disembarked, the boatmen in a body,
under the flag of their association, and led by the victors, presented
themselves, to thank him for the services which he had formerly rendered
their country, and the testimonies of esteem accorded them. Then, after
briefly relating the history of the boat in which he had crossed the
river, they begged him to accept, and take it with him to La Grange,
that it might continually recall to him the remembrance of his New York
friends, the perfection of the mechanic arts in America, and the great
motto of American seamen: “_Free trade and sailors’ rights_.”[20]
The nature of the present and the delicacy with which it was offered,
did not permit the general to refuse it.
Meanwhile the period which was to separate us from the citizens of New
York arrived, and our hearts were oppressed with sadness. On the 14th of
July we left that city, to which we should not return previous to
quitting America. The magistrates and the people attended the nation’s
guest. A deep melancholy was evinced in every countenance; and although
the wharves were covered with an immense multitude, a solemn silence was
observed during our embarkation, interrupted only by the last farewell.