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shall sparkle in his eye, and he shall pronounce the name of LA FAYETTE. 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 part ing 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 meantime, 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 af

fectionate farewell."

To which general La Fayette made the following answer :

"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 favorite 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 public affection, 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 favors 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 awaited 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

pre

judiced 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 deigned, near a half a 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, my old brother in arms

and friend, transmitted to me the honorable invitation of congress, to this day, when you, my dear sir, whose friendly connexion with me dates from your earliest youth, are going to consign me to the protection, across the Atlantic,ofthe heroic national flag, on board the splendid ship, the name of which has been not the least flattering and kind among the numberless favors conferred npon me.

"God bless you, sir, and all who surround us. God bless the American people, each of their states, and the federal govenment. Accept this patriotic farewell of an overflowing heart; such will be its last throb when it ceases to beat."

He

The general then took an affecfionate leave of every individual present, and left the hospitable mansion of the president. was attended to the vessel by the whole population of the district. All business was at a stand, and the vast multitude which lined the shores, witnessed his embarkation with a deep silence, highly indicative of the feelings that the American people cherished towards La Fayette. In passing Mount Vernon, he landed to pay a farewell visit to the tomb of Washington. After paying this last tribute of respect to the remains of him, who, as the father and chief magistrate of his country, remembered his youthful friend while in the dun

geons of Olmutz, and interfered in his behalf, when his own countrymen had forgotten him, La Fayette re-embarked, and after a short voyage, was safely landed on his paternal soil.

Thus terminated this extraordinary visit, so fruitful in incidents honorable to the American character, and so instrumental in reviving those patriotic recollections which make the basis of a strong national feeling.

The 50th year of American Independence now approached its termination, and the people of the United States, sensible of their happy condition, and grateful for the blessings which they enjoyed, made suitable preparations for the expression of their feelings on the annual celebration of the fourth of July. It was the fiftieth anniver sary of the birth day of the first independent power of the western hemisphere. Some of their most eloquent orators and ablest statesmen were appointed to deliver those orations with which it had been customary to celebrate that day. The retrospect which the occasion prompted them to take, was full of the deepest interest. It was the history of the country, and a comparison between its infancy and its maturity. A comparison with which every heart was full, and which, when drawn by the master spirit of an orator, could

not but find a respondent feeling in the bosom of a native audience. On that day, the American people, from Maine to Louisiana, and from the Atlantic ocean to the Rocky Mountains, assembled in every city and hamlet, to celebrate their national jubilee.

At that eventful moment, when millions of their fellow-citizens were dwelling on their names with the most grateful sentiments, the two venerable ex-presidents, ADAMS and JEFFERSON, departed this life. There was something in this coincidence, which made the deepest impression on the public mind. These extraordinary men had, in the morning of their lives, with kindred feelings, engaged in the contest which finally separated the United States from Great Britain. They had contributed, each in his turn, to the declaration of the independence of their country. The one as the author, and the other as its most efficient supporter and eloquent advocate. By their devotion to the public cause, their pre-eminent abilities, they had earned the proud distinction among that band of patriots who sat in the Continental Congress, of being placed with the few for whom no act of amnesty or pardon remained. Their only hope of safety was in the complete success of the American cause. Upon the adoption of the federal constitution,

and

they were called, one by the voice of the people, and the other, by the choice of Washington, to the public councils. Adams to preside over the senate, and Jefferson to conduct the foreign relations of the country. They were subsequently chosen, each in his turn, as chief magistrates of the republic, and afterwards, in dignified retirement, they witnessed the unexampled advance of their country, in population and wealth, and the progressive triumph of the cause in which they had been fellow-laborers, by the emancipation of the remainder of the continent. This triumph was now complete. The western world had achieved its independence, and their own country stood at its head, respected by the independent powers of America, as their guide and their protector. The parties into which their fellow-citizens had been divided, and which claimed them as their respective chiefs, had forgotten their political differences, and were now united as one family, after the example of their leaders. Their lives had been protracted beyond the term ordinarily assigned to man, as if to enable them to witness this consummation of their labors, and on that anniversary which, as the termination of their lives approached, they had earnestly desired to see, they sunk together into an honored grave.

CHAPTER II.

Inauguration of President. Meeting of Senate-Lanman's CaseTreaty with Colombia-Opposition-Creek Controversy-Indian Affairs-Captains Porter and Stewart-Internal Improvement-Com

merce.

On the 4th March, 1825, pursuant to the established custom, the president elect, Mr. Adams, was sworn into office by the Chief Justice of the United States, (John Marshall,) in the hall of the house of representatives. A large concourse of distinguished strangers and citizens attended to witness the ceremony, and to hear the address, which, according to the example of his predecessors, he delivered at his inauguration. Great interest was felt on this subject, as those productions had usually contained the general principles upon which the executive intended to administer the government. The discourse, from its importance, is worthy of a place in this volume, and is as follows:

"In compliance with an usage, coeval with the existence of our federal constitution, and sanctioned by the example of my predecessors in the career upon which I am about to enter, I appear, my fel

low-citizens, in your presence, and in that of heaven, to bind myself by the solemnities of a religious obligation, to the faithful performance of the duties allotted to me, in the station to which I have been called.

"In unfolding to my countrymen the principles by which I shall be governed, in the fulfilment of those duties, my first resort will be to that constitution, which I shall swear, to the best of my ability, to preserve, protect and defend. That revered instrument enumerates the powers, and prescribes the duties of the executive magistrate; and, in its first words, declares the purposes to which these, and the whole action of the government, instituted by it, should be invariably and sacredly devoted-to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people

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