After passing several hours in receiving visits and marks of friendship from the whole population, the general went to a dinner that had been prepared for him in the public square. The table was of a semi-circular form, and contained places for eight hundred persons, in order that all the detachments of militia that had escorted General Lafayette from Louisville might be accommodated, as well as a great number of officers from Tennessee and Kentucky, who had particularly distinguished themselves during the last war, as General Adair, Colonel M‘Affee, &c.
Notwithstanding his desire to avoid transgressing any of the established customs of the United States, the general was obliged to travel on Sunday, for his time was rigorously appropriated until his arrival at Boston, where he was obliged to be on the 17th of June. We therefore set out on Saturday, the 14th of May, from Frankfort, and travelling almost without stopping, till we reached Lexington, which we entered on Monday, about the middle of the day. On the way, we visited the pretty little town of Versailles, where we remained some hours, to attend a public dinner, given by the citizens of the town and the surrounding country; and we slept on Sunday night about three miles from Lexington, where, on Monday morning, a large body of militia cavalry, conducted by a deputation from Lafayette county, arrived to escort the general. The procession was formed on an eminence from whence we could discover Louisville in the distance, with the fertile fields that surrounded it. We took up the line of march about eight o’clock. The rain fell in torrents, and the sky covered with thick clouds, presaged a bad day; but at the moment we began to enter the town, a discharge of artillery from a neighbouring hill announced the arrival of the procession; and at this signal the rain ceased, as if by enchantment, the clouds dispersed, and the returning sun discovered to us the neighbouring country, covered with crowds of people anxiously expecting the arrival of the national guest. This almost magic scene added still more to the enthusiasm of the multitude, and their joyful acclamations were mingled with the continued roar of artillery which surrounded us. The entertainments at Lexington were extremely brilliant; but of the proofs of public felicity, that which most attracted the general’s attention, was the developement and rapid progress of instruction among all classes of people. In fact, is it not an admirable and astonishing circumstance, to find in a country, which not forty years ago was covered with immense forests, inhabited by savages, a handsome town of six thousand inhabitants, and containing two establishments for public instruction, which, by the number of their pupils, and the variety and nature of the branches taught, may rival the most celebrated colleges and universities in the principal towns of Europe? We first visited the college for young men, superintended by President Holly, who received the general at the door of the establishment, and addressed him in an eloquent speech, in which, after having described what Lafayette had accomplished in his youth, for the liberation of North America, he expressed a regret that his efforts had not been equally successful in the regeneration of France. Then reverting to a more consoling topic, he rapidly sketched a picture of American prosperity and the happy influence his visit would produce on the rising generation.
The general replied to the various points of President Holly’s speech with his accustomed felicity of expression, and afterwards took his place, in a large hall, prepared for the exercises of the young men; where, in the presence of the public, he was addressed in Latin, English and French, by three of the pupils, whose compositions, as eloquently written as well delivered, merited the plaudits of the auditors. He replied to each of the young orators in a manner that proved that the three languages they had used were equally familiar to him, and that his heart was deeply moved by the expression of their youthful patriotism. He was not less pleased with his visit to the academy of young ladies, directed by Mrs. Dunham, and instituted under the name of the Lafayette academy; one hundred and fifty pupils received him with the harmonious sound of a patriotic song composed by Mrs. Holly, and accompanied on the piano by Miss Hammond; several young ladies afterwards complimented him; some in prose, and others in verse, of their own composition. The discourse of Miss M’Intosh and the beautiful ode of Miss Nephew, produced a great effect on the audience, and drew tears from eyes little accustomed to such emotions.
From so many and touching proofs of esteem and veneration for his character, General Lafayette experienced feelings it was impossible for him adequately to express. Surrounded and caressed by these tender and innocent creatures, he abandoned himself to those sweet emotions, to which, in spite of age, his heart has not become insensible; and he could not avoid repeating how much he felt his happiness in having combated during his youth, for a people whose descendants testified such affection for him; and the profound knowledge, even the youngest of the children appeared to possess of every action of his life, penetrated him with the liveliest gratitude. At last, he tore himself from a scene of emotion, too violent to be supported for any length of time, assuring the directress of the academy, that he was proud of the honour of seeing his name attached to an establishment so beneficial in its aim, and happy in its results.
In the midst of entertainments of all kinds, the description of which would be impossible, General Lafayette did not forget what he owed to the memory and former friendship of his old companions; having ascertained that the widow of General Scott lived at Lexington, he went to her house to pay his respects. This visit was highly gratifying, not only to Mrs. Scott and her family, but also to all who had known General Scott, whose noble character and patriotic conduct during the revolutionary war will always be cited with pride by his fellow-citizens.
General Lafayette did not overlook another friendship, which, although more recent, was not less sincere. After this visit he went a mile from Lexington, to Ashland, the charming seat of Mr. Clay; the honourable secretary of state was absent, but Mrs. Clay and her children performed all the honours of the house with the most amiable cordiality. This step of the general’s was very pleasing to the citizens of Lexington, which was a proof to me, that the popularity of Mr. Clay, which rests on his talents and services, has not been diminished among his fellow citizens by the gross and perhaps unwarrantable attacks made on him by some party journals at the time of the presidential election.
After forty-eight hours of uninterrupted entertainments, we left Lexington, where we parted with Governor Carrol and almost all our companions from Tennessee, Louisiana, Frankfort, &c. and only accompanied by a detachment of volunteer cavalry from Georgetown, we turned suddenly to the left, and in thirty-six hours arrived at that point in the Ohio, on which is situated the handsome city of Cincinnati, in which General Lafayette was expected with the greatest impatience. This journey, from Louisville to Cincinnati, gave us the advantage of seeing the prodigies of art effected by liberty, in a country which civilization has scarcely snatched from savage nature.
In 1775, Kentucky was only known from the reports of some bold hunters, who had dared to establish themselves among the ferocious tribes who inhabited that country. Its name alone, formed of the Indian word Kentucke, signifying river of blood, always recalled to the dismayed whites the numerous murders committed on the first among them who had attempted to enter it, and appeared as if it would deter them from ever establishing themselves there; but the courage, activity, and perseverance of a Carolinian, named Boon, succeeded, after many unsuccessful attempts, in forming a settlement of sufficient size to resist the reiterated attacks of the Indians. Soon after, the revolutionary war, which gave liberty and independence to the English colonies, having terminated, the activity of the inhabitants of the northern states, urging them perpetually to new enterprises, the tide of emigration flowed towards Kentucky, and in the year 1790, the population of this country already amounted to near 74,000. Until this time Kentucky had always been looked upon as a part of Virginia, but then, by consent of that state, it was separated, and formed into a distinct state, which was admitted into the Union in 1782; its population is now 560,000. The Indians, either destroyed, or driven back to distant parts, by civilization, have left the field open to the industry of the whites; in the place of the ancient forests that served them for an asylum, are now found populous cities, abundant harvests, and active and prosperous manufactures; finally, Kentucky, in spite of its ominous name, has become a hospitable land, and is now one of the most brilliant stars in the new constellation of the west. The courage displayed by the inhabitants of Kentucky during the last war is well known, and in what manner they expressed their patriotic sentiments in the presence of Lafayette. Nevertheless, I will relate the following anecdote, which proves how deeply the hatred of despotism is imparted in the breasts of every class among these happy people.
During a pleasant day of our journey, I ascended a steep hill on foot, on the summit of which I stopped near an isolated cabin, in order to wait for the carriages, which slowly followed me, and were still far in the rear, for I had walked rapidly. A man, who was smoking his segar at the door of the house, asked me to walk in and rest myself. I accepted, with gratitude, this polite invitation. The difficulty with which I expressed my thanks in English marked me for a stranger, and induced a number of questions, as to the place whence I came, where I was going, and the motives of my journey. As these questions appeared to be dictated rather from a feeling of kindness, than from indiscreet curiosity, I hastened to answer with all possible politeness. “Well!” exclaimed my host in a joyful tone, “since you have the happiness of living with Lafayette, you will not refuse to drink a glass of whiskey with me to his health,” and segars and whiskey were immediately presented to me, and we began to converse on what appeared most to interest my Kentucky entertainer, the guest of the nation. After exhausting this subject, he spoke of my country, and the extraordinary man who had bestowed upon it fifteen years of glory and despotism. He seemed enthusiastic on the military exploits of Napoleon, and deeply afflicted at his unhappy end. “Why,” said he, “had he the folly to give himself up, in his misfortunes, to his most cruel enemy, to the English government, whose perfidy he had so often experienced? why did he not rather seek an asylum on our hospitable shores? Here he would have found admirers, and what is better, sincere friends, in the midst of whom, freed from all inquietude, he might have peacefully enjoyed the recollection of his great actions.” “I suspect,” answered I, “that you know little of Napoleon’s character; his soul was not formed for the mild enjoyments of peace; he constantly required new food for the prodigious activity of his genius; and who knows, that if seduced by new dreams of ambition, at the view of the resources of a new country, he would not have attempted to substitute, as he did with us, his own will for your wise institutions?” “We should have considered such an attempt as an act of madness,” replied my host with a smile of disdain, “but if, against all probabilities, we had submitted for a moment to his tyrannous ascendency, his success would have been fatal to him. Look at that rifle,” added he, pointing to one in a corner of the room, “with that I never miss a pheasant in our woods at a hundred yards; a tyrant is larger than a pheasant, and there is not a Kentuckian who is not as patriotic and skilful as myself.”