The next morning, the general was again conducted to the capitol, by a deputation of twenty-four members of the house of representatives. The procession consisted of merely twelve coaches, but without escort, pomp, or decorations; our progress through the city was slow and silent. At the sight of the first coach, which contained the general, the citizens halted, removed their hats, but uttered no exclamation. This silence, this simplicity, was really impressive. We were conducted into the committee room until the session commenced; the public galleries were crowded from early in the morning; the seats were occupied by foreign diplomatists and most distinguished persons of the city. That part of the hall which is not occupied by the representatives, was, on this occasion, alone filled by ladies.
When the members had taken their seats, Mr. Condict proposed that the senate should be invited to attend, and the motion was carried by a large majority. The speaker then requested the members to pass to the right, in order to give place to the senators. The senate then entered and took their seats; a few minutes after, two members came for Mr. George Lafayette and myself, and conducted us into the hall, to a seat occupied by the public officers. A signal being then given, the doors were thrown open, and General Lafayette entered between Messrs. Mitchell and Livingston, followed by the rest of the deputation: the whole assembly arose and stood uncovered in silence. When the general reached the centre of the hall, the speaker, Mr. Clay, thus addressed him:
“General—The house of representatives of the United States, impelled alike by its own feelings, and by those of the whole American people, could not have assigned to me a more gratifying duty, than that of presenting to you cordial congratulations upon the occasion of your recent arrival in the United States, in compliance with the wishes of congress, and to assure you of the very high satisfaction which your presence affords on this early theatre of your glory and renown. Although but few of the members who compose this body shared with you in the war of our revolution, all have, from impartial history or from faithful tradition, a knowledge of the perils, the sufferings, and the sacrifices which you voluntarily encountered, and the signal services, in America and in Europe, which you performed for an infant, a distant, and an alien people; and all feel and own the very great extent of the obligations under which you have placed our country. But the relations in which you have ever stood to the United States, interesting and important as they have been, do not constitute the only motive of the respect and admiration which the house of representatives entertain for you. Your consistency of character, your uniform devotion to regulated liberty, in all the vicissitudes of a long and arduous life, also commands its admiration. During all the recent convulsions of Europe, amidst, as after the dispersion of, every political storm, the people of the United States have beheld you, true to your old principles, firm and erect, cheering and animating, with your well known voice, the votaries of liberty, its faithful and fearless champion, ready to shed the last drop of that blood which here you so freely and nobly spilt, in the same holy cause.
“The vain wish has been sometimes indulged, that Providence would allow the patriot, after death, to return to his country, and to contemplate the intermediate changes which had taken place—to view the forests felled, the cities built, the mountains levelled, the canals cut, the highways constructed, the progress of the arts, the advancement of learning, and the increase of population—General, your present visit to the United States is a realization of the consoling object of that wish. You are in the midst of posterity. Every where, you must have been struck with the great changes, physical and moral, which have occurred since you left us. Even this very city, bearing a venerated name, alike endeared to you and to us, has since emerged from the forest which then covered its site. In one respect, you behold us unaltered, and this is in the sentiment of continued devotion to liberty, and of ardent affection and profound gratitude to your departed friend, the father of his country, and to you, and to your illustrious associates in the field and in the cabinet, for the multiplied blessings which surround us, and for the very privilege of addressing you, which I now exercise. This sentiment, now fondly cherished by more than ten millions of people, will be transmitted, with unabated vigour, down the tide of time, through the countless millions who are destined to inhabit this continent, to the latest posterity.”
The profound emotion experienced by the speaker, which had visibly agitated him throughout his address, rapidly extended to the hearts of the auditors, each of whom waited, with benevolent anxiety, for the answer they expected the general would have ready in writing, for so solemn an occasion. But every one was agreeably surprised, to see him advance a few steps towards the speaker, cast upon the assembly looks of feeling and gratitude, and, after a few instants of recollection, deliver, in a sonorous voice, distinctly audible throughout the house, the following extempore reply:
“Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives—While the people of the United States, and their honourable representatives in congress, have deigned to make choice of me, one of the American veterans, to signify, in his person, their esteem for our joint services, and their attachment to the principles for which we have had the honour to fight and bleed, I am proud and happy to share those extraordinary favours with my dear revolutionary companions; yet it would be, on my part, uncandid and ungrateful, not to acknowledge my personal share in those testimonies of kindness, as they excite in my breast emotions which no words are adequate to express.
“My obligations to the United States, sir, far exceed any merit I might claim; they date from the time when I have had the happiness to be adopted as a young soldier, a favoured son of America; they have been continued to me during almost a half a century of constant affection and confidence; and now, sir, thanks to your most gratifying invitation, I find myself greeted by a series of welcomes, one hour of which would more than compensate for the public exertions and sufferings of a whole life.
“The approbation of the American people, and their representatives, for my conduct, during the vicissitudes of the European revolution, is the highest reward I could receive. Well may I stand firm and erect, when, in their names, and by you, Mr. Speaker, I am declared to have, in every instance, been faithful to those American principles of liberty, equality, and true social order, the devotion to which, as it has been from my earliest youth, so it shall continue to be to my latest breath.
“You have been pleased, Mr. Speaker, to allude to the peculiar felicity of my situation, when, after so long an absence, I am called to witness the immense improvements, the admirable communications, the prodigious creations, of which we find an example in this city, whose name itself is a venerated palladium; in a word, all the grandeur and prosperity of those happy United States, who, at the same time they nobly secure the complete assertion of American independence, reflect, on every part of the world, the light of a far superior political civilization.
“What better pledge can be given, of a persevering, national love of liberty, when these blessings are evidently the result of a virtuous resistance to oppression, and institutions founded on the rights of man, and the republican principle of self-government?