"Monticello, Oct. 9, 1824.
"SIR,
"I received, on the 2d instant, your favor of September 27, conveying to me the obliging invitation of the volunteer companies of the state, to meet them and their distinguished guest; Gen. Lafayette, at York on the 19th instant. No person rejoices more than I do at the effusions of gratitude with which our fellow-citizens, in all parts, are receiving this their antient and virtuous friend and benefactor; nor can any other more cordially participate in their sentiments of affection to him. Age and infirmities, however, disable me from repairing to distant occasions of joining personally in these celebrations; and leave me to avail myself of the opportunity which the friendship of the General will give by his kind assurance of a visit. He will here have the pleasure of reviewing a scene which his military maneuvers covered from the robberies and ravages of an unsparing enemy. Here, then, I shall have the welcome opportunity of joining with my grateful neighbors in manifestations of our sense of his protection peculiarly afforded to us and claiming our special remembrance and acknowledgements. But I shall not the less participate with my distant brethren by sincerely sympathising in their warmest expressions of gratitude and respect to their country's guest.
"With this apology for my inability to profit of the honorable invitation of the volunteer companies, I pray you to accept for them and yourself the assurance of my high respect and consideration.
"TH. JEFFERSON."
Hon. Mr. Marshall, the Chief Justice of the United States, Major-General Taylor of the Virginia militia, Mr. Bassett, many years a member of Congress from the state, and a committee from Yorktown, went in the steamboat to meet General Lafayette. The address of one of the committee, on his entering the Virginia steamboat, was as follows:
"We are deputed by our fellow citizens now assembled at Yorktown, to welcome you to Virginia.
"We will not recount, in your presence, the real services you have rendered this republic, and the virtues that so endear you to us, lest even the simple voice of truth might pain the delicacy of a mind like yours. But the emotions we all feel, of gratitude, affection and veneration for you; emotions rendered more intense in each, by the universal sympathy of others; these we cannot suppress. In the numerous assembly, now anxiously awaiting your arrival, they are swelling in every bosom, and hanging on every tongue, and beaming from every eye.
"Yes, sir, you "read your history in a nation's eyes." A whole people unite in one deep and glowing sentiment of respect and love towards you. Wheresoever you go, the old greet you as their leader in arms, and their companion in toil and danger; the partaker, too, of their triumph. The young have been taught, from their earliest childhood, to honor and to bless your name. The mothers and the daughters of the land shed tears of joy at your approach. Your name is associated in the memory of us all, with every name, and wish most of the events in our annals, dearest to the American heart; with the illustrious and revered name of Washington, and with the most glorious achievements of the revolution.
"But, of all the states in the Union—though we will not say that Virginia is the most grateful—yet she certainly owes you the largest debt of gratitude. This state was the chief scene of your services. In the day of her greatest peril, in the darkest hour of her distress, when invading armies threatened to overrun the country, and all the horrors of war were pointed against our very dwellings; Washington selected you, his youthful friend, for the chief command, and securely entrusted the defence of his native state to your courage and conduct. How zealously you undertook, how well you fulfilled the arduous part assigned you, with what honor to yourself, and with what advantage to us, no time shall obliterate the remembrance. The general of the enemy, in effect, pronounced your eulogium, when conscious of his own abilities, and confiding in the superiority of his forces, he vauntingly said, "The boy cannot escape me." History records, not only that our youthful general did escape him, but that he held safe the far greater part of the country, in spite of his utmost efforts; and came at last to yonder spot, to assist in the capture of his army; to witness the downfall of his hopes, the humiliation of his pride, and the last effort of British power against American freedom. And now, after the lapse of forty-three years, he visits the name spot again—happy to renew there the glorious recollections of the past; and yet, happier, we hope, to see how dearly we appreciate the blessings of liberty and independence which he assisted us to achieve.