Part 13 (1/2)
”Although the exalted station, which your love of us and our love of you has placed you in, calls for change in mode of address, yet I cannot so quickly relinquish the old manner Youryour civic glory; and, whenever I do abandon the title which used to distinguish you, I shall do it with aardness My reluctance to trespass a moment on your time would have operated to a further procrastination ofof cereence, received yesterday, that your life was despaired of Had I had wings in the ain to see the first ofas I was, from the account received, after the affliction of one day and night, I wasa letter, now beforethe restoration of your health May heaven preserve it!”
It was Lee who first warned Washi+ngton that Jefferson was slandering him in secret, and who kept hiinia Washi+ngton intrusted to hiave him an appointress when the death of the great American was announced to that body, and it was he who coined the famous ”First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countryest affection aton and Lafayette In the advent of this young Frenchman the co volunteer,” so Lafayette said, ”in the most friendly manner,”
invited him to reside in his house as a member of his military faress to give him a command As Lafayette became popular with the army, an endeavor washiainst Canada, independent of control by Washi+ngton Lafayette promptly declined the command, unless subject to the General, and furthermore he ”braved the whole party (Cabal) and threw theeneral” At the battle of Mon party to Lafayette, and after the conflict the two, according to the latter, ”passed the night lying on the sauished hiinia froiven the e of that place was completed, Lafayette applied for leave of absence to spend the winter in France, and as he was on the point of sailing he received a personal letter froton, for ”I owe it to friendshi+p and to ard for you my dear Marquis, not to let you leave this country without carrying fresh ton wrote that a mutual friend who bore a letter ”can tell you more forcibly, than I can express how much we all love and wish to embrace you”
A reunion caerness of which he wrote, ”by Sunday or Monday, I hope at last to be blessed with a sight of o to Mount Vernon I long for the pleasure to e once reat, that no words can ever express it Adieu, my dear General; in a few days I shall be at Mount Vernon, and I do already feel delighted with so charton wrote, ”In the moment of our separation, upon the road as I travelled, and every hour since, I have felt all that love, respect and attachth of years, close connexion, and your es separated, whether that was the last sight I ever should have of you?” And to this letter Lafayette replied,--
”Nowas not by any means a last interview My whole soul revolts at the idea; and could I harbour it an instant, indeed, my dear General, it would o to France The inexpressible pleasure of e you in a family where your name is adored, I do not much expect to experience; but to you I shall return, and, within the walls of Mount Vernon, we shall yet speak of olden times My firm plan is to visit now and then my friend on this side of the Atlantic; and the most beloved of all friends I ever had, or ever shall have anywhere, is too strong an inducement for me to return to him, not to think that whenever it is possible I shall renewvisits to Mount Vernon Adieu, adieu, my dear General It is with inexpressible pain that I feel I a, that adratitude, friendshi+p, and fillial love, can inspire, is combined in my affectionate heart to devote ht which words cannot express
Adieu, my dear General It is not without eh I know I shall soon visit you again Be attentive to your health
Let me hear froged was maintained, but Lafayette complained that ”To one who so tenderly loves you, who so happily enjoyed the tiether, and who never, on any part of the globe, even in his own house, could feel himself so perfectly at hoular, lengthy correspondence is quite insufficient I beseech you, in the name of our friendshi+p, of that paternal concern of yours for my happiness, not to miss any opportunity to let me hear froton told Lafayette of his recovery from a serious illness, and Lafayette responded, ”What could have been s, had the news of your illness reached me before I knew er? I was struck at the idea of the situation you have been in, while I, uninfor-waited-for pleasure to hear fro you and presenting you the tribute of a revolution, one of your first offsprings For God's sake, my dear General, take care of your health!”
Presently, as the French Revolution gathered force, the anxiety was reversed, Washi+ngton writing that ”The lively interest which I take in your welfare, my dear Sir, keeps my mind in constant anxiety for your personal safety” This fear was only too well founded, for shortly after Lafayette was a captive in an Austrian prison and his as appealing to her husband's friend for help Our ministers were told to do all they could to secure his liberty, and Washi+ngton wrote a personal letter to the E her letter, on the first news of the ”truly affecting” condition of ”poor Madame Lafayette,” he had written to her his sy that uineas ”subject to your orders”
When she and her daughters joined her husband in prison, Lafayette's son, and Washi+ngton's Godson, came to America; an arrival of which the Godfather wrote that, ”to express all the sensibility, which has been excited inLafayette's letter, from the recollection of his father's s, from my friendshi+p for him, and from my wishes to become a friend and father to his son is unnecessary” The lad became a member of the family, and a visitor at this time records that ”I was particularly struck with the marks of affection which the General showed his pupil, his adopted son of Marquis de Lafayette Seated opposite to him, he looked at him with pleasure, and listened to hiton he continued till the final release of his father, and a sier serves to show both his delicacy and his generosity to the boy: ”By Geo W Fayette, gave for the purpose of his getting hiht not choose to ask for 100” Another item in the accounts was three hundred dollars ”to defray his exps to France,” and by hi, ”this letter I hope and expect will be presented to you by your son, who is highly deserving of such parents as you and your a previous to this, too, a letter had been sent to Virginia Lafayette, couched in the following terms:
”Permit me to thank my dear little correspondent for the favor of her letter of the 18 of June last, and to impress her with the idea of the pleasure I shall derive from a continuance of theood health, paternal affection, and honors, which her tender heart could wish He will carry a kiss to her froive her assurances of the affectionate regard hich I have the pleasure of being her isher,
George Washi+ngton”
In this connection it is worth glancing at Washi+ngton's relations with children, the more that it has been frequently asserted that he had no liking for them As already shown, at different tie of not less than nine of the children of his kith and kin, and to his relations with children he seldom wrote a letter without a line about the ”little ones” His kindnesses to the sons of Ramsay, Craik, Greene, and Lafayette have already been noticed
Further the children of his friends there was sympathy expressed Duton, that ”we arrived there at night; the whole of the population had assembled from the suburbs; ere surrounded by a crowd of children carrying torches, reiterating the acclaer to approach the person of him whom they called their father, and pressed so closely around us that they hindered us froton waslish; it is the chance of war; but behold an arh New England, not being able to get lodgings at an inn, Washi+ngton spent a night in a private house, and when all pay-place,--
”Being inforiven my name to one of your sons, and called another after Mrs Washi+ngton's fa moreover very much pleased with the hters, Patty and Polly, I do for these reasons send each of these girls a piece of chintz; and to Patty, who bears the naton, and aited upon us uineas, hich she may buy herself any little ornaments she may want, or she reeable to herself As I do not give these things with a view to have it talked of, or even of its being known, the less there is said about the matter the better you will please ot safe to hand, let Patty, who I dare say is equal to it, writeme thereof, directed to 'The President of the United States at New York'”
Miss Stuart relates that ”Onefor his picture, a little brother ofit would annoy the General, told him he must leave; but the General took him upon his knee, held him for some time, and had quite a little chat with him, and, in fact, they seemed to be pleased with each other My brother reton had talked with him”
For the son of his secretary, Lear, there seereat fondness, and in one instance the father was told that ”It gave Mrs
Washi+ngton, myself and all who know him, sincere pleasure to hear that our little favorite had arrived safe, and was in good health at Ports continuance of the latter--that heas he now is--and that heto you, and an ornament to his country As a testimony of my affection for hi in the Federal City; and if it should be his fortune to draw the hotel it will add to the pleasure I have in giving it” A second letter condoled with ”little Lincoln,” because owing to the collapse of the lottery the ”poor little felloill not even get enough to ”build him a baby house”
For the father, Tobias Lear, who came into his employton felt the greatest affection and trust It was he who sent for the doctor in the beginning of the last illness, and he was in the sickrooton's hand, he received froton ”appeared to be in great pain and distress froI lay upon the bed and endeavored to raise him, and turn hiratitude for ue you too much'”