100 / 239
99
This is the draft of Lafayette’s reply to the welcoming address by the Speaker, Henry Clay,
and appears to be the one copied out below (lot 191) by two of Lafayette’s secretaries,
seemingly Levasseur and Lafayette’s son George (the text published in the
Journal of the
House of Representatives
, for 13 December 1824). A significant point is that Levasseur, in
his journal specifically states that Lafayette delivered his address
extempore
, without benefit
of a written text :
“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...
[text of Clay’s address follows] ...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... [text of Lafayette’s reply follows] ...I will not attempt to depict the deep impression
produced by the reply of the general, and by this simple yet majestic scene on the spectators. I fear it
would be understood but by few” (Levasseur II, pp. 13-14).
This, the autograph draft of that speech, clearly shows Lafayette making revisions,
especially towards the end. It seems not unlikely that it started out as a fair copy and then
(as is the way with such things) got revised the further he progressed, while still presenting
a legible enough text for his secretaries to copy out as the final fair copy. The revisions
Lafayette makes consist of tweaks to the phrasing. For example, in the last paragraph,
where it originally read : “on this day, so glorious to me, I Can With delight Congratulate”, it
now reads (in conformity with both secretarial copy and published text) : “on this day, I have
the Honor and enjoy the delight to Congratulate”.
An autograph fair copy of the speech was sent by Lafayette to St Clair Clarke, Clerk of
the House (now at the A
merican Friends of Lafayette Collection
,
Lafayette College ;
see
Gottschalk,
Guide
, p.189). If one takes Levasseur literally, all these versions would be
memorial reconstructions of Lafayette’s
extempore
speech. The alternative of course is that
Lafayette did indeed prepare it before hand, commit it to memory and then deliver it without
benefit of script or notes ; as if it were
extempore
. Either way, the present manuscript,
alongside the one sent to the Clerk of the House, represents the definite text of one of the
most memorable speeches in American history.
La copie de ce discours fut réalisée sur cet exemplaire par Auguste Levasseur et Georges
Washington Lafayette. Elle figure au lot suivant. Le texte fut publié dans le
Journal of
the House of Representatives
, le 13 décembre 1824. Ce manuscrit autographe montre
clairement les corrections de Lafayette, surtout à la fin du texte. Il dût entamer la rédaction
de ce manuscrit comme une mise au net, mais, entraîné par son élan, il procéda aux
corrections situées vers la fin de ce texte, qui sont surtout des corrections de style. Le
présent manuscrit, suffisamment clair, put néanmoins servir de source à la copie exécutée
par Levasseur et Lafayette fils.
Un autre exemplaire autographe de ce discours se trouve selon Gottschalk au
Lafayette
College
. Mais, si l’on prend le texte de Levasseur au sens propre, les versions autographes
et manuscrites de ce texte furent postérieures à sa déclamation
extempore
. On peut aussi
imaginer que Lafayette avait écrit d’abord son texte, puis l’avait appris. Nous pensons qu’à
l’instar de certains toast présents dans cette collection, Lafayette disposait d’un canevas
de quelques mots, prononça son discours, puis en affina le style par écrit dans le présent
manuscrit avant de le donner à copier à son fils et à Levasseur.
40 000 / 60 000
€