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[
LAFAYETTE
, Gilbert du Motier, marquis de]
Documents signés par Richard Riker (2)
14 juin 1825
1 p. in-4
EXEMPLAIRE DE LAFAYETTE. INVITATION DE LA VILLE DE NEW YORK : “TO
COMMEMORATE THE 4
th
JULY NEXT AND DINE WITH THEM IN THE CITY HALL”.
LE JEUNE WALT WHITMAN FUT LE TÉMOIN ÉBLOUI DE CES FÊTES GLORIEUSES
Richard Riker, au nom de la ville et des citoyens de New York, invite Lafayette “you would honor
them with your Company, to Commemorate the 4
th
July next and dine with them in the City Hall”,
il lui annonce “that apartments are prepared for you and for your suite” et lui demande les détails
de son itinéraire de retour “that we may be ready to meet you and conduct you to your residence”
[JOINT] : l.a.s. de R. Riker à Georges Washington Lafayette, “this morning Mr Coudray (...) and
Mr Morton (...) left here for Washington. They will deliver to your father the manuscript narrative
of your visit to New York”,
2 pp. in-4
, New York, 3 septembre 1825
The festivities of the 4
th
July in New York were one of the apex of Lafayette’s Farewell
Tour.
“During his visit to Boston, General Lafayette received and accepted invitations from the states of
Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont... and one from the city of New York, who ardently desired
that he would celebrate the 4
th
of July, the anniversary of American independence, with him...
at midnight, a discharge of artillery announced the commencement of a day ever glorious in the
records of the history of the New World, and some hours afterwards the sun of the Fourth of July
rose radiantly to illuminate the 49
th
anniversary of the declaration of independence” (Levasseur,
Lafayette in America
, II, pp. 207 and 217).
Lafayette laid the foundation stone of the
Mechanics Library
at Brooklyn. A scene
witnessed by the six-year-old Walt Whitman :
“I remember I was taken up by Lafayette in his arms and held a moment. I remember that he
press’d my cheek with a kiss and set me down ; the childish wonder and nonchalance during
the whole affair at the time, contrasting with the indescribable preciousness of the reminiscence
since... Lafayette entered the city hall, where the governor presented him to the senate ; by
whom he was received with honours never before bestowed upon any one. On his entrance the
members arose and uncovered themselves ; the president of the senate advanced towards him,
and felicitated him on his return, at his uniting with them in the celebration of the anniversary
of the glorious fourth of July... Memorials of glory, patriotism, and of liberty, were assembled in
astonishing numbers in the superb saloon of the City Hall, where the tables were arranged. The
busts of Washington and Lafayette, the portraits of Bolivar and De Witt Clinton, were arranged in
the midst of trophies, above which always floated united the American and French flags”.
Richard Riker (1773-1842), signatory of this letter, was Recorder of the City of New York.
We find him, the following year, inviting James Madison to the 4
th
July celebrations.
3 000 / 5 000
€
Walt Whitman