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174
[
LAFAYETTE
, Gilbert du Motier, marquis de].
Lettre autographe, sans doute par Jacob Schnebly, secrétaire
du comité
Hagerstown, 15 septembre 1824
2 pp. in-4, avec la suscription au dernier feuillet :“General Lafayette”
EXEMPLAIRE DE LAFAYETTE : INVITATION DU COMTÉ DE
WASHINGTON (MARYLAND) AU : “CHAMPION OF LIBERTY
IN BOTH HEMISPHERES, THE EARLY AND STRONG
ADVOCATE OF AMERICA”
Lettre écrite par les citoyens du comté de Washington,
Maryland, s’adressant à Lafayette : “The spontaneous burst
of grateful enthusiasm which has been elicited by your recent
return to the United States, is without parallel in the history
of any modern people ; It is not confined to our populous
Cities, but has diffused itself to the utmost borders of our
Country” ; ils l’invitent à leur rendre visite : “Altho we cannot
compete with our brethren of the great commercial Cities on
the seaboard, in the reception we shall give you ; yet so far as
the pure incense of grateful hearts, and the frank and cordial
hospitality of republican manners, can supply the deficiency
of pomp and splendour, we dare affirm there shall be nothing
wanting” ; et ils rendent hommage au “Champion of liberty in
both hemispheres, the early and strong advocate of America,
and the bosom friend of the illustrious father of our Country”,
signé au nom de Otho H. Williams, Frisby Tilghman, John
Buchanan, William Price et V.W. Randall
With a news clipping from the Maryland Herald, recording
the Resolution passed at Hagerstown. The Secretary of the
meeting was Jacob Schnebly, who is no doubt the scribe of
this letter.
200 / 300
€
175
[
LAFAYETTE
, Gilbert du Motier, marquis de].
Lettre signée par David Francis, secrétaire
Boston, 28 septembre 1824
1 p. in-4
EXEMPLAIRE DE LAFAYETTE : IL DEVIENT MEMBRE
HONORAIRE DE LA MASSACHUSETTS CHARITABLE
MECHANIC ASSOCIATION EN RAISON DE SES “PRE-
EMINENT TALENTS AND IMPORTANT SERVICES IN THE
CAUSE OF THE COUNTRY”
Promulgation officielle adressée à Lafayette, certifiée par David
Francis, secrétaire, des votes de la
Massachusetts Charitable
Mechanic Association
conférant au Général le titre de Membre
honoraire “in consideration of the pre-eminent talents and
important services in the cause of our country” and appointing
Samuel Perkins, Joseph Lovering, Benjamin Russell, Daniel
Messenger and Henry Parkitt to the committee of presentation
For the MCMA’s invitation to Lafayette, see under 21 August,
above.
200 / 300
€
176
[
LAFAYETTE
, Gilbert du Motier, marquis de].
Lettre signée par J. E. Howard, Président
[Fort McHenry], 7 octobre 1824
2 pp. in-4
EXEMPLAIRE DE LAFAYETTE : “ADDRESS OF THE SOCIETY
OF CINCINNATI OF MARYLAND TO MAJOR GENERAL
LAFAYETTE”
Discours devant les Cincinnati du Maryland assemblés à Fort
McHenry : “General, A few of your Brother Soldiers of Maryland who
remain after a lapse of Forty Years and the Sons of some of those
who are now no more, are assembled in the tent of Washington to
greet you on your visit to the United States and to assure you of their
affectionate and sincere regard”... évocation de la célèbre défense
du Fort de Baltimore Harbour sous le commandement d’Armistead
pendant “the War of 1812”, et assurant Lafayette que ses services “will
never be forgotten by the free and happy people of the United States”
A particularly significant document that links Lafayette’s visit to
another defining event in the American national consciousness,
the defence of Fort McHenry upon which flew the original “Star
Spangled Banner” of America’s National Anthem ; Howard
telling Lafayette that “This Fort not distinguished in your day,
garrisoned principally by Citizen Soldiers, many of whom
are now present, has recently and successfully sustained
a formidable bombardment. If its Commander had been
permitted to have sojourned longer with us, he would have
been fully rewarded for every toil and danger by an interview
with you” (George Armistead having died in 1818, aged only
thirty-eight). The flag described in Francis Scott Key’s poem
was made by Mary Young Pickersgill and was to be bequeathed
by the family to the Smithsonian in 1907, where it has been
on display since 1964. However the last time it is known to
have been flown from Fort McHenry itself is on the occasion of
Lafayette’s visit in 1824 (cf.
Maryland State Archives website
).
In Levasseur’s account of the visit :
“We went on shore in the other boats, and were landed at the wharf
of Fort McHenry. The National flag which had floted over it during
the last war was hoisted : its ample field pierced by a bomb-shell,
attests the vain efforts of the British engineers. At the gate of the Fort
General Lafayette was surrounded by a number of persons in citizen’s
dress, for the most part individuals who in the year 1814, proved so
energetically to the English, how much superior are men who combat
for their liberty, country and families, to vile mercenaries hired by kings
to gratify their passions” (
Lafayette in America
, I, p.163).
1 500 / 2 000
€