[LAFAYETTE, Gilbert du Motier, marquis de] Lettre autographe signée de Josiah Quincy, maire de Boston Boston, 17 août 1824 2 pp. in-4
Estimation :
800 / 1200
Adjudication :
Invendu
Description
LE MAIRE DE BOSTON ACCUEILLE LAFAYETTE : “THE GENERAL JOY, WHICH PERVADES THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES, AT YOUR ARRIVAL" “The City Council of Boston impressed with the general joy, which pervades the citizens of the United States, at your arrival in this country, have requested me to take measures to be informed at what period it will suit Your convenience, to gratify those wishes, at once so ardent and so general, to welcome you, personally, to this city" This letter was delivered in person by Boston’s City Marshal, Benjamin Pollard, charged therein by Quincy with receiving “any commands or communications, you may be pleased to give". A lawyer and graduate of Harvard, Pollard had been appointed the city’s first Marshal in 1823, his successors heading the police department after its formation in 1838. Quincy’s eldest daughter, the diarist and amateur artist Eliza Susan Quincy, has left a description of Lafayette’s triumphal entry into the city on 24 August : “Boston presented a most animated scene, crowds of people in their best dresses were already moving through the streets, the military manoeuvring on the common and an immense cavalcade of citizens on horseback, among whom were two hundred truckmen dressed in their white frocks, who made a fine appearance. A barouche drawn by four white horses had previously been sent out to the Governor’s seat for the General. At nine o’clock the procession moved and preceded by the City Authorities, who occupied a long train of carriages, the whole cavalcade advanced through Washington Street, and across the neck, to the lines of the city... The Mayor then entered the barouche of the General, and the procession moved." (cf. Klamkin, Return of Lafayette, pp. 33-34)
