Sometime previously to his arrival, the marquis had expressed his intention of again visiting the United States. This being known, Jan. 7th, 1824, congress authorized the president to offer him a public ship for his accommodation, and to assure him, in the name of the people of this great republic, that they cherished for him a grateful and affectionate attachment." In the following June, the legislature of Massachusetts authorized the governor of that commonwealth to make such arrangements for the honorable reception of the marquis as comported with the dignity of the state. In other parts of the country, early measures were adopted to receive with honor the man who had acted so disinterested a part towards the United States, and whose life had been devoted to the cause of rational liberty.

The delicacy of the marquis prevented his accepting the invitation of government to take passage in a public ship; but he soon after embarked on board a private vessel.

The time of his embarkation being known, the prayers of millions were offered for his safety from the dangers of the ocean. At length intelligence of his arrival was announced, and was received by every proper demonstration of joy.

He landed at New-York, on the 16th of August, accompanied by his son and M. L. Vasseur, his secretary, and was welcomed by thousands to the land where, more than forty years before, he had displayed a disinterestedness, a benevolence, a heroism, nearly unparalleled in the annals of time.

"From New-York, Lafayette passed through the country to Boston, constantly receiving the most enthusiastic congratulations of the people. Not only at every place where he stopped, but as he passed along the road, thousands came to catch a glimpse of him, and bid 'Welcome, Lafayette.' Having visited most of the principal towns in Massachusetts, New-Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, he returned again to New-York. During this tour, it is impossible to convey in general terms an adequate idea of the excitement into which the country was thrown. Committees were constantly arriving from distant towns at the places where he stopped, to solicit the honor of receiving him, and to know on what day and at what hour his arrival might be expected. In some instances, gentlemen, residing at a distance from his route directed the news of his approach to be sent them by expresses. Meantime the general was so obliging as to allow

himself to be transported with the utmost rapidity from place to place, often travelling most of the night, so as not to disappoint the anxious expectations of the people. From NewYork the general went to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, &c., constantly receiving from the people the same cordial welcome, and witnessing the same demonstrations of joy, wherever he went.

But the feelings of the nation demanded that something more should be done for General Lafayette than could be expressed by acclamation alone. His love of liberty had been the means of depriving him of a great proportion of his fortune. When, during our revolution, the country was so exhausted as to be unable to clothe or feed her little army, Lafayette not only gave all his pay to government, but advanced money, which never was refunded; so that, in addition to the debt of gratitude, the nation owed him for advancements made during her necessities. It was the exercise of the same leading principle, (the love of liberty,) which occasioned the confiscation of his estates in France, when the jacobin faction controlled the kingdom.

"Under every consideration, the nation was bound to show Lafayette, and the world, that, in the prosperity of his adopted country, his former services were remembered with too much gratitude to be passed over without some permanent mark of national beneficence.

"The president of the United States, therefore, in his message to congress recommended, in appropriate terms, the subject to that body, upon which a committee was raised to consider the services of General Lafayette, and to report on the expediency of making him at least a partial remu

neration.

"At a subsequent day, that committee reported a bill appropriating the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, and a complete township of land. This bill was, at length, passed, and when the intelligence of its passage was conveyed to Lafayette, he returned his warmest acknowledgments both to congress and to the nation, for the munificent favor which they had conferred upon him.

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The visit of Lafayette to the United States occupied about a year; during which he visited each of the 24 states, and was every where hailed as a father. When the time arrived which he had fixed as the termination of his visit, it was thought most fitting that his departure from the country should take place from the capital. A frigate was prepared at that place, and named, in compliment to him, the Bran

dywine, to transport him to his native country. The few weeks spent upon the invitation of the president, as the guest of the nation, in the national palace, were appropriated to taking leave of those venerable men who had shared with him both in establishing the independence of the country, and in receiving all the appropriate honors which the people could bestow. He had previously visited and taken leave of the venerable Adams; he now, in succession, took leave of the other ex-presidents; the illustrious author of the Declaration of Independence; the able supporter and advocate of the federal constitution; and the soldier of the revolution who had shed his blood in the same cause with Lafayette.

"These preliminary visits being paid, he now prepared for his departure. The 7th of September, which was the day appointed for that purpose, the civil authorities of the district of Columbia assembled at the president's house to take leave of him. About noon he entered the great hall, where he was addressed by the president in terms manly, patriotic, and affectionate. In a similar manner Lafayette replied, concluding as follows: God bless you, sir, and all who surround us. God bless the American people, each of their states, and the federal government. Accept this patriotic farewell of an overflowing heart; such will be its last throb when it ceases to beat.'

Then taking an affectionate leave of each individual present, the general left the hospitable mansion of the president. He was attended to the vessel by the whole population of the district. All business was suspended, and the vast multitude which lined the shores, witnessed his embarkation with a deep silence, highly indicative of the feelings that the American people cherished towards Lafay ette. In passing Mount Vernon, he landed to pay a farewell visit to the tomb of Washington, whence, re-embarking, a prosperous voyage soon safely landed him on his own paternal soil."

Sec. 29. The second session of the eighteenth congress began on the 6th of December, 1824; on which occasion the president represented the country to be highly prosperous and happy, both in respect to its internal condition and foreign relations.

Annual Register.

"Our relations with foreign powers," said he, "are of a friendly character, although certain interesting differences remain unsettled. Our revenue, under the mild system of impost and tonnage, continues to be adequate to all the purposes of government. Our agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and navigation, flourish. Our fortifications are advancing, in the degree authorized by existing appropria tions, to maturity, and due progress is made in the augment ation of the navy to the limit prescribed by law."

The president also stated that the convention of naviga tion and commerce concluded between the United States and France in 1822, still continued ;-that our commercial intercourse with the British dominions in Europe and the East Indies, resting on the basis of reciprocity, which had been arranged by a convention in 1815, was confirmed and continued for ten years, by treaty in 1818; but that the trade with the British colonies in the West Indies had not as yet been settled to the satisfaction of the executive;that our commerce with Sweden had been placed on a footing of perfect reciprocity, by treaty, and with Russia, the Netherlands, Prussia, and the free Hanseatic cities, the dukedom of Oldenburg, and Sardinia, by internal regulations on each side, founded on mutual agreement between the respective governments; and that the great and extraordinary changes which had happened in Spain and Portugal within the last two years, had not seriously affected the friendly relations subsisting between them and the United States; although they had presented obstacles to the adjustment of the particular subjects of discussion which have arisen with each. With the remaining powers of Europe, with those on the coast of Barbary, and with all the new South American states, our relations were moreover stated to be of a friendly character. The country has ministers plenipotentiary residing with the republics of Colombia and Chili, and have received ministers of the same rank from Colombia, Guatimala, Buenos Ayres, and Mexico, and a charge d'affairs from the independent government of Brazil.

In relation to the state of the maritime force of the country, the message represented the squadron in the Mediterranean to have been maintained, and to have afforded to our commerce the necessary protection in that sea; that the force in the Gulf of Mexico, and the neighboring seas, for the suppression of piracy, had also been continued; but that such were the atrocities of the pirates in that quarter, it was important to increase, rather than to diminish, our force