Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1824-10-22
IFrcm one Of The E.,i'srs at York;
CELEBRATION AT YORK.

| CELEBRAllON AL lOltk.
La Fays,te is at last among us. Virginia is
ah"ut rouiinS forth her fervent feelings to her
generous b-nrfacior. Other states may excel
us in splen,lour. We cannot vie with thrr il,
this respect. To excel them, is Impossible
for who can "sild refined gold or add perfume
10 the violet" Even TO equal them, IL mt
within our. power. We want the treasures of
wealth, the embellishments of the arts. But
| IN warm welcome we will yield TO no other
state. What is ours is his: what we give, we
give with all our heart, and all our mind, and
all our soul" What they want in external
exhibitions, the Vlrgihans vii. make up in the
Iumess of their feelings.
Fortunate man what combination Of Cir
cumstances has heeu created Ia crown him
with honors. In what other person in ancient
or modern times, do many circumstances
concur More than forty years ago he allied
himself TO the wonderful desiinies of this
young and struggling people. Nothing could
withhold his arm or paralize his wishes. Rank,
wealth, beauty, welded love, all wooed him
in vain. In vain, did the circumstances Of his
friends oppose his wishes. In vain, were their
kind Representations of the i0w and desperate
state Of our fortunes by our commissioners at
Paris, addressed 10 his generous spirit In
vain, did his court attempt 10 seize his person
and arrest his departure. He broke through
,
flew TO our shores. He threw himself into
our arms. He devoted person, purse, Influence,
every thing he could command, TO the cause Of
liberty IN "A distant hemisphere. He shed his
blood freely at Brandywine. He flew to
Virginia, aud with means far inferior to his
boosted opponent, the boy" bearded Corn
wallis, and TarIton and Arnold. Supplying
the defect Of troops by the celebrity of his
movements uniting the vigour ofyouth with
The sagacity Of the msst experienced com
mander, he covered the commonwealth as with
an impenetrable Egis, he repealed the most
deadly assaults IF our active enemies. On
the heights of York, he stormed strong
Rrdoubt, with such ,igour that [" in four
minutes from the time when the centinel al the
Redoubt fired his alarm guns" the cry Of
/" Victory! Victory" rung through the army.
Nor were his energies confined to personal
cXertiOns. He devoted his ample fortune to
the American cause. He clothed our desti
tute troops. He furnished US With arms. He
plead our cause at the court of Versailles and
obtained for us an ally, who dispatched her
troops and her fleets to our shores. After a
war which secured our independence, he
carried hack the germs OF liberty to his own
country, and would have transpIanted them 10
the " vine covered hills Of France" But of
the three great men, who fought for liberty on
our shores, and gave an impulse to three great
Rev outions in our age, Washington was the
only man who lived TO witness the success of
his own country. Kosciusko fell on the plains
OF Poland. La Fayette failed, after every eff
fort but came out of that fiery struggle, af-
ter undergoing every variety Of persecution
and peril, with the same generous principles
in which he had commenced. There is
beautiful consistency in his life. He raised his
voice against the establishment of dcspOtic
government upon the ruins Of the Revo-
luton: but though he failed, though he could
not command success, yet be deserved it,
1t was the love of Liberty which dew him to
America, and that same love of Liberty has
never deserted him at any moment of bis life.
And now, after lapse of forty years, he comes
Ia reap the rich harvest OF a nations gratitude
"a nation, whose growth has exceeded the
most sanguine expectations of all her friends.
He came when we could scarcely count up
three millions of souls. He returns to receive
from more than ten millions their warmest
thanks for the benefits with which he has
blessed their beloved cOuntIy.-There was
but one thing wanting to round off this singular
combination Of events: it was to make him
the head Of our army, and TO crown him with
the hoDors of the Commander in Chief. But
though he was not the first in arms. he was
among the 6rst in the affections of Washing
| ton p: and this ofitseifis no mean compliment
10 me man who is fortunate enough to enjoy il.
Nhaf foreigner in ancient or in modern
tunes, has been blessed by such combination
vi circumstances. Timoleon comes perhaps
the nearest TO il. He delivered the people of
Sicily, and gained the app!auses of grateful
people. But what comparison does Sicily
bear TO America ? The one, a spot in the Me-
diierranean the other, an extensive section'of
An immense continent. II will he many CEN
turtles If ever, when this combination Of advan-
tages is likely to recur. There are yet new
Republics to be formed, through FIRE and
biood-other gallant foreigners, who like La
Fayette or Byron, may be disposed TO pour
out their fe-blood for distant people but the
scale at their operations can scarcely extend TO
the emancipation OF half continent. We have
but one thing more TO desire, that he should
close the Evening Of his life amid nation, on
which in IFS morning he contributed To besiow
the greatest blessings. The SiciIians enjoyed
the hononr ofba,ing Timoeon among them TO
the day Of his death, and passing monumen-
tai decree in the following strains: 1.-THE peo-
Pile Of Syracuse inter TimoIeon the Corinihi.
an, the son OF Timodemas, at the expense Of
two hundred Mine they honor him, more
over, through all time with annual games, &c
be celebrated with performances in music
horse. racing and wrestling as the man who
destroyed tyraDts, snbdued barbarians, re- PEG.
pied great cities which lay desuiute, and res
tered 90 the SiciIiaDs their laws and priyi-
legrs.o
| We proceed TO give a rapid sketch Of the
reception at York. The Infantry aud ArtiIle-
ry from this city arrived at York on Saturday,
the Virginia, with the Rangers and citizens, on
her u IL