Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1825-09-10

nicate to you the assurance Of grateful and at.
fectionate attachment of this Government and
People, and desiring that a national ship
might be employed, at your convenience, for
your passage to the borders Of our country.
Theinvitation was transmitted to you by my
venerable predecessor; himself bound to you
by the strongest ties Of personal friendships
himself one of those whom the highest honors
of his country had rewarded for blood early
shed in her cause, and fora long life Of devo'
ton to her welfare. BY him the services ol
anational ship were placed at your disposal.
Your delicacy preferred a more private con-
veyance, and a full year has elapsed since you
landed upon our shores. 1t were scarcely an
exaggeration to say, that it has been, to the
people of the. Union, a year of uninterrupted
f%estivity and enjoyment, inspiredb by your pre-
sence. You have traversed the twenty four
States of this great ~Confederacy. You have
been received with rapture by the survivors of
your earliest companions in m You have
been hailed as a long absent parent by their
children, the men and women of the present
age. Anda rising generation, the hope of
future time, in numbers surprising the whole
population of that day when you fought at the
head and by the side oftheir forefathers, have
We'd with the scanty remnants of that hour of
trial, in acclamations of Joy at beholding the
face of him whom they feel to be the common
behefactor of all. You have heard the min
gled voices ofthe past, the present, and the
future age, joining in one universal chorus Of
delight at your approach; and the shouts of
unbidden thousands, which greeted your
landing on the soil offreedom, have followed
every step of your way, and still resound, like
the rushing ofn.any waters, from every corner
of our land.
You are now about to return to the country
of your birth, of your ancestors, ofyour pos.
terity. The Executive Government of the
Union, stimulated by the same feeling which
had prompted the Congress to the designa-
ton of a national ship for your accommoda.
ton in coming hither, has destined the first
service ola frigate, recently launched at this
Metropolis, to the less welcome, but equally
distinguished trust, of conveying you home.
The name of the ship has added one more me-
mortal to distant regions and to future ages, of
stream already memorable at once in the sto-
ry ofyour sufFerings and ofour independence.
The ship is now prepared for your recep-
ton, and equipped for sea. From the mo-
ment other departure, the prayers of millions
will ascend to Heaven that her passage may
be prosperous, and your return to the bosom
of your family as propitious to your happiness,
as your visit to this scene Of your youthful
glory has been to that of the American Peo-
pie.
Go, then, our beloved friend-return to the
and Of brilliant genius, of generous scnti-
nent, ofhcroic valor; to that beautiful France,
he nursing mother of the Twelfth Louis, and
he Fourth Henry; to the native soil of Bay
rd and Coligni, of Turenne and Catinat, of
and D'AguesseMI. In that illustr-
,us catalogue of names which she claims as Of
Ter children, and with honest pride holds up
o the admiration of other nations, the name
,fL.ArarErTE has already for centuries been
And it shall henceforth burnish in
brighter fame for il, in after days, a
'renchmar shall be called to indicate the cha
acter ofhis nation by that of one individual,
Turing the age in which w live, the blood Of
ofy patriotism shall maStle i'll his cheek, the
ire of conscious virtue shall sparkle in his
we, and he shall pronounce the name Of La
ArErTE. Yet we ton, and our children in life,
nd after death, shall claim you for our own.
lou are ours by that more than patriotic self
with which you few to the aid of
ur fathers at the crisis oftheir fate: Ours by
hat long series of years in which you have
herished us in your regard. Ours by that un-
haken sentiment of gratitude for your servi-
es, which isl precious portion of our inhe-
Ours by that tie of love stronger
han death, which has linked your name, for
ndless ages of time, with the name of WASH
NeroN.
At the painful moment of parting from you,
ge take comfort in the thought, that wherever
may be, to the last pulsatiou of your heart,
ur country will be ever present to your affec-
ions; and a cheerful consolation assures us,
hat we are not called to sorrow most of all,
hat we shall see your face no more. We shall
indulge the pleasing anticipation ofbeholding
frierd again. In the mean time, speaking
n the name of the whole People of the Unit
d States, and at a loss only for language to
i've utterance to that feeling of attachment
With which the heart of the nation beats as the
leart of one man, l bid you a reluctant and
1~fectionate farewell!
The General listened with deep at
~ention, and, at the close of the Adj
lress, embraced the President in his
arms, salutlng him in the French man-i
3D.