The Arkansas advocate., 1834-08-01
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.Mr. President, and
 GentIenen of tLte SocietL :.

.Mr. President, and
 Gentlemen of tte Socaetg
 We have met here on no ordinary occa- sion. Lafayette, the favorite and adopted son of our Republic, the defender of our infant rights and liberties, the soldier, the scholar and the philanthropist-is no more. I shall endeayor, Mir. President, te give you succinct history of the life and char acter of this great man. When Lafayette arrived at the years of manhood, he saw around him all that could render his future careerbrlliant and deslra- hle. He had descended from a long line of ilIustrious ancestors, whose deeds had ennobled the annals of France: hls for tune, which had been accumulatng during q long minority, was vast: his rank gave him but few peers in the land; and to add to this. he was blessed with a wife who could boast of ancestry equal to his own, to share with him the dignity of his birthrlght, and the splendor of his fortune.
 But, sir, 1t was amid all these blessings and luxurIes, with tue gay and tempting Court of Louis the l6th spread before him, for his entrance, that he turned his eyes to our western hemisphere and there saw an infant and an obscure people, waglng an un- equal war against the tyranny and oP- pression of their mother country, and boid- ly contending for constitutional liberty, and the equal rights of man; it was then that the heart of this patriot heaved with sympa- thy for our cause, Ii was then, SIT, that he developed the leading traits ot his eharac- ter, his love of liberty, of equality, and above all, his devotion to the rights of representative government, holding the law making power in a greater or less degree accountable to their constituents for their acts. With character based on these pr,ncipies, he commenced his course, and clunn to it with a dignisied consistency thro' life, unawed by power, unnoved py the re- yolutionary incidents which tore his country into fragments.
 Mr. President, when Lafayette applied 10 our Commissioners in Paris, and offered his services in our cause, to use the just anc true language of his historian, "nothlne could have been less tempting to hln whether he sought military reputation, O military instruction" for our army was d that time defeated, depressed and wort down by the vicissltudes ot war, wlthou pau, and indeed, partially without the com mon necessaries of life. This, SIT, was ou situatlon, and our Commissioners were obh ged to say to him, that they had not tn means to offer him decent conveyance [ our shores. What, sir, was the reply this man, to whose memory we have m' here tonight to pay this humble tribute respect? 4 Them said he. 4 | shall pun chase and fit out vessel for myseit.' Il did so. and on 1t embarked from port 1 Spa,n. and landed in Charleston, on tn 24th April, TIT. The fruits ot this yol age, Mir. President, materially assisted giving tbe American people their ibertle and 1t has raised a monument Tn our hear to his memory, which shall stand the test fine, and erlSt so long as the word grattat shall be known to our language.
 On his arrival, Congress invested h with the commission of Major General, al placed him at the head of division.
 would be unnecessary for me, Nr. Pre-: dent, to reclte to you and to this audienc the various and arduous duties that eng ,ged this man's attention during the caI painns of TT and ITS. The history of 0 defeat al DfdudA WtHSy tue pAotSShou
 gave our middle States at the head of division, the tone and popularity he gave our cause in France, which afterwards pl we'd to be the lever of our success, calls us to mourn his loss not only as friend, as a beeetactor and .fdther.
 About tffis time he embarked for Fran but, sir, during his short stay from country, his idol was not lorgotten-in
 eniovments and sweets of home, he lab aa with zeal for our cause, and was Ilat instrumental (when our treaty was torn at Paris in inducing his most Christ Majesty 10 furnish our nation with men
 munitions of war, the consequences which led to the surrender of Lord Co wallis at Yorktown, and the successful sninatron of our glorious struggle for fa pendence.
 Shortly after this great event, he anno red his intention to revisit his native co fry. to make further and more extensive engagements for the good of our cause, all of which he succeeded to the fulnes' his wishes, and was on the eve of his
 parture with formidable force, when he
 ceived the cheering intelligence of the ]
 ifeaiioa of the terms of peace, between
 thirteen United Colonies, and their pal country.