This is part of a series on Lafayette’s visit to New England – June 13 to June 29 1825.
When Lafayette entered Portland, he was met by the Committee of arrangements and the Selectmen. Stephen Longfellow addressed him.
General Lafayette:
“In behalf of the citizens of Portland we have the honor to present you their most respectful and cordial salutations. It is impossible to express the feelings excited by the presence of a hero who has done so much to secure the liberty and happiness of mankind. With joy, gratitude and affection we hail the friend of Washington and the intrepid defender of American Independence.
Vain would be the attempt to recount the deeds of glory which distinguish your eventful life. They are engraven on the heart of every American and have produced feelings of gratitude and veneration which can never be effaced. A sacred love of freedom and public order has governed your whole life. Amid all the vicissitudes of a most interesting career this noble principle has never been forsaken. It is conspicuous in your brave and generous services and sacrifices in the cause of American Independence; in your character as a member of the Assembly of Notables, and in the Constituent Assembly of France; as Commander of the National Guards of Paris; at Versailles on the memorable sixth of October; in the solemn and august ceremonies of the Champ de Mars; as Commander of the French Army; in the dark and dreary dungeons of Olmütz; in your intrepid resolutions in the Chamber of Representatives; and in retirement at La Grange. Unawed by majesty, uninfluenced by faction, unintimidated by despotic power, your whole life has been devoted to the cause of freedom, equal rights, and public order.
These were the principles of the heroes and patriots of our Revolution. By intelligence and virtue only can they be preserved. Their powerful influence is seen in the prosperity and happiness of our country. Inspired with these principles, and imitating the virtues of our fathers, may we transmit the fair inheritance to future generations, and may the world enjoy the blessings we possess.
Standing on the verge of time, cheering and delightful must be the retrospect, and glorious the prospect, to those who under God achieved our independence. The gratitude of an admiring world is your reward. Nations made free and happy by your efforts and generations yet unborn will bless the authors of their country’s greatness.”
Lafayette replied:
“Although I had not hitherto the pleasure to visit this interesting part of the United States, the active patriotism it has evinced, thinly inhabited as it was during our Revolutionary struggle, the particular sufferings of the town, now become an important city and seat of government, have early impressed my mind with intimate and endearing connections. I am highly happy at the affectionate welcome I receive from the citizens of Portland. You have been pleased to advert to the several vicissitudes of my life, when it has been my care as well as my boast to remain a faithful disciple of the American school; of that new era of social order, the principles of which, founded on liberty, equality, truly representative and self-government, and so happily exemplified in America, shall pervade the whole world.
While I offer to the people of Portland, and to you, gentlemen, my respectful thanks, I am happy to recognize in the kind organ of their kindness to me, the member of Congress who shared in that flattering invitation which has been to me a source of inexpressible honor and delight.”
The procession then moved into town. The order was
Chief Marshall Major General Fessenden
General Lafayette in a Barouche drawn by four white horses accompanied by Colonel Dunlap.
George Washington Lafayette and Monsieur Lavasseur
Member of United States and State Legislatures
Judicial Officers
Reverend Clergy
Officers of the Militia in uniform
Officers of the US Army and Navy
Strangers of Distinction
Truckman mounted and in neat uniform, their horses handsomely caparisoned
Citizens of the neighboring towns
As they went through the streets the window were filled with ladies waving their handkerchiefs. There were six arches. The south sidewalk was occupied with scholars of both sexes in neat and tasteful uniforms – the misses with wreaths of roses and other flowers and the lads with “Welcome Lafayette” on their hats.
When Lafayette arrived at the State House he was conducted to the Senate Chamber and addressed by the Governor:
“America, the country of your heart, has welcomed you with joy. The people of this State, a constituent portion of the Republic, unite most cordially in the general acclamation.
In their behalf, and in compliance with their unanimous request, as expressed through both branches of the Legislature, I bid you welcome to Maine. Welcome, General, welcome, as the early and generous benefactor of our country; Welcome, as the friend, the associate of our Washington and our Knox; Welcome, as the only surviving General Officer of the gallant and virtuous Army of our Revolution; Welcome, as the constant proclaimer of the sovereignty of the people, and the unwavering advocate of the rights and liberties of man in both hemispheres.
But it is unnecessary for me, on this occasion, even to allude to the many glorious deeds and the noble principles for which your character is revered by my fellow citizens. They are engraven on the hearts of this people; they are recorded in the history of this nation, and will perish only with the record of our national existence.”
Lafayette replied:
“The honorable Resolutions of both branches of the Legislature, your Excellency’s kind invitations, and, I am happy to add, the popular welcome I have met in every part of the United States, could not but make me anticipate a gratifying reception in this portion of the great confederacy. But I have been by the people of Maine, by the citizens of their metropolis, by you, Sir, their first Magistrate, greeted in so affectionate a manner, that it excites in my heart the most lively emotions of pleasure and gratitude. I thank you particularly for the tribute of respect you have paid to our gallant and virtuous army, where, at an early period of the Revolution, and of my own life, I found in Washington a father, in Knox a brother, and of whose mutual union you may judge by the delight we enjoy — my surviving companions and myself — when, amidst the crowds of the ensuing generations, we can recognize each other. So, Sir, in my constant and active devotion to the sovereignty of the people, to the rights and liberties of man, I am proud to think my adversaries, as well as my friends, may have recognized the unallayed principles and the republican feelings of an American soldier and patriot. Permit me, Sir, to offer to you and through you to the people of the State of Maine and their Representatives in both branches of the Legislature, an homage of my respectful and affectionate acknowledgements.”
The Governor then introduced Lafayette to members of the House and Senate and other persons who wanted to meet him.
The Governor then, on a platform under an awning in front of the State House introduced the General to the President Allen, officers and students of Bowdoin College who conferred the degree of LLD and addressed Lafayette as follows:
“In the name of the Trustees and Overseers of Bowdoin College I present to you a testimonial of the high consideration, with which they regard an enlightened and unshaken friend of regulated liberty. Your history, I trust, will teach useful lessons to these youth under my care, whose hearts glow with gratitude in the presence of the Soldier of Liberty, who, in his youth, supported the invaded rights of their country with the most generous liberality, and at the hazard of his life.
Thirty years ago the tyrants of Europe held you in chains in the dungeon of Olmütz; but now you hear the congratulations and receive the hearty thanks of ten millions of freemen. May the imitation of your regard to the sovereignty of the people and the authority of law, as well as of your firmness and zeal, by the youth of different nations, render your history the history of Liberty, and effect this change, that in a few years the Rights of Man, now in many countries fettered, shall hear the shouts of the whole world.
We welcome and hail you as the benefactor of our country — as one of that illustrious band of patriotic and heroic men, whose blood, through the divine blessing was the purchase of our freedom. Our hearts are glad; yet is our joy mingled with melancholy, for you are the last of the military chiefs of our Revolutionary War, and ere we shall see you again, you may be summoned to follow Washington and Knox and your other companions in arms. Allow me, then, to utter the hope and the prayer that for the infinitely precious blood shed upon Mount Calvary, which purchases the highest and eternal freedom for all who repent and believe in Jesus Christ, you may lift up your praises forever with the great company of the redeemed in the kingdom of Heaven; and may there cast down your glories and your honors at the feet of the Prince of Peace the Son of God.”
General Lafayette’s replied:
“With the highest sense of respect and gratitude, I receive the kind visit of the trustees and students of Brunswick College, the testimonies of their esteem and friendship, expressed by you, Sir, in so flattering and kind terms, and the much valued diploma, with which you have been pleased to honor an American veteran.
While I much regret not to be able to offer those sentiments at the seat of your so interesting institution, I thank you for the opportunity you have afforded me, of a personal acquaintance with you, gentlemen of that College, where young republicans, the hope of the country, are instructed in every literary and scientific branch, and above all, in the first of all science, the science of freedom, equal rights, and self-government, and while I join in your liberal wishes for the enfranchisement of mankind, while I am highly obliged to your kind feelings in my behalf, I beg you to accept my warmest good wishes, and most grateful acknowledgements.”
Lafayette was introduced to the revolutionary war veterans. He then went to a collation at Daniel Cobb’s boarding house with state and municipal authorities and others to the number of two hundred.
John Davis, on behalf of the citizens of Augusta addressed him:
“General Lafayette – The citizens of Augusta, Hallowell and Gardiner, beg leave to express their unfeigned regret that it is not permitted them, in their more, immediate vicinity, to welcome to their hospitality the Friend and Benefactor of their Country.
The people of that section of Maine, Respectfully Sir, had indulgently promised themselves an opportunity, under their own vine and fig tree of welcoming you to their affections. Every ear would have beat in responsive accordance with the greeting, and united in announcing to mankind, the deep and indelible sense they entertain of your unparalleled exertions in their cause at its most eventful crisis. Yes, Sir, at a crisis, when to all human perception, there was neither eye to pity, nor arm to save, Heaven decreed our independence, LAFAYETTE came to our and it was accomplished.
Your auspicious return to our shores, sir, has effused joy and gladness throughout the whole of this extensive continent, one sentiment has animated all conditions of men and pervaded every section of these United States. Sublime spectacle! Ten millions of freemen rising simultaneously to testify their respects and gratitude to the man whose devotion and achievements, while they have established his fame upon an imperishable basis, have eminently contributed to rank among the independent sovereignties of the earth a mighty empire in this Western hemisphere!
When we take a survey of your eventful life whether in civil or military relations, our minds are filled with astonishment and admiration. “A veteran in the cause of liberty; a stranger to the spirit of faction, a bright, untarnished model of true, pure, incorruptible republicanism;”through suffering cruelties beyond the daring of inquisitorial outrage, inflicted on you by the virtuous sovereigns of enlightened Europe in the murky dungeons of Olmutz and Magdeburg, your virtue and patriotism uninfluenced by the strongest appeals of nature were found proof against temptation. Noble example! Despotism may incarcerate – nay manacle the body; but the spirit of exalted Freedom soars above its tyranny, and mocks its power.
It must be a source of high gratification to you, Sir, to reflect that under the influenced of principles which you adopted at the first glimmering of civil liberty in this Western horizon, and which principles you have so largely assisted in disseminating. The world is assuming a new and more glorious character; and this, the country of your adoption, but yesterday in its infancy is now developing, to an astonishing extent, its capacities, and ripening, beyond the most sanguine expectations into a gigantic manhood.
Your visit at this time, Sir, has afforded us a rare and interesting opportunity to repel the injurious slanders upon the character of Republics. The reception you have met with will furnish a proud theme for future history; and we indulge the belief that same which has been so conspicuous on this occasion will again be evidenced whenever Heaven shall be pleased to vouchsafe another illustrious instance of disinterested patriotism.
We look forward, Sir, with regret, to the moment which shall waft you from our shores. We shall cherish, with a fond remembrance, the recollection of this visit; and though you be no more with us the commingled voices of the American people, at matins and at evening prayer will unceasingly ascend to Heaven in fervent ——————————————————–“
Mr. William Swan, Chairman of a Committee of the Grand Lodge of Maine then addressed Lafayette:
General Lafayette:
The Grand Lodge of the State of Maine cannot but avail themselves of the happy, auspicious and exhilarating occasion which your presence in this State presents, of uniting with the mass of our citizens to bid you welcome to our highly favored and beloved country — of mingling their thanksgivings to the Supreme Architect and Preserver of the Universe, that in his wisdom and goodness, He has preserved your life and permitted you to revisit a land endeared to you by so many tender and interesting associations, and whose glory, prosperity and happiness you have given early, uniform, and unequivocal evidence, are near your heart – of expressing in common with ten millions of free and independent human beings, their gratitude, that we are permitted to embrace in the bosom of our nation one of the most powerful defenders of those rights and privileges and that freedom, cheered and cherished by which the United States of America have arisen to be a great, powerful and happy people, “the praise of the whole Earth.”
In addressing you as Masons by the endearing appellation of Brother, they are assured from the dignity which your name enrolled with that of Washington in the archives of the fraternity has conferred on the institution, as well as the favor you have shown its members, that they shall not in your mind be charged with a want of due respect to the elevated station you hold in society. They feel in addressing Lafayette, they address him, who does rightly appreciate the delicacy as well as strength of that tie which unites all the fraternity, and which is felt to draw so closely in the bonds of affection, when expressed by the appellation of Brother. You, Sir, know how feeble is the chain which unites man to man, of which the artificial distinctions of rank and wealth and fame are the links, compare with that which the moral sympathies of our nature — honor, virtue, gratitude, charity and religion, throw around the heart.
Accept then, illustrious Brother, the heartfelt congratulations which the Masons of this State proffer, that through the abounding mercy of the Grand Architect of Heaven and Earth you have been preserved through such numerous, complicated and imminent dangers and perils, political and moral — that your life has been His kind care, in the battlefield, amidst “the confused noise of the warrior and among garments rolled in blood” — from the danger of the assassin — the noxious damps of the prison — the “pestilence which walketh in darkness and the destruction that wasteth at noon day” — for the health and vigor you are permitted to enjoy – and especially that you have been brought from the furnace “as gold seven times purified” — that the serenity which unsullied virtue and honor confer, settles on the evening of your eventful life; and that you now see the tree of Liberty in this country, which you so largely contributed to plant, extending its foliage in such exuberance and vigor as to afford fair promise that the time will come when all nations shall rest under its shade.
It is far from the spirit and genius of our institution to use the language of adulation: To you, illustrious Brother, it is believed it would be unacceptable. To touch on all the interesting scenes and political convulsions in which you have borne a conspicuous and always an honorable part would require volumes. It is perhaps sufficient to remark that Americans have never been unconcerned spectators of the path you have trod. With intense anxiety for your safety and honor and glory, your course, always luminous, has been regarded by the friends of virtue and freedom; and it is but just to add that their hopes have been more than realized.
It is impossible, however, not to recur more emphatically to the generous, disinterested, able and conspicuous part which you took in the struggle for our independence. In a contest hazardous and long doubtful, and nobly and perseveringly contended on the side of the oppressed. And with joy have we witnessed the spectacle of a united nation gratefully rendering to you tears and smiles of gratitude and thanksgiving in return for the blood you so freely and gallantly shed for them.
As Masons, the members of the Grand Lodge of Maine cannot but feel grateful for the countenance and encouragement which you have afforded our ancient and honorable institution, and the dignity which an example so illustrious reflects upon it. It is surely sufficient to secure respect and veneration to any institution that it has numbered with its members a Washington and a Lafayette. None can doubt, when such are enrolled among its patrons, that it is consecrated to virtue.
Accept, venerable Brother, from the Grand Lodge of Maine, and through them from all the fraternity in this State, a warm, a cordial, and joyous welcome here. And be assured that when you shall leave us to return to the “Land of your fathers’ sepulchers” and the bosom of a beloved family, that the benediction of the brethren will attend you; and that it will be their prayer that your voyage across the ocean may be prosperous; that the remainder of life’s sea, which to you during a large part of your course has been agitated and tempestuous, may be calm and serene; and when you shall have passed the dark valley of the shadow of death, may a louder and more joyful shout than you have heard in this land hail you welcome to the portals of Heaven.”
To the deputation from the Grand Lodge Maine, General Lafayette expressed the gratification he had derived from the sentiments of mutual and truly fraternal affection which unite the Grand and other Lodges of the American confederacy. And with the Grand Chapter he congratulated himself on the honor he had to assist in the laying the cornerstones of monuments to Greene, Kalb, Pulaski, and the great, exemplary and fruitful event of Bunker Hill.
In the interval between this and the time appointed for dining, the General called upon Mrs. Thatcher from Thomaston, daughter of his early friend and companion in arms, the illustrious Knox. He also visited Mrs. Wingate, at whose house a number of ladies had the pleasure of a personal interview.
At four o’clock the General partook of a public dinner at Union Hall, which was prepared and served in a very elegant style. The guest spent the evening at the house of Governor Parris which was hospitably thrown open to the citizens, and large numbers of ladies and gentlemen, notwithstanding the evening was rainy, called and were introduced to him. Several buildings were brilliantly illuminated during the evening, amongst which were the Museum, the dwelling house of Major Gage, the Argus Office, and the Portland Heading Room.
After touring Portland he spent the night at Daniel Cobb’s Boarding House.
For information on the bicentennial of Lafayette’s tour check out Lafayette200.org