CHAPTER XXXV.

THE VISIT OF LAFAYETTE.

THE greatest popular enthusiasm I ever witnessed was excited by the visit of Lafayette to the United States in 1824, when in his sixtyseventh year, but erect in person as in principle, and apparently with his mental and physical powers but little impaired. In 1777, at the age of nineteen, he first came to this country to volunteer his services.

His ovation was very different from that which is conferred on a political favorite of the day, in which one party only feels an interest, and many members of that party from interested motives. Nor was it like the triumph bestowed on a military or naval hero, which the blaze of glory kindles. Lafayette was welcomed and honored by the promptings of gratitude, which feeling he had in his youth inspired in the hearts of our fathers, for his disinterested and efficient aid in obtaining our independence, and by our admiration of his subsequent course in seeking to establish freedom in his native land, without violence or bloodshed.

The whole American nation seemed to love and

honor him. Wherever he appeared every demonstration of these feelings was exhibited in the most conspicuous manner. In Richmond, people from all parts of the State assembled to see him, to cheer him and to touch his hand. Many a Revolutionary soldier left the comforts of home to welcome one who had partaken of the same dangers. and hardships, and mothers brought their children, to see and to impress on their youthful minds the memory of the man who was beloved by Washington.

The pageant was all that its actors could devise and execute. The only alloy to their gratification was the fatigue it imposed on its beloved object. The arm of the old soldier was almost shaken from its socket, and his hand was bruised and benumbed by the grasp, not always gentle, of the thousands that sought to press it. Every window of the streets through which the long procession passed, was filled with the smiling faces of mothers and daughters. Handkerchiefs waved like the leaves of a forest in a gale, and shouts of welcome arose, drowning the music of the martial instruments.

No apartment in the city was sufficiently capacious for the ball which was to be given, where the ladies might have the privilege of saluting Lafayette hand to hand, if not lip to lip. The entire area embraced in the quadrangle formed by the surrounding buildings and galleries of the

Eagle Hotel, a space of about eight thousand square feet, was floored over and covered with awnings and flags, to form a ball-room, and large as was the space it was well filled.

Lafayette's memory was sufficiently tenacious to enable him to recognize many of those whom he had known during the war, from brother officers down to the faithful black servant James, who was again ready to wait on him after a lapse of fortyfive years.

The honors shown to Lafayette did honor to the country, inspired as they were by gratitude for his services and admiration of his character. How different from the incense offered to party leaders, who are ready generally to lead whichever party can furnish the most numerous troop of followers; or how different from that which follows in the train of a successful candidate, whose office confers patronage, and is apt to confer it on those who have been the most ready tools for his promotion, not on those whose integrity and capacity would ensure a faithful performance of their duties.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT.

IN February, 1816, the Legislature of Virginia applied to Bushrod Washington for permission to remove to Richmond the remains of his illustrious relative, over which they desired to erect a suitable monument. Judge Washington was constrained by the will of his uncle to decline the request.

On the 22d February, 1817, the Legislature authorized the opening of subscriptions throughout the State, to raise a fund for the erection of a monument to WASHINGTON, limiting the sum of each individual subscription to twenty dollars.

The enthusiasm in Richmond was such, that several gentlemen evaded the limitation by inscribing the names of their wives and children with twenty dollars affixed to each.

Official agents were appointed in each county to obtain subscriptions. Some did not take the trouble to act, and perhaps some found it more convenient to retain than to report the sums collected, and due accountability was not enforced. So it was, however, that out of $13,063 collected,

about four-fifths were obtained in Richmond, if my memory serves.

It is mortifying to record such apathy on such a subject. Can it be fairly ascribed to the absence of party stimulants? Would apathy have prevailed had the glorification of some hero of the day, who could reward his followers, been the object, instead of a token of gratitude to the man and the hero, not of the day, but of all time?

This paltry sum (considering that Virginia was the donor) was deposited in the Treasury, and there it remained idle, or was supposed to remain ; but when other moneys were missing, it was reported that the monument fund was gone. The State, however, very properly assumed the responsibility; but the fund lay dormant until the 22d February, 1828, when a resolution was adopted, ordering it to be placed at interest. Thus it remained until 1848, when it had accumulated to $41,833, with the aid of a new general subscription, which did not prove large.

On the 22d February, 1849, the Historical Society of Virginia, or influential members of it,* stimulated the Legislature to enact that a monument should be erected on the Capitol Square in Richmond, and to appropriate such sum as should be required, in addition to the funds collected, to make an aggregate of $100,000.

* Conway Robinson, Esq., was one of the most active.