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The following is taken from "Recollections of the Private Life of
General Lafayette" , Volume I, by Monsieur Jules Colquet, M.D., published
by Leavitt, Lord and Co., New York, in 1836. There are two volumes.
These volumes can be seen at the Cumberland County Library, North Carolina
Reference Department. We are very fortunate indeed to have these
valuable books by the French author and friend of Lafayette.
In
Volume I is found the picture "View of Fayetteville", then the Capital
of North Carolina, which depicts the State House and several other buildings.
On page 178, of Volume I, first paragraph,
Above the bed is a painting, representing a meeting of
the superior officers of the American army, (Lafayette among the number,) and
the staff of General Rochambeau, at the siege of Yorktown. Of the
drawings, the most remarkable are - a view of the residence of John Adams, by
his granddaughter, Miss Eliza Quincy ; and Mr. Hancock's house, at Boston ;
Washington's house, (an engraving ;) and a view of Fayetteville, a small town,
situate on the western bank of the river Capefear, sketched in 1814, by M.
Horace Say.
In 1814, my friend, M. H. Say, the son of the celebrated
economist, on his way from Charlestown to New York, passed by the capital of
North Carolina, to which the gratitude of America has given the name of
Fayetteville. The town was then by no means populous, and consisted only
of two large streets, in the form of a cross, at the meeting point of which, was
the governor's residence. The view of the country presented nothing
picturesque, but the name given to the town induced the young traveller to take
a sketch of it. On his return to France, thinking that such a mark of
attention might not be indifferent to the general, he had a frame made for his
sketch, (with a copy of which I present you,) and sent it to him. In 1818,
M. Say's brother-in-law, M. Compte, one of the editors of the Censeur
Europeen, was persecuted by the restoration, and found a hospitable shelter
a Lagrange. Lafayette wrote to M. H. Say, to invite him to spend a few
days at his country-seat. My friend accepted the invitation ; and one
morning, as he was on the point of taking a walk in the park, a servant apprized
him, that the general desired to see him. As soon as M. Say entered his
cabinet, Lafayette cordially pressed his hand, made him take a seat beside
himself, and said to him - "I have been deeply affected at seeing that you
thought of me in the United States. There is your drawing, which I have
kept near me. I shall probably never see the place itself, but you have,
at least, given me an idea of it." At that period, he little thought,
that, some years afterward, he should make a triumphal entry into that very town
!
On the occasion of his last visit to America, on his approach
to Fayetteville, although the weather was shocking, and the rain fell in
torrents, he said to Bastien, "We shall now see if M. Say has given a
correct representation of the town, of which he has sent me a
drawing." He immediately knew it from the recollection that he
preserved of the sketch ; on the correctness of which, he complimented the
author on his return to Paris.
Date last edited:
07/17/2011
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