Note 77 — FOURTH CONGRESS.—FIRST SESSION. (continued 9)
Reading edition
The following is the letter received by the committee appointed to inquire into the situation of the son of General Lafayette:
[Translation.]
"Ramapagh, (New Jersey,) March 28, 1796.
"Sir: I have just received the honorable resolution which the merits of my father have procured for me. Deign to express to the Representatives of the people of America his gratitude—my youth forbids me yet to speak of mine. Every day recalls to me what he taught me, at every period of his life, so full of vicissitudes, and what he has repeated in a letter, written from the depth of his prison. 'I am convinced (he says) that the goodness of the United States and the tenderness of my paternal friend will need nothing to excite them.
"Arrived in America some months since, I live in the country, in New Jersey, occupied in the pursuits of my education. I have no wants; if I had felt any, I should have answered to the paternal solicitude of the President of the United States, either by confiding them to him, or by accepting his offers. I shall hereafter consider it a duty, to impart them to the House of Representatives, which deigns to inquire into my situation.
"I am as happy as a continual inquietude relative to the object of my first affections will permit. I have found benevolence wherever I have been known, and have often had the satisfaction of hearing those, who were ignorant of my connections, speak of their interest in the fate of my father, express their admiration of, and partake the gratitude I feel, for the generous Dr. Bollman, who has done so much to break his chains.
"It is amid all these motives of emulation, that I shall continue my studies. Every day more convinced of the duties which are imposed by the goodness of Congress, and the names I have the honor to bear.
"GEO. WASHINGTON MOTIER LAFAYETTE. The Hon. Edward Livingston, Chairman," &c.