With the greatest pleasure I receive in the character of a private citizen the honor of your address. To a benevolent providence and the fortitude of a brave and virtuous army, supported by the general exertion of our common country, I stand indebted for the plaudits you now bestow. The reflection, however, of having met the congratulating smiles and approbation of my fellow citizens for the part I have acted in the cause of Liberty and Independence cannot fail of adding pleasure to the other sweets of domestic life; and my sense of them is heightened by their coming from the respectable inhabitants of the place of my growing infancy and the honorable mention which is made of my revered mother, by whose maternal hand, (early deprived of a father) I was led to manhood. For the expression of personal affection and attachment, and for your kind wishes for my future welfare, I offer grateful thanks and my sincere prayers for the happiness and prosperity of the corporate town of Fredericksburg. Signed: GEORGE WASHINGTON. This address is recorded in the books of the town council and is signed in a handwriting that looks like that of Washington. As it is known that Washington lived at Fredericksburg from the time he was about six years of age until early manhood, the expression "growing infancy" is unfortunate, but later, when Mayor Robert Lewis, a nephew of Washington, delivered the welcome address to General Lafayette when he visited Fredericksburg in 1824 the real case was made more plain when he said: "The presence of the friend of Washington excites the tenderest emotions and associations among a people whose town enjoys the distinguished honor of having been the residence of the Father of his Country during the days of his childhood and youth," and in reply General Lafayette said: "At this place, Sir, which calls to our recollections several among the most honored names of the Revolutionary War, I did, many years ago, salute the first residence of our paternal chief, receiving the blessings of his venerated mother and of his dear sister, your own respected mother." Later the same day, at a banquet in the evening, given in his honor, Lafayette offered the following sentiment, "The City of Fredericksburg--first residence of Washington--may she more and more attain all the prosperity which independence, republicanism and industry cannot fail to secure." JOHN PAUL JONES. Of all the men whose homes were in Fredericksburg, none went forth to greater honor nor greater ignominy than John Paul Jones, who raised the first American flag on the masthead of his ship, died in Paris and was buried and slept for 113 years beneath a filthy stable yard, forgotten by the country he valiantly served.