“The last days of his visit were properly spent by La Fayette in the nation’s house, on the invitation of its present possessor, the chief magistrate of the United States. Mr. Adams was in his early youth a favorite with the general, having much personal communication with him; and of his disposition and ability to represent the hospitality and feeling of the millions of free people over whose affairs he presides there could not be a doubt. La Fayette was at home in the national house, in the city of Washington, and in the heart of a family which offered every inducement that can operate on the human mind to make him comfortable: this was his abode till the moment of his departure to embark in the _Brandywine_, named in compliment to him, and peculiarly fitted for his accommodation—her ‘giddy mast’ bearing the stripes and the stars, her bosom to contain the person of our guest; a man of whom it may be said, ‘take him all in all, we ne’er shall look upon his like again,’ unless he shall again visit our shores; one who was the same, great and good, in prosperity and adversity—grateful for kind offices, forgiving of injuries, zealous to confer benefits, modest when on the pinnacle of human glory, dignified and collected in the proud presence of kings. But I must not proceed—if, after Mr. Adams’ display of eloquence and power, he who commands words and they obey him, honestly confessed ‘a want of language to give utterance to his feelings’—who among us may attempt it? I shall, therefore, proceed to notice some of the things which happened at the departure of La Fayette, with this simple remark, that if there is any American who can read, unmoved, Mr. Adams’ valedictory address to him, or the reply of the general to that address, I would not possess that man’s heart for his fortune though he were a Crœsus. “The 7th inst. was the day appointed for his departure. The civil and military authorities and the whole people of Washington had prepared to honor it. The banks were closed and all business suspended, and nothing else engaged attention except the ceremonies prescribed for the occasion. “At about twelve o’clock the authorities of Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria, the principal officers of the general government, civil, military, and naval, some members of Congress, and other respectable strangers were assembled in the President’s house to take leave of La Fayette. He entered the great hall in silence, leaning on the marshal of the district and on the arm of one of the President’s sons. Mr. Adams then with much dignity, but with evident emotion, addressed him in the following terms:— ”_Address of the President of the United States to General La Fayette, on taking leave of him at his departure on the 7th of September, 1825._