[Inclosure in No. 486.]
Mr. de La Fayette
to Mr. Pomeroy.
[Translation.]
Mr. Minister: It is with the deepest sense of
acknowledgment that we have received the letter inviting us in the name
of the Government and Congress of the Unite States to be present at the
celebration of the centenary of the surrender of Yorktown.
My eldest brother, Oscar de La Fayette, was seriously ill when this
letter reached him. He was profoundly moved by it, and the last act of
his life was to testify his sincere gratitude to the minister of the
United States, the honorable General Noyes.
We are deeply touched by the honor extended to us, and by this new proof
of the sympathies ever living in the heart of the American people for
the memory of our grandfather.
The glorious anniversary which you are going to celebrate recall at the
same time the most beautiful pages of your history and the most
beautiful moments of the youth of La Fayette, when on the battle-fields
of Virginia he successfully executed the orders of his general-in-chief
and paternal friend, your immortal Washington.
Faithful to the memories bred in the worship of your national traditions,
the descendants of La Fayette can only heartily thank you for having
thought of associating them with the solemnity of the centenary.
It is difficult for us at present to designate those of our family who
will go to America. It is even to be feared that some will be detained
by imperious political and family duties, but I am confident, Mr.
Minister, that we shall find in the young generation youthful and worthy
representatives of the sentiments of our grandfather.
Permit us, Mr. Minister, to beg you to be the interpreter to your
government, Congress, and to the American people, of our wishes for the
prosperity and the granedur of the United States, and at the same time
to hope that your country and ours united by the same form of
government, in the future as in the present, will perpetuate the
memories of friendship that date from Yorktown.
EDMOND de LAFAYETTE,
Senator from Upper Loraine.
And in the name of his cousin, Marquis Jules de Lasteyrie, senator,
son of Virginia, sister of my father and née
de La Fayette, and his entire family.
