Lafayette, when he arrived at the city Hall:


"In the name of the municipal authority of the city, I bid you a sincere
welcome to the shores of a country, of whose freedom and happiness you will
ever be considered one of the most honored and beloved founders. Your
contemporaries in arms, of whom indeed but few remain, have not forgot, and
their posterity will never forget the young and gallant _Frenchman_, who
consecrated his youth, his talents, his fortune and his exertions to their
cause; who exposed his life, who shed his blood, that they might be free
and happy. They will recollect with profound emotions, so long as they
remain worthy of the liberties they enjoy, and of the exertions you made to
obtain them, that you came to them in the darkest period of their struggle;
that you linked your fortune with theirs, when it seemed almost hopeless;
that you shared in the dangers, privations and sufferings of that bitter
struggle; nor quitted them for a moment till it was consummated on the
glorious field of Yorktown. Half a century has elapsed since that great
event, and in that time your name has become as dear to the friends, as it
is inseparably connected with the cause of freedom, both in the old and in
the new world.

"The people of the United States look up to you as to one of their most
honored parents--the country cherishes you as one of the most beloved of
her sons. I hope and trust, Sir, that not only the present, but the future
conduct of my countrymen, to the latest period of time, will, among other
slanders, refute the unjust imputation, that republics are always
ungrateful to their benefactors.

"In behalf of my fellow citizens of New-York, and speaking the warm and
universal sentiments of the whole people of the United States, I repeat