The New Hampshire Gazette

Lafayette and Jackson.—The following is La Fayette's account of General Lafayette's visit to the Hermitage, the country seat of General Jackson:

"At one o'clock we embarked with a numerous company to go to dine with General Jackson, residing at the distance of some miles up the river. We there found many ladies, and neighboring farmers, who had been invited by Mrs. Jackson to come and take part at the fete she had prepared for General LAFAYETTE.

"The first thing that struck me on arriving at the residence of General Jackson, was the simplicity of his habitation. Still a little governed by my European habits, I demanded if this could really be the dwelling of the most popular man in the United States; of him whom the country proclaimed one of its most illustrious defenders; and in fine, of him who, by the will of the people, had been on the point of arriving at the supreme magistracy?

"General Jackson shewed us, in all their details, his garden and his farm, which appeared to be cultivated with the greatest intelligence—We remarked everywhere the greatest order and the most perfect prosperity, and might readily have believed ourselves with one of the richest and most skilful farmers of Germany.

"On re-entering the house, some friends of General Jackson; who probably had not seen him for a long time, begged him to shew them the arms that he had received after the last war—He yielded with a good grace to their request, and caused to be placed on the table, a sabre, a sword, and a pair of pistols. The sword was presented to him by Congress; and the sabre, I believe, by the body of the army who fought under his orders at New-Orleans. These two arms of American manufacture are remarkable for the elegance of the workmanship, and yet more for the honorable inscriptions with which they are covered. But it was particularly to the pistols, that the General wished to draw our attention. He presented them to General LAFAYETTE, and asked if he recollected them? The latter, after some moments of attentive examination, answered that he did remember them to be those which he had offered in 1778 to his paternal friend Washington, and that he experienced sincere satisfaction in now finding them in the hands of a man so worthy of such an inheritance. At these words, the countenance of Old Hickory was suffused with a modest blush, and his eye sparkled as in the days of victory.

"Yes," said he, "I believe myself worthy of it"—pressing at the same time to his bosom his pistols and the hands of Lafayette,—"If not for what I have done, at least for what I desire to do for my country."

"All the citizens applauded this noble confidence of the Patriot Hero; and felt convinced that the arms of Washington could not be in better hands than those of Jackson."