Phenix Gazette

From the Baltimore American.

GENERAL LAFAYETTE

It will be recollected that after the Grand Procession of the Fourth of July last, John S. Skinner obligingly offered to transmit to Gen. Lafayette specimens of the emblems, badges, &c. relating to, and used on that interesting occasion, by the numerous associations of tradesmen of our city. The General, with his characteristic politeness, acknowledges the receipt of some of these in the following letters.

La Grange, Sept. 11th, 1828.

To the Book Binders of Baltimore:

Gentlemen: With a lively sense of gratitude, I have received your kind letter, and a copy of the apron and badge which, on the late celebration, doubly dear to an American heart, were worn by the Book-Binders of Baltimore. Testimonies of your remembrance and affection are at all times highly gratifying to me, nor could they prove more welcome than on this ominous occasion, when the Anniversary day of Independence is hailed in common with the commencement of one of its most promising results.

Amidst the immense progress of every kind that has taken place since it has first been my happy lot to be admitted as a soldier of the United States, and particularly as a citizen of Maryland, I am proud to have been enabled to show every day excite European admiration.

I beg you gentlemen, to accept the respectful acknowledgments and affectionate good wishes of a veteran, who would have been happy, in the procession, to have followed his venerable friend, the surviving Signer of the Glorious Declaration; and to have expressed to you, on that great day, the sentiments of his deep gratitude and warm attachment.

LAFAYETTE.

LA GRANGE, Sept 12th, 1828.

I am highly obliged to Messrs. Dobbin, Murphy & Bose, for their kind attention in sending me a copy of their interesting paper, containing a description of the Grand Celebration that took place on the last Fourth of July. It has been my happy lot, at every stage of Baltimorean progress, for more than half a century, to find my delight in the enjoyment of your rapidly increasing improvements, ever enhanced by particular remembrances and a concomitant series of favors conferred upon me. So again, on this late occasion, while I was, with patriotic and devoted feelings, anticipating the blessings of prosperity which the opening of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail-road cannot fail to produce, I have had the inexpressible pleasure to receive fresh testimonies of Baltimorean kindness in my behalf. I have the honor to present you, gentlemen, with my best thanks and regard.

LAFAYETTE.

"LA GRANGE, September 11th, 1828.

"Gentlemen--With affectionate feelings of pleasure and gratitude I have received your kind letter, the Badge bearing the likeness of our matchless Washington, and of my excellent friend the surviving Signer of Independence, the ensigns of your association as they were worn by your worthy President, and an elegant pair of Ladies' white satin Slippers, which were manufactured in the procession. For these gratifying marks of your remembrance and friendship, I beg you to accept my most grateful Thanks.

The Anniversary of American Independence, the commencement of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail-road, have been happy associations: So I have seen, as it were, the commencement of your city in the first years of the Revolutionary struggle, of which this very day is one of the (1777) Anniversaries, and it has been lately to me a matter of proud delight to witness the immense progress of Baltimore, a great and rapid increase of which we may now more than ever anticipate. Its happy effects upon every sort of trade and industry cannot be doubted, and I offer you the cordial congratulations and good wishes of your sincerely obliged friend

LAFAYETTE."

The Committee of the association of Cordwainers at Baltimore.