Details
LAFAYETTE, Marquis de. Autograph letter signed ("Lafayette") to RUFUS KING (1755-1827), La Grange, 16 June 1826. 1¼ page, 4to, with seal hole on address panel, matted and framed.
A FAREWELL LETTER FROM "AN OLD, CONSTANT, AND CORDIALLY DEVOTED FRIEND". "I wish you had given preference to the Havre packet, the Cadmus, Captain Allyn, who sails on that very day for New York. There I might have anticipated a chance to see you in Paris, and to prevail on you to visit La Grange. But I see my affectionate farewell and best wishes must reach you in London. Accept them my dear Sir, from an old, constant and cordially devoted friend." He closes by extending an invitation to King's son and daughter-in-law to also pay him and his family a visit at La Grange. King, a Federalist candidate for the Presidency in 1816, had less than a year to live at this date. A long-term Federalist party leader in the Congress, he had reluctantly agreed to take the post as ambassador to Great Britain in 1825, but his declining health forced his return in 1826.
A FAREWELL LETTER FROM "AN OLD, CONSTANT, AND CORDIALLY DEVOTED FRIEND". "I wish you had given preference to the Havre packet, the Cadmus, Captain Allyn, who sails on that very day for New York. There I might have anticipated a chance to see you in Paris, and to prevail on you to visit La Grange. But I see my affectionate farewell and best wishes must reach you in London. Accept them my dear Sir, from an old, constant and cordially devoted friend." He closes by extending an invitation to King's son and daughter-in-law to also pay him and his family a visit at La Grange. King, a Federalist candidate for the Presidency in 1816, had less than a year to live at this date. A long-term Federalist party leader in the Congress, he had reluctantly agreed to take the post as ambassador to Great Britain in 1825, but his declining health forced his return in 1826.