“Shall America remain, without limitation of time, a scene of desolation,--or are you desirous of enjoying peace and all the blessings of her train? Shall your provinces, as in former days, flourish under the protection of the most puissant nation of the world? Or will you forever pursue that shadow of liberty which still escapes from your hands, even when in the act of grasping it? And how soon would that very liberty, once obtained, turn into licentiousness, if it be not under the safeguards of a great European power? Will you rely upon the guarantee of France? They among you whom she has seduced may assume that her assistance will be generous and disinterested, and that she will never exact from you a servile obedience. They are frantic with joy at the alliance already established, and promise you that Spain will immediately follow the example of France. Are they ignorant that each of these has an equal interest in keeping you under, and will combine to accomplish their end? Thousands of men have perished; immense resources have been exhausted; and yet since that fated alliance the dispute has become more embittered than ever. Everything urges us to put a conclusion to dissensions,--not less detrimental to the victors than to the vanquished; but desirable as peace is, it cannot be negotiated between us as between two independent powers; it is necessary that a decisive advantage should put Britain in a condition to dictate the terms of reconciliation. It is her interest, as well as her policy, to make these as advantageous to one as the other; but it is at the same time advisable to arrive at it without any unnecessary waste of that blood of which we are already as sparing as though it were again our own. “There is but General Arnold who can surmount obstacles so great as these. A man of so much courage will never despair of the Republic, even when every door to a reconciliation seems sealed.