"Alas! Time has not yet demolished the fortifications with which the English roughened this country--nor those the Americans raised for their defence; their half rounded summits still appear in every quarter, amidst plains, on the tops of mountains. The traveller need not search for the ditch which served to encompass them; it is still open under his feet. Scattered ruins of houses laid waste, which the fire had partly respected, in order to leave monuments of British fury, are still to be found.--Men still exist, who can say, here a ferocious Englishman slaughtered my father; there my wife tore her bleeding daughter from the hands of an unbridled Englishman.--Alas! the soldiers who fell under the sword of the Britons are not yet reduced to dust: the labourer in turning up his field, still draws from the bosom of the earth their whitened bones; while the ploughman, with tears of tenderness and gratitude, still recollects that his fields, now covered with rich harvests, have been moistened with French blood. While every thing around the inhabitants of this country animates them to speak of the tyranny of Great Britain, and of the generosity of Frenchmen; when England has declared a war of death to that nation, to avenge herself for its having cemented with its blood the independence of the United States:--It was at this moment their government made a treaty of amity with their ancient tyrant, the implacable enemy of their ancient ally. Oh Americans covered with noble scars! Oh you who have so often flown to death and to victory with French soldiers! You who know those generous sentiments which distinguish the true warrior! whose hearts have always vibrated with those of your companions in arms! consult them to-day to know what they experience; recollect at the same time, that if magnanimous souls with liveliness resent an affront, they also know how to forget one. Let your government return to itself, and you will still find in Frenchmen faithful friends and generous allies." [Illustration: Martha Washington's Bedroom at Mount Vernon _Returning to their beloved Mount Vernon with General Washington after his retirement, in 1796, as First President of the United States, Martha Washington seldom spent a night away from the historic mansion overlooking the Potomac. There she continued to offer a gracious hospitality to the many visitors attracted by her distinguished husband. She never recovered from his death in 1799, and dwelt in deep mourning until she followed him, May 22, 1802. Her remains rest with those of Washington in the vault at Mount Vernon._] As if to remove all doubts respecting the purpose for which this extraordinary letter was written, a copy was, on the day of its date, transmitted to a printer for publication.