“How is it possible, my dear friend, that since the period of our deliverance you have not yet received the homage of my gratitude, and the expression of my sincere friendship? M—— must have explained to you that my delay in writing could have proceeded only from the hope of enjoying a happiness still greater. I am far from renouncing that happiness; I have need of it more than ever, and I demand it from you with the feeling of confidence which you have given me a right to express. I am not apprehensive of abusing that right, and it is gratifying to me to use it. I forbear to speak of my obligations towards you, my dear friend; the question relates to more than my own liberty and my own life, since my wife, my daughters, my two friends, and our faithful domestics have been restored along with me. How many other obligations to which my heart is incessantly alive should I not still have to recapitulate, were I to endeavor to portray my gratitude! but it is inexpressible—inexhaustible—like your friendship, and I should feel delighted to thank you by pressing you to my heart. “You have had news of our deliverance, of our journey, of our health; that of my wife in particular is so bad that we have been forced to stop in the nearest place of safety. To have embarked even for a short voyage would have caused great injury to some of our party. Travelling by land, after the first eight days, would have been uncertain, and my wife would have been unable to bear it without undergoing a degree of fatigue that would have been dangerous in her exhausted situation. We therefore propose to settle for some time in a very isolated retreat between Kiel and Ploën. That territory is subject to the king of Denmark, and his connection with the Republic will, I trust, prevent him from molesting French citizens whose principles may be displeasing to him, but whose only occupation will consist in the care of their health, and who, unfortunately, in their present position, can serve liberty only by their wishes.