“You have doubtless been made acquainted with my opinion on the events of the 18th _Fructidor_, and I am aware that my opinion on that subject is not yours. Perhaps mine is influenced by my profound contempt for the counter-revolutionists, and by some regret at not having gone out at a moment when liberty of opinion and a bad tone of society would, it is said, have authorized a republican declaration. But I cannot deceive myself as to the nature of the measures that have been taken; as to the constitution that has been sworn, and which, by the way, is infinitely better than that which I was to have defended; as to the personal characters of several of the proscribed parties; as to the declaration of rights, which, waiving all considerations of an author’s self-love, shall always form the rule of my opinions and conduct; finally, as to the principle, in which I have been confirmed by experience, that Liberty can, and ought to be, assisted only by means worthy of her. If I deceive myself in my disapprobation of some of the present measures, the fault is not mine; I have been enabled to form a judgment on them only by means of some apologies and public papers; and in frankly laying before you the sentiments of the most republican heart that ever existed, I most ardently desire to hear from you the reasons which have induced so sincere and so enlightened a patriot as yourself to form a different opinion. “Our first act of liberty at Hamburg was an act of respect to the representative of the Republic, an account of which he must have forwarded to the government. We have written to Bonaparte in the midst of his triumphs, and to Clarke in the midst of his reverses, for both have considerable claims upon our gratitude. But as it appears to us that the official tribute ought to be addressed to the minister of foreign relations, the first organ of the government in taking steps which have released us from captivity and death, we have written to Talleyrand, as the natural depository of our acknowledgments, as the individual to whom we owe an account of our existence in a foreign country, and as joining to his ministerial claims that which he possesses upon our personal gratitude. We trust that by these three steps taken by us at Hamburg, in Italy, and at Paris, we have fulfilled all suitable duties and formalities. The pleasure of our deliverance is augmented beyond measure by the idea that we owe it to the triumphs of the Republic, to the kind feelings of our fellow-citizens, and to the zeal of our best friends, among whom you are acquainted with one whose abilities are as superior as his heart is excellent, one for whom I feel the most affectionate regard, whom I ardently long to embrace, to whom I have a thousand things to say, and a thousand questions to put, and whom I shall cordially cherish till my latest breath. “LA FAYETTE.”