“I feel that every one will envy the happiness of my descendants, as they cherish and honor your name. To have had one of their ancestors amongst your soldiers, to know that he had the happy fortune to be the friend of your heart, will be an eternal honor in which they will glory; and I shall bequeath to the eldest amongst them, down to the latest of my posterity, the favor which you have been willing to confer upon my son George. “I was intending to go to America with the news of the peace. You know me too well, my dear General, not to judge of the pleasure which I felt in advance, at the hope of embracing you and being reunited to my companions in arms. Nothing could please me so much as that delightful prospect; but I have been suddenly forced to change the execution of my favorite plan, and as I have had at last the happiness of receiving a letter from you, I know that you will approve of my prolonging my absence, for political motives. “A copy both of my letter to Congress and that which I have written officially to M. Livingston, requesting that they may be communicated to you, will inform you more fully of the reasons which press me to depart for Madrid. After that, I shall go to Paris, and in the month of June embark for America. Happy, ten-times happy shall I be to embrace my dear general, my father, my best friend, whom I cherish with an affection and respect which I feel so deeply that I know it is impossible to express it! “You will see by my letter to Congress that independently of the plans which had been proposed to you, and for which were united immense forces by sea and land, it had at length been decided that I should enter into Canada. I have had the hope of embracing you at Montreal, when I was to have been joined by a detachment of the army. The necessity of some diversion secured for us the consent of Spain; but these projects have vanished, and we ought to console ourselves in thinking of the happiness of that part of the continent to which you have given deliverance. “I am impatient, my dear General, to hear from you, and to inform you of myself, for which purpose I send my servant by this vessel, and for whom I have arranged that he be landed on the coast of Maryland. I hope to receive your reply before leaving France, and I shall be then where I wish to go. If you are at home, I will direct my way toward the Chesapeake Bay. “You cannot, my dear General, employ your influence more wisely than to persuade the American people to strengthen the federal ties. This is a task which appeals to your heart, and I consider this result as necessary. Be assured that the European politicians will be disposed to create a division amongst the states. This is the time when the powers of Congress ought to be fixed, their possible limits determined, and the Articles of Confederation revised. This work, which should interest all the friends of America, is the last test; this is wanting to the perfection of the temple of Liberty.