"I have learned since I have been at this place, that you are at Bordentown.--Whether for the sake of retirement or economy I know not. Be it for either or both, or whatever it may, if you will come to this place and partake with me I shall be exceed- ingly happy to see you at it. Your presence may remind Congress of your past services to this country; and if it is in my power to impress them, command my best exertions with freedom, as they will be rendered cheerfully by one who entertains a lively sense of the importance of your works, and who with much pleasure subscribes himself, "Your Sincere Friend, "George Washington." Did any of your ancestors ever receive a letter like that? Do you think that Paine was a drunken beast when the following letter was received by him? "You express a wish in your letter to return to America in a national ship; Mr. Dawson, who brings over the treaty, and who will present you with this letter, is charged with orders to the captain of the 480 Maryland to receive and accommodate you back, if you can be ready to depart at such a short warning. You will in general find us returned to sentiments worthy of former times; _in these it will be your glory to have steadily labored and with as much effect as any man living._ That you may live long to continue your useful labors, and reap the reward in the _thankfulness of nations_, is my sincere prayer. Accept the assur- ances of my high esteem and affectionate attachment." Thomas Jefferson. Did any of your ancestors ever receive a letter like that? "It has been very generally propagated through the continent that I wrote the pamphlet 'Common Sense.' I could not have written anything in so manly and striking a style."--John Adams. "A few more such flaming arguments as were exhibited at Falmouth and Norfolk, added to the sound doctrine and unanswerable reasoning con- tained in the pamphlet 'Common Sense,' will not leave numbers at a loss to decide on the propriety of a separation."--George Washington. "It is not necessary for me to tell you how much all your countrymen--I speak of the great mass of the people--are interested in your welfare. 481 They have not forgotten the history of their own Revolution and the difficult scenes through which they passed; nor do they review its several stages without reviving in their bosoms a due sensibility of the merits of those who served them in that great and arduous conflict. The crime of ingratitude has not yet stained, and I trust never will stain, our national character. You are considered by them as not only having rendered important services in our own Revolution, but as being on a more extensive scale the friend of human rights, and a distinguished and able defender of public liberty. To the welfare of Thomas Paine the Americans are not, nor can they be indifferent.".. James Monroe. Did any of your ancestors ever receive a letter like that?