"_Sir_,--You will, I hope, not think it a Pre | sumption in a Stranger, whose Name, | perhaps never reached your Ears, to ad | dress himself to you, the Commanding | General of a great Nation. I am a | German, born and liberally educated | in the city of Heydelberg, in the Pa | latinate of the Rhine. I came to this | Country in 1776, and felt soon after my | arrival, a close Attachment to the | Liberty for which these confederated | States then struggled. The same attachment | still remains not glowing, but burning in | my Breast. At the same Time that I am | exulting in the Measures adopted by our | Government, I feel myself elevated in | the Idea of my adopted Country, I am | attached, both from the Bent of Educa | tion and mature Enquiry and Search | to the simple Doctrines of Christianity, | which I have the Honor to teach in | Public; and I do heartily Despise all the | Cavils of Infidelity. Our present Time | pregnant with the most shocking Events | and Calamities, threatens Ruin to | our Liberty and Government. | The most secret Plans are in Agitation; | Plans calculated to ensnare the Unwary, | to attract the Gay irreligious, and to | entice even the Well-Disposed to combine in | the general Machine for overturning all | Government and all Religion. "It was some Time since that a Book | fell into my hands, entitled 'Proofs | of a Conspiracy, &c. by John Robison,' which | gives a full Account of a Society of Free | Masons, that distinguishes itself by the | name of 'Illuminati,' whose Plan is to over | throw all Government and all Religion, even | natural; and who endeavor to eradicate | every Idea of a Supreme Being, and distin | guish Man from Beast by his shape only. | A Thought suggested itself to me, that some | of the Lodges in the United States might | have caught the Infection, and might co-oper | ate with the Illuminati or the Jacobin Club | in France. Fauchet is mentioned by Robinson | as a zealous Member; and who can doubt | Genet and Adet? Have not these their con | fidants in this country? They use the same | Expressions, and are generally Men of no | Religion. Upon serious Reflection I was led | to think that it might be within your | Power to prevent the horrid Plan from | corrupting the Brethren of the English Lodges | over which you preside. "I send you the 'Proof of a Conspiracy,' &c. | which I doubt not, will give you Satis | faction, and afford you matter for a | Train of ideas, that may operate to our | national Felicity. If, however, you have | already perused the Book, it will not, | I trust, be disagreeable to you that I | have presumed to address you with this | Letter and the Book accompanying it. | It proceeded from the Sincerity of my | Heart, and my ardent Wishes for the | common Good.