I received the letter that you did me the honor to write to me on the 8th of last month, replying to mine of the preceding month.1 The subjects I treat are related to the public interest, and will thus be all the worthier of holding your attention. I hope to go to Philadephia next week. The first order of affairs for me will be to present my respects to you, as soon as I arrive there. Next, I will ask your favor if the efforts I have made here seem to you favorable to your country. This is the judgment that others have made of it whom I consulted in New York, and to whom I am beholden for the advice by which I tailored my actions. I have been assured that the principles which I invoke and which are those of Europe, are equally those of the principal members of the United States, and for whom only the opportunity to apply them has been lacking.

The essay on canon and feudal law, of which you speak with the modesty natural to you, was printed in 1784. I saw a copy of it which had been given to Adennet, and I thought at first that it was to you that he was obliged for it but, presently I seem to remember that he owed it to Mr. Abeil, the commerce secretary, or to Mr. Genet’s father.2 This work, sir, though written in 1765, already established principles which would later be the foundation of your liberty, and which would equally have been that of ours, if France had tutelary deities. But she lacked that advantage, which alone determined the success of your nation. From 1789 on, I was reiterating to Mr. de Gouvion3 and Mr. Bailly that it was impossible to say where our revolution would end, as no one was its soul. We knew how to set the masses in motion: they destroy and do not rebuild. But if I were to let myself go on this subject, it would lead me astray. I leave it at that.

I am respectfully, sir, your most humble and most obedient servant