United States in both France and England, commanding that informal
solicitations for the release of that friend of America should be made,
and that these were to be followed by formal ones if necessary. He wrote
to the king of Prussia, urging the release of his dear friend as an act
of justice as well as a personal favor to himself; and to the Emperor of
Austria, begging that Lafayette might be allowed to come to America. The
letter has that thorough goodness and that amplitude of dignity that were
characteristics of Washington.

"PHILADELPHIA, 15 May, 1796.

"TO THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY:

"It will readily occur to your Majesty that occasions
may sometimes exist, on which official considerations
would constrain the chief of a nation to be silent and
passive, in relation to objects which affect his
sensibility, and claim his interposition as a man.
Finding myself precisely in this situation at present, I
take the liberty of writing this private letter to your
Majesty, being persuaded that my motives will also be my
apology for it.

"In common with the people of this country, I retain a
strong and cordial sense of the services rendered to
them by the Marquis de Lafayette; and my friendship for
him has been constant and sincere. It is natural,
therefore, that I should sympathize with him and his
family in their misfortunes, and endeavor to mitigate
the calamities which they experience; among which, his
present confinement is not the least distressing.

"I forbear to enlarge on this delicate subject. Permit
me only to submit to your Majesty's consideration
whether his long imprisonment and the confiscation of
his estates, and the indigence and dispersement of his
family, and the painful anxieties incident to all these
circumstances, do not form an assemblage of sufferings
which recommend him to the mediation of humanity? Allow
me, Sir, to be its organ on this occasion; and to
entreat that he may be permitted to come to this
country, on such conditions and under such restrictions
as your Majesty may think fit to prescribe.

"As it is a maxim with me not to ask what under similar
circumstances I would not grant, your Majesty will do me
the justice to believe that this request appears to me
to correspond with those great principles of magnanimity
and wi