your fate, and I shall follow it and sustain it by
my sword as by all means in my power. You will pardon my importunity
in favor of the sentiment which dictated it. Youth and friendship make
me, perhaps, too warm, but I feel the greatest concern at all that has
happened for some time since."

In answer to this impulsive and true-hearted letter, General Washington
wrote one of the most distinctive and characteristic of all the hundreds
of letters of his that are preserved. He said:

"Your letter of yesterday conveyed to me fresh proof of that
friendship and attachment which I have happily experienced since the
first of our acquaintance and for which I entertain sentiments of the
purest affection. It will ever constitute part of my happiness to know
that I stand well in your opinion because I am satisfied that you can
have no views to answer by throwing out false colors, and that you
possess a mind too exalted to condescend to low arts and intrigues to
acquire a reputation."

It must have been welcome to the harassed heart of the man who stood
at the head of so great a cause to receive the proofs of this young
man's friendship and of his absolutely loyal support. Washington
closed the letter with these gracious and inspiriting words:

"Happy, thrice happy, would it have been for this army, and for the
cause we are embarked in, if the same generous spirit had pervaded all
the actors in it.... But we must not, in so great a contest, expect to
meet with nothing but sunshine. I have no doubt that everything
happens for the best, that we shall triumph over all our misfortunes,
and in the end be happy; when, my dear Marquis, if you will give me
your company in Virginia, we will laugh at our past difficulties and
the folly of others; and I will endeavor, by every civility in my
power, to show you how much and how sincerely I am your affectionate
and obedient servant."

The political conspiracy developed into what is known in history as
the "Cabal." Thwarted in their attempt to draw into their interests
the man whose importance to them, as representing in an unofficial way
the French influence in America, was fully appreciated, they hatched a
scheme that should remove him from the side and from the influence of
Washington. This scheme consisted of a project on paper to send an
expedition into Canada, in order to win the people there to join the
American revolt, if possible to do so, by persuasion or by force. The
plan had m