army under this immediate command,
but the different detachments and separate armies through the course of
the war. To the various branches of the army the general takes this last
and solemn opportunity of professing his inviolable attachment and
friendship. He can only again offer in their behalf his recommendations
to their grateful country and his prayers to the God of armies. May
ample justice be done them here, and may favors, both here and
hereafter, attend those who, under the divine auspices, have secured
innumerable blessings for others!

With these wishes and this benediction the commander-in-chief is about
to retire from service. The curtain of separation will soon be drawn,
and the military scene to him will be closed forever!

* * * * *

PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S RESPONSE TO THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR ON RECEIPT OF
THE COLORS OF FRANCE, 1769

Born, sir, in a land of liberty, having early learned its value, having
engaged in a perilous conflict to defend it, having, in a word, devoted
the best years of my life to secure it a permanent establishment in our
own country, my anxious recollections, my sympathetic feelings, and my
best wishes are irresistibly excited whensoever, in any country, I see
an oppressed nation unfurl the banners of freedom. But above all, the
events of the French Revolution have produced the deepest solicitude as
well as the highest admiration. To call your nation brave were to
pronounce but common praise. Wonderful people! Ages to come will read
with astonishment the history of your brilliant exploits.

I rejoice that the period of your toils and of your immense sacrifices
is approaching. I rejoice that the interesting revolutionary movements
of so many years have issued in the formation of a constitution
designated to give permanency to the great object for which you have
contended. I rejoice that liberty, which you have so long embraced with
enthusiasm, liberty, of which you have been the invincible defenders,
now finds an asylum in the bosom of a regularly organized government; a
government which, being formed to secure the happiness of the French
people, corresponds with the ardent wishes of my heart, while it
gratifies the pride of every citizen of the United States by its
resemblance to their own. On these glorious events accept, sir, my
sincere congratulations.

In delivering to you these sentiments, I express not my own feelings
only, but those of m