Austrian cabinet, before the messenger arrived. The American envoy at the
court of St. James, exerted himself in favour of the heroic friend of
Washington, but without effect. As the last resource, the President wrote
directly to the Emperor of Germany on the subject. Justice both to
Washington and Lafayette requires the recital of the letter.

"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 even 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
endeavour to mitigate the calamities 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 estate, and the indigence and dispersion 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, on this occasion to be its organ; and to entreat
that he may be permitted to come to this country, on such conditions as
your majesty may think it expedient to prescribe.