Paris, April 12, 1782.
Dear Hamilton:
However silent you may please to be, I will nevertheless remind you of
a friend who loves you tenderly, and who, by his attachment, deserves
a great share in your affection. This letter, my dear sir, will be
delivered or sent by Count de Segur, an intimate friend of mine, a
man of wit and of abilities, and whose society you will certainly be
pleased with. I warmly recommend him to you, and hope he will meet from
you with more than civilities. Now let us talk politics.
The old Ministry have retired, and Lord North was not sorry at the
opportunity. The new ministers are not much our friends: they are not
friends to each other: they have some honest men with little sense, and
some sensible men without honesty. They are forced to new measures, not
only by circumstances, but also by the dispositions they have formerly
announced.
_Entre nous seuls._ 81 [_the British Ministry_] gave a hint to 82
[_the French Ministers_], but it would not do without 54 [_America_].
Now the reverse will probably be done; after which, arrangements will
take place in a few months, and I wish you was here, not so much 205
[_Secretary to Dr. Franklin_], as to the Commission. However, I would
like 205 to be 125 [_Minister to the French Court_]. If you are 153
[_Member of Congress_], and if something is said to you there, I
wish you may be employed in the answer. 5 [_French ships_] without 9
[_Spanish ships_] (and 4 [_Dutch_] is nothing), will not, I fear, give
40 [_Charleston._] That is a cause of delay, and the 7 [_Spaniards_]
think much more of 8 [West Indies]. But I hope for 26 [_Carolina_]
and 22 [_Georgia_] in 18 [_September_]. 84 [_the King of France_] has
answered about 47 [_peace_], as you and I, and every good American,
may wish. In the present situation of affairs, I thought my presence
was more useful to the cause in this part of the world than it could
be on the other side of the Atlantic. I wish to have some matters well
arranged before I go, and then I hope to set sails towards my friends
in America.
Be pleased, my dear friend, to present my best respects to your lady.
My compliments wait on General Schuyler and all the family. Adieu, dear
Hamilton.
With the most sincere attachment,
I am, for ever,
Your devoted, affectionate servant,
La Fayette.
Colonel Hamilton.
[18] The _figures_ in the present letter are part of a cipher concerted
between Hamilton and La Fayette. The interpretations, here placed
between brackets, are written over the figures, on the originals, in
General Hamilton’s handwriting.--_Editor._