"You are sufficiently aware of the total change in our affairs produced
by the late revolution, and by the restoration of universal peace in the
European world, from which we are alone excluded. A well-organized and
large army is at once liberated from any European employment, and ready,
together with a superabundant naval force, to act independently against
us. How ill prepared we are to meet it in a proper manner, no one knows
better than yourself; but above all, our own divisions and the hostile
attitude of the Eastern States give room to apprehend that a
continuation of the war might prove vitally fatal to the United States."