s and her arms,
I am not so much alarmed as at the apprehension of her
destroying the great pillars of all government and of social
life,--I mean virtue, morality, and religion. This is the
armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us
invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we
lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed. In vain may
France show and vaunt her diplomatic skill, and brave
troops: so long as our manners and principles remain sound,
there is no danger. But believing, as I do, that these are
in danger, that infidelity in its broadest sense, under the
name of philosophy, is fast spreading, and that, under the
patronage of French manners and principles, everything that
ought to be dear to man is covertly but successfully
assailed, I feel the value of those men amongst us, who hold
out to the world the idea, that our continent is to exhibit
an originality of character; and that, instead of that
imitation and inferiority which the countries of the old
world have been in the habit of exacting from the new, we
shall maintain that high ground upon which nature has placed
us, and that Europe will alike cease to rule us and give us
modes of thinking.

But I must stop short, or else this letter will be all
preface. These prefatory remarks, however, I thought proper
to make, as they point out the kind of character amongst our
countrymen most estimable in my eyes. General Marshall and
his colleagues exhibited the American character as
respectable. France, in the period of her most triumphant
fortune, beheld them as unappalled. Her threats left them,
as she found them, mild, temperate, firm. Can it be thought
that, with these sentiments, I should utter anything tending
to prejudice General Marshall's election? Very far from it
indeed. Independently of the high gratification I felt from
his public ministry, he ever stood high in my esteem as a
private citizen. His temper and disposition were always
pleasant, his talents and integrity unquestioned. These
things are sufficient to place that gentleman far above any
competitor in the district for Congress. But, when you add
the particular information and insight which he has gained,
and is able to communicate to our public councils, it is
really astonishing