1To George Washington from Pierre-Auguste Adet, 1 January 1796 (Washington Papers)
I come to acquit myself of a duty very dear to my heart, I come to deposit in your hands and in the midst of a people justly renowned for their courage and their love of liberty, the symbol of the triumphs and of the enfranchisement of my nation. When she broke her chains, when she proclaimed the imprescriptible rights of man, when in a terrible war she sealed with her blood the covenant she...