It is but very lately that I received the letter that you did me the honor of addressing me on the 26th of May;1 and while your long silence had prepared me for its contents, you would have nevertheless spared me a good deal of anxiety had you addressed it to me sooner. I hastened to relay it to Switzerland, where I hope it will arrive in time to stop the departure of our agents who seem less prepared than I for such a contretemps, and who never imagined that America would not welcome my propositions, especially given the fact that the company I had proposed (and which they were striving to realize) had eliminated the difficulty of obtaining financial advancements from you to establish our university.

I quite bitterly deplore, sir, those circumstances which were not able to grant America the opportunity to support so noble an enterprise in the success of which I had placed all of my affections, and from which I cannot help but believe that she would have reaped swift and lasting fruit.

Since this last plank to which we had aspired amid the shipwreck of our freedom is slipping away from us, it is all too clear that the fate of my unfortunate compatriots binds them indissolubly to Geneva, however defiled she has been. I am sending you another piece that I have just published on this sad subject, and which, as you will easily understand, sir, is intended to rouse an initial cry for her resurrection.

I am including another one which I published a few weeks ago where you will perceive my opinion of America and of the men who govern her.2 For the sake of her well-being, may they be placed at the head of her administration for a long time to come, and spare her the torments of those passions that are tearing Europe apart!

I am with respect, sir, your most humble and most obedient servant