To James Madison from Lafayette, [8 February 1785]
From Lafayette
[Versailles, 8 February 1785]
… [France has ordered] two large Armies to get in readiness … in Flanders and … in Alsace.… I hope matters will be compromised and a War avoided…. Your Ministers will write you more than I can respecting their negotiations…. Our friend Mr. jefferson has been unwell but now feels better…. Remember me to the Governor and all friends in Virginia.…
Printed extract (Charles Hamilton Catalogue No. 134, [22 Jan. 1981], item 172). Listed as “A.L.S…. in English, 1½ pages, 4to.” According to the catalogue entry, the letter “gives an account of European politics, the Austrian demands upon the Dutch, the campaign in the low countries, and the mobilization of France.” For a letter from Lafayette to John Jay, 8 Feb. 1785, covering many of the same subjects, see Stanley J. Idzerda et al., eds., Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution (5 vols. to date; Ithaca, N.Y., 1977—), 5:293–95.