July 13

[This is a letter to Count Théodore Pahlen, Minister of Russia, on July 13, 1810, where I criticize the ongoing Napoleonic Wars as an "age of Vandalism" defined by devastating ravages across both land and sea.]

That the Emperor [Alexander I] may be able, whenever a pacification takes place, to show himself the father and friend of the human race, to restore to nations the moral laws which have governed their intercourse, and to prevent, forever, a repetition of those ravages by sea and land, which will distinguish the present as an age of Vandalism, I sincerely pray. I consider as a happy augury, the choice which the Emperor has made of a person to reside near our government, so distinguished by his dispositions and qualifications to cherish the friendship and the interests of both nations.