the great and expensive exertions of the last year, by which a force
was assembled capable of facing the enemy, and which accordingly drew
towards New York, and lay long near that city, was rendered
ineffectual by the superiority of the enemy at sea, and that their
successes in Carolina had been chiefly owing to that superiority, and
to the want of the necessary means for furnishing, marching, and
paying the expense of troops sufficient to defend that province. The
Marquis de Lafayette writes to me, that it is impossible to conceive,
without seeing it, the distress which the troops have suffered for
want of clothing, and the following is a paragraph of a letter from
General Washington, which I ought not to keep back from your
Excellency, viz. "I doubt not that you are so fully informed by
Congress of our political and military State, that it would be
superfluous to trouble you with anything relative to either. If I were
to speak on topics of the kind, it would be to show that our present
situation makes one of two things essential to us; a peace, or the
most vigorous aid of our allies, particularly in the article of
_money_. Of their disposition to serve us, we cannot doubt; their
generosity will do everything which their means will permit." They had
in America great expectations, I know not on what foundation, that a
considerable supply of money would be obtained from Spain; but that
expectation has failed, and the force of that nation in those seas has
been employed to reduce small forts in Florida, without rendering any
direct assistance to the United States; and indeed the long delay of
that Court, in acceding to the treaty of commerce, begins to have the
appearance of its not inclining to have any connexion with us; so that
for effectual friendship, and for the aid so necessary in the present
conjuncture, we can rely on France alone, and in the continuance of
the King's goodness towards us.
I am grown old. I feel myself much enfeebled by my late long illness,
and it is probable I shall not long have any more concern in these
affairs. I therefore take this occasion to express my opinion to your
Excellency, that the present conjuncture is critical, that there is
some danger lest the Congress should lose its influence over the
people, if it is found unable to procure the aids that are wanted; and
that the whole system of the new government in America may thereby be
shaken. That if the English are suffered once to recover that country,
such an opportunity of effectual separation as the present may not
occur again in the course of ages; and that the possession of those
fertile and extensive regions, and that vast sea-coast, will afford
them so broad a basis for future greatness, by the rapid growth of
their commerce, and breed of seamen and soldiers, as will enable them
to become the _terror of Europe_, and to exercise with impunity that
insolence, which is so natural to their nation, and which will
increase enormously with the increase of their power.
I am, with great respect, your Excellency's, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
* * * * *
TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES.
Passy, March 6th, 1781.
Sir,
By perusing the enclosed instructions to Colonel Laurens and myself,
your Excellency will see the necessity I am under of being importunate
for an answer to the application lately made for aids of stores and
money. As vessels are about to depart for America, it is of the utmost
importance that the Congress should receive advice by some of them, of
what may or may not be expected. I therefore earnestly entreat your
Excellency to communicate me, as soon as possible, the necessary
information.
With sincere esteem, I am, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
* * * * *
JAMES LOVELL TO B. FRANKLIN.
March 9th, 1781.
Sir,
I forward gazettes, journals, and some particular Resolves of
Congress, via Amsterdam.
The arrival of the Ariel has given us despatches from you, long
expected, of June 1st, August 9th, December 23d. Congress had, before
the receipt of your letters of February 19th, written to Mr Adams,
January 10th, and signified their concurrence in opinion with Count
de Vergennes, as to the time and circumstances of announcing his (Mr
Adams's) powers to Great Britain. They had also on December 12th
expressed their sentiments upon his letters of June 24th, enclosing to
them his correspondence relative to the act of March 18th, calling in
the old paper money.
I send you extracts from the Journals for your fuller information on
these points, and I shall forward yet for a time all acts of Congress
intended for your guidance whenever they are finished; but I most
earnestly look for the appointment of a Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
agreeably to their determinations of January 10th. Such an officer may
authoritatively communicate his opinions, and in many ways make your
station more easy and reputable to you, than it can have been under
great want of information of our circumstances.
Your most humble servant,
JAMES LOVELL,
_For the Committee of Foreign Affairs_.
* * * * *
TO M. DE RAYNEVAL, SECRETARY TO THE COUNCIL OF STATE.
Passy, March 11th, 1781.
Sir,
I have examined the list of supplies wanted in America, which I
received yesterday from you, in order to mark as desired what may be
most necessary to forward thither. As that list is of old date, and I
do not know what part of it may have been already procured by other
channels, and I understand by my letter that a new list has been made
out, which is given to Colonel Laurens, and though mentioned to be
sent to me also is not yet come to my hands, I have thought it may be
well for the present to order the making of a quantity of soldiers'
and officers' clothing, equal to one third part of what has been
demanded from page 31 to page 42 inclusive; and to collect and get
ready also one third of the other articles mentioned in the said
pages, which I have marked with a red line in the margin, the whole to
be sent by the first good opportunity. I think it would be well also
to send five thousand more good fusils, with fifty tons of lead, and
two hundred thousand flints for fusils. If these could go with the
fleet, it would be of great service. More powder is not necessary to
be sent at present, as there goes in the Marquis de Lafayette the
remainder of the two thousand barrels granted last year, and also two
hundred tons of saltpetre, which they will make into powder. For the
other articles that may be wanted, as Colonel Laurens will come fully
instructed, as well by the list given to him as from his own
observation and experience in the army, and from the information he
will receive from General Washington, with whom and the Marquis de
Lafayette he was to consult before his departure, I conceive it will
be best to wait a little for his arrival.
I return the lists, and having by some unaccountable accident mislaid
and lost the paper you gave me, containing what Count de Vergennes
said to me yesterday, I must beg the favor of you to repeat it, and
send it by the bearer. I am ashamed to give you this trouble, but I
wish to be exact in what I am writing of it to Congress.
With the greatest esteem, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
* * * * *
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Passy, March 12th, 1781.
Sir,
I had the honor of receiving on the 13th of last month your
Excellency's letter of the 1st of January, together with the
instructions of November 28th, and December 27th, a copy of those to
Colonel Laurens, and the letter to the King. I immediately drew a
memorial, enforcing as strongly as I could the requests that are
contained in that letter, and directed by the instructions, and I
delivered the same with the letter, which were both well received; but
the Ministry being extremely occupied with other weighty affairs, and
I obtaining for some time only general answers, that something would
be done for us, &c. and Mr Laurens not arriving, I wrote again and
pressed strongly for a decision on the subject, that I might be able
to write explicitly by this opportunity, what aids the Congress were
or were not to expect, the regulation of their operations for the
campaign depending on the information I should be enabled to give.
Upon this I received a note, appointing Saturday last for a meeting
with the Minister, which I attended punctually. He assured me of the
King's good will to the United States, remarking, however, that being
on the spot, I must be sensible of the great expense France was
actually engaged in, and the difficulty of providing for it, which
rendered the lending us twentyfive millions at present impracticable;
but he informed me, that the letter from the Congress, and my
memorials, had been under his Majesty's consideration, and observed,
as to loans in general, that the sum we wanted to borrow in Europe
was large, and that the depreciation of our paper had hurt our credit
on this side of the water; adding also, that the King could not
possibly favor a loan for us in his dominions, because it would
interfere with and be a prejudice to those he was under the necessity
of obtaining himself to support the war; but that, to give the States
a signal proof of his friendship, his Majesty had resolved to grant
them the sum of six millions, not as a loan, but as a free gift. This
sum the Minister informed me was exclusive of the three millions,
which he had before obtained for me to pay the Congress drafts for
interest, &c. expected in the current year. He added, that as it was
understood the clothing, &c. with which our army had been heretofore
supplied from France, was often of bad quality and dear, the Ministers
would themselves take care of the purchase of such articles as should
be immediately wanted, and send them over; and it was desired of me to
look over the great invoice, that had been sent hither last year, and
mark out those articles; that as to the money remaining after such
purchases, it was to be drawn for by General Washington, upon M.
d'Harvelay, Garde du Tresor Royal, and the bills would be duly
honored; but it was desired they might be drawn gradually as the money
should be wanted, and as much time given for the payment after sight
as conveniently could be, that the payment might be more easy.
I assured the Minister, that the Congress would be very sensible of
this token of his Majesty's continued goodness towards the United
States; but remarked, that it was not the usage with us for the
General to draw, and proposed that it might be our Treasurer, who
should draw the bills for the remainder; but I was told that it was
his Majesty's order. And I afterwards understood from the Secretary
of the Council, that as the sum was intended for the supply of the
army, and could not be so large as we had demanded for general
occasions, it was thought best to put it into the General's hands,
that it might not get into those of the different Boards or
Committees, who might think themselves under a necessity of diverting
it to other purposes. There was no room to dispute on this point,
every donor having the right of qualifying his gifts with such terms
as he thinks proper.
I took with me the invoice, and having examined it, I returned it
immediately with a letter, of which a copy is enclosed, and I suppose
its contents will be followed, unless Colonel Laurens on his arrival
should make any changes. I hope he and Colonel Palfrey are safe,
though, as yet, not heard of.
After the discourse relating to the aid was ended, the Minister
proceeded to inform me, that the Courts of Petersburgh and Vienna had
offered their mediation; that the King had answered, that it would to
him personally be agreeable, but that he could not yet accept it,
because he had allies whose concurrence was necessary. And that his
Majesty desired I would acquaint the Congress with this offer and
answer, and urge their sending such instructions as they may think
proper to their Plenipotentiary, it being not doubted that they would
readily accept the proposed mediation, from their own sense of its
being both useful and necessary. I mentioned that I supposed Mr Adams
was already furnished with instructions, relating to any treaty of
peace that might be proposed.
I must now beg leave to say something relating to myself, a subject
with which I have not often troubled the Congress. I have passed my
seventyfifth year, and I find that the long and severe fit of the
gout, which I had the last winter, has shaken me exceedingly, and I am
yet far from having recovered the bodily strength I before enjoyed. I
do not know that my mental faculties are impaired; perhaps I shall be
the last to discover that; but I am sensible of great diminution in my
activity, a quality I think particularly necessary in your Minister
for this Court. I am afraid, therefore, that your affairs may some
time or other suffer by my deficiency. I find also that the business
is too heavy for me, and too confining. The constant attendance at
home, which is necessary for receiving and accepting your Bills of
Exchange, (a matter foreign to my ministerial functions) to answer
letters, and perform other parts of my employment, prevents my taking
the air and exercise, which my annual journeys formerly used to afford
me, and which contributed much to the preservation of my health. There
are many other little personal attentions, which the infirmities of
age render necessary to an old man's comfort, even in some degree to
the continuance of his existence, and with which business often
interferes.
I have been engaged in public affairs, and enjoyed public confidence,
in some shape or other, during the long term of fifty years, and honor
sufficient to satisfy any reasonable ambition, and I have no other
left but that of repose, which I hope the Congress will grant me, by
sending some person to supply my place. At the same time, I beg they
may be assured, that it is not any the least doubt of their success in
the glorious cause, nor any disgust received in their service, that
induces me to decline it, but purely and simply the reasons
abovementioned. And as I cannot at present undergo the fatigues of a
sea voyage, (the last having been almost too much for me) and would
not again expose myself to the hazard of capture and imprisonment in
this time of war, I purpose to remain here at least till the peace;
perhaps it may be for the remainder of my life; and if any knowledge
or experience I have acquired here may be thought of use to my
successor, I shall freely communicate it, and assist him with any
influence I may be supposed to have, or counsel that may be desired of
me.
I have one request more to make, which, if I have served the Congress
to their satisfaction, I hope they will not refuse me; it is, that
they will be pleased to take under their protection my grandson,
William Temple Franklin. I have educated him from his infancy, and I
brought him over with an intention of placing him where he might be
qualified for the profession of the law; but the constant occasion I
had for his service as a private Secretary during the time of the
Commissioners, and more extensively since their departure, has induced
me to keep him always with me; and indeed being continually
disappointed of the secretary Congress had at different times intended
me, it would have been impossible for me, without this young
gentleman's assistance, to have gone through the business incumbent on
me. He has therefore lost so much of the time necessary for law
studies, that I think it rather advisable for him to continue, if it
may be, in the line of public foreign affairs, for which he seems
qualified by a sagacity and judgment above his years, and great
diligence and activity, exact probity, a genteel address, a facility
in speaking well the French tongue, and all the knowledge of business
to be obtained by a four years' constant employment in the Secretary's
office, where he may be said to have served a kind of apprenticeship.
After all the allowance I am capable of making for the partiality of
a parent to his offspring, I cannot but think he may in time make a
very able foreign Minister for Congress, in whose service his fidelity
may be relied on. But I do not at present propose him as such, for
though he is now of age, a few years more of experience will not be
amiss. In the meantime, if they should think fit to employ him as a
Secretary to their Minister at any European Court, I am persuaded they
will have reason to be satisfied with his conduct, and I shall be
thankful for his appointment as a favor to me.
My accounts have been long ready for the examination of some person to
be appointed for that purpose. Mr Johnson having declined it, and Mr
Dana residing at present at Paris, I requested him to undertake it,
and to examine at the same time those of Mr Deane; but he also
declines it, as being unacquainted with accounts. If no fresh
appointment has been made by Congress, I think of desiring Mr Palfrey
to perform that service when he arrives, which I hope will be
approved, for I am uneasy at the delay.
With great respect, I have the honour to be, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
* * * * *
TO FRANCIS LEWIS AND THE BOARD OF ADMIRALTY.
Passy, March 17th, 1781.
Gentlemen,
I received the honor of yours, dated January the 2d, containing sundry
questions relating to the ship Alliance, and the expedition under the
command of John Paul Jones.
I apprehend, that the letters and papers sent by the Alliance, if
they came to your hands, and those which went in the Ariel, taken
together, would pretty well inform you on the most of the particulars
you inquire about, and the deficiencies might be supplied by Captain
Jones himself and others, who were engaged in the expedition. But as I
learn from Colonel Laurens, that his arrival was not heard of at
Boston the 11th of February, though he sailed the 18th of December,
and possibly he may have miscarried, I shall endeavor to answer as
well as I can your several queries, and will hereafter send you
duplicates of the papers that may be lost.
But I would previously remark, as to the expedition in general, that
this Court having, I suppose, some enterprise in view, which Captain
Jones, who had signalised his bravery in taking the Drake, was thought
a proper person to conduct, had soon after that action requested we
would spare him to them, which was the more readily agreed to, as a
difference subsisted between him and his Lieutenant, which laid us
under a difficulty, that was by that means got over. Some time passed,
however, before any steps were taken to employ him in a manner
agreeable to him, and possibly the first project was laid aside, many
difficulties attending any attempt of introducing a foreign officer
into the French marine, as it disturbs the order of their promotions,
&c. and he himself choosing to act rather under the commission of
Congress. However, a project was at length formed of furnishing him
with some of the King's ships, the officers of which were to have
temporary American commissions, which being posterior in date to his
commission, would put them naturally under his command for the time;
and the final intention, after various changes, was to intercept the
Baltic fleet.
The Alliance was at that time under orders to carry Mr Adams back to
America, but the Minister of the Marine, by a written letter
requesting I would lend her to strengthen the little squadron, and
offering a passage for Mr Adams in one of the King's ships, I
consented to the request, hoping, that besides obliging the Minister,
I might obtain the disposition of some prisoners to exchange for our
countrymen in England.
_Question 1st._ "Whether the ships with which the frigate Alliance was
concerted in an expedition, of which Captain John Paul Jones had the
command, were the property of private persons, and if so, who were the
owners of those ships?"
_Answer._ The ships with which the Alliance was concerted, were 1st.
The Bon Homme Richard, bought and fitted by the King, on purpose for
Captain Jones. 2dly. The Pallas frigate. 3dly. The Vengeance, a
corvette. 4thly. The Cerf, a cutter. All belonging to the King, and
the property of no private person whatever, as far as I have ever
heard or believe.
Two privateers, the _Monsieur_ and the _Granville_, were indeed with
the little squadron in going out; I suppose to take advantage of the
convoy, but being on their own account, and at their own discretion,
the _Monsieur_ quitted company on the coast of Ireland, and the
_Granville_ returned about the same time to France. I have not heard,
that the _Monsieur_ ever claimed any part of the prizes. The
_Granville_ has made some claim, on account not only of what were
taken, while she was with the squadron, but of the whole taken after
her departure, on this pretence, that some prisoners being put on
board of her, and losing company, she found herself obliged to go back
with them, not having wherewith to maintain them, &c. but this claim
is opposed by the other ships, being regarded as frivolous, as she was
not concerted. The claim, however, is not yet decided, but hangs in
the courts. These circumstances show, that these vessels were not
considered as a part of the armament. But it appears more plainly by
the _Concordat_ of the Captains, whereof I send you a copy. Who the
owners were of those privateers I have not heard. I suppose they may
be inhabitants of Bordeaux and Granville.
_Question 2d._ "Whether any agreement was made by you, or any person
in your behalf, with the owners of the ships concerted with the
Alliance in that expedition, respecting the shares they were severally
to draw of the prizes, which might be taken during said expedition?"
_Answer._ I never made any such agreement, nor any person in my
behalf. I lent the vessel to the King simply at the Minister's
request, supposing it would be agreeable to Congress to oblige their
ally, and that the division, if there should be anything to divide,
would be according to the laws of France, or of America, as should be
found most equitable. But the Captains before they sailed entered into
an agreement, called the _Concordat_ abovementioned, to divide
according to the rules of America, as they acted under American
commissions and colors.
_Question 3d._ "Whether the Serapis and Scarborough, and other
captures made during said expedition, were divided among the captors,
and the distribution made according to the resolutions of Congress,
and if not, what mode was pursued in making the distribution?"
_Answer._ No division has yet been made of the Serapis and
Scarborough. It is but lately that I have heard of the money being
ready for division at L'Orient. I suppose the mode will be that agreed
on by the captains.
_Question 4th._ "What were the net proceeds of the Serapis,
Scarborough, and the other prizes taken during the said expedition?"
_Answer._ I have not yet heard what were the net proceeds of the
prizes, nor have I seen any account. As soon as such shall come to my
hands, I will transmit it to you, and will endeavor to obtain it
speedily. No satisfaction has yet been obtained for the prizes carried
into Norway, and delivered up by the King of Denmark.
_Question 5th._ "What benefit the United States of America have
received from the prisoners made during said expedition?"