FROM COUNT DE VERGENNES TO B. FRANKLIN.

Translation.

SIR,

Versailles, 5 April, 1783.

I have communicated to the Keeper of the Seals the request you have made for publishing a translation of the book of the Constitutions of the United States. The Keeper of the Seals has answered me, that he has authorized M. Pierres, the printer, to commence an impression of this work, on condition of his sending the sheets, as fast as they shall be printed, to M. de Neville, the director-general of the press, in order that he may intrust them to a censor for examination. The rules relative to the press make this last formality indispensable. I have the honor to be very sincerely, Sir, &c.

DE VERGENNES.

TO THE GRAND MASTER OF MALTA.

MY LORD,

Passy, 6 April, 1783.

I have the honor to address to your Eminent Highness the medal, which I have lately had struck. It is a homage of gratitude, my Lord, which is due to the interest you have taken in our cause; and we no less owe it to your virtues, and to your Eminent Highness's wise administration of government."

*

* This medal has already been described; see above, p. 173. It was executed according to a device suggested by Dr. Franklin. Several medals have also been struck at different times in honor of Franklin. The following list of some of them has been furnished by Mr. Joshua Francis Fisher, of Philadelphia. They are likewise in part described

Permit me, my Lord, to demand your protection for such of our citizens as circumstances may lead to your ports. I hope that your Eminent Highness will be pleased to grant it to them, and kindly receive the assurances of the profound respect with which I am, my Lord, &c. B. FRANKLIN.

by Dr. Mease, in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Vol. IV., 3d Series.

1. A medal apparently struck in England.

Obverse. Full face of Franklin in a cap and with open shirt collar; likeness not good.

Legend.-B. FRANKLIN OF PHILADELPHIA, LL. D. & F. R. S.

Reverse. An Oak Tree struck by lightning.

Legend. NON IRRITA FULMINA CURAT.

Legend. BENJ'N FRANKLIN MINIST. PLÉN. DES ETATS UNIS DE L'AMÉRIQ. SEPT. MDCCLXXXIII.

Reverse. The Temple of Independence; three of the Nine Sisters are engaged in working at the columns; four are chiseling a block of stone; two are conversing.

Legend.

DE LEURS TRAVAUX NAÎTRE LEUR GLOIRE.

3. French Medal.

Obverse. - Head and Bust of Franklin; his locks flowing down over the shoulders. Engraved by Dupré.

Legend. Reverse. Figure of an Angel standing, with one hand pointing to the lightning in the clouds, and the other to a broken sceptre and crown at his feet. In the back ground a Temple with a Conductor. Legend. ERIPUIT CELO FULMEN SCEPTRUMQUE TYRANNIS. Exergue. SCULPSIT ET DICAVIT AUG. DUPRÉ, ANNO MDCCLXXXIV. 4. French Medal.

BENJ. FRANKLIN NATUS BOSTON. XVII. JAN. MDCCvi.

Reverse.- ERIPUIT CELO FULMEN SCEPTRUMQUE TYRANNIS, surrounded with a wreath of oak leaves.

Reverse. Masonic symbols; the serpent ring, carpenter's square and compass. In the centre, a triangle and the sacred name in Hebrew.

Legend. LES. MAC FRANÇÀ FRANKLIN. M.. DE LA LDES 9 SŒURS 0.. DE PARIS 5, 778-5829.

TO M. ROSENCRONE.

Proposed Treaty with Denmark. - Asks Reparation for Vessels seized at Bergen.

SIR,

*

Passy, 13 April, 1783.

M. de Walterstorf has communicated to me a letter from your Excellency, which affords me great pleasure, as it expresses in clear and strong terms the good disposition of your court to form connexions of friendship and commerce with the United States of America. I am confident, that the same good disposition will be found in the Congress; and, having acquainted that respectable body with the purport of your letter, I expect a commission will soon be sent, appointing some person in Europe to enter into a treaty with his Majesty the King of Denmark, for the purpose desired.

In the mean time, to prepare and forward the business as much as may be, I send, for your Excellency's

6. Medal engraved at Philadelphia, by the direction of Joseph Sansom. Obverse. Bust of Franklin.

Legend.

Reverse.

LIGHTNING AVERTED, TYRANNY REPELLED.

- An American Beaver gnawing down an oak tree; symboli cal of the condition of America at the declaration of Independence. 7. Another of Sansom's Medals.

Obverse.

Reverse.

Busts of Washington and Franklin, side by side.

The American Eagle with an olive-branch in its beak, and lightning in its claws, descending upon the United States; symbolical of the event of peace at the close of the war.

Reverse. - Legend, in parallel lines; NATUS BOSTONIE IN AMERICA FEDERATA AN. M. DCC. VI. OBIIT AN. M. DCC. XC. SERIES NUMIS MATICA UNIVERSALIS VIRORUM ILLUSTRIUM.

Exergue.

M. DCCC. XIX. DURAND EDIDIT.

The court of Denmark. See the letter referred to, p. 487.

consideration, such a sketch as you mention, formed on the basis of our treaty with Holland, on which I shall be glad to receive your Excellency's sentiments. And I hope that this transaction, when completed, may be the means of producing and securing a long and happy friendship between our two nations.

To smooth the way for obtaining this desirable end, as well as to comply with my duty, it becomes necessary for me on this occasion to mention to your Excellency the affair of our three prizes, which, having during the war entered Bergen as a neutral and friendly port, where they might repair the damages they had suffered, and procure provisions, were, by an order of your predecessor in the office you so honorably fill, violently seized and delivered to our enemies. I am inclined to think it was a hasty act, procured by the importunities and misrepresentations of the British minister, and that your government could not, on reflection, approve of it. But the injury was done, and I flatter myself your Excellency will think with me, that it ought to be repaired. The means and manner I beg leave to recommend to your consideration, and am, with great respect, Sir, &c.

You complain sometimes of not hearing from us. It is now near three months since any of us have heard from America. I think our last letters came

with General de Rochambeau. There is now a project under consideration for establishing monthly packet boats between France and New York, which I hope will be carried into execution; our correspondence then may be more regular and frequent.

I send herewith another copy of the treaty concluded with Sweden. I hope, however, that you will have received the former, and that the ratification is forwarded. The King, as the ambassador informs me, is now employed in examining the duties payable in his ports, with a view of lowering them in favor of America, and thereby encouraging and facilitating our mutual commerce.

M. de Walterstorf, chamberlain of the King of Denmark, formerly chief justice of the Danish West India Islands, was last year at Paris, where I had some acquaintance with him, and he is now returned hither. The newspapers have mentioned him as intended to be sent minister from his court to Congress; but he tells me no such appointment has yet been made. He assures me, however, that the King has a strong desire to have a treaty of friendship and commerce with the United States; and he has communicated to me a letter, which he received from M. Rosencrone, the minister for foreign affairs, expressing that disposition. I enclose a copy of the letter; and, if Congress shall approve of entering into such a treaty with the King of Denmark, of which I told M. de Walterstorf I made no doubt, they will send to me, or whom else they shall think proper, the necessary instructions and powers for that purpose. In the mean time, to keep the business in train, I have sent to that minister, for his consideration, a translation of the plan, mutatis mutandis, which I received from Congress for a treaty with Sweden, accompanied by a letter, of which likewise I enclose a copy. I think it