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I received your respected favor of the 20th past, and am shocked exceedingly at the account you give me of Digges. He that robs the rich even of a single guinea is a villain; but what is he who can break his sacred trust, by robbing a poor man and a prisoner of eighteen pence given in charity for his relief, and repeat that crime as often as there are weeks in a winter, and multiply it by robbing as many poor men every week as make up the number of near six hundred? We have no name in our language for such atrocious wickedness. If such a fellow is not damned, it is not worth while to keep a devil.*

I am sorry you have been obliged to advance money. I desired Mr. Grand, some time since, to order two

* Mr. Hodgson had written as follows. "I have just received yours of the 8th instant, which surprises me not a little, as by the letter enclosed I perceive the person to whom that letter is addressed has deceived you most egregiously. He has not advanced one shilling that has come to my knowledge. He had indeed wrote to Portsmouth and Plymouth, to order a distribution of one shilling and six pence a week to the prisoners. I was informed of it by the agents at both places; but, although he gave those directions, he did not provide the necessary funds. I thought it therefore right to caution both Mr. Wren and Mr. Heath against advancing money, and advised them to say, that they should be glad to serve the prisoners, but that it was just that the money should be sent to them; and indeed I have been obliged to reimburse to one of those persons twenty-five pounds, and to the other twenty pounds, which they had before advanced to Mr. Digges, and could not procure the payment of; and this I did, partly out of a bill he gave me last year on Mr. Grand for forty-eight pounds, although twenty pounds of that sum were for money I had lent him in the spring of 1780. I fear all is not right. He has been absent from

hundred pounds to be paid you in London. If that is not done, draw on him for the sum of two hundred and fifty pounds, payable at thirty days' sight, and your bill shall be duly honored.

I enclose a copy of Digges's last letter to me, in which he acknowledges the drafts made on me, (omitting one of seventy-five pounds,) and pretends, that he only draws as he is drawn upon by his friends, who hand the money to the prisoners, and that those friends are almost tired of the charitable employment, but he encourages them, &c. Be so good as to let them know of this letter.

I wish, with you and with all good men, for peace; proposals of mediation have been made, but the effect is yet uncertain. I shall be mindful of your request, and you may depend on my doing any thing in my power that may be serviceable to you. With sincere esteem, I am, dear Sir, &c.

B. FRANKLIN.

town some time. The last I heard of him was from Bristol, where he was about purchasing goods for Lisbon.". London, May 20th, 1781. Extract from a letter written by Dr. Franklin to Mr. Jay, dated Passy, August 20th, 1781.-"Digges, a Maryland merchant, residing in London, who pretended to be a zealous American, and to have much concern for our poor people in the English prisons, drew upon me for their relief at different times last winter to the amount of four hundred and ninety-five pounds sterling, which he said had been drawn for upon him by the gentlemen at Portsmouth and Plymouth, who had the care of the distribution. To my utter astonishment I have since learned, that the villain had not applied above thirty pounds of the money to that use, and that he has failed and absconded."

TO FRANCIS DANA.

Respecting Mr. Dana's Mission to the Court of St. Petersburg.

SIR,

Passy, 7 April, 1781.

I received the letter you yesterday did me the honor of writing to me,* requesting my opinion, in writing, relative to the conference you had with his Excellency the Count de Vergennes, last Wednesday, I being present; and also as to the expediency of your proceeding to St. Petersburg; which request I willingly comply with, as follows.

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Question 1. Whether, on the whole, I conceived the Count to have any objections to the mission itself?" Answer. He did not make any such objections, nor did he drop any expression, by which it might be supposed he had any such in his mind.

Question 2. "Whether I considered his reflections upon the subject to be rather intended as cautions and advice to you, respecting the conduct he wished you to hold in the business?"

Answer. His Excellency expressed his apprehensions, that, if you went thither under a public character before the disposition of the Court was known, and its consent obtained, it might be thought improper, and be attended with inconvenience; and, if I remember right, he intimated the propriety of your consulting the ambassador at the Hague.

Question 3. "Whether I supposed him finally to make any real objections to your going to St. Petersburg, in the character only of a private American gen

* See Diplomatic Correspondence, Vol. VIII. p. 268.

VOL. IX.

3

B*

tleman, and there waiting the favorable moment of opening your eventual character?"

Answer. His objections were, that, though you should not avow your public character, yet, if known to be an American, who had been in public employ, it would be suspected that you had such a character, and the British minister there might exert himself to procure you "quelques désagréments," that is, chagrins or mortifications; and that, unless you appeared to have some other object in visiting St. Petersburg, your being an American would alone give strong grounds for such suspicions. But, when you mentioned, that you might appear to have views of commerce, as a merchant, or of curiosity as a traveller, &c.; that there was a gentleman at St. Petersburg with whom some in America had a correspondence, and who had given hints of the utility there might be in having an American in Russia, who could give true intelligence of the state of our affairs, and prevent or refute misrepresentations, &c.; and that you could, perhaps, by means of that gentleman, make acquaintance, and thence procure useful information of the state of commerce, the country, the court, &c., he seemed less to disapprove of your going directly.

As to my own opinion, which you require, though I have long imagined that we let ourselves down, in offering our alliance before it is desired, and that it would have been better if we had never issued commissions for ministers to the courts of 'Spain, Vienna, Prussia, Tuscany, or Holland, till we had first privately learned, whether they would be received, since a refusal from one is an actual slight, that lessens our reputation, and makes others less willing to form a connexion with us; yet, since your commission is given, and the Congress seem to expect, though I think they

do not absolutely require, that you should proceed to St. Petersburg immediately, I conceive, that (assuming only a private character for the present, as you propose,) it will be right for you to go, unless, on consulting Mr. Adams, you should find reason to judge, that, under the present circumstances of the proposed mediation, a delay for some time would be more advisable. With great esteem, and best wishes for your success, &c.

B. FRANKLIN.

FROM JOHN ADAMS TO B. FRANKLIN.

Difficulty of procuring a Loan in Holland.

SIR,

Leyden, 10 April, 1781.

Relying on your virtues and graces of faith and hope, I accepted the bills to the amount of ten thousand pounds sterling drawn in favor of Mr. Tracy. I have received advice from Congress of more bills drawn upon me. When they arrive, and are presented, I must write to you concerning them, and desire you to enable me to discharge them; for I am sorry to say, that, although I have opened a loan according to the best plan I could devise, and the plan and the loan seem to be countenanced by the public, yet there is little money obtained, scarcely enough to defray the expense of obligations and stamps; and it is more and more clear to me, that we shall never obtain a loan here, until our independence is acknowledged by the States. Till then, every man seems to be afraid, that his having any thing to do in it will be made a foundation of a criminal process, or a provocation to the resentment of the mob.

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