saved. And, if I were to consent to its going, our banker would be obliged to arrest great part of it as belonging to the States, he being in advance for them, which would occasion much disagreeable noise, and very ill consequences to our credit in Europe.

I find, by Mr. Viemerange's account just received, that Mr. Laurens's orders have more than absorbed all the money he did not take with him. I applaud the zeal you have both shown in the affair; but I see, that nobody cares how much I am distressed, provided they can carry their own points. I must, therefore, take what care I can of mine, theirs and mine being equally intended for the service of the public. I am sorry to learn that the vessel is detained for this express. I understood by your last, that she waited for convoy. I heartily wish you a good voyage, and am, with great esteem, &c.

B. FRANKLIN.

SIR,

TO WILLIAM JACKSON.

Passy, 5 July, 1781.

I received your letter of the 2d instant, by your first express, this morning at six, answered it, and sent him away immediately. I have just now received your second express, of the same date, in which you threaten me with a proceeding, that I apprehend exceedingly imprudent, as it can answer no good end to you, must occasion much scandal, and be thereby very prejudicial to the affairs of the Congress.

But I cannot, therefore, consent to suffer their bills, to the amount of more than a million accepted and expected, to go back protested for want of this money. I have nothing to change in the answer above men

tioned. You will however follow your own judgment, as I must follow mine; and you will take upon yourself the consequences. I have the honor to be, &c. B. FRANKLIN.

TO WILLIAM JACKSON.

Account of the Manner in which the Money referred to in the preceding Letters was obtained.

SIR,

Passy, 6 July, 1781.

I received and answered two of your expresses yesterday morning, and in the evening I received a third letter from you, all dated the 2d instant.*

In this last you tell me, "that I must be sensible I cannot have the disposal of the money, as it was obtained without either my knowledge or concurrence, by Colonel Laurens, appointed special minister for that purpose." I do not desire to diminish the merit of Colonel Laurens. I believe he would have been glad, if it had been in his power, to have procured ten times the sum; and that no application or industry on his part for that purpose would have been wanting. But I cannot let this injurious assertion of yours pass, without expressing my surprise, that you, who were always with that gentleman, should be so totally ignorant of that transaction. The six millions, of which he took with him two and a half, of which one and a half were sent to Holland, and of which more than the remainder is ordered in stores from hence, was a free gift from the King's goodness (not a loan to be repaid with interest), and was obtained by my application, long before Colonel Laurens's arrival.

* All Mr. Jackson's letters on this subject are contained in the Diplo matic Correspondence, Vol. III. p. 221 - 226.

I had also given in a list of the stores to be provided, though on his coming I cheerfully gave up the further prosecution of that business into his hands, as he was better acquainted with the particular wants of the army, than I could be, and it was one of the purposes of his appointment.

Thus no part of the affair was done without my "knowledge and concurrence," except the sending a million and a half of the specie to Holland. This was indeed a secret to me. I had heard of that sum's being ready there to embark, but I always, till lately, understood it to be a part of the Dutch loan, which I am about to mention, or I should certainly have opposed that operation. What Colonel Laurens really obtained, and a great service I hope it will prove, was a loan upon interest of ten millions, to be borrowed on the credit of this court in Holland. I have not heard, that this loan has yet produced any thing, and therefore I do not know that a single livre exists, or has existed in Europe, of his procuring for the States. On the contrary, he and you have drawn from me considerable sums, as necessary for your expenses, and he left me near forty thousand livres to pay for the Alliance; and, moreover, engaged me in a debt in Holland, which I understood might amount to about fifteen thousand pounds sterling, and which you contrived to make fifty thousand pounds.

When I mentioned to him the difficulty I should find to pay the drafts, he said, "You have the remainder of the six millions." He gave me no account of the dispositions he had made, and it is but lately I have learnt, that there is no remainder. To gratify you, and to get that ship out, which could not have stirred without me, I have engaged for the vast sum above mentioned, which I am sure I shall be much distressed to

pay, and therefore have not deserved at your hands the affront you are advised to menace me with.

And, since I find you make it a point of reflection upon me, that I want to apply money to the payment of my engagements for the Congress, which was obtained by Colonel Laurens for other purposes, I must request, that you will upon this better information take occasion to correct that error, if you have communicated it to any other person.

By the letters you showed me, that had passed between Mr. Adams and you, I perceived he had imbibed an opinion, that Colonel Laurens had, as he expressed it, done more for the United States in the short time of his being in Europe, than all the rest of their diplomatic corps put together. I should never have disputed this, because I had rather lend a little credit to a friend, than take any from him, especially when I am persuaded he will make a good use of it; but, when his friends will make such supposititious credit a matter of reproach to me, it is not right to continue silent.

As to the safety of your excellent conveyance you mention, I must own, I have some doubts about it, and I fear I shall hear of the arrival of that ship in England, before she sees America. Be that as it may, I am clear that no use can possibly be made of the money in America for supporting the credit of the States, equal in any degree to the effect it must have for the same purpose, when applied to the payment of their bills here, which must otherwise go back protested. And I am sure it will be exceedingly prejudicial to their credit, if, by the rash proceeding you threaten, this situation of their affairs becomes the subject of public talk and discussion in Europe. I am, &c. B. FRANKLIN.

E*

P. S. I request you would read again, and consider well, my first letter to you on this subject. The reasons therein contained subsist still in their full force.*

Mr. Jackson afterwards had reason to be entirely satisfied with the course pursued by Dr. Franklin on this occasion. He sailed from Amsterdam with Commodore Gillon, who, after cruising four weeks in the North Sea and near the English Channel, put into Coruña. From that port, Mr. Jackson wrote to Dr. Franklin as follows.

"I am sorry to inform you, that the event has verified your prediction in every particular. Mr. Gillon has violated his contract with Colonel Laurens in every instance. I beg leave to present you my most sincere and cordial thanks, as well for myself as my country, for your disposition of the money, which was to have been embarked on board this vessel, the event having fatally confirmed your opinion of this man. I conceive my country indebted to your prudence for the preservation of her property, as I do myself for my freedom at this instant; for, I am assured, had not your precaution prevented the embarkation, I should at this hour have been a prisoner; I need not say where." · Coruña, September 26th, 1781..

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It would seem, that there were personal differences between Commodore Gillon, Mr. Jackson, and some of the other passengers. Gillon complained of Mr. Jackson's conduct in letters to Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams, from which it is obvious, that the above expressions of discontent on the part of Mr. Jackson are to be received with considerable modification, as dictated more by feeling than by a calm and impartial view of the case. Commodore Gillon said, that he had been detained long on the coast by contrary winds, and came to Coruña for a supply of provisions, as he had not enough remaining, in consequence of this detention, to enable him to cross the Atlantic. There were five hundred and fifty men on board. Three hundred of these were marines, who were called Volontaires de Luxembourg, and whom he had engaged, by the King's permission, in France, for the State of South Carolina. They were to serve three years. Dr. Waterhouse, who was a passenger on board the vessel, had a favorable opinion of the Commodore, as appears by a letter he wrote from Coruña to Mr. Adams. He thought the difficulties were chiefly to be ascribed to Mr. Jackson, and one or two other passengers, who took offence without a just cause; and he has since written, in relation to this affair; "I had, and always shall have, a high degree of respect for Commodore Gillon, as an able and honorable man."