repairs and victuals are wanted, with an estimate of the amount of the expenses.

There is one thing further which we should venture to do for the benefit of your men. Upon a representation from you of the quantity of slops necessary for them, we should order M. Schweighauser to furnish your ship with them; not more, however, than one suit of clothes for each man, that you may take them on board of your ship, and deliver them out to the men as they shall be wanted, charging each man upon the ship's books with what he shall receive, that it may be deducted from his pay.

Lieutenant Simpson has stated to us your having put him under arrest for disobeying orders. As a court martial must, by order of Congress, consist of three captains, three lieutenants, and three captains of marines, and these cannot be had here, it is our desire that he may have a passage procured for him by the first opportunity to America, allowing him whatever may be necessary for his defence. As the consequences of an arrest in foreign countries are thus extremely troublesome, they should be well considered before they are made. If you are in possession of any resolution of Congress, giving the whole of ships of war, when made prizes, to the captors, we should be obliged to you for a copy of it. We should also be obliged to you for a particular account in whose hands the prizes made by you are, and in what forwardness is the sale of them. We have the honor to be, &c.,

B. FRANKLIN,

ARTHUR LEE,

JOHN ADAMS.

THE COMMISSIONERS TO JOHN PAUL JONES.

Passy, June 3d, 1778.

Sir,

We have received sundry letters from Lieutenant Simpson, and sundry certificates from officers and others, concerning his behavior in general, and particularly upon that occasion in which he is charged with disobedience of orders. Without giving or forming any decided opinion concerning his guilt or innocence of the crime laid to his charge, we may venture to say that the certificates we have received

are very favorable to his character, and at least have reason to hope that he did not mean to disobey his orders. Be this, however, as it may, we are constrained to say that his confinement on board of any other ship than the Ranger, and much more his confinement in a prison on shore, appears to us to carry in it a degree of severity, which cannot be justified by reason or law. We therefore desire you would release Mr. Simpson from his imprisonment, and permit him to go at large upon his parole to go to Nantes, there to take his passage to America by the first favorable opportunity, in order to take his trial by a court martial.

We request you to transmit to us as soon as possible an account of what is due to Lieutenant Simpson, according to the ship's books, for wages.

An application has been made to us in behalf of Mr. Andrew Fallen, one of the prisoners lately made by you, and his case represented with such circumstances as have induced us to request you to let Mr. Fallen go where he will, after taking his parole in writing, that he will not communicate any intelligence which may be prejudicial to the United States; that he will not take arms against them during the war, and that he will surrender himself prisoner of war, whenever called upon by Congress or their Ministers at Paris. We are, sir, &c.,

B. FRANKLIN, ARTHUR LEE, JOHN ADAMS.

THE COMMISSIONERS TO LIEUTENANT SIMPSON, OF THE RANGER.

Passy, June 3d, 1778.

Sir,

We have received several letters from you, and several certificates from officers and others, respecting your behavior in general, as well as particularly relative to the charge of disobedience of orders for which you have been confined. It would be improper for us to give any opinion concerning this charge, which is to be determined only by a court-martial. But we have requested Captain Jones to set you at liberty upon your parole to go to Nantes, there to take your

passage to America by the first favorable opportunity, in order to

take your trial by a court-martial.*

We are, sir, your humble servants,

B. FRANKLIN,
ARTHUR LEE.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

Gentlemen,

Passy, February 1st, 1779.

I had yesterday the honor of your favor of the 28th of October, enclosing a resolution of Congress, of the 22d of the same month, to which I shall give all the attention in my power. I have much satisfaction in the reflection that I have hitherto endeavored with much sincerity to conform to the spirit of it. What you recommend to me, viz to communicate to the Ministers of other Courts such intelligence as I may receive, will not in future be so much in my power; but as far as I can, while I stay in Europe, I shall endeavor to comply. Indeed, it is a long time that we have had no intelligence to communicate. Three vessels we know have been taken, each of which had many letters, and two of them public despatches; one that sailed from Philadelphia the 4th of November, another that sailed from the same port the 24th, and another that sailed from Boston on the 20th. These letters and despatches were all sunk, and we fear that others are lost.

It would be agreeable to me, indeed, if I were able to throw any light on the subject of finances. As to a loan in Europe, all has been done that was in our power to this end, but without the desired effect. Taxation and economy comprehend all the resources that I can think of.

We expect the honor of a visit from the Marquis de la Fayette this morning, whom we shall receive with gratitude for his gallant and glorious exertions in one of the best causes in which a hero ever fought.

* See a letter from Paul Jones on this subject in the Commissioners' Correspondence, vol. 1. p. 291.

See the proceedings of Congress on Foreign Affairs, October 22d, 1778, in the Secret Journals, vol. II. p., 107.

Be pleased to accept my thanks for your kind wishes for my happiness, and believe me to be your affectionate friend,

JOHN ADAMS.

TO SAMUEL ADAMS.

Passy, February 14th, 1779.

My dear Sir,

The Marquis de la Fayette did me the honor of a visit yesterday, and delivered me your favor of the 25th of October. I am not sorry as things have been ordered, that mine of May 24th did not reach you till the 24th of October, because, as the new arrangement* was previously made, it cannot be said that I had any hand in accomplishing it. Yet I am glad the letter has arrived, because it will show that the new system is quite agreeable to me, that is the appointment of a single Minister here. Believe me, sir, it was become very necessary.

How Congress will dispose of me, I do not know. If it is intended that I shall return, this will be very agreeable to me; and I think that this is the most probable opinion, because Mr. Deane's "Address" was on the 5th of December. Congress soon after resolved to enter on foreign affairs and go through them. The Alliance sailed on the 14th of January, and there is no resolution arrived here respecting me. I think, therefore, that it is my duty to return, and that is my present determination; but whether I shall go to Amsterdam, and from thence to St. Eustatia, or to Spain, and thence home, or in a French man-of-war to Martinique, or an American frigate to America, I have not decided. Some hint that I am to go to Holland, others to Spain. This last implies the removal of Mr. Lee, which would give me much pain on many accounts. I think him a faithful man and able. Yet what the determination will be upon the complaint of Mr. Deane, I cannot say. This is a subject which I cannot write or talk about; I would not feel such another sensation to be made a prince. I confess I expected the most dismal consequences from it, because I thought it would render business and

Dissolving the commission in Paris, and appointing Dr. Franklin Minister Plenipotentiary.

confidence between us three totally impracticable; that it would destroy all confidence between this Court and us, and that it would startle Spain that it would alienate many in Holland from us, and that it would encourage the Ministry in England and disconcert opposition so much that they would even make another vigorous campaign, besides all the evils it would produce among you. But the arrival of Dr. Franklin's commission has relieved me from many of these fears. This Court have confidence in him alone. But I think they were cautious, even of him, when he had two colleagues to whom he was obliged to communicate every thing, one of whom was upon as bad terms with him as with Mr. Deane. I have had a kind of a task here, as Mr. Lovell expresses himself; determined to be the partizan of neither, yet to be the friend of both, as far as the service would admit. I am fixed in these two opinions, that leaving the Doctor here alone is right, and that Mr. Lee is a very honest and faithful man.

You say that France should be our polar star in case war should take place. I was, I confess, surprised at this expression. Was not war sufficiently declared in the King of England's speech, and in the answers of both Houses, and in the recall of his Ambassador? Has it not been sufficiently declared by actual hostilities in most parts of the world? I suspect there will never be any other declaration of war. Yet there is in fact as complete a war as ever existed, and it will continue; for you may depend upon it, the King of France is immovably fixed in your support, and so are his Ministers. Every suspicion of a wavering disposition in this Court concerning the support of American independence is groundless, is ridiculous, is impossible. You may remember, that several years ago, several gentlemen were obliged to reason, to show that American independence was the interest of France. Since my arrival in this Kingdom, I never yet found one man, nor heard of more than one, who doubted it. If the voice of popularity is anything, I assure you that this voice was never so unanimous in America in favor of our independence as it is here. It is so much so, that if the Court were to depart from its present system in this respect, it is my clear opinion it would make this nation very unhappy, and the Court too; but I again repeat, that the Court is as fixed as the nation. And this union of sentiment arises out of such principles of nature as, without a miracle, cannot