Though the debt is secured by the guarantee of that state, the time of payment being not determined, and your petitioners being under engagements to be fulfilled, and contracted on account of the articles delivered to said Mr. Gillon, in order to accelerate the payment of what is due to them they flatter themselves, that if your excellency would honor them with his recommendation to Mr. Franklin, this minister of the United States, in consequence of his benevolence, and in order to prevent the injury which the national credit of his country might receive from the conduct of the commodore who was invested with powers from his state, which like the rest of them, is under the authority of congress, we presume to think that for a sum so inconsiderable with respect to the United States, though very considerable to your petitioners, Mr. Franklin would not refuse to take measures with them for the discharge of the debt, which might be made payable at such periods of time, as he would choose. No words could express the sense of gratitude, your petitioners would feel, would your excellency condescend to recommend their case to Mr. Franklin. This minister could be able to recover the debt even before the time, for the fulfilment of the obligations he might contract was elapsed, said Mr. Gillon having sailed in one of the strongest and best sailing frigates, named after, and belonging to the said state, the crew whereof were clothed partly with the supplies your petitioners have furnished, your petitioners have not the least doubt but that the first care of the commodore after his arrival, will be to make remittances to them, and thereby discharge himself and the province he belongs to; which remittances Mr. Franklin himself could receive was he to be so kind as to comply with the proposals of your petitioners, by writing himself to America for the purpose. May God in mercy grant the prayers sent up to Heaven in behalf of your excellency, by your most humble petitioners. Your excellency's petitioners having just been informed by Mr. Franklin, that Mr. Gillon instead of going to America had put into Corunna to take in provisions, having consumed those he took in whilst in the Texel, during the few weeks he was cruising on the coast of England, have wrote this day to monsieur Destournelles his majesty's consul at Corunna, requesting him to compel by virtue of the vouchers sent to him, the said commodore, to pay the £51,291 he owes to your excellency's petitioners, and as they have no prospect should this opportunity fail, to receive this sum till after the long process of time, as Mr. Franklin told them, they humbly request your excellency to honor them with his protection, and to require that orders be given for this sum to be secured in case your petitioners be not too late, and said Mr. Gillon has not sailed from Corunna. SIR, Dr. Franklin to Major W. Jackson. Passy, June 28, 1781. SINCE my acceptance of your bills, I have applied to the ministry for more money to discharge the other engagements I entered into for payment of the congress bills drawn on Holland and Spain. I find so much difficulty, and even impossibility of obtaining it at this time, that I am under the absolute necessity of stopping the cash that is in Holland, or of ruining all the credit of the States in Europe, and even in America, by stopping payment. This is therefore to order, that in case the said cash has been delivered to you by messieurs Fizeaux and Grand, you would immediately return it into their hands to remain there at my disposal. I am sorry that this operation is necessary, but it must be done, or the consequences will be terrible. I have the honor to be, &c. B. FRANKLIN. SIR, Major Jackson to Dr. Franklin. Amsterdam, June 29, 1781. I HAVE the honor to inform your excellency, that I got to Amsterdam on Tuesday morning. It has been thought advisable to wait a few days, that we may sail with a Dutch squadron of fourteen sail, destined as a convoy to the Baltic. The loss of the ship Marquis de la Fayette, which is confirmed by Lloyd's list, renders every precaution necessary, and essential to prevent a farther disappointment in supplies. I hope your excellency will approve of the reasons for delaying our departure, which must be amply compensated by the benefit of a convoy through the North Sea. I beg leave to request, that Colonel Laurens's servant may be informed, should he apply to your excellency, that, if he leaves Paris immediately, and travels with dispatch, he will reach this place in time to embark with us for America. Any commands which your excellency may please to honor me with, and which may be transmitted by him, will be faithfully attended to. I beg you will present my best respects to your grandson. From the same. SIR, Amsterdam, July 2, 1781. I WAS yesterday honored with your excellency's letter of the 28th ult. while at the Texel, superintending some matters relating to the ship. Equally concerned for the cause, as surprised at the manner in which Mr. Fizeaux was resolved to execute it in case the money had been already shipped. I must beg leave to inform you fully of this business, and to request your excellency's final determination thereon. Colonel Laurens, as your excellency knows, was sent by congress to the court of Versailles, with a special com mission....the purport of his mission you are well acquainted with; it was to obtain certain supplies in specie and military stores. By the most unremitting assiduity, he so far succeeded as to procure amongst others, a sum of money to be shipped in Holland by the South Carolina frigate, which was deemed by the court of France a safe and convenient conveyance, as it would divide the risque which must have been incurred, by placing the whole on board of one vessel. That sum was sent to this place by Mr. Necker, and lodged in the house of Fizeaux and Grand, to be by them delivered to me, agreeable to the following order, the original of which is now in my possession, having very fortunately for me, recovered it from them after they received your instructions. GENTLEMEN, TRANSLATION. Paris, May 12, 1781. THIS letter will be delivered to you by Mr. William Jackson, captain of infantry in the service of the United States, to whom I request you to deliver the 130,655 dol.. lars and the £720,000 in crowns, which you have received on my account by the way of Brussels. Mr. Jackson will give you a receipt for it, in which he will express that these two sums have been delivered to him pursuant to the intention of Mr. John Laurens, an American officer now at Paris, whose orders he will follow on this subject. You will be pleased to send me afterwards this receipt, with a statement of all the expenses due to you. I will have them reimbursed here to Mr. Grand. I am Gentlemen, &c. M. M. Grand, Fizeaux, & Co. Amsterdam. Messieurs Fizeaux and Grand, have in pursuance of your excellency's directions, refused to deliver it. This sir, being a distinct transaction, executed altogether at the instance of the honorable John Laurens, Esq. special minister at the court of Versailles from the United States, and by him committed to my further care, I conceive myself indispensably bound to remonstrate to your excellency, on the late order given by you to Messieurs Fizeaux and Grand, directing the detention of that money, and to inform you that if they are not repealed, I must embark without it; and however I may lament the disappointment and distress, in which this measure must involve congress, whose arrangements are undoubtedly taken, on the certainty of this supply being sent from Europe; however much I may regret colonel Laurens's absence which induces it, I shall possess the pleasing reflection of having done my duty, in demanding conformably to the intentions of Mr. Necker, and by his order, that money which the court of France had accorded to the United States by the application of colonel Laurens, in virtue of his special commission, and which was particularly and expressly destined to reanimate the credit of continental currency. I shall The ship waits for nothing else but this money. attend your excellency's ultimate decision thereon, which I expect to receive by return of the express, who only waits I have the honor to be, &c. your commands. W. JACKSON, P. S. Mr. Fizeaux informed me that he had resolved to arrest the ship, had the money been on board. I need not inform your excellency, that alike opportunity may not again offer, to transport this essential supply, rendered still more so, by the capture of the ship Marquis de la Fayette. W. JACKSON. My fever which was greatly increased by my late jaunt to Passy, will not admit of my waiting upon your excellency in person, and I am persuaded, your justice will render it unnecessary after this representation. W. J. |