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tions with unequal force,-and he therefore wrote such a letter, not merely to give the information contained in it, but to be produced in his vindication, when he might be recalled, and his want of success charged upon him as a crime; though, in truth, owing to the folly of the ministers who had ordered him on impracticable projects, and persisted in them notwithstanding his faithful informations, without furnishing the necessary number of troops he had demanded. In this view much of the letter may be accounted for, without supposing it fictitious; and therefore if not genuine it is ingeniously written: but you will easily conceive, that if the state of public facts it contains, were known in America to be false, such a publication there would have been absurd, and of no possible use to the cause of the country. With great esteem I am, &c.. B. FRANKLIN.

COPY OF THE JUDGMENT. ·

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TO MESSRS. THE JUDGES OF THE ADMIRALTY AT

GENTLEMEN,

CHERBOURG.

Passy, May 16, 1780. I have received the procès-verbaux, and other papers you did me the honor to send me, agreeable to the 11th article of the regulation of the 27th September, 1778. These pieces relate to the taking of the ship Flora, whereof was Captain Henry Roodenberg, bound from Rotterdam to Dublin, and arrived at Cherbourg in France, being taken the 7th day of April by Captain Dowlin, commander of the American privateer the Black Prince.

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It appears to me from the above mentioned papers, that the said ship Flora is not a good prize, the same belonging

to the subjects of a neutral nation: but that the cargo is really the property of the subjects of the king of England, though attempted to be masqued as neutral. I do therefore request that after the cargo shall be landed, you would cause the said ship Flora to be immediately restored to her captain, and that you would oblige the captors to pay him his full freight, according to his bills of lading, and also to make good all the damages he may have sustained by plunder or otherwise; and I farther request, that as the cargo is perishable, you would cause it to be sold immediately, and retain the produce deposited in your hands, to the end that if any of the freighters, being subjects of their high mightinesses the states-generals, will declare, upon oath, that certain parts of the said cargo were bona fide shipped on' their own account and risque, and not on the account and risque of any British or Irish subjects, the value of such parts may be restored: or, that if the freighters, or any of them, should think fit to appeal from this judgment to the congress, the produce so deposited may be disposed of according to their final determination. I have the honor to be, &c. B. FRANKLIN,

SIR,

Minister Plenipotentiary for the
U. S. at the C. of F.

TO AN AGENT OF AMERICAN CRUISERS.

Passy, May 30, 1780.

In my last, of the 27th instant, I omitted one thing I had intended, viz. to desire you would give absolute orders: to your cruisers not to bring any more Dutch vessels, though charged with enemies' goods, unless contraband. All the neutral states of Europe seem at present

disposed to change what had before been deemed the law of nations, to wit: that an enemy's property may be taken wherever found; and to establish a rule that free ships shall make free goods. This rule is itself so reasonable, and of a nature to be so beneficial to mankind, that I cannot but wish it may become general. And I make no doubt but that the congress will agree to in as full an extent as France and Spain. In the mean time, and until I have received their orders on the subject, it is my intention to condemn no more English goods found in Dutch vessels, unless contraband; of which I thought it right to give you this previous notice; that you may avoid the trouble and expense likely to arise from such captures, and from the detention of them for a decision. With great regard, and best wishes for the success of your enterprise, I have the honor to be, &c. B. FRANKLIN.

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SIR,

TO DR. RUSTON, LONDON.
American Finance and Paper Money, &c.

Passy, Oct. 9, 1780. I received and read with pleasure your thoughts on American Finance, and your scheme of a Bank. I communicated them to the Abbé Morellet, who is a good judge of the subject, and he has translated them into French. He thinks them generally very just, and very clearly expressed; I shall forward them to a friend in the congress. That body is, as you suppose, not well skilled in financing. But their deficiency in knowledge has been amply supplied by good luck. They issued an immense quantity of paper-bills, to pay, clothe, arm, and feed their troops, and fit out ships; and with this paper, without taxes for the first three years, they fought and baffled one of the most powerful nations of Europe. They hoped

notwithstanding its quantity to have kept up the value of their paper. In this they were mistaken. It depreciated gradually. But this depreciation, though in some circumstances inconvenient, has had the general good and great effect, of operating as a tax, and perhaps the most equal of all taxes, since it depeciated in the hands of the holders of money, and thereby taxed them in proportion to the sums they held and the time they held it, which generally is in proportion to men's wealth. Thus, after having done its business, the paper is reduced to the sixtieth part of its original value. Having issued 200 millions of dollars the congress stopped, and supplied themselves by borrowing. These sums were borrowed at different periods during the progress of the depreciation, those, who lent to the public, thereby fixed the value of the paper they lent, since it is to be repaid in silver according to its value at the time of the loan. The rest went on depreciating; and the depreciation is at length only stopped by the vast nominal sums called in easily by taxes, and which will be by that means destroyed. Thus so much of the public debt has been in this manner insensibly paid, that the remainder, which you desire to know, does not exceed six millions sterling. And now they are working with new paper expressed to be equal in value to silver, which they have made to bear interest; and I have provided such funds to pay that interest, that probably its original value will be supported. In the mean time the vigour of their military operations is again revived, and they are now as able, with respect to money, to carry on the war, as they were at the beginning, and much more so with regard to troops, arms and discipline. It is also an increasing nation, sixty thousand children having been born annually

in the United States since the beginning of the war; while their enemies are said to be diminishing. I am, Sir, &c. B. FRANKLIN.

FROM DR. JEBB TO DR. FRANKLIN. Proposal of a Federal Union, between America and England.-British Parliament, &c.

London, Oct. 11, 1780...

The consciousness of a sincere desire to promote the interests of human kind, as far as my confined abilities and humble station will permit, induce me to give you my sentiments upon a subject which, I have no doubt, is ever present to your thoughts. Excuse the presumption; the intention is honest; let this consideration compensate for the want of every other qualification. Independent in my principles and unconnected with party, I speak those sentiments, which circumstances appear to me to dictate, and I speak them without reserve.

A federal union between America and England, upon the broad basis of mutual convenience, appears to me a point of so much consequence, that I cannot conceive, in the present circumstances, how either country can fully enjoy the means of happiness, which indulgent Providence has poured forth on each with so much profusion, unless such union immediately take place,

I also am persuaded, that the present war, between this country and the House of Bourbon, is of so peculiar a kind, that no solid reason can be assigned for its continuance, a moment after America and England shall cordially agree upon a termination of their dispute,

It is obviously for the advantage of England, that America should employ her manufacturers, and that her fleets should have free access to the shores, from whence she

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