with officers. I who am upon the spot, and know the infinite difficulty of resisting the.powerful solicitations here of great men, who, if disobliged, might have it in their power to obstruct the supplies he was then obtaining, do not wonder, that being then a stranger to the people, and unacquainted with the language, he was at first prevailed on to make some such agreements, when all were recommended, as they always are, as officiers experementés, braves comme leurs epeés, pleins de courage, de talents, et de zele pour notre cause, &c. in short, mere Cæsars, each of whom would be an invaluable acquisition to America. You can have no conception how we are still besieged and worried on this head, our time cut to pieces by personal applications, besides those contained in dozens of letters by every post, which are so generally refused, that scarce one in an hundred obtain from us a simple recommendation to civilities. I hope, therefore, that favourable allowance will be made to my worthy colleague, on account of his situation at the time, as he has long since corrected that mistake, and daily approves himself, to my certain knowlege, an able, faithful, active, and extremely useful servant of the public. A testimony I think it my duty to take this occa sion of giving to his merit unasked, as, considering my great age, I may probably not live to give it personally in congress, and I perceive he has enemies. You will see the general news in the papers. In particular, I can only say at present that our affairs go well here, and that I am, with much respect, Sir, &c. B. FRANKLIN. SIR, Henry Laurens, Esq. President of Congress. Passy near Paris, March 13, 1778. MY colleague Mr. Deane being recalled by congress, and no reasons given that have yet appeared here, it is apprehended to be the effect of some misrepresentations from an enemy or two at Paris or Nantes. I have no doubt that he will be able clearly to justify himself; but having lived with him now fifteen months, the greatest part of the time in the same house, and being a constant witness of his public conduct, I cannot omit giving this testimony, though unasked, in his behalf, that I esteem him a faithful, active, and able minister, who, to my knowledge, has done in various ways, great and important services to his country, whose interests I wish may always, by every one in the employ, be as much and as effectually promoted. With my dutiful respects to the congress, I have the honor to be, SIR, Sir, &c. B. FRANKLIN. James Lovell, Esq. Passy, July 22, 1778. I received your favor of May 15, and was glad to find that mine of December 21, had come to hand. Mr. Deane's brother writes that it was not signed, which was an accidental omission. Mr. Deane himself is I hope with you long before this time, and I doubt not but every prejudice against him is removed. It was not alone upon the proceedings of congress I formed my opinion that such prejudices existed. I am glad to understand that opinion was groundless, and that he is like to come back with honor, in the commission to Holland, where matters are already so ripe for his operations, that he cannot fail (with his abilities) of being useful. You mention former letters of the committee, by which we might have seen the apprehensions of the resentment of foreign officers, &c. Those letters never came to hand, and we on our part are amazed to hear that the committee had had no line from us for near a year, during which we had written I believe five or six long and particular letters, and had made it a rule to send triplicates of each, and to replace those that we happened to hear were lost, so that of some there were five copies sent; and as I hear that captain Young is arrived, who had some of them, I think it probable that one at least of each must have come to your hands before this time. Mr. Deane's informations, however, may supply the want of them, whose arrival, as he went with a strong squadron of men of war, is more likely than that of this vessel, or any single one by whom we might send more copies. The affair with Mr. Beaumarchais will be best settled by his assistance after his return. We find it recommended to us, but we know too little of it to be able to do it well without him. There has been some inaccuracy in sending us the last dispatches of the committee, two copies of the contract with Mr. Francy and the invoices came by the same vessel, captain Niles. And though one of your letters mentions sending enclosed a resolution of congress, relative to two articles of the treaty, that resolution is not come to hand. There are circumstances in the affair of those articles, that make them in my opinion of no consequence if they stand, while the proposing to abrogate them has an unpleasing appearance, as it looks like a desire of having it in our power to make that commercial kind of war, which no honest state can begin, which no good friend or neighbor ever did or will begin, which has always been considered as an act of hostility that provoked as well as justified reprisals, and has generally produced such as have rendered the first project as unprofitable as it was unjust. Commerce among nations as well as between private persons should be fair and equitable, by equivalent exchanges, and mutual supplies; the. taking unfair advantage of a neighbor's necessities, though attended with a temporary success always breeds ill blood; to lay duties on a commodity exported which our friends want, is a knavish attempt to get something for nothing.— The statesman who first invented it, had the genius of a pickpocket, and would have been a pickpocket if fortune had suitably placed him; the nations who have practised it have suffered for it fourfold, as pickpockets ought to suffer. Savoy by a duty on exported wines lost the supplying of Switzerland, which thenceforth raised its own wine, and (to wave other instances) Britain, by her duty on exported tea, has lost the trade of her colonies. But as we produce no commodity that is peculiar to our country, and which may not be obtained elsewhere, the discouraging ours by duties on exportation, and thereby encouraging a rivalship from other nations in the ports we trade to, is absolute folly, which indeed is mixed more or less with some knavery. For my own part, if my protest were of any consequence, I should protest against our ever doing it, even by way of reprisal. It is a meanness with which I would not dirty the conscience or character of my country. The objections stated against the last of the two articles, had all been made, considered here, and were sent, I imagine, from hence, by one who is offended that they were not thought of weight sufficent to stop the signing of the treaty, till the king should, in another council, reconsider those articles, and, after agreeing to omit them, order new copies to be drawn, though all was then ready engrossed on parchment as before settled. I did not think the articles of much consequence, but I thought of consequence that no delay should be given to the signing of the treaty after it was ready. But if I had known those objections would have been sent to the committee, I should have sent the answers they received, which had been satisfactory to all the commissioners, when the treaty was settled, and until the mind of one of them was altered by the opinion of two other persons. 'Tis now too late to send those answers. But I wish for the future, if such a case should again happen, that congress would acquaint their commissioners with such partial objections, and hear their reasons, before they determine they have done wrong. In the mean time, this is only to you in private. It will be of no use to communicate it, as the resolution of congress will probably be received and executed before this letter comes to hand. Speaking of commissioners in the plural, puts me in mind of inquiring if it can be the intention of congress to. keep three embassadors at this court; we have indeed four, with the gentleman intended for Tuscany, who continues here, and is very angry that he was not consulted in making the treaty, which he could have mended in several particulars; and perhaps he is angry, with some reason, if the instructions to him do, as he says they do, require us to consult him. We shall soon have a fifth, for the envoy to Vienna not being received there, is, I hear, returning hither. The necessary expense of maintaining us all, is, I assure you, enormously great: I wish the utility may equal it: I imagine every one of us spends nearly as much as lord Stormont did. It is true he left behind him the character of a niggard; and when the advertisement appeared for the sale of his household goods, all Paris laughed at an article of it, perhaps very innocently expressed, "Une grande quantité du linge de table, QUI N'A JAMAIS SERVI.— Cela est tres vraisemblable," say they, "car il n'a jamais donné à manger."-But as to our, number, whatever advantage there might be in the joint counsels of three for framing and adjusting the articles of the treaty, there can be none in managing the common business of a resident here. On the contrary, all the advantages in negotiation that result from secrecy of sentiment, and uniformity in expresing it, and in common business, from dispatch, are lost. In a court too, where every word is watched and weighed, if a number of commissioners do not every one hold the same language, in giving their opinion on any public transaction, this lessens their weight; and where it may be prudent to put on or avoid certain appearances, of concern, for example, or indifference, satisfaction or dislike, where the utmost sincerity and candor should be used, and would gain credit, if no semblance of art shewed itself in the inadvertent discourse perhaps of only one of them, the hazard is equal to the number: and where every one must be consulted on every particular of common business, in answering every letter, &c. and one of them is offended if the smallest thing is done without his consent, the difficulty of being often and long enough together, the different opinions, and the time consumed in debating them, the |