ralty, consul, &c. &c., besides my ministerial function, tog

. , multifarious and too heavy for my old shoulders; and have therefore requested Congress that I may be relieved; for in this point I agree even with my enemies, that another may easily be found who can better execute them.

To Messrs. D. Wendorp and Thomas

ger,

dated

I received the letter you did me the honor

of writing to me on the 31st past, relating to Hope Heyh. your ship, supposed to be retaken from the Passy, 8 June, English by an American privateer, and carried 1781.

into Morlaix. I apprehend that you have been misinformed, as I do not know of any American privateer at present in these seas. I have the same sentiments with you of the injustice of the English, in their treatment of your nation. They seem at present to have renounced all pretension to any other honor, than that of being the first piratical state in the world. There are three employments, which I wish the law of nations would protect, so that they should never be molested or interrupted by enemies even in time of war; I mean farmers, fishermen, and merchants; because their employments are not only innocent, but for the common subsistence and benefit of the human species in general. As men grow more enlightened, we may hope that this will in time be the case. Till then we must submit, as well as we can, to the evils we cannot remedy.

II

Το

John Mr. Grand has communicated to me a letter Adams, dated Passy,

from your Excellency to him, relating to cerJune, 1781. ·tain charges in your account, on which you seem to desire to have my opinion. As we are all new in these matters, I consulted, when I was making up my account, one of the oldest foreign ministers here, as to the

*

any knowledge or experience I have acquired here may be thought of use to my successor, I shall freely communicate it, and assist him with any influence I may be supposed to have, or counsel that may be desired of me.

I have one request more to make, which, if I have served the Congress to their satisfaction, I hope they will not refuse me; it is, that they will be pleased to take under their protection my grandson, William Temple Franklin. I have educated him from his infancy, and I brought him over with an intention of placing him where he might be qualified for the profession of the law; but the constant occasion I had for his services as a private secretary during the time of the Commissioners, and more extensively since their departure, has induced me to keep him always with me; and indeed, being continually disappointed of the secretary Congress had at different times intended me, it would have been impossible for me, without this young gentleman's assistance, to have gone through the business incumbent

He has therefore lost so much of the time necessary for law studies, that I think it rather advisable for him to continue, if it may be, in the line of public foreign affairs; for which he seems qualified by a sagacity and judgment above his years, and great diligence and activity, exact probity, a genteel address, a facility in speaking well the French tongue, and all the knowledge of business to be obtained by a four years' constant employment in the secretary's office, where he may be said to have served a kind of apprenticeship.

After all the allowance I am capable of making for the partiality of a parent to his offspring, I cannot but think he may in time make a very able foreign minister for Congress, in whose service his fidelity may be relied on. But I do not at present propose him as such, for though he is now of age, a few years more of experience will not be amiss. In the mean time, if they should think fit to employ him as a secretary to their minister at any European court, I am persuaded they will have reason to be satisfied with his conduct, and I shall be thankful for his appointment, as a favor to me.

My accounts have been long ready for the examination of some person to be appointed for that purpose.

William

To

I received your respected favor of the 20th Hodgson, dated Passy, I

past, and am shocked exceedingly at the acApril, 1781.

count you give me of Digges. He that robs the rich even of a single guinea is a villain; but what is he

; who can break his sacred trust, by robbing a poor man and a prisoner of eighteen pence given in charity for his relief, and repeat that crime as often as there are weeks in a winter, and multiply it by robbing as many poor men every week as make up the number of near six hundred? We have no name in our language for such atrocious wicked

If such a fellow is not damned, it is not worth while to keep a devil. I am sorry you have been obliged to advance money. I VOL. III.-2

desired Mr. Grand, some time since, to order two hundred pounds to be paid you in London. If that is not done, draw on him for the sum of two hundred and fifty pounds, payable at thirty days' sight, and your bill shall be duly honored.

To Mr. Jay, Digges, a Maryland merchant, residing in dated Passy,

London, who pretended to be a zealous AmeriAug. 20, 1781.

can, and to have much concern for our poor people in the English prisons, drew upon me for their relief at different times last winter to the amount of four hundred and ninety-five pounds sterling, which he said had been drawn for upon him by the gentlemen at Portsmouth and Plymouth, who had the care of the distribution. utter astonishment I have since learned, that the villain had not applied above thirty pounds of the money to that use, and that he has failed and absconded.

To my

William

To

I thank you much for your friendly hints of Carmichael, dated Passy,

the operations of my enemies, and of the means 12 April, 1781. I might use to defeat them. Having in view at present no other point to gain but that of rest, I do not take their malice so much amiss, as it may farther my project, and perhaps be some advantage to you. and

are open, and, so far, honorable enemies; the - , if enemies, are more covered. I never did any of them the least injury, and can conceive no other source of their malice but envy.

To be sure, the excessive respect shown me here by all ranks of people, and the little notice taken of them, was a mortifying circumstance; but it was what I could neither prevent or remedy. Those who feel pain at seeing others enjoy pleasure, and are unhappy, must meet daily with so many causes of torment, that I conceive them

r

to be already in a state of damnation; and on that account I ought to drop all resentment with regard to those two gentlemen. But I cannot help being concerned at the mischief their ill tempers will be continually doing in our public affairs, whenever they have any concern in them.

I remember the maxim you mention of Charles the Fifth, Yo y el Tiempo; and have somewhere met with an answer to it in this distich.

“I and Time 'gainst any two;
Chance and I 'gainst Time and you."

And I think the gentlemen you have at present to deal with, would do wisely to guard a little more against certain chances.

The prince of Maceran, with several persons of his nation, did me the honor of breakfasting with me on Monday last, when I presented the compliments you charged me with. Mr. Cumberland has not yet arrived in Paris, as far as I have heard.

The discontents in our army have been quieted. There was in them not the least disposition of revolting to the enemy. I thank you for the Maryland captain's news, which I hope will be confirmed. They have heard something of it in England, as you will see by the papers, and are very uneasy about it, as well as about their news from the East Indies.

To Lafayette, You are a very good correspondent, which dated Passy, I do not deserve, as I am a bad one.

The 14 May, 1781.

truth is, I have too much business upon my hands, a great deal of it foreign to my function as a minister, which interferes with my writing regularly to my