From Benjamin Franklin to Ferdinand Grand, 23 May 1780
To Ferdinand Grand
Copy:7 American Philosophical Society
Passy May 23d. 1780
Sir
Pay to W.T. Franklin ten Louis d’Ors he having advanced the Same by my order to Several American sailors to assist them in getting to LOrient Vizt.
To Bury [Benj] Taylor | 48 l.t. |
To Benj Carr. | 48 |
To Ch. Herbert | 48 |
To Joseph Plummer8 | 48 |
To James Tille | 24 |
To Frank Foster9 | 24 |
£240 |
Charge the Same to the publick Account of sir Your humble servt1
Sigd. B. Franklin
To M. Grand Banker in Paris
Notations by William Temple Franklin: sign’d W.T. Franklin / Copy of an Order on Mr. Grand.
7. In the hand of Henry Grand.
8. The first four names on the list were members of Thomas White’s crew on the Alliance who had come to France at BF’s direction; see BF to White et al., May 10. Charles Herbert recorded in his journal that on May 23, 1780, the sailors each received two guineas (48 l.t.) for travel to Lorient, their board was paid, and they received a pass: A Relic of the Revolution … (Boston, 1847), p. 242. BF’s Cash Book reflects the payment of their “Acct at the Inn” (31.6 l.t., “omitted” at its proper place but recorded on June 11), and the printed passport he issued them on May 23, valid for one month, is made out to “Joseph Plummer, Charles Herbert, Benj. Carr & Benj. Taylor, matelots de la Frige. l’Alliance allant à l’Orient.” Ernest Merrill (Bronxville, N.Y. [1956]).
That document is the earliest known example of the second Passy passport variant. (See XXX, 181–2, for the first variant and a brief history of the forms.) The type is identical to the first Passy passport, but BF added a single rule border along the sides and across the top. Two other examples of this printing have come to light; their dates are Sept. 11 and Oct. 8, 1780. Randolph G. Adams reproduces the last example, classifying it as “Livingston 31b,” in his article, “A Passy Passport,” The Journal of the Rutgers University Library, V (1941–2), facing p. 8.
9. Promissory notes from both Tillee (or Tilee) and Foster are at the APS. See the Editorial Note on Promissory Notes, at the beginning of this volume, where Foster is listed as having received what may have been an additional sum on May 27. Only the present payment to him is listed in the Alphabetical List of Escaped Prisoners.
1. At some point, probably in 1780, BF printed a blank draft on Grand for money to assist the bearer, “lately from Prison in England,” to return to America. A few of the blank forms survive; they are at the APS and at the Yale University Library.