The content of this letter is as puzzling as the writer. The reference to Dieppe indicates that he has recently come from England; he has already been in touch with Franklin, has told him his situation, and promises to call on him within a few days. But in the same breath he says that he is taking off tomorrow for Dijon, and then mentions “Swithzerland.” His plans are impossible to fathom. So, on the information available, is he. His character did not in the long run win respect: Deane came to think him at best imprudent, Carmichael to despise him, Samuel Wharton to suspect him of forgery, and others to consider him an indiscreet chatterbox.9 Even his identity is an open question. In December the commissioners paid 1,200 l.t. to “J. Dumeneg who went afterwards by the name of Thornton.”1 An alias is odd, and so is the word “afterwards”; for here is the man writing in October as Thornton. The commissioners knew by the time they paid him that that was not his real name, yet they accepted him. The payment was for going to England as their agent, armed with a letter to Sir Grey Cooper and another to Lord North, to interview and help American prisoners; and this assignment he seems to have performed well.2 After his return in late January, 1778, he became secretary to Arthur Lee, who twice sent him back to gather intelligence in London. While there he was accused of shady stock speculations, and Lee got rid of him. By then Thornton had become an informant for Whitehall.3