To Benjamin Franklin from Dumas, 17 December 1779
From Dumas
ALS: American Philosophical Society
at the Hague 17th. Dec. 1779
Honoured & dear Sir,
After having received & taken for myself copies of the inclosed Letters,8 which were sent me under a cachet volant, I have no more time left than is necessary for closing & sending this away.
This only I must add, that I can’t help thinking the Commodore as perfectly in the right, as others in the wrong by certain arrangements which, between ourselves, I cannot like, & still less the last proposal, which appears to me an Insult offered not only to the Commodore but also to the U.S.
I am with great respect, Honoured & dear Sir your most humble & obedient servant
Dumas
His Exc. B. Franklin.
At the request of Capt. Jones I join a Copy of his Certificate &c in behalf of Mr. Jackson an English Pilot.9
Notation: Dumas. inclosing Capt. Jones’s Certificate—Decr. 11. 1779
8. Jones’s of Dec. 13 to BF and to La Vauguyon; see Dumas’ next letter, Dec. 21.
9. These were copies of two documents dated Nov. 15 (APS): Jones’s certificate promising financial compensation to the English pilot John Jackson who, under American care, lost an arm during the Bonhomme Richard skirmish, and an order to the postmaster at Den Helder to pay Jackson 100 ducats. They are reproduced in Bradford, Jones Papers, reel 4, nos. 873, 874.