Benjamin Franklin Papers
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To Benjamin Franklin from John Paul Jones, 23 March 1784

From John Paul Jones

ALS: American Philosophical Society

Paris March 23d. 1784

Sir,

The Marquis de la Fayette was so obliging as to translate and enforce my two last Letters, which I had the honor to communicate to you of the 6th. and 13th. Current, to the Marechal de Castries, on the subject of the Prize-money due to the Officers and Men who served in the Squadron I commanded in Europe.5 But, from a Letter written the 29th. of May 1780 from M. De Sartine to Mr. le Rey de Chaumont, of which I had the honor to shew you an Extract,6 the Marquis informs me, that it is the opinion of the Marechal de Castries that you have agreed to the Settlement of the Prize-money in the manner that was proposed by Mr. le Rey de Chaumont; whereby the whole expence of the Squadron in the Texel is charged to the Captors.7 The Marechal finds it difficult to alter what he thinks has been settled by his Predecessor; but if you would be so good as to enable me to convince him that you never consented to the Settlement proposed by Mr. le Rey de Chaumont, the Marquis de la Fayette is of opinion that you would thereby remove the greatest difficulty that now opposes a final Settlement of the Business. I am, Sir, with the greatest Respect, Your Excellency’s most obedient and most humble Servant

J Paul Jones

His Excellency B. Franklin Esqr. American Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of France

Notation: Paul Jones March 23. 1784—

[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]

5In the March 6 letter, Jones criticized Le Ray de Chaumont, the former liaison between the French government and Jones’s Bonhomme Richard squadron of 1779, for claiming to have had authority over that squadron: Bradford, Jones Papers, reel 7, no. 1505. Chaumont had acted on behalf of the French monarchy as the squadron’s paymaster: XXIX, 240n. The March 13 letter has not been located (the copies that Jones sent to BF are missing), but on Feb. 18 Jones had also written to Castries, criticizing Chaumont: Bradford, Jones Papers, reel 7, no. 1503. For Jones’s current mission to obtain prize money from the French government, see XLI, 261, 298.

6BF comments on that now-missing extract in his reply of March 25, below. Sartine, at that time, was minister of the French navy. Most of the letter concerned the sale of the Pallas and the Vengeance, two ships from Jones’s squadron (New York Public Library).

7After the Battle off Flamborough Head the Jones squadron had sailed to the Dutch naval base of the Texel, arriving in early October and sailing just before the end of 1779: XXX, 442; XXXI, lxv.

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