1To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 20 July 1783 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : University of Pennsylvania Library I have been very credibly informed that The Count De Vergennes, & others at Versailles have lately expressed, great resentment against Me personally, which gives Me the greatest uneasiness, on Account of my personal Safety at Paris, where I wish To be, To adjust & Settle my Accts., the best foundation, for me to expect Justice from in other respects. I...
2To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 13 May 1782 (Franklin Papers)
Copy: National Archives The Letter which you did me the honor to write to me on the 19th. ultimo, did not come to hand untill last evening— I pray you to accept of my thanks for your attention to Mine of the 30th, of March, and I can but flatter myself that Congress will be induced by your Letters to take decisive measures, on the subject of my acco’ts. As I did not expect an answer to my long...
3To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 30 March 1782 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society Mr. Barclay who set out on his return to Holland last Monday passed Several Days here in examining my Accompts, & had his powers from Congress authorized him, an end might have been made of my embarrassments, & Complaints on that subject. I gave him duplicates of them, & every explanation which he desired; he promised to remit them to Congress, and to...
4To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 1 February 1782 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : University of Pennsylvania Library Soon after my hearing of the Arrival of Mr Barclay in the Character of Vice Consul from Congress I received the inclosed Resolution and Order. I was at the Time setting out for Ostend, or I should have returned immediately to Paris, confident that every Obstacle to a Settlement was at last removed— At Ostend I met Mr Barclay who to my surprize informed...
5To John Jay from Silas Deane, 26 September 1781 (Jay Papers)
Our mutual Friend D r . Franklin told me last Night that he should write to you on Saturday, & offer’d to send my Letter inclosed in his Packet, I therefore embrace the opportunity to excuse my not having written to you for some time past, I rec d . yours of the 16 th . June ^ last ^ but a Day or two, before I set out on a Journey to Holland where I was absent for near six Weeks, & on my...
6To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 22 May 1781 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I am at last determined on sending my Son to an Academy near Brussels, for a short Time, & having an Opportunity for his going in a few Days pray You to give him a Passport, for which he has the honor to wait on You, & to take his leave. I am with The highest respect Dear sir Your most Obedt & Very humle servt Addressed: A Monsieur / Monsieur Franklin /...
7To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 16 May 1781 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I wrote You a few Days since, inclosing Mr. Montieus Acct., and Duplicates of Mr. Vanderperes Papers, and took the Liberty of desiring that You would inform Me when You sent off Your Dispatches for America. I now take the Liberty of sending You a packet for America and You will oblige Me much by putting it under Your cover, by Mr. Laurens. I should not give...
8To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 11 May 1781 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I send you M. Montieus Acct. inclosed, and at the request of Mr. Vandepere, Duplicates of the Protest in the Affair of the Capture, made by Captn Jones, about which he waited on You, which protests he prays may be forwarded to Congress. I shall be much obliged to You to let Me know nearly what Time, Letters must be ready, in order to go with your next...
9To George Washington from Silas Deane, 2 May 1781 (Washington Papers)
Mr Grieve will do himself the honour of waiting on you with this, and I take the liberty of assuring you in it, that he has on all occasions been the warm and zealous friend of America, and determined to make common cause with us, has lately become our fellow Citizen. He has an affair with respect to some lands, which I believe lie in your neighbourhood, and in which I hope you will be able to...
10To Thomas Jefferson from Silas Deane, 2 May 1781 (Jefferson Papers)
This will be handed to you by Mr. Greive who goes to America with the Resolution of establishing himself in the United States, whose Interests, he has, (to my knowlege,) at all times zealously espous’d, and of which he has a few Days since, qualified himself a Citizen; He has an Affair of some Importance in your State, in the adjustment of which, I flatter myself, you may be of service to him,...
11To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 15 April 1781 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : University of Pennsylvania Library I take the Liberty of inclosing a Letter from Mr Lee, with which I should not Trouble You, were my present Circumstances different, from what they are. At any rate, the poor Man must be releived, & I have already promised his Landlord that his Bill shall be paid. I pray You to return Me the inclosed, after perusing it. Mr Lee had without my direction...
12To John Jay from Silas Deane, 8 April 1781 (Jay Papers)
My last was of the 26 th . Ult o . & I this Day receiv’d yours of the 28 th . I assure you that I never had any suspicion of M r G[ouverneur] Morris’s acting with Duplicity towards me, & am surprized that any thing in my Letters should give you such an Idea.—be assured that if ever I bring the Charge publicly against any one, I shall produce incontestable Evidence; at present the same reasons...
13To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 4 April 1781 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society Mr Vanderpar a Gentleman from Zeeland prays to have the honor of waiting on You Tomorrow Morning on the subject of a Vessel taken by Capt. Jones and by him sent to America. If Agreeable I shall wait on You with him in the Morning at Breakfast, & doubt not but that You will be well pleased with an Acquaintance with him. Meantime I have the honor to be with...
14To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 23 February 1781 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I send You a few Letters which pray may be sent forward by Your express tomorrow Morning if You send, if not, pray to know how soon You will dispatch Your express, for if You put off for a Day, I shall improve the Time to write a Letter or Two more. I have the honor to be with the utmost respect Dr sir Your most Obedt. & Very huml. servt Addressed: His...
15To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 22 February 1781 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society The situation of public Affairs you must recollect was such, at the Time when the Revenge Cutter was fitted out at Dunkerque, that every transaction was kept as secret as possible, and covered under other Names, than of those really concerned, by which it is impossible for me, or perhaps for any one, (as Capt. Cunningham is dead) to declare positively on...
16To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 27 January 1781 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I arrived here yesterday but so fatigued by the badness of the Road & Weather that I shall rest untill tomorrow to recover sufficiently, to pursue my Journey; You can expect no Information from me, from a Town, in which I am a Stranger, & from which both Politics, and Commerce, appear to have been long since banished, though from what I have seen of it, it...
17To John Jay from Silas Deane, 16 November 1780 (Jay Papers)
I received your favors of the 26 th Ult o . & the 1 st Inst. this Day. I had begun to doubt whether my Reflections on Our political Situation, had not been a little too free, & which with the Total want of any News of Consequence for a Month past, has caused my Silence; for although I find the Settlement of Acc ts . a much more tedious & perplexing Affair than I imagined, & which has called...
18To John Jay from Silas Deane, 16 October 1780 (Jay Papers)
Yours of the 2 d . I received last Evening, am much surprized at the miscarriage of my Letter of the 28 th . of August nor can I account for it as it actually went under Cover by the Courier from Court, the Contents were not secret though important ^ to me, ^ & containing a Letter of Don Juans to the Minister at Madrid, its loss cannot be repaired, I trust you will yet receive it.— C t ....
19To John Jay from Silas Deane, 9 October 1780 (Jay Papers)
This is my fifth Letter since my arrival, and having received no Acknowledgment from you of the Rec t : of any one of them I am a little uneasy for the Fate of them in particular for that which inclosed a Letter from Don Juan to the Minister;—my last was of the 18 th Ult o . in which I wrote you my Sentiments on political Affairs, nothing New has since occurred to induce a Change. Letters are...
20To John Jay from Silas Deane, 18–20 September 1780 (Jay Papers)
I received yours of the 8 th . this Evening, and this being my fourth Letter to You, since my Arrival, You must be convinced that Your suspicions of Neglect on my part are groundless, nor is it possible for Me to be so taken up with any Affairs, or so resentful for any Treatment I have met with, as to be unmindful of the public Affairs of Our Country, or forgetful of my Friends, whither in...
21To John Jay from Silas Deane, 13 September 1780 (Jay Papers)
I have written You Two Letters since my Arrival the last on the 4 th Inst. as I know not whether you may have preserved Our Cypher, I dare not be particular on Subjects which you may wish to hear from me upon. M r . Searle is arrived from Philadelphia, I have not seen him nor has D r Franklin, but I learn that he brings nothing New, he landed at Brest. Two Vessels lately Arrived at L’Orient,...
22To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 29 July 1780 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I arrived at Rochfort Two Days since after Forty Three Days passage from York in Virginia, and came here last Evening to Visit a Friend. The length of Our passage, has prevented my being the Bearer of any News from America, later than what you are already acquainted with, for which Reason I shall take Nantes in my way and pass a few Days there with Mr....
23To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 24 December 1779 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I am now waiting here for a Passage for France and hope to embark in Two or Three Weeks in the Fendant, a Twenty four Gun Ship commanded by the Marquiss De Vaudreuil, by way of Martinico. Your Daughter and Family were in good health, when I left Philadelphia.— We are now alarmed here with Accounts from New York of an Invasion of this, and the other Southern...
24To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 15 October 1779 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society This will be handed to you by Mons. Colomb, who came out to America with the Marquiss de la Fayette, & has served with Reputation in the Army of the United States, and now returns to Visit his Country, and Freinds, I take therefore the Liberty to introduce him to your Acquaintence and to refer you to him for Information of the State of Our Army, and its...
25To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 7 February 1779 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : University of Pennsylvania Library Count Montford will do himself the honor of waiting on You with this Letter, & It is with Pleasure I embrace the Opportunity to recommend him to Your Notice, as one who has served, and acquired good Reputation in Our Army. He has served immediately under Count Polaski and has rose from a Voluntier to the rank of Major, when his private Affairs, obliging...
26The American Commissioners’ Interview on January 8 with Gérard: Four Documents, 1778 (Franklin Papers)
This meeting, in Deane’s quarters in Paris at six in the evening of January 8, was the commissioners’ reward for all the frustrations of the previous year. Vergennes had announced to them on December 12 that France was ready to negotiate, but three weeks of silence followed while the court attempted to secure Spanish participation. Then, when Madrid made clear that it had no intention of...
27To George Washington from Silas Deane, 8 December 1778 (Washington Papers)
I have been so long flattering myself with the hopes of having my affairs finished here so early as to afford me an opportunity of visiting my friends at the Army and elsewhere, before I returned to Europe, that the Season is at length so far advanced on me, that I almost despair of it; five long Months I have spent in humble and continual solicitations to be heard until neither my patience,...
28To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 21 October 1778 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society During the first half of September Deane was optimistic that congressional approval of his conduct as commissioner would permit his quick return to Europe. Between September 19 and October 15, however, that optimism was undermined. On those two dates Henry Laurens presented to Congress letters he had received from Ralph Izard criticizing the conduct of...
29To George Washington from Silas Deane, 26 September 1778 (Washington Papers)
Major Tallmadge, a gentleman for whom I have a particular regard is desirous of seeing me here for a few days, and as I have a Phaeton and horses in his care, it would be extremely convenient for him as well as for me to have him come down with them, as by that means, I may probably have the opportunity of accompanying of him back; if it be consistent with the service to permit him to make the...
30To Benjamin Franklin from Silas Deane, 15 September 1778 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society This is the first letter informing Franklin of his election as minister plenipotentiary to the court of France; the official notification was not sent for another six weeks. The dissolution of the American commission was not the result of its internal dissensions and inefficiency, but rather of the dictates of diplomatic protocol. This demanded that the...