Benjamin Franklin Papers
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-26-02-0510

The American Commissioners to Sartine, 3 June 1778: résumé

The American Commissioners to Sartine8

ALS: Archives de la Marine; AL (draft): Massachusetts Historical Society; two copies: National Archives

<Passy, June 3: We enclose a list of duties paid in Bordeaux on supplies for the Boston.9 Such payment is unusual for warships, and we ask you to regulate the practice in future. The captain of the Ranger has put his prizes into the hands of the intendant or commandant at Brest, and consequently heavy fees will be paid when they are sold; the transaction is improper, and we beg you to instruct the commandant to deliver the ships forthwith to Mr. Schweighauser on his order. We are asked to give a letter of marque, if agreeable to you, to a ship outfitted in Dunkirk with a crew of French, English, and Americans.>

[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]

8Published in Butterfield, John Adams Diary, IV, 125–6.

9A list of the supplies was enclosed; they were all clothing, and the total duty was 790 l.t.

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