551Arthur Lee: Power of Attorney to Franklin, 12 May 1777: résumé (Franklin Papers)
D : University of Pennsylvania Library The commissioners’ correspondence with Baron von Schulenburg, the Prussian Minister, had encouraged them to send one of their number to Berlin to promote commercial relations. Lee agreed to go. He wrote Schulenburg on May 8 to apologize for his delay in setting out; on the 13th he informed the committee of secret correspondence that he was leaving with...
552The American Commissioners: Request for Payment from the Farmers General, [before 30 May 1777] (Franklin Papers)
Copy: University of Pennsylvania Library Nous soussignés tant en notre nom que comme fondés des pouvoirs des colonies unies de l’Amérique Septentrionale prions M. De St. Marc Receveur général des fermes du Roy à Paris de payer au Trente May préfix à M. Grand Banquier demeurant à Paris que nous avons à cet effet choisi et désigné la somme d’un million de Livres pour le premier terme convenu et...
553The American Commissioners: Instructions to John Thornton, [11 December 1777] (Franklin Papers)
AD (draft): Library of Congress; copies: Library of Congress, Harvard University Library The mistreatment of American prisoners of war in England had long been on the commissioners’ minds. In February they had suggested to Lord Stormont an exchange, and the Ambassador had not replied. In April they had sent him depositions to back their claim that the British were behaving like savages, and to...
554The American Commissioners: Memorandum for the French and Spanish Courts, 23 November 1777 (Franklin Papers)
DS : Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères, Archivo General de Simancas; DS (draft ): Princeton University Library; copy: Archivo Historico Nacional This memorandum had been in preparation for more than a fortnight. On the 8th Franklin had made the original draft, now lost, and Lee had suggested changes that his colleagues accepted; on the 9th the document was ready to be copied and...
555The American Commissioners to Any Governor or Member of a Council or House of Representatives of an American State, 18 … (Franklin Papers)
LS : Massachusetts Archives; AL (draft): Massachusetts Historical Society; copies: National Archives (two), Pennsylvania State Archives, Public Record Office; two transcripts: National Archives <Passy, May 18, 1778: We have received reliable word that eleven British ships of the line are at St. Helen’s, near Portsmouth, bound for North America. You are requested to forward this letter as...
556The American Commissioners: A Public Announcement, 4 December 1777 (Franklin Papers)
D : American Philosophical Society Jonathan Loring Austin had ridden post haste from Nantes with his dispatches. On Thursday morning, December 4, he paused in Versailles for an hour’s sightseeing, and then at 11:30 A.M. he arrived in Passy. Rumor had preceded him, or so the story goes, and the commissioners were waiting in the courtyard. “Before he had time to alight Dr. Franklin addressed...
557A Proposed Article for the Treaty of Alliance with France, [on or before 27 January 1778] (Franklin Papers)
D : Library of Congress The commissioners met with Gérard on January 8 and agreed to negotiate two treaties, one of amity and commerce and the other for an eventual alliance. On the 18th Gérard presented them with drafts of both, which he asked them to return. They consequently spent the next days in making copies and translations of the drafts, a chore that they dared not entrust to a...
558The Petition to the House of Lords against the Massachusetts Government and Administration of Justice Bills, [before 11 … (Franklin Papers)
Summary of DS : House of Lords Library In March a group of Americans in London had petitioned against the Boston Port Bill, and in May much the same group protested against the two coercive measures that followed. It was Arthur Lee, we assume, who again drafted separate petitions to the King, Lords, and Commons; and Franklin again signed them all. They were as fruitless as the signers, after...
559The American Commissioners to All Whom It May Concern, 18 December 1778 (Franklin Papers)
AL (draft): Massachusetts Historical Society; two copies: National Archives These are to certify that the Bearer of this, Mr Gillam Tailor, is a Native and an Inhabitant of Boston in the State of Massachusetts Bay, that he is of a respectable Family, and unexceptionable Character. That he has acted for Some Years, in the public Service of the united States of America, in the Capacity of...
560The American Commissioners: Certificate for a Supercargo, [29 August 1777] (Franklin Papers)
DS and draft: American Philosophical Society To all Persons in Authority in any of the United States of America. The Ship Harmony of Bordeaux, Francis Barboutin Captain and M. Duler Supercargo being bound to the Continent of North America with Merchandize, and uncertain under the present Circumstances what Port she may be able to make; we hereby request that you would Favour the said M. Duler...