31Sartine to the Commissioners, 18 July 1778 (Adams Papers)
Versailles, 18 July 1778. printed : JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:166–167 ( JA ’s English translation). For the French text, see Adams Papers, Microfilms , Reel No. 94. Sartine recounted reports that he had received concerning problems with the French members of the Boston’s crew. Their...
32Sartine to the Commissioners: A Translation, 26 April 1778 (Adams Papers)
I have received, gentlemen, the letter that you did me the honor to write on the 20th of this month. When the United States frigate Boston received a summons from the officers of the Admiralty Headquarters in Bordeaux, the King’s orders to treat men-of-war belonging to the United States as those of free countries—allies of France—had not yet reached that harbor. These orders must have crossed...
33Sartine to the Commissioners: A Translation, 3 June 1778 (Adams Papers)
I received the letter that you did me the honor to write the 16th of last month, asking that one of His Majesty’s frigates be given to Basmarin, Raimbeaux & Cie. to protect their commerce with America and also for use in retaliatory action for the losses the British have caused them of late. I wish that it was possible for me to be agreeable to your request, but His Majesty wishes, for the...
34Sartine to the Commissioners: A Translation, 5 July 1778 (Adams Papers)
As I am in need, gentlemen, of Captain Jones for a specific expedition, I would like him to remain here. If it is not inconvenient, I would be grateful if you could leave him at my disposal and, if his ship must return to America, turn the command of the vessel over to his second. I have the honor to be with the utmost respect, gentlemen, your very humble and very obedient servant, RC ( MH-H :...
35Sartine to the Commissioners: A Translation, 16 August 1778 (Adams Papers)
I take the earliest opportunity to answer the observations addressed to me in the letter which you did me the honor to write to me the 13th. instant on the project of a regulation for the prizes and prisonners of the respective U States. I Conceive that I have fulfilled the object by digesting anew the 2. and 14 Articles of which I annex another text with copies of the different Laws that have...
36Sartine to the Commissioners, 15 July 1778 (Adams Papers)
Versailles, 15 July 1778. printed : JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:161–162 ( JA ’s English translation). For the French text, see Adams Papers, Microfilms , Reel No. 94. Sartine’s letter concerned James Niggins and John Selby, prisoners at Nantes, who claimed to be American seamen pressed into...
37Sartine to the Commissioners: A Translation, 20 June 1778 (Adams Papers)
I have received, gentlemen, a letter from Nantes by Mr. J. D. Schweighauser, the agent of the United States of North America. Charged with the disposal of the prizes taken and sent into Brest by the frigates Ranger and Providence , he asked me about the formalities to be observed in the sale of the said prizes. I answered that it could be done amicably either aboard or ashore, but that there...
38Sartine to the Commissioners: A Translation, 10 August 1778 (Adams Papers)
Since the letter that I had the honor to write you on the 29th of last month, the Commissionaire des Classes at Nantes has informed me that the agent of the United States has entrusted him with some British prisoners whom he had confined in the castle, the agent providing for their subsistence there. Mr. de La Porte, Intendant at Brest, has also written me concerning a prize taken by the...
39Sartine to the Commissioners, 26 April 1778 (Adams Papers)
J’ai reçu, Messieurs la Lettre que vous m’avez fait l’honneur de m’écrire le 20 de ce mois. Lorsque la Sommation a été faite à Bordeaux, par les Officiers du Siège de l’Amirauté, à la Frégate des Etats-unis, Le Boston; les ordres du Roi n’etoient point encore parvenu dans ce Port, de traiter les Vaisseaux de guerre appartenant à ces Etats, comme ceux des Etats libres—alliés de la France. Ces...
40Sartine to the Commissioners, 6 June 1778 (Adams Papers)
Marly, 6 June 1778. printed: JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:129–130 ( JA ’s English translation); for the French text, see JA, Works The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: with a Life of the Author , ed. Charles Francis Adams, Boston, 1850–1856; 10 vols. , 7:15–16....