To Benjamin Franklin from Cradock Taylor, 11 February 1780
From Cradock Taylor5
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Aix in Provence Febry. 11th 1780
Sir/
I beg leave to inform your Excellency of my unhappy situation; the Vessel I expected a passage in to Martinico is now Stop’d as they are inform’d of the English fleet being at Gibraltar & for me to go to Bordeaux without money is a thing impossable. I hope your Excellency will be so kind as to take my case into consideration & afford me some small assistance that I may get to my own Country & depend on my gratitude if ever it may be in my power to shew it.
I am Sir with the greatest respect your Excellencies most Obblig’d & most Obbedt. Humbl. Servt.
Cradock Taylor
Addressed: His Excellency Benjn. Franklin / Esqr. Plenopitentiary to the / United States of America / Parris
Notation: C. Taylor Feb 7. 80
5. This is his last extant letter to BF. By the end of 1780 he had interested Edmund Pendleton and James Madison in his case. Eventually he returned to America: XXIX, 770n; William T. Hutchinson et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (21 vols. to date, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962–), VII, 151.