From Benjamin Franklin to George Washington, 4 April 1780
To George Washington
Copy: Library of Congress
Passy April 4th. 1780.
Sir,
If by any Operation of War in the ensuing Campaign, the Regiment of Neustrie should happen to be near your army, the Chevr. Le Veneur,5 Lieutenant Colonel of that Regiment, will probably have the honour of paying his Respects to your Excellency. He is recommended to me by Persons of Worth, as a Gentleman of Excellent Character, highly esteemed by all that know him. As such I beg leave to introduce him to you, and to request for him those Civilities which you afford with Pleasure to strangers of merit.
With the greatest Esteem and Respect, I have the honour to be, y. Ex. m. o. and most h. S.
His Exy. Genl. Washington.
5. Alexis-Paul-Michel le Veneur, vicomte le Veneur (1746–1833): Lewis, Walpole Correspondence, VII, 50n; Etat militaire for 1779, p. 159. It apparently was through his mother-in-law that he procured this recommendation. On April 1 Marie-Louise-Madeleine de Brémond d’Ars, marquise de Verdelin, a friend of Mme du Deffand and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, wrote an unnamed correspondent asking her help in obtaining BF’s recommendation for him (University of Pa. Library). For the marquise see Lewis, Walpole Correspondence, III, 214n. BF’s recommendation proved pointless, however; the regiment of Neustrie, part of Rochambeau’s ill-fated second division, never made it to America.