To Benjamin Franklin from Joseph Mayo, 30 September 1781
From Joseph Mayo
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Paris Sepr. 30. 1781
Sir,
Thinking it may not be amiss to mention all the Circumstances attending the bill of Exchange on M. De Chaumont, that I have had protested, & for which payment cannot be at present obtained from his being possessed of a lettre de Surseance,9 I have taken the liberty of enclosing a Sketch of the Affair since I received the bills,1 of which that in your excellency’s hands was one—
I am sorry I am under the Necessity of giving you so much trouble about this matter— The favors I have already recieved from you, you may be assured, will be always gratefully acknowledged by Your Excellency’s Most obedient, & most humble Sert.
J Mayo
His Excellency B. Franklin.
Addressed: His Excellency B. Franklin / American Minister / in France
Notation: Mayo, Sept. 30. 1781.
9. The decree permitting Chaumont to defer paying his creditors for a year that the French government had issued him on Jan. 20, 1781: XXXIV, 144n.
1. Mayo’s sketch is missing, but he explained his difficulties to WTF in letters of July 10 and July 22 (APS). At the beginning of April he drew several 30-day bills of exchange on Chaumont, which Chaumont was unable to honor. In early June the bankers Cottin & Jauge paid one and in July the firm of Girardot, Haller & Cie. paid part of another (949 l.t.), but Chaumont still owed 541 l.t. on a bill of exchange being held by WTF and Mayo wanted the balance.