To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Barclay, 7 May 1784
From Thomas Barclay
LS: American Philosophical Society
Paris 7th May 1784
Sir
The Gentleman who will have the Honor to deliver this Letter to you is Mr. Morel du faux of Dunkirk,3 who has been several Years settled in that place with great reputation, and who when I was at Amsterdam, was recommended to me so warmly by a number of persons for whom I have the greatest respect, that I promis’d to Interest myself in procuring for him the Office of Agent or vice Consul for the United States.—4 I mentiond this application already to your Excellency, and informed Mr. Morel of what pass’d. He waits upon you to State some services he has done to America, and will think himself under great obligations to you if he succeeds— As it is highly proper for me to have your approbation of the appointments that are to take place, I have referd Mr. Morel to you, on this occasion and remain with the greatest respect, Sir Your Excellency Most Obedient Most Hume. Servt.5
Thos Barclay
His Excellency Benjamin Franklin Esqr.
3. Who sent a letter of his own, asking for an appointment, on May 12, below.
4. The position of American consul in Dunkirk was also pursued by Francis Coffyn. In a letter to Coffyn, Barclay claimed that when he agreed to support Morel Dufaux, he was unaware of Coffyn’s interest in the post: XLI, 95–6.
5. When BF left France in 1785, the consulship in Dunkirk was still vacant. In an undated “List of American Agents in France” that Barclay made for TJ, he praised Coffyn as dependable, “well informed, and attentive to the Interests of America.” The U.S. Senate confirmed GW’s appointement of Coffyn as consul for Dunkirk on Dec. 11, 1794: Jefferson Papers, VIII, 441; XIV, 60, 62n; Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States … (3 vols., Washington, D.C., 1828[—29]), I, 164–5.