1To Benjamin Franklin from Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg, [24 March 1776]: extract (Franklin Papers)
Extract: National Archives This paragraph extracted and translated from Dubourg’s letter, the original of which has disappeared, introduced a man who played a considerable role in the first two years of the war. The Chevalier Gilles-Jean Barazer de Kermorvan (1740–1817) was the scion of a Breton family. He entered the French army at eighteen, but five years later his corps was disbanded; he...
2To Benjamin Franklin from Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg, 10 June[–2 July 1776] (Franklin Papers)
ALS : National Archives This letter, if Franklin received it when we think he did, brought him the first news of developments in France that proved to be as momentous for his own future as for the United States. They grew out of Vergennes’ cautious overture in 1775 through the Chevalier de Bonvouloir, whose report on the assistance that the Americans wanted reached Versailles at the beginning...
3To Benjamin Franklin from Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg, 5 July 1776 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : National Archives The news in this brief note, that France was arming and, Dubourg believed, about to go to war against Britain, was more arresting than any in his letter above of June 10 to July 2, 1776. The intelligence, false as it was, must have had considerable impact in Philadelphia. The question of when it arrived, however, seems to be unanswerable. Dubourg may have sent the note...
4Barbeu-Dubourg: Memorandum for the American Commissioners, [after 21 December 1776] (Franklin Papers)
AD : American Philosophical Society M. D. propose a Messieurs F. D. et L. de leur faire des avances soit de draps, soit de fusils (du modele de 1763, controllés et tirés des propres magazins du Roy) pour la valeur de trois cent mille livres tournois, a condition que ces Messieurs lui fourniront en retour des tabacs de Virginie et de Mariland pour pareille somme, bien entendu que les achats...
5Barbeu-Dubourg: Memorandum for the American Commissioners, [before 9 January? 1777] (Franklin Papers)
AD : American Philosophical Society This memorandum is the first account of the negotiations over tobacco that had been going on before Franklin’s arrival, and that were expected to play a crucial part in financing the war. No other American export was in such demand in France; if military supplies were to be traded for commodities, the only commodity available was tobacco. The committee of...
6To Benjamin Franklin from Barbeu-Dubourg, 21 January 1777 (Franklin Papers)
AL : American Philosophical Society Dubourg’s inventiveness seems to have been his chief, if not his only, qualification as an entrepreneur. When he learned that the commissioners’ negotiations with the farmers general had broken down on the issue of shipping, he returned to the “grande affaire” that he had mentioned in an earlier letter, that of forming a company to bring the tobacco to...
7Barbeu-Dubourg to the American Commissioners, 23 January 1777 (Franklin Papers)
AL : American Philosophical Society Dubourg a l’honneur de souhaiter le bonjour a Monsieur Franklin, Monsieur Deane et Monsieur Lee; et les supplie d’accorder une audience favorable a M. Bayard qui a des objets importans a leur communiquer, et sur l’honneteté et la solidité duquel ils peuvent compter avec la plus parfaite assurance. Notation: Notes of no Consequence Bayard & Cie. was a...
8Barbeu-Dubourg to the American Commissioners, 1 February 1777 (Franklin Papers)
AL : American Philosophical Society MM. Dubourg, Debout et Compagnie, ayant pris des engagemens pour fournir a la ferme generale vingt mille boucauts de tabac des crus de la Virginie et du Mariland, se proposent de porter de france dans les ports des Etats unis de l’Amerique des marchandises de fabrique françoise, pour rapporter en retour non seulement des tabacs, mais diverses autres denrées...
9To Benjamin Franklin from Barbeu-Dubourg, 12 March 1777 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society J’ai l’honneur de souhaiter le bonjour à Monsieur franklin; nous avons oublié moi de lui remettre le memoire quittancé de sa Lingere, et lui de me remettre le traité original entre les fermiers generaux et moi. J’ai besoin de celuicy actuellement; ainsi je le prie de me le renvoyer par le porteur. J’ai annoncé sa visite a M. Turgot pour demain; il le...
10To Benjamin Franklin from Barbeu-Dubourg, 21 March 1777 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society Je vous supplie, Monsieur, de vouloir accorder une audience favorable a Mr. Le Baron de fray de qui j’eus l’honneur de vous parler dernierement et qui ne forme que des demandes tres impetrables en faisant des offres tres avantageuses de services importans par l’experience et les talens dont il a fait preuve en divers pays. J’ai l’honneur d’etre avec autant...