I have received your letter of the 8th Instant.1 I have paid Mr. Harrison the money he advanced to You, as far as my letter of credit to him in your favor extended. Your Bill upon me, drawn without my consent, for a Sum, beyond the limits of that credit, I did not accept.2

It is true Sir! that I was so far the cause of your leaving your friends, as my offering to receive you into my Family Care, & Protection, in case they should think proper to send you to Europe, might have been Inducements. This offer was disinterested, and in my opinion as generous, as my circumstances, & my duty to those who stand in the nearest of all relations to me, would permit.

I then understood that your principal ^Funds^ consisted in the generosity of a worthy Uncle, and one or two other friends, & I had some reason to suppose, that the supplies, with which they might be willing to furnish You would, tho’ equal to your necessary Expences, be nevertheless such, as to require a constant attention to Œconomy, for I remember that on speaking with Colonel Fleming,3 shortly before I left Philadelphia about the probability of your following me, he told me that the difficulty of providing Funds for the purpose, would be the principal Obstacle; but, this being a matter without my Province, I could only desire him to assure your friends, that in case they should conclude to send you they might depend on my taking care of you. Hence I have constantly thought myself peculiarly ^particularly^ bound, ever since your arrival, to take care that these Funds, so far as the disposition of them might depend upon me, should be confined to their proper Objects, and not diverted to such foreign Ones as might, from time to time, spring up in a warm & youthful fancy. I neither considered myself, nor did I suppose that you would consider me, merely in the light of your Bancker. I expected to receive you under my Direction, as well as Protection; and that the Expences, which your friends might be willing to be at on your Account, should be regulated, in a certain degree, by my Judgement as well as yours.

A moment’s reflection ought to convince you, that no selfish Considerations influenced me to undertake this Task. You was represented to me as a young gentleman whose talents & disposition merited better opportunities of improvement, than those you had, & my regard for a rising genius, opposed by difficulties, prompted me to patronise you, tho’ a perfect Stranger to me, and no way connected with any of my Family.

With this view it was, that my house & patronage were at first offered to you, & hence it was that I have, from time to time, taken the liberty of advising you with respect to the books & Studies most proper for you, in my opinion, to read & to pursue. You may remember also, that in a conversation about your Expences, brought on by Mr. De Francy’s letter,4 I shewed You, your Uncle’s letter to me,5 remarking it’s too great Want of particularity on that head, & expressing my wishes that it had been more explicit, for that as I was ignorant of the extent of your Funds, it was impossible to determine the proper Extent of your expences, which I thought the more necessary, because, in my Judgement, the plan of your education should be more or less extensive, in proportion as you might be more or less able to support the expence of it. I mention these circumstances, to remind you, that I early considered myself in another light than that of your Bancker.

When you first mentioned to me your plan of going a Voluntier with the Duke de Crillon, & requested me to speak to him upon the Subject, I well remember that the Expence of it became one of the topics of the conversation which then ensued and I am surprised you should forget that you urged the cheapness of the plan as an argument to reconcile me to it.6 You observed particularly, that if you should be admitted into the Duke’s Family, you would be at scarce any other expence than that of Regimentals, & that it would not only be a more expeditious & agreeable, but also a less expensive way of learning Spanish, than that of going to a Country Village, as Mr. Vaughan7 had done, & as you would otherwise be also inclined to do—

In the course of that & all other Conversations which I have ever had with You or others on the subject of this Project, I pointedly disapproved of it; & tho’ many reasons for my disapprobation were submitted to your Consideration, it seems that all except two have escaped your memory viz: “As being contrary to the designs of your Friends, & from personal danger.” For the first you say, you looked upon yourself to be respo[n]sible—& I will add, that so far as I might be concerned in it, I considered myself as responsible both to your friends and to my own judgement.

As to the circumstance of personal danger you desire me to judge whether you ought to have been influenced by it? I forbear remarks on the Repitition of this question, It wants explanation, & you will find that, as well as an answer to it, in the following Paragraph of a letter I wrote You on this subject the 15th June last8—vizt:—“I know that you ought, and I advise you steadily to follow wherever your duty may lead you, without being deterred by dangers, or Evils of any kind whatever, and were it your duty to go on the proposed Expedition, I should cease to esteem you, if you suffered any personal consideration to restrain you. You seem to admit that your duty does not require you to take this step—and I think you would do well to consider how far it will authorize it— This is a delicate subject, & yet the Relations you stand in, to your Country, your Family, & your Friends, ought to be well weighed, before you embark in a measure that may affect each of them— But you know my Sentiments on all these Points, having before dwelt minutely on them— All I can do, is to give you my advice—this I have done fully & candidly.”

The objections you mention are only two of the reasons which I urged against your Project— They were accompanied with those others which naturally arising from the Subject must present themselves to all who consider it with attention. It would be as unnecessary to enumerate them now, as it proved useless to urge them at first— Besides, the manner in which you refer to my objections, seems to be more with a view of shewing what they were not, than what they were—for if I understand you right, you mean to infer from these two being the sole reasons for my Dissent, that the expence of the plan could not have been one of them; and therefore that I ought either to have afterwards furnished you with as much money, as you might find Occasion for in the execution of it, or have told you that I would not supply you with any— There is a difference Sir! between advancing no money at all, & advancing as much as a young Gentleman may please to ask for, beyond the probable extent of his Funds— There are also some matters of fact which I wish to recal to your memory, & that this may be done with less risque of mistake & confusion, it may not be amiss to consider the whole time in which the business of this Project was in agitation; as coming within three Periods

• 1. The time which passed between your first mentioning it to me, & your acquainting me with your determination to persist in pursuing it, notwithstanding my disapprobation.
• 2— The time which passed between this determination, & the grant of your request by ^the^ Court.
• 3. The time subsequent to the grant of your request, including your departure for, & arrival at Cadiz

During the first of those periods I flattered myself with being able to convince you, that your project, being ill adapted to your Situation, & little calculated to promote your proper views, ought to be relinquished— It was then sufficient only so far to touch upon the matter of Expence, as it gave occasion to general Remarks— At that time it had not become seasonable, nor necessary to tell you, I would not advance you any money in case you persisted, for I could not presume that you would persist against my advice & consent. Such a threat would have been too harsh and indelicate, to have had a good effect; & would have been very distant from the manner in which I always had treated, & always wished to treat you.

On the Commencement of the second Period, the State of the whole affair was changed. The moment you ceased to respect my Opinion & Consent, it became your business, & ceased to be mine, to provide for the means of executing a scheme, you had resolved to adopt against my approbation. So that if I had afterwards observed the most profound Silence respecting the Expence, & all other Articles connected with this project, you would have had no sort of right to complain—

But Sir! Altho’ my advice had hitherto been neglected, I again took an occasion of troubling you with it; for on hearing that the Duke had, on your application, consented to take you into his family, provided you could obtain the leave of the Court to go, I thought it a good opportunity of calling your attention to a matter, about which your expectations appeared to be rather too sanguine— I mean The Expence— I advised you, in so many words, immediately to take such explicit arrangements with the Duke, as that no matters of expence might be left unascertained, in case you should obtain the permission in question— I expected that the propriety of this advice would certainly strike you, & not doubting but ^that^ you would mention to me the Result of your Conversation with him on this Subject, I suspected it would afford me new arguments to prevail upon you to desist—

But this advice, however proper, met with no attention— You applied to the Court for leave to accompany the Duke, & permitted him to set out for Cadiz, without having said a word to him about it the expences you might expect to incur—

Here arose the following question of prudence vizt:— Whether it would be best for me to tell you plainly, that I would not supply you with any money, in case you should obtain leave to go, & thereby oblige you to abandon from necessity, a Scheme which you could not be persuaded to relinquish from Reason— On considering this Question, I saw that the necessity & consequently the propriety of this Step, must depend entirely on the probability of your obtaining the leave of the Court. A little time & consideration convinced me that Probability was decidedly against your obtaining it—for—

• 1. You was a Protestant, & it was said that no Officers of that Profession were to be found in the Spanish Service—
• 2. You was a Citizen of North America, whose Independence had not yet been acknowledged by this Court.
• 3. I had made no Secret of my disapprobation, & in a letter of the 17th June, informed the Minister of State, that I could take no part in your application, the Trust reposed in me by your friends, as well as my private judgment, opposing it
• 4. The Duke himself had told you, he did not beleive that your request would be granted.

The Conclusions deducible from these circumstances, need not be specified— The language of them made the same Impression upon you, that it did upon me; and it was not long before we both became persuaded that your application would prove fruitless, & in all probability die away without further notice—

There not being therefore the least ^appearance^ of necessity for the step in question, it would have been very improper to take it, especially as it would have unavoidably excited in your Breast, Sensations and Feelings very destructive to that confidence in my friendly attention, without which I could expect to be of very little use to You. We had differed in Sentiment without anger, & tho the warmth & enthusiasm inspired by a desire of sharing in the Eclat of a brilliant Coup de Main, had hurried you too far; yet neither my opposition on the one hand, nor your pertinacity on the other, had produced disgust on your part, or Crimination on mine. Besides as interested motives had never found a place among those which activated my Conduct towards You, it would have been imprudent, by a measure, capable of such a Construction, to have given you reason to impute to those considerations, an opposition which proceeded from the purest principles of friendship & candour.

We were nevertheless mistaken in our conjectures as to the Improbability of your obtaining the Permission you sollicited. Without entering into the reasons which, it seems prevailed with the Court, I shall only observe that very unexpectedly to ^us^ both, it was granted.

Here the last Period began. The Duke had gone to Cadiz & you was to follow him immediately— You reflected that money would be necessary, and you proposed to draw Bills upon me, as your Occasions should require, assuring me that you would only draw for as much as might be absolutely necessary—9 This Proposition did not appear to me in the most proper light, tho’ I did not tell you so. You had no money in my hands, nor any pecuniary demands upon me, & this was at least an unusual way of applying for Favors. As this Project was adopted without my approbation, & pursued against my advice, I might with great justice have refused to furnish any money for it’s Execution. But Sir! I saw & I felt the unhappy dilemma to which you had imprudently brought yourself. Without money, you could not proceed, & without proceeding you would suffer disgrace. I also considered what was due to your Friends, whom you had thus subjected to the disagreeable alternative of either seeing you resign with an ill grace, or submit to the Expence of preventing it— The latter was more consistent with my own judgment and feelings, & therefore I presumed that they would also prefer it.

How much you should be allowed; then became a necessary question, as well as a difficult one; because in determining it, Respect was to be had to the Abilities & Inclination of your friends, which I could only conjecture; to your Ideas of necessity which were very vague and to your proper & unavoidable Expences, which we neither knew, nor had then time to enquire about, & which would greatly depend on your being admitted, or not, into the Duke’s Family— As to your proposition of unlimited Credit, I declined it; not from doubts of the sincerity of your Assurances, but because it would in itself have been improper.

I could easily suppose that either in the capacity of a Voluntier-Gentleman-Soldier or as a Voluntier Aid de Camp to the Duke, you might spend a great deal of money, & yet spend much less than some others in the same Situation. But I could also suppose that a Sum which, measured by their fortunes, would be very moderate, would, if compared with your Funds, be very extravagant. Their Expences, therefore, could furnish no Rule for your’s. Admitting also, for the sake of Argument, that this Project was capable of affording you not only much pleasure, but also much advantage, yet if the Expence of it exceeded your means to supply, your attention should return, as soon as Possible to objects more within the limits of your Powers & Circumstances— Had you followed my advice and previously ascertained the Expences incident to the place promised you by the Duke, your way would have been plain & obvious.

I had several months before written to your Uncle to fix the sum beyond which he would not choose that your Expences should extend, & I purposed immediately to repeat that request—10 As his answer would releive me from the risque of all differences with you on so delicate a Subject in future, I thought it most prudent to make you such an allowance in the mean time, as I had reason to think fully adequate to your real wants, tho’ perhaps not to your desires. For this however some rule was necessary, and I could find none better, than the allowances on which the Spanish Officers appeared to live decently. I thought that if you was enabled to live in the Stile of a Spanish Captain of Foot, until the Instructions of your Uncle should arrive, you would have reason to be satisfied— I therefore agreed to allow you the same pay, & to advance you the amount of it for six months. Over & above this I agreed not only to pay off your little debts here, which I afterwards found to amount to fifty odd hard Dollars, but also to furnish you with money for your Expences between this & Cadiz, and for Regimentals &ca— In short I gave you at setting out 127 Peices of Eight in hand, and a credit on Mr. Harrison for 150 more, which you accordingly received on your arrival— I also authorized you, in case you should be taken Prisoner, & not otherwise, to draw upon me for sufficient to releive you from the distresses in which such an Event might involve you— I acknowledge that you expostulated with me warmly, tho’ not indecently, on the subject of this Provision, and that you was discontented with it, tho’ in my opinion, without reason— I thought it was doing as much as, all things considered, could prudently be done for you— I did not know how far your Uncle might ^either^ find it convenient, or be disposed to defray even these Expences, expecially considering the Amount of those which he had already incurred on your Account; and I thought it my duty to pay some regard to his convenience, as well as to yours—

A few days after your arrival at Cadiz, you wrote me the following Letter—11