9. After his return from America, bearing recommendations from Horatio Gates (see Gates to BF, Aug. 16), Williamos deepened his friendship with TJ and greatly impressed the Adams family. A former British administrator in America who had repeatedly and unsuccessfully proposed himself for higher positions, including secretary of Indian affairs, he embarked on a courtship of the American commissioners in 1784 that could not have been incidental: Jefferson Papers, VIII, 270–1n; [Caroline A. Smith de Windt, ed.], Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, Daughter of John Adams … (2 vols., New York and London, 1841–42), I, 31. Whatever he told them, it was certainly not that he had opposed the Revolution, had conducted a sympathetic correspondence with American Loyalists during the war, and had left England with at least one large debt unpaid. Documentation of these facts soon made its way to Passy, however. On Feb. 10, 1785, WF wrote to WTF to enlist his help in collecting the £220 that Williamos owed to WF’s friend John Wetherhead. WF and Wetherhead had learned that Williamos planned to return to America and intended “to recommend himself to Dr. Franklin for his Interest there.” WTF was to threaten Williamos that if he did not pay the debt, WTF would show BF a July 1, 1778, letter from Williamos to Wetherhead that exposed Williamos’ delinquency and expressed strong support for the British in the war with America. Of course, it would be better if WTF could get the money without involving BF. WF enclosed an undated letter that Wetherhead had written to him, outlining this plan; a letter from Wetherhead to Williamos of Feb. 2, 1785, demanding payment; a draft on Williamos for £220; and the letter of July 1, 1778 (which WTF was instructed to return to Wetherhead after the business was concluded). The cover letter and the enclosures, with the exception of the draft, are at the APS. The fact that the draft is missing and that the 1778 letter and the one of Feb. 2, 1785, are copies by L’Air de Lamotte suggests that WTF presented these three documents to Williamos. We do not know whether Williamos paid the debt to Wetherhead, or whether BF ever learned of the affair.

1. Feb. 14. On that day BF hosted “a large company” that included JA and his family, the marquis and marquise de Lafayette, Lord Mountmorres (XL, 40–1n), John Jeffries, John Paul Jones, Mary Hewson, WTF, BFB, and JW: [De Windt], Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, I, 47. Jeffries also noted the attendance of Mr. and Mrs. William Bingham, David Humphreys, “a Mrs. Boadley,” and “several other Gent: of Rank & Note”: John Jeffries’ diary, entry of Feb. 14, 1785, Harvard University Library.