To Benjamin Franklin from ——— de la Radière, 5 February 1778: résumé
From ——— de la Radière2
ALS: American Philosophical Society
<Orbec,3 February 5, 1778, in French: I take the liberty of requesting you to forward this letter to M. de la Radière, my son. He and three fellow officers of engineers joined your army.4 We have written him often to give him news of the family, but his most recent letter last September says that he has had no word, and asks that you take care of his mail. I hope you will indulge a father who gives up the company of his dear son to help your compatriots.>
2. He refers to himself in a postscript as “ancien Marechal des Logis des Gendarmes de la garde che[valie]r de St. Louis,” and is called “mestre de camp de cavallerie” in a covering note of Feb. 12, to be forwarded to BF, from le Goüeslier de Montcarel, “commis principal des affaires etrangeres” at Versailles. On May 14 Goüeslier writes BF directly with the same request for forwarding. APS. For a capsule biography of this mid-level functionary see Jean-Pierre Samoyault, Les Bureaux du secrétariat d’état des affairs étrangères sous Louis XV (Paris, [1971]), 296–7.
3. In Normandy.
4. His companions were Duportail, Laumoy, and Gouvion: above, XXIII, 337.