TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Philadelphia, 4th January, 1779.
Sir,
In my letter of the 30th ult. I took the liberty of mentioning to Congress a circumstance, which made me very solicitous for a final issue of my affairs, which was the illiberal and abusive attacks made on my character, as the public agent and minister of these States, by a certain Mr Thomas Paine, styling himself Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and pretending to address the public in his official capacity. This person has since, in Mr Dunlap's paper of the 2d inst., ventured to assure the public, that the supplies, which I contracted for with Mons. Beaumarchais, were promised and engaged, and that as a present, before I arrived in France, and that he has in his possession full proof of this.
I cannot suppose that Mr Paine is possessed of any letters, or papers on this subject, which are not before Congress, or to which the honorable members are strangers. I will not trouble Congress with any observations on the many groundless and extravagant assertions of this writer, but justice to my own character obliges me to entreat, that, if what he has asserted on this subject is a fact, I may be made acquainted with it. Mons. Beaumarchais, in his letter to Congress of the 23d of March last, asserts directly the contrary to what this man has ventured to publish; and as my engagements with Mons. Beaumarchais were made on a very different ground, it is of the last importance to me to know if I have been deceived in the whole of this transaction, and how, that I may be able to regulate my conduct accordingly.
I have the honor to be, with the utmost respect, &c.
SILAS DEANE.