The letter Madame Tellison had written to Mr. Jones, was forwarded to him by Thomas Jefferson. He immediately wrote to Mr. Jefferson as follows:
“The letter you sent me, left the feeling author all in tears. Her friend, her protectress, her introductress to the king, was suddenly dead. She was in despair. She lost more than a mother. A loss indeed that nothing can repair; for fortune and favor are never to be compared to tried friendship. I hope, however, she has gone to visit the king in July, agreeably to his appointment given to her in the month of March. I am persuaded that he would receive her with additional kindness, and that her loss would, in his mind, be a new claim to protection; especially as he well knows and has acknowledged her superior merit and just pretensions.
“As I feel the greatest concern for the situation of this worthy lady, you will render me a great favor by writing a note requesting her to call on you, as you have something to communicate from me. When she comes, be so good as to deliver her the within letter, and show her this; that she may see both my confidence in you and my advice to her.”
The enclosed letter, full of gushing sympathies, was as follows. It was dated New York, September 4th, 1787.
“No language can convey to the fair mourner the tender sorrow I feel on her account. The loss of our worthy friend is, indeed, a fatal stroke! It is an irreparable misfortune, which can only be alleviated by this one reflection, that it is the will of God, whose providence has, I hope, other blessings in store for us. She was a tried friend and more than a mother to you. She would have been a mother to me also, had she lived. We have lost her. Let us cherish her memory and send up grateful thanks to the Almighty that we once had such a friend.
“I cannot but flatter myself that you have yourself gone to the king, in July, as he had appointed. I am sure your loss will be a new inducement for him to protect you and render you justice. He will hear you, I am sure. You may safely unbosom yourself to him and ask his advice, which cannot but be flattering for him to give you. Tell him you must look on him as your father and protector. If it were necessary I think too that the Count d’Artois,[[E]] his brother, would, on your personal application, render you good offices by speaking in your favor. I should like it better, however, if you can do without him.
“I am almost without money, and much puzzled to obtain a supply. I mention this with infinite regret, and for no other reason than because it is impossible for me to transmit you a supply, under my present circumstances. This is my fifth letter to you since I left Paris. The two last were from France. But you say nothing of having received any letters from me. Summon, my dear friend, all your resolution. Exert yourself and plead your own cause. You cannot fail of success. Your cause would move a heart of flint. Present my best respects to your sister. You did not mention her in your letter. But I persuade myself she will continue her tender care of her sweet godson, and that you will cover him all over with kisses from me. They come warm to you both, from the heart.”
While in New York he heard very ungenerous complaints that his charge for services in recovering the prize-money was exorbitant. Earnestly seeking the good-will of his fellow-citizens, these reproaches pained him. He wrote upon the subject as follows:
“The settlement I made, with the court of France, had first Dr. Franklin’s, and afterwards Mr. Jefferson’s approbation, in every stage and article of the business. And I presume it will be found, so far as depended on me, to merit that of the United States. In France I was received and treated by the king and his ministers, as a general officer, and a special minister from Congress. The credit with which I was honored as an officer, in the opinion of Europe, and the personal intimacy I have with many great characters at Paris, with my exclusive knowledge of all circumstances relative to the business, insured me a success which no other man could have obtained. My situation subjected me to considerable expense. I went to court much oftener, and mixed with the great much more frequently than our minister plenipotentiary. Yet the gentlemen in that situation consider their salary of two thousand pounds sterling a year as scarcely adequate to their expenses.”
His busy mind was ever fertile in expedients for the public welfare. In urging upon Congress immediate and effectual measures for the rescue of the unhappy American captives in piratic and barbaric Algiers, he had urged the establishment of a fund for that object. He also urged that, from this fund, a great national hospital should be established, for the benefit of invalid seamen, on the plan of the renowned Greenwich Hospital in England, and the still more far-famed Hotel des Invalides in Paris.