Commodore Jones, who by his bravery and conduct has done great honor to the American flag, desires to have that also of presenting a line to the hands of your Excellency. I cheerfully comply with his request, in recommending, him to the notice of Congress, and to your Excellency's protection, though his actions are a more effectual recommendation, and render any from me unnecessary. It gives me, however, an opportunity of showing my readiness to do justice to merit, and of professing the esteem and respect with which I am
Your Excellency's, &c.
B. FRANKLIN
TO C. W. F. DUMAS.
Passy June 5th, 1780
Dear Sir,
The gentleman whose name you wished to know, in one of your late letters, is M. Westhuysen, Echevin et Conseiller de la Ville de Harlem. I shall probably send an order to that place for some of the types, of which you have sent me the prices, before I leave Europe. I think them very good and not dear.
A Dutch ship belonging to Messrs Little, Dale, & Co. of Rotterdam, being brought into France as having an English cargo on board, I have followed your opinion with regard to the condemnation of the cargo, which I think the more right, as the English have in the West Indies confiscated several of our cargoes found in Dutch ships. But to show respect to the declaration of the Empress of Russia, I have written to the owners of our privateers, a letter of which I enclose a copy, together with a copy of the judgment, for your use, if you hear of any complaint. I approve much of the principles of the confederacy of the neutral powers, and am not only for respecting the ships as the house of a friend, though containing the goods of an enemy, but I even wish for the sake of humanity, that the law of nations may be further improved, by determining, that even in time of war, all those kinds of people who are employed in procuring subsistence for the species, or in exchanging the necessaries or conveniences of life, which are for the common benefit of mankind, such as husbandmen on their lands, fishermen in their barques, and traders in unarmed vessels, shall be permitted to prosecute their several innocent and useful employments without interruption or molestation, and nothing taken from them, even when wanted by an enemy, but on paying a fair price for the same.
I think you have done well to print the letter of Clinton, for though I have myself had suspicions whether some parts of it were really written by him, yet I have no doubt of the facts stated, and think the piece valuable, as giving a true account of the state of British and American affairs in that quarter. On the whole, it has the appearance of a letter written by a general, who did not approve of the expedition he was sent upon, who had no opinion of the judgment of those who drew up his instructions, who had observed, that the preceding commanders, Gage, Burgoyne, Keppel, and the Howes, had all been censured by the Ministers for having unsuccessfully attempted to execute injudicious instructions with unequal force, and he therefore wrote such a letter, not merely to give the information contained in it, but to be produced in his vindication, when he might be recalled, and his want of success charged upon him as a crime; though, in truth, owing to the folly of the Ministers, who had ordered him on impracticable projects, and persisted in them, notwithstanding his faithful informations, without furnishing the necessary number of troops he had demanded. In this view much of the letter may be accounted for, without supposing it fictitious; and therefore if not genuine, it is ingeniously written. But you will easily conceive, that if the state of public facts it contains were known in America to be false, such a publication there would have been absurd, and of no possible use to the cause of the country.