Letters to Benjamin Franklin 183 



will find an enemy small in number yet brave by nature and longing to 

 revenge the unfortunate affair at Three Rivers. Account of the troops 

 under Col. St. Clair and himself. Strength of their naval force as com- 

 pared with the enemy. His soldiers destitute of almost every necessary — 

 shoes, stockings, shirts and soap — essential articles in an army; pleads 

 for some method of sending on these things. A. L. S. 3 p. IV, 98. 



Printed in Journal of Military Service Institution, July, 1903, p. 76. 



From Le President de GoU. 1776. August 3. Montbeillard. 



Asking Franklin to interest himself in Geo. Leopold Besson, bourgeois 

 of Montbeilard, originally of Switzerland; his honesty and his mis- 

 fortunes. A. L. S. 2 p. (In French.) IV, 99. 



From Ray Greene. 1776. August 4. Warwick [R. I.]. 



Acknowledging the many obligations he is under to Franklin; had a 

 pleasant journey home; his relations and friends thought him much al- 

 tered; concluded from their smiles that it was for the better. [En- 

 closure to Grandma Mecom.] Expressing a high sense of her goodness 

 to him; out of his power to return it; hopes she will be pleased with 

 Cousin Jenny's match, which they tell him is to be one, as he comes 

 pretty often. A. L. S, 3 p. IV, lOO. 



From W[illiam] Dunlap. 1776. August 10. King and Queen. 



Has just received a distressing letter from his son Ben informing 

 him that the unknown benefactor who has contributed to his education 

 so far, can do so no longer and that he must shift for himself; asks 

 Franklin to take the poor boy under his patronage and so encourage 

 his ardent thirst for knowledge and save him from the plough or spade. 

 Gives an account of the other members of his family. A. L. S. i p. 



IV, loi. 



From Mehetable Newland. 



1776. August 12. Stafford, Monmouth Co. [N. J.]. 



Asking whether he has heard anything of Mr. Newland since he 

 embarked from New York for Quebec; from the different reports of the 

 success of their troops at that place is under the greatest uneasiness for 

 his welfare. A. L. S. i p. IV, 102. 



