Letters to Benjamin Franklin • 225 



From J[onathan] Williams, Jr., to The American Commissioners. 

 1777. March 11. Nantes. 



Business connected with loading The Count de Vergennes. Ar- 

 rival of a little schooner express from Congress; the Captain and Mr. 

 Rumsey gone to Paris. Rumor that General Washington has cut off 

 the English retreat in New Jersey. A. L. S. i p. XXXVII, 69. 



From St. Jean [Charles Guillaume Frederic Dumas] to The Ameri- 

 can Commissioners. 1777. March 11. 



Congratulating them on the American success in New Jersey; 

 troubled at the capture of the brave General Lee. Memoir presented 

 to the King by the English Ambassador, demanding the punishment of 

 the Governor of St. Eustache for favoring the Americans, and order- 

 ing that the sale of arms to them shall cease. Recommends the send- 

 ing of American news to the French Gazette of Leiden. A. L. S. 

 3 p. (In French.) XXXIX, 7. 



Fro?n P. Penet. 1777. March 11. Nantes. 



The bearer, Mr. Rumsey, accompanies Capt. Hammond to Paris with 

 letters from the Secret Committee at Philadelphia. All the transactions 

 confided to him have been carried out with the greatest exactitude. Mr. 

 Thomas Morris busy from morning to night. The sale of prizes at 

 L'Orient conducted with prudence and discretion. A. L. S. 2 p. (In 

 French.) V, 105. 



From Arthur Lee to Franklin and Deane. 

 1777. March 12. Victoria. 



Greatly elated over the joyful intelligence enclosed ; the militia so 

 exasperated by the past cruelty of the enemy that they fought with ir- 

 resisitible fury; afraid Gen. Lee is a prisoner; loss sustained by the 

 enemy; upwards of a thousand of the prisoners in New York have died 

 of famine and cruel treatment ; destruction by these " Saracen invaders " 

 of the philosophical apparatus at Princeton. Awaiting the arrival of 

 Count de Grimaldi with news from the Court. Means he has taken to 

 publish an account of the late intelligence in various countries, especially 

 among the German troops. Considers Holland has broken her strict 

 neutrality by agreeing to let the mercenaries, notoriously hired to 

 desolate the States of America, have a passage. If Mr. Deane should 

 go to Amsterdam, advises him to be on his guard against Mr. Paul 

 Wentworth. A. L. S. 3 p. V, 106. 



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