8o Choate: Franklin 



necessary to support the dignity of their public char- 

 acter, and that besides the actual expenses of the Com- 

 missioners a handsome allowance should be made to each 

 of them as a compensation for their trouble, risk and 

 services." By singular good fortune, which seemed 

 always to attend him, Franklin was able to obey this in- 

 junction of Congress, and to secure for himself and his 

 embassy an establishment in the suburbs of Paris which 

 served in a most perfect way as a dignified and suitable 

 residence, where he continued to live during the whole 

 of his nine years in France in a manner becoming the 

 representative of his country abroad. 



The quarter of Passy, where Franklin's abode was sit- 

 uated, was then one of the most attractive in the environs 

 of the capital, and was happily the property of M. de 

 Chaumont, a great friend of the American cause, whom 

 Franklin in a letter to Washington describes as " the first 

 in France who gave us credit and, before the Court 

 showed us any countenance, trusted us with two thousand 

 barrels of gunpowder, and from time to time afterwards 

 exerted himself to furnish the Congress with supplies of 

 various kinds." De Chaumont, who, as Wharton infers, 

 upon some understanding with the French government, 

 freely offered this handsome mansion on grounds on 

 which he himself resided for Franklin's occupation, was 

 a gentleman of fortune and distinction. He had been 

 one of the Council of Louis XV and then held an im- 



