The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (146 page)

505 “Tell our good friend”: to Priestley, Oct. 3, 1775.

507 “I have just heard”: WF to Germain, Mar. 28, 1776, DAR.

507 “I begin”: to Quincy, Apr. 15, 1776.

507 “utmost dispatch”: to John Hancock, May 1, 1776.

508 “We have daily”: to Hancock, May 8, 1776.

509 “an ingenious”: to Bache, Sept. 30, 1774.

509 “Dr. Kearsley”: from Thomas Paine, Mar. 4, 1775.

510 “I offer”: Thomas Paine,
Common Sense
(New York, 1942), 21, 40.

510 “great impression”: to Charles Lee, Feb. 19, 1776.

510 “that these United Colonies”:
Papers of Jefferson,
1:298.

510 “You can write”: John Adams to Timothy Pickering, Aug. 8, 1822,
Adams Papers.

510 “I am just recovering”: to Washington, June 21, 1776.

511 “Will Doctor Franklin”: from Jefferson, probably June 21, 1776.

511 “reduce them … destroy us”: Carl Becker,
The Declaration of Independence
(New York, 1933), 160–71.

511 “I was sitting”:
Writings of Jefferson,
18:169–70.

512 “There must be … hang separately”: Sparks, 1:408.

513–14 “Let the smaller … insurrections”: BF quoted in
Adams Papers,
2:245–46.

514 “My Worthy Friend”: from Howe, June 20, 1776.

515 “Directing pardons”: to Howe, July 20, 1776.

516 “I watched”: PBF, 22:518–19.

517–18 “At Brunswick … and mutton”:
Adams Papers,
3:418–20.

518 “I also gave”: Howe to Germain, Sept. 20, 1776,
DAR
.

519 “Dr. Franklin”:
Adams Papers,
3:422.

23. SALVATION IN PARIS: 1776–78

520 “I suppose”:
Adams Papers,
3:422.

521 “It would be”: BF et al. to Arthur Lee, Dec. 12, 1775.

521 “Perhaps, however”: to Don Gabriel Antonio de Bourbon, Dec. 12, 1775.

522 “On your arrival”: to Silas Deane, Mar. 2, 1776.

523 “It will be proper”: from John Hancock, Sept. 24, 1776.

524 “I have only”: in Rush to Thomas Morris, Oct. 22, 1776,
Letters of Rush.

525 “very magnificent”: Sheila Skemp,
William Franklin,
192.

525 “virulent enemy”:
ibid.,
212.

526 “I will not distress”: from Elizabeth Franklin, Aug. 6, 1776.

526 “I have considered”: to William Temple Franklin, Sept. 19, 1776.

527 “short but rough”: to the Committee of Secret Correspondence, Dec. 8, 1776.

527 “almost demolished me”: to Richard and Sarah Franklin Bache, May 10, 1785, Smyth.

527 “I have acquainted”: to Deane, Dec. 7, 1776.

528 “The carriage … ever beheld”:
Memoirs
2:48.

528 “The celebrated … mantelpiece”: Edward E. Hale and Edward E. Hale Jr.,
Franklin in France
(Boston, 1888), 1:69–70; Alfred Owen Aldridge,
Franklin and his French Contemporaries
(New York, 1957), 66.

529 “Intelligent”: Vergennes to Aranda, Dec. 28, 1776,
PBF
23:113n.

530 “As other princes”: to Vergennes, Jan. 5, 1777.

531 “of giving umbrage”: to the Committee of Secret Correspondence, Mar. 12–Apr. 9, 1777.

531 “with which they mean”: to the Committee of Secret Correspondence, Jan. 17–22, 1777.

531–32 “Their fleet … betrays it”: to the Committee of Secret Correspondence, Mar. 12–Apr. 9, 1777.

536 “Count Pulaski”: to Washington, May 29, 1777.

536 “the Baron”: to Washington, Sept. 4, 1777.

536 “the Marquis”: to Washington, Aug. or Sept. 1777.

536 “The bearer”: to Washington, Mar. 29, 1777.

536 “Our corps”: from Washington, Aug. 17, 1777.

537 “These applications”: to Barbeu-Dubourg, after Oct. 2, 1777.

537 “Sir”: unaddressed model letter, Apr. 2, 1777.

538–39 “The Commissioners … from Europe”: to Vergennes and Aranda, Sept. 25, 1777.

539 “We are scarce”: to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Nov. 30, 1777.

539 “We have prevented”: Washington to Lund Washington, Dec. 17, 1776,
Writings of Washington.

540 “Not a word”: Adams to Abigail Adams, Aug. 20, 1777,
Adams Papers.

541 “In consciousness”: Robert Middlekauff,
The Glorious Cause,
372.

542 “Sir,
is
Philadelphia …
of war
”:
PBF,
25:234–35n.

542 “the total reduction”: to Vergennes, Dec. 4, 1777.

542 “You mistake”:
PBF,
25:236n.

543 “He said”: Richard Henry Lee,
Life of Arthur Lee
(Boston, 1829), 1:357.

543 “to make peace”: Philip Gibbes’ minutes of conversation, c. Feb. 5, 1777,
PBF.

543 “America is ready”: Gibbes’ minutes of conversation, Jan. 5, 1778, PBF.

543 “I called on 72”: Paul Wentworth to William Eden, Jan. 7, 1778, PBF.

544 “lively and long”: Vergennes to Comte de Montmorin, Jan. 30, 1778,
Facsimiles,
vol. 21, no. 18.

24. BONHOMME RICHARD: 1778–79

546 “Let me whisper … wicked measures”: Richard Henry Lee,
Life of Arthur Lee,
2:124–27.

546 “It is true”: to Arthur Lee [not sent], Apr. 3, 1778.

547 “That he was”:
Adams Papers,
4:69.

547–48 “On Dr. F…. fanatic”:
ibid.,
2:347–52.

548 “Mr. M.”:
ibid.,
2:391.

548 “The history”:
Letters of Rush,
2:1207.

549 “The life”:
Adams Papers,
4:118–19.

551 “He would grasp”: Claude-Ann Lopez,
Mon Cher Papa: Franklin and the Ladies of Paris
(New Haven, Conn., 1966), 128.

551 “the magnificence”:
Adams Papers,
4:109.

551 “one of the most”:
ibid.,
4:63–64.

551 “Alas!”:
ibid.,
and (for the translation) Lopez,
Mon Cher Papa,
129.

551–52 “All the family … very white”:
ibid.,
134.

552 “Madame Brillon”:
Adams Papers,
4:46–47.

553 “You were kind”: Lopez,
Mon Cher Papa,
38–39.

553 “The first”: to Madame Brillon”: Mar. 10, 1778.

553–54 “Let us start”: Lopez,
Mon Cher Papa,
40–44.

554–55 “You renounce … tenderness”: to Madame Brillon, July 27, 1778.

555 “Judge … appetites”: Lopez,
Mon Cher Papa,
47–48.

556 “You remember”: to Brillon, Sept. 20, 1778.

557 “That she might not”:
Adams Papers,
4:58–59.

558 “ladies for whose”: from Adams, May 14, 1779.

558–59 “She entered”:
Letters of Mrs. Adams,
ed. Charles Francis Adams (Boston, 1840), 252–53.

559 “Oh, to be seventy”: Lopez,
Mon Cher Papa,
246–47.

559–61 “If Notre Dame … avenge ourselves!”: based on
ibid.,
259–71.

562 “He had his hair”: Lee,
Life of Arthur Lee,
1:403.

562–63 “The King … le Seigneur Franklin”: Lopez,
Mon Cher Papa,
179–84.

564 “When I gave”: Voltaire to Abbé Gaultier, Feb. 21, 1778, in
Ouevres Complètes de Voltaire
(Paris, 1883), 50:372.

564 “my child … Tolerance”: Alfred Aldridge,
Franklin and His French Contemporaries,
10.

564 “There presently”:
Adams Papers,
4:80–82.

566 “When I was”: Lopez,
Mon Cher Papa,
79.

566 “My God!”:
Bagatelles,
32ff; Bigelow, 8:312ff.

569 “The Doctor … men’s truths”:
Writings of Jefferson,
18:171–72.

570 “Come, Monsieur”:
ibid.,
170.

570 “If you Frenchmen”: Lopez,
Mon Cher Papa,
21.

570 “we do not take kings”:
Writings of Jefferson,
18:168.

25. MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY: 1779–81

571 “I am a king”:
Writings of Jefferson,
18:168.

572 “What have you”: Robert Middlekauff,
The Glorious Cause,
413.

572 “We have”: Washington to President of Congress, Dec. 23, 1777,
Writings of Washington.

573 “Believe me”: John McAuley Palmer,
General von Steuben
(New Haven, Conn., 1937), 157.

574 “Our Great Faithful”: Congress to Louis XVI, Oct. 21, 1778.

575 “the God-like”: from Lafayette, Aug. 29, 1779.

575 “Dear general”: Lafayette to Washington, Feb. 19, 1778,
Lafayette Letters.

575 “zeal, military ardour”: from Washington, Dec. 28, 1778.

576 “In our kingly”: from Lafayette, Feb. 21, 1779.

576 “My blood”: Andreas Latzko,
Lafayette
(New York, 1936), 81.

576 “If you undertake”: Lafayette to Comte d’Estaing, Sept. 21, 1778,
Lafayette Letters.

576 “I admire much”: to Lafayette, Mar. 22, 1779.

578 “The Marquis”: to Jones, Apr. 27, 1779.

578 “by all means”: to Jones, Apr. 28, 1779.

579 “Your liberal”: from Jones, May 1, 1779.

579 “No! I’ll sink … to fight”: Peter Reaveley, “The Battle,” in Jean Boudriot (ed.),
John Paul Jones and the Bonhomme Richard,
trans. David H. Roberts (Annapolis, Md., 1987), 82.