Sir
We took the liberty of writing you twice.—the last dated the 5th. Ulto. advising the arrival here of an english prize1 & the necessity there is of having some person Substituted here to act for Congress & at the Same time making bold to offer our Services for that purpose & also to give a Security if necessary and that you thought proper to empower us with that trust, Since which we are depriv’d of an answer—
The prize is Still here and we are really puzled how to behave or act, The Admiralty informs us they have orders to Sequester all prizes brought into these ports & to detain them ’till further orders from Paris. Our Custom house also say they can’t let the wine aShore till they hear from the farmers General, in what manner to receive the entry which ’till they get proper orders they look upon as being foreign wine in a brittish bottom, in vain have we applied to both those officers, ever since the first arrival of the Prize which is now a Month past but can get no Satisfactory ansr. which is the more necessary as the frigatt the Providence, at present at Pain Bœuf, is in want of her Men who are here with the prize. We therefore most earnestly request you’ll be pleas’d to have that matter clear’d up, in Such a manner as to be a Standing rule for any prizes that may come here here after.2 In expectation of the honour of your answer we remain [&c.]
Fairholme & Luther
Isle de Rhè 3d. July 1778
L, PPAmP, Benjamin Franklin Papers, vol. 10, fol. 87. Addressed: “À Monsieur/Monsieur Le Docteur Franklin/à Passey prés de/Paris.” Docketed: “Ferholme & Luther/3 July 1778.”
1. Brig Lord Grosvenor, captured by Continental Navy frigate Providence, Capt. Abraham Whipple, commander. The letters from Fairholme & Luther, which deal with the passage of French officers to America and the disposition of prizes, can be found at: John Luther to Franklin, 21 Apr. 1778, and Fairholme & Luther to Franklin, 5 June 1778, in Benjamin Franklin Papers 26: 318–19 and 590–92.
2. The sale of the cargo took place on 12 July as noted in an account signed by Jean-Daniel Schweighauser. Benjamin Franklin Papers 27: 662n.