Instructions to M^r Thornton¹ [Paris, 11 Dec. 1777]

You will receive herewith a Letter to Lord North and another to Sir Grey Cooper Secretary of the Treasury,² to which you are to endeavour to obtain Answers.

As the Purport is to obtain Permission to visit & examine into the Situation of our People in their Goals, and administer to their Relief we hope a Request so consonant to Humanity will not be refus’d. But if you can not obtain such Permission, yet, (if not absolutely forbidden) we desire you would endeavour to see the Prison ers, take an Acc^t of their Names, the Rank or Quality they serv'd in, the States they belong'd to, in what Vessel, & by whom they were taken and such other particulars as may tend to give us perfect Information of their Circumstances.

But before you leave London to visit the Prisons, wait on M^r. Hartley (for whom also you have a Letter which you will deliver as soon as you arrive) and desire his Ad vice or Orders; & if he should be so kind as to give you any relating to the Premises you are to follow the same punctually in your future Proceedings.

You will receive herewith Fifty Guineas for Travelling Expences of which you will render an Acct^. We wish you a good Journey, being [&c.]