I therefore wrote the letter of August the
17th, and received that of August the 26th, finally closing this tedious
business. Should what I have done, not meet the approbation of Congress,
I would pray their immediate sense, because it is not probable that the
whole of this money will be paid so hastily, but that their orders may
arrive in time to stop a sufficiency for any French claimants who may
possibly exist. The following paragraph of a letter from Captain Jones,
dated L'Orient, August the 25th, 1785, further satisfies me, that my
undertaking amounted to nothing in fact. He says, 'It is impossible
that any legal demands should be made on you for French subjects, in
consequence of your engagement to the Marechal. The Alliance was manned
in America, and I never heard of any person's having served on board
that frigate, who had been born in France, except the captain, who, as
I was informed, had, in America, abjured the church of Rome, and been
naturalized.' Should Congress approve what I have done, I will then
ask their resolution for the payment, by their banker here, of any such
claims as may be properly authenticated, and will moreover pray of
you an authentic roll of the crew of the Alliance, with the sums to be
allowed to each person; on the subject of which roll, Captain Jones, in
the letter above mentioned, says, 'I carried a set of the rolls with me
to America, and before I embarked in the French fleet at Boston, I put
them into the hands of Mr. Secretary Livingston, and they were sealed
up among the papers of his office, when I left America.' I think it
possible that Mr. Puchilberg may excite claims. Should any name be
offered which shall not be found on the roll, it will be a sufficient
disproof of the pretension. Should it be found on the roll, it will
remain to prove the identity of person, and to inquire if payment
may not have been made in America. I conjecture from the journals of
Congress of June the 2nd, that Landais, who, I believe, was the captain,
may be in America. As his portion of prize-money may be considerable, I
hope it will be settled in America, where only it can be known whether
any advances have been made him.

The person at the head of the post office here, says, he proposed to Dr.
Franklin a convention to facilitate the passage of letters through
their office and ours, and that he delivered a draught of the convention
proposed, that it might be sent to Congress. I think it possible he