o answer your
confidence and expectation. You will have here annexed a copy of
letters, which have been written to me by the French Ministers at the
Hague, the Abbe Desnoyers and the Duc de la Vauguyon. You will easily
conjecture the contents of those, which I wrote to them, and which are
too long to recite here; moreover, a copy of the whole was not
preserved.

As to what you add, Gentlemen, that my expenses and labors shall be
reimbursed and compensated, I have the honor to say to you, that I
should esteem myself the most happy of men, in being able to make
without return all the advances and services of which you have need,
to sustain this memorable war. The Supreme Being, who sees the depth
of my heart, is witness to the truth of this sentiment in all its
extent. But to my great regret, although without shame, I avow myself
as poor in means as rich in good will. The draft remitted to me by Dr
Franklin, of one hundred pounds sterling, on London, has been paid. On
the other hand, since I received Dr Franklin's letter and the orders
of the Committee, I have not hesitated to sacrifice to a commission so
important, so honorable, and so agreeable to my principles and taste,
not only a small running pension of sixty pounds, which a bookseller
paid me for a part of my time, that was devoted to a work, an account
of which I communicated to Dr Franklin some years since, but also
about seventy pounds, which I have already received for part of the
work delivered, without which, considering my other actual duties, it
would have been impossible for me to have time to attend to the
execution of these orders. If I add to this at least fifty pounds,
that I have spent in postages, travelling charges, and other expenses,
I find myself at this time seventy pounds at least in advance. But I
should be very sorry, Gentlemen, that what I say here, should turn you
an instant from the important duties requiring your constant
attention. For the same reason, I have been unwilling to interrupt
with these details the occupations of our gentlemen at Paris. If
(which God forbid) America have not the success which my heart
desires, her misfortunes will afflict me infinitely more than my loss.
But if, on the contrary, I shall have the satisfaction to see liberty
established and her prosperity secured, I doubt not she will render me
an ample indemnity and reward.

I have the honor to be, &c.