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The Commissioners to John Gilbank
Docno: PJA07d162
Recipient: Gilbank, John
Date: 1778-11-10
[dateline] Passy Novr. 10. 1778
[salute] Sir
We have received your Letter of October the sixth, and wish it was in our Power to do more for officers in your situation than We do, altho that amounts in the whole to a large sum. But as We have al•
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ready lent you as much Money as We have <lent>
1 been able to lend to other officers of your Rank and in your Circumstances, <it is not in our Power>
2 we cannot without a blameable Partiality <to> lend you any more. We, are, sir your most obedient humble servants3
3. On 12 Sept. the Commissioners had ordered that 360 livres be paid to Gilbank (vol. 6:360). Their refusal to provide additional funds was not unusual, for on 11 Nov. (LbC, Adams Papers) they wrote an almost identical letter to Capt. William Hamilton and Lt. John Welch who, through payments approved on 30 Sept. and 10 Oct., had together received 1,032 livres (vol. 6:361).
From Jacques Le Maire
Docno: PJA07d163
Recipient: JA
Date: 1778-11-10
[dateline] Nantes le 10. Novembre 1778
[salute] Monsieur
Le Traité que M. Lee a fait avec M. Bonnefil1 pour faire passer tous les effets qui sont ici pour le gouvernement de Virginie, fixant mon depart à la fin du present mois, j'ose, Monsieur, Solliciter une lettre de recommandation de votre part en ma faveur auprès de Mr. le gouverneur de la Virginie; veuillez également m'envoyer la reponse de la lettre que je vous ai aportée emanée de lui.2 Je vous en suplie avec d'autant plus d'empressement que connoissant votre belle ame et votre équité me Justifiera du Zele que j'ai apporté à remplir exactement ma Mission. J'ose sans prevention, reconnoitre dans ma conduite un attachement inviolable et très desinteressé au service des provinces unis auquel je me voue tout entier, trop heureux si je peux vous prouver la Verité de ces Sentimens dont je vous prie de me croire penetré.
J'ai l'honneur d'Etre avec un profond respect Monsieur Votre très humble et très obeissant serviteur
[signed] Le Maire
[signed] Rue de la Casserie a Nantes
Jacques Le Maire to John Adams: A Translation
Docno: PJA07d164
Recipient: JA
Date: 1778-11-10
[dateline] Nantes, 10 November 1778
[salute] Sir
My departure being fixed at the end of this month by the contract made by Mr. Lee with Mr. Bonnefil1 to transport the goods here belonging to Virginia, I dare, sir, to solicit a letter of recommendation from you in my favor for the Governor of Virginia. Also be so kind as to send me the reply to the letter I delivered to you from him.2 I apply to you all the more eagerly knowing that your generosity and sense of justice will justify the zeal that I have exercised in the faithful fulfillment of my mission. Without prejudice I venture to recognize in my conduct an inviolable and disinterested attachment to the service of the United
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Provinces to which I am entirely devoted, and I am very happy if I can prove to you the truth of the sentiments of which I pray you know me to be imbued.
I have the honor to be, with deep respect, sir, your very humble and very obedient servant
[signed] Le Maire
[signed] Rue de la Casserie in Nantes
1. That is, Bondfield. William Lee reported to Gov. Thomas Jefferson on 24 Sept. 1779 and 15 Aug. 1780 that Arthur Lee had chartered the ships that carried Virginia's property to America and that, so far as he knew, it had all gone by the Governor Livingston, the Hunter, and the Mary Feron (Jefferson, Papers
, 3:90–93, 551). According to John Bondfield's letter to the Commissioners of 23 Jan. 1779 (below), those three vessels were wholly owned by himself, William Haywood, and James Price.
2. JA did not respond to this letter, nor did he mention it in his reply of 8 Dec. (LbC, Adams Papers) to a second letter from Le Maire of 3 Dec. (Adams Papers). Le Maire's second letter again asked for JA's reply to Gov. Patrick Henry's letter of 5 March (vol. 5:408–410), but did not request a recommendation. As a result, JA's reply of 8 Dec. was essentially a covering letter for his to Patrick Henry of the same date (below).
Cite web page as: Founding Families: Digital Editions of the Papers of the Winthrops and the Adamses, ed.C. James Taylor. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2007.
http://www.masshist.org/ff/
http://www.masshist.org/ff/