without doubt, that you give me frequently new instructions and orders, provided always with letters of credence, or at least with one that will serve for the time, as you judge proper. I know to whom to address myself to ask for intelligence at the Court of France, and to have an answer in a few days.

June 6th. Here you have a copy of a letter from London, dated May 21st. You know well from whom it is.* I have sent to him under the envelope the two letters which Mr. Story had left with me, and I added a cypher, which he has already used with success.

Every thing is safe. I shall write you fully next week by our friend Story. One Hortalez will apply to you on business that concerns our friends. He has your address. Be so good as to assist him."+

I expect these gentlemen with impatience, and shall do all that depends on me for your service and theirs.

I trust you will always answer me speedily, and inform me if my letters reach you. I will send you once more a general copy of my preceding letters to supply the loss of one or both in case the vessels that carry them are lost or are taken.

When I promised the Minister with whom I had an interview on your affairs not to name him to you, it is only until you expressly require that I make him known to you; for in that case you may know him when you will.

In about eight days I shall leave Utrecht for a country house within seven leagues of the Hague, where I expect to pass the

Mr. Arthur Lee, in his letter of the 11th of June, observes that

* The person here referred to is Arthur Lee. See Arthur Lee's Correspondence. Vol. I., p. 387.

This note refers to Beaumarchais, who proposed to go to Holland when he saw Mr. Lee in London. But he afterwards altered his mind, and returned directly to Paris.

"Mr. Story goes from hence directly to America. A French gentleman named Hortalez having something to negociate for the Congress, I have given him your address." On the eve of my departure from Utrecht, on the 21st of June, I wrote as follows to the person whom you know :*

"Sir,

"In the hope that you have consented to make me understand that I shall be one day useful to you, I think it my duty to advise you that I shall depart to-morrow from this city to pass the summer at a country house half way from here to I shall receive there in all safety your orders if you send your letters to, &c.

"I propose, also, to pass to

as soon as I can, merely

to profit by the permission you have given me to render you my services from time to time. Without having any new plan to propose, the work already marked out has need of your good directions, and I shall be very sorry to fail of the honor of an interview with you, at least once more before your departure, if it is near.”

at

To this I received the following answer, dated June 23d:

Sir,

"I have received the letter you did me the honor to write me the 21st of this month. You flatter me with the hope of seeing you to which you are brought near by the residence you intend to make during the summer at a country house. This proximity will afford you opportunity to make journeys, by which I shall profit with much pleasure. I am sensible of the esteem which is your due, and of the advantage of meriting the friendship of an experienced man like yourself, uniting literature to the duties of society. I shall listen to you always with an eager desire of profiting by your counsels, and this on all subjects that have engaged your thoughts. I do not yet know the time that I shall remain at

Perhaps it will be sufficiently long to enjoy oftener the honor of receiving you. This depends on the orders of my Court. We are in the least active or most dissipated season. Business will not

Meaning the person with whom he had the interview mentioned in the preceding letter, doubtless the French Ambassador.

flourish much till the fall of the leaves, or even not get warm till the return of snow. I speak of the Old World, for I wish not to extend the picture too much.

"Have you any news of the Doctor and his friends? I shall be obliged to you to follow my instructions in this respect. I will bear willingly the charge of an express, whom you may send to me when you shall judge proper; otherwise write uniformly by the post. Should I be on a journey, I shall have the honor to inform you of my residence and address. I do not know how to express to you sufficiently, sir, the desire I have to serve you and to deserve a place in your thoughts."

About fifteen days after, I replied to this letter as follows:

"Sir,

"The letter with which you honored me, dated 23d of June, has given me the assurance which was needed to console me for the disappointments that have detained me here. Perhaps I shall be at the Hague on Sunday morning. Be assured, sir, that if any thing comes to my knowledge worthy of your attention, you shall be informed of it immediately. I have no reason to expect soon to receive news directly. I have written two letters by two different vessels that have sailed from Amsterdam for St. Eustatia; and I expect when another vessel departs to despatch a third. Before I have an answer much time will pass, and in this time many events. There is, however, a man charged with some commission on their part, to whom they have given my address at Leyden; and I have received two letters from that city, the one of the 21st of May, the other of the 11th of June, in which they pray me to render him service. This is all that I know of him, for the man has not yet appeared.

"The more I am favored with your letters, sir, the more I wish to deserve your good opinion. In the mean time, I ought to be on my guard against too much presumption, and to think how natural it is to give a gracious reception to the servant for the love of the master. I own to you, sir, that in giving an account to the Doctor and his friends of our correspondence, I have thought proper to forewarn them thereon. They will be informed of the obliging interest with which you ask news of them. I hope that the time will will be able to permit me to reveal your name.

come when

you

"After having thought long and much, it seems to me, that in order to answer completely their intention, I ought to present myself also to the Hotel d'Espagne, to be known there simply as charged with such a commission, to open to myself thereby ways of serving my constituents on diverse occasions, which may present themselves at one moment or another, and not incur the blame which may be reflected even on these gentlemen of having neglected a power so worthy of their efforts. For the rest, I shall not do or say any thing in this respect till I have had the honor of seeing you, sir, and I pray you to believe that I shall observe scrupulously the conduct and the discretion that you have had the goodness to prescribe to me."

In consequence, I have again conferred with this gentleman. He went to dine at that same house, said that I had been with him, and that I told him I would go also to the other house the next day at eleven o'clock. I went in fact, and was received tête à tête with great ceremony in the hall of audience. I opened briefly my business and drew out a memoir to read to him. He told me that he could not hear me without the order of his master. I read, notwithstanding, and he did not stop his ears. I prayed him to receive and keep the memoir. He refused, alleging continually that he could do nothing without orders. I drew out then my originals and showed him my three signatures, which he looked at eagerly. In separating, I asked him to keep my name concealed at

He said to me that he would keep it secret every where. He asked me, however, if that was my true name. I assured him it was; he paid me some personal compliments and we parted. I learnt on the next day by another channel that he had, notwithstanding, given an account to his master of this visit; which suffices me, for I have need, as you know, of only one of these good houses. I am always very politely received, and as a friend. This is all that I ask. I do not multiply too much my visits, but to render them always desirable, I never appear there without having something interesting to say; and to this end, the letters of my worthy correspondent at London are very useful to me. This last has addressed to me lately a person whose conversation, joined to the contents of the letter of which he was bearer, has served me in the composition of a memoir which they approve, and I have reason to think they have sent.

This person has induced me to write a letter to you, dated the

4th of August, by way of Bordeaux to St. Domingo, under an envelope of Mr. Caton, merchant at port St. Nicholas in that island, of which here is an extract:

"A gentleman belonging to Jamaica, a particular friend of Dr. Franklin, and very well known to him, has charged me to write to him, to assure him on good authority, of the singular esteem that he has for him and his friends; that they ought to think, and that he prays him to let them know it, that the present voice of Parliament is the voice of the English people; that there exists, and gathers strength, a great body, which, in truth, is not the strongest, but which regards the cause of the Americans as its own, their safety and liberty as its own, which will prefer to see them independent rather than subjugated, and which will make, at the future meeting of Parliament, the greatest efforts in their favor; that the basis of this party is already forty Peers and one hundred and sixty members of the Commons."

The letter which this gentleman brought me began thus: "This will be delivered to you by Mr. Ellis, a friend of Dr. Franklin, of liberty, and of America. He is a philosopher, very well instructed on the subject of America, and I trust will be both an agreeable and useful acquaintance while he remains near you." This assuring me, I discovered to him that I was the man whom he was seeking, provided with credentials and orders from Congress sufficient to do all the good offices that his friends could wish to render. Thereupon I showed him my credentials; he was satisfied with them, and we exchanged addresses. He promised to write me; and we separated satisfied with each other.

I have the honor to be, &c.,

DUMAS.

ARTHUR LEE TO C. W. F. DUMAS.

London, July 6th, 1776.

Dear Sir,

This will be delivered you by Mr. Ellis, a friend of Dr. Franklin, of liberty, and of America. He is a philosopher, very well instructed on the subject of America, and I trust will be both an agreeable and useful acquaintance while he remains near you.

I thank you for your favor of the 21st of last month. By the last