Letters from the Honorable Doctor Benjn: Franklin, ministr: &c. which respects the Emperor’s Subjects, and which has been recommended to me by the Government General of the Low Countries. I make no Doubt but that you will make it your Duty to forward the same to Congress, and request that Body to take it into Consideration. I have the Honor to be, &c.

The Sieurs Liebaert Baes Derdeyn and Company Merchants residing in Ostend, Subjects of his Imperial and Royal Majesty, set forth that in the Course of the present Year they have equipped in the said Port, and loaded on Account of the Capitulants of Dominica and consigned to them, agreeable to manifest Divers harmless Merchandises (that is to say not Contraband in War, and the Traffic of which is at this very Time allowed to neutral Persons) on board their Vessel the Brig den Eersten destined for the Island and Plantations of Dominica, open and free agreeable to the Capitulation to all neutral Nations.

All the Dispatches were regular, an imperial Passport, Bill Lading and Manifest of the Cargo, Captain and major Part of the Crew were Imperialists, and the Remainder neutral Subjects, In short all the Papers on board tended to prove the Property belonging to the Colonists and to neutral Magistrates and Consuls.

This Vessel having sailed, on the Route of her Destination, was met by a Frigate carrying an English Flag, who ordered her to salute, and examined her Papers. The commander of the Frigat, on seeing the nature of these Papers, proposed to the Captain of the Vessel to sign an Acknowledgment proving that his Cargo had been taken on board in London, and his Papers and Provisions at Ostend.

Peter Thompson (the Name of the Captain of the Brig) believing himself in the Hands of an English Privateer consented to sign this Declaration (without knowing, however, what he signed, which in this Case, could not possibly be prejudicial to him, but the Captain of the Privateer, with an Intention of abusing the Ignorance and Innocence of the said Thompson, had written this Declaration in a Language which he could neither read nor comprehend, and in quite other Terms than what had been read to him, and which implied that he had been loaded in London, and that his Merchandise belonged to the English, and that he only came to Ostend to exchange Papers, and avoid falling into the Hands of the English Rebels, which is totally contrary to his Bill of Lading, and was not at all in his Power to do, as the Cargo was not under his Direction, nor ever had been.

Possessed of this writing, the Captain of the Frigate hoisted the American Flag, and proved himself to be the Hope Privateer from Boston, and accordingly informed Captain Thompson that he arrested him, and after taking out eleven Men from the Brig, he subjected several others of his own People, who, after having torn to Pieces, pillaged, and carried off all the Papers from on board, &c carried her into Philadelphia, and afterwards to Boston, where the Crew are detained and treated with Inhumanity.

This Prize is irregular, unjust, and contrary to the Rights of Nations, and the Sieurs Liebaert Baes Derdeyn and Company have reason to hope that the Conduct of the said Captain Darby will be disapproved by Congress, and the Ship and Cargo restored with Damages and Interests.

It is certain, and the Papers on board which Darby is obliged to show, will prove that this Vessel is not English Property, but that it actually belongs to the Srs. Liebaert Baes Derdeyn and Company agreeable to the Contract of the Property, and his Imperial and Royal Majesty’s Sea Letters, that she actually sailed under the Protection of this August Monarch; that her Cargo, composed of innocent Merchandize, that is to say not Contraband in War, the Commerce of which is permitted to neutral Powers even with the belligerant Parties, was for Account, and Risk of the said Capitulants of Dominica, and the Sieurs Liebairt Baes Derdeyn & Co. These Facts being proved, it will follow that the Hope Privateer had no right to stop the Brig, and that by so doing she contravened the Laws adopted by all the Powers who have subscribed the Covenants of the armed Neutrality, Laws which the Congress of the United States of America have enjoined their Cruisers to observe.

The Means which Darby used to legitimate this pretended Prize is a direct Act of Piracy which Congress cannot punish with too great Severity, and it will be easy for them to do it. All the Crew of the Brig who are detained at Boston will depose to the Facts alleged by the Sieurs Liebaert Baes Derdeyn and Company as follows    That when Darby stopped them and visited and interrogated them his Vessel was under English Colors. 2d. That the Captain of the Privateer availed himself of his Superiority over Thompson, and the Condition he was in to oblige him to Subscribe the Paper in Question, the Force and Tenor of which he was certainly ignorant of.

The stopping of the Brig under English Colors was, on the Part of Darby an Infringement of the Regulations which require that every Captain who, in Time of War, would visit a Ship, should summon her only under his proper Flag; whoever does otherwise acts as a Pirate, and should the Vessel prove a neutral one, he exposes himself to the Payment of Damages and Interest, which he is liable for himself together with his Owner without subjecting the Crew. This Point of the Rights of Nations is positively determined and received by all the States of Europe, who, either by their Arms or by their Neutrality, favor the Independence of America, and on this Position it is not possible to presume that Congress permits its Subjects to derogate this Principle.

The Falsity and consequently the Inutility of the Declaration forced or extorted from Capt. Thompson, is now clearly proved independent of the Proofs, which can be furnished by the Crew and the Ship’s Papers. These Papers demonstrate the Property to belong to the aforesaid Capitulants, and the Sieurs Liebaert Baes Derdeyn and Company, both as to the Vessel and Cargo. They do not pretend to say that the Vessel was not bought in London, as is evident from the Bill of Sale found on board, nor that Part of the Cargo was also purchased there, which this very vessel brought over to Ostend, where she took in the Remainder of the Cargo: this Circumstance no ways injures the truly neutral Property of the Capitulants and aforesaid Shippers Liebaert Baes Derdeyn and Company because the Neutrality of their August Sovereign authorizes them to negotiate with every Freedom with the belligerant Powers, in lawful and unprohibited Merchandize, as was on board the Brig. It, therefore, follows that it is a Matter of Indifference whether the Merchandise and Vessel were purchased in London or not, as this Commerce is free to every neutral Power, and does not contradict the Ship’s Papers, which Captain Thompson had no Power to renounce, being constrained or deceived into such a Measure either through Subtilty or Force. In this contrariety of Circumstances where are we to rest? By what certain Title is the Rights of the Paries to be judged? Certainly by the Ship’s Papers, which have a legal and authentic Character, and not by a Declaration demonstrated false, by every Circumstance in this Affair, and made at a Time when Captain Thompson had not his Liberty, and was obliged to submit to whatever Capt. Darby demanded of him, to avoid greater Evils. A Declaration of this Kind, contrary to the Maxims and Laws established among all Nations and opposed to the Ship’s Papers, deserves no Attention, and ought to be proscribed as the Effect of Constraint and Fraud, employed by the Captain of the Privateer with Arms in his Hands.

These Points are decisive, and it is impossible that the Admiralty of Boston should not attend to them, and refuse to restore to Captain Thompson the Vessel and Cargo with Damages and Interests proportioned to the Loss which Darby has caused, by an Act of Hostility alike contrary to the Rights of Nations, and to the Respect due by the Americans to the Subjects of his Imperial and Royal Majesty. However as the Sieurs Lievaert and Compy. are informed that the Crew of the Brig has been plundered and very illtreated in the United States, that the first Lieutenant has been detained at Philadelphia under Pretext of Security for the Expenses of lodging the Crew in that City, but for the Purpose of separating him from the Crew, and prevent his giving any Information at Boston concering the Irregularity of the Prize, who is more capable of doing it than any other Person. That Captain Thompson and his People having no Money, and still less Credit, will, with Difficulty, find the proper Persons who will undertake to prosicute their Affairs, and there is reason to apprehend that for want of Assistance in this Particular, they must give up the Point, which will be a very great Misfortune to themselves, and would cause an irreparable Damage to the Sieurs Liebaert Baes Derdeyn & Co. They have, therefore, been advised to request the Aid and Protection of his Excellency the Count de Mercy, his Imperial and Royal Majesty’s Minister to his most Christian Majesty, and to entreat him to obtain his Excellency Mr. Franklin, Minister from the United States of America, at the Court of France, to write to Boston, and to recommend Captain Thompson and his Claim to the Judges of the Admiralty of that Port, to grant favorable Treatment to their Persons, and a just and prompt Decision to their Demand.