From — Massequan
ALS: American Philosophical Society
<Nice, June 7. 1777, in French: I am a Frenchman and have
seen in a London paper that French ships with American captains
have received letters of marque from Congress. Francis
Fowler, a Scot from Aberdeen, commands a settee of mine,
and I have proposed that he cruise against the British if you
will make that possible. He at first refused. I reminded him
that he served fifteen years as a British marine with no reward
but a passport, later taken from him; that he had a brother in
America; and that love of liberty should make him seek glory
in serving the new states. He changed his mind, and his petition
for a Mediterranean cruise is enclosed. I will be his guarantor,
for I have long known him as honest, experienced, and
brave. If you use this new patriot it should be soon, while the
weather is good for destroying what little commerce the British
have in the Mediterranean.>
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