From ———
Incomplete AL or ALS: University of Virginia Library
<[Before May 18, 1778], in French: You know about the prize,
we believe, that the famous Cunningham, in the corvette the
Vengeance belonging to Congress, made last December of the
French ship Le Gratieux, Captain Augustin Letournois, bound
from London to Corunna with a cargo of English manufacture.
This Captain [Conyngham], believing that the goods
were English property, put a prize master and four sailors
aboard the ship and ordered her to our port. But bad weather
forced her to put in at San Sebastian, where the Marquis de
Bassecourt, Governor of Guipuzcoa, had the master and seamen
imprisoned. When Captain Cunningham heard of this, he
urged us to recommend him to our friends in San Sebastian to
obtain freedom for the sailors, without whom he could not
carry out the projects he had in mind. We realized the possible
benefit to Congress, and recommended him most urgently to
Messrs. de Larralde Diusteguy et fils. They introduced him to
the Marquis, who released the men on parole.
The governmental tribunal in San Sebastian declared the
prize illegal, and the case was appealed to the Supreme Council
of War. Captain Letournois there urgently demanded his
expenses with interest and exorbitant damages, and indicted
the conduct of the authorities in San Sebastian. The person
who assisted our friends there finds himself in danger of being
held to account by the Council of War. The repercussions may
fall on us. Although we have nothing to fear, we cannot be
indifferent to ill consequences for those who acted on our recommendation,
which was inspired solely by concern for the
service of Congress. [Remainder missing.]>
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