of the Council of Maryland. 131

be Adjudged lawful Prize and that such order and decree may be
made thereon as shall to your Honour seem meet &c

October

[J. & P. French & Nephew, Bordeaux, to His Excellency
Gover^r Lee]

Sir Though we have not the honor of being Known to your
Excellency we take the freedom of addressing to you under the
Auspices & at the desire of our old most p'ticular friend & Cor-
respondant M^r Stephen Steward, West river, relative to a bill of
Exch^ge N^o I drawn by your State on Mess^rs Osgood Hanbury,
Silvanus Grove & James Russell, State Agents in London for £ 1500
S^tg Pursuant to our friend M^r Steward's directions we got it pre-
sented as quick as possible by very perticular friends of our's in
London, Mess" French & Coleson & wrote ourselves at same time
to the above three Gentlemen, who unanimously refused accepting
& accordingly we now inclose you the p'test, their answer to our
letters we have in cource forwarded to his Excellency Benjamin
Franklin Esq^r to whom we also had the honor of Corresponding
on the occasion, as well as with W^m Carmichael Esq^r & the other
trustees, in short y^r Excellency depend th^t we spared no pains in our
power in order to procure payment for said bill as We sho'd most
certainly have had great pleasure in giving you the utmost satisfac-
tion in the management of this business & Convincing y^r Excellency
the great attention we shall pay in Executing any orders confided
to our care by you & the members of that State; We hold ourselves
p'ticularly obliged to our good friend M^r Steward for hav^g pro-
cured an opportunity of addressing to you & assuring you how
sincerely & respectfully we are Your Excellencies Devoted H'^ble
Serv^ts

You have Copy of William Carmichael Esq^rs Letter to us relative
to the Bill of 1500 Ibs also M^r Russell of London's answer, as yet
we have no answer from his Excellency Benjamin Franklin Esq^r
to whom we have wrote a Couple of Posts ago on the Occasion In
Course you'll hear of our Success.

October i
Red Book
No. 21
Letter
No. 21

[James Russell London to Messrs J. & P. French & Nephew]

Sirs I am to acknowledge receipt of your esteemed favours 13
May & 16 Curr^t am much obliged to you for the trouble you took to
settle with Mess: Delay & C^o I observe they had paid £1005:2:9
to M^r James Grahame before he left France & the ballance that
remains due is to be paid to Joshua Johnson on M^r Grahame's acco^t
as soon as it is recovered, when that money is paid, please advise me
that I may charge it to M^r Graham's Father's estate who is since
dead; your last favour advised me that you had remitted a bill of
£ 1500 drawn by the States of Maryland on Mess^rs Hanbury, Grove

September
26
Red Book
No. 28
Letter

No. 22