I must earnestly request of you to get this,matter
explained, that it may stand clear before I die, lest some enemy should
afterwards accuse me of having received a million not accounted for.'
_Letter from Dr. Franklin to Charles Thomson_.
Philadelphia, January 25, 1787.
Dear Friend,
You may remember that in the correspondence between us in June last, on
the subject of a million, free gift of the King of France, acknowledged
in our contract to have been received, but which did not appear to be
accounted for in our banker's accounts, unless it should be the same
with the million said to be received from the Farmers General, I
mentioned that an explanation might doubtless be easily obtained, by
writing to Mr. Grand or Mr. Jefferson. I know not whether you have
accordingly written to either of them. But being desirous that the
matter should be speedily cleared up, I wrote myself to Mr. Grand a
letter upon it, of which I now enclose a copy with his answer, and
several letters from Mr. Durival, who is _chef du bureau des fonds_ (and
has under his care _la finance des affaires etrangeres_). You will see by
these letters, that the million in question was delivered to somebody on
the 10th of June, 1776, but it does not appear to whom. It is clear that
it could not be to Mr.
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