Papers of John Adams, volume 8
The Officers of the Alliance having express'd some discontent at my offering them two Months advance out of which they were to furnish themselves the Cloaths they would think fit, and his Excellency B Franklin having directed me in any such difficulties to apply to you I will take it as a particular favor if you will be kind enough to let me know your opinion on that subject that I may act in consequence and will also be obliged to you for confirming the approbation you have given this morning to the Cloathing of the Marines.1
No reply to this letter has been found.
A card, possibly a playing card because it has eight red hearts on its reverse, is attached with sealing wax and glue to the third page of the letter and is dated 19 April. On it Schweighauser wrote: “Monsieur Adams est prié de faire l'honneur a Monsr. et a Made. Schweighauser de venir diner chés Eux Me
JA could not accept the invitation because on 18 April, Capt. Pierre Landais arrived to inform him that the Alliance was at St. Nazaire, a town 40 miles from Nantes at the mouth of the Loire River, and on the the morning of the 21st JA set out to join the frigate. Arriving there the next day, he oversaw the dispatch of the British prisoners carried by the Alliance to the cartel ship that had brought the American prisoners from England. Having successfully executed the task, he returned to Nantes on 28 April (JA, Diary and Autobiography
, 2:359–360, 363).