Franklin spent much of his first years in France coping with European supplicants who sought commissions to serve as officers in the American army. His collected letters are clogged with requests, more than 400 in all, some valiant and others vain. There was the mother who offered up three of her flock of sons, the Dutch surgeon who wanted to study bodies that had been blown apart, and the Benedictine monk who promised to pray for America if it would pay off his gambling debts. Franklin’s favorite was a less than effusive recommendation he received from a mother which began: “Sir, If in your America one knows the secret of how to reform a detestable subject who has been the cross of his family…”
Not all the supplicants were vagabonds. Franklin was able to find, among those seeking commissions, a few great officers to recommend: the Marquis de Lafayette, Baron von Steuben (whose rank in the Prussian army Franklin inflated in his eagerness to get General Washington to take him), and Count Pulaski, a famed Polish fighter who became a heroic brigadier general for America. Nevertheless, Washington quickly grew testy about the number of aspiring officers Franklin was sending his way. “Our corps being already formed and fully officered,” he wrote, “every new arrival is only a source of embarrassment to Congress and myself and of disappointment and chagrin to the gentlemen who come over.”
So Franklin tried as best he could to reject most of the commission-seekers. To cope with the constant flood of requests—or perhaps merely to make fun of them—he even composed a form letter which he had printed up.
APRIL 2, 1777
Sir,
The Bearer of this who is going to America, presses me to give him a Letter of Recommendation, though I know nothing of him, not even his Name. This may seem extraordinary, but I assure you it is not uncommon here. Sometimes indeed one unknown Person brings me another equally unknown, to recommend him; and sometimes they recommend one another! As to this Gentleman, I must refer you to himself for his Character and Merits, with which he is certainly better acquainted than I can possibly be; I recommend him however to those Civilities which every Stranger, of whom one knows no Harm, has a Right to, and I request you will do him all the good Offices and show him all the Favor that on further Acquaintance you shall find him to deserve. I have the honor to be, &c.