I had before acquainted M. Tousard, that his pension would be paid in America, and there only, it being unreasonable to expect that Congress should open a Pay Office in every part of the world, where pensioners should choose to reside. I shall communicate to him that part of your letter. You wish to know what allowance I make to my private Secretary. My grandson, William T. Franklin, came over with me, served me as a private Secretary during the time of the Commissioners; and no Secretary to the Commission arriving, though we had been made to expect one, he did business for us all, and this without any allowance for his services, though both Mr Lee and Mr Deane at times mentioned it to me as a thing proper to be done, and in justice due to him. When I became appointed sole Minister here, and the whole business, which the Commissioners had before divided with me, came into my hands, I was obliged to exact more service from him, and he was indeed, by being so long in the business, become capable of doing more. At length, in the beginning of the year 1781 when he became of age, considering his constant close attention to the duties required, and his having thereby missed the opportunity of studying the law, for which he had been intended, I determined to make him some compensation for the time past, and fix some compensation for the time to come, till the pleasure of Congress respecting him should be known. I accordingly settled an account with him, allowing him from the beginning of December 1776 to the end of 1777, the sum of 3,400 livres, and for the year 1778, the sum of 4,000 livres, for 1779, 4,800 livres, and for 1780, 6,000 livres. Since that time I have allowed him at the rate of three hundred louis per annum, being what I saw had been allowed by Congress to the Secretary of Mr William Lee, who could not have had, I imagine, a fourth part of the business to go through; since my Secretary, besides the writing and copying the papers relative to my common ministerial transactions, has had all those occasioned by my acting in the various employments of Judge of Admiralty, Consul, purchaser of goods for the public, &c. &c. besides that of accepting the Congress bills, a business that requires being always at home, bills coming by post, from different ports and countries, and often requiring immediate answers, whether good or not; and to that end, it being necessary to examine by the books, exactly kept of all preceding acceptances, in order to detect double presentations, which happen very frequently. The great number of these bills makes almost sufficient business for one person, and the confinement they occasion is such, that we cannot allow ourselves a day's excursion into the country, and the want of exercise has hurt our healths in several instances.