Libertas Americana Medal

The medal reproduced in Giovanni Bonello’s excellent article on a Malta-US deal in 1794 (The Sunday Times, February 26) is not the medal sent by Benjamin Franklin to Grand Master De Rohan.

The actual medal sent was the so-called Libertas Americana Medal which Franklin had commissioned in Paris. Examples of this medal were sent to the Continental Congress in America.

These were distributed to members of Congress and other people.

Elias Boudinot, the New Jersey delegate to Congress and its president, writing to Benjamin Franklin on the penultimate day of his term of office on November 1, 1783, commended him for presenting the medal to De Rohan.

In his letter he stated: “The compliment to the Grand Master of Malta, I doubt not, will produce good effects and for which the commercial interests of this Country will be much indebted to you.”

This indicates that the commercial ties between the fledgling US and little Malta were already being foreseen by Congress, as this and other events including those highlighted by Dr Bonello clearly show.