Title: Pennsylvania Assembly Committee: Report on the Governor’s Message, [17 February 1757]
From: Pennsylvania Assembly Committee
To: Denny, William

The supply bill passed by the Assembly and sent to Governor Denny on Feb. 3, 1757, differed in important respects from the rejected bill about which the House had remonstrated on January 26. It was framed as a supplement to the £60,000 act of Nov. 27, 1755, and thus did exempt the proprietary estates from taxation, but it retained the four-year period for sinking the bills of credit to be emitted and the provision for Assembly-appointed commissioners to control expenditures, conditions contrary to Denny’s instructions from the Proprietors. The new bill also changed the nature of the tax drastically; instead of the 20 percent levy on polls, unimproved lands, and income from trade and services as well as on the income from estates real and personal which in the rejected bill had been calculated to yield £100,000 in one year, the new measure simply added a 5 percent yearly tax on the income from real and personal estates, to be in effect for four years, to the 2 ½ percent annual tax of the 1755 act. To provide for immediate needs £45,000 in new bills of credit were to be struck at once; these were to be retired in annual installments during the next four years out of the proceeds of the tax. On February 8, Denny appointed James Hamilton, John Mifflin, and Benjamin Chew of the Council to draft objections to the new bill, which were agreed to on February 11, and delivered to the Assembly the next day. Franklin and others were promptly appointed to draft a response, which they cast in the form of a report rather than a message to the governor. The Assembly made some unspecified changes and then approved it on the 17th as printed here.

[February 17, 1757]
In Obedience to the Order of the House, we have considered his Honour’s Message of Yesterday, refusing the Bill for granting One Hundred Thousand Pounds to His Majesty’s Service; and as it appears to us, that Reasoning with the Governor can be of no possible Use, since though the House should convince his Judgment, they cannot change his Instructions, and by those he is determined invariably to adhere; we have chosen to throw our Remarks into the Form of a Report to the House, rather than that of a Message to his Honour. Not that we have any Thing to offer which the House is not already fully apprized of; but since the Message is probably intended to be read where the Motives on which the House have acted may not so well be known, it seems convenient they should at least be found on our Minutes, that all may judge of them, who are any way concerned in the Consequences.
We would therefore observe in general, that the Governor having before refused two Bills, one for granting Sixty Thousand Pounds, the other for granting One Hundred Thousand Pounds to the King’s Use, for various Reasons unsatisfactory to the Assembly, the House, sincerely desirous to make an effectual Grant, chose to form the Bill in Question on the Plan of the Sixty Thousand Pound Act, passed by the late Governor, which, after a solemn Hearing before the Board of Trade in February last, had received the Royal Assent. By this Means they hoped to avoid all Objections and Difficulties, especially as the Proprietaries were not by the Bill to be taxed. The Bill is a Supplement to the last mentioned Sixty Thousand Pound Act, and in raising and disposing of the Hundred Thousand Pounds granted, the same Modes are to be pursued as by that Act are directed. But unfortunately the Governor, we find, is dissatisfied with that Act also, and most of his Objections are levelled against it.
As to the Governor’s first Reason, viz. The Danger of depreciating our Currency, if Forty-five Thousand Pounds should be struck in Addition to it, to be sunk in four Years, we may observe, that the Governor is allowed by the twelfth Article of his Instructions to re-emit the Eighty Thousand Pounds, now current among us, with the Addition of Forty Thousand Pounds more, for sixteen Years, without any Provision against the Injuries the Estates of the Widows and Orphans might sustain thereby, or any great Solicitude for the Rise of Exchange upon Bills, provided the Proprietaries Quitrents are secured, by being made payable according to the Exchange between the Cities of Philadelphia and London, and that they have the Disposal of the Interest Money, as directed by this and the eleventh Instruction, which must be strictly complied with; on these Terms then, it seems, there is no Danger of depreciating the Money by an Addition of Forty Thousand Pounds, though no Part of that Sum, or the Eighty Thousand Pounds, were to be sunk in many Years to come. We would further observe, that in the Times mentioned by the Governor, when we had but Eighty Thousand Pounds current in Bills of Credit, there was current in the Province at least Four Hundred Thousand Pounds of Gold and Silver, most of which, with what has been yearly imported, is since drawn out of the Province for Payment of the Army at New-York and Halifax, and for Payment of our Debts to the Merchants in England; so that a Piece of Gold is now rarely received in Payment. In the mean time, the Produce of the Province, and its People, since that Eighty Thousand Pounds was first made current, are very greatly increased, and consequently the Demand for a Medium of Exchange encreased. The late Emissions have not in the least depreciated our Money, for Bills were sometimes higher when we had only Eighty Thousand Pounds current, than they have been at any Time since the new Emissions. And if those Emissions have, as the Governor supposes, prevented the Fall of Exchange, they have so far been of Advantage to his Majesty’s Service, as the Government Bills have thereby fetched a better Price. In the last War we remember, the Crown lost vast Sums by the Fall of Exchange in America; occasioned by a Scarcity of Money, joined with a Plenty of Bills; and some who bought them up, when they had fallen from £165 to £125 Currency for One Hundred Pounds Sterling, may likewise remember, that they thereby made proportionable Profits. They may possibly desire now to have a like Opportunity. The Money pretended to be given to the Province, but unjustly withheld, is perhaps designed, with the late collected Quitrents, to purchase Bills when they shall be sold at the expected low Rate a Scarcity of Money may reduce them to; but we think His Majesty’s Service is to be preferred to the private Advantage of the Proprietary, and a few of his Friends that trade in Exchanges. The House, however, would as carefully as possible guard against any Depreciation of the Currency. They therefore proposed to strike only Forty-five Thousand Pounds of the Hundred Thousand Pounds granted, and that to be sunk in four Years, one Fourth Part in each Year. Nor would they have chosen to strike any Bills at all, if Taxes of any Kind could possibly produce Money soon enough to answer the present Emergencies of the Government. If a Depreciation should happen, they are sensible they must suffer with others, and some of them more than many others: But when they considered, that within the present Year the following Sums are to be sunk and destroyed, viz.

Of the £80,000 one sixth Part, or
£13,333
6
8

  Of the £55,000 one fourth Part, or
13,750
0
0

  Of the £30,000 one tenth Part, or
  3000
  0
  0

  And if this Bill for 45,000 had passed, one fourth Part of that likewise,
  11,250
  0
  0

  In all,
£41,333
6
8

they could not conceive there was the least Danger of a Depreciation, especially as more Soldiers were daily raising and arriving, and ten new Regiments are expected from England, which must necessarily occasion a still greater Plenty of Bills of Exchange, to be sold on Behalf of the Government. If the War should continue, they judged therefore that the Exchange could not rise; and though Peace should be suddenly restored, yet the necessary Sinking of all our Eighty Thousand Pounds Loan Money, all the Fifty-five Thousand Pounds, great Part of the Thirty Thousand Pounds, and all the proposed Forty-five Thousand Pounds, in the Terms of four, and at farthest six Years, would certainly prevent a Depreciation; therefore, in either Case, the Adding Forty-five Thousand Pounds only to our present Currency could not injure the Estates of Widows, Orphans, or any others. We are indeed surprized to find it so much as suggested, that striking a Sum for the Defence of the Province, and His Majesty’s Service, to be sunk in four Years, may subject us to the Displeasure of Parliament; when it is so well known, that the Act of Parliament, made expresly to restrain the four New-England Colonies, in the Affair of Paper-Money, allows even those Colonies to strike any Sum they may find necessary for that Purpose, if they provide Funds to sink it in five Years; and the Lords of Trade gave it as one Reason for allowing our late Act to strike Fifty-five Thousand Pounds, “that we had provided to sink it in so short a Term as four Years.” This proposed stricter Restraint, in a Time of such imminent Danger, appears to us, therefore, not only to be unreasonable in itself, but to be founded on no Law, Opinion, or Instruction whatever from our Mother Country.
On the Governor’s second Reason, to wit, The Uncertainty of the Act to which this Bill is a Supplement, in the Mode directed for laying the Tax, and its Defect, in not obliging People to give an Account of their Estates upon Oath, &c. we shall only remark, that the Mode directed by that Act, is the same that has ever been used in this Province, and is what the Commissioners and Assessors are accustomed to, and well understand. The Injustice supposed, has not taken Place in the Execution of it; no one has complained of, or so much as apprehends such Injustice. The Assessors are upon Oath to tax all equally and justly; which they could not do, if they laid, as the Governor supposes they may, the Sixpence per Pound on the Capital Value of some Estates, and on the annual Income only of others. Defects there may possibly be in this Bill, and even to us there appears a very considerable one, to wit, that the Proprietary Estate is not taxed; but this we cannot amend if we would; others, when found, a subsequent Act may remedy. A perfectly equal Tax never yet was, nor perhaps ever will be laid in any Country by any Law: But in no Country, that we know of, are People put to their Oaths to make them confess and declare the full and true Value of their Estates. It is inconsistent with the Laws of the English Constitution, might be ruinous to some who at present live in good Credit, impracticable to others who do not keep clear Accounts, and inconvenient to all. The Officers are therefore to make the best Returns that they can by Enquiry or otherwise obtain, and the Assessors the best Judgment they can on those Returns. By this Bill the People may possibly be taxed unequally, with regard to their Estates; but by the Excise Act they must certainly be so; yet to the Excise Act the Governor has given his Assent, without the least Objection on Account of such Inequality, and even recommends further Excises in the Message under Consideration.
The Governor’s third Objection is, That a Tax for four Years on Lands or personal Estates, “is contrary to the Proprietary Instructions,” which say, that he SHALL NOT give his Assent to any Act laying such a Tax for more than one Year. It is true the Instructions say that and more; they say the Governor SHALL NOT pass any Act to tax the Proprietary Quitrents, nor their located unimproved Lands, nor the Fines or Purchase Monies they have at Interest, which together make the Bulk of their Estate; nor shall he pass an Act to tax the located unimproved Lands of any other Person; nor to tax the Value of any other Estate, but the Rent or Interest of the Value only, and that at the low Rate of Three per Centum per Annum; nor on that Interest of Three per Cent. more than Four Shillings in the Pound. So that whatever the Necessities and Distress of the Province may be to raise Money for its Defence, his vast Estate in Quitrents, Money at Interest, and located unimproved Lands, are to be exempted, and shall not pay a Penny; and not only so, but the People themselves shall be hampered with new Restraints, and forbid to grant His Majesty what they find the present State of His Service, and the imminent Danger to the Colony, absolutely call for. If we may not lay a Tax for more than one Year, we can grant no more than one Year’s Tax will produce. If this be indeed the Practice, Wisdom, and Policy of our Mother Country, whence arose its Debt of Eighty Millions? A Debt greater than all their Taxes can pay in many Years, tho’, being rich, while we are poor, and just beginning to live, they have much more to tax than we have. Four Shillings in the Pound, on Three per Cent. will produce only the Hundred and Sixty-sixth Penny of the full Value of any Estate. Suppose Four Shillings in the Pound on Five per Cent. which is the Hundredth Penny, should be found absolutely necessary to secure the Province from His Majesty’s Enemies; or suppose even the Fiftieth Penny necessary; must the Country be destroyed, and the whole be lost, rather than these Instructions be departed from? So it seems. For “the Governor’s Honour and Interest may suffer if he breaks them.” Thus, by the Proprietaries shackling their Governor with Instructions and penal Bonds, and not allowing him to use his own Judgment, or the Advice of his Assembly, on the most important Occasions, the People may be deprived of one of the most valuable Ends of Government, Protection, and the King’s Province exposed to Destruction.
The Governor, by his Estimate laid before the House, required One Hundred and Twenty-seven Thousand Pounds, as necessary for the Service of the current Year. Let us endeavour to compute, by the best Lights we have, how much of this a Tax, laid conformable to the Proprietary Instructions, can possibly produce. All their Estate, except a Trifle, and all located unimproved Lands, to whomsoever belonging, are to be exempted. There remains then to be taxed, only the improved Lands, Houses, and personal Estates of the People. Now it is well known, from the Tax Books, that there are not in the Province more than 20,000 Houses, including those of the Towns, with those on Plantations. If these, with the improved Land annexed to them, and the personal Estate of those that inhabit them, are worth, one with another, Two Hundred and Fifty Pounds each, it may, we think, be reckoned their full Value; then multiply 20,000, the Number of Houses, by £250 the Value of each Estate, and the Produce is £5,000,000 for the full Value of all our Estates, real and personal, the unimproved Lands excepted. Now Three per Cent. on Five Millions, is but One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds; and Four Shillings in the Pound on One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds, being but a fifth Part, is no more than Thirty Thousand Pounds: So that we ought to have near Seventeen Millions to produce, by such a Tax, One Hundred Thousand Pounds. If it be asked, how then we proposed to raise One Hundred Thousand Pounds in one Year by the Bill the Governor lately refused, it may be answered, That the Proprietary Estate was by that Bill to be taxed; and all located unimproved Lands were to be taxed; Polls were to be taxed; and the Produce of all Offices, Trades and Employments, were to be taxed, according to the usual Method of assessing them under the County Rate and Levy Act; and yet, with all these Helps, we were sure the Country must have been greatly distressed by that Tax, and that it would hardly have been possible to raise it within the Year. How then shall we make up the Deficiency, when the Tax we are allowed to lay can produce no more than Thirty Thousand Pounds? The Governor is pleased to say, “by following the Example of our Neighbours in taxing Luxury, and laying Duties on such Things as may do the least Injury to Trade.” Some of our Neighbours have indeed tried this Method; and what does it produce? The whole Produce of the Tax on the Luxuries of New-York, including the Duties on Wine, Rum, Brandy, and other distilled Liquors, Negroes, Cocoa and Dry Goods, from September 1, 1755, to September 1, 1756, amount to no more, as appears by their Votes now before us, than Three Thousand Two Hundred and Four Pounds, Nineteen Shillings and Two-pence; though that is an older Colony, and inhabited by People generally richer than ours, and almost all the Gold and Silver of the neighbouring Colonies has, within that Term, centered there, to support the Troops. Our chief Luxury, if it may be called a Luxury, is Rum, and that, with Wine, &c. is already taxed, and the Tax mortgaged for ten Years to come. This Colony is more remarkable for Industry and Frugality than for Luxury; and ’tis doubted whether, if all our Luxuries were abolished, and the full Price of them paid to the Treasury, it would produce any considerable Sum; much less must be produced by any Excise or Tax on them that they can bear. We may indeed create some new Offices and Officers, and embarrass Trade, or drive it from our Ports, but little Advantage can we expect to arise from such Taxes to the Publick.
On the Governor’s fourth Reason, we shall only remark, that unimproved Lands near the Frontiers may indeed be diminished in Value, yet those within the Settlements must rise as the Inhabitants retire inward from the Enemy. The high Price those Lands are, and have been, kept at, has forced out of our Country ten times more of our People than have been driven away by the Enemy, and thereby greatly weakened the Colony. The Monopolizing Lands, therefore, to lie uncultivated for a Market, is a publick Injury; and besides that such Lands can well afford it, they ought to be well taxed to oblige the Owners to sell out, for the Publick Utility. But the Tax laid on them by the Bill is vastly too low, the valuation being confined between Five and Fifteen Pounds per Hundred Acres, when some of those Lands, being the first and choicest Pickings of every Indian Purchase, will actually now sell for near Three Hundred Pounds per Hundred, the War notwithstanding. And though those near the Frontier may be diminished in Value, they are however still of considerable Value, and whatever that is, they should be taxed for it. The Assessors will duly consider such Diminution of Value wherever they find it, and all other Land of the same Kind that holds its Price, should certainly not be exempted for the diminished Value of a Part only. ’Tis kind, however, in the Proprietaries to favour their Wholesale Chapmen, and encourage the Trade, by endeavouring to screen, with their own, the Purchases of their Favourites.
The Governor’s fifth Reason against passing the Bill is, that the Act, to which it is a Supplement, refers to the Act for raising County Rates and Levies, and he conceives it unparliamentary for one Act to refer to another; but all the necessary Powers and Duties should be contained in the Body of the Act, independent of any other. Were it unparliamentary, as the Governor says, yet the Act he objects to has received the Royal Approbation, and is executed without the Inconvenience supposed, having been long in Use, and well understood by the Officers. It is but a few Weeks since the Governor himself was pleased to pass an Act for extending hither great Part of an Act of Parliament, by referring to the Clauses only, without requiring them to be inserted in the Bill: And we conceive it far from being unparliamentary, as there are many Instances of one Act of Parliament referring to another. But there being no Instruction in that Case, the Governor had then no Occasion for the Use of this Objection.

On the sixth Reason we must observe, that to make it appear something stronger, it is said, the whole Sum of One Hundred Thousand Pounds is to be paid into the Hands of the Trustees; whereas the Bill directs only Forty-five Thousand Pounds of it to come into their Hands, and that either before it is properly Money, being but printed Paper, unsigned, or when it ceases to be Money, and is only to be burnt and destroyed. And as it would probably be drawn out of their Hands almost as fast as it could be signed, no farther Security than they are under for the Eighty Thousand Pounds, by the Eighty Thousand Pound Act, was thought necessary. Fifty-five Thousand Pounds of the One Hundred Thousand Pounds never goes into the Trustees Hands at all, but is to be paid to the Treasurer as it arises from the Taxes, and by him issued in Discharge of the Commissioners Orders for the King’s Service: The Treasurer therefore is to give an additional Security by the Bill. When the Forty-five Thousand Pounds comes to be sunk, the Trustees can never have much of it in their Hands at a Time, as a fourth Part of it is to be yearly sunk and destroyed. And the Securities they are already under were deemed fully sufficient, especially as great Part of the Money now under their Direction will be sunk before that comes to their Hands.
The Governor’s seventh Objection is likewise against the Act that has been confirmed at Home; we shall therefore only mention what we are informed was the Practice on that Act. The former Governor did at first counter-sign some Orders, but found the Practice too troublesome to be continued. The Mode has since been, for the Governor and Commissioners to agree on the Service for which Money is necessary; then the most considerable Contracts are laid before him for his Approbation, and those Agreements and Approbations are entered on the Minutes. The Commissioners afterwards only settle Accounts, which is troublesome enough, and give Orders for the Payment, in Pursuance of such previous Agreements and Contracts. They would be glad if the Governor could be present at every Meeting of the Board, and assist in transacting the Business; but it would take up too much of his Time, and is therefore impracticable. And it would be useless to give him the Trouble of signing Orders, if he cannot spare Time to examine the Accounts on which the Orders are founded; especially as two of his Council have always been two of the Commissioners; and no Governor has complained that they have drawn Orders for improper Services.
What are the many other Parts of the Bill which are contrary to the Instructions, his Honour has not been pleased to specify, nor is it material, since if every one of those Instructions is not observed, the Bill cannot be passed. In fine, as this necessary Bill is exactly conformable to the Act so lately allowed by the Crown, and which is now in Practice, without the Inconveniencies objected; the Want of Compliance with those Proprietary Instructions appears to your Committee the true and sole Reason of its not passing. The other Reasons, as we conceive, are only introduced to save That the Shame of standing alone, and on Examination appear to be not so much Reasons as Excuses. And we cannot but regret the Situation of a Governor who finds himself under the Necessity of making them, and pity the Counsellors who must approve of them. But much more are we the unhappy People of Pennsylvania to be pitied, who must perish by the Hand of the Enemy, or comply with Instructions, or rather Laws, made for us by ill-informed Proprietaries, at a Thousand Leagues Distance; Laws unsuitable to our Circumstances, impracticable in their Nature, or, if practicable, ineffectual.
Submitted by the Committee to the Correction of the House.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from the Earl of Loudoun, 20 February 1757
From: Loudoun, John Campbell, 4th Earl of
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir
New York, February 20th, 1757.
As I have been informed by Mr. Colden, that You have been enquiring when the packet for England was to sail, in Order to Your Taking Your Passage in her, I have taken this Opportunity to acquaint You, that there will be another packet to sail as soon as I return from Philadelphia, which I suppose will be about the 25th. of March. And as I have several very material Things to settle for the Security of Back Settlements of the Southern Provinces, I shou’d be extremely Glad if Your Affairs wou’d permit Your putting off Your Departure till the second packet sails, as I know Your Presence will be of great Use in forwarding whatever shall be found necessary to be done.
I am, &ca.
Benjamin Franklin, Esqr. at Philadelphia.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jane Mecom, 21 February 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Mecom, Jane

Dear Sister,
Philadelphia, 21 February, 1757.
I am glad to hear your son is got well home. I like your conclusion not to take a house for him till summer, and if he stays till his new letters arrive, perhaps it would not be amiss; for a good deal depends on the first appearance a man makes. As he will keep a bookseller’s shop, with his printing-house, I don’t know but it might be worth his while to set up at Cambridge.
I enclose you some whisk seed; it is a kind of corn, good for creatures; it must be planted in hills, like Indian corn. The tops make the best thatch in the world; and of the same are made the whisks you use for velvet. Pray try if it will grow with you. I brought it from Virginia. Give some to Mr. Cooper, some to Mr. Bowdoin.
Love to cousin Sally, and her spouse. I wish them and you much joy. Love to brother, &c.
B. Franklin.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Parsons, 22 February 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Parsons, William

Dear Friend
Philada. Feb. 22. 1757
I thank you for the Intelligence from Fort Allen, relating to the Indians.

The Commissioners have not yet settled your Account, but I will press them to do it immediately.
I have not yet heard from Mr. Stephenson but will write to him once more.
And now, my dear old Friend, I am to take Leave of you, being order’d home to England by the Assembly, to obtain some final Settlement of the Points that have occasioned so many unhappy Disputes. I assure you I go with the sincerest Desire of procuring Peace, and therein I know I shall have your Prayers for my Success. God bless you, and grant that at my Return I may find you well and happy. I am, as ever, Dear Friend, Yours affectionately
B Franklin
William Parsons Esqr

 Endorsed: Feb: 1757 Mr. Franklin’s Farewell Letter, mentioning his Acct. not being settled by the Comrs.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to the Earl of Loudoun, 3 March 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Loudoun, John Campbell, 4th Earl of

My Lord,
Philada. March 3. 1757.
I thank your Lordship for the Information you have been pleas’d to favour me with, relating to the Sailing of the Pacquets.
It was intended that I should take Passage in the first; But I shall now wait your Lordship’s Arrival here, that if in any thing I can be of Service, I may be ready to obey your Lordship’s Commands; being, with the sincerest Respect and Attachment, My Lord, Your Lordship’s most obedient and most humble Servant
B Franklin

Endorsed: Mr. Frankland Philadelphia March 3d 1757Rec March 6t


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Catharine Ray, 3 March 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Ray, Catharine

Dear Katy,
Philadelphia, 3 March, 1757.
Being about to leave America for some time, I could not go without taking leave of my dear friend.
I received your favor of the 8th of November, and am ashamed, that I have suffered it to remain so long unanswered, especially as now, through shortness of time, I cannot chat with you in any manner agreeably.
I can only wish you well and happy, which I do most cordially. Present my best compliments to your good mamma, brother and sister Ward, and all your other sisters, the agreeable Misses Ward, Dr. Babcock and family, the charitable Misses Stanton, and, in short, to all that love me. I should have said all that love you, but that would be giving you too much trouble.

Adieu, dear good girl, and believe me ever your affectionate friend,
B. Franklin.


Title: A Testimonial, 11 March 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

John Gordon (1700–1778), a former Philadelphian now living near Princeton, N.J., managed to combine the trade of a bricklayer with the teaching of surveying and other mathematical arts. In the spring of 1757 he announced his intention of publishing by subscription a set of tables to assist “Mariners, Merchants, and Surveyors” in their calculations. As a matter of timely importance he added that his work would also “be of great use to all Military Gentlemen in any Part of the World, in forming their Marches, or other important Schemes or Designs of an Army.” To this announcement in the newspapers and to the prefatory statement in the book itself, when it appeared the next year, he appended a series of testimonials as to the utility of his tables. The first three of these endorsements are printed here, comprising the comments of two New Jersey surveyors and of one from Pennsylvania, and, perhaps inevitably, one by Franklin. It will be noticed, however, that the last of these wisely offered no personal judgment on the value of Gordon’s tables—a matter probably beyond Franklin’s mathematical competence—but merely endorsed the endorser just before him.

New-Jersey, March 8th, 1757.
We are of Opinion that if the above Tables were printed and published, they would be of great Use to the Public, in Measuring of Land and other Branches of the Mathematicks.

John Lawrence,
}
Surveyors.

Jonathan Hampton,

I am of the above Opinion.
Nicholas Scull, Surveyor Gen. of Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia, March 11, 1757.
The above written Mr. Scull is well known to be one of the best Judges of these Matters in this Province, and therefore any Opinion of mine, or Certificate, is unnecessary after his.
Benjamin Franklin, Post Master General.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to the Earl of Loudoun: Answers to Criticisms of the Supply Bill, [21 March 1757]
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Loudoun, John Campbell, 4th Earl of

When news that Lord Loudoun intended to hold a council of war in Philadelphia reached there in mid-January 1757, it was apparent that he and his plans would have a powerful effect on local affairs. It was reported, for example, that Governor Denny “proposes to lay Mr. F’s Conduct before Lord Loudoun … [who] can and I hope will bring him to an Ecclaircissment on which it may be determined what further measures to take with him.” The postponement of the conference from February 17 to March 15 delayed decisions still further; the Council gave Denny their unanimous opinion, March 5, that the supply bill “should be detained till Lord Loudoun’s arrival, as something might be expected to be said by him on the Subject which might extricate the Governor and Assembly out of the Difficulties attending the passing Such a Bill.” At the same time, Loudoun’s request that the newly appointed Assembly agent not depart for England until after the general’s visit to Philadelphia foreshadowed the important role Franklin was to play in the conferences.
Word of the postponement did not reach the southern colonies in time to delay departures from them, so Governors Arthur Dobbs of North Carolina, Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia, and Horatio Sharpe of Maryland, and Col. George Washington, commander of the Virginia troops, waited in Philadelphia nearly a month for Loudoun’s arrival. Col. John Hunter, money agent; Christopher Kilby, contractor for supplies; Edmund Atkin, the Southern Indian agent; Col. John Stanwix; the colonels of the Pennsylvania battalions; George Croghan; and the Rev. Michael Schlatter were also among the dignitaries who gathered to consult with Loudoun. He also talked with Israel Pemberton and other prominent Philadelphians as well as with provincial officials. The formal council of war with the four governors (including Denny) came to quick agreement on the support and disposition of military forces in the south for the 1757 campaign: Colonel Stanwix to command half a battalion of the Royal American Regiment and 1000 Pennsylvania provincials using Carlisle as his principal base; 1100 Virginia and Maryland troops to guard the frontier in those  provinces; and Lt. Col. Henry Bouquet to command half a battalion of Royal Americans and 1000 or more provincials in South Carolina to repel a rumored French attack there. Loudoun also dealt at length with such matters as officers’ rank, supplies, and payment of troops.
Though Franklin probably participated informally in this planning, Loudoun recorded conversations with him only about provincial affairs. On the first day he “Talked over the Situation of this Country [Pennsylvania] and the Deplorable State it appears to be in” with “Mr. Frankland,” who “promises to do every thing in his Power.” The same day Loudoun sought the advice of Governors Dobbs, Dinwiddie, and Sharpe in “Setting Right the Affairs” of Pennsylvania, and asked Denny “to consider if any, or which of the Instructions [from the Proprietors on money bills] could be given up; and promised, on receiving the Governor’s answer, he would ask the same of the Assembly, and endeavour to reconcile Matters, that there might be no longer Delay in raising the Sums necessary.” After discussion in Council, Richard Peters and Benjamin Chew were appointed to “digest” the concessions agreed upon. The document they prepared, entitled “Propositions in Relation to the Money Bill now under the Consideration of the Governor of Pennsylvania,” was submitted, amended, and approved on March 17. It dealt with eight objections to the bill, similar to, but not wholly identical with, the points raised in Denny’s message of February 11 and rebutted by the Assembly committee’s report of the 17th. On three or possibly four of these he was now willing to yield if necessary, but on the others he offered no concessions.
Meanwhile Franklin had been added hastily to the Assembly committee appointed to deliver a congratulatory address to Loudoun, done March 16, to which the general replied politely, but warned that unless “all Animosities and Differences should be laid aside … they must not blame him” for unwelcome consequences. The same day Loudoun also warned that obstructionists “must Stand in a bad light at home,” and on the 18th he told Israel Pemberton that Indian affairs had been taken out of the hands of the several provinces “and more so out of Private Societys,” a pointed reference to the intrusion of the Quakers at recent Indian treaties. That evening, “Lord Loudoun, the Gentlemen Strangers in the Place, the Officers of the Royal Americans, and a Number of the principal Inhabitants of the Town, were genteelly entertained by the Corporation at the State-House.”
On March 19, Loudoun recorded that “whilst Mr. Frankland and I were talking over talking over [sic] the Affairs in Dispute between the Governor and the Assembly in order to trie to bring them to an agreement which the Governor had desierd I might trie with Mr. Frankland[,] when[?] Dinwiddie Called and afterwards Mr. Denny both which were called on at Mr. Frankland’s Desier and we went throu the dispute over the Bill. Neither of them[?] agreed in the Facts which the other aledged but Mr. Frankland was much more acquainted[?] with the Affair than the Governor.” Probably at this time Loudoun showed to Franklin and Speaker Norris the Propositions approved by Denny and the Council on March 17 and a summary of the objections to the £100,000 supply bill and asked for a reply. Their answer is printed here from the original in Franklin’s hand among Lord Loudoun’s papers.

[March 21, 1757]
A. The Assessors are yearly chosen by the People, and if there is any Complaint of unequal Taxation, (which there always will be in every Country) it does not with us lie against the Assessors as unjust and partial, so much as against the Concealment of Estates, and the imperfect Manner of obtaining a Knowledge of them, which is intended soon to be remedied. The Commissioners and Assessors who tax the People are oblig’d, by a Law pass’d in the 6th Year of the present Reign, to lay their Assessments and Accounts before the Justices and Grand Juries of the County Courts, which has accordingly been done ever since that Law passed: Yet no Complaints have ever to this Day been made to the Assembly by any of the Courts, of any Injustice in the Assessors. And it seems extraordinary that this Matter should at this Time be press’d, by the Governor who is never tax’d, and by the Proprietors who exempt themselves from Taxes, while the People, who alone are affected by any Inequality, are as easy as they generally are in any Country. The Assembly, however, have already determin’d to prepare a particular Bill, to regulate the Assessing and Levying of Taxes; but they chose to make Use of the old Method in the present proposed Tax, not because they fully approved of it, but because the King’s Service required an immediate Supply, and the Changing of established Modes, in a Matter so interesting as that of Taxation, would, as they had found by Experience in the Attempt made this present Session, take up much Time, and might fail at last. The Mode directed in the £100,000 Bill now before the Governor, is the same that has been used in this Province from the Beginning, and the same that is directed by the Act for granting £60,000 pass’d the last Year, is now practic’d in the Execution of that Act, and all the Officers concerned are well acquainted with it. It seem’d therefore the Method most eligible on the present Emergency, which is become so pressing, that a Compliance with the Proposal in the first Clause, tho’ it should on Consideration be found reasonable, is now impracticable. The Bill expressly mentions, that the Tax is to be on all Estate both real and personal, the Proprietary Estate only excepted.
B. The Committee for Disposing of the Money and Auditing the Accounts, are expresly named in the Bill, and two of them are of the Council.
C. The Provincial Treasurer is required to give in a new Security by the present Bill; the Sum is also named in the Body of the Bill, to wit, £5000 and as the People must not only pay the Tax, but make good any Deficiency however arising, there is no doubt but Assemblies will always be ready to make such Provision as shall be found necessary to secure the Money in the Hands of their Treasurer, by a particular Bill for that purpose.
D. As the present Money Bill is form’d, none of the Money can be issued without the Governor’s Assent and Approbation, and it is in his Power at any time to regulate the Manner in which that Assent shall be signified.

E. The Governors of this Province have always had the Disposal of all Presents to Indians, and the Choice of all Commissioners appointed to make Treaties with them. The Assemblies never claim’d any Power of this kind. The Proprietaries are hereditary Governors of this Province; they have a noble Support in the Quit Rents; they ought therefore to govern the Province in person: But they live in England, make private Estate of the Quit Rents, and send Deputies to govern in their Stead. Their Deputies have also a Support, (which we have establish’d by Law) in the Money arising from Licences, &c. suppos’d to be near £1000 Sterling per Annum. Thus we actually pay two Supports, and yet have not the full Benefit of one Governor: For the Proprietors live at a great Distance, and cannot readily be apply’d to on any Emergency of Government, and their Deputy is so restrain’d, as that he cannot use his own Judgment. When our Lieut. Governors were at Liberty to act as Governors, and to pass such Laws as they found for the Benefit of the People, they have always received from the Assembly additional Yearly Marks of the People’s Gratitude and Respect. Above £30,000 has been given by the Assemblies within these 30 Years, to Governors, out of the Funds which by Law the Assemblies had the sole Disposition of.
F. The Assembly have great Respect for their present Governor, and if he would think fit himself to hear and answer their Complaints, it might probably be very agreable to the Assembly to have an Opportunity of laying them before him. But as there are some of his Council, who are suspected to be the Advisers of all the Measures, and even Procurers of the Instructions to be complain’d of as Grievances; Men who are look’d upon as Enemies to the House and to the People, attach’d to the Proprietors by profitable Offices held during Pleasure, it seems as if it could answer no good End, but rather tend to continue and increase Contention, if the Council are to consider those Complaints and advise the Answers.
G. The Naming of the Treasurer’s Securities in the Body of the Bill, is unusual if not intirely new, and may be attended with Inconvenience: For if the Securities, after consenting to be nam’d in the Bill, should change their Minds when the Law had pass’d, the Treasurer could not act without a new Law naming others; unless those named were compell’d under a Penalty to become Securities, which would seem extraordinary. If the Securities are such as the Governor has no Objection to on Account of Insufficiency it is all that appears to be necessary. And he is the sole Judge of their Sufficiency.

Endorsed: Extracts and answers to Points Proposed to be amended in the Bill Receved from Mr Frankland at Philadelphia March 21t 1757 Rec. March 21t


Title: Provincial Commissioners: Order to Pay James Young, 23 March 1757
From: Provincial Commissioners
To: Young, James

To the Trustees of the General Loan-Office.
Gentlemen, No. 1.
Philada. March 23, 1757
Till the New Money to be struck by the One hundred Thousand Pound Act (this Day to be passed by the Governor and Assembly) comes into your Hands, the Governor and Commissioners request you to advance Three or Four Thousand Pounds, to be replaced by the first of the new Money; as that Sum is immediately wanted for the Publick Service. What you shall so advance to be paid to James Young, Esqr. Paymaster of the Provincial Forces.

William Denny

John Mifflin
B Franklin

Jon Hughes
Jos Fox

£3.000. 0. 0 pd. See Js. Youngs Receipt on the Other Side.

Philada. March 24th 1757 Recd of Charles Norris one of the Trustees of the General Loan Office the Sum of Three thousand pounds on Account of the within Order.
Jas. Young
£3000. 0. 0.

Endorsed: Govr. & Comrs Order, and James Youngs rect for £3.000. 0. 0 paid March. 23d. 1757


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from John Hughes with Franklin’s Receipt, [24 March 1757]
From: Hughes, John,Franklin, Benjamin
To: Franklin, Benjamin

The minutes of the Society of Arts (see above, VI, 186–9 n) for the meeting of Sept. 7, 1757, note that Franklin attended and read the extract of a letter from John Hughes printed as No. I below; that Franklin paid in the donation; and that the Society voted their thanks to Hughes for his gift and to Franklin for his trouble. The date on Franklin’s autograph receipt to Hughes, printed as No. II below, suggests the probable date of the original letter.

I
[March 24, 1757]
I herewith put into your Hands Thirty two Dollars which I desire you to present to the Society you mentioned to me some time ago, and be pleased to let them know I commit it to their Direction to be laid out either for the good of Great Britain or America as they think proper.

II
Receiv’d March 24. 1757 of Mr. John Hughes Thirty-two Dollars, being his Present to the Society for Promoting Arts and Manufactures; and Eight Dollars to be laid out in a Thermometer and Barometer, per me
B Franklin


Title: William Denny, Franklin, and the Provincial Commissioners: Order to Pay Lewis Ourry, 29 March 1757
From: Denny, William,Franklin, Benjamin,Provincial Commissioners
To: Ourry, Lewis

March 29. 1757

Per Week

Col.
20s.
Pay to Lieut. Lewis Ourry, or Order, the Sum of Two Hundred and Forty-six Pounds Nine Shillings, being for the Discharge of the Quarters of 1 Col. 1 Lieut. Col. 1 Major, 7 Captains, 28 Subalterns, and 1 Surgeon, for 15 Weeks; 1 Capt. and 3 Lieuts. 17 Weeks; 2 Captains and 2 Lieuts. 3 Weeks, at the Rates in the Margin; it being according to Allowance made by the late Commissioners.

Lieut. Col.
19s.

Major
16s.

Capts.
9s.

Subalterns
6s.

Surgeon
6s.

£246. 9s. 0d.

John Baynton
William Denny

John Mifflin
B Franklin

Jon Hughes
Jos Fox

Wm: Masters
Jos. Galloway

To The Trustees of the General Loan Office of the Province of Pennsylvania


Title: Bill to the Proprietors, 30 March 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

March 30, 1757
An example of the extent to which Franklin had conducted his printing, stationery, and bookselling business on credit is the bill he rendered to the Proprietors, March 30, 1757, before leaving for England. It includes 97 items running from 1734 to 1745; except for three undated items at the end, none of these charges had been paid when the bill was presented. Twenty-eight of the entries were for advertisements in the Gazette; 26 were for printed forms of various sorts or for advertisements in quantities of several hundreds, apparently intended for distribution by hand; 17 were for paper, blank books, and other stationery supplies; 14 for books and pamphlets; 5 for binding or gilding of books; the rest were miscellaneous. Franklin subtracted from the total charge the three undated items for which Richard Hockley, the Penns’ receiver general, had paid, and indicated the amount due as £57 1s. 6d. He then wrote: “March 30, 1757. Errors excepted per B Franklin.” Below this is Thomas Penn’s direction: “I desire you will examine this account and if it does not appear by this Books that any of it has been paid that you will pay it as demanded and place to the account of charge. London December 4. 1758. Tho penn To Richard Hockley and Edmd Physick or to the Receiver General for the time being.” Hockley’s “Examin’d R H” is opposite Franklin’s total and Deborah Franklin’s receipt is at the bottom of the page: “Receivd July 30th. 1759 Fifty seven Pounds one Shilling and Six Pence in full Ballance of the above Account £57 1. 6. D Franklin.” Thus two years and four months after Franklin submitted this bill and twenty-five years after the first charges were incurred, Thomas Penn’s agent finally paid what was due.


Title: Philadelphia Post Office Record Book, 1757–1764
From: Dunlap, William
To:

[March 30, 1757]
When Franklin was preparing to leave for England his son William, who was going with him, resigned the Philadelphia postmastership, which he had held since June 1753 (see above, IV, 513). In his place Franklin appointed his wife’s nephew-in-law William Dunlap (see above, V, 199 n, and below, p. 168), who had been a printer in Lancaster. Among the Franklin Papers is a paper-covered book of 174 pages (88 of them blank) which contains Dunlap’s record of letters received in that Post Office from March 30, 1757, to Oct. 5, 1764. It is set up in the form prescribed for Book C in the instructions Franklin and Hunter prepared in 1753 for the local postmasters (see above, V, 172–4).
Dunlap fell far behind in settling his accounts and was removed from office in 1764, but, in spite of his financial unreliability, he kept this record of incoming mail faithfully and, it would seem, accurately. The detailed entries are not of sufficient general interest to justify printing the contents of the book in full, but an analysis of the records does provide a view of the postal system, with Philadelphia as a focal point, during these years after Franklin and Hunter had assumed the deputy postmaster generalship and had introduced reforms and improvements in the service.

Dunlap’s records show that by 1757 a weekly post rider was setting out from Boston, usually on a Monday, carrying mail from that town and usually from others as far north as Portsmouth, N. H. Letters for Philadelphia normally arrived on a Wednesday, nine days after leaving Boston, together with other mail picked up at post offices in southern New England, New York, and New Jersey. Beginning in June this service was expanded to twice a week through the season of good weather, though the nine days usually required for delivery from Boston remained the same. On very rare occasions the trip took only eight days, but much more often, especially in the winter and early spring, it took as much as twelve to seventeen days. In such cases the schedule of later trips might be badly disrupted.
Before the establishment of the second weekly trip from New England through to Philadelphia and thereafter during the winter months when it was not running, a separate weekly service normally left New York on Thursday and arrived in Philadelphia on the following Saturday. The trip rarely took more than two days. Thus correspondents in these two cities and in New Jersey towns along the route could count on semi-weekly service throughout the year.
By contrast the service from the south to Philadelphia was highly erratic. Theoretically, mail left Williamsburg every two weeks, except in winter, and took ten days to reach Philadelphia; this was cut to nine days by 1762. By the time the mail arrived it might also include letters from Fredericksburg, Dumfries, Alexandria, and Annapolis. In the winter the service operated only once a month at best and took much longer, if indeed any mail came through from further south than Alexandria.
Comparison of this volume with Franklin’s record book of 1748–52, when he was postmaster of Philadelphia (see above, II, 182–3), shows little change in the southern mail service but a distinct improvement in that from the north. Before Franklin and Hunter took charge of the entire system the northern post was on a weekly schedule during the favorable season of the year and a biweekly schedule during the winter. Now mail came in regularly from New York twice a week and from New England once, throughout the year, and beginning in 1762 the New England service during the best months was put on the same much improved basis as that from New York. Except when weather conditions intervened (or possibly illness of a post rider), these schedules were maintained with substantial regularity. While the methods of recording the quantity of mail differed enough between the two periods to make exact comparison difficult if not impossible, it is also clear that the amount of mail coming to Philadelphia had considerably increased with the growth in population and the increased frequency of the service.


Title: Philadelphia Post Office Accounts, 1757–1764
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

In addition to the Philadelphia Post Office Record Book described immediately above, there survives among Franklin’s papers a series of loose sheets, mostly but not all in his hand, relating to William Dunlap’s financial accounts, March 30, 1757, to July 11, 1764, and the operations of the Philadelphia Post Office during his tenure. The most important document is a balance sheet Franklin prepared from these and other records. It is reprinted here in full since it shows the gross business of this office during approximately seven and a quarter years. The other records on these sheets are described in footnotes but various arithmetical calculations used in preparing the entries are not specifically noticed.

[March 30, 1757]
William Dunlap Postmaster of Philadelphia

Dr.

No. 1

To the whole Amount of unpaid Letters received into his Office from March 30. 1757 to Oct. 29. 1763 viz. 368039 dwt: 16 gr. at 5d. Currency is
}

  £7667
  9
  11

To undercharg’d Letters 78 dwt. is
1
12
4

No. 2
To the whole Amount of Paid Letters sent by him to other Offices 15568 dwt: 8 at Do.
324
6
5

To the Postage of Way Letters receiv’d by him 1452 dwt. at Do.
30
5
0

No. 3
To Postage of paid Letters from Aug. 18. 1763 to Oct. 6. omitted above 228 dwt: at Do. is
4
  15
  0

£8028
8
8

Cr.

By the amount of Dead Letters return’d to the General Post Office 44201 Dwt. at 5d. is
920
17
1

  By Letters overcharged 18780 Dwt. at 5d. is
391
5
0

  By Letters forwarded 40273 Dwt. at 5d. is
839
0
5

  By his Commissions at 10 per Cent on the net Proceeds £5877 6s. 2d. is
587
14
7

  By Cash paid Riders to Michaelmas 1763
  1297
  10
  0

4036
7
1

Ballance
  3992
  1
  7

£8028
8
8

[Dr.]

  To the above Ballance
3992
1
7

  To Postage receiv’d of Mr. Plowman for Letters sent to Baltimore Office
22
8
9

  To Ballance of the 3 Quarters from Oct. 1763 to July 6. 1764
  491
  18
  11½

4406
9
3½

[Cr]

By Cash paid Mrs. Franklin as per Account render’d to Mr. Hunter, from April 7. 1757. to May 17. 1761
}

  2051
  15
  7

  By Do. paid ditto at sundry times to Feb. 26. 1763
810
16
0

  By Do. paid Ditto at sundry Times to July 11. 1764
501
16
9

  By his Account for Mails and Bills
48
6
0

  and
1
10
0

  By Cash paid Hift, and Woolen a Gratuity from Postmaster General
  50
  0
  0

3364
4
4

  Ballance
  1042
  4
  11½

4406
9
3½


Title: Account of Expenses, 1757–1762
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

“Account of Expences of my Voyage to England Disbursements &c.1757”
[April 1, 1757]
At the beginning of December 1757 Franklin set down in an account book his expenditures between April 1 and the time he sailed from New York and all the expenses he could remember since reaching England. Against the latter he entered his cash in hand and what he had received from his London banker and other sources and found that he had spent in England about £34 for which he could not account. He continued to enter his expenses and again struck trial balances in the middle of December and January with somewhat better results. Thereafter he used this book to record sums paid out and other financial transactions without attempting to balance cash receipts with expenditures. The last dated entry is for Feb. 16, 1762, some six months before he sailed for home.
Franklin was far from uniformly systematic in making entries in this book, and there are many demonstrable omissions. In May 1759 he examined a number of old “Accounts, Receipts, Letters, and other Memoranda of prior Dates, and which ought to have been entred before,” and dutifully if belatedly recorded what he found. From time to time he also recorded a good many bills of exchange he received from America, noting sometimes that he had turned them over to his banker for collection. He also occasionally used this little volume as a receipt book, writing out a formal acknowledgment that he had paid a certain sum for an indicated account and then getting his landlady, Mrs. Margaret Stevenson, his coachman, T. Bowman, or some other payee to sign the statement. Again he sometimes entered a memorandum that he had received or paid out money for some other persons’ account for a particular purpose and that he, Franklin, was either debtor or creditor for a specified amount.
For all its mixed character and its limitations as a record, this account book is most useful in showing Franklin’s monetary transactions during the years of his first agency in England. It can be determined, for example, that ocean passage and sea stores for himself, his son, and two Negro servants cost fifty guineas sterling, that he paid twelve guineas a month to hire a coach in London, and that Mrs. Stevenson charged him £2 16s. a week for lodging and for the board of the two servants. His settlements with her indicate that she did a good deal of shopping for him, not only for household necessaries but also for goods to be sent back to Deborah and Sally or friends in America. It is not suprising to find that he bought a good many books and magazines, both for himself and for others, or that he ordered type and printer’s supplies at various times for David Hall, James Parker, and Benjamin Mecom. His friend Isaac Norris sent him considerable sums of money to be invested in government stocks or annuities and he regularly credited the speaker with the interest as received. When in 1760 he received just under £30,000 from the Exchequer in payment of the parliamentary grant of 1758 for provincial troops in British service, he entered a series of memoranda showing what expenses he had incurred in the business, how much he had turned over to the agent for the Lower Counties on Delaware as their share, and how he had invested the balance belonging to Pennsylvania.
Many of the entries reflect transactions mentioned in his correspondence and they will be cited at appropriate points in this and later volumes. In 1931 George Simpson Eddy undertook to print the entire account book. He made an effort to rearrange the entries that were out of their chronological order and in some cases condensed the wording to save space. A careful check with the manuscript shows, however, that the printed text omits a substantial number of entries and that in a few instances Eddy confused two which he seems to have thought were repetitions of the same transaction. Citation, therefore, will be to both the manuscript and the printed version, the former to be referred to as “Account of Expences,” and the latter by citing the volume and page of the Pennsylvania Magazine on which the entry appears.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Charles Norris, 2 April 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Norris, Charles

I.N.
Dear Sir
Saturday Afternoon [April 2, 1757]
The enclos’d Account was settled by the late Commissioners, on which there is due to me £26 17s. 10d. It will oblige me, if without Inconvenience you can advance me the Money. The new Commissioners will at any time sign an Order for it; I am Yours affectionately
B Franklin
To Charles Norris Esqr.

[In the margin:]

26.
17.
10
B Franklin

90.
  12.
  0
Wm. Franklin.

117.
9.
10

Addressed: To / Chas Norris Esqr
Endorsed: B Franklins request to pay £27 17s. 10d. Comrs Order for Guns furnishd the Province. &c. April. 2d. 1757
Per £1000 Entered


Title: Receipt for Bills of Exchange, 3 April 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

[April 3, 1757]
List of Bills of Exchange

Sterling

Scot & McMichael
£340.
0s.
0d.

Richard Wilson
310.
0s.
0d.

Alexr Lothian
100.
  0s.
  0d.

£750.
0s.
0d.

Receiv’d April 3. 1757 of the Trustees of the Loan Office, the above three Setts of Bills for Seven Hundred and fifty Pounds Sterling by Order of Assembly.
B Franklin
65 per Ct. Exchange

 Endorsed: Benjamin Franklin his Rect for £750 in Sterlg Recd in Bills of Excha. at 65 per Ct. Exchange £1237. 10s. 0d. paid April 14th 1757 Entered in Trustees accot. in the Votes 1757.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Dunlap, 4 April 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Dunlap, William

Mr. Dunlap
Philada. April 4. 1757
I now appoint you Postmaster of Philadelphia, during our Absence, as it will be some present Employment for you till our Return; when I hope to put you in a better Way, if I find you diligent, careful and faithful.
I would not have the Office remov’d on any Account from my House during my Absence, without my Leave first obtained.
And as Mrs. Franklin has had a great deal of Experience in the Management of the Post Office, I depend on your paying considerable Attention to her Advice in that Matter.
As I leave but little Money with Mrs. Franklin for the Support of the Family, and have [torn] all [torn] of the Post Office for the [torn] Absence, I expect and [torn] account with her for, and pay her, every Monday Morning, the Postage of the preceding Week, taking her Receipt for the same, and retaining only your Commissions of Ten per Cent. You should have a little Book for such Receipts.
Wishing you Health and Happiness I am, Your affectionate Uncle
B Franklin


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Isaac Norris, 4 April 1757
From: Norris, Isaac
To: Franklin, Benjamin

My Worthy Friend Benjamin Franklin,
April 4th. 1757
The interfering in those Weighty matters you are charged with, either by an Attempt to explain what you are fully Master of or to add any thing of my own not already contained in the Report of the committee or the Instructions of the House to yourself, would subject me justly to a censure I hope to avoid for if I had any thing material beyond those I would have offered it during the passage of the Instructions and whilst the Report of the committee was under the consideration of the Assembly, and yet I doubt not your prudence in the Application &c. we propose to make to the Proprieters if they can by any means be brought to understand their true Interests as it is and ought to be connected with the good of the People; I need not Inform you how often they have declared this Truth upon our Minutes nor how they explain away the Rights we claim under our Charters and tho’ they do not say it themselves their Dependants declare Openly enough those Charters confirm to the people such Rights as are indeed necessary for a new Settlement but ought to be abridged upon the first favourable Occaision that Offers tho’ it is apparent those Gentlemen have this Disposition too deeply rooted I fear to be Intirely eradicated, yet I own it would give me great pleasure that you use all your abilities in this Case and by all the condescention consistent with your good Judgment which I am well assured will preserve you from being decieved with false appearances or evasive Temporary Expedients and it will be a prudent precaution to be well with our Agents of which I make no doubt from the high Opinion of your knowledge and Experience in the publick Affairs of this Province. It will be a general advantage to America if any favourable Opportunity should present to obtain the Liberty of importing Iron to any Port of England, instead of confining it to the Port of London only. And as this is a general American Concern the Agents of the other Colonies will undoubtedly join if there should be any Prospect of Success which might be pretty well guessed at upon an Application to some of the leading Members of the House of Commons before we engage in any considerable Expence upon it, for it may well be expected the City will oppose such a Bill whenever it shall make its Appearance in Parliament.
I have wrote on from the Inclination I have to take Leave and wish you a Prosperous Voyage rather than from any Apprehensions of the Necessity of giving either of us the Trouble of reading or writing a Long Letter upon a Subject you are so thoroughly apprized of. But if any Thing of importance should hereafter occur, you may expect to hear further from me as I Shall be pleased to have a Line or two whenever you have Leasure to communicate the Concerns of the Province, or your private Interests if I can be of any service to them; And in every Respect I sincerely wish you a successful Voyage. Your Assured Friend
I N
I have given you the trouble of two Letters which you will be pleasd to excuse.
  Gave to BF at Fairhill on his way to N York.
  See my Letter to BF April 7. 1757 Omitted here prius pag 69


Title: Israel Pemberton to John Fothergill, 4 April 1757
From: Pemberton, Israel
To: Fothergill, John

Dear Friend
[April 4, 1757]
As I am sensible thou art well acquainted with Benja. Franklin’s Character a recommendation of him seems unnecessary, yet as I would not be deficient in respect to him and am Sincerely desirous he may succeed in the important Service he is engag’d in, I cannot but desire he may have some Share of thy Friendship and so far as his views and measures tend to the restoring peace and promoting the real Interest of Pensilvania I wish him all the assistance and hearty Concurrence thou and all my Friends can give him. Our meeting for Sufferings writes to yours by this Packet and I think of saying something to thy dear Brother. I am with true love and respect Thy real Friend
 Endorsed: 4. 4mo. 1757 To Jno: Fothergill by B Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Deborah Franklin, 5 April 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Franklin, Deborah

Franklin and his son left Philadelphia on Monday, April 4, but they did not reach New York until the morning of the 8th. Then began a long period of frustrating delay until the packet on which they sailed weighed anchor off Sandy Hook on June 20. The movements of members of the Franklin family during this interval appear so confusing that a chronology may be useful.

April 4: Leave Philadelphia; arrive at Trenton “well before Night.”
April 5: Leave Trenton; probably spend night at Brunswick; roads very bad.
April 6: Arrive at Woodbridge.
April 7: Arrive at Elizabeth Town; dine with Governor Belcher.
April 8: Arrive at New York in the morning.
April 8 to about May 7: Benjamin and William Franklin in New York. Deborah and Sally come to Woodbridge toward the end of this period. Loudoun records conversations with Franklin on April 9(?), 15, 25, 26, and 30.
About May 8 to 11: Entire family with New York friends on “a little excursion in the Jerseys,” visiting Newark, Passaic Falls, and Colonel Schuyler’s copper mines.
May 12 to about May 23: Benjamin and Deborah in Woodbridge; William and Sally in New York.
May 23 to June 4: Benjamin and William in New York. Sally returns to Woodbridge May 27, where she and Deborah apparently stay until about May 30 before returning to Philadelphia.
June 5 (Sunday morning): “At length we are going on board” the packet General Wall. Lord Loudoun is also on a sloop going to Sandy Hook to join Admiral Hardy on the Sutherland.
June 5 to June 20: The convoy, including the packets, anchored off Sandy Hook, uncertain about the location of the French fleet.
June 20: The convoy sails from Sandy Hook.
June 23: Loudoun writes to the Duke of Cumberland from “near the Nantucket Shoals,” probably sending the letter by the General Wall, which is soon detached from the convoy to sail direct to England, while Loudoun with other ships proceeds to Halifax.

My dear Child,
Trenton, April 5. 1757
We found the Roads much better than we expected, and got here well before Night. My kind Friend Mr. Griffitts’s Carriage appearing too weak in the Wheels, I have accepted Mr. Martin’s obliging Offer, and take his Carriage forward from this Place, and he will return to Town in Mr. Griffitts’s. About a Dozen of our Friends accompanied us quite hither, to see us out of the Province, and we spent a very agreable Evening together. I leave Home, and undertake this long Voyage more chearfully, as I can rely on your Prudence in the Management of my Affairs, and Education of my dear Child; and yet I cannot forbear once more recommending her to you with a Father’s tenderest Concern. My Love to all. If the Roads do not prove worse, we may be at Woodbridge to night. I believe I did not see Mr. Dunlap when I came away, so as to take leave of him; my Love to him. Billy presents his Duty, and Love to all. I am, Your affectionate Husband
B Franklin
Give my hearty Thanks to Mr. Griffitts.

 Addressed: To / Mrs Franklin / Philada.


Title: William Franklin to Elizabeth Graeme, 7 April 1757
From: Franklin, William
To: Graeme, Elizabeth

At this time William Franklin appears to have been deeply in love with Elizabeth Graeme of Philadelphia. Seven of his letters written to her between his leaving Philadelphia with his father and their sailing from New York survive, and one written after they reached England. Those which give information about his father’s movements and activities not found elsewhere will be printed in this edition.

My dearest Betsy
Elizabeth Town, April 7, 1757

Our Horses are baiting, which gives me a few spare Moments. I seize them to let my Charmer know of my Welfare. We expected to have arriv’d at New York Yesterday, but the extreme Badness of the Roads prevented our getting farther than Woodbridge. Our Chaise Horses tir’d before we reached Brunswick, which oblig’d us to leave them and the Carriage behind, and to come forward on Horseback. We shall, however, God willing, this Day reach the Place of Embarkation. Every Morning since our Departure has had a lowering Aspect, but before Noon the Clouds have dispers’d, the Sun has shone, and the Remainder of the Day has prov’d most delightfully agreeable. The Morning of our Love, my dear Betsy, has likewise been and is still overcast, threat’ning a wrecking Storm; who knows but kind Heav’n may graciously permit a chearing Sun to scatter these Clouds of Difficulties which hang over us, and afford a Noon and Evening of Life calm and serene. I trust our Conduct will be such as to deserve this Mark of Divine Goodness; may we not then reasonably [hope for?] its Accomplishment. Drawing [at least one line missing].
I hope before I leave New York to hear of our dear Mamma’s being in a fair Way of Recovery. She has my most cordial Prayers; and believe me my dear Betsy, there is Nothing I more sincerely wish than the Prosperity of every Branch of your good Family. Pray let me be respectfully remembered to them.
An Invitation from Govr. Belcher to Dinner, cuts me shorter than I intended. That every Blessing may attend you is the ardent Prayer of, Dear Betsy, Your most affectionate
Wm. Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Joseph Galloway, 11 April 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Galloway, Joseph

Dear Sir,
New York, April 11. 1757

I received the Exemplifications of the Royal Grant, Charter and Commissions at Bristol, and by the Post Copies of the two £100,000 Bills under Seal, and a Copy of the Indian Trade Bill, with Amendments, all in good Order.
I am sorry the Indian Trade Bill is lost; but it is some Advantage that the iniquitous Views of the Proprietor and his Creatures of the Council are so clearly discover’d by their Conduct on this Occasion. The Spirit that makes them so ardently aim at the Disposition of Money not their own, is the same with that which inclines lesser Knaves to rob and pick Pockets. They seem to have no Regard to the Publick Welfare, so the private Point maybe gained. ’Tis like Firing a House to have an Opportunity of Stealing a Trencher.
I wish Success to the Negociations with the Indians. Tis a good Sign that so many are come down. The next Post will probably find us here; pray favour me with any farther Intelligence concerning them or our other Publick Affairs, that comes to your Knowledge.
I leave some Enemies in Pensilvania, who will take every Opportunity of injuring me in my Absence. However, as they are my Enemies, not on my own private Account but on that of the Publick, I seem to have some Right to ask the Care of my Friends, to watch ’em and guard my Reputation and Interest as much as may be from the Effects of their Malevolence. I chearfully leave my dearest Concerns under that Care, having no Reason to doubt the Continuance of the Friendships I have so long experienc’d.
Your kind Wishes demand my sincerest Thanks. I suppose Billy writes. I will not now take Leave of you, as I intend another Line or two per next Post. With great Esteem and Affection, I am, Dear Sir, Your most obedient and most humble Servant
B Franklin
The List of Servants is not come.
Mr. Galloway

 Endorsed: Benja. Franklin’s Letter April 11. 1747 [sic]. N York.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Hazard, 11 April 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Hazard, Samuel

Sir
Philada. April 11th. 1757

Your Absence when the Business was to be done for Mr. Greeme, prevented your seeing Messrs. Stevenson’s Letter at that Time, or the Account that was afterwards carried to your House by my Son. I had however some Expectations that you would do what was desired of you by those Gentlemen, your Friends, and I readily did what seem’d immediately necessary to serve Mr. Greeme, on sight, of their Letters to you, tho’ I had no Knowledge either of him or them; and never have wrote a Line to him on the Affair: But your Refusal of that as well as of Kneeland’s Orders, is sufficient, as you never assumed to be sure you are not oblig’d to pay.
The Case seems to be different with respect to the Prizes, which you now speak of as out of date: In July 1755, when you promised to account with me for them if I would furnish Mr. Hesselus with Academy Tickets, they were as much out of Date as they are now: On that Promise, I immediately furnished those Tickets, and have ever since kept your Note and those Prizes together, to be ready for a Settlement, whenever you should call on me for that Purpose: As to the Billet you mention to be “sent by me (after yours) signifying my Intentions to return the Tickets to Virginia, in consequence of which you settled with the Trustees of the College &c.” I think it must be an absolute Mistake, and that I never sent you any such Billet: For why should I return the Tickets to Virginia, when they had (on your promise to allow the Prizes) been received by me as pay for the Academy Tickets I furnished to Mr. Hessilus; and therefore ought to be produced by me at our Settlement, in which you said you would account with me for them, i.e. in our Settlement for the Tickets I had of you: In short, I always expected that whatever Prizes were in the Tickets bought of you, would be allowed, when the Money for the Tickets was demanded; and it seems to me, that my delaying to make my Demand of the Prize Money till you should make your Demand of the Ticket Money ought not to deprive me of my Right, any more than your Delaying till this Time to make your Demand ought to deprive you of yours: And indeed, as the Prize Money did not amount to more than I owed for the Tickets, it did not seem necessary that I should demand Payment of my Prizes, they being already paid by Money in my Hands.
If I did not pay for the two Tickets you mention to have sold me besides the 6, they must now be paid for; I submit that to your Books.
I thank you for your good Wishes, and am glad to hear your Affairs are near being compleated, being Sir Your very humble Servant
B Franklin
  To Mr. Saml. HazardCopy


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Alexander Garden, 14 April 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Garden, Alexander

Dr. Garden
Sir
New York, April 14 1757

I am here waiting the Departure of the Pacquet in which I am about to embark for London, and by that means have Leisure to write a little to my Friends, which the distracted State of our Province, and the Hurry of Affairs I have been engag’d in, for some time prevented. I wish now that I had brought some of your ingenious Letters with me, that I might have consider’d them fully: particularly what relates to the Element of Fire, and the Quantity receiv’d by the Earth from the Sun, &c. I have touch’d a little on this Subject of Fire, in mine of this Date to Dr. Lining, to which I beg Leave to refer you. But Fire is full of Wonders, and as yet we know little of its Nature.
I forwarded your Pacquet and Letter to Mr. Clayton as desired, and free of Charge to him. I purpose, God willing, to return from England by way of Carolina, when I promise myself the Pleasure of seeing and conversing with your Friends in Charlestown.
Col. Bouquet, who does me the favour to deliver this to you, is a Gentleman whose Conversation you must be pleas’d with, and I am sure a Stranger, of Learning, Ingenuity and Politeness will not fail of your Civilities. I therefore only take the Liberty of Introducing him to you, and leave the rest to your self.
I am, with great Esteem and Respect, Sir Your most obedient humble Servant
B Franklin
[In margin in BF’s hand:] Dr. Lining and Garden Col. Bouquet.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to John Lining, 14 April 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Lining, John

Sir,
New-York, April 14. 1757.

It is a long Time since I had the Pleasure of a Line from you. And indeed the Troubles of our Country, with the Hurry of Business, I have been engag’d in on that Account, have made me so bad a Correspondent, that I ought not to expect Punctuality in others.
But being just taking Passage for England, I could not leave the Continent, without paying my Respects to you, and at the same Time taking Leave to introduce to your Acquaintance a Gentleman of Learning and Merit, Col. Henry Bouquet, who does me the Favour to present you this Letter, and with whom I am sure you will be much pleased.
Mr. Professor Simpson of Glasgow, lately communicated to me some curious Experiments of a Physician of his Acquaintance, by which it appeared that an extraordinary Degree of Cold, even to Freezing, might be produced by Evaporation. I have not had Leisure to repeat and examine more than the first and easiest of them, viz. Wet the Ball of a Thermometer by a Feather dipt in Spirit of Wine, which has been kept in the same Room, and has of Course the same Degree of Heat or Cold. The Mercury sinks presently 3 or 4 Degrees, and the quicker if during the Evaporation you blow on the Ball with Bellows; a second Wetting and Blowing when the Mercury is down, carries it yet lower. I think I did not get it lower than 5 or 6 Degrees from where it naturally stood, which was at that time 60. But it is said, that a Vessel of Water being plac’d in another somewhat larger containing Spirit, in such a Manner that the Vessel of Water is surrounded with the Spirit, and both plac’d under the Receiver of an Air-pump, on Exhausting the Air, the Spirit evaporating leaves such a Degree of Cold as to freeze the Water, tho’ the Thermometer in the open Air stands many Degrees above the Freezing Point.
  I know not how this Phenomenon is to be accounted for, but it gives me Occasion to mention some loose Notions relating to Heat and Cold, which I have for some Time entertain’d, but not yet reduc’d into any Form. Allowing common Fire as well as the Electrical, to be a Fluid, capable of permeating other Bodies, and seeking an Equilibrium, I imagine some Bodies are better fitted by Nature to be Conductors of that Fluid than others; and that generally those which are the best Conductors of the Electrical Fluid, are also the best Conductors of this; and e contra. Thus a Body which is a good Conductor of Fire readily receives it into its Substance, and conducts it thro’ the Whole to all the Parts; as Metals and Water do; and if two Bodies, both good Conductors, one heated, the other in its common State, are brought into Contact with each other, the Body which has most Fire, readily communicates of it to that which had least; and that which had least readily receives it, till an Equilibrium is produced. Thus, if you take a Dollar between your Fingers with one Hand, and a Piece of Wood of the same Dimensions with the other, and bring both at the same Time to the Flame of a Candle, you will find yourself obliged to drop the Dollar before you drop the Wood, because it conducts the Heat of the Candle sooner to your Flesh. Thus, if a Silver Teapot had a Handle of the same Metal, it would conduct the Heat from the Water to the Hand, and become too hot to be used; we therefore give to a Metal Teapot a Handle of Wood, which is not so good a Conductor as Metal. But a China or Stone Teapot being in some Degree of the Nature of Glass, which is not a good Conductor of Heat, may have a Handle of the same Stuff. Thus also a damp moist Air shall make a Man more sensible of Cold, or chill him more than a dry Air that is colder, because a moist Air is fitter to receive and conduct away the Heat of his Body. This Fluid entring Bodies in great Quantity, first expands them by separating their Parts a little, afterwards by farther separating their Parts, it renders solids fluid, and at length dissipates their Parts in Air. Take this Fluid from melted Lead, or from Water, the Parts cohere again, the first grows solid, the latter becomes Ice. And this is soonest done by the Means of good Conductors. Thus, if you take (as I have done) a square Bar of Lead, 4 Inches long, and 1 Inch thick, together with 3 Pieces of Wood planed to the same Dimensions, and lay them as in the Margin, on a smooth Board, fix’d so as not to be easily separated or moved, and pour into the square Cavity they form as much melted Lead as will fill it, you will see the melted Lead chill and become firm on the Side next the Leaden Bar, some Time before it chills on the other three Sides in Contact with the Wooden Bars; tho’ before the Lead was poured in, they might all be supposed to have the same Degree of Heat or Coldness, as they had been exposed in the same Room to the same Air. You will likewise observe, that the leaden Bar, as it has cooled the melted Lead more than the wooden Bars have done, so it is itself more heated by the melted Lead. There is a certain Quantity of this Fluid, called Fire, in every living human Body, which Fluid, being in due Proportion, keeps the Parts of the Flesh and Blood at such a just Distance from each other, as that the Flesh and Nerves are suple, and the Blood fit for Circulation. If Part of this due Proportion of Fire be conducted away by Means of a Contact with other Bodies, as Air, Water, or Metals, the Parts of our Skin and Flesh that come into such Contact, first draw more near together than is agreeable, and give that Sensation which we call Cold, and if too much be conveyed away, the Body stiffens, the Blood ceases to flow, and Death ensues. On the other Hand, if too much of this Fluid be communicated to the Flesh, the Parts are separated too far, and Pain ensues as when they are separated by a Pin or Lancet. The Sensation that the Separation by Fire occasions, we call Heat, or Burning. My Desk, on which I now write, and the Lock of my Desk, are both expos’d to the same Temperature of the Air, and have therefore the same Degree of Heat and Cold; yet if I lay my Hand successively on the Wood and on the Metal, the latter feels much the Coldest; not that it is really so, but being a better Conductor, it more readily than the Wood takes away and draws into it self the Fire that was in my Skin. Accordingly, if I lay one Hand, Part on the Lock, and Part on the Wood, and after it has lain so some Time I feel both Parts with my other Hand, I find the Part that has been in Contact with the Lock, very sensibly colder to the Touch than the Part that lay on the Wood. How a living Animal obtains its Quantity of this Fluid called Fire, is a curious Question. I have shown that some Bodies (as Metals) have a Power of Attracting it stronger than others, and I have sometimes suspected that a living Body had some Power of Attracting out of the Air or other Bodies the Heat it wanted. Thus Metal hammer’d or repeatedly bent, grows hot in the bent or hammered Part. But when I consider’d that Air in contact with the Body cools it; that the surrounding Air is rather heated by its Contact with the Body; that every Breath of cooler Air drawn in, carries off Part of the Body’s Heat when it passes out again: That therefore there must be in the Body a Fund for producing it, or otherwise the Animal would soon grow cold: I have been rather enclin’d to think that the Fluid, Fire, as well as the Fluid, Air, is attracted by Plants in their Growth, and becomes consolidated with the other Materials of which they are formed, and makes a great Part of their Substance. That when they come to be digested, and to suffer in the Vessels a Kind of Fermentation, Part of the Fire as well as Part of the Air, recovers its fluid Active State again, and diffuses itself in the Body digesting and separating it. That the Fire so reproduc’d by Digestion and Separation, continually leaving the Body, its Place is supply’d by fresh Quantities arising from the continual Separation. That whatever quickens the Motion of the Fluids in an Animal, quickens the Separation, and reproduces more of the Fire, as Exercise. That all the Fire emitted by Wood and other Combustibles when burning, existed in them before in a solid State, being only discovered when separating. That some Fossils, as Sulphur, Seacoal, &c. contain a great deal of solid Fire; that Gunpowder is almost all solid Fire: And that, in short, what escapes and is dissipated in the Burning of Bodies, besides Water and Earth, is generally the Air and Fire that before made Parts of the solid. Thus I imagin that Animal Heat arises by or from a Kind of Fermentation in the Juices of the Body, in the same Manner as Heat arises in the Liquors preparing for Distillation; wherein there is a Separation of the spirituous from the watry and earthy Parts. And it is remarkable, that the Liquor in a Distiller’s Vat, when in its highest and best State of Fermentation, shows by the Thermometer, as I have been informed, the same Degree of Heat with the human Body, that is about 94 or 96. Thus, as by a constant Supply of Fuel in a Chimney, you keep a warm Room, so by a constant Supply of Food in the Stomach, you keep a warm Body. Only where little Exercise is used, the Heat may possibly be conducted away too fast, in which Case such Materials are to be used for Cloathing and Bedding, against the Effect of an immediate Contact of the Air, as are in themselves bad Conductors of Heat, and consequently prevent its being communicated thro’ their Substance to the Air. Hence what is called Warmth in Wool, and its Preference on that Account to Linen; Wool not being so good a Conductor. And hence all the natural Coverings of Animals to keep them warm, are such, as retain and confine the natural Heat in the Body, by being bad Conductors; such as Wool, Hair, Feathers, and the Silk by which the Silk-worm in its tender embrio State is first cloathed. Cloathing, thus considered, does not make a Man warm, by giving Warmth, but by preventing the too quick Dissipation of the Heat produc’d in his Body, and so occasioning an Accumulation.
There is another curious Question I will just venture to touch upon, viz. Whence arises the sudden extraordinary Degree of Cold, perceptible on mixing some Chymical Liquors, and even on mixing Salt and Snow, where the Composition appears colder than the coldest of the Ingredients? I have never seen the chymical Mixtures made, but Salt and Snow I have often mixed myself, and am fully satisfied that the Composition feels much colder to the Touch, and lowers the Mercury in the Thermometer more than either Ingredient would do separately. I suppose with others, that Cold is nothing more than an Absence of Heat or Fire. Now if the Quantity of Fire before contain’d or diffus’d in the Snow and Salt, was expell’d in the Uniting of the two Matters, it must be driven away either thro’ the Air or the Vessel containing them. If it is driven off thro’ the Air, it must warm the Air, and a Thermometer held over the Mixture without touching it, would discover the Heat by the Rising of the Mercury, as it must and always does in warmer Air. This indeed I have not try’d; but I should guess it would rather be driven off thro’ the Vessel, especially if the Vessel be Metal, as being a better Conductor than Air, and so one should find the Bason warmer after such Mixture. But on the contrary the Vessel grows cold, and even Water in which the Vessel is sometimes plac’d for the Experiment, freezes into hard Ice on the Bason. Now I know not how to account for this otherwise than by supposing, that the Composition is a better Conductor of Fire than the Ingredients separately, and like the Lock compar’d with the Wood, has a stronger Power of Attracting Fire, and does accordingly attract it suddenly from the Fingers or a Thermometer put into it, from the Bason that contains it, and from the Water in contact with the Outside of the Bason, so that the Fingers have the Sensation of extream Cold, by being depriv’d of much of their natural Fire; the Thermometer sinks, by having part of its Fire drawn out of the Mercury; the Bason grows colder to the Touch, as by having its Fire drawn into the Mixture, it is become more capable of drawing and receiving it from the Hand; and thro’ the Bason the Water loses its Fire that kept it fluid, so it becomes Ice. One would expect, That from all this attracted Acquisition of Fire to the Composition, it should become warmer; and in fact, the Snow and Salt dissolves at the same Time into Water without freezing.

I doubt whether in all this I have talked intelligibly; and indeed how should a Man do so, that does not himself clearly understand the Thing he talks of. This I confess to be my present Case. I intended to amuse you, but I fear I have done more, and tired you. Be so good as to excuse it, and believe me, with sincere Esteem and Respect, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant
B Franklin

 Endorsed in Stiles’ hand: Copy Mr. Franklin’s Letter to Dr. Lining. Apr. 14. 1757


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jane Mecom, 19 April 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Mecom, Jane

Dear Sister
New York, April 19. 1757

I wrote a few Lines to you yesterday, but omitted to answer yours relating to Sister Douse: As having their own Way, is one of the greatest Comforts of Life, to old People, I think their Friends should endeavour to accommodate them in that, as well as in any thing else. When they have long liv’d in a House, it becomes natural to them, they are almost as closely connected with it as the Tortoise with his Shell, they die if you tear them out of it. Old Folks and old Trees, if you remove them, tis ten to one that you kill them. So let our good old Sister be no more importun’d on that head. We are growing old fast ourselves, and shall expect the same kind of Indulgencies. If we give them, we shall have a Right to receive them in our Turn.
And as to her few fine Things, I think she is in the right not to sell them, and for the Reason she gives, that they will fetch but little. When that little is spent, they would be of no farther use to her; but perhaps the Expectation of Possessing them at her Death, may make that Person tender and careful of her, and helpful to her, to the amount of ten times their Value. If so, they are put to the best Use they possibly can be.

I hope you visit Sister as often as your Affairs will permit, and afford her what Assistance and Comfort you can, in her present Situation. Old Age, Infirmities, and Poverty, join’d, are Afflictions enough; the Neglect and Slight of Friends and near Relations, should never be added. People in her Circumstances are apt to suspect this sometimes without Cause; Appearances should therefore be attended to, in our Conduct towards them, as well as Realities.
I write by this Post to Cousin Williams, to continue his Care, which I doubt not he will do.
We expect to sail in about a Week, so that I can hardly hear from you again on this Side the Water. But let me have a Line from you now and then while I am in London. I expect to stay there at least a 12 month. Direct your Letters to be left for me at the Pensilvania Coffee House in Birchin Lane London. My Love to all, from Dear Sister, Your affectionate Brother
B Franklin
PS. April 25. We are still here, and perhaps may be here a Week longer, Once more Adieu my dear Sister.

Addressed: To / Mrs Jane Mecom / at / Boston / Free / B Franklin
Endorsed: Old Trees &c.


Title: Commission to James Parker as Comptroller of the Post Office, 22 April 1757
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Parker, James

Sometime after their appointment as joint deputy postmasters general in 1753 Franklin and Hunter had made William Franklin comptroller of the North American postal service, in addition to being postmaster of Philadelphia. The exact duties which they assigned to him in this position are not known since his commission and instructions have not been found. It is clear, however, that the comptroller was expected to assist the joint heads of the system in general oversight and probably had special responsibility for receiving and checking the reports and accounts of the local postmasters. With both Franklins about to leave America for England and with Hunter already there, it now became necessary to appoint someone to take direct charge of the service, and to give him substantial authority to act on behalf of the deputy postmasters general. For this responsible position Franklin chose his former employee and later partner James Parker, printer in New York and Woodbridge, N.J., and issued the commission and instructions printed here and in the next document. It was a happy choice; Parker was not only an able printer but, as events were to prove, an efficient administrator. The colonial postal system prospered under his control.

[April 22, 1757]
Benjamin Franklin and William Hunter Esquires,
  His Majesty’s Deputy Post-master General of all His Majesty’s Dominions on the Continent of North America
To all to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting. Know ye, that we the said Benjamin Franklin and William Hunter, reposing special Trust and Confidence in James Parker, of Woodbridge in New Jersey, Gentleman, and having received good Testimony of his Fidelity and Loyalty to His Majesty, and of his Ability and Sufficiency to execute the Office and Duties required of a Comptroller of the General Post Office, manage and better regulate the Posts on the Continent in North America, his Inclination and Capacity to improve and advance his Majesty’s Revenues therein [crossed out: and his Skill and Exactness in Accompts,] do by these Presents nominate and appoint him our Agent and Comptroller with full Power to transact, do and perform such Matters and Things for us and in our Name and Behalf, relating to the Management of the General Post Office on the Continent of North America, as we have given or shall give him in Charge, by our Instructions in Writing, and particularly to demand, receive, examine, correct, and allow, the Monthly Bills called Comptroller’s Bills, and the Quarterly and General Accounts of the several Deputy Postmasters in every Province relating to the Postage of Letters; and to demand, recover, and receive, for us, the Ballances from such Accounts arising, and proper Discharges thereupon to give, and to do and perform every other Matter and Thing that to the Office and Duty of an Agent and Comptroller of the General Post Office doth or may appertain for and during such time as our present Comptroller William Franklin shall be absent from America, or until another shall be appointed by us to the same Office, Hereby strictly charging and requiring all Officers and others employed in and about the Posts already settled in any Part of his Majesty’s said Provinces and Dominions in North America, or in Relation to the Revenue arising by the Post of Letters there, from time to time to give an Account of their Doings and Transactions therein to the said James Parker, and to observe and obey his Orders and Directions in Relation to their respective Offices, Trusts and Employments. And the better to enable the said James Parker to execute the Office and Trust reposed in him, we do hereby delegate unto him, in case of our Absence from the Continent of America, all our Power and Authority, to appoint Deputy Postmasters for the better managing and ordering the said Posts, in North America, and for collecting and improving the Revenue arising thereby, granting him full Power and Authority, so far as by Law we may, to suspend, remove or displace such Deputies and all and every other Person or Persons whatsoever, imployed or to be employed in the Management of the said Posts, or in the Collection of the said Revenue, who shall be guilty of any Neglect, Mismanagement, or Breach of Duty, in their Respective Offices or Employments, from the farther Execution of his or their Office or Offices. And we do hereby Suspend the Commission of our present Comptroller and Agent William Franklin, now about to make a Voyage to England, until he shall return from thence, and resume the Execution thereof, when this present Commission is to cease, determine, and become void. In Witness whereof we the said Benjamin Franklin and William Hunter, have hereunto set our Firm and caused the Seal of our Office to be affixed. Dated the 22d. Day of April 1757. In the thirtieth Year of his Majesty’s Reign.
Franklin & Hunter.

 Endorsed: Copy of James Parker’s Commission to appoint him Agent and Comptroller of the General Post-Office, dated April 22. 1757