Title: Samuel Chandler to James Hamilton, William Allen, Richard Peters, Benjamin Franklin, Conrad Weiser, and William Smith, 15 March 1754
From: Chandler, Samuel
To: Hamilton, James,Allen, William,Peters, Richard,Franklin, Benjamin,Weiser, Conrad,Smith, William

William Smith delivered this letter to Governor Hamilton a few days after he returned from England on May 22. Hamilton communicated it at once to the others named in it. Franklin, Peters, and Weiser were about to set out to Albany, so no meeting could be held until after their return (see below, p. 333). They asked Smith to acknowledge receipt of the letter and to assure Chandler that they were sensible of the honor done them and that they would “decline no labor in the execution of their important trust. Their general interest as Britons,” Smith continued, “their particular interest as Americans, and their sincere desire of promoting every charitable design, all concur to engage them to do everything experience and advantage of their situation shall enable them to do.”

London, 15th March, 1754
To the Honorable James Hamilton, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsylvania; William Allen, Esq., Chief Justice; Richard Peters, Esq., Secretary of Pennsylvania; Benjamin Franklin, Esq., Postmaster-General; Conrad Weiser, Esq., Interpreter, and the Rev. William Smith.
Gentlemen: The number and destitute circumstances of the German Protestants settled in Pennsylvania and Maryland, have engaged some very worthy gentlemen to form themselves into a Society for their relief, and particularly to provide them with a few German ministers and some English schoolmasters, that the elder among them may not be destitute of needful instruction, and the younger may be brought to the knowledge of the English language; that they may become better subjects to the British Government and more useful to the Colonies, where Providence has now fixed their habitation.
The Society consists of the Right Hon. Earl of Shaftesbury; Right Hon. Lord Willoughby, of Parham; Right Hon. Sir Luke Schaub, Bart.; Right Hon. Sir Joshua Van Neck, Bart.; Thomas Chitty, Esq., Thomas Fludyer, Esq., Aldermen of the City of London; Benjamin Amory, LL.D., James Vernon, Esq., John Bance, Esq., Robert Fergusson, Esq., Nathaniel Paice, Rev. Dr. Birch, Rev. Mr. Caspar Wettstein, Rev. Mr. David Thomson, minister at Amsterdam, and myself, whom they honored to appoint as their secretary. His Majesty and her Highness the Princess of Wales have with truly royal and princely generosity contributed to the encouragement of this design, and the Church of Scotland has made a very liberal collection toward promoting the same excellent work; and we are endeavoring to obtain a further supply by means of a subscription from some benevolent noblemen and gentlemen of the city of London. Thus, from our first beginnings, we are encouraged to hope that we shall gather a sum sufficient for assisting these poor Protestants for some few years in the above-mentioned instances, till they are brought into a more regular state, and better able to take care of themselves and their families. The honorable Society, earnestly desirous to apply the moneys they collect in the most effectual manner for his majesty’s service, the benefit of the Colonies, and the welfare of these poor people, could think of no method so likely to carry on these salutary views as the opening a correspondence with some worthy gentlemen of knowledge, interest, and experience in Pennsylvania; and as they know of none in whose honor, integrity, and prudence they can better confide, gentlemen, than in yours, they have unanimously, with the advice of the honorable proprietor, resolved that you be desired to accept of the inspection and management of the whole charity as their trustees in Pennsylvania, and particularly to assist with your encouragement and counsel the Rev. Mr. Michael Schlatter, whom the Society has ordered, with a yearly salary of £100 sterling, under your direction, to be their supervisor and visitor of the schools they have agreed to erect in the following places, viz., Reading, York, Easton, Lancaster, Skippack, and Hanover, where, as they are informed by a letter from the worthy secretary to the honorable proprietor, now before me, the Germans are being settled. The intention of the schools is to instruct their youth in the English language and the common principles of the Christian religion and morality. The school-masters for these schools should understand both the German and the English languages, and we are encouraged to hope by Mr. Schlatter that proper persons for this purpose may be found in the province, the choice of which we must beg leave to devolve upon you, as we have an entire confidence in your disposition to promote so good a work, and judgment in the conduct of it. The yearly salary of each of these masters we are willing to allow for some years in any sum not exceeding £20, and the proportion to each we beg you would determine for us; and, indeed, that you would transact the whole of this important affair, as you shall judge it most expedient to accomplish the good intentions that are before us. As to German ministers, we have as yet appointed none, because, as you are well acquainted with the circumstances of the Germans settled among you, we are willing to act with your advice, which will in great measure determine us as to the numbers that shall be sent over, the places they shall settle at, and the stipend that shall be yearly allowed them. This advice, therefore, we earnestly request, and indeed that you will be so good as to send us such information, from time to time, of what may be proper for us to do the most effectually to secure the good ends we aim at, and of the success that shall attend the measures we take in concert with you if it shall please God happily to prosper them. The account transmitted to me as their secretary shall be regularly laid before them, the honorable Society.
We are sensible, gentlemen, that such a correspondence will occasion you some trouble; but when we consider the importance of the service, the benevolence of your dispositions, and the worth of your characters, we promise ourselves your kind assistance in a work which we know must have your entire approbation and best wishes. As for myself, ’tis my great pleasure I have so honorable an introduction to the acquaintance of gentlemen, whose characters I so honorable esteem, and on whose friendship I should place the greatest value.
I have the honor, in the name of the Society, to be Your most humble servant,
S. Chandler
Favored by the hand of the Rev. William Smith.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Richard Jackson, 17 March 1754
From: Jackson, Richard
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir
Inner Temple 17 Mar 1754
I would fain merit a Correspondence, I have so much Pleasure in, and have therefore ventured to digest and commit to paper the Thoughts I have before mentioned to you, on the Subject of a Medium of Commerce, including a Plan of a Provincial Bank, which if any way Eligible, you will be able to adapt to the Circumstances of the Province of Pennsylvania.
However imperfectly I may have executed my design, I am convinced my Principles are true: I think if they be not precisely so, it is the fault of my expression. Yet I am well aware that it is much more frequent, for us to Err in applying our Principles, than in deducing them. For tho’ it is a false Proposition that what is true in Theory, may be otherwise in Practice yet every days experience teaches us, that Sanguine Men will perpetually be building a Practice on a Theory that cannot support it. This I think proper to say to clear myself from the Imputation of deeming myself equal to a Task, that so many abler men have wisely declined.
Should a Bank of any kind be capable of receiving a firm Establishment in your Province I make no doubt, but it would provide an Ample Fund not only for the Publick Services, to which the Interest of your subsisting Loans are appropriated, but for the carrying into full execution all those Beneficent views, at this time entertained among you, and that too liable to abundantly fewer Casualties, both in its Birth, and Continuance: if I am not mistaken in this fact I need say nothing more to reccommend my Notion, especially at this juncture.
As I dare not consider my Papers as any thing more than meer speculation, I have now purposely turned to the 14 G 2.a Statute made to prevent the Erection of Banks in America, but from the Reccolection I have of that Statute It will not extend to a Bank on the foot I recommend one, and Incorporated by the Assembly, or even by Mr. Penn.
As I think it incumbent, on me to suggest all the difficulties, I can conceive may occurr in the Prosecution of the Affair, I will add that I cannot foresee to what amount, the Credit of a Set of Gentlemen, Empowered to Lend Money in Pennsylvania, however judiciously named, might reach in England, tho’ supported by Mortgage of the Provincial Revenue, but I Question not it would reach far enough.

I have long had it in my mind, to return an Answer to your favour of the 5th May, and am ashamed to own, that after having had 6 Mo. to do it in, I am prevented by Mr. Smiths return from Cambridge on his return to Philadelphia only a fortnight before I expected him. I will Endeavour to trouble you with a Sheet or two on this Head by the next Ship.
I ought to beg your Pardon for the little Ceremony I observe, in sending the Papers inclosed herewith. They are my first Draught from undigested Materials. My Servant has had time to make but one Copy and that an Incorrect one. Mr. Smith did me the favour to peruse that I now send, and judged it preferable. I am a Careless Writer, but you will excuse me.
I am greatly pleased with that Gentleman’s Company. He is a very Ingenious Modest Man, and my friends at the University, whose Conversation with him, I suppose has been more in the Literary Way, give him a great Character. I wish his stay there could have been somewhat longer, he would have made it profitable.
I have deferred writing my Letter until this Night, that I might at Court today have picked up some News worth your Attention, relating to the new Model of the Administration become necessary by the Death of Mr. Pelham. The General Confidence reposed in the Integrity of that Gentleman was a Cement as well as a support, to those with whom he shared the Power intrusted to them by the Crown. I fear they want both at present. The Lord Chancellor, The Duke of Newcastle, and most of the Old Friends of Sir Robert Walpole, and many of those who came in at his Resignation hold together, but they find it a difficult matter to satisfy Mr. Fox the Secretary at War. He is so considerable both by his Abilities and his Connections, (which last it is said extend even among the Royal Family) that he has been looked on as dangerous either satisfyed or disatisfyed. It was once agreed, that he should accept the Office of Secretary of State, and the D. of Newcastle for the present at least, be first Commissioner of the Treasury; but Mr. Fox afterwards discovering, he was not to Injoy as much Power in the H. of Commons as he thought himself intitled to, rejected this Offer, and today there are two Reports, One that he is to continue Secy. at War (I fear if he does, as no friend) the other that he is to quit Every thing. We that have no immediate concern wish only for Concord, as the Publick Service cannot but suffer by Dissension. I am Dear Sir with great Esteem your most Obedient much Obliged Servant
Richd Jackson
I write you no Secrets but I had [rather] they should not be known to come from me.

[Enclosure]
1. Whatever reason there may be to doubt, whether Political Welfare necessarily conduces to the Happiness of Individuals; it is generally admitted to do so; at least, Plenty of the Necessaries and Conveniencies of Life, Publick and Private Splendor, and Security from External and Internal Violence, to one of which Heads I believe every Article of Political Welfare may be reduced, are at this day the Ends of all Governments usually esteemed good ones.
2. These Ends are attained by the Accumulated Labour of the Collective Body of Individuals, who form the State, and that, exactly in a degree, proportionable to the Amount of all their Labour, under which Term I Include, as well the Operations of the Understanding, as those of the Hands and Arms.
3. The Means of adding to the Publick Stock, and of supporting the Private owner of them, Sir William Petty calls Efficiencies, in opposition to the National Wealth already acquired by past Labour; which last consists in the Means of Security, the Various species of Lasting Splendor, but principally in the Improvements made by its Inhabitants on the Natural Face of a Country, which may be partly referred to the last head, and partly to that of Plenty, as it renders the Earth capable of greater Annual Productions.
4. A Part of the Wealth or Stock of every Civilized People consists in Gold and Silver Coined or Uncoined Substances that would never have obtained a great Value, meerly as Commodities, but have acquired one greater than almost any other in the World, from their aptness, for what they are now universally become, a Medium of Commerce.
5. Should it be admitted that Commerce is not essentially necessary to Political Welfare, It is in Antient History, and not in the present State of the Globe that we are to search for the Latter without the former, for Neither the Stock of a State, nor its Efficiencies can be augmented, but by increasing the Labour of its Subjects or Multiplying its Effects, ( which is a work of the Understanding) and the Manners of the Present Age furnish us with no sufficient stimulus but Commerce.
6. That Constitution of Government and that set of Manners which most effectually promote universal Labour and Application are, Politically speaking, the best Government and the best Manners, and that which is necessary for Carrying on Commerce is Politically necessary to the Well being of a State.
7. Gold and Silver by the Common Consent of Mankind represent, and are in their respective different degrees capable of being converted into most of the things that are to be ranked under any of the 3 Heads of Political Ends, that is, into every thing that is an object of Commerce, or in other words they are as I said before a Universal Medium of Commerce.
8. The Use of a Medium of C[ommerce] is to assure to the Seller an Equal Value quam proximo of the same or one or more other objects of Commerce, in return for that he then parts with and for this it is a Pledge.
9. A Commerce carried on by a Medium, will always be preferable to one carried on by Barter, or otherwise, because it will be more extensive; and it will be more extensive, because by a Medium Labour will often receive its reward, and consequently its Incouragement, by the Effects of distant Labour that could never otherwise have reached it.
10. This is the more Evident when one Considers that, to carry on a Trade by Barter, 2 Commodities must actually be at the same time in Commercio, but Money supplys the place of that which is absent[,]is afterward convertible, into another Commodity, that nothing but money could have purchased, and thus Introduces Trade where it could not have come without a Medium.
11. Labour is not only encouraged but forced by a Medium for where there is no Medium, there can be little or no Trade, and the Necessaries of Life will be to be had with little or no Labour. Besides a Medium of Commerce is the Foundation of Accumulation, the Nature of which is to force Labour, on some side for present subsistence as it Locks up, or carries out of the Way, the Effects of Past Labour. And thus a Medium of Commerce propagates Labour and thereby increases the Efficiencies of a State.
12. It is Evident therefore that any Medium is better than none, provided it answers the purpose of a Pledge in any tolerable degree, if it does not, it is a snare and Engine of Fraud. Tobacco Sugar and Rice have been long used as Mediums of Trade with success, and Paper Money in Countries where the Legislature has been wise and honest as in Pennsylvania has been found liable to fewer Objections than any of them.
13. But the Universality of a Value set on Gold and Silver will not only upon Emergencies enable that Country which is possessed of either or of Credit convertible into either, to avail itself of the Labour of other Countries, but what is of much greater moment gives that Value a Steadiness.
14. This Steadiness tho by no means perfect, is greatly superior to that of any other Medium that ever was, or probably ever will be devised: because its Universality will in a great measure prevent the Effects of any Accession to its Quantity, even tho’ this Accession fall out in a Particular spot from whence it cannot be immediatly dispersed, for like Water spread over a great Tract of Land the Increase will quickly become imperceptible by being diffused, the Expectation of which will prevent all considerable Effects from its Increase before it be actually dispersed.
15. A Paper Currency not convertible at pleasure into Money can never become the Medium of a Commerce intended much beyond the Power of the Legislature that creates it.
16. Every Accession therefore to its Quantity must be immediatly felt, and cannot be made without Injustice to those, who are possessed of part of that already subsisting and to Creditors unless it be exactly in the same proportion as the Objects of Commerce actually in Commercio increase with it, and if it be not increased so fast, there is a kind of Injustice done to Sellers and Debtors.
17. But it is Inseperable from the Nature of a Medium of Commerce to be of as steady a Value as possible, because it is not like other Pledges of a Value superior to the thing for which it is Pledged; at most it is only inconsiderably so, unless it be used in a Concern that requires much Skill, and then that superiority is considered as the Price of that Skill.
18. A Currency liable to sudden Changes of Value must necessarily subject Buyers and Sellers, Creditors and Debtors to Risques which if they be unnecessary ought to be removed, because caeteris paribus Commerce will always thrive most where subject to fewest Risques.
19. If a Gold and Silver Currency can be introduced into Pennsylvania, these Risques are there unnecessary; and if there be a Balance of Trade in its favour it cannot want Gold and Silver for that purpose unless we suppose, there are reasons that induce those Persons who receive the Balance to invest it in Securities elsewhere. If this be the Fact, the Proposal I am going to make must be feasible.
20. But it is said, Gold and Silver will not stay in the Country, for that the Balance is apt to and this Case is by no means inconsistent with the Condition of a thriving Infant State, for Every State is thrifty that Superlucrates but if the Increase of Stock, the Improvement of Lands and Efficiencies produces a much greater Income than the Rate of Interest the Whole Superlucration may be expended this way together with a Debt, that may augment every year and yet the Country more able to support it; indeed where there is both Industry and Credit it must be so. Now Nobody denys that the Value of the Stock in Pennsylvania, and Annual Value of its Land increase at a prodigious Rate as well as its Efficiencies.
21. If the Individuals in such a Country want Credit it can only be for want of their Credit being manifested in a Country where Money is accumulated: which in proportion as it is the Case of any Country, Interest will be Low, so that Lowness of Interest is by no means the Test of Political Welfare, tho it is a Proof of an Accumulated Medium extra Commercium.
22. But in the Case of the Province of Pennsylvania admitting a yearly Balance at present to be against them the Consequence of which is, the [Interests?] must contract [illegible] debts, and yet supposing, there is a Considerable Superlucation but converted into Stock and Improvements all that is wanting to introduce an unvariable Medium of Commerce with as Low a Rate of Interest to be paid for it by Individuals, in that Province as possible, is that the Province stand Middle Man, and as such, acquire to themselves the Difference of Int[erest] paid and received, in consideration of the Risque they would be liable to, and in lieu of the Profit they now make of the Publick Loans, the former of which would be no greater, and the Latter, tho’ perhaps less at first, probably in time abundantly more and very soon surpass it.
My Proposal is to erect a Provincial Bank, by Act of Assembly, the Plan of which I am sure many gentlemen in that Assembly are far more capable of contriving than I am. I shall however offer a Sketch, that will serve at least for an Illustration of what I have been saying, and ’tho’ liable to objections from People better acquainted with the State of the Province, may admit of Improvements that will remove them.
Let this Bank be intrusted to the Management of the Gentlemen now Trustees of the Loan Office.
Let them be impowered to Issue Notes payable as our Bank Notes at sight, and vest in them the other Powers given by Parliament to the Corporation of the Bank of England.
If it be not too great an Undertaking at once (I mean if it be judged that the New Bank be able to support it) Let all the Subsisting Emissions of Paper Money be called in, and exchanged at a price fixed, for these Notes: And Let the Trustees at their discretion (under proper regulations) lend to every body as great a sum more of these Notes as they are able to secure the Repayment of, with reasonable Interest.
If it be true that a Balance of Trade remains with England against Pennsylvania, more than the latter receives from the rest of the World, which is one Reason why the Province Bills have been many years below Par, its Notes will be often brought for Payment by those who want Credit in England, and tho’ the Want of a Medium for Circulation, (more likely to increase than diminish) must speedily carry these out again upon Loan, yet the Bank will find itself necessitated at first to contract, and afterwards from time to time to augment a debt in England, until either this Balance ceases, or which is not to be expected, the Bank becomes capable to Circulate without assistance all its Note Credit.

Here the New Bank will find itself in the situation of Middle man, and the Danger inherent to this situation I had in view, when I left room for the Objection that it would be too great an undertaking to change all the Paper Money for Notes at once.
Whether this be ventured on or not; it will be necessary, to borrow a sum of Money in England greater or less in proportion to the Extent of the Design, on the Public Security of the Province; a Part of which I believe it would be proper to lay out in India Bonds or somewhat of like Nature, which tho’ it make less Interest than the Bank itself pays will be a Security, (not quite dead) to be deposited with the Bank of England, or some Considerable Bankers in London, for the Money, they may pay on the Draughts of the Provincial Bank, Another Part of this Money must be shipped for Pennsylvania to be there applyed for Payment of all Notes brought for that Purpose.
And tho’ I have above said that this Debt in England will Augment, I think it is not impossible but that, the Profits made by the Bank above so much as shall be appropriated to Publick Services together with a Part of the Money first borrowed if the Increase of the Credit of the Bank shall render the residue sufficient to Circulate its Notes, may pay the Balance, that must certainly run the Province in Debt and consequently the Bank if it be not thus paid: but I rather think they will not for many years at least be sufficient.
Besides this original and probably increasing Loan, I suppose it would be proper, to fortify the Credit of the Bank by taking in a Subscription like that called here the Bank Circulation, that is a Subscription of Substantial Persons who undertake on a Call to advance their respective proportions of the whole sum subscribed, and make a Deposit of £10 per Cent as a security for their performance, in consideration of which they receive an Extraordinary Int[erest] on this 10 per Cent.
It has often been said that sending Money to Pennsylvania, to serve as a Medium of Trade is but hedging in a Cuckoo, for that it will immediatly, and must necessarily come to England again, to pay this Balance I spoke of before. This Objection I conceive I have already answered in substance, For I do not propose the Money to be sent as a Medium, but to support a Note Credit that will be so, and therefore it is probable whatever Balance be paid to England the Cash in the Bank in Philadelphia need be very small, and may be easily preserved from removal thus. If the Bank can borrow money in England to pay this Balance as I suppose it may, and will give Bills ¼ per Cent below the Market Price no body can draw but themselves. These Draughts will be paid by their Bankers in London or the B. of England and the Money replaced by fresh Loans, while the Bond I mentioned before, stand as a security to the Bankers, or Bank of England.
Should this Debt thus Augmenting become very large, it will always be greatly inferior, and must naturally every day become more and more inferior to the Value of the Notes Circulated in America, and as the Excess of Int[erest] paid by the Borrowers in Pennsylvania, above what the Bank pay in England will probably defray all charges of Management, the Interest of the Difference, between the Amount of the Debt and that of the Circulated Notes, will be clear Gains to the Province, in lieu of that now made on their Loans.
In short the Benefits of this Plan will be
1. Trade will feel no Shock, nor Obstruction by the calling in the Paper Money, the Place of which will be immediately supplied by a better Currency.
2. Neither Buyers nor Sellers, Creditors nor Debtors can suffer any Loss, or run any risk by the Variation in Value of this Currency for there never can be more or less of it in Circulation than is truely necessary for the Purposes of Domestic Commerce and had it no other advantage over Paper Money this is a very visible one, that it will spontaneously flow and Ebb in Quantity as it is wanted.
3. This Increase being spontaneous will remove all mischiefs that may now arise for want of a sufficient Medium, and effectually obviate Evils that may as things stand at present be irreperable before an Additional Medium is created, and this without those Struggles in the Legislature, that frequently may otherwise leave Animosities that cannot but have Pernicious Consequences.
4. A Bank of this Kind cannot fail in a very short time of becoming the Mint of all N. America and it will be impossible to prevent their Notes from pervading wherever Commerce finds its way in that Country, except by erecting Banks of equal Credit, a hard matter to effect when this has so much the Start of them; thus the Bank of Philadelphia may hereafter even in a few years, Circulate £1000000 of Notes, which puts me in mind that I could wish them payable in Sterling Money.
At present the Loans of £80000 are thought not near sufficient for the use of the Province.
40000 [written above: £20000] more are deemed not enough. It cannot therefore be supposed that less than £200000 would be immediatly Circulated in a Country where Trade is increasing every day.
These Notes might be Circulated on a Bottom of £40000 borrowed for that Purpose, of which £10000 might be the 10 per Cent on 100000 Circulation subscription. Perhaps the whole of this £40000 would be best left in England, at most a Small sum would be enough for the Reasons above to send into Pennsylvania.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from William Clarke, 18 March 1754
From: Clarke, William
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir,
Boston March 18th. 1754
The enclosed Account I had some time ago from a Gentleman in this Town as the substance of what he had collected from conversing with Mr. Pattin, when he was last here, but as it was only from recollecting what had passed between them Months before, some Articles may be wrong; and as I should be glad of a particular information of several other things not contained in it; I shall esteem it a particular favour, if it will not break in too much upon your time, which I know is always usefully employed, to have from you a particular Account of the following Articles vizt.
How far the inclosed account is true, how low down the River Ohio he has been, where he was taken, what Forts the French had that he knew of before the late War upon the Lakes, upon the Rivers issuing out of or running into the Lakes, or those that empty themselves into the River Missisippi, with their Scituation distances from each other, and their Strength both as to men and Guns; what Tribes of Indians trade with the English, and the number of them, tho I beleive you know the state of most of these Facts better your self, than he can. The following I am sure you must be much better Acquainted with. What Tribes of Indians are in Alliance with the Six Nations, what Number they are computed at, the Number of the Six nations themselves, whether all the Tribes of Indians in alliance with the Six Nations are likewise in Alliance with the English, Whether the Six Nations and their Allies trade wholly or cheifly with the English. Whether any of the French Indians as we vulgarly call them ever trade with us. It would be very agreeable to know the Rout by which Mr. Pattin was carried to Quebec and where he afterwards lived among the Indians, as also the Rout of your Traders into the Indian Country.
I understand that Mr. Pattin has lately been sent by Govr. Hamilton to gain as thorough a knowledge as may be of the late and present transactions of the French upon the back of the English Settlements Southward and Westward. I am extremely desirous to see a particular Account of his report.

In the Treaty between the Indians of the Six nations and the Commissioners of Pensylvania the last Year, of which number I have the Satisfaction to see that you were one, I observe that the French Commander acquainted the Indians that he had orders to build four Forts vizt at Weningo Mohongialo Forks Logs Town and Beaver Creek. I have not in any Maps I have been able to procure found any such names. I should be obliged to you to let me know by what names these places are called in Bellin’s or D’Anville’s Maps or if they are not particularly pointed out what distance they respectively are from Lake Erie and how they bear from it.
The Govr. at whose desire, as well as for my own Satisfaction I write this, bids me make his compliments very particularly to you, I have often heard him speak with great satisfaction of the Character you had acquired in France. He designs very soon to begin a correspondence with you, and would have done it sooner were he not so fully employed.
I am with the greatest esteem Your most obedient humble Servant
Wm: Clarke
Benja: Franklin Esqr.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas-François Dalibard, 31 March 1754
From: Dalibard, Thomas-François
To: Franklin, Benjamin

à Paris le 31. Mars 1754.
Je Reçus, Monsieur et très cher ami, le 15. Janvier dernier votre très obligeante lettre du 28. 8bre.1753. et je n’y répondis pas sur le champ, parceque je jugeai à propos d’attendre ce que vous deviéz m’envoyer par le prochain vaisseau que vous me marquiéz devoir partir 8. ou 10. jours après; j’ai toujours attendu jusqu’à présent sans avoir reçu autre chose qu’un petit paquet de graines et une très gracieuse lettre de notre respectable ami M. Bartram. Notre digne Correspondant M. Collinson me l’a fait remettre par un ami commun qui me fournit une autre occasion de faire passer mes réponses en Angleterre. Ce n’est que depuis deux jours que j’ai reçu le paquet de Mr. Bartram, et je vous prie de vouloir bien lui faire rendre ma réponse.
J’avois appris peu de tems avant la réception de votre dernière lettre que le vaisseau qui vous portoit le paquet de livres que j’avois envoyé pour vous à M. Collinson, avoit péri à l’embouchure de la Tamise. J’ai été très faché de cette perte qu’il ne m’est pas possible de reparer entièrement, parcequ’il y avoit quelques livres que j’avois reçus d’allemagne et que je ne puis plus retrouver icy. Je compte vous envoyer par la première occasion que je pourai trouver qui partira pour Londres les livres que vous me demandéz, sçavoir les 4. vol. de l’hist. nat. de M. de Buffon, 2. éxemplaires de vos lettres, et les Cartes du Nord et du Midy de l’amérique par Mrs. de l’Isle et Buache. J’y joindrai deux éxemplaires de mon Flora Parisiensis, et si la traduction que je fais faire d’un livre sur l’Electricité de Mr. Beccaria, dont l’auteur m’a fait présent, est achevée, je vous en enverrai l’original italien.

L’espérance que j’avois de recevoir bientôt ce que vous m’avéz anoncé par votre lettre du 28. 8bre.m’a fait différer jusqu’à présent la nouvelle édition de vos lettres sur l’Electricité. Outre cela differrentes affaires pressées ont tellement rempli mon tems pendant tout l’hiver dernier, que je n’ai pû donner que quelques momens aux recherches physiques. J’en ai été et j’en suis encore d’autant plus mortifié que nous avons eu dans ce pays-cy le tems le plus favorable aux expériences électriques. Je n’ai pû parvenir à avoir un Globe de soufre tel que je me l’étois proposé, et cela parceque je n’ai pas eu le tems de le faire faire en ma présence. C’est par le même défaut qu’on n’a pas encore réussi à éxécuter mon Electromètre; mais je n’ai encore renoncé ni à l’un ni à l’autre. J’espère y donner mes soins en peu de tems sitôt que je serai un peu débarassé de mes affaires, et je me remettrai à l’Electricité qui me paroît toujours mériter la plus sérieuse attention.
Tous nos amis Electriciens Mrs. de Buffon, de Fonferrière, de Marty &c. me chargent de mille complimens pour vous, et Mr. Du Bourg pareillement. Nous attendons tous de vos nouvelles avec le plus grand empressement. Je vous prie de m’en donner le plus promptement et le plus souvent qu’il vous sera possible. Votre nom est révéré dans ce pays-cy, comme il mérite de l’être. Il n’y a qu’un petit nombre d’électriseurs tels que M. l’abbé Nollet, dont l’honneur de vos découvertes excite la jalousie. J’ai l’honneur d’être avec l’attachement le plus parfait et le plus inviolable, Monsieur, Votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur
Dalibard
M. Franklin


Title: Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 12 April 1754
From: Pennsylvania Assembly
To:

Although the French had begun their advance into the upper Ohio Valley and Governor Hamilton had urged the Assembly to take steps towards defending the western frontier, that Quaker-controlled body had adjourned, March 9, for eight weeks without doing anything effective (see above, p. 259 n). But Hamilton called the House back into session on April 2 and the next day sent down a message urging a money grant for the King’s use in the critical situation then existing. After considerable debate the Assembly resolved April 5, by a vote of 18 to 16, “that a Sum of Money be at this Time given to the King’s Use.” The committee appointed to bring in a bill consisted of nine members, including Franklin, all of whom had voted in favor of a grant. The measure they reported, April 9, left blank the sum to be appropriated and the House debated at length the amount to insert. The first proposal, for £20,000, was defeated 8 to 25; then in succession £15,000 lost by a vote of 10 to 23, £10,000 by 11 to 22, and £5000 by 10 to 22. The committee members themselves split 4 to 5 on the first vote and 5 to 4 on the other three. Franklin and two others, who had supported the first three proposals, switched to the negative on the last, obviously in the belief that £5000 was too small a sum to meet the needs of the situation. Unable to agree, the Assembly then created a new committee of ten, including Franklin and two others from the first group, to prepare an answer to the governor’s message. The members of the new committee had voted 4 to 6 on each of the first three proposals but had been unanimously—though for opposite reasons—opposed to the fourth.
Meanwhile the governor had sent a further message, this one regarding the projected Albany Congress and his plan to appoint commissioners to represent Pennsylvania. He asked the Assembly to provide for a present to the Indians and for the commissioners’ expenses. In answer to an inquiry, he had informed the House that he proposed to name John Penn, Richard Peters, Franklin, and Isaac Norris as commissioners. When the committee of ten reported its draft reply to the first message, the Assembly voted to adjourn until May 13 and to appropriate £500 for a present to the Six Nations, and directed the committee to add a clause to their answer notifying the governor of these resolves and promising to provide for the Albany Commissioners’ expenses at their next sitting. So amended, the reply was approved and signed by the speaker April 12.

May it please the Governor,
[April 12, 1754]
Whenever the Service of the King, or the Interest of the Country, may appear to require their Attendance in Assembly, we hope the Representatives of the People will always, as they have now done, pay a ready and chearful Obedience to the Governor’s Call, however inconvenient the Season may be with respect to their private Affairs: We are nevertheless thankful to the Governor for his considerate Regard to our Circumstances on the present Occasion, expressed in his Message of the Third Instant.
And we now beg Leave to inform the Governor, that we have had that Message under our serious Consideration ever since it came down to the House; but, after all our Debates thereupon, we find, that near one Half of the Members are, for various Reasons, against granting any Money to the King’s Use at this Time; and those who are for granting, differ so widely in their Sentiments concerning the Sum, that there seems at present no Possibility of their agreeing, except in such a Sum, as, in the Judgment of many of them, is quite disproportionate to the Occasion: Therefore, and that the Members may have an Opportunity of consulting their Constituents on this important Affair, we are now inclined to adjourn to the Thirteenth of the next Month.
We thank the Governor for his very obliging Message of the Fourth Instant, and shall take the same, and the Papers therewith communicated to us, under Consideration, and offer our Sentiments to the Governor on the weighty Matters they contain at our next Meeting. At the same Time we shall provide for the Expences of the Commisioners the Governor has been pleased to nominate for the Treaty at Albany, of whom we approve, and have now voted a Present of Five Hundred Pounds, to be by them delivered to the Indians on that Occasion, in Behalf of this Province.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Johnson, 15 April 1754
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Johnson, Samuel

Dear Sir
Philada. April 15. 1754
When I return’d from Maryland in February last, I found your Favour of Jany. 1. but having mislaid it soon after, I defer’d answering ’till I should find it again, which I have now done. I think you ought not to be, as you say you are, vexed at your self that you offered your Noetica to be printed; for tho’ the Demand for it in this part of the World has not yet been equal to the Merit of the Work, yet you will see by the enclos’d Newspaper, they are reprinting it in England, where good Judges being more plenty than with us, it will, I doubt not, acquire a Reputation, that may not only make it extensively useful there, but bring it more into Notice in its native America. As to the Use of it in our Academy, you are to consider, that tho’ our Plan is large, we have as yet been able to carry little more into Execution than the Grammatical and Mathematical Parts; the rest must follow gradually as the Youth come forward and we can provide suitable Masters. Some of the eldest Scholars, who have now left us, did read it; but those at present in the Academy are chiefly engag’d in lower Studies. For my own part, I knew too well the Badness of our general Taste, to expect any great Profit in Printing it; tho’ I did think it might sell better than I find it does, having struck off 500, and not dispos’d of more than 50 in these Parts. There were Parcels sent to New York, Rhodeisland and Boston, and advertis’d there, tho’ it seems you have not heard of it. How they sold I have not learnt, and did not remember to enquire when I was there last Year. I am far from thinking it right that the Loss should fall on you, who took so much Pains in the Composition. You gave me no other Expectations than what I might gather from your saying in your Letter of May 10, 1750, you believed you could dispose of 100 Copies in Connecticut, and perhaps another Hundred might be disposed of at Boston: All I would request of you is, that, if you think fit, you would take the trouble of writing to such of the Ministers of your Church in New England and New York as you are acquainted with, and desire them to recommend the Book to their Friends; and if, with those you have had, all that shall be dispos’d of in those Colonies amount to 200, I will chearfully take my Chance with the Remainder. And if you cannot procure the Sale of so many, make yourself easy nevertheless; I shall be perfectly satisfy’d with your Endeavour. With my best Respects to good Mrs. Johnson and your valuable Sons, I am, Dear Sir, very affectionately Your most humble Servant
B Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Smith, 18 April 1754
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Smith, William

Dear Sir
Philada. April 18. 1754
I have had but one Line from you since your Arrival in England, which was a short one, via Boston, dated October 18. acquainting me you had wrote largely by Davis. Davis was lost, and with him your Letters, to my great Disappointment. Mesnard and Gibbon are since arriv’d here, and I hear nothing from you; which I should tell you chagrins me not a little, were I not asham’d to own to my Pupil, that I do not always practise the Philosophy I endeavour’d to teach him. My Comfort is, an Imagination that you only omit Writing because you are Coming, and purpose to tell me every thing vivâ voce. So not knowing whether this Letter will reach you, and hoping either to see you or hear from you by the Myrtilla, Budden’s Ship, which is daily expected, I only add that I am, with great Esteem and Affection, Dear Sir, Your most humble Servant
B Franklin
Mr. Smith
 Endorsed: B. Franklin Esqr April 18, 1754


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 18 April 1754
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Strahan, William

Dear Sir
Philada. April 18. 1754
By Capt. Gibbon I received a Copy of yours per the Myrtylla, but she is not yet arrived. I am glad to hear the Bills I sent you for £100 Sterling are accepted, and that the Goods were to be shipt soon for Connecticut. Bryant is arrived at New York, who left London the Middle of March; I have not heard whether he has brought them. I now enclose you a Bill for £20 Sterling, drawn by Mrs. Stevens on Alexander Grant Merchant London; and what Ballance may remain unpaid, I will send as soon as I can know it.
I am glad you have sent again the Things that were shipt in Davis. As to that Loss, give your self no Concern about it. It is mine, and but a Trifle. I do not know or regard what the Custom of Merchants may be in such Cases; but when I reflect how much Trouble I have given you from time to time in my little Affairs, that you never charg’d me Commissions and have frequently been in Advance for me; were the Loss much greater, to be sure I should not suffer it to fall on you.
Benja. Mecom writes me that he has remitted you Thirty Pounds Sterling which I am pleas’d to hear. And am glad you have not sent him the great Parcel of Books, &c. which you mention he has wrote for. He is a young Lad, quite unacquainted with the World, and I fear would be much embarrass’d if he went suddenly into Dealings too deep for his Stock. The People of those Islands might buy his Books, but I know they are very dull Pay, and he would find it impracticable to collect the Money when it ought to be sent you. Pray keep him within Bounds, let him have good saleable Sortments, but small, and do not suffer him to be more than Fifty Pounds in your Debt, if so much. It is best for him to proceed gradually, and deal more as his Stock and Experience increases. I am thankful to you for prudently delaying to send what he so indiscretely wrote for, till you had advis’d me of it. Our Compliments to Mrs. Strahan and your Children. I am, with great Esteem, Dear Sir, Your most humble Servant
B Franklin
Please to send me the Philosophical Transactions from the End of Martin’s Abridgement 1744 to the present time. I suppose they are not abridg’d; send them large as they come out. Also Dampier’s Voyages, 4 Vols. 8vo.

 Addressed: To  Mr. William Strahan  Printer  London  per the Lydia  Capt. Reeve


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Watson, 19 April 1754
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Watson, William

Sir,
Philada. 19th. April 1754
I have lately perused the 47th Vol. of the Transactions, wherein I find your very candid and favourable Account of my Electrical papers, for which be pleased to accept my grateful Acknowledgments.
My Friend Mr. Collinson once gave me reason to hope for the pleasure and advantage of a Correspondence with you, by telling me you intended me a Letter. I never received it; and wou’d have wrote to you, but that I heard you was much engaged in business, and I fear’d to incommode you; but the good Opinion of me you are pleased to express in that account, encourages me to think a few lines whose chief aim is the Improvement of knowledge, will not be disagreeable.
I was exceedingly pleased with your curious Account of the Phaenomena of Electricity in Vacuo, which I had long expected but never before seen.
There is but one particular of that account in which I am not yet perfectly Satisfy’d. It is in Page 367. where you seem to think (from observing the Electricity to pass in Vacuo in one continued Stream of the same Dimension, etc.) “that the cause of that very powerfull Repulsion of the Particles of Electrical Fire one to the Other, which we see in Open Air, is more owing to the Resistance of the Air, than to any natural Tendency of the Electricity it self.” etc.

At first View this appears likely; But may not the cause of the Stream’s not Diverging in Vacuo possibly be this, that the inner sides of the Receiver, being first Electrify’d, and having themselves an electric Atmosphere, the same repels every way and operates equally on every side of the Stream so as to confine it, and prevent it’s Expansion? this being the Case even when the Receiver is not exhausted: For let a [two pages missing].
4. That the holes made [in] this Pasteboard by the Electric Strokes afford very equivocal Signs of the Direction, (as I have shown more largely in a Paper to Mr. Collinson) the appearance varying according to the Circumstances.
In the same 47th. Vol: of the Transactions, there is I think a small mistake, page 552. in relation of the Experiment with a pair of Scales; where it is said, that an Electrified Seal was attracted by a Needle, and repelled by an Obtuse Body, which I take to be a reverse of the Fact, and to have led the Gentleman who wrote that Letter, into an Error in the Consequence he Draws from the supposed State of the Experiment.
The Paper abovementioned to Mr. Collinson, contains a Doctrine so seemingly Paradoxical, Viz. That Clouds are most commonly Electrified Negatively, and the Strokes of Lightning therefore most frequently upwards from the Earth to the Cloud That I fear it will be thought whimsical, and that many of your Electricians will scarce think it worth while to repeat the Experiments. I hope however that you will not suffer it to be condemned too hastily; but procure it a fair and thorough Examination.
I am with the greatest Esteem and Respect Sir your most humble servant
B. Franklin
P.S.: I have repeated all the Experiments proposed by M. Nollet, (in his Letters to me) in opposition to my Opinions, and intend him a private letter on the Subject thro your hands. Much Business has prevented my finishing it so as to send it off per this Ship.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Jonathan Belcher, 26 April 1754
From: Belcher, Jonathan
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir
Elizabeth Town (N.J.) April 26: 1754
As you are not only a lover of Learning but without a Compliment an Ornoment to it in the Age wherein you live you will forgive the freedom I take in Recommending to your Favour and Friendship Mr. John and Samuel Winthrop two worthy young Gentlemen making a Journey this Way partly for their Health as also to see this Country. The elder is Professer of Phylisophy at Harvard College in New England and the other is an Officer of the Supreme Court of the Massachusetts Bay. They are descended from one of the first families in New England and their deceas’d Father was my Particular Friend and Acquaintance and after saying these things I will only add that any Respect or Civility you are pleas’d to shew them I shall take as a fresh Instance of your Real Regard for Sir Your hearty Friend and Servant.
Mr. Franklin per Messrs: Winthrops


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 28 April 1754
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Strahan, William

Dear Sir,
Philada. April 28. 1754
The above is a Copy of mine per Reeve. Two Ships are since arrived in New York, but I hear nothing yet of the Things expected, tho’ possibly they may be come. I enclose Mrs. Steevens second Bill for £20 Sterling.

Please to send the following Books, viz.

2 Familiar Letters by Charles Halifax 12mo
Baldwin

  2 Nelson on the Government of Children 8vo
  Dodsley

  3 Treatise on Cyder-making
  Cave

  Letter from a Russian Officer, with some Observations   by Arthur Dobbs Esqr
  Linde

  The Nutcracker, by F. Foote Esqr
  Cooper

  The Book of Conversation and Behaviour Seed’s Sermons
  Griffiths

  Mother Midnight’s Works compleat 3 Vols Matho 2 Vols 8vo
  Carnan

I am, Dear Sir, very affectionately, Your most humble Servant
B Franklin
P.S. I am not certain whether I before wrote to you for the following, viz.
2 Green’s Maps of AmericaPhilosophical Principles of Nat. and Reveal’d Religion, by Ramsay.

Astronomical Rotula, a Print, per Ferguson
2 Fry and Jefferson’s Maps of Virginia, Maryland &c.
I now enclose Mrs. Steevens’s second Bill.
Mr. Strahan

 Addressed: To  Mr William Strahan  Printer  London  Per the Tryal vCapt. Cuzzins


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Richard Peters, [30 April 1754?]
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Peters, Richard

Dear Sir
Tues. morn. [April 30? 1754]
It was late in the Evening when I came home last Night, or I should have sent you Mr. Smith’s Letters, concerning which I shall be glad to talk with you when you have a little Leisure. If you are at liberty to dine where you please to day, I shall be glad of your Company; my Dame being from home, and I quite Master of the House. Your humble Servant
B Franklin
 Addressed: To  Richd Peters Esqr
Endorsed: Ben [torn] Apr 1754


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from William Clarke, 6 May 1754
From: Clarke, William
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir,
Boston, May 6th: 1754
I received your Favours, by the two last Posts; for both of which I am very much obliged to you; the former I should have acknowledged, by the return of the Post; but was obliged to be out of Town. I now return you the Papers, with my hearty thanks for the trouble you have taken.
I fully agree to your observation in your last, that although several of the English Governments are singly a Match for the French; yet under their present Circumstances and disposition, all of them together are not able to withstand them. I am very sorry that neither your Government nor some of your Neighbouring ones have exerted any proper Spirit, with regard to the present Measures of the French, nor a proper concern for their own Security. For my own part, I cannot help thinking that unless there be a united and vigorous opposition of the English Colonies to them, the French are laying a solid Foundation for being, some time or other, sole Masters of this Continent; notwithstanding our present Superiority to them, in point of Numbers. But this Union is hardly to be expected to be brought about by any confederacy, or voluntary Agreement, among our selves. The Jealousies the Colonies have of each other, with regard to their real or imaginary different Interests, &c. will effectually hinder any thing of this kind from taking place. But were everything else to be got over, we should never agree about the Form of the Union, or who should have the execution of the Articles of it. So that however necessary a Step this may be, for the mutual Safety and preservation of these Colonies; it is pretty certain, it will never be taken, unless we are forced to it, by the Supreme Authority of the Nation. And how little Attentive those that have the management of this authority are, and have been, to the Affairs of the Plantations, we know but too well.
Inclosed I send you the heads of what is intended to serve, for several small peices, to be published at home; if it should become necessary to raise the Spirits of the People in order to awaken the Attention of the Ministry. I should be extremely obliged to you for any hint upon any part of it, especially the last; particularly the nature of the Union, that ought to be established amongst his Majesty’s Colonies, on this Continent; under what direction the whole English Force of the Continent might be best placed, to answer the design of the Union, and by what Method any tolerable computation may be made of the Numbers of the People, in the respective Colonies. You will find by the Govr’s. Speeches, and the Address of both Houses, what is the present Temper of our Court; but as the new Elections are coming on, we cannot well tell what may be the Temper of the next. I am Your most obedient, humble Servant,
Wm Clarke
P.S. Our Court have appointed Commissioners to meet with the Commissioners from the other Governments, at the proposed Interview with the Indians of the Six Nations.
The French Forts are of no Consequence, but as it gives them the Advantage of gaining the Indians.
Indeed their building Forts at such distances from the places from whence they must draw their supplies, and that with so much difficulty, must, I should think, rather weaken them, than make them more formidable; was it not hereby they will be able in a manner to engross the whole trade of the Indians, and so effectually to attach them to their Interest, as to have it in their power to employ them to harass all the English out-Settlements throughout their whole extent, even in time of Peace; and when once it is in their Power, we know that they won’t fail of doing it.

  Benja: Franklin Esqr Philadelphia


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Richard Partridge, 8 May 1754
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Partridge, Richard

Franklin’s brief note to Partridge accompanied a news article and cartoon which appeared in the Gazette of the following day. How much, if indeed any, of the text of the enclosure Franklin wrote himself cannot now be determined. He may not have been responsible for the wording of the news report, which constitutes about three-quarters of the whole; his known concern for colonial union increases the probability that he was responsible for the editorializing passage at the end.
The “Snake Cartoon,” which appeared in the Gazette directly below the article, has usually been considered the first American political cartoon. In view of the cut which Franklin had reproduced in his pamphlet Plain Truth (1747) from a schoolbook he had published earlier (see above, III, xiv, 190), the “emblem” of the dismembered snake should be more precisely designated as the first cartoon in an American newspaper drawn and published for a political purpose. Again there is no documentary evidence of Franklin’s personal responsibility for the cartoon, but that it was his idea appears probable. Who executed the woodcut is not known.
Within two weeks of the appearance of this issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette the cartoon was copied in two New York and two Boston papers and was soon thereafter known in Williamsburg and Charleston. Other papers reprinted the news article without reproducing the cartoon.

Sir,
[May 8, 1754]
With this I send you a Paragraph of News from our Gazette, with an Emblem printed therewith, which it may be well enough to get inserted in some of your most publick Papers.
In haste I am your most humble Servant
B: Franklin

[Enclosure]
Philadelphia, May 9. [1754]
Friday last an Express arrived here from Major Washington, with Advice, that Mr. Ward, Ensign of Capt. Trent’s Company, was compelled to surrender his small Fort in the Forks of Monongahela to the French, on the 17th past; who fell down from Venango with a Fleet of 360 Battoes and Canoes, upwards of 1000 Men, and 18 Pieces of Artillery, which they planted against the Fort; and Mr. Ward having but 44 Men, and no Cannon to make a proper Defence, was obliged to surrender on Summons, capitulating to march out with their Arms, &c. and they had accordingly joined Major Washington, who was advanced with three Companies of the Virginia Forces, as far as the New Store near the Allegheny Mountains, where the Men were employed in clearing a Road for the Cannon, which were every Day expected with Col. Fry, and the Remainder of the Regiment—We hear farther, that some few of the English Traders on the Ohio escaped, but ’tis supposed the greatest Part are taken, with all their Goods, and Skins, to the Amount of near £20,000. The Indian Chiefs, however, have dispatch’d Messages to Pennsylvania, and Virginia, desiring that the English would not be discouraged, but send out their Warriors to join them, and drive the French out of the Country before they fortify; otherwise the Trade will be lost, and, to their great Grief, an eternal Separation made between the Indians and their Brethren the English. ’Tis farther said, that besides the French that came down from Venango, another Body of near 400, is coming up the Ohio; and that 600 French Indians, of the Chippaways and Ottaways, are coming down Siota River, from the Lake, to join them; and many more French are expected from Canada; the Design being to establish themselves, settle their Indians, and build Forts just on the Back of our Settlements in all our Colonies; from which Forts, as they did from Crown-Point, they may send out their Parties to kill and scalp the Inhabitants, and ruin the Frontier Counties. Accordingly we hear, that the Back Settlers in Virginia, are so terrify’d by the Murdering and Scalping of the Family last Winter, and the Taking of this Fort, that they begin already to abandon their Plantations, and remove to Places of more Safety. —The Confidence of the French in this Undertaking seems well-grounded on the present disunited State of the British Colonies, and the extreme Difficulty of bringing so many different Governments and Assemblies to agree in any speedy and effectual Measures for our common Defence and Security; while our Enemies have the very great Advantage of being under one Direction, with one Council, and one Purse. Hence, and from the great Distance of Britain, they presume that they may with Impunity violate the most solemn Treaties subsisting between the two Crowns, kill, seize and imprison our Traders, and confiscate their Effects at Pleasure (as they have done for several Years past) murder and scalp our Farmers, with their Wives and Children, and take an easy Possession of such Parts of the British Territory as they find most convenient for them; which if they are permitted to do, must end in the Destruction of the British Interest, Trade and Plantations in America.


Title: James Hamilton: Commission to Treat with the Indians, 13 May 1754
From: Hamilton, James
To:

The Board of Trade in London recognized that the French were trying to seduce the Iroquois from their British alliance and that the colonies, especially New York, were contributing to the danger by violating treaty engagements with the Indians and ignoring their complaints. Hence the Board wrote the governor of New York, Sept. 18, 1753, directing him to meet the Six Nations at a conference “for burying the Hatchet and renewing the Covenant Chain.” The letter expressed the desire that the other colonies which had dealings with the Iroquois also send commissioners to the conference and join “in one general Treaty to be made in his Majesty’s Name,” instead of dealing separately with the Indians as had been a common practice in the past. On the same day the Board of Trade sent a shorter circular letter to the governors of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, and New Jersey, informing them of the instructions to the governor of New York and directing them to recommend to their assemblies the necessary provision for commissioners and for the usual presents to the Indians. James DeLancey, who had succeeded to the acting governorship of New York, wrote to Hamilton, December 11, that he planned to hold the conference at Albany on June 13 or 14. The latter date was subsequently chosen.
Hamilton laid the matter before the Assembly, February 14, and that body sent a grudging reply on the 27th, mentioning the inconvenience of conducting Indian negotiations at Albany but promising to make proper provision for Pennsylvania’s representation and for “a small Present” to the Indians. On April 4 the governor sent the Assembly a letter he had solicited from DeLancey on the business the New Yorker thought should be transacted at Albany and asked the representatives’ advice on instructions for Pennsylvania commissioners. Aside from the general Indian treaty specified by the Board of Trade, DeLancey’s major proposal was that the commissioners “concert measures” for a series of forts in the Indian country, to protect the Iroquois as well as the whites from the common French enemy, and that “some reasonable and equal Plan” should be agreed on for “Expence and Operations.” He also expressed the rather vague hope that “from a full and free inquiry at the Treaty into the State of the Colonies, something may be struck out of general Utility necessary to be laid before his Majesty … that may contribute to the Safety and Prosperity of the Colonies, and … may produce Events beyond our present Expectations.” The Pennsylvania Assembly’s only response at this time was to ask Hamilton whom he proposed to appoint as commissioners. When he replied naming John Penn and Richard Peters of the Council, Isaac Norris, speaker of the House, and Franklin, the representatives indicated their approval of his choices.
Hamilton reminded the Assembly, May 7, of his request for advice on the instructions for the commissioners and sent down copies of several papers, including those relating to the loss of the unfinished Virginia fort at the forks of the Ohio, a further letter from DeLancey, and a resolution passed by the New York Assembly, April 17, urging that the neighboring governments “join with this Colony in the Expence of erecting and maintaining” the proposed forts in the Indian country. Hamilton earnestly recommended DeLancey’s proposals and those of Governor Shirley of Massachusetts “for a Union of the several Colonies in Indian Affairs,” and asked for authority to include in his instructions to the commissioners directions to support any “reasonable Plan [that] shall be offered them for that Purpose.”
The Assembly referred the messages of April 4 and May 7 with their accompanying papers to a committee of ten, not including Franklin, to prepare a reply. Apparently the draft which the committee reported aroused opposition in the House; it was considered on the afternoon of May 13, again on the morning of the 14th, and the same afternoon, “after a considerable Debate thereupon,” the House resolved that it should “be transcribed as it now stands, in order to be sent up to the Governor.” There is no record of how the Assembly divided on this vote. The reply to the governor, finally signed on May 18, declared flatly that “no Propositions for an Union of the Colonies, in Indian Affairs, can effectually answer the good Purposes, or be binding, farther than are confirmed by Laws, enacted under the several Governments, comprized in that Union.” Not knowing what restrictions the governor might be under in passing their laws and with little hope of help from the Proprietors in meeting Indian expenses, “we are, under these circumstances, at a Loss to advise him on the important Articles he has been pleased to propose to our Consideration.”

While this debate was going on, Hamilton signed the commission for the four Pennsylvania delegates, May 13. His hopes of being able to give them in addition written instructions on how they were to proceed at Albany, based on a promise of support from the Assembly, were dashed by the message of the 18th. Consequently this commission, couched in the most general terms and completely silent on all subjects except the negotiations with the Six Nations, was the only authorization the commissioners had for their proceedings at Albany. As was also true of the delegates of most of the other colonies represented at the conference, they were clearly exceeding the powers granted to them by their home authorities when they undertook to prepare a plan of colonial union at the conference.

Pensilvania ss.
[May 13, 1754]
George the Second by the Grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland, King Defender of the Faith and so forth, To Our Trusty and Wellbeloved John Penn Richard Peters, Isaac Norris and Benjamin Franklin of the City of Philadelphia Esqrs. Greeting.
Whereas the Honourable James Delancey Esqr. Our Lieutenent Governour and Commander in Chief of Our Province of New York has received Our directions to hold an Interview with Our loving and good Allies the Six United Nations of Indians at the City of Albany within Our said Province for delivering to them Our presents, and for renewing the Covenant Chain with them, and has fixed upon the fourteenth day of June ensuing for this purpose, and it has been Usual when an Interview has been held with these Indians for all his Majesty’s Colonies whose Interest and Security is Connected with and depend upon them to join in such Interview, and it appears to Us that the present Disposition of those Indians, and the Attempts which have been made to withdraw them from Our Interest, do make such a general Interview more particularly necessary at this time, when the Subjects of the French King have Actually Marched into and Erected Forts and Committed Hostilities within the known limits of Our Dominions. Know Ye that reposing special Trust and Confidence in your Loyalty Abilities and Prudence, We have thought fit to Nominate and Appoint You the said John Penn Richard Peters Isaac Norris and Benjamin Franklin and every of You Our Commissioners on behalf of Our Governour of Our Province of Pensylvania aforesaid in Conjunction with Our Lieutenant Governour of New York, and with the Commissioners of the other Governments to treat with the Six United Nations of Indians at Albany or with their or any or every of their Chiefs or Delegates, and with them to renew, ratify and confirm the Leagues of Amity, subsisting between Us and the said Nations of Indians, and to make them the Presents that have been provided for them by the Governour and Assembly of our said Province of Pensilvania And further to do, Act, transact and finally to Conclude and Agree with the Indians aforesaid, all and every other matter and thing which to you shall appear necessary for the engaging them heartily in Our Interest and for frustrating any Attempts which have been made to withdraw them from it, as fully and amply to all Intents, Constructions and Purposes, as Our Governour of Our Province of Pensilvania aforesaid might or could do, being Personally present Hereby ratifying confirming and holding for firm and effectual whatsoever you the said John Penn, Richard Peters, Isaac Norris and Benja. Franklin, or any of you shall lawfully do in and about the Premises. In Testimony whereof We have caused the Great Seal of Our said Province to be hereunto Affixed. Witness James Hamilton Esqr. (by virtue of a Commission from Thomas Penn and Richard Penn Esqrs. true and Absolute Proprietaries of the said Province, and with Our Royal Approbation) Lieutenant Governour and Commander in Chief of the Province aforesaid and Counties of New Castle Kent and Sussex upon Delaware, at Philadelphia the thirteenth day of May, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty four, And in the twenty seventh year of Our Reign.
James Hamilton
A true Copy, Ex. Richard PetersIs. NorrisB. Franklin.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Edward Shippen, 24 May 1754
From: Shippen, Edward
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Dear Sir
Lancaster 24th May 1754
The inclosed came to hand just now, which I send to you, to let you see the Spirit of some of our back Setlers. If the Managers of the Lottery for the Battery should think Proper to encourage those People, they may be pleased to send fifty small Arms to Captain John Harris, who ought to engage himself to see them forthcoming. I am out of all Temper with our Assembly; but have a great esteem for yourself and am Dear Sir Your most Humble servant
Edwd: Shippen
P:S: I am just setting off for Cumberland County and shall call on Captain Harris and let him know what I have done with his Letters.
To Benjamin Franklin Esqr.