Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Sarah Bache, 26 January 1784
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Bache, Sarah Franklin

            Franklin had been aware of the Society of the Cincinnati since at least mid-December, when Pierre-Charles L’Enfant arrived in Paris to deliver George Washington’s letters and begin the work of establishing a French branch. A week after L’Enfant’s arrival, however, Franklin

still knew nothing specific about the organization and was unable to answer the questions sent to him by his Russian counterpart, Bariatinskii. Too ill to travel as of early December, the American minister was isolated at Passy. Even Vergennes, whom he would normally have seen at the weekly meetings of the diplomatic corps, was more fully informed, having received a copy of the society’s institution (or charter) from Lafayette.
            Franklin’s papers give almost no indication of who might have visited him during the severe winter months and provided him with authoritative information about the society. Whatever he learned, he kept his opinions private. Other Americans registered their concerns in letters to one another and to Congress, but Franklin, whose diplomatic status required more delicacy, did not. In March, Lafayette would inform George Washington that “Most of the Americans Here are indecently Violent Against our Association. … Doctor Franklin Said little. But Jay, Adams, and all the others warmly Blame the Army.”
            Franklin does not appear to have seen the Cincinnati’s institution until January 26, when he received it from John Paul Jones, himself not yet a member. Jones also enclosed a pamphlet by Judge Aedanus Burke opposing the society, which had been published in Charleston in the fall and was widely reprinted thereafter. Burke called on his fellow citizens to mount a vigorous opposition before it was too late, arguing that the organization was “a deep laid contrivance to beget, and perpetuate family grandeur in an aristocratic Nobility, to terminate at last in monarchical tyranny.”
            On January 26, evidently prompted by what he had read, Franklin conceived a satire informed by his long-held views and his recent reading of a work on Chinese culture. He would not dwell on

the transgression against the Articles of Confederation, the focus of many of his colleagues, nor would he predict the extreme consequences that Burke foretold. Instead, with characteristic humor, he would show that the Cincinnati’s attempt to transplant the customs of European nobility to an American setting exposed the fundamental absurdity of all such distinctions and practices. By addressing this letter to his only daughter (with whom he never corresponded about politics), leavening it with family lore, and feigning at the outset that his opinion “cannot be of much importance,” Franklin cloaked what was intended to be a public essay in a fictional veneer of privacy.
            Franklin never sent this “letter” to Philadelphia. He showed it to no one apart from his grandsons until, around the beginning of March, he sent it to the abbé Morellet to translate into French. Morellet did so, but counseled him against making it public. Franklin acknowledged the prudence of this advice and assured Morellet that the piece would not be made public during his lifetime.
            Franklin’s ostensible letter to his daughter, so often quoted in our time, remained all but unknown in his. Morellet’s partial translation was published in Paris within months of Franklin’s death, but the full text in English was not made public until 1817, when William Temple Franklin included it in his edition of Franklin’s writings.

              My dear Child.
              Passy Jany: 26: 1784

            Your care in sending me the news-papers is very agreeable to me. I received by Captn. Barney those relating to the Cincinnati. My opinion of the institution cannot be of much importance. I only wonder that when the united wisdom of our nation had, in the Articles of Confederation, manifested their dislike of establishing ranks of nobility, by authority either of the Congress or of any particular state, a number of private persons should think proper to distinguish themselves and their posterity, from their fellow citizens, and form an order of hereditary Knights, in direct opposition to the solemnly declared sense of their country.

I imagine it must be likewise contrary to the good sense of most of those drawn into it, by the persuasion of its projectors, who have been too much struck with the ribbands and crosses they have seen hanging, to the button holes of foreign officers. And I suppose those who disapprove of it have not hitherto given it much opposition, from a principle somewhat like that of your good mother, relating to punctilious persons who are always exacting little observances of respect, that “if People can be pleased with small matters, it is pity but they should have them”. In this view, perhaps I should not myself, if my advice had been asked, have objected to their wearing their ribband and badge themselves according to their fancy, though I certainly should to the entailing it as an honour on their posterity. For, honour worthily obtained, as that for example of our officers, is in its nature a personal thing, and incommunicable to any but those who had some share in obtaining it. Thus among the Chinese, the most antient, and from long experience the wisest of nations, honour does not descend, but ascends. If a man from his learning, his wisdom, or his valour, is promoted by the emperor to the rank of Mandarin, his parents are immediately entitled to all the same ceremonies of respect from the people, that are established as due to the Mandarin himself; on the supposition, that it must have been owing to the education, instruction and good example afforded him by his parents that he was rendered capable of serving the public. This ascending honour is therefore useful to the state, as it encourages parents to give their children a good and virtuous education. But the descending honour, to a posterity who could have no share in obtaining it, is not only groundless and absurd, but often hurtful to that posterity, since it is apt to make them proud, disdaining to be employed in useful arts, and thence falling into poverty, and all the meannesses, servility and wretchedness attending it; which is the present case with much of what is called the Noblesse in Europe. Or if, to keep up the dignity of the family, estates are entailed entire

on the eldest male heir, another pest to industry and improvement of the country is introduced, which will be followed by all the odious mixture of pride, and beggary, and idleness that have half depopulated and decultivated Spain; occasioning continual extinction of families by the discouragements of marriage, and neglect in the improvement of estates. I wish therefore that the Cincinnati if they must go on with their project, would direct the badges of their order to be worn by their fathers and mothers, instead of handing them down to their children. It would be a good precident and might have good effects. It would also be a kind of obedience to the fourth commandment, in which God enjoins us to honour our father and mother, but has no where directed us to honour our children. And certainly no mode of honouring those immediate authors of our being can be more effectual, than that of doing praise worthy actions, which reflect honour on those who gave us our education; or more becoming than that of manifesting by some public expression or token, that it is to their instruction and example we ascribe the merit of those actions.
            But the absurdity of descending honours is not a mere matter of philosophical opinion, it is capable of mathematical demonstration. A man’s son, for instance, is but half of his family, the other half belonging to the family of his wife. His son too, marrying into another family, his share in the Grand son is but a fourth; in the great grandson by the same process it is but an eighth. In the next generation a sixteenth; the next a thirty second; the next a sixty fourth; the next an hundred and twenty eighth; the next a two hundred and fifty sixth; and the next a five hundred and twelfth. Thus in nine generations which will not require more than 300 years, (no very great antiquity for a family) our present Chevalier of the Order of Cincinnatus’s share in the then existing knight will be but a 512th part; which, allowing the present certain fidelity of American wives to be insured down through all those nine generations, is so small a consideration, that methinks no reasonable man would hazard, for the sake of it, the disagreeable consequences of the jealousy, envy, and ill will of his countrymen.
            Let us go back with our calculation from this young noble,

the 512th. part of the present Knight, through his nine generations till we return to the year of the institution. He must have had a father and mother, they are two; each of them had a father and mother, they are four. Those of the next preceeding generation will be eight; the next sixteen, the next thirty two; the next sixty four; the next One hundred and twenty eight; the next two hundred and fifty six; and the ninth in this retrocession five hundred and twelve, who must be now existing and all contribute their proportion of this future Chevalier de Cincinnatus. These, with the rest, make together as follows.

                2

                4

                8

                16

                32

                64

                128

                256

                512

                Total
                1022

            One thousand and twenty two men and women contributors to the formation of one knight. And if we are to have a thousand of these future knights there must be now and hereafter existing one million and twenty two thousand fathers and mothers who are to contribute to their production, unless a part of the number are employed in making more knights than one. Let us strike off then the 22000 on the supposition of this double employ and then consider whether after a reasonable estimation of the number of rogues and fools, and Royalists and scoundrels, and

prostitutes, that are mixed with and help to make up necessarily their million of predecessors, posterity will have much reason to boast of the noble blood of the then existing set of chevaliers of Cincinnatus. The future genealogists too of these Chevaliers in proving the lineal descent of their honour through so many generations, (even supposing honour capable in its nature of descending,) will only prove the small share of this honour which can be justly claimed by any one of them, since the above simple procession arithmetic makes it quite plain and clear, that in proportion as the antiquity of the family shall augment, the right to the honour of the ancestor will diminish; and a few generations more would reduce it to something so small as to be very near an absolute nullity. I hope therefore that the order will drop this part of their project, and content themselves as the Knights of the Garter, Bath, Thistle, St Louis, and other orders of Europe do, with a life enjoyment of their little badge and ribband, and let the distinction die with those who have merited it. This I imagine will give no offence. For my own part, I shall think it a convenience when I go into a company where there may be faces unknown to me, if I discover, by this badge, the persons who merit some particular expression of my respect; and it will save modest virtue the trouble of calling for our regard, by awkward round about intimations of having been heretofore employed as officers in the continental service.
            The gentleman who made the voyage to France to provide the ribbands and medals; has executed his commission. To me they seem tolerably done; but all such things are criticised. Some find fault with the Latin, as wanting classical elegance and correctness; and since our nine universities were not able to furnish better Latin, it was pity, they say, that the mottos had not been in English. Others object to the Title, as not properly

assumable by any but General Washington, and a few others who served without pay. Others object to the bald eagle, as looking too much like a Dindon or turkey. For my own part I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country. He is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labour of the fishing hawk; and when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to his nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the bald eagle pursues him, and takes it from him. With all this injustice, he is never in good case, but like those among men who live by sharping and robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank coward: the little king bird not bigger than a sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America, who have driven all the king birds from our country, though exactly fit for that order of knights which the French call Chevaliers d’Industrie. I am on this account not displeased that the figure is not known as a bald eagle, but looks more like a turkey. For in truth, the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America. Eagles have been found in all countries, but the turkey was peculiar to ours, the first of the species seen in Europe being brought to France by the Jesuits from Canada, and served up at the wedding table of Charles the ninth. He is besides, (though a little vain and silly tis true, but not the worse emblem for that) a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on.
            I shall not enter into the criticisms made upon their Latin. The gallant officers of America may not have the merit of

being great scholars, but they undoubtedly merit much as brave soldiers from their country, which should therefore not leave them merely to fame for their virtutis premium, which is one of their Latin mottos. Their esto perpetua, another, is an excellent wish, if they meant it for their country; bad, if intended for their order. The states should not only restore to them the omnia of their first motto,* which many of them have left and lost, but pay them justly, and reward them generously. They should not be suffered to remain with all their new created chivalry entirely in the situation of the gentleman in the story, which their omnia reliquit reminds me of. You know every thing makes me recollect some story. He had built a very fine house and thereby much impaired his fortune. He had a pride however in showing it to his acquaintance. One of them after viewing it all, remarked a motto over the door, ŌIA vanitas. What says he is the meaning of this ŌIA? ’tis a word I don’t understand. I will tell you said the gentleman: I had a mind to have the motto cut on a piece of smooth marble, but there was not room for it between the ornaments, to be put in characters large enough to be read. I therefore made use of a contraction antiently very common in Latin manuscripts whereby the m’s and n’s in words are omitted, and the omission noted by a little dash above, which you may see there, so that this word is OMNIA, Omnia vanitas. O. says his friend, I now comprehend the meaning of your motto, it relates to your edifice; and signifies, that if you have abridged your omnia you have nevertheless left your VANITAS legible at full length.
            I am as ever Your affectionate father

              B F


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Feriet, 27 January 1784
From: Feriet, ——, baron de
To: Franklin, Benjamin

              Versailles le 27 janvier 1784

            J’ay vû, Monsieur, Le Sr. Rollin qui a èté très incommodé de sables et de graviers; comme il n’a point ète sondé, et qu’il prètend cette opération fort dangereuse, il n’est point sur S’il avait La pierre en gros ou en détail, mais ce qu’il y a de certain, c’est qu’il est extrêmement soulagé, qu’il peut vacquer Librement a ses affaires et a son service, et que le remède qu’il a pris ne L’a incommodé D’aucune manière; il consiste dans un demi verre de jus d’oignon le matin deux heures avant de manger, et gros comme une olive de savon de naples qu’il avalait a chaque repas au moment de se mettre a table. Il m’a dit, Monsieur, que si le jus D’oignon Vous répugait, vous pouviez Le mêler avec ègale quantité de bouillon. Quant au savon, il prennait La précaution de le bien pétrir avec les mains dans plusieurs eaux, avant que d’en faire des pillulles, il prétend cette précaution nècessaire. Il m’a fort assuré que pendant tout le tems qu’il a fait usage de ce remède, sa poitrine et son estomac n’en ont pas ressenti La moindre incommodité. Si j’avais oublié quelque dètail qui puisse Vous intéresser, je vous prie, Monsieur, de Vouloir bien me le faire dire, et D’être persuadé de tout le plaisir que j’aurai toujours a faire quelque chose qui vous soit agrèable, et a vous donner des preuves de L’attachement sincère et du respect avec lequel j’ay Lhonneur D’être, Monsieur, Votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur

              Def

            mille complimens, je vous prie, a Monsieur votre fils; Lorsqu’il viendra ici, je lui ferai voir trois chaises a porteur que j’ay trouvées chèz des particuliers; elles sont fort belles, et presque neuves, mais elles sont depuis 18, jusqu’a 22 Louis, on ne peut en trouver de bonnes qui soyent d’un moindre prix.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from David Hartley, 28 January 1784
From: Hartley, David
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Dear Sir
            London Jan 28 1784

          I am requested by Mr Dempster whom you must probably know by Parliamentary reputation to introduce to your acquaintance the bearer of this letter Dr Ross who proposes to settle in America as a Physician. I have no other acquaintance with him than thro Mr Dempster’s means but he appears by his conversation to be very ingenious and well informed. Tho a young man (about 34) he has been a great traveller having passed several years in various parts of the East Indies and Turky. He proposes with your permission to take your advice with respect to his proposed settlement as a practising Physician in America. Mr Dempster has given me a very high character for understanding & abilities wch as far as I have experienced

his conversation he appears entitled to. As such I beg leave to transmitt Mr Dempsters recommendation to you.— I thank you for yours of the 7th Inst. & for your political parable, and think very seriously (as I know you do) of the moral of your fable. I shall be very glad to hear of the arrival of the ratification from America, and upon the first notification from you, will apply for the exchange of the british ratification. Pray remember me to Mr & Mrs Jay Mr W T Franklin & all friends.
          Ever yours most affectely

            D Hartley
            To Dr Franklin &c &c &c

          Endorsed: D Hartley Esq to B F. Jan. 28. 1784


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from John Coakley Lettsom, 28 January 1784
From: Lettsom, John Coakley
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Honoured Friend
            London Jan. 28. 1784.

          I write this at the request of my friend & Countryman Thornton, a Student of medicine, & a young gentleman of fortune from Tortola; who has, like every other person of sentiment &

ambition, a fond desire to know Dr. Franklin, & I have taken the liberty to request his delivery of this letter— I think he will make a distinguished character; he has at present too much sail, but age will give him ballast: I shall recommend him to lodge, if convenient, with our friend Mr. Le Sue le chirurgien, to perfect himself in the language & in his Art.
          I purpose soon to make an elegant edition, if paper & type can do it, of Dr. Fothergill’s life, in which I mean to add some Anecdotes of the Doctors more particular & honourable acquaintance, with portraits elegantly engraved. I hope Dr. Franklin will forgive me for placing him in this situation, in the company of Dr. Cleghorn, Dr. Cuming, Dr. Russell & Peter Collinson— I have in my possession a striking medallion of Dr. Franklin, which I mean to have engraved, under which will be placed the four lines, which are inscribed under the head prefixed to our late amiable friend Dr. Dubourg’s edition of Les Œuvres de Franklin. I have not any authentic early anecdotes, but recent ones will furnish many great and striking outlines.
          Whatever freedoms I may have taken with the most distinguished character in Europe, I hope Dr. Franklin will attribute

my conduct to that sincere respect with which I ever Subscribe myself his Admirer & obliged friend

            J. C. Lettsom

          Addressed: Benjn. Franklin
          Notation: Lettsom 28 Jan. 84.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Erik Magnus Staël von Holstein, 29 January 1784
From: Staël von Holstein, Erik Magnus
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Jeudi ce 29 Jan 1784.

          L’Ambassadeur de Suede a l honneur de faire bien des compliments à Monsieur de franklin. Il est faché de ne pas pouvoir avoir l’honneur de profiter de son invitation pour demain mais il aura celui de passer chez monsieur de franklin un des jours de la semaine prochaine pour echanger des Ratifications.

          Notation: L’Ambassadeur de Suede 29. Jan. 1784.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from David Gallwey & Co., 31 January 1784
From: Gallwey, David, & Co.
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Nantes 31 Jany. 1784

          We had the honour to address your excelency the 22d. inst. on the Subject of an insurance we effected by order & for account of Messr. Jonathan Nesbitt & Co. of L’orient on the american ship Nancy Capn. Sewel parted from Philadelphia for Lorient the 16. of March 1783. arrived safe, the Conditions of the Policy are that sd. ship arriving without risk of capture the Premio woud be five per cent. if the contrary Twenty five, its evident from the 22d. art. of the Treaty of Peace between the kings of France and Great Britain that hostilities were to have ceased in all the Seas to the Nortwhard of the Canaries whether in the Ocean or Mediteranean on the 3d. March. which is plainly demonstrated by the inclosed authentick coppy of a sentence pronouncd by the Admiralty Court of Tortola in the cause of the Brigg. Justine Capne. Michateau captur’d on the 4th. day of March 1783. at 4 ô clock A.M, in 30 Degrees 40 minutes north latitude & given up to her owners. Notwithstanding these proofs produced at the Court of admiralty sentence has been given against us to pay by Provision & in cash Twenty Five per Cent to the underwriters in consequence of the Comte de Vergennes letter of the 15th. November; we have enter’d an appeal but are obliged to pay the money.
          If your Excellency is not pleased to interfare & obtain a quick decision of this question from the minister, this Lawsuit may continue for a number of years & the Proprietors of this Ship lye out of a Considerable Sum.

          We have the highest Confidence that your Excellency will take this affair into consideration & obtain a quick decision on it.
          We have the honor to be Your Excellencys Most Obedient & most devoted humble Servs.

            Dd: Gallwey & Co.
            His Excellency Benjamin Franklyn Esqr. Minister Plenipotentiary of the united States of America at the Court of France


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Jonathan Nesbitt, 31 January 1784
From: Nesbitt, Jonathan
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Sir
            Nantes. Janry 31st. 1784

          A few days before my departure from Paris I had the honor to inclose your Excellency a Letter from Mr Cormier relative to the Insurance on the Ship Nancy Captain Shewell.— On my arrival here yesterday I found that the Court of Admiralty had given Sentence against me on the authority of the Comte de Vergennes’ Letter only, without paying, in my oppinion, a proper attention to the twenty second Article of the Preliminary Treaty, nor to your Excellencys Letter explaining that Article,—nor to the Sentence of the Court of Admiralty of Tortola, which entirely Coincides with your oppinion, & which proves clearly that had the Nancy been Captured on her passage from Philadelphia to L’Orient she would undoubtedly have been restored; nor in short to any other Paper that could be laid before

them, or Argument that could be made use of in support of our Plea.— According to the advice of all my friends I have ordered an appeal from the Sentence, but this does not prevent my being under the Necessity of immediately paying the full premium (such it seems are the Laws here) which is particularly distressing, as my adversarys are thereby enabled to Plead against me with my funds in their hands.— Mr. Gallwey, to whom I take the liberty to refer your Excellency for further particulars, will inclose you a Copy of the Comte de Vergennes Letter to the Underwriters on the Nancy, also Copy of the Sentence of the Court of Admiralty of this place & that of the Court of Admiralty of Tortolla, to which I have little to add, only once more to request your Excellency’s Protection in this affair, which is not only of the greatest Consequence to me, but to the Americans in general, as the fate of a number of similar Actions may depend on the final determination of the present;—
          I have the honor to remain with Sentiments of the highest respect & Esteem. Sir Your most Obedt: Servt:

            Jonatn: Nesbitt


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Daniel Roberdeau, [January 1784]
From: Roberdeau, Daniel
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            London Leaden-hall Street No. 49 [January, 1784]
            Dear Sir

          I arrived here in September last, with a purpose of visiting France and of paying my respects and offering my Congratulations on the restoration of Peace, and to you for the honor you have acquired in this business, as I cannot now do it personally permit the offering in this mode with my best wishes for a continuance of your health and strength of which I have

heard, from your Colleagues, with great pleasure, and that every blessing may attend you.
          As I have forgot Mr. Grand’s address allow me the liberty of sending a letter for him enclosed, also open that you may know the business and do me the service I require of which I will receive information in Philadelphia and your permission to draw for the money in question, if the bill of Excha. sent to Mr. Grand should be paid, in which case perhaps the money had better remain in his hands and that he give me authority to draw wc. would save you trouble. I mention the pleasure of hearing from you in Philada. because the success of an address to me here would be very uncertain as I am on the wing to depart, but without the use of a Balloon, which I shall leave to my ingenious Countrymen the French, as a better suited to their lively tempers.
          I am with great respect and Esteem Dear Sir Yr. most obedient & very humble Servt.

            Daniel Roberdeau

          Addressed: His Excellence / Benjaman Franklin Esqr. Doctor of Laws / and Minister Plenepotentiary at the Court / of France for No. America / Passe / Paris


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Jacques Finck: Proposed Agreement, 1 February 1784
From: Finck, Jacques
To: Franklin, Benjamin

          When Jacques Finck was hired as maître d’hôtel in January, 1783, he and Franklin made the following agreement: after three months, during which Finck would get a sense of what the family expected and what the expenditures were likely to be, he would no longer receive an annual salary and be reimbursed for itemized monthly statements. Instead, Finck would receive a fixed amount from which he would supply the basic tableware and kitchen equipment, provide dinners for a set rate per person, and be responsible for paying the cook and kitchen boy their wages. Franklin would henceforth be responsible only for procuring wine and liquor, wood for the fireplaces, and candles and lamp oil.
          This new arrangement was never implemented. For the duration of 1783, Finck continued to submit monthly statements that itemized the purchase of all foodstuffs, beverages, general household supplies, and, occasionally, the services of a tradesperson. The wages of the cook and kitchen boy were also included. William Temple Franklin verified Finck’s monthly totals and arranged for payment. On the bottom of each monthly account, Temple wrote some variation on “received by” and Finck signed.
          At the beginning of 1784, Franklin tried again to implement a system in which Finck would manage and feed the household on a fixed

budget. The document published below is, we believe, the agreement that was settled on for the year 1784, though many questions remain unanswered.
          Franklin’s extant papers include about a dozen items relating to Finck and his accounts, all but one of them undated and some as yet inexplicable. At the least, they indicate that Temple and the maître d’hôtel argued over a period of years about what was expected and how much it would cost. The documents include two similar versions in Finck’s hand of an agreement, one of them undated and with his annual stipend left blank, the other (published here) dated and with the sum and payment schedule specified; a heavily emended draft contract in Temple’s hand that is substantially different in form and content from all other extant versions of agreements with Finck; several individual sheets of Temple’s notes and calculations, figuring the average costs of meals for family members and servants; an indignant letter from Finck rejecting a now-missing offer and insisting that he could not do the job for less than 20,000 l.t. a year; a sheet in an unknown hand listing four sample menus that could serve five people at a cost of 12 l.t. per head; and a copy, in the hand of one of Ferdinand Grand’s clerks, of an undated account submitted by Finck, annotated with explanatory notes, showing that between 1783 (when Finck hired his nephew, whose wages were as yet upaid) and the present time, he was still owed 2,335 l.t. 10 s. The picture that emerges from these items is not altogether coherent, especially in light of the letter Finck wrote to Thomas Jefferson circa September 1785, shortly after Franklin had left France. Finck petitioned Jefferson to intercede with Congress to see that he received the money that Franklin owed him. In support of his narrative, which described Temple as being in charge of the house and the chief cause of his problems, he enclosed a copy of what he claimed was his agreement with Franklin— an undated document that is nearly identical in wording to the text published below except for the financial arrangement, which is completely different: Finck engages to “fournir la maison” for 1,700 livres per month (which works out to 20,400 livres per year). Both L’Air de Lamotte and Chaumont wrote to Franklin in Philadelphia, informing him that Finck claimed to be owed money and that he had cheated

many of his suppliers, who were now clamoring for payment. Franklin replied that Finck had been reimbursed for all his “just claims,” and that he and Temple had full receipts. He had always suspected Finck of being dishonest, and “so it proves.”
          The convention published below has to have been the one implemented on February 1, 1784, as the agreement calls for Finck to receive an annual sum of 20,000 l.t., payable in four quarterly sums of 5,000 l.t. Finck received the first of those quarterly payments on March 16, 1784, for having engaged to pay “toute la Depense de la Maison de M. Franklin (excepté les Vins Exes. [Extraordinaires], Liqueurs et Bieres,) depuis le 1r Fevr Jusqu’au dernier Jour d’Avril inclusivement.” The undated documents described above suggest that this arrangement must have been the result of significant negotiation. It is possible that Finck and Temple initially discussed a monthly stipend, and that Finck proposed the terms he cited in his letter to Jefferson. If so, Temple must have offered a smaller stipend, eliciting Finck’s angry letter insisting on no less than 20,000 l.t. per year—the sum that was finally accepted.
          The “nouvelle arrangement,” as Temple and Finck called it, did not last beyond the first quarter. Franklin’s accounts indicate that between May, 1784, and the time Franklin left France, Finck was reimbursed each month according to the itemized receipts he submitted.
          For all the information about groceries that is available from Finck’s itemized household bills, and for all the calculations of how

much the meals would cost, only one document in this archive describes the meals themselves. The following specifications are from Temple’s working draft of a contract with Finck. For Franklin’s table of five people, déjeuner would consist of bread, butter, sugar, honey, coffee, and, once a week, chocolate. Dinners were to consist of a roast of either beef, veal, or mutton, a platter of chicken or game, two side dishes, two platters of vegetables, one platter of pastry with hors d’oeuvres of butter, radishes, and pickles, and the following items for dessert: fresh fruit (two kinds in winter and four in summer), two kinds of stewed fruits, a cheese platter with biscuits and sweets, and ice cream once a week in winter and twice a week in summer. As for the servants, Finck would agree to feed them well. They would receive breakfast, dinner, and a supper that was simple but ample.

            [February 1, 1784]

          Convention à laquelle le Sieur finck S’oblige de faire la dépenses de la maison de Monsieur franklin pour tout ce qui Concerne la bouche en general telle quelle est Conposé au jourdhuy de cinq maitre et de neuf domestiques, et fournira en outre de la depenses ordinaire, au desire de Monsieur franklin, une table

de 20 a 24 Couverts par Semaines, et une fois par moi ces meme vingt quatre couverts sera a deux services tel que la dignité de Monsieur franklin lexige et tel que le dt. finck a toujours servie de puis quil a L’honneur de lui appartenir, tout fois dans cet arrengement il ne Sera pas chargé de fournir les vin extraordinaire et les liquers ni de la bierre, en cas de repas de ceremonie, le dt. finck Se chargera de décorer les table avec tout la magnificence que les Circonstance lexigeront et come il a faites par le passé
          Comme l’Etat actuel de tout ce qui est necessaire pour le service de la maison et dont le dt. finck est chargé, nest pas Suffisant, il ÿ Sera ajouté par Monsieur franklin vingt quatre Couvert dargent et six Cuillieur a Ragout et le dt. finck Se chargera de fournire le surplus comme linge batterie de cuissine faÿance verrerie &ca. qui lui Seront rendües en cas que les convention ne Subsistent plus, aux Condition détaille cÿ dessus, le dt. finck S’engage de fournir la maison pour la sommes de 20000 l.t. qui lui seron payé en quatre payement, savoir le 1er. mars 1784 5000 le 1er. juin 5000 le 1er. 7bre. 5000 et le 15 janvier 1785–5000

            faite a pasÿ le premier fevrier 1784


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from John Shaffer, 1 February 1784
From: Shaffer, John
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Sir
            Paris the 1 febuary 1784./.

          I have the honour to inform you that the house of Parlement has Rendered Me Justis on thursday Last, I was Judged at liberty and Discharged of Every accusation, And Conducted to With all the honours of war to the Grand Stairs of Parlement, in order to have the Right to persue those who have bean the Ocation of my Disgrace.

          My inosance is Now proved theirefore I hope my Countryman will Contribute towards having my arrest Pupleshed in order to prove to the puplick my inosance, before my Departure.
          I hav the honour to be with Profound Respect sir your humble servant

            J. Schaffer


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from William Strahan, 1 February 1784
From: Strahan, William
To: Franklin, Benjamin

              Dear Sir
              London Febry 1. 1784.

            I wrote to you in August last in answer to your very kind Note of July 29th. inclosing a Line to you from Mrs. Bache, which I then forgot to return to you, but which I now inclose. This Letter I sent by the common Post which I hope came safe to hand, tho’ I have not had the Pleasure of hearing from you since.
            I therein acknowleged, and beg leave to repeat my warmest Acknowlegements for the very friendly and effectual Patronage you and your good Family on the other Side of the Water afforded my poor helpless and singularly distressed Kins woman, than whom none can be more grateful, or more deserving this great Kindness you have shewn her. By this time I dare say you are convinced that the high Character I presumed to give you of her was in no Shape exaggerated, and that she is really the worthy and accomplishd young Woman I represented her to be. Her late Letters to me are all full of the strongest Expressions of Gratitude for Mrs. Bache’s continued Goodness to her.

            Notwithstanding what you told me in your last, I cannot, nor will I renounce, all Hope of seeing you again, and that soon too. You have so many Friends here whom you must love, because they love you, and whom you must therefore be anxiously eager to see, that I judge it needless to add any other Inducement, tho’ I could mention many, which I dare say will readily occur to yourself. In short, I am clearly for your spending the rest of your Days here, where you know you may have every Comfort and Amusement this World can afford, and where you can most easily and most perfectly enjoy yourself in your own way. I earnestly request you will give all due Attention to this Advice, which I wish to impress upon you (without the Assistance of Madeira) with all possible Earnestness. One Argument only will I now add more. I hear, and with real Concern I hear it, that you are affected with the Gout, &c. I need not tell you, that is the best medical Assistance this World affords. And now I will not tease you more upon this Subject till I have the Happiness of hearing from you again.
            My worthy Friend Dr. Ross is the Bearer of this Letter, has promised to deliver it into your own Hands. If he has the Honour of seeing you he has promised to give me the Satisfaction of telling me so, and of informing me of your Health and Welfare, and upon his Report I can surely depend. He has already spent much time in the East, in quality of Physician to our Army there, but the Air of that Country by no means agreeing with his Constitution, he was obliged to return home, without a Nabob’s Fortune, for the Recovery of his Health and is now determined to follow his Profession in North America, where I have no doubt his Singular Skill and Humanity will (as soon as he becomes a little known) surely meet with the Encouragement they deserve. Wherever he goes, you well know, your Recommendation will be of the greatest Service to him. He is a Man of Sense and Observation, as well as of strict Veracity, so that you will find him well informed and most agreeable. In short, I will rest all my Credit with you, as a Man incapable of deceiving you, if you do not find Dr Ross such as I describe him to be, and of course highly deserving your Countenance.

            We are still in the greatest political Confusion here. After several Adjournments we the H. of C. meet again tomorrow; but I do not hear that any Conciliation, so much wanted, is likely to take place. What this will end as it is impossible for me to say, but it is not probable we [go?] on many Days longer in our present Situation.
            My Family are all in their ordinary, and will all be very happy to see you once more in this still most agreeable Country: I remain with [unalterable?] Esteem and Affection Dear Sir, Your most obliged and faithful humble Servant

              Will. Strahan

            The Frost is now so intense here this Morning, that there is no getting [obscured by ink blots: any Pen?] to write


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from John and Sarah Jay, 3 February 1784
From: John,Jay, Sarah
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Chaillot 3d. Febry.— [1784]

          Mr. & Mrs. Jay request the honor of Dr. Franklin’s Company at Dinner at 3 o’Clock on Saturday the 7th. Inst.—

          Addressed: His Excellency Dr. Franklin / Passy—


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Henry Laurens, 3 February 1784
From: Laurens, Henry
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Dear Sir.
            No 18. Fludyer Street Westminster 3d febry 1784.

          I ask your pardon for having so long delayed an acknowledgement of your favor of the 6th. December. first occasioned by a purpose of writing by Mr. Jay, whose departure was uncertain & I happned to be abroad when he was so good as to call upon me at Bath to take leave. Immediately after he left us, I was seized by a violent Cough lately attended by severe attacks from the Gout in my head, & these by perhaps a little laziness which deprived me of all disposition to business, at this moment I attempt to pay my respects under much pain & uneasiness.
          I thank you Sir, for the Letters, meaning the two anonymous & two from Mr. de Neufville’s House— Upon a dispassionate comparison I cannot perceive any likeness in the Characters inducing a belief that the former & the latter are the performance of the same hand, or to say the least, there is not near so great a similarity as appears upon comparing the habitual emendations of particular, or rather many, words in the supposed Culprit’s former Letters with those which stand in the two anonymos marked Bruxelles. But alas! an investigation is now of little moment, since that Man, remains incontrovertibly convicted of Crimes, more heinous than would be that of writing an anonymous Letter with a view of putting an injured person upon his guard against a flattering deceitful friend. The Major includes the Minor. I have heard nothing concerning Jenings except seeing a Letter to a Gentleman in which he speaks of his mild vindicatory answer, as if he had actually made a reply, but I cant learn that any person has seen it. This is very consistent with his Love of duplicity & darkness. Let him rest; his Associate & Sole countenancer shall hear from me.
          My Son who will have the honor of presenting this, will also

deliver a Packet containing Mr. President Boudinot’s Letter & the documents accompanying it which you were pleased to indulge me with. These Papers have afforded information & much satisfaction to some of our most judicious friends but I have not been tempted to a Publication. The Young Man will also deliver you some of the latest News Papers, you will thence learn something of the quantity & drift of inflamable air on this side & of the number of Political Balloons which have been played off in a House very near me since the Calends of December, but notwithstanding even the Vote of last Night, I would as soon hazard an opinion upon the Wind of next Tuesday, as adventure to say on whose side success will appear in the event of the present struggle for Place & Power, much wiser Men are equally cautious. A majority of the House of Commons is evidently on one side, while the bulk of their Constituents are provoked to declare their sentiments very openly on the other, but holding the Purse strings is an advantage which in present circumstances may be found irresistible & render an appeal to that bulk much too hazardos. Be this as it may ’tis no great concern of mine, ’tis more in my Province to remark that the predictions which were sometime the dernier hope of our Enemies have taken an inverted course; the United States of America are not by their Independence involved in Anarchy nor are their Inhabitants cutting each others throats; Nor, if we can rely on those who are the most feeling Judges of the fact, are those States more dependent for Trade & Commerce with the British West India Islands than these are upon the former, for supplies of every kind essential to their existence as valuable Colonies.
          Mr. Trumbull who left Boston the middle of December assures me those people called Loyalists lately gone from New

York to Nova Scotia, furnish a vast demand upon the New England States for Lumber & other articles for building & subsistence, creating a New & very gainful Commerce to our Eastern Countrymen— These reflections lead me Sir, to apply to you as our Minister for information of the present allowable intercourse in Trade between France, the French West India Islands & our United States, respecting free Ports in the former & Commerce to & from the Islands. I think it necessary I should be acquainted with the true state at this conjuncture especially as Mr. Adams not long since contradicted my opinion founded upon information which I had received or understood in conversation with you at Passy. His assertion that France would not admit American Vessels to be carriers between her Islands & the United States may possibly be well grounded & I may have been under a mistake, but the Policy of the declaration & upon the Authority which he quoted, jarred against my Ideas of propriety. Silence may upon such occasions be preserved without violation to Candor.
          I hardly dare to ask if by late Remitances from our Constituents you are in Cash for assisting a quandam Colleague now growing very poor & retaining an ancient stubbornness against letting the World know it.
          This Kingdom is indebted to me two thousand Eight hundred & some Seventy Pounds Sterling for provisions for their Army drawn from my Plantations under Sequestration in S. Carolina an Authentic Account of which by their own Officers I delivered in to the Treasury in September last but I have no hopes of their paying me a farthing. I may also say they owe me about £2500. Sterling for Indigo seized near three Years since on board a Neutral Ship, which is kept in the Court of Admiralty, the Judge delaying or refusing to condemn or acquit it. I am told the best to be expected is, that the full value will be

swallowed, by pilferage Storage Court & proctor’s Charges, these things with a failure of Remitances from America, are against me, & ’tis a little affecting to think my Employers have made no provision for a decent & safe conduct home again. Should they have any Money on this side to spare for their Servants I shall be glad to touch a small part of it; if I could recover my own, I would spare them, knowing they are poor also.
          Miss Laurens joins in best Compliments to your self & Mr. Franklin & I have the honor to be With sincere affection & Esteem Sir Your Obedient & Most humble servant

            Henry Laurens

          His Excellency Benjamin Franklin Esquire Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America at the Court of France at Passy.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to John Adams, 5 February 1784
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Adams, John

            Sir,
            Passy, Feb. 5. 1784

          I received the Letter you did me the Honour of writing to me the 24th past. You have had a terrible Passage indeed, taking it all together from London to Amsterdam. The Season has been, and continues, uncommonly severe, and you must have suffered much. It is a Pity that the good Purpose of your Voyage, to save if possible the Credit of Mr Morris’s Bills could not be accomplished, by your obtaining a Loan from the Regency. I do not wonder at their declining it, nor at the Stop you mention as put to the general Loan by the News of the Diversity of Sentiments among the States about the Plan of Impost. I hope these mischievous Events will at length convince our People of the Truth of what I long since wrote to them, that the Foundation of Credit abroad must be laid at home. When the States have not Faith enough in a Congress of their own chusing, to trust it with Money for the Payment of their common Debt, how can they expect that that Congress should meet with Credit when it wants to borrow more Money for their Use from Strangers?

          Your Excellency saw in England the Instructions brought to us by Capt. Jones from the Congress, and which you forwarded to me. Expecting your & Mr Jay’s speedy Return hither, I took no Step in consequence of them. Mr Jay is now return’d. And we are both desirous of knowing whether it is your Intention to join us again here, in order to execute those Instructions; because in that Case we should wait your Arrival.
          I have the honour to be, Your Excellency’s most obedient & most humble Servant

            B. Franklin
            His Excellency John Adams, Esqr.

          Endorsed: Dr Franklin Feb 5 ansd 11. 1784.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Cadet de Vaux, 5 February 1784
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Cadet de Vaux, Antoine-Alexis-François

            Passy, le 5. Fev. 1784.

          Malgré tout le desir que J’ai, Monsieur, de faire quelque Chose qui puisse vous etre agreable ainsi qu’a M. Votre Frere,— Il m’est absolument impossible de faire le voyage de Paris dans Ce moment cy; ma Maladie, et la saison rigoureuse, sont des obstacles insurmontables pour moi—
          J’ai moi meme fait executer un Poele Cheminée propre a bruler le Charbon de Terre, & telle que M. le Noir a paru desirer que Je fis connoitre dans ce Pays cy. Je serai charmé de vous le montrer, quand vos Affaires vous permettrons de venir a Passy: Je ne puis encore en faire un Usage habituel faute de Charbon de Terre.— Si vous pouvez m’en procurer vous me ferez grand Plaisir.—
          J’ai recu dans le Tems—La Farine de Bled de Turquie, que vous avez eu la complaisance de me faire venir—et pour laquelle Je vous suis redevable.— Je vous envoye par le Porteur un

Echantillon de Pain fait en Partie avec cette Farine,—mais Je crois qu’il seroit possible de le faire meilleur: Je vous envoye la Recette pour le faire—si vous jugez a propos d’en faire faire l’Essaye a l’Ecole de Boulangerie—
          J’ai l’honneur d’etre, avec un sincere Attachement, Monsieur votre très humble & très obeissant Serviteur.—

            B. Franklin
            M. Cadet de Vaux

          Notation: Franklin


Title: Recipe for Making Bread of Corn Flour Mixed with Wheat Flour, [c. 5 February 1784]
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

            [c. February 5, 1784]

          Pour faire du Pain avec la Farine de Maïs, mêlée avec la Farine de Blé.
          La Farine de Maïs demande plus de tems pour bien cuire, que la Farine de Blé; C’est pourquoi si on les mêle à froid, et qu’on les fasse fermenter et cuire ensemble, la Partie de Blé sera suffisamment cuite, lorsque la Partie de Maïs sera encore crue.
          Pour parer à cet Inconvenient, Nous faisons bouillir un Pot d’eau dans lequel on jette un peu de Sel et pendant que l’eau bout, nous Jetons dedans avec une main un peu de Farine de

Maïs, et avec l’autre nous la remuons dans l’eau bouillante qu’on laisse sur le feu; et cette operation doit être repetée avec un peu de Farine à chaque fois, Jusqu’a ce que la masse devienne si épaisse qu’on ait peine à la remuer avec le Baton. Ensuite, après l’avoir laissée quelque tems encore sur le feu, Jusqu’a ce que la derniere Poignée ait bouilli, on l’ôte, et on verse la Masse dans la Huche, où on doit la bien mêler et pétrir avec une Quantité de Farine de Blé, suffisante pour former une Pate propre a faire le Pain, et du Levain, ou de la Levure de Biere, pour la faire lever; et après le tems nécessaire on la met en Pains, et ensuite au Four.

          Notation by Benjamin Franklin Bache: Pour faire du Pain avec un Melange de Farine de Maïs et de Bled.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Mifflin, 5 February 1784
From: Mifflin, Thomas
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Sir
            Annapolis 5 Februy 1784

          Lt Colonel Murnan has requested me to give him a Letter of Introduction to your Excellency; which he supposes will assist him in his military Pursuits— I have seen many Certificates from General Washington General Howe & other Officers under whom he has served; & have made a particular Enquiry into his Conduct, during the late War: And it with much Pleasure I now recommend him to you as a very deserving Officer.
          I am with the greatest Respect & Attachment Your Excellencys Obedient & humble Serv

            Thomas Mifflin

          Addressed: The Honorable / Benjamin Franklin / Passy
          Endorsed: Thos Mifflin Esq 5 Feby. 84 Recomn. of Col Harmar


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from the Comte de Barbançon, 8 February 1784
From: Barbançon, Augustin-Jean-Louis-Antoine du Prat, comte de
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Monsieur,
            A Paris ce 8. fevrier 1784.

          Je regrette infiniment que la saison rigoureuse ou nous sommes me prive d’aller moi même vous prier d’agréer les assurances de ma reconnoissance. Vous avez bien voulu me faire passer par Caillot la lettre du Sr. Bertram; nous vous sommes redevables, Monsieur, de nouvelles richesses vegetales.
          Vous m’aviés flatté, la derniere fois que j’eus l’honneur de vous voir chez vous, que je pourrois vous être utile pour procurer à vos amis quelques espéces naturelles à notre climat, et dont vous ne jouissés pas encore à Philadelphie, je serais si jaloux de trouver une occasion de pouvoir vous être bon à quelque chose, que vous me permettrez, Monsieur, d’insister sur cet article.
          J’ai l’honneur d’être Monsieur Votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur

            Le Cte. de Barbançon

          Notation: Barbançon le Cte. De 8 Fevr. 1784.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from the Comtesse de Chinon, [before 9 February 1784]
From: Chinon, Rosalie Rochechouart, comtesse de
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            [before February 9, 1784]

          Made. la Comtesse de Chinon prie Monsieur franklin ministre des Etats unis de vouloir bien lui faire l’honneur de venir au Bal

que lui donneront M. et Mde. la Marechale de Richelieu dans leur hotel de Lundi Neuf fevrier, Lequel commencera a quatre heures après midy et finira a dix.

          Addressed: A Monsieur / Monsieur franklin Ministre / des Etats unis / A Passy/.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Beaumont, 9 February 1784
From: Beaumont, ——
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Son Excéllance,
            Paris Ce 9. fevrier 1784./.

          En Conséquence de Notre Entrevuë de Samedy dernier, nous nous Sommes Transportés chéz Mr. le Lieutenant criminel: Nous avons prié ce magistrat de Vous Envoyer directement La Traite de 60. Dollars pour en Vériffier la Signature.
          Le Sr. Schaffer Se flatte que Vôtre Excéllance repondera Sans délais à Mr. le Lt. criminel, en lui donnant Toute Satisfaction Sur la Validité de la Signature, et même Engagera Ce Magistrat à ne Remettre la ditte Traite qu’a lui Seul, Schaffer; attendû que cet objet est la Seule ressource qu’il ait pour le Moment, et qu’avéc cet argent il pourra lever une Expédition de L’arrêt du parlement Sans le quel il ne peut Se montrer dans Sa Patrie. Avèc L’arrèt du parlement à la main le Sr. Schaffer est persuadé que sous vos auspices tous Ses honorables Compatriotes se Cottiseront pour lui faciliter un prompt Retour dans son Pays.

          Je suis avèc Respèct de Son Excéllance Le très humble Et très obt. Serviteur.

            De Beaumont

          Notation: De Beaumont 9. Fevr. 1784—


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from John Adams, 11 February 1784
From: Adams, John
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Sir
            The Hague Feb. 11. 1784

          Last night I received your obliging Favour of the fifth of this Month.
          Your Excellencys Sentiment, “that the Foundation of Credit abroad must be laid at Home” is perfectly just, and accords with the General Sentiment of the Money Lenders, Undertakers and Brokers in this Country, whose Universal Cry is “We should choose to see Some certain Method agreed on and established, for the Payment of Interest before We adventure farther in the American Loan.”
          I am glad to hear of Mr Jays Safe return, to Paris and hope his Health is confirmed.— As the Instructions may be executed by any one or more, of the Ministers for the Peace, residing at the Court of Versailles, it Seems to me to be more for the Benefit of the publick Service, that I Should remain here for Sometime, rather than go to Paris. I have not given over all Endeavours to obtain the Money for the Bills, although the best Friends We

have inform me, there is no hope at all from the Publick. We are endeavouring to discover if it is possible by any new Plan of a Loan, to obtain the Money of the Undertakers. Yet by all I can learn I despair of Obtaining it, with out agreeing to Terms so disadvantageous as to be little better than the final Protest of the Bills.— Indeed it is Still improbable that I can obtain it, upon any Terms at all.— Money is Scarce as well as our Credit feeble. The Loan of the East India Company, warranted by the States of Holland, does not fill, a Case unknown in this Country.
          Your Excellency with Mr Jay, may proceed to execute those Instructions without me, and I hereby intreat that you would without waiting at all for me. It is not likely there will be any difference of Opinion between your Excellencies, concerning any of those Instructions, in which Case alone it would be necessary for me to attend, if Mr Laurens does not.
          It is probable We may soon learn Something from Congress in Answer to our Letter with the definitive Treaty which will determine whether it is necessary I should join you, at Paris or not.— It would be very inconvenient to me, in the present tender State of my Health to make a Journey to Paris without a necessity, at least untill this formidable Winter breaks up, although I should be ambitious enough of the Honour of joining in the Execution of those orders.
          I wish your Excellencies an happy Year and much Pleasure in the Enjoyment of Peace, as well as Success in your Negotiations, whether joined or not by your most obedient and most humble sert

            Dr Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Henry Laurens, 12 February 1784
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Laurens, Henry

            Dear Sir,
            Passy, Feb. 12. 1784.

          I received your Favour of the 3d Inst. by your Son, with the News papers for which I thank you. The Disorders of that Government whose Constitution has been so much praised; are come to a height that threatens some violent Convulsion, if not a Dissolution; and its Physicians do not seem even to guess at the Cause of the Disease, and therefore prescribe insufficient Remedies, such as Place Bills, More equal Representation, More frequent Elections, &c &c. In my humble Opinion the Malady consists in the enormous Salaries, Emoluments, & Patronage of great Offices. Ambition, and Avarice, are separately strong Passions. When they are united in pursuit of the same Object, they are too strong to be govern’d by common Prudence, or influenc’d by Publick Spirit & Love of Country; they drive Men irresistably into Factions, Cabals, Dissention & violent Divisions, always mischievous to public Counsels, destructive

to the Peace of Society, and sometimes fatal to its Existence. As long as the immense Profits of those Offices subsist, Members of the shortest and most equally chosen Parliament will have them in View, and contend for them, and their Contentions will have all the same ruinous Consequences.— To me then there seems to be but one effectual Remedy, and that not likely to be adopted by so corrupt a Nation, which is, to abolish all those Profits, and make every Place of Honour a Place of Burthen. By that Means the Effect of one of the Passions above-mentioned would be taken away, and something would be added to counteract the other. Thus the Number of Competitors for great Offices would be diminished, and the Efforts of those who still would obtain them, moderated.
          Thank God we have now less Connection with the Affairs of these People; and are more at Liberty to take Care of our own, which I hope we shall manage better.
          You desire Information respecting the Commerce that will be allow’d us with the French Islands. That Affair is still under Consideration here, the Ministers are working upon it, and endeavouring to obtain Light from the Merchants, but have not yet compleated their System. All I have hitherto learnt, is, that we are to have two Free Ports, L’Orient & Bayonne, added to Dunkirk and Marseilles; That our Vessels will be allow’d to carry Lumber and Provisions to their Islands, except Flour, which is reserv’d in favour of the Merchants of Bourdeaux, that Article being necessary to fill their outward-bound Ships; & that we may carry from the Islands, Rum, Mollasses, Coffee, and a certain Proportion of Sugar not yet ascertained, but which may be suppos’d equal to our Consumption, tho’ not in such Quantities as to make us Carriers of their Sugars to Foreign Markets, which would hurt their own Merchants & Navigation. Tobago & St Lucie are likewise to be Free Ports. These are said to be the Outlines; but there may yet be Changes, perhaps more to our Advantage, & perhaps less.
          With Regard to Money-Matters, you will have heard before this time, that we have been oblig’d to suffer some of Mr M.’s

Bills drawn on Holland to be protested for want of Funds, and no Bills have arriv’d for our Salaries since June last; Mr Grand however has advanc’d for me, tho’ at his own Risque, being without Orders, and he will no doubt do the same for you, as it would dishonour our Employers if we were left to run in debt for Subsistence. If therefore you shall think fit to draw on Mr Grand for the Sum you want, I believe he would pay it without Difficulty; but should he make any, I will chearfully add my Credit to yours for removing it. I would have settled the Point with him before writing, but I have long been unable to go to Paris, and I have been disappointed in my Expectation of seeing him at Passy.
          We have a terrible Winter here, such another in this Country is not remembred by any Man living. The Snow has lain thick upon the Ground ever since Christmas; and the Frost constant.
          My Grandson joins in best Compliments to yourself & Miss Laurens: With sincere Esteem & Affection, I have the Honour to be Dear Sir, Your most obedient & most humble Servant

            B. Franklin
            His Excelly. Henry Laurens, Esqr

          Endorsed: B. Franklin Esqr 12 febry 1784 Recd. 24th Answd 27th


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Catherine de Wesselow Cramer, 12 February 1784
From: Cramer, Catherine de Wesselow
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Genève le 12 février 1784.

          Le dérangement de ma santé & l’espérance d’aller à Paris, m’ont empêchée, Monsieur, d’avoir l’honneur de vous écrire plutôt, & de vous remercier de la marque d’attention que vous avez bien voulu me donner: mais mon voyage devenant chaque jour plus incertain, je ne puis tarder davantage à vous dire combien ce

que vous me mandez de votre petit fils me cause de satisfaction. J’êtais sûre que vous seriez très content de son coeur & de son bon sens; mais je me flattais moins sur le chapître des études. Le bonheur de vivre avec vous, & le desir de vous plaire, sont faits pour développer promptement ses talens. Veuilles, Monsieur, lui faire mille amities de ma part, & agréer le respect & les sentimens avec lesquels je suis Monsieur votre très humble & très obéïssante servante

            C. Cramer née de Wesselow


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Robert Morris, 12 February 1784
From: Morris, Robert
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Dr: Sir,
            Office of Finance 12th. Febry. 1784—

          Three Days ago, I received in a Letter of the first of December from Messrs. Wilhelm and Jan Willink Nicolaas and Jacob Van Staphorst De la Lande and Finje at Amsterdam a Copy of their Letter to you of the thirtieth of November. Enclosed you have Copy of my answer of this Date. I flatter myself that you

will not have suffered the public Credit to be ruined for Want of an Engagement to the Amount of so small a Sum as might be necessary to avoid the Danger to which it was exposed, and I wait in the Anxious Expectation of hearing from you what Arrangements have been taken on this Subject, as I wish to conform my Measures to them. If contrary to my Expectations, some unforeseen Causes should have induced you to decline that so necessary Engagement I hope this Letter may arrive in Season and induce you to do it. You will observe that a Copy of this Letter is transmitted to the Houses in Amsterdam, but I have not sent Copy of the enclosed Letters to Mr. Grand and Mr. Barclay which are left open for your Perusal. I have not Time now to go particularly into the Estimation of their Accounts, but I am almost perswaded that there is (between them) and ought to be in the Hands of the former (before this Time) about half a Million Livres belonging to the United States. But in the present Exigency I shall not reckon on this Sum, nor on the second Expedition of five hundred Hogsheads of Tobacco which are, I presume, before this Hour arrived at Amsterdam. I shall calculate on a Deficiency of five hundred thousand Guilders, and prepare Remittance as fast as proper Articles can be purchased to that Amount; because the Surplus may be well disposed of to answer the Interest of the Dutch Loan which falls due in June next. If therefore you can adopt any Measures by which, in circuitous Negotiations, the Time of Payment can be prolonged you may rely on the Arrival of such Remittances in the Months of June and July, at farthest, as shall fully answer

the Sums which may then fall due, and as I have told the Gentlemen in Amsterdam the Advices which I may receive will govern the Direction of those Remittances. I shall give immediate Orders for the Purchase of one thousand Hogsheads of Tobacco, and as that Amount is compleated I shall extend it according as Circumstances may require. The Season has been so intemperate that the Navigation of the Chesapeak is to this Hour shut up by the Ice, but that cannot last much longer, and therefore I have good Hopes that some capital Shippments may depart before the first of April; and, should the Urgency of the Case require it, I can draw at long Sight on the Consignees, and transmit the Bills, which will enable a farther Negotiation if necessary. The Means of making Remittances are now, thank God, in my Power; for the Amount of Taxes exceeds that of the Expenditures, which last are reduced almost to Nothing, and as the Revival of Commerce must encrease the Means of paying Taxes, I have no other Solicitude for the Event than what arises from the Want of Time to make due Arrangements. This Want I perswade myself you will remedy, if you have not already provided against it. And you may rely that any Engagements you may think it necessary to take, shall be most punctually complied with by me—
          With Unfeigned Esteem and Respect I have the Honor to be Your Excellency’s most obedient & humble Servant

            Robt Morris

            P.S. Since writing the above it occurs to me, that there is (particularly on the present Occasion) a Propriety in transmitting to you the best Account in my Power of the Situation of things, as to the Funding of our public Debt. I say the best in my Power, for I know not what is done Southward of Virginia, No Mail having come from thence in upwards of six weeks; by Reason of the Inclemency of the Weather, which greatly impedes our Intelligence from every Quarter. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia have adopted the Plan recommended by Congress. I am assured that New York & Connecticutt will adopt it very speedily;

and I am told (on good Authority) that Rhode Island will come in so soon as the Example of the other States is communicated. It is in Consequence of my Conviction that the Plan will soon be agreed to by all, that I have published an Advertisement of the Ninth Instant Copy whereof is enclosed—

          His Excellency Benjamin Franklin Esqr. Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States—
          fourth


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Cadet de Vaux, 13 February 1784
From: Cadet de Vaux, Antoine-Alexis-François
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Monsieur
            ce 13 fevr 1784

          M.M. Quinquet et lange, auteurs de la lampe dont J’ai eu l’honneur de vous Parler, desirent avoir l’Avantage de la

mettre à vos lumieres; ils S’Estimeront heureux Si leur dècouverte mérite votre approbation.
          Je Suis avec un profond respect Monsieur Votre très humble et très obéissant Serviteur

            Cadet de Vaux


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Robert Morris, 13 February 1784
From: Morris, Robert
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Dr. Sir,
            Office of Finance 13th. Febry. 1784—

          I have written to you, under Yesterday’s Date, on a very interesting Subject; and I will now add Something farther which I did not chuse to place in that Letter, as a Copy of it is transmitted to the Houses in Holland. And first I will give you an Account of my Situation, as accurately as possible, in order that (seeing the whole State of my Engagements, and the means of fulfilling them) you may rest at Ease under the Operation I have requested, and which I must now most strongly Urge and intreat you to engage in.
          My present actual Engagements are threefold Viz. 1st. General Engagements for the public Service not yet Satisfied, including therein the Notes issued by me which remain in Circulation. 2ly. My Bills of Exchange unpaid. And 3ly. My Debts to the National Bank.
          The first of these it is difficult to ascertain with Exactness For I take into the Account all Payments to be made for past Services and the like, and I set against it sundry Sums to be received and the public Goods which are yet to arrive. It cannot be expected therefore that any great Precision will take Place in this Estimate but from the clearest Insight I have, the Amount is rather under than over one hundred thousand Dollars.
          The Second Stands thus. I drew for a Million of Guilders of which calculating to the Extent, not more than one half remains unprovided for, as I have observed in My Letter of Yesterday. This half may be considered as of the Value of two hundred thousand Dollars. Besides this Sum, I have drawn three Bills

of two hundred and fifty thousand Guilders each, and one of one hundred thousand Guilders, for which I have received three hundred and forty thousand Dollars; but as I have agreed that those Bills shall not be protested they are not to be carried to the Account of Bills of Exchange.
          My Debt to the National Bank is the above Sum of three hundred and forty thousand Dollars obtained from them by Discounting Notes received for the Bills of Exchange and which Notes they will continue on Interest, untill taken up by my Payments here, or by Monies raised on the Drafts of the Parties who gave them, should My Bills be eventually paid in Europe.
          In this Calculation you will perceive that I make no mention of any Monies which I suppose to be in the Hands of Mr. Grand, because (for the greater Certainty) I will on the present Occasion consider them as equal to answer for Contingencies only. And on the other Hand, I will not calculate the Interest to arise on Monies borrowed in Europe, because altho that object may be Stated as of the Value of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand Dollars, yet to answer it I place 1st. the general System for funding the public Debts, and 2ly. Whatever small Sums may arise on the Dutch Loan, supposing it to have no Success worth counting on for other Purposes.—
          Hence therefore we will state the Account as of the first of the present Month thus

              Balance due for past Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
              Dollars 100.000

              Due for Bills of Exchange drawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
              200.000

              Due to the national Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
              340.000

              640.000

              Add for Contingencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
               10.000

              Dollars—650.000.

          We come now to the Means of making Payment, after rejecting all Hope of any material Aid from the Dutch Loan. And

they are as follows— The Taxes for the last four Months, ending the thirty first of January, amounting to somewhat more than two hundred thousand Dollars. Towards these Taxes, the States of Delaware, North Carolina and Georgia have as yet paid Nothing, neither is there any Thing paid by the State of South Carolina within the Account of those Months. The States of New Hampshire Connecticutt New York Maryland and Virginia have paid very little, in Proportion to their present Ability, and the other four States will all by the Extention of Peace and Commerce, be in better Circumstances for Revenue than they were before.
          From the States of New York Maryland Virginia and South Carolina, I expect to derive very considerable Releif; particularly from the first, by a proposed Sale of confiscated Lands. However, I shall (after deducting from the probable Increase of the Revenue, so much as may pay the current Expenditures) calculate the Surplus, and the proposed Sales of Lands, as amounting to no more than two hundred and fifty thousand Dollars, by the End of next September. This, then will place the Sum unprovided for at the amount of four hundred thousand Dollars and the Fund to pay it at fifty thousand Dollars per Month— That Fund will discharge the first Article above mentioned, by the End of March, And the next Thing to be provided for is the two hundred thousand, to answer Bills of Exchange drawn. The intended Provision for that Object is as follows, I shall borrow immediately one hundred thousand Dollars of the Bank, and direct Purchases of Tobacco and Rice partly with Cash, partly on Credit and partly by Bills drawn on me. By this Means, I can with that one hundred thousand Dollars, have the Purchases made in all March and April, so that the Shippments to the required Amount of two hundred thousand Dollars will take Place Some in March, some in April, and all of them I hope by the End of May. The Taxes during April and May, will pay the Purchases on Credit, and the Bills drawn on me; and the Taxes in June and July, will pay the hundred thousand Dollars

due to the Bank. By the End of September therefore I may calculate on a full Discharge of all these Debts.
          If the Loan should meet with Success, my Releif will be more speedy; but you will see, Sir, from this Detail, what is most important to you, Viz that the Funds will be placed in Europe during the Months of June and July, to pay the half Million of Guilders which I desire you provide for. I suppose the Mode of circuitous Negotiations to be very familiar with your Bankers, but I would hint at the following as practicable. Suppose the Houses in Amsterdam to draw in the Month of March on Mr. Grand at sixty Days Sight. Mr. Grand might in May draw on a good House in London for his full Reimbursement and the House in London might (in like Manner) reimburse on Messrs. Le Couteulx & Co:, by which Time the Remittances would arrive. Or the Time might be still farther extended, if the House in London should reimburse on Messrs. Wilhelm and Jan Willink, and they on Messrs. Le Couteulx.— Or the last Bills might perhaps be drawn on Mr. Grand instead of Messrs. Le Couteulx. However, supposing that the Credit of those Gentlemen might be useful, I have requested them to aid your Operations, should you think proper to ask their Aid.
          And now my dear Sir, let me before I close this Letter, entreat of you most earnestly, that the public Credit just begining to revive, be not totally lost for Want of an Effort which is but Nothing in Comparison with what we have already experienced, and passed thro, with Success.—
          With very sincere Esteem & Respect I am Your most obedt. & humble Servant

            Robt Morris
            His Excellency Benjamin Franklin Esqr. Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States—


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Creuzé, 14 February 1784
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Creuzé, ——

            Sir,
            Passy, Feb. 14. 1784

          I received the three several Letters you did me the honour of writing to me on the Subject of the Aerostatic Machines, and the means of directing their Motion. The Academy of Sciences having appointed a Committee to consider that Subject, I thought I could not better dispose of your Papers than by communicating them to that learned Body, especially as I have too much Business on my hands to permit my giving that Attention to the Examination of your ingenious Project which its Importance demands. I have the honour to be, Sir,


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Henry Laurens, 15 February 1784
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Laurens, Henry

              Dear Sir,
              Passy Feb. 15. 1784.

            Since mine of the 12th, I have had an Interview with Mr Grand; and on my acquainting him with your Situation, and proposing to him to furnish you with such a Sum as you might have occasion for, he most readily agreed to it, saying you had only to draw upon him, and your Bills would be honoured. I seize with Pleasure the first Opportunity to inform you of this, being with sincere Esteem & Affection, Dear Sir, Your most obedient & most humble Servant

              B. Franklin

            I regret with you that our Employers should have forgotten or neglected to contrive Means of decent Return for their Ministers.

          His Excelly H. Laurens, Esqr.
          Endorsed: Benja. Franklin Esqr 15th febry 1784 Recd. 24th. Answd. 27th.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Madame Brillon, 15 February 1784
From: Brillon de Jouy, Anne-Louise Boivin d’Hardancourt
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            ce 15 Février a paris [1784]

          Je vous ai promis mon bon papa de vous écrire lors de mon depart de passy et jusqu’ici je ne l’ai pas encore fait, parceque monsieur votre fils m’a donné quelquefois de vos nouvélles, d’autres fois j’en ai envoyé sçavoir, d’autres fois encore j’ai éspéré que le temp deviendroit moins dur et que je pourrois vous allér voir; je crains a la longue que vous ne me soupçoniés d’oubly (ce seroit injuste) mais je veux mesme me méttre a l’abri du soupçon en vous disant mon bon ami que je vous regrétte et vous aime, comme je vous aimai, comme je vous aimerai toujours; et qu’au milieu du bonheur qui m’environne (car je suis heureuse) il n’est point de jours ou je ne pense a vous et a mes bons voisins le veillard, ou je ne désire le printems qui doit tous nous réunirs, ce sera vérs le milieu d’avril que j’irai vous rejoindres, que la nature sera belle alors! Et combien l’amitié l’embéllira encore a mes yeux! Adieu l’ami chéri de mon coeur aimés moi, pensés a moi, et distes vous a chacuns des instans ou vous y penserés, surement óh surement elle pense aussi a moi:
          Recevés l’hommage tendre de tous les miens, et embrassés la bonne maman le veillard, sa fille la jolie voisine caillot, et distes je vous en prie mon bon papa mille choses amicales de ma part au grand voisin, au pére caillot et a mrs vos fils:

          Addressed: A Monsieur / Monsieur Franklin / ambassadeur des états unis / de l’amérique / a Passy


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 16 February 1784
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Strahan, William

            Dear Sir,
            Passy, Feb. 16. 1784.

          I received and read with Pleasure your kind Letter of the first Inst. as it inform’d me of the Welfare of you and yours. I am glad the Accounts you have from your Kinswoman at Philadelphia are agreable, and I shall be happy if any Recommendations from me can be serviceable to Dr Ross or any other Friend of yours going to America.—
          Your Arguments persuading me to come once more to England, are very powerful. To be sure I long to see again my Friends there, whom I love abundantly: but there are Difficulties & Objections of several kinds which at present I do not see how to get over.—
          I lament with you the political Disorders England at present labours under. Your Papers are full of strange Accounts of Anarchy & Confusion in America, of which we know nothing; while your own Affairs are really in a Situation deplorable. In my humble Opinion the Root of the Evil lies, not so much in too long—or too unequally chosen Parliaments, as in the enormous Salaries, Emoluments, and Patronage of your Great Offices; and that you will never be at rest till they are all abolish’d, and every Place of Honour made, at the same time, instead of a Place of Profit, a Place of Expence & Burthen. Ambition and Avarice are each of them strong Passions, and when they are united in the same Persons, and have the same Objects in view for their Gratification, they are too strong for Public Spirit & Love of

Country, and are apt to produce the most violent Factions and Contentions. They should therefore be separated, and made to act one against the other. Those Places, to speak in our own old Stile, (Brother Type) may be for the Good of the Chapel, but they are bad for the Master, as they create constant Quarrels that hinder the Business. For example, here are near two Months that your Government has been employ’d in getting its Form to Press; which is not yet fit to work on, every Page of it being squabbled, and the whole ready to fall into Pye. The Founts too must be very scanty, or strangely out of Sorts, since your Compositors cannot find either Upper- or Lower-Case Letters sufficient to set the Word Administration, but are forc’d to be continually Turning for them.— However, to return to common (tho’ perhaps too saucy) Language, don’t despair; you have still one Resource left, and that not a bad one since it may re-unite the Empire. We have some Remains of Affection for you, and shall always be ready to receive and take care of you in case of Distress. So, if you have not Sense and Virtue enough left to govern yourselves, e’en dissolve your present old crazy Constitution, and send Members to Congress.
          You will say my Advice smells of Madeira. You are right. This foolish Letter is mere Chit-chat between ourselves, over the second Bottle: If therefore you show it to any body (except our indulgent Friends Dagge & Lady Strachan) I will positively Solless you.
          Yours ever most affectionately

            B F
            Wm Strahan Esqr


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Barclay, 17 February 1784
From: Barclay, Thomas
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Sir
            London 17th. Februy. 1784

          In pursuance of your Excellencys desire a search has been made by Mr. Hodgson, for a precident relative to the Capture of Vessels situated in the same manner with that of Mr. Nesbitts;

but none can be found— A Tryal however is soon expected to come on in the Courts here which will determine the point in England, and Mr. Hodgson promises to furnish you with the particulars of the decision.—
          I am detain’d here procuring Copies of sundry Accounts and Memorandums from Mr. Deane which are highly necessary for explanation of the Public account and which may hold me ten days longer.—
          I am happy in informing you that the last Dutch Mail brings strong assurances that Mr. Morris’s Bills on the Negociaters of the Loan in Holland will be Paid, and remain with the greatest respect, Sir Your Excellencys Most Obedient Most Humb. Servt.

            Thos Barclay
            His Excellency Benjn. Franklin Esqr.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, 18 February 1784
From: Le Roy, Jean-Baptiste
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            ce 18 Fèvrier [1784]

          J’ai reçu Mon Illustre Docteur le pacquet Sur les ballons que vous avez eûe la bonté de m’envoyer je les examinerai et en ferai l’usage que vous désirez. Je vous envoye un pacquet que Je comptois vous porter depuis Long-tems mais que la rigueur de la Saison m’a empêché de vous aller remettre Mais bien malgré moi Je vous assurre. Je compte m’en dédommager au premier moment. Car le temps me paroît enfin Se détendre et nous ramener une Saison moins rigoureuse. Adieu Mon Illustre Docteur recevez Mille Sincères assurrances de tous les Sentimens d’attachement que Je vous ai voués pour la vie

            Le Roy

          Addressed: A Monsieur / Monsieur Franklin / en son hôtel / à Passy


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Jonathan Nesbitt & Co., 18 February 1784
From: Nesbitt, Jonathan, & Co.
To: Franklin, Benjamin

              Sir.
              L’Orient Febry. 18th 1784—

            We receiv’d in Course the honor of your Excellencys Letter of the 11th: Inst: & Yesterday forwarded those which accompany’d it by the Packet for New York.— We paid for Postage Sixty one Livres fifteen Sols which we have Charged to your Account:—had we thought ourselves at liberty we should have kept them for Captain Conyngham who will Sail on the 21st: Inst: which would have saved so much.— With the greatest Respect we have the honor to remain— Your Excellencys most Obedt. & very humble Servts:—

              Jonatn: Nesbitt & Co:

            The Packet Saild yesterday with a very favorable Wind—


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from David Hartley, 23 February 1784
From: Hartley, David
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            My dear Friend,
            London, Feb. 23, 1784.

          I have met with a report from America, that congress has come to some resolution respecting the commerce with Great Britain, which is to depend conditionally upon the proceedings of the British parliament by the 1st of February, 1784. As they have known that the act of the last session of parliament was to terminate on the 20th of December, 1783, it was reasonable to conclude that some proceedings would have taken place in parliament before the 1st of February, 1784. This doubtless was the intention of the last session, by the limit given to the bill. However, in consequence of the late changes, all these considerations have been postponed, by the prolongation of the late bill until the 20th of April. If therefore it has been the design of congress, to wait for some act of the British parliament respecting American commerce, I hope they will remain in the same sentiments, notwithstanding the delay which has happened from the change of the ministry, that all things may remain open between the parties for mutually beneficial and amicable intercourse. I will send you the earliest notice of any steps which may be taken here. I expect daily to hear of the ratifications of the peace from you. Pray remember me kindly to Mr. Jay and family, to Mr. W. T. Franklin, and to Messrs. Adams and son, if at Paris. I am ever your most affectionate friend,

            D. Hartley.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, 25 February 1784
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Le Roy, Jean-Baptiste

            My dear Friend
            Passy Feb. 25. 1784

          Enclosed I send you a Letter and sundry Papers I lately recd from Mr. Eckhardt of Utrecht, a most ingenious Mechanician whom I first knew in London. You will see what he desires, and what Answer I have made him. If you can do him any Service, I need not pray you to do it, because you have a Pleasure in assisting Genius: Show if you please what he says of the Balloons, to Mr. Montgolfier. I long to see you, being ever Yours most affectionately

            (signed) B. Franklin

          Mr. Le Roy.—
          Copy


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Sextius-Alexandre-François Miollis, 25 February 1784
From: Miollis, Sextius-Alexandre-François
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Monsieur
            a aix en provence Le 25 fevrier 1784.

          Venant d’etre informé par Les papiers publics des marques de decoration de l’ordre de cincinatus qui ont été accordées a quelques uns des oficiers français qui ont Servis dans Les etats unis; je prend La liberté de m’adresser a votre excellence pour reclamer auprés de votre justice Les memes honneurs; ce Seroit Le dedomagement Le plus Satisfaisant que je pusse recevoir de la Situation triste et afligeante dans laquelle m’a reduit La Blessure que j’ay Reçue au Siege d’york en virginie. J’ay essayé de la faire connoitre dans Le memoire que je vous prie d’avoir la

bonté de faire parvenir a Son excellence le general Washington president de cette Societé, et j’ose presumer de votre humanité que le Sort d’une malheureuse victime de la guerre vous interessera, et vous engagera a apuyer ma demande.
          J’ay L’honneur d’etre avec le Respect Le plus profond Monsieur Votre tres humble et tres obeissant Serviteur

            Miollisofer: au regiment de Soissonnois

          Notation: Miollis 25 Fevr. 1784.—


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from John Trumbull, 25 February 1784
From: Trumbull, John
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Sir.
            London February 25th. 1784.

          Mr Vanderhurst of Bristol inform’d me yesterday that your Excellency had express’d great concern at the relation which He gave you of the State in which I left Doctr Cooper of Boston.— and that you was anxious to be inform’d with certainty.
          The enclos’d paragraph cut from a Boston paper of the 5th. of January, which I receiv’d this evening, gives the melancholy confirmation of what we had heard several Days from report.—& leaves no doubt that America has lost that truly eminent Character.
          It would be arrogant in me to offer you consolation; but I may join you in lamenting the death of a friend whom you so justly esteem’d.

          I have the Honor to be with the warmest sentiments of Respect. Your Excellency’s most Obedient Humble servant.

            Jno. Trumbull
            His Excelly. B. Franklin Esqr.

          Addressed: His Excellency / Benjamin Franklin Esquire / Ambassador of the United States of America / at Versailles / Passy


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Félix Vicq d’Azyr, 25 February 1784
From: Vicq d’Azyr, Félix
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Monsieur!
            ce 25 fevrier 1784

          La Société royale de medecine m’a Chargé de vous addresser ces billets pour Sa prochaine Séance publique dont elle vous prie de disposer. Cette assemblée aura Lieu mardi prochain deux de mars. La Compagnie Se Souvient qu’elle a été privée de votre presence dans Sa derniere Séance publique, Circonstance qui augmente encore Le desir quelle a de vous voir assister a celle cy. Nous avons aussi Lhonneur d’y inviter Monsieur votre petit fils. Je dois y Lire Les éloges de Mrs Guillaume hunter et Sanchez et votre presence Seroit un grand encouragement pour moi.

          Jai lhonneur detre avec un profond respect Monsieur Votre tres humble et tres obeissant Serviteur

            Vicq d’azyr
            M franklin.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Ginet & Meirieu, 26 February 1784
From: Ginet & Meirieu
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Monsieur
            Paris Le 26 fevrier 1784

          Il nous a eté Remis de Bordeaux, une Traite de 670..12/ Tirée par Mr. Jean Bonfield de la de. [dite] Ville, le 27. Janvier dernier, pble. au 20 fevrier ct. à l’ordre de Mr. Jean David Sur Vous; Comme Son échéance aproche, et que n’etant pas Vizée, Monsieur Grand ne Voudroit pas la payer, nous prenons La liberté, de Vous la Remettre cy Inclus, avec priere de Vouloir Bien l’honnorer de Votre acceptation, et nous la Renvoyer ensuite. Permettés, Monsieur, que nous profitions de cette occasion pour Vous Temoigner la parfaite Consideration avec laquelle Nous avons l’honneur d’être Très parfaitement Monsieur Vos Très-humbles et Très obbeïssants serviteurs

            Ginet & MeirieuNegts. Rue st. Denis à la Villed’Strasbourg prés la Rue Gréneta

          Notation: Giner & Meirieu 26 Fevr. 1784.—


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Michel-René Hilliard d’Auberteuil, 27 February 1784
From: Hilliard d’Auberteuil, Michel-René
To: Franklin, Benjamin

            Monsieur
            Paris le 27e. fevrier 1784.

          Permettez moi de me rapeller au Souvenir de votre excellence en lui envoyant un mémoire sur une matiere très importante, et qui ne vous est point étrangere.

          De Monville imprimeur de l’accademie française remettra sur ma lettre, aux ordres de Votre Excellence la quantité d’exemplaires qu’elle voudra envoyer en Amerique. Je suis avec un profond respect Monsieur, de votre Excellence Le très humble & très obéissant serviteur

            Hilliard D’auberteuil

            P.S. Cette matiere sera plus profondément discutée dans d’autres mémoires qui suivront.

              D

          Notation: Hillard d’Aubreteuil 27e Fev. 1784