Title: Request for a Printing, 19 February 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

In November, 1769, when total repeal of the Townshend Acts seemed possible, William Strahan addressed a series of questions to Franklin to elicit his views on repeal and related issues. The American replied at length, concluding with a pessimistic prophecy of how the Anglo-American quarrel would develop. The questions and answers were intended for private circulation among politicians of importance, and were therefore not published. By February, 1774, Franklin’s prophecy was coming true; Massachusetts was in open defiance, and the government was pondering ways and means of coercion. Some one, in all likelihood he himself, decided to publicize the interchange as a last-minute warning. It was sent to the Public Advertiser with this covering note, and printed there on February 19; on the 26th it was reprinted, with a similar note, in the Gazetteer.

To the Printer of the Public Advertiser.
Sir,
A Copy of the following Letter to Dr. Franklin, with his Answer to it, having accidentally fallen into my Hands, I request you to give them a Place in your Paper. The Writers of them, I flatter myself, can have no Objection to their being laid before the Public; and tho’ they are now of an old Date, your intelligent Readers will easily see the Propriety of their appearing at this Juncture. I am your constant Reader,
A.Z.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Deborah Franklin, 20 February 1774: résumé
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Franklin, Deborah

My dear Child,
[London, February 20, 1774]
I have written fully to you and several friends by Capt. All; but as I know you like to have a letter by every ship, I add this line by Capt. Falconer. … <Continues in good health and spirits, God be praised, and hopes to arrive at home next May. Sends affectionate regards and love to the children.>


Title: [John Temple] to James Bowdoin, 20 February 1774
From: Temple, John
To: Bowdoin, James

My Dear Sir
London Febry. the 20th. 1774
I had pleasure in receiving your favor of the 13th. December (with the inclosure) which has had a good effect on the minds of Considerable people here. You will by this opportunity hear that Dr. Franklin is dismissed from his office of Post-Master in America; but it is impossible the Province will let him be a loser by it, they must fall upon some Means of raising Money for paying their Agent &c. immediately which they must do amply for their own Interest and Credit here; I should think that in their several Town taxes over the Mode of which the Governor hath no Controul, a sum might be raised for this purpose. You have Nothing to hope or expect from the Justice of Ministry, who after all will be afraid to come to extremities with you. You must be firm Resolute and Cautious; but discover no Marks of temidity, for they will take advantage of [them] to teize [tease] you in mean pitifull ways. The next thing hoped for, and expected by the friends of America, and in perticular the Dr. himself is that Boston, New York, and Philadelphia will immediately fall upon a Method to Starve the Post Office which hath always been given as a president for taxing the Colonies. This may be done the Dr. says in the easiest Manner, by a private Carriers being set up by one person, and the Merchants of York Boston and Philadelphia subscribing each such a sum as they suppose their postage now Costs them, which will be much more than Sufficient to Maintain such a Carrier and all poor peoples letters go Gratis. This being done in the three Middle Capital provinces the other parts of America may be left as they now are, to the Brittish Post Office. Dr. F. thinks Mr. Tuttle H— will give information as to the mode of conducting this business which however inconsiderable it may appear at first is a great point to Carry, as it removes the only president and may be effected if properly managed without breaking the letter of the Act of Parliament, and will greatly mortify here, as it is expected by many. I hope a small Committe from Boston will immediately treat with the two other Colonies to whom letters are written on the subject. You cannot expect any very explicit letters on this subject from the Dr. or any other of the friends to America; hints must be sufficient. You may rely on it, that prudent, yet manly and resolute Conduct on your parts is what will Carry you through. The Eyes of all Europe are watchfully on you, and will not suffer Tyranny to prevail against you, but their must be firm spirit on your parts. The world have never yet known who stop’d Portius in his Carier. Your Town born Enemies are more indefatigable than ever, in their Endeavours to bring distruction on you but I think you can [have] no doubt about them at this time of day, any more than you can have of those who have acquitted them of the Charge the Assembly exhibited against them. In writing this, you will consider what I have said as being the sentiments of your Best friends to be Communicated for the Public good of America. It is also thought by Dr. Lee, Dr. F. and other friends to America that it would be proper for the Assembly of Massachusetts Bay to pass some spirited resolves in Contempt of Mr. Wedderburn the Soliciter General for his Scurilous treatment of the Assembly and province, when pleading in defence of Hutchinson and Oliver before the privy Council. I am desired to mention this to you, least it might escape the thought of those who lead in the Assembly.

Addressed: The Honble James Bowdoin Esqr / Boston / New England


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to David Williams, 21 February 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Williams, David

This letter and Franklin’s brief note below, May 9, are to the best of our knowledge his only correspondence while in England with a man who later claimed to have played a brief but significant role in his life there. The Rev. David Williams (1738–1816) was a Welsh dissenting clergyman who established a school in Chelsea in 1772. He had by then abandoned Christianity for deism, and the next year he published a volume of essays to propound the idea of a liturgy acceptable to men of all religions. According to his autobiography, which he wrote late in life and of which only a fragment survives, Franklin bought a number of copies and procured, through Major Richard Dawson, an introduction to the author. Out of this meeting and the interest of other free-thinking friends grew the Club of Thirteen, which worked on the preparation of a philosophers’ liturgy. At some time after the scene at the Cockpit, the autobiography continued, Franklin was in such trouble that he fled with a trunk of papers to Williams’ house in Chelsea, and there rode out the storm.

Franklin, keenly interested as he was in liturgical revision, belonged to the Club of Thirteen. But the story of his flight to Chelsea leaves us skeptical. We have found no contemporary support for it, or any record of a political storm that endangered his safety, and he was not the man to flee from mere rumors of storm. Williams provided circumstantial details, it is true, but only as an old man; and the uncorroborated recollections of the old are shaky evidence.

Dear Sir,
Cravenstreet, Feb. 21. 1774
I cannot express the Sense I have of the generous Friendship you and Mr. Knott are so good as to honour me with on so short an Acquaintance. I do purpose to write a Vindication of my self, and have made some Progress in it; but as there are Circumstances which will prevent its being speedily published, my Friends, who hear the general Discourse of the Town, can best judge of the present Utility of such a Pamphlet with such a Collection as Mr. K. kindly proposes. If it is to be done, I should like to see the Papers when got together, that I may add a few Notes. I suppose a considerable Number would sell to be sent to America. I am told there are some Papers, (three or four) on the same Subject in the Gazetteer, that are pretty good, under the Signature of Auditor: Mr. K. does not mention these; perhaps he has not seen them. I inclose the Remarks and Resolutions of the Provincial Council (on the Letters) which I think are strong, clear and decent: Please to communicate them to Mr. Knott: They may make a Part of the Collection. There are a few small Pieces of mine, printed sometime since, which I will endeavour to collect and send you, that you and Mr. K. may judge whether they will be proper to insert in it. If any Strictures on the Speech occur to you that have escap’d the Bostonian and others, they would make a valuable Addition. As to the Remarks on the Letters, I would immediately write an Answer to them, being perhaps best acquaintd with the Facts and the Ideas of the New England People. I should wish you to take care of the Impression: but how can I think of giving you that Trouble! With great and sincere Esteem, I am, Dear Sir, Your most obedient and most humble Servant
B Franklin
Revd Mr Williams.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Jan Ingenhousz, [24 February 1774]: abstract
From: Ingenhousz, Jan
To: Franklin, Benjamin

[February 24, 1774]
I am in the utmost consternation about his allarming circonstances and begg to be informed of them.
to Dr. Benjamin Franklin  cravenstreet London


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Josiah Tucker, 24 February 1774
From: Tucker, Josiah
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir.
Glocester Feb: 24. 1774.
The Request made in your last Letter is so very just and reasonable, that I shall comply with it very readily. It has long appeared to Me, that You much exceeded the Bounds of Morality in the Method you pursued for the Advancement of the supposed Interests of America. If it can be proved, that I have unjustly suspected you, I shall acknowledge my Error with as much Satisfaction, as you can have in reading my Recantation of it. As to the Case more immediately referred to in your Letters, I was repeatedly informed, that you had sollicited the late Mr. George Greenville for a Place or Agency in the Distribution of Stamps in America: From which Circumstance I myself concluded, that you had made Interest for it on your own Account: Whereas I am now informed, [there are] no positive Proofs of your having sollicited to [obtain] such a Place for yourself; but that there are sufficient Evidence still existing of your having applied for it in [favour] of another Person. If this latter [should prove to be the Fact,] as I am assured it will, [I am willing to suppose] from several expressions [in both your letters, that you will readily acknowledge] that the Difference in this Case between yourself, and your Friend, is very immaterial [to] the general Merits of the Question. But if you should have Distinctions in this Case, which are above my Comprehension, I shall content myself with observing, That your great Abilities and happy Discoveries deserve universal Regard; and that as on these Accounts I esteem and respect you, so I have the Honour to be Sir your very humble Servant
J. Tucker


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Cooper, 25 February 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Cooper, Samuel

Dear Sir,
London, Feb. 25. 1774
I thank you much for your respected Favours of Nov. 10. Dec. 17. and 20. and for the satisfactory Intelligence they contained.
I condole with you most sincerely on your great Loss.
I have written a pretty full Account to the Speaker of the Treatment their Petition and their Agent have received here. My Letter went in Symes, and probably you may have seen it before this can reach you, therefore, and because I have a little Disorder in my Eyes at present, I do not repeat any part of it to you, nor can I well send a Copy to him.
You can have no Conception of the Rage the ministerial People have been in with me, on Account of my Transmitting those Letters. It is quite incomprehensible! If they had been wise, they might have made a good Use of the Discovery, by agreeing to lay the Blame of our Differences on those from whom by those Letters it appear’d to have arisen; and by a Change of Measures, which would then have appear’d natural, restor’d the Harmony between the two Countries. But—
I send directed to you, a Set of the late French Edition of my Philosophical Papers. There are in it several Pieces not in the English. When you have look’d them over, please to give them to Mr. Winthrop for the College Library. I am ever, Dear Sir, Yours most affectionately
B Franklin
Revd Dr Cooper

Addressed: To / The Reverend Saml Cooper, D.D. / Boston


Title: Request for a Reprinting, 26 February 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

To the Printer of the Gazetteer.
In a morning paper of Saturday last, there was a long letter of Dr. Franklin’s, in answer to a letter, containing very important queries respecting American affairs. These letters were written so long ago as the year 1769. But both the queries, and the answer to them, are so important, and so interesting at the present moment, that many of your readers join me in requesting that you will republish them in the Gazetteer. Yours,
A.B.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Josiah Tucker, 26 February 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Tucker, Josiah

Reverend Sir,
London, Feb. 26, 1774.
I thank you for the Frankness with which you have communicated to me the Particulars of the Information you had received relating to my supposed Application to Mr. Grenville for a Place in the American Stamp-Office. As I deny that either your former or later Informations are true, it seems incumbent on me for your Satisfaction to relate all the Circumstances fairly to you that could possibly give rise to such Mistakes.
Some Days after the Stamp-Act was passed, to which I had given all the Opposition I could with Mr. Grenville, I received a Note from Mr. Wheatly, his Secretary, desiring to see me the next morning. I waited upon him accordingly, and found with him several other Colony Agents. He acquainted us that Mr. Grenville was desirous to make the Execution of the Act as little inconvenient and disagreeable to the Americans as possible, and therefore did not think of sending Stamp Officers from hence, but wished to have discreet and reputable Persons appointed in each Province from among the Inhabitants, such as would be acceptable to them, for as they were to pay the Tax, he thought Strangers should not have the Emoluments. Mr. Wheatly therefore wished us to name for our respective Colonies, informing us that Mr. Grenville would be obliged to us for pointing out to him honest and responsible Men, and would pay great regard to our Nominations. By this plausible and apparently candid Declaration, we were drawn in to nominate, and I named for our Province Mr. Hughes, saying at the same time that I knew not whether he would accept of it, but if he did I was sure he would execute the Office faithfully. I soon after had notice of his appointment. We none of us, I believe, foresaw or imagined, that this Compliance with the request of the Minister, would or could have been called an Application of ours, and adduced as a Proof of our Approbation of the Act we had been opposing; otherwise I think few of us would have named at all, I am sure I should not. This I assure you and can prove to you by living Evidence, is a true account of the Transaction in question, which if you compare with that you have been induced to give of it in your Book, I am persuaded you will see a Difference that is far from being “a Distinction above your Comprehension.”
Permit me farther to remark, that your Expression of there being “no positive Proofs of my having solicited to obtain such a place for myself,” implies that there are nevertheless some circumstantial Proofs sufficient at least to support a Suspicion; the latter Part however of the same Sentence, which says, “there are sufficient Evidence still existing of my having applied for it in favour of another Person,” must I apprehend, if credited, destroy that Suspicion, and be considered as positive Proof of the contrary; for if I had Interest enough with Mr. Grenville to obtain that Place for another, is it likely that it would have been refused me had I asked it for myself?
There is another Circumstance which I would offer to your candid Consideration. You describe me as “changing Sides, and appearing at the Bar of the House of Commons to cry down the very Measure I had espoused, and direct the Storm that was falling upon that Minister.” As this must have been after my supposed solicitation of the Favour for myself or my Friend; and as Mr. Grenville and Mr. Wheatly were both in the House at the Time, and both asked me Questions, can it be conceived that offended as they must have been with such a Conduct in me, neither of them should put me in mind of this my sudden Changing of Sides, or remark it to the House, or reproach me with it, or require my Reasons for it? and yet all the Members then present know that not a Syllable of the kind fell from either of them, or from any of their Party.
I persuade myself that by this time you begin to suspect you may have been misled by your Informers. I do not ask who they are, because I do not wish to have particular Motives for disliking People, who in general may deserve my Respect. They, too, may have drawn Consequences beyond the Information they received from others, and hearing the Office had been given to a Person of my Nomination, might as naturally suppose I had sollicited it; as Dr. Tucker, hearing I had sollicited it, might “conclude” it was for myself.
I desire you to believe that I take kindly, as I ought, your freely mentioning to me “that it has long appeared to you that I much exceeded the Bounds of Morality in the Methods I pursued for the Advancement of the supposed Interests of America.” I am sensible there is a good deal of Truth in the Adage, that our Sins and our Debts are always more than we take them to be; and tho’ I cannot at present on Examination of my Conscience charge myself with any Immorality of that kind, it becomes me to suspect that what has long appeared to you may have some Foundation. You are so good as to add, that “if it can be proved you have unjustly suspected me, you shall have a Satisfaction in acknowledging the Error.” It is often a hard thing to prove that Suspicions are unjust, even when we know what they are; and harder when we are unacquainted with them. I must presume therefore that in mentioning them, you had an Intention of communicating the Grounds of them to me, if I should request it, which I now do, and, I assure you, with a sincere Desire and Design of amending what you may show me to have been wrong in my conduct, and to thank you for the Admonition. In your Writings I appear a bad Man; but if I am such, and you can thus help me to become in reality a good one, I shall esteem it more than a sufficient Reparation, to Reverend Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant
B. F.
Revd. Dr. Tucker

Feb. 7. 1775. No Answer has yet been receiv’d to the above Letter.
B. F.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from David Finney, 27 February 1774
From: Finney, David
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir,
Newcastle, Febry. 27th. 1774.
Being under the necessity of prosecuting an Appeal to the King and Council, respecting some Lands in Kent County on Delaware, am induced to direct the Appeal from our Supreme Court and Law proceedings, to your care and management; in confidence, that from the Friendship which I have understood subsisted between you and my deceased Uncle David French, (of Newcastle) and the knowledge you have of my Father, Doctor John Finney, of the same place, you will be pleased to negotiate the affair for me.
I therefore hope Sir, That you will on receipt of the Papers, herewith transmitted, lay the State of my Case before such Counsel as you approve of, to whom be pleased give such Fees as you think proper.
I have by this Conveyance, sent you a Bill of Exchange for £50 Sterling. One of same tenor and date, together with another Copy of the Law proceedings in my Cause, and a Volume of our Acts of Assembly, I expect you will receive by the Brigantine Recovery Captn. Lawrence from Philadelphia.
I intend to send you by the next Conveyance from Philada. another Bill of Exchange for 50. or £60. Sterling. If more than those Sums are requisite in the prosecution of my Suit I shall thankfully pay your Order the amount of such deficiency, or remit it to you, and make you an honorable recompence for your trouble on this occasion.

I am limited (by our Laws) to Eighteen Months in the Ent’ring of the Appeal, so that no time is to be lost in the prosecution of it, if the Counsel shall be of opinion that the Issue will probably terminate in my favor.
My friend, Mr. John Dickinson, and some other eminent Lawyers here, are of Opinion, that my Appeal is founded in Law and Equity, and my Opponents have offered me a considerable Sum not to prosecute my Appeal.
If any further instructions are necessary to be transmitted, please direct to me at Newcastle. I am, Sir, Your most humble Servant
David Finney

P.S. My Father presents his most respectful Compliments to you.
B Franklin Esqr

Endorsed: Quy is it Oct. 20. 1769 or Oct. 21


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to The Public Ledger, [after 9 March 1774]
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: “The Public Ledger”

To the Printer of the Publick Ledger
Sir,
[After March 9, 1774]
Nothing can equal the present Rage of our Ministerial Writers against our Brethren in America, who have the Misfortune to be Whigs in a Reign when Whiggism is out of Fashion, who are besides Protestant Dissenters and Lovers of Liberty. One may easily see from what Quarter comes the Abuse of those People in the Papers; their Struggle for their Rights is called REBELLION, and the People REBELS; while those who really rebell’d in Scotland (1745) for the Expulsion of the present reigning Family, and the Establishment of Popery and arbitrary Power on the Ruins of Liberty and Protestantism; who enter’d England, and trampled on its Belly as far as Derby, to the Astonishment of this great City and shaking the publick Credit of the Nation; have now all their Sins forgiven on Account of their modish Principles, and are called not Rebels, but by the softer Appellation of Insurgents!
These angry Writers use their utmost Efforts to persuade us that this War with the Colonies (for a War it will be) is a national Cause when in fact it is merely a ministerial one. Administration wants an American Revenue to dissipate in Corruption. The Quarrel is about a paltry threepenny Duty on Tea. There is no real Clashing of Interests between Britain and America. Their Commerce is to their mutual Advantage, or rather most to the Advantage of Britain, which finds a vast Market in America for its Manufactures; and as good [Pay,] I speak from Knowledge, as in any Country she trades to upon the Face of the Globe. But the Fact needs not my Testimony, it speaks for it self; for if we could elsewhere get better Pay and better Prices, we should not send our Goods to America. The gross Calumniators of that People, who want us to imbrue our Hands in Brother’s Blood, have the Effrontery to tell the World that the Americans associated in Resolutions not to pay us what they ow’d us unless we repeal’d the Stamp Act. This is an INFAMOUS FALSHOOD; they know it to be such. I call upon the Incendiaries who have advanc’d it, to produce their Proofs. Let them name any two that enter’d into such an Association, or any one that made such a Declaration. Absurdity marks the very Face of this Lie. Every one acquainted with Trade knows, that a credited Merchant daring to be concern’d in such an Association, could never expect to be trusted again. His Character on the Exchange of London would be ruined forever. The great Credit given them since that time, nay the present Debt due from them, is itself a Proof of the Confidence we have in their Probity.

Another villainous Falshood advanc’d against the Americans is, that tho’ we have been at such Expence in protecting them, they refuse to contribute their Part to the publick general Expence of the Empire. The Fact is, that they never did refuse a Requisition of that kind. A Writer who calls himself Sagittarius (I suppose from his flinging about, like Solomon’s Fool, Firebrands, Arrows and Death) in the Ledger of March 9. asserts that the “Experiment has been tried and that they did not think it expedient to return even an Answer.” How does he prove this? Why, “the Colony Agents were told by Mr. Grenville, that a Revenue would be required from them to defray the Expences of their Protection.” But was the Requisition ever made? Were circular Letters ever sent by his Majesty’s Command from the Secretary of State to the several Colony Governments, according to the establish’d Custom, stating the Occasion, and requiring such Supplies as were suitable to their Abilities and Loyalty? And did they then refuse not only Compliance but an Answer? No such Matter. Agents are not the Channel thro’ which Requisitions are made. If they were told by Mr. Grenville that a “Revenue would be required, and yet the Colonies made no Offer, no Grant nor laid any Tax,” Does it follow they would not have done it if they had been required? Probably they thought it time enough when the Requisition should come, and in fact it never appeared there to this day. In the last War they all gave so liberally, that we thought ourselves bound in honour to return them a Million. But We are disgusted with their Free Gifts; we want to have something that is obtain’d by Force; like a mad Landlord who should refuse the willing Payment of his full Rents, and chuse to take less by way of Robbery.
This shameless Writer, would cajole the People of England, with the Fancy of their being Kings of America, and that their Honour is at Stake by the Americans disputing their Government. He thrusts us into the Throne cheek-by-Jole with Majesty, and would have us talk as he writes, of our Subjects in America, and our Sovereignty over America. Forgetting that the Americans are Subjects of the King, not our Subjects, but our Fellow-Subjects; and that they have Parliaments of their own, with the Right of granting their own Money by their own Representatives, which we cannot deprive them of but by Violence and Injustice.
Having by a Series of iniquitous and irritating Measures provoked a loyal People almost to Desperation, we now magnify every Act of an American Mob, into REBELLION, tho’ the Government there disapprove it and order Prosecution, as is now the Case with regard to the Tea destroyed: And we talk of nothing but Troops and Fleets, and Force, of blocking up Ports, destroying Fisheries, abolishing Charters, &c. &c. Here Mobs of English Sawyers can burn Sawmills; Mobs of English Labourers destroy or plunder Magazines of Corn; Mobs of English Coalheavers attack Houses with Fire Arms; English Smuglers can fight regularly the King’s Cruizing Vessels, drive them ashore and burn them, as lately on the Coast of Wales, and on the Coast of Cornwall; but upon these Accounts we hear no Talk of England’s being in Rebellion; no Threats of taking away its Magna Charta, or repealing its Bill of Rights; For we well know that the Operations of a Mob are often unexpected, sudden, and soon over, so that the Civil Power can seldom prevent or suppress them, not being able to come in before they have dispers’d themselves: And therefore it is not always accountable for their Mischiefs.
Surely the great Commerce of this Nation with the Americans is of too much Importance to be risk’d in a Quarrel which has no Foundation but ministerial Pique and Obstinacy! To us, in the Way of Trade, comes now, and has long come, all the superlucration arising from their Labour. But Will Our reviling them as Cheats, Hypocrites, Scoundrels, Traitors, Cowards, Tyrants, &c. according to the present Court Mode in all our Papers, make them more our Friends, more fond of our Merchandize? Did ever any Tradesman succeed who attempted to drub Customers into his Shop? And Will honest JOHN BULL the Farmer be long satisfy’d with Servants that before his Face attempt to kill his Plow-Horses?
A Londoner.
Rough of a Paper printed


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jonathan Shipley, 10 March 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Shipley, Jonathan

My good Lord,
Cravenstreet March 10——74.
In Page 26 and seq. of the oldest of these Pamphlets, and Page 64 and seq. of the newest, your Lordship will find the Subject of Communication with Settlements on the Ohio pretty fully handled.
The Rarity of Goods brought from distant Countries makes People willing to give such an additional Price for them as more than compensates the Charge of Carriage. A Gentleman assur’d me that not long since being at a Fair in Transylvania, he saw there a Shop full of English Queen’s Ware, which had been carry’d up the Rhine and down the Danube. This Ware is bulky, of low Value proportion’d to its Bulk, and hazardous to carry, and yet the Price defray’d the Expence and Risque.
I send also another Pamphlet, at the End of which, Page 143. is reprinted a little Piece of mine on the Differences then arising between the two Countries.
I apprehend that one View of the intended Bill may be, the Discouraging of Emigrations. The Projectors may suppose, that if Titles to new Land cannot be obtained in America, People will not go thither to obtain Lands. They will however find themselves mistaken. The Natives of America are those that settle new Lands, removing from those they have begun to cultivate as fast as they have an Opportunity of selling them to New Comers, who are not so fit for the Woods as themselves. And this will go on, for People will confide that Government can never be so unjust as to turn them off, and indeed it will never be done.
But suppose such an Act could be executed, what would be the Consequence? The American Gentlemen, (not at present in favour here) who are Possessors of large Tracts of Land, fit for Settlement, would then have the whole Market in their own Hands, and their Estates would thereby be increas’d in Value beyond Imagination. Sir Francis Bernard and his Associates (of whom I have the honour to be one) have 120,000 Acres in Nova Scotia which we wish to have Settled. The Settlement on the Ohio is against us, as it draws the People another Way. Perhaps he may move the Measure for his own Sake, and that of his English Friends. I ought not to object to it if I thought only of my own Interest; for I have declin’d my Share in the Ohio Purchase. But I think People should be left at Liberty to go where they can be happiest. I and my Son have also some other considerable Tracts, so that if such an Act should pass, Government will do me more Favour than they have done me Injury by taking away my Place. With the greatest Esteem and Respect, I am, My Lord, Your Lordship’s most obedient and most humble Servant
B Franklin


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from the Georgia Commons House of Assembly, 13 March 1774
From: Georgia Commons House of Assembly
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir
Savannah in Georgia 13th. March 1774
I have the Honor to communicate to you the high Opinion the Representatives of the People entertain of your Conduct as their Agent. In consequence whereof they have directed me to transmit you their Thanks. I do therefore in the Name and by Order of the Commons House of Assembly of Georgia give you their Thanks for the just discharge of the important Trust reposed in you, and do retain the most greateful sense of your repeated Offers and Endeavours to serve the Province. I have the Honor to be respectfully Sir Your Most Obedient Servant
Willm. Young Speaker
Benjamin Franklin Esqr. Agent for the Province of Georgia.

Addressed: Benjamin Franklin Esqr. / Georgia Coffee House / London
Savannah
Endorsed: Province of Georgia Speaker’s Letter of Thanks.
March 13. 1774  Recd April 29.  Answer’d May 2.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from the Georgia Commons House Committee of Correspondence, 14 March 1774
From: Georgia Commons House Committee of Correspondence
To: Franklin, Benjamin

This letter, and the brief note from the Speaker written the day before, were as far as we know Franklin’s first official word from the Georgia Assembly in almost four years. His constituents’ silence was due not to taciturnity but to political feuding, first between the Commons House and the Governor on the old issue of the speaker, then between the lower and upper houses on the issue of Franklin’s reappointment. He was continuing to act as agent, without official status and hence without salary, while the attempt to regularize his position developed into a constitutional clash in Savannah.
His formal appointment lapsed on June 1, 1771, with the expiration of the last ordinance that prolonged it. For some time no new ordinance was possible. The legislature, because of the wrangle over Noble Wimberly Jones as speaker, did not hold a proper session between April, 1771, and December, 1772. In January and February, 1773, the Commons House prepared, amended, and passed an ordinance reappointing Franklin; the Upper House further amended it, and both agreed on its final form. At the same time another ordinance appointed Grey Elliott, at an annual salary of £100 sterling, to act as agent in the older man’s absence. In September the Governor approved the second ordinance but not the first; Franklin’s reappointment remained in limbo.
When the lower house reconvened in January, 1774, it promptly returned to the attack with another bill appointing Franklin. On receipt of it the Upper House appointed a committee to consider his conduct in the three years, 1768–71, when he had been official agent. Nothing had been heard from him, the committee reported in February, except that he was satisfied with the salary and would do his best for the province. The House thereupon unanimously refused to reappoint. The Commons House countered by directing a committee of its own to look into the same question. This report was quite different: Franklin had written in August of 1768, April and June of 1769, August of 1770, and May of 1771, and had shown himself indefatigable in working for the province; if the Upper House thought otherwise, why had it agreed to choose him the year before? The criticism of him was unfair and uncandid, the Commons House resolved, and he should be formally thanked for his services. Not content with this lie direct, the House went on to assert its sole right to appoint and instruct an agent, named Franklin to that post at a salary of £150 sterling, and appointed from its membership a nine-man committee of correspondence to send him directions and receive his reports. These resolutions, put to a vote on March 2, were passed by a majority of seventeen to two.
The Upper House responded to the challenge on March 11–12. It had seen, its investigators reported, only two of the five letters that Franklin had supposedly sent; he had performed no real service to the province, and the Commons House was deluding itself. Its claim to appoint on its own, furthermore, was an open and unconstitutional attack on the privileges of the Upper House and the prerogative of the crown, and the Governor was asked to protest to Whitehall against the claim and the appointment.
With the present letter the committee of correspondence enclosed a long account of the dispute, but only through March 2; nothing was said about developments since then. Consequently Franklin, although informed that the two houses were at loggerheads, was left in the dark about the outcome. It turned out to be the end of his agency. Early the following May he drew up his final account and left it with Grey Elliott, who took over responsibility for the province’s affairs.
The question of what was going on in Savannah is worth raising, even though the records offer no conclusive answer. In 1773 the two houses, after some negotiation, agreed upon Franklin as agent; yet in February, 1774, the upper one reversed its stand. As the committee of the Commons House pointed out, the reversal was puzzling: what lay behind it? Probably the manoeuvering of Governor Wright. His bête noire was Noble Wimberly Jones, with whom Franklin as agent had been associated from the beginning. Jones resigned the speaker’s chair in December, 1772, but remained a political power, and Wright’s hostility to him extended to Franklin. This explains the Governor’s refusal to countenance the reappointment in September, 1773, and suggests that during the next five months he worked successfully upon the Council or Upper House to bring it around to his position. The members justified their new stance by charging that the agent had been derelict in his duty. If the charge was concocted, as seems likely, it was not the reason but the excuse for ending his agency.

Sir.
Savannah 14th March 1774.
Truly sensible of your well experienced Fidelity, and merit, immediately on the meeting of the General Assembly, the Commons house passed an Ordinance reappointing you as Agent which was rejected by the Upper House for reasons best known to themselves, it was necessary, however, that something should appear to account for their mysterious conduct and the enclosed is a copy of the minutes extracted from their Journals by a Committee of the lower House appointed for that purpose.
Your conduct has been so generally approved that the Representatives of the People could not suffer those measures to pass over unnoticed and they therefore directly entered into such Resolutions as they thought sufficient to do Justice to a Reputation which is of itself so Sacred and well known as to require no foreign support, a copy of which you have also enclosed.
It sometimes happens in Societies as in private Life that small injuries are suffered and winked at until they increase and become too intolerable to be any longer borne; the Commons of Georgia upon a presumption that any Gentleman nominated by them would receive no Opposition from either of the other legislative Branches from time to time have made it their practice to prepare an Ordinance and send it to the Upper House for their concurrence. This has at length been miscontrued into a Right and they now suppose no Agent for the people can be properly appointed unless they join in the nomination.
Perfectly convinced of their exclusive Right the Commons House have entered into a Resolution (a copy of which you will also herewith receive) reappointing you their Agent and we are directed to entreat that you will do just honor to their choice by your acceptance of the Office, And upon such presumption we are instructed to acquaint you that the Province has lately been much alarmed and terrified by the incursions of some discontented Creek Indians who have perpetrated many murders and otherwise committed great Depredations on the persons and property of many Setlers lately residing on our Frontier formed by the Lands lately ceded to His Majesty. Although the party of Indians which committed these Outrages consists of about fifty of the Lower Creeks only and their treacherous and cruel Behavior is disapproved of and condemned by their countrymen in the Upper Creek Nation, yet, when satisfaction comes to be demanded, it is much to be feared that their incapacity to give such as should (and probably will) be insisted upon may be the unavoidable means of bringing on a General War with that powerful Nation whose number of fighting men we have reason to believe from the best authority amounts to full Four Thousand.
As this Province is very far from being able to carry on of itself so expensive and dangerous a War, the two branches of the Legislative Body have seperately furnished His Excellency the Governor with addresses to the King, which he has promised to cause to be presented by the earliest opportunity, the Commons House for reasons which you will undoubtedly see through, thought Administration the properest channel for their Address to pass to His Majesty; they, however, directed us to furnish you with the enclosed copy and desire that you will add another proof of your attachment to this Province by exerting your utmost influence in support of our application to the Crown for Troops to reduce the Savages to a proper sense of their conduct and bring them to Terms of Peace and Justice. We have nothing further to add but that we are with great esteem and respect. Sir Your most Obedient Servants.

Willm. Young
  Joseph Clay
  T Netherclift

N W Jones
  Tho Shruder
  D. Zubly. Junr.

  Saml Farley.

Benjamin Franklin Esquire  Agent for the Province of Georgia.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jan Ingenhousz, 18 March 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Ingenhousz, Jan

Dear Friend,
London, March 18. 1774
I have lately been favoured with yours of the 24th past. I am very sensible of your Kindness in the Concern you express on Account of the late Attack on my Character before the Privy Council and in the Papers. Be assured, my good Friend, that I have done nothing unjustifiable, nothing but what is consistent with the Man of Honour, and with my Duty to my King and Country; and this will soon be as apparent to the Publick as it is now to all here who know me. I do not find that I have lost a single Friend on the Occasion. All have visited me repeatedly with affectionate Assurances of their unalterable Respect and Affection; and many of Distinction, with whom I had before but slight Acquaintance. You know that in England, there is every day in almost every Paper some Abuse on public Persons of all Parties, the King himself does not always escape; and the Populace, who are used to it, love to have a good Character cut up now and then for their Entertainment. On this occasion it suited the Purposes of the Ministry to have me abused, as it often suits the Purposes of their Opposers to abuse them. And having myself been long engag’d in Publick Business, this Treatment is not new to me, I am almost as much used to it as they are themselves, and perhaps can bear it better. So, my dear Friend, let it give you no more Uneasiness. I have indeed lost a little Place that was in their Power; but I can do very well without it. It will not be long before I publish my Vindication, which some Circumstances keep back at present. I shall send you a Copy of it, but had rather see you here. I hope your Intention of visiting us in the Spring still continues.
Sir John Pringle continues well. His Speech in giving the last Medal, on the Subject of the Discoveries relating to the Air, did him great Honour. I suppose you have seen it. Dr. Priestly goes on rapidly with new and curious Experiments on that Subject; too many to relate in a Letter. He is about printing a new 8vo Book full of them.
  Mr. Walsh, (one of whose Papers on the Torpedo I shall, to save Postage, send you thro’  the Hands of the Ambassador) has just made a curious Discovery in Electricity. You know we find that in rarify’d Air it would pass more freely, and leap thro’ greater Spaces than in dense Air; and thence it was concluded that in a perfect Vacuum it would pass any distance without the least Obstruction. But having made a perfect Vacuum by means of boil’d Mercury in a long Torricellian bent Tube, its Ends immers’d in Cups full of Mercury, he finds that the Vacuum will not conduct at all, but resists the Passage of the Electric Fluid absolutely, as much as if it was Glass itself. This may lead to new Principles and new Views in the atmospheric Part of Philosophy. I am ever, my dear Friend, Yours most affectionately
B Franklin
M. Ingenhausz.

Addressed: To / Dr Ingenhauss / Physician of the Court / at Vienna / Austria
Notation: Opened on Account of the Postage not being paid.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Giambatista Beccaria, 20 March 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Beccaria, Giambatista

Revd. and Dear Sir,
London, March. 20. 1774
I have receiv’d several of your Favours lately relating to the Edition of your Book in English, which I have put into the Hands of the Translator, who will observe your Directions. The Work is now in the Press, and goes on pretty fast. I am much oblig’d by your kind Assistance in procuring the Impressions from the Plates. They are not yet arriv’d here. But the Money, which I find by a Note from you to Dr. Priestly amounts to 143 livres of Piemont will be paid by the Bookseller, Mr. Nourse, in my Absence, to any Person you may order to receive it.
Mr. Walsh, the same ingenious Member of our Society who went to France to make Experiments on the Torpedo, has lately hit on a new Discovery in Electricity which surprizes us a little. You know that finding Air made rarer by the Pump or by Heat gave less Obstruction to the Passage of Electricity than when in its denser State, we were apt to think a perfect Vacuum would give it no Resistance at all. But he, having by boiling the Mercury made a perfect Vacuum in a long bent Torricellian Tube, has found that Vacuum to resist absolutely the Passage of the Electric Fluid during two or three Days, or till some quantity of Air, the smallest imaginable is admitted into it. This, if verify’d by future Experiments, may afford some new Light to the Doctrine of Atmospheric Electricity, the Aurora Borealis, &c. With unalterable Respect and Esteem, I have the Honour to be, Revd. Sir, Your most obedient and most humble Servant
B F.

  Enclosed I send you Mr. Walsh’s paper on the torpedo, which you will please accept.
  P. S. Count Scarnifiggi having departed, by whose means I had planned to send the little packet containing the paper mentioned above, I have been obliged to omit it; and, not knowing your present Minister, I shall perhaps send this of mine by the post.
Pere Beccaria


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to the Marquis de Condorcet, 20 March 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Condorcet, Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat, marquis de

Sir,
London, March 20. 1774.
I am ashamed that my late continued Embarras in public Affairs, should have so long prevented my answering the Letter you honoured me with, of the 2d Decr. last.
I transmitted your Queries to our Society at Philadelphia, where they will be well considered, and full Answers will be sent you. On my Return thither which I am now preparing for, I shall take care if not done, to urge the doing it as soon as possible. In the mean time I can inform you as to Qu. 1. That tho’ there is in Pensilvania abundance of Lime-Stone and Marble, no Flint has yet been found there by the English; yet it is supposed that Flint is to be met with in some Part of the Country, since Heads of Arrows made of it by the ancient Inhabitants, are sometimes found in Ploughing the Fields. That small Sea Shells are found intermix’d with the Substance of Rock Stone in some of our highest Mountains, and such I think as are not now to be met with recent on our Coasts. Several Skeletons suppos’d by their Tusks, &c. to be of Elephants, have been found near the Ohio, an Account of which may be found in the English Philos. Transactions.
As to Qu. 2. Observations have been made in America of the Variation of the Needle, and as well as I can remember, it is found to differ a Degree in about 20 Years.
As to Qu. 3. The Height of the Barometer, by many Years Observation, is said to vary, between 28, 59 and 30, 78. The Conjectures from those Changes are still uncertain.
As to Qu. 4. The Negroes who are free live among the White People, but are generally improvident and poor. I think they are not deficient in natural Understanding, but they have not the Advantage of Education. They make good Musicians.

As to Qu. 5. I do not know that any Marks of Volcanos any Lava or Pomice Stone have been met with in North America. Pit Coal is found in many Places, and very good; but little used, there being plenty of Wood.
These Answers are very short. I hope to procure you such as shall be more full and satisfactory. With great Respect, I have the Honour to be Sir, Your most obedient and most humble Servant
B F.
M. Le Marquis de Condorcet


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Cushing, 22 March 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Cushing, Thomas

Sir,
London, March 22. 1774.
I received your Favour of Jan. 23. I suppose we never had since we were a People, so few Friends in Britain. The violent Destruction of the Tea seems to have united all Parties here against our Province, so that the Bill now brought into Parliament for shutting up Boston as a Port till Satisfaction is made, meets with no Opposition. An Alteration in our Charter relating to the Choice of the Council is also talked of, but it is not certain that it will be propos’d at present. I cannot but hope that the Affair of the Tea will have been considered in the Assembly before this time, and Satisfaction proposed if not made; for such a Step will remove much of the Prejudice now entertain’d against us, and put us again on a fair Footing in contending for our old Privileges as Occasion may require. I am not well enough to bustle or to write much: And can only add my best Wishes for the Prosperity of my Country. With great Respect and Esteem, I have the Honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant

P.S. By the Enquiries that I hear are made, I suspect there may be a Design to seize some Persons who are supposed to be Ringleaders, and bring them here for Trial.
It is talk’d here that authentic Advices are received assuring Government that Messrs. Hancock and Adams were seen at the Head of the Mob that destroy’d the Tea, openly encouraging them. I oppose this Report by alleging the Improbability, that when the lower Actors tho’t it prudent to disguise themselves, any of the principal Inhabitants should appear in the Affair.
Verte
  Honble Thos Cushing Esqr
  Copy

Endorsed: Dr Franklin March 22. April 2. and 16. 1774


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jane Mecom, 23 March 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Mecom, Jane

Dear Sister,
London, March 23. 1774
A violent Cold which affects my Head and Eyesight, makes it inconvenient to me to write much; yet I would not miss the Opportunity of giving you this Line just to let you know that I am otherwise as usual. I hope you and yours are well, and am ever Your affectionate Brother
B Franklin


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Tuthill Hubbart, 31 March 1774
From: Hubbart, Tuthill
To: Franklin, Benjamin

    Boston March 31st. 1774
    Dear Sir

It’s a long time since I have had the pleasure of line from You, when I wrote You last I forward’d You the Appeal on Husks affair with the Post Office which suppose You received though You have not notticed it. When the Ships sail for London I wait till the last in order to send You the latest Papers that I have not wrote you at such times, and indeed I did not think it necessary (except to express my sincere regard) as You have so many correspondents better Qualified to give their Oppinions on the unhappy disputes now subsisting which if not soon settled will I fear be attended with unhappy consequences. I think your last Letter to the Speaker, looks rather with a Mellancholy Aspect.
By the Paper’s now forwarded, You will see the attack now made on the Post Office, which by all I can learn orriginates with a Mr. Godard, and he says is adopted at the Southward. I cant yet learn what incouragment it meets here, he has proposed a subscription to pay Riders to go from hence to Hartford to receive the Mails and bring them to Boston, to be deliver’d to such Post Master’s as shall be chosen by the Subscribers.
You will see in the Paper’s a Letter said to be addresst to Me and some hints what is expected from me, but if they proceed I imagine they will be more explicit.
They say they cannot with propriety longer submitt to the Act establishing a Post Office in America for the express purpose of raiseing a revenue without their consent.
Indeed some says that You are threatend with being displaced from the Office and they shall have it in their Power to reinstate You and make it equally proffitable to You, doubtless Mr. Foxcroft will write You more particularly on the Subject. Mrs. Mecom and family is well, Mrs. Partridge and Suckey joyns in their affectionate and dutyfull regards with Your most Affectionate Nephew
Tuthill Hubbart


Title: Franklin’s Contributions to a Pamphlet by George Whatley, March 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

In 1765 George Whatley (c. 1709–91) published a pseudonymous pamphlet, The Laws and Policy of England Relating to Trade. Nine years later he brought out a second edition, much altered and with the quite different title cited above, to which Franklin contributed a number of lengthy notes. So much is clear. But almost nothing else about the episode is.
Whatley, who seems to have been no relative of Thomas and William Whately, remains a shadowy figure. He had been a British consul years before in the Mediterranean area; by 1774 he was a public-spirited London merchant with a particular interest in the Foundling Hospital, of which he remained an officer until his death. He was an old friend of John Ellis, the naturalist, and of Lord Le Despencer, either of whom may have brought him and Franklin together. The American worked with him on the pamphlet, doubtless on more than the notes; the odd phonetic spelling suggests Franklinian influence. But the Englishman retained control of the contents: he accepted, rejected, or amended his collaborator’s additions as he pleased.
That was apparently the last that Whatley expected to see of them. In 1783, however, he encountered them again in Vaughan’s edition of Franklin’s work, and was both gratified and surprised. His pleasure in reading the volume was heightened, he wrote, “by my finding the Notes understood to be all Yours, as printed in the Second Edition of my Principles of Trade. My Vanity is much flatter’d, as the Notes, from you, must Sanctify my Work; and peradventure be an Indorsement for it to be sought for.” This letter, which except for Franklin’s brief note below of April 17 is the first between them that survives, touched off a reflective and often moving exchange between the two elderly men, who greeted each other as “dear old friend.” Franklin spoke admiringly of the pamphlet, considered having it translated into French, and particularly wished to have it publicized in America. “The Ideas of our People there, tho’ rather better than those that prevail in Europe, are not so good as they should be; and that Piece might be of service among them.”
  Franklin’s contributions to “that Piece” reflect, though through the dark glass of Whatley’s editing, the development of his economic ideas. He had opposed some commercial restrictions on the colonies, and occasionally restrictions in general; but several of these notes, particularly the two final ones, make the point more strongly than ever before that trade, because it benefits all concerned, should be free from governmental shackles. This argument would reveal Franklin’s thought more precisely than it does if we could be sure that the wording was his. Unfortunately we cannot. Whatley kept his collaborator’s original manuscripts, collated them to see how he had changed them, and then apparently returned the collation to Franklin; but the documents have disappeared. Vaughan, in his edition, guardedly described the notes as “supposed either to be written by Dr. Franklin, or to contain sentiments nearly allied to his own.” William Temple  Franklin threw such caution to the winds: he reproduced the pamphlet as a joint work, incorporated the notes with the text, and contended that only one small passage was entirely by Whatley—to whom Franklin himself, as his grandson conceded, assigned authorship of the whole.
The most reliable evidence of Franklin’s handiwork is in two copies of the pamphlet that he presented to others. One he gave to Jonathan Williams, Jr., we do not know when; and before passing it on to the American Philosophical Society, where it now is, Williams marked in it the notes that his granduncle had written. The other copy, now in the Library of Congress, was a gift at the end of Franklin’s life; it is inscribed by him “Presented to Thomas Jefferson, Esq. Secretary of State by his obedient humble Servant The Printer.” Jefferson wrote at the first footnote, page 2, “notes marked B.F. are Doctr. Franklin’s.” The notes so marked do not agree with those indicated by Williams, no doubt because Franklin gave each a different report; Jefferson excluded some passages that Williams included, and included three notes, one the longest in the pamphlet, that Williams omitted. We cannot resolve this conflict, and therefore print everything marked in either copy and indicate where they differ. The context of each note is summarized in brackets.

March, 1774
<Trade is the intercourse between nations and individuals; gain is the end to which all its methods are directed.>
In Transactions of Trade, it is not to be supos’d, that like Gaming, what one Party gains the other must necessarily lose. The Gain to each may be equal. If A had more Corn than he can consume, but wants Cade; and B has more Catle, but wants Corn; an Exchange is Gain to each: hereby the comon Stock of Comforts in Life, is increas’d.
<If restrictive laws were everywhere abandoned, trade would thrive in those countries where geography, climate, and industrious inhabitants provided the wherewithal to supply real and ideal wants.>
  When Princes make war by prohibiting Comerce, each may hurt himself, as much as his Enemy. Traders, who by their Business are promoting the comon Good of Mankind, as wel as Farmers, and Fishermen, who labor for the Subsistence of al, shou’d never be interupted, or molested in their Busines; but enjoy the Protection of al in the Time of War, as wel as in Time of Peace.
This Policy, those we are pleas’d to cal Barbarians, have, in a great Measure, adopted: for the trading Subjects of any Power, with whom the Emperor of Moroco may be at War, are not liable to Capture, when within Sight of his Land, going or coming; and have otherwise fre Liberty to trade and reside in his Dominions.
As a Maritime Power, we presume it is not thought right, that Great Britain shou’d grant such Fredom, except partialy: as in the Case of War with France, when Tobaco is alow’d to be sent thither under the Sanction of Pasports.
<Real wants are food and drink, clothing, fuel, and habitation; any wealth beyond what is needed to procure these essentials is used for ideal wants, or luxuries. The source of wealth is land and industry, and the state must nourish both.>
  Al that live must be subsisted. Subsistence costs something. He that is industrios produces by his Industry, something that is an Equivalent, and pays for his Subsistence. He is therefore no Charge, or Burden, to Society. The Indolent are an Expence, uncompensated.
There can be no Doubt but al Kinds of Employment that can be folow’d without Prejudice from Interuptions; Work that can be taken up, and laid down, often in a Day, without Damage; such as Spining, Kniting, Weaving, &c. are highly advantageous to a Comunity: because, in them, may be colected al the Produce of those Fragments of Time, that ocur in Family Busines, between the constant and necesary Parts of it, that usualy ocupy Females; as the Time between rising, and preparing Breakfast; between Breakfast, and preparing for Diner, &c. &c. The Amount of al these Fragments, is, in the Course of a Year, very considerable to a single Family; to a State proportionably. Highly profitable therefore it is, in this Case also, to folow that divine Direction, Gather up the Fragments that nothing be lost. Lost Time is lost Subsistence; it is therefore lost Treasure.
Hereby in several Familys, many Yards of Linen have been produc’d from the Employment of these Fragments only, in one Year, tho’ such Familys were just the same in Number as when not so employ’d.
It was an excelent saying of a certain Chinese Emperor, I wil, if posible, have no Idlenes in my Dominions; for if there be one Man idle, some other Man must sufer Cold and Hunger. We take this Emperor’s Meaning to be, that the Labor due to the Public, by each Individual, not being perform’d by the Indolent, and necesary to furnish his Subsistence, must naturaly fal to the share of others, who must thereby sufer.
<Only a change in the habits of the opulent can decrease the importation of luxuries; laws and duties are powerless to do so.>
  In Fact, the Produce of other Countrys can hardly be obtain’d, unles by Fraud or Rapine, without giving the Produce of our Land or our Industry in Exchange for them. If we have Mines of Gold and Silver, Gold and Silver may then be cal’d the Produce of our Land. If we have not, we can only fairly obtain those Metals by giving for them the Produce of our Land or Industry. When we have them, they are then only that Produce or Industry in another Shape; which we may give, if the Trade requires it, and our other Produce wil not suit, in Exchange for the Produce of some other Country that furnishes what we have more Ocasion for, or more Desire. When we have, to an inconvenient Degre, parted with our Gold and Silver, our Industry is stimulated afresh to procure more; that by its Means we may contrive to procure the same Advantage.
<The acquisitive instinct drives the rich man to put his riches to full use; hunger drives the poor man to put his labor to full use. The wise government must provide sufficient provisions for man and beast in order to sustain industry.>
  The comon People do not work for Pleasure generaly; but from Necesity. Cheapnes of Provisions makes them more idle; les Work is then done; it is then more in demand proportionaly, and of course the Price rises. Dearnes of Provisions obliges the Manufacturer to work more Days and more Hours: thus more Work is done than equals the usual Demand; of course it becomes cheaper, and the Manufactures in Consequence.
<Keeping bullion and coin at home does not promote the welfare of a state. Spain now allows the export of silver, which had previously been exported in spite of the law because it was needed to pay for imports.>
  Cou’d Spain and Portugal have succeded in executing their foolish Laws for “hedging in the Cuckow,” as Locke cals it, and have kept at Home al their Gold and Silver; those Metals wou’d, by this Time, have been of litle more Valu than so much Lead or Iron. Their Plenty wou’d have lesen’d their Valu. We see the Foly of these Edicts; but are not our own prohibitory and restrictive Laws that are profesedly made with Intention to bring a Balance in our Favor from our Trade with Foreign Nations to be paid in Mony, and Laws to prevent the Necesity of exporting that Mony, which, if they cou’d be thoroughly executed, wou’d make Mony as plenty, and of as litle Valu; I say are not such Laws akin to those Spanish Edicts; Folys of the same Family?
<Government should consider whether any proposed regulation of trade promotes the general good, and should seek information not only from those directly concerned but also from those with theoretical knowledge.>
  Perhaps, in general, it wou’d be beter if Government medled no farther with Trade, than to protect it, and let it take its Cours. Most of the Statutes, or Acts, Edicts, Arets and Placaarts of Parliaments, Princes, and States, for regulating, directing, or restraining of Trade; have, we think, been either political Blunders, or Jobbs obtain’d by artful Men, for private Advantage, under Pretence of public Good. When Colbert asembled some wise old Merchants of France; and desir’d their Advice and Opinion, how he cou’d best serve and promote Comerce; their Answer, after Consultation, was, in three Words only, Laissez nous faire. Let us alone. It is said, by a very solid Writer of the same Nation, that he is wel advanc’d in the Science of Politics, who knows the ful Force of that Maxim Pas trop gouverner: Not to govern too strictly. Which, perhaps, wou’d be of more Use when aply’d to Trade, than in any other public Concern. It were therefore to be wish’d, that Comerce were as fre between al the Nations of the World, as it is between the several Countys of England: so wou’d al, by mutual Comunication, obtain more Enjoyments. Those Countys do not ruin one another by Trade; neither wou’d the Nations. No Nation was ever ruin’d by Trade; even, seemingly, the most disadvantageous.
Wherever desirable Superfluitys are imported, Industry is excited; and thereby Plenty is produc’d. Were only Necesarys permited to be purchas’d, Men wou’d work no more than was necesary, for that Purpose.

<France has recently changed its policy to permit internal free trade in grain and export in French bottoms. Now that other nations are abandoning destructive restrictions we must look to our essential interests.>
  In Inland high Countrys, remote from the Sea, and whose Rivers are smal, runing from the Country, not to it, as is the Case of Switzerland, great Distres may arise from a Cours of bad Harvests, if public Granarys are not provided, and kept wel stor’d. Antiently too, before Navigation was so general; Ships so plenty; and comercial Conections so wel establish’d; even Maritim Countrys might be ocasionaly distres’d, by bad Crops. But such is now the Facility of Comunication between those Countrys, that an unrestrain’d Comerce can scarce ever fail of procuring a Suficiency for any of them. If indeed any Government is so imprudent, as to lay its Hands on imported Corn; forbid its Exportation; or compel its Sale, at limited Prices; there, the People, may sufer some Famin, from Merchants avoiding their Ports. But wherever Comerce is known to be always fre, and the Merchant absolute Master of his Comodity, as in Holand, there wil always be, a reasonable Suply.
When an Exportation of Corn takes Place, ocasion’d by a higher Price in some Foreign Country, it is comon to raise a Clamor, on the Suposition that we shal thereby produce a domestic Famin. Then folows a Prohibition; founded on the imaginary Distres of the Poor. The Poor, to be sure, if in Distres, shou’d be reliev’d; but if the Farmer cou’d have a high Price for his Corn, from the foreign Demand; must he, by a Prohibition of Exportation, be compel’d to take a low Price, not of the Poor only, but of every one that eats Bread, even the richest? The Duty of relieving the Poor is incumbent on the Rich; but, by this Operation, the whole Burden of it is laid on the Farmer; who is to relieve the Rich, at the same Time. Of the Poor, too, those who are maintain’d by the Parishes, have no Right to claim this Sacrifice of the Farmer: as, while they have their Alowance, it makes no Diference to them, whether Bread be cheap, or dear.  Those working Poor, who now mind Busines only five or four Days in the Week, if Bread shou’d be so dear, as to oblige them to work the whole six, requir’d by the Comandment, do not seem to be agriev’d, so as to have a Right to public Redres. There wil, then, remain, comparativly, only a few Familys in every District; who, from Sicknes, or a great Number of Children, wil be so distres’d, by a high Price of Corn, as to need Relief: and these shou’d be taken Care of, by particular Benefactions, without restraining the Farmers Profit.
Those who fear, that Exportation may so far drain the Country of Corn, as to starve ourselves; fear, what never did, nor ever can, hapen. They may, as wel, when they view the Tide ebing towards the Sea, fear, that al the Water wil leave the river. The Price of Corn, like Water, wil find its own Level. The more we export, the dearer it becomes at Home. The more is receiv’d Abroad, the cheaper it becomes there, and as soon as these Prices are equal, the Exportation stops of Cours. As the Seasons vary in diferent Countrys, the Calamity of a bad Harvest, is never universal. If then, al Ports were always open, and al Comerce fre; every Maritim Country wou’d generaly eat Bread at the medium Price, or Average, of al the diferent Harvests; which wou’d probably be more equal, than we can make it, by our artificial Regulations; and therefore, a more steady Encoragement to Agriculture: The Nations wou’d al have Bread at this middle Price; and that Nation, which at any Time, inhumanly, refuses to relieve the Distreses of another Nation, deserves no Compasion, when in Distres itself.


Title: An Open Letter to Lord Buckinghamshire, 2 April 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

To the Earl of Buckinghamshire.
My Lord,
When I mentioned a few of the Consequences that might arise from blocking up the Harbours in North America, and promised to make some Remarks upon other Schemes that had been projected for humbling the Colonists, I did not intend to trouble your Lordship or the Public by stooping to remark upon that Ferrago of Reproaches, which are daily thrown out against the miserable inhabitants of that Country, by People who appear to be no better acquainted with their History or Constitution than they are with the Inhabitants of the Moon; my Intention was to take Notice of such Schemes as were frequently mentioned in public, and such as it seemed probable the Minister might adopt, because they were of the same Species with some that have already been adopted. But we are no longer to form Conjectures about what Manner in which Great Britain is to punish the Americans; we now see the Course in which she is to proceed, though we are not certain how long she may continue in that Course. The Port of Boston is to be shut up; its Trade is to be utterly destroyed; the Inhabitants, about twenty-five thousand in Number, are devoted to Poverty, Hunger and Death. We have been told by Governor Hutchinson, that the Men of Property, and a great Majority of the better Sort of People, are steady Friends to Government; the late Riots were certainly committed by a small Mob. Now it is discovered that the most equitable and merciful Way of obtaining Redress for the Outrages committed by a wrong-headed Mob, is by destroying Trade, punishing Men of Fortune, and bringing Thousands of innocent Families to Ruin. Doubtless there were other Methods of obtaining Redress. In former Cases, when a House has been pulled down, or a Citizen’s Goods destroyed by a Riot, the Provincial Assemblies have been applied to, and have paid the Damages: The Assembly of Massachusetts Bay would doubtless have paid for the Tea, had it been required of them in the usual Form. It is well known, that the Father of this City, and several other Gentlemen, were willing to give Security for the Payment of the Tea on those Terms. But that would have been a trifling Scheme, by which we could hardly expect the Pleasure of making a single Woman or Child shed a Tear; whereas the present Plan perfectly agrees with our Ideas of governing a distant Colony; it affords the pleasing Prospect of starving at least a Thousand of them to Death, and reducing Half of the Remainder to Beggary; to say nothing of the Motion that it must give to the Wheels of Trade on this Side of the Water. By this Plan also we are certain of securing the Affections of the Colonists: After this signal Proof of Lenity and Kindness, they will never forget us: If we should ever need their Assistance in the Time of Danger, they will certainly embrace the first Opportunity of shewing their Gratitude, and returning our Favours in kind. Such are the Observations, that are often made in Favour of the Measures that are now adopted for punishing the Colonies. For my Part, I may be singular in my Opinion, but though I cannot commend the Measure, I shall, on all Occasions, endeavour to speak of it with that Veneration which is due to a Scheme sanctified by the Voice of a British Parliament. In the mean while I may be indulged in offering a few Conjectures concerning the probable Operation of that Act by which the Port of Boston is to be destroyed. Certainly the Design of the Act is not to shut up the Port of Boston till the People have paid for the Tea that was destroyed, because Restitution might be obtained by gentler Means; and the Minister would never offer such an Insult to Humanity as to starve, ruin or distress above Twenty Thousand People in order to collect £11,000 nor could he value himself upon taking that by Force which the People would have given willingly. Neither is the Design of the Act to shut up the Port till the People have made Submission for the late Riot, and promised not to do the like again; for it is not to be supposed that the Rioters are known, else they may be punished in due course of Law; and the Public cannot possibly make Submission for an Action that was not done by the Public, though they may pay the Damages; nor can they promise, without being guilty of the greatest Absurdity, that no future Riots shall be committed, because Riots may happen, and frequently do happen, under the most orderly and perfect Police. The Design then of the Act must be, and this appears to be the Design on the very Face of it, “To shut up the Port of Boston until the People have engaged or promised to pay all Customs and Duties whatever that are imposed by a British Parliament.” Now, as I take it, the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston can give no Security for the future Payment of such Duties, because they may not be able to perform, though they should promise; and what is done by the Select Men, or even what is done by a Town Meeting, will be a weak Bond wherewith to bind the Populace. The Inhabitants of the neighbouring Towns are as active in all those Riots, perhaps more active than the Inhabitants of Boston. The Minister knows very well that the Town of Boston alone can give no Promises which shall be Security. Nor is it intended that the Submission or Promise of that Town should be considered as satisfactory. A Submission and Promise is expected from the other Towns as well as Boston; in plain Terms, it is expected that the Commons House of Assembly should acknowledge “the Right of the British Parliament to impose Taxes on the Inhabitants of that Province.” Now, my Lord, if the Port of Boston is to remain shut till the People in that Province acknowledge the Right of Parliament to impose any Taxes or Duties whatever, except for the Regulation of Commerce, it must remain shut till the very Name of a British Parliament is forgotten among them. You may shut up their Ports, one by one, as the Minister has lately threatened. You may reduce their Cities to Ashes; but the Flame of Liberty in North America shall not be extinguished. Cruelty and Oppression and Revenge shall only serve as Oil to increase the Fire. A great Country of hardy Peasants is not to be subdued. In the Grave which we dig for the Inhabitants of Boston, Confidence and Friendship shall expire, Commerce and Peace shall rest together. I have the Honour to be, &c.
Fabius.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Cushing, 2 April 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Cushing, Thomas

Sir
London, April 2. 1774
My last was of the 22d past, since which I have received none of your Favours.
I mentioned that the Bill brought into Parliament for Punishing Boston, met with no Opposition. It did however meet with a little before it got through, some few of the Members speaking against it in the House of Commons, and more in the House of Lords. It passed however by a very great Majority in both, and received the Royal Assent on Thursday the 31st past. You will have a Copy of it from Mr. Lee.
In mine of Feb. 2. I informed you that after the Treatment I had receiv’d at the Council-Board, it was not possible for me to act longer as your Agent, apprehending I could as such be of no farther Use to the Province; I have nevertheless given what Assistance I could as a private Man, by speaking to Members of both Houses, and by joining in the Petitions of the Natives of America now happening to be in London, which were ably drawn by Mr. Lee, to be presented separately to the several Branches of the Legislature. They serve, though without other Effect, to show our Sentiments, and that we did not look on and let the Act pass without bearing our Testimony against it. And indeed, though called Petitions, (for under another Name they would not have been received) they are rather Remonstrances and Protests.
By the enclosed Extract of a Letter from Wakefield in Yorkshire to a Friend of mine, you will see that the Manufacturers begin to take the Alarm. Another general Non-Importation Agreement is apprehended by them, which would complete their Ruin. But great Pains are taken to quiet them with the Idea that Boston must immediately submit, and acknowledge the Claim of Parliament, for that none of the other Colonies will adhere to them. A Number of the principal Manufacturers from different Parts of the Kingdom are now in town, to oppose the new Duty on foreign Linens, which they fear may provoke the Germans to lay Discouragements on British Manufactures: They have desired me to meet and dine with them on Wednesday next, when I shall have an Opportunity of learning their Sentiments more fully, and communicating my own.
Some Alterations of the Constitution of the Massachusetts are now hotly talked of, though what they are to be seems hardly yet settled. One thing mentioned is the Appointment of the Council by Mandamus. Another, Giving Power to the Governor to appoint Magistrates without Consent of Council. Another, the Abolishing of Town Meetings, or making it unlawful to hold them, till the Business to be proposed has been certified to the Governor, and his Permission obtained. A Motion has also been made in the House of Commons, with a View to conciliate as is said: that all the Duty Acts should be revised, and in the Revision and Re-enactment without formally or expressly repealing the Tea Duty (which would hurt the Dignity of Parliament) sink or omit it, and add an equal Value in some of the Coasting Port-Duties; and the Tea-Duty being thus taken out of the Way, it is supposed will have the salutary Effect of preventing the other Colonies from making a common Cause with ours: Some Advantages in Trade are at the same time to be given to America for the same Purpose, such as carrying Wine and Fruit directly from Spain and Portugal without touching in England.
I send inclosed the Proceedings of the Lords on Wednesday, which show their Zeal in the Business, by Appointing a Committee to sit during the Recess in the Easter Holidays. With great Esteem, I am, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant
B Franklin
Honble: Thomas Cushing Esqr

Addressed: To / The honourable Thomas Cushing, Esqr / Boston / per favour of / Capt. Paddock
Endorsed: Benj Franklin Esqr   April 2. 1774


Title: An Open Letter to Lord North, 5 April 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

For the Public Advertiser.
To Lord North.
My Lord,
Smyrna Coffee-House, April 5. [1774]
All your small Politicians, who are very numerous in the English Nation, from the patriotic Barber to the patriotic Peer, when big with their Schemes for the Good of poor Old England, imagine they have a Right to give Advice to the Minister, and condemn Administration if they do not adopt their Plan. I, my Lord, who have no mean Opinion of my Abilities, which is justified by the Attention that is paid to me when I harangue at the Smyrna and Old Slaughter’s, am willing to contribute my Mite to the public Welfare; and have a Proposal to make to your Lordship, which I flatter myself will be approved of by the Ministry, and if carried into Execution, will quiet all the Disturbances in America, procure a decent Revenue from our Colonies, make our royal Master (at least there) a King de facto, as well as de jure; and finally, as it may be managed, procure a round Sum towards discharging the national Debt.
My Scheme is, without Delay to introduce into North America a Government absolutely and entirely Military. The Opposition which some People suspect would be made by the Colonies, is a mere Bugbear: The Sight of a few Regiments of bold Britons, appearing with Ensigns displayed, and in all the Pomp of War, a Specimen of which may be seen every Summer at the Grand Review on Wimbledon Common, with that great Commander G——l G——e at their Head, accompanied with a Detachment from the Artillery, and Half a Dozen short Sixes, would so intimidate the Americans, that the General might march through the whole Continent of North America, and would have little else to do but to accept of the Submission of the several Towns as he passed. But as the Honour would be too great for one Man to reduce to absolute Subjection so great an Extent of Territory, I would propose that a separate Command be given to L——d G—— G——e, who by his animated Speeches in the House, and coinciding so entirely with your Lordship’s Opinion on the proper Methods for humbling America, deserves a Share in the Fame of such a grand Exploit. Let him have one half of the Army under his Direction, and march from New York to South  Carolina. No one can object to the Nomination, as his Military Prowess is upon Record. The Regiments that are in America, with those who are about to embark, will be amply sufficient, without being at the Expence of sending more Troops. Those who served in America the last War, know that the Colonists are a dastardly Set of Poltroons; and though they are descended from British Ancestors, they are degenerated to such a Degree, that one born in Britain is equal to twenty Americans. The Yankey Doodles have a Phrase when they are not in a Humour for fighting, which is become proverbial, I don’t feel bould To-day. When they make this Declaration, there is no prevailing on them to attack the Enemy or defend themselves. If contrary to Expectation they should attempt an Opposition, procure Intelligence when it happens not to be their fighting Day, attack them and they will fly like Sheep pursued by a Wolf. When all North America have thus bent their Neck to the Yoke designed for them, I would propose that the Method made use of by the Planters in the West Indies may be adopted, who appoint what they call a Negro Driver, who is chosen from among the Slaves. It is observed that the little Authority that is given him over his Fellow Slaves, attaches him to his Master’s Interest, and his Cruelty would be without Bounds were he not restrained; but the Master is certain, that the utmost Exertion of Strength will be exacted by this cruel Task-Master for the Proprietor’s Emolument. Let all the Colonists be enrolled in the Militia, subject of course to Martial Law. Appoint a certain Number of Officers from among the conquered People, with good Pay, and other Military Emoluments; they will secure their Obedience in the District where they command. Let no other Courts be allowed through the whole Continent but Courts Martial. An Inhabitant, who disobeys an Order, may by a Court Martial be sentenced to receive from One Hundred to a Thousand Lashes in a frosty Morning, according to the Nature of his Offence. Where Punishment is thus secure, this Advantage will accrue, that there will not be the same Necessity of hanging up so many poor Devils as in this free Country; by which Means the Service of many an able Man is lost to the Community. I humbly propose that the General and Commander in Chief be vested with the Power, and called by the Name of the King’s Viceroy of all North America. This will serve to impress the Americans with greater Respect for the first Magistrate, and have a Tendency to secure their Submission. All Orders issuing from this supreme Authority to have the Force of Laws. After this happy Change of Government, how easy to collect what Taxes you please in North America. When the Colonists are drained of their last Shilling, suppose they should be sold to the best Bidder. As they lie convenient for France or Spain, it may be reasonably expected one of those little Powers would be a Purchaser. I think Spain is to be preferred, as their Power hath more of the Ready than France. I will venture a Conjecture, that the Ministry might get at least Two Millions for the Soil, and the People upon it. With such a Sum what glorious Things might he not achieve! Suppose it should be applied towards the Payment of one hundredth Part of the National Debt, I [it?] would give him an Opportunity of drawing down upon him the Blessing of the Poor by making him to take off the Halfpenny Duty on Porter. Considering the probable Stability of the present Ministry, this Honour may be reserved for your Lordship.
My Lord, excuse the Crudity of these indigested Hints, which your Wisdom is so capable of improving; and believe me, with infinite Respect, Your Lordship’s Most obedient Humble Servant,
A Friend To Military Government.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Richard Nicholls Colden, 6 April 1774: résumé
From: Colden, Richard Nicholls
To: Franklin, Benjamin

<General Post Office, New York, April 6, 1774: Has received Franklin’s letter of January 5 by the Mercury, and assures him he will be diligent in preparing the accounts. Encloses Richard Hanson’s second bill for £50 sterling on Sir Lyonel Lyde & Co.; the first bill was sent of March 2. His father came to town two days ago; he is recovering his strength, sends compliments, and hopes to write soon.>


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to a Committee of the Library Company of Philadelphia, 7 April 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Library Company of Philadelphia

Gentlemen,
London, April 7. 1774
I thought Mr. Strahan had transmitted to you the Invoice with the Books by Falconer. It is but yesterday he brought it to me, and I now inclose it, with a Sketch of your Account. With my Respects to the Directors, and sincere Wishes of Prosperity to the Institution, I am, Gentlemen, Your most obedient humble Servant
[B Franklin.
Messrs. S. Rhoads, R Strettel Jones and Josiah Hewes, Commee. of the Directors of the Lib: Company.]

Addressed: To / Samuel Rhoads, Esqr / Philadelphia / [In another hand:] By / Capt. Ashmead


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Joseph Priestley, 10 April 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Priestley, Joseph

Dear Sir,
Craven Street, April 10, 1774.
In compliance with your request, I have endeavoured to recollect the circumstances of the American experiments I formerly mentioned to you, of raising a flame on the surface of some waters there.
When I passed through New Jersey in 1764, I heard it several times mentioned, that by applying a lighted candle near the surface of some of their rivers, a sudden flame would catch and spread on the water, continuing to burn for near half a minute. But the accounts I received were so imperfect that I could form no guess at the cause of such an effect, and rather doubted the truth of it. I had no opportunity of seeing the experiment; but calling to see a friend who happened to be just returned home from making it himself, I learned from him the manner of it; which was to choose a shallow place, where the bottom could be reached by a walking-stick, and was muddy; the mud was first to be stirred with the stick, and when a number of small bubbles began to arise from it, the candle was applied. The flame was so sudden and so strong, that it catched his ruffle and spoiled it, as I saw. New-Jersey having many pine-trees in different parts of it, I then imagined that something like a volatile oil of turpentine might be mixed with the waters from a pine-swamp, but this supposition did not quite satisfy me. I mentioned the fact to some philosophical friends on my return to England, but it was not much attended to. I suppose I was thought a little too credulous.
In 1765, the Reverend Dr. Chandler received a letter from Dr. Finley, President of the College in that province, relating the same experiment. It was read at the Royal Society, Nov. 21. of that year, but not printed in the Transactions; perhaps because it was thought too strange to be true, and some ridicule might be apprehended if any member should attempt to repeat it in order to ascertain or refute it. The following is a copy of that account.
“A worthy gentleman, who lives at a few miles distance, informed me that in a certain small cove of a mill-pond, near his house, he was surprized to see the surface of the water blaze like inflamed spirits. I soon after went to the place, and made the experiment with the same success. The bottom of the creek was muddy, and when stirred up, so as to cause a considerable curl on the surface, and a lighted candle held within two or three inches of it, the whole surface was in a blaze, as instantly as the vapour of warm inflammable spirits, and continued, when strongly agitated, for the space of several seconds. It was at first imagined to be peculiar to that place; but upon trial it was soon found, that such a bottom in other places exhibited the same phenomenon. The discovery was accidentally made by one belonging to the mill.”
I have tried the experiment twice here in England, but without success. The first was in a slow running water with a muddy bottom. The second in a stagnant water at the bottom a deep ditch. Being some time employed in stirring this water, I ascribed an intermitting fever, which seized me a few days after, to my breathing too much of that foul air which I stirred up from the bottom, and which I could not avoid while I stooped in endeavouring to kindle it. The discoveries you have lately made of the manner in which inflammable air is in some cases produced, may throw light on this experiment, and explain its succeeding in some cases, and not in others. With the highest esteem and respect, I am, Dear Sir, Your most obedient humble servant,
B. Franklin.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Lord Le Despencer, 14 April 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Le Despencer, Francis Dashwood, Baron

My dear Lord
Cravenstreet Apr. 14. 74
I apprehend there will hardly be room for so much, in Characters large enough to be read from below. If the Sculptor should be of that Opinion, perhaps it may be well enough still, if we begin with the Words, Almighty God being, &c. and end with, Persuasion, omitting what is before and after.

I happen to be engag’d at Dinner, but purpose waiting on your Lordship between 6 and 7. With unalterable Attachment, I am ever Your most obedient humble Servant
B Franklin


Title: Request for a Reprinting of the “Rules,” 15 April 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

To the Printer of the Gazetteer.
Having lately had occasion to turn over some news-papers, published in the course of the last summer, in search of an advertisement, I accidentally stumbled upon a letter, containing many excellent rules, by which a great empire may be reduced to a small one.
As I apprehend this plan is at present under the consideration of the House of Commons, I think a re-publication of it, at this time, would not be improper. The rules appear to me to be admirably adapted to the end proposed; and tho’ the experience that we have since gained may enable a shrewd politician to improve upon some of them, there are others perhaps which will serve to furnish Lord North with some ideas that possibly may not hitherto have occurred to him. I have therefore sent you an authenticated copy of them, and accompany it with this request, that you will speedily give them a place in the Gazetteer.
A Fidler.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Cushing, 16 April 1774
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Cushing, Thomas

Sir,
London, April 16. 1774
The above are Copies of my two last. The Torrent is still violent against America. A Bill is brought in to alter the Charter, appointing the Council by the Crown, giving Power to the Governors to nominate and commission Magistrates without Consent of Council, and forbidding any Town Meeting to be held in the Province (except the annual one for chusing Town Officers) without the Permission of the Governor, and for that Business only for which such Permission shall be requested. The Manner of Appointing Jurors is likewise to be altered: And another Bill is to provide for the Security of Persons who may be concern’d in executing or enforcing Acts of Parliament there, by directing their Trials for any thing done by them to be in some neighbouring Province or in Great Britain at the Discretion of the Governor. I hope to get the Breviates of these Bills in time to send by this Ship. They will meet with Opposition in both Houses; but there is little Hope that they will not pass, we having very few Friends in Parliament at present. The House will probably sit ’till some time in June, perhaps longer and till they hear the Effect of these Measures in America. I think to stay here as long as they sit, Mr. Lee being about to go abroad for a few Months. General Gage has been hastily commission’d and sent away to be your Governor. It is given out that Copies of several Letters of mine to you are sent over here to the Ministers, and that their Contents are treasonable for which I should be prosecuted if Copies could be made Evidence. I am not conscious of any treasonable Intention, and I know that much Violence must be us’d with my Letters before they can be construed into Treason; yet having lately seen two of my Actions, one my Endeavour to lessen the Differences between the two Countries, the other to stop a dangerous Quarrel between Individuals, and which I should have thought and still think to be good Actions, condemn’d as bad ones by high Authority, I am not to wonder if less than small Lump in my Forehead is voted a Horn. And you will not wonder if my future Letters contain mere Relations of Facts, without any of my Sentiments upon them, which perhaps I have been too forward in offering. With the greatest Respect I have the Honour to be Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant
B Franklin


Title: William Whately’s Chancery Suit: II. Franklin’s Answer, 19 April 1774: résumé
From: Sayer, Charles
To: Whately, William

In the latter part of January Franklin and his lawyers were too busy preparing for the Privy Council hearing on the petition from the Massachusetts House to give attention to the Chancery suit initiated by Whately on January 7. On the 31st, two days after the hearing, Thomas Life engaged for Franklin the two barristers who had so unsuccessfully represented him at the Cockpit, John Dunning and John Lee. They were soon joined by Richard Jackson and a Mr. Sayer, who was to argue the case in Chancery; the five lawyers eventually decided not to demur to the whole bill but only to certain parts, and to insist in the answer that the plaintiff had no right to learn who gave the letters to the defendant or received them from him. At a number of meetings in February and March Life worked out the answer with his client and the others. When it was finally completed it was almost as long and quite as verbose as the bill, and again we have condensed and paraphrased. While it was in preparation Sayer three times petitioned the court successfully for extensions. Whether these delays were necessary is not clear, but they could scarcely have been unwelcome to Franklin; for in February he hoped to leave the country within three months. In fact the proceedings dragged on, as explained in the headnote on the following document, until after he did leave in March, 1775.

<19th April 1774. The Answer of Benjamin Franklin to the Bill of Complaint of William Whately:
The defendant reserves the right of exception to the many errors and insufficiencies in the bill. In reply to as much of it as he is advised is material and necessary for him to answer, he says that:
He has been told and believes that Thomas Whately is dead, but does not know when he died. He does not know but believes it may be true that the complainant is his administrator, that Thomas Whately corresponded for some years before his death with Thomas Hutchinson and Andrew Oliver of Boston, and that the six letters from Hutchinson and the four from Oliver mentioned in the bill were part of this correspondence. He does not know of any other letters. He does not know whether the letters in question were in Thomas Whately’s custody at the time of his death, but has heard and believes that he had delivered them to some person or persons; to whom and for what purpose and under what if any restrictions the defendant cannot say.
The letters came into his possession, as agent of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, in or about November or December, 1772. He had not before known of their existence, and did not and does not know whether they were addressed to Thomas Whately, although he has lately heard that they were and has no information to the contrary.
He has not for seven years past, alone or with others, carried on the trade of a printer.

Neither he nor any one acting for him caused publication of the letters or erased an address on them.
As agent he sent the letters, as he “humbly apprehended it was his duty to do,” to a member of the House with whom he had been directed to correspond, because in his judgment they bore on matters of great importance to the province and because they had been given to him for transmission.
He believes that they have been published and widely disseminated in Massachusetts and elsewhere, but this was done without his knowledge or consent. He does not know of any printed copies sent to his friends in London, and has received only one or two himself.
He has corresponded with the aforesaid member of the House, but is not obligated to divulge the details of the correspondence.
He neither wanted to nor could keep the letters secret for the purpose of preventing any one in Massachusetts from sending information about them to the complainant, who as far as he knew had no right, interest, or concern in them.
He has heard from the aforesaid member of the House that the letters were received, but he is not obligated to divulge what he has learned from correspondence with him or any one else about how they were treated in Boston or elsewhere, or to say whether that correspondence is now in his custody.
Neither the originals nor copies of Hutchinson’s and Oliver’s letters are in his possession (he has given to some person or persons whom he cannot remember the printed copies that he received) except the authenticated and notarized copies sent to him as agent to support the petition from the House, and copies of those copies made for briefing counsel, and “a Copy thereof or some part thereof lately Printed and Published.”
He never did and does not intend to have copies printed in this kingdom or anywhere else. The complainant never requested him to deliver the originals or copies in his possession, to desist from publishing them, or to tell him where they were or how he acquired them or to whom he transmitted them, and never gave him, prior to his bill, any intimation of such questions.
He cannot deliver the letters or copies of them because he has none in his possession except as aforesaid.
He is not obligated to say how or from whom he obtained the letters or to whom he sent them.
They were given to him as agent, without his paying any consideration or reward for them. He cannot say how many copies have been sold or for what price; he made no profit whatsoever from their publication.
He denies the unlawful combination and confederacy alleged in the bill. It contains nothing else that requires an answer and that he has not answered.
He humbly prays to be dismissed with reasonable costs and charges.>
C: Sayer
B. Franklin