Title: Pennsylvania Assembly: Petition to the King, [23–26 May 1764]
From: Pennsylvania Assembly
To:

When on the morning of May 23 the Assembly received and read the second group of the inhabitants’ petitions to the King asking him to assume the government of Pennsylvania, that body voted “by a great Majority” that a committee be appointed “to prepare and bring in the Draft of a Petition to the King from this House, to accompany the aforementioned Petitions to His Majesty.” Eight men were named: Joseph Galloway (Philadelphia County), Benjamin Franklin (City of Philadelphia), Abraham Chapman (Bucks), Isaac Pearson (Chester), John Douglass (Lancaster), John Montgomery (Cumberland), John Ross (Berks), and John Tool (Northampton). The only constituency unrepresented was York County. Immediately after this action the Assembly adjourned for the mid-day recess.
As soon as the House reconvened in the afternoon the committee reported that it “had made an Essay” of a petition. This paper was then read and ordered “to lie on the Table for the Perusal of the Members.” The speed with which the committee acted suggests strongly that at least one member had prepared himself in advance of the committee’s appointment. It is not surprising, therefore, to discover among Franklin’s papers a document in his handwriting that is clearly an early draft of what ultimately became the Assembly’s petition to the King. It is printed below as Number I.
This draft contains numerous cancellations and revisions. Although some of them could have been inserted later, others were clearly made during the course of composition. It is probable, therefore, that this paper represents Franklin’s first draft of the petition. Whether he made any further revisions not appearing on this paper before he showed it to the committee, and whether that group made any additional changes before presenting it to the whole House, cannot now be determined, for no other complete manuscript draft seems to have survived, and the text of the paper which the committee presented to the Assembly has not been found.
On the afternoon of May 24, after receiving further petitions for a change in government from the inhabitants and after transacting other business, the Assembly resumed consideration of the petition and engaged in “a considerable Debate thereon” before adjourning to the next day. One of the highlights of this debate was a speech by John Dickinson opposing the petition. He freely admitted the “inconveniences” of the system of proprietary instructions which controlled the governor and the “distinct and partial mode of taxation” John Penn had demanded for the proprietary lands, but he argued forcefully that this was “neither the proper season, nor the proper method, for obtaining a change in our government.” In exchanging proprietary for royal government the colony would “run the risque of suffering great losses” of privileges, religious and political, which it currently enjoyed. To this speech Galloway replied, apparently attacking with vigor Dickinson’s statements of alleged fact as well as his arguments. The debate was undoubtedly spirited.

When the motion was made the next morning to resume consideration of the petition, the speaker, Isaac Norris, found himself in trouble. He had long been an opponent of the proprietary party and had for several years been involved in the discussions of a possible change to royal government. Yet, now that the proposal was clearly about to shift from the discussion stage to one of formal action, he had serious qualms. Almost certainly he was afraid, as were other influential Quakers, that a change to royal government would jeopardize the special religious privileges that the colony as a whole, and the Friends in particular, enjoyed and the political and constitutional advantages the Assembly exercised by grant of William Penn. If the petition to the King, now under debate, should be adopted by the Assembly, Norris would have to sign the document as speaker even though he could not approve its substance.
Consequently, he now addressed the Assembly, pointing out that his position “had hitherto prevented him from giving his Opinion on the Subject of the said Petition, and requesting, if his Duty as Speaker should require his Signing the same, that he might, previous thereto, be indulged with the Privilege of speaking his Sentiments thereon, and entering them upon the Minutes.” Such a request was probably quite unprecedented in the Assembly, but out of respect for the man who had been their speaker for most of the past fourteen years the members agreed. Thereupon the petition was read the second time “by Paragraphs, which being fully considered and debated, was, after some Alterations, agreed to by a great Majority, and ordered to be transcribed.” The Assembly then adjourned for the day.
Overnight, Norris concluded that he could not face the ordeal before him. When the Assembly convened on the morning of Saturday, May 26, the clerk produced a letter just received from the speaker in which Norris wrote that his attendance during this and the previous week had “proved too much for my Constitution, and particularly the long Sitting of Yesterday and the bad Night I have had in Consequence of it.” It was impossible, he said, for him to attend this day and he could not predict when his condition would mend sufficiently. Hence he asked the House to choose a new Speaker. The assemblymen concluded that the “important Business” before them could not be indefinitely delayed for Norris’ recovery, so those present “proceeded to the Choice of another Speaker, when Benjamin Franklin, Esq; was unanimously chosen Speaker, and accordingly placed in the Chair.” A committee at once notified the governor of these events, and in the afternoon John Penn formally confirmed Franklin’s election.
When the assemblymen had returned to their chamber from the ceremony of confirmation they adopted a unanimous vote of thanks to Norris for his services and then dealt with the governor’s most recent message on the pending supply bill. Then the transcribed petition to the King was read once more and the question was put whether the speaker should sign it “in order that the same be transmitted to the Crown.” The House formally “Resolved in the Affirmative, by a great Majority,” and Speaker Franklin signed the document accordingly. This final version is printed below as Number II.
Comparison of these two versions of the petition shows that the final text as voted and signed is about two-thirds again as long as Franklin’s rough draft. Every idea and nearly every word and phrase in his draft reappear in the signed petition. Most of the individual changes consist of added words and phrases expanding and sometimes clarifying his statements in minor respects. A majority of the assemblymen doubtless considered them to be desirable additions; with his fondness for concise expression Franklin may have privately considered some of them superfluous, but he was not one to insist on his own shorter phraseology when near unanimity of approval was important.
The most notable addition, as well as the longest, however, was one of substance, appearing in the last paragraph. Franklin had proposed very briefly to ask the King to preserve merely “the Privileges that have been granted” to his subjects in Pennsylvania by his royal predecessors. The final text specified more definitely “those Civil and Religious Privileges” that had been instrumental in encouraging the first settlement “of this Wilderness Country, to the Extension of the British Dominions and Commerce,” and had been and still continued to be important in drawing “many Thousands of Foreigners” to settle in Pennsylvania and become his Majesty’s subjects. The earlier form of this passage is not found in anything Franklin had written but rather in the petition the Quakers had prepared and circulated for signature among members of their Society. Its purpose was twofold: to emphasize, as Franklin had not done, the petitioners’ desire to keep the special privileges that the colony enjoyed, and to point out that the existence of these privileges had been and still was an important factor in the “Extension of the British Dominions and Commerce” and hence was advantageous to the mother country as well as to the colony. The threat to the preservation of these privileges that a change to royal government posed was by far the strongest deterrent to general local support of the petition. Franklin would doubtless agree that these additions constituted a tactical improvement on his draft.
On May 28 some members of the Assembly asked to have their reasons for voting against the petition entered on the minutes “by way of Protestation.” By a vote of 24 to 3 the House denied permission. The names of those voting in the majority were not listed in the Votes and Proceedings, but the three in the minority had at least the consolation of having their names recorded for posterity. They were John Dickinson of Philadelphia County, Isaac Saunders of Lancaster, and John Montgomery of Cumberland. These were apparently the only assemblymen who had opposed the petition on the final vote of May 26. They formed the small band that William Smith later called “a Noble Few, a Patriot Minority.”
The added emphasis given in the final text of the petition to the preservation of the colony’s privileges had not set the minds of the members entirely at rest. Before the Assembly adjourned on May 28 it directed that, in sending the Assembly’s petition and those of the inhabitants to Richard Jackson, the agent in London, the Committee of Correspondence should instruct him “particularly” to proceed “with the utmost Caution” in dealing with them to secure for the people “all those Privileges, civil and religious, which, by their Charters and Laws, they have a Right to enjoy under the present Constitution.” If upon “the most careful Enquiry, and mature Deliberation and Advice” he had reason to believe there was danger that these privileges might be lost, he was to suspend action until he had reported to the Assembly and received further directions. Thus the Assembly made clear to Jackson—and to Franklin who was later associated with him in responsibility—that the change in government, however greatly desired, was less important than the preservation of the privileges that William Penn had conferred on the colony many years before.

I

  [May 23, 1764]

  To the King’s most excellent Majesty, in Council
The Petition of the Representatives of the Freemen of the Province of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met.
Most humbly sheweth
That the Government of this Province by Proprietaries, has by long Experience been found inconvenient, attended with many Difficulties, and Obstructions to your Majesty’s Service, arising from the Intervention of Proprietary private Interests in publick Affairs, and Disputes concerning those Interests.
That the said Proprietary Government is weak, unable to support its own Authority, and maintain the common internal Peace, of the Province, great Riots having lately arisen therein, armed Mobs marching from Place to Place, and committing violent Outrages, and Insults on the Government with Impunity, to the great Terror of your Majesty’s Subjects. And these Evils [are] not likely to receive any Rem[edy] here, the continual Disputes be[tween] the Proprietaries and People, and the mutual Jealousies and Dislikes [pre]venting.
We do therefore most humbly pray, that Your Majesty would be graciously pleased to resume the Government of this Province, making such Compensation to the Proprietaries for the same as to your Majesty’s Wisdom and Goodness shall appear just and equitable, and permitting your dutiful Subjects therein to enjoy under your Majesty’s more immediate Care and Protection, the Privileges that have been granted to them, by and under your Royal Predecessors.
Signed by Order of the House

II

  [May 26, 1764]

  To the Kings most excellent Majesty in Council,
The Petition of the Representatives of the Freemen of the Province of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met.
Most humbly Sheweth.
That the Government of a Province by Proprietaries has here as well as elsewhere, been by long Experience found inconvenient and attended with many Difficulties and Obstructions to the Service of the Crown and the Welfare of the People, arising from the Intervention of Proprietary private Interests in Public Affairs, and Disputes concerning those Interests, and Proprietary Instructions for enforcing them.
That hence, the Proprietary Government here, not being attended with that Respect in the Minds of the common People, which usually accompanies a Royal Government, is weak, unable to support its own Authority in a Degree sufficient to maintain the common internal Peace of the Province. Great Riots having lately arisen therein, armed Mobs marching from Place to Place, and committing voilent [sic] Outrages and Insults on the Government with Impunity to the great Terror of your Majesty’s Subjects. And these Evils are not like to receive any Remedy here, during the Continuance of the Proprietary Government, the continual Disputes between the Proprietaries and People, and their mutual Jealouses and Distrusts preventing.
We do therefore (in Concurrence with great Numbers of the Freeholders and other reputable Inhabitants of the Province, whose Petitions to the same Purpose will be herewith presented) most humbly pray, that your Majesty would be graciously pleased to resume the Government of this Province; making such Compensation to the Proprietaries for the same, as to your Majesty’s Wisdom and Goodness shall appear just and equitable, and permitting your dutiful Subjects therein to enjoy, under your Majesty’s more immediate Government and Protection, those Civil and Religious Priviledges, which to encourage the Settlement of the Province, have been granted and confirmed to them by your Royal Predecessors; by the Influence whereof, our Fathers were induced to undertake the Cultivation of this then Wilderness Country, to the Extention of the British Dominions and Commerce, and many Thousands of Foreigners have been, and still are drawn here to become your Majesty’s Subjects.
  Signed by order of the House

B FranklinSpeaker
In Assembly May 1764.

Endorsed: Petition of the Assembly of Pensilvania Rx. 4th Novr. 1765 22d. Do. Ordered to be postponed.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jonathan Williams, 24 May 1764
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Williams, Jonathan

Dear Kinsman,
Philadelphia, 24 May 1764.
The bearer is the Reverend Mr. Rothenbuler, minister of a new Calvinist German Church, lately erected in this city. The congregation is but poor at present, being many of them new comers, and, (like other builders) deceived in their previous calculations, they have distressed themselves by the expense of their building; but as they are an industrious, sober people, they will be able in time to afford that assistance to others, which they now humbly crave for themselves.
His business in Boston is to petition the generous and charitable among his Presbyterian brethren for their kind benefactions. As he will be a stranger in New England, and I know you are ready to do every good work, I take the freedom to recommend him and his business to you, for your friendly advice and countenance. The civilities you show him shall be acknowledged as done to Your affectionate uncle,
B. Franklin.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Mary Stevenson, 24 May 1764
From: Hewson, Mary (Polly) Stevenson
To: Franklin, Benjamin

My dear Sir
Kensington May 24. 1764
Your Indulgence to me gives you a Claim to as much as you can desire from me, therefore don’t think I am so unreasonable to expect an answer to every Letter I write, I am sufficiently paid by the assurance that you receive mine with Pleasure, and when you have leisure to write me one I hope you are sensible I receive the favour with Gratitude. I was with my Mother when your Letter of March 14. arriv’d. Were I no otherwise interested in it than the part I take in what gives you pain I should be sorry to give you an account of her bad state of health. She has had a return of the disorder in her Head, and applied again to Dr. James, from whose prescription she found relief, and I hope she is in that respect better, but she is under the hands of good Mr. Small from a hurt she receiv’d in her Leg by a fall, and I fear the confinement will retard the Recovery of her Health: However let us hope that ere you receive this account she will be well; I don’t love to spread dejection. My Aunt is well, and so is my Aunt Rooke, excepting her Lameness. They are much oblig’d by your kind Remembrance, and send their good Wishes in return. I have seen Miss Blunts since I receiv’d your last favour, and let them know the obliging notice you took of their family. My Dolly is better upon the whole than she was last year, but she is far from well. I often say I know very few that are good for anything who enjoy Health: I hope you will ever be one exception.
I thank you, my dear, Sir for the Narrative you sent me, which has afforded me the pleasure of attending to the just applause that has been given you by those who had the happiness of knowing you were the amiable man who ever breath’d such sentiments, and likewise of those who knew you only by name. You cannot imagine how proud I was upon this occasion to have you call’d my Friend. Why will you not come to seek Repose in this Island. Don’t let them tell you “old trees cannot safely be transplanted,” I have lately seen some fine tall firs remov’d from Kensington to the Queen’s Palace without injury, and Why should not the valuable North American plants flourish here? I am, my dear, my ever-honour’d Friend, with the highest gratitude most affectionately yours
M.S.


Title: Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 30 May 1764
From: Pennsylvania Assembly
To: Penn, John

The Assembly’s message of May 26 (immediately above) had made clear to Governor Penn and his Council that the assemblymen had no intention of including in the supply bill any formal amendment of the acts of 1759 and 1760. It did include references to the Supply Act of 1760, however, and in the opinion of the councilors these had the effect of reenacting it. Consequently Penn sent the bill back again on May 29 with a message “earnestly” desiring the Assembly to “free it from this Objection, by striking out the exceptionable Clause.” If it did so Penn would “no longer with-hold my Assent” to the bill. After considering this message the same day, the House formally “Resolved, That the Necessity of raising Money for His Majesty’s Service, and the Defence of this Province, is so great and pressing, that the House will, in this Instance, as they have done in some preceding Instances during their present Session, wave their important Parliamentary Rights relating to Money Bills, and agree to the Alteration of the present Bill as proposed by the Governor; protesting at the same time against the Violence done to the Constitution, and declaring that the same ought never, never to be drawn into Precedent.”
Thereupon the assemblymen made one last retreat and amended the bill by striking out all reference, direct or indirect, to the Supply Act of 1760 and substituting new phraseology where necessary. They sent the bill to the governor at once and Penn enacted it on the morning of May 30, nearly five months after the Assembly had first voted to raise £50,000 for the military expenses of the year.
The Assembly did not now—and never did thereafter—formally amend the acts of 1759 and 1760, yet they had clearly suffered a major defeat over the central issue in the controversy: the basis for assessing the Proprietors” located but uncultivated lands and ungranted town lots. The actions of the Paxton Boys, the complaints of inhabitants of the interior counties that they were underrepresented, and the requirements of colonial defense against the Indians had combined to create pressures too strong to resist. And John Penn had absolutely refused to yield on this central issue. Such firmness was unusual among governors of either proprietary or royal provinces. Again and again in times of war or other danger the executives, usually with a more acute realization of the needs of the moment than their assemblies showed, had given way to the demands of the legislatures that were made effective by the control over appropriations. In Pennsylvania in 1764, however, the outcome was reversed. The Assembly surrendered under heavy fire and the governor held the field.
Each party to the dispute was doubtless sincere in thinking that right was on its side. What made the Assembly’s defeat even more galling to its members was the belief that Penn was holding out, not from some abstract principle of government at large or some general interest of the public, but simply to protect a personal and financial interest of his father and uncle, the two Proprietors of the colony, whose taxes would be somewhat lowered if his interpretation of the disputed words in the order in council of 1760 were to prevail. This belief and the bitterness it engendered were responsible for the decision, long discussed but formally reached only at this session, to petition the King to remove the Proprietors from any share in the government. This feeling also led the Assembly to deliver one final blast against the governor before adjourning for the summer.
On May 17, after reading Penn’s long message of that day, the Assembly had appointed a committee of seven, including Franklin, to prepare a reply. On the 28th, with Franklin now officiating as speaker, the committee reported its draft. The Assembly debated it paragraph by paragraph, agreed to it, and ordered it to be transcribed. Then on May 30, after all remaining business was finished, the transcription was brought forward, “compared at the Table,” and signed. Two members were directed to present it to the governor with the information that the House proposed to adjourn to September 10. To this adjournment Penn replied that “he had no Objection.”

May it please your Honour,
May 30, 1764.
The professed Intention of your Honour’s Message of the Seventeenth Instant being to vindicate the Character of the Proprietaries, and give a fairer State of the Dispute between us than we had done, it would have pleased us, could either of those Purposes have been executed. We apprehend your Honour has failed in both.
The long Recapitulation of what passed at the Council Board in 1760, and from thence to the present Time, answers no End, as we conceive, but to insinuate that we have been contending against a Determination of the King in Council, while the Fact really is otherwise, we having made the late Bill conformable, in our Opinion, to every Article of that Determination. And the Dispute between us relates merely to the Meaning of one of those Articles, which we understand to intend an equal Taxation of the Proprietary Lands with those of the People, and which your Honour will have to mean, a partial and unequal Taxation in the Proprietaries Favour. And as you thought the Words alone of that Article would best bear the unjust Meaning you were pleased to put on them, you contended against our using any others with them, that might explain them in an equitable Sense. This was our sole Dispute; and though we think it extreamly inconvenient and improper to use in an Act Words of whose Meaning the two Branches of the Legislature have previously declared they have such different and contrary Conceptions, yet rather than His Majesty’s Service should be longer obstructed, we have given up the Point, and, in a new Bill, inserted the very Words; confiding, that the Sense of natural Justice in the Assessors and Commissioners, who are to execute the Act, will determine them to do what is right.
Thus the Matter might have rested; but as your Honour, with a View of placing our Conduct in an unfavourable Light, is pleased to ask us a Number of Questions, we are obliged to give them Answers, which, though short, we hope will be clear and satisfactory. “Were not learned Counsel,” you ask, “employed, and fully instructed by the Agents, on the Part of the Assembly, to advocate the Supply Bill of the Year 1759?” We answer, yes. “Were not those Counsel twice fully heard, both before the Lords of Trade and the King in Council, antecedent to the Decree?” They were fully heard before the Lords of Trade, and a Committee of the Council. “Did not the Agents understand the Force and Meaning of the second and third Articles, previous to their signing the Stipulation?” Undoubtedly; and as we have no Dispute about the Meaning of the third, we scarce know why it is mentioned. “If they entertained a Notion that they were ambiguous, why did they not then object to them, when they might have had their Doubts removed upon the Spot?” It seems they entertained no such Notion, nor had any Doubts to be removed. It appears, by the Pleadings of the Proprietaries Counsel, of which we have a Copy taken first in Short-hand, that they there made no such Claim of a partial and unequal Taxation of their located uncultivated Lands, as is now made for them. They only pretended Fears that the People would tax them unequally, and desired no more than that such Provision should be made, as might secure for them an equal Taxation. The Doubts you mentioned, if there are any, have arisen in Pennsylvania. Your Honour makes it a Crime in us, to suppose any Ambiguity or Obscurity in the Words of a Report of a Committee of Council, though that Supposition arose merely on the Observation of your differing so widely from us in the Construction of them. This was our Remark; “We may both be separately clear in our Conceptions of their Meaning, but our differing so widely in those Conceptions, seems to indicate at least some Ambiguity or Obscurity in the Terms.” If your Honour had not differed from us in the Meaning of these Words of the Report, there would have been no Doubts about it, for we made none. And our Observation, that Laws, composed by the wisest Men, are sometimes found to contain Obscurities and Uncertainties, which those who are to execute them find difficult to clear and settle: And that, when any Words of such Laws are capable of two Meanings, one unjust and unequal, and the other consistent with Justice and Equity, we conceived it a good Rule to judge that the Intention is with the latter, arose originally upon your differing with us in that Construction. But this you candidly call a “contending that the controverted Articles of the Decree require Additions and Explanations to be made to them by us, to reconcile them to common Justice and Honesty.” For our Parts, we cannot yet perceive any Thing indecent or “immodest” in our Observation, that Laws made by the wisest Bodies of Men (by King, Lords and Commons, for Instance) do sometimes contain Obscurities and Uncertainties. Subsequent Laws frequently made by the same august Legislators, to explain the preceding, are Proofs of it. We therefore added justly, that it was no Reflection on such Bodies to say this. But as your Honour purposed to make us appear guilty of a Reflection on them, you thought fit to mutilate the Sentence in your Quotation of it from our Message, and leave those Words intirely out. But to return to your Honour’s Questions. “Why were not the Objections lately made against those Parts of the Decree, pointed out and urged to Mr. Hamilton, as Reasons for not coming into the Measure, when he repeatedly solicited you to comply with the Stipulations of your Agents?” Answer, The Objections in Question are against an unjust Construction that, in our Opinion, your Honour put on certain Words, which being used in the Stipulations of the Agents, you contended should be inserted, without Explanation, in the Bill. As this Construction was never put on those Words by Governor Hamilton, we could not point out and urge to him those Objections against it. “Why have these Objections been treasured up, and kept in Reserve till this critical Period?” Objections not in Being could not be “treasured up;” and Objections of no Kind can exist, previous to a Supposition of the Thing objected to. Your Honour will please to reflect that your Construction, which these Objections relate to, was as new and strange, as it is unjust and unequal, and so glaringly unjust and unequal, that you was yourself unwilling to own it, and could not, till after three Messages, urging an Explanation from you, prevail with yourself openly to avow it.
You are pleased to add, “as to the Equity and Justice of the Decree, I should think I justly subjected myself to the Charge of offering the highest Affront to, and flying in the Face of, that supreme and august Judicatory who pronounced it, were I to enter into any Arguments with you in Support of it.” Will your Honour give us Leave once more to put you in Mind, that it is not the Equity and Justice of a Decree that we are disputing, but your unequal and unjust Construction of it, viz. that the best and most valuable of the Proprietaries Lands shall be taxed no higher than the worst of the Peoples. Your total Inability of supporting this Construction by the least Colour of Argument or Reason, is what you would fain conceal under that extravagant Pretence of Respect to the Judicatory who, you say, pronounced it. Could you, by any Arguments, have shewn the Equity and Justice of such a Taxation, we should not now have heard, for the first Time, this extraordinary Position, that demonstrating the Equity and Justice of a Decree, would be flying in the Face of Authority. Wise, learned and pious Men, have in all Ages thought themselves well employed in convincing Mankind of the Reasonableness, Equity and Justice of Laws, human and divine; and never once dreamt that, by so doing, they were “offering the highest Affront to, and flying in the Face of, the supreme and august Judicatories who pronounced them.”
Your Honour charges us with bestowing much Abuse on the Proprietaries. Stating plain public Facts, where necessary, we do not conceive to be Abuse, though done in plain Terms: But the misrepresenting a loyal and dutiful People to their Sovereign, as the Proprietaries, to cloak their own Avarice, have done the People of this Province for many Years past, is, in our Opinion, Abuse, though it were delivered in the politest Language. It was in this Part of your Honour’s Message that we expected that Vindication of the Proprietaries, which in the first Paragraph seemed to be proposed: But now you chuse to pass all over with a “silent Disregard,” reflecting probably on the Maxim you had before advanced, that “Facts are stubborn Things,” and despairing, it seems, by any “Colouring” to “disguise the Truth.”
Your Honour’s “Resolution to discharge the Station you fill, with Fidelity and Justice to the good People of this Province,” is highly laudable; but may we be permitted to ask a Question or two in our Turn? Is it consistent with Justice to the good People of this Province, to insist on taxing the best and most valuable of the Proprietaries Lands no higher than the worst and least valuable of the Peoples Lands, in a common Tax to be levied for the Defence of the whole? And farther, when the Requisition was made to your Honour, by the General, of raising a Number of Men for His Majesty’s Service in your Province, were not the three lower Counties understood to be included? Your Honour has since met, and exchanged Compliments with the Assembly of those Counties, without making (as far as we have heard) the least Demand of them. Is it “Justice to the good People of this Province,” to saddle them with all the Expence of defending that Government, with all the Proprietary Property contained in it, and not call upon it for the least Assistance, while we are, and shall so long be, loaded with the heavy Debt the Wars have occasioned? The Troops raised here will perhaps all be marched to the Westward, in His Majesty’s Service: In which Case, at least, we cannot but think it reasonable to have expected a Proportion of Forces from that Government, to assist in the Protection of our Frontier.
Your Honour’s Message concludes with recommending to us (as if we had hitherto neglected it) the raising Supplies for the King’s Service, the Defence of the Frontiers, and Discharge of the public Debt. Which obliges us to remark, that within a few Months we have sent up to your Honour three Bills for those Purposes, two of which have been rejected, because they required a fair and equal Taxation of the Proprietary with other Estates, for their common Defence. And we may add that, in our Zeal for the publick Service, we have departed from the ancient Forms of Parliamentary Proceeding, and waved very important Rights, which, under a more equitable Government, we should not have been constrained to; and such a Government we now hope is not far distant, and that an End will thereby be put to these disagreeable and mischievous Proprietary Contentions, and the People of this much injured Province restored to their Privileges, which they have long been deprived of; Proprietary Will and Pleasure, expressed in their Instructions, being now our only Law, which, through public Necessities, and the Distresses of War, we have been and are compelled to obey.
Signed by Order of the House,Benjamin Franklin, Speaker.


Title: Provincial Commissioners: Orders for Payment, 4 June 1764–20 October 1764
From: Provincial Commissioners
To:

As in previous supply acts, the measure passed on May 30, 1764, after so much controversy, named seven men—two councilors and five assemblymen—as provincial commissioners, a majority of whom “with the consent and approbation of the governor or commander in chief of this province for the time being, and not otherwise,” were empowered to expend the £55,000 appropriated. The men appointed were the same seven, including Franklin, who had served during the previous autumn under the terms of the £24,000 Supply Act of Oct. 22, 1763.
On June 4 the commissioners issued their first order for payment after the passage of the new act, and they continued to sign similar orders from time to time through the summer and fall and until after Franklin had sailed for England in November. As has been done in previous volumes of this series, a list of all located orders for payment issued during the period when Franklin was present in Philadelphia is given here, showing the date, name of the payee, purpose for which payment was made, and the amount of each. As before, any order that Franklin failed to sign personally—usually because he was absent from the meeting at the time the order was drawn and signed—is indicated by an asterisk (*) following the date.
It will be seen that several entries relate, not to general military activities, but to expenses connected with the march of the Paxton Boys on Philadelphia in February or the maintenance of the Moravian Indians at the barracks there. Payments totaling £1145 18s. 7d. made during the period covered by this list can be clearly identified as relating directly to these matters.

Date
Payee
Purpose
Amount

June

£
s.
d.

4
James Young
To be applied to recruiting service
500
0
0

27*
John Galbreath
9 muskets delivered during Feb. disturbance
11
5
0

27
Thomas Robinson
Express services during Feb. disturbances
8
2
3

27
James Young
To be applied to recruiting service
500
0
0

27
James Young
To pay arrears due troops
8500
0
0

July

3
Joseph Fox
To purchase clothing etc. for troops
5000
0
0

4*
Robert Levers
Provisions for troops
1000
0
0

6
John Nelson
To repay cash borrowed by Col. Bouquet
500
0
0

16
Baynton & Wharton
Sundries delivered during late Riot
158
4
0

17
David Deshler
Medicines and attendance to 2 wounded children of Hans Sneider killed by Indians
19
15
2

17
James Young
Recruiting service
1300
0
0

17
James Young
Arrears and advance of pay for troops and officers
14,500
0
0

19
Isaac Howell and John Howard
Support of sick and disabled French Neutrals
143
9
7

20
Job Chillaway
Services under Col. Clayton
13
16
0

20
Joseph Fox
Expences of clothing etc.
1000
0
0

20
Robert Levers
Victualing troops, account settled
618
2
7

20
Joseph Shippen, Jr.
Balance of account
8
1
0

27
Balsar Geerh
Armourer at Ft. Augusta
75
0
0

27
Joseph Shippen, Jr.
Premium for 4 scalps taken last fall
100
0
0

August

14*
William Dunwick
Repairing arms
80
0
0

14
James Ennis
Victualing Pa. troops
200
0
0

14
Jacob Weiss
Pasturage of Indian horses and cows
18
4
3

16
David Scott
Pay and subsistence of 27 Cumberland Co. Rangers
169
0
0

16
Leonard Stoneburner
Carrying stores to Harris’s Ferry and Reading
11
16
0

23*
Robert Callender
Provisions
1637
10
10

23*
Joseph Fox
Expenses for clothing etc.
400
0
0

23*
Robert Levers
Victualing troops
629
19
9

23*
Wm. Norton and Th. Masterman
Provisions for soldiers at barracks
27
18
7

23*
Christian Voght
Attendance on Cornelius Atkinson, wounded volunteer
15
0
0

23*
James Webb
Disbursements for Lancaster barracks
259
11
3

28
Col. James Burd
Disbursements at Ft. Augusta
58
8
7

28
William Dunwick
In full, repairing arms
110
7
4

28
Andrew McNair
Delivering notices and attending 123 meetings of Commissioners, Jan. 16, 1761, to July 20, 1764
9
4
6

31*
George Dods
For wounds received at Munsey Hill fighting Indians
25
0
0

31
Reuben Haines
Victualing Indians
85
10
0

September

6*
John Hill
Coffins for French Neutrals
3
15
0

18
Thomas Apty
Services as an express
2
8
0

18
Joseph Fox
Cloathing and Carriage account settled
561
13
2

18
Joseph Fox
Provisions for Indians at barracks
781
13
9

18
John Hughes
Expenses at Easton Treaty
4
6
4

18
John Little
Entertainment of Paxton volunteers and Capt. Hoffman’s troops
36
5
10

18
John Montgomery
To relieve Thos. McMurray, wounded by Indians
20
0
0

18
Richard Swan
Collecting and caring for provincial arms
20
0
0

26
Jacob Weiss
Medicine and attendance of sick Indians at barracks
46
13
6

October

11*
Robert Levers
Provisions for troops
400
0
0

20*
James Cogly
Subsistence and 2 horses to Indians going to the last Treaty
10
0
0


Title: Henry Bouquet to John Penn and the Provincial Commissioners, 4 June 1764
From: Bouquet, Henry
To: Penn, John,Provincial Commissioners

Gentlemen
Philadelphia 4th. June 1764
There being too few of His Majesty’s Regular Troops in this Department to act offensively against the Enemy, till they are joined by the Thousand Men granted by this Government, I request that you will please to give the necessary orders to compleat, arm, and Cloathe these Troops as soon as possible.
The king’s Arms formerly lent to this Province having not been returned, There must be a sufficient quantity for present use, when put in repair.
I would also recommend to provide each man with a good Hatchet made in the form of a common Axe, in lieu of a Bayonet.
The difficulty of Supplying the Troops with shoes out of the Settlements, obliges me to mention that Two Pairs will be necessary for Each man besides the Two Pairs he is to have with him; Carriages will be furnished for those Spare Shoes, and the men must pay for it.
In the Campaign of 1758, This Province granted to General Forbes, Two Troops of Light Horse, which were found of good service, and as I am of opinion that we might employ Horses with success against the savages, I request that you will grant me and equip one Troop; and in case that additional Expence Should be an objection, rather than to be deprived of the Service I expect from them, I would be satisfied to have Fifty men less, whose Pay for the Campaign would amount nearly to the Expence of Horses &c.
I think the Horses would be fitted for that Service, if bought on the Frontiers of Virginia where they are commonly bred in the Woods.
I can not omit to Submit to your Consideration the use that might be made of Dogs against our Savage Enemies; It would be needless to expect that our Foot Soldiers can overtake an Indian in the Woods, and their audacious attempts in attacking our Troops and settlements may, in a great Measure, be ascribed to the certainty of evading our Pursuit by their flight: a few Instances of Indians Seized and worried by Dogs, would, I presume, deter them more effectualy from a War with us, than all the Troops we could raise, and as we have not in this Country the Species of those animals, which would best answer this Purpose, I beg leave to recommend it to you, to have Fifty Couples of proper Hounds imported from Great Britain, with People who understand to train and manage them.
They might be kept on the Frontiers, and a few given to Every Scouting Party, to discover the Ambushes of the Enemy, and direct the Pursuit: This requires that the men intended to follow the Dogs should be well mounted.
As soon as the Troops (which I must suppose inlisted to the End of December next) are compleated; Equipped, and ready to take the Field: I beg that they may have orders to assemble at Fort Loudoun, where they are to join the Regulars, and from that time they will be supplied with Provisions at the Charge of the Crown. I have the honor to be with great Respect Gentlemen Your most obedient, and most Humble Servant
Henry Bouquet

NB. All the Articles mentioned in the above Letter have been agreed to by the Governor and the Commissioners the 4th. of June 1764.
H. B.
To the Governor and Commissioners

Endorsed: Copy of Coll. Bouquet’s Letter to Govr. Penn and the Commissioners at Pensilvania 4th June 1764


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Anthony Stickney, 16 June 1764
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Stickney, Anthony

Loving Kinsman
Philada. June 16. 1764
I received yours of the 16th May, and am glad to hear that you and your Family are well, and that your Wife is safely delivered of another Daughter, which I hope will prove a Blessing to you both. I got home without any farther Accident, but have not yet recovered fully the former Strength of my Arm. Your Brother Josiah Davenport is still at Pitsburg, near 400 Miles west of this Place, where he has the Care of the Provincial Store, that was establish’d there during the Peace, for the Indian Trade; and since the War broke out again, there has been no good Opportunity of bringing off the Goods, so he is oblig’d to remain with them. His Wife and Children are here; and she seems to be in a bad State of Health, but the Children are well. My Wife and Daughter thank you for your good Wishes, and return theirs for you and yours. Present my best Respects to Mr. and Mrs. Lowell, and my Love to your Wife and Children. Remember me too, to your Brother Davenport and his Family. I am, Your affectionate Uncle
B Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 17 June 1764
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Strahan, William

Dear Mr. Strahan
Philada. June 17. 1764
I receiv’d your Favour per Capt. Walker, which I shall answer fully per Hammet, who sails in about ten Days. I think I am slighted lately per Mr. Becket. Pray enquire and tell me the Reason, that if I have been in fault I may amend.
I left some Receipts with you for Subscription Monies to Books. I wish you to enquire about them, particularly Stewart’s Athens.

My Love to Mrs. Strahan and your Family. I am, Dear Friend, Yours affectionately
B Franklin
We are all well, and as happy as other Folks for the present.

Addressed: To / Mr Wm. Strahan / Newstreet / Shoe Lane / London


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Richard Jackson, 18 June 1764
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Jackson, Richard

Dear Sir
Philada. June 18. 1764
I received yours of the 13th. April, which I shall answer fully per Hammet, who is to sail in about 10 Days. By that Ship you will also receive a Letter from the Committee with the Petitions to the King, mention’d in my former Letters. I wrote you a long one via Bristol, of the 1st Instant, to which I refer, and beg you would per first Opportunity be very particular as to any Necessity or Use of my being with you in the Prosecution of those Petitions, my going over, or not, depending on the Opinion you may give on that Head. I am, as ever, Yours most sincerely
B Franklin
P.S. Our Provincials, 1000 Men under Col. Bouquet, are preparing to march to the Westward.
Great Mischiefs done lately on the Virginia Frontier. People wonder at your prohibiting our Carrying Staves directly to Ireland.

Addressed: To / Richard Jackson Esqr / Inner Temple / London
Endorsed: Philad. June 18th. 1764 Benjn. Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to George Whitefield, 19 June 1764
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Whitefield, George

Dear Friend
Philada. June 19. 1764
I received your Favour of the 21st past, and of the 3d. Instant and immediately sent the inclos’d as directed.
Your frequently repeated Wishes and Prayers for my Eternal as well as temporal Happiness are very obliging. I can only thank you for them, and offer you mine in return. I have my self no Doubts that I shall enjoy as much of both as is proper for me. That Being who gave me Existence, and thro” almost threescore Years has been continually showering his Favours upon me, whose very Chastisements have been Blessings to me, can I doubt that he loves me? And if he loves me, can I doubt that he will go on to take care of me not only here but hereafter? This to some may seem Presumption; to me it appears the best grounded Hope; Hope of the Future; built on Experience of the Past.
By the Accounts I have of your late Labours, I conclude your Health is mended by your Journey, which gives me Pleasure. Mrs. Franklin presents her cordial Respects, with those of Dear Sir, Your affectionate humble Servant
B Franklin
PS. We hope you will not be deterred from visiting your Friends here by the Bugbear Boston Accounts of the Unhealthiness of Philadelphia.
Mr Whitefield


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to John Ellicott, 23 June 1764
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Ellicott, John

Sir
Philada. June 23. 1764
Since the Receipt of your Letter of Jany. 8th. 1763. I have been twice at New York, and at York in Virginia; at both which Places I made all the Enquiry I could, in the time I was there; after the Elizabeth Holland mention’d in Capt. Holland’s Will; but not learning any thing, I desir’d Mr. Colden, Postmaster of New York, and Col. Hunter of Virginia, to make farther Enquiry as they had Opportunity, which likewise produc’d no Information. At length I put Advertisements in the Gazettes of both those Provinces, as you will see by the inclos’d; and they were continu’d in the Papers for several Weeks successively. I also engag’d a Gentleman, Mr. Foxcroft, my Brother Postmaster General, who lives in Virginia to make what Enquiry he could at the General Court there, in April last, when the Gentlemen assemble from all Parts of that Province at Williamsburg. He did so accordingly, and informs me, that he could hear of none of the Name there, but those mention’d in the enclos’d Memorandum, viz. one Richard Holland and Rebecca his Wife, who have a Daughter Lucy which is all the Information my Advertisement and his Enquiry has produc’d from thence, and amounts to nothing. From New York came a Person to me, in behalf of one Elizabeth Waldron, whose maiden Name was Holland. I told him, that in order to intitle her to the Claim, she must send me authenticated Certificates of her Father and Mother’s Names, what Children they had, and other material Circumstances relating to the Family, that might evince her being the Person enquir’d after. On which I receiv’d from her the enclos’d Letter, by which I think it appears that she cannot be the Person, for she seems to know nothing of a Brother Capt. William Holland. However I send it, that you and the Gentlemen concern’d may judge of it. It is all the Light I have been able to obtain by the Steps taken. And if you would have any thing farther done in the Affair, I shall readily obey your Commands.
The Reason of my making Enquiries in Virginia, was, that James River is in Virginia, and there is a York not far from it; and I apprehended that the New York might be a Mistake for that Virginia York.
I hope Mrs. Ellicot and your valuable Son and Daughters continue well. Please to present my Respects to them, and to the Gentlemen at the George and Vulture in whose Company I spent so many agreable Hours. With great Esteem, I am, Sir, Your most obedient Servant
B Franklin
Mr. Ellicot


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Massachusetts House of Representatives Committee, 25 June 1764
From: Massachusetts House of Representatives Committee
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir,
Boston June 25th. 1764.
The House of Representatives of his Majesty’s Province of the Massachusetts Bay at the Session of the General Assembly in May last, being informed of the late Act of Parliament relating to the Sugar Trade with the foreign Colonies, and the Resolutions of the House of Commons relating to the Stamp Duties and other Taxes proposed to be laid on the British Colonies, were humbly of Opinion, that those Measures have a Tendency to deprive the Colonists of some of their most essential Rights as British Subjects, and as Men; particularly the Right of assessing their own Taxes and being free from any Impositions but such as they consent to by themselves or Representatives.
Our Agent informs us, that in a Conference he had with Mr. Greenville on these Subjects, he was told that the Ministry were desirous of consulting the Ease, the Quiet and Goodwill of the Colonies.
Such Expressions induce us to hope that there is Nothing punitive in these Measures, and that humble dutiful Remonstrances may yet have their Effect. But if while these Things are thus publickly handled, no Claim is made, no Remonstrance preferred on the Part of the Colonies, such Silence must be interpreted a tacit Cession of their Rights, and an humble Acquiescence under all these Burdens.
The House have wrote fully upon this Subject to the Agent of this Province, and directed him to remonstrate against these Measures, and to endeavour a Repeal of said Act, and if possible to prevent the Imposition of any further Duties and Taxes on the Colonies. For this Purpose they were desirous of the united Assistance of the several Colonies in a Petition against such formidable Attacks upon what they conceive to be the inseparable Rights of British Subjects; and that the Agents of the several Colonies might be directed by the Representatives of the People on the Continent of North America to unite in the most serious Remonstrance against Measures so destructive of the Liberty, the Commerce and Property of the Colonists, and in their Tendency so pernicious to the real Interest of Great Britain.
The House have done us the Honour to appoint us a Committee in the Recess of the General Court to inform the several Houses of Representatives of this Continent of their Desires; and we do our selves the Honour to subscribe ourselves, Your most, Humble Servants,

James Otis.

Thomas Cushing

Oxenbridge Thacher

Thomas Gray

Edw Sheaffe


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from John Canton, 29 June 1764
From: Canton, John
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Dear Sir,
London 29 June 1764
Your Favour of the 14th of March came to my Hands the 15th of May last, and gave me great pleasure. The first Experiment of Mr. Kinnersley’s which you mention, is, as you observe, a beautiful one to see; and I think, fully proves that the Fusion of Metals by Lightning is not a cold Fusion. I have myself, several times, melted small brass Wire by a Stroke from your Case of Bottles, which left a Mark where it lay upon the Table, and some Balls of twice or three times its Diameter near the Mark but no part of the Wire could be found. At the time of the Stroke, a great Number of Sparks, like those from a Flint and Steel, fly upward and laterally from the place where the Wire was laid, and lose their Light in the daytime, at the Distance of about two or three Inches. The Diameter of a piece of Mr. Kinnersley’s Wire, which you was so kind as to send me with the Balls, I found to be one part in 182 of an Inch; mine was but one part in 330.
The second of Mr. Kinnersley’s Experiments which you relate, and which seems to be a very extraordinary one, I have several times endeavour’d to make, but without Success. The Air with you must certainly be much drier than in England: For I have never observ’d the inclos’d pith Balls to separate by the electris’d Air of a Room, without having first heated the Phial; notwithstanding which, they always came together in the Phial, before the outward Air had lost its Electricity, as appears by their separating again when taken out of it. I once electrified the Air of my largest Room to a considerable degree, and by opening the Windows and Doors suffer’d the Wind to blow through for about five Minutes; I then shut them, and examin’d the Air in the Room, but found no Sign of Electricity remaining. This Air I electrified to about the same degree as before, and leaving it confin’d, it retain’d a sensible degree of its Electricity for more than three quarters of an hour. Hence I entirely agree with you, that the Glass in Mr. Kinnersley’s Experiment receiv’d some degree of Electricity from the electrised Air, and so kept the Balls separated after that Air was blown away.
I have put your ingenious Friend Mr. Bowdoin’s Telescope into Mr. Nairn’s Hands, who is making a Pedestal for it, which I think will be an Improvement of that which Mr. Bowdoin has describ’d in his last Letter to me, which you saw. You may depend on my taking all possible Care to get it well executed, and soon. I find the fitting Dollond’s Micrometer to the Telescope is impracticable.
Since the publication of a short Paper in the Transactions, which contains an account of Experiments to prove that Water is not incompressible, I have discover’d a remarkable property belonging to that Fluid, which is new to me, though perhaps it may not be so to you. The Property I mean is, It’s being less compressible in Summer than in Winter. This is contrary to what I find in Spirit of Wine, and Oil of Olives; which are (as one would expect Water to be) more compressible when expanded by Heat, and less so when contracted by Cold. For when Fahrenheit’s Thermometer is at 34 Degrees, and the Barometer at 29½ I [nches], Water is compress’d by the Weight of the Atmosphere 49 parts in a Million of its whole Bulk, and Spirit of Wine 60 of the same parts; When the Thermometer is at 50 degrees, Water is compressed 46 parts, and Spirit of Wine 66 parts in a Million, by the same Weight; and when the Thermometer is at 64 degrees, this Weight will compress Water no more than 44 parts in a Million, but it will compress Spirit of Wine 71 of these parts.
As I am not able, at present, to account for this Difference in the Compressibility of Water myself, I should be very glad to have your Thoughts upon it.
The Compression by the Weight of the Atmosphere, and the specific Gravity of the following Fluids; (which are all that I have yet try’d) are set down as they were found in a temperate Degree of Heat, and when the Barometer was at a mean Height.

Millionth parts.
Specific Gravity

Compression of
Spirit of Wine
66
846

Oil of Olives
48
918

Rain Water
46
1000

Sea-Water
40
1028

Mercury
3
13595

You will easily perceive that the Compressions of these Fluids by the same Weight, are not in the inverse Ratio of their Densities, or specific Gravities, as might be expected. The Compression of Spirit of Wine, for instance, being compar’d with that of Rain-Water, is greater than in this proportion it ought to be, and the Compression of Sea-Water is less.
Mr. Price, Mr. Rose, Mr. Cooper and the rest of the Club desire their most respectful Compliments to you, and very much regret, as I do myself, your leaving England. I am, with the most sincere Regard, Dear Sir Your most obliged and most humble Servant
Jno. Canton.


Title: Edward Shippen to Benjamin Franklin and John Foxcroft, 2 July 1764
From: Shippen, Edward
To: Franklin, Benjamin,Foxcroft, John

Lancaster 2d July 1764
I Received your Favour of the 29th Ulto. and had the perusal of yours to Mr: George Ross of the same Date which we answered this Morning jointly. Francis Campbel Esqr: and Mr: John Piper of Shippensburg I think I could Take the Liberty to Recommend as Honest Men and very proper Persons to under Take the Management of a Post office in that Town. Colonel Bouquet is acquainted with them both and if the former should not Chuse to accept of the Commission perhaps the Latter may. I wish I could write with greater Certainty about this and as to a proper person at Carlisle I must Refer you to the Colonel, who I think, is better acquainted with the People there Than I am. I am Sorry I can Say nothing Concerning the weekly Post which you intend to Carry on from Lancaster through York and Baltimore to Annopolies. I am Sirs Your most obedient Humble Servand
Edwd: Shippen
To Messieurs Franklin and FoxcraftPostmasters General


Title: Post Office Accounts, [9 July 1764]
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

Among Franklin’s miscellaneous post-office records is a folio sheet containing a memorandum of amounts due to him and his colleague John Foxcroft for traveling expenses while on official business and a balance sheet of his account with the General Post Office with entries dated between July 9, 1764, and March 20, 1765. Both are in Franklin’s hand. Parts of two pages contain various monetary calculations, but with a single unexplained exception, none of the amounts appearing in these calculations matches any of the entries in the memorandum or balance sheet, hence they are not reproduced here.

[July 9, 1764]

G.P.O. Dr. to B.F.

His Allowance for travelling Expences thro” all the Colonies from Virginia to New Hampshire to visit and regulate the Offices establish new ones, &c. 79 Days at 21s.
}
  82.
  19.
  0

G.P.O. Dr. to J.F.

His Allowance &c. 93 Days at 21s.

97.
13.
0

  G.P.O. Dr. to J.F.

His Allowance &c. to Annapolis 18 Days at 21s.

18
18
0

  G.P.O. Dr. to J.F.

His Allowance to Lancaster and York9 Days at 21.
}
9.
  9

See his Letter from March 16. 1765

Dr

General Post Office

1764
July
12.
To B Franklin for Bills remitted R. Trevor Esqr.
£1500:
0:
0

  Aug.
9.
To Do.Do.
550:
0:
0

To Do. for Fees paid Lawyers
4.
13.
11

  Oct.
2.
To Do. for One Years Salary
300:
0.
0

To J.F. for One Years Salary
300:
0:
0

To Fr. and Foxt. Comptrollers Salary and [Int. paid?]
105:
0:

1765
  Mar.
15.
To J.F. for Ballance of Williamsburg Office paid J Royle
46.
15:
5

To B F. travelling Expences 79 Days at 21
82.
19
-

To J F. Do.
82.
19
-

To J F. Journey to Portsmouth 14 Days
14.
14
-

To J F. Do. to Annapolis 18 Days
18.
18
-

To J F. Do. to Lancaster 9 Days
9:
  9:
  -

3015:
8:
4

Ballance
  428:
  15:
  9

£ 44:
4:
1

CrSterling.

July
9.
1764.
By Ballance of Account to this Day
£2070.
12.
3¼

25

By B F. Cash received of J.P. Tower hill Office
3.
11.
3

28.

By B F. received of Do. N York Office £500 Currency
266.
13.
4

Sept.
5.

By B F. received of Philadelphia Office
805.
10.
6

Oct.
5.

By B F. received of Philadelphia Office
68:
16:
7¼

By J. F. received of Annapolis Office
17.
18.
3¼

22.

By Do. received of York Office Virginia
2:
12.
1½

Nov.
2.

By Do. received of W. Dunlap per Hunter’s Executors
51:
9:
2½

March
5:
1765.
By Do. received of Do. per Mr. Royle
77:
6.
5

15.

By Do. received of York Office Virginia
6:
2.
3¼

Omitted above

Aug.
2.
1764.
By B F. received of J P. from Tower Hill Office 32s. 6d. York-
17.
0

By J F. received of Do. [Ballance of Lottery Account £36: 5. 0] Pennsylvania Money
21.
0.
0

March
  18.
1765.
By B F. received of J P. £82. 4: 0 Pennsylvania Money
45.
0.
0

20.

By B F. received of Do. 11: 16. 0 Do.
6.
  14.
  10

3444:
4:
1

Query. Whether the two last Articles of this Account were not paid by Mr. Parker as part of his private Debt to B F.?


Title: Benjamin Franklin and John Foxcroft: Commission to James Parker, 10 July 1764
From: Franklin, Benjamin,Foxcroft, John
To: Parker, James

[July 10, 1764]
Benjamin Franklin and John Foxcroft Esquires His Majesty’s Deputy Postmaster General of all his Majesty’s Dominions on the Continent of North America.

To all to whom these Presents shall come: Greeting. Know ye That we the said Benjamin Franklin and John Foxcroft reposing special Trust and Confidence in James Parker of Woodbridge in New Jersey, Gentleman, and having received good Testimony of his Fidelity and Loyalty to his Majesty and of his Ability and Sufficiency to execute the Office and Duties required of a Secretary, Comptroller, Accomptant, and Receiver General of the General Post Office do by these presents nominate and appoint him our Secretary Comptroller, Accomptant and Receiver General, with full power to demand, receive, examine, correct and allow, the Monthly Bills call’d Comptrollers Bills, and the Quarterly and General Accounts of the several Deputy Postmasters in every Province relating to the Postage of Letters; and to demand recover and receive for us, the Ballance from such Accounts arising and proper Discharges thereupon to give and generally to do and perform every other Matter and Thing that to the Office and Duty of Secretary, Comptroller, Accomptant and Receiver General of the General Post-Office doth or may Appertain, under such Instructions Restrictions and Orders as he shall from time to time receive from us: And we do hereby authorize the said James Parker to have, hold, exercise and enjoy the said Offices, with all the Powers Privileges Benefits and Advantages thereunto belonging, from the Day of the Date hereof, for and during the Term of three Years, or till he receive a new Commission from us, or till this present Commission be superseded; Hereby strictly charging and requiring all Officers and others employ’d in and about the Posts already settled or to be settled in any part of his Majesty’s said Provinces and Dominions in North America, or in Relation to the Revenue arising by the Post of Letters therein; from time to time to render their Accounts regularly and duly according to their Instructions to the said James Parker, and to pay unto him the Ballances thereof, and to observe and obey his Orders and Directions relating to their Accompts and Remittances. And we do also hereby give and grant unto him the said James Parker, for his Care, Pains and Trouble in the Execution of the Offices and Trust hereby granted and committed unto him, the Yearly Salary of Eighty Pounds Sterling to commence from the Date hereof, which Salary he is to receive or be allowed in his Accounts. And we do hereby revoke and make null and void from the Day of the Date hereof all and every other Constitution and Appointment to the same Office made given or granted by us, or any former Deputy Postmaster General, to the said James Parker, or to any other Person or Persons whatsoever, In Witness whereof, we the said Benjamin Franklin and John Foxcroft, have hereunto set our Hands, and caused the Seal of our Office to be Affixed this tenth Day of July One thousand seven Hundred and Sixty four in the fourth Year of his Majesty’s Reign.
B FranklinJ. Foxcroft

Endorsed: Commission to Mr Parker


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jane Mecom, 10 July 1764
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Mecom, Jane

Dear Sister
Philada. July 10. 1764
We all condole with you most sincerely on the Death of your Daughter. She always appear’d to me of a sweet and amiable Temper, and to have many other good Qualities that must make the Loss of her more grievous for Brother and you to bear. Our only Comfort under such Afflictions is, that God knows what is best for us, and can bring Good out of what appears Evil. She is doubtless happy: which none of us are while in this Life.
Brother Peter and Sister are well. Their Maid which they brought with them, and a young Girl, have been both inoculated, and have got finely over the small Pox. They join with my Mrs. Franklin Sally and myself in Love to you and yours: But do not write; as no Letters can now go free in America but mine, Mr. Foxcroft’s and our Secretary’s; the latter only Business of the Office. The Act of Parliament forbidding. I am, Your ever affectionate Brother
B Franklin

Addressed: To / Mrs. Jane Mecom / Boston / Free / B Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to John Winthrop, 10 July 1764
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Winthrop, John

Sir
Philada. July 10. 1764
I received your Favour of the 12th. past, and congratulate you on the Recovery of Mrs. Winthrop and your Children from the Small Pox.
Mr. Stiles return’d Æpinus to me sometime since. I must confess I am pleas’d with his Theory of Magnetism. Perhaps I receive it the more readily on Account of the Relation he has given it to mine of Electricity. But there is one Difficulty I cannot solve by it quite to my Satisfaction, which is that if a Steel Ring be made magnetical by passing Magnets properly round it, and afterwards broken into two Semicircles, each of them will have strong N. and S. Poles, in whatever Part the Ring is broken. I have not try’d this, but have been assur’d ’tis so: and I know that a magnetic Bar broken has after Breaking 4 Poles, i.e. it becomes two compleat Bars. I think with him that Impermeability to the El. Fluid, is the Property of all El[ectric]s per se; or that, if they permit it to pass at all, it is with Difficulty, greater or less in different El[ectric]s per se. Glass hot permits it to pass freely; and in the different degrees between hot and cold may permit it to pass more or less freely.
I shall think of the Affair of your unfortunate College, and try if I can be of any Service in procuring some Assistance towards restoring your Library. Please to present my respectful Compliments to Dr. Chauncy, Mr. Elliot and Mr. Cooper; and believe me with sincere Esteem, Sir Your most obedient humble Servant
B Franklin
My Respects to the President, and to Mr. Danforth.
J. Winthrop Esqr

Endorsed: Dr Franklin 10 July 1764 [and on another page:] Recd July 23.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Richard Jackson, 12 July 1764
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Jackson, Richard

Dear Sir,
Philada. July 12. 1764
By Capt. Hammet, who lately sail’d from hence, the Committee wrote to you, and sent you the Petition to the King. By this Conveyance they send you some other Papers. The Proprietary Party are endeavouring to stir up the Presbyterians to join in a Petition against a Change of Government: what that [Endea] vour will produce I cannot say.
I hope soon to receive your Sentiments on this Affair, which will probably enable me to determine, whether I shall stay here, or retire to some other Colony, or England, to spend the Remainder of my Days.
Col. Bouquet sets out in a short time with the 1000 Men, rais’d, cloath’d and paid by this Province, against the Indians on the Ohio. Our Heats have lately been so excessive, that many have died, chiefly after drinking cold Water while warm with Exercise. How much more happy is your temperate Climate? I am, dear Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant
B Franklin
P.S. Inclos’d is a Duplicate of the Petition.
For large Pacquets I suppose you pay Postage, which should be charg’d to the Province.
R. Jackson Esqr

Addressed: To / Richard Jackson, Esquire / Member of Parliament for Weymouth, / Inner Temple / London / via New York / per Packet
Endorsed: 12 July 64 Bn Franklin Esqr


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from John Mills, 12 July 1764
From: Mills, John
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir,
London, July 12th, 1764
I am greatly indebted to you for your most obliging favour of the 10th of March, which was safely delivered to me by Mr. Shadwell, whose channel (directing to him at the Secretary of State’s Office) will always be a sure conveyance.
I thank you, Sir, most heartily, for your kindness to me in presenting to Colonel Elliot the first volume of my Husbandry. I wish I had known there was such a descendant of that worthy Gentleman, the Doctor, that I might e’er this have requested his acceptance of the rest of what has been published of that work, as a mark of my sincere veneration for the memory of his Father. I expect the 2d., 3d. and 4th volumes of my work hourly from my bookseller, whom I have ordered to get them bound up for the Colonel: but such is the negligence of those gentry in all affairs which are not their own immediate concern, or attended with lucre to them, that I fear I shall not yet be able to get them in time for the ship by which Mr. Small will be so kind as to send this letter, with my fourth volume, for you, Sir, whose acceptance of it I request, as of a feeble mark of my respect for you.
I am greatly obliged to you for the list of American booksellers, and shall make use of it in the proportions and manner you direct, as soon as my fifth volume is finished at the press: for as that will complete my task, and as it is now printing, I apprehend that it may be best to send the whole work together: at least my bookseller, Mr. Johnson, is clearly of that opinion.
I should esteem it a singular happiness to be able to prove the esteem and regard with which I am, Sir, Your most obedient and most humble servant
John Mills
I am just now sending to the Society of Agriculture Arts and Commerce established by the States of Britany at Rennes, a small parcel of your American Orchard grass Seeds, with which Mr. Small has kindly favoured me: and I likewise send to the same Society (at their desire) an hundred weight of Mr. Roque’s Burnet seed.
Dr. Benj. Franklin


Title: Minutes of the Provincial Commissioners, 20 July 1764
From:
To:

The provincial commissioners named in the Supply Act of May 30, 1764, assumed their duties almost at once. Their activities in directing the recruitment, maintenance, and disposition of the troops authorized by the provincial government are reflected in part by the pay orders they approved (above, pp. 221–4) and by the commissions and orders Governor Penn issued as commander-in-chief to various officers. But the formal records of meetings of the governor and commissioners at which decisions were reached seem for the most part to have disappeared. Minutes of actions taken on July 20 alone seem to have survived among those of the numerous sessions that certainly took place during the summer of 1764. These minutes are printed here to illustrate some of the decisions on military matters in which Franklin participated as one of the commissioners.

  July 20th 1764Present.
The Governor

Benja. Franklin
Lynford Lardner
}
Esqrs.

Joseph Fox
Joseph Galloway

John Baynton

The Board taking under their consideration the disposition of the Troops for the Defence of the Frontiers.
Agreed.
That four companies be stationed and range between the River Delaware and Susquehanna, including thirty men to Garrison Fort Augusta, and that the two remaining companies of the Provincials be stationed and range on the Frontiers westwards of the Susquehanna, and that one commanding Officer be appointed for these companies.
Agreed.
That Robert Callender be the victualler for the three western Companies save those in Fort Augusta who are victualled by the Crown, and that Robert Levers victual the other three companies to the eastward.

Agreed.
That the above mentioned Troops be supplied with Arms from the Public Armory and with Amunition Blankets Sheetes Haversacks and Tomahawks.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jane Mecom, 24 July 1764
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Mecom, Jane

Dear Sister
Philada. July 24. 1764
It is not in my Power to dispense with an Act of Parliament. To attempt it would hazard my Place. The Privilege of Franking my own Letters is indulg’d to me by the Act; but I have been given to understand that ’tis a Trust, which tis expected I will not violate by covering the Letters of others. Mr. Flag must therefore pay for the Letters you send him; and I think he should also pay the Letters he sends to you. Your Sister has just now paid 2s. 6d. for a Letter to herself from New York. She would have wrote to condole with you on your late Loss, and so would Brother Peter, but that they would not put you to Charge. We all join in Love to you and yours. Your affectionate Brother
B Franklin

Addressed: To / Mrs Jane Mecom / Boston / Free / B Franklin


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from —————, 8 August 1764
From: ——
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir
Philada. 8th. Augt. 1764.
[I am] returning you my kind thanks for your favour in lending me the Perusal of Mr. Pringles account of the Meteor seen in England &c. some time agone, which I herewith return.

I have been at some Pains in geting the account of this that appear’d here the 20th Ulto. in the Evening, but a Great Deal Appears from what has been said to be Imperfect unless there were more than one.
However from the Perusal of the whole, I shall at Present desist, and have for my own part to say, that with proper Instruments I have taken the Altitude, and Course from my Standing Place, and with the help of two Young Men of Account, where the Meteor Pass’d directly in their Zenith, which is taken with a Land Compass, the Intersection of the two Lines undoubtedly will be Perpendicular to the place it broke. As everybody seems silent in so curious an Affair, makes me doubt that a more ungenerous a Spirit Subsists, than that, that wou’d be becoming [to a] Soul, Springing from an Eternal Spirit, which [has no] beginning nor end. The Lord Preserve Sir your [Life?] for abundance has been said, what end [torn] I am at a Stand. I have been buisy, or [torn] d[raw]n the Cut, together with the Lin[torn] own get so much in favour [torn].
To B. Franklin


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Becket, 10 August 1764
From: Becket, Thomas
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir
London Aug. 10. 1764
I am just favourd with yours of the 17th. June with a Copy of yours of the 3d, (I never Received the first). Inclosing also a Bill on Mr. Brown for Twelve Pounds which is paid.
It is impossible for me to express the concern I am in at receiving such a Letter from you who has been so remarkably my friend; and that I have given cause for it I cannot deny—but this I can aver, that it was not wilful. It must seem almost an absurdity to pretend to vindicate myself, but yet I must beg your patience for one minute.

I received your last favour the begining of Feby, and thought that by staying about 2 Mo. I should be able to send you a few New Articles that the course of that time might produce and well might be agreeable to you. I also was in expectation of receiving some more Numbers of the Arts et Metiers from Paris which you particularly desird, and did not receive any till May, which was the Art de Refiner le Sucre. There was then no Ships going till June, and I sent every thing you wrote for with some additional articles by the Mary and Elizabeth Capt. Spark, and wrote you at the same time, with a state of the Account, by which there was a ballance due me of £16 13s. 6d.
It is true that I ought to have sent by the first Ship such articles as you wrote for without waiting for other things—I now see the absurdity of my Conduct—and feel your just resentment. To say any more, would be superfluous—and as I know you to be the best of Men, I trust you will forgive this disapointment I have laid you under. Depend upon it, good Sir, I shall be ever watchful for the future to obey your commands with the stricktest punctuality being Sir Your greatly Obliged and Most Obedient Humble servant
T Becket
I herewith send in 2 packets the Reviews, Magazines, and 4 New pamphlets.
To Benjamin Franklyn Esqr.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Henry Bouquet, 10 August 1764
From: Bouquet, Henry
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Dear Sir
Carlisle. August 10th. 1764
I am sorry that the first Letter I have the Pleasure to write you, must be upon a disagreeable Subject. The Desertion has already reduced your Two Battalions to about 750 Men, and I have too much cause to expect they will lose many more before they reach Fort Loudoun.
I can not spare so considerable a Number from the diminutive Force I was to have, and am obliged to apply to the Governor and Commissioners to enable me to compleat these Troops, and to send by a proper Person the money necessary allowing the same Terms as before, viz. The Three Pounds in advance to be afterwards deducted from their Pay and the 20s. for Every Recruit to the officers.
This will be no additional Expence to the Public and only the application of the whole money voted for that Service, Except the 20 shs. to raise again the men who have deserted, an Article too inconsiderable to form an objection.
As I realy apprehend some Risk in proceeding on this Expedition with so few Troops, I beg you will use your Interest with the Board to obtain me that favour, and prevent a delay, which in the Circumstances would be equal to a denial.
We are hitherto perfectly quiet here, being neither disturbed by our active Enemy, nor assisted by our Indolent and mean Spirited Frontier Friends. I am with great Regard Dear Sir Your most obedient and Humble Servant
Henry Bouquet
Benjamin Franklin Esqr.

Endorsed: Col. Bouquet Augt. 10.64 requesting Money to compleat the Troops. 1st. Letter after his Departure.