839. TO VISCOUNT DE PONTÉ DE LIMA1 (L. C.) Paris, April 26. 1777

SIR:-The Congress of the United States of America have seen a Paper purporting to be an Edict of his Portuguese Majesty, dated at the Palace of Ajudo the 4th of July, 1776, in which the said States are treated with Contumely, their Ships however distressed, forbidden to enter any Port in his Dominions, and his Subjects everywhere forbidden to afford them the least Shelter or Relief. But as this Instrument has not been communicated to the Congress with any Circumstance of Authenticity, and appears only in Gazettes which frequently contain fictitious Pieces not to be rely'd on; as a long Friendship and Commerce has subsisted between the Portuguese and the Inhabitants of North America, whereby Portugal has been supplied with the most necessary Commodities in Exchange for her Superfluities, and not the least Injury has ever been committed or even offered by America to that Kingdom, the United States can scarcely bring themselves to believe that the said Edict is genuine, and that Portugal, which, but little more than a Century since, was with respect to its former government in a Situation similar to theirs, should be the first to reproach them with it as a Crime that render'd them unworthy of the common Rights of Hu

1 Minister for the affairs of the kingdom of Portugal. Another draft of this document in L. C. is indorsed by Franklin, "Rough of the Memorial to Portugal sent by M. Castrioto." Mr. Bigelow printed both drafts (Vol. VI, pp. 91 and 93). As they are substantially the same, I have printed only the memorial as sent. Another copy in the hand of Temple Franklin, with an interlineation by Franklin, is in the Auckland Mss. at King's College, Cambridge. - ED.

manity, and should be the only Power in Europe that has rejected their Commerce and assumed to judge of their Cause, and condemn them without Authority, Hearing or Enquiry. We, therefore, being Ministers of the Congress of the said United States, have been charged by them to represent to his most faithful Majesty their sincere desire to live in Peace with all Mankind, and particularly with his Nation; that if he has been by their Enemies surpris'd into the issuing such an Edict, he would be pleased in his Wisdom to reconsider and revoke it; and that he would henceforth permit the Continuance of the said Friendly and Commercial Intercourse between his People and theirs, which has ever been so advantageous to both. This Representation we now take the Liberty of making to your Court through the Medium of your Excellency; and whatever might have been its Reception if it had been made before the late Change, we do not now allow ourselves to doubt of its having in due time a favourable Answer, being persuaded from the equitable Character of the present Government that the Measure in question cannot be approved of, and such unworthy Treatment continu'd towards an inoffensive and Friendly People.

With great Respect, we have the Honour to be your Excellency's most obedient and most humble Servants,

Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the

United States of North America.

B. FRANKLIN,

SILAS DEANE

ARTHUR LEE

840. TO JAN INGENHOUSZ1

(L. C.)

[Paris, April 26, 1777.]

I LONG laboured in England, with great zeal and sincerity, to prevent the breach that has happened, and which is now so wide, that no endeavours of mine can possibly heal it. You know the treatment I met with from that imprudent

1 This letter has been variously treated by Franklin's editors. It has been published as two different letters, and it has been conjectured that it was addressed to Dr. Joseph Priestley. The date assigned to it by Mr. Bigelow and repeated in the "List of the Benjamin Franklin Papers" (L. C.) is 1778. An examination of the Ingenhousz letters in A. P. S. has shown that the letter was addressed to Dr. Ingenhousz, and that it was written April 26, 1777

Ingenhousz wrote to Franklin November 15, 1776, lamenting the scene "of horror and bloodshed" of which America was the theatre. "What dismal scene of confusion, anarchy and bloodshed exhibits this once happy climate which did seem to be destined by the Author of Nature for the abode of tranquillity, the asilum for those who are persecuted for religious principles, and the only seat of undisturbed human felicity." From Franklin he declared he had learned to regard Great Britain and the colonies as one country, "having one common seat of government, which you thought should better remain where it always was, than to be transferred within the colonies. You told me more than once, that no more distinction should be made between a man residing in England and one residing in North America, than between the inhabitants of London and Sheffield - Knowing from your own mouth this to be your principle, I found myself often obliged to defend your conduct before the most Respectable Persons, who were very willing to adscribe (sic) in a great measure to you this unhappy contest and all the bloodshed of which it has been already and may be still the cause-will this dreadful storm at last subside and end in a calm, as human affairs commonly do? Or will it end in a total subversion of things? Will all the industrious labour of your ances tors employed in changing those wildernesses in the happyest abode for civilized men, at once been rendered useless, and their so newly erected cities converted again into inhabited deserts. I shudder at the very thoughts of such horrid catastrophes, of which no example has ever happened upon the surface of the earth." — ED.

court; but I keep a separate account of private injuries, which I may forgive; and I do not think it right to mix them with public affairs. Indeed, there is no occasion for their aid to whet my resentment against a nation, that has burnt our defenceless towns in the midst of winter, has excited the savages to assassinate our innocent farmers, with their wives and children, and our slaves to murder their masters!

It would therefore be deceiving you, if I suffered you to remain in the supposition you have taken up, that I am come to Europe to make peace. I am in fact ordered hither by the Congress for a very different purpose; viz. to procure those aids from European powers, for enabling us to defend our freedom and independence, which it is certainly their interest to grant; as by that means the great and rapidly growing trade of America will be open to them all, and not a monopoly to Great Britain, as heretofore; a monopoly, that, if she is suffered again to possess, will be such an increase of her strength by sea, and if she can reduce us again to submission, she will have thereby so great an addition to her strength by land, as will, together, make her the most formidable power the world has yet seen; and, from her natural pride and insolence in prosperity, of all others the most intolerable.

You desire to know my Opinion of what will probably be the End of this War; and whether our new Establishments will not be thereby reduced again to Deserts. I do not, for my part, apprehend much danger of so great an Evil to us. I think we shall be able, with a little Help, to defend ourselves, our Possessions, and our Liberties so long that England will be ruined by persisting in the wicked attempt to destroy them. I must nevertheless regret that Ruin, and wish that her Injustice and Tyranny had not deserv'd

it. And I sometimes flatter myself, that, old as I am, I may possibly live to see my Country settled in Peace and Prosperity, when Britain shall make no more a formidable Figure among the Powers of Europe.

You put me in mind of an Apology for my Conduct, which has been expected from me in Answer to the Abuses thrown upon me before the Privy Council. It was partly written, but the Affairs of publick Importance I have ever since been engag'd in prevented my finishing it. The Injuries, too, that my Country has suffer'd, have absorb'd private Resentments, and made it appear trifling for an Individual to trouble the World with his particular justification, when all his Compatriots were stigmatized by the King and Parliament as being, in every respect, the worst of Mankind! I am oblig'd to you, however, for the friendly Part you have always taken in the Defence of my Character; and it is indeed no small Argument in my favour that those who have known me most and longest still love me and trust me with their most important Interests, of which my Election into the Congress by the Unanimous Voice of the Assembly, or Parliament of Pennsylvania, the day after my arrival from England, and my present Mission hither by the Congress itself, are Instances incontestable.

I thank you for the Account you give me of M. Volta's Experiment. You judge rightly in supposing, that I have not much time at present to consider philosophical Matters;'

1" You promised me to send me a copy of your Apology; but I have heard nothing about it since." Ingenhousz to Franklin, November 15, 1776.- ED.

"If I could expect that in the middel of the horrors of a civil war you reserved some hours to philosophical pursuites, I should entertain you with some experiments upon air and other matters, which I made some time ago

VOL. VII-K