(who must be best acquainted with the usual manner of transacting your affairs here,) to know whether he will take charge of the delivery of it; if not, to request he would inform me how or to whom it is to be sent for the King. I expect his answer in a day or two, and I shall, when I see him, inquire how your pension is hereafter to be applied for and received, though I suppose he has written to you be fore this time.*

I hope your health continues, as mine does hitherto; but I wish you would now decline your long and dangerous peregrinations in search of new plants, and remain safe and quiet at home, employing your leisure hours in a work that is much wanted, and which no one besides is so capable of performing; I mean the writing a Natural History of our country. I imagine it would prove profitable to you, and I am sure it would do you honor. My respects and best wishes attend Mrs. Bartram and your family. With sincere esteem I am, as ever, your affectionate friend,

B. FRANKLIN.

P. S. January 28th. The box is delivered, according to Mr. Michael Collinson's directions, at Lord Bute's.

• Mr. Bartram, though self-taught and with few advantages, possess» ed uncommon talents, and, by observation and study, unassisted by books and the instructions of others, made great attainments in botany and natural history. His passionate fondness for this kind of knowledge led him to undertake long and hazardous rambles in the wild and unsetiled parts of the country, from Canada to Florida, searching for new plants, collecting rare specimens, and examining nature in all its vaneties. Several communications from him were inserted in the Phalosophical Transactions; and he also published accounts of his travels and observations. His merit attracted the attention of the King, and he was appointed American botanist to his Britannic Majesty, which atation probably entitled him to a pension. No biographer has done any adequate justice to his character or has acquisitions,

VOL. VII.

55

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I have sent over some seed of naked oats and some of Swiss barley, six rows to one ear. choose to try some of it, call on Mrs. Franklin.

If you would

TO LORD KAMES.

Use of Oxen and Horses in Agriculture. —A Measure of Value.- Chosen President of the American Philosophical Society.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

London, 21 February, 1769.

I received your excellent paper on the preferable use of oxen in agriculture, and have put it in the way of being communicated to the public here. I have observed in America, that the farmers are more thriving in those parts of the country where horned cattle are used, than in those where the labor is done by horses. The latter are said to require twice the quantity of land to maintain them; and after all are not good to eat, at least we do not think them so. Here is a waste of land that might afford subsistence for so many of the human species. Perhaps it was for this reason, that the Hebrew lawgiver, having promised that the children of Israel should be as numerous as the sands of the sea, not only took care to secure the health of individuals by regulating their diet, that they might be fitter for producing children, but also forbade their using horses, as those animals would lessen the quantity of subsistence for men. Thus we find, when they took any horses from their enemies, they destroyed them; and in the commandments, where the labor of the ox and ass is mentioned, and forbidden on the Sabbath, there is no mention of the horse, probably because they were to have none. And, by the great

armies suddenly raised in that small territory they inhabited, it appears to have been very full of people.*

Food is always necessary to all, and much the greatest part of the labor of mankind is employed in raising provisions for the mouth. Is not this kind of labor, then, the fittest to be the standard by which to measure the values of all other labor, and consequently of all other things whose value depends on the labor of making or procuring them? May not even gold and silver be thus valued? If the labor of the farmer, in producing a bushel of wheat, be equal to the labor of the miner in producing an ounce of silver, will not the bushel of wheat just measure the value of the ounce of silver. The miner must eat; the farmer indeed can live without the ounce of silver, and so per-. haps will have some advantage in settling the price. But these discussions I leave to you, as being more able to manage them; only, I will send you a little scrap I wrote some time since on the laws prohibiting foreign commodities.

I congratulate you on your election as president of your Edinburgh Society. I think I formerly took notice to you in conversation, that I thought there had been some similarity in our fortunes, and the circumstances of our lives. This is a fresh instance, for, by letters just received, I find that I was about the same

• There is not in the Jewish law any express prohibition against the use of horses; it is only enjoined, that the Kings should not multiply the breed, or carry on trade with Egypt for the purchase of horses, Deuteronomy, xvi. 16. Solomon was the first of the Kings of Judah who disregarded this ordinance. He had forty thousand stails of horses, which he brought out of Egypt. 1 Kings, iv. 26; and ibid. x. 28. From this time downwards horses were in constant use in the Jewish armies. It is true that the country, from its rocky surface and unfertile soil, was extremely unfit for the maintenance of those animals. -A. F. TITLER.

time chosen president of our American Philosophical Society, established at Philadelphia.

I have sent by sea, to the care of Mr. Alexander, a little box, containing a few copies of the late edition of my books, for my friends in Scotland. One is directed for you, and one for your Society, which I beg that you and they would accept as a small mark of my respect. With the sincerest esteem and regard, I am, my dear friend, yours most affectionately, B. FRANKLIN.

P. S. I am sorry my letter of 1767, concerning the American disputes, miscarried. I now send you a copy of it from my book. The Examination mentioned in it you have probably seen. Things daily wear a worse aspect, and tend more and more to a breach and final separation.

TO SAMUEL COOPER, AT BOSTON.

DEAR SIR,

London, 24 February, 1769.

I received your favor by Mr. Jeffries. I should have been glad if in any thing I could have served him here. The part I took in the application for your degree* was merely doing justice to merit, which is the duty of an honest man whenever he has the opportunity. I did that duty, indeed, with pleasure and satisfaction to myself, which was sufficient; but I own the pleasure is greatly increased by finding, that you are so good as to accept my endeavours kindly.

Degree of Doctor in Divinity, conferred by the University of Edinburgh.

I was about to return home last summer, and had some thoughts of doing it by way of Boston; but the untoward situation of American affairs here induced my friends to advise my staying another winter. I should have been happy in doing any service to our country. The tide is yet strong against us, and our endeavours to turn it have hitherto had but little effect. But it must turn, if your frugal and industrious resolutions continue. Your old governor, Mr. Pownall, appears a warm and zealous friend to the colonies in Parliament, but unfortunately he is very ill heard at present. I have been in constant pain since I heard of troops assembling at Boston, lest the madness of mobs, or the insolence of soldiers, or both, should, when too near each other, occasion some mischief difficult to be prevented or repaired, and which might spread far and wide. I hope, however, that prudence will predominate, and keep all quiet.

A great cause between the city of London and the Dissenters was decided here the year before last in the House of Lords. No account of it has been printed; but, one having been taken in writing, I obtained a copy of it, which I send you, supposing it may afford you and your friends some pleasure.*

At this time the controversy ran high in the colonies respecting the expediency of having an American bishop of the Episcopal church. On that subject he wrote as follows to his sister, February 234, 1769.

*Your political disputes I have no objection to, if they are carried on with tolerable decency, and do not become outrageously abusive. They make people acquainted with their rights, and the value of them. But your squabbles about a bishop I wish to see speedily ended. They seem to be unnecessary at present, as the design of sending one is dropped; and, if it were not dropped, I cannot think it a matter of such moment, as to be a sufficient reason for division among you, when there never was more need of your being united. I do not conceive, that bishops residing in America would either be of such adKK*