moment wherein those great objects of my ambition are to be attained, and that I am to be longer deprived of an opportunity to assure you, personally, of the regard with which I am your sincere and faithful humble servant,

How E.

P. S.-I was disappointed of the opportunity I expected for sending this letter at the time it was dated; and have ever since been prevented, by calms and contrary winds, from getting here to inform General Howe of the commission with which I have the satisfaction to be charged, and of his being joined in it.

Off of Sandy Hook,

12th of July.

Superscribed, HOWE.

MY LORD,

Dr. Franklin to Lord Howe.

Philadelphia, July 30, 1776.

I RECEIVED, safe, the letters your lordship so kindly forwarded to me, and beg you to accept my thanks.

The official dispatches, to which you refer me, contain nothing more than what we had seen in the act of parliament, viz. "Offers of pardon upon submission," which I was sorry to find, as it must give your lordship pain to be sent so far on so hopeless a business.

Directing pardons to be offered to the colonies, who are the very parties injured, expresses, indeed, that opinion of our ignorance, baseness, and insensibility, which your uninformed and proud nation has long been pleased to entertain of us; but it

can have no other effect than that of increasing our resentments. It is impossible we should think of submission to a government that has, with the most wanton barbarity and cruelty, burned our defenceless towns in the midst of winter; excited the savages to massacre our (peaceful) farmers, and our slaves to murder their masters; and is even now bringing foreign mercenaries to deluge our settlements with blood. These atrocious injuries have extinguished every spark of affection for that parent country we once held so dear: but were it possible for us to forget and forgive them, it is not possible for you (I mean the British nation) to forgive the people you have so heavily injured; you can never confide again in those as fellow-subjects, and permit them to enjoy equal freedom, to whom you know you have given such just causes of lasting enmity; and this must impel you, were we again under your government, to endeavour the breaking our spirit by the severest tyranny, and obstructing, by every means in your power, our growing strength and prosperity.

But your lordship mentions "the king's paternal solicitude for promoting the establishment of lasting peace and union with the colonies." If, by peace, is here meant, a peace to be entered into by distinct states, now at war, and his majesty has given your lordship powers to treat with us of such a peace, I may venture to say, though without authority, that I think a treaty for that purpose not quite impracticable, before we enter into foreign alliances. But I am persuaded you have no such powers. Your nation though, by punishing those American governors who have fomented the discord, rebuilding our burnt towns, and repairing, as far as possible, the mischiefs done us, she might

recover a great share of our regard, and the greatest share of our growing commerce, with all the advantages of that additional strength to be derived from a friendship with us; yet I know too well her abounding pride and deficient wisdom, to believe she will ever take such salutary measures. Her fondness for conquest, as a warlike nationher lust of dominion, as an ambitious one-and her thirst for a gainful monopoly, as a commercial one (none of them legitimate causes of war)-will join to hide from her eyes every view of her true interest, and continually goad her on in these ruinous, distant expeditions, so destructive both of lives and of treasure, that they must prove as pernicious to her, in the end, as the Croisades formerly were to most of the nations of Europe.

I have not the vanity, my lord, to think of intimidating, by thus predicting the effects of this war, for I know it will in England have the fate of all my former predictions-not to be believed till the event shall verify it.

Long did I endeavour, with unfeigned and unwearied zeal, to preserve from breaking that fine and noble porcelain vase-the British empire; for I knew that, being once broken, the separate parts could not retain even their share of the strength and value that existed in the whole; and that a perfect reunion of those parts could scarce ever be hoped for. Your lordship may possibly remember the tears of joy that wetted my cheek when, at your good sister's in London, you once gave me expectations that a reconciliation would soon take place. I had the misfortune to find these expectations disappointed, and to be treated as the cause of the mischief I was labouring to prevent. My consolation, under that groundless and malevolent

treatment, was, that I retained the friendship of many wise and good men in that country; and, among the rest, some share in the regard of Lord Howe.

The well-founded esteem, and, permit me to say, affection, which I shall always have for your lordship, make it painful to me to see you engaged in conducting a war, the great ground of which (as described in your letter) is "the necessity of preventing the American trade from passing into foreign channels." To me, it seems that neither the obtaining nor retaining any trade, how valuable soever, is an object for which men may justly spill each other's blood; that the true and sure means of extending and securing commerce are the goodness and cheapness of commodities; and that the profits of no trade can ever be equal to the expense of compelling it, and holding it by fleets and armies. I consider this war against us, therefore, as both unjust and unwise; and I am persuaded that cool and dispassionate posterity will condemn to infamy those who advised it; and that even success will not save from some degree of dishonour those who have voluntarily engaged to conduct it.

I know your great motive in coming hither was the hope of being instrumental in a reconciliation; and I believe, when you find that to be impossible on any terms given you to propose, you will then relinquish so odious a command, and return to a more honourable private station.

With the greatest and most sincere respect, I have the honour to be, my lord, your lordship's most obedient humble servant,

16

B. FRANKLIN.

Dr. Franklin's Letter respecting Captain Cook.

To all Captains and Commanders of armed ships, acting by commission from the Congress of the United States of America, now in war with Great Britain.

GENTLEMEN,

A SHIP having been fitted out froin England, before the commencement of this war, to make discoveries of new countries in unknown seas, under the conduct of that most celebrated navi. gator, Captain Cook-an undertaking truly laudable in itself, as the increase of geographical knowledge facilitates the communication between distant nations, in the exchange of useful products and manufactures, and the extension of arts, whereby the common enjoyments of life are multiplied and augmented, and science of other kinds increased, to the benefit of mankind in general: This is therefore most earnestly to recommend to every one of you, that in case the said ship, which is now expected to be soon in the European seas, on her return, should happen to fall into your hands, you would not consider her as an enemy, nor suffer any plunder to be made of the effects contained in her, nor obstruct her immediate return to England by detaining her, or sending her into any other part of Europe or America; but that you would treat the said Captain Cook and his people with all civility and kindness, affording them, as common friends to mankind, all the assistance in your power, which they may happen to stand in need of. In so doing, you will not only gratify the generosity of your own dispositions, but there is no doubt of your obtaining the approbation of the Congress, and your own American owners.