am glad to hear that you continue well, with what is left of the amiable family, in whose sweet society I passed so many happy evenings while I lived in Passy. I sympathize with you in all your losses and afflictions, and hope the rest of your life will be as tranquil and free from trouble as it had been for some years before we parted.

You have given me pleasure by informing me of the welfare and present agreeable circumstances of yourself and children; and I am persuaded that your friendship for me will render a similar account of my situation pleasing to you. I am in a country where I have the happiness of being universally respected and beloved; of which three successive annual elections to the chief magistracy, in which elections the representatives of the people in Assembly and the Supreme Council joined and were unanimous, is the strongest proof; this is a place of profit as well as of honor; and my friends cheerfully assist in making the business as easy to me as possible. I live in a good house which I built twentyfive years ago, contrived to my mind, and made still more convenient by an addition since my return. dutiful and affectionate daughter, with her husband and six children compose my family. The children are all promising, and even the youngest, who is but four years old, contributes to my amusement. The eldest, Benjamin, you may remember. He has finished his studies at our university, and is preparing to enter into business as a printer, the original occupation of his grandfather. Temple, who was likewise with me in France, is settled about six leagues

A

To conclude, I beg I may not be understood to infer that our general convention was divinely inspired when it formed the new Federal Constitution merely because that Constitution has been unreasonably and vehemently opposed; yet I must own I have so much faith in the general government of the world by Providence, that I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance to the welfare of millions now existing, and to exist in the posterity of a great nation, should be suffered to pass without being in some degree influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent, and beneficent Ruler, in whom all inferior spirits live, and move, and have their being.

B. FRANKLIN.

MCCCCLXXXII

TO PROFESSOR LAUDRIANI

PHILADELPHIA, 14 October, 1787.

I have received the excellent work Upon the Utility of Electrical Conductors, which you had the goodness to send me. I read it with great pleasure and beg you to receive my sincere thanks for it.

Upon my return to this country, I found the number of conductors much increased, many proofs of their efficacy in preserving buildings from lightning having demonstrated their utility. Among other instances my own house was one day attacked by lightning, which occasioned the neighbors to run in to give assistance, in case of its being on fire. But

that may happen between this and October, and your earnest desire, I have come to the resolution to proceed in that work to-morrow, and continue it daily till finished, which, if my health permits, may be in the course of the ensuing summer. As it goes on, I will have a copy made for you, and you may expect to receive a part by the next packet.

It is very possible, as you suppose, that all the articles of the proposed new government will not remain unchanged, after the first meeting of the Congress. I am of opinion, with you, that the two chambers were not necessary, and I disliked some other articles that are in, and wished for some that are not in the proposed plan. I nevertheless hope it may be adopted, though I shall have nothing to do with the execution of it, being determined to quit all public business with my present employment. At eighty-three one certainly has a right to ambition repose.

We are not ignorant that the duties paid at the custom-house on the importation of foreign goods are finally reimbursed by the consumer, but we impose them as the easiest way of levying a tax from those consumers. If our new country was as closely inhabited as your old one, we might without much difficulty collect a landtax that would be sufficient for all purposes; but where farms are at five or six miles' distance from each other, as they are in a great part of our country, the going of the collectors from house to house to demand the taxes, and being obliged to call more than once for the same tax, I President of the State of Pennsylvania.

makes the trouble of collecting in many cases exceed the value of the sum collected. Things that are, practicable in one country are not always so in another, where circumstances differ. Our duties are, however, generally so small as to give little temptation to smuggling. Believe me ever, my dear friend, yours most affectionately,

MDIII

B. FRANKLIN.

TO MADAME HELVETIUS

PHILADELPHIA, 23 April, 1788.

I received and read with the greatest pleasure, my dear friend, the kind letter you were so good as to write to me with your own hand, c'est toute à fait charmante. It rejoiced me to hear that you continued well with your chères petites étoilles, and that you still have your friends about you. I often think of the happiness I so long enjoyed in the sweet society of you and them at Auteuil. When we meet in Paradise, as I trust we shall, the pleasures of that place will be augmented by our recollection of all the circumstances of our acquaintance here below.

You have made my daughter very happy by the things you sent her. They are much admired. I continue as well as I have been for some years past, and if I live six months longer, I may hope for some leisure, so as to be able to converse more frequently by letter with my absent friends, having absolutely determined to engage no more in any public business after my three years' service as President shall expire.

I send you enclosed the proposed new Federal Constitution for these States. I was engaged four months of the last summer in the convention that formed it. It is now sent by Congress to the several States for their confirmation. If it succeeds, I do not see why you might not in Europe carry the project of good Henry the Fourth into execution, by forming a federal union and one grand republic of all its different states and kingdoms, by means of a like convention, for we had many interests to reconcile.

I hope you and yours are well. I continue so, but am too full of business to write by this pacquet to my other friends. I am glad you liked my young Carolinian. I have recommended another gentleman of that State to your civilities, the Hon. Mr. Charles Pinckney, member of Congress, and one of the late convention. He is a man of fortune, and an excellent character; but you will not see him till next spring. I am ever, my dear friend, yours most affectionately,

B. FRANKLIN.

P. S.-I drew on you not long since for 10,000 livres.

MCCCCLXXXV

TO M. DE CHAUMONT

PHILADELPHIA, 22 October, 1787.

MY DEAR FRIEND:-Your very valuable son having desired of me a certificate of his good behavior here, which he thinks may be of some use to him in