General Burgoyne, on a supposition that the congress intended to recal him, I sent a copy of the resolution to Mr. Burke, and requested he would charge himself with the negociation. I have since beard nothing, either from Mr. Hodgson or Mr. Burke; and as it is said a packet was lately lost between Ostend and England, I begin to fear my letters have miscarried, and shall by the first post send copies. I wish Mr. Bridgen would however apply to both those gentlemen, learn what has been done, and through you acquaint me with it. I beg you would assure Mr. Bridgen of my best wishes and affectionate attachment. I hope his affairs in Carolina have been settled to his mind. With much esteem, I have the honor to be, madam,

yours, &c.

B. FRANKLIN.

P.S. About the beginning of the year, having heard a report that Mr. Laurens was ill-used, I wrote a little remonstrance to Sir Grey Cooper on the occasion; who replied, by acquainting me that on inquiry he found the report to be groundless; and by sending me a letter he had received from the lieutenant of the Tower, which assured him in the strongest terms, that Mr. Laurens was perfectly satisfied with the treatment he received, and frequently expressed his thankfulness for the same; this made me easy, hearing nothing afterwards to the contrary till lately.

TO MISS LAURENS.

MADAM,

Relative to her father's situation.

Passy, Dec. 29, 1781. I received your very sensible letter of the 14th past. Your brother, Colonel Laurens, being here when I received the former, I informed him of the steps I had then taken,

VOL. I.

G

You wish to know what allowance I make to my private secretary. My grandson, W. Temple Franklin, came over with me, served me as private secretary during the time of the commissioners, and no secretary to the commission arriving, though we had been made to expect one, he did business for us all, and this without any allowance for his services, though both Mr. Lee and Mr. Deane at times mentioned it to me as a thing proper to be done, and a justice due to him. When I became appointed sole minister here, and the whole business which the commissioners had before divided with me came into my hands, I was obliged to exact more service from him, and he was indeed, by being so long in the business, become capable of doing more. At length, in the beginning of the year 1781, considering his constant close attention to the duties required of him, and his having thereby missed the opportunity of studying the law, for which he had been intended, I determined to make him some compensation for the time past, and fix some appointment for the time to come, till the pleasure of congress respecting him should be taken. I accordingly settled an account with him; allowing him from the beginning of December 1776, to the end of 1777, the sum of 3400 livres; and for the year 1778, the sum of 4000 livres; for 1779, 4300 livres; and for 1780, 6000 livres since that time, I have allowed him at the rate of 300 louis per annum, being what I saw had been allowed by congress to the secretary of Mr. William Lee, who could not have had, I imagine, a fourth part of the business to go through; since my secretary, besides the writing and copying the papers relative to my common ministerial transactions, has had all those occasioned by my acting in the various employments of judge of admiralty, consul, purchaser of goods for the public, &c. besides that of the acceptor of the congress bills, a business that requires being always at home; bills coming

by post from different ports and countries, and often requiring immediate answers, whether good or not; and to that end, it being necessary to examine them by the books exactly kept of all preceding acceptations, in order to detect double presentations, which happen very frequently, the great number of these bills makes almost sufficient business for one person, and the confinement they occasion is such that we cannot allow ourselves a day's excursion into the country, and the want of exercise has hurt our healths in several instances." The congress pay much larger salaries to some secretaries, who I believe deserve them, but not more than my grandson does; the comparatively small one I have allowed to him, his fidelity, exactitude and address in transacting business, being really what one could wish in such an officer, and the genteel appearance a young gentleman in his station obliges him to make, requiring at least such an income. I do not mention the extraordinary business that has been imposed upon us in this embassy as a foundation for demanding higher salaries than others. I never solicited for a public office either for myself or any relative, yet I never refused one that I was capable of executing, when public service was in question; and I never bargained for salary, but contented myself with whatever my constituents were pleased to allow me. The congress will therefore consider every article charged in my account distinct from the salary originally voted, not as what I presumed to insist upon, but as what I propose only for their consideration, and they will allow what they think proper. You desire an accurate estimate of those contingent expenses. I enclose copies of two letters which passed between Mr. Adams and me on the subject, and show the articles of which they consist. Their amount in different years may be found in my accounts, except the article of house-rent, which has never yet been settled, M. de Chaumont, our landlord,

LETTER TO ******.

Containing advice to certain manufacturers intending to

GENTLEMEN,

emigrate to America.

Passy, Jan. 4, 1782.

I received the propositions you did me the honor to

address to me, by the hand of Mr. —

There is no doubt but that a body of sober, industrious, and ingenious artisans, men of honest and religious principles, such as you and your friends are described to be, would be a valuable acquisition to any country; and I am certain you would meet with a kind and friendly reception in Pennsylvania, and be put into possession of all the rights and privileges of free citizens; but neither that government, nor any other in America that I know of, has ever been at any public expense to augment the number of its inhabitants. All who are established there, have come at their own charge. The country affords to strangers a good climate, fine wholesome air, plenty of provisions, good laws, just and cheap government; with all the liberties, civil and religious, that reasonable men can wish for. These inducements are so great, and the number of people in all the nations of Europe, who wish to partake of them, is so considerable, that if the states were to undertake transporting people at the expense of the public, no revenue that they have would be sufficient. Having therefore no orders or authority, either from the congress or the state of Pennsylvania, to procure settlers or manufacturers, by engaging to defray them, I cannot enter into the contract proposed in your second article. The other articles would meet with no difficulty. Men are not forced there into the public service, and a special law might be easily obtained to give you a property for seven years in the useful inventions you may introduce.

You will do well to weigh seriously the following considerations-If you can establish yourselves there during the war, it is certain that your manufactures will be much more profitable, as they sell at very high prices now, owing to the difficulty and risk of transporting them from Europe. But then your passages also will be more expensive, and your risk greater of having your project ruined, by being taken, stripped, and imprisoned. If you wait till a peace, you will pass much cheaper and more securely, and you have a better chance of settling yourselves and posterity in a comfortable and happy situation. On these points your prudence must determine. If I were to advise, I should think it rather most prudent to wait for a peace, and then to victual a vessel in some port of Ireland, where it can be done cheap, to which you might easily pass from Liverpool. There are, I understand, some apprehensions that your ministers may procure a law to restrain the emigration of manufacturers. But I think that, weak and wicked as they are, and tyrannical as they are disposed to be, they will hardly venture upon an act that shall make a prison of England to confine men for no other crime than that of being useful and industrious; and to discourage the learning of useful mechanie arts, by declaring, that as soon as a man is master of his business, he shall lose his liberty, and become a prisoner for life; while they suffer their idle and extravagant gentry to travel and reside abroad at their pleasure, spending the incomes of their estates, racked from their laborious honest tenants, in foreign follies, and among French and Italian whores and fiddlers. Such a law would be too glaringly Sunjust to be borne with.

I wish you success in what you may resolve to undertake i and you will find me ever your assured friend and humble servant, B. FRANKLIN.