and send me your friendly, candid Opinion of the Parts you would advise me to correct or expunge; this in Case you should be of Opinion that they are generally proper to be published; and if you judge otherwise, that you would send me that Opinion as soon as possible, and prevent my taking farther Trouble in endeavouring to finish them. I send you also the Paper you desire respecting our Payment of old English Debts. The Troubles you have had in Paris have afflicted me a great deal. I hope by this Time they are over, and everything settled as it should be, to the Advantage both of the King and Nation. My love to good Mme. Le Veillard and your Children, in which Sec'y Benjamin joins; and believe me as ever, your affectionate Friend, B. FRANKLIN. 1785. TO DONATIEN LE RAY DE CHAUMONT (L. C.) Philadelphia, Nov. 14, 1789. MY GOOD AND DEAR OLD FRIEND:- Your very valuable Son came to this Town lately with the full Intention of taking his Passage for France in Obedience to the Commands of his much respected Father and Mother, and supposing that his Presence there would be useful to the Affairs of the Family. But on his communicating his Purpose to me and acquainting me at the same Time with the present Situation of his Demand upon Congress, where your Accounts against them have been examined and approved, and the Payment only delayed 'till by the Operation of our New Constitution the Congress shall be furnished with Money to discharge them, I could not help thinking it would be more adviseable for him to postpone his Voyage two or three Months when he might hope to see his Business here completed to his and your Satisfaction, than to leave it in its present State, which might occasion a much longer Delay; for the Impost Law, passed at the last Session of Congress, being now in full Force thro' all the States of the Union [imperfect] Importation of Goods on which [imperfect] Duties are paid having lately been immensely great, the flow of Money into the Treasury must be proportionable, so that when they meet again, which will be early in January next, they will find themselves in Possession of a very considerable Sum; and as their Debt to you was one of the earliest they contracted, I suppose it will of Course be one of the first they will think of discharging; and I have promised him to use my best Interest and Endeavours with them for that Purpose. He has accordingly thought fit to take my Advice, and I hope it will be approved by you and his good Mother, and that this short Delay will not occasion any great Inconvenience; whereas if he should be absent when the first Payments are made, his Affair might be postponed for another Year. We hope indeed that when he does visit you, you will not think of detaining and fixing him in France; for we are not willing to part with him; his Behaviour having been such, during his Residence among us, as to obtain for him the Good-Will, Respect and Esteem of all who have had the Pleasure of knowing him. Pray make my Respects acceptable to good Madame [imperfect]. B. FRANKLIN. 1786. TO DAVID HARTLEY (L. C.) Philada, Dec 4, 1789. MY VERY DEAR FRIEND, I received your Favor of August last. Your kind Condolences on the painful State of my Health are very obliging. I am thankful to God, however, that, among the numerous Ills human Life is subject to, cne only of any Importance is fallen to my Lot; and that so late as almost to insure that it can be but of short Duration. The Convulsions in France are attended with some disagreable Circumstances; but if by the Struggle she obtains and secures for the Nation its future Liberty, and a good Constitution, a few Years' Enjoyment of those Blessings will amply repair all the Damages their Acquisition may have occasioned. God grant, that not only the Love of Liberty, but a thorough Knowledge of the Rights of Man, may pervade all the Nations of the Earth, so that a Philosopher may set his Foot anywhere on its Surface, and say, "This is my Country." Your Wishes for a cordial and perpetual Friendship between Britain and her ancient Colonies are manifested continually in every one of your Letters to me; something of my Disposition on the same Subject may appear to you in casting your Eye over the enclosed Paper. I do not by this Opportunity send you any of our Gazettes, because the Postage from Liverpool would be more than they are worth. I can now only add my best Wishes of every kind of Felicity for the three amiable Hartleys, to whom I have the honor of being an affectionate friend and most obedient humble servant, [B. FRANKLIN.] 1787. TO MRS. JANE MECOM1 DEAR SISTER, Philadelphia, December 17, 1789. You tell me you are desired by an acquaintance to ask my opinion, whether the general circumstances mentioned in the history of Baron Trenck are founded in fact; to which I can only answer, that, of the greatest part of those circumstances, the scene being laid in Germany, I must consequently be very ignorant; but of what he says as having passed in France, between the ministers of that country, himself, and me, I can speak positively, that it is founded in falsehood, and that the fact can only serve to confound, as I never saw him in that country, nor ever knew or heard of him anywhere, till I met with the abovementioned history in print, in the German language, in which he ventured to relate it as a fact, that I had, with those ministers, solicited him to enter into the American service. A translation of that book into French has since been printed, but the translator has omitted that pretended fact, probably from an apprehension, that its being in that country known not to be true might hurt the credit and sale of the translation. I thank you for the sermon on Sacred Music. I have read it with pleasure. I think it a very ingenious composition. You will say this is natural enough, if you read what I have formerly written on the same subject in one of my printed letters, wherein you will find a perfect agreement of sentiment respecting the complex music, of late, in my opinion, too much in vogue; it being only pleasing to learned ears, which can be 1 From "The Private Correspondence of Benjamin Franklin" (1818), Vol. I, p. 260. ED. delighted with the difficulty of execution, instead of harmony and melody. Your affectionate brother, DEAR FRIEND:- I have received your kind Letter of the 5th Inst., together with your Present of Metheglin, of which I have already drank almost a Bottle. I find it excellent; please to accept my thankful Acknowledgments. The Letter of yours enclosed is from the Widow of a Jew, who, happening to be one of a Number of Passengers, that were about 40 Years ago in a Stage-Boat going to New York, and which, by the unskillful management of the Boatman, overset the Canoe from whence I was endeavouring to get on board her, near Staten Island, has ever since worried me with Demands of a Gratis for having, as he pretended, been instrumental in saving my Life; tho' that was in no Danger, as we were near the Shore, and you know what an expert Swimmer I am, and he was no more of any Service to me in stopping the Boat to take me in than every other Passenger; to all whom I gave a liberal Entertainment at the Tavern when we arrived at New York, to their general satisfaction, at the Time; but this Hayes never saw me afterwards, at New York, or Brunswick, or Philada. that he did not dun me for Money on the Pretence of his being poor, and having been so happy as to be Instrumental in saving my Life, which was really in no Danger. In this way he got of me sometimes a double Joannes, sometimes a Spanish Doubloon, and never less; how much in the whole I do not know, having |