1613. TO JOHN BARD AND MRS. BARD1 Philadelphia, November 14, 1785. DEAR FRIENDS, I received your kind letter, which gave me great pleasure, as it informed me of your welfare. Your friendly congratulations are very obliging. I had on my return some right, as you observe, to expect repose; and it was my intention to avoid all public business. But I had not firmness enough to resist the unanimous desire of my country folks; and I find myself harnessed again in their service for another year. They engrossed the prime of my life. They have eaten my flesh, and seem resolved now to pick my bones. You are right in supposing, that I interest myself in every thing that affects you and yours, sympathizing in your afflictions, and rejoicing in your felicities; for our friendship is ancient, and was never obscured by the least cloud. I thank you for your civilities to my grandson, and am ever, with sincere and great esteem and regard, my dear friends, yours most affectionately, B. FRANKLIN. 1614. TO CHARLES-JOSEPH MATHON DE LA SIR, COUR 2 Philadelphia, November 18, 1785. 3 I received duly the letter you did me the honour of writing to me on the 25th of June past, together with the collection 1 From Sparks, Vol. X, p. 239.- ED. 2 Mathon de la Cour (1738-1793), a native of Lyons, son of an eminent mathematician of that city, was famous not only for his writings, but for his numerous philanthropic projects and foundations.-ED. 8 No letter of this date exists, but there is one dated June 30, 1785, in you have made des comptes rendus de vos contrôleurs généraux; and your Discours sur les Moyens d'encourager le Patriotisme dans les Monarchies. The first is a valuable work, as containing a great deal of useful information; but the second I am particularly charmed with, the sentiments being delightfully just, and expressed with such force and clearness, that I am persuaded the pamphlet, though small, must have a great effect on the minds of both princes and people, and thence be productive of much good to mankind. Be pleased to accept my hearty thanks for both. It is right to be sowing good seed whenever we have an opportunity, since some of it may be productive. An instance of this you should be acquainted with, as it may afford you pleasure. The reading of Fortuné Ricard's Testament, has put it into the head and heart of a citizen to leave two thousand pounds sterling to two American cities, who are to lend it in small sums at five per cent to young beginners in business; and the accumulation, after a hundred years, to be laid out in public works of benefit to those cities.1 With great esteem, I have the honour to be, Sir, &c. SIR B. FRANKLIN. 1615. TO GEORGE CLINTON 2 (P. C.) Philadelphia Jan. 1st 1786 Intelligence has been received here, that Ethan Allen from Vermont, and one Solomon Strong of your State have lately A. P. S., thanking Franklin for having accepted membership in the Academie des Sciences, Belles Lettres et Arts de Lyon. - ED. 1 It is to his own will that Franklin refers. - ED. 2 From the private collection of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan. George Clinton (1739-1812) was governor of New York (1777-1795). — Ed. been among the Settlers at Wyoming, persuading them to join in erecting a new State to be compos'd of those Settlements, those on the West Branch of Susquehanah, and a Part of the State of New York promising the Assistance of an armed Force from Vermont besides what may be obtain'd from the Company in Connecticut where they are now both gone to forward the Project. Chimerical as it appears, and unlikely to succeed we thought it nevertheless right to acquaint your Excellency with it, that such Enquiries may be made and Measures taken as you may judge proper to prevent these restless Spirits from exciting Disturbances that may divert the People's Attention: from their Industry, and be attended with mischievous Consequences. With great Respect I have the Honour to be, etc. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 1 1616. TO JAMES BOWDOIN 1 (L. C.) Philad., Jan. 1, 1786. MY DEAR FRIEND, It gave me great Pleasure, my dear Friend, to receive your kind Letter of Congratulation, as it prov'd, that all my old Friends in Boston were not estranged from me by the malevolent Misrepresentations of my Conduct, that had been circulated there, but that one of the most esteemed still retained a Regard for me. Indeed, you are now almost the only one Death having, since we were last together, depriv'd me of my dear Cooper, Winthrop, and Quincy. left me by nature; 1 Printed from a draft in L. C. The original letter is at Bowdoin College. - ED. I have not receiv'd the Letter you mention to have sent me with some Memoirs, under Cover to Dr. Price. I must have left Europe before they got to his Hands; but he will doubtless send them to me by the first convenient Opportunity. It was not necessary to make any Apology for the Liberty you say you have taken in those Memoirs, in making observations on my Queries upon Light, for I am sure they will help me to understand it better, and that must make them agreable to me. I shall be glad to see the whole Volume,1 which you are so kind as to promise me; and I hope in the course of a few Months to be able to make Returns, in a second Volume of our Memoirs, now in the Press. I sent to you some weeks since, by Mr. Gerry,3 Dr. Jeffries's Account of his Aërial Voyage from England to France, which I receiv'd from him just before I left that Country. In his Letter, that came with it, he requests I would not suffer it to be printed, because a copy of it had been put into the Hands of Sir Joseph Banks for the Royal Society, and was to be read there in November. If they should not think fit to publish it, as I apprehend may be the Case, they having hitherto avoided meddling with the Subject of Balloons, I shall be glad to have the Manust return'd to me. In the mean time, I thought it might afford some Amusement to you and to your Society. My Acquaintance with Dr. Jeffries began by his 1 First volume of the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Ed. 2 Transactions of The American Philosophical Society. — ED. 3 Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), delegate to the Continental Congress (1776). He vacated his seat in Congress in 1780, but was recalled in 1783. - ED. - 4 The paper was printed in London, entitled, "A Narrative of two Aërial Voyages," 4to, 1786. — ED. 1609. TO DAVID HARTLEY1 DEAR SIR, Philadelphia, October 27, 1785. I received at Havre de Grace 6 copies of your print, which I have brought with me hither. I shall frame and keep one of them in my best room. I shall send one to Mr. Jay, and give the others among some friends who esteem and respect you as we do. Your newspapers are filled with accounts of distresses and miseries, that these States are plunged into since their separation from Britain. You may believe me when I tell you, that there is no truth in those accounts. I find all property in lands and houses augmented vastly in value; that of houses in towns at least fourfold. The crops have been plentiful, and yet the produce sells high, to the great profit of the farmer. At the same time, all imported goods sell at low rates, some cheaper than the first cost. Working people have plenty of employ and high pay for their labour. These appear to me as certain signs of public prosperity. Some traders, indeed, complain that trade is dead; but this pretended evil is not an effect of inability in the people to buy, pay for, and consume the usual articles of commerce, as far as they have occasion for them; it is owing merely to there being too many traders, who have crowded hither from all parts of Europe with more goods than the natural demand of the country requires. And what in Europe is called the debt of America, is chiefly the debt of these adventurers and super 1 From "The Private Correspondence of Benjamin Franklin" (1818), Vol. I, p. 197.—ED. |