Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

perity.

fully, and contrived some of the means of car- | more essential than my wishes for their prosrying it into execution, so as gradually to render the reformation general. Our ideas are nearly similar, that I make no doubt of our easily agreeing on the plan, and you may depend on the best support I may be able to give it, as a part of your institute, of which I wish you would bring with you a complete copy, having as yet seen only a part of it: I shall then be better able to recommend it as you desire.

66

Hoping to have soon the pleasure of seeing you, I do not enlarge, but am with sincere esteem, sir, your most obedient and most humble servant, B. FRANKLIN."

[ocr errors]

66 'Mr. Grand.

“PHILADELPHIA, July 11, 1786.

SIR,-I send you enclosed some letters that have passed between the secretary of congress and me, respecting three millions of livres, acknowledged to have been received before the treaty of Feb. 1778, as don gratuit from the king, of which only two millions are found in your accounts; unless the million from the farmers general be one of the three. I have been assured that all the money received from the king, whether as loan or gift, went through your hands; and as I always looked on the million we had of the farmers general to be distinct from what we had of the crown, I wonder how I came to sign the contract, acknowledging three millions of gift when in reality there were only two, exclusive of that from the farmers; and as both you and I examined the project of the contract before I signed it, I am surprised that neither of us took notice of the error.

"It is possible that the million furnished ostensibly by the farmers, was in fact a gift of the crown, in which case, as Mr. Thompson observes, they owe us for the two ship-loads of tobacco, which they received on account of it. I must earnestly request of you to get this matter explained, that it may stand clear before I die, lest some enemy should afterwards accuse me of having received a million not accounted for. B. FRANKLIN."

"William Cook.

"PHILADELPHIA, August 13, 1786. "SIR,-I received yesterday the letter you did me the honour of writing to me on the 15th of June past. I had never before been acquainted that the name of your intended new State, had any relation with my name, having understood that it was called Frank Land. It is a very great honour indeed, that its inhabitants have done me, and I should be happy if it were in my power to show how sensible I am of it, by something

"Having resided some years past in Europe, and being but lately arrived thence, I have not had an opportunity of being welt informed of the points in dispute between you and the state of North Carolina. I can therefore only say, that I think you are perfectly right in resolving to submit them to the discretion of congress, and to abide by their determination. It is a wise and impartial tribunal, which can have no sinister views to warp its judgment. 'Tis happy for us all, that we have now in our own country such a council to apply to, for composing our differences, without being obliged, as formerly, to carry them across the ocean to be decided, at an immense expense, by a council which knew little of our affairs, would hardly take any pains to understand them, and which often treated our applications with contempt, and rejected them with injurious language. Let us therefore cherish and respcet our own tribunal, for the more generally it is held in high regard, the more able it will be to answer ef fectually the ends of its institution, the quieting of our contentions, and thereby promoting our common peace and happiness.

"I do not hear any talk of an adjournment of congress, concerning which you inquire; and I rather think it likely they may continue to sit out their year, as it is but lately they have been able to make a quorum for business, which must therefore probably be in arrear. If you proceed in your intended journey, I shall be glad to see you as you pass through Philadelphia.

"B. FRANKLIN."

M. Durival to Mr. Grand.

[ocr errors]

VERSAILLES, Sept. 5, 1786. "SIR,-I laid before the count de Verhonour to write, touching the three millions, gennes the two letters which you did me the the free gifts of which the king has confirmed in favour of the United States of America. The minister, sir, observed, that the gift has nothing to do with the million which the congress may have received from the farmers general in 1777; consequently he thinks, that the receipt, which you desire may be communicated to you, cannot satisfy the object of your view, and that it would be useless to give you the copy which you desire.

“DURIVAL"

Mr. Grand to Dr. Franklin.

"PARIS, Sept. 9, 1786. "MY DEAR SIR,-The letter you honoured me with, covered the copies of three letters which Mr. Thompson wrote to you to ob

tain an explanation of a million which is not found in my accounts. I should have been very much embarrassed in satisfying and proving to him that I had not put that million in my pocket, had I not applied to M. Durival, who, as you will see by the answer enclosed, informs me that there was a million paid by the royal treasury on the 10th June 1776. This is the very million about which Mr. Thompson inquires, as I have kept an account of the other two millions, which were also furnished by the royal treasury, viz. the one million in January and April 1777, the other in July and October of the same year, as well as that furnished by the farmers ge

neral in June 1777.

Here then are the three millions exactly, which were given by the king before the treaty of 1778, and that furnished by the farmers general. Nothing then remains to be known, but who received the first million in June 1776. It could not be myself, as I was not charged with the business of congress until January 1777. I therefore requested of M. Durival a copy of the receipt for the one million. You have the answer which he returned to me. I wrote to him again, renewing my request; but as the courier is just setting off, I cannot wait to give you his answer, but you will receive it in my next, if I obtain Meanwhile, &c.

one.

"GRAND."

M. Durival to Mr. Grand.

"VERSAILLES, Sept. 10, 1786. "SIR,-I have laid before the count de Vergennes, as you seemed to desire, the letter which you did me the honour to write yesterday. The minister persists in the opinion, that the receipt, the copy of which you request, has no relation to the business with which you were intrusted on behalf of congress, and that this piece would be useless in the new point of view in which you have placed it. Indeed, sir, it is easy for you to prove, that the money in question was not delivered by the royal treasury into your hands, as you did not begin to be charged with the business of congress until Jan. 1777, and the receipt for that money is of the 10th of June DURIVAL."

1776.

Mr. Grand to Dr. Franklin.

"PARIS, Sept. 12, 1786. "SIR,-I hazard a letter in hopes it may be able to join that of the 9th at L'Orient, in order to forward to you the answer I have just received from M. Durival. You will there see, that notwithstanding my entreaty, the minister himself refuses to give me a copy of the receipt which I asked for. I cannot conceive the reason for this reserve, more especially since, if there has been a million paid, he who VOL. I.... 4 G

51

has received it has kept the account, and it must in time be known. I shall hear with pleasure that you have been more fortunate in this respect in America than I have been in France; and I repeat to you the assurance of regard, &c. "GRAND."

M. Durival to Mr. Grand.

"VERSAILLES, Sept. 30, 1786. "SIR,-I have received the letter which you did me the honour to write on the 28th of this month, touching the advance of a million, which you said was made by the farmers general to the United States of America the 3d June 1777. I have no knowledge of that advance. What I have verified is, that the king, by the contract of the 25th Feb. 1783, has confirmed the gratuitous gift, which his majesty had previously made of the three millions hereafter mentioned, viz. one million delivered by the royal treasury the 10th June 1776, and two other millions advanced also by the royal treasury in 1777, on four receipts of the deputies of congress of the 17th January, 3d of April, 10th of June, and 15th of October of the same year. This explanation, sir, will, I hope, resolve your doubt touching the advance of the 3d June 1777. I further recommend to you, sir, to confer on this subject with M. Gojard, who ought to be better informed than me, who had no knowledge of any advances but those made by the royal treaDURIVAL"

sury.

[ocr errors]

"Colonel Hunter.

"PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 24, 1786.

"MY DEAR OLD FRIEND,-It rejoiced me much to learn, by your kind letter of February last, which I received about ten days since, that you are still in the land of the living; and that you are snug at Bath; the very place that I think gives you the best chance of passing the evening of life agreeably. I too am got into my niche, after being kept out of it 24 years by foreign employments. "Tis a very good house that I built so long ago to retire into, without being able till now to enjoy it. I am again surrounded by my friends, with a fine family of grandchildren about my knees, and an affectionate good daughter and son-in-law to take care of me. And after fifty years public service, I have the pleasure to find the esteem of my country with regard to me undiminished; the late re-election of me to the presidentship, notwithstanding the different parties we are split into, being absolutely unanimous. This I tell to you, not merely to indulge my own vanity, but because I know you love me, and will be pleased to hear of whatever happens that is agreeable to your friend.

"I find Mr. Anstey, whom you recommend

to me, a very agreeable, sensible man, and shall render him any service that may lie in my power. I thank you for the New Bath Guide: I had read it formerly, but it has afforded me fresh pleasure.

"Your newspapers, to please honest John Bull, paint our situation here in frightful colours, as if we were miserable since we broke our connexion with him. But I will give you some marks by which you may form your own judgment. Our husbandmen, who are the bulk of the nation, have had plentiful crops; their produce sells at high prices, and for ready hard money wheat for instance at 8s. and 8s. 6d. per bushel. Our working people are all employed and get high wages, are well fed and well clad. Our estates in houses are trebled in value by the rising of rents since the revolution. Buildings in Philadelphia increase amazingly, besides small towns arising in every quarter of the country. The laws govern, justice is well administered, and property as secure as in any country on the globe. Our wilderness lands are daily buying up by new settlers, and our settlements extend rapidly to the westward. European goods were never so cheaply afforded us, as since Britain has no longer the monopoly of supplying us. In short, all among us may be happy-who have happy dispositions, such being necessary to happiness even in paradise.

"I speak these things of Pennsylvania, with which I am most acquainted: as to the other states, when I read in all the papers of the extravagant rejoicings every 4th of July, the day on which was signed the Declaration of Independence, I am convinced that none of them are discontented with the revolution. "B. FRANKLIN.”

"Charles Thompson.

"PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 27, 1787.

"Dear Friend,—You may remember that in the correspondence between us in last June, on the subject of a million free gift of the king of France, acknowledged in our contract to have been received, but which did not appear to be accounted for in our banker's accounts, unless it should be the same with the million said to be received from the farmer general, I mentioned that an explanation might doubtless be easily obtained by writing to Mr. Grand or Mr. Jefferson. I know not whether you have accordingly written to either of them, but being desirous that the matter should speedily be cleared up, I wrote myself to Mr. Grand a letter upon it, of which I now enclose a copy, with his answer, and several letters from M. Durival, who is chef du bureau des fonds des affaires etrangeres, and has under his care the

finance.

"You will see by those letters, that the million in question was delivered to somebody on the 10th of June, 1776, but it does not appear to whom. It is clear, however, that it could not be to Mr. Grand, nor to the commissioners from congress; for we did not meet in France till the end of December, 1776, or the beginning of January 1777, and that banker was not charged before with our affairs.

"By the minister's reserve in refusing him a copy of the receipt, I conjecture it must be money advanced for our use to M. de Beaumarchais, and that it is a mystere du cabinet, which perhaps should not be further inquired into, unless necessary to guard against more demands than may be just from that agent; for it may well be supposed, that if the court furnished him with the means of supplying us, they may not be willing to furnish authentic proofs of such a transaction, so early in our dispute with Britain. Pray tell me has he dropt his demands, or does he still continue to worry you with them.

66

"I should like to have their original letters returned to me, but you may if you please keep copies of them. It is true the million in question makes no difference in your accounts with the king of France, it not being mentioned or charged as so much lent and to be repaid, but stated as freely given. Yet if it was paid into the hands of any of your agents, or ministers, they ought certainly to account for it. I do not recollect whether Mr. Deane had arrived in France before the 10th June 1776; [he did not arrive till the first week in July] but from his great want of money when I joined him a few months after, I hardly think it could have been paid to him. Possibly Mr. Jefferson may obtain the information, though Mr. Grand could not, and I wish he may be directed to make the inquiry, as I know he would do it directly; I mean if by Borlatez & Co's further demands, or for any other reason, such an inquiry should be thought neces sary. B. FRANKLIN."

"Mr. Small.

"PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 19, 1787. "DEAR FRIEND,-I received your favour of June last, and thank you for the kind congratulations contained in it. What you have heard of my malady is true, 'that it does not grow worse.' Thanks be to God, I still enjoy pleasure in the society of my friends and books, and much more in the prosperity of my country, concerning which your people are continually deceiving themselves.

"I am glad the improvement of the Book of Common Prayer has met with your approbation, and that of good Mrs. Baldw It is not yet, that I know of, received in public practice any where; but as it is said that

good motions never die, perhaps in time it may be found useful.

"I read with pleasure the account you give of the flourishing state of your commerce and manufactures, and of the plenty you have of resources to carry the nation through all its difficulties. You have one of the finest countries in the world, and if you can be cured of the folly of making war for trade, (in which wars more has been always expended than the profits of any trade can compensate) you may make it one of the happiest. Make the best of your own natural advantages, instead of endeavouring to diminish those of other nations, and there is no doubt but you may yet prosper and flourish. Your beginning to consider France no longer as a natural enemy, is a mark of progress in the good sense of the nation, of which posterity will find the benefit; in the rarity of wars, the diminution of taxes, and increase of riches.

"As to the refugees, whom you think we were so impolitic in rejecting, I do not find that they are missed here, or that any body regrets their absence. And certainly they must be happier where they are, under the government they admire; and be better received among a people whose cause they espoused and fought for, than among those who cannot so soon have forgotten the destruction of their habitations, and the spilt blood of their dearest friends and near relations.

"I often think with great pleasure on the happy days I passed in England with my and your learned and ingenious friends, who have left us to join the majority in the world of spirits. Every one of them now knows more than all of us they have left behind. It is to me a comfortable reflection, that since we must live for ever in a future state, there is a sufficient stock of amusement in reserve for us, to be found in constantly learning something new to eternity, the present quantity of human ignorance infinitely exceeding human knowledge. B. FRANKLIN.”

"To M. Veillard.

In his 2 year.

"PHILADELPHIA, April 15, 1787. "MY DEAR FRIEND,-I am quite of your opinion, that our independence is not quite complete, till we have discharged our public debt. This state is not behind hand in its proportion, and those who are in arrear, are actually employed in contriving means to discharge their respective balances, but they are not all equally diligent in the business, nor equally successful; the whole will however be paid, I am persuaded, in a few years.

"The English have not yet delivered up the posts on our frontier, agreeable to treaty; the pretence is, that our merchants here have not paid their debts. I was a little provoked

when I first heard this, and I wrote some remarks upon it, which I send you: they have been written near a year, but I have not yet published them, being unwilling to encourage any of our people who may be able to pay, in their neglect of that duty. The paper is therefore only for your amusement, and that of our excellent friend the duke de la Rochefoucauld.

"As to my malady concerning which you so kindly inquire, I have never had the least doubt of its being the stone; and I am sensible that it has increased; but on the whole it does not give me more pain than when at Passy. People who live long, who will drink of the cup of life to the very bottom, must expect to meet with some of the usual dregs; and when I reflect on the number of terrible maladies human nature is subject to, I think myself favoured in having to my share only the stone and gout.

"You were right in conjecturing that I wrote the remarks on the thoughts concerning executive justice.' I have no copy of those remarks at hand, and forget how the saying was introduced, that it is better a thousand guilty persons should escape, than one innocent suffer. Your criticisms thereon appear to be just, and I imagine you may have misapprehended my intention in mentioning it. I always thought with you, that the prejudice in Europe, which supposes a family dishonoured by the punishment of one its members, was very absurd, it being on the contrary my opinion, that a rogue hanged out of a family does it more honour than ten that live in it. B. FRANKLIN.”

"The duke de la Rochefoucauld.

"PHILADELPHIA, April 15, 1787. "I HAVE been happy in receiving three very kind letters from my greatly respected and esteemed friend, since my being in America. They are dated November 30, '85, February 8, 86, January 14, '87. In mine of this date to M. le Veillard, I have made the best apology I could for my being so bad a correspondent. I will not trouble you with a repetition of it, as I know you often see him. I will only confess my fault, and trust to your candour and goodness for my pardon.

66

Your friendly congratulations on my arrival and reception here were very obliging. The latter was, as you have heard, extremely flattering. The two parties in the assembly and council, the constitutionists and anti-constitutionists, joined in requesting my service as counsellor, and afterwards in electing me as president. Of seventy-four members in council and assembly, who voted by ballot, there was in my first election but one negative beside my own; and in the second, after a year's service, only my own. And I expe

rience from all the principal people in the | Academy. The war had interrupted our atgovernment, every attention and assistance tempts to improve ourselves in scientific matthat can be desired towards making the task ters, but we now begin to resume them. as little burdensome to me as possible. So I am going on very comfortable hitherto with my second year, and I do not at present see any likelihood of a change: but future events are always uncertain, being governed by Providence, or subject to chances; and popular favour is very precarious, being sometimes lost as well gained by good actions, so I do not depend on a continuance of my present happiness, and therefore shall not be surprised if before my time of service expires, something should happen to diminish it.

66

These states in general enjoy peace and plenty. There have been some disorders in the Massachusetts and Rhode Island governments; those in the former are quelled for the present: those of the latter, being contentions for and against paper money, will probably continue some time. Maryland too is divided on the same subject, the assembly being for it and the senate against it. Each is now employed in endeavouring to gain the people to its party, against the next elections, and 'tis probable the assembly may prevail. Paper money in moderate quantities has been found beneficial; when more than the occasions of commerce require, it depreciated and was mischievous; and the populace are apt to demand more than is necessary. In this state we have some, and it is useful, and I do not hear any clamour for more.

"There seems to be but little thought at present in the particular states, of mending their particular constitutions; but the grand federal constitution is generally blamed, as not having given sufficient powers to congress, the federal head. A convention is therefore appointed to revise that constitution, and propose a better. You will see by the enclosed paper that your friend is to be one in that business, though he doubts his malady may not permit his giving constant attendance. I am glad to see that you are named as one of

general assembly to be convened in France. I fatter myself that great good may accrue to that dear nation from the deliberations of such an assembly. I pray God to give it his blessing.

"I sympathise with you and the family most sincerely, in the great loss sustained by the decease of that excellent woman.* It must be indeed a heavy one. My best wishes attend those that remain, and that the happiness of your sweet domestic society may long continue without such another interruption. "I send herewith a volume of the Transactions of our Philosophical Society for you, another for M. de Condorcet, and a third for the

"The bearer of this is Mr. Paine, the author of a famous piece entitled Common Sense, published here, with great effect on the minds of the people at the beginning of the revolution. He is an ingenious, honest man, and as such I beg leave to recommend him to your civilities. He carries with him the model of a bridge of a new construction, his own invention, concerning which I intended to have recommended him to Mr. Peyronnet, but I hear he is no more. You can easily procure Mr. Paine a sight of the models and drawings of the collection appertaining to the Ponts et Chaussées; they must afford him useful lights on the subject. We want a bridge over our river Schuylkill, and have no artist here regularly bred to that kind of architecture.

"My grandsons are very sensible of the honour of your remembrance, and desire me to present their respects.-With the most sincere and perfect esteem and attachment, I am ever, my dear friend, your most obedient and most humble servant,

"B. FRANKLIN.”

"The Abbés Chalut and Arnaud.

[ocr errors]

PHILADELPHIA, April 17, 1787 "DEAR FRIENDS,-Your reflections, on our situation compared with that of many nations me add, that only a virtuous people are caof Europe, are very sensible and just. Let pable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.

"Our affairs go on as well as can reasonably be expected after so great an overturning. We have had some disorders in different parts of the country, but we arrange them as they arise, and are daily mending and improving in time.-Yours, so that I have no doubt but all will come right B. FRANKLIN."

"To M. de la Fayette.

"

PHILADELPHIA, April 17, 1787. "DEAR FRIEND,-I received the kind letter you did me the honour of writing in February, 1786. The indolence of old age, and the perpetual teasing of too much business, have made me so bad a correspondent, that I have hardly written a letter to any friend in Europe during the last twelvemonth: but as I have always a pleasure in hearing from them, which I

cannot expect will be continued if I do not write to them, I again take up my pen, and begin with those whose correspondence is of the greatest value; among which I reckon that of the marquis de la Fayette.

*The duchess D'Anville, mother of the duke de la Paris, after so long and fatiguing a journey. "I was glad to hear of your safe return to

Rochefoucauld.

« AnteriorContinuar »