happiness, ever attend you, from yours, &c.,
B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_To M. Court de Gebelin,[22] Paris._
[22] Antoine Court de Gebelin, born at Nismes in 1725, became a
minister of a Protestant communion in the Cevennes, then at
Lausanne: he quitted the clerical function for literature, at
Paris, where he acquired so great a reputation as an antiquary and
philosopher that he was appointed to attend one of the museums. His
reputation suffered by his zeal in favour of animal magnetism. He
died at Paris, May 13, 1784. His great work is entitled, "Monde
Primitif, analysé et comparé avec le Monde Moderne," 9 tom. 4to.
The excellence of his character may be appreciated from the fact,
that, on quitting Switzerland, he voluntarily gave to his sister
the principal part of his patrimony, reserving but little for
himself, and relying for a maintenance upon the exercise of his
talents.
"Passy, May 7, 1781.
"DEAR SIR,
"I am glad the little book[23] proved acceptable. It does not appear to
me intended for a grammar to teach the language. It is rather what we
call in English a _spelling-book_, in which the only method observed is
to arrange the words according to their number of syllables, placing
those of one syllable together, and those of two syllables, and so on.
And it is to be observed that _Sa ki ma_, for instance, is not three
words, but one word of three syllables; and the reason that _hyphens_
are not placed between the syllables is, that the printer had not enough
of them.
[23] A Vocabulary of the Language of one of the Indian Tribes in
North America.
"As the Indians had no letters, they had no orthography. The Delaware
language being differently spelt from the Virginian, may not always
arise from a difference in the languages; for strangers who learn the
language of an Indian nation, finding no orthography, are at liberty, in
writing the language, to use such compositions of letters as they think
will best produce the sounds of the words. I have observed that our
Europeans of different nations, who learn the same Indian language,
form each his own orthography according to the usual sounds given to
the letters in his own language. Thus the same words of the Mohock
language written by an English, a French, and a German interpreter,
often differ very much in the spelling; and without knowing the usual
powers of the letters in the language of the interpreter, one cannot
come at the pronunciation of the Indian words. The spelling-book in
question was, I think, written by a German.
"You mention a Virginian Bible. Is it not the Bible of the Massachusetts
language, translated by Elliot, and printed in New-England about the
middle of the last century? I know this Bible, but have never heard of
one in the Virginian language. Your observation of the similitude
between many of the words and those of the ancient world, are indeed
very curious.
"This inscription, which you find to be Phoenician, is, I think, near
_Taunton_ (not Jannston, as you write it). There is some account of it
in the old Philosophical Transactions; I have never been at the place,
but shall be glad to see your remarks on it.
"The compass appears to have been long known in China before it was
known in Europe; unless we suppose it known to Homer, who makes the
prince that lent ships to Ulysses boast that they had a _spirit_ in
them, by whose directions they could find their way in a cloudy day or
the darkest night. If any Phoenicians arrived in America, I should
rather think it was not by the accident of a storm, but in the course of
their long and adventurous voyages; and that they coasted from Denmark
and Norway, over to Greenland, and down southward by Newfoundland, Nova
Scotia, &c., to New-England, as the Danes themselves certainly did some
ages before Columbus.
"Our new American society will be happy in the correspondence you
mention; and when it is possible for me, I shall be glad to attend the
meetings of your society,[24] which I am sure must be very instructive.
[24] L'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Letters.
"B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_To Francis Hopkinson, Philadelphia._
"Passy, September 13, 1781.
"DEAR SIR,
"I have received your kind letter of July 17, with its duplicate,
enclosing those for Messrs. Brandlight and Sons, which I have forwarded.
I am sorry for the loss of the _squibs_. Everything of yours gives me
pleasure.
"As to the friends and enemies you just mention, I have hitherto, thanks
to God, had plenty of the former kind; they have been my treasure; and
it has, perhaps, been of no disadvantage to me that I have had a few of
the latter. They serve to put us upon correcting the faults we have, and
avoiding those we are in danger of having. They counter-act the mischief
flattery might do us, and their malicious attacks make our friends more
zealous in serving us and promoting our interest. At present I do not
know of more than two such enemies that I enjoy, viz., *** and ***. I
deserved the enmity of the latter, because I might have avoided it by
paying him a compliment, which I neglected. That to the former I owe to
the people of France, who happened to respect me too much and him too
little; which I could bear, and he could not. They are unhappy that they
cannot make everybody hate me as much as they do; and I should be so if
my friends did not love me much more than those gentlemen can possibly
love one another.
"Enough of this subject. Let me know if you are in possession of my
gimcrack instruments, and if you have made any new experiments. I lent,
many years ago, a large glass globe, mounted, to Mr. Coombe, and an
electric battery of bottles, which I remember; perhaps there were some
other things. He may have had them so long as to think them his own.
Pray ask him for them, and keep them for me, together with the rest.
"You have a new crop of prose writers. I see in your papers many of
their fictitious names, but nobody tells me the real. You will oblige me
by a little of your literary history. Adieu, my dear friend, and believe
me ever, yours affectionately,
"B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_To Francis Hopkinson._
"Paris, Dec 24, 1782.
"I thank you for your ingenious paper in favour of the trees. I own I
now wish we had two rows of them in every one of our streets. The
comfortable shelter they would afford us when walking from our burning
summer suns, and the greater coolness of our walls and pavements, would,
I conceive, in the improved health of the inhabitants, amply compensate
the loss of a house now and then by fire, if such should be the
consequence; but a tree is soon felled, and, as axes are near at hand in
every neighbourhood, may be down before the engines arrive.
"You do well to avoid being concerned in the pieces of personal abuse,
so scandalously common in our newspapers, that I am afraid to lend any
of them here till I have examined and laid aside such as would disgrace
us, and subject us among strangers to a reflection like that used by a
gentleman in a coffee-house to two quarrellers, who, after a mutually
free use of the words rogue, villain, rascal scoundrel, &c., seemed as
if they would refer their dispute to him: 'I know nothing of you or your
affairs,' said he; 'I only perceive _that you know one another_.'
"The conductor of a newspaper should, methinks, consider himself as in
some degree the guardian of his country's reputation, and refuse to
insert such writings as may hurt it. If people will print their abuses
of one another, let them do it in little pamphlets, and distribute them
where they think proper. It is absurd to trouble all the world with
them, and unjust to subscribers in distant places, to stuff their paper
with matter so unprofitable and so disagreeable. With sincere esteem and
affection, I am, my dear friend, ever yours,
"B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_Samuel Huntingdon, President of Congress._
"Passy, March 12, 1781.
SIR,
I had the honour of receiving, on the 13th of last month, your
excellency's letter of the 1st of January, together with the
instructions of November 28th and December 27th, a copy of those to
Colonel Laurens, and the letter to the king. I immediately drew up a
memorial, enforcing as strongly as I could the request contained in that
letter, and directed by the instructions, and delivered the same with
the letter, which were both well received. * * *
"I must now beg leave to say something relating to myself, a subject
with which I have not often troubled the Congress. I have passed my
seventy-fifth year, and I find that the long and severe fit of the gout
which I had the last winter has shaken me exceedingly, and I am yet far
from having recovered the bodily strength I before enjoyed. I do not
know that my mental faculties are impaired. Perhaps I shall be the last
to discover that; but I am sensible of great diminution in my activity,
a quality I think particularly necessary in your minister at this court.
I am afraid, therefore, that your affairs may some time or other suffer
by my deficiency. I find also that the business is too heavy for me, and
too confining. The constant attendance at home, which is necessary for
receiving and accepting your bills of exchange (a matter foreign to my
_ministerial functions_), to answer letters, and perform other parts of
my employment, prevents my taking the air and exercise which my annual
journeys formerly used to afford me, and which contributed much to the
preservation of my health. There are many other little personal
attentions which the infirmities of age render necessary to an old man's
comfort, even in some degree to the continuance of his existence, and
with which business often interferes. I have been engaged in public
affairs, and enjoyed public confidence in some shape or other during the
long term of fifty years, an honour sufficient to satisfy any reasonable
ambition, and I have no other left but that of repose, which I hope the
Congress will grant me by sending some person to supply my place.
"At the same time, I beg they may be assured that it is not any the
least doubt of their success in the glorious cause, nor any disgust
received in their service, that induces me to decline it, but purely and
simply the reasons above mentioned; and as I cannot at present undergo
the fatigues of a sea voyage (the last having been almost too much for
me), and would not again expose myself to the hazard of capture and
imprisonment in this time of war, I purpose to remain here at least till
the peace; perhaps it may be for the remainder of my life; and if any
knowledge or experience I have acquired here may be thought of use to my
successor, I shall freely communicate it, and assist him with any
influence I may be supposed to have or counsel that may be desired of
me."
* * * * *
"_To the Bishop of St. Asaph._[25]
[25] Jonathan Shipley took his degrees at Christ Church, and in
1743 was made prebendary of Winchester. After travelling in 1745
with the Duke of Cumberland, he was promoted in 1749 to a canonry
at Christ Church, became dean of Winchester in 1760, and 1769
bishop of St. Asaph. He was author of some elegant verses on the
death of Queen Caroline, and published besides some poems and
sermons, and died 1788. He was an ardent friend of American
independence.
"Passy, June 10, 1782.
"I received and read the letter from my dear and much respected friend
with infinite pleasure. After so long a silence, and the long
continuance of its unfortunate causes, a line from you was a prognostic
of happier times approaching, when we may converse and communicate
freely, without danger from the malevolence of men enraged by the
ill-success of their distracted projects.
"I long with you for the return of peace, on the general principles of
humanity. The hope of being able to pass a few more of my last days
happily in the sweet conversations and company I once enjoyed at
Twyford,[26] is a particular motive that adds strength to the general
wish, and quickens my industry to procure that best of blessings. After
much occasion to consider the folly and mischiefs of a state of warfare,
and the little or no advantage obtained even by those nations who have
conducted it with the most success, I have been apt to think that there
has never been, nor ever will be, any such thing as a _good_ war or a
_bad_ peace.
[26] The country residence of the bishop.
"You ask if I still relish my old studies? I relish them, but I cannot
pursue them. My time is engrossed, unhappily, with other concerns. I
requested from the Congress last year my discharge from this public
station, that I might enjoy a little leisure in the evening of a long
life of business; but it was refused me, and I have been obliged to
drudge on a little longer.
"You are happy, as your years come on, in having that dear and most
amiable family about you. Four daughters! how rich! I have but one, and
she necessarily detained from me at a thousand leagues' distance. I feel
the want of that tender care of me which might be expected from a
daughter, and would give the world for one. Your shades are all placed
in a row over my fireplace, so that I not only have you always in my
mind, but constantly before my eyes.
"The cause of liberty and America has been greatly obliged to you. I
hope you will live long to see that country flourish under its new
constitution, which I am sure will give you great pleasure. Will you
permit me to express another hope that, now your friends are in power,
they will take the first opportunity of showing the sense they ought to
have of your virtues and your merit?
"Please to make my best respects acceptable to Mrs. Shipley, and embrace
for me tenderly all our dear children. With the utmost esteem, respect,
and veneration, I am ever, my dear friend, yours most affectionately,
"B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_Miss Alexander._
"Passy, June 27, 1782.
"I am not at all displeased that the thesis and dedication with which we
were threatened are blown over, for I dislike much all sorts of mummery.
The republic of letters has gained no reputation, whatever else it may
have gained, by the commerce of dedications; I never made one, and
never desired that one should be made to me. When I submitted to receive
this, it was from the bad habit I have long had, of doing everything
that ladies desire me to do: there is no refusing anything to Madame la
Marck nor to you.
"I have been to pay my respects to that amiable lady, not merely because
it was a compliment due to her, but because I love her: which induces me
to excuse her not letting me in; the same reason I should have for
excusing your faults, if you had any. I have not seen your papa since
the receipt of your pleasing letter, so could arrange nothing with him
respecting the carriage. During seven or eight days I shall be very
busy; after that, you shall hear from me, and the carriage shall be at
your service. How could you think of writing to me about chimneys and
fires in such weather as this! Now is the time for the frugal lady you
mention to save her wood, obtain _plus de chaleur_, and lay it up
against winter, as people do ice against summer. Frugality is an
enriching virtue, a virtue I never could acquire in myself, but I was
once lucky enough to find it in a wife, who thereby became a fortune to
me. Do you possess it? If you do, and I were twenty years younger, I
would give your father one thousand guineas for you. I know you would be
worth more to me as a _menagére_. I am covetous, and love good bargains.
Adieu, my dear friend, and believe me ever yours most affectionately,
"B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_Benjamin Vaughan._
"Passy, July 10, 1782.
"By the original law of nations, war and extirpation was the punishment
of injury. Humanizing by degrees, it admitted slavery instead of death.
A farther step was the exchange of prisoners instead of slavery.
Another, to respect more the property of private persons under conquest,
and to be content with acquired dominion. Why should not the law of
nations go on improving? Ages have intervened between its several steps;
but, as knowledge of late increases rapidly, why should not those steps
be quickened? Why should it not be agreed to as the future law of
nations, that in any war hereafter the following descriptions of men
should be undisturbed, have the protection of both sides, and be
permitted to follow their employments in surety; viz.,
"1. Cultivators of the earth, because they labour for the subsistence of
mankind.
"2. Fishermen, for the same reason.
"3. Merchants and traders in unarmed ships, who accommodate different
nations by communicating and exchanging the necessaries and conveniences
of life.
"4. Artists and mechanics, inhabiting and working in open towns.
"It is hardly necessary to add, that the hospitals of enemies should be
unmolested; they ought to be assisted.
"In short, I would have nobody fought with but those who are paid for
fighting. If obliged to take corn from the farmer, friend or enemy, I
would pay him for it; the same for the fish or goods of the others.
"This once established, that encouragement to war which arises from a
spirit of rapine would be taken away, and peace, therefore, more likely
to continue and be lasting.
"B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_Mrs. Hewson._[27]
[27] Widow of the eminent anatomist of that name, and formerly Miss
Stevenson, to whom several of Dr. Franklin's letters on
Philosophical subjects are addressed.
"Passy, January 27, 1783.
"The departure of my dearest friend,[28] which I learn from your last
letter, greatly affects me. To meet with her once more in this life was
one of the principal motives of my proposing to visit England again
before my return to America. The last year carried off my friends Dr.
Pringle and Dr. Fothergill, and Lord Kaimes and Lord Le Despencer; this
has begun to take away the rest, and strikes the hardest. Thus the ties
I had to that country, and, indeed, to the world in general, are
loosened one by one, and I shall soon have no attachment left to make me
unwilling to follow.
[28] Refers to Mrs. Hewson's mother.
"I intended writing when I sent the eleven books, but lost the time in
looking for the first. I wrote with that, and hope it came to hand. I
therein asked your counsel about my coming to England: on reflection, I
think I can, from my knowledge of your prudence, foresee what it will
be; viz., not to come too soon, lest it should seem braving and
insulting some who ought to be respected. I shall therefore omit that
journey till I am near going to America, and then just step over to take
leave of my friends, and spend a few days with you. I purpose
bringing[29] Ben with me, and perhaps may leave him under your care.
[29] Benjamin Franklin Bache, a grandson of Dr. Franklin, by his
daughter Sarah; he was the first editor of the AURORA at
Philadelphia: died of yellow fever in September, 1798.
"At length we are in peace, God be praised; and long, very long may it
continue. All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous
ones: when will mankind be convinced of this, and agree to settle their
differences by arbitration? Were they to do it even by the cast of a
die, it would be better than by fighting and destroying each other.
"Spring is coming on, when travelling will be delightful. Can you not,
when your children are all at school, make a little party and take a
trip hither? I have now a large house, delightfully situated, in which I
could accommodate you and two or three friends; and I am but half an
hour's drive from Paris.
"In looking forward, twenty five years seems a long period; but in
looking back, how short! Could you imagine that 'tis now full a quarter
of a century since we were first acquainted! it was in 1757. During the
greatest part of the time I lived in the same house with my dear
deceased friend your mother; of course you and I saw and conversed with
each other much and often. It is to all our honours, that in all that
time we never had among us the smallest misunderstanding. Our friendship
has been all clear sunshine, without the least cloud in its hemisphere.
Let me conclude by saying to you what I have had too frequent occasion
to say to my other remaining old friends, _the fewer we become, the more
let us love one another_.
"B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_To David Hartley._
"Passy, May 8, 1783.
"DEAR FRIEND,
"I send you enclosed the copies you desired of the papers I read to you
yesterday.[30] I should be happy if I could see, before I die, the
proposed improvement of the law of nations established. The miseries of
mankind would be diminished by it, and the happiness of millions secured
and promoted. If the practice of _privateering_ could be profitable to
any civilized nation, it might be so to us Americans, since we are so
situated on the globe as that the rich commerce of Europe with the West
Indies, consisting of manufactures, sugars, &c., is obliged to pass
before our doors, which enables us to make short and cheap cruises,
while our own commerce is in such bulky, low-priced articles, as that
ten of our ships taken by you are not equal in value to one of yours,
and you must come far from home at a great expense to look for them. I
hope, therefore, that this proposition, if made by us, will appear in
its true light, as having humanity only for its motive. I do not wish to
see a new Barbary rising in America, and our long-extended coast
occupied by piratical states. I fear lest our privateering success in
the last two wars should already have given our people too strong a
relish for that most mischievous kind of gaming, mixed blood; and if a
stop is not now put to the practice, mankind may hereafter be more
plagued with American corsairs than they have been and are with the
Turkish. Try, my friend, what you can do in procuring for your nation
the glory of being, though the greatest naval power, the first who
voluntarily relinquished the advantage that power seems to give them, of
plundering others, and thereby impeding the mutual communications among
men of the gifts of God, and rendering miserable multitudes of merchants
and their families, artisans, and cultivators of the earth, the most
peaceable and innocent part of the human species.
[30] See the Proposition about Privateering, annexed to letter to
R. Oswald. January 14, 1783.
B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_Dr. Percival._
"Passy, July 17, 1784.
"DEAR SIR,
"I received yesterday, by Mr. White, your kind letter of May 11th, with
the most agreeable present of your new book. I read it all before I
slept, which is a proof of the good effects your happy manner has of
drawing your reader on, by mixing little anecdotes and historical facts
with your instructions. Be pleased to accept my grateful acknowledgments
for the pleasure it has afforded me.
"It is astonishing that the murderous practice of duelling, which you so
justly condemn, should continue so long in vogue. Formerly, when duels
were used to determine lawsuits, from an opinion that Providence would
in every instance favour truth and right with victory, they were
excusable. At present they decide nothing. A man says something which
another tells him is a lie. They fight; but, whichever is killed, the
point in dispute remains unsettled. * * * How can such miserable sinners
as we are entertain so much pride as to conceit that every offence
against our imagined honour merits _death_? These petty princes, in
their own opinion, would call that sovereign a tyrant who would put one
of them to death for a little uncivil language, though pointed at his
sacred person: yet every one of them makes himself judge in his own
cause, condemns the offender without a jury, and undertakes himself to
be the executioner.
"With sincere and great esteem, I have the honour to be, sir, your most
obedient and humble servant,
B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_Sir Joseph Banks._
"Passy, July 27, 1783.
"DEAR SIR,
"I received your very kind letter by Dr. Blagden, and esteem myself much
honoured by your friendly remembrance. I have been too much and too
closely engaged in public affairs since his being here to enjoy all the
benefit of his conversation you were so good as to intend me. I hope
soon to have more leisure, and to spend a part of it in those studies
that are much more agreeable to me than political operations.