them, _stand_, as Watts says, _a broader mark for sorrow_; but then he
stands a broader mark for pleasure too. When we launch our little fleet
of barks into the ocean, bound to different ports, we hope for each a
prosperous voyage; but contrary winds, hidden shoals, storms, and
enemies, come in for a share in the disposition of events; and though
these occasion a mixture of disappointment, yet, considering the risk
where we can make no ensurance, we should think ourselves happy if some
return with success. My son's son (Temple Franklin), whom you have also
seen, having had a fine farm of 600 acres conveyed to him by his father
when we were at Southampton, has dropped for the present his views of
acting in the political line, and applies himself ardently to the study
and practice of agriculture. This is much more agreeable to me, who
esteem it the most useful, the most independent, and, therefore, the
noblest of employments. His lands are on navigable water, communicating
with the Delaware, and but about 16 miles from this city. He has
associated to himself a very skilful English farmer, lately arrived
here, who is to instruct him in the business, and partakes for a term of
the profits; so that there is a great apparent probability of their
success. You will kindly expect a word or two about myself. My health
and spirits continue, thanks to God, as when you saw me. The only
complaint I then had does not grow worse, and is tolerable. I still have
enjoyment in the company of my friends; and, being easy in my
circumstances, have many reasons to like living. But the course of
nature must soon put a period to my present mode of existence. This I
shall submit to with less regret, as having seen, during a long life, a
good deal of this world, I feel a growing curiosity to be acquainted
with some other; and can cheerfully, with filial confidence, resign my
spirit to the conduct of that great and good Parent of mankind who
created it, and who has so graciously protected and prospered me from my
birth to the present hour. Wherever I am, I always hope to retain the
pleasing remembrance of your friendship; being, with sincere and great
esteem, my dear friend, yours most affectionately,
"B. FRANKLIN.
"We all join in respects to Mrs. Shipley."
* * * * *
"_Mrs. Hewson, London._
"Philadelphia, May 6, 1786.
"MY DEAR FRIEND,
"A long winter has passed, and I have not had the pleasure of a line
from you, acquainting me with your and your childrens' welfare, since I
left England. I suppose you have been in Yorkshire, out of the way and
knowledge of opportunities, for I will not think you have forgotten me.
To make me some amends, I received a few days past a large packet from
Mr. Williams, dated September, 1776, near ten years since, containing
three letters from you, one of December 12, 1775. This packet had been
received by Mr. Bache after my departure for France, lay dormant among
his papers during all my absence, and has just now broke out upon me
_like words_ that had been, as somebody says, _congealed in Northern
air_. Therein I find all the pleasing little family history of your
children; how William had began to spell, overcoming by strength of
memory all the difficulty occasioned by the common wretched alphabet,
while you were convinced of the utility of our new one. How Tom,
genius-like, struck out new paths, and, relinquishing the old names of
the letters, called U _bell_ and P _bottle_. How Eliza began to grow
jolly, that is, fat and handsome, resembling Aunt Rooke, whom I used to
call _my lovely_. Together with all the _then_ news of Lady Blunt's
having produced at length a boy; of Dolly's being well, and of poor good
Catharine's decease. Of your affairs with Muir and Atkinson, and of
their contract for feeding the fish in the Channel. Of the Vinys, and
their jaunt to Cambridge in the long carriages. Of Dolly's journey to
Wales with Mr. Scot. Of the Wilkeses, the Pearces, Elphinston, &c., &c.
Concluding with a kind promise that, as soon as the ministry and
Congress agreed to make peace, I should have you with me in America.
That peace has been some time made, but, alas! the promise is not yet
fulfilled. And why is it not fulfilled?
"I have found my family here in health, good circumstances, and well
respected by their fellow-citizens. The companions of my youth are
indeed almost all departed, but I find an agreeable society among their
children and grandchildren. I have public business enough to preserve me
from _ennui_, and private amusement besides, in conversation, books, and
my garden. Considering our well-furnished plentiful market as the best
of gardens, I am turning mine, in the midst of which my house stands,
into grassplats and gravel-walks, with trees and flowering shrubs. * * *
"Temple has turned his thoughts to agriculture, which he pursues
ardently, being in possession of a fine farm that his father lately
conveyed to him. Ben is finishing his studies at college, and continues
to behave as well as when you knew him, so that I still think he will
make you a good son. His younger brothers and sisters are also all
promising, appearing to have good tempers and dispositions, as well as
good constitutions. As to myself, I think my general health and spirits
rather better than when you saw me, and the particular malady I then
complained of continues tolerable. With sincere and very great esteem, I
am ever, my dear friend, yours most affectionately,
"B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_To M. Veillard._
"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 behindhand 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 these
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 of 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."
* * * * *
"_Mr. Jordain._
"Philadelphia, May 18, 1787.
"DEAR SIR,
"I received your very kind letter of February 27, together with the cask
of porter you have been so good as to send me. We have here at present
what the French call _une assemblée des notables_, a convention composed
of some of the principal people from the several states of our
confederation. They did me the honour of dining with me last Wednesday,
when the cask was broached, and its contents met with the most cordial
reception and universal approbation. In short, the company agreed
unanimously that it was the best porter they had ever tasted. Accept my
thanks, a poor return, but all I can make at present.
"Your letter reminds me of many happy days we have passed together, and
the dear friends with whom we passed them; some of whom, alas! have left
us, and we must regret their loss, although our Hawkesworth[33] is
become an adventurer in more happy regions; and our Stanley[34] gone,
'where only his own _harmony_ can be exceeded.' You give me joy in
telling me that you are 'on the pinnacle of _content_.' Without it no
situation can be happy; with it, any. One means of becoming content with
one's situation is the comparing it with a worse Thus, when I consider
how many terrible diseases the human body is liable to, I comfort myself
that only three incurable ones have fallen to my share, the gout, the
stone, and old age; and that these have not yet deprived me of my
natural cheerfulness, my delight in books, and enjoyment of social
conversation.
[33] John Hawkesworth, LL.D., author of the Adventurer, and
compiler of the account of the Discoveries made in the South Seas
by Captain Cook.
[34] John Stanley, an eminent musician and composer, though he
became blind at the age of two years.
"I am glad to hear that Mr. Fitzmaurice is married, and has an amiable
lady and children. It is a better plan than that he once proposed, of
getting Mrs. Wright to make him a waxwork wife to sit at the head of his
table. For, after all, wedlock is the natural state of man. A bachelor
is not a complete human being. He is like the odd half of a pair of
scissors, which has not yet found its fellow, and, therefore, is not
even half so useful as they might be together.
"I hardly know which to admire most, the wonderful discoveries made by
Herschel, or the indefatigable ingenuity by which he has been enabled to
make them. Let us hope, my friend, that, when free from these bodily
embarrassments, we may roam together through some of the systems he has
explored, conducted by some of our old companions already acquainted
with them. Hawkesworth will enliven our progress with his cheerful,
sensible converse, and Stanley accompany the music of the spheres.
"Mr. Watraaugh tells me, for I immediately inquired after her, that your
daughter is alive and well. I remember her a most promising and
beautiful child, and therefore do not wonder that she is grown, as he
says, a fine woman.
"God bless her and you, my dear friend, and everything that pertains to
you, is the sincere prayer of yours most affectionately,
"B. FRANKLIN,
"In his 82d year."
* * * * *
"_To Miss Hubbard._
"I condole with you. We have lost a most dear and valuable relation. But
it is the will of God and nature that these mortal bodies be laid aside,
when the soul is to enter into real life. This is rather an embryo
state, a preparation for living. A man is not completely born until he
be dead. Why, then, should we grieve that a new child is born among the
immortals, a new member added to their happy society? We are spirits.
That bodies should be lent us while they can afford us pleasure, to
assist us in acquiring knowledge, or doing good to our fellow-creatures,
is a kind and benevolent act of God. When they become unfit for these
purposes, and afford us pain instead of pleasure, instead of an aid
become an encumbrance, and answer none of the intentions for which they
were given, it is equally kind and benevolent that a way is provided by
which we may get rid of them. Death is that way. We ourselves, in some
cases, prudently choose a partial death. A mangled, painful limb, which
cannot be restored, we willingly cut off. He who plucks out a tooth,
parts with it freely, since the pain goes with it; and he who quits the
whole body, parts at once with all pains, and possibilities of pains and
diseases it was liable to, or capable of making him suffer.
"Our friend and we were invited abroad on a party of pleasure which is
to last for ever. His chair was ready first, and he is gone before us.
We could not all conveniently start together; and why should you and I
be grieved at this, since we are soon to follow, and know where to find
him?
"Adieu,
B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_To George Wheatley._
"Philadelphia, May 18, 1787.
"I received duly my good old friend's letter of the 19th of February. I
thank you much for your notes on banks; they are just and solid, as far
as I can judge of them. Our bank here has met with great opposition,
partly from envy, and partly from those who wish an emission of more
paper money, which they think the bank influence prevents. But it has
stood all attacks, and went on well, notwithstanding the Assembly
repealed its charter. A new Assembly has restored it, and the management
is so prudent that I have no doubt of its continuing to go on well: the
dividend has never been less than six per cent., nor will that be
augmented for some time, as the surplus profit is reserved to face
accidents. The dividend of eleven per cent., which was once made, was
from a circumstance scarce unavoidable. A new company was proposed, and
prevented only by admitting a number of new partners. As many of the
first set were averse to this and chose to withdraw, it was necessary to
settle their accounts; so all were adjusted, the profits shared that had
been accumulated, and the new and old proprietors jointly began on a new
and equal footing. Their notes are always instantly paid on demand, and
pass on all occasions as readily as silver, because they will produce
silver.
"Your medallion is in good company; it is placed with those of Lord
Chatham, Lord Camden. Marquis of Rockingham, Sir George Saville, and
some others who honoured me with a show of friendly regard when in
England. I believe I have thanked you for it, but I thank you again.
"I believe with you, that if our plenipo. is desirous of concluding a
treaty of commerce, he may need patience. If I were in his place and not
otherwise instructed, I should be apt to say 'take your own time,
gentlemen.' If the treaty cannot be made as much to your advantage as
ours, don't make it. I am sure the want of it is not more to our
disadvantage than to yours. Let the merchants on both sides treat with
one another. _Laissez les faire._
"I have never considered attentively the Congress's scheme for coining,
and I have it not now at hand, so that at present I can say nothing to
it. The chief uses of coining seem to be the ascertaining the fineness
of the metals, and saving the time that would otherwise be spent in
weighing to ascertain the quantity. But the convenience of fixed values
to pieces is so great as to force the currency of some whose stamp is
worn off, that should have assured their fineness, and which are
evidently not of half their due weight; the case at present with the
sixpences in England, which, one with another, do not weigh threepence.
"You are now 78, and I am 82; you tread fast upon my heels; but, though
you have more strength and spirit, you cannot come up with me until I
stop, which must now be soon; for I am grown so old as to have buried
most of the friends of my youth; and I now often hear persons whom I
knew when children, called _old_ Mr. Such-a-one, to distinguish them
from their sons, now men grown and in business; so that, by living
twelve years beyond David's period, I seem to have intruded myself into
the company of posterity when I ought to have been abed and asleep. Yet,
had I gone at seventy, it would have cut off twelve of the most active
years of my life, employed, too, in matters of the greatest importance;
but whether I have been doing good or mischief is for time to discover.
I only know that I intended well, and I hope all will end well.
"Be so good as to present my affectionate respects to Dr. Riley. I am
under great obligations to him, and shall write to him shortly. It will
be a pleasure to him to know that my malady does not grow sensibly
worse, and that is a great point; for it has always been so tolerable as
not to prevent my enjoying the pleasures of society, and being cheerful
in conversation; I owe this in a great measure to his good counsels.
"B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_B. Vaughan._
"October 24, 1788.
"Having now finished my term in the presidentship, and resolving to
engage no more in public affairs, I hope to be a better correspondent
for the little time I have to live. I am recovering from a
long-continued gout, and am diligently employed in writing the History
of my Life, to the doing of which the persuasions contained in your
letter of January 31, 1783, have not a little contributed. I am now in
the year 1756, just before I was sent to England. To shorten the work,
as well as for other reasons, I omit all facts and transactions that may
not have a tendency to benefit the young reader, by showing him from my
example, and my success in emerging from poverty, and acquiring some
degree of wealth, power, and reputation, the advantages of certain modes
of conduct which I observed, and of avoiding the errors which were
prejudicial to me. If a writer can judge properly of his own work, I
fancy, on reading over what is already done, that the book may be found
entertaining and useful, more so than I expected when I began it. If my
present state of health continues, I hope to finish it this winter: when
done, you shall have a manuscript copy of it, that I may obtain from
your judgment and friendship such remarks as may contribute to its
improvement.
"The violence of our party debates about the new constitution seems
much abated, indeed almost extinct, and we are getting fast into good
order. I kept out of those disputes pretty well, having wrote only one
piece, which I send you enclosed.
"I regret the immense quantity of misery brought upon mankind by this
Turkish war; and I am afraid the King of Sweden may burn his fingers by
attacking Russia. When will princes learn arithmetic enough to
calculate, if they want pieces of one another's territory, how much
cheaper it would be to buy them than to make war for them, even though
they were to give a hundred years' purchase; but if glory cannot be
valued, and, therefore, the wars for it cannot be subject to
arithmetical calculation, so as to show their advantages or
disadvantages, at least wars for trade, which have gain for their
object, may be proper subjects for such computation; and a trading
nation, as well as a single trader, ought to calculate the probabilities
of profit and loss before engaging in any considerable adventure. This,
however, nations seldom do, and we have had frequent instances of their
spending more money in wars for acquiring or securing branches of
commerce, than a hundred years' profit, or the full enjoyment of them
can compensate. * *
"B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_To the President of Congress._
"Philadelphia, Nov. 29, 1788.
"SIR,
"When I had the honour of being the minister of the United States at the
court of France, Mr. Barclay arriving there, brought me the following
resolution of Congress:
"'Resolved, That a commissioner be appointed by Congress with full power
and authority to liquidate and _finally to settle_ the accounts of all
the servants of the United States who have been intrusted with the
expenditure of public money in Europe, and to commence and prosecute
such suits, causes, and actions as may be necessary for that purpose, or
for the recovery of any property of the said United States in the hands
of any person or persons whatsoever.
"'That the said commissioner be authorized to appoint one or more
clerks, with such allowance as he may think reasonable.
"'That the said commissioner and clerks respectively take an oath,
before some person duly authorized to administer an oath, faithfully to
execute the trust reposed in them respectively.
"'Congress proceeded to the election of a commissioner, and ballots
being taken, Mr. T. Barclay was elected.'
"In pursuance of this resolution, and as soon as Mr. Barclay was at
leisure from more pressing business, I rendered to him all my accounts,
which he examined and stated methodically. By his statements he found a
balance due to me on the 4th May, 1785, of 7533 livres, 19 sols, 3
deniers, which I accordingly received of the Congress Bank; the
difference between my statement and his being only seven sols, which by
mistake I had overcharged, about threepence halfpenny sterling.
"At my request, however, the accounts were left open for the
consideration of Congress, and not finally settled, there being some
articles on which I desired their judgment, and having some equitable
demands, as I thought them, for extra services, which he had not
conceived himself empowered to allow, and therefore I did not put them
in my account. He transmitted the accounts to Congress, and had advice
of their being received. On my arrival at Philadelphia, one of the first
things I did was to despatch my grandson, W. T. Franklin, to New-York,
to obtain a final settlement of those accounts, he having long acted as
my secretary, and, being well acquainted with the transactions, was able
to give an explanation of the articles that might seem to require
explaining, if any such there were. He returned without effecting the
settlement, being told that it would not be made till the arrival of
some documents expected from France. What those documents were I have
not been informed, nor can I readily conceive, as all the vouchers
existing there had been examined by Mr. Barclay. And I having been
immediately after my arrival engaged in public business of this state, I
waited in expectation of hearing from Congress, in case any part of my
accounts had been objected to.
"It is now more than three years that those accounts have been before
that honourable body, and to this day no notice of any such objection
has been communicated to me. But reports have for some time past been
circulated here, and propagated in newspapers, that I am greatly
indebted to the United States for large sums that had been put into my
hands, and that I avoid a settlement.
"This, together with the little time one of my age may expect to live,
makes it necessary for me to request earnestly, which I hereby do, that
the Congress would be pleased, without farther delay, to examine those
accounts, and if they find therein any article or articles which they do
not understand or approve, that they would cause me to be acquainted
with the same, that I may have an opportunity of offering such
explanations or reasons in support of them as may be in my power, and
then that the account may be finally closed.
"I hope the Congress will soon be able to attend to this business for
the satisfaction of the public, as well as in condescension to my
request. In the mean time, if there be no impropriety in it, I would
desire that this letter, together with another on the same subject, the
copy of which is hereto annexed, be put upon their minutes.
"B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_Mrs. Green._
"Philadelphia, March 2, 1789.
"DEAR FRIEND,
"Having now done with public affairs, which have hitherto taken up so
much of my time, I shall endeavour to enjoy, during the small remainder
of life that is left to me, some of the pleasures of conversing with my
old friends by writing, since their distance prevents my hope of seeing
them again.
"I received one of the bags of sweet corn you was so good as to send me
a long time since, but the other never came to hand; even the letter
mentioning it, though dated December 10, 1787, has been above a year on
its way, for I received it but about two weeks since from Baltimore, in
Maryland. The corn I did receive was excellent, and gave me great
pleasure. Accept my hearty thanks.
"I am, as you suppose in the above-mentioned old letter, much pleased to
hear that my young friend Ray is 'smart in the farming way,' and makes
such substantial fences. I think agriculture the most honourable of all
employments, being the most independent. The farmer has no need of
popular favour, nor the favour of the great; the success of his crops
depending only on the blessing of God upon his honest industry. I
congratulate your good spouse, that he as well as myself is now free
from public cares, and that he can bend his whole attention to his
farming, which will afford him both profit and pleasure; a business
which nobody knows better how to manage with advantage. I am too old to
follow printing again myself, but, loving the business, I have brought
up my grandson Benjamin to it, and have built and furnished a
printing-house for him, which he now manages under my eye. I have great
pleasure in the rest of my grandchildren, who are now in number eight,
and all promising, the youngest only six months old, but shows signs of
great good-nature. My friends here are numerous, and I enjoy as much of
their conversation as I can reasonably wish; and I have as much health
and cheerfulness as can well be expected at my age, now eighty-two.
Hitherto this long life has been tolerably happy, so that, if I were
allowed to live it over again, I should make no objection, only wishing
for leave to do, what authors do in a second edition of their works,
correct some of my errata. Among the felicities of my life I reckon your
friendship, which I shall remember with pleasure as long as life lasts,
being ever, my dear friend, yours most affectionately,
"B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_Dr. Price._
"Philadelphia, May 31, 1789.
"MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,
"I lately received your kind letter, enclosing one from Miss Kitty
Shipley, informing me of the good bishop's decease, which afflicted me
greatly. My friends drop off one after another, when my age and
infirmities prevent me making new ones, and if I still retain the
necessary activity and ability, I hardly see among the existing
generation where I could make them of equal goodness. So that, the
longer I live, I must expect to be the more wretched. As we draw nearer
the conclusion of life, nature furnishes us with more helps to wean us
from it, among which one of the most powerful is the loss of such dear
friends.