with grief and shame; and he prevented him, saying, "My brother, I know
thy loss; but why should it trouble thee? Lo, have I not an axe that
will serve both thee and me? Take it, I pray thee, and use it as thine
own."
15. And Reuben fell on his neck, and kissed him, with tears, saying,
"Thy kindness is great, but thy goodness in forgiving me is greater.
Thou are indeed my brother, and whilst I live, will I surely love thee."
16. And Judah said, "Let us also love our other brethren; behold, are we
not all of one blood?"
17. And Joseph saw these things, and reported them to his father Jacob.
18. And Jacob said, "Reuben did wrong, but he repented. Simeon also did
wrong; and Levi was not altogether blameless.
19. "But the heart of Judah is princely. Judah hath the soul of a king.
His father's children shall bow down before him, and he shall rule over
his brethren."
TO WILLIAM STRAHAN[85]
Philad^a July 5, 1775.
MR. STRAHAN,
You are a Member of Parliament, and one of that Majority which has
doomed my Country to Destruction.--You have begun to burn our Towns, and
murder our People.--Look upon your Hands! They are stained with the
Blood of your Relations!--You and I were long Friends:--You are now my
Enemy,--and I am
Yours,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO JOSEPH PRIESTLEY
Philadelphia, July 7, 1775.
DEAR FRIEND,
The Congress met at a time when all minds were so exasperated by the
perfidy of General Gage, and his attack on the country people, that
propositions of attempting an accommodation were not much relished; and
it has been with difficulty that we have carried another humble petition
to the crown, to give Britain one more chance, one opportunity more, of
recovering the friendship of the colonies; which, however, I think she
has not sense enough to embrace, and so I conclude she has lost them for
ever.
She has begun to burn our seaport towns; secure, I suppose, that we
shall never be able to return the outrage in kind. She may doubtless
destroy them all; but, if she wishes to recover our commerce, are these
the probable means? She must certainly be distracted; for no tradesman
out of Bedlam ever thought of encreasing the number of his customers, by
knocking them on the head; or of enabling them to pay their debts, by
burning their houses. If she wishes to have us subjects, and that we
should submit to her as our compound sovereign, she is now giving us
such miserable specimens of her government, that we shall ever detest
and avoid it, as a complication of robbery, murder, famine, fire, and
pestilence.
You will have heard, before this reaches you, of the treacherous conduct
[of General Gage] to the remaining people in Boston, in detaining their
_goods_, after stipulating to let them go out with their _effects_, on
pretence that merchants' goods were not effects; the defeat of a great
body of his troops by the country people at Lexington; some other small
advantages gained in skirmishes with their troops; and the action at
Bunker's Hill, in which they were twice repulsed, and the third time
gained a dear victory. Enough has happened, one would think, to convince
your ministers, that the Americans will fight, and that this is a harder
nut to crack than they imagined.
We have not yet applied to any foreign power for assistance, nor
offered our commerce for their friendship. Perhaps we never may; yet it
is natural to think of it, if we are pressed. We have now an army on our
establishment, which still holds yours besieged. My time was never more
fully employed. In the morning at six, I am at the Committee of Safety,
appointed by the Assembly to put the province in a state of defence;
which committee holds till near nine, when I am at the Congress, and
that sits till after four in the afternoon. Both these bodies proceed
with the greatest unanimity, and their meetings are well attended. It
will scarce be credited in Britain, that men can be as diligent with us
from zeal for the public good, as with you for thousands per annum. Such
is the difference between uncorrupted new states, and corrupted old
ones.
Great frugality and great industry are now become fashionable here.
Gentlemen, who used to entertain with two or three courses, pride
themselves now in treating with simple beef and pudding. By these means,
and the stoppage of our consumptive trade with Britain, we shall be
better able to pay our voluntary taxes for the support of our troops.
Our savings in the article of trade amount to near five millions
sterling per annum.
I shall communicate your letter to Mr. Winthrop; but the camp is at
Cambridge, and he has as little leisure for philosophy as myself.
Believe me ever with sincere esteem, my dear friend, yours most
affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO A FRIEND IN ENGLAND[86]
Philadelphia, Oct. 3, 1775.
DEAR SIR,
I wish as ardently as you can do for peace, and should rejoice
exceedingly in coöperating with you to that end. But every ship from
Britain brings some intelligence of new measures that tend more and more
to exasperate; and it seems to me, that until you have found by dear
experience the reducing us by force impracticable, you will think of
nothing fair and reasonable.
We have as yet resolved only on defensive measures. If you would recall
your forces and stay at home, we should meditate nothing to injure you.
A little time so given for cooling on both sides would have excellent
effects. But you will goad and provoke us. You despise us too much; and
you are insensible of the Italian adage, that there is no _little
enemy_. I am persuaded that the body of the British people are our
friends; but they are changeable, and by your lying Gazettes may soon be
made our enemies. Our respect for them will proportionably diminish, and
I see clearly we are on the high road to mutual Enmity[,] hatred and
detestation. A separation of course will be inevitable. 'Tis a million
of pities so fair a plan as we have hitherto been engaged in, for
increasing strength and empire with _public felicity_, should be
destroyed by the mangling hands of a few blundering ministers. It will
not be destroyed; God will protect and prosper it, you will only exclude
yourselves from any share in it. We hear, that more ships and troops are
coming out. We know, that you may do us a great deal of mischief, and
are determined to bear it patiently as long as we can. But, if you
flatter yourselves with beating us into submission, you know neither the
people nor the country. The Congress are still sitting, and will wait
the result of their _last_ petition. Yours, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
TO LORD HOWE
Philadelphia, July 30th,[87] 1776.
MY LORD,
I receiv'd safe the Letters your Lordship so kindly forwarded to me, and
beg you to accept my thanks.
The official dispatches, to which you refer me, contain nothing more
than what we had seen in the Act of Parliament, viz. Offers of Pardon
upon Submission, which I was sorry to find, as it must give your
Lordship Pain to be sent upon so fruitless a Business.
Directing Pardons to be offered to the Colonies, who are the very
Parties injured, expresses indeed that Opinion of our Ignorance,
Baseness, and Insensibility, which your uninform'd and proud Nation has
long been pleased to entertain of us; but it can have no other effect
than that of increasing our Resentments. It is impossible we should
think of Submission to a Government, that has with the most wanton
Barbarity and Cruelty burnt our defenceless Towns in the midst of
Winter, excited the Savages to massacre our Peacefull Farmers, and our
Slaves to murder their Masters, and is even now bringing foreign
Mercenaries to deluge our Settlements with Blood. These atrocious
Injuries have extinguished every remaining Spark of Affection for that
Parent Country we once held so dear; but, were it possible for _us_ to
forget and forgive them, it is not possible for _you_ (I mean the
British Nation) to forgive the People you have so heavily injured. You
can never confide again in those as Fellow Subjects, and permit them to
enjoy equal Freedom, to whom you know you have given such just Cause of
lasting Enmity. And this must impel you, were we again under your
Government, to endeavour the breaking our Spirit by the severest
Tyranny, and obstructing, by every Means in your Power, our growing
Strength and Prosperity.
But your Lordship mentions "the King's paternal solicitude for promoting
the Establishment of lasting _Peace_ and Union with the Colonies." If by
Peace is here meant a Peace to be entered into between Britain and
America, as distinct States now at War, and his Majesty has given your
Lordship Powers to treat with us of such a Peace, I may venture to say,
though without Authority, that I think a Treaty for that purpose not yet
quite impracticable, before we enter into foreign Alliances. But I am
persuaded you have no such Powers. Your nation, though, by punishing
those American Governors, who have fomented the Discord, rebuilding our
burnt Towns, and repairing as far as possible the mischiefs done us,
might yet recover a great Share of our Regard, and the greatest Part of
our growing Commerce, with all the Advantage of that additional Strength
to be derived from a Friendship with us; but I know too well her
abounding Pride and deficient Wisdom, to believe she will ever take such
salutary Measures. Her Fondness for Conquest, as a warlike Nation, her
lust of Dominion, as an ambitious one, and her wish for a gainful
Monopoly, as a commercial One, (none of them legitimate Causes of War,)
will all join to hide from her Eyes every view of her true Interests,
and continually goad her on in those ruinous distant Expeditions, so
destructive both of Lives and Treasure, that must prove as pernicious to
her in the End, as the Crusades formerly were to most of the Nations in
Europe.
I have not the Vanity, my Lord, to think of intimidating by thus
predicting the Effects of this War; for I know it will in England have
the Fate of all my former Predictions, not to be believed till the Event
shall verify it.
Long did I endeavour, with unfeigned and unwearied Zeal, to preserve
from breaking that fine and noble China Vase, the British Empire; for I
knew, that, being once broken, the separate Parts could not retain even
their Shares of the Strength and Value that existed in the Whole, and
that a perfect Reunion of those Parts could scarce ever be hoped for.
Your Lordship may possibly remember the tears of Joy that wet my Cheek,
when, at your good Sister's in London, you once gave me Expectations
that a Reconciliation might soon take Place. I had the Misfortune to
find those Expectations disappointed, and to be treated as the Cause of
the Mischief I was laboring to prevent. My Consolation under that
groundless and malevolent Treatment was, that I retained the Friendship
of many wise and good Men in that country, and, among the rest, some
Share in the Regard of Lord Howe.
The well-founded Esteem, and, permit me to say, Affection, which I shall
always have for your Lordship, makes it Painful to me to see you engaged
in conducting a War, the great Ground of which, as expressed in your
Letter, is "the necessity of preventing the American trade from passing
into foreign Channels." To me it seems, that neither the Obtaining or
Retaining of any trade, how valuable soever, is an Object for which men
may justly spill each other's Blood; that the true and sure Means of
extending and securing Commerce is the goodness and Cheapness of
Commodities; and that the profit of no trade can ever be equal to the
Expence of compelling it, and of holding it, by Fleets and Armies.
I consider this War against us, therefore, as both unjust and unwise;
and I am persuaded, that cool, dispassionate Posterity will condemn to
Infamy those who advised it; and that even Success will not save from
some Degree of Dishonor those, who voluntarily engaged to Conduct it. I
know your great motive in coming hither was the hope of being
Instrumental in a Reconciliation; and I believe, when you find _that_ to
be impossible on any Terms given you to propose, you will relinquish so
odious a Command, and return to a more honourable private Station.
With the greatest and most sincere Respect, I have the Honour to be, my
Lord, your Lordship's most obedient humble Servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
THE SALE OF THE HESSIANS[88]
FROM THE COUNT DE SCHAUMBERGH TO THE BARON HOHENDORF, COMMANDING THE
HESSIAN TROOPS IN AMERICA
Rome, February 18, 1777.
MONSIEUR LE BARON:--
On my return from Naples, I received at Rome your letter of the 27th
December of last year. I have learned with unspeakable pleasure the
courage our troops exhibited at Trenton, and you cannot imagine my joy
on being told that of the 1,950 Hessians engaged in the fight, but 345
escaped. There were just 1,605 men killed, and I cannot sufficiently
commend your prudence in sending an exact list of the dead to my
minister in London. This precaution was the more necessary, as the
report sent to the English ministry does not give but 1,455 dead. This
would make 483,450 florins instead of 643,500 which I am entitled to
demand under our convention. You will comprehend the prejudice which
such an error would work in my finances, and I do not doubt you will
take the necessary pains to prove that Lord North's list is false and
yours correct.
The court of London objects that there were a hundred wounded who ought
not to be included in the list, nor paid for as dead; but I trust you
will not overlook my instructions to you on quitting Cassel, and that
you will not have tried by human succor to recall the life of the
unfortunates whose days could not be lengthened but by the loss of a leg
or an arm. That would be making them a pernicious present, and I am sure
they would rather die than live in a condition no longer fit for my
service. I do not mean by this that you should assassinate them; we
should be humane, my dear Baron, but you may insinuate to the surgeons
with entire propriety that a crippled man is a reproach to their
profession, and that there is no wiser course than to let every one of
them die when he ceases to be fit to fight.
I am about to send to you some new recruits. Don't economize them.
Remember glory before all things. Glory is true wealth. There is nothing
degrades the soldier like the love of money. He must care only for
honour and reputation, but this reputation must be acquired in the midst
of dangers. A battle gained without costing the conqueror any blood is
an inglorious success, while the conquered cover themselves with glory
by perishing with their arms in their hands. Do you remember that of the
300 Lacedæmonians who defended the defile of Thermopylae, not one
returned? How happy should I be could I say the same of my brave
Hessians!
It is true that their king, Leonidas, perished with them: but things
have changed, and it is no longer the custom for princes of the empire
to go and fight in America for a cause with which they have no concern.
And besides, to whom should they pay the thirty guineas per man if I did
not stay in Europe to receive them? Then, it is necessary also that I be
ready to send recruits to replace the men you lose. For this purpose I
must return to Hesse. It is true, grown men are becoming scarce there,
but I will send you boys. Besides, the scarcer the commodity the higher
the price. I am assured that the women and little girls have begun to
till our lands, and they get on not badly. You did right to send back to
Europe that Dr. Crumerus who was so successful in curing dysentery.
Don't bother with a man who is subject to looseness of the bowels. That
disease makes bad soldiers. One coward will do more mischief in an
engagement than ten brave men will do good. Better that they burst in
their barracks than fly in a battle, and tarnish the glory of our arms.
Besides, you know that they pay me as killed for all who die from
disease, and I don't get a farthing for runaways. My trip to Italy,
which has cost me enormously, makes it desirable that there should be a
great mortality among them. You will therefore promise promotion to all
who expose themselves; you will exhort them to seek glory in the midst
of dangers; you will say to Major Maundorff that I am not at all content
with his saving the 345 men who escaped the massacre of Trenton. Through
the whole campaign he has not had ten men killed in consequence of his
orders. Finally, let it be your principal object to prolong the war and
avoid a decisive engagement on either side, for I have made arrangements
for a grand Italian opera, and I do not wish to be obliged to give it
up. Meantime I pray God, my dear Baron de Hohendorf, to have you in his
holy and gracious keeping.
MODEL OF A LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION[89]
Paris, April 2, 1777.
SIR:--
The bearer of this, who is going to America, presses me to give him a
Letter of Recommendation, tho' I know nothing of him, not even his Name.
This may seem extraordinary, but I assure you it is not uncommon here.
Sometimes, indeed one unknown Person brings another equally unknown, to
recommend him; and sometimes they recommend one another! As to this
Gentleman, I must refer you to himself for his Character and Merits,
with which he is certainly better acquainted than I can possibly be. I
recommend him however to those Civilities, which every Stranger, of whom
one knows no Harm, has a Right to; and I request you will do him all the
good Offices, and show him all the Favour that, on further Acquaintance,
you shall find him to deserve. I have the Honour to be, etc.
[B. F.]
TO --------
Passy, Oct. 4, 1777.
SIR,
I am much obliged by your communication of the letter from England. I am
of your opinion, that it is not proper for publication here. Our
friend's expressions concerning Mr. Wilson, will be thought too angry to
be made use of by one philosopher when speaking of another, and on a
philosophical question. He seems as much heated about this _one point_,
as the Jansenists and Molinists were about the _five_. As to my writing
any thing on the subject, which you seem to desire, I think it not
necessary, especially as I have nothing to add to what I have already
said upon it in a paper read to the committee, who ordered the
conductors at Purfleet; which paper is printed in the last French
edition of my writings.
I have never entered into any controversy in defence of my philosophical
opinions; I leave them to take their chance in the world. If they are
_right_, truth and experience will support them; if _wrong_, they ought
to be refuted and rejected. Disputes are apt to sour one's temper, and
disturb one's quiet. I have no private interest in the reception of my
inventions by the world, having never made, nor proposed to make, the
least profit by any of them. The King's changing his _pointed_
conductors for _blunt_ ones is, therefore, a matter of small importance
to me. If I had a wish about it, it would be that he had rejected them
altogether as ineffectual. For it is only since he thought himself and
family safe from the thunder of Heaven, that he dared to use his own
thunder in destroying his innocent subjects.[90] I am, Sir, yours, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
TO DAVID HARTLEY[91]
Passy, Oct. 14, 1777.
_Dear Sir_,
I received duly your letter of May 2, 1777, including a copy of one you
had sent me the year before, which never came to hand, and which it
seems has been the case with some I wrote to you from America. Filled
tho' our letters have always been with sentiments of good will to both
countries, and earnest desires of preventing their ruin and promoting
their mutual felicity, I have been apprehensive, that, if it were known
that a correspondence subsisted between us, it might be attended with
inconvenience to you. I have therefore been backward in writing, not
caring to trust the post, and not well knowing whom else to trust with
my letters. But being now assured of a safe conveyance, I venture to
write to you, especially as I think the subject such an one as you may
receive a letter upon without censure.
Happy should I have been, if the honest warnings I gave, of the fatal
separation of interests, as well as of affections, that must attend the
measures commenced while I was in England, had been attended to, and the
horrid mischief of this abominable war been thereby prevented. I should
still be happy in any successful endeavours for restoring peace,
consistent with the liberties, the safety, and honour of America. As to
our submitting to the government of Great Britain, it is vain to think
of it. She has given us, by her numberless barbarities in the
prosecution of the war, and in the treatment of prisoners, by her malice
in bribing slaves to murder their masters, and savages to massacre the
families of farmers, with her baseness in rewarding the unfaithfulness
of servants, and debauching the virtue of honest seamen, intrusted with
our property, so deep an impression of her depravity, that we never
again can trust her in the management of our affairs and interests. It
is now impossible to persuade our people, as I long endeavoured, that
the war was merely ministerial, and that the nation bore still a good
will to us. The infinite number of addresses printed in your gazettes,
all approving this conduct of your government towards us, and
encouraging our destruction by every possible means, the great majority
in Parliament constantly manifesting the same sentiments, and the
popular public rejoicings on occasion of any news of the slaughter of an
innocent and virtuous people, fighting only in defence of their just
rights; these, together with the recommendations of the same measures
by even your celebrated moralists and divines, in their writings and
sermons, that are cited approved and applauded in your great national
assemblies; all join in convincing us, that you are no longer the
magnanimous and enlightened nation, we once esteemed you, and that you
are unfit and unworthy to govern us, as not being able to govern your
own passions.
But, as I have said, I should be nevertheless happy in seeing peace
restored. For tho', if my friends and the friends of liberty and virtue,
who still remain in England, could be drawn out of it, a continuance of
this war to the ruin of the rest would give me less concern, I cannot,
as that removal is impossible, but wish for peace for their sakes, as
well as for the sake of humanity, and preventing further carnage.
This wish of mine, ineffective as it may be, induces me to mention to
you, that, between nations long exasperated against each other in war,
some act of generosity and kindness towards prisoners on one side has
softened resentment, and abated animosity on the other, so as to bring
on an accommodation. You in England, if you wish for peace, have at
present the opportunity of trying this means, with regard to the
prisoners now in your goals [_sic_]. They complain of very severe
treatment. They are far from their friends and families, and winter is
coming on, in which they must suffer extremely, if continued in their
present situation; fed scantily on bad provisions, without warm lodging,
clothes, or fire, and not suffered to invite or receive visits from
their friends, or even from the humane and charitable of their enemies.
I can assure you, from my own certain knowledge, that your people,
prisoners in America, have been treated with great kindness; they have
been served with the same rations of wholesome provisions with our own
troops, comfortable lodgings have been provided for them, and they have
been allowed large bounds of villages in a healthy air, to walk and
amuse themselves with on their parole. Where you have thought fit to
employ contractors to supply your people, these contractors have been
protected and aided in their operations. Some considerable act of
kindness towards our people would take off the reproach of inhumanity in
that respect from the nation, and leave it where it ought with more
certainty to lay, on the conductors of your war in America. This I hint
to you, out of some remaining good will to a nation I once sincerely
loved. But, as things are, and in my present temper of mind, not being
over fond of receiving obligations, I shall content myself with
proposing, that your government would allow us to send or employ a
commissary to take some care of those unfortunate people. Perhaps on
your representations this might speedily be obtained in England, though
it was refused most inhumanly at New York.