1To Benjamin Franklin from Richard Bache, 1 January 1774 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I have to acknowledge receipt of your Favors of the 24th. Sept. and 5th. October, the former by the hands of Mrs. Alcock, who found her Husband settled on a small Farm on the other Side Schuylkill, not far from the Middle Ferry. [It] is not many days since she delivered to me your Letter, and I have not since had an Opportunity of going to see them, but...
2To Benjamin Franklin from Sarah Bache, 2 January 1774 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I had sett this day apart to write you a long letter, but my little Will has been so much indisposed as to take up all my time and attention, he is now in a sweet Sleep, but its so late that I can only tell you how much pleasure your desire of hearing from me gave me and to asure you I will write fully and have my Letter ready for the next Opportunity. I...
3From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Cushing, 5 January 1774 (Franklin Papers)
Extract reprinted from William Temple Franklin, ed., Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin … (3 vols., 4to, London, 1817–18), II , 209–10. I received the honour of yours dated October 28 with the Journals of the house and Mr. Turner’s Election Sermon. I waited on Lord Dartmouth on his return to town, and learnt that he had presented to his majesty our petition for the removal...
4From Benjamin Franklin to William Franklin, 5 January 1774 (Franklin Papers)
Reprinted from William Temple Franklin, ed., Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin … (3 vols., 4to, London, 1817–18), II , 210–11. I received yours of October 29, and November 2. Your December packet is not yet arrived. No insinuations of the kind you mention, concerning Mr. G—y have reached me, and if they had, it would have been without the least effect; as I have always had...
5From Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Rhoads, 5 January 1774 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Historical Society of Pennsylvania I received your Favours of Oct. 29 and 31, inclosing the Votes, for which I thank you. I am much obliged to the Assembly for the repeated Marks of their Confidence in me. The Great Officers of State having generally been in the Country, no public Business of consequence has for some time been transacted here. But the Parliament meets next Week, when all...
6To Benjamin Franklin from Richard Nicholls Colden, 5 January 1774 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Historical Society of Pennsylvania Inclosed is John Stute’s[?] Bill of Exchange, on Bogle, Somerville & Company, Glasgow, for £31 4 s. 2½ d. Sterling and John Mitchell’s Bill on Anthony Todd Esqr, for £50 4 s. 2 d. Sterling; which please to acknowledge the Rect. of. My Father is getting better, and bids me present his best Compliments to you. I have the honour to be Dear Sir Your most...
7To Benjamin Franklin from William Franklin, 5 January 1774 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I Yesterday sent down to Philadelphia two Half Barrels of choice Pork, and a Keg of dryed Apples, to be sent to you in a Vessel which I see has just entered out for London, vizt. the Brig John, J. Ashmead Master. One of the Barrels I should be glad you would order to be sent to Mr. Sargent with my Compliments, and Thanks for his Present of Wine, which came...
8To Benjamin Franklin from Elizabeth Henckell, 5 January [1774?] (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I cannot refrain from taking up my pen to thank you warmly for your kind compliance with my requests and still kinder manner of conferring the favors. Mr. King also desires I would return his thanks. That this year may bring peace and freedom to the Americans built upon lasting and solid foundations and that you may long live to enjoy the fruits of your...
9Note on a Pamphlet Defending the Walpole Grant, 7 January 1774 (Franklin Papers)
The pamphlet, dated January 7, 1774, and signed “A.B.,” is entitled Considerations on the Agreement of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury, with the Honourable Thomas Walpole and His Associates, for Lands upon the River Ohio, in North America. In a Letter to a Member of Parliament (London, 1774). Paul Leicester Ford believed that Franklin was the author, on two grounds: first,...
10William Whately’s Chancery Suit against Franklin: I. The Bill in Equity, 7 January 1774: résumé (Franklin Papers)
Summary of DS in the Public Record Office; copy: State House, Boston Franklin considered this suit as a stab in the back. He believed that it was the consequence of his revealing his part in the affair of the Hutchinson letters, which he had done in order to end the quarrel between John Temple and William Whately and which should have earned him the gratitude of both. Whately was further in...
11To Benjamin Franklin from Stephen Cottrell, 10 January 1774 (Franklin Papers)
Letterbook copy: Privy Council Register, Public Record Office Mr. Israel Mauduit having presented a petition to the Lords of the Committee of Council, praying on behalf of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the province of the Massachusets Bay that he may be heard by Counsel in relation to the address of the House of Representatives of said province praying the Removal of the said...
12The Preliminary Hearing before the Privy Council Committee for Plantation Affairs on the Petition from the Massachusetts … (Franklin Papers)
I: printed in [Israel Mauduit,] The Letters of Governor Thomas Hutchinson and Lieut. Governor Oliver … with the Assembly’s Address, and the Proceedings of the Lords Committee of Council … ([1st issue of 1st ed., Yale University Library;] London, 1774), pp. *77–*80 of first pagination. II: copy, Privy Council register, Public Record Office. The record of the hearing survives in two parts. One...
13From Benjamin Franklin to John Ellis, 12 January 1774 (Franklin Papers)
AL : Linnean Society, London In this same Year (1652) one Mr. Edwards, a Turky Merchant, brought home with him a Greek Servant, who understood the roasting and making of Coffee, till then unknown in England. This Servant was the first who sold Coffee, and kept a House for that purpose in London. The first Mention of Coffee in our Statute Books is Anno 1660 (12 mo Regni Car. II Cap. 24). In...
14To Benjamin Franklin from Erasmus Darwin, 24 January 1774 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I have inclosed a medico-philosophical Paper which I should take it as a Favour if you will communicate to the royal Society, if you think it worthy a Place in their Volum, otherwise must desire you to return it to the Writer. I have another very curious Paper containing Experiments on the Colours seen in the closed Eye after having gazed some Time on...
15To Benjamin Franklin from Jonathan Williams, Jr., 24 January–30 March 1774 (Franklin Papers)
AL : American Philosophical Society I received your much esteemed favour of November 1st 1773, and immediately delivered the Letters that were inclosed to the Gentlemen to whom they were directed. I thank you for your readiness in procuring the organ I recieved per Hall, which was much admired. I shall ever think myself happy when in my power to render you any services on this side; as far as...
16Franklin’s Ostensible Withdrawal from the Walpole Company: Two Letters, [on or after 24 January 1774] (Franklin Papers)
I. AL : Library of Congress II. ALS : New York Public Library; draft: Library of Congress Franklin had for some time been playing a minor role in the affairs of the Walpole Company. The greater his unpopularity in Whitehall, the less the promoters of the grant wanted to emphasize his connection with them. He was well aware that he was a liability, according to William Strahan, and as early as...
17To Benjamin Franklin from Charles-Guillaume-Frédéric Dumas, [after 28 January 1774?] (Franklin Papers)
AL (incomplete): American Philosophical Society Le porteur de la présente est mon ancien et bon ami, Mr. Marc Michel Rey Libraire à Amsterdam, qui va pour ses affaires à Londres; je profite de cette occasion pour me procurer des nouvelles de votre santé, Monsieur, à laquelle je m’intéresse constamment, ainsi qu’à la liberté et prospérité de vos braves Colonies du Continent Américain, et...
18The Final Hearing before the Privy Council Committee for Plantation Affairs on the Petition from the Massachusetts House … (Franklin Papers)
I. printed in [Israel Mauduit,] The Letters of Governor Hutchinson, and Lieut. Governor Oliver … with … the Proceedings of the Lords Committee of Council. Together with the Substance of Mr. Wedderburn’s Speech Relating to Those Letters : beginning of speech from 2nd ed. (London, 1774), pp. 83–5, and remainder from 1st issue of 1st ed. (London, 1774), pp. 77–113 of 2nd pagination, Yale...
19To Benjamin Franklin from John Whitehurst, 30 January 1774 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I cannot sufficiently express my obligations to you for this recent Instance of your great Civility. The family, also, to whom the favour is principally granted will ever remember it with Gratitude. Miss Moresby the young Lady whom Mr. West is so obliging to take under his Tuition is rendered extremely happy thro’ your kind intercession. She Seems to take a...
20Letter to the Public Advertiser, [before 31 January 1774] (Franklin Papers)
Copy: Library of Congress This document is among those calculated to teach editors humility. We have failed to discover either its date or the source of the dialogue that drives home its point. The date depends on that of the letter to the Public Advertiser which Franklin is answering, and which we have been unable to locate. Neither could Verner Crane, and he concluded for another reason that...
21To Benjamin Franklin from Anthony Todd, 31 January 1774 (Franklin Papers)
Letterbook copy: General Post Office, London Two days after the scene at the Cockpit the blow fell: Franklin was curtly dismissed from the Post Office. His acquaintance of many years, Anthony Todd, was not responsible for the curtness. The ministry was; Franklin believed that it had forced the Postmasters General into a step they were reluctant to take. His dismissal “could but incense him and...
22From Benjamin Franklin to William Franklin, 2 February 1774 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : British Museum This Line is just to acquaint you that I am well, and that my Office of Deputy-Postmaster is taken from me. As there is no Prospect of your being ever promoted to a better Government, and That you hold has never defray’d its Expences, I wish you were well settled in your Farm. ’Tis an honester and a more honourable because a more independent Employment. You will hear from...
23From Benjamin Franklin to the Massachusetts House Committee of Correspondence, 2 February 1774 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : New York Public Library I received the Honour of your Letter dated Decr. 21. containing a distinct Account of the Proceedings at Boston relative to the Tea imported there, and of the Circumstances that occasioned its Destruction. I communicated the same to Lord Dartmouth, with some other Advices of the same Import. It is yet unknown what Measures will be taken here on the Occasion; but...
24From Benjamin Franklin to the Pennsylvania Assembly Committee of Correspondence, 2 February 1774: résumé (Franklin Papers)
Résumé printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives … Dec. 29, 1773 [to Dec. 24, 1774] (Philadelphia, 1774), pp. 42–3. <February 2, 1774: He encloses a list of fifteen provincial acts, passed on February 26, 1773, which were presented to the King in council on January 26, 1774. > The letter was laid before the House on July 19, 1774, by Samuel Rhoads as a member of the...
25Letter from London, [on or after 7 February 1774] (Franklin Papers)
This letter and the extract from another below, February 19, seem to be companion pieces, and the signs point to Franklin as their author. They were printed in newspapers a few days apart, one in Boston and the other in Philadelphia, and describe the scene at the Cockpit in terms that frequently echo what the agent wrote to Cushing on February 15. The present letter, in fact, is little more...
26From Benjamin Franklin to Josiah Tucker, 12 February 1774 (Franklin Papers)
Copy and transcript: Library of Congress Being informed by a Friend that some severe Strictures on my Conduct and Character had appeared in a new Book published under your respectable Name, I purchased and read it. After thanking you sincerely for those Parts of it that [are so] instructive on Points of great Importance to the common Interests of mankind, permit [me to] complain, that if by...
27From Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Noble, 14 February 1774 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Bearer, William Brown, being bred to the Tanning Business, is desirous of trying his Fortune in America. He is well recommended to me as a sober honest and diligent young Man. If it may not be inconvenient to you to afford him Employment as a Journeyman, I shall consider it as a Favour to me. The Soles you were so kind as to send me have now been in...
28From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Cushing, 15[–19]? February 1774 (Franklin Papers)
Reprinted from Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society , first series, III (1794), 109–16. I Wrote a line to you by the last packet, just to acquaint you there had been a hearing on our petition. I shall now give you the history of it as succinctly as I can. We had long imagined that the king would have considered that petition as he had done the preceding one in his cabinet, and...
29To Benjamin Franklin from Joshua Babcock, 15 February 1774 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society In your last Favour, alas too long since, of 3rd Augt. 1772, You are pleas’d to say “if they will not beleive poor Richard neither will They tho’ One should rise from the Dead” can’t help suspecting that Infallibility may sometimes mistake, or that One who scarce ever made a political Error may miss in political Casuistry: or will it be justifiable when...
30The Reply of Homo Trium Literarum, 16 February 1774 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The Public Advertiser , February 16, 1774. This is one of the many contributions to the press that may or may not have been Franklin’s. The only evidence is internal, and it supports nothing more than the most tentative conclusion. One bit of evidence that he was the author is the signature: who would assume the character of Wedderburn’s victim except the victim himself? Who else,...