1To Benjamin Franklin from Charles Lee, 6 November 1776 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : National Archives The Gentleman who will deliver you this was as I understand sent by Congress to General Washington. He was to have given specimens of his abilities as Engineer and been recommended accordingly. Whether He is a great Engineer or no I cannot pretend to say, as He has had no fair opportunity of displaying his talents. The few small works He has thrown up have been in...
2To Benjamin Franklin from Michel-Alain Chartier de Lotbinière, 11[–20] November 1776 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : National Archives Me voici enfin au comble de mes souhait, puisque depuis deux jours je suis sur votre continent, et à même de pouvoir parvenir jusqu’à vous sous peu à Philadelphie, sans avoir à courir les risques que j’ai couru depuis mon départ de St. Pierre, ainsi que vous le pourrez voir en parcourant la lettre cy-jointe pour mon fils. Je vous aurai, monsieur, la plus grande...
3To Benjamin Franklin from Jan Ingenhousz, 15 November 1776 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society; duplicate: Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, West Berlin Since I received your kind lettre dated Marsch 18, 1774, great things have happened, of which your country is the theatre. That country is become the seat of horror and bloodshed, which I took to be the seat of tranquillity and happiness, and which I was formerly much inclined to chuse as a...
4To Benjamin Franklin from Anthony Wayne, 15 November 1776 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Historical Society of Pennsylvania Yesterday An express Arrived here from Albany giving Intelligence that Gene. Howe with the British fleet and army had passed Kings Bridge and from Appearances seemed as if he Intended to penetrate into Jersey or proceed up the Hudson’s River the truth of this you will know much better than we at this Distance. However Genl. St. Clair with the first...
5To Benjamin Franklin from Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, 28 November 1776 (Franklin Papers)
Copy: Massachusetts Historical Society; copy: National Archives Les occasions de vous assurer de mes sentiments invariables pour vous Monsieur et cher confrere, me sont toujour infiniment pretieuses. Je profite en consequence et avec empressement du depart de M. le chevalier de Preudhomme de Borre pour avoir l’honneur de vous ecrire et pour vous dire combien j’aÿ eté enchanté d’apprendre qu’au...
6Editorial Note on Franklin’s Accounts, 1776 (Franklin Papers)
Franklin, when he arrived in France, began to keep accounts even before he began to write letters. His first entries are dated December 3, the day he set foot ashore; they show how much money he had on hand and what he paid for the boat from the Reprisal to Auray. These humdrum details started a collection that grew and grew over the years. The financial records of the commission throw a great...
7From Benjamin Franklin to Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg, 4 December 1776 (Franklin Papers)
Translation: Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères Franklin’s crossing on the Reprisal with his two grandsons, William Temple Franklin and Benjamin Franklin Bache, was imprinted on his memory as long as he lived. He “was badly accommodated,” he wrote years later, “in a miserable vessel, improper for those northern seas, (and which actually foundered in her return,) was badly fed, so...
8From Benjamin Franklin to Silas Deane, 4 December 1776 (Franklin Papers)
Translation: Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères When Franklin wrote this letter he was, as far as we know, ignorant of Deane’s activities since leaving Bordeaux the previous June. Those activities were multifarious, as might be expected of a man who was the agent for a consortium of American merchants under contract with the secret committee as well as the representative of the...
9From Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Morris, 4 December 1776 (Franklin Papers)
Translation: Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères Je suis arrivé ici à bord du Reprisal, Capitaine Wickes, qui est maintenant à l’ancre à la Baye de Quiberon, où il attend le vent pour remonter à Nantes. J’ai apporté beaucoup de lettres et de gros paquets pour vous, et comme je compte partir de Nantes en poste, j’espere avoir le plaisir de vous les remettre. J’en joins seulement une...
10From Benjamin Franklin to Silas Deane, 7 December 1776 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Connecticut Historical Society On December 4, after writing the letters from Auray printed above, Franklin and his grandsons set out for Nantes, and reached Vannes late that evening. The journey, as Franklin described it, was not relaxing. “The carriage was a miserable one, with tired horses, the evening dark, scarce a traveller but ourselves on the road; and to make it more comfortable...