To Benjamin Franklin from George James Cholmondeley, Earl of Cholmondeley, [21 March 1782]
From George James Cholmondeley, Earl of Cholmondeley2
Copy:3 Library of Congress; transcripts: Massachusetts Historical Society, National Archives
Thursday Evn: [March 21, 1782]4 Hotel de Chartres.
Lord Cholmondeley’s compliments to Dr. Franklin, he sets out for London tomorrow Evening, and Shou’d be glad to see him for Five Minutes before he went, Ld. C will call upon him at any time in the morning that he shall please to appoint.
2. George James Cholmondeley, the 4th Earl of Cholmondeley, had met Mme Brillon at Nice in January. When he began his journey northward, Mme Brillon warmly recommended him to BF but was not certain her letter would arrive in time: XXXVI, 457, 504–6.
3. This letter is the first of some 40 documents that BF marked for insertion in his journal of the peace negotiations, printed below under the date of May 9. As we explain in our annotation there, BF’s draft of the journal is missing. So, too, are many of the autograph letters he marked for insertion. The present document is one of eight for which no original or contemporary copy survives. We therefore publish the text from the copy of BF’s journal made by Josiah Flagg, the best of the three surviving versions. (The two transcripts listed here are from the other two versions.) As with all the inserted letters, this one is briefly summarized in its chronological place in the journal itself.
4. Dated by BF’s journal of the peace negotiations. Cholmondeley called on BF the following morning.