To Benjamin Franklin from David Hartley, 25 December 1783
From David Hartley
Copy:2 William L. Clements Library
Xmas Day 1783 London
My Dear friend
Before you receive this you will have heard of a total change of the British Administration. It is not as yet many hours since this event has taken place. The Cabinet is as follows viz
| Mr Pitt first Lord of the treasury3 | |||
| Ld Thurlow chancellor | marquis of Carmarthen |  |
Secretaries of State4 |
| Ld Gower President of Council | Lord Sidney | ||
| Ld Howe first Ld of the Admiralty. |
|||
| D of Rutland Privy Seal | |||
It is impossible for me to expect as yet any instructions in my department. In the mean time I beg of you to send me the earliest notice whenever the ratification of our definitive treaty of Peace shall arrive from America, that we may loose no time in bringing that blessed event to a complete termination. I am My Dear friend Ever yours most affectely
D Hartley
To Dr Franklin &c &c &c—
2. A retained copy, in Hartley’s hand and signed by him.
3. Pitt was appointed prime minister on Dec. 19, but could not form a cabinet until the evening of Dec. 23: John Ehrman, The Younger Pitt (3 vols., New York and Stanford, Calif., 1969–96), I, 127–31.
4. Francis Osborne, marquess of Carmarthen (XXXIX, 75n), was the new secretary of state for foreign affairs. The secretary of state for the home department was Hartley’s close friend Thomas Townshend, who had been named Baron Sydney the previous March. He had filled the same position during the Shelburne administration: XXXVII, 679n; ODNB.