To Benjamin Franklin from William Alexander, 30 May 1784
From William Alexander
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Richmond Virginia 30 May 1784
My Dear Sir
I cannot let my first ship go without dropg you a few lines—Jonn woud inform you of my arrival of the severity of the Winter, & of my Journey to Philadelphia which was necessary for setling a plan for conducting my money transactions which I did to my Satisfaction—9 I had the pleasure of Seeing your amiable Daughter Grand Children & Mr Bache, & received every mark of kindness from all of Them— Your Town pleases me much, not merely on account of the regularity of the streets, but the seeming energy of the Inhabitants, in a word The Congress may Sit where It pleases but Philadelphia is, & always will be the Capital of America—1 With regard to my business I have met with all the Obstructions I expected & some that I coud not forsee, particularly there is a want of order & economy in business in this State, that exceeds all Imagination— A Man must literaly do what Poor Richard Advises, to have any thing done he must go,2 judge what follows from this for a person whose business must Lye equaly on the four great rivers, & over an Extent of 50 leagues on each of these rivers, with a very little time I hope however to have my machine mounted, to go with tolerable regularity & Some Advantage, what can be done for a litle time will be merely to keep afloat, without dammage to the Concern— This I think we shall do in all events—
I have on mature deliberation fix’d myself here for the present, it is pretty Centrical, the seat of Government & of the weekly post, but I am obliged to Contrive posts for my own business, & when I begin vigourously, must keep 7 or 8 horses running Constantly backward & forward.
The difficulties I have to encounter give me time to Lay my plan in such a way as will require less mending than if we had been hurried at first—
I have been very well receivd by the Governor3 & have got acquainted & even Connected with all the Ingenious Men in this state, who make any figure, Except Mr Jefferson & two or three more yet Absent—In a word If my Constitution will stand this Climate, I can live here agreeably But unless necessity were to Oblige me, woud not think of bringing out my Family— Were Philadelphia my residence I certainly woud— At present I consider myself as in Another world, & wish to forget every thing in the old one, but my Friends & my Business.
I have met with Many very Ingenious & Worthy Men in whose society I coud pass my life with pleasure— Amongst the old race Col Geo: Mason & Mr With4 surprised me, And there are young Men getting Forward who will yield to their predecessors in Nothing— Mr Madison, must soon have a considerable weight in this state, or in any state in which he is Employed—
Your old Colleague Arthur Lee is sent to treat with the Indians, He is at present neither in Congress nor Assembly—5
I beg to be rememberd to your Grand son & secretary & all our Friends with You— I hope my boy gives you & Him Satisfaction—6 I was pleasd wt His letter to Williams about the Baloons, I sent it to Dr Foulke & it helpd to make one, which he had begun upon my Information—7 I think the Dr will Succeed in his Business which is still more material. He & his Family did every thing possible to render my stay in Philadelphia agreeable. You have got a New Colleague of whom fame Speaks highly—8 You will learn that we are limiting our Foreign trade to a few points in the Bay—9 This will soon make Norfolk a great Mart & will I think be of general Service & of advantage to us. Let me know my Dear Sir if I can be usefull to you or yours in this Country & believe me unalterably My Dear Sir Your most devoted hble Ser
W: Alexander
Dr B: Franklin M: P: of the United States at Passy
9. Alexander arrived in Philadelphia bearing a letter of credit from the Paris bankers Laval & Wilfelsheim, along with BF’s attestation to having witnessed their signatures. After he enticed Robert Morris to sign a secret agreement on March 2 to become an equal partner with him and JW (“Jonn”) in their tobacco enterprise, Morris agreed to negotiate the bills William Alexander & Co. would draw on the French bankers: XLI, 180–1; RB to BF, March 7, above; Morris Papers, IX, 152, 156–7; Herbert A. Johnson et al., eds., The Papers of John Marshall (12 vols., Chapel Hill, 1974–2006), V 94, 98–9, 106.
1. Congress had moved from Philadelphia to Princeton in June, 1783, and then to Annapolis in November: XLI, 145; Morris Papers, VIII, 662–5.
2. Worded in the preface to the 1758 almanac as follows: “If you would have your Business done, go; If not, send”: VII, 344.
3. Benjamin Harrison.
4. George Mason, Sr. (XXIX, 224), and George Wythe (XIII, 321n).
5. Alexander was mistaken. Congress had indeed appointed Lee as one of the commissioners to negotiate a peace settlement with the Iroquois, but the talks did not begin in earnest until the fall. At the end of May, Lee was in Annapolis attending Congress: Louis W. Potts, Arthur Lee: a Virtuous Revolutionary (Baton Rouge and London, 1981), pp. 268, 269; Jefferson Papers, VII, 9n; Smith, Letters, XXI, xxvi.
6. Robert Alexander was living with BF at Passy: XLI, 524n.
7. The Philadelphia physician John Foulke, who during his years of medical study in Europe had been a friend of WTF’s, constructed a paper air balloon that was launched from the garden of the Dutch minister on May 10, 1784. Francis Hopkinson called the balloon “The first that mounted our Atmosphere”: XXXII, 283n; Jefferson Papers, VII, 246.
8. I.e., TJ.
9. The previous day the Va. House of Delegates had voted that a bill be introduced restricting where foreign vessels could engage in trade. The final act, passed June 26, designated Norfolk and Portsmouth, Bermuda Hundred, Tappahannock, Yorktown, and Alexandria as the only authorized ports of entry: Jefferson Papers, VII, 216n.