To Benjamin Franklin from John Coakley Lettsom, 1 March 1785
From John Coakley Lettsom9
L: American Philosophical Society
London Mar. 1. 1785—
Honoured Friend,
The enclosed is a rough sketch of a few data, which I mean to enlarge, as soon as I am informed; of the certainty of these data. May I request the favour of a line; which shall be confidential. I have a copy of the enclosed, which need not be returned. I have desired my frd, Des Gesnettes1 to wait upon thee for any commands; in order to take off any trouble of conveying me any Packet—
Our Ministry are now doing that for Ireland, which is her natural right, and which should have been done for America ten years ago; but the attempt will shake our young Minister—2 I am very respectfully
J. C. Lettsom—
Addressed by Lettsom: A Monsr. / Monsr. Franklin / Passey / pres de / Paris
Notation: M. des Genettes de la societé médic. de Londres Hôtel Dauphin—Ruë de Seine F. St. G.
9. This brief letter was copied by a secretary directly onto the last page of the “rough sketch” that Lettsom says is “enclosed”: a biography of BF that fills three and a half densely packed pages. This sketch was intended for Lettsom’s forthcoming Memoirs of John Fothergill, but because BF did not cooperate, the piece was not included: XLI, 515.
1. A young doctor whom BF had recommended to Lettsom the year before: XLII, 326n.
2. The Pitt government’s proposed measures to open up trade between Britain and Ireland engendered strong opposition. By the summer of 1785 the plan had gained the approval of Parliament, but it ultimately died in the Irish Commons: John Ehrman, The Younger Pitt (3 vols., New York and Stanford, 1969–96), I, 197–213.