From Benjamin Franklin to [John Franklin], 2 April 1747
To [John Franklin]2
Transcript: American Philosophical Society
Philada. April 2th. 1747
Brother
I should be glad you’d send me the first informations you receive, of what Admiral Warren is doing or like to do in England.3 And whether the wasted[?]4 is returning in Orders. We want much to hear that the Fleet is preparing to come from England, in Order to carry on the Expedition.
Billy is so fond of a military Life, that he will by no means hear of leaving the Army. We have good Accounts of him from his Captain and Brother Officers.
I must desire you to send me per first Vessel as much single Refin’d Loaf Sugar as Sixty Pounds Old Tenor will purchase neither less nor more. Love to dear Sister &c. &c. &c. from Your affectionate Brother
B Franklin
2. Believed to be addressed to John Franklin (C.8), tallow chandler and soapmaker of Boston, rather than to Peter (C.9), merchant and shipmaster of Newport, because transcripts of two other letters by BF, Sept. 27, 1750, and Jan. 2, 1753, both almost certainly addressed to John, appear to have been made by the same copyist.
3. Admiral Peter Warren (1703–1752), commander of the British naval forces at the capture of Louisbourg, 1745, and governor of Louisbourg and Cape Breton Island, sailed for England, Nov. 30, 1746, to oppose as impracticable the expedition against Canada proposed for the next year. Before he could return to America, he was sent on an expedition against the French, which culminated in a decisive British naval victory off Cape Finisterre, May 3, 1747. In rapid succession he was knighted, elected to Parliament, and promoted to be vice-admiral of the White. DAB.
4. Obviously a misreading by the transcriber. Not identified.