Benjamin Franklin Papers
Documents filtered by: Author="Newenham, Sir Edward"
sorted by: date (ascending)
Permanent link for this document:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-37-02-0404

To Benjamin Franklin from Sir Edward Newenham, 13 July 1782

From Sir Edward Newenham

ALS: Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Dublin 13 July 1782

Dear Sir

I most Ardently wish for the hour, that I shall be able to pay my personal respects to your Excellency and thank you for the repeated and unmerited favors you have conferred upon me;8 Lady Newenham, who accompanies me to Paris & from thence to Neuchatel & Rome, is equaly desirous to pay her respects to that Great & Respectable Character which she has always held in the highest Respect and Estimation; Ancient Rome never produced a more finished Character, than hers, for innate worth & Sincere Patriotism for the Rights & Liberties of all mankind. Two of my Daughters & one of my sons & three Domestics go with us;9 our wish is to land at Calais or Dunkirk, as a long sea Voyage would injure her health.

May I therefore, Presume to solicit together with your own (which has been lost in the German post office) a Pasport from the Court of France,1 from the Spanish & Dutch Embassadors, in order to Cross the seas without Interruption, as our family will be too Large to hazard a Capture.

The moment I have the Honor of your Answer I shall leave this Kingdom.

I Sincerely wish you every happiness this Life can afford.

I have the Honor, to be, Dear Sir with Every sentiment of Respect & Esteem your Excellencys most obt: & most obliged Hble Sert

Edward Newenham

Addressed: His Excellency Dr: Benj: Franklin / Passy / near / Paris

Notation: Edward Newhenham 13 July 1782.

[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]

8The favors known to us were a permit in 1779 (for a sojourn in France) and passports in 1779 and 1781: XXVIII, 331; XXIX, 565; XXXIV, 354–5.

9Newenham and his wife, Grace Anna, had 18 children. Their son Edward, who wrote BF from Neuchâtel on May 23, was with them in Paris the following October: DNB under Sir Edward Newenham; Dixon Wecter, “Benjamin Franklin and an Irish ‘Enthusiast,’” Huntington Library Quarterly, IV (1941), 216.

1See Vergennes to BF, [on or after May 24].

Index Entries