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.
8. The 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.
9. Newenham 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.
1. See Vergennes to BF, [on or after May 24].