To Benjamin Franklin from ——— Colson, 6 July 1784
From ———— Colson
Printed invitation with ms insertions: American Philosophical Society
Paris, ce mardi 6 Juillet 1784
Monsieur,
JE suis chargé par la Maison Philantropique,4 de vous rappeller que c’est Vendredi prochain le jour de son Assemblée, à 5 heures & demie précises, Hôtel du Musée, rue Dauphine.5 On y fera lecture de ce qui a été arrêté sur les Réglemens: vous voudrez bien vous souvenir qu’on paye, á cette époque, la Cotisation du sémestre de Juillet.6
Je suis avec respect, Monsieur, Votre très-humble & très-obéissant serviteur,
Colson
agent7 de la Société.
Addressed: A Monsieur / Monsieur franklin / Ministre Plénipotentiare des / Etats Unis de l’amérique / a Passy / Colson9
Notation: Colson 6 Juillet 1784
4. The Maison (Société) philantropique was founded in 1780 by a group of men led by Savalette de Langes (XXXV, 42n), for the purpose of helping deserving indigents not being served by either the Church or the government. The society’s first beneficiaries were aged laborers. By the end of 1783, when it counted more than 50 members, it had expanded its bienfaisance to include poor blind children. BF was admitted as the 90th member on June 11, 1784. In 1785, while growing rapidly in membership and prestige, the organization added two more classes of recipients: poor women pregnant with their sixth child, and widows and widowers with at least six children: Précis sur la Société Philantropique (two copies owned by BF are at the Hist. Soc. of Pa.); Catherine Duprat, Le Temps des Philanthropes: la philanthropie parisienne des Lumières à la monarchie de Juillet (1 vol. to date., Paris, 1993), 1, 65–75; A.-M. Péan de St.-Gilles, La Maison Philanthropique de Paris: histoire de cent dix ans (1780–1890) (Paris, 1892), p. 25; Jour. de Paris, issues of June 3, Aug. 30, and Dec. 20, 1783. BF’s membership information was kindly provided by the late Jean-Claude David, drawing on “Tableau des membres de la Maison philantropique, établie à Paris en 1780, par rangs d’ancienneté,” Calendrier philantropique for 1786.
5. The society met on the second and fourth Friday of each month: Réglemens généraux pour la Maison philantropique de Paris ([Paris, 1784]), p. 21. BF’s copy of this pamphlet is at the Hist. Soc. of Pa.
6. The annual dues were four louis (96 l.t.), to be paid in two installments at the first meetings in January and July: Réglemens généraux, pp. 11–12.
7. Written above the crossed-out title “Substitut du Secrétaire & Membre”.
8. All invitations listed candidates whose admission would be put to a vote at the upcoming assembly, and, in a separate list, members admitted since the last meeting. Candidates could not request admittance; they had to be proposed by a philantrope and could be brought to the vote of the membership only by the unanimous decision of a 30-member committee, which evaluated them on the basis of “les qualités & les vertus Philantro-piques.” Admission was granted to candidates who won at least 80 percent of the general vote: Réglemens généraux, pp. 8–10.
9. Jacques-Aymar de Moreton, marquis de Chabrillan: DBF.
1. Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles, who was also a member of the Neuf Sœurs: DBF.
2. Possibly Jacques-Michel Mony: Jean-Claude David, “De Voltaire à Marmontel: quelques autographes du dix-huitiéme siècle reunis par Jacques Charavay (1809–1867),” Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, CCLXXVIII (1990), 238n.
3. D’Aguesseau de Fresnes, conseiller du roi.
4. Joseph Micault d’Harvelay, a royal treasurer.
5. Staël von Holstein, the Swedish ambassador to the French court.
6. Marie-Sébastien-Charles-François Fontaine de Biré, treasurer general for war: J. F. Bosher, French Finances, 1770–1795: From Business to Bureaucracy (Cambridge, 1970), p. 327.
7. Comte de Saint-Mart, colonel of the regiment of l’Isle de Bourbon: Calendrier Philantropique for 1789.
8. Philippe-Nicolas Pia, a municipal officer in Paris: Jean Sgard, ed., Dictionnaire des journaux, 1600–1789 (2 vols., Paris, 1991), 1, 336–7.
9. Nine more invitations survive among BF’s papers, all at the APS unless otherwise noted. The first five, also signed by Colson, are dated Sept. 7, 1784, for the meeting on Sept. 10; Dec. 6, 1784, for the meeting on Dec. 10 (University of Pa. Library); Dec. 19, 1784, for the meeting on Dec. 24; Feb. 22, 1785, for the meeting on Feb. 25; March 5, 1785, for the meeting on March 11. The next four, signed by Brevost, are dated April 5, 1785, for the meeting on April 8; April 18, 1785, for the meeting on April 22; May 9, 1785, for the meeting on May 13; and May 23, 1785, for the meeting on May 27. Though BF’s private accounts for this period do not survive, we infer that his membership was current through the end of June, 1785, as the following year he received a reminder notice for back dues dating to July, 1785. He paid in full: Charost et al. to BF, Feb. 21, 1786 (APS); Account XVII (XXVI, 3), entry of May 11, 1786.