To Benjamin Franklin from Joseph Warren, 3 April 1775
From Joseph Warren4
ALS (facsimile):5 Massachusetts Historical Society
Boston April 3rd 1775.
Sir,
Altho’ I have not the pleasure either of a personal or epistolary acquaintance with you, I have taken the liberty of sending you by Mr. Dana a pamphlet which I wish was more deserving of your notice.6 The ability and firmness with which you have defended the Rights of Mankind and the Liberties of this Country in particular have rendered you dear to all America. May you soon see your enemies deprived of the power of injuring you and your friends in a situation to discover the grateful sense they have of your exertions in the cause of freedom. I am, Sir, with the greatest esteem and respect, your most obedient humble servant
Joseph Warren
Doctor Franklin.
4. Warren (1741–75), the well known physician-turned-soldier, author of the Suffolk resolves (above, XXI, 342–3) and a leader among the Boston Whigs, was killed at Bunker Hill. DAB.
5. The original, when it came to the Society, was printed in its Proc., VII (1863), 125, and has been missing for many years. The facsimile, of unknown provenance, is not of that printed text, but differs from it in minor details and adds a superscription: “Doctor Benjamin Franklin, London. / Pr. favr. Mr. Dana.”
6. An Oration: Delivered March Sixth, 1775 . . . to Commemorate the Bloody Tragedy of the Fifth of March, 1770. By Dr. Joseph Warren. (Boston, 1775). For Dana’s mission see the note on the first document.