To Benjamin Franklin from Anne-Rosalie Filleul, [9 June 1784?]
From Anne-Rosalie Filleul
AL: American Philosophical Society
Ce mercredy [June 9, 1784?]8
Mde Filleul a l’honneur d’envoyë a Monsieur francklin, Ces trois derniers Volumes des mémoires du baron de tott.9 Elle prie de vouloir bien luy envoyë le journal d’aujourdhui 9.
Addressed: A Monsieur / Monsieur Le docteur Francklin / en son hotel / a Passy
8. The earliest possible date. Mme Filleul enclosed volumes that were first published in 1784; the only Wednesday the 9th that year was in June.
9. François, baron de Tott, Mémoires du baron de Tott sur les Turcs et les Tartares (4 vols., Amsterdam, 1784). The baron (for whom see XXXII, 65–6) recounted his experiences as Vergennes’ secretary in Constantinople and as French consul in the Crimea as well as his efforts to reform the Ottoman military. His denunciation of Oriental despotism (and, by implication, of fanaticism and arbitrary government closer to home) made the work both controversial and hugely successful throughout Europe. It went through five editions in two years, three published in Amsterdam in 1784–85, and two in Paris and Maestricht in 1785. See the introduction to Mémoires du baron de Tott, sur les Turcs et les Tartares, Maestricht, 1785, ed. Ferenc Tóth (Paris 2004), pp. 23–45.