From Benjamin Franklin to William Temple Franklin, 8 September 1784
To William Temple Franklin
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Passy, Sept. 8. 1784—
My dear Child,
I have receiv’d no Line from you since that from Dover.3 I continue as well as when you left me. M. le Veillard is much better but still weak and cannot yet go abroad.— The rest of our Friends are well, and often enquire after you. I intended to have sent you some more Letters; but my Time has been all devour’d by Business and Visitors. The inclos’d Pacquet is from M. le Veillard. I have promis’d him that you will take care of it and deliver it immediately. It contains two Letters of Recommendation wch. I have given the Count at M. V’s Request, one to Dr. Price, the other to our Friend Vaughan.4 If it should be in your way to show him any Civilities, I would have you do it. He is a Man of Talents, and his Father was obliging to me when I was formerly in France. I have three Invitations to dine out to day, with Mesdames Brillon & Helvetius, & M. de Chaumont. But it is so excessively hot, that I shall stay at home.— We proceed gently with our Business. The Newspapers begin to come from Dover, so I would have you stop & pay off the others.— Thank Mr Thomson in my Behalf when you return. I am ever Your affectionate Grandfather
B. Franklin
P.S. Mesmer has complain’d to the Parliament of our Report, and requested that they would appoint Commissaries, to whom he might submit the Examination of—not his Theory and Practice, but—un Plan qui renfermera les seuls moyens possibles, de constater infailliblement l’existence & l’utilité de sa découverte. The Petition was printed.5 Many thought the Parliament would do nothing in it. But they have laid hold of it to clinch Mesmer, and oblige him to expose all directly. So that it must soon be seen whether there is any difference between his Art & Deslon’s. Voici leur
Arret du 6 7bre 1784—
La Cour ordonne que par devant quatre Docteurs de la Faculte de Medecine, deux Chirurgiens, & deux Maitres en Pharmacie, Mesmer sera tenu d’exposer la Doctrine dont il annonce avoir fait la Decouverte & les procédés qu’il pretend devoir etre suivis & pratiqués pour en faire L’Application; dont sera dressé Procés verbal, pour icelui communiqué à M. le Procureur General, et rapporté en la Cour étre ordonné ce qu’il appartiendra.6
W. T. Franklin
Notation: B. Franklin Sept. 8 1784.—
3. Dated Aug. 28, above.
4. BF’s recommendations for Mirabeau, written on Sept. 7, are above.
5. Finding the French press unwilling to publish his requéte, Mesmer issued it in pamphlet form under cover of a brief letter dated Aug. 31: Lettre de M. Mesmer, à M. Le Comte de C*** (Paris, 1784). It was summarized on Sept. 12 in Mémoires secrets. Mesmer complained that his previous protests had been ignored, that the royal commission had investigated a discredited disciple whose knowledge of animal magnetism was flawed, and that the commission’s conclusions were therefore invalid. As evidence, he enclosed his previous protests, including his letter to BF of May 14 (XLII, 247–50): Bachaumont, Mémoires secrets, XXVI, 185, 189, 190–2; Nicolas Bergasse, Observations de M. Bergasse, sur un Ecrit du Docteur Mesmer … (London [i.e., Paris?], 1785), pp. 27–9.
6. The eight commissioners were appointed, but as six of them evidently refused to serve, substitutes were appointed pursuant to an arrêt of Sept. 21: Bachaumont, Mémoires secrets, XXVI, 194, 230. A month later L’Air de Lamotte reported to WTF that Mesmer had left town and the new commissioners had disbanded, believing the previous investigation to have been definitive: L’Air de Lamotte to WTF, Oct. 21, 1784, APS.