To Benjamin Franklin from Henry Wyld, 2 January 1782
From Henry Wyld7
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Late from near Manchester now in Paris
January 2nd. 1782
Most Excellent Sir
The Inditer hereof, void of Formalities in which he confesseth himself no Adept; with the greatest veneration for your Character, and the highest Esteem for that Government which you represent, being deputed to communicate to your Excellency, the resolves of a few persons who are Manufacturors, in the most lucrative Manufactures of Europe, and which they desire to Transplant, into the United States of America; and being equally Jealous of both the two great Belegerent Powers, with the greatest humility desires your Excellency to grant him a speedy and confidential Audience, and is with the greatest respect your Excellencies most humble servt.
Henry Wyld
Addressed: To his Excellency Benjn. Franklin L L.D. / Plenepotentiary from the United States / of America, / At the Court of his most Christian / Majesty Louis the 16th. of / France
Notation: Wyld. Henry, Paris— 2. Jan. 1782.
7. A calico printer, pattern drawer, and schoolmaster, who was delivering to BF the Nov. 23 petition from Henry Royle et al., above: Robert Glen, “Industrial Wayfarers: Benjamin Franklin and a Case of Machine Smuggling in the 1780s,” Business History, XXIII (1981), 310.