From Benjamin Franklin to William Carmichael, 11[–15] October 1784
To William Carmichael
Press copy of ALS and copy: American Philosophical Society
Passy, Oct. 11.[–15] 1784.
Dear Sir,
I have just received the honour of yours of the 25th past, and shall communicate it as you desire to my Colleagues, tomorrow. I think you did right in mentioning to the Minister the Nature of our Commission, &c. In my last I sent you a Copy of our Letter to the Count d’Aranda. Herein I inclose his Answer,5 in order to keep you fully inform’d of what passes in the Negociation. The Reply has not yet been made, as soon as it is, you shall have that likewise. I am glad to learn that M. Gardoqui is sent to America. I write in much Pain, and cannot now add but that I am ever, with sincere Esteem and Affection, Dear Sir, Your most obedient and most humble Servant
B Franklin
P.S. Oct. 15. 1784.
Since writing the within, I have been acquainted that Mr James Hartwell of Salem in New England,6 being at St. Sebastian with a Cargo of Tobacco, and occasionally going from thence to Bilbao, was seiz’d in the latter Place by the Officers of the Inquisition, some Months since, and convey’d to Logrono, being charg’d with having three or four Years ago embrac’d the Catholic Religion and afterwards quitting it. They have also it seems taken Possession of his Tobacco. And it is but lately, that his Friends in Bordeaux from whence he went to meet his Cargo in Spain, have heard of his Misfortune. There are some Americans of Distinction here that know him, who say he is of a good Family, and bears a good Character, but is some times a little disordered in his Mind; and they are exceedingly concern’d at his Situation, and anxious that his Release should be obtained.7 My Colleagues Mr Adams and Mr Jefferson join with me in stating this Matter to you, and requesting that you would immediately take the proper Steps for Reclaiming him as a Subject of the United States, and procuring an Order for his Liberty and the Restitution of his Property. This Conduct of the Holy Office, if not rectified, may be attended with bad Consequences to the Commerce & Friendly Correspondence that ought to be cultivated between the two Nations—
Yours, as ever,
B Franklin
Wm. Carmichael, Esqr
5. We have no record of BF’s letter to Carmichael enclosing the American commissioners’ Sept. 22 letter to Aranda. Aranda’s reply is above, Sept. 27.
6. I.e., Jonas Hartwell of Lincoln, Mass.
7. Jonas, son of Ephraim Hartwell, graduated from Harvard College in 1779 and began a career as a merchant, settling first in Bilbao and then relocating to France. What BF heard about his misfortunes was true. In August, 1784, heedless of the warnings he had received from friends in Spain, Hartwell returned to Bilbao on business and was immediately seized by officers of the Inquisition for having renounced the Catholic faith. (It seems that he had converted to Protestantism: Adams Papers, XVI, 436–7.) His refusal to cooperate in his own release by promising “future good behavior” landed him in prison and caused some of his associates to conclude that he was “deprived of his reason”: Lemuel Shattuck, A History of the Town of Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts … (Boston and Concord, 1835), p. 315; Petition of Moses Brown and Ephraim Hartwell to the governor and council of Massachusetts, Dec. 13, 1784, and affidavits of William Hales and Thomas Williams, Dec. 9 and 13, 1784, respectively, in Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States of America, VI, 286–90.