From Benjamin Franklin to the Trustees of the Loan Office, 16 January 1762
To the Trustees of the Loan Office
ALS and copy:7 Historical Society of Pennsylvania
London, Jany: 16. 1762
Gentlemen,
In mine of the 14th. Instant,8 which I sent away by the same Night’s Post, in hopes it would reach the Pacquet at Falmouth, I inform’d you, that I had been disappointed in my Expectations of the remaining Bills being paid by Messrs. Sargent, Aufrere and the Barclays. But this Day, in answer of my last to them,9 of which I sent you a Copy, I receiv’d the following Letter,1 whereby the two first nam’d Gentlemen do alone undertake to pay them for your Honour. I have had occasion, of late, to see so much of the Scarcity of Money, and the Demand for it here, that I hope they will as soon as possible be reimburs’d, the Interest being now by no means a Compensation for the Advance they make.2 I have before acquainted you what Bills I had accepted, and what Numbers, between No. 1, and No. 138 inclusive, had not yet appear’d. Those, when they do appear, I shall refer to Messrs. Sargent & Aufrere for Payment. And when the Stocks are all Sold, which will probably be next Week, I shall make up the Account, and what Province Money remains in my Hands, if any, I shall apply to take up Bills as far as it will go; but I doubt there will be very little. The Amount of what I have accepted is £22,150.—from this you can judge pretty nearly what Sum will be necessary to remit Messrs. Sargent & Aufrere in order to their Re-imbursement. I am, with great Regard, Gentlemen, Your most obedient Servant
B Franklin
Trustees of the Loan-Office
Addressed: To / Cha. Norris Esqr / Philadelphia / Postage Paid 1 s / via New York / per Packet
Endorsed: London Jany 16. 1762 B Franklin To Norris and Leech with a Letter from John Sargent abt paying the Bills and BFs Answer
7. The ALS is followed on the same sheet by copies in BF’s hand of Sargent Aufrere’s letter of January 15 and his reply of the 16th. The copy of the present letter is on the same sheet with copies of BF’s letters to Norris and Leech of January 9 and 14, and is endorsed: “London Janry 9 14 16 1762 Benja Franklin to the Trustees the L Office.”
8. See above, pp. 8–9.
9. See above, pp. 9–10.
1. See above, p. 11.
2. Isaac Norris laid this letter before the Assembly on May 6, 1762. The same day the House directed that its thanks be presented to Sargent and Aufrere and ordered the trustees of the Loan Office to reimburse immediately “all and every Sum” which these men had advanced “with Interest accruing.” 8 Pa. Arch., VI, 5341. On May 18 the trustees sent Sargent and Aufrere a bill for £2500, which they received on July 9, 1762, and which covered, with a small sum to spare, the money they had advanced to pay the bills drawn on BF. See below, pp. 113–14, 134–5.