Province of Pennsylvania: Account with Franklin; Isaac Norris: Certificate for Payment, 4 March 1763
Province of Pennsylvania: Account with Franklin; Isaac Norris: Certificate for Payment
I. DS: Historical Society of Pennsylvania. II. Printed form with MS. insertions in blanks: Historical Society of Pennsylvania
On March 4, 1763, the Pennsylvania Assembly’s Committee of Accounts, which had approved Franklin’s expenses on his English mission on February 19 (see above, p. 195), laid “before the House a State of the Account of Benjamin Franklin; Esq; with the Province,” and they having reported that the province owed Franklin £2214 10s. 7d., “a Certificate was drawn for the said Balance and signed by Mr. Speaker by Order of the House.”2 Document I printed below is a summary of Franklin’s account with the province, part of which appears to be in Isaac Norris’ hand. Document II is the certificate signed by Norris.
I
Province of Pennsylvania in Account with Benja. Franklin
| Dr | Sterl. | ||||
| 1763. | To Expences in Behalf of the Province as per Account rendered the Committee3 |  |
£714. | 10. | 7. |
| To a Compensation voted in Assembly for Six Years Service in Great Britain as Agent for the Province | |
3000 | – | – | |
| £3714. | 10. | 7. | |||
| Cr | Sterl. | ||||
| 1757. | By Cash taken with him and remitted to him while in England4 | |
£1500. | – | – |
| Ballance due to B Franklin | 2214. | 10. | 7. | ||
| £3714. | 10. | 7 | |||
a Certificate for the Ballance drawn and signed in Assembly by Order of the House March the 4th 1763
I Norris Speaker
Endorsed: I. N. March 4th. 1763 Benjn Franklin’s Agent Acct Currt with the Province while in London from 1757. Examined5 The ball. of £2214. 10. 7 Sterlg. is Entd. in Bills of Excha. account, March 16. 1763. per Votes 1766.
The other Article in Credit of the within accot. being £1500 Sterling: is charg’d the 14. June 1759.6
II
In Assembly, Mar: 4th 17 63.
These are to certify, That the Sum of two thousand two hundred and fourteen pounds ten Shillings and sevenpence Sterling is allowed to Benjamin Franklin, Esquire for his Service as late Agent to the Province of Pennsylvania and that the same ought to be paid7 out of Money raised for discharging the public Debts. Signed by Order of the House,
Isaac Norris Speaker
[In the margin:] Sterlg. £2214. 10. 7 at 72½ per Cent
Endorsed: March 9th 1763 Pay the Contents to Benjamin Franklin Esqr or Order To the Trustees of the General Loan Office
Jon Hughes8
2. Votes, 1762–63, p. 34.
3. For this and the next item, see above, pp. 195, 197.
4. See above, VII, 166–7 n; VIII, 405.
5. The remainder of this endorsement is in an unidentified hand. The reference to £2214 10s. 7d., entered under March 16, 1763, in a report of a committee “appointed to audit and settle the Loan-Office and other Public Accounts,” submitted to the Assembly on Sept. 18, 1766, precludes the possibility that either Norris could have written it, because Charles Norris died on Jan. 15, 1766, and Isaac died on July 13, 1766. 8 Pa. Arch. VII, 5906, 5911.
6. That is, the Assembly’s payments of £1500 sterling to Franklin before he went to England and while he was there were entered June 14, 1759, as £2362 10s. Pa. currency, in the accounts of the commissioners appointed to disburse the £100,000 voted by the Assembly on April 22, 1758. 8 Pa. Arch., VI, 5154.
7. The printed form reads at this point “paid out of such Money as may hereafter be raised.” The words not reproduced here were struck out on the form.
8. Hughes apparently signed this order in his capacity as a member of the Assembly’s Committee to “settle and audit” the accounts of the trustees of the Loan Office. 8 Pa., Arch. VI, 5369.
9. One of the trustees of the Loan Office.
1. That is, the trustees paid BF by drawing a bill of exchange on Sargent Aufrere, who along with the Barclays had been appointed to manage the province’s share of the parliamentary grants for 1759, 1760, and 1761. See above, IX, 358–9 n.