To Benjamin Franklin from Samuel Potts, 15 February 1773
From Samuel Potts6
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Genl. Post Office Monday 15 Febry. [17737]
Dear Sir
I am very sorry as you have had the trouble of writing your Letters to acquaint you that we have no North American Boat on this side, consequently your Letters could not be forwarded as no mail was made up last Saturday night for New York. This Office does not supply the Post Boys with Horns, they are purchased by themselves, but I beleive the best place to get them is in Crooked Lane. I am with Truth Dear Sir Your Most Obedient and Humble Servant
Sam Potts
6. Comptroller of the Inland Office in the Post Office. See Kenneth Ellis, The Post Office in the Eighteenth Century: a Study in Administrative History (London, 1958), pp. 83–4, 88, 108.
7. The only years during BF’s two British missions when Feb. 15 fell on a Monday were 1762, 1768, and 1773. This letter disclaims responsibility for supplying post horns, but in 1770 BF had charged them to the Post Office. (Jour., p. 24.) This he would scarcely have done if he had known that the charge would be disallowed; hence 1773 is the most likely year.