To Benjamin Franklin from R. Hamilton, 21 November 1777: résumé
From R. Hamilton
ALS: Historical Society of Pennsylvania
<Paris, November 21, 1777, in English: Excuse this trouble from a young man unknown to you, who has come from London to consult you about his future. I am a clothier, without the capital to establish myself in Britain, and have decided to try America. Enclosed are my thoughts on how to begin wool manufacture there.8 If you can find time to look them over before Sunday morning, I will call on you then. Your approval will fulfil my highest expectation from the journey; your recommendation to American acquaintances will virtually assure my success. As no one has less claim on your favor, so no one will be more grateful for it.>
8. The memorandum, in the form of an undated eight-page letter with two pages of added calculations, is also in the Hist. Soc. of Pa. BF was interested. He apparently discussed two plans for getting Hamilton’s capital out of England, and promised to recommend him. On Sept. 8, 1778 (the letter is misdated 1777), the young man wrote from London to say that a naval captain had offered free passage to the West Indies; if BF would send him the promised recommendation, the trip he had made to Paris would be “the Luckiest Circumstance in my Life.” APS.