To Benjamin Franklin from John Wright, 7 February 1783
From John Wright5
ALS: American Philosophical Society
London 7th. of 2nd month 1783
Dear Friend
I take the liberty to inclose a letter from my ffrd Charles Eddy6 late of Philadelphia but now of Dublin respecting which I doubt not thy doing what shall be proper & expedient and if his request appears so to thee thou wilt be so kind to Comply therewith.
I congratulate thee on the peace which I hope will be permanent & mutually beneficial to both Countries and that we shall have the pleasure of seeing thee here wherein I promise myself great satisfaction.
I understand my ffrd David Barclay wrote thee on the Subject of Tim Matlocks affair & recd. an agreable answer.7 I could not entertain a doubt of the justice of Your government in the business.
I shall esteem a letter from thee a favour & hearing of thy welfare always affords me pleasure being with great Esteem Thy very Respectful Frd
John Wright
A ship from Massachusets bay or Rather from Nantucket is arrived in the Thames & reported at the Customhouse—8 The first ffrdly 13 stripes may she be the forerunner of thousands
Addressed: Doctr Benjamin Franklin / Minister Plenepotentiary / From the Congress / of the United States of America / Paris
5. An old friend of BF’s from his London years: X, 350–1; XI, 179–80.
6. Eddy (c. 1754–1804) was a Quaker merchant and ironmonger who was accused of being a Loyalist and whose estate in Philadelphia was confiscated in 1777. He eventually went to Great Britain; in the late 1780s he was based in London, where he imported American plants: Elaine F. Crane et al., eds., The Diary of Elizabeth Drinker (3 vols., Boston, 1991), III, 2141; Sabine, Loyalists, I, 402; John W. Harshberger, “Additional Letters of Humphry Marshall, Botanist and Nurseryman,” PMHB, LIII (1929), 270–82. His letter is missing.
7. Neither Barclay’s letter nor BF’s response has been located. Radical politician Timothy Matlack (XXXII, 282n), secretary of the Pa. Supreme Executive Council, had been accused of mismanaging government funds in the midst of an electioneering campaign in the autumn of 1782. The newly elected Republican legislature unanimously declared the secretary unworthy of public trust in March, 1783.
8. The Bedford, Capt. Morris, arrived on Feb. 5: Morning Herald and Daily Advertiser, Feb. 7, 1783.