Benjamin Franklin | "the Day of the Declaration of Independence is everywhere annually celebrated"

Benjamin Franklin

Autograph letter signed ("B. Franklin") to Abbé André Morellet ("My very dear Friend"), with a six-line autograph postscript, 4 pages (334 x 213 mm, preserving deckle) on a bifolium of laid paper (watermarked arms of Amsterdam, countermarked IV), Philadelphia, 22 April 1787, an intimate, charming, and discursive letter covering a remarkably wide range of topics; very short marginal tear and three tiny pinholes at central horizontal fold, but withal in an exceptionally fine, fresh state of preservation. Half red morocco folding-case gilt, chemise.

A delightful letter, reflecting on a great variety of subjects, from the Declaration of Independence to the keeping of cats, and from the joys of being back in America to the best methods of collecting taxes. Leonard W. Labaree, the inaugural editor of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, described this letter as “one of Franklin’s best, written in his most delightful vein of intimate conversation with a dear friend.”

Having returned some eighteen months earlier from his position as minister to France, Franklin thanks Morellet for his recent letters (30 October 1785 and 9 February 1786), “with the Pieces enclos’d, Productions of the Auteuil Academy of Belles Lettres,” observing that “It gives me infinite Pleasure to find that I shall retain a favourable Place in the Remembrance of the worthy and the Good, whose delightful & instructive Society I had the Happiness of enjoying while I resided in France.” He leaves little doubt, however, that he has made the correct decision in returning to America: “… I certainly did right in coming home. I am here in my Niche, in my own House, in the Bosom of my Family, my Daughter and Grandchildren, all about me, among my old Friends or Sons of my Friends who equally respect me; and all speak the same language with me; and you know that if a Man desires to be useful by the Exercise of his mental Faculties, he loses half their Force when in a Foreign Country, where he can only express himself in a language with which he is not well acquainted. In short I enjoy here every opportunity of doing Good, and everything else I could wish for, except Repose; and that I may soon expect, either by the Cessation of my Office [president of the executive council of Pennsylvania], which cannot last more than 3 years, or by ceasing to live.” In fact, the term of Franklin’s live ran virtually concurrent with that of his office: he died 17 April 1790, almost three years exactly after he wrote this letter to Morellet.

Franklin then takes up a more public thread of thought, commenting on commerce, industry, and taxation: “I am of the same opinion with you respecting the Freedom of Commerce, in Countries especially where direct taxes are practicable. This will be our Case in times when our wide-extended Country fills up with inhabitants. But at present they are so sparsely settled, often 5 or 6 miles distant from one another in the back Countries, that the Collection of a direct Tax is almost impossible, the Trouble of the Collector’s going from House to House amounting to more than the value of the Tax. Nothing can be better express’d than your Sentiments are on this Point, where you prefer Liberty of Trading, Cultivating, Manufacturing, & even so (political) civil Liberty, this being affected but rarely, the others every Hour. Our debt occasion’d by the War, being heavy, we are under the Necessity of using Imports, and every Method we can think of to assist in raising a Revenue to discharge it; but in Sentiment we are well disposed to abolish Duties on Importation as soon as we can afford to do so.”

In a stirring passage, Franklin, amused by propaganda being circulated in Europe, assures Morellet that American enthusiasm for Revolution and Independence has not waned. “Whatever may be reported by the English in Europe, you may be assured that our People are almost unanimous in being satisfied with the Revolution. Their unbounded Respect for all who were principally concern’d in it, whether as Warriors or Statesmen, and the enthusiastic Joy with which the Day of the Declaration of Independence is everywhere annually celebrated, are indisputable Proofs of this Truth.” With liberty comes the right to take a contrarian view, and Franklin admits that there is some of that about, but that the strength and growth of the American economy is further proof of the success of the Revolution. “In one or two of the States there have been some Discontents on partial and local subjects; these may have been fomented, as the Accounts of them are exaggerated, by our Ancient Enemies; but they are now nearly supress’d, and the rest of the States enjoy Peace and good Order, and flourish amazingly. The Crops have been good for several Years past, the price of Country Produce high from Foreign Demand, and it fetches ready Money; Rents are high in our Towns, which increase fast by new Buildings; Laborers & Artisans have High Wages well paid; and vast Tracts of new land are continually clearing and render’d fit for Cultivation.”

Picking up a completely different topic, Franklin advises Morellet at some length about the disposition of the cats of Mme. Helvetius. Morellet had commented that, just as Franklin had observed in his essay “On Peopling Countries,” the cats increased in proportion to the means of subsistence, and he had suggested that Mme. Helvetius ship them off to America to live off of the plentiful squirrels and rats. Franklin responds, “Your project of Transporting, rather than drowning, the good Lady’s eighteen cats, is very humane. The kind Treatment they experience from their present Mistress, may possibly cause an Unwillingness to Hazard the Change of Situation, but if they are of the Angora breed, and can be inform’d how two of their Tribe brought over by my Grandson are caress’d and almost ador’d here, they may possibly be induc’d to transport themselves rather than risque any longer the Persecution of the Abbé’s, which sooner or later must end in their Condemnation. Their Requéte is admirably well written; but their continually Increasing in Number will in time make their Cause insupportable. Their Friends should therefore advise them to submit voluntarily either to Transport—or to Castr—ation.”

As he nears the end of his letter, Franklin again comments on Morellet’s recent writings, as well as the satisfaction he derived from the reception he received upon his return from France—but also shows that he understands the vagaries of public popularity. “The Remarks of a Grammarian on the Particle on, are full of Wit, and just Satire. My Friends here who understand French have been highly entertain’d with them. They will do good if you publish them. They have had some Effect upon me, as you will see in this Letter: For where I spoke of the prosperous State of our Affairs here, fearing you might suppose that I thought all well because I myself had a Profitable Place, I found it proper to add other Reasons. Your taking the Pains of Translating the Addresses, is a strong Mark of the Continuance of your Friendship for me, which gave me as much Pleasure as the Addresses themselves had done, and that you may well believe, was not a little: For indeed the Reception I met with on my arrival, far exceded my Expectation. Popular Favour, not the most Constant Thing in the World, still continues with regard to me, my Election to the Presidentship for the second year being unanimous. Whether it will hold out till the end of the third, is uncertain. A man in high place has so many Occasions, which he cannot avoid, of Disobliging, if he does his Duty; and those he Disobliges have so much more resentment, than those he obliges, have Gratitude, that it often happens, when he is strongly attack’d, he is weakly defended. You will therefore not wonder if you should hear that I do not finish my Political Career with the same Éclat that I began it.”

In closing, Franklin philosophically commiserates with Morellet on his ill health: “It grieves me to learn that you have been afflicted with Sickness. It is as you say, the Condition of Living, but it seems a hard Condition. I sometimes wonder that all good Men and Women are not by Providence kept free of Pain and Disease. In the best of all possible Worlds, I should suppose it must be so; and I am piously inclin’d to believe that this World’s not being better made was owing merely to the badness of the Materials.”

In the letter by Leonard Labaree quoted above (13 November 1958, to Nathaniel E. Stein), Labaree also discusses the importance of this autograph letter is establishing an accurate text. Before the original appeared at auction in 1958, the letter was known only by a very corrupt and truncated version based on a partial letterpress copy and an English re-translation of an abridged and garbled French translation that Morellet published in his 1821 Memoirs. The letter remains unpublished, but will be included in a forthcoming volume of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin; in the meantime, the text, without editorial apparatus, is available at franklinpapers.org.

PROVENANCE

"New York Collector," (Parke-Bernet, New York, November 5, 1958, lot 84) — Nathaniel E. Stein (Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, January 30, 1979, lot 56) — Frederick Richard Nederlander — The Frederick Richard Nederlander Trust