Franklin, Benjamin, as Ambassador to France

Letter signed ("B Franklin), 2 pages on leaf (12 1/3 x 7 7/8 in.; 310 x 200 mm), Passy, 25 October 1779, to his sister Jane Mecom, with news of John Paul Jones's engagement with the British navy off the coast of England and accounts of his celebrity status within French society; staining where several fold separations have been repaired, text at folds slightly affected. Blue cloth folding case, black morocco spine, blue morocco lettering pieces.

Papers of Benjamin Franklin 30:582

America's first international celebrity. Franklin's groundbreaking scientific discoveries had elevated him from the status of obscure scientific amateur to the most famous American in the world. When he arrived in France in 1776 as America's first minister to the French court, his presence was hailed by people at all levels of society. He informs his sister Jane about his instant transformation into a popular icon: "Perhaps few Strangers in france have had the good fortune to be so universally popular. ... This Popularity has occasion'd so many Paintings, Bust's Medals and prints to be made of me, and distributed throughout the Kingdom, that my face is now almost as well known as the Moon. "Indeed, Franklin scholar H.W. Brands reports that one writer from the period recorded that everyone had "an engraving of M. Franklin over the mantelpiece."

In response to an earlier letter from his sister in which she describes the torching of homes near hers in Warwick, Rhode Island,  Franklin  touches upon John Paul Jones's raids off the English and Irish coasts in late summer: "The enemy have been very near you indeed. When only at the distance of a Mile, you must have been much alarmed.—We have given them a little of this Disturbance upon their own Coasts this summer. and tho' we have burnt none of their Towns we have occasioned a good deal of Terror and bustle in many of them, as they imagined Commodore Jones had 4000 Troops with him for Defents.

"He has however taken and distroy'd upwards of 20 Sail of their Merchant-Men or Colliers, with two Men of War, and is arrived safe in Holland with them & 500 Prisoners. Had not contrary winds and accidents prevented it the Intended Invasion of England with the combined fleet and a great army might have taken Place, and have made the English feel a little more of that kind of Distress they have so wantonly caus'd in America." Jones's engagement with the British navy occasioned the legendary reply to a British captain's demand of surrender: "I have not yet begun to fight!" Although he lost the Bonhomme Richard in battle, Jones seized the H.M.S. Serapis as a consolation prize and then sailed for the neutral waters of Holland.