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supplies and assistance; others think all these causes may have operated together. The nations chiefly concerned are said to be the Ottawas and Chippewas, who live west of and north of the Lakes, and the Delawares on the Ohio, but some other nations who have not yet appeared are suspected privily to encourage them. It is, however, a war that I think cannot last long, though for the present very mischievous to the poor settlers on the frontiers.

I expected when I left England to have learnt in your letters the true state of things from time to time among you; but you are silent and I am in the dark. I hear that faction and sedition are becoming universal among you, which I can scarcely believe, though I see in your public papers a licentiousness that amazes me. I hear of ins and outs and ups and downs, and know neither why nor wherefore. Think, my dear friend, how much satisfaction it is in your power to give me, with a loss only of half an hour in a month that you would otherwise spend at cribbage. I left our friend David and his family well. I hope this will find you so. I am here on my journey to New England, whence I hope to return in about two months. Sally goes with me. Billy and his wife came over here last night from the Jerseys to spend a few days with their friends at New York, so that we are all together at present, except my wife, and all join in best wishes for you and good Mrs. Strahan and your children. I wrote to you by the last packet, and can now only add that I am, with sincerest esteem and affection, dear sir, your most obedient humble servant, B. FRANKLIN.

TO WILLIAM STRAHAN

BOSTON, 8 August, 1763.

DEAR FRIEND:-I have received here your favor of May 3d, and postscript of May 10th, and thank you cordially for the sketch you give me of the present state of your political affairs. If the stupid, brutal opposition your good king and his measures have lately met with, should as you fear, become general, surely you would not wish me to come and live among such people; you would rather remove hither, where we have no savages but those we expect to be such. But I think your madmen will erelong come to their senses; and when I come I shall find you generally wise and happy. That I have not the propensity to sitting still that you apprehend, let my present journey witness for me, in which I have already travelled eleven hundred and forty miles on this continent since April, and shall make six hundred and forty miles more before I see home. No friend can wish me more in England than I do myself. But before I go' every thing I am concerned in must be so settled here as to make another return to America unnecessary. My love to every one of your dear family, of whose welfare I always rejoice to hear; being with the greatest esteem and affection, dear sir, yours sincerely,

B. FRANKLIN.

This is but one of several intimations that Franklin had serious thoughts of quitting America, and establishing himself in England. How different might have been the history of both countries, had this intention ripened.

TO WILLIAM STRAHAN (?)

Philadelphia, 19 December, 1763.

I own that I sometimes suspect my love to England and my friends there, seduces me a little, and makes my own middling reasons for going over, appear very good ones. We shall see in a little time how things will turn out. Blessings on your heart for the feast of politics you gave me in your last. I could by no other means have obtained so clear a view of the present state of your public affairs as by your letter. Most of your observations appear to me extremely judicious, strikingly clear and true. I only differ from you in some of the melancholy apprehensions you express concerning consequences; and to comfort you (at the same time flattering my own vanity) let me remind you that I have sometimes been in the right in such cases, when you happened to be in the wrong, as I can prove upon you out of this very letter of yours. Call to mind your former fears for the King of Prussia, and remember my telling you that the man's abilities were more than equal to all the force of his enemies, and that he would finally extricate himself and triumph. This, by the account you give me from Major Beckwith, is fully verified. You now fear for our virtuous young king, that the factions forming will overpower him and render his reign uncomfortable. On the contrary, I am of opinion that his virtue and the consciousness of his sincere intentions to make his people happy will give him firmness and steadiness in his measures and in the support of the honest friends he

has chosen to serve him; and when that firmness is fully perceived, faction will dissolve and be dissipated like a morning fog before the rising sun, leaving the rest of the day clear, with a sky serene and cloudless. Such, after a few of the first years, will be the future course of his Majesty's reign, which I predict will be happy and truly glorious. Your fears for the nation, too, appear to me as little founded. A new war I cannot yet see reason to apprehend. The peace I think will long continue, and your nation be as happy as they deserve to be.

B. FRANKLIN.

TO GOVERNOR BERNARD

PHILADELPHIA, 11 January, 1764. SIR: Having heard nothing from Virginia concerning your son, I have at length thought the best and surest way of bringing him safely here will be to send from hence a sober, trusty person to conduct him up, who will attend him on the road, etc. I have accordingly this day agreed with Mr. Ennis, a very discreet man, to make the journey, who sets out to-morrow morning. I shall send with him my own horse for Mr. Bernard, and money to bear his expenses, with a letter to Mr. Johnson, engaging to pay any account he may have against your son, or any reasonable debts he may have contracted there. I hope this will be agreeable to you and answer the end. I am, with sincerest respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,

B. FRANKLIN.

Endorsed.

TO MR. TODD, SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL POST

OFFICE

PHILADELPHIA, 16 January, 1764. SIR:-In my last I wrote you that Mr. Foxcroft, my colleague, was gone to Virginia, where, and in Maryland, some offices are yet unsettled. We are to meet again in April at Annapolis, and then shall send you a full account of our doings. I will now only just mention that we hope in the spring to expedite the communication between Boston and New York, as we have already that between New York and Philadelphia, by making the mails travel by night as well as by day, which has never heretofore been done in America. It passes now between Philadelphia and New York so quick that a letter can be sent from one place to another, and an answer received the following day, which before took a week, and when our plan is executed between Boston and New York, letters may be sent and answers received in four days, which before took a fortnight; and between Philadelphia and Boston in six days, which before required three weeks. We think this expeditious communication will greatly increase the number of letters from Philadelphia and Boston by the packets to Britain."

I Endorsed: "Plans Gen. Extract of a letter from Benjamin Franklin, Esq., Deputy Postmaster-General of North America to the Secretary of the Post-Office, dated January 16, 1764, respecting the communication carried on between New York and other colonies by post. Read March 3, 1764. R. 46."

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