constant frauds attempted by presenting seconds and thirds for payment after the firsts have been discharged. As these bills were arriving, more or less, by every ship and every post, they required constant attendance. Mr. Franklin could make no journey for exercise, as had been annually his custom, and the confinement brought on a malady that is likely to afflict him while he lives.

In short, though he has always been an active man, he never went through so much business during eight years, in any part of his life, as during those of his residence in France; which, however, he did not decline till he saw peace happily made, and found himself in the eightieth year of his age; when, if ever, a man has some right to expect repose.

MDXXVI

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS

PHILADELPHIA, 29 November, 1788.

SIR:-When I had the honor of being the Minister of the United States at the Court of France, Mr. Barclay, arriving there, brought me the following resolution of Congress:

"Resolved, that a commissioner be appointed by Congress, with full power and authority to liquidate, and finally to settle, the accounts of all the servants of the United States, who have been intrusted with the expenditure of public money in Europe, and to commence and prosecute such suits, causes, and

actions as may be necessary for the purpose, or for the recovery of any property of the said United States in the hands of any person, or persons, whatsoever.

"That the said commissioner be authorized to appoint one or more clerks, with such allowance as he may think reasonable.

"That the said commissioner and clerks, respectively, take an oath before some person duly authorized to administer an oath, faithfully to execute the trust reposed in them respectively.

"Congress proceeded to the election of a commissioner, and, ballots being taken, Mr. Thomas Barclay was elected."

In pursuance of this resolution, and as soon as Mr. Barclay was at leisure from more pressing business, I rendered to him all my accounts, which he examined, and stated methodically. By this statement he found a balance due to me on the 4th of May, 1785, of 7,533 livres, 19 sols, 3 derniers, which I accordingly received of the Congress banker; the difference between my statement and his being only seven sols, which by mistake I had overcharged; about three pence half-penny sterling.

At my request, however, the accounts were left open for the consideration of Congress, and not finally settled, there being some articles on which I desired their judgment, and having some equitable demands, as I thought them, for extra services, which he had not conceived himself empowered to allow, and therefore I did not put them in my account. He transmitted the accounts to Congress, and had advice of their being received. On my

arrival at Philadelphia, one of the first things I did was to despatch my grandson, William T. Franklin, to New York, to obtain a final settlement of those accounts; he, having long acted as my secretary, and being well acquainted with the transactions, was able to give an explanation of the articles that might seem to require explaining, if any such there were. He returned without effecting the settlement, being told that it could not be made till the arrival of some documents expected from France. What those documents were I have not been informed, nor can I readily conceive, as all the vouchers existing there had been examined by Mr. Barclay. And I, having been immediately after my arrival engaged in the public business of this State, waited in expectation of hearing from Congress, in case any part of my accounts had been objected to.

It is now more than three years that those accounts have been before that honorable body, and, to this day, no notice of any such objection has been communicated to me. But reports have, for some time past, been circulated here, and propagated in the newspapers, that I am greatly indebted to the United States for large sums that had been put into my hands, and that I avoid a settlement. This, together with the little time one of my age may expect to live, makes it necessary for me to request earnestly, which I hereby do, that the Congress would be pleased, without further delay, to examine those accounts, and if they find therein any article or articles which they do not understand or approve, that they would cause me to be acquainted with the

same, that I may have an opportunity of offering such explanations or reasons in support of them as may be in my power, and then that the accounts may be finally closed.

I

I hope the Congress will soon be able to attend to this business for the satisfaction of the public, as well as in condescension to my request. In the meantime, if there be no impropriety in it, I would desire that this letter, together with another relating to the same subject, the copy of which is hereto annexed, may be put upon their minutes. With every sentiment of respect and duty to Congress, I am, sir, etc.,

B. FRANKLIN."

MDXXVII

TO WM. VAUGHAN

Philadelphia, 9 December, 1788.

DEAR SIR:-I received your kind letter of October 5th. I am glad the little papers I sent you were not

I See letter to Mr. Barclay, dated June 19, 1785.

2 The requests contained in this letter were never complied with. Some months afterwards, Charles Thomson, the Secretary of Congress, wrote to him as follows:

"Dear Sir:-I am sorry to inform you, that the apprehensions suggested in my last are realized. The delegates, whom the States appointed to conduct the business of the Union in Congress till the meeting of the new government, have not assembled in sufficient number to form a House. Consequently there was no opportunity of laying your letter before them, and getting it inserted on their minutes. I now wish to be informed what is to be done with it; whether you would desire it to remain among the other papers of the

unacceptable. Having done with public business, I am now employing myself in a work your good brother Benjamin once strongly recommended to me, which is writing the history of my own life. This will contain a number of precepts of the kind you desire, and all exemplified by the effects of their practice in my own affairs. Please to inform Benjamin of this, and that I have got as far as my fiftieth year.

I thank you for the trouble you took in the enquiry of Mr. John Wright. I have written to him some time since that the types are come to hand, etc.

A friend of mine designing a present to her son, a young student, of the best English encyclopædia, has desired me to procure it for her. Since I left England several different works under that title have appeared, and I know not their characters or merits. I think I have seen mentioned in the advertisements late Congress, or have it returned to you. I shall wait your orders. In the meanwhile accept a fresh assurance of the sincere esteem and regard with which I am, etc." New York, March 7, 1789.

There is no evidence that any farther efforts were made by Dr. Franklin to obtain justice from Congress. On the 1st of April, 1789, a sufficient number of members had assembled to organize the Congress under the new Constitution; but there is no record in the Journals which shows that the above letter to the President of the old Congress was ever laid before that body, or that the subject was in any manner brought into consideration. Dr. Franklin's accounts, therefore, remained unsettled till his death, notwithstanding his repeated solicitations to have them examined, adjusted, and closed. No allowance was ever granted for the "equitable demands for extra services," to which he thought himself entitled, nor were the grounds of them even made a subject of inquiry; nor was any vote of thanks or approbation ever passed for his long, steady, and most successful labors in the cause of his country. For this he was probably indebted to the Lees of Virginia-Arthur chiefly-and to the proprietary party in Pennsylvania, whose animosity is not yet entirely extinct.-EDITOR.