Benjamin Franklin to John Alleyne, August 9, 1768

Craven Street, August 9, 1768.

Dear JACK,

You desire, you say, my impartial thoughts on the subject of an early marriage, by way of answer to the numberless objections that have been made by numerous persons to your own. You may remember, when you consulted me on the occasion, that I thought youth on both sides to be no objection. Indeed, from the marriages that have fallen under my observation, I am rather inclined to think, that early ones stand the best chance of happiness. The temper and habits of the young are not yet become so stiff and uncomplying, as, when more advanced in life; they form more easily to each other, and hence many occasions of disgust are removed. And if youth has less of that prudence which is necessary to manage a family, yet the parents and elder friends of young married persons are generally at hand to afford their advice, which amply supplies that defect; and by early marriage, youth is sooner formed to regular and useful life; and possibly some of those accidents or connections, that might have injured the constitution, or reputation, or both, are thereby happily prevented. Particular circumstances of particular persons, may possibly sometimes make it prudent to delay entering into that state ; but in general when nature has rendered our bodies fit for it, the presumption is in nature's favor, that she has not judged amiss in making us desire it. Late marriages are often attended, too, with this further inconvenience, that there is not the same chance that the parents shall live to see their offspring educated. “Late children,” says the Spanish proverb, “are early orphans.” A melancholy reflection to those whose case it may be! With us in America, marriages are generally in the morning of life; our children are therefore educated and settled in the world by noon; and thus, our business being done, we have an afternoon and evening of cheerful leisure to ourselves, such as our friend at present enjoys. By these early marriages we are blessed with more children; and from the mode among us, founded by nature, of every mother suckling and nursing her own child, more of them are raised. Thence the swift progress of population among us, unparalleled in Europe. In fine, I am glad you are married, and congratulate you most cordially upon it. You are now in the way of becoming a useful citizen; and you have escaped the unnatural state of celibacy for life—the fate of many here, who never intended it, but who having too long postponed the change of their condition, find, at length; that it is too late to think of it, and so live all their lives in a situation that greatly lessens a man's value. . An odd volume of a set of books, bears not the value of its proportion to the set what think you of the odd half of a pair of scissars? it can't well cut any thing; it may possibly serve to scrape a trencher.

Pray make my compliments and best wishes acceptable to your bride. I am old and heavy, or I should ere this have presented them in person. I shall make but small use of the old man's privilege, that of giving advice to younger friends. Treat your wife always with respect; it will procure respect to you, not only from her, but from all that observe it. Never use a slighting expression to her, even in jest, for slights in jest, after frequent bandyings, are apt to end in angry earnest. Be studious in your profession, and you will be learned. Be industrious and frugal, and you will be rich. Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy. Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy. At least, you will, by such conduct; stand the best chance for such consequences. I pray God to bless you both being ever your affectionate friend,

B. FRANKLIN.

SOURCE: William Temple Franklin, The Private Correspondence of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 1, p. 7-9

Hugh Williamson to Thomas Jefferson, December 11, 1784

Trenton, 11th Decr., 1784

DEAR SIR,

Very little progress has been made since your departure in the plans for improving the great Dismal. People near Edenton are afraid that a canal from Pasquotank to Elizabeth River, through Drummond's Lake, would deprive that Town of its small remains of Trade and the People on Pasquotank River who would be profited by the Canal have not Enterprise enough to go on with the Work. They want a Conductor; an able and persevering Director on the Virginia side would answer the Purpose. Our Company has from 30 to 40 Thousand A[cre]s. We have a Party of Men working in the Swamp. The manager has lately been through it. No part of the Lake is within our Tract, for it is ¾ of a mile North of the Line. There is a Mill on a head Branch of Elizabeth River to which the Tide flows, and it is said that the stagnant Waters of the Dam of that Mill extend to within half a Mile of Drummond's Pond. If so, a single Lock at the Mill and a very short Canal opens the Carriage from Norfolk into the Lake and a Mile further brings it among the weighty Junipers in our Swamp. I have directed our Agent to try to buy two or three shares more for me, but don't know what success he may have.

A valuable Improvement is said to have been made in mecanicks by a Citizen of Virg[ini]a on Potowmack. He says that he has found a method of working a Boat carrying from 5 to 10 Tons 70 or 80 miles a day by three men up such a River as the Ohio. He says she will go @ 3 miles the Hour up a River where the Stream runs @ 6 miles. Do you believe this? Genl. Washington has seen the Boat in miniature and certifies that it has exceeded his belief and he thinks it a useful Discovery. The Projector is getting Laws in the different states to operate as a Patent for his Discovery for 10 years.¹

You will soon hear many Complaints concerning our Western Territory. The Spaniards have not only interdicted the navigation of the Mississippi, but they seem to be making Incroachments and are doubtless taking Pains to exasperate the Indians, to the great Terror of our frontier Inhabitants and to the loss of some Lives. It is true that the Spaniards had subdued two or three British Garisons in West Florida and possessed the lower Part of that Province previous to the Peace. Does such a Tenure give a good Title to a Country. Such Positions are dangerous; they have been objected to by Spain herself.

There is a diversity of Sentiments respecting the probable Effects of those strange proceedings of the Court of Spain. Doubtless they are pointed with an evil Eye against the Prosperity of the U.S., but I think they will be favourable in their operations. Should the Navigation of the Mississippi continue open, Vast Bodies People would migrate thither whose mercantile Connections could be of no Use to the old States. In Taxation their assistance would be very inefficient. On the contrary let the Navigation of the Mississippi be shut up and the Country joining our present Settlements will be first improved and a durable commercial and civil intercourse established.²

The Business I suppose will cause us to send a Minister to the Court of Spain. From the strong representations that have lately been made by Mr. Lawrence who says he is requested by Doctor Franklin to do so I suppose the Doctor will be permitted to return. Should that be the Case I hope you will be his successor at Versailles. In that Case too we shall have much difficulty in determining who is to go to London.³ Perhaps Livingston, Jay, or Adams. I think the last has Prejudices too strong.⁴

We have lately heard strange stories concerning a certain Doctor in Paris who performed some thing in the Cure of Diseases like inchantment.⁵ Is there any useful discovery made?

I have the Honor to be with the utmost Regard, Dear Sir, your obedt. Servt.

HU. WILLIAMSON

[Inclosure]

Some Accot, of the Exports of No: Carolina.
Tar, Pitch, Turpentine annually.	@ 120,000 Brls.
Tobacco.	10,000 Hhds.
Indian Corn	20 @ 50,000 Brls.
Peas	5,000 H. Bushels
Herring	3 @ 4,000 Brls.
These 3 last articles are chiefly for the West India Market.

Pipe and Hhd Staves in great plenty and of the best kind that are produced in America.

Boards and lumber of all sorts; fit for the West India market; for building Ware Houses, etc., to any Amo[un]t that can be in demand; also

Shingles — Cypress and Juniper 18 Inches @ 3 feet.

Indigo and Rice - from Wilmington.

Wheat - a considerable Quantity is annually exported; also Bees Wax.

Pork, a great Quantity, the cheapest in America.

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* Hugh Williamson (1735–1819), preacher, doctor, scientist and politician, was born in Pennsylvania, but is most intimately associated with North Carolina, representing that state in the Continental and Federal Congresses, and writing its history. He published in the American Medical and Philosophical Register (New York, 1811-1814) “Observations on Navigable Canals," using the signature “Observer” or “Mercator." See Hosack, Biographical Memoir of Hugh Williamson, in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections (1821), III. 125. This scheme for a canal from Elizabeth River, Virginia, to Pasquotank River, North Carolina, was actively taken up in the two states in 1786. See State Records of North Carolina, XVIII.

¹ The inventor was James Rumsey, at this time keeping a boarding-house at Berkeley Springs. Washington's certificate is printed in Writings of Washington (Ford), X. 402, and he wrote to Hugh Williamson about it in March, 1785. Ib., 445. It seems, however, that the use of steam was not at the time contemplated by Rumsey, but came as an afterthought. Ib., XI. 187. Jefferson regretted in 1789 not knowing the results of Rumsey's experiments, and in 1793, after Rumsey's death, gave a note of recommendation to the attorney (Barnes) of those interested in the invention. Writings of Jefferson (Ford), VI. 266.

² On June 3 Congress instructed the United States ministers for negotiating commercial treaties with foreign powers not to relinquish or cede “in any event whatsoever, the right of the citizens of these United States to the free navigation of the river Mississippi from its source to the ocean." Before this instruction could be acted upon, the King of Spain set aside all pretensions of the Americans to the navigation of that river, and this action was communicated to Congress November 16, 1784. Secret Journals, in. 510, 517. The negotiations, as was usual in Spanish questions, were protracted for many years.

³ This was the opinion held by Washington and other leaders, and the concessions proposed by John Jay, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, to be made in favor of the Spanish claims on the Mississippi awakened a doubt of his integrity in the mind of Monroe, and produced a lasting hostility on his part to Jay's political advancement. This hostile influence made itself felt in the reception given to the Jay Treaty of 1796.

On December 17, 1784, Congress, on motion of a delegate from Georgia (Houstoun), seconded by a delegate from North Carolina (Spaight, colleague of Williamson), resolved to elect a minister to Spain, but no action was taken. January 21, 1785. permission was granted to Franklin to return to America, and March 10, Jefferson was elected minister to the Court of Versailles, on the nomination of David Howell. Secret Journals, 111. 520, 522, 536.

⁴ Words in italics were written in cypher. Adams was chosen February 24, 1785.

⁵ Mesmer, who had been exposed by Franklin and his colleagues on the committee of investigation. Jefferson speaks of the “maniac Mesmer."

SOURCE: William Keeney Bixby, Thomas Jefferson Correspondence: Printed from the Originals in the Collections of William K. Bixby, p. 4-7

John Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, July 9, 1774

9 July, 1774.

I NEVER enjoyed better health in any of my journeys, but this has been the most irksome, the most gloomy and melancholy I ever made. I cannot with all my philosophy and Christian resignation keep up my spirits. The dismal prospect before me, my family, and my country, is too much for my fortitude.

“Bear me, some god! Oh quickly bear me hence,

To wholesome solitude, the nurse of sense;

Where Contemplation prunes her ruffled wings,

And the free soul looks down to pity kings.”

The day before yesterday a gentleman came and spoke to me, asked me to dine with him on Saturday; said he was very sorry I had not better lodgings in town; desired, if I came to town again, I would take a bed at his house and make his house my home; I should always be very welcome. I told him I had not the pleasure of knowing him. He said his name was Codman.

I said I was very much obliged to him, but I was very well accommodated where I lodged. I had a clean bed and a very neat house, a chamber to myself, and everything I wanted.

Saturday, I dined with him, in company with Brigadier Preble, Major Freeman and his son, etc., and a very genteel dinner we had." Salt fish and all its apparatus, roast chickens, bacon, pease, as fine a salad as ever was made, and a rich meat pie. Tarts and custards, etc., good wine, and as good punch as ever you made. A large, spacious, elegant house, yard, and garden ; I thought I had got into the palace of a nobleman. After dinner, when I was obliged to come away, he renewed his invitation to me to make his house my home whenever I shall come to town again.

Friday I dined with Colonel, Sheriff, alias Bill Tyng.¹ Mrs. Ross and her daughter Mrs. Tyng dined with us, and the court and clerk, and some of the bar. At table we were speaking about Captain MacCarty, which led to the African trade. Judge Trowbridge said, “That was a very humane and Christian trade, to be sure, that of making slaves.” “Aye,” says I, “it makes no great odds; it is a trade that almost all mankind have been concerned in, all over the globe, since Adam, more or less, in one way and another.” This occasioned a laugh.

At another time Judge Trowbridge said, “It seems, by Colonel Barre's speeches, that Mr. Otis has acquired honor by releasing his damages to Robinson.” “Yes," says I, “he has acquired honor with all generations.” Trowbridge; “He did not make much profit, I think.”² Adams: “True, but the less profit, the more honor. He was a man of honor and generosity, and those who think he was mistaken will pity him.”

Thus you see how foolish I am. I cannot avoid exposing myself before these high folks; my feelings will at times overcome my modesty and reserve, my prudence, policy, and discretion. I have a zeal at my heart for my country and her friends, which I cannot smother or conceal ; it will burn out at times and in companies where it ought to be latent in my breast. This zeal will prove fatal to the fortune and felicity of my family, if it is not regulated by a cooler judgment than mine has hitherto been. Colonel Otis's phrase is, “The zeal-pot boils over.”

I am to wait upon brother Bradbury to meeting today, and to dine with brother Wyer. When I shall get home, I know not, but if possible, it shall be before next Saturday night. I long for that time to come, when my dear wife and my charming little prattlers will embrace me.

Your

JOHN ADAMS.

_______________

¹ William Tyng had just accepted a colonel's commission from General Gage. He was proscribed and banished the next year. But he returned to Maine in 1793, where he died in 1807. A brief but interesting notice of him is to be found in the tenth volume of the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, pp. 183-185.

² Judge Trowbridge continued a moderate adherent of the Government, without losing the regard of the patriot leaders. His reputation as a lawyer was great, and when the writer of this letter proposed the extreme measure of an impeachment of the Chief Justice, Oliver, the admissions of Judge Trowbridge, when consulted, largely contributed to a confirmation of his policy. The Judge lost his place on the bench, but he remained otherwise unharmed, and died at Cambridge in 1793.

SOURCE: Charles Francis Adams, Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams, During the Revolution, p. 21-3

Lieutenant-Colonel George Washington to James Hamilton, Governor of Pennsylvania, April 27, 1754

Will's Creek, 27 April, 1754.

SIR,

It is with the greatest concern I acquaint you, that Mr. Ward, ensign in Captain Trent's company, was compelled to surrender his small fort at the Fork of the Monongahela to the French, on the 17th instant, who fell down from Venango, with a fleet of three hundred and sixty batteaux and canoes, upwards of one thousand men, and eighteen pieces of artillery, which they planted against the fort, drew up their men, and sent the enclosed summons to Mr. Ward, who, having but an inconsiderable number of men, and no cannon, to make a proper defence, was obliged to surrender. They suffered him to draw off his men, arms, and working-tools, and gave leave that he might retreat to the inhabitants.

I have heard of your Honor's great zeal for his Majesty's service, and for all our interests on the present occasion. You will see, by the enclosed speech of the Half-King, that the Indians expect some assistance from you; and I am persuaded you will take proper notice of their moving speech, and their unshaken fidelity.

I thought it more advisable to acquaint your Honor with it immediately, than to wait till you could get intelligence by the way of Williamsburg and the young man, as the Half-King proposes.

I have arrived thus far with a detachment of one hundred and fifty men. Colonel Fry, with the remainder of the regiment and artillery, is daily expected. In the mean time, we advance slowly across the mountains, making the roads, as we march, fit for the carriage of

our great guns; and are designed to proceed as far as the mouth of Red-stone Creek, which enters the Monongahela about thirty-seven miles above the fort taken by the French, from whence we have a water carriage down the river. And there is a storehouse built by the Ohio Company, which may serve as a receptacle for our ammunition and provisions.

Besides these French, that came from Venango, we have credible accounts, that another party are coming up the Ohio. We also have intelligence, that six hundred of the Chippewas and Ottawas are marching down Scioto Creek to join them. I hope your Honor will excuse the freedom I have assumed in acquainting you with these advices; it was the warm zeal I owe my country, that influenced me to it, and occasioned this express.

I am, with all due respect and regard, your Honor's most obedient and very humble servant.*

_______________

* This letter was immediately laid before the legislature by the governor. A bill was then pending for a grant of ten thousand pounds for the King's use, but it was obstructed in its progress by the opposition of the Governor to the plan proposed by the Assembly for raising the money, and no relief was obtained for the expedition. — Votes of the Pennsylvania Assembly, Vol. IV. p. 313.

Whatever doubts there may have been in the minds of some members of the Assembly, as to the King's title to the Western lands, these doubts were not publicly urged as a reason for withholding a grant of money. But the truth is, that, when the contest between France and England began, neither power had any just title to the lands west of the Ohio River. There could be no pretence, by either party, of conquest, purchase, or occupancy. The French had been accustomed to pass from Canada and the Lakes down the Wabash and through the Illinois country to Louisiana, and a few English traders had recently gone over the mountains and bartered with the Indians. The English government had even granted five hundred thousand acres of land there to the Ohio Company. The claim by the English was founded on the treaties of Utrecht and Aix-la-Chapelle, in which France consented that Great Britain should have jurisdiction over all the regions possessed by the Iroquois, or Six Nations. But there is no proof, that the territory in question belonged to the Iroquois. In fact, there is the strongest evidence to the contrary.

SOURCE: Jared Sparks, The Writings of George Washington: Volume 1, p. 12-13