Letter To Benjamin Franklin Philadelphia Nov 26 1785

Author : Benjamin Franklin
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300267959
Total Pages : 768 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (2 download)

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Download or read book The Papers of Benjamin Franklin written by Benjamin Franklin and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2024-01-02 with total page 768 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume in the venerable Papers of Benjamin Franklin covers March 16 through September 12, 1785, Franklin’s final days as minister to France and his voyage home This volume covers Franklin’s final months as minister to France and his voyage back to America. He received his long-awaited permission from Congress to return home; accepted the king’s parting gift of a miniature portrait surrounded by diamonds; settled his accounts; and arranged passage for himself and his two grandsons on a ship bound from England to Philadelphia. Franklin instructed the French government on the culinary uses of maize and wrote a lengthy “eye-witness” account of China that includes directions for making tofu. His last public act in France was signing the Prussian-American Treaty of Commerce, which contained three unprecedented articles: the two he wrote in 1782 guaranteeing protections during wartime for noncombatants, and a third guaranteeing humane treatment for prisoners of war. On the English coast, Franklin met with his Loyalist son William and witnessed William’s signing over his American property to his son William Temple Franklin. Aboard the London Packet, Franklin wrote three scientific papers, including the copiously illustrated “Maritime Observations.” His original line drawings are reproduced here for the first time. The volume ends with an appendix containing supplementary documents from the French mission.