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![]() FRANKLIN, Benjamin (1706-1790). American polymath and statesman. Highly important Autograph Letter Signed to Thomas Walpole (1727-1803), 1 page 4to with address-leaf (paper softened and somewhat soiled by former damp-exposure), Paris, 11 December 1777. Bemoaning the failure of Lord Chatham's efforts to find a basis of conciliation with the American colonies and to bring to an end the Revolutionary War. Franklin had been sent to Paris as commissioner for the United States in December 1776, following the Declaration of Independence, which he had helped to draft. The following year he was confirmed as the American plenipotentiary to France. Thomas Walpole, the son of Horatio, first baron Walpole of Wolterton, was the nephew of Horace Walpole (the wit and man of letters) and a promiment lawyer in London. He had been hevily involved, with Franklin, in the affairs of the Grand Ohio Campany, which 'hoped to purchase and develop a large tract of land west of present day Virginia' (Benjamin Franklin Papers, online).
See The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 25, page 272 (and online). Provenance - inherited by Sir Spencer Walpole from his father, Thomas Walpole the younger, passed by him to his son-in-law Francis Caldwell Holland who left it in turn to his nephew David C.L. Holland (d. 2007), and thence by descent. [No: 25491] The image links to a larger or more detailed version. |
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