"Your obedient, humble servant,
"Thomas Paine.
"The Hon'ble Benjamin Franklin, Esquire.
"My address is Messrs. Lawrence and Morris, Merchants."
To this came the following reply, dated Philadelphia, September 24th:
"Dear Sir,—'I have just received your friendly congratulations on my return to America, for which, as well as your kind wishes for my welfare, I beg you to accept my most thankful acknowledgments. Ben is also very sensible of your politeness, and desires his respects may be presented.
"I was sorry on my arrival to find you had left this city. Your present arduous undertaking, I easily conceive, demands retirement, and tho' we shall reap the fruits of it, I cannot help regretting the want of your abilities here where in the present moment they might, I think, be successfully employed. Parties still run very high—Common Sense would unite them. It is to be hoped therefore it has not abandoned us forever."*
* The remainder of the letter (MS. Philosoph. Soc.,
Philadelphia) seems to be in the writing of William Temple
Franklin, to whom probably Paine had enclosed a note: "Mr.
Williams whom you inquire after accompanied us to America,
and is now here. We left Mrs. Wms. and her sisters well at
St. Ger's, but they proposed shortly returning to England to
live with their uncle, Mr. J. Alexander, who has entirely
settled his affairs with Mr. Wal-pole and the Bank. Mr. Wm.
Alex'r I suppose you know is in Virginia fulfilling his
tobacco contract with the Farmer Gen'l. The Marquis la
Fayette we saw a few days before we left Passy—he was well
and on the point of setting off on an excursion into
Germany, and a visit to the Emperor K. of Prussia.—I
purpose shortly being at New York, where I will with
pleasure give you any further information you may wish, and
shall be very happy to cultivate the acquaintance and
friendship of Mr. Paine, for whose character I have a
sincere regard and of whose services I, as an American, have
a grateful sense"
The "arduous undertaking" to which Franklin refers was of course the iron bridge. But it will be seen by our next letter that Paine had another invention to lay before Franklin, to whom he hastened after receiving his $3,000 from Congress:
"Dec. 31, 1785.—Dear Sir,—I send you the Candles I have been making;—In a little time afer they are lighted the smoke and flame separate, the one issuing from one end of the Candle, and the other from the other end. I supposed this to be because a quantity of air enters into the Candle between the Tallow and the flame, and in its passage downwards takes the smoke with it; for if you allow a quantity of air up the Candle, the current will be changed, and the smoke reascends, and in passing this the flame makes a small flash and a little noise.