Page:Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies, from the papers of Thomas Jefferson - Volume 1.djvu/104

 88

vernment, and the most dignified in his own State. I left Monti- cello on the 1st of March, 1790, for New York. At Philadelphia I called on the venerable and beloved Franklin. He was then on the bed of sickness from which he never rose. My recent return from a country in which he had left so many friends, and the peri lous convulsions to which they had been exposed, revived all his anxieties to know what part they had taken, what had been their course, and what their fate. He went over all in succession, with a rapidity and animation, almost too much for his strength. When all his enquiries were satisfied, and a pause took place, I told him I had learned with much pleasure that, since his return to America, he had been occupied in preparing for the world, the history of his own life. I cannot say much of that, said he ; but I will give you a sample of what I shall leave : and he directed his little grandson (William Bache) who was standing by the bed side, to hand him a paper from the table, to which he pointed. He did so ; and the Doctor putting it into my hands, desired me to take it, and read it at my leisure. It was about a quire of folio paper, written in a large and running hand, very like his own. I looked into it slightly, then shut it, and said I would accept his per mission to read it, and would carefully return it. He said, no, keep it. Not certain of his meaning, I again looked into it, folded it for rny pocket, and said again, I would certainly return it. i No, said he, keep it. I put it into my pocket, and shortly after, took leave of him. He died on the 17th of the ensuing month of April ; and as I understood that he had bequeathed all his papers to his grandson, William Temple Franklin, I immedi ately wrote to Mr. Franklin, to inform him I possessed this paper, which I should consider as his property, and would deliver to his order. He came on immediately to New York, called on me for it, and I delivered it to him. As he put it into his pocket, he said carelessly, he had either the original, or another copy of it, I do not recollect which. This last expression struck my attention forcibly, and for the first time suggested to me the thought, that Dr. Franklin had meant it as a confidential deposite in my hands, and that I had done wrong in parting from it. I have not yet seen the collection he published of Dr. Franklin s works, and therefore, know not if this is among them. I have been told it is not. It contained a narrative of the negotiations between Dr. Franklin and the British Ministry, when he was endeavoring to prevent the contest of arms which followed. The negotiation was brought about by the intervention of Lord Howe and his sis ter, who, I believe, was called Lady Howe, but I may misremem- ber her title. Lord Howe seems to have been friendly to Ame-