Autograph letter signed from Jean-Rodolphe Vautravers to Benjamin Franklin, dated 21 September 1777
Identifiers
CMV:
CMV33078
Repository:
Shelfmark:
Mss.B.F85inventory02, VII, 47, ‘Benjamin Franklin Papers Part 2 — Letters to Franklin’
Title:
Autograph letter signed from Jean-Rodolphe Vautravers to Benjamin Franklin, dated 21 September 1777
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Brief Summary:
A collection of 1309 letters to Benjamin Franklin dated 1777-March 1778.
Detailed Summary:
Included in the collection is an autograph letter signed from Jean-Rodolphe Vautravers to Benjamin Franklin, dated 21 September 1777. The letter begins by discussing electrical experiments exhibited at Zurich by the Chevalier de Volta of Como before moving on to discuss the contemptuous treatment of the republics of Switzerland by the present rulers of Great Britain. Vautravers notes that he encloses the fruit of his neglect and adds to it a copy of verses sent by Voltaire to [Charles Gravier,] Comte de Vergennes. The conclusion of the letter turns to diplomacy, with Vautravers noting that His Excellency is to proceed to Venice to secure that republic in the Bourbonian interest, having already secured Portugal. There is a brief discussion of the attitude of Russia toward Hanover, and Vautravers provides proofs of the Emperor’s aversion to republics. The letter concludes by noting that Franklin’s adversaries are now crowing over Burgoyne’s success in Canada.
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3 pp.
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History
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Provenance:
Bequeathed to William Temple Franklin by Benjamin Franklin in his will of 17 July 1788. The papers were stored at Champlost, a country estate owned by George Fox who agreed to take care of them for William Temple Franklin. Temple took a selection of letters and documents to prepare an autobiography of Benjamin Franklin but died without returning to the United States of America. After his death on 25 May 1823, the manuscripts in his possession were discovered in London and eventually given to the Library of Congress. The remaining material at Champlost was formally bequeathed to Fox who in turn left the papers to his children, Charles Pemberton Fox and Mary Fox. The MSS were given to the American Philosophical Society in 1840 by Charles Pemberton Fox and Mary Fox. A second large grouping of documents were given to the Society in 1936 as a gift from Franklin and Nannie Bache.
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