FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



Franklin, in the same year in which the letter 

 was written, had returned from England, where 

 for some time he had been acting as his country's 

 agent, and was at once elected a Member of 

 Congress. Events followed quickly after this, for, 

 within a fortnight of the date of the letter, repre- 

 sentatives of the Colonies had met and agreed 

 upon Articles of Confederation and perpetual 

 Union, and, on June 16th, Washington was 

 appointed Commander-in-Chief of the American 

 armies. 



The David Hartley to whom the letter is 

 addressed, was a distinguished Member of the 

 British Parliament, a firm opponent of the war 

 with the American Colonies, and one of the Pleni- 

 potentiaries who, at the end of the war, signed 

 the Treaty of Paris recognizing American in- 

 dependence. Hartley lived a part of his time at 

 Bath, published at least one of his numerous 

 works there, and ultimately died there in 1813. 

 He was the son of David Hartley, a physician 

 of considerable eminence, who practised at Bath, 

 and also died there in 1757. The elder Hartley 

 had considerable literary ability, and occupied 

 most of the time he could spare from his profession 

 in the pursuit of science and philosophy ; he was 

 the author of the well-known metaphysical work, 

 Observations on Man. 



It occurred to me that if, in response to the 

 invitation, I were to send the American Society 

 a copy of this letter, with some indication of the 

 value I attached to the original, it might do 

 something to show that we in the old country 

 held the memory of their great founder so much 



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