xxvui LAST LETTER TO FRANKLIN 359 



Fothergill's reply to this letter is one of the last he 

 ever wrote. It is dated 25th of October 1780. l 



When I received my honoured friend's obliging letter by 

 Dr. Waterhouse little did I expect it would not be in my 

 power to return a more speedy answer. Allow me to forget 

 that I am writing to a minister to one of the first courts of 

 Europe from a state the most promising of any that ever 

 inherited any part of this globe. . . . Lady H. is much 

 obliged to my friend for his kind intelligence and will act 

 conformably. Much horrible mischief would indeed have 

 been prevented had our superiors thought fit to pay any 

 regard to our humble endeavours. But their ears were shut, 

 their hearts hardened, things became delirious, and the poor 

 Greeks suffered for it. ... Pride and vengeance are very 

 fallible counseUors. I think I see all Europe slowly leaguing 

 against us, to retrench our power and to increase their own 

 by an open commerce with America. 



In the warmth of my affection for mankind, I could wish 

 to see engrafted into this league a resolution precluding the 

 necessity of general wars, the great object of universal 

 civilization, [by] the institution of a college of Justice where 

 the claims of Sovereigns should be weighed, an award given, 

 and war only made on him who refused submission. No one 

 man in the world has it so much hi his power as my honoured 

 friend to infuse this thought into the breasts of princes, or of 

 those who rule them and their affairs. 



Let me touch on a lesser point, in which I also wish to 

 engage a moment of my friend's attention. The most exten- 

 sive capacity, the greatest human mind, may possibly overlook 

 some humble yet proper objects, such perhaps as that which 

 I am going to mention. Establish thro' all the united states 

 as speedily as possible one general standard of weights and 

 measures, and let this standard be directed, if I may use the 

 expression, by squares. The weights which the apothecaries 

 use are, first a grain : 20 make a scruple : 3 scruples a dram |: 

 it is impossible to reduce any of these weights to a unit without 

 a fraction. No more can the foot nor the yard nor measures 

 of capacity [be so reduced]. Let the scruple consist of 16 

 grains, 4 scruples to make one dram, 8 drams one ounce, 16 

 ounces one pound ; and pounds to be reckoned by decimals if 

 thought more convenient. I rather describe these circum- 

 stances to explain my meaning than as the identical rules 



1 MS. Letter, Amer. Phil. Soc. xx. 138. 



