Читать книгу The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 10 - Бенджамин Франклин - Страница 43

Edinburgh, 18 February, 1783.

Sir:—

You were entitled to a civic crown on my account a great many years ago, when, at the University of St. Andrews, you gave a turn to the career of a disorder which then threatened my life. You have since that time done so much, and Heaven has at last been pleased to bless and crown your endeavors with so much success, that civic crowns of a more important nature are due to you, and certainly await you, if there is any such thing as public gratitude on the face of the earth.

Many of my acquaintances in this part of the world seem disposed to seek for an asylum on the other side of the Atlantic, and knowing my steady attachment and affection to a people who received my great-grandfather when an exile, or rather a fugitive from his country, during the administration of Lauderdale in Scotland, have applied to me for information on the subject of settling in the United States.

Before the troubles commenced, I had meditated a settlement on the estates of the Lord Fairfax in Virginia; but Lord Fairfax being since dead, and my connections altered in that family, I have not thought of renewing my inquiries in that quarter. ^{Ref. 021}

What I wish to promote is the happy settlement of my countrymen in North America, in the territory of the United States; such countrymen being friends to the principles which gave independence to that country; persons also of good characters and virtuous conduct, who find themselves cramped and unhappy in a country now very unfit for the residence of such individuals as have not a very considerable fortune to attach them to home. I foresee a spirit of emigration, and I wish as much as possible to give it a direction which may tend to the happiness of those in whom, from a similarity of sentiment, I must necessarily find myself very much interested. I have the honor and pleasure to be, sir, with great respect and attachment, etc.,

Buchan.