The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson
By Subject
FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN
At a large table where I dined the other day, a gentleman from
Switzerland expressed his apprehensions for the fate of Dr. Franklin,
as he said he had been informed, that he would be received with stones
by the people, who were generally dissatisfied with the Revolution,
and incensed against all those who had assisted in bringing it about.
I told him his apprehensions were just, and that the people of America
would probably salute Dr. Franklin with the same stones they had
thrown at the Marquis Fayette. The reception of the Doctor is an
object of very general attention, and will weigh in Europe, as an
evidence of the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of America, with their
Revolution.
to James Monroe, 28 August 1785
|